As we look at the hard sayings of Jesus, we see in this passage that Jesus gives us a radical principle of truthfulness. The whole Bible is built on covenants, public promises, observed words. So what does Jesus mean when he says to let your “yes” b...
We’re looking at the most strange, enigmatic, perplexing things Jesus ever said. This is one of them. People always blink a bit when they read it. But here, Jesus is actually teaching us about power to change. He’s telling us something extremely pra...
In this interview from November 2019, Rebecca McLaughlin talks about some of the inspiration for writing her book Confronting Christianity and some of the insight she's gained in her life that led her to address the hardest questions that Christians...
When Jesus is asked by his disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray,” he tells them a story and puts forth an approach that runs against common sense and against what other religions say about prayer. In the story, a man who’s in bed at midnight gives brea...
Today on Gospel in Life we're sharing a special worship service of praise to God for Tim Keller’s life and ministry. The memorial took place on August 15, 2023 at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. To access the service program or view a vid...
If Jesus was a pastor, I don’t think his church would’ve grown very fast. Any leader of a movement wants to make it easy for people to enter. But Jesus acts in a completely different way. People come and say, “I want to join up,” and Jesus says, “Get...
Sometimes when you read Jesus’ teachings, you feel like you’ve gotten on a horse that’s much too big and much too fast for you. When you read what Jesus says in Luke 12, you have nothing but lightning and blood, but in the center of this teaching is...
In Matthew 11, Jesus talks about the kingdom of God, and he uses the word “violence.” That’s what the Greek word means. There’s no way around it. The context is Jesus telling us about John the Baptist, who realized the kingdom of heaven is real. The...
Jesus said an awful lot of hard things. And in the story of the rich young ruler, Jesus says two hard things: he says our understanding of riches and our understanding of moral goodness are wrong. The rich young ruler is not only rich, but he’s also...
In this cultural moment, when our non-Christian friends look at the Christian faith, they often see a history of racism, an anti-intellectual mindset, homophobia, and the denigration of women. It's tempting to think that the best thing Christians ca...
For a person to go from no faith to faith it takes at least four things. There has to be 1) sustained attention, 2) some attraction, 3) a demonstration, and 4) an explanation. I’m going to give a couple ideas on three of these four things. This tal...
The first 30 years of my ministry life, I spent most of my time saying, “You’ve got to care about the poor. You’ve got to do justice. You can’t just do word—you’ve got to do deed.” The last 10 years of my ministry life in New York City, everybody wan...
If you’re reading through the book of Isaiah, you get to this passage and you’re shocked. Up until now, Isaiah indicates that God’s going to send a great king to put things right in the world. Then Isaiah starts talking about a servant. But then, her...
The great enemy of the human race is death. And we all have to face it. No matter how young you are, no matter how your life’s been going up to now, I can say, without fear of contradiction, that there is a lot of death in your future. And therefore...
We’re looking at the passage that Martin Luther thinks is the greatest single place in the Bible that explains the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he might be right, because it’s talking about three great gospel words. The three great gospel words are r...
