[0:00] How are you doing? Are we done? That was good. Thank you Dan for helping us sing that.
[0:14] ! Take out your Bibles with me please to the Gospel of Luke chapter 19.! I wrote it down, the page number, and I left it in the pew.
[0:27] I think it's on the pew Bible about 8 and 58, something like that. 8 and 58, what'd I say?
[0:41] 8 and 58? Yeah, cool. 7 and 5, just have a couple of squiggle differences. 8 and 58, what's the gospel of Luke?
[0:52] So this morning we're doing something that we do every 5-6 weeks. We step back from my teaching of the Word from going expository through the text to kind of stepping back and taking a big look at the last few weeks that we've studied and then discussing and thinking through those things.
[1:18] This is your opportunity to share some of the things perhaps that Christ has been teaching you, things that challenge you, things maybe that you're thinking through as we've gone through these.
[1:33] So we are reviewing and discussing chapters 19 through 21. So that's a big section. We won't cover all of that.
[1:44] We'll kind of go where you want to go. What I'd like to do to begin with is read in chapter 19, verses 11 through the end of chapter 19, because I think that section sets the stage.
[2:02] These chapters are a bridge. Remember that in Luke, from Luke chapter 10 through 19, was the journey to Jerusalem.
[2:14] Mark, Luke described Jesus at the end of chapter 9, that he set his face to Jerusalem. And then from those 10 chapters was the journey and his teachings during that time preparing his disciples.
[2:32] Now, we're at that bridge section, verse chapter 19, where he now arrives in Jerusalem, and he begins to throw the gauntlet down. He begins to ensure that they will kill him, because he challenges the leadership directly.
[2:51] So it's a bridge between then chapter 22, where we get into the passion, the night before Christ dies, the betrayal, and Peter's falling, and the Last Supper, remember?
[3:12] Chapter 23 becomes the trial, the multi-phase trial, and then his crucifixion. So we're there. And this is the bridge.
[3:23] So this is, in a sense, Jesus' setup to the whole reason he came, to the primary focus that he came, to seek and save the lost, to die for his people, and then to rise, and to rise, to take his throne.
[3:48] Okay? So let me just read, and then I'll show you a couple of things, and then we'll jump in and discuss these things.
[3:59] So I want to read from verse 11, chapter 19 of Luke, verse 11 through the end of chapter 19. So if you're able and you'd like to stand, please stand. So verse 11, then Luke 19, 11.
[4:16] As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell them a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
[4:29] He said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.
[4:40] Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we do not want this man to reign over us.
[5:03] When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business.
[5:16] The first came before him, saying, Lord, your mina has become ten minas more. And he said to him, well done, good servant.
[5:27] Because you have been faithful in very little, you shall have authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, your mina has made five minas.
[5:37] And he said to him, you are to be over five cities. Then another came, saying, Lord, here is your mina. Which I kept laid away in a handkerchief.
[5:49] For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow. He said to him, I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant.
[6:06] You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Well, why then did you not put my money in the bank?
[6:17] And at my coming, I might have collected it with interest. He said to those who stood by, take the mina from him and give it to the one who has ten.
[6:29] They said to him, Lord, he has ten minas. I tell you that everyone who has more, more will be given. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
[6:48] But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. And when he had said these things, he went on again going up to Jerusalem.
[7:04] When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples saying, Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat.
[7:21] Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, why are you untying it, you shall say, the Lord has need of it. So those who were sent went away and found it just as he told them.
[7:35] And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to him, why are you untying the colt? And he said, the Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
[7:52] And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
[8:23] Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, teacher, rebuke your disciples. And he answered, I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.
[8:40] And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace.
[9:00] But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you.
[9:19] And they will not leave one stone upon another in you. Because you did not know the time of your visitation.
[9:31] And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer.
[9:44] But you, you have made it a den of robbers. and he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do for all the people were hanging on his words.
[10:10] So it reads, let us pray. Father, in these moments now, give us your spirit to lead our discussion.
[10:20] Give us the impressions from your word that you want us to focus on as we discuss and talk about these things that we have been seeing and hearing and learning.
