Witnesses, Not Experts

Introduction

Raise your hand if you have ever been called to jury duty. Imagine with me for a moment that you receive that letter in the mail. ...

The Love Reaction

Introduction

(Read 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10)

A single mother struggles to pay for a college education for her only child. She hates her job but knows she ...

The Love Expression

Introduction

(Read 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5)

God is the source of love, Jesus is the proof of love, and believers must be the agents of love in this world.

The Love Connection

Introduction

Dick Purnell, in his 2003 publication Finding a Lasting Love, makes the following statement: "We all need to love and accept the love of other ...

A Church Full of Characters

Introduction

I'm sure you'd agree with the fact that the church is full of characters. When we say someone is a "character" we usually mean in some way ...

The Family Silver

Introduction

When I was twenty-six, a package arrived at my home accompanied by a note from my grandmother that simply read, "Take good care of this. It's ...

Let the Dividing Walls Come Down

Introduction

If you have your Bibles, I invite you to join me as I read Ephesians 2:11-22. Paul writes,

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles ...

Passing Judgment

Introduction

There is a new John 3:16. The old John 3:16 was John 3:16. That was the verse that everyone knew, the verse that was familiar to all, the ...

You Were Created to Connect

Introduction

I have been the senior pastor at Christ Church for nearly eight years, and the theme I hope you've heard over and over in my preaching is ...

Love in Spite of Differences

Every sailor could agree on one fact. Had it not been for the captain, they never would have survived. The storm came suddenly, and in a matter of moments ...

Comradeship Christ Commands

Introduction

From Paul's letter to the Galatians the sixth chapter I begin the reading at the verse numbered one. "Brethren if a man is over taken in any ...

When the Roll Is Called Down Here

Introduction

I hope you will not feel guilty if your heart was not all aflutter during the reading of the text. It's not very interesting. It's ...

Life Together

Introduction

The first week we moved into the small town where I served as pastor, my wife Jane and I decided to take a walk down Main Street. We immediately ...

The Discipline of Communal Examination

From the editor

Next week we start to roll out all of our new Easter sermons, but seeing as many congregations have just begun observing the Lenten season, ...

Learning from Tiger Woods

From the editor

In late November 2009, a series of events led to a bevy of stories about infidelities on the part of golf's greatest player, Tiger ...

Two Bad Examples

Click here to listen to the audio.

The story behind the sermon (from Mark Buchanan)

This sermon came near the end of a 10-week series on the letter to the ...

The Joy Network

Introduction

Several years ago a German researcher studied a thousand churches of every size and denomination all over the world. His goal was to identify ...

Here Is the Love

Introductory remarks from Bryan Wilkerson:

Each year we choose a ministry focus for the church year, which we introduce in September and address from the ...

United

Introductory remarks from Mark Buchanan:

This sermon fell mid-way through a seven-part series on Ephesians, entitled "A Church for the World: Paul's Letter ...

The Way of Wisdom

Introduction

As Christians, we say we want to love God, and we want to love people. We want to serve the world. This idea comes from the core of Jesus' ...

The Real Scoop on the Lord's Supper

Text: 1 Corinthians 11:17–34
Topic: How to approach the Lord's Supper in a worthy manner

From the editor

When was the last time you preached about the ...

Church: The Message of 1 Corinthians

From the editor

In this sermon, Mark Dever offers a bird's eye view of one of Paul's longer letters, helping the audience hang their hats on a few critical ...

Remember Who You Are

Introduction

The Woodley family has a number of family picture albums. Each picture album contains an assortment of photos of people that matter to our ...

Older People: The Future of Our Church

Introduction

On October 29, 1998, the space shuttle Discovery launched with a seven-member crew. One of them, John Glenn, was 77 years old. John Glenn ...

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 ...

Taming the Beast

Text: Genesis 4:1–16
Topic: How to battle envy

Introduction

A few years ago, two high school girls in California—well liked, talented and ambitious—attended ...

Body Life

Introduction

That the church is the "body of Christ" is more than simply a figure of speech. The church is the chief means by which Christ works today; ...

You Can't Fool the Lord

Introduction

One of the ministers at this church the television show 24 because of the things that Jack Bauer never has to do: eat, charge his cell phone, ...

Don't Go To Church!

Introduction

D. L. Moody was visiting a prominent Chicago citizen when the idea of church membership and involvement came up.

"I believe I can be just as ...

When Life Crowds You Out

Introduction

On the wall of a subway in New York City was an advertising poster that depicted a dignified older gentleman recommending a particular product. ...

Peace in the Church

Introduction

When I was a pastor in Arizona, there were two men in the church who were greatly admired. They were both successful businessmen who desired ...

The Wisdom of Small Creatures

Introduction

My task this evening is to tell you how to live wisely now and for the rest of your life. Quite frankly, I've run out of ideas of my own, ...

What Do Men Want? What Do Women Want?

Introduction

When the Bible describes how the world was created, it uses the word good a lot. It says, "God created light" and "saw that the light was ...

Mind Renewal

Text: Romans 12:1–8
Topic: How to reclaim community in the church

Introduction

Something that has become very popular in today's media-crazed society ...

Letters from Dad

Introduction

I'd like to talk on this Father's Day to the men. There will be obvious relevance to women as well, but my express purpose today is to speak ...

Pledging Love

Introduction

We have been learning how to deal with difficult people from the story of Saul and David. Today we come to the central theme of the whole ...

Showing Grace

Introduction

We are taking four Sundays to consider the subject of loyalty and what it takes to keep faith in a broken world. Our particular emphasis in ...

Speaking Truth

Introduction

For the next few weeks, we're following the story of Saul and David in First Samuel. We discovered last week that he is one of these characters ...

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: ...

Getting to Know Your God

Introduction

Well, here it is, a Sunday morning in the lazy heat of summer, and you could be sleeping in, working on your golf game, biking on the Prairie ...

Being a Bridge-Builder

Introduction:

Recently, I read about a retired executive from Decatur, named Richard Reeves. Ten years ago, Richard became captivated by the dream of Africa ...

"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 ...

What WWW Stands For

Does anyone know what WWW stands for? [obvious answer] Not today it doesn't. It means something different, and these three W's are the key in ...

A Spirit-Filled Church

Introduction:

The text before us is one of the most fascinating passages in the New Testament, because it interweaves the mystery of Christ and his body—his ...

The Purpose of Christmas

First John 1:1—4:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands ...