The Gospel According to Luke
What Does Jesus Want His Followers to Say?
April 12, 2020 • Larry Kroon • Luke 24:45–47
Over this very unusual Easter Season, with the world in the grip of a pandemic, we will be answering three crucial questions: (1) What does Jesus want his followers to do? (2) What does Jesus want his followers to say? and (3) How will Jesus enable his followers to do so? Last week (Palm Sunday) we addressed the first question. This week (Resurrection Sunday), we will address the second question with the words spoken by Jesus on the day of his resurrection.
What Does Jesus Want His Followers to Do?
April 5, 2020 • Larry Kroon • Luke 6:20–49
Over the Easter Season we will be answering three fundamental questions: (1) What does Jesus want his followers to do? (2) What does Jesus what his followers to say? (3) What will enable us to do both? Today, with the words of Jesus found in Luke 6:20-49 we will address the first of those questions.
Proclamation
April 28, 2019 • Larry Kroon • Luke 24:44–53
Luke’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus. Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and finally Ascension. That sequence raises a natural question for us:“What happens now?” Jesus answers that question in our scripture reading today: Proclamation.
Resurrection
April 21, 2019 • Larry Kroon • Luke 24:1–43
The Christian witness is simple. It is foundational. It is defendable. And it is, above all, Good News. This Resurrection Sunday we gather to give voice to that witness as God’s People holding to God’s Word, filled by God’s Spirit. “The Lord has risen indeed!”
Remember
April 14, 2019 • Larry Kroon • Luke 22:1–38
We have spent two school years working our way through the Gospel of Luke as a congregation on Sunday mornings. With this Easter season we now come to the end: crucifixion, resurrection, mission. Today we look at how best to remember it all in a heart-shaping and life-forming way.
The Last Days
April 7, 2019 • Ashley Brown • Luke 21:5–38
During Jesus’ final days in Jerusalem, He pointed people to the culmination of human history–His ultimate return as the King of all creation. Prior to His future coming, His people would face great persecution, and they needed to stand firm, enduring in their faith. Today’s passage looks at Jesus’ teaching and warning to His followers.
Eternal Perspective
March 31, 2019 • Ashley Brown • Luke 20:19—21:4
His confrontation with the Jewish leaders came to a head. They challenged Jesus, and each time He silenced them with truth from God’s Word. Their conclusion: Jesus must be destroyed. Jesus’ conclusion: His hearers need an eternal perspective that results in total dedication to God.
The Cornerstone
March 24, 2019 • Larry Kroon • Luke 20:1–18
The dramatic events that followed upon the final entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem cry out for explanation. God’s King in God’s House with God’s Heart was rejected. The crowds went from hanging on his every word to demanding that he be hung on a cross. And he was hung on a cross. Crucifixion. But then God raised him from the dead. Resurrection. Trace the story and the question arises: What happened? What was going on? Answer: the Rejected Stone was made the Cornerstone.
God’s King in God’s House with God’s Heart
March 17, 2019 • Larry Kroon • Luke 9:28–62
Near the end of his ministry we are told that Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51) one last time. It would be a long and extended journey. With today’s text we come to the end of that journey: God’s King in God’s House with God’s Heart.
The Parable of the Ten Minas
March 10, 2019 • Ashley Brown • Luke 19:11–27
Today’s passage records the last parable Jesus tells before He enters Jerusalem for the final time. In fact, Jesus told this parable because He was about to enter Jerusalem, and people were supposing the Kingdom of God was about to appear. Today we will examine Jesus’ response to these assumptions, and what it means for us now.
Jesus Came to Seek and Save the Lost
March 3, 2019 • Ashley Brown • Luke 18:31—19:10
As Jesus nears Jerusalem for the final time, He enters Jericho and prophesies the fate that awaits Him—suffering and death. While in Jericho, Jesus encounters two men that were discounted and shoved aside by the surrounding crowds. And yet, these two men received mercy when they encountered Jesus. And this is the reason Jesus came—to seek and save people such as these.
The Impossible Made Possible with God
February 24, 2019 • Larry Kroon • Luke 18:18–30
When we talk of the impossible being possible with God, it helps to be specific about the human impossibility under consideration. If we are not careful, our talk easily becomes curious chatter, philosophic speculation, or motivational hype, rather than a life-altering truth encounter. So, let’s be specific: a rich person entering the kingdom of God is a human impossibility, but “what is impossible with men is possible with God."
End Times Questions
February 10, 2019 • Larry Kroon • Luke 17:20—18:8
In conversations about the “End Times” we often ask the wrong questions and give confusing answers. Better to ask the right question and give a clear answer. That will only happen if we begin by listening to Jesus and addressing the question he asked.
Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers
February 3, 2019 • Ashley Brown • Luke 17:11–19
As Jesus nears Jerusalem for the final time, He encounters ten lepers who cry out to Him for mercy. Jesus grants that mercy, and they are cleansed. The only one of the cleansed men who returns to thank Jesus is a Samaritan, someone who was not typically considered to be one of God’s people.