[10:35] May this time, as we discuss it, reinforce truth. May it bring it home to us as those who share here may, even their sharing, cause it to take firmer root.
[10:53] So we pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Okay, briefly, let me just describe for you what I think is the theme of this section as this bridge section.
[11:09] And I think it's summarized in verse 44 where Jesus says, you know, you missed it. You missed it. You did not know the time of your visitation.
[11:26] Now we read that, the no there sounds like, well, they just didn't know, they were ignorant. No, the word there in the Greek means you didn't recognize it. You should have recognized it.
[11:37] You didn't recognize it. You're blinding yourself. Sometimes God's truth is revealed to us and yet we don't see it because of some self-blinding thing going on, either a resistance or rebelliousness or hardness, pain.
[12:03] Sometimes pain will block things out. So, but that I think is, leads to the focus of this section. As he enters now, this is something he says while he's weeping.
[12:21] Okay, he doesn't want it this way, but this is how it is. And so he's in great sorrow. But what I saw as I reviewed these three chapters was a theme of judgment coming.
[12:38] In the parable he told, that I read earlier, verse 27, the king who returns, right? He goes away to receive a kingdom and he comes back. And the citizens, you know, hated him and didn't want him to rule over them.
[12:53] And so he comes back, right? And he deals with those citizens. Judgment's coming. You don't want this king.
[13:03] You don't want Jesus to rule over you. You hate Jesus and you do not want him to rule over you. There will be consequences because he is king. He has gone and received his kingdom.
[13:17] In fact, he is king now. He is at the right hand. And he is ruling. Okay, so there's that theme. And then again, what I just read at the end of 19 there, as he's weeping, you did not know the time.
[13:32] And so here comes the judgment. The city and the temple will be destroyed. In verse 45, he talks to them about being den of robbers, that the temple itself, which is set apart for prayer and for worship, they've made it into a commercialized business.
[13:52] They've corrupted worship. So he confronts that. Later in chapter 20, he tells the parable, right, of the wicked tenants, the vineyard, and how he goes away and he sends his messengers back and they send away, they beat up the messengers, right?
[14:09] And so he finally sends his beloved son and they see the son and they kill the son so that they can take the vineyard for themselves. And what happens?
[14:21] Well, the one who's been so gracious so far now says, okay, no, we will deal with those wicked tenants. So again, judgment. And the end of chapter 20, 45, again, he rails on the scribes, the leaders, as those of hypocrisy.
[14:42] And then, of course, the big chapter 21, where he talks about those future things, the big element of that chapter is he predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
[14:54] He predicts it and he says it will happen within a generation, which is 40 years. And Jesus died in 30 AD and Titus and the Roman Legion came and destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.
[15:11] 40 years. He predicted it so precisely, described the surrounding, the siege and the, all of that.
[15:23] So, so anyway, I saw there's a lot of judgment in here. So this, this bridge section, in other words, the last section, we saw Jesus teaching and focusing on his disciples a lot, teaching his disciples.
[15:37] Here, this bridge section, it's kind of like he's, he's focused in on these false leaders, these, these rebel leaders, and they know it. And it's kind of, it's like he's, he's pushing all the buttons that will lead to his crucifixion.
[15:55] Okay? So that's, that's the theme. So, enough from me. So, where do you want to go? What has God been teaching you? There's five sections here. The first section, 19, in chapter 19, 11 to 44, there's that theme of the king, the king returning and the king coming.
[16:15] Right? What kind of king is Jesus? Uh, the end of chapter 19, the judgment on the leaders. Uh, chapter 20, he gets asked about taxes and resurrection.
[16:28] Right? They try to trick him and trip him up and he actually turns the tables on them. And then Jesus himself raises the question, chapter 20, 41, who's the Christ?
[16:40] Who is the Christ? Uh, if he's the son of David, how can he be the son of David and call, uh, and how come David calls his son Lord?
[16:52] If he's David's son, how come he's calling him Lord? Right? So, he introduces the two natures, the son of man and the son of God. Um, and then, of course, chapter 21, the subject of, uh, uh, the prophecy of the future.
