1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in w...
In the mid-nineteenth century Charles Deems was a Methodist minister concerned about the unchurched in New York City. He persuaded Commodore Vanderbilt to underwrite the effort. Vanderbilt bought Deem...
Rick is the co-author of The Externally Focused Church and 60 Simple Things Every Pastor Should Know, and his newest book is Living a Life on Loan. He was recently interviewed by Preaching editor Mich...
Expectation Corner A little book, long out of print, called Expectation Corner, tells of a king who prepared a city for some of his poor subjects. Not far away he constructed a large storehouse where ...
One day the great Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo happened to overhear a group of people admiring his Pietà, a statue of Christ on His mother's knees after His death on the cross. One man attr...
Dear Mom, Scoutmaster Webb told us to write our parents in case you heard about the flood and got worried. ...
In his book Falling in Love with Prayer (NexGen), Mike MacIntosh writes: "When I was a teenager I wanted so much to be accepted by my peers, and I decided that a foul mouth was a way to act like a man...
In his book The Big Idea (Zondervan), pastor Dave Ferguson talks about how his church has taken the homiletical concept of a single driving idea for the sermon and extended that across the entire teac...
Karl Stegall tells of two brothers who entered the first grade. One said he was born January 1, 1984. The other said he was born April 4, 1984. "That is impossible," said the teacher. "No," replied th...
The week before Easter in Pampanga province in the Philippines, volunteers are crucified. Each remains on the cross for only a few minutes. The list of volunteers is so long that one must wait at leas...
Driving through Austria, a tourist saw a policeman in the village ahead. He slowed down. Then He saw it was not a policeman but a life-size picture of a policeman. Apparently they couldn't afford an a...
As everyone who has a bird feeder knows, a squirrel is very persistent in raiding the bird feeder. One scares them away only to have them return in minutes. Those who have studied squirrels say that t...
No Strings Eugene Cernan, one of the astronauts who enjoyed the exciting adventure of walking on the moon said with wonder, "Our world appears big and beautiful, all blue and white! You can see from t...
Robberies are not unusual, but this one is. A sketch by artist Salvador Dali has been stolen from the men's prison at Riker's Island. The sketch is of Jesus Christ on the cross....
Jack has died, so his lawyer is standing before the family and reads out Jack's Last Will and Testament. "To my dear wife Esther, I leave the house, 50 acres of land, and 1 million dollars." "To my ...
Sometimes the decision to do nothing is wise. But you can't make a career of doing nothing. Freddie Fulcrum weighed everything too carefully. He would say, "on the one hand… but then, on the ...
Gospel musician Hilding Halverson told of overhearing a conversation between his son and two other little boys. The youngsters were bragging about their dads. One boy said proudly, "My dad knows the...
Read reformer Martin Luther's compelling meditation on the question of who really killed Christ....
In a sermon by Calvin Miller, he delivered this message: “I doubt if I would even stop to pick up a penny, and yet that which was not to be treasured by me was clearly celebrated by the child. I have ...