Sermon Central
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The Gospel Of Luke: That You May Know With Certainty
Contributed by Jim Butcher on Jun 9, 2023 (message contributor)
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1. That You May Know With Certainty
Contributed on Jun 9, 2023
Luke opens his gospel with five reasons why we can trust what he's going to share with us.
A Word of Caution: There are lots of opinions about Jesus. - Luke 1:1 (“Many have undertaken”). What’s Worth Holding Onto: 1. The “things” that were prophesied. - Luke 1:1 (“been fulfilled among us”). 2. The “things” that were seen by eyewitnesses. - Luke 1:2. 3. The “things” that stand ...read more
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2. The Consequences Of Repentance
Contributed on Jun 13, 2023
John the Baptist's words about repentance draw a strong conviction from his hearers. They ask for practical instruction on how to move forward. What does John tell them?
THE CONSEQUENCES OF REPENTANCE: It’s striking that John’s answers are very practical. - Luke 3:10-14. - vv. 10, 12, 14 – Requests for practical answers. - The previous passage (and last week’s sermon) focused on the nature of repentance. Now these that were convicted by the message - Now we ...read more
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3. Who John The Baptist Wasn’t
Contributed on Jun 19, 2023
John the Baptist confesses his limitations and exalts Christ. What does he have to tell us?
WHO JOHN THE BAPTIST WASN'T: John knew he wasn’t the Christ. - Luke 3:15-16a, 18. 1. Verse 15 – Declaration that he wasn’t the Christ. - This was not a big deal for John, I don’t think, but it would be for most of us. - We have an inclination to take more credit than we should. We have a ...read more
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4. Four Confirmations About Jesus At The Start Of His Ministry
Contributed on Jun 20, 2023
This passage establishes the beginning of Jesus' ministry. What does it tell us about who He is and what His ministry will be?
ONE ENTERS, ONE EXITS: Jesus’ ministry starts as John the Baptist concludes. - Luke 3:19-20. - Our primary subject this evening is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and some of the signs we are given at this start to give us confidence in Him. - We noted last week at the end of the sermon that ...read more
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5. The Only Time Some People Love Truth
Contributed on Jul 11, 2023
Jesus' hometown is initially intrigued by His message, but that goes south quickly. What can we learn from them about our desire for truth?
AMAZED: Nazareth was initially impressed with Jesus’ words. - Luke 4:22. - Review the message in vv. 18-19. - There is a mix in their reaction. - On the one hand, they are impressed. - On the other hand, they wonder how such words could come from Joseph’s son. After all, Jesus had been among ...read more
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6. When You Have To Say No
Contributed on Jul 14, 2023
Right after the violently negative response at Nazareth, Jesus finds adoration at Capernaum. But that doesn't mean everything is good there.
TALK OF THE TOWN: After rejection at Nazareth, Jesus finds adoration at Capernaum. - Luke 4:31-37 (especially vv. 32 and 36). - cf. vv. 24-30. THE PROBLEM: Two missions were in conflict. - Luke 4:32, 36, 38-39, 42-43. - What a great situation in many ways: a. They were amazed at His ...read more
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7. Why Was Jesus So Popular?
Contributed on Jul 18, 2023
This passage gives us insight into why Jesus became so popular so quickly. It also points out to us something that we emphasize in the modern American church that was not a part of Jesus' popularity.
VERSE 15 IS THE CENTERPIECE OF THIS PASSAGE: This is a story and testament to Jesus’ quickly rising popularity early in His ministry. - Luke 5:15. - It would be easy to see this passage as another miracle story, but I think it serves a more specific purpose in Luke’s gospel. Jesus has just called ...read more
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8. The Consequences Of Producing A Crop
Contributed on Jun 5, 2025
After sharing the Parable of the Four Soils, Jesus tells us what the consequences in our lives of seeing that fruitfulness will be. This sermon unpacks four consequences of seeing a "crop" of God's fruitfulness in your life.
