Grace Church Waco Sermons

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 repe...

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...

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" rightly, seeing that today is always the day for repentance.

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 // The gospel of Jesus is a comedy, not a tragedy. For righteous sufferers, the outcome is always restoration: of worship, of ministry, and of heavenly fortunes and dreams.

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.

Job 4:1-27:23 // We must be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking of ourselves too highly, as if we have all the answers to suffering. These chapters provide insight into the complex issue of why a good God allows tragedy, and yet does not cancel other biblical truths such as sowing and reaping.

Job 2:11-3:26 // As we come to Job’s lament in chapter three we realize that deep suffering is always accompanied by deep anguish. Lament gives voice to the depth of our anguish in suffering, and it reckons with the gravity of our suffering and reconciles it to the sovereignty of God. In this way, even and deepest and most difficult lamenting is an expression of faith and hope in God.

Job 1:1-2:10 // Sometimes we suffer for the sake of our sin, as a means of God's discipline, bringing us to repentance. Sometimes we suffer for the sake of our sanctification, so God can grow us in righteous fruit. But in the book of Job, we find the story of a righteous man, not in need of any lesson from God. When he suffers through the sovereign hand of God, we have to ask "what gives"? The ans...

Luke 11:37-12:3 // In this passage we encounter Jesus with a different tone and disposition than previously in Luke. Jesus issues six stern rebukes to the Pharisees and scribes because of their hypocrisy - in their self-righteous pursuits they have neglected the justice and love of God, and closed off the way of salvation from others. We should beware that we do not become like them by insisting o...

Luke 11:14-36 // All of us are tempted to allow our presumptions of Jesus to downplay his power or his necessity. The solution to our presumption is repentance and acceptance of Jesus on his terms.

Luke 11:1-13 //  In order to follow Jesus into his mission we must first follow him into the school of prayers where we learn to pray beautifully boring prayers, to pray with audacious asking, and to pray with bold belief.

Luke 10:25-42 // Following in the way of Jesus as his disciples has a profound effect on our lives. The way of Jesus rejects unnecessary and false dichotomies, it reorients our worldview, it resists the tyranny of self-justification and of the urgent, and the way of Jesus reorders our priorities. Disciples of Jesus can never be the same as they once were!

Luke 10:1-24 // Jesus doesn't just enter into our human story through the Incarnation—he also invites us to share in his. Which means that 1) you represent Jesus to the world; and 2) that makes Jesus happy.

Luke 9:51-62 // Jesus’ mission in the world brought a specific call, cost and conclusion that we must embrace if we are to follow him. We must learn to say no to shortcuts, leave behind what is good for what is best, and prepare for our great homecoming with Jesus.