Central Community Church | Sermon Audio

Leviticus 1:1-9 Leviticus may feel dull and dated, but it lays a foundation beneath the beauty of the gospel, showing us the holiness of God and the seriousness of our sin. Through the Levitical sacrifices, we glimpse the cost of atonement and the way God provides a substitute. The altar points forward to Christ, whose body was broken and blood poured out so that sinners might draw near to a holy God.

Leviticus 1:1-9 The first seven chapters of Leviticus detail the sacrificial system God gave Israel so that sinful people could live in the presence of a holy God. While the sacrificial system foreshadows the sufficiency of the ministry and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Christians should not move too quickly past important truths Leviticus painstakingly makes: God is holy, we are sinful, a sacrifice is necessary, and as Hebrews says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (9:22).

Luke 4:14-30 Some things provoke strong reactions in people, like cilantro, pineapple on pizza, and rap music. Jesus provokes the strongest reactions as well. Those who know they’re desperate love the grace of God; while those who are full of self-sufficiency and pride respond with fury at the thought that they need grace or that broken outsiders can receive it.

Luke 4:14-30 Today we witness a shocking scene: the very people who knew Jesus best tried to throw Him off a cliff. It wasn’t ignorance that led to their rejection; it was familiarity, entitlement, and expectations of a Messiah who would fit their preferences. Jesus proclaimed grace, freedom, and spiritual rescue, yet they wanted power, signs, and national glory. This sermon explores how easily we can admire Jesus, speak well of Him, and still resist the real Christ when He confronts our pride and exposes our need. Ultimately, this passage warns us that grace is offered on God’s terms, not ours. We are invited to humbly receive the Savior we truly need.

Luke 4:14-30 Luke sites this event as the beginning of Jesus ministry. In an eventful interaction in the Synagogue, Jesus identifies who He is and why He has come.

Luke 4:1-13 Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin. Where humanity failed ... where we fail, He succeeded. To endure temptation, we must look to the One who suffered and endured. We too can endure as we trust Him, learn from Him, and receive His help.

Luke 4:1-13 Christians live in a real spiritual war where temptation is strategic, persistent and personal. By examining how the devil targets Jesus and how Jesus responds, we learn how to stay spiritually prepared and alert to the enemy’s schemes. Even when we do stumble and fall into sin, the hope of the gospel remains: Jesus has already won the decisive victory on our behalf.

Luke 4:1-13 When temptation strikes, it rarely comes loud or obvious. It comes quietly, offering shortcuts, questioning God’s goodness, and urging us to take control rather than trust Him. Today we step into the wilderness with Jesus and witness the greatest temptation ever faced and the decisive victory that followed. Where Adam failed and Israel stumbled, Jesus stood firm, trusting the Father completely. This message reminds us that our hope is not in resisting temptation perfectly, but in resting in the faithful King who resisted for us and secured a victory we could never win on our own.

Luke 3:23-38 Let’s be honest, genealogies might be the most skipped over parts of the Bible. We perceive them as dry, boring and irrelevant. Yet it’s not without reason that Luke gives us his list of 77 names. Jesus didn’t come from nowhere. He’s the Son of God, breaking into human history with a long human lineage, come to save ALL who will believe in him.

Luke 3:23-38 At first glance, biblical genealogies may seem irrelevant, leading many readers to skip over them. However, doing so is a great disservice to yourself. Why? Because every part of the Bible is equally inspired by God. Every word, every page, and yes, every genealogy is intentionally included for our benefit. Take Luke’s genealogy, for example: it traces the lineage of Jesus all the way back to Adam, reminding us that no life is insignificant to God.

Luke 3:23-38 If you have done a Bible Reading Plan you know the feeling of coming across a genealogy in the Bible. At that point you have two options, 1. Skip ahead, or 2. Buckle up to butcher a list of Hebrew names for the next number of minutes. Yet, even these lists of names in Scripture are dripping with grace and preach the gospel.

Luke 3:21-22 Jesus’ baptism – an incredible act of obedience and humility, is a model for His followers. Baptism shows us that, through repentance and faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, heaven is opened to us through Jesus, giving us communion with God the Father. We receive the Holy Spirit, who descends on us when we have faith in Christ. We hear the voice of God the Father, who calls us sons & daughters in union with Christ the Son, who loves us deeply and is pleased with us on account of His being pleased with his eternal Son.

Luke 3:21-22 At the baptism of Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit publicly affirm and commission Him for His ministry to sinful humanity. Jesus’ baptism was not an act of repentance, but an act of identification—He chose to stand with us in our brokenness. Because He identifies with us, we are invited to identify with Him, sharing in His righteousness, walking in faithfulness to the Father, and living as beloved children sent into our own ministry.