[17:08] So, there, there's the different subjects that any one of those you could focus in on. Um, I'm not going to go through this outline. It's just kind of there, uh, for your use of, if you want it, or to draw pictures on, uh, or whatever you want to do.
[17:25] Uh, so, where do you want to go? What, what's God been teaching you? How have you been challenged? Conviction. Conviction. Okay. Ouch.
[17:36] That's good, though. Conviction's good. It makes me, uh, the, the word is the sword and it's, yes. And it made me stop and, and examine my faith to the point of what, what, what, what the Bible is teaching.
[17:56] Good. Thanks. And it helped me to realize where my, where my salvation comes from. Amen. The blood of Christ.
[18:08] Our own hope. Yeah. And, and, and no matter what's going on, where it's my ultimate hope. I mean, there's this running theme, as I said, that there's, there will come a day.
[18:20] God is being gracious. God is letting people come to him. He is drawing people. But there will come a day when he says, okay, now, now, it's judgment day.
[18:31] So, that's, that's to kind of get us to say, take things serious. That's, am I ready for that day? Believer or unbeliever?
[18:45] Right? What kind of servant, will, will I be the servant that I've done with what he's given me? Have I done anything with it? Or am I just stuffing it down in my pocket and not doing it?
[18:56] Okay. Jenny? I'm still stuck on last week and the signs. They're like, ongoing from the very beginning. It's too content for me that the signs are still going.
[19:10] And it's the sign at the end, but it's been the sign at the end since the beginning. Right. In the other gospels, so, so Luke 21 is the prophecy Jesus gives of the future.
[19:22] Matthew 24 and also Mark 13. They all tell the same things, but Matthew and Mark give a little more detail. Luke's more streamlined. He's talking to the folks that don't know the Greek and the English or the Greek and the Hebrew that much.
[19:38] So, so in the other ones, Jesus calls it the beginning of birth pains. It's not the end, but those signs like the wars, right, and the tribulations and all the things we keep still hearing going on that seem like, you know, 9-11.
[19:56] It's like, whoa, this is serious stuff. Yes, absolutely. I mean, and to the people it's happening to, it's the end of the world, right?
[20:07] I mean, it's just, but then it's not. Right. So Jesus says, those are the beginning. So, so in other words, the beginning of the end is already happened.
[20:20] All those signs remind us that the end can come at any time. Because those signs precede the end, right? Those people back then to feel the same way they're coming.
[20:31] Absolutely. Absolutely. That's, that's why Paul believed Christ is coming. Every century, believers have believed he's coming, he could come at any moment in our century.
[20:44] He's prolonged that, you know, three days is like, what, 3,000 years to him? So, but I think those ongoing signs, he says, don't be, don't be scared.
[20:57] Don't let those things frighten you because they're not the very end, but they should help us stay alert. Maybe there are reminders to stay alert.
[21:09] Remember, back in chapter 17, Jesus, Jesus talked about tragedies that happen. He says, what's the purpose of tragedies? Why did that tower fall on those people, right?
[21:19] And why did the people suffer at, at, at Pilate's sacrifice, right? Those are horrible things. So Jesus said, why did this happen? Was it because those people were more wicked than anybody else?
[21:30] Is that why the tower fell on those people? And he said, no. And all, what was the only answer he gave? Repent, lest the same happen to you.
[21:46] So in other words, tragedies are wake-up calls. That our life could end at any moment. Only God is in control of that.
[21:59] And so when you hear of that, check your soul. Am I, am I right with God? Repent. Am I right? Am I right? So, that's the only answer Jesus gave to that, that horrible thing.
[22:13] He acknowledged it was a horrible thing, but then he said, okay, what do I do about that? Well, I don't decide, oh, those people must be more wicked. No, that doesn't, no. It's for, it's one of God's bricks on the head, you know, kind of thing to say, have you made yourself right with the Lord?
[22:35] So, what else? Dan? I have to tag on a little bit to what Jenny said. I don't know if anybody remembers that Monday night, September 10th, Broncos were playing Monday night football.
[22:52] Oh, boy. Yeah. Don't take it personally. But, Ed McCaffrey broke both bones in one of his legs getting hit.
