There's a tempting short-cut in sermon preparation—just use another preacher's material. While it's certainly good to read and get ideas from other preachers, when do you cross the line into plagiarism? When does borrowing ideas become stealing? You'll want to read what six Christian leaders—including Tim Keller, Collin Hansen, and D.A. Carson—have to say in this week's feature article titled "When Do We Cross the Line into Plagiarism?"

In our featured sermon, Justin Buzzard raises another question: "Why didn't God just wipe us all out?" Here's part of the answer from his sermon on Genesis 6-8: "Because God decided to have tears. God decided to stay in the game. God decided to suffer and love us." God's suffering love also led to Jesus' death on the cross. Justin's sermon provides a moving angle on God's grace.

We also offer fresh angles on biblical truth through this week's illustrations. As usual we provide a wide variety of thought-provoking topics: a Super Bowl ad, some moving comments from Howard Stern (seriously), a miraculous story about prayer from a Nigerian pastor, and a surprising source for teen role models.

Finally, remember this: "Because of Easter, preachers are not permitted to despair" (William Willimon). That doesn't mean we won't get discouraged. Preaching can be hard work with slow results. But we don't give up because we know that Christ is alive. Ultimately, he's in charge of changing lives, not us. Whew! That's good news!

Finding Our Joy in Christ,

Matt Woodley
Managing Editor, PreachingToday.com
mwoodley@christianitytoday.com

Matt Woodley is the pastor of compassion ministries at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois.