Luke 1:1-4 Sermon for Dec. 7, 2025

My friends here tonight, I’ll be honest with you: In these days and weeks leading up to this moment, I have felt pressure. I mean, this is the very first message I’m delivering at Kingdom Bound Church and it sort of sets the tone for how we’re venturing forward. And then, I felt that pressure released because I’ve only got one job and that is to preach the Word of God with the fear of God, without reservation, and knowing that I’m here to please God; not man. That pressure was put on me by the enemy, and I got up one day this week and said to the enemy, “You’ve got no authority over me.” I also know that there is a hunger for the Word of God among us tonight. There is a great hunger for truth today and people are tired of being starved. If we can just be honest for a moment, there is a great spiritual malnourishment sweeping across this country and it’s time to start eating again. It’s time we feast on the Word of God. Tonight, we begin that journey. We begin to get healthy. We begin to hear from God and to keep on saying, “We want more!” And with that said, we open the Word of God this morning to our brother Luke, whom we will be spending a lot of time with. If you have your Bible, make your way to that book. If you don’t have a Bible, I would highly encourage you to start bringing it. I’m going to re-read what Ruthie read to us moments ago. Luke 1:1-4 CSB Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us. So it also seemed good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed. So, before we can really understand what is going on here, I want to help us understand Luke and his friend, Theophilus for just a moment. You see, Luke is a physician. In Colossians 4:14, Paul wrote, “Luke the dearly loved physician.” So, he’s a doctor. He’s a doctor that’s loved. He’s also a historian. How do we know? Because it says in our text this morning, “I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you an orderly sequence.” That’s what historians do. He has a similar introduction to other ancient histories. He uses a very precise timeline. He includes very specific details, which by the way, have been confirmed by even the most secular of archaeologists and historians. And Dr. Luke isn’t one of the 12 disciples of Jesus. Rather, he’s a close companion of Paul. Paul’s the dude that went from being ok with the murder of Christ-followers to becoming one himself! He then wrote a majority of the New Testament. Luke also wrote the book of Acts, which outlines the history of the first century church. In fact, way back when, Luke and Acts used to be considered one book. And then we turn to our friend, Theophilus, which means ‘loved by God’. Truth be told, we just don’t know much about the man. There are theories, but I want to stay away from theories. I want to just stick to what we know. So, whether he was a member of high standing (as evidenced by ‘most honorable’), or a Roman official, or a lawyer, or someone who financed the writing and distribution of Luke’s material, what matters is that Luke wanted Theophilus to be CERTAIN about the things of which he was taught and heard about. As we can see right from this passage, we can see that Luke paid attention to details. You’re going to see that plastered throughout the 24 chapters here. And I want you to understand something here when it comes to Luke’s handling of multiple small details, whether they were people, places, or events. It’s that if Luke was right in the small details, then you can be certain that he’s right in the big ones too, like the resurrection of Jesus! This is important. It means, that if you’re struggling with certainty in the claims of Christianity, you’re in good hands with our brother, Luke. Why? Because Luke has been the subject of skeptics for many, many years. Wat do I mean by that? For many, many years, people have tried to discredit him because if Luke could be right about the things he wrote about, then people would have no excuse for rejecting Jesus. In fact, let’s talk about Sir William Ramsay, who was a notable skeptic and archaeologist in the early 1900s. After decades of studying and trying to disprove Luke, he’s come to finally admit that Luke was a “historian of the first rank.” So, my friends, you can be certain about things pertaining to the Christian faith. And some of you may be here tonight struggling a little bit. You’re like doubting Thomas and the good news is that the Lord is patient with you. Tonight, he is whispering to you to come on over and embrace the King of Kings. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and you will be set free when you finally surrender yourself into the loving arms of the Father. But, if you’re not there yet, that’s ok. You see, all of us are somewhere on the journey and God meets us where we are at. He won’t leave you there. But he’ll meet you there. In 2 Peter 3:9, it says, “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” Yes, the Lord is patient. But, do consider coming to Him now. And if you think you need to have you’re house in order to come to him, you’re mistaken. No, no. no. You come to Him now and He’ll get your house in order. Bring that mess to Him. Bring the struggles to Him. Bring the questions to Him. Even the father of the demon-possessed boy in the Bible said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” You don’t have to have it all figured out. Come to Him and allow Him to walk with you. And it would be a tragic mistake for me to come up here and say, “you’ve got all the time in the world to make a decision about Jesus.” Why? Because you’re not guaranteed tomorrow. So, get right with Jesus. Repent. Do a complete 180 from