[23:04] And all the Broncos fans, you could hear it in the state of Colorado and everywhere else, they went, their world was ending as far as a season, they thought.
[23:15] Well, then you wake up to Tuesday morning, oh, and not one word was brought up Tuesday about in the Catholic in 94, but everybody's thinking the world's ending, the world's ending.
[23:28] Right. Something more serious going on. Something more serious. And, there were churches all over the place that were saying, well, this is God's wake-up call. It's the alarm going off.
[23:40] How many of us have hit the snooze button? Right. Right. And this is, it's always constant reminders in God's word to be ready. Yeah.
[23:52] The time is now to be ready. Yeah, and Jesus, you know, not in this section of Luke, but earlier sections of Luke, where he's told parables about, you know, the one who's coming back.
[24:04] Are you ready? Are you awake when he comes back? That's where Jesus is talking about the end. When he does come back, yeah, it could come at any moment. Are you ready?
[24:16] Because we could be sleeping because it's not like, oh, I don't feel like it's the end. It'll be like the flood. They're, they're marrying and partying and boom, comes a flood.
[24:28] That's what, and Jesus said, that's how the end's going to be. It's going to be sudden. You won't have any warning. These are the warnings. These are the warnings.
[24:40] And if we keep, yeah, if we kind of get used to it, get the snooze, that's the detriment to our soul. Yeah, but it's, that's, that's part of the Christian life is staying vigilant and there's times when we get lax about it.
[24:57] So, yeah. Yeah. What else? Richard. Yeah, I think that, you know, as I've been reading and studying and working with the, the connect group that we work with, to really focus for me is our perspective.
[25:18] And we think of, well, the end is here. Okay. So, the end, there's nothing beyond the end. And I think even as Christians, we focus on that a lot too. Well, what's the end?
[25:28] Yeah. Nothing of any consequence, anyway, because really here, what's here in front of us, physically, that I can touch, that affects me is what I'm concerned about today.
[25:42] Not the end. I love what C.S. Lewis said, you have never met a mere moral. There is no end.
[25:54] We have eternity to look for. And everybody's playing in short call for what we're experiencing here today, not what eternity looks like.
[26:05] We work with a cadet group called Officers Christian Fellowship. And during the summer, one of the things that they do is they play the videos from The Chosen and watch that.
[26:19] And I'll be honest with you, I know there's probably, most of the people in this room love The Chosen. They think it's wonderful. Man, I have avoided that because I am a very, very visual person.
[26:33] And what I see on TV has a tendency to trump what's in the book. And, you know, Don was talking about this the other day, that, you know, there are these books that we read that are very near and dear to us and we see the movie and it's like, eh.
[26:48] You know, they just didn't cover things very well. In the case of The Chosen, they add stuff that's not in the Bible. So I'm constantly, believe me, and I've got my filter on listening to that.
[26:59] So I've been avoiding that. But we kind of had to, had to do that because we had to prepare to give lessons associated with The Chosen. One thing that really stood out to me that I had never considered before was right now in the episodes that they're looking at, they start with the Passover and they read through the Diendu, right?
[27:21] I don't know if you guys are familiar with that. That's a song that's sung during Passover. And let me just read a couple of sections from that to kind of set the perspective here.
[27:35] If he had taken us out of Egypt and not made judgments on them, it would have been enough for us. And then the next statement is, if he had made judgments on them and had not made them on their gods, it would have been enough for us.
[27:49] And you keep going and you keep going through this list, but it's all about things that make my life better. If God had just made my life better, it wouldn't have been enough for me.
[28:00] If God had done this in my life, it would have been enough for me. And I have this picture that I've never had before of Christ sitting with his apostles, going through the Passover, reading this, and it's if his presence is to say, yeah, it wasn't enough.
[28:17] because you guys are focused on what makes life easier for you, better for you in this world, and you don't have the perspective of I am here to be the sacrifice to put you at peace with God for eternity because it wasn't enough.
[28:39] So when I see this, I mean, that's really the fundamental perspective that we read of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, even though they say, well, the Sadducees don't worry about what happens there.
