The Test

Introduction

Elie Wiesel, the great Jewish writer known best for his writing about the Holocaust, wrote many other things as well, including Messengers ...

Testing the Limits

Introduction

For the past couple of weeks we've been talking about friendship. And what we're learning is that our friendships play an important role in ...

The Dark Side of Grace

Introduction

In the structure of John's gospel, John 11 serves as a hinge between two halves. The first 10 chapters are concerned with the ministry of ...

Strong Grace, Hard Word, Good Memories

Introduction

Be strong. Suffer hardship. Remember Jesus Christ. These are Paul's words of counsel to Timothy in a fallen world and imperfect church. Timothy ...

Loss, Loyalty, & Lament

Introduction

I've never been one to read romance novels, but lately I've been reading one. It's been a good one, too. Believe it or not, it's a book I ...

God in Our Sorrows

The Advent is where God meets us in our sorrow.

The word advent means an arriving or an appearing. It's the arrival of something we hoped for, something ...

Divine Revelation

Introduction

We've been in a series called "Can Smart People Believe in God?" Last week we had Dallas Willard with us to answer some tough questions, and ...

Asking the Tough Questions

Introduction

We're in the series called "Can Smart People Believe In God?" and we're thinking through some really important issues. Today we'll be talking ...

Without Knowledge We Perish

The story behind the series (from John Ortberg):

This series actually was inspired by Dallas Willard's book, Knowing Christ Today. The title of the series ...

If God Is Great, Where Is He in World of Suffering?

Introduction

Of all the reasons for rejecting the claims of Christianity, the one most frequently offered comes in the form of a question: "If God is so ...

If God Is Great, Where Is He in a World of Suffering?

Text: Matthew 27:27-46
Topic: Dealing with the reality of suffering

From the editor

Easter really isn't that far away—April 4, 2010—so we'll ...

Let's Get This Straight

Introduction

The first thing I noticed about our story today was the stories on either side of it. When we last saw Jacob, he finally had been reconciled ...

The Blessed Limp

Introduction

A blessing is a mysterious thing. In her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gilead, Marilynne Robinson's narrator is an elderly pastor named John ...

Your Arm's Too Short to Box with God

Introduction

Jacob was facing the biggest crisis of his life. Esau, the twin brother he had conned out of both birthright and blessing, was coming his ...

Journey Mercies

Introduction

Unless you go to the theater regularly, you may not be used to thinking of stories in terms of acts. But most of the stories you read, or ...

I Pray the Lord My Soul to Keep

From the editor:

Here's another great sermon from one of our featured preachers, Bryan Wilkerson—an in-depth look at the last few lines of the Lord's ...

Good Riddance

Introduction

"Isn't there somewhere else you're supposed to be?" Has God ever said that to you? God seems to be saying that a lot around here lately. He ...

The Really Good Shepherd

Introduction

According to the United States Social Security Administration, Jacob was the number one male baby name for the year 2007. In the Bible the ...

The Messy Family of God

Introduction

"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." So reads the first line of Leo Tolstoy's famous novel, Anna ...

A Fine Mess

Introduction

What a great promise from God: "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go." We talked about this great promise in the last sermon—a ...

The Voice from the Top of the Stairs

Introduction

There's a story oft-told on the Internet—true or not, I don't know—about Susan, a 34-year-old woman who lost her sight due to ...

Odd Man Out

Introduction

Some wedding requests pose a dilemma for pastors. Most of us will not officiate at a wedding between a believer and an unbeliever, believing ...

The Strange Blessing of God

Introduction

Do you live a blessed life? I did a Google search on the phrase, "I live a blessed life." I stumbled upon one guy who wrote, "I live a blessed ...

The Stew Is Divine

Introduction

Jacob, at 130 years of age, stood before Pharaoh, the great ruler of Egypt. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac. He was ...

Facing North When the Market Goes South

Text: 1 Kings 17:7–16
Topic: Claiming God's promises in the midst of hard times

From the editor:

Though many experts believe we've entered an economic ...

Living with Jesus

From the editor:

Just below, you'll find a few introductory remarks from Francis Chan about his sermon. We want to encourage you to go ahead and watch ...

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. ...

Faith in Tough Times

From the editor

I'm confident we all would agree that 2008 was a tough year: war, a tumbling stock market, natural disasters, the continued threat of terrorism, ...

God in Our Sorrow

Text: Isaiah 53; John 11
Topic: How God meets us even in our sorrow

From the editor:

You can be so enraptured by the sights, sounds, and smells of the Christmas ...

God Is Big Enough to Comfort My Suffering

What Would Jesus Say When the Dow Drops 700 Points?

From the editor

What would Jesus have us do in the midst of economic crisis? Mike Woodruff offers answers to that question that push us to gain new perspectives ...

Asleep at the Wheel

From the editor

Chances are, you've probably preached the story of Jesus calming the storm. The account is recorded in three of the four Gospels (Matthew, ...

The Strangest Gift

Introduction

In her book Tramp for the Lord, Corrie ten Boom tells the story of an old woman she met in Russia in the time of the Communist persecution ...

The Unseen Footprints

From the editor:

Timothy George packs a lot into this sermon. Besides showing us an effective way to preach an individual psalm—paying careful attention ...

Strong Grace, Hard Work, Good Memories

Text: 2 Timothy 2:1–9
Topic: A sobering look at what the Christian life entails

From the editor:

Every once in a while a sermon comes along that is ...

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 ...

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

From the editor

Simply put: it's easy to mess up a difficult passage like Luke 21. You may find yourself applying something regarding Jerusalem's ...

Trust Me

From the editor

As Marshall indicates in his introduction, few people ever rummage around in the final few chapters of Genesis. But the final events recorded ...

What Have We Done?

Introduction

After the Chicago Cubs lost their 96th baseball game in 2006, manager Dusty Baker, was called in to meet with the general manager. We all ...

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 ...

Beyond Comfort

Introduction

Where do you turn for comfort when you encounter loss, pain, or disappointment? Some people turn to food. For some reason, certain foods—like ...

Unbreakable?

Introduction

M. Night Shyamalan's film Unbreakable begins with a train wreck. Everyone on board is killed—over a hundred people—except for ...

Lessons from Lepers

Introduction

We often look at thanksgiving backwards. We think of thanksgiving as thanking God for something that has happened to us already. The real ...

Drop Your Agenda

Introduction

By the end of Luke's narrative of Jesus' life, opposition from the religious leaders is mounting, and Jesus' popularity among the people is ...

Where's the "Gift Return" Receipt?

Introduction

Let's suppose there's a small town on the edge of Iraq, near the Saudi border. Let's call the town Mosel. It's a small community with no other ...

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 Glory and the Muck

Introduction

A few months ago, I officiated my father-in-law's funeral. We arrived in Fresno and prepared for the first official gathering—the viewing. ...

The Hardest Part of the Journey

Introduction

Today marks the beginning of a four-week series on the one book of the Bible that perhaps is read less often than any other. If we took a ...

Why Is There So Much Suffering and Evil in the World?

Introduction

Here are two photos, both showing scenes from two earthquakes of similar magnitude that happened within just days of each other just last ...

Getting In the Last Word

Introduction:

When we began this series, I mentioned that First Peter deals with some topics that Americans don't always immediately relate to. Peter ...