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Luke includes many teachings about wealth and money as Jesus heads toward Jerusalem. One of the things Mary foretold would happen in her song was that Jesus would lift up the poor and bring down the wealthy. In these teachings he begins explaining how all of this will happen in his Kingdom. This should include the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

Guest Speaker: Dante Huerta Luke 10:25-37 The most famous parable in our culture is created in response to the simple question: “Who is my neighbor?” We will explore Jesus’ answer and how it still challenges each of us 2000 years later.

Jesus teaching on Prayer Luke 11:1-13 The Persistent Widow Luke 18:1-8 Blind Bartimaeus Luke 18:35-43 Jesus teaches the Apostles to pray a short prayer and teaches them to ask, seek, and knock. And sometimes we get upset when we don’t get what we pray for. But look at what Luke does here…it’s different from Matthew: The Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (instead of good gifts). When we ask for something and we don’t get it, we still have God’s presence…the greatest gift. And when we continue to pray with persistence, God is a just judge who gives us what we want/need, but the greater question at the end is will we have faith after the waiting? And finally, the blind man’s prayer is such a simple request…so simple you can pray it with your breath and become somebody who used to be ___________ but now you are ______________. “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me”

Toward Jerusalem Luke 9:1-6 (10-17, 18-20, 21-27, 28-36, 43-48) In every Gospel there is a moment where the story shifts from the Galilean ministry toward Jerusalem. It’s a moment where Jesus moves from building the foundation for this Kingdom to preparing himself and the Apostles for his departure. He turns his feet toward Jerusalem, where his ancestor David once ruled, and he turns his mind toward the cross. This week is that moment for Luke. Jesus sends out Twelve with power and authority. He challenges them and confronts them in the feeding of the 5,000. Peter declares he is the Messiah. He predicts his death twice, connecting it with teachings on service and humility. And in the middle of that we have one of the most incredibly mysterious moments of the Gospels…the Transfiguration. And then, finally, he sends out the 72 with incredible success. The two sendings bookend this section that is all about preparing this group for after he’s gone. Spoiler alert: They’ve got all the potential but they aren’t ready.

Contagious Wholeness Luke 8 This week we looked at the stories of Legion, the bleeding woman, and Jairus’ daughter. In each of these stories, the unclean person should have made Jesus contagiously unclean. In each story Jesus meaningfully touched the unclean person. And in each story Jesus’ cleanliness, holiness, and wholeness was instead contagious to them. This should empower us to go into the dark places.

Crazy Farming Luke 8:1-8 Jesus tells the story of the farmer who sows seed on four different areas. These different areas represent how different people receive the word of God. What we really need to learn as Christians today is to be crazy, inefficient, seed slinging farmers who send the word of God out all over the place in hopes some will take hold. We need to remember the news really is good, trust that the harvest truly is plentiful, and let our light shine. In the three stories in Luke 8:1-21 we see that the word of God goes into our ears and hearts and then fruits and light and actions/obedience are produced.

The Restoration Movement Luke 7:18-23 When Jesus launches his ministry in Galilee he performs many miracles and even brings the dead back to life. He does it remotely for a Centurion who has great faith. He brings back the only son of a widow when she doesn’t even ask and it couldn’t have anything to do with her faith. When John’s disciples come to ask if Jesus is the one they’ve been expecting he explains who he is. We really get a glimpse of the ministry of Jesus here.

Leave It There (Come and See) Luke 5:1-11, 27-32 When Peter and the others were BUSY cleaning their nets Jesus asked them to put out their boats. After catching more fish than they could carry, Jesus calls them to be fishers of men. So they pulled their boats on shore, left everything and followed him. Later Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, to leave his table and follow him. He leaves everything, throws a great feast for Jesus at his home and invites all kinds of people. The Pharisees and the Pharisaical teachers of the law question Jesus’ inclusion of sinners. Jesus teaches them he has not come to heal the healthy but the sick. He doesn’t call the qualified. He doesn’t call us to give him our leftover time or to leave margin for him. When Jesus calls us he calls us as we are, where we are, and regardless of how busy we were when he showed up. In between these two stories is a story of a paralyzed man. Can you imagine if that paralyzed man encountered Jesus, had his sins forgiven and legs activated and then went back to his mat? When Jesus calls us to follow, why do we so often choose to stay on our mat? Or once forgiven, why do we go back to it?

The Mission of Jesus of Nazareth Luke 4:14-21 This week begins with the baptism temptation of Jesus. The temptations begin and end with Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we think Jesus was empty in the wilderness or that the Spirit doesn’t show up until Luke’s second volume. But be very clear…Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit throughout his ministry. And it gives him incredible clarity and purpose for what his mission truly is. He proclaims it from Isaiah 61/58, promises hope for the blind, captive, and poor, and then extends it all to the Gentiles/nations. And finally, even when he is invited to stay and do more good and more healing he declines because he has his eyes focused on his mission. Jesus persevered through all of this because he was filled with the Holy Spirit, loved by the Father, had his identity in God, and knew his purpose.

BC & AD Scripture: Luke 1:46-55 Luke sets out to write a letter to a God-friend so they can have confidence in what they have heard. He uses every source he can find, from Mark to Matthew to many eyewitnesses, almost certainly including Paul. Luke’s two part Gospel series makes up 1/8th of the New Testament. He is considered by historians to be one of the great historical writers of the ancient world. But it’s more than history…it’s a document that shows how the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus has completely changed our world forever. It changes who is included/excluded. It changes how we think about money, forgiveness, grace, obedience, life, death and everything in between. We are beginning a 13 week study of Luke's masterpiece, the only record we have of the story of Jesus from a non-Jew who was a doctor by trade and who managed to write a book that changed the world by telling the story of the man who left heaven to change the world. In our first week we have the prophecies from Mary and Zechariah and Gabriel’s instruction to name the boys John (God is gracious) and Jesus (God is salvation). Before they were born, their names proclaimed the Gospel was coming!

The Final River - Revelation 22:1-5 The rivers flowing out of Eden and the river flowing from the Temple in Ezekiel 47 now lead us to the river flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb in Revelation 22. This river again causes trees of healing and life to grow near it, nourishing the entire Creation eternally. Our job as Christians today is to begin that work of being life giving water to a world that needs it.

(Rivers run through Scripture pt 2) Ezekiel 47:1-12 In the days of Ezekiel he was given a vision of a river that came from God’s Temple. It began as a trickle until it became a vast life-giving river. Later, in a ceremony rehearsing this vision, Jesus would declare that anyone who is thirsty should come to him and drink. Jesus is the life giving river that flows from the Temple. Are you drinking this water?

(Rivers run through Scripture pt 1) The God of Deep Waters   Psalm 93 This week we will begin our three part series on the rivers that run through the story of Scripture. We begin with the chaotic deep waters of Genesis 1:1-2. When God begins creating there is disorder, emptiness, and an uninhabitable wasteland of abyss and deep waters. But the Spirit of God hovers above the deep waters and tames them. It is then that God’s creative word brings order, boundaries and life to the entire Creation. But it’s just the beginning of the story of God bringing life from and through water.

N McBroom - Honduras Missions Team Report

Let Freedom Ring - Scripture: Luke 4:14-21 After being tempted, Jesus returns to his hometown and reads from the scroll of Isaiah in synagogue. The passage he reads reveals that Jesus is ushering in a new day of healing, of restoration, and of freedom (Jubilee) for all people. Ironically, his promise of freedom for ALL people becomes scandalous in his hometown. Do we still offer the promise of freedom to all people today?