God's Word For Every Day

Luke 1:1-4 We begin with the first four verses of Luke’s Gospel. In our first look at Luke’s Book, we ask four questions: (1) What is Luke’s story about? (2) Where did Luke get his story from? (3) How are we to read Luke’s story? (4) What can we learn from Luke’s story? —– (1) What is Luke’s story about? We might ask this question differently: Who is Luke’s story about? The answer is Jesus. Luke is the writer of this Gospel. Jesus is the Theme of the Gospel. Jesus is the Gospel. He is the Good News. Luke tells us many things about Jesus. The first thing he tells us is this: Luke’s Gospel is “an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us” (Luke 1:1). “Fulfilled” – This is not the beginning of the story. It’s the fulfilment of a story which has been many centuries in preparation. Long before the birth of Jesus, the prophets were speaking of the Messiah or Christ who was to come. The story told by Luke is part of a much larger story – the Stor...

Luke 1:5-25 In the Gospel of Luke, the central character is Jesus Christ. Before the Name of Jesus appears in Luke 1:31, we read of John the Baptist who paved the way for Jesus. In the opening chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we remember a man whose name was given to him by God. The man’s name was John. His name means “The Lord is gracious.” His name speaks of the grace of God, reaching out to many people through His ministry. When John the Baptist preached, he called on the people of his own day to learn from the faithful of past generations. John was sent by God “to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous” (Luke 1:17). In the story of John the Baptist, we see the greatness of a man who was “great in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:15). As we think of human greatness, let’s look beyond all of it to the greatness of God. We can learn much from John the Baptist - this man who pointed away from himself to our Lord and ...

Luke 1:26-38 * At the beginning, we see God’s initiative (Luke 1:26). * At the end, we see Mary’s response (Luke 1:38). * In the centre, we see Jesus (Luke 1:31). —– We see here a picture of the Christian faith and the Christian life. * “In the beginning, God” (Genesis 1:1). * We say our “Amen” (Revelation 22:20). * Jesus at the centre (the Gospels). —– * Jesus is the result of God’s initiative: “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). * Jesus is the cause of our response: “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for Me” (Galatians 2:20); “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). * Jesus is at the centre – the centre of history, the centre of the Bible, the centre of our faith, the centre of our life. —– Who is this Jesus who stands at the centre of all things? God’s angel, Gabriel, was sent to Mary. He tells us who Jesus is. (a) He is our Saviour. The name, “Jesus”, means “Saviour.” When we call Hi...

Luke 1:39-56 While at Elizabeth’s house, Mary praised the Lord. Her song of praise comes from the Lord and rises to the Lord. At the heart of this song of praise, there is the “Saviour” – “my soul rejoices in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:47). Mary’s song of praise is both a joyful testimony and a call to worship. * Mary’s song could be summed up in the words of Psalm 35:9 – “My soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in His salvation.” This is Mary’s joyful testimony. She rejoices in the Lord. She takes delight in His salvation. At the heart of her joyful testimony, there is the “Saviour” – “my soul rejoices in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:47). * Mary’s song of praise comes to us as a call to worship, an invitation to join with her in praising the Lord. In her words of praise, we hear an echo of the call to worship, found in Psalm 34:3 – “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His Name together.” Mary praised the Lord. She rejoiced in the Saviour. What about us? Will w...

Luke 1:57-66 * “The hand of the Lord was with him” (Luke 1:66).  The words of Hebrews 11:4 – “he died, but through his faith he is still speaking” provide us with an apt description of John the Baptist. He belongs to the distant past, yet his words continue to speak to us today. * “The hand of the Lord was with him.” As we read of the ministry of John the Baptist, we read of a man who was fully devoted to the Lord, a man who was mightily used by the Lord. * “The hand of the Lord was with him.” Let us pray that the hand of the Lord will be upon us. With thanksgiving, we remember those whom the Lord who has so graciously and powerfully used for His glory in past generations. We are not, however, locked in the past. We learn from the past so that we can be greatly used, in this generation, to bring men, women and children to the Saviour. * “The hand of the Lord was with him.” John the Baptist was a bridge between the old and the new. He followed on from the Old Testam...

Luke 1:67-80 Prior to the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, there was the birth of John the Baptist. At the time of John’s birth, his father, Zechariah, sang a song of praise to God. It is a song of praise which (a) gives thanks to God for His blessings in the past; (b) rejoices in the blessings God gives in the present; (c) looks forward to God’s blessings in the future. * Zechariah looks back to “the holy prophets of long ago” (Luke 1:70). * Zechariah rejoices in the birth of John – “a man sent from God” (John 1:6). * Zechariah looks forward to the coming of Christ. John’s ministry was to “go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him” (Luke 1:76 b). Past, present and future – This is the framework within which we live our life. We live in the present, looking back to the past and looking on to the future. * What can we learn from Zechariah’s song of praise, as we make our journey from the past, through the future and on into the future? - “He has raised ...