By the seventh chapter of Luke, Jesus had already done more than enough to prove himself worthy of believing in and following, so it is worth considering how people started responding to him. What influenced people to reject or accept him, and how does this compare to our situation today?
(Preaching through Luke. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on February 15, 2026.)
Jesus’s sermon in Luke 6 is very similar to another, more famous sermon of his, the sermon on the mount. What message was Jesus trying to convey to his audience, and how should this sermon affect our hearts today?
(Preaching through the Gospel of Luke. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on February 8, 2026.)
After the “return” from exile, Israel began looking for a new king, the Messiah who would fulfill the promises of the prophets of old. Jesus was that king. But when he came, basically everything he said and did was the exact opposite of what Israel expected from their savior. What did Jesus teach about his kingdom, and what kind of king did he set himself up to be?
(Preaching on the church living in the world. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on February 1, 2026.)
The Rabbi system in first century Israel is an important piece of background information for contextualizing the story of Jesus. What was a Rabbi, and how did Jesus fit into this system? What does this mean for the modern reader?
(Preaching through Luke. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on February 1, 2026.)
(Note: This audio sounds very different because it is livestreamed from home in a snow storm.)
The first few stories of Jesus’s ministry in Luke’s Gospel serve to introduce the purpose of his earthly ministry and reinforce some of the ways that Jesus might have been tempted to alter or change his purpose from the Father. What was his purpose, and how does it inform our own?
(Preaching through the Gospel of Luke. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on January 25, 2026.)
When Israel failed to live as the Called-Out Kingdom God desired, he sent them back into the world, via the exiles. But God still expected holiness in their exile. What can we learn from God’s expectations for exiled Israel, and from Israel’s example of living in a nation that did not know or love Yahweh?
(Preaching on the way the church interacts with the world around it. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on January 18, 2026.)
Luke chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 is the last bit of set-up before the ministry of Jesus begins in earnest. What can we learn from the teaching of John the Baptist, Luke’s version of Jesus’s genealogy, and the temptation of Jesus?
(Preaching through the Gospel of Luke. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on January 18, 2026.)
In contrast to Matthew and John, Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus and his early life emphasizes Jesus’s humble origins and submissive attitude, from the circumstances of his birth, to his parents’ obedience to the Law of Moses, to his own submission to Mary and Joseph. What should we learn from this emphasis of Luke?
(Preaching through Luke. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on January 11, 2026.)
This is the first lesson in a series on how the church can or should interact with the world around it, in politics, culture, social pressures, communities, etc. In this first sermon we consider the way God has always called his people out of the world to be something special or different, and lay the groundwork for what is to come.
(Preaching on the church in the world. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on January 4, 2026.)
Over the course of this year, I will be preaching through the Gospel of Luke, mostly at a pace of one chapter per week. We will do the first half over the first three months of the year, take a break, and then finish out the year by covering the second half of Luke in October-December. We begin with Luke 1, wherein Luke sets up the purpose and stakes of his account of the life of Jesus.
(Preaching through Luke. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on January 4, 2024.)
Watts in the Word 