[28:51] I was thinking that when you were describing that. When you read through the Diado, you can say, yeah, I can see why the Sadducees would be all for this food because when it's over, it's over for them.
[29:04] But the Pharisees, nobody has the perspective of I'm really in my person at enmity with God, and there's nothing I can do in myself to fix that.
[29:16] And God had to plug himself in flesh and fix it for me because it was something I couldn't fix because my perspective is wrong. Anyway, sorry.
[29:27] Thank you. Thank you. Our perspective is often wrong. Who else? I think it was a Dr. James R.
[29:37] White quote or something. It's like, one day we're all going to get to heaven and laugh about how wrong we all were. Right. surprised at who's there and also surprised who's not there.
[29:48] Yeah. Because they were not getting to heaven and not be laughing at all. Yeah, I am. So with this, as you pointed out earlier, Luke has a different way of presenting what the other gospels have also presented.
[30:08] And so he's set me a thinking, a little more streamlined also. And Ron's word sums up, I think everything we should all be feeling is conviction.
[30:27] You know, we think thoughts. And that's my daily prayer for myself is guard my thoughts, actions, emotions, because they're going to take off in another direction, as our Psalm 126 said.
[30:48] I'm going to want to wallow. So we don't recognize time, and what came to me this week is this world is in a mess of hurt.
[31:02] It's really gone far, far away. it's wandering. Not for the first time, though. Sure. Right. Because it's happened throughout history that it's wandering.
[31:16] But I happen to be living it right now. Right. so I very easily could say, join them. Why am I struggling? All these people in the name of tolerance, which we are being taught.
[31:32] I was taught that in school and by society. So for me, it's very critical to hear Luke's words, gospel, of course, to remind me that I have to be careful to not walk into that trap of the way the world would like to tolerate everything because everything becomes okay.
[32:09] Everything. And before I know it, I'm walking away from God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit because there are very definitive requirements and commands.
[32:25] And I have to remember that and stick to that. Thank you. The world wants us to tolerate everything but Christ.
[32:40] Christ. Exactly. And what you wrote here, what you wrote here on your answer, you did not recognize not just the time, but Jesus, the Holy Spirit.
[32:55] He is the time, yeah. And before you know it. Well, and that's a practice, I mean, we can turn that statement to our hearts, our own hearts. Am I recognizing the time? Oh, yeah.
[33:06] Now's the time. Am I recognizing the time? That God's speaking? Who else? Oh, Don?
[33:26] It seems like there's kind of a thread going through the thoughts of our congregation today. One of the verses that makes me think of it's 2134, saying be careful, which Diana just brought up, for your hearts will be weighed down.
[33:46] Yes. And anxiety is like coming out again. And that's so true. We have our own list of the day and our own concerns.
[33:59] And so often, we don't focus on the Lord. it's easy to get distracted.
[34:14] There is life to live, right? There is work to do. Yeah, it's interesting.
[34:25] You said that, Don, and that comes in the section chapter 21 of all the warnings about the future, the predictions about the future that Jesus makes. Notice that his applications are very, you know, they're just watch your heart.
[34:43] Watch your heart. Settle it in your mind, not to plan ahead to what you're going to say when you're arrested, but trust the Lord to give you the mouth and the wisdom that they can't even refute.
[34:58] right? So, it's like, wow, that's a, it's a big ask. Especially from someone like me. I want to know what to say.
[35:11] Yeah. And I've shared that before. I've experienced that several times, not in the sense of being arrested, of course, but that you don't know about. No.
[35:22] But in the sense of going to visit, to a visit or something where it's like it's one of those situations, boy, I'm not sure what to, I haven't eaten. And so I just offered up to the Lord and said, okay, you're going to have to put it in my heart to say something or I got nothing.
[35:40] And so many times that the Lord had something that I never would have thought of. Something, he speaks something to them. So, and I'm sure many of you have seen that too, where God just, God gives you words when you need it.
[35:57] Amen. Yeah. Words that you, you know, it's the Lord, not anybody else. It was too good. Anyone else?
[36:10] if we get our perspective right, go back to what Rick was talking about, if we get our perspective right from the very beginning, the very start of the day, or if we can get our perspective focused right, years.
