Grace Church Waco

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 // We must all reckon with the absurdity of time and the eternality of God. Our freedom to change time from an enemy to an ally happens when we embrace our finitude and by faith learn to enjoy each moment as God's great gift in Christ.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26 // How do we live in and with this absurd life? The preacher offers an experiment in pleasure, philosophy, and perspective, and helps us to arrive at the conclusion: the only way to live this absurd life is to enjoy it with God.

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 // Life is like an absurd play in one act that ends where it begins. The absurdity of gain means you will not change the world, the absurdity of desire means you will never be satisfied by this world, and the absurdity of control means you will too be remembered. And yet, we are free embrace the absurdity of life in light of the joyful absurdity of the resurrection of Jesus, which turns life from a tragedy to a comedy.**Due to a technical error, the last 10 minutes of the sermon are unavailable. Please refer to the manuscript so you don't miss the gospel connection!**

Luke 24:36-52 // In his encounter with the disciples after his resurrection, Jesus shows himself to be real, true, and marvelous. Jesus doesn't shy away from our doubts and skepticism, but instead invites us in close, reveals himself fully, and sends us out in joy and worship.

Luke 24:13-35 // How does the resurrection of Jesus Christ move from being a story about something that happened long ago to a living, breathing reality in our lives? Only when Jesus draws nears and meets us in the way through Word and Table.

Luke 24:1-12 // There is room in the resurrection for everyone.

Luke 23:32-56 // We look to the cross and see it's broad shadow in four ways: 1) the cross is the place of exposition; 2) the cross is the place of absolution 3) the cross is the place of revolution; 4) the cross is the place of preparation.

Luke 23:26-38 // Even on the way to His crucifixion, Jesus calls sinners to repentance, showing both His mercy and the certainty of divine judgement.

Luke 22:63-23:25 // As we follow Jesus to the cross and to the tomb, we see today that the judge of all has come into the seat of judgment. The question for us is: what kind of judgements do we level at God, and are they justified? What is the verdict for those who judge God?

Luke 22:39-62 // All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness. When our discipleship breaks down and we are faithless, Christ is always faithful, even to the very end. Jesus is faithful in his spiritual life, he is faithful in his mission, and he is faithful in compassion.

Luke 22:24-38 // One of the most crippling spiritual fears we can face in life is the fear of failing Jesus and others. Christ offers us three steps to overcoming fear of failure: 1) understand the assignment; 2) understand your heart; and 3) understand the king.

Luke 22:1-23 // Betrayal is one of the most painful and sorrowful of human experiences, and our Lord knows it well. The events leading up to the Last Supper demonstrate that the way of the enemy always opposes the way of the Son. The way of Satan is the way of opportunism, betrayal, and isolation. The Lord Jesus meets the reality of his betrayal at the table with bread and wine - the way of life. The way of Jesus is the way of humiliation, welcome, and inclusion, and we are welcomed to the table, to life itself, by our great host, Jesus.

Luke 21:5-38 // We live in the already not yet of the kingdom, saved from the destruction of Israel and waiting for the end of all things. As we wait, we can do so with confidence, free from distraction, holding our heads high, resting on Jesus, the Word of God who will never pass away.

Luke 20:19-21:4 // Your life bears the image of God, and so you must render it back to him. We can do that in at least three spheres: our political hopes, our ideas of life and death, and the way we handle our resources.

Luke 20:1-18 // The path to enmity with God is a slow one, but we don't need to take any further step in that direction today. Jesus is calling us to give up our pride, our control, and even our dreams — so that in our brokenness he can build us into a holy dwelling place for his Spirit.

Luke 19:28-48 //

Luke 19:11-28 // Jesus is inviting us to take hold of his authority in his kingdom, but we must show our allegiance to him through our simple trust and normal faithfulness.

Luke 19:1-10 // You are not a de-tour to Jesus' mission on earth, you are the mission. To walk in this salvation of Jesus, we must learn to embody, like Zacchaeus, unashamed boldness and joyful reception of Jesus.

Luke 18:31-43 // A faith that sees Jesus recognizes the reality of who Jesus is, who we are, and how desperate we are for him. When we see Jesus as he really is, our faith response is the confession of our deepest needs, and the commitment of our whole selves to him.

Luke 18:18-30 // There are two ways to ask the question "what must I do to inherit eternal life": the place of privilege and the place of desperation. The place of privilege causes us to miss the kingdom. In order to ask rightly we need 1) right knowledge of Jesus; 2) willing identification with Jesus; and 3) full reliance on Jesus.

Luke 18:1-17 // Patiently receive God's justice through persistent prayer; Humbly receive God's mercy through passionate penitence; Joyfully receive God's kingdom through phenomenal pleasure.

