1 00:00:06,550 --> 00:00:13,130 Some 103 verse 13 As a father shows compassion to his 2 00:00:13,140 --> 00:00:17,910 children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear 3 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,690 him. For he knows our frame. 4 00:00:20,780 --> 00:00:26,400 He remembers that we are dust. 1st 17 The steadfast love of the 5 00:00:26,410 --> 00:00:30,920 Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear 6 00:00:30,930 --> 00:00:35,560 him and His righteousness to children's children. 7 00:00:35,830 --> 00:00:41,410 Let's pray together, Father. Gratefully, we draw near to you. 8 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,370 We thank you that you are a faithful Father. 9 00:00:46,230 --> 00:00:49,820 We thank you that as your children saved by your grace, 10 00:00:50,230 --> 00:00:54,930 save by precious blood, we can draw near to seek you. 11 00:00:56,130 --> 00:00:59,340 We thank you for the Good Shepherd who gave his life for 12 00:00:59,350 --> 00:01:03,980 the sheep, and we, in our weakness and our frailty, turned 13 00:01:03,990 --> 00:01:08,460 to you this morning to receive Your word, to open our hearts, 14 00:01:08,570 --> 00:01:13,130 and to give thanks to you for your provision for your blessing 15 00:01:13,140 --> 00:01:16,590 through another week. We pray for each heart here. 16 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:18,740 We pray for each home represented. 17 00:01:18,790 --> 00:01:21,150 We know that You know all about us, Lord. 18 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:25,300 You know our tears, You know our size, You know our pain, and You 19 00:01:25,310 --> 00:01:28,080 know our struggles. But we also know that you love 20 00:01:28,090 --> 00:01:32,100 us and Your mercy never fails. And so we thank you for that. 21 00:01:32,590 --> 00:01:34,270 Thank you for your heart of love. 22 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,580 Thank you for your provision. Thank you for your grace and 23 00:01:37,590 --> 00:01:42,590 mercy to us today, Lord, as we bring you our offering and we 24 00:01:42,660 --> 00:01:46,290 bring this with gratitude. We thank you for your provision, 25 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,710 thank you for your blessing, and we bring you this gift of money 26 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,720 as an act of worship to you. We thank you for your word and 27 00:01:53,730 --> 00:01:56,740 as we've sung, these are ancient words, yet ever true. 28 00:01:57,490 --> 00:02:00,270 So we pray that you're blessed Dan, as he brings you the 29 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:05,530 message, brings us the message and help us as we receive that 30 00:02:05,540 --> 00:02:08,180 and open our hearts and ears to that. 31 00:02:08,470 --> 00:02:10,690 We pray for the sun and school Lord, that you're blessed. 32 00:02:10,699 --> 00:02:13,140 The teachers and the children encourage each one. 33 00:02:13,150 --> 00:02:17,160 We pray, we give thanks for this time together in Jesus name, 34 00:02:17,230 --> 00:02:20,420 Amen. Well, good morning. 35 00:02:21,150 --> 00:02:23,840 Hey, very good to have you here this morning. 36 00:02:23,850 --> 00:02:25,980 It's great to worship God together, isn't it? 37 00:02:26,390 --> 00:02:28,540 We are starting a new series this week. 38 00:02:29,220 --> 00:02:31,130 Billy was going to launch out on this. 39 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,460 He was very excited about it and had put a lot of work into it. 40 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,310 And unfortunately the the Hannah family been struck down with a 41 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,850 stomach bug this week. So I've sort of dipping in here. 42 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:43,360 So this may not be quite as polished as we like these things 43 00:02:43,370 --> 00:02:47,780 to be, but that's okay. God said as I-55, my word will 44 00:02:47,790 --> 00:02:48,770 not return to me. Void. 45 00:02:48,780 --> 00:02:51,600 In other words, when God's word goes out, it always has the 46 00:02:51,610 --> 00:02:54,790 effect that he wants it to have when it goes out. 47 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,140 And so we're gonna starting this new series looking at the Gospel 48 00:02:59,150 --> 00:03:02,280 of Luke. Alright, the Gospel of Luke. 49 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,870 The word gospel means good news, but it kind of carries a strong 50 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:10,030 connotation of really important good news that needs 51 00:03:10,420 --> 00:03:13,130 proclaiming, needs publishing because, you know, we get news 52 00:03:13,140 --> 00:03:14,940 all the time. But, you know, sometimes when 53 00:03:14,950 --> 00:03:17,570 you're watching the news and all of a sudden it'll say breaking 54 00:03:17,580 --> 00:03:20,470 news and, you know, thing comes up and and they'll go to 55 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:22,590 something else and they'll say this news is more important than 56 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:23,910 the other news you were listening to. 57 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,630 That's kind of the connotation of the word gospel has that this 58 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:30,410 is news, that good news that's so good that it really needs 59 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,160 talking about. Back in 1911, there was a guy 60 00:03:34,170 --> 00:03:36,090 named Joe Hill and he wrote a song. 61 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,960 He was kind of mocking the Christian preachers of his day, 62 00:03:40,660 --> 00:03:44,700 and it was sung to the tune of an old hymn about heaven that 63 00:03:44,710 --> 00:03:48,210 was called The Sweet By and By, and Joe Hill's version was 64 00:03:48,220 --> 00:03:51,030 called There Will Be Pie in the Sky When You Die. 65 00:03:51,420 --> 00:03:55,250 That was his kind of take on what he was being told. 66 00:03:55,460 --> 00:04:00,320 The good news was, and I think a lot of times, even as Christians 67 00:04:00,330 --> 00:04:03,720 says, as followers of Jesus Christ, we can fall into that 68 00:04:03,730 --> 00:04:06,420 same, same kind of trap that Joe Hill did. 69 00:04:06,430 --> 00:04:10,380 And we can start to think that we think of the gospel as this 70 00:04:10,390 --> 00:04:13,740 idea that the good news is that when you die, you'll go to 71 00:04:13,750 --> 00:04:16,700 heaven. But the truth is, the gospel is 72 00:04:16,709 --> 00:04:20,250 packed with so much more good news than even that, much more 73 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:22,780 than even that. Yes, it saves you from being 74 00:04:22,790 --> 00:04:26,860 separated from God in in a place of the Bible calls hell, but it 75 00:04:26,930 --> 00:04:31,640 actually credits you with the righteousness of Jesus Christ so 76 00:04:31,650 --> 00:04:36,040 that you are now acceptable and commendable to God, which is 77 00:04:36,050 --> 00:04:38,090 amazing to think about. But it doesn't even stop there, 78 00:04:38,100 --> 00:04:39,120 right? Because you could look at that 79 00:04:39,130 --> 00:04:42,250 and go, yeah, OK, cool. So, you know, I've been made 80 00:04:42,260 --> 00:04:45,020 acceptable to God and I'll be with him in heaven one day. 81 00:04:45,070 --> 00:04:47,100 Now just, you know, back to living I go. 82 00:04:47,150 --> 00:04:52,080 But justification is a means to usher in something even greater. 