In our text today from Luke 5, we encounter a situation that I’m almost certain none of you have ever experienced. Sometimes it can be difficult for us to understand something if we do not have any personal experience that can connect us to that thing or event. In our passage today, we are introduced to a man who is suffering from a highly contagious skin disease—referred to as leprosy in Scripture. When we think about lepers—and the pain and suffering that they must have undergone as a result of their disease—we probably feel sorry for them. But that was not how they were treated in the first century A.D. Let’s look at how Jesus broke the cultural norms to reach out with compassion to the dregs of the society.
The Bible teaches us that the purpose of salvation is to be conformed to the image of God’s Son—Jesus. The process by which that transformation happens is called “the Christian Walk.” There are many elements that are essential for that transformation process to take place. This will be our focus
for the next several weeks. The first of these is the element of PRAYER!
In this message, we want to focus our attention on the effect of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. According to the passages we just read, what happened as a result of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection?