Worshipping Through Trials

Introduction

Four men decided to go mountain climbing over the weekend. In the middle of the climb, one of them slipped over a cliff, dropped about sixty ...

How to Be Used by God: Be Smart

Introduction

On his 16th birthday, a son approached his father and said, "Dad, I'm 16 now. So when I get my license, can I drive the family car?" His father ...

Endurance

Introduction

Let's begin with some audience participation. I know it's been a long weekend. Some of you are tired from traveling or cooking or shopping. ...

When You've Been Good and Life Goes Bad

Introduction

God's Word teaches us there are three sources of trouble in our lives. Number one is the most general and most often experienced: You and ...

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 ...

Get Ready for a Rough Ride

Introduction:

This is the sixth message in our series on First Peter: Living Bold in Tough Times. Peter wrote this letter to encourage believers to live a ...

You're In Good Hands

Introduction:

Have you ever noticed that the fear of getting a shot is often worse than the shot itself? You dread the moment, dread the moment, dread ...

Crisis Management

Everybody likes to cheer for the underdog, don't they? People love to see someone beat the odds and beat the "giant". Whether it's Indiana ...

A Breath of Fresh Air

Focus: Sometimes the best way to build God's kingdom is to brace up his workers.

Introduction: I want to read three brief passages, first from 2 Corinthians ...

Harassed but Hopeful

Introduction

On November 14, 1999, thousands of churches around the world observed the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This day ...

Sleeping Through the Storm

Introduction

Have you ever noticed how babies can fall asleep anytime, anywhere, in any position? They simply go to sleep when they get tired! As long ...

What to Do When There's Nothing You Can Do

Back in the early days of my ministry, I drove a 'Vette—a Chevette, that is. It was a cheap little car, but it was the best I could afford. We ...

Preparing for Adversity

In Matthew 17 there's a story about Jesus that also appears in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, so clearly it is an important story in the life of Jesus. ...

An Olive Grove Called Gethsemane

Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ opened Ash Wednesday to sold-out audiences in more than 3,000 theatres across the nation, bringing in about ...

When You've Got Problems That Can't Be Solved

I took my family to a major league baseball game a couple of years ago. We went to see the Detroit Tigers play the Texas Rangers. In about the third ...

You're A Privileged Character

1 Peter deals with some topics that may not immediately grab the attention of some believers. In fact, since 1 Peter was written for disenfranchised ...

When the Storms of Life Are Raging

A friend and I were in ministry together about 20 years ago. We have kept in occasional contact with one another over the years, and last week we had ...

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 ...

Trust God

Today we're looking at one of the most popular passages of scripture in the Bible. You've probably heard it before...

(v. 5-6) Trust in the Lord with ...

Practice of Patience

Someone handed me a little clipping this past week. A couple of young men from Chicago decided they were tired of the hustle and bustle of city life. ...

The Whys That Have No Answer

In these last few days, most of us have witnessed what we have never seen before. I never could have imagined the fury of the most devastating hurricane ...

The 23rd for the 83rd

What does the psalm have to say to our day? I think it is possible to say with some confidence that this twentieth century has seen developments in many ...

Life in the Penalty Box

I'd like to just read an excerpt of someone who wrote to me from out of state and addressed the letter to me personally.

He said, "I'm 31 years old." ...

Overcoming Discouragement

Life is hard. Life is a battle. Saint Paul says we struggle in life, not just against the world and the flesh, but against invisible powers that struggle ...

Yet I Will Praise Thee

Have you ever asked God questions and felt you haven't received a good answer? I heard about a little boy once who said to his father, "How many people ...

The Foolish and the Wise

Jesus teaches a parable at the close of the most famous expositional sermon ever givenour Lord's exposition of the Torah, the Lawwhich is recorded in ...

Practice of Patience

Someone handed me a little clipping this past week. A couple of young men from Chicago decided they were tired of the hustle and bustle of city life. ...

A Twinge of Nostalgia

One wintry day the children put a top hat on their snowman, and, in a spell of Christmas magic, he came to life.

Frosty the Snowman showed those children ...

Making Sense Out of the Storm

We are approaching a time meteorologists have identified as hurricane season, storm season. As we read the papers, we see storms in a variety of shapes ...

Fourth Man in the Furnace

Illustration: Last August, you might remember 118 crewmen dying when a series of explosions caused the Russian submarine Kursk to sink. Twenty-three of ...

When You Feel You're at the End

Living Above the Crowd

One of the most stirring passages in literature is Polonius's advice to Laertes in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Laertes has won his father's consent ...