83 00:04:52,150 --> 00:04:55,540 Romans 5 talks about that. The gospel, the good news 84 00:04:55,870 --> 00:05:00,620 introduces us to a relationship with God himself who who 85 00:05:00,630 --> 00:05:04,330 delights in his children, the good news of Jesus dying for our 86 00:05:04,340 --> 00:05:07,320 sins and that if we turn from our sins and we ask for 87 00:05:07,330 --> 00:05:10,120 forgiveness, we repent, we connect with him. 88 00:05:10,170 --> 00:05:14,570 That kind of starts this relationship with God and helps 89 00:05:14,580 --> 00:05:16,950 us understand what Christianity really is all about. 90 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,390 It's not just avoiding the punishment that I deserve 91 00:05:20,460 --> 00:05:25,680 because I've asked forgiveness. It's it is that, but plus I get 92 00:05:25,690 --> 00:05:27,620 to know God and God's gonna know me. 93 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,750 That's the essence of kind of what Christianity is all about. 94 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:36,410 Now we have 4 books in the Bible that we refer to as the Gospels, 95 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,130 the good News, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 96 00:05:39,910 --> 00:05:44,580 These four separate accounts of the life of Jesus tell us like 97 00:05:44,590 --> 00:05:49,200 who he was, what he said, what he did, and what that all means. 98 00:05:49,270 --> 00:05:52,660 So we're going to be looking at Luke's gospel, Luke's good news 99 00:05:52,850 --> 00:05:56,380 story about the life of Jesus. But before we get into that, I 100 00:05:56,390 --> 00:06:00,760 want to just kind of step back for a minute and and think about 101 00:06:00,830 --> 00:06:04,220 the four gospels as a whole. Back in the Old Testament there 102 00:06:04,230 --> 00:06:08,440 there's the book of Ezekiel. And Ezekiel was a prophet of 103 00:06:08,450 --> 00:06:11,400 God. So he was God's spokesman and he 104 00:06:11,410 --> 00:06:14,660 was God's spokesman to Jewish people who were living in a 105 00:06:14,670 --> 00:06:16,540 captivity. So the, the country had been 106 00:06:16,550 --> 00:06:19,630 invaded, most of the people have been killed and, and then a 107 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,270 whole bunch of them have been taken into captivity in Babylon. 108 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:26,600 And, and Hazel was God, God spokesman to those people. 109 00:06:26,610 --> 00:06:30,250 And the book is full of these kind of God gives Ezekiel lots 110 00:06:30,260 --> 00:06:33,470 of dreams and visions of different things. 111 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,030 And some of those are actual things and some of them are kind 112 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:40,090 of symbolic in order to teach God's people different things. 113 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,410 So one of the most, most famous ones is the valley of the dry 114 00:06:43,420 --> 00:06:45,910 bones. And so in, in this vision, God 115 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,730 gives Ezekiel this vision of this kind of valley that is full 116 00:06:49,740 --> 00:06:53,810 of skeletons and, and, and, and bones of people that are all 117 00:06:53,820 --> 00:06:55,320 dried out, right. They've been there for a long, 118 00:06:55,330 --> 00:06:58,870 long time. And then in this vision, all of 119 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:01,300 a sudden, the skeletons all sort, all the bones start to 120 00:07:01,310 --> 00:07:04,260 connected together and the skeletons start forming into, 121 00:07:04,270 --> 00:07:06,850 into full skeletons. You know, the old, there's old 122 00:07:06,860 --> 00:07:09,560 African American spiritual song, the leg bones connected to the 123 00:07:09,570 --> 00:07:11,340 knee bone and the knee bones connected to the thigh bone. 124 00:07:11,350 --> 00:07:13,200 And well, that's what that song is about. 125 00:07:13,290 --> 00:07:16,060 And so he sees these sort of skeletons come together and then 126 00:07:16,190 --> 00:07:19,820 all the, you know, organs and, and veins and, and muscles and 127 00:07:19,830 --> 00:07:21,300 all that. And then the skin comes on them 128 00:07:21,340 --> 00:07:23,790 and they, and these skeletons turned back into actual people 129 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,240 and start walking around. And and so God tells you, you're 130 00:07:27,250 --> 00:07:30,190 going to think you're the US, the Jewish people are going to 131 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,160 think that Israel is, is dead and gone. 132 00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:35,650 It's, it's hasn't been a nation for a long time. 133 00:07:35,660 --> 00:07:38,930 It's well, well gone. It's well dead, dry bones. 134 00:07:38,940 --> 00:07:42,920 But I am going to miraculously bring it back as a nation. 135 00:07:42,980 --> 00:07:46,270 It seems like an impossible thing, but I'm going to make it 136 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,150 a nation again. Long term fulfilment of that. 137 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,470 In 1948, when it seemed like Israel could never be a nation 138 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,450 again and hadn't been a nation for, you know, hundreds and 139 00:07:55,460 --> 00:07:58,370 hundreds and hundreds of years, it was reformed as a nation. 140 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,650 In fact, there's probably some people sitting here that that 141 00:08:01,660 --> 00:08:03,070 happened and inside their lifetime. 142 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,640 So that's pretty amazing thing. So, so booking Azuka is like 143 00:08:06,650 --> 00:08:08,270 that, right? Lots of these visions and 144 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,210 pictures telling stories. But in chapter 1 of Ezekiel, 145 00:08:12,780 --> 00:08:17,150 Ezekiel has this this vision of these living beings in heaven 146 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,630 and they kind of look like people, except that they have 147 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:24,310 four faces. They have face of a man, a lion, 148 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:28,310 an ox and an eagle. And in the in, in the Book of 149 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:30,390 Revelation, there's a very similar vision. 150 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:34,450 God gives John a very similar vision in Revelation chapter 4, 151 00:08:34,539 --> 00:08:37,990 same kind of thing. And he sees these beings with 152 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:42,289 four faces. And in his case he says a man, a 153 00:08:42,299 --> 00:08:45,230 lion, a calf and an eagle, some kind of deal. 154 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:50,810 So very early on, Christians began to realise that these four 155 00:08:50,820 --> 00:08:53,330 things are kind of different aspects of the character of 156 00:08:53,340 --> 00:08:57,540 Jesus, but not only that, that they these kind of aspects of 157 00:08:57,550 --> 00:09:00,940 Jesus character sort of map onto the gospels, onto the four 158 00:09:00,950 --> 00:09:04,540 gospels we have, we haven't had a guy Irinas, he, he lived, he 159 00:09:04,550 --> 00:09:09,160 wrote a book in 177 AD, so long, long time ago and he wrote about 160 00:09:09,170 --> 00:09:13,040 this and said it's, it's just amazing how these facets of 161 00:09:13,050 --> 00:09:17,520 Jesus also met onto the the four gospels we have. 162 00:09:18,030 --> 00:09:20,420 Let's talk about the four gospels for a second. 163 00:09:20,430 --> 00:09:23,300 So we start with Matthew, Matthew's gospel, because each 164 00:09:23,310 --> 00:09:26,260 of these gospels really was written to a slightly different 165 00:09:26,270 --> 00:09:29,100 audience, slightly different group of people. 166 00:09:29,330 --> 00:09:32,860 Matthew's Gospel was primarily written to Jewish people. 