- I need to start with a word that I use quite a bit in sermons: context. - It is essential that we don’t pull passages out of their original context and try to make them mean something that the original author didn’t intend. Further, we need to look at what comes before and after to see if that ...read more
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9. Jesus On Family
Contributed on Jun 12, 2025
It's easy to overlook just how radical a statement Jesus makes here. He is doing nothing less than fundamentally redefining the family. What are the implications of actually living this out?
ONE QUICK POINT BEFORE WE GET TO THE ACTUAL SERMON: The definition of a Christian is someone hearing God’s word and putting it into practice. - Luke 8:21. - Matthew 7:21, 24, 26; Matthew 12:50; John 7:17; John 14:23; John 15:10; 1 John 2:17. - Jesus says something here that is crucially ...read more
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10. Why Does Jesus Tell His Disciples Not To Tell People That He Is The Christ
Contributed on Jul 1, 2025
This passage provides an interesting insight into why Jesus told His disciples not to tell anyone He was the Christ.
KEEP QUIET: Proclaiming that Jesus was the Christ would create a lot of wrong expectations. - Luke 9:18-21. - It’s an odd thing to hear Jesus telling His disciples to not tell people that He is the Christ. You would generally think that He would want it proclaimed often and loudly from every ...read more
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11. What The Kingdom Is Not
Contributed on Aug 12, 2025
Three stories show us ways that the disciples misunderstood the nature of the Kingdom and how Jesus pointed them in the right direction.
“THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAD”: The disciples still had some questionable ideas about what the Kingdom of God was like. - Luke 9:45. - Luke 9:46-56. - This is an eventful chapter. We have the Transfiguration - an amazing event. We have an exorcism so difficult that the disciples couldn’t do it - an ...read more
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12. Trying To Change Society By Moral Improvement
Contributed on Oct 22, 2025
This is a difficult passage but at its core it's one that posits what happens when someone tries to bring transformation without God.
WHAT'S THE POINT OF THE STORY? It is about moral improvement without God. - Luke 11:24-26. - Let’s begin by acknowledging that this is a difficult passage. It comes across a little obscure. It’s easy to read it and think it’s either just a weird saying or something with no application to our ...read more
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13. "Woe To You": Avoiding The Pharisees’ Mistakes About Faith
Contributed on Nov 4, 2025
Jesus' criticism of the religious leaders provides several insights into what genuine faith is supposed to look like.
WRONG WAY: Jesus rejected the Pharisees’ approach to faith. - Luke 11:37-38. - Jesus gets invited to dine with a Pharisee and He goes. That in itself is interesting: Jesus is engaging with those who are His most vociferous enemies. - Why did He do that? I think there are at least a couple ...read more
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14. What We Put In The Way Of Setting People Free
Contributed on Nov 18, 2025
Jesus came to set people free, but often we put things ahead of that. What are the specific ways we do that?
“THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE”: Jesus came to set people free from Satanic oppression. - Luke 13:10-13; John 8:32. - There was more to Jesus’ mission than this, but one of the biggest things that He did was to set people free from Satanic oppression. - This is true both in terms of exorcisms, like ...read more
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15. When The Kingdom Seems Unimpressive
Contributed on Nov 19, 2025
The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast point us to a truth that's uncomfortable at first: the Kingdom might not look that impressive the first time you look at it.
UNIMPRESSIVE: Jesus acknowledges that many will initially see the Kingdom as insignificantly small. - Luke 13:18-21. - Matthew 13:31-33; Mark 4:30-32. - I guess you could say that sometimes we hype up Jesus and His Kingdom too much. - “Who wouldn’t want this?” - “It’s so obviously true and ...read more
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16. What Does It Mean To "make Every Effort" To Enter The Kingdom?
Contributed on Dec 10, 2025
This passage has two troubling phrases: "make every effort" and "try . . . and not be able." What are we to do with those? And do they mean that God is setting up difficult barriers to get into the Kingdom?
WHAT DOES "MAKE EVERY EFFORT" MEAN? It doesn’t mean that it’s nearly impossible but that you should focus your attention. - Luke 13:22-24a. - Jesus is asked an important question: “[A]re only a few people going to be saved?” (v. 23). - That's a great question. What is the nature of ...read more
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17. 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
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18. 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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19. 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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20. 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