The book of Hebrews is written to people who are so beaten down with troubles that they’re ready to give up. The writer is trying to give the readers what they need to handle the brutal realities of life in this world. In Hebrews 11, he gives us something that helps us handle anything. If you have it, you can handle absolutely anything life throws …

When modern people hear that God requires blood to turn aside his wrath from sin, it sounds offensive. It sounds disgusting, primitive, obscene. Christianity has sometimes been called the religion of the slaughterhouse. It doesn’t seem to be what we need in a world that’s filled with blood and violence. But Jesus saves through his blood. And the bo…

Jesus Christ did not come to start a new religion. He didn’t come to start the best religion. He came to end religion. Every religion has its extremists. Religion causes an enormous amount of conflict and strife in this world. What are we going to do about it? To embrace Jesus Christ is to end religion, is to move away from all religion. There are …

To be able to handle life, there’s nothing more practical than to know that Jesus is your advocate. This isn’t just an abstract doctrinal issue. Because this whole book of Hebrews is written not as a theological treatise, but as a piece of intense pastoral counseling. So let’s ask three questions: 1) why do we need an advocate? 2) how is Jesus Chri…

The book of Hebrews is telling us we’ll never make it through life without counseling—daily counseling. A main theme of Hebrews is that life in this world is a journey, spiritually speaking, through a wilderness. In verse 13, it says the only way we’re going to get through it is with this little word: the Greek word, parakaleō. It’s often translate…

Hebrews is written to first-century, urban people who are so weary with troubles and difficulties that they’re in danger of giving up. What do they need? It’s pretty obvious from this passage what the writer is trying to get across: because eight times in eleven verses we see the word “rest.” It’s not just a crucial message for them, but for us too…

The book of Hebrews is written to a group of urban, first-century Christians who were struggling with fear and discouragement because their lives were so filled with troubles. The question this book asks is if God loves us so much, why are our lives so hard? In almost every passage, the answer it gives is that fear and discouragement can be dealt w…

If God is so committed to our joy and our glory, if he loves us so much, why is our life so hard? That’s what the book of Hebrews is about and the answer, in a nutshell, is life is a journey. It’s a journey from weariness into rest. It’s a journey from alienation into the presence of God. It’s a journey from isolation into the city of God. And the …

Psalm 126 has always helped me. It has never filled my soul with glory. It has always made me quiet and reflective. Because it’s a perfect overview of the emotional life that the life of faith brings. You’re going to weep. In this world, you will weep. But how are you weeping? What are you doing with your sorrows? They need to be sown. They need to…

Jesus tells his disciples that no one will take away their joy. Now that’s pretty amazing. He knows to whom he is talking. He is speaking to men who are going to be persecuted. They’re going to be robbed of everything they own. They’re going to be tortured. They’re going to be put to death. The Bible says there is a joy that is not subject to circu…

Jesus was about to come into Joseph’s life, and Joseph thought he was doing the right thing to arrange things so it wouldn’t happen. Joseph was going to dismiss Mary quietly. But the angel comes to Joseph and says, “Your problem is you’re a coward. Do not be afraid.” This passage shows us that you can’t be a Christian unless you have courage. Or pu…

The meaning of Christmas is that God got flesh and blood. In Jesus Christ the holy and transcendent God became really and fully and truly human. He shared in our humanity. I submit to you that the traditional, moralistic religion has completely forgotten this whole idea. In fact, I submit to you that if you and I really undertstood the fact that Je…

In the Christmas stories, a theme that’s more important than you might think is the theme of exile and home. The book of Isaiah is filled with prophecies about a future messianic age brought by a future messianic king who would put all things right. Because Christians believe that messianic king was Jesus, we’re looking at these prophecies to help …

The themes of Christmas, if grasped, are life-transforming. We’re looking at the book of Isaiah, at the prophesies of the messiah. Because Christians believe the messianic king that Isaiah prophesied was Jesus, we believe these prophecies help us understand the richness of the meaning of Christmas and who Jesus is. Isaiah 11 tells us three things a…

What does Christmas mean? The Old Testament book of Isaiah helps us come to grips with the riches of Christmas. If I could put it in one sentence, it tells us that Christmas means the unexpected, ultimate light comes through the God-man, which can only be received by grace. Let’s look at it: Christmas means 1) God does something unexpected, 2) the …

The end of a worship service is always about mission. A minister says, “Let us go forth to serve the world as those who love our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Then the people say, “Thanks be to God.” Do you realize how significant this is? You are being sent out into the world to give your life in service, now reshaped by the knowledge that Jesus…

What is a benediction? Is it a little perfunctory ceremony that helps everybody know it’s time to find your purse and get ready to leave? No. I’d like to show you tonight that the benediction is the meaning of your whole life. If you understand the benediction, when it’s said to you, your whole life should flash before your eyes. A benediction is a…

This is a sermon on how to listen to sermons. Psalm 19 is a great Psalm, and it can teach us a lot about what it means to listen to the Scripture be read and taught. How do we listen to the Scripture read and taught? We’re going to learn three things here: 1) we need a real word from God, 2) why we need that word, and 3) how to receive that word. T…

Every week we gather for worship, and we move through the same order of service. But after a while, do we realize what we’re doing? We’re going to look at each of the elements of our services, so we can understand them and catch ourselves when we’re going through the motions. This week let’s look at the call to worship: what does it mean to be call…

Psalm 103 is about how to handle life in general. It, in a sense, gives you the key approach to handle all of life’s circumstances, all of life’s situations, no matter what they are. And at first, this key feels anticlimactic. What does it say the whole problem of our hearts is? That we need to praise the Lord with our entire souls. How? By not for…

If we’ve experienced God as a God of grace, how does that change our attitude toward money? The early church was an economic subculture that was radically different from the culture around it. In fact wherever the early church is described, we see the Christians’ drastic generosity—so drastic that it seemed unreasonable to those outside the church.…

Guilt and shame, having your heart broken under a sense of failure and general unworthiness—I feel this is probably more rampant in places like New York than anywhere else. Do you know why? Because we have so many successful people in New York, people who, in many ways are driven more acutely than other people by this fear of failure or unworthines…

Your first sound, our first sound, is a wail of fear. The baby comes out saying, “Why is it so cold? Who has a finger down my mouth? Who’s grabbing me? What’s going on?” That’s the way you come into the world. Fear, therefore, is maybe the most primal of all emotions. In Psalm 3, David has something to be afraid of. He has literal armies after him,…

What do you do with your tears? This is a psalm about weeping, about suffering, about grief. If you were to break the 150 psalms into categories, one of the categories will will be lamentations: psalms of tears, psalms of weeping and grieving. There are many other kinds of psalms, but I’ll tell you, every commentator says there are more lamentation…

The anger, the fear, the hostility, the rawness, the white heat of the emotions expressed in the Psalms really just disturb people today. You look at it, and you say, “What is that doing in the Bible?” The answer is the psalmists are not discussing feelings, and they’re not expressing feelings. They’re praying their feelings. They’re processing the…