Life and Death Advice

In Psalm 49, a man steps out of the pages of the Bible with a riddle in his hand, and he's desperate we hear it. In fact, he calls on us in verse 1 to ...

Forgiven, Forgotten

Introduction

Guilt runs rampant in the body of Christ. Though you already know you often feel guilty, it's important that we say it, because you would ...

The Good News Is the Bad News Is Wrong

Introduction

I'd like you to use your imagination this morning and picture our world, your world, as a terrarium. You know what a terrarium is. My version ...

The King Whose Scepter is a Towel

Introduction

It was time to celebrate the Passover, the most sacred of Jewish feasts. Upwards of three million people might spend the week in Jerusalem. ...

Easter Means Hope

Introduction

There is a way in which Easter holds attraction for everyone—I think it is because Easter translates into hope. There's a sense of hopelessness ...

The Up-to-the-Minute Relevance of the Resurrection

Introduction

The most fantastic claim Christians make is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It strains our credulity to the utmost. But Christians have ...

The Truth about the Resurrection

Who would you guess is the most successful trial attorney in the entire world? The Guinness Book of World Records says, "Most successful attorney: ...

It Doesn't Sting Anymore

Introduction

Tony Campolo, at the end of a sermon titled, "The Year of Jubilee," tells this story:

I went to my first black funeral when I was 16 years ...

When the Seeds Come Up

Introduction

Someone hearing for the first time that the dead will be raised—physically—from the grave could easily picture something from ...

Life Line

Introduction

The great American writer, John Updike, died recently. All his life he vacillated between Christian faith and doubt. However, quite early ...

It All Comes Down to This

Introduction

Bodies are a pain. I know a body can be beautiful. I saw Baryshnikov dance once. And I have held babies. And I agree with the psalmist: "I ...

Not in Vain

Introduction

I was talking to a friend the other day. "I know you aren't much of a churchgoer," I said, "but I'd like to invite you to church this Sunday ...

A Ministry of Reconciliation

From the editor:

In this week's featured sermon, John MacArthur says, "Never has the world seen a God who by nature is a lover. Never has the world seen ...

When Sin Creeps In

From the editor

If you remove the first three chapters of Genesis, anything goes. So much foundational theology is packed into those seminal verses. One ...

Forgiven and Forgotten

Text: Hebrews 10:1-18
Topic: The effectiveness and scope of Christ's forgiveness of our sin

From the editor

As Brown points out at the very start of his ...

Jesus Face to Face

Introduction

If you had the opportunity, who would you like to meet face to face? Is it someone living? Someone who has already died? A celebrity? Nobility? ...

Regime Change

From the editor:

Here's a sermon by Kevin Miller that might inspire a few ideas for your own Palm Sunday sermon (April 5, 2009). As you read the sermon, ...

What if it's true?

Introduction

Several friends were talking in a restaurant when the conversation came around to dying. They asked each other what they would like to have ...

On the Cross

Introduction

A.D. abbreviates the Latin words "Anno Domini," which means "Year of Our Lord." Our calendars are all dated by the birth ...

Crown of thorns for the King of Kings

Introduction

It's almost Easter, but do you remember Christmas? We heard the joyous story that starts on the first page of the New Testament. Matthew ...

The Greatest Trial Ever Held

Introduction

It was a long and difficult night. Jesus' best friends abandoned him. One of his closest colleagues committed suicide. Police arrested ...

The Purpose of the Passion

From the editor

By the close of this sermon, Mac Brunson has masterfully explained complex theological concepts like condemnation, salvation, and justification ...

Cross Here

Introduction

One of the great ironies of history is that those who took Jesus to Calvary believed they were forcing him to his dead-end; in reality, Jesus ...

Cross Talk

Introduction

There are times when the greatest power to change the world proceeds not from an act of forceful self-assertion, but from an act of gracious ...

Cross Bow

Introduction

I recently turned on the news and found myself confronted with another one of those stories that have become so common; my great fear is that ...

