Sermons on Luke
In the twelfth chapter of Luke, the gospel writer packs these first twelve verses with a ton of theological content dealing with issues such as hypocrisy, eternal judgment, the reality of hell and the unforgivable sin. In this message, Pastor Wade looks at each of these and more to develop some cohesion within these topics…
Just after Jesus warned the people to “be careful lest the light in you be darkness,” Luke records a strange encounter Jesus had with the Pharisees. After being invited into one of their homes, Jesus astonishes the Pharisees by choosing not to wash His hands prior to the meal. Why did Jesus’ actions elicit such a strong response? Why does Jesus then proceed to condemn them for their self-righteous nature? Pastor David sheds light on this and more in today’s sermon.
The focus of the message today is a series of teachings and encounters with many who would consider themselves as the enemy of Jesus—people who were hurling false accusations and unfounded theories on who He was. These accounts of the rejection of Jesus are interspersed with snippets from those who received Him in a positive…
In this portion of Luke’s Gospel, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. They had seen Him model the need for prayer, but they apparently did not know how Jesus was praying when He went away to pray. So, Jesus provided them with a pattern for prayer—not necessarily to quote verbatim, but to…
In this story of the two sisters who loved Jesus, we see this love demonstrated in two very different ways. Martha was the consummate hostess— abounding with the gift of hospitality. In many ways (it seems), Martha found her since of worth and identity in what she was able to do for the Lord Jesus.…
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most well-known teachings of Christ from the Gospel of Luke. While we are probably all aware of the specifics of this parable, it is important to interpret this parable on two levels—the straightforward teaching and the symbolic teaching of the parable. On the surface, this…
Just like the seventy-two in Luke 10, we have also been commanded to carry out the mission of Christ. While the specific details of this mission may not transfer to our modern setting, the principles behind these instructions inform us as to how we are to reach the world for Christ—through prayer and dependency upon…
There are two sections in our text today that have a related theme—when given the opportunity, will we follow Christ or make excuses? In the first section (v 51-56), Jesus went again to the region of Samaria with the good news. Unlike His first encounter with the Samaritans (John 4), the people did not receive…
As we continue to look at the various ways in which God calls believers to walk in the fullness of all He desires for His church, we begin to shift our focus from the internal community of the body to the broader community in which we live. How has God called us to interact with those who are “on the outside”? Or in other words, How has God called us to engage our community? Pastor David shares God’s purpose and plan for engaging our community.
My goal today is to focus on some of the events from the last half of the week, but I hope to do this by seeing these events through the eyes of one of Jesus’ closest followers—Simon Peter. Throughout the Passion Week, Simon Peter seems to be involved in everything that is happening—which is sometimes good and sometimes not so good. As we consider all these things that he said and did during these last few hours of Jesus’ life, I hope to be able to portray not only his words and actions but also his implied thoughts and feelings. I will not overly-dramatize the text of Scripture to make it say something that it does not say, but I will attempt—when possible—to analyze the text of these gospels to help us see and feel what Simon Peter is experiencing. We’ll begin where Pastor John left off last week—in the Upper Room where Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover on Thursday evening.