Sunday, May 25, 2008

How To Rejoice

Luke 10:1-20

Welcome! In a few minutes we will take the bread and the cup to help us remember that the Lord Jesus died for us, taking the punishment that we deserve for our sins, and doing this so that we could spend an eternity not separated from God but with Him, enjoying Him, worshiping Him forever. When I say that Jesus died for us, I don’t mean “us” in an abstract sense, as in people in general, but I mean each particular one of us. I mean me, and I mean you.

Communion, remembering Jesus with the bread and the cup, was not a church practice that became a tradition over time, like having a church meeting on Sunday mornings, but was something Jesus Himself instituted with His disciples. He did not specify a frequency, but because we are a forgetful people, and because we are a fickle people, it makes sense that we should do it often. There are indications in the Bible that the early disciples did it quite often.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Cost of Greatness

Luke 9:46-62 
Welcome! We have been going through the Book of Luke, line by line, chapter by chapter, and we are presently in the middle of what I might call the rebuking section of Luke. Last week, John Bullard spoke from Luke 9:28-45, including the account of the transfiguration of Christ, and also an account of a healing of a boy with an evil spirit. The rebuking section of Luke actually begins in the latter part of last week’s passage, and I want to highlight just one part of this passage before we go forward with today’s passage.

A man in the crowd called out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him. I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not." "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here." – Luke 9:38-41

Sunday, May 4, 2008

The Christ of God

Luke 9:10-27

Last week you all heard an excellent message from Luke 9:1-9! The passage we looked at involved Jesus sending out the 12 disciples to go out and tell people about the kingdom of God. Jesus had given them supernatural power to drive out demons and cure people of diseases just as He had. For this period of time, Jesus had in effect turned loose twelve “Jesuses” – people doing what He had done. This caused quite a stir among the towns where they went. Rumors flew. People wondered who all these people could be. What did it all mean? Had John the Baptist risen from the dead? Had Elijah reappeared? Even King Herod became concerned and confused by all the reports, and it says that Herod tried to see Jesus. One result of the 12 going out and doing this is that Jesus became even more famous than He had already been. And so we pick up the story today at the point that the 12 disciples finish their preaching and healing journey.

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. Then He took them with Him and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, but the crowds learned about it and followed Him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing. – Luke 9:10-11