Sermons on John

The 6-year-old kids in their Sunday School class were re-enacting the story of the birth of Jesus. The teacher wanted them to stage it themselves based on their own made-up script, so it was certainly interesting. They had three Marys, two Josephs, six shepherds, two wise guys and one boy who played the cow. Another boy decided he would be the doctor who would deliver the baby. The teacher consented, so the little doctor went back behind the manger, picked up the doll and carefully wrapped him in...

Is religion relevant? Many people apparently do not think so. They don’t believe religion is necessary because they are convinced that all anyone really needs in life can be obtained through science and technology. For them, any attention given to spiritual matters is a waste of time.

God has posted His traffic signs everywhere we look: in the universe, in Scripture, even within our own hearts. Yet we persist in disregarding his directions. Still, God does not give us what we deserve. He has drenched His world in grace. It has no end. It knows no limits. It empowers this life and enables us to live the next. God offers second chances, like a soup kitchen offers meals to everyone who asks.

We all love to beat up on Peter. He is unbridled, braggadocios, embarrassingly bold and at times violent. He is also a man who was greatly used of God: to preach at Pentecost, to lead the Church at Jerusalem, to minister to the Church at Rome, to minister to suffering saints in Asia Minor.

I am touched by the love of God. When I see the suffering of so many in this tortured world of ours, I am prone to ask myself, “Where is there even an iota of justice?” But I rarely ask myself, “Where is God?” I know God is there and He is in love with His world. He has promised his presence and that is adequate for me, but He has declared His love in the most simplistic and proverbial way. God loves sparrows. And if sparrows, why not us? Sparrows in Jesus’ day were sold for a penny, yet not one...

How can we have justice and forgiveness at the same time?

Many Americans consider the worst sin to be intolerance.

In almost every area of human endeavor it is understood and usually expected that people will make every effort to move upward toward higher and higher levels of standing and status in their various activities. In the world of work as well as in our personal financial condition, the desired direction is always upward.

John 17:1-8,13 Paul Miller, the author of Love Walked Among Us, begins teaching seminars by writing these words on a flip chart: I do nothing on my own. I can only do what I see my dad doing. He asks for analysis. In the age of Oprah and Dr. Phil, the armchair psychologists’ answers com