(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.)
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.)
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.)
“The dark triad” is technically a term from modern psychology, but I am co-opting it as a label for John’s categorization of temptation. Throughout the Bible, in important stories of temptation, you see the same triad. What is this “dark triad” of temptation?
(Preaching on temptation. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on December 21, 2025.)
How we think about the form, structure, and purpose of the New Testament will inevitably affect the way we approach, read, and interpret it. What did Jesus have to say about it, and what did its writers say about why and how it was written?
(Preaching on the new covenant of Christ. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on November 2, 2025.)
One of the main points of conflict in the early Church was the question of how to handle or relate to the Law of Moses. This is still a question many people wonder about today. How did Jesus and his apostles intend for Christians to think about the Law of Moses?
(Preaching on the transition to the Covenant of Christ. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on November 2, 2025.)
Mark’s Gospel is a good one to use as a base for digging down to the core Gospel story; the part of the good news of Jesus’s life that all four Gospel writers included in their accounts. The list is surprisingly short, and while everything each writer wrote is essential for all Christians, considering the story in its most basic form powerfully confirms the simplicity and communicability of the Gospel story.
(NOTE: The audio cuts in and out a bit at the beginning. Sorry. Preaching on the Gospels. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on October 12, 2025.)
The “kingdom” is an especially important theme in Matthew’s version of the Gospel story. Jesus’s work was not disconnected from the story of Israel in the Old Testament; it was a fulfillment and continuation of God’s plan to establish his eternal kingdom, promised to David and Daniel. How does Matthew explore the importance of the “kingdom of heaven” in the life and teaching of Jesus?
(Preaching through the Gospels. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on October 5, 2025.)
Matthew’s gospel is the most closely connected to the Israelite story in the Old Testament. He connects these stories in two main ways: the fulfillment of prophecy, and the continuation of the kingdom. First, we will consider how Matthew addresses prophecy in the life of Jesus. How does Jesus fulfill all the promises of God in the Old Testament, and what does it mean for the modern reader?
(Preaching on the gospels. This sermon was preached at the Dewey Church of Christ on October 5, 2025.)
Watts in the Word 