[36:33] If I years they ask me how I'm better than I deserve it. People say, well, not really. You deserve more.
[36:43] And it's my perspective's right. My cup's full and overflowing, runs over. I have been way better than what I deserve.
[36:57] And so that's my perspective. If that follows, if that precedes our day, follows our day every day.
[37:09] If we lose that perspective anywhere, then it opens us up. Be always on the watch and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.
[37:29] So if that's our perspective, if we have a chance, a grip, to go in the right direction without that perspective, then I feel, geez, I don't have enough.
[37:52] If I had a little bit more, it would be the wrong perspective. Yeah. Well, that's our soul, right? So it's really about taking hold of our soul, and that was in one of those commands as well, to take hold of your soul that you might endure.
[38:11] Because our soul is that wants the easiest escape, right? The soul is what wants, you know, I want those things that make me feel better.
[38:25] That's my soul. And my soul is most satisfied when it's seeking the Lord, because only he can provide those things.
[38:37] And so how do I take hold of my soul? So how do we get that perspective, right? How do we get the right perspective? How do we maintain that? When our soul is wandering, when our heart is deceiving us, right?
[38:54] Where do we start? How do we revive? How do we get back? What is the key? Paul says, renew your mind.
[39:09] Preach the gospel to yourself every day. Amen. Yes. And so to even get to that point, I have to renew my mind, right? I have to get that perspective back.
[39:19] I have to reckon it, because I can't follow my soul, because my soul's going to lead me, right? Jesus says, hate your soul in this world so that you can save your soul. Don't trust your soul.
[39:30] And my heart is deceptive. So I must renew my mind. Put off, put on. Ephesians 4.
[39:42] This is how we walk, right? I renew my mind. And I put off and I put on. I start with my mind. I have to grab hold, and I thank you, Ron, for saying, preach the gospel to myself.
[39:56] Well, renew my mind. Preach that gospel back to myself. What really matters? What really matters? And when you renew your mind, you're also obviously including the Lord.
[40:11] You're talking to the Lord, and he will lead you. Okay? You take that first step, and you just say, okay, Lord, help me renew my mind. He will lead you. He will show you what to confess.
[40:23] He will show you what to pray. Open up the Psalms. If you're lost, you know, open up Psalm 119. Just start at verse 1 all the way through 40.
[40:34] That'll help you. Just go to Psalm. If you're depressed, go to Psalm 6 or Psalm 13. If you need renewal, Psalm 19. A lot of the Psalms can guide you in those times.
[40:49] Lord's Prayer. Thoughtfully. I mean, that's where I, that's square one for me sometimes. When I'm unsure, I just go to the Lord's Prayer.
[41:01] I'm not just reciting, and I'm praying through each of those. His name, His kingdom, His will. Right?
[41:12] Forgiveness. Etc. So. And that'll lead me other places. Else? Do you have a hand? Yeah. I found it.
[41:25] I think it's a legal. I found it interesting. And with all this caveat part, we could just be not reading carefully. Like, there's a section, in Luke 19. That's the opposite. But overall, this isn't lovey-dovey Jesus, if that makes sense.
[41:39] It's very serious Jesus. Yeah. I mean, one that weaves, like one who's not dispassionate about it. So, you want to be careful there. But this is not, yeah, that Jesus that's here to, I'm particularly thinking of certain caricatures of Jesus.
[41:56] Like, oh, you only focus on the teachings of Jesus. Particularly if you divorce it from, here are people who talk about, oh yeah, that God of the Old Testament, it's just kind of evil, Jesus is nice, sort of deal, among all that.
[42:09] But no, this is not, so, I guess, in one way, help me, because it seems like, there's a part like, yeah, Jesus is telling us, that core part that we do, and then there's more of the Bible, fleshing out what our Lord does, and how we can have peace, like you're talking about the Psalms, Romans, the Apostle Paul, things like that.
[42:28] Yeah. Am I hitting on something there? Like, yeah, this is the Jesus, this is the Jesus warning us. Absolutely, I appreciate that, Zach, yeah. And it is very much, we want the Jesus of the, you know, the miracles, and the encouraging, easy to receive stuff.