167 00:09:33,180 --> 00:09:36,320 Matthew Levy was a tax collector, Jewish tax collector. 168 00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:39,200 If you remember, you know, tax collectors were hated by the 169 00:09:39,210 --> 00:09:42,380 populace because they were seen as Roman collaborators. 170 00:09:42,490 --> 00:09:45,030 They also, you know, they would go with the Romans and to 171 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:46,840 collect the taxes and keep a lot for themselves. 172 00:09:46,850 --> 00:09:50,470 So they made themselves rich off the by oppressing their own 173 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:53,020 people. So, so, so that was Matthew 174 00:09:53,030 --> 00:09:55,600 Levi. Matthew abandoned his previous 175 00:09:55,610 --> 00:09:59,640 way of life and he followed Christ wholeheartedly right to 176 00:09:59,650 --> 00:10:02,460 the end. Since he wrote primarily to 177 00:10:02,470 --> 00:10:06,200 Jewish people, he quotes the Old Testament a lot. 178 00:10:06,310 --> 00:10:09,230 He's trying to make this the connection that commits his 179 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,830 audience of this continuity between the Old Testament and 180 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,400 the new. And so he's constantly will say 181 00:10:15,410 --> 00:10:18,460 things like, and so then Jesus did this. 182 00:10:18,630 --> 00:10:21,200 And if you remember, there's this passage back in the Old 183 00:10:21,210 --> 00:10:23,420 Testament that says this, and you can see how that's kind of 184 00:10:23,430 --> 00:10:25,160 prophetic. And he makes all these links all 185 00:10:25,170 --> 00:10:28,390 the time back to to the Old Testament because his Jewish 186 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,000 audience would would have understood that stuff. 187 00:10:31,070 --> 00:10:36,170 And so he mentions Isaiah and Jeremiah and Micah and David as 188 00:10:36,180 --> 00:10:40,300 he shows that Christ, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the 189 00:10:40,310 --> 00:10:44,620 living God, the expected of the nations, the the Messiah, the 190 00:10:44,630 --> 00:10:47,570 Jewish people. But he very much focuses on the 191 00:10:47,580 --> 00:10:50,400 humanity of Jesus. His whole gospel starts off with 192 00:10:50,410 --> 00:10:54,040 the genealogy linking Jesus back through people in the Old 193 00:10:54,050 --> 00:10:56,780 Testament. So his gospel kind of matches up 194 00:10:56,790 --> 00:11:01,270 with that face of a man that you see in in Ezekiel gospel, in 195 00:11:01,340 --> 00:11:03,970 Ezekiel's vision and in John's vision. 196 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,250 So then we come to Mark. Mark was the youngest of the the 197 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,330 gospel writers. His mum was a prominent follower 198 00:11:12,340 --> 00:11:16,650 of Jesus and Acts 1212 tells us that her house in Jerusalem was 199 00:11:16,660 --> 00:11:19,080 used as a meeting place for the church family. 200 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:22,030 Mark was a close friend and follower of Peter. 201 00:11:22,420 --> 00:11:25,910 And so a lot of information from Peter is incorporated in Marks 202 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:29,190 Gospel and he's primarily writing to Romans. 203 00:11:29,460 --> 00:11:32,690 And so he doesn't make a lot of reference to the Old Testament 204 00:11:32,700 --> 00:11:36,370 because the Romans wouldn't have known a lot about that stuff. 205 00:11:36,420 --> 00:11:38,870 He also uses a lot of Latin words that was the, you know, 206 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,870 language of the Romans. And so he uses a lot of words 207 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,060 like legion and and things like that in his gospel. 208 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:49,270 He emphasises a lot what Christ did rather than what he he he 209 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,190 said or thought. And so most gospel has this very 210 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,780 kind of concise, action oriented kind of style on it, focusing on 211 00:11:56,790 --> 00:11:58,940 Jesus ministry and death and resurrection. 212 00:11:59,650 --> 00:12:01,620 At the time. It would have been a very, very 213 00:12:01,630 --> 00:12:07,100 helpful book to Christians going through persecution to see this 214 00:12:07,110 --> 00:12:09,670 kind of stuff. And he focuses a lot on the idea 215 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:12,580 that Jesus is in charge. No matter what's going down, 216 00:12:12,590 --> 00:12:15,860 Jesus is in charge. And he focuses on Jesus kind of 217 00:12:15,870 --> 00:12:19,880 kingship and royalty. And that sort of matches up with 218 00:12:19,890 --> 00:12:23,020 the the idea of a lion, that face of a lion, you know, Jesus 219 00:12:23,030 --> 00:12:26,600 as the lion of Judah. The lion office often signifies 220 00:12:26,610 --> 00:12:29,200 kingship and royalty. You know, throughout history, 221 00:12:29,370 --> 00:12:32,160 that's kind of been the case. So let's give Lucas. 222 00:12:32,170 --> 00:12:33,300 We'll come back to him in a second. 223 00:12:33,340 --> 00:12:36,540 We'll talk about John. So John was one of Jesus 224 00:12:36,550 --> 00:12:39,850 disciples and he was a witness to Jesus death, burial and 225 00:12:39,860 --> 00:12:42,680 resurrection. This is the last gospel written. 226 00:12:42,690 --> 00:12:45,620 John wrote this as an old man. Probably written from a mixed 227 00:12:45,630 --> 00:12:49,270 audience of Jewish and Gentile Christians who were living kind 228 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:53,220 of around the area of emphasis around 100 AD, give or take. 229 00:12:54,090 --> 00:12:57,470 John's gospel is very different to the other three because the 230 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,750 other 3 gospels, what they do is they just kind of build up a 231 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,350 story. They, they tell you what Jesus 232 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,270 did and, and, and, and who he was and what he said. 233 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,490 And they slowly kind of build this picture up for us so that 234 00:13:09,500 --> 00:13:11,650 by the time you get to the end of it, hopefully you come to the 235 00:13:11,660 --> 00:13:15,510 same conclusion as the centurion at the cross and go, truly this 236 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:17,850 man was the Son of God. Kind of build that up. 237 00:13:18,060 --> 00:13:19,830 John's Gospel is like a gospel on its head. 238 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:21,370 He just kind of starts with that. 239 00:13:21,460 --> 00:13:25,510 He says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God 240 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:27,890 and the Word was God. So he just starts off saying, 241 00:13:27,900 --> 00:13:30,890 look, Jesus was God and then he, he's the living word and he was 242 00:13:30,900 --> 00:13:32,510 God. And then he kind of works 243 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,670 backwards from there. So his main, main focus is on 244 00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:38,940 the idea of Jesus being God. The technical term for that is 245 00:13:39,010 --> 00:13:42,280 his divinity, the divinity of Jesus, the fact that he was God. 246 00:13:42,390 --> 00:13:46,760 And that's kind of symbolised by an eagle flying, soaring eagle 247 00:13:46,890 --> 00:13:49,320 in Ezekiel and and in John's vision. 