Luke 15 verses 22 & 23. “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.” Like most people who have wronged...

Luke 15 v 20. “So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Up to this point in this story there has not been much...

Luke 15 v 17. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!” Hello! What’s a nice Jewish boy like you doing in a pigsty? That could well have been the question anybody could have asked the...

Luke 15 verses 15 & 16. “So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” Now, here is a dilemma that...

Luke 15 verses 11 & 12. “Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate,’ So he divided his property between them.”   Here we have a story about a young man who was not contented...

Luke 15 v 9. “And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’   The wandering sheep in the previous parable illustrates the tendency of fallen human nature as it bumbles through life....

Luke 15 verses 5 & 6. “And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ “   The one who gets the greatest joy out of your...

Luke 15 v 2. “But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”   Unwittingly, these Pharisees put their finger on the very issue that makes Christianity both so winsome to some, and also such a scandal to...

Luke 14 v 33. “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”   To further illustrate what it means to follow him, Jesus uses an illustration from one of the sad facts of human life on this earth – war! He says simply...

Luke 14 v 28. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?”   One thing Jesus never did was hide the cost of following him. The man or woman who becomes a disciple faces...

Luke 14 v 26. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple.”   This saying of Christ has often caused confusion for people because of the use of...

Luke 14 v 27. “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”   If you were alive in the days of Jesus and happened to be walking through a town anywhere in the Roman Empire, you would know exactly what was going on if you happened...

Luke 14 vs 17-18. “At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’” “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse...

Luke 14 vs 16 – 17. “Jesus replied: ‘A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guest. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’”   It is interesting that the Lord...

Luke 14 v 15. “When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”   The criticisms of Jesus to the attitudes displayed at the dinner he was attending prompted one of his...

Luke 14 vs 13/14. “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”   You have probably observed for yourself how...

Luke 14 v 10. “But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honoured in the presence of all your fellow guests.”   We are not sure if Jesus taught the...

Luke 14 v 6. “And they had nothing to say.”   The way the Pharisees worked out their laws was all to their own advantage. If their animal was in danger it represented a loss of money. Therefore it had to be rescued – Sabbath or no Sabbath. But a human being, who...

Luke 14 v 5. “Then he asked them, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?’   How did Jesus deal with these hard-hearted people? What did he say to contradict their hypocrisy?   He...

Luke 14 v 4. “But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away.”   The silence of the Pharisees to the questions Jesus put to them indicated a serious hardening of their hearts. The whole incident of the man with dropsy had...

Luke 14 v 3. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”   Previously in Chapter 13 verses 25 – 28 we had a picture of people knocking on the door of Heaven wanting to get in after the door was closed. When they...

Luke 13 v 35. “Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”   The result of constantly refusing the appeals of the Lord to repent and to turn to Him is described...

Luke 13 v 34. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”   In spite of his challenge to Herod’s...

Luke 13 v 31. “At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”   It seems strange for Luke to record in the previous verses (v 27) that Jesus himself, the Saviour of the world would bar...

Luke 13 v 30. “Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” In the life to come there will be many people who were the first to hear but will not have a share in the Heavenly Kingdom, while others who may not have had those first...

Luke 13 verses 28-30. “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their...

Luke 13 v 27. “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’”   The question raised in v 23 concerned the number of people who were going to be saved. The answer is, as many as enter through the narrow door. We...

Luke 13 v 23. “…. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us’. But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’”   Sometimes people are so sure about themselves and their spiritual well-being. Have you not noticed how...

Luke 13 v 25. “Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.”   In the next few chapters, Luke is going to...

Luke 13 v 18. “Then Jesus asked, “What is the Kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to?”   Following on the event of the women “bent over” – Luke uses these two short parables told by Jesus to illustrate that the great acts of mercy Jesus exercised would...