Luke 10:13-37 We learn at a young age how to make excuses. We become adept at blaming others or rationalizing our disobedience. “It was too hard”, “I did not have enough time”, or “I forgot” are phrases spoken often at my house and probably yours as well. One area we might make excuses is how well we love people. We often want to think we are more loving than we are. In this condition, we easily j...  Read More

Luke 9:51-10:12 Jesus “resolutely set out for Jerusalem” despite knowing that path led to death. He was willing to do the Father’s will no matter what it cost or where it took him. Similarly, we are called to do God's mission in God's way. The disciples liked the idea of doing God's mission, but they had their own plans of how it should have been done. Notice verse 54 when James and John ask Jesus...  Read More

Luke 9:28-50 What does prayer look like in your life? Is it a central part of your life, something that is on the periphery, or something that is largely absent? Notice the role that prayer plays in Jesus’ ministry and that of the disciples. Jesus is consistently going off to pray and we see this in verse 28. In contrast, we have the disciples who are self-reliant. They have become so accustomed t...  Read More

Luke 9:7-27 How do you feel when your plans get interrupted? Do you get frustrated, angry, or upset? Jesus made plans to get away with his disciples in verse 10. They went to have some quiet time by themselves but end up being interrupted by a massive throng of people. The disciples responded by asking Jesus to send them away. They liked their alone time and were frustrated that it had been thwart...  Read More

Luke 8:40-9:6 Luke 8 introduces us to two people who faced circumstances that they could not change on their own. There is Jairus whose daughter was sick. He ran to Jesus so she might be healed. How excited he must have been when Jesus started to head toward his house, but then how deflated he must have been to hear that she was dead. The second impossible situation is that of the woman who had de...  Read More

Luke 8:22-39 Who does God use to do his will? Are there things in your past that are keeping you from boldly proclaiming Christ to others? As we see in Luke 8, God can use everyone as his ambassador. Through Jesus’ ministry he used a motley crew of fishermen, a tax collector, people with widely differing political philosophies, and a huge mix of people as his disciples. Today he similarly uses plu...  Read More

Luke 8:4-21 Do you ever wonder why Jesus repeats things so often? The Gospel writers do so as well. Luke 4 repeats the parable of the soils which we have already come across in both Matthew and Mark. This parable speaks to the critical nature of one’s response to Jesus. Some people will hear the word of God but it will be snatched away quickly. These people with short attention spans will hear but...  Read More

Luke 7:36-8:3 Do you ever feel like you are not good enough or wonder how God can love you because of what you have done? The end of Luke 7 introduces us to a “woman who had lived a sinful life.” A woman who was looked down upon by others and viewed only as a sinner by the Pharisees. Yet notice what she does, she comes right up to Jesus and is accepted by him. Though she is a sinner she understand...  Read More

Luke 7:11-35 What excuses do people have for their lack of faith in Jesus? What evidence do they claim they would need to believe? In Jesus’ day many people struggled with believing Jesus truly was the Messiah. Even John the Baptist, when he was in prison needed confirmation about Jesus despite having baptized him and acknowledging him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Part ...  Read More

Luke 6:39-7:10 What would you say are the biggest issues which are keeping people from coming to faith in Christ? Sadly, one of the biggest obstacles to accepting Christianity is… well, Christians. We would like to believe that the world is pulling people away, because it is too painful to think that we might be the blockade standing in the way of them coming to Christ. Fess up. When you read toda...  Read More

Luke 6:12-38 How close would you say that your perspective of things matches God’s? We see a few potential challenges to our perspective in Luke 6. When Jesus is about to make a big decision about his disciples, he goes off and spends time with the Father. There is nothing wrong with getting advice from others and doing research, but are you talking to God about the decisions you make? If our pers...  Read More

Luke 5:29-6:11 I talked with a man recently who called himself a religious person. He summarized his religious belief as doing unto others, as he would want done to him. As impressive as this ethic is, it falls short of the relationship with Christ to which we are called. When we look at the life of Jesus, we find him surprisingly in conflict with good, religious people who got so caught up in rul...  Read More