248 00:13:49,390 --> 00:13:53,280 Then we come to Luke. When we come to Luke, Luke's 249 00:13:53,290 --> 00:13:58,300 Gospel has a huge emphasis on Jesus service and sacrifice for 250 00:13:58,310 --> 00:14:01,280 others. That's what he he really, really 251 00:14:01,290 --> 00:14:03,680 hones in on. That matches up with Ezekiel and 252 00:14:03,690 --> 00:14:07,220 John's vision of the face of an ox and ox was often used as a 253 00:14:07,230 --> 00:14:10,460 metaphor for being a servant because ox is pulled the ploughs 254 00:14:10,470 --> 00:14:12,420 and things like that for being a servant. 255 00:14:12,550 --> 00:14:17,720 John refers to it as as a as a calf and asks was also the the 256 00:14:17,730 --> 00:14:21,140 largest animal that was used in sacrifices in the ancient world. 257 00:14:21,190 --> 00:14:23,980 So it's very strongly connected to priesthood and sacrifice 258 00:14:24,050 --> 00:14:27,720 these things as well. And so there's a lot of detail 259 00:14:27,730 --> 00:14:32,280 about Jesus compassion and his ministry to outcasts and 260 00:14:32,290 --> 00:14:35,680 marginal marginalised people in in the Gospel of Luke. 261 00:14:35,750 --> 00:14:37,950 So let's get into it, Luke chapter 1. 262 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,270 And let's sort of look at the we're just gonna look at Luke's 263 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:44,310 intro here and kind of pick it apart a bit and see what we can 264 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,590 learn. It says this Luke chapter one 265 00:14:47,660 --> 00:14:53,500 verse #1 in as much as many have undertaken to compile a 266 00:14:53,510 --> 00:14:57,360 narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 267 00:14:57,550 --> 00:15:00,180 just as those who from the beginning were eye witnesses and 268 00:15:00,190 --> 00:15:03,140 ministers of the word, I have delivered them to us. 269 00:15:03,190 --> 00:15:05,980 It seemed good to me also, having followed all things 270 00:15:05,990 --> 00:15:09,380 closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for 271 00:15:09,390 --> 00:15:13,340 you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty 272 00:15:13,350 --> 00:15:15,500 concerning the things that you've been taught. 273 00:15:15,790 --> 00:15:17,500 Okay, so we will come back to this. 274 00:15:17,590 --> 00:15:20,270 Keep a finger there. Just go into the book of Acts, 275 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:23,560 the start of the book of Acts, Acts chapter one verse #1 276 00:15:25,130 --> 00:15:28,980 scissors in the first book. Ohh Theophilus, I have dealt 277 00:15:28,990 --> 00:15:32,780 with all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he 278 00:15:32,790 --> 00:15:36,550 was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit 279 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:38,600 to the apostles whom he had chosen. 280 00:15:38,790 --> 00:15:40,770 And then he picks up the story and carries on. 281 00:15:41,580 --> 00:15:47,050 So you can see that it's written by the same guy to a guy called 282 00:15:47,060 --> 00:15:49,070 Theophilus. So the Book of Luke is really 283 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:54,430 volume 1 of A2 volume set. So volume 1 is about Jesus and, 284 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:58,210 and who he was, what he did, what he said when he went all 285 00:15:58,220 --> 00:16:02,530 all those kind of things until and and covers until he returns 286 00:16:02,540 --> 00:16:04,810 to heaven after the after the resurrection. 287 00:16:04,940 --> 00:16:07,310 And then the book of Acts picks up the story from there and 288 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:09,870 talks about deals with everything that happened after 289 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:12,790 that to the apostles and the the followers of of Jesus. 290 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,170 Luke and Acts are like I say, it's a 2 volume set, Lucas Part 291 00:16:16,180 --> 00:16:19,510 1 and Access Part 2 of that set. Does that make sense? 292 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,730 The big question is who was Luke? 293 00:16:21,780 --> 00:16:27,320 He was a close companion of the Apostle Paul, and he accompanied 294 00:16:27,330 --> 00:16:29,990 the Apostle Paul on several of his missionary journeys. 295 00:16:30,190 --> 00:16:34,820 He became a member of the mission team that included Paul 296 00:16:34,830 --> 00:16:37,470 and Silas and Timothy when they went into Macedonia. 297 00:16:38,380 --> 00:16:40,770 He was with Paul right until the very end. 298 00:16:41,180 --> 00:16:44,280 And in fact, Paul says us when he's writing to Timothy sick and 299 00:16:44,290 --> 00:16:48,830 Timothy 411, Paul writes, Timothy says Luke alone is with 300 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:51,890 me, get Mark. So that's Mark of the gospel of 301 00:16:51,900 --> 00:16:56,550 Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for 302 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:59,170 ministry. So we see there Luke's looks 303 00:16:59,180 --> 00:17:00,690 with them right until the very end. 304 00:17:00,700 --> 00:17:04,470 And in fact, when Paul was in prison and he was writing to the 305 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,369 church family at Colossi, he says this. 306 00:17:07,660 --> 00:17:12,829 Look at the beloved physician greets you, as does Demus. 307 00:17:13,540 --> 00:17:15,530 Luke was around there. Whether he was in prison with 308 00:17:15,540 --> 00:17:17,210 him or whether he was just there, not, not sure. 309 00:17:17,220 --> 00:17:20,490 But look was there right? Look at the beloved physician 310 00:17:20,740 --> 00:17:23,300 greets you. So Luke was a doctor. 311 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,620 Language scholars say that Luke's Gospel has some tell tale 312 00:17:28,630 --> 00:17:32,920 signs in it that show that it was written in Greek and not 313 00:17:32,930 --> 00:17:35,140 translated into Greek from another language. 314 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,870 So when we look at Marks Gospel, he probably wrote it in Aramaic 315 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:41,320 and then it was translated into Greek so that it could be passed 316 00:17:41,330 --> 00:17:43,990 around through the place. There's some, you know, 317 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,790 linguistic scholars can kind of pick stuff that's there, but 318 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,420 Luke Gospel was written in Greek, not translated and the 319 00:17:51,430 --> 00:17:54,650 Greek vocab and it is huge, which kind of shows that it was 320 00:17:54,660 --> 00:17:56,870 written by somebody who was very well educated. 321 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:00,650 Luke is this very well educated Dr. And it's interesting is 322 00:18:00,660 --> 00:18:04,300 because if you're a doctor, even back then, I mean, obviously 323 00:18:04,310 --> 00:18:06,250 there's some some big differences between being a 324 00:18:06,260 --> 00:18:10,070 doctor back then and and being a, say, GP now, but a lot of the 325 00:18:10,140 --> 00:18:13,010 the basics are the same. So somebody comes to you and 326 00:18:13,020 --> 00:18:16,690 they say I'm sick and you go, okay, well, what's wrong with 327 00:18:16,700 --> 00:18:18,330 you? And they tell you, you know, 328 00:18:18,380 --> 00:18:20,770 what's what's been wrong. And then you have a look at, you 329 00:18:20,780 --> 00:18:23,030 know, you try and look at the symptoms and you see if they've 330 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,970 got any, you know, rashes or whatever, you know, and you try 331 00:18:25,980 --> 00:18:28,990 and figure out, okay, you try and diagnose them right. 