A Body You Have Prepared

Introduction

At Christmas we remember that Jesus came among us. The Second Person of the Trinity lowered himself, condescended, and became a man. That’s ...

Ode to a Donkey

Introduction

Today is Palm Sunday, the day the church celebrates Jesus’ triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, only to be crucified by the ...

What’s Your Eau De Toilette?: An Extravagant Example for an Extraordinary God

Introduction

If you had one opportunity to show Jesus how much you loved him, what would you do? What might you say? What offering might you bring? ...

A Bad Day

Introduction

As we walk thru life all of us are going to have some good days, some average days, and some bad days.

One of my bad days happened ...

Heavenly Reality

Introduction

Happy Easter everyone! When you think about the future, how do you feel?

For most of us, when we think about the future, it brings all sorts ...

It’s Time for a Fresh Start

Introduction: The Story

(Read John 21:1-14)

It was an early morning on the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee. A light haze of fog hung over the water making ...

'Remember!'

Introduction

There were three sisters—ages 92, 94, and 96—who lived together. One night, the 96-year-old drew a bath. She put one ...

Unshakeable Hope

Introduction

Happy Easter! Welcome to the largest digital Easter the world has ever seen, as thousands of churches are online right now!

It’s been ...

An Event That Changes Everything

Introduction

Philippians is Paul's final letter to a church. He writes it from his imprisonment in Rome. In Philippians 2:6-11, we listened to St. ...

More Than Your Personal Savior

Introduction

For over three decades, Paul Harvey made a name for himself by telling “the rest of the story.” Day after day he came on our radios ...

Lazarus the First

Introduction

When Jesus heard that his friend Lazarus was gravely ill, the first thing he did was nothing.

To be fair: I don’t know exactly what it ...

A Tale of Two Basins

The entire story of Holy Week can be told with two basins. And maybe the entire story of your life, and my life, can be told with two basins.

Here is that ...

Taken Up Into Glory

Introduction

In this series we have been walking in the footsteps of Jesus during his final days on earth. I have sought to employ the metaphor of being ...

Our Suffering Servant

Introduction

With every step we have taken, the cross has slowly been coming into view. Certain death is looming over the Savior. As the tour continues, ...

Burning Hearts

Introduction

Several months ago, my wife and I had the privilege of going to the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte (If you are ever in Charlotte, NC you ...

Believing Is Seeing

Introduction

As our tour comes to an end, we will watch one more story featuring an important discussion between Jesus and Thomas, the disciple who doubted. ...

Anguish in the Garden

Introduction

We have left the upper room where Jesus has identified the one who will betray him as he reclines at a table to celebrate Passover and institute ...

An Upper Room Revelation

Overview of Sermon Series

Many years ago, my wife and I visited Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco, CA. Let me emphasize visited! We toured the prison via ...

A Tale of Two Trees

Introduction

This is the highest of holy days for the Christian church. This is the day where not only do we remember that Jesus died and he was buried, ...

Cursing the Tree and Curing the Temple

Introduction

When the emergency room staff at a Rhode Island hospital viewed the scans of this 86-year-old man, they discovered a blood clot, a hematoma, ...

I Am King, You Say

Introduction

Do you remember what happened this week? This week, as he rode into Jerusalem, they put their cloaks before him and took branches from date ...

Resurrection on Trial

Introduction

Have you heard of Snopes.com? If you want to check out a rumor or a legend that’s online—you get some email that says some guy ...

All About the Resurrection

Introduction

Are you really who you say you are?

We are doubted every day. Every time we log in. Every time we swipe. Every time we try to unlock our phones. ...

Jesus Shows Up in Mary Magdalene's Darkest Hour

Introduction

(Read John 20:1-18)

When we come to the resurrection, we first have to consider some questions that many of our friends have and why some believe ...

Crossed Over

Introduction

(Read John 5:24-25)

A few years ago I was talking to a friend at a coffee shop a couple days before Easter. "I know you aren't much of a churchgoer," ...