Luke 3:21-22 At the Jordan River, heaven opened and God spoke out loud, and what He said changes everything. In this message from Luke 3:21–22, we’ll slow down long enough to hear the Father’s voice declare who Jesus is and what that means for us: a faith anchored not in our feelings but in God’s testimony, an acceptance secured not by our performance but by Christ’s obedience, and a salvation held together by the full commitment of the Triune God. If you’ve ever wrestled with doubts about your standing with God, your identity, or whether your faith can really endure, today we’ll find deep rest and unshakable assurance. This is about being claimed publicly, lovingly, decisively, by God Himself.

Luke 3:7-20 Harsh truth can be good truth none-the-less. John the Baptist, the forerunner to Jesus, confronts his audience with some of the most significant truth we can hear. It is hard hitting and designed to elicit a response. Apart from God’s grace we are lost in sin and prone to judgement. More than being a harbinger of hard truth, John is a prophet who passionately points to Jesus; the One who can save.

Luke 3:7-20 John the Baptist comes out swinging in this text, warning the crowd of coming wrath and unquenchable fire. Why? Because he longs for his audience to demonstrate transformed lives that bear fruit and point others to Christ. True repentance is the path to that transformation.

James 1:27 On Compassion Sunday we hear Eric’s story of how being sponsored by Compassion as a child changed his life; and Pastor Matt shares that when James 1 tells us that pure religion cares for widows and orphans in their affliction it is a direct outworking of the gospel.

Luke 3:1-6 Today's passage describes the way in which John the baptist came in fulfillment of OT prophecy declaring the way to salvation in Jesus. This short, historical text might seem easy to pass over, but it’s full of lessons about God’s calling on our lives to proclaim the gospel, the importance of repentance and the difference Jesus makes in the salvation of all peoples.

Luke 3:1-6 John the Baptist was born for one reason – to be a prophetic voice in the wilderness to prepare people for God’s salvation in Christ through repentance and faith, making a straight, yet narrow, path to Jesus.

Luke 3:1-20 John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, wore a garment of camel’s hair, and ate locusts and wild honey and Jesus said that he was the greatest person who had ever lived to that point. He is a fascinating character that we can learn a lot from, especially his passionate for pointing people to the supremacy of Jesus.

Luke 2:41-52 The Gospel writer Luke records for us the only childhood story between the events surrounding the miraculous birth of Christ and our Lord’s baptism at the outset of his public ministry as an adult. The story recounts the time when Jesus was left behind in Jerusalem, in his Father’s House, at only twelve years of age. This unique account offers a profound glimpse into the Lord Jesus’ self-understanding of his person and work and demands us come to the same crisis moment as our Lord’s earthly parents: Have we lost Jesus and do we know how to find him? Do we see him as we ought to, do we understand who he is and what he has come to do? Do we gaze upon his beauty and are we being transformed as a result? May we enter the New Year with a renewed sense of commitment to laying hold of the true Christ in all his glory and splendour.

Luke starts off his gospel by telling us that he is writing so that we can have certainty about what we believe. Luke 2:41–52 gives us a powerful foundation for that certainty. We see Jesus as fully human, fully divine, and fully committed to the Father’s will—making the gospel good news for all people.

Luke 2:41-52 The closing verses of Luke 2 offer a unique glimpse of Jesus' humanity: a twelve-year-old learning to balance human life and devotion to God. Though His formal ministry wouldn’t begin for nearly two decades, Jesus took it upon Himself to be prepared for the call on His life. A practice and priority that every Christian should imitate.

Luke 2:25-33

1 Timothy 4:1-8 Exercise is often viewed as a healthy, but optional discipline in life. In 1 Timothy 4:8, Paul doesn’t elevate exercise above all else, but he does attribute value to physical training. As we look at a biblical theology of exercise, we discover that exercise is an instrumental way to glorify God, love others and personally experience God’s joy more fully. Give this sermon a listen while you go for a walk or workout!

Mark 4:21-25

Luke 2:25-33 All Advent we’ve been waiting—and now we celebrate: The Light has come! Jesus Christ is born, and through Him, God’s salvation has appeared to all people. Simeon held baby Jesus and called Him “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel.” Jesus is the Light that darkness cannot overcome. He shines into our hearts, gives us life, and leads us in truth. At Christmas, we remember not just that Jesus was born, but that He still shines today—saving, guiding, and transforming us; and one day will come again to restore the earth and shine so bright for all eternity that there will be no need for the sun or moon in the sky because the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb (Rev. 21:23).

Luke 2:25-32 Jesus Christ is the Light of the World – the True Light that darkness cannot overcome. Our waiting is over. The Light has come – “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” – a Light for all people. Jesus shines into our hearts, gives us life, and leads us in truth – today, and forever. One day Jesus will come again to restore the earth and shine bright for all eternity.