332 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:30,930 I think this is what is wrong with you. 333 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,270 And then you prescribe them something, you know, to, to try 334 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:36,370 and make them better, hopefully. So in this day and age, that's 335 00:18:36,380 --> 00:18:38,580 that's often a a medicine in some sort of tablet, say 336 00:18:38,590 --> 00:18:42,000 something and you say, OK, go and you know, take one of these 337 00:18:42,050 --> 00:18:44,180 OHH or whatever. Back in those days, it was more, 338 00:18:44,190 --> 00:18:47,290 you know, eat this herb or, you know, make up this paste of 339 00:18:47,300 --> 00:18:49,110 stuff. But same basic idea. 340 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,350 But as a doctor, often there are times where you just can't 341 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:54,940 diagnose them. You just can't figure out what's 342 00:18:54,950 --> 00:18:57,470 wrong. Or even worse, sometimes there 343 00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:59,570 are times when you can figure out what's wrong, you know 344 00:18:59,580 --> 00:19:02,670 what's wrong, but you know, there's nothing you can do. 345 00:19:02,860 --> 00:19:05,110 You can go. Yeah, look, I know you have this 346 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:07,650 issue. There is no cure for that, you 347 00:19:07,660 --> 00:19:10,640 know, I think that must be one of the hardest things as a 348 00:19:10,650 --> 00:19:12,580 doctor, you know, to to be in that position. 349 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:18,090 Luke is absolutely fascinated by Jesus ability to heal the sick. 350 00:19:18,980 --> 00:19:20,710 He's absolutely fascinated by it. 351 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,210 He goes into huge detail when it comes to the miracles of 352 00:19:24,220 --> 00:19:27,070 healing. There are 6 miracles listed in 353 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,770 the Gospel of Luke that aren't found in the other gospels. 354 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,710 Five of those are healings. And he also notes a lot of sort 355 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,940 of medical details that most of us would probably, you know, we 356 00:19:36,950 --> 00:19:41,750 wouldn't give much thought to. But to Luke, Jesus ability to 357 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:46,220 heal the unhealable was kind of evidence that Jesus must have 358 00:19:46,230 --> 00:19:50,780 been who he said he was because ordinary doctors cannot do this. 359 00:19:50,850 --> 00:19:53,040 These are this is miraculous stuff. 360 00:19:53,170 --> 00:19:57,300 And so he must, you know, only the Son of God could do this 361 00:19:57,310 --> 00:19:59,360 stuff. But more than the physical 362 00:19:59,370 --> 00:20:03,400 healings. Doctor Luke is awestruck by 363 00:20:03,410 --> 00:20:08,160 Jesus compassion for people, the way that Jesus goes above and 364 00:20:08,170 --> 00:20:13,320 beyond in service and sacrifice for the benefit of helping 365 00:20:13,330 --> 00:20:17,340 people, no matter who they were. 1st century life was, you know, 366 00:20:17,350 --> 00:20:19,660 pretty tough. We, we romanticise it sometimes, 367 00:20:19,670 --> 00:20:24,500 but it was very stratified by, by class. 368 00:20:25,030 --> 00:20:28,370 But also, you know, it's very sexist and very racist. 369 00:20:28,410 --> 00:20:30,810 And there was all these kind of things that were built into this 370 00:20:30,820 --> 00:20:33,910 society. But but Luke details on and on 371 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,940 and on again and again and again, Jesus compassion for 372 00:20:37,950 --> 00:20:42,320 women and children, but also for the more kind of outcasts of 373 00:20:42,330 --> 00:20:45,600 society, the tax collectors and the sinners, but also 374 00:20:45,610 --> 00:20:47,760 foreigners, Gentiles and Samaritans. 375 00:20:47,770 --> 00:20:52,070 And, and, and he gives so much detail on the way that Jesus 376 00:20:52,140 --> 00:20:55,880 reached out to everybody. The fact that Jesus wasn't 377 00:20:55,890 --> 00:20:58,380 turned off by the poor and the needy. 378 00:20:58,470 --> 00:21:03,230 In fact, they were the primary focus of his ministry the week 379 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:07,410 in the damn trodden were really, really powerless in that society 380 00:21:07,420 --> 00:21:10,230 to improve their lot in life. And Jesus came with this 381 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:11,980 message. We'll see that when we get to 382 00:21:11,990 --> 00:21:15,590 Luke 10. The Kingdom of God is near you. 383 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:20,010 The Kingdom of God is near Luke is is fascinated by this. 384 00:21:20,020 --> 00:21:23,780 So let's go back to Luke chapter 1 and this number one, and we'll 385 00:21:23,790 --> 00:21:25,920 start to kind of pull this apart a little bit. 386 00:21:26,670 --> 00:21:29,900 He says, inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a 387 00:21:29,910 --> 00:21:33,800 narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us. 388 00:21:34,250 --> 00:21:36,960 So Luke is aware that other people have written down, you 389 00:21:36,970 --> 00:21:41,140 know, have written down what Jesus did, accounts of Jesus 390 00:21:41,150 --> 00:21:44,600 ministry and, and all of that. And in fact, we, we just saw 391 00:21:44,610 --> 00:21:48,260 right that Luke was with Paul when Paul's running to the, the 392 00:21:48,270 --> 00:21:51,630 Church of Colossi, he says, you know, Luke, Luke, the the 393 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:55,240 beloved physician greets you. So Luke's there and he says, 394 00:21:55,250 --> 00:21:57,440 bring mark with you. Mark as the guy that wrote the 395 00:21:57,450 --> 00:21:59,090 gospel of Mark. You know, John Markey wrote the 396 00:21:59,100 --> 00:21:59,810 gospel. Mark. 397 00:21:59,950 --> 00:22:02,750 Most scholars think that Marks gospel was written first. 398 00:22:02,970 --> 00:22:04,850 So you know, Luke was probably aware of that. 399 00:22:04,860 --> 00:22:08,410 Mark had a had written some stuff down, so other people had 400 00:22:08,420 --> 00:22:10,460 written this down and Luke was aware of that. 401 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,450 And he says this just as those who from the beginning were eye 402 00:22:14,460 --> 00:22:18,380 witnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us. 403 00:22:19,110 --> 00:22:21,900 It seemed good to me also having followed all these things 404 00:22:21,910 --> 00:22:26,940 closely for for some time past to write an orderly account. 405 00:22:27,810 --> 00:22:30,100 It's probably important to say here that some people point out 406 00:22:30,110 --> 00:22:32,360 that it doesn't actually say at the beginning of Luke or Acts 407 00:22:32,370 --> 00:22:34,940 that Luke wrote it. So how do we know that it was 408 00:22:34,950 --> 00:22:37,080 Luke that wrote it? There's kind of two ways really. 409 00:22:37,150 --> 00:22:41,560 One of them is it's just always been accepted that he did right 410 00:22:41,570 --> 00:22:42,760 from the right from the beginning. 411 00:22:42,810 --> 00:22:46,610 The oldest copy of Luke that that we've found, just found in 412 00:22:46,620 --> 00:22:50,980 the last couple of years, they used about 175 AD and it says at 413 00:22:50,990 --> 00:22:53,040 the start the Gospel according to Luke, right? 414 00:22:53,050 --> 00:22:55,760 It's just been always accepted that that was the case. 415 00:22:55,830 --> 00:22:59,780 But also there are some hints in the text itself that let us know 416 00:22:59,790 --> 00:23:01,390 that. If you look in the X16, it talks 417 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,840 about Luke's talking about the mission team of Paul and, and 418 00:23:04,850 --> 00:23:08,170 Timothy and Silas. And he says, and they did this 419 00:23:08,180 --> 00:23:10,390 and they went here and they did this and whatever. 