One of my prized possessions is the Bible that belonged to my grandfather. It was a 1934 Thompson Chain Reference Bible. And I love reading the notes in the margin. I love seeing the verses that he underlined. Although the Book of Daniel, almost [...]

It's one of my earliest memories, five years old, give or take. I was at my grandparents' home, most precious people on the planet. Oh, makes me smile thinking about them. They had a home on the Mississippi River, Fridley, Minnesota, and so you [...]

When I was 22, newly married, Laura and I went to grad school. I had already taken a ton of theology undergrad, so I decided to carb load on psychology. Now listen, if all truth is God's truth and every ology is a branch of theology, so I love [...]

Against All Odds starts today. That is the word of the Lord. I've had my fair share of embarrassing moments. One of them happened in my sophomore season of high school. We weren't even scrimmaging, we were just running what we called suicides, [...]

I was knee high to a grasshopper, just a little guy, and our family took a trip to Lake Itasca State Park in Minnesota. It is where the Mississippi River originates. You can actually cross it on stepping stones. I'll show you a picture. It's only a [...]

"Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling. Everything's going your way". That was my alarm clock as a kid. My mom would walk into my room and wake me up with that song. I thought she wrote it. I [...]

"How did you go bankrupt"? That's the question that Ernest Hemingway asked in one of his novels. And the rather famous answer: "Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly". That's how you go bankrupt. That also how you become financially [...]

What's really happening when what's happening is happening? That question has ricocheted through my mind, through my soul, hundreds of times this year. Now, it started earlier this year. I was in Miami, mid-winter. That's the right time to be in [...]

Hey, I wanna just do something that we don't always do at the beginning of a message, but it takes hundreds of volunteers to pull off a weekend at National Community Church. And I wanna shout-out some of our production folks. I think we got JT and [...]

Last Sunday, I had the joy of preaching at one of our network churches, Hopeville in Baltimore. Pastor Joshua Symonette was a campus pastor here for eight years. And I told him I have a, like Michael Jordan, the love of the game clause in my [...]

On December 10th, 1970, Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the world food supply. If you've never heard of him, you're not alone. Most agronomists fly under the radar. Dr. Borlaug studied plant pathology at the [...]

If you wanna repeat history, do it the way it's always been done. If you wanna make history, dare to be different. In 1964, a teenager named Dick Fosbury revolutionized the sport of high jumping. The conventional method of jumping over the bar was [...]

A young man was working in the grocery store in the produce section when a woman walked in and asked, get this, for half a head of lettuce. He wasn't sure what to do so he said, "Lemme go talk to my manager". Went and found his manager and [...]

Laura and I have lived on Capitol Hill for 27 years. Last week we did something that we have never done. We climbed 343 steps to the top of the Capitol Dome. Is it okay if I do a little show and tell this weekend? Here's a shot of the rotunda top [...]

Life is unfair. Then we die. God bless. That might be the most depressing start to any sermon I've preached in 27 years. Life is unfair; then we die. The bad news is it's true. The good news? It's a half truth. We were brought up on fairytales that [...]

He could barely keep His eyes open, outta gas, exhausted. Sound asleep the second His head hit that pillow. In His dream, He was in a boat on the sea of Galilee. In His dream a storm started to toss that boat like a bathtub toy. So full of water, it [...]

In 1963, Israeli archeologists were excavating Herod the Great's palace at Masada. As they dug, they found ancient remains, skeletal remains, but the most curious discovery was a jar with seeds perfectly preserved in inside of it. Radiocarbon dating [...]

Many years ago, I spent a week in the Galapagos Islands with a mission team from this church. It's an archipelago of islands about 500 miles off the coast of Ecuador, and, in my opinion, closest thing to the Garden of Eden left on Earth. Much of [...]

20 years ago I took some of our team to a conference in California. That weekend we visited Mosaic Church, and Erwin McManus was one of my favorite communicators, one of my favorite writers. So I was stoked, super excited. We get into the service [...]

Several decades ago a social psychologist named John Bargh designed a study about the power of priming. It involved a scrambled-sentence test. One version was primed with rude words, the other version primed with polite words. Now, the students [...]

On August 22nd, 1851, the New York Yacht Club won the inaugural America's Cup. It was a 53-mile regatta around the Isle of Wright. That New York Yacht club successfully defended their title 26 times. They held the title for 132 years. It was the [...]

I own a sport coat, see! Ah, what a joy to be together? Aren't you grateful? God gives us two families, biological family, and a spiritual family. And I wanna say just a happy Easter to our family, and it's an open invitation. If you're a guest, [...]

In 1932, a theoretical physicist named Werner Heisenberg won the Nobel prize for a groundbreaking discovery in the field of quantum mechanics. For hundreds of years, physicists believed in a clockwork universe that was predictable and measurable and [...]

Over the course of 1500 years, 40 human authors inspired by the spirit of God. They were farmers and fishermen. They were poets and politicians. They were doctors and tax collectors and kings. They wrote 66 books, in three languages, on three [...]

On October 18, 1968, a 22 year-old long jumper named Bob Beamon took 19 strides, planted his right foot, flew more than six feet into the air, threw his arms behind him, and landed in a large sandbox. The whole thing took less than six seconds, but [...]

