‘Imago Dei’: One Kingdom. Indivisible.

Introduction

We’re in an election year. While we won’t tell you who to vote for, we do want to equip you with a biblical understanding of our ...

A Body You Have Prepared

Introduction

At Christmas we remember that Jesus came among us. The Second Person of the Trinity lowered himself, condescended, and became a man. That’s ...

Take a Look in the Mirror

Introduction

When I worked in publishing, my boss called me into his office one day, and held up the latest issue of a magazine I was responsible for. ...

Behold the Lamb of God

Introduction

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Now we flip the page and enter the season on the church calendar known as Advent. Advent is different ...

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 ...

‘What Child Is This?’

Introduction

In the year 1865, William Chatterton Dix, who was a businessman in Glasgow, Scotland, suddenly came down with a serious illness. ...

Waiting for a God-Given Perspective

Introduction

We are in the second week of our Advent series called “Christmas with Joseph: When Things don’t Go as Planned.” ...

The Healing Power of No

Introduction

What is a two-letter word that we often don’t like to hear? It is a word you have probably used on your kids, maybe a word ...

The Gift of Christmas Light

Introduction

In his book Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller explains the three elements of a story. He points out that a story begins when something knocks ...

Life of Seth: An Expository Character Narrative Sermon

[Hoeing. Pulling weeds – Has a pain in hand]

Ow! These cursed thorns! Oh, I didn’t see you there. Welcome friend. The name’s Seth. Why ...

Grieve, Not as the World Grieves

Introduction

Some years ago, when I first heard the phrase “bright sadness” to describe the season of Lent, I loved the way it sounded, but ...

The Danger of Descending into Sin

Introduction

To err is human—am I right? We as human beings, we often do things wrong. We mess up. We sin. And when we sin, when we mess up, we usually ...

God Takes Sin Seriously

Introduction

Has it taken you a long time to get where you are today? Maybe you’re in a good place in life right now, but it was a long road getting ...

The Man the King Delights to Honor

Introduction

[Read Esther 3:1-6 and 6:1-10]

Esther is a Jewish woman who becomes queen of Persia, and as we have seen and will continue to see, she uses ...

Well, What Do You Know?

Introduction

"Well, what do you know?"

Knowledge plays a huge role in our Gospel reading today. The man born blind repeatedly admits, "I don't know." Where's ...

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 ...

Sloth? Seriously?

Introduction

Of all the deadly sins, surely sloth is the lightweight. I mean, sloth? Seriously—a deadly sin? When it comes to the other six, we get ...

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. ...

Anger Mis-Management

Introduction

If pride is the most subtle of the seven deadly sins, anger is the most obvious. For one thing, it's visible. The other sins are internal—lust, ...

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 ...

Suffering and the 'U-Curve' of Life

Introduction

A story that I think about from time to time may also be one that you are familiar with. There was a wise man who lived on the northern frontier ...

Your Best Life Is Not Now

Introduction

This room is full of hopes: fans hoping for a championship season, all of us hoping for another beautiful summer. Hopes can be more personal, ...

God Uses Suffering for Our Good

Introduction

I remember standing next to the late Joan Rivers. It was May 2006, and I had been in Sydney, Australia, preaching in some Anglican churches ...

Christians Aren't Always Happy

Introduction

You may have come here this morning seeking happiness. In one sense, how could you not? Seeking happiness is as natural for us as our desire ...

God's Anger and Mercy Toward Sin

Introduction

If you want to know the three points that I'm going to walk through this morning, they are very simple. I want to talk about God's heaviness ...

R-Rated: The Bible's Flawed Superman

Introduction

There are a lot of heroes in the Bible, but there's really only one superhero, and that's Samson. If you think about it, Samson ...

R-Rated: Genocide and Jericho

Introduction

I think if you're at all human, there are tensions that come up. The idea of genocide, or of this powerful people massacring innocents, ...

Your Body: Under New Management

Introduction

Sometimes when we read the Bible we fail to appreciate the way it was first experienced. For example, most of the New Testament books were ...

God's Big Story: The Bible on Homosexuality

Editor's Note: This sermon was originally part of a three-sermon series given by Jim Nicodem. (That's why you'll notice that this sermon ends ...

The Potential of the Church

Introduction

The great English author, C.S. Lewis, is one of my intellectual and spiritual mentors and not too long ago I was re-reading one of my favorite ...

Satan Strikes Out

Introduction

Years ago Scott Peck wrote a book called The Road Less Traveled. He began that book with these memorable words: "Life is difficult. This is ...

The Final Week, Were You There?

Introduction

Artist Hieronymus Bosch painted Christ carrying his cross in 1505. Christ was surrounded in the painting by such notably ghoulish and revolting ...

Two Graves, Two Gardens

Introduction

Read Genesis 3:8-22 and John 19:38-20:18

There were no streetlights, headlights, or even flashlights. There was just darkness, and some women ...

God's New World Now

Introduction

Well, I am a bit of a news junkie and so it's a good day for me when I go out to the mailbox at the end of the driveway and there ...

There Must Be Some Mistake

Introduction

Do you know who TIME magazine's Person of the Year was for 2011? The Protester. Protesters were the big story in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, ...

The World Is in Trouble

Introduction

What's wrong with the world? That's a question that many people are asking, and there's no shortage of answers being given: the ...

Who Am I When I Sin?

Introduction

The early Christian movement had a list that is famous to this day: "The Seven Deadly Sins." The seven sins on the list were pride, envy, ...

Who Am I After I Sin?

Introduction

Last week we started a series called "Wicked." We're attempting to wrestle with one of the defining realities of our life: we screw up. We ...

Who Is God When I Sin?

Introduction

If you follow sports, you are well aware of the news that broke this week. Major League Baseball's highest paid player, Alex Rodriguez, admitted ...

Who Is God After I Sin?

Introduction

I once read a book called The Book of Failures. It was filled with all kinds of failures that people have made. For instance, the book introduces ...

Who Am I When I Sin?

Introduction

The early Christian movement had a list that is famous to this day: "The Seven Deadly Sins." The seven sins on the list were pride, envy, ...

The Three Gifts of Christmas

Introduction

I'd like to begin by reading the entire passage of Hebrews 2:5-18 this morning, and then we're going to talk about how this passage helps ...

How God Brings Light into a Dark Situation

Introduction

Today we will be looking at 1 Samuel 2:12-36, although we'll focus on verses 12-26. About a year ago now, the Arab Spring was just starting, ...

Broken and Repentant

Introduction

Last week I talked about the road to compromise and the road to integrity. We are either on one or the other. David eventually walked the ...

The Warrior Rises

Introduction

Do you ever watch wrestling? If you do, are you afraid to admit that you watch it? I recently read that you probably watch too much wrestling ...

The Warrior Returns

Introduction

There is a distinctive facial expression that is common to all countries and cultures. There is something that can happen to any human being ...

Grace Alone

True North Backstory

One reason I enjoyed preaching the sermons in this series was the contrast between a "head" message and a "heart" message.

The message ...

The Bible Alone

True North Backstory

One reason I enjoyed preaching the sermons in this series was the contrast between a "head" message and a "heart" message.

The message ...

For the Glory of God Alone

True North Backstory

One reason I enjoyed preaching the sermons in this series was the contrast between a "head" message and a "heart" message.

The message ...

Generational Sins, Soul Ties, Curses

Introduction

In this last session of our series, we're going to talk about three subjects that bring a lot of questions and even opposition: generational ...