“Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.“ PSALM 119:105
In church meetings across the world, week after week, we hear this rather encouraging portion of Scripture, reminding us that God is with us when we are gathered together in His [Jesus] name. Is it true that where two or three are gathered, God is with us…? Read on to see the answer to this question…
Death hangs over us all whether we like it or not: It’s the one thing we cannot escape or have any control over. Jesus death was hanging over the disciples as He lay in the tomb, all their illusions shattered at the Cross. But it’s not over yet.
The Resurrection is the most important event in human history bar none.
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Finally, after all the plotting and scheming by the religious leaders they were getting their way and were openly calling for His demise. So that was that, Jesus would be crucified. His disciples and followers must have been confused and bewildered at this turn of events.
The whole of Jerusalem is preparing for Passover. Jesus, the Son of God will soon become the Passover Lamb. His sacrifice and the subsequent application of His blood will cause death to pass-over those to whom it is applied, freeing them from their slavery to sin and death.
The account of the widows gift to the temple may seem out of place just prior to the discourse about end times, but talking of its future highlights the contrast between how devoted the people were to this institution which became redundant long ago and its imminent destruction (which happened only 40 years later in AD70). We must not be overly engrossed in how things are going to go before the end; be on your guard, don’t be overly distracted by the pleasures or the worries of life.
You can imagine the Pharisees wondering who this upstart was who turns up and acts like He owns the place. Here was Jesus throwing tables around, teaching about Scripture like He wrote it and constantly insulting them as though they didn’t know God at all.
We pick up the account here in Jericho, but Jesus has always been heading towards Jerusalem. There is still much to be said and done, still more to learn from Jesus, but the very purpose of His visitation (to earth) will soon come to a head. Meanwhile, the jealous leading religious Jews of the city were looking for a way to destroy Him.
Communicating with God is a fundamental aspect of our spiritual life. But God will not be mocked. God is spirit and He can see straight through to our hearts when we pray. If we think we can impress God with fancy prayers for all to see with an attitude of superiority because of our ‘self-righteousness’, we are sorely mistaken…
The Jews of that day were very alive to the coming Kingdom of God, but they completely misunderstood the nature of that Kingdom. They were imagining the restoration of the glory days under King David and Solomon and the overthrow of Roman rule. Perhaps Jesus is warning us what life in the Kingdom is really like and how we should prepare for His second coming.
Stewardship is an important issue for the people of God. Above all else that we should be good stewards of, the Gospel message is chief among them, because the Gospel message is the power of God.
This is what grace looks like: God giving us what we don’t deserve by seeking us and giving us a second chance. He is seeking the lost sheep and the things of value that were lost to Him. Those who are in-Christ, were lost but have now been found. What could be better than that?
Today, we might think we are getting on well if we are able to hobnob with the best society has to offer: look how excited we get at photo opportunities and selfies with celebrities. We must put following Jesus at the top of our agendas…
It is inherent within us to determine ‘how we are doing’ in relation to ‘making it’ to whatever one thinks heaven is; what happens when we die? will we make it? We instinctively know that we must give an account of ourselves…
We are intrinsically valuable to God and He cares for all our needs. Since God cares so much for us we need not concern ourselves with how we might flourish. We may store up wealth, but in the end it cannot change the outcome of our lives. We must live as though Jesus could return at any minute.
Luke turns his attention to internal matters as he records the things Jesus taught. We learn that God is a benevolent God who wants to hear from us and is delighted to answer our prayers. Our inner life is vital. Trying to make ourselves righteous by own efforts will achieve nothing.
It is striking to me that Jesus sends out the 70 to go to places that He Himself would then go to Himself. It doesn’t seem that efficient, these guys could have been like ‘force multipliers’, reaching more than He Himself could have otherwise
Who do the people say that I am, who do you say I am? What is the cost and manner of service for the Lord Jesus? These questions are broached in this chapter…
As if to demonstrate Jesus’ power and authority again, Luke highlights the calming of the sea and the deliverance of the Demoniac, absolute power over the physical elements and the spiritual entities.
We learn from Jesus meal with Simon the Pharisee, not unlike with His meal with the tax collectors and sinners, that Jesus came for those who were in great need…
Jesus teaches that in order to have true religion we must live a different way. To the religious Jews nothing is more sacrosanct than the Sabbath. They think they are pleasing God by forcibly enforcing the Sabbath laws upon the people, hanging a weight on them that even they struggle to keep. Jesus hits right at the heart of this hypocrisy and so begins the conspiracy by them to do something about Jesus.
Jesus is preaching to a dense crowd by the Sea of Galilee when He calls the fishermen Peter, James and John…
…we find Jesus demonstrating His authority. He quotes from Isaiah 61 and claims to be the one spoken of in the text He has read.
Having heard about the striking circumstances surrounding the pregnancy of John the Baptist’s mother Elizabeth, we now see his calling and ministry.
Luke takes us on a whistle stop tour from Jesus birth to when He was 12. Along the way we meet the shepherds who were the first to worship the Baby Jesus and after meeting Him could not keep quiet about all that they had seen…
Luke, a medical doctor in the first century undertook to collate all that he and others had seen with their own eyes. If they had been invented, he would have gone round with a dictaphone and note pad interviewing loads of people who had seen or been with Jesus from his birth to his death and beyond. With this information he wrote an orderly account of all that took place and recorded his wonderful historical document.
What do you have strong roots in?
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Walking With the Word : Paul Curd 