In this section, Jesus starts to gather his disciples, and he gathers the most unlikely people. He shows a fisherman how to catch fish, and asks him to come and become a fisher of people; he calls a tax collector, and eats with him. But in the background, the religious leaders are starting to seethe at how much Jesus was breaking their laws of life, and they’re starting to plot how they might deal with him.
Jesus had just been baptised, and the Spirit descended on him. And it would seem that immediately, the Spirit leads him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. The Spirit leads Jesus to suffer and be tempted, and he succeeds like no human has before. Jesus, the second Adam, says no to the temptation of Satan. And Jesus, the promised Saviour, tells us that we are in a time of God’s favour, a time when he is bringing the good news for the spiritually poor.
John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, spent his life preparing the way for us to worship the Messiah. But then the Messiah quietly stepped onto the stage. And he was exactly who the people weren’t expecting. In this passage, Luke does so much to show us the beauty and glory of this guy: even though he’s the powerful Son of God, he’s also a servant and saviour for us, and this shows us the ultimate example of God’s surprising humility.
Luke starts his Gospel by telling us that he has researched everything very thoroughly, and that he wants us to have certainty about everything to do with this Gospel. As we step onto this stage and start to hear this story, we see the births of two baby boys, born to two different kinds of needy families. But this is how God sets the scene for the great hope that would come to us: God is about to bring good news to the poor, and the marginalised, and the hopeless, through this child, Jesus Christ. And so the surprises begin.
When Jesus walks through Jericho he takes upon himself the shame that Zacchaeus drowns in. When Zacchaeus experiences this his response to such an act is one of a transformed heart. When Christ went to the cross, he did the same for us!
On Easter Sunday we came together to celebrate the event which Christianity itself hinges upon: The resurrection of Jesus Christ! In this talk, David Cook beautifully unpacks for us how the power of the resurrection is working in those who believe!
Our Good Friday talks pt. 1 & 2, ending with a spoken word from Nat Carse. On Good Friday we gathered together to remember and reflect upon the death of Jesus. In these two short, reflective talks, we explore what exactly Christ’s death achieved in the heavens and what his death achieved here on earth – finishing with how this might impact our lives today.
Christmas is the time of year we celebrate a saviour who came into this world to seek and save the lost. But according to the angels’ first announcement of Jesus’ coming, in order to be found by God we need to get God’s favour so that we can have peace with God. And this is what Christmas is all about: God’s gift of peace to us in the form of a baby, Jesus.
Three times in Luke 23 Jesus is tempted to save himself … And why not? He’s the Son of God, he could have jumped down off the cross anytime and wiped out the ‘bad guys’. But even though we might tend toward saving ourselves from difficult situations, Jesus didn’t. Why? Because Jesus came to give himself in order to save us.
Keith & Marion Birchley are heading to PNG in 2015 to work in bringing the Gospel to students there with the Church Missionary Society. Looking particularly at Luke 9:57-61, with reference to 1 Kings 19:9-21, Keith explains why.
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