a lifestyle of rejecting Jesus and living your own way and follow Him. Now, my friends, I’ve got two main things I want you to walk away with tonight as it pertains to our lovely text. Here is the first: 1. Truth withstands scrutiny. Luke has been scrutinized for years. His details have been scrutinized. People have tried to dismissed his writings as false, made up, fantasy, and a fraud. You ever been told that your faith is based on fairy tales? Well, guess what? It’s not! You put the Bible on trial, Jesus on Trial, God on trial, and they win every single time! Why? Because the TRUTH always wins. Listen, there’s more base to that claim of fairytale to essential oils, believing the Devil’s lie that a child of God is still under condemnation, believing that boys can be girls, believing that we came from monkeys, believing that the complexity of creation came from chance, Dave Ramsay telling you to max out the credit cards… but we’re not ready to talk about that, are we? For years, they’ve tried to discredit Luke and guess what? Evidence was found years later proving that Luke was right the entire time! For years, history has been trying to stamp out Christianity by trying to discredit it but to no success! Why? Because it ain’t no fairytale. If you’ve got people who’ll mock your faith, you pray for them. Listen, God will handle it. God will not be mocked, but you do pray that the mercy of the Lord will fall upon them. You will be mocked today for standing up for the details; for standing up for what is true. For standing up for the Word of God. For living for Jesus. You will be ridiculed. They will try to discredit you, cancel you, get you to doubt your own beliefs. But you stand firm. Because years later, like they’ve done with Luke, they’ll come to the light. My prayer is that they’ll come to the light before Jesus comes back on a horse and at that point, every kneel will bow whether you like it or not. My second and last point here is this: 2. Faith is meant to be passed on. This is really important here. Luke wrote to Theophilus. He shared his findings. Many have compiled a narrative about Jesus. The word was on the street. People were sharing about the things they’ve heard. And it cost people their lives to do this. Tradition tells us that Luke was finally hung from an olive tree in Greece. For what? Because Luke was bold and open about his faith. The question I have for you this morning is this: what are YOU doing to share the faith? Are you passing it on to others? Are you passing it on to your kids? You know, I never understood why Christians don’t talk about Jesus with their kids, or at least why there is so little emphasis on it. Never understood it. Never understood why Christian parents are so shocked when culture influences and shapes their child. You send your child to Rome for 8 hours a day, say nothing or very little about the faith to them when they get home, and get shocked when they become Romans. I mean, let’s take the bigger picture here. If we’re not passing on the faith, if we’re not speaking about Jesus, and if we’re too afraid to reveal our faith (instead we conceal it), then what right do we have to complain when society drifts and does ungodly things? My point is this: your faith is meant to be shared and there are consequences if you don’t do it. I know this sounds harsh, so let me put a more positive spin on this: if you truly believe in Jesus and you truly believe that Jesus has transformed your life, then why would you hide that fact? Would a doctor withhold medication from a sick patient? You may have come to Jesus privately, but you don’t live your faith personally. You’ve got to share it. Look at our boy, Matthew, who said, “No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (5:15-16). Is your light shining for others to see? Or can others hardly tell if you’re a Christian or not? And if it’s not shining, why not? I’m just gonna leave it at that? Why not? Are you the salt of the earth or are you just plain salty? Do you stand out or do you blend in? Do people look at you and say, “I want whatever it is that you have because it’s contagious”? My friends, like Luke, let your life be a compilation of the good news of Jesus and what He has done in your life and let others see it without reservation. Live boldly. Live loudly. Live in Truth. Because the only way we are set free is with the truth. The only way we can live free is in the truth. The only way for a watching world to be set free, is if we share the truth. In order to do that, you need to be reminded tonight of who you are. If you don’t know who you are in Jesus, you won’t have the courage to live boldly. In the Lions King, Rafiki reminds Simba that Mufasa lives in him. You see, Simba wants to live the Hakuna Matata life in a comfortable, pleasant way. Yet, Rafiki has to remind him that he has a greater purpose. Simba didn’t want to go to the Pride Lands to set things right, and Rafiki has to sort of pull out that courage out of Simba. Simba looks at the reflection of himself in the water. At first he only sees himself. But then he realizes he sees his father’s reflection. Mufasa lives in him. Some of yall need to look at a mirror and see the Father in you and be reminded that because God lives in you, you can have courage to live boldly for the Father. You have courage to share the faith, push back on what is false, and proclaim the truth of Jesus! As we talk about Jesus, the Truth, we are going to take part in the Lord’s Supper, as a way to REMEMBER what Jesus has done for us and what His mission is for us, REFLECT on where we are at in our lives right now, REPENT of living selfishly, and then RESPOND in obedience to His Word.