God's God-ness

Introduction

When I first got to the Village Church it was at that time called Highland Village First Baptist Church in Highland Village, Texas, a suburb ...

Through the Valley

Introduction

It was near the twilight of his life, and quite possibly he sat on one of the curvaceous slopes of the hills of Judea, looked out into one ...

Finding God in the Dark

Introduction

Surely you know the Chronicles of Narnia movies, right? Well, those movies actually come from children's novels written by C. S. Lewis. The ...

Deep Joy

Story behind the sermon series (Bryan Wilkerson)

This fall series was prompted by some listening sessions with congregation members the previous spring. ...

More

Introduction

As we continue in our series in the book of Exodus, today we are in chapter 33, and in chapter 33 we encounter Moses at prayer. And I think ...

Why the Biggest Loser Wins

Introduction

In Mark 10:17-27, we meet a man who is a lot like us. For one thing, he has clearly been through the part of the spiritual journey where a ...

An Unstoppable Force

Introduction

Last week we learned that the Church was meant to be a life-changing community, where people are transformed by their encounters with God ...

Loss, Loyalty, & Lament

Introduction

I've never been one to read romance novels, but lately I've been reading one. It's been a good one, too. Believe it or not, it's a book I ...

Divine Revelation

Introduction

We've been in a series called "Can Smart People Believe in God?" Last week we had Dallas Willard with us to answer some tough questions, and ...

Asking the Tough Questions

Introduction

We're in the series called "Can Smart People Believe In God?" and we're thinking through some really important issues. Today we'll be talking ...

Without Knowledge We Perish

The story behind the series (from John Ortberg):

This series actually was inspired by Dallas Willard's book, Knowing Christ Today. The title of the series ...

The Wise Men Cry Glory

From the editor:

Here's a great sermon from one of our featured preachers—Mark Buchanan—that explores the story of the Magi and Herod through ...

Worship and Love

Text: Malachi 1:1-5
Topic: The first steps toward restoring right worship

Click here to listen to the audio.

The Story Behind the Sermon (from Steve Mathewson)

Guide

Click here to listen to the audio.

The story behind the sermon (from John Ortberg)

I have grown to love the theme of God's guidance. This is a chance to ...

Let's Get This Straight

Introduction

The first thing I noticed about our story today was the stories on either side of it. When we last saw Jacob, he finally had been reconciled ...

Happy Trails

Introduction

The prospect of wrestling with God is not all that pleasant. Consider the man who knows God is calling him out on his abrupt and unfeeling ...

Three Ways to Worship

Introduction

Back when I was in college, I had a professor of American religion who gave us a really interesting assignment. He had us visit nearly every ...

Living with Jesus

From the editor:

Just below, you'll find a few introductory remarks from Francis Chan about his sermon. We want to encourage you to go ahead and watch ...

Desperate for God

Introductory remarks from John Ortberg:

I remember reading that when baseball great Ty Cobb was in a slump, he would battle it by resorting to bunting. ...

Praying the Savior's Way

From the editor:

The Lord's Prayer is one of the more popular passages in all of the New Testament—believers and non-believers alike have even taken ...

The Unseen Footprints

From the editor:

Timothy George packs a lot into this sermon. Besides showing us an effective way to preach an individual psalm—paying careful attention ...

Fear of God

Text: Psalm 103
Topic: Understanding godly fear

From the editor

We don't hear too many sermons about the fear of God. The reasons why vary—from fear ...

Loss, Loyalty, and Lament

Text: Ruth 1:1–22
Topic: Learning to make the right choices in difficult times

From the editor:

Perhaps you're looking for a unique way to approach ...

What Do Christians Think About the Holy Spirit?

From the editor

Tim Peck acknowledges that any discussion of the Holy Spirit has a certain mystery to it. After all, Jesus himself compared the Spirit ...

God on the Ground

From the editor

In this sermon, Knute Larson examines the Incarnation through an Old Testament lens. Learn ways to help your audience make connections ...

Trust Me

From the editor

As Marshall indicates in his introduction, few people ever rummage around in the final few chapters of Genesis. But the final events recorded ...

The Kingdom of God Is Near

From the Editor

Hamilton's passage is but two verses long, but the chief idea of those two verses—the kingdom of God—knows no bounds. ...

Finding God in Desperate Places

Introduction

I'd like to write a book someday called Desperate Places: How God Shines Through Our Weakness. These desperate places are places of weakness, ...

It's Not How You Start; It's How You Finish

Introduction

I once read an article that listed some of the greatest comebacks in sports history. The list included the 2004 American League Championship ...

Comfort for the Troubled Heart

Introduction

The Allies had planned Operation Overlord for years, amassing vast armies, an incredible navy, and enough arms to release Europe from the ...

Life on Wings

Introduction

The biblical image of the kind of life Christians are called to live is, "The way of an eagle in the air." I have lots of experience with ...

What to Expect on Payday

Introduction

It takes 8½ hours for the winners to complete the Ironman world championship triathlon. One year, the networks featured a firefighter ...

Costly, Messy, Beautiful Obedience

Introduction

The key word in the title of this message is "obedience." When I did a Google search on obedience, the most popular sites fell into two categories: ...

Where Are You?

Introduction

When I was a kid growing up in Minnesota, my family had a summer tradition. Every Sunday night, all seven kids and my parents would cram into ...

Extreme Faith

Introduction

About 1700 years ago, there was a great church leader who is now called Saint Basel. After the apostles of the New Testament, he is probably ...

God's Consuming Fire

Text: 1 Kings 18:16–39
Topic: What we learn about God and ourselves from fire

Fire. It was there from the beginning of God's creation. He said, "Let ...

The Process of Transformation

Text: 1 John 3:1–10
Topic: How to attain holiness

Introduction

Imagine that you've been asked to write a book on marriage. Your publisher says, "We ...

Be Prepared

Introduction

Most of us have heard of Billy Graham. Since the 1950s, Dr. Graham has conducted hundreds of evangelistic crusades throughout the world. Most ...

Good Guys, Bad Guys, or Us Guys?

Introduction

Anybody here grow up in a legalistic, fundamentalist type of church? The emphasis in those kinds of churches is on keeping the rules, lots ...

How Does the Trinity Work?

Introduction

I want to begin our discussion of this difficult question about the Trinity not with intellectual speculation about how God is three and yet ...

"Trinity": The Christian Name for God

Sermon One

Introduction

Over the next few Sundays we'll explore a concept of God unique to Christian spirituality called the Trinity. It's ...

The Art of "Hanging Out"

Introduction

One of my favorite movie scenes occurs in City Slickers, when Billy Crystal and Rob Reiner have a heart-to-heart conversation. Reiner tells ...

When You Feel Like Dancing

Introduction:

One day an expert in time management spoke to a group of business students. He said, "Okay, time for a quiz." Then he pulled out a one-gallon, ...

A Deeply Moving Religious Experience

It was Pentecost Sunday and I had been invited to speak at Washington Cathedral on that occasion because my background has something to do with earthquake, ...

Fourth Man in the Furnace

Illustration: Last August, you might remember 118 crewmen dying when a series of explosions caused the Russian submarine Kursk to sink. Twenty-three of ...

Sin 101: Why Sin Matters

I'd like to read you a quote from an interview with someone named Brian Warner:

Initially I was drawn into the darker side of life. But it's really just ...

Through the Valley

It was near the twilight of his life, and quite possibly he sat on one of the curvaceous slopes of the hills of Judea, looked out into one of the valleys, ...

When You Feel You're at the End