Luke 17:11-37 // Fill in the blank: I would follow Jesus wholeheartedly and readily if I knew ________________. When we find ourselves asking the "where" and "when" questions of the kingdom, Jesus calls us to trust him as king and follow him into the unknown.

Isaiah 2:1-5 // Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is bringing a kingdom that not only disarms our hands, but our very hearts.

John 14:8-11 // Jesus is the image of the Father, Jesus speaks with the authority of the Father, Jesus does the works of the Father.

Ephesians 1:16-23 //

Psalm 16 // Christ is our wonderful counselor, and in him we have direction when we don't know the way, resurrection when we fear the worst, and satisfaction when we long for the best.

Luke 16:14-31 // Self-righteousness is not trivial thing. Similarly to idolatry and adultery, it hardens your heart towards God and leads to destruction. The way out of righteousness is to lay down our desire for self-justification and take up Christ as our help.

Luke 15:11-32 // Jesus tells this story of two brothers not to highlight the horror of the sin of the younger brother, but to highlight the sin of the older brother. In order to enjoy the joy of the feast of the Father, we must lay aside the anger of self-righteousness, embrace our prodigality, and follow our older brother Jesus home.

Luke 15:1-10 // Jesus demonstrates through two parable in Luke 15 that he is a relentless pursuer of the lost. Jesus is relentless in his pursuit of the lost because he loves lost people deeply, because he is diligent to find and reclaim what is already his because of his sacrifice on the cross to lay down his life for the lost, and because it brings his Father great joy when the lost come to repentance and find life in the Son.

Luke 14:25-35 // The way of Jesus comes at a great cost — the kingdom of God must not simply come first but a follower of Jesus must be willing to write a blank check with their life. The good news is that Jesus has gone before us in this cost, and invites us to preserve our life and all it's flavor by following him.

Luke 14:1-24 // Luke is the gospel where we find Jesus “eating and drinking” the most. The significance of these meals is that they are teaching us what Jesus' kingdom is like. When we follow Jesus, we are saying we follow a feasting Jesus, who calls us, not begrudgingly, but gladly, to rest in his house. And so we invite others into the kingdom of God as well, to feast at Christ's table.

Luke 13:10-21 // Jesus shows that his kingdom is advancing, but it advances by way of the mercy of God extended to those in need. How we participate in the mission of Jesus matters greatly. Acts of mercy demonstrate that the substance of God's kingdom is justice and righteousness, and no matter how small or ordinary the mercy of God enacted works powerfully to the realization of “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Luke 12:54-13:9 // The two hardest things to believe about the gospel is that 1) we are totally undeserving of any mercy from a holy God; and 2) God's very heart towards us is patient and merciful. Understanding both of these realities is means that we "interpret the times" as the day of repentance being today.

Luke 12:35-53 // Seeking the kingdom has far less to do with acquisition and far more to do with stewardship. Let's look at three ways we seek the kingdom through our stewardship of this great gift: 1) stewarding our attention; 2) stewarding our power; 3) stewarding our expectations.

Luke 12:4-12 // Fear of man is one of the most dangerous enemies to our cheerfully serious discipleship of Jesus. When we learn to rightly fear God and tremble in his love for us, then what can man do to us?

Romans 12:9-13; 15:7 // The mission of Grace Church is to Make Jesus Known, and we believe that the leading edge of that mission is hospitality. Gospel centered hospitality is grounded in honesty and honor. In Gospel centered hospitality we not only see others for who they are as God's image bearers, but we extend the very mercy of God and the welcome of God in Christ to those around us.

Romans 12:10; 16:1-16 // In the gospel, Jesus not only clears us of our guilt and offers forgiveness for sin, but wipes away our shame by honoring and glorifying us with his position in the family. In response, we are called to build a counterculture of honor and familial love where misplaced shame has no place.

1 John 1:5-10 // When we hide our sin from God and others, we commit a practical heresy: denying the truth we profess to belief, lying about ourselves and God, and breaking fellowship with God and others. But when we confess our sins, Christ takes our bitterness and turns it sweet.

Job 42

Job 38-41 // Finally, God speaks to us in our suffering, and we learn that he 1) answers the cries of the righteous; 2) orders the chaos of the world; and 3) triumphs over the evil of the ages.

Job 32:1-37:24 // Finding comfort in suffering is more than simply knowing things about God. Elihu's "youthful wisdom" inadvertently reveals our true need: For God himself to draw near. In Christ, God does draw near to us and assures us that we are both his friends and participants in the Holy Spirit together.

Job 29:1-31:40 // As Job gives his final lament and defense, we experience with him the loss of what was and what is—but with stubborn faith believe that in Christ we will never lose what will be.