420 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:13,200 And then about halfway through the chapter, it's Paul realised, 421 00:23:13,210 --> 00:23:15,270 you know, God's telling him we need to go to Macedonia. 422 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:16,920 And Paul says, look, we need to go to Macedonia. 423 00:23:16,990 --> 00:23:21,200 And Luke says, so we left and we went to Macedonia and, and they 424 00:23:21,210 --> 00:23:24,420 changed us to wear that spot because Luke joined the team. 425 00:23:24,470 --> 00:23:26,730 And that matches up with other things, that inscription. 426 00:23:26,740 --> 00:23:29,180 So there's lots of, lots of things like that little hints in 427 00:23:29,190 --> 00:23:31,860 the text that let us know that Luke is the author. 428 00:23:32,310 --> 00:23:36,610 Luke had never met the actual Christ, but as a Christian he 429 00:23:36,620 --> 00:23:39,930 obviously has a huge interest in everything that happened in in 430 00:23:39,940 --> 00:23:42,950 Christ's life. And in Luke's time there were 431 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:46,130 eye witnesses who were still alive who had been there. 432 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:48,630 They had seen the actual Jesus. They had been with the actual 433 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,670 Jesus. They saw the stuff with their 434 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:53,440 own eyes. So Luke interviews as many of 435 00:23:53,450 --> 00:23:57,860 them as possible to put together what he calls an orderly account 436 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,830 to give you an orderly account. This is really interesting 437 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,530 wording, and this is something very interesting about the 438 00:24:05,860 --> 00:24:09,900 Gospel of Luke in the Eastern world. 439 00:24:09,910 --> 00:24:12,180 And it's still like this right across much of the Eastern 440 00:24:12,190 --> 00:24:14,980 world. When they make lists of things, 441 00:24:15,150 --> 00:24:18,180 they tend to make lists in order of importance. 442 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,870 In the Western world, we tend to make less in order of 443 00:24:23,100 --> 00:24:27,320 chronology, a timeline. So we lived in the Far East for 444 00:24:27,330 --> 00:24:29,120 a while and it's quite interesting how this plays out 445 00:24:29,130 --> 00:24:31,400 sometimes. So if you ask someone from the 446 00:24:31,410 --> 00:24:35,160 Far East, tell me what you know about Apple computers, you know, 447 00:24:35,170 --> 00:24:37,260 the company. So they might say something like 448 00:24:37,270 --> 00:24:38,730 this. Well, they, they are the people 449 00:24:38,740 --> 00:24:41,510 who made the iPhone and that's, you know, kind of 450 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,980 revolutionised, you know, the world and, and how we do things 451 00:24:44,990 --> 00:24:47,120 and whatever. Before that, they had made this 452 00:24:47,130 --> 00:24:48,720 computer that was really sort of graphical. 453 00:24:48,730 --> 00:24:50,960 And so that was quite different. They also had made a music 454 00:24:50,970 --> 00:24:53,580 player, you know, iPod that, you know, that changed the way music 455 00:24:53,590 --> 00:24:55,270 was done. And, and they would go like 456 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,180 that. If you ask a Westerner same 457 00:24:57,190 --> 00:24:59,000 question. Tell me what you know about 458 00:24:59,010 --> 00:25:00,720 Apple computer generally runs like this. 459 00:25:00,730 --> 00:25:02,970 What was started by two guys in there marriage and they made 460 00:25:02,980 --> 00:25:05,670 this computer and then they after a while they made a bit of 461 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,390 computer. And then after a while they make 462 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:11,330 they did a this music player, you know, and, and, and it very 463 00:25:11,340 --> 00:25:14,750 quickly goes into a timeline. Much of the Bible is written 464 00:25:14,760 --> 00:25:16,940 from an Eastern mindset. So when things are talked about, 465 00:25:16,950 --> 00:25:20,060 they talked about an order of a port importance rather than in 466 00:25:20,070 --> 00:25:22,230 chronological order. You get in the book of Ezra, 467 00:25:22,340 --> 00:25:24,520 man, he's like, he talks about one thing and he jumps back in 468 00:25:24,530 --> 00:25:25,680 time to talk about something else. 469 00:25:25,690 --> 00:25:28,390 Then he jumps forward again and it's all over the place. 470 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:30,810 But he's listening things as they come up in order of 471 00:25:30,820 --> 00:25:33,070 importance. It's far more like if you were 472 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:36,190 sitting around a campfire going, hey, remember when Jesus did 473 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,090 that thing? And everyone goes, yeah, yeah, 474 00:25:38,100 --> 00:25:39,540 that's right, did this and did this. 475 00:25:39,590 --> 00:25:41,000 What about when he did that thing? 476 00:25:41,070 --> 00:25:45,140 So it's not necessarily in in time order, but Luke's gospel is 477 00:25:45,150 --> 00:25:48,250 a lot more time ordered. Not, not exactly, but far more 478 00:25:48,260 --> 00:25:51,340 than the others. He does a lot more of that kind 479 00:25:51,350 --> 00:25:53,830 of stuff. Here's a good example. 480 00:25:53,900 --> 00:25:56,310 Actually, Lukes Hospital has a lot more of these things, like 481 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,680 on the next day and then on the next day, these kind of time 482 00:25:59,690 --> 00:26:01,950 markers. But have a look at this example. 483 00:26:02,180 --> 00:26:05,720 Luke chapter 3, verse #1 Have a look at this. 484 00:26:05,730 --> 00:26:10,300 This is in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. 485 00:26:10,550 --> 00:26:12,710 Pontius Pilot being the governor of Judea. 486 00:26:12,770 --> 00:26:15,640 And here it being Ted Track of Galilee, and his brother Philip. 487 00:26:15,650 --> 00:26:19,120 Chitrak of the region of Etruria, and Trigonitis and 488 00:26:19,130 --> 00:26:22,860 Lasaniya, tetrarch of Abilene during the high priesthood of 489 00:26:22,870 --> 00:26:25,240 Anniston. And clarifies the word of God 490 00:26:25,250 --> 00:26:27,850 came to John the son of Zachariah in the wilderness 491 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:30,770 detail much? This is you. 492 00:26:30,780 --> 00:26:32,350 That's a doctor's mine, isn't it? 493 00:26:32,580 --> 00:26:36,010 That's a doctor's mine right here and and times and dates and 494 00:26:36,020 --> 00:26:39,490 places and people. And this kind of characterises 495 00:26:39,540 --> 00:26:42,940 Luke's gospel as well. Okay, back back to Luke 1. 496 00:26:43,650 --> 00:26:47,290 There's #3 Alex says, look, you know, I know, I know other 497 00:26:47,300 --> 00:26:49,810 people have, have, have, have written about this, but you 498 00:26:49,820 --> 00:26:51,370 know, there's lots of eye witnesses around. 499 00:26:51,460 --> 00:26:53,190 Wanna talk to them? He said. 500 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,250 It seems good to me. Also, having followed all things 501 00:26:56,260 --> 00:26:59,360 closely for some time past. Obviously this stuff's really 502 00:26:59,370 --> 00:27:01,230 important to Luke as a Christian, you know, to, to 503 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:04,730 understand this stuff, to write an orderly account for you. 504 00:27:04,780 --> 00:27:09,490 Most excellent Theophilus that you may have certainty consider 505 00:27:09,740 --> 00:27:11,660 concerning the things that you have been taught. 