God’s Restless Love

Introduction

Have you ever heard the phrase that “love will make you do some reckless things”? How many of you have ever experienced a love ...

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 ...

Greed and Envy: The Twin Terrors

Introduction

Let's begin with a story I read in The New York Times. It's a story told by a young Wall Street trader who found himself addicted to money—not ...

Freedom from Lust

Introduction

The voices of lust are varied—young and old, male and female, single and married—but all of them are strained, brittle, and sad. ...

It's Not About Me

Introduction

"What is it, Doc? What do I have? What's wrong with me?"

It's a question we all ask ourselves from time to time. When we ...

God Is Present and Powerful

Introduction: Our struggle with sin

We've been trying to renew together our vision of who God really is. Everything good in life flows from the person ...

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 ...

The Lostness of Humankind

Text: Romans 1:18-25Topic: A look at mankind's journey through rejection, separation, domination, and condemnation—and his opportunity for redemption ...

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 ...

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 ...

Redneck Christmas

Editor's note: The following monologue is delivered in character by a shepherd named Larry. There was a live nativity scene on stage for the Children's ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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?

I Have a Dark Side I Must Understand

Introduction

Mark Twain once said, "We're all like the moon—we have a dark side." I think his analysis of human nature was right on ...

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 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 Frustration of Doing Good

Most of us Americans see ourselves as flexible, innovative, and open to change. Contrary to the people who live in the Old World, we see ourselves as ...