God Wins

Introduction

(Read John 20:19-29)

On election night in 1976, I sat in a little dark storage closet at the back of a campaign headquarters in Yonkers, New ...

Easter Hope

Introduction

This is part of my story with my dad.

September 18 of this past year was profoundly memorable for me. My dad, who was almost 84, passed away. ...

Surprise Ending

Introduction

We like our Bible stories to end with a bang: Israel escaping from Egypt through the watery walls of the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho tumbling ...

The Key to a Meaningful Life

Introduction

Maybe this is the first time you've ever stepped foot into a church. Or maybe you don't normally go to church unless it's Christmas ...

Not What We Expected

Introduction

(Illustration: Description of seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time.)

Have you ever had an experience where things didn't turn out as you ...

The Incognito Christ

Introduction

April 12, 2007: A 39-year-old man stationed himself next to a trash bin at the L'Enfant Plaza subway station in Washington, D.C. He had on ...

Stories Converge at Easter

Introduction

Read (Mark 1:1)

I started to read Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. On the front cover is the title, the subtitle, ...

Maundy Thursday: It's About You

Introduction

Every Maundy Thursday, I am reminded of a particular event that occurred during my time at Seattle Pacific University. My senior year, I took ...

Heaven: Hope for the Long Tomorrow

Introduction

Don't you love Easter? There's something about it, isn't there? Here are a few fun facts about Easter you may not have known: The word, "Easter" ...

The Death of Death

Introduction

There are moments in time when all of a sudden something happens and everything changes. There are so many examples of this that it's almost ...

Resurrection Realities

Introduction

Concerned with the quantity of church growth and the quality of church life confronts us on every hand. We are barraged at conferences with ...

The Final Week, Were You There?

Introduction

Artist Hieronymus Bosch painted Christ carrying his cross in 1505. Christ was surrounded in the painting by such notably ghoulish and revolting ...

The Resurrection Matters—Really Matters!

Introduction

Like many of you, this Easter, I celebrate a radical truth—that Jesus died and rose to pay the price for our failures and affirm he ...

Two Graves, Two Gardens

Introduction

Read Genesis 3:8-22 and John 19:38-20:18

There were no streetlights, headlights, or even flashlights. There was just darkness, and some women ...

The Empty Niche

Introduction

During Spring Break recently, my son Reed and I drove through upstate New York and passed near the town of Saratoga. Saratoga is a lovely ...

What Happens When We Die?

Introduction

A few months ago, Google made this announcement:

Not many of us like thinking about death—especially our own. But making plans for what ...

Hope Is a Who

Introduction

Life has a way of killing dreams, doesn't it? You set out with high hopes—for your schooling, your career, your family, and your ...

The Best Is Yet To Come

Introduction

It all began with Mary and Martha—that cool Easter morning—coming to a lonely Palestinian tomb. I don't think they had any idea ...

Jesus Vindicated

Introduction

Luke 24, verses 1 to 53—this stuff is too wonderful for words. It's very easy to outline this chapter:

• Lk 24:1-12, The empty tomb;

Your New Identity

Introduction

At age 95, Rabbi Hershel Schachter died in the Bronx, New York. A name that doesn't mean much to most of you, but a few of you will remember ...

Resurrection Hope Every Day

Introduction

I have a friend in Minnesota who is a landscape architect. A few years ago, shortly after she had moved to a new place, she led me around ...

Good News When You're Confronted by Death

Introduction

Luke 7:11-17 says this:

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As ...

What's Your Story?

Introduction

Have you heard of Storycorps? Storycorps is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate the lives of everyday Americans by inviting ...

Encounter on Golgotha Road

From the editor:

We recently posted an Easter message by John Ortberg, because the themes like atonement, the Cross, resurrection, etc. are never out of ...

The Uncomfortable Truth of Easter

From the editor:

At the 2008 National Pastors Conference in San Diego, Preaching Today got to interview N. T. Wright about his book Surprised by Hope and ...