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What do most people look for when looking for a church? Typically, what we look for is what the church gives to us. The snapshots of the early church that Luke gives in Acts 2:42-47 & 4:32-35 are more about what the church gives itself to. The church is sacrificially generous, unified, excited, and growing. That is the fruit, but the root is the 4 practices in Acts 2:42.

The book of Acts, the missionary movement of the early church, is rooted in a much larger biblical story. This lesson explores God's desire to reach all nations, beginning with the call of Abraham, amplified through early Christians, and continued in us today.

The table is important in Jesus' ministry. He heals, teaches, welcomes, and even confronts at the table. This lesson spans the table ministry of Jesus in Luke, culminating in the Passover Meal in Luke 22, when Jesus plays the role of the host.

Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-8. Jesus teaches His disciples to pray. He teaches us about the God we pray to by telling us what God is not like so we can understand what God is like. Plus, we get a spiritual prayer practice that is very practical, we can pray it throughout each day.

Luke 10:1-20

Luke highlights and emphasizes the key role that several women played in the life and ministry of Jesus. This lesson cannot cover them all, but we focus in on five different examples of women who helped move the mission of God forward in Luke-Acts and the missional attributes we should aspire.

Luke 6:37-42

Luke 6:27-36. Jesus' core teachings form us for our missional witness. This lesson brings together the intersection of the pillar teaching of loving your enemies with the mission of God.

Why does Jesus say "blessed are the poor" and "woe to the rich"? What implications does that have for us as disciples?

In Luke 5, we have two examples of "call" stories. Jesus calls fishermen and a tax collector to be his followers. He tells Simon Peter that from now on, you will "catch people." The Greek word that is used there means "captured alive." We sometimes say that faith is not just taught, it is caught. What does it mean to be "caught" by Christ?  Who is the least likely person that you think would ever "catch" the faith? Who has believe in you? Who do you believe in? What is God inviting you to die to? What do others "catch" from us?

The central message to Jesus' preaching/teaching ministry was the kingdom of God. But what is the kingdom of God? This lesson seeks to explore the layers of meaning behind Jesus' most frequent (but often overlooked) teaching and its meaning for us today.

In Luke 4:14-30, Jesus goes to his hometown and says the time of Isaiah's prophecy is now, it's being fulfilled. His hometown tried to kill him, and part of their anger is because his mission is much wider than they would have ever anticipated. The passage in Isaiah functions as a missional vision for Jesus' ministry.

Picking back up our missional theme in Luke's writings, we meet Jesus in the wilderness in Luke 4:1-13. This sermon shares four main postures from Jesus that we should imitate; disciplined rhythms, spiritual awareness, scriptural discernment, and steadfast resistance. Jesus begins His ministry with a  big "no!" to Satan. How can we imitate Jesus in our own walk? What does this have to do with the mission of God?

This lesson focuses on the intersection of youth ministry philosophy and mission