Sermon Central
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Jim Butcher
Contributing sermons since Jan 1, 2000
Newest Sermons
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What Does The Father Want From Us?
Contributed on Feb 9, 2026
Is this parable just a straight evangelism message or is there something more than Jesus is really after here?
ANOTHER PRODIGAL SON SERMON: The traditional sermon approach to this passage misses half the story. - Luke 15:11-32. - Let’s begin with the way this parable is normally preached. - This is a great evangelism sermon. It speaks of a son walking away from his father. It speaks of enjoying the high ...read more
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A Simple Metaphor Jesus Uses That Is Surprisingly Complicated
Contributed on Jan 27, 2026
Jesus speaks here about "salt." It seems a simple word picture but it's more complicated than it first appears. What is Jesus trying to teach us here?
- I’m going to take a deep dive into the words of Jesus here about salt. - At one level, this seems a simple metaphor. But I have long been frustrated that the actual words used here create some confusion. I leave with more questions than answers. Thus, I want to use this as an opportunity to dig ...read more
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Why Is The Kingdom Open To The ‘least Of These’?
Contributed on Jan 20, 2026
We are familiar with Jesus talking about "the least of these," but why are they a target of the Kingdom? This parable gives us insight into that question.
AN INTERESTING QUESTION: How did we get to the place where “the least of these” is such a focus of the Kingdom? - Luke 14:12-15. - You are probably tired of hearing me repeat that important interpretation principle: context is key. - Most of you fully know what I mean but for anyone visiting, let ...read more
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A Most Unusual Parable
Contributed on Jan 13, 2026
Why does this parable sound more like a life hack than a parable?
- Some life hacks, according to people online (I haven’t tried these): - "For chores that I don't like to do (like washing a big pile of dishes), I set a timer for four minutes and tell myself I will do it for four minutes, and after the time goes off, I can stop if I want to. Just giving ...read more
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Five Fundamentals Of Jesus’ Relationship With Israel
Contributed on Dec 16, 2025
This passage closes out this section and gives us five insights into Jesus' troubled relationship with Israel.
- This passage provides a nice coda to the section that we have been working through. When taken as a whole, I think these few verses recenter us to the heart of who Jesus was and what He was doing. In particular, this passage highlights Jesus’ relationship with Israel. Of course, that is a ...read more
Newest Sermon Series
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How You Should Pray: Embracing The Lord's Prayer
Contributed on Apr 9, 2025
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Ezekiel
Contributed on Mar 11, 2024
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Re-Creation
Contributed on Jan 24, 2024
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The Greatest Gospel Explanation Ever
Contributed on Nov 7, 2023
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How To Disagree
Contributed on Sep 15, 2023
Newest Sermon Illustrations
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Before The Water
Contributed on Nov 15, 2018
Scott Harrison, founder of charity:water, shares this story: "I recently had the chance to visit charity:water's very first project. It was a well that we had funded on my thirty-first birthday and then built in the IDP camp of Bobi, Uganda. "The sprawling camp of 31,000 people had cleared out, ...read more
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It’s Only A White Collar Crime?
Contributed on Oct 16, 2018
C.S. Lewis died in 1963, but a comment in one of his writings speaks directly to the current opioid crisis. Lewis wrote: “The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its ...read more
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Rescue
Contributed on Oct 16, 2018
I am really struck by the lyrics of Lauren Daigle’s recent song “Rescue.” The singer is speaking from God’s perspective and says: “I hear the whisper underneath your breath I hear you whisper, you have nothing left I will send out an army to find you In the middle of the darkest night It’s true, ...read more
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What Khris Davis Did That No One Has Ever Done Before
Contributed on Oct 16, 2018
Khris Davis is an outfielder for the Oakland Athletics in the majors. In 2015, he batted .247 for the year. In 2016, he batted .247 for the year. In 2017, he batted .247 for the year. And during the last season, in 2018, he batted . . . , you guessed it, .247 for the year. He went 0-for-2 in ...read more
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What God Told Me At 4 A.m. In Guangzhou, China
Contributed on Apr 13, 2018
Note: this story is told by me - Jim Butcher of Madison WV. I want to tell you a story about an insight that God gave me into John 14:1-4, the passage where Jesus speaks of going to prepare a place for us. This is the story of something that happened to me several years ago while I was in ...read more