Category: sermon based groups

Discussion-based lessons have groups talking and changing. We are changed more by what we say than...

I AM NOT SAYING I’m an attorney. I mean, I didn’t go to law school. I did, however, watch a bunch...

It is commonplace in all the churches to call Christianity a religion of grace. It is a truism of...

In Luke 7, we read the powerful story of a woman anointing and washing Jesus’ feet with her hair,...

IF YOU HAD TO NARROW IT TO ONE, what emotion would best describe how you feel right now? Depending...

Your transformation is possible not because you are empowered to do better but because you have...

I told you about one of my first jujitsu rolls when I unknowingly challenged a higher belt who...

It was the Friday night before the Australia Day (which is Australia’s equivalent to the USA’s...

Not only did Jesus come as the Hedge-Breaker, but he told his followers that they were to devote...

Once, when discussing the nature of salvation with a skeptical intellectual named Nicodemus, Jesus...

The seventh reason I believe that the Bible is the very Word of God is transmission. The Bible’s...

Nathan Campbell, an Australian pastor and blogger, came up with the phrase, “Evangelism in a...

Understanding what it means to identify with Jesus’ death is so critical for our transformation...

People often ask me, “Why can’t we just evangelize the same way Billy Graham did?” What’s wrong...

Do you believe in divine judgment? By which I mean, do you believe in a God who acts as our Judge?...

An American friend once dismissed this whole approach to evangelism as “friendship evangelism.”...

Previously, I asked you, What do you most need to do to have what you want most? Now I want to...

I’ve known many people who talk a lot about change but can’t quite pull the trigger to make it...

When I arrived at the boarding gate, only two other people were waiting to board the late-night...

The Proximity Principle ON A HOT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DAY, I sat on the curb of a street just down...

One way to make friends is simply to get to know your neighbors. For a while, my wife and I were...

There is no such thing as Christian work. That is, there is no work in the world which is, in and...

Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China in the 1800s and, by almost all accounts, an unusually...

Seeking to understand revival is like attempting to comprehend the Trinity. We cannot fathom the...

I have a bit of training in the martial arts. I am very familiar with Daniel LaRusso aka the...

Maybe you’re like me when my professor looked at me with disdain, as though I had thrown my brains...

St. John’s twice-repeated statement, “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8, 16), is one of the most tremendous...

Midlife Crisis Meets Evangelism Paul was married and had young children. He was successful in his...

The non-Christian world raises many intellectual and philosophical objections to Christianity, but...

People can have the same goals yet get vastly different results. No married couple starts out...

The aged apostle was banished to the desolate isle of Patmos, exiled for the crime of spreading...

Typically, as Christians, we have two separate universes of friends. We have a universe of...

But there is one line that lies at the heart of the book’s story—and at the heart of your story as...

Myopia is nearsightedness, the inability to see clearly at a distance. One of the reasons many...

A second thing that convinces me Jesus was not an impostor is the evidence for his resurrection...

The term community refers to friends and family we know, love, and trust. Community is the most...

It’s time to define your win. After all, defining your win is how you begin. So how do you...

Dave was addicted to pornography. He was also a believer in Jesus. He had been born again, yet he...

Plausibility Structures We are happy to believe the Jesus story over the UFO story because of what...

As usual, the work week begins about dawn Monday. Very little flex time is built into the schedule...

In poetic Old Testament literature, Zion is consistently used in a figurative sense, especially in...

I DON’T KNOW of any person who doesn’t want to make a difference in the world. Nobody grows up...

A second reason many Christians don’t change is spiritual isolation—a failure to be deeply engaged...

Whenever God speaks, it is never merely for observation or discussion. It is always intended for...

You can’t live this life of faith by just reading the Bible a little bit here and there. As I’ve...

Before we continue our journey together, I’d like to ask you a question. What are your biggest...

My wife, Amy, said that growing up, her friends and even some teachers told her she would always...

Jesus’s fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies is nothing short of breathtaking. In at least 322...

I have a friend who is extraordinarily gifted and appeared to be doing all the right things, but...

When Moses encountered the burning bush, he had some legitimate questions. He wondered where God...

Rosalind Goforth, in her story of the life she and her husband led as missionaries in China, told...

When it comes to evangelism, I believe that it’s God’s work. After all, the message of the gospel...

Many Christians simply don’t know who they are. They don’t understand their identity in Christ,...

Have you ever said… “I’m going to start reading my Bible every day!” “I’m going to stop...

More than a decade ago I pastored a church near a small town with two small universities. One...

Here’s a truth you need to embrace if you’re ever going to change: you do what you do because of...

All of us had wonderful dreams, goals, and plans when we were teenagers or young adults. But at...

Across America and around the world, God’s people are crying out for a fresh encounter with...

Two facts about the triune Jehovah are assumed, if not actually stated, in every single biblical...

Revival has been one of the most mysterious, compelling, sublime, and desperately needed...

Jesus believed the Old Testament to be the very words of God and predicted that the New Testament...

Confessing our inability to God gives us an incredible confidence before him. It does so because...

People are different. It is bedtime. I go into my daughter’s room to tuck her in. She is...

I am a committed Christian, actively involved in serving Christ inside and outside my home, the...

When the old Reformed theologians dealt with the attributes of God, they used to classify them in...

The origin of the Bible is another reason why I believe the Bible is God’s Word. The Bible’s...

There are few things in life more frustrating than knowing you need to change, wanting to change,...

It is clear from what we saw about money that the battle cry of Christian Hedonism is world...

In God’s presence, not only did Isaiah see that his goodness was not that good, he saw that his...

More than almost any other Discipline, journaling has a fascinating appeal with nearly all who...

I believe in the Bible because of revelation. The Bible claims to infallibly reveal the very words...

Lest you think that this is merely the cranky, judgmental Old Testament God—God in his middle...

Like a lot of you, I was pretty amazed at the videos coming out of the Asbury Revival of 2023. Who...

What Paul is warning against is not the desire to earn money to meet our needs and the needs of...

The underlying question . . . Is it intellectually feasible to believe that the Bible could be...

Sometimes I run across preachers or teachers today who claim to be “apostles” or “prophets.” Often...

What does the Bible mean when it calls God wise? In Scripture, wisdom is a moral as well as an...

I’ve lived long enough to watch an alarming erosion occur in modern Christianity. The church I...

Isaiah learned two things about himself that forever changed his theology: his goodness was not...

Money is the currency of Christian Hedonism. What you do with it—or desire to do with it—can make...

Revival is by nature rarely respectable, usually unpredictable, and often messy. There may be...

Sir Lionel Luckhoo is a defense attorney listed in the 1990 Guinness Book of World Records as the...

Isaiah had gotten off to a pretty good start in ministry. He had a good reputation and was making...

Ian Thomas is a friend of mine, a great Bible teacher. And I love what Ian Thomas had to say about...

My favorite short story is “The Bet,” by Anton Chekhov, a Russian writer of the last half of the...

The reason there is so much misery in marriage is not that husbands and wives seek their own...

Amy Carmichael has beautifully bound together in her poem the two ancient concepts of time. One,...