We all are tempted by something. Jesus was tempted, yet without sin. He tells us more about His kingdom. The temptation for us is to build our own.
Luke 17: Temptations to Sin
1 And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.
3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."
Increase Our Faith
5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
6 And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
Unworthy Servants
7 "Will any one of you who has a servant ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'?
8 Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'?
9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?
10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"
Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers
11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance
13 and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."
14 When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed.
15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;
16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.
17 Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
19 And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."
The Coming of the Kingdom
20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed,
21 nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."
22 And he said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
23 And they will say to you, 'Look, there!' or 'Look, here!' Do not go out or follow them.
24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot---they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,
29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all---
30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31 On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back.
32 Remember Lot's wife.
33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left.
35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left."
36
37 And they said to him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
Luke 18: The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.
3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.'
4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man,
5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'"
6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says.
7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?
8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
Let the Children Come to Me
15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."
The Rich Ruler
18 And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
19 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
20 You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.'"
21 And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth."
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."
26 Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?"
27 But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
28 And Peter said, "See, we have left our homes and followed you."
29 And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life."
Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time
31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise."
34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar
35 As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.
36 And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant.
37 They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
38 And he cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
39 And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
40 And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him,
41 "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me recover my sight."
42 And Jesus said to him, "Recover your sight; your faith has made you well."
43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
Things to think about…
1. Jesus says that even faith as small as a mustard seed can move a mulberry tree into the sea, Luke 17:4-6, and that like unworthy servants we have just done our duty when we serve the Lord faithfully, Luke 17:7-10. Jesus then makes this illustration more pertinent with the healing of the 10 lepers. Only 1 returned, a Samaritan, to give praise to Jesus. The other lepers were likely to be Jews, even though the text does not explicitly say so. We must beware of becoming too familiar with Christ, that we begin to presume upon His grace. We are after all only saved by grace and ultimately all ‘unworthy servants’. We should be as Paul says to the Philippians, to ‘rejoice always’. Is your heart full of thanks and praise for what He has done in your life? I.E the saving of your soul!
2. What will it be like when Jesus comes back to judge the earth? Apart from the prophetic things that we read about in books like Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation, etc. There will also be a lot of normal stuff going on – I.E marrying, eating drinking, buying and selling – people doing life, Luke 17:28. Yet one will be taken and the other left. Some see this as being a rapture type phenomenon before the great tribulation period as described in Revelation. In the Day of Christ there will be a separation that will endure for eternity, where a great chasm is fixed as we saw in Luke 15 with Rich man and Lazarus.
3. In Luke 17:19-31 Jesus is asked 2 questions; when will the kingdom come and where will the kingdom be? Jesus said the kingdom is in their midst – I.E Right now, in those who are saved and are being saved so that no-one would be able to point and say ‘now is the kingdom’ established. We could actually say it is with us corporately every Sunday when we gather in that sense (when we do gather, aside from the present season). The second question of ‘Where’:- Jesus says it will be discerned just like you know that there is something dead because the vultures (or eagles) are flying above it. We will know this season is upon us when we see certain events happening and we will know that the earth’s redemption is near. What signs (I.E vultures) do you think will appear at this period of time in history? Jesus says wars and rumours of wars and an increase in earth quake activity.
4. We remember our Saviour’s sacrifice on the cross on Good Friday. Jesus in Luke 17:33 says “whoever loses his life will keep it”. Praise the Lord that our Lord made the way for life eternal and verified it through His resurrection.
5. In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus speaks about this woman who keeps coming back to the un-just judge. It is symbolic of the believer constantly coming back to the Father, a just judge, who will give speedily to those who call out. Often we don’t receive what we ask for and give up praying. If this is the case, as the parable suggests, remain persistent with your prayers to see the final blessing. We give up very easily don’t we. Why is it that we don’t keep praying until we receive the answer we need? Possibly because the need is in fact not a need, but a want. Discerning the difference should be reflected in our persistence in prayer. Have you ever received a breakthrough and a mighty answer to prayer after persistently praying?
6. The Rich Ruler, Luke 18:18-30, who we know from the other gospels was also young, was asked to sell everything, give to the poor and follow Jesus. He clearly wanted to justify himself, but had an issue with giving up his possessions. Hence he had a covetous spirit. Jesus challenges this by saying it’s hard for rich people to enter heaven. But he then goes on to say we must leave our wives, brothers, children and parents, vs 29. Seems a bit extreme doesn’t it, or is it? How do you reconcile Christ’s statement with your present lifestyle? Look at the promises in vs 30. Blessings in this life and the next. What do these look like to give up everything in this life? I think it means ‘Lord have your way in me no matter what that looks like’.
7. Jesus foretells his death in a fair amount of detail in Luke 18:31-34, yet the disciples didn’t understand. What Jesus said looks fairly plain to me as I read it. I am sure you feel the same. How is it that the disciples didn’t seem to get it? Do you ever miss plain messages given by those who love you, because of a biased predisposition on the subject being spoken about? The challenge is to remove all emotion and hardness of heart that keeps us from embracing the truth, regardless of how it feels.
Vision Point
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for wisdom and clarity with some restrictions are being lifted this week.
2. Continue to pray for our government for wisdom and economic management.
3. Pray that as restrictions are lifted that businesses may return and people who have lost their jobs may return to gainful employment..
4. Sunday’s fb live messages for Kids church and – “Nobody likes a bad tenant” Luke 20.
5. Our online Chuwar Kids at church program – that our kids still feel connected to church and love worshipping Him.
6. Pastoral care. Pray people feel connected in this isolation period. Been great catching up with people at the Bean Redeemed café.
7. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
8. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times. Pray especially for people to be stable with respect to mental health.
Praise Points.
1. Restrictions being lifted – cell groups can now meet up.
2. Finances being maintained and donation to Café roof. Thankyou!
5. Streaming and fb live being done very well by Dan and the technical team. Thanks Doug, Dan, Jesse and Peter. Thanks worship team.
6. Infection curve continues to drop below 1% infection levels. as a response to the virus in Australia
7. Praise the Lord churches are functioning well in this environment and the gospel is going out in the media.
8. Encouraging online comments – the church is still functioning well and people are being cared for.
Announcements
1. Pray about offerings to help with putting a roof over the café. Our temporary white shade is coming to the end of its life. $6k required for a new roof. $2k has been donated.
2. Cell groups can meet up – Ask for details as to how and what is required.
3. New church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
4. Kids Church now streamed live at 9:00am every Sunday morning via CBC’s fb page.