Some of you, I see some blue sweatshirts, and that tells me that you're double dipping. How many were out at the Easter sunrise this morning? Look at that. You are twice as spiritual as the rest of us. Hey, do we have a couple of pictures, I wonder? [...]

The first thing you notice is his beard. It's long, it's thick, it's white. It covers half of his weathered face. His eyes are closed like a blackout curtain. Tears trickle down his cheeks, but you're not sure why. Tears of joy or tears of sorrow? [...]

"What comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you". A.W. Tozer said that. A little boy was drawing a picture one day, and his father asked him what he was drawing, the little boy said, "I'm drawing a [...]

On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 took off from Kennedy Space Center, the mission was a lunar landing, but if you've seen the film by the same name, you know that mission was aborted because of the failed oxygen tank. But before that malfunction, before [...]

"Take this kiss upon the brow. And in parting from you now, thus much let me avow. You are not wrong, who deem that my days have been a dream Yet if hope has flown away in a night, or in a day, in a vision, or in none, is it therefore less [...]

On the occasion of his 51st birthday, Jackson Brown decided to take inventory of his life by jotting down some life lessons. That exercise, a healthy exercise, by the way, turned into a little book called "Live and Learn and Pass It On". [...]

In the summer of 1799, Napoleon's grand army marched into Egypt. They were building fortifications in the city of Rosetta when soldiers unearthed a rock that we know as the Rosetta Stone. Inscribed on that stone were three languages, hieroglyphics, [...]

On the occasion of our 15th anniversary, Lora and I celebrated with a trip to Rome. We toured the Coliseum, climbed the Spanish steps, tossed a coin over our shoulder into the Trevi fountain. Lot of amazing moments, but I think the highlight may [...]

In the fall of 1516, a 32 year-old theology professor named Martin Luther was teaching through the Book of Romans at the University of Wittenberg. He got to Romans 1:17, the just shall live by faith, and he had a revelation that turned into [...]

Good morning. I flew in from Colorado yesterday. So I'm acclimatizing to sea level, couple of seconds late on the pulpit, we'll get back in shape. It's so good to see you today. In fact, I just bless you in Jesus' name. So glad you're here, in fact, [...]

...At 11:14am, in what would've been the middle of my message. Our lives have revolved around her ever since, for which we are grateful. But fortunately, that weekend we had someone on deck, Dick Foth, who pitch hit for Pastor Mark. The tables have [...]

If you're in the house this weekend, it feels like you're sitting still, and you are, but you aren't. All of us, including those online, are on a planet that is spinning around its axis at a thousand miles per hour. But, we're not just spinning. We [...]

When I was in high school, I drove a car affectionately referred to as the Batmobile. Batterson, Batmobile. But don't let the name fool you. It was a 1984 Dodge Colt, black and white, but I got into fender bender. Only part we could find for that [...]

Warm welcome to National Community Church. You are not here by accident. Even if it's your first time, in person, online, "Welcome Home". I hope you feel seen, heard, loved, big hug today, amen? Psalm 92:13, "The righteous will [...]

On June 16th, 1991, the Chicago Bulls were playing the New York Knicks. I grew up in the Chicago area, I think I watched every game that Jordan played, because it would be a sin of omission not to. But I didn't just watch those games, after those [...]

On Wednesday of this week, the Dow Jones Industrial dropped 1,164 points. On that same day, a survey of CEOs found that 60% expect a recession sooner than later. The consumer confidence index is the lowest it's been in five years. Only 18% of [...]

Around the turn of the 20th century, a psychologist named Alfred Adler coined something called the theory of compensation. Adler believed that what we perceive to be disadvantages often proved to be incognito advantages, because they forced us to [...]

In 2002, Daniel Kahneman was awarded a Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work in the field of behavioral economics. When he received the award, Kahneman wrote a letter to the Nobel Committee detailing a defining moment in his life. In 1942, his [...]

On a Sunday morning in 1851, during a church service a little bit like this, a 40-year-old mother of seven, Harriet Beecher Stowe, had a vision of a slave being beaten to death. That vision left her so shaken, that she would hardly keep from [...]

I'm so spent. I'm so tired. It feels like I'm running on empty, just not bouncing back. My head is foggy. My heart is irritated. Lord, help me. Those were the words that I wrote in my journal November 11 of last year. I was in Lakeland, Florida. It [...]

Good morning. Can I let you in on a little secret? Revival starts tomorrow. I got such a clear word coming into these days of revival. And the Lord said what I do in 2022 is about 2023. So Pastor Chris, when you get a word and it says that God is [...]

On August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and he did more than deliver a speech, he delivered a dream. In the middle of that speech, there was a moment when the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson said, [...]

I am gonna miss that trailer. In the fall of 1516, a 32 year old theology professor named Martin Luther was teaching through the book of Romans at the university of Wittenberg. Luther got to Romans 1:17, "The just shall live by faith". And [...]

On September 7th, 1892, a boxer named "Gentleman" Jim Corbett got into the ring with arguably the greatest boxer of all time, John L. Sullivan, was the last heavyweight champion of bare knuckle boxing, and the first heavyweight champion of [...]

That was some easy listening, right? I was starting to get my groove on, almost ready to churn the butter. In 1983, an engineer named Lauren Whitehead published an article in the American Journal of Physics, titled Domino Chain Reaction, knock over [...]