The better we understand our core values, the better we can live out our unique church identity with clarity and resolve, for the glory of God.
Luke 19:11-27 - "The Return of the King"
When we lose the hope of Jesus returning tomorrow, we tend to lose sight of His purpose for us today. But Scripture is clear that our King is coming back, and so we must remain faithful in the meantime. Today’s passage first focuses on the recognition of the returning King, and then turns to what will happen when He returns.
Luke 19:1-10 - "Greediness Healed"
We often fail to see ourselves and others in light of Christ’s purpose and power. So today’s passage is a wonderful reminder of His purpose, which is also our purpose, which He empowers us for. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and He does it through us.
Luke 18:35-43 - "Blindness Healed"
Christians and non-Christians alike are affected by spiritual blindness, and it keeps us from seeing God, ourselves, and others as we ought to. But if we respond to Jesus with faith, then He will heal our spiritual blindness. In our passage, we see a blind man responding with faith in vv. 35-39, and then we see the incredible results of that faith in vv. 40-43.
Luke 18:31-34 - "Boldness & Blindness"
Jesus was bold because He understand His purpose, and we will be bold, too, as we better understand our purpose as Christians. Today’s passage contrasts the boldness of Christ in vv. 31-33 with the blindness of His followers in v. 34.
Luke 18:15-30 - "Receiving the Kingdom"
God’s Word teaches us that we have no reason to boast about ourselves before God. The kingdom of God is for those who can only boast in Jesus, so we must come to Him from a position of humility. As we will see in today’s passage, we must come to Jesus like a baby, NOT like a boss.
Luke 18:9-14 - "True Righteousness"
True righteousness comes from God, so we must look to Him to become righteous. In today’s passage, we see this true righteousness contrasted with a false, man-made sort of righteousness.
Luke 18:1-8 - "Prayerfulness & Discipleship"
Jesus gives us the antidote to spiritual burnout, and it is simply to pray. Without persistent prayer, we will not persevere in this life. But if we believe that God is loving and loyal to His people, then we will always be able to turn to Him in prayer and trust in Him for provision, even in times of pain or frustration.
Luke 17:20-37 - "The Coming of the Kingdom"
*Due to technical issues, no audio available for this week
Luke 17:1-10 - "Forgiveness & Discipleship"
When we forgive others, we are imitating God and His merciful character. But forgiveness is not something that any of us are very good at, and when we fail to forgive, we harm ourselves and others. This is the opposite of God’s will for our lives. But forgiveness accomplishes Christ’s purposes, so we must learn how to forgive.
Luke 16:14-31 - "Law & Lawlessness"
God expects lawfulness, so we must live lawfully. In our passage, Luke shows us what lawlessness looks like and what it leads to.
Luke 16:1-13 "Wealth and Worship"
In today’s passage, Jesus personifies wealth to show just how easy it is to worship wealth in place of God. We cannot afford to worship wealth so we must begin to see if from a different perspective. Our passage helps us to do that by presenting two fundamentally different approaches: a worldly perspective on wealth, and a worshipful perspective.
Luke 15:1-32 "The Heart of the Father"
Everyone tends to seek the things of God without seeking a relationship with God. Today’s passage reminds us that it’s important to repent of our waywardness and that when we repent, our loving father rejoices.
Luke 14:25-35 - "The Cost of Discipleship"
Many of us make a commitment to follow Jesus without considering what it will take to follow through with it. Since a life of discipleship is costly, we must consider the cost. Today’s passage looks at the requirements and results of a life of discipleship, which is simply a lifelong commitment to learn from and live for Jesus.
Luke 14:1-24 - "Hard Hearts and Humble Hearts"
All too often, we are quick to honor ourselves and our priorities for this life, which inevitably leads to our dishonoring God and dismissing His priorities. But Jesus teaches us to humble ourselves, so that we can honor God in this life, and be honored by God in the next. This basic teaching underlies all three sections in today’s passage.
Luke 13:31-35 - "Fearlessness and Faithfulness"
The truth is, none of us are more than a few steps away from abandoning our God-given mission due to internal fears or external pressures. Today’s passage reminds us that we can find hope for finishing well in Christ. Jesus never abandoned His God-given mission but finished out His earthly ministry with fearlessness and faithfulness. Jesus knew that His suffering, death, and the postponement of God’s Kingdom was in accordance with God’s will.
Luke 13:22-30 - "Entrance into the Kingdom"
The Kingdom of God has a wide table but a narrow door. We can preach the good news of the Kingdom knowing that everyone is invited but not everyone will come. In our passage, the narrow door points to faith in Jesus and the wide table points to God’s amazing grace — accessible to anyone and everyone who believes.
Luke 13:18-21 - "Parables of the Kingdom"
When we have hope in the kingdom of man we will inevitably end up hopeless. When we place our hope in the Kingdom of God, we will remain hopeful because our hope is in the unchanging promises of Jesus our King. In our passage, Jesus uses two parables to teach us that we can be hopeful about His coming Kingdom regardless of our current circumstances.
Luke 13:10-17 - "Hopelessness + Lovelessness
Even though atheism is declining globally, many people still live without hope in God or love for others. Since Jesus is the source of hope and love, we must point such people to Him. In our passage, Jesus confronts both hopelessness and lovelessness in Israel. As followers of Jesus, we will inevitably have opportunities in our lives to influence both hopeless and loveless people as well.
Luke 13:1-9 - "A Call to Repentance"
Our circumstances don’t always reflect our relationship with God, so we must look to Scripture to understand it. In today’s passage, Jesus teaches that good and bad circumstances are not necessarily the result of divine punishment or approval.
