In 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, Paul plays a game of theological “What If.” What if, he asks, God did not raise Jesus from the dead? What if Jesus died and never rose again? This text answers that question by laying out three reasons Christians lead hopeless lives if Christ is not raised. And in the process,…

This sermon is the first in a six week series through 1 Corinthians 15. Chapter 15 is the third longest chapter in the New Testament (only Luke 1 and 22 are longer). You could say the length of the chapter matches the importance of what it teaches! Without the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,…

“If it is possible,” Paul wrote in Romans 12:18, “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Yet Paul knew from personal experience that sometimes it isn’t possible to live at peace with everyone. Sometimes people hate us no matter how hard we try to live at peace with them. That’s…

One of the most important themes in the first four chapters of Daniel is that God is Sovereign – His complete supremacy extends over every kingdom of man. Chapter 5 continues this theme by extending it to the judgement of sin. Not only is the Lord the ultimate King-Maker; He is also the Ultimate Judge.…

Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame Yankees catcher, supposedly said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” That’s not bad advice when it comes to Daniel 4. This chapter is one of those “fork in the road” passages that presses us to make a life-determining choice. And with all due respect…

We tend to think of courage as something reserved for heroic people – the firefighter rushing into a burning house or the soldier who refuses to abandon his post. But in Daniel 3, we see that disciples like us need courage, too – we need spiritual courage to live for Jesus Christ. In this famous…

Philosophers like to debate the nature of human history. Some argue that history is cyclical – that it endlessly repeats itself through the centuries – while others say history is progressive – that the human enterprise is getting better and better all the time. Some argue for a form of determinism in which history is…

Romans 12:2 warns that we must not be conformed to the pattern of this world. This is no idle warning. On the contrary – divided loyalty is one of the biggest challenges we face as we strive to live godly lives in an ungodly world. In today’s sermon, we will look at how Daniel faced…

“How do we live Godly lives in such an ungodly world?” Followers of Jesus have been asking themselves this question for centuries – and Daniel is an essential part of the answer. In this sermon, we introduce a fourteen week series in Daniel by giving an overview of three themes that dominate this timely Old…

“You are what you eat!” At least that’s what the nutritionists tell us. And it certainly makes sense that what we put into our bodies will have a lasting effect on our physical health. But it turns out this principle also applies to our spiritual health – what we put into our minds and spirits…