Grace Bible Church of Bend

In this sermon from the book of Luke, Luke tells us about the final moments of Jesus' life, as he commits his spirit to the Father and as the veil in the temple is torn in two. Those looking on at his crucifixion recognized his innocence, and were grieved at his execution. What will our response be to the atoning death of Jesus? From our Sunday service at Grace Bible Church of Bend.

In this sermon from the book of Luke, Luke tells us about the two criminals who were crucified on either side of Jesus. One of them mocked Jesus, while the other recognized him for the Savior that he was and put his faith in him. Jesus promised the criminal that he would be with him that day in Paradise, giving us all hope for the forgiveness of our own sins. From our Sunday service at Grace Bible...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we come across four truths. First, the reality of weeping for the lost: professional mourners wept over Jesus as he walked the road to the cross. But Jesus told them to not weep for him but for themselves and their children; he knew their condition was far worse that his own. Second, the reality of God’s judgment: Jesus gives a prophesy and parable, implying...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we encounter three areas in which we see a glimpse of freedom from our sins. First, God’s plan for freedom: Jesus was proclaimed innocent – even by Pilate himself - but that Jesus was silent and didn’t defend Himself during the trails is no tragic injustice or an accident, rather it is the plan for justice from God to free us. Second, the rejection of Pilate’...

In this passage from the book of John, we find the first eyewitness of Jesus’ resurrection: Mary Magdalene. Mary visits Jesus’ tomb and finds the stone rolled away. Her initial reaction to His resurrection isn’t to believe He has risen, but rather, she’s skeptical and thinks His body was taken somewhere by someone. She rushes off to tell the disciples. When the disciples come upon the tomb they se...

In this passage from the book of John, we see three things taking place on Palm Sunday that should challenge us in our way of thinking: the cry of the people, the humility of the king and the confusion of the crowd. As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowd cried out “Hosanna!” (“Save us!”). They were looking to Jesus to be their political Savior; they were looking for the Messiah that would save them...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we find Jesus charged with misleading the Jews, forbidding the Jews to pay taxes to Caesar, and of being the earthly king of the Jews. Jesus is not found guilty of these charges, and is in fact found to be innocent by the world's best judicial system at that time. Jesus did not go to the cross because he was guilty. In fact, everyone else was and is guilty, i...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we see that righteous people suffer in a sin-stained world. Faith in Christ does not promise freedom from suffering, in fact, it often means our suffering could be increased. Jesus models for us how we are to respond to injustice and suffering. We need to learn from him and follow his example, responding not in vengeance or self-righteousness, but in humility...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we find a story of failure, faith, and hope through Peter’s denial of Jesus. All of us fail, but we are not alone and there is hope. We fail because we trust in ourselves and our own strength. We fail when we do not pray. And then we fail because we fear things more than we fear God. How do we respond to our sin? Do we minimize it or mask it, or do we recogni...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we find eight realities regarding sin: sin affects everyone, we often mask or hide it, sin is known by the Lord, it is not overcome by natural means, it is healed only by our Savior, Jesus, sin thrives in darkness, is rooted in spiritual darkness, and it comes with consequences. How do we deal with sin in our lives? Are we covering it, minimizing it, excusing...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we find instruction and example from Jesus for times of darkness and despair. Jesus instructs us to pray in dark times so that we may not enter into temptation. If Christ and the disciples needed to pray in moments of temptation, how much more vital is it that that we would pray in our times of darkness? Jesus is our example. He understands our loneliness, ou...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we encounter a case study about temptation, and find the following truth: everyone is tempted. We are tempted by the flesh, by the devil, and by the world. This temptation does not come from God himself, but from our desires. The battle is in our mind for our heart. Our greatest weapon against temptation is our advocate in Jesus Christ and prayer. God does no...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we learn about greatness. Everyone is grasping for greatness. The world’s model of greatness is "greatness from the top down." God’s model of greatness is "greatness at ground level." God's type of greatness is noticed and rewarded by Him. How do we view greatness? Where do we struggle with accepting that being loved and viewed as great by Christ is enough? F...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we find four things to remember Christ for when taking communion. We are to remember His love; Jesus did not suffer the cross out of obligation but out of love for us. We are to remember His returning; we are to be preparing ourselves for that day. We are to remember His sacrifice; Jesus bore the wrath of God on our behalf. And we are to remember His promise...