Luke 2:13-14 What’s something you’ve seen or experienced that left you utterly speechless, creating a moment of pure awe and wonder? One that stopped time itself, where all you could muster was “Wow!” and it changed your life forever.

Luke 2:13-14 The angels break through some 400 years of silence to and declare two marvelous truths; glory to God and peace to mankind. These truths find their genesis in the fulfillment of God’s promise born in Bethlehem, love made manifest, love determined to redeem what was lost.

Luke 2:13-14 What’s something you’ve seen or experienced that left you utterly speechless, creating a moment of pure awe and wonder? One that stopped time itself, where all you could muster was “Wow!” and it changed your life forever.

Luke 2:8-12 Shepherds. Dirty, stinky shepherds. This was the lowly group of people God first announced the birth of his Son Jesus to. The angel put it this way: Jesus’ birth was good news of great joy for all people. That was the case then and continues to be the case today.

Luke 2:8-12 Christmas is God choosing the mess that the world refuses. The good news first came to lowly, looked down upon, shepherds – outsiders who became the first evangelists. Their story declares that good news of great joy – salvation in Jesus Christ – will be for all the people. In Christ, true joy is found – not in circumstance, but in the presence of the Savior who came for our messy lives.

Luke 2:8-12 God announced Jesus’ birth not to the powerful but to humble shepherds, showing that His love is for ordinary, overlooked people like us. When His glory returned that night, it marked the arrival of the King who came to save. And the sign was simple: a baby in a manger. Jesus came to rescue you, to call you, and to bring you into God’s family. The only question is whether you will come to Him as the shepherds did, with a willing heart.

Luke 2:1-7 In this second week of Advent, we focus on the BethlehemCandle, also known as the candle of preparation and peace. Bethlehem reminds us that God often works through small and ordinary places to accomplish His greatest purposes. The birth of Jesus shows that true peace doesn’t come from perfect circumstances but from God’s presence with us. As we look at the humility of Bethlehem and the faith of Mary andJoseph, we’re invited to prepare our hearts and receive the peace Christ brings.

Luke 2:1-7 The Bethlehem Candle reminds us of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem in preparation for the birth of the Messiah. Their obedient faith and Jesus’ royal lineage challenge us with the fact that we have a King worth preparing for - and he’s coming soon.

Luke 2:1-7 God chose an unlikely place for the Saviour’s birth—Bethlehem, a small and humble town. It was not grand or powerful, but it was where God’s plan unfolded perfectly. The birth, ministry, and death of Jesus are all marked by humility.

Luke 1:26-33 God’s promises are sure and true, piercing the darkness like a bright light. The prophets spoke of Jesus’ coming – the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s covenant faithfulness. This message centers on hope rooted in God’s unchanging Word – Christ as the promised King whose kingdom will never end.

Luke 1:26-33 When Gabriel appeared to Mary he declared the coming fulfillment of numerous OT prophecies, all to be realized in Jesus. The fulfillment of the promises demonstrate that Jesus is indeed the Messiah and that God’s faithfulness can be trusted.

Luke 1:26-33 Long before Jesus was born, God promised to send a Saviour. Through the prophets, He spoke of a coming King who would bring light to a dark world. For centuries, God’s people waited and hoped. Even when they couldn’t see how His promises would come true, God was faithful. The same God who kept His promises then keeps His promises today.

Matthew 6:19-24 Money is an essential tool for accessing the necessities of life. But if we’re not careful, it can also become our master – a role designed for Jesus only. We must choose: Will Jesus be my Master, or will money? And when I choose Jesus, I choose His way – a life of generosity, investing in His Kingdom and laying up treasures in heaven instead of treasures on earth.

Matthew 6.19-24 We are worshipers and what we do with our money is a key indicator of what we treasure in our hearts. Jesus pulls no punches; saying we cannot serve God and money.

Mathew 6: 19-24 Money is necessary for all members of society; Christian and non-Christian alike. The way money is viewed and used, however, should look very different within the Christian community. Money should be used for God’s purposes as He is the ultimate source and owner. The way we steward His money ultimately demonstrates where we put our trust.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-3 After the first encounter between Jesus and Peter after Peter’s epic failure of denial, Jesus bypasses a discussion on the actual denial (or action) and asks a penetrating heart question: “Do You Love Me?” It’s a strange question because Peter had already been following Jesus for three years and given up many comforts to serve with Jesus. Now he was faced to consider his motives. This is the theme of this weekend’s message. Do we love Jesus? Why and how much? Perhaps more importantly, would we be willing to change the motivation behind some of the “things we do” for Him (and others) to love rather than habit, ought, routine or fear. It makes a difference. And it’s important.

Psalms 13:1-6 Prayer in Groaning Times - Dr. Gerry Breshears