Grace Church Waco Sermons

Luke 9:37-50 // It is an incredible thing to be called to follow Jesus. But we must be careful not to equate the kingdom of God with an earthly "Inner Ring" by desiring power, position, or acceptance in the wrong way. In the gospel, we are invited to belong through simple faith like a child.

Luke 9:28-36 // Jesus is one who loves you, who is sufficient for you, and is worthy of your very life, to be listened to.

Luke 9:18-27 // To correctly identify the mission and identity of Jesus is to follow him into it. Take up again your cross, following Jesus Christ, and save your life.

Luke 9:10-17 // In this famous passage, we are invited by Jesus himself to feast in the kingdom of God. We learn about his invitation, his provision, and how we can partake in this feast with him.

Luke 9:1-9 // Jesus calls his disciples to share his mission; Jesus empowers his disciples for the mission; Jesus instructs his disciples concerning the mission; Jesus sends his disciples into his mission.

2 Timothy 2:8a // The most important advice we can receive in a world of suffering and blood might be the simplest: remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.

Luke 8:40-56 // King Jesus has life in himself, King Jesus has power over death, King Jesus has come to save us.

Luke 8:26-39 // There is no storm of your heart that cannot be calmed by the power of Jesus, no undignified act or thought that cannot be rehumanized.

Luke 8:22-25 // As disciples of Jesus, to rightly answer the question, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him,” is to commit ourselves to total trust and obedience to Jesus, even in the midst of the storm.

Luke 8:16-21 // In our cultural moment of distraction, Jesus is calling us to learn to listen. Following the sower of the seed of faith, we respond by listening expectantly, humbly, and actively.

Luke 8:4-15 // The selective secrecy of Jesus is surprising, but not without purpose. In Luke 8:4-15, Christ shows us why he will sometimes hide himself from us - so that we would persist in drawing near to him. Like the seed in the soil, we see a Savior who hides himself in death to sprout forth with new life, a life that is given to those with "ears to hear". Though he speaks in whispers now, on...

Luke 7:36-8:3 // In this text there are two different examples of how to approach or welcome Jesus: you can approach Jesus with an intellectual curiosity to speak at your dinner, or you can approach Jesus with a desperate faith to weep at his feet. One brings rebuke and distance from Jesus, and the other affirmation and intimacy with Jesus. The way to intimacy with Jesus is through a greater under...

Luke 7:18-35 // Doubt is not unbelief, but an opportunity to trust Jesus. In this passage, we find Jesus offer himself as the solution for doubters as the greater grace that they need to find assurance and certainty. 

Luke 7:1-17 // After receiving Jesus' teaching, how can we be certain we can believe him? How do we know he is who he says he is? These two miracles show us what to expect from a visit from the true Jesus: superlative power used in a surprisingly personal way.

Luke 6:39-49 // Jesus calls us to humbly learn from him as Lord of our lives. Jesus is not only our master teacher but also the master builder of our faith and life. May we seek him to shape our hearts with humility, and to produce a treasure of good words, good fruit, and good works.

Luke 6:27-38 // Jesus has an unqualified command for those who walk in his way: love your enemies. The way towards love is not against the way of justice, but is through the means of mercy and forgiveness that flows like a river from the work of Christ to love his own enemies.

Luke 5:27-39 // Most Christians are bad at feasting—part of our excessive binging culture—but Jesus wasn't. He came eating and drinking to show that the gospel is that we are invited to dine with God himself. Through Jesus' example, we learn 1) Who Jesus invites to feast with him; 2) What Jesus’ feast is like; and 3) How we feast with him.

2 Peter 3:14-18 // Peter's second epistle has been teaching us to wait well for the second advent of Christ. While we do, we must learn to be diligent, remember, keep our feet, and grow up.

2 Peter 3:1-13 // Peter leads us to remember what God has done while we anticipate what he has promised to do. We look forward with confidence that God will fulfill all of his promises because he always has. People scoff, but we wait for the promise of his coming. The day of the Lord will come with judgement for the unrepentant, and it will come with purification of the creation. Right now we live...

2 Peter 2 // In the second chapter of 2 Peter, the apostle warns the church that as sure as there were false prophets in the past there are false teachers among them in the present. As disciples who are faithful to Christ and who anticipate the return of the Lord we can prepare for the second advent by being aware of and avoiding false teachers, by steadying our souls and grounding our freedom in...

**Due to an error, the first section of this sermon is missing from the recording. See the manuscript for the whole sermon.** 2 Peter 1 // Advent is a time of preparation for Jesus' second coming as we look to his first. To prepare, we must pay careful attention to the Word of God, which through the power of promise can develop our imagination to know and participate in the holiness and happiness...

Luke 5:12-26 // In these two stories Jesus shows that he is willing and able to heal with compassion, authority, and to the uttermost. Jesus meets a leper and a paralytic at the point of their desperation and he heals them in a way that not only restores their bodies, but meets their deepest needs. We can have the utmost confidence in coming to Jesus with our deepest needs - the forgiveness of our...

Luke 5:1-11 // In Jesus' call to Peter we see how he calls us to follow him, what the call of Jesus is, and what kind of people he calls.

Luke 4:31-44 // Jesus Christ is the Word in the Dark -- as he begins his ministry he shows beyond the shadow of doubt that he has all authority over all darkness, especially the darkness in you.

Luke 4:15-30 // In this passage, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and reveals that he is the Spirit-empowered Servant of God from Isaiah 61 who will bring liberty, healing, and the favor of God to those who trust in him. The reaction of the people of Nazareth shows us that we should not let the Jesus we are comfortable and familiar with hold the real Jesus in contempt. The grace of God in...