Crossway Christian Church

What happens when Jesus preaches the gospel? What effect does it have in the world? We should ask ourselves the same question, when we tell the good news of the kingdom, what is the effect?

It was this extraordinary behavior that not only revealed the hardened heart of the Pharisee, but the heart of this forgiven woman. Two people have encounters with Jesus; two people are eager to be with him, but only one shows any signs of having been changed.

You need not look to anyone else ~ "Jesus is the promised Savior of faith."

This scripture will answer the following questions: Is obedience to God always a clear path? What if God says no to your request? What should be the response of a servant?

John asks, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" In these verses we will see that Luke is answering that question this way: 'Jesus is the promised Savior of faith.'

God isn't looking for good people, he's simply looking for faith. He's looking for people who will believe in him; specifically, people who will believe in his Son, Jesus Christ. Luke tells us why we should put our faith in Jesus.

After looking at Jesus' Sermon on the Plain - his teaching for his disciples about what life in his kingdom should look like, there is the temptation to listen, nod, and go away unchanged. Here we come to the conclusion of that sermon and see Jesus press home to us the importance of hearing what he says and what we should do in response.

We are often blind to our own sin. Jesus teaches his disciples, who live and serve in his kingdom, how they must live.

Here we come to the Mount Everest of Jesus' commands. It is the command that many find most difficult to embrace. It stands at the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus for it stands in the heart of God himself. What is this difficult command? That we should be a loving people. Jesus defines for us the kind of love that should mark us out as his people.

It's been called the greatest sermon ever preached. Jesus redefines life for his disciples.

Shadrack Black, Missionary to Burkina Faso, West Africa

Over the last few weeks we have seen Jesus' life and ministry and how that provoked many religious leaders to be his enemies. Yet, what Luke now highlights for us is that just as Jesus had enemies, he also had followers. From these followers, Jesus was going to gather together a new people of God.

What does it mean to keep the Sabbath? On the simplest terms, it meant to rest. Certainly, there is some practical element to it. God knows his creation, and taking a break is good. But there is a deeper reality to the principle of rest. The Sabbath was meant to point people back to God, that they might find rest of their souls in him.

What Jesus brings is so new that nothing old can compare. This was true for the ancient Jews and it's true for us today. Jesus offers a new relationship with God.

In the previous section, Luke shows us what kind of Savior Jesus is - a Savior who can meet our deepest spiritual need and who is willing to save. Luke continues this theme as we see Jesus call yet another disciple to himself. From these verses, we see how Jesus still calls disciples to himself today.

Here we read about two times Jesus healed. In looking at these stories, we want to see what they tell us about Jesus and what they tell us about ourselves and the healing we still need today.

Spiritual warfare is a gospel-centered war. This spiritual war is not just a war in our hearts and our churches, but a war of advancement. The kingdom of Christ is meant to grow and expand and bring new citizens into its realm of salvation.

Every day we face the temptation to sin. How are we going to say "No"? Do we even understand how temptation works? Here we look to the Word to understand temptation and how to defeat it.

In the deepest parts of our heart, we daily experience the turmoil of gods at war. Everyday numerous idolatrous gods battle against the one true, God for the affections of our hearts. How can we know what real worship of the living God should look like? And, how is it achieved?

The real power of spiritual warfare lies - not with us, but with God. And the way to receive that empowerment is through prayer. Prayer is essential for spiritual warfare.