Central Community Church | Sermon Audio

Leviticus 19:1-18 Leviticus 19 calls the people of God is to be holy, set apart, because God is holy. Rather than give ourselves to a list of rules, do’s and don’ts, whereby we strive to achieve perfection, we are called to embrace a life that reflects the character of God. Holiness is played out, expressed, and experienced, in our attitudes and actions towards God and others, finding fulfillment in self-less love for our neighbour.

Leviticus 19:1-18 Leviticus 19 calls the people of God is to be holy, set apart, because God is holy. Rather than give ourselves to a list of rules, do’s and don’ts, whereby we strive to achieve perfection, we are called to embrace a life that reflects the character of God. Holiness is played out, expressed, and experienced, in our attitudes and actions towards God and others, finding fulfillment in self-less love for our neighbour.

Leviticus 19:1-18 Like children striving to earn a parent’s approval, we often misunderstand love as something to be achieved rather than received. The closing chapters of Leviticus remind us that holiness is not a burden to earn God’s favour but a response to the grace we’ve already been given through Christ. Because we stand in His holiness, our lives of obedience become an expression of gratitude and worship, not a means of achieving acceptance.

Leviticus 16:20-34 This morning we look at the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16, showing how it's sacrifices and scapegoat point to the seriousness of sin and God’s provision for atonement. This is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who bears our guilt and removes our sin once for all. It calls us to rest in His finished work and live with humble confidence, knowing there is no condemnation in Him.

Leviticus 16:20-34 For a culture that prioritizes radical autonomy and expressive individualism, the very concept of sin is often dismissed as a tool of psychological oppression—a toxic relic of shame based religious systems seen as an affront to personal dignity. Yet, this cultural avoidance often leaves us with a deeper, more restless anxiety: if there is no such thing as sin, there is also no such thing as true redemption or a clean slate. Christianity asserts that God graciously made atonement possible so that sin can be dealt with and the sinner can be liberated, leading to a life notof heavy religious guilt over sin but profound freedom and flourishing because Jesus endured the penalty of sin and stood in the place of sinners.

Leviticus 16:1-19 God initiated the way that sinful man can be reconciled in relationship to Himself. The nation of Israel practiced a sacrificial system, a means to temporarily atone for the sins of mankind. This system was a foreshadow of the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus Christ died for the permanent removal of the sin of mankind. How will you respond?

Leviticus 16:1-19 One of the ways that the storyline of the Bible can be summarized is through the lens of God’s presence as the goal. The dilemma is that God is more holy than our sinful selves can bear. In the centre of Leviticus is God’s solution to the dilemma: Atonement.

Leviticus 11:44-47 contains an abundance of strange laws about avoiding uncleanness and maintaining ritual purity. Though they may seem foreign at first glance, these laws ultimately point to the holiness of God and the seriousness of sin. Through Christ, God frees us from slavery to sin so that we might live lives set apart for Him and enjoy the life He intends for His redeemed people.

Leviticus 11:44-47 God’s holiness is the defining attribute of His character, and in this text He teaches Israel that holiness requires distinction between the clean and the unclean. These dietary laws were not primarily about diet but about forming a people who understood that they belonged to God and were set apart for Him. In the same way, believers today are called to live lives that reflect God’s character rather than conform to the values of the world. Jesus later revealed that true defilement does not come from what enters the body but from the sinful heart within. Through Christ, God provides the cleansing we need and calls us to live as His holy people.

Leviticus 8:1-13 How can sinful people live near a holy God and not be consumed? In Leviticus 8 we watch God take the initiative: He appoints priests, consecrates them, clothes them, anoints them, and shows Israel that even their mediators need atonement. And that’s the point: the whole priestly system was never meant to be the finish line; it was meant to create hunger for someone better. Because if priests had to stand daily offering sacrifices that could never fully take away sin, then we need a Priest who doesn’t need cleansing, doesn’t need repeating, and doesn’t need replacing; and that Priest is Jesus Christ, the One who offered one sacrifice for all time and sat down, because the work is finished.

Leviticus 8:1-13 A mediator is needed for God to dwell with his people. In Leviticus, priests were set apart to represent the people before God, pointing ahead to Jesus, our Great High Priest. Through His once-for-all sacrifice, He opened the way to God, atoning for our sin and making us righteous.Because He became man, He understands us and intercedes for us. And now, as His followers, we are called to live as priests—offering our lives to God and pointing others to the One who saves.

Leviticus 8:1-13 How can sinful people live near a holy God and not be consumed? In Leviticus 8 we watch God take the initiative: He appoints priests, consecrates them, clothes them, anoints them, and shows Israel that even their mediators need atonement. And that’s the point: the whole priestly system was never meant to be the finish line; it was meant to create hunger for someone better. Because if priests had to stand daily offering sacrifices that could never fully take away sin, then we need a Priest who doesn’t need cleansing, doesn’t need repeating, and doesn’t need replacing; and that Priest is Jesus Christ, the One who offered one sacrifice for all time and sat down, because the work is finished.

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.