Crossway Christian Church

Now, today, we want to see how Luke ends this section by telling us about the return of the 72. And the theme we see here is joy. It’s a wonderful reminder that the hard call to follow Christ and leave everything else behind, never ends in misery but joy.

This message from Jesus is one to embrace with obedience and faith and consider how to speak to the calling Jesus has placed on our lives. Specifically, the calling to be sent on mission, making disciples of Christ for the fame of his name.

Luke reminds us that we must count the cost. We must consider what it will cost us to follow Jesus as his disciples.

As we think about Jesus' words and actions here, we need to understand that Jesus is pointing us toward a life of gospel humility. That is, humility made possible by and empowered by the gospel; the good news of Jesus' salvation for sinners.

How do we deal with our unbelief? First, we humbly admit to God that we do not believe as we should. From this passage, we want to think about how we can cultivate a real, steady, consistent faith in this life, and arm ourselves in the fight against unbelief.

As we seek to understand and apply this passage for our lives, we want to behold the glory of Jesus. When we do that, we will see how everything else pales in comparison to him.

From these verses we see the essence of Christianity itself. One of the most important passages in the entire Bible.

As we think about the Reformation of the Church in the 16th century, as we hear about men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Knox, we can appreciate their efforts and acknowledge our deft to them because we know who stood behind all their accomplishments. It was God himself.

Here we come to a story that is well known but perhaps is not well understood. It's an important story because it appears in all four Gospels of the New Testament. We not only see a miracle of Jesus, but one that gets to the very heart of who Jesus is as the Savior of the world.

From this first mission of the disciples, we not only see the beginnings of their future apostolic ministry, but the same essential principles for our own ministry today.

Here Paul describes his apostolic ministry to the Colossians. This description serves as a pattern for us today for all Christian ministry.

This passage is all about the faith of people who encounter Jesus and how their faith in him changes their lives. As we unpack this passage, the point is that Jesus is the one in whom we should put our faith and we will look at what that faith should look like.

Luke is showing us again and again his power and compassion to bring salvation and change to the lives of sinners. He wants us to bask in the glory of Christ and come to an ever-deepening love and appreciation for his work.

The question that faces us: do we have a fair-weather Christianity? Or, will our faith prevail throughout all circumstances. Luke continues to show who Jesus is and why we should put our faith in him.

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