Cross at God

Introduction

For the longest time, I hoped that my brother, Jeffrey, would return to the Christian faith. He once was an active Christian, but something ...

Cross Over

Introduction

It was an ordinary day of commuting Cameron Hollopeter. The 20-year-old film student made his way down the steps into a New York City subway ...

Cross Out

Introduction

In August of 2003, the Church of the Holy Cross in New York City was broken into twice. In the first break-in, thieves made away with a metal ...

A Day in the Life of Simon of Cyrene

Text: Mark 15:21
Topic: What it might have been like for Simon of Cyrene to take up Jesus' cross.

Introduction

My time on the road of history was brief. ...

The Cry of Mystery

Text: Matthew 27:39–49
Topic: The meaning of the fourth word of Jesus from the cross, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Introduction

The ...

Follow Me

Introduction

Of all the things that Jesus ever said, one of my absolute favorites is the thing he says in John 21:12. Maybe you noticed it. The text reads: ...

Come Die with Me

Introduction

Matthew's gospel says that, toward the end of his three years of public ministry, "Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go ...

The Good News Is, the Bad News Is Wrong

Text: Ecclesiastes 3:1-14; 1 Corinthians 15:17-20
Topic: How Christ frees us from the meaninglessness of life on our own

Introduction

I'd like you to use ...

The Coming of the King

Sermon One

Introduction

Jesus and his disciples were on the Jericho road. They had already climbed most of the treacherous pathway that twisted and turned ...

Enter the King of Glory

Introduction

First they heard the noise of the crowd, the cheering and shouting. As they drew closer they could hear what everyone was saying: "The ...

My Redeemer Lives

Sermon Three

Introduction

At Westminster Abbey in London there is an impressive monument to G. F. Handel, sculpted by the Frenchman Louis-Francois Roubiliac. ...

At the Last Trumpet

Sermon Four

Introduction

Nearly everyone believes in the crucifixion of the body. Even historians who deny the deity of Jesus Christ nevertheless accept ...

The Agony of Victory

Introduction

Some years ago a 14-foot bronze crucifix was stolen from Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. It had stood at the entrance to that cemetery ...

Wasted on Jesus

Sermon One

Valentine's Day is tomorrow and I'm jittery. I love my sweetheart—no doubt about that—but I confess that Valentine's Day gives me ...

The Dinner Guests of God

Sermon Two

Mary Poplin, professor of education and Dean of the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University, attended a Methodist church ...

Where the Battle Is Fought

Sermon Three

Here's a surprise: Most incompetent people don't know they are incompetent. In fact, researcher Dr. David A. Dunning of Cornell University ...

Blasphemy!

Sermon Four

Years ago Bill Hybels told about seeing a newscast of a big Vietnam veterans parade in Chicago. Part of the commemoration was a mobile Vietnam ...

The Faces of Failure

Sermon Five

There was a clip on the sports last night that was painful to watch. College basketball between Memphis and Louisville, championship game—the ...

The Agony of Victory

Which Watchers?

Sermon Seven

Robert Russell, pastor of Southeastern Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, told about sitting behind a 5-year-old boy at their church's ...

The I Am: Serve Him or Stone Him

Every now and then someone comes along and captures our attention with an outrageous claim. I'm thinking of Muhammad Ali, once known as Cassius Clay, ...

The Good Shepherd: Counting Sheep

A couple of years ago an article in the Sunday paper caught my eye. I found it so interesting that I shared it with some small group leaders at the time, ...

The Bread of Life

Most of Christ's claims are outrageous because they are so grand and compelling: "Before Abraham was, I AM." "I am the Light of the World." "I am in the ...

The Resurrection and the Life: Tears at the Wall

Introduction

They call it, "The Wall," a great, v-shaped slab of black granite, set into the grassy expanse between the Capitol Building and the Lincoln ...

One Wonderful Way

This morning we are concluding our series on "The Outrageous Claims of Christ." We began three weeks ago with the most intriguing claim—"Before Abraham ...