Luke by Scott Risley (2015)

Jesus' authority and miraculous power draws growing attention during his early ministry. His identity as the Chosen Son of God is confirmed in three accounts: his claim to be the promised Messiah within the synagogue; as he frees a man of demonic possession; and finally, when he heals Simon Peter's sick mother-in-law.

Peter, John, and James become followers of Christ after a large catch of fish. After praying throughout the night, Jesus calls the twelve disciples.

Jesus heals a leper and a paralyzed man. Then he calls Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him. \r\nThese miracles reveal Jesus has the ability to forgive sin and heal sickness.

Jesus clashes with followers of the Law concerning forgiveness, fasting, and the Sabbath Day. Jesus proclaims himself ?the Lord of the Sabbath,? which further angers the Pharisees.

Jesus teaches the Beatitudes: a penetrating message for the followers of Christ and the hypocritical Pharisees. The righteous will suffer for following Christ but in God's kingdom, they will receive eternal blessing.

In the Sermon on the Plain Jesus explains five differences between bad teachers and good teachers. Bad teachers: condemn rather than forgive, take rather than give, are blind rather than reliable, bear bad fruit rather than good, and ignore Jesus rather than obey him.

Jesus performs four miracles demonstrating his power over nature, demons, sickness, and death. First, he calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Then, he heals a man possessed by demons in the region of the Gerasenes. Finally, while on the way to heal Jairus' daughter, he is touched by a woman who suffered from bleeding for twelve years. Jesus heals her and Jairus' daughter.

Jesus and the disciples feed 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. In the process, the disciples learn three important ministry lessons: 1) bring to Jesus what you have; 2) God works through weak people; 3) the feeders get extra food.

Jesus asks the disciples, ?Who do you say that I am?? Four responses to Jesus' identity are examined: 1) legend; 2) New Age guru; 3) lunatic; and 4) moral teacher. Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah and learns what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Peter, James and John see Jesus' majesty and glory in his transfiguration on the mountaintop. Elijah and Moses appear with Jesus in his glorious splendor and God reveals Jesus as His Son. Key points discussed include: 1) the greatness of Jesus; 2) how to view spiritual experiences; and 3) God wants you to be transformed too.

A man whose son is tormented by an evil spirit begs Jesus to heal him. The disciples could not cast the demon out because they lacked faith. Jesus heals the boy and explains true greatness to His disciples. In this passage the disciples demonstrate their pride in four ways: 1) trusting in themselves; 2) wanting to be the greatest; 3) holding others back; 4) punishing the unresponsive.

Jesus Christ has given us a mission, along with his Holy Spirit, who gives us the power and authority to carry it out. It's a message of peace that offers the greatest joy imaginable. When we choose to dwell on what Christ did for us, we can become motivated to evangelize to the great harvest of lost people; this allows us to experience deep-seated joy, along with peace with God, others, and ourselves.

When a religious leader tested Jesus about the way to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to love the Lord with all his heart, soul, strength and mind; and secondly, Jesus told the man to love his neighbor as he loves himself. To illustrate this, Jesus told the story of the ?Good Samaritan? who saved an enemy's life because he loved his enemy with God's love. And just like the Good Samaritan sacrificed for his enemy, Jesus died on the cross while we were still his enemies, to pay for our sins.

Through the story of Mary and Martha we learn about three barriers to prayer: 1) we're distracted and busy; 2) we don't know what to say; and 3) we may not be a part of God's family yet. Jesus' prayer gives us an example of an enjoyable relationship with God, in which prayer is both freeing and vital to spiritual growth.

Through an ?a fortiori? argument, Jesus teaches us three essential attitudes to have in prayer: 1) we need to exercise persistence in prayer; 2) we must have ?shameless audacity??that is, be willing to pray bold prayers and be real with God; and 3) we should always recognize that God is our generous Father who wants to give His children good things.

We learn about Satan versus God's kingdom and the battle we are in to fight for God's kingdom. This is a battle of truth versus lies. Satan will try to convince non-Christians he doesn't exist; he attacks Christians by tempting them and accusing them towards themselves, God, others, and their ministry?all to distract them from the mission. God calls on us to remember His truth and to present it in love, to pray for people, to pray against Satan, and to persevere through this spiritual warfare.

Jesus speaks to the Pharisees against hypocrisy. Christians are not hypocrites when they sin. They are hypocrites when they pretend to be spiritual on the outside yet harbor sin in their hearts. Jesus hates hypocrisy because it shifts our focus to the external and ruins peoples' lives. Three negative impacts hypocrites have are: 1) they make following God seem hard; 2) they tell people to try harder vs. personally engaging people and helping them and 3) they isolate people vs. building a safe community. Grace is the only cure for hypocrisy.

Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool to warn about the problem of greed. When the rich man's crop yielded an abundant harvest, he planned to tear down his barns, build bigger ones to store his abundance of grain, and then take life easy. God tells the man he will die that very night. Jesus explains how life and relationships are more important than money and we should live our lives as stewards, not owners. Jesus says to be generous to God first because it turns our hearts to God and we will store up treasures in heaven.

Jesus was approached with the question, "Why do bad things happen?" There are many explanations for the problem of evil: 1) divine retribution (almost everything has a spiritual cause); 2) eastern monism (the suffering world is unreal); and 3) naturalism (everything can be explained by cause and effect within a closed system). Jesus rejects these three explanations. The Biblical view is that everything can be explained by cause and effect within an open system. God created a perfect world with no evil. The perfection of this world was broken when humanity rebelled against God. The Biblical view displays the love of God, calls us to fight evil, and assures us that evil is temporary.

