Hendrickson Publishers - Sundays Best: Messages from Todays Most Outstanding Christian Leaders

It happens every Sunday. Week after week in thousands of churches across the globe someone stands up to preach a sermon. Regardless of church locationfrom the hollers of Appalachia, to uptown Manhattan, to the slums of Nairobi or the white sands of Costa Ricaand regardless of worship styleBaptist, Anglican, Pentecostal, or Lutheranyou can usually count on one common element of worship: the sermon. Someone will stand up before the congregation and proclaim the word of the Lord.

We often take it for granted, but the sermon is actually a rare and daring art form. Ponder this for a moment: What is a sermon? Its a combination of Bible study, theological treatise, creative essay, private devotional, pastoral encouragement, spiritual challenge, and at times old-fashioned storytelling. As a mode of communication, theres nothing quite like it. But for the follower of Jesus, sermons are also a key component in our relationship with Christ. According to the apostle Paul, Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). In other words, many of us started following Jesus through the same process: Someone wrote and then preached a sermon; God used it to touch our hearts; and Christ brought us from death to life. What made the difference? The power of the Holy Spirit worked through the humble, bold, loving act of someone who opened Gods Word to us.

That rich tradition of changing lives through a sermon continues in this book. Weve collected twenty sermons from some of our best living preachers. Theres a rich diversity of voices and preaching styles in this volume. John Ortberg combines profound truths with engaging (and often hilarious) stories. Timothy Keller humbly displays theological and intellectual brilliance. Craig Groeschel exudes authenticity as he shares his personal struggle between doubt and faith. Francis Chan practically bleeds all over the page with his heart-pumping passion for Christ. Mark Dever leads us through a specific biblical theme (the purpose of the church) with theological clarity and authority. Someone has said that preaching involves Gods truth coming through a preachers personality. In that sense, this book contains a rich tapestry of different personalities all declaring Gods Word.

Thats why this book doesnt offer vague, detached, generic spiritual messages. Each sermon presents a unique man or woman who is personally engaged with following Christ. For example, Joni Eareckson Tada opens her sermon with a tender story about two high school girls (Joni and her best friend) who comfort each other after a crushing loss in a field hockey game. A few months later Joni dove off a dock and broke her neck. How does a human being live confined to a wheelchair, permanently paralyzed from the shoulders down? How did Joni ever come to the conclusion that God is good? Joni opens her heart and shares a journey from crushing pain to unshakable hope. In one sense, every sermon in this book offers a similar invitation from some of our finest Bible teachers. Like Joni, they seem to say: Get a cup of coffee and pull up a chair. I have something to share with you that will change your life. So let me open my heart and show you what Ive been learning from Gods Word.

But this personal angle doesnt lead to a mere venting of personal opinions. Each sermon has been selected to help you treasure Gods Word in your heart (see Ps. 119:11). Thats the overriding passion behind each sermon and each preacher: to draw forth and then display the beauty of Scripture, especially the beauty of one Bible passage or one larger biblical theme. In this sense, all of the preachers in this book act like master diamond cutters, carefully handling Bible passages in their hand, exploring every angle and line with love and awe. For instance, many people can quote Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose, but that verse often gets ripped out of its original context and meaning. Timothy Keller takes that beautiful verse and the surrounding context, carefully holds it up to the light, as he turns it this way and that way, so we can see the value of the gospel reflected at each turn.

Of course the preachers in this book arent just scholars or even experts. Scholars and experts often live in ivory towers, far removed from people who struggle to follow Jesus. The preachers in this book are students of the Word, but theyre also students of the human heart. Theyre committed to what the ancient church called the cure of souls. Most of them pastor churches or run ministries that help ordinary people who battle doubt, grief, trials, discouragement, and spiritual entropy. As Joseph Stowell says in his sermon, If [Jesus] had waited for only perfect people to get involved, hed still be doing it all by himself. But thank God that Jesus isnt just waiting to use perfect people. As a result, this book addresses the spiritual needs of ordinary Christiansthose deeply loved and deeply flawed people who hunger and thirst for Gods righteousness (see Matt. 5:6).

Thankfully, these sermons also outline practical steps for ordinary Christians. For example, Jill Briscoes teaching on the parable of the Good Samaritan motivates us to display Christlike compassion for people who have fallen into the ditches of life. Jeffrey Arthurs exposes our tendency to avoid rather than confess our sin. Josh Harris shows us how to combat the subtle forms of greed that often lurk in the depths of our hearts. John Ortberg helps us identify and overcome our habitual practice of spiritual entropy. Based on these examples, the practical steps in these sermons arent necessarily easy steps. Many of these sermons will challenge our assumptions about the spiritual journey with Christ. God may use these messages to stretch us to greater growth and loveand that stretching process sometimes feels uncomfortable.

But as these sermons stretch us in different ways, they also lead us to the same place: the beauty, provision and power of Christ. Jesus himself claimed that every passage of the Bible eventually led to him (see John 5:39). So although the chapters in this book may range over many biblical booksNumbers, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Romans, and 1 Corinthians to name a fewthey bring us back to Christ. As Tim Keller reminds us, To be a Christian is to become passionately in love with the character of Jesus.... [God] is making you like him. Hell give you Christs incredible compassion and courage.