[42:46] This is the hard Jesus. This is the Old Testament, Messiah, Jesus. Talking about, as for those enemies of mine, bring them here, let's slaughter them.
[43:00] Does that sound like Jesus? That's part of Jesus too. He is king. That sounds hard. And our world wants to spin and redefine Jesus into, no, Jesus is love.
[43:15] Jesus is grace. Absolutely. He's incredibly gracious and loving and forgiving and merciful. And so is the father of the Old Testament. How did Israel survive that long if God wasn't so gracious?
[43:31] So. Yeah, Kim. A few things. Regarding your comment about, let God in, or he will lead you, a lot of us, and I know everybody's story is different, but a lot of us that are believers, the way you were brought there was by being broken to the point where you've been never determined.
[43:57] Yeah. Lest we forget. So, in the theme, Yes. there's a reason for it. Yes. No, we don't understand it. And, we're not meant to understand it.
[44:09] We're meant to just have faith that ultimately he will come and rescue us. and then, to your point about perspective, I worked with a guy, this is the beauty of working at a Christian organization.
[44:27] I worked with a guy who, anytime he ran into him in the hall, didn't matter what was going on, how everybody was feeling, you'd ask him, how are you?
[44:38] And he'd say, I'm wonderful. And so one day, I finally asked him, I'm like, why do you always say that? He's like, well, the way I see it, I'm upright and alive, I have a job, I have a roof over my head, I have people who love me, and I know the Lord loves me too.
[44:58] And I'm like, from that point on, I'm like, it's so simple, how could we ever question? Yeah, I'm wonderful, thank you. Perspective, yeah. Yeah.
[45:10] That's why I like Dan's, bless me on all measure, and I like our, better than I deserve, because I, you know, I'm more introvertish and guilt-driven, but they're both true.
[45:28] Both true. The thing it really brings up is a choice. You have the choice. Are you going to make it? Yeah. It's more of what it really emphasizes here.
[45:41] It says, these are the things that lead up to it. These are the things leading to the consequences. This is the way the world is. You, each individual, right in here, right in here, make that choice where you're going to go.
[45:59] Yeah. Do you recognize the time? Yeah. Thanks, Mark. Okay. Any last words?
[46:12] I think it starts with a desire, and you said it best, the only thing that's going to fill your soul is Christ. I think we're all looking for fulfillment in our lives, whether it's through our families or through material things, but I think it starts with a desire.
[46:29] You can only get so much reflection from a sermon. I think it's incumbent upon our own hearts to read God's word. I think sometimes we forget that this is a living word.
[46:42] Yes. You know, that it's the only way God speaks to us, and it starts with our own hearts. It starts with praying to God for a desire to want to study His scriptures, and we can't just wait on, you know, other people.
[46:59] It's great to be in the community of other Christians, but if we don't understand it, how are we going to reflect it and be that reflection of Him when we're out in this world? Thank you.
[47:11] Absolutely. Yep. I'm praying about what to preach next after Luke because we're getting to the end here, and it's scaring me to death because I don't know where to...
[47:25] We're in. Yeah, all right. That's a great idea. I'll start doing that. And we're going to go to the Old Testament, and I'm thinking about a couple things, thinking about Habakkuk, and I'm thinking about Esther, I know, I know, which is a wonderful, wonderful story.
[47:49] I'm also thinking of Psalm 119 because it's about delighting in this and the benefits and blessings of this, knowing the road, right?
[48:05] It's about a roadway, staying on the road. Anyway, so you can pray with me about God leading to the right. It's a thing that we all need to hear, not just me, but if it was just me, I'd be in the Psalms all the time.
[48:22] Okay. Good. Thank you. Let's pray. Father, thank you for our time. Thank you for the minds here that are thinking through what you're teaching, not what I'm teaching, but what you're teaching, what Jesus is doing in Luke, how we see him, how we hear him.
[48:47] So thank you for the thinking. Help us, Lord, to maintain the right perspective by continually renewing our mind, going back to square one, lining up with you and your word.
[49:08] Bless us, Father, through your word and through our obedience to your word, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen.