All posts by Greg Ellis

Pray This Way

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The Lord’s Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

Lord’s Prayer Exercises sourced from  Ministry Matters

Rewrite the Prayer in Your Own Words

Go line by line, so that the general structure of the prayer is the same, but think in terms of your own spiritual vocabulary and theological concerns. Read your version aloud in worship and invite others to do their own.

One example:
O God
who reigns over everything,
holy are you.
Help us to live out your kingdom,
seeking your will in all we do,
and bringing the ways of heaven down to earth.
Lord, you know just what we need.
Forgive us for always wanting more.
Help us to forgive others as you forgive us.
Help us to resist temptation
And to fight our tendency toward evil.
For it is you we serve, Lord of all.
You are powerful, you are glorious.
You are the everlasting God.
Amen.

Explore the Prayer in Questions

Our Father
How do you address God? What images of God do you most easily connect with? Father?Mother? Shepherd? King?

Who art in Heaven
What is God’s position in the universe? Does God reside primarily in Heaven?

Hallowed be thy name
How do you express God’s holiness? How do you define holiness?

Thy kingdom come
What does the Kingdom of God look like? How does God’s kingdom come to earth?

Thy will be done
What would it mean to want what God wants? How do you know what God’s will is?

On earth as it is in Heaven
How can we make earth more heaven-like? What is Heaven like?

Give us this day our daily bread
Do we really trust God to give us what we need? What would it be like to live with only what you really need?

And forgive us our sins
What do we need forgiveness for? Some Bible translations use the word “debts” instead of “sins;” what do each of these words indicate about the nature of sin?

As we forgive those who sin against us
Why should we forgive others? Why is it so hard to forgive?

And lead us not into temptation
Does God tempt us? Does Satan? Is it wrong to be tempted?

But deliver us from evil
Do you believe in evil spirits or powers? Do you believe there is evil in each of us? How are we delivered from something that is within us?

For thine is the Kingdom
What does it mean for God to be ruler over everything? How does that affect the way we pray?

And the power and the glory, forever and ever
Do you believe God is all-powerful? What does it mean to give God glory? If God is eternal, how do you think God views us and our world?

Read it Differently

Read the traditional Lord’s Prayer slowly, pausing after each line to let the words soak in. Read it in a different version of the Bible than you are used to. Read it in a paraphrase like The Message or a totally new translation like the Common English Bible. If you have even passing knowledge of another language, try reading it in that language.

Putting Jesus First

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Text: Luke 9:57-62

 

Discipleship

 

Jesus Sent out The Twelve

Jesus had just sent out the “apostles” without rod, or bag, or bread, or silver, or change of clothes. Yet, they lacked nothing (See Luke 22:35 )

Story of Apprenticeship

First Man

“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied…

The first (vv. 57, 58) was eager to follow the Lord, but it seems that homelessness was too great an obstacle to him

Second Man

Jesus said to him, “Come, follow me.” The man agreed, but…

The second (vv. 59, 60) wanted first to bury his father. It may be that the man was gravely ill, and required him to stay longer, or that his father was already dead—yet even a day’s delay was too long for our Lord. The man was to begin at that instant to ‘preach the kingdom of God’.

Third Man

“Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”

The last (vv. 61, 62) wanted to bid his family ‘goodbye’. When Elisha had asked for this long before, the request was granted (1 Kings 19:20). Yet here the Son of God wanted to teach the extreme importance of his message; it was more urgent even than Elijah’s, and he could not wait. Eternity depended on it, and hesitation disqualified people from true service. Such a person was like a man driving a plough and not looking where he was going and beginning to plough uneven furrows.

Questions:

Are we more committed to our relatives than to Christ?

In sharing the good news of Jesus today, do we sufficiently stress the hardships of following Christ?

Do What Jesus Did

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Do What Jesus Did

The Twelve Equipped for service.

