Witnesses, Not Experts

Introduction

Raise your hand if you have ever been called to jury duty. Imagine with me for a moment that you receive that letter in the mail. ...

'Shipwrecked!'

Introduction

There’s a little acronym that’s become common in managerial circles—VUCA, which stands for “Volatility, Uncertainty, ...

Here I Stand

Introduction

We’ve been learning from Paul’s example how to witness well when our faith is on trial, which raises a question for us to consider ...

A Festus to Test Us

Introduction

Let me ask you a question: As Christians, how do we witness well to those in authority? Like those who govern over us: How do we treat our ...

'A Politician, a Lawyer, and a Jew'

Introduction

James Emery White tells a story about his visit to The Eagle and Child pub in Great Britain, the place where C. S. Lewis and his friends used ...

The Bucket List

The Story Behind the Sermon (Dan Meyer)

This sermon was the third-to-last installment of a year-long survey of the Bible's great stories and themes that ...

The Divine Legacy

Introduction

I'll never forget walking into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., maybe 20 years ago. Just inside the ...

Deep Love

I want to know what love is.

Sooner or later, it had to come around to love. For six weeks now, we have been considering tests of true faith—the ...

The Undefiled

When I was in seminary, the wife of one of my classmates worked as a quality control inspector at a pharmaceutical company downtown in order to support ...

When the Bottom Falls Out

I remember the events that led to her tears. My wife, Kathy, had come home from a weekly grocery trip with more than groceries to be concerned about. ...

Faith in the Furnace

How do you win the World Series? A few decades ago, when the New York Mets were the underdog darlings of the National League, two young pitchers told ...

Looking Up to Heaven

A shattered Colossus

The poet Percy Bysshe Shelly tells of meeting a traveler from an "antique" land who describes the ruins of a great statue in the desert. ...

The Judgment of Grace

Chapter five of Daniel addresses the question of what would happen if you gave a party, and God crashed it. Nebuchadnezzar was no longer on the throne. ...

The Song of a Broom

Sunday school pictures of a ruddy faced lad in a lions' den have scant resemblance to the actual situation described in this sixth and last chapter of ...

An Empowering Presence

Introduction

Some years ago I had a conversation with a guest after one of our services. It was her first or second time at our church, and she offered ...

Good News in America

Introduction

The Roman empire was a pagan place where Christian values were little known or honored, where corruption was pervasive in business, where ...

Suffering

Introduction

One summer Stuart and I had a ministry experience that took us literally around God's world. I learned many significant lessons. First, I ...

The Sermon That Inspired Murder

From the editor:

We feel that this featured sermon from regular contributor Kevin Miller can inspire ideas for two different sermons: a sermon on the divinity ...

A Disciple's Approach to Drinking

From the editor:

Few topics are more controversial than alcohol. Should a follower of Christ imbibe or abstain? In this sermon from regular contributor ...

The Hard Side of Epiphany

From the editor:

January 6th is Epiphany—the day that many Western Christians commemorate the visitation of the Magi to Jesus. With that date just ...

In the Father's Arms

Text: Job 36, 38
Topic: How a Christian should respond to suffering

From the editor

As you read Jill Briscoe's sermon, notice how she takes a classic story-story-story ...

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 ...

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 ...

Remember Who You Are

Introduction

The Woodley family has a number of family picture albums. Each picture album contains an assortment of photos of people that matter to our ...

A Prescription for Burned Out Christians

Introduction

A man went to the doctor complaining of fatigue. He described how he just felt burned out all the time. The doctor asked him to try to identify ...

Us and Them

Introduction

Just a few hours before his death, and a few days before he left his kingdom in the hands of his followers, Jesus prayed for them, and for ...

Spreading Power Through Persecution

On January 9, 1985, a Congregational pastor in Bulgaria named Christo Kuleczef, was arrested and put in jail. His crime was preaching in his church, just ...

Persecution and Christlikeness

 My background is an Eastern Orthodox country. Eastern Orthodoxy is much stronger than the Catholic church on the dogma that the church saves ...

Christmas As the Angels Saw It

The words we are going to read from Scripture were probably part of a hymn sung by the early Christian believers. You'll notice that the first line of ...

Baptism: A Public Declaration of Dependence

I was driving into church and I put in a cassette tape of the song "Mercy Came Running." I arrived at the worship center and went up to my office, did ...