In this passage from the book of Luke, we find the priests, Satan and Judas preparing for evil while God is preparing for good. We are encouraged that God is always at work, even in darkness, and we see that Jesus is in absolute control. He has power over his own life. And he will give his life on his own accord; no one can take it from him. Are we resisting Satan? What holds the affection of our...

In this passage from the book of Luke, Jesus gives a picture to illustrate, a promise to remember, and commands to obey. The picture: The Kingdom of God is coming. The promise: Jesus' words are more real than the earth we stand on. The commands: 1) Watch, lest His return come upon us like a trap, and 2) Pray, that we have strength to endure the things that will take place and can stand innocent be...

In this passage from the book of 1 Corinthians, we learn that every single person in the church is important and serves a part in God’s kingdom. Pastor Phil teaches four ways that each of us are essential to the body (church) we are a part of; as individuals, we are essential for the diversity, unity, gifting, and care of the body of Christ. Questions to ask ourselves: Are we using the gifts God h...

In this passage from the book of Luke, Pastor Neal reveals the purpose of communion. First, communion is about remembering what God has done for us, remembering His faithfulness, His mercy, the sacrifice of Christ for us, and our participation with Christ and all the benefits that are ours in Him. Second, communion is about renewing our faith, by which we reflect, repent, reaffirm, resolve and rea...

In this third sermon from our Advent Series, we take a look at Christmas through the eyes of the Magi and see the critical role they have in the Christmas story. The Magi show us that Jesus is Lord over everyone, but that not everyone makes Jesus their Lord. We are challenged to worship him with all of our life, and to repent and trust fully in Jesus as Lord. From our Sunday Service at Grace Bible...

In this second sermon from our Advent series, we take a look at the Christmas story through the eyes of the shepherds. Through the account of the shepherds being visited by the angels, we see that the Christmas story is a picture God reaching down to find us and save us. He has made a way for all of us to find him through his Son Jesus Christ. He is accessible, approachable and understands us, for...

In this passage from the book of Luke, Jesus gives us four important truths: 1) There are consequences to rejecting the Lord, 2) God keeps his promises, 3) Without salvation in Christ there is great reason to fear His return, and 4) We who are in Him can have confidence (there’s no reason to fear) as Jesus is not coming to pour out wrath on us, but to rescue and redeem us. There is coming a catacl...

In this passage from the book of Luke, Jesus gives direction and counsel (wisdom) to the disciples (and us) on how to live and respond in times of terror. He prophesied what will take place so that we would live now as God calls us to and to be settled when the prophecy comes to pass. He instructs us to 1) not be deceived by false messiahs with false gospels, 2) not be afraid, 3) not miss the gosp...

In this passage from the book of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples of the danger of hypocrisy and the wonder of true sacrifice. The scribes were using the pretense of religion to abuse those God had placed in their care. They sought recognition, honor and respect; their self-idolatrous attitudes brought forth ugly displays of abuse of power and position. Jesus shows us that hypocrisy keeps us from s...

In this passage from the Book of Luke, the Sadducees themselves try to trap Jesus in his words. And once again he silences those testing him. From the Sadducees we learn that our theology affects how we live our life and our presuppositions can distort our theology. We need to be aware of our biases or it will distort our understanding of God's Word. We must also allow God's Word to speak for itse...

In this passage of Luke, we see the religious leaders continuing their questioning and attempts at trapping Jesus. But Jesus is sovereign and cannot be trapped; he will give himself over when it is the proper time. Through Jesus’ object lesson with the denarius, we learn that we are citizens of two kingdoms (earthly and heavenly) and have the responsibility to respect and respond to (obey) the aut...