Power is the ability to do something

Authority is the right to do it;

The apostles had both

Luke’s Influence

Compare Apostles’ Audience in Luke’s  vs. Matthew’s Matt. 10:5–6

Content of Their Message

Preach the Good News (What is the Good News so far?)

Heal the afflicted.

Their Provision

Not to be a vacation,

They were exhorted to “travel light”

Live by faith.

  • No Rod
  • No Bag
  • No Bread
  • No Money
  • No Change of Clothes

As they went out two by two to serve Him, they had to trust Jesus to enable them to do what He told them to do

They Had enough: They lacked ‘nothing’ (Luke 22:35)

Continue reading Do What Jesus Did →

Jesus Responds to Faith

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Two Stories at Once

Healing of a Hemorrhaging Woman

Compare Luke to Mark 5:25-26 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years,  and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.

12 years of striving for healing

In a crowd comes up behind Jesus and touched the fringe of his garment

Immediately the flow was stanched

Jesus asks an unanswerable question (except for 1 person)

“Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”

47 When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed.

Trembling, she presented herself to Jesus and makes a full confession

People in the crowd heard about her condition – and her healing

“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Compare this to last week’s text when Jesus was anointed by the sinful woman: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

 

Raising of a Dead Girl to Life

12 years old

An only daughter, dying father saught out Jesus

miracle workers in Jesus’ time were celebrities, mainly because people in biblical times faced death regularly – the average man lived about 31 years, the infant and child mortality were in the 50 percent range, and a mild ailment, like a cut on one’s hand or a tooth abscess could become life-threatening.

A servant came with horrible news. Blunt – using word order for emphasis in Greek: Dead, your daughter is.

“Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.”

“Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.”

“My child, get up!”

At that moment = immediately ≠ 12 years

 

A Grace-Filled Response to Interruption

How would you respond to Jesus stopping and asking the ‘unanswerable question’ if you were Jairus?

What does Jesus do?

Why?

When Jairus hears Jesus say, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” doesn’t he ask what about my daughter?

Questions to Ponder

  • What happens because Jesus stops to interact with the woman?
  • How do you respond when you are interrupted or something (someone) comes along that you didn’t expect?
  • Is there a Jesus-like stance toward interrupting people you can adopt this week?

Good News!

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“You are only able to receive love to the degree that you are willing to trust”

Background Information

Symposium

Denarius

The Story

Simon

 

The Unnamed Woman

 

Jesus

 

“You are only able to receive love to the degree that you are willing to trust”

 

How much are you willing to trust Jesus?

Jesus’s First Sermon

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Recap:

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus

Jesus tempted in wilderness by Satan

Now, begins his public ministry in Nazareth, Galilee

Sermon Notes

Jesus was handed the scroll of Isaiah and he began to read…

The first words of Jesus’s first sermon:

The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me
to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free, and
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come

Reflection Questions:

Read Luke 4:18. During his ministry, Christ stressed that the good news, the ‘gospel’, is for the poor (see also Luke 7:22). Why does he say this?

How often has your daily Bible reading been exactly relevant for that day? Can you give examples?

Introduction to Luke’s Gospel

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Sermon from The Table Covenant Church

Introduction to Luke           Luke 1:1-4

Two-Volume Work

Scholars’ dates range early ad 60s – mid 2nd C

 

Meet Luke & His Audience(s)

Luke

+Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15; 21:1-18; 27:1-28:16

+Philemon 24; Colossians 4:14

Theophilus
+Luke 1:4
+Acts 1:1

What is Luke doing?

Luke’s Gospel is not modern history or modern biography

Luke’s Gospel is good and true history

 

Verse 3: it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus

παρηκολουθηκότι

ἀκριβῶς

ἄνωθεν

καθεξῆς

Verse 4: that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion & Application Questions

  1. Why does it matter who wrote this biography of Jesus?
  2. How might this information change how you read the Gospel of Luke?
  3. Who is a “Theophilus” in your life who needs certainty about Jesus?
    How will you share this story of good news?