How to Look at People with God's Eyes

Introduction

You may remember that in Jonah 3 there was this great revival in Nineveh. And usually when there's revival there's also great joy in the place ...

Party of Three

Introduction

Oprah recently interviewed Diane Nyad, the 64yr old who completed a 53 hour solo swim from Cuba to Florida. In the interview Nyad said that ...

The Perfect Meal for Sinners

Introduction

When our daughter Bonnie celebrated her first birthday we threw her a huge birthday party. We put on silly hats, blew on little horns, waved ...

For Such a Slime as This

Introduction

Our text this morning is in the book of Esther chapter two. Normally people tend to go to chapter 4, and that's often the only thing ...

What's the Big Deal with "John 3:16"?

The story behind the sermon (Craig Brian Larson)

The background of my approach to this sermon: As I began work on this sermon, I realized that it has been ...

Why Can't You Be Like Your Brother?

Introduction

Today, I want to bring to you a word from the end of Genesis. The final chapters of Genesis focus on the life of Joseph. But tucked inside ...

God's Great Heart of Love

Introduction

In John Bunyan's famous Pilgrim's Progress, right from the outset of the book we are introduced to a man who is deeply troubled and who is ...

The World's Best Love Story

Introduction

Ralph Waldo Emerson observed that the entire world loves a lover. And if he was right that all the world loves a lover, then the best loved ...

A God Who Redeems

Introduction

Today, we're not only talking about a God who is with us, but also a God who redeems us. I want to talk to those who feel helpless and hopeless ...

Believe the Blessing

Introduction

Ten years ago I had an experience that changed my life in a profound way. I was working at a Christian camp in the mountains of L.A. I lived ...

Getting Out

Introduction

I want us to look at the account of the crossing of the Red Sea. You might call it the climax or epitome of Exodus. It's hard to overstate ...

The Power of a Blessing

Introduction

Nancy and I had gotten married and were celebrating our first Christmas together. I was in grad school. We had no money at all. There was ...

The Power of Identity

The story behind the sermon (from Jeff Manion)

In preparing to preach on Ephesians 1:3-14, I felt that there were a couple significant challenges to overcome. ...

The Assurance of Blessing

Story behind the sermon (David Shelley)

My challenge: This was the final sermon in a series on the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy 4-6. I wanted to explain ...

Flood of Judgment, Flood of Grace

There's a song children learn in church about Noah's ark and the flood. It goes something like this:

The Lord said to Noah, "There's going to be a floody, ...

Christmas in the City of Jerusalem

Introduction

We're going to do something a little different this year in December. We want to focus on a "Hometown Christmas." Typically we tend to think ...

The God Who Shines Like the Sun

Introduction

One Friday night I was getting in a little exercise. It was a rainy and cloudy day, but just around dusk, the sun came out for a short time. ...

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 ...

The Christmas Plunge

From the editor:

Who doesn't love reflecting on the amazing story of Mary, a teenage girl swept up in something so unexpected, so epic? The Incarnation ...

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. ...

Is There Any Hope When God's People Fail?

From the editor

As a part of our Getting the Gospel Right theme in the Skills section, we are currently featuring an article by Steven Mathewson, entitled ...

Cravings and Conflicts

Text: James 4:1–2
Topic: Identifying and addressing the source of conflict

Introduction

There is a relational conflict in your immediate future. You ...

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. ...

Cain-R-Us

Introduction

I was reading an article in the New York Times about the abundance of new wealth in Khartoum, Sudan. The article featured pictures of well-dressed, ...

A Time to Forgive

Introduction

I recently had a conversation with a young man. He is a qualified, certified professional, and through his work, he has come into contact ...

The Great Rescue

Introduction

When I was a teenager, I became fascinated, appalled, and grieved by the literature of the Holocaust. I think I probably read thousands of ...

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 ...

Understanding Providence

Introduction

A loyal person understands providence. In order to understand this, by way of contrast, consider our culture today. If there's one word that ...

Complete the Circle

Introduction

In his book Bono in Conversation, author Michka Assayas recounts a remarkable discussion he had with the lead singer and songwriter of the ...

Knowing and Loving God

Introduction

Have you noticed it's often very difficult to talk rationally and logically about the things that are most real to us? Great beauty, great ...

The Truth About Forgiveness

Text: 1 John 1:1–10
Topic: Why we need forgiveness

Introduction

First John is a book of certainties. The word know appears frequently throughout its ...

I Struggle With a Certain Sin Often. Will God Forgive Me?

Introduction

Here is today's question in the complete words of the person who submitted it: "I struggle with a certain sin often. Will God forgive me? ...

The Grace of God

One of the worst movies of all time, in my humble opinion, is Superman 2. Even though the movie wasn't very good, there was one scene that I really ...

What to Do When Your Life Is a Mess

Maybe I hang out with a rough crowd, but everyone that I know well enough to know the details of their life has, at some point, found themselves in ...

Why It's Called Amazing Grace

The most recognizable Christian hymn of all time is, undoubtedly, Amazing Grace. It has been recorded countless times by a wide variety of artists, including ...

When Your Enemy Prospers

God spares Nineveh, and Jonah is angry. He said: God, I knew you'd do that. That's why I didn't go, because I know you're gracious and forgiving, and ...

Lost Sheep, Coins, & Men

If God is what you describe him to be, if God is so huge and powerful and capable and loving and caring and concerned and involved and all of these other ...

A Night in Persia

There's a book in the Bible where the name of God is never mentioned. It's the book of Esther. But even though God's name is mentioned nowhere ...

Triumphing Over the Past

I doubt that there is any more debilitating problem for Christian people than the problem of regrets. We feel subject to the guilt of something that we ...

When Your Enemy Prospers

When Your Enemy Prospers

by Bruce Larson

God spares Nineveh, and Jonah is angry. He said: God, I knew you'd do that. That's why I didn't go, because I ...