God Can Be Trusted

Billy Graham spoke at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance service held on Sept. 14, 2001, at the National Cathedral in Washington. Near the beginning of his message, he reminded the nation: "No matter how hard we try, words simply cannot express the horror, shock and revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation on Tuesday morning. Sept. 11 will go down in our history as a day to remember."

Leading Today: Search and Rescue

America's rugged mountain peaks are besieged each year by millions of would-be conquerors-modern day wilderness warriors armed with freeze-dried food, sleeping bags, canteens, sunglasses, maps and bug repellent. These hearty survivalists serve as their own pack mules, a virtual mini-mart on two legs.

Preacher to Preacher: Why Do We Do It?

If you have been to seminary, you've most likely gone through a three-year, graduate-level course of studies with at least two unfamiliar languages, history, philosophy, hermeneutics, homiletics, counseling and much more. Have you ever thought you could have given the same period of time and almost certainly multiplied your earnings, had more control over your personal life, taken less abuse and probably had more professional respect as a lawyer, physical therapist, dentist or as another type of professional?

The Slingshot Effect: How Disappointments Double as Divine Appointments

Around the turn of the 20th century, a pioneering psychologist named Alfred Adler proposed the counterintuitive theory of compensation. Adler believed that perceived disadvantages often prove to be disguised advantages because they force us to develop attitudes and abilities that would have otherwise gone undiscovered. It's only as we compensate for those disadvantages that our greatest gifts are revealed.

Past Masters: Mordecai Ham: The Southern Revivalist

There had been a persistent rumor around town about a particular house located across the road from one of the local high schools and how it had become a den of iniquity. A preacher had been making a big deal about it and the fact that sexual immorality was rampant in the area, particularly among young people. One version of the tale had it that some of the high school students were planning some kind of demonstration out at the makeshift tabernacle, where the old preacher was railing against the sins of the city. The whole thing finally convinced one previously reluctant young man to go out to one of the revival meetings to check out things for himself.

The Reasons We Preach: Press the Applicational Force of the Text

Why do we preach? Twenty centuries of Christianity have been so branded by preaching that we rarely question its place or purpose. Yet, if we consistently engage in an endeavor that requires such a costly investment from churches and pastors, we ought to articulate clear reasons for doing it. Everett Wilson claims: "Preaching is the most undemocratic of routines. Week in, week out, people come and listen for a half-hour at a time to someone [similar to] themselves. They do not interrupt; they do not walk out. They can't switch channels. Sometimes the speaker scolds them, and they sit still for it.

Preaching Points: Retelling the Old, Old Story

Most sermons built around a biblical, narrative passage could profit from a fresh suit of clothes. I do not say this because I believe the Bible account should be ignored when we are building a story, but because generally speaking we are so used to the story as it appears in the biblical text that merely to repeat the tale as we know it does not often intrigue the listener as much as we might wish.

The Message of the Cross

Hanging inside the Manchester City Art Gallery is the painting by Holman Hunt titled The Shadow of Death. The painting depicts the inside of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth. Stripped to the waist, Jesus stands by a wooden trestle on which He has put down His saw. He lifts His eyes toward heaven, and the look on His face is one of pain, ecstasy or both. He stretches, raising both arms above His head. As He does so, the evening sunlight streaming through the open door casts a dark shadow in the form of a cross on the wall behind Him, where His tool rack looks like a horizontal bar on which His hands have been crucified. The tools remind us of the fateful hammer and nails.