506 00:27:11,970 --> 00:27:15,430 Both Luke and Acts are written to Theophilus, which brings this 507 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,000 question up. Who was Theophilus? 508 00:27:17,070 --> 00:27:21,080 And the short answer is we don't know, but there are maybe some 509 00:27:21,090 --> 00:27:24,560 hints here in the text, the name of the Orpheus means friend of 510 00:27:24,570 --> 00:27:26,750 God. So some people wonder if it's 511 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:28,200 more of a nickname than an actual name. 512 00:27:28,250 --> 00:27:31,860 But actually it was a really common Roman name in those days. 513 00:27:31,970 --> 00:27:34,780 It pops up all over the place in in kind of ancient documents. 514 00:27:34,850 --> 00:27:38,700 There was a high priest in Judea around this time that had that 515 00:27:38,710 --> 00:27:40,000 name. So people, some people have 516 00:27:40,010 --> 00:27:43,700 wondered about that possibly, but the phrase there is most 517 00:27:43,710 --> 00:27:46,610 excellent, Theophilus. And that that phrase, most 518 00:27:46,620 --> 00:27:49,570 excellent is a really interesting phrase because it's 519 00:27:49,580 --> 00:27:52,030 usually used to address Roman governors. 520 00:27:52,900 --> 00:27:55,330 It's kind of a title, you know, a bit like, you know, when 521 00:27:55,340 --> 00:27:57,330 people in court and they, they refer to the judges, your 522 00:27:57,340 --> 00:28:00,330 honour, you know, that that that kind of thing often used to 523 00:28:00,340 --> 00:28:02,770 address Roman governors. So it's quite likely that 524 00:28:02,780 --> 00:28:05,540 Theophilus was some kind of Roman official or lawyer. 525 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:10,330 Imagine that, right? Imagine being some kind of Roman 526 00:28:10,340 --> 00:28:16,560 official living in the Greek speaking world, following a God 527 00:28:16,570 --> 00:28:20,710 and believing in a God attached to the Jewish people, right? 528 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,860 How does a Gentile fit in with a Jewish religion? 529 00:28:25,510 --> 00:28:29,150 You would feel quite out of place, wouldn't you? 530 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,310 You'd feel a lot out of place if it felt out of place. 531 00:28:35,090 --> 00:28:41,600 Ever felt out of place? If it felt like an outcast, what 532 00:28:41,610 --> 00:28:47,250 about as a Christian right? If it felt you have a struggle 533 00:28:47,260 --> 00:28:49,420 with, you know, being different to those around you. 534 00:28:49,430 --> 00:28:51,330 We talked about that a bit last week, didn't we? 535 00:28:52,070 --> 00:28:53,960 You know, it's, it's really hard sometimes. 536 00:28:54,510 --> 00:28:57,760 It's really hard to, to be the one on the outfit, to be 537 00:28:57,770 --> 00:29:00,520 different to everybody else, to have different, a different 538 00:29:00,530 --> 00:29:04,040 worldview to everybody else, to believe in a God that other 539 00:29:04,050 --> 00:29:07,260 people don't believe in. It can be really hard, but what 540 00:29:07,270 --> 00:29:09,330 about being around other Christians? 541 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:13,020 You know, they seem different to me. 542 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,700 My personality is different to the cushions around me. 543 00:29:19,370 --> 00:29:24,140 My situation is different. Yeah, that could be hard commit. 544 00:29:24,410 --> 00:29:27,600 I remember, you know, when I I was kind of struggling with the 545 00:29:27,610 --> 00:29:31,300 idea of of God wanting me to to preach and pastoring. 546 00:29:31,310 --> 00:29:36,760 And part of the issue was every part of that I knew was a 547 00:29:36,770 --> 00:29:39,040 certain personality type. They were all kind of like type 548 00:29:39,050 --> 00:29:40,640 a personality, you know what I mean? 549 00:29:40,650 --> 00:29:45,140 Just driven and they felt things very deeply and very academic 550 00:29:45,190 --> 00:29:47,400 and understood, you know, and read a lot of books and 551 00:29:47,410 --> 00:29:50,120 understood a lot of things. And, and I just wasn't like that 552 00:29:50,130 --> 00:29:52,580 when I was a photo journalist and I, I was just people 553 00:29:52,590 --> 00:29:55,720 personified and, and, and I didn't know any passes that were 554 00:29:55,730 --> 00:29:58,780 kind of, that weren't that certain personality type. 555 00:29:59,050 --> 00:30:01,730 I remember going to a conference and it was just all these 556 00:30:01,740 --> 00:30:04,340 pastors there got to the conference and it was in another 557 00:30:04,350 --> 00:30:06,490 town and I, I had forgotten to bring my notebook. 558 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,160 So I thought, ohh, man, I need to, I need notes. 559 00:30:09,170 --> 00:30:10,830 I hadn't. So I had a pencil. 560 00:30:10,980 --> 00:30:12,830 And so I had the menu from breakfast. 561 00:30:13,140 --> 00:30:15,800 I remember sitting there in this conference and I had my menu 562 00:30:15,810 --> 00:30:18,400 there and I was really take my notes and the speaker came out 563 00:30:18,410 --> 00:30:20,600 and everyone went to get ready and I just heard all these 564 00:30:20,610 --> 00:30:22,970 briefcases clacking clack, clack, clack, clack, clack. 565 00:30:23,020 --> 00:30:24,990 And these guys were getting, getting their stuff out. 566 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,060 And the guy sitting next to me, I remember, you know, getting 567 00:30:27,070 --> 00:30:29,500 the stuff out and organising all his pens and pencils and 568 00:30:29,510 --> 00:30:32,730 different highlighters, you know, and, and different spot 569 00:30:32,780 --> 00:30:35,420 orderly account, you know, this sort of stuff doing. 570 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:37,900 And I just looked around and I thought, there's no one here 571 00:30:37,910 --> 00:30:40,600 like me, right? I was like, I'm not sure about 572 00:30:40,610 --> 00:30:42,730 this. And So what happens is you start 573 00:30:42,740 --> 00:30:46,560 to doubt, you start, you start to go, yeah, I understand this 574 00:30:46,570 --> 00:30:49,020 Christianity thing, but I think I'm a little bit different. 575 00:30:49,070 --> 00:30:51,850 My circumstance is a little bit different, my personality is a 576 00:30:51,860 --> 00:30:55,530 little bit different, and you feel a little bit like you're on 577 00:30:55,540 --> 00:30:58,400 the other. Here's what Luke said to 578 00:30:58,410 --> 00:31:03,450 Theophilus. This number 4, he says that you 579 00:31:03,460 --> 00:31:07,950 may have certainty concerning the things that you have been 580 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,320 taught. That you may have certainty 581 00:31:11,330 --> 00:31:13,650 concerning the things that you have been taught. 582 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,190 Why did Luke compile this gospel? 583 00:31:20,340 --> 00:31:23,400 I I've seen copilot right? Cause he interviewed all his eye 584 00:31:23,410 --> 00:31:25,880 witnesses, put the put it all together. 585 00:31:26,550 --> 00:31:28,970 What had happened? Why did he compile it? 586 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:32,940 So that we can have certainty about Christ. 587 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:39,390 Luke shows us Jesus compassion and Jesus how much of A servant 588 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,500 he was and how compassionate he was. 589 00:31:42,820 --> 00:31:47,310 But he also shows that it wasn't just to one specific type of 590 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,350 person or one specific group of people. 