Unprovoked Love

From the editor

Mark Buchanan offers a few twists on a theme we've all preached one time or another: agape love. Perhaps you've preached about fostering ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Expect God's Visitation

Introduction

In Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge lies down on Christmas Eve hoping to enjoy a good night's rest. In the course ...

The Prime Principle

Introduction

Abiding in Christ is simply staying near a friend who loves you. But what happens to a person who abides in Christ? If I really walk with ...

A Strange Résumé

Introduction

It's the most dreaded question of the job interview, and when the time comes, you can't seem to push the words out of your mouth. "Tell me," ...

You Need a Good Priest

Introduction

I could tell that he had been badly injured in the accident. I'm no medical expert, but I could tell by the pallor of his skin that he was ...

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, ...

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. ...

Weighing Others Heavy

Text: Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:21–24; Romans 12:14–21; Romans 13:8–10
Topic: How to apply the sixth commandment

Introduction

The sixth commandment ...

We Don't Have Men Like That

Introduction

[Editorial comment: Sunukjian delivers this sermon as a first-person narrative. References to props or stage directions will appear in italics.] ...

Working Out the Working In

Introduction.

Let's suppose that our music minister Daniel and I get together for lunch to talk over some of the special services we're planning this month. ...

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: ...

The Grieving Heart of God

Introduction

On the first day teaching his class for 250 college freshmen, R. C. Sproul carefully explained the assignment of three term papers. Each paper ...

The First Extreme: Conformity

Introduction

We have already met Jonah, a scowling, spiteful little man in a chronic state of bellyache. The meaning of his name—"dove"—just ...

Stewards of Just-Us or Justice?

I graduated from college over 20 years ago now. As communication majors, one of the things we learned is that people respond to positive messages and ...

Stewards of Just-Us or Justice

Text: Malachi 2:17–3:5
Topic: What Christians should do about social justice

Introduction

I graduated from college over 20 years ago. As communication ...

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 ...

The Forgiveness of God

Introduction

"God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." He came in flesh to forgive us—to run down the road from heaven to earth and say ...

Beyond Will and Grace

Texts: Genesis 1:1–2:28; Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13; Romans 1:24–26; 1 Corinthians 6:9
Topic: What should we think about homosexuality?

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 ...

You Don't Have to Be Good to Come to Christ

Introduction

The description of the early church that is found in the opening chapters of the Book of Acts almost sounds like paradise revisited. Two events ...

God's Noninterventions

Introduction

When I was a boy, my sister left our home in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, and traveled to Central Bible College. She had a lifelong problem with ...

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 ...

On Suicide

Introduction

Death is never easy. But death is even harder when someone is too young to die or dies under especially difficult circumstances. The tragic ...

Dream Child

Introduction

A man shared with me that for years he went to church and watched as the advent candle was lit by these beautiful families, so well-dressed ...

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 ...

Diamonds in the Rough

Introduction

The hardest and most valuable substance in the world is diamonds. Diamonds are thought to be formed by intense heat at the Earth's core and ...

Wholesome Thinking

Introduction

2 Peter is a manual for transformation, a how-to guide for holy living. It begins with the promise that in Christ we have all we need ...

The Way We Were

Introduction

When I was about 11 years old, I almost drowned. I was swimming in the pool at summer camp with my friends from church. I had graduated ...

The View From Up Here

Introduction

I love mountains. I love to gaze upon them and I love to climb them. For the last few years, I have taken an annual hunting trip to the Rockies ...

Encouraging to the End

Introduction

This past week, my dad was in a serious car wreck. He was t-boned by a small car, and his pickup rolled over three times and landed in a deep ...

A Life Worth Saving

Introduction:

There’s a story of a man who risked his life to save a boy trapped in a burning building. The doorway was blocked, the room was filled with ...

The Girl Nobody Wanted

I'm going to read you a passage out of the Old Testament: Genesis 29. And one of the things we're struck with immediately is that the Bible is ...

Passion for God's Honor

Dr. Gerald Hawthorne was my favorite professor in college. He was a good professor because he loved teaching and he loved his students. He so communicated ...

Knowing Jesus

Today we're beginning a new series on the book of 2 Peter called Transformed by Truth. I began the series on 1 Peter with the comment that not many ...

A Reminder To Remember

C.S. Lewis once made a comment somewhere along the lines of, "Christians don't need to be instructed as much as they need to be reminded." ...

A Theology of Baseball

Growing up in my father's house, it was not possible to be indifferent to the American League pennant race. My father loved baseball. He was a Detroit ...

You Get What You Give

Introduction

On February 3, 1998, Karla Faye Tucker was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, TX, for her role in a 1984 double homicide. In the ...

Triumph of the Self-giving One: Meditations for Holy Week from the Book of Isaiah

Triumph of the Self-giving One:Meditations for Holy Week from the Book of Isaiah

by Kevin Conrad

Introduction: God responds to suffering.

As long as humans ...

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 ...

Say Goodbye to Guilt

I saw a day-time TV talk show a while back that featured the theme "Miracle Makeovers." The host of the show (I think it was Sally something) took some ...

Freedom From the Past

I suppose most every one here today has heard of Alice Cooper. For those of you who are saying, "Oh yes. Alice Cooper. She's one of my favorites," well—you're ...

It Doesn't Matter Who You Used to Be

Earlier this year many proponents of the death penalty stepped out of character momentarily to plead for mercy on behalf of Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted ...

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 ...