Advent: Christmas Eve

Introduction

Happy Christmas!

Christmas is very much a thing at our church. You may be watching this on Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, or the ...

Advent Conspiracy: Give More

Introduction

Every year we celebrate Christmas and for most people it’s a big deal. We decorate our home, send out cards, buy gifts, throw parties, ...

A Better Blessing

Introduction

The theme of the Book of Hebrews is that we are to keep moving forward, we can't turn back. That we're to move forward in faith, constantly ...

Our Very Lives Are at Stake

Introduction

Someone is trying to get inside my head. You think I’m crazy? Well, let me tell you this: someone is trying to get into your head, too. ...

Blessed In Order To Be A Blessing

Introduction

I want to tell you a story about my uncle. My uncle is a missionary kid in Pakistan and like myself he was a bit of a troublemaker. So, as ...

Filthy Rich

Introduction

A few years ago the luxury watchmaker Romain Jerome introduced a crocodile skin strapped watch which they called the Titanic DNA night and ...

My Favorite Prejudice

Introduction

As we continue in our study in James, we have looked at our own trials, tests and the troubles God wants to help bring us through. We’ll ...

The Lord Needs It

Introduction

As we started tonight, you helped reenact one of the biggest moments in the life of Jesus, which was when he enters Jerusalem, which was the ...

Sent to Sacrifice

Introduction

I was gathered around a huge bonfire many years ago in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I was part of a larger Christian camp and I had students ...

The Beauty of Sacrifice

Introduction

On October 1, 2017, as a shooter was spraying the field where concertgoers were attending a country western concert in Las Vegas, there was ...

Courage to Sacrifice

Introduction

I have to say on a Sunday when I get to kick off a new study, it does feel a little bit like Christmas morning and I finally get to open that ...

Invitation to Give

Introduction

One word on the translation of this passage: Your Bible will have the word "Lord" perhaps in all capitals, "L-O-R-D." That is an English translation ...

How Can I Be a Gift at Christmas?

Introduction

As we live in the gap between Christmas expectations and Christmas reality, we end up raising really profound questions about this whole deal ...

Later On, We'll Conspire

Introduction

There's something subversive about Christmas. To subvert something is to overthrow it, usually by indirect means. Subversion isn't a frontal ...

The Divine Dare

Introduction

Everybody has to make decisions about how we're going to deal with money. There are a couple scholars named who talk about two metaphors for ...

The 10 Financial Commandments

Introduction

A mom was trying to teach her two kids about Jesus and the Easter story. When she reached the part about Pilate and what he did with Jesus, ...

When Is Enough, Enough?

Introduction

Sometimes it's not just a practice but a word—just one word—that God uses in our minds and our hearts to transform us.

When ...

Treasury Notes in Heaven

Introduction

Our son-in-law, Keith, works on the trading floor of the commodities market exchange in Chicago. I've been there to watch him. You stand in ...

Stand in the River of Grace

Introduction

The Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea for a reason: it's dead. This is because of its salt content. It is the saltiest body of water on ...

The Gravity of Greed

Introduction

Do you remember watching your very first NASA rocket launch? I remember as a boy sitting on the edge of the family room sofa and listening ...

The Motivation for Generosity

Introduction

Stephen King is the author of 49 suspense and horror novels that have sold over 350 million copies. Some of his novels have been made into ...

Becoming a Generous Giver

Introduction

It is ironic that this book entitled Generosity has my name at the bottom of the cover. That God would link me with generosity makes me want ...

Your Life Force

Introduction

I found a text the other day that describes stages of success:

At age 4, success is not peeing in your pants. At age 12, success is having ...

Your Super Power

Introduction

I grew up reading comic books: Fantastic Four, Spider Man, Hulk, and Iron Man. The last decade has been fun, as comic book hero after hero ...

The Offering

Introduction

Today I want to talk about how the difficulties and disappointments of our life can deaden our heart, making them cold and inward-focused. ...

As Good As It Gets

Introduction

In 1969, Malcolm Muggeridge, a British journalist, broadcaster, and the editor of Punch, a satirical magazine, went to Calcutta to make a ...

Deep Love

I want to know what love is.

Sooner or later, it had to come around to love. For six weeks now, we have been considering tests of true faith—the ...

Heart Murmur

In our lesson from Matthew 25 today, Jesus tells us a parable that is likely to be a bit disturbing to most of us if we really examine our lives in light ...

Unexpected Kindness

Introduction

I want you to imagine with me a hypothetical situation. You get a certified letter in the mail, and it's kind of mysterious. It looks ...

What Christmas Love Always Does

From the editor:

Every year at Christmastime, news stations run video segments of crazy shoppers pushing and shoving each other to get their hands on the ...

If Jesus Lived in My Neighborhood

Introduction

Mark 10:35–45 offers several reasons why we should be servants in our community, in our work environment, and in the neighborhood in ...

The Use of Money

From the editor

From time to time, we like to feature a classic sermon from a celebrated preacher of old. Bill White, a frequent contributor to PreachingToday.com, ...

Buying Friends

Have you started your income taxes yet? I started working on mine this week. I pulled up my computer records and looked at my general spending categories. ...

The Sermon on the Amount

Introduction

I heard about a little girl who experienced a major breakthrough in her life when she learned to tie her own shoes. Instead of excitement, ...

Grace of Giving

When Paul addressed the matter of giving to the Corinthian church in his second letter to them, he did so with model tact. What he did is, he sited the ...

Givers and Takers

Introduction

My son is the assistant manager of a Potbelly's sandwich shop in the northern suburbs of Chicago. When you ask for a glass of water, most ...

What Do You Need to Be Happy?

Click here to listen to the audio.

The story behind the sermon (from Francis Chan)

This message is about being content. It comes out of Philippians ...

Affluenza

Introduction

The next time you get a chance to go to the public library, check out the book A Material World. A photographer went around the world and ...

Consumerism

Introduction

Paul Anka penned a song back in 1968 that was made famous by Frank Sinatra: "I'll Do It My Way." It became his signature song and rose as ...

More Better

Introduction

On my way to work this week, I had this peaceful time to think as I drove. Actually, I had even more time than usual, because I was kindly ...

Mind Your Own Business: What does the Bible say about savings and debt?

From the editor

If the prognosticators are right, the current economic crisis will probably stretch on into 2010. With that in mind, now might be a good ...

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, ...

Take the Risk

From the editor:

As the country sinks further and further into a time of recession, financial issues will be weighing heavily on the minds of listeners. ...

The Flames of Heaven

Text: Revelation 21:1–3
Topic: What would happen if heaven crashed into earth

Introduction

In Revelation 21:1–3, John gives us a glimpse—a ...

Secrets of Financial Contentment

Introduction

When I was a kid, my dad told me two stories all the time.

In the first one, a couple goes to Harvard University and asks to see the president, ...

A Crop Is A Crop

Introduction

We've been considering what it means to be jars of clay—ordinary, fragile people living in a difficult and dangerous world. The message ...

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, ...

How Should a Pastor Think About His People's Giving?

Introduction

When I mentioned the title of this sermon to a group of pastors at our monthly denominational meeting, it elicited considerable response. ...

The Blazing Fastball That Gives Us Confidence

Introduction

On July 15, 1986, Roger Clemens came to bat in his first Major League Baseball All-Star game. Roger was the sizzling right-handed pitcher ...

A Lifestyle Inventory

Introduction

I want to tell you exactly how to live your life and spend your money. I know I have your attention now, because when we talk about money, ...