Sermons on Jim Croce:

What Does It Mean That Jesus’ Kingdom Is On Its Way? Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Apr 23, 2025

This sermon focuses on "Your Kingdom come" in the Lord's Prayer. What does it mean to pray for that to come about?

“YOUR KINGDOM COME": Jesus is inaugurating a kingdom. - Matthew 6:10. - So there is an important and underused word here in this part of the Lord’s Prayer: kingdom. - Let’s set the stage as we have in previous sermons. This is the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus is teaching us how to pray. He is ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-10

Denomination: Baptist

Why Are We Praying For God’s Will If It Always Happens Anyway? Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Apr 29, 2025

Many presume that everything that happens is God's will. That's not true. What does it look like to pray that God's will would start to be done here on earth as it is done in heaven?

WHY PRAY THIS? This is a prayer because it isn’t happening much now. - Matthew 6:10. - So in this fourth part of the sermon, Jesus calls us to pray for God’s will to be done. - But, wait, isn’t that already happening all the time? We hear people constantly speak that whatever happened was God’s ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-10

Denomination: Baptist

Can I Count On God For My Practical Needs? Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on May 6, 2025

Some practical encouragement on how to see God provide for our "daily bread" needs.

ON MY OWN? Many Christians don’t count on God to come through but live as though they are on their own. - Matthew 6:11. - Most of us as Christians live as though it is up to us to provide for our lives, without any thought of divine help. - This is proven in a few different ways: a. Our paltry ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-11

Denomination: Baptist

The Son Of Man

Contributed by Jim Keegan on May 6, 2025

God isn't a remote, ethereal being, transcendent and unfathomable--because Jesus has made him known. He's the life-saving mediator between God and the human race, who knows and loves us, and through whom we can know and love God.

[Read Scripture text.] Many of you have probably seen the television series "Undercover Boss," in which the CEO of a corporation assumes a disguise and works alongside their employees on the shop floor or serving customers. In that role they come to a much deeper understanding and ...read more

Scripture: Hebrews 2:10-18, Hebrews 4:15-16

How To Ask God For Forgiveness As A Christian Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on May 13, 2025

Practical insight on asking God to forgive our sins as we walk daily with Christ.

NOT JUST WHEN WE'RE SAVED: Asking for forgiveness is supposed to be a regular part of my walk of faith. - Matthew 6:12a. - Let me start by saying that we are going to handle v. 12 in two parts. This week we will look at the first half of the verse; next week the second half. I am doing this ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-12

Denomination: Baptist

Do I Want God To Forgive Me As I Forgive Others? Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on May 20, 2025

Jesus puts forward challenging words in the second half of v. 12 - calling us to ask for forgiveness in the same way we have forgiven others. Verses 14-15 emphasize the expectation from God that we will forgive others as part of having been forgiven by Him. What happens when we live this out?

DOES THIS SCARE ME? Do I want God to forgive me as I forgive others? - Matthew 6:12b, 14-15. - I said last week as we unpacked the first half of v. 12 that we often don’t put a lot of thought into what that actually means. In that case it had to do with making confession of our sins a regular ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-12

Denomination: Baptist

Do We Want To Avoid Temptation? Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Jun 2, 2025

We finish up the Lord's Prayer sermon series with Jesus' words on temptation. Do they match how we normally approach sin in our lives?

AVOIDING TEMPTATION: Do I want this for my life? - Matthew 6:13. - Now we come to the close of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus has invited us to pray about a number of important subjects and now we have a final one about spiritual victory. - What does v. 13 mean? I think a summary statement would be ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 6:9-13

Denomination: Baptist

The Consequences Of Producing A Crop Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher 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

Scripture: Luke 8:16-18

Denomination: Baptist

Jesus On Family Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher 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

Scripture: Luke 8:19-21

Denomination: Baptist

Why Does Jesus Tell His Disciples Not To Tell People That He Is The Christ Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher 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

Scripture: Luke 9:18-26

Denomination: Baptist

Did Judas Believe In Jesus As Lord?

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Aug 7, 2025

This passage provides us with an interesting insight into the nature of Judas' faith (or lack thereof).

DID JUDAS BELIEVE IN JESUS AS LORD? Judas refers to Jesus as “Rabbi,” not “Lord.” - Matthew 26:22, 25. - It’s long been a source of contention what exactly the nature of Judas’ belief or disbelief in Jesus was. He was a disciple, saw the miracles, heard the teaching. Yet he ends up betraying ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 26:17-30

Denomination: Baptist

What The Kingdom Is Not Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher 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

Scripture: Luke 9:46-56

Denomination: Baptist

A Rebuke To Forgiveness-Only Salvation

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Sep 30, 2025

This is a challenging passage. Surely Paul doesn't mean that we have to actually live like that?! What it all points us to is a false gospel that is too often preached today - "forgiveness-only" belief. What does this passage tell us about what real salvation looks like?

A COMMON BELIEF TODAY: I am “saved” and unchanged. - Matthew 7:15-20; Matthew 7:24-27; Luke 13:6-9; John 15:8. - This passage makes us uncomfortable. It sounds harsh and unrealistic. We will delve into how we are to understand it as we move forward. - A good place to start is a major reason why ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 5:1-17

Denomination: Baptist

Trying To Change Society By Moral Improvement Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher 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

Scripture: Luke 11:24-28

Denomination: Baptist

"Woe To You": Avoiding The Pharisees’ Mistakes About Faith Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher 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

Scripture: Luke 11:37-54

Denomination: Baptist