Jesus uses the analogies of a seed, yeast, and a gate to describe the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not what was expected: 1) It starts in a slow, gradual way; 2) not everyone will get in, and 3) Christ is saddened by our rejection of Him. God longs to gather everyone to Himself and He gives everyone that choice.

Jesus uses a banquet with some Pharisees to illustrate the Pharisees' pride compared to Biblical humility. Prideful people exalt themselves, are competitive, don't have time for God, invest in others for selfish reasons, and ultimately reject God and His leadership in their lives. People with true humility can admit when they are wrong, try to raise others up, turn to God, and count the cost of discipleship. Christ is the ultimate example of humility. God is preparing a banquet in heaven and His invitation extends to all people.

Jesus tells three parables to illustrate God's love for the lost: the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son. In each parable: 1) something of great value has been lost; 2) the owner exerts much effort to find the lost item; 3) there is rejoicing and a party when found. In the parable of the lost son, Jesus illustrates three lessons that can be learned from the older son: 1) maybe you need to realize you are just as lost as the ?sinners?; 2) maybe you need to stop ?slaving? and get to know the Father; and 3) maybe you need to ask your Father for His love for the lost.

Jesus uses the parable of a shrewd investor to illustrate that our time is short and we need to be planning and acting now. To be shrewd means having understanding associated with insight and wisdom; to be sensible, thoughtful, prudent, and wise. Four keys are given for becoming a shrewd spiritual investor: 1) understanding that things have little value vs. big value (God, people, basic needs); 2) now vs. later (waiting and planning); 3) stewardship vs. ownership (my time and money vs. God's money); and 4) serving God vs. serving money.

Jesus teaches four lessons about the afterlife through the lives of Lazarus and the rich man--that Hell is a painful place, a conscious place, a just place, and a permanent place. People have a choice to make that will result in heaven or hell. God has a heart for all people and wants all people to choose heaven. His will for His followers is to grow in generosity and share His heart for the poor.

Five lessons from Jesus on how to have successful relationships with others and with God are: 1) Don't be a stumbling block; 2) Rebuke and forgive; 3) Faith; 4) Have a servant's attitude; and 5) Gratitude.

Jesus told the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to demonstrate what is needed to be right with God. While the Pharisee demonstrated self-righteousness in his prayer, the tax collector demonstrated humility and his need for mercy in his prayer. Righteousness before God can only be obtained by faith in Jesus' atoning sacrifice, not on the basis of our own works.

Luke describes different people seeking out the King: 1) children 2) the rich young ruler 3) a blind man and 4) Zacchaeus. God wants people to actively seek Him. He has gone above and beyond to seek us out. He desires all humanity to experience His kindness and joy because of what Jesus did on the cross. It is impossible for us to earn it.

In the final week of His life, Jesus approached Jerusalem and gave a parable challenging listeners to live focused on eternity. He taught that He will give a reward to those who use His resources for His purposes. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of His arrival and someday He will return again. How will you spend your life?

Luke describes a showdown between Jesus and the religious leaders over the temple. The religious leaders attempted to arrest Jesus and continued to use the temple to make a profit while Jesus repeatedly silenced them with the truth. The religious leaders were confronted with the question "Jesus is the Son of God. What are you going to do about it?" The same question can be asked of anyone. Will you reject Jesus as the Son of God or accept Him?

In his final week, Jesus predicts Jerusalem will be uprooted, scattered and later regathered. He warns his disciples against false claims, tells them what to look for and explains how they will go through great persecution. Historians Josephus and Tacitus confirm this biblical account as well as Old Testament Scripture. Against all odds, these predictions have come true which gives great evidence this can only be from the one true God.

Jesus uses predictive prophecy regarding end times to illustrate the character of God and His message to humanity. Research validates the signs Jesus predicted including signs from the first coming, the second coming, and for the end of the world. Religious, political, and environmental signs are discussed. There are also preconditions that have been validated which we are seeing happen today.

Ritualism emphasizes the personal distance between people and God. Gary explores Paul's argument against ritualism within the framework of two main applications: 1) we should not be self-righteous; and 2) since relational closeness with God is possible, we should strive to cultivate a relational closeness with God.

Jesus teaches his disciples about taking Passover at the Last Supper. He shares this meal and reminds them about the foreshadowing of the Passover lamb in the Old Testament and that he is their Passover lamb that will be sacrificed for them. Both Passover lambs highlight two events: 1) the unrepeatable day God's people were saved from slavery; and 2) the time believers look back in gratitude remembering that day. As believers we can also look forward in anticipation of the first Passover we will eat with Jesus.

On Jesus' final night everyone failed him. Luke described the betrayal of Jesus by Judas and Peter. The difference between Judas and Peter wasn't in the nature of their failure but in their response to failure. Judas responded with regret while Peter responded with repentance.

Jesus stood on trial before Pilate and Herod. He then faced excruciating torture and death by crucifixion. This fulfilled the prophecy about the Messiah who was also called the Son of Man. This solved humanity's biggest problem of sin which separates us from God. Jesus died in our place to make us right with God.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a hotly debated topic denied by atheist scholars and surprisingly, by many so-called Christian scholars. A common reason for this denial is the belief that the four Gospel accounts are inherently contradictory and cannot be fit together. Fortunately, the four Gospel accounts can be harmonized and the evidence for the resurrection is quite compelling. What do you think is the best explanation of the evidence for the resurrection?