591 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,810 He was the saviour of the world and Luke is very much about 592 00:31:53,820 --> 00:31:56,370 that. There is an emphasis of on 593 00:31:56,380 --> 00:32:00,880 outsiders in this book. If you've ever felt like an 594 00:32:00,890 --> 00:32:05,740 outsider, this book is for you. This is the gospel for you 595 00:32:05,790 --> 00:32:10,540 because it shows the lengths that Jesus went to for people 596 00:32:10,550 --> 00:32:13,820 who are on the fringes. So that's the first thing, 597 00:32:13,830 --> 00:32:16,770 right? So we can have certainty about 598 00:32:16,780 --> 00:32:22,450 Christ, but also I think it brings us out what we believe is 599 00:32:22,460 --> 00:32:26,730 not a fairy tale. You know, I used to have a guy 600 00:32:26,740 --> 00:32:29,690 that I was a tick with and he used to kind of make fun of me 601 00:32:29,700 --> 00:32:31,510 all the time. And he would say, he would say 602 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,490 to me, and you might have heard this before, this is kind of a 603 00:32:33,500 --> 00:32:36,850 common thing because he said, ohh, yes, said I believe in the 604 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:38,830 invisible flying spaghetti monster. 605 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,000 And he said, I have this invisible flying spaghetti 606 00:32:41,010 --> 00:32:43,690 monster above my head. He says you can't prove that he 607 00:32:43,700 --> 00:32:45,510 doesn't exist. He just exists. 608 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,250 And he's trying to poke fun and say you say you believe in this 609 00:32:48,260 --> 00:32:52,710 God and kind of, you know, make out that it's a fairytale that 610 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,950 we believe in. But Luke's Gospel is an orderly 611 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:00,330 account based on the testimony of multiple eye witnesses with 612 00:33:00,340 --> 00:33:03,480 times and dates and people and places. 613 00:33:03,830 --> 00:33:06,820 And the more archaeology we do, the more other documents we dig 614 00:33:06,830 --> 00:33:10,140 up, we go, ohh, that matches up. When he said that so and so was 615 00:33:10,150 --> 00:33:12,580 in charge at that time, Turns out he was. 616 00:33:12,590 --> 00:33:15,010 Look at this, we've got this official document and these 617 00:33:15,020 --> 00:33:19,770 things just continuously prove this is a very real thing. 618 00:33:19,780 --> 00:33:21,880 This is not something that was made-up. 619 00:33:22,630 --> 00:33:26,250 You can have certainty about the things that you've been taught. 620 00:33:26,980 --> 00:33:32,910 And the good news about this is that it doesn't just impact, you 621 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:35,270 know, this good news, this gospel doesn't just impact what 622 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:39,300 happens after you die. It impacts your life right now 623 00:33:40,340 --> 00:33:44,050 because you have the hope that most people don't have. 624 00:33:44,100 --> 00:33:48,060 You have a sense of purpose. It's hard to live life without 625 00:33:48,070 --> 00:33:50,440 purpose. You have a sense of direction. 626 00:33:50,610 --> 00:33:53,420 Amazing how many times you know, it talks about, you know, Jesus 627 00:33:53,570 --> 00:33:56,540 looked out on the crowd and he's and, and with compassion. 628 00:33:56,550 --> 00:33:59,840 He was moved with compassion because they were like sheep 629 00:33:59,910 --> 00:34:02,820 without a shepherd. They had no sense of purpose, no 630 00:34:02,830 --> 00:34:04,840 sense of direction. They were just kind of wandering 631 00:34:04,850 --> 00:34:07,420 around and and Jesus, you know, that really got to him. 632 00:34:07,430 --> 00:34:10,040 He was moved with compassion. That Greek phrase, one word 633 00:34:10,050 --> 00:34:12,449 which which means I'll be stirred up in the pit of your 634 00:34:12,460 --> 00:34:15,270 stomach. The good news impacts your life 635 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,170 right now. It makes such a difference to 636 00:34:17,179 --> 00:34:19,929 the here and now. It's not just pie in the sky 637 00:34:19,940 --> 00:34:21,750 when you die like Joe Hill thought. 638 00:34:24,020 --> 00:34:25,560 And I think the the last point is this. 639 00:34:25,570 --> 00:34:29,889 As followers of Jesus, let's follow the example of Jesus and 640 00:34:29,900 --> 00:34:33,060 bring the good news of salvation to the spiritually poor and 641 00:34:33,070 --> 00:34:36,560 needy, whoever they are. People who don't have this good 642 00:34:36,570 --> 00:34:40,239 news are in need, who haven't connected with this good news 643 00:34:40,250 --> 00:34:42,850 are in need. The Kingdom of God is near, 644 00:34:43,780 --> 00:34:45,710 right? Let's reach out. 645 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,690 Let's do what he asked. So and the next long period of 646 00:34:49,699 --> 00:34:52,610 time, we will be going through the book of Luke. 647 00:34:52,659 --> 00:34:55,080 We are gonna break it up into chunks and do some other things 648 00:34:55,090 --> 00:34:57,570 in between and then we'll come back to to Luke again. 649 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,390 One of the things we're changing up a little bit is in the school 650 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:01,450 holidays. We'll do it. 651 00:35:01,460 --> 00:35:03,910 We'll do different messages. We'll break from our series 652 00:35:04,100 --> 00:35:07,150 during the school holiday break. So some feedback has been people 653 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,110 say, ohh, I was really getting into this and then I'm going to 654 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:10,750 be away for a couple of weeks, you know, the holidays and 655 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:12,050 whatever. So we'll change that. 656 00:35:12,060 --> 00:35:14,690 But we will be going through the book of Luke and we will see 657 00:35:14,700 --> 00:35:19,070 this oddly account of Jesus and who he was and what he did and 658 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:24,320 what he said, the death and the Bureau and the resurrection and 659 00:35:24,590 --> 00:35:28,120 what impact that had on his followers and what impact it has 660 00:35:28,130 --> 00:35:31,220 on us. There is so much really cool 661 00:35:31,230 --> 00:35:34,540 stuff to to pull out of that. All right, let's pray and then 662 00:35:34,550 --> 00:35:40,770 I'll I'll hand. Father, we stand in awe of you 663 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:46,650 as, yeah, there's so much detail and in these books, but also so 664 00:35:46,660 --> 00:35:50,380 much just the way everything's connected together back to, you 665 00:35:50,390 --> 00:35:52,860 know, the Old Testament of the New Testament and different 666 00:35:52,870 --> 00:35:56,100 books and Ezekiel and Revelation and all of these things and how 667 00:35:56,110 --> 00:35:59,940 you've connected all of these because of your your great 668 00:35:59,950 --> 00:36:03,220 wisdom, because of who you are. Lord, we thank you for the good 669 00:36:03,230 --> 00:36:05,380 news. We thank you for Luke's gospel. 670 00:36:05,390 --> 00:36:08,300 We thank you for the chance to be able to get an orderly 671 00:36:08,310 --> 00:36:09,790 account of everything that happened. 672 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,780 And Lord, you, you've wanted us to know this stuff because you 673 00:36:13,790 --> 00:36:17,020 love us and you care about us and all. 674 00:36:17,030 --> 00:36:20,620 We thank you for chance to connect with you despite our 675 00:36:20,630 --> 00:36:23,210 sinfulness. Lord, we thank you for your word 676 00:36:23,260 --> 00:36:24,850 and thank you for Jesus, the living word. 677 00:36:24,860 --> 00:36:28,110 We thank you for these things. Pray in Jesus name, Amen.