Emily Bailey

The Gospel According to Luke

Pastor Tommy Bailey

Luke 5:1-11

People in Luke 5:1-11

• Jesus Christ (vv. 1-11)
• The crowds (vv. 1-3)
• Simon Peter (vv. 3-11)
• James and John (vv. 7-11)

“…nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”
Luke 5:5 (KJV)

“The most powerful form of spiritual warfare is obedience.”

Dallas Willard

“Peter had been brought personally into the sphere of Jesus’ mighty kingdom power…this was not his first exposure to Christ’s kingdom authority, but this time Jesus ministered in Peter’s personal universe—his sea, his boat, his nets—and so the significance came to him as never before.”
R. Kent Hughes

Jesus’ pursuit of Simon Peter (Luke 4-5)

• He dines in Simon Peter’s home (4:38)
• He steps into Simon Peter’s boat (5:3)
• He meddles in Simon Peter’s business (5:4)
• He reveals Simon Peter’s need for a savior (5:8)
• He calls Simon Peter to follow Him from then on (5:10-11)

“When we meet the Absolute, we know immediately that we are not absolute. When we meet the Infinite, we become acutely conscious that we are finite. When we meet the Eternal, we know we are temporal. To meet God is a powerful study in contrasts.”
R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

“We resent His intrusions into our privacy, His demand for our homage, His expectation of our obedience. Why can’t He mind His own business? To which He instantly replies that we are His business and that He will never leave us alone.”
John Stott, The Cross of Christ

Simon Peter’s progression of faith in Jesus (Luke 5:1-11)

• He hears the Word of Jesus (5:3)
• He trusts the Word of Jesus (5:5)
• He recognizes the holiness of Jesus (5:8)
• He confesses his own sinfulness to Jesus (5:8)
• He leaves everything to follow Jesus (5:11)

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
John 6:68-69

“To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change.”

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

“Do you want to know a truth that in the momentous challenges of our modern world will be at once a quest to inspire you, an anchor to hold you fast, a rich fare to nourish you, and a relationship you will prize above all others? Listen to Jesus of Nazareth; answer his call.”
Os Guinness, The Call

The Gospel According to Luke

Pastor Jim Thomas

Luke 4:14-44

• Luke 4:14-44 – Jesus throughout Galilee 
• Luke 4:14-30 – Jesus in Nazareth  
• Luke 4:31-44 – Jesus in Capernaum

Luke’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus:

• Conception – Luke 1:35
• Baptism – Luke 3:22
• Beginning of public ministry – Luke 4:1
• Declaration of Old Testament fulfillment – Luke 4:18
• Joy in ministry – Luke 10:21

The Miracles of Jesus

1.  Arouse curiosity
2.  Display His power
3.  Reveal His compassion
4.  Affirm His identity
5.  Inspire worship

Luke’s research revealed that Jesus is:

1. The Son of God
2. The Savior of the world

In Luke 4:14-44 we notice:

1. The audacious assertion of Jesus v. 14-21
2. The eager reception of the multitudes v. 14, 15, 22, 32, 36-37, 40-44
3. The angry rejection of the religious experts v28-29
4. The selfless and faithful ministry of our Savior

“If you are going to walk with Jesus Christ, you are going to be opposed … In our days, to be a true Christian is really to become a scandal.”

George Whitfield

Jesus doesn’t just come to sympathize with our pain; He comes to break our chains. He’s not merely a teacher offering wisdom—He’s a Savior offering freedom!

How will you respond to Jesus?

“In the whole history of the world, there is only one person who not only claimed to be God himself but also got enormous numbers of people to believe it. Only Jesus combines claims of divinity with the most beautiful life of humanity.”
Tim Keller, Making Sense of God

“Human beings do not readily admit desperation. When they do, the kingdom of heaven draws near.”

Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew

“This world is a great sculptor’s shop. We are the statues and there is a rumour going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

The Gospel According to Luke

Pastor Jim Thomas

Luke 4:1-13

1. The Temptation of Christ serves to expose the sources and strategies of temptation.

“You once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh” 
Ephesians 2:2–3

Sources of temptation:

1. The World
2. The Flesh
3. The Devil

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
C. S. Lewis, preface to The Screwtape Letters

The Temptation of Christ was the devil’s attempt to entice Jesus to doubt the trustworthiness of God the Father regarding:

1. Sustenance
2. Significance
3. Security

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:41

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able; but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13

“The typical temptation of the young is lust, of the middle-aged ambition, and of the elderly bitterness. Actually, all three drives are similar and related: ambition is a refined lust, bitterness a disappointed one.”  

Frederick Dale Bruner

2. The Temptation of Christ serves to teach us how to resist temptation.

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.” 
Psalm 119:9

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
Ephesians 6:11 

“I can’t keep the birds from flying over my head, but I can prevent them from building a nest in my hair.”

Martin Luther

“For since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” 
Hebrews 2:18. 

“We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” 
Hebrews 4:15

“But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
James 4:6–10

The temptation of Christ reminds us:

1. Temptation is universal.
2. Temptation itself is not a sin.
3. Temptation can be resisted and/or escaped.
4. The grace of God in Christ removes all our disgrace.

“The Christian discipline of fighting temptation is not about self-hatred, or rejecting parts of our God-given humanity. It is about celebrating God’s gift of full humanity and, like someone learning a music instrument, discovering how to tune it and play it to its best possibility.”

N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone

The Gospel According to Luke

Pastor Matt Pierson

Luke 3

“To get right with God, you have to admit you are not right with God.”
The Africa Bible Commentary

7 Officials of Luke 3

• Tiberius Caesar – Emperor of the Roman Empire, 14-37 AD
• Pontius Pilate – Governor of Judea, 26-36 AD
• Herod Antipas – Tetratch of Galilee, 4 BC-39 AD
• Herod Philip – Tetrarch of Ituraea/Trachonitis, 4 BC-36 AD
• Lysanias – Tetrarch of Abilene, 28-37 AD
• Annas – High Priest, 6-15 AD
• Caiaphas – High Priest, 18-36 AD

1. John and His Mission

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways;
To give knowledge of salvation to his people
In the forgiveness of their sins,
Because of the tender mercy of our God,
Whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Luke 1:76-79

2. Jesus and His Purpose

“He (Jesus) might truly have claimed that ‘a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ was for him unnecessary and inappropriate; but his readiness to undergo it just the same, if that is his Father’s will, is the mark of a man unique among men in his total obedience to God.”
Michael Wilcock, The Bible Speaks Today

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him in death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Romans 6:3-4

3. What Does a Repentant Life Look Like?

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17

“Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves. Joy-based repentance makes us hate the sin.”
Timothy Keller

“No eye is quicker to see the mercy of God than the eye washed with the tears of repentance.”
Charles Spurgeon

“Show me, then, a professed Christian who does not see and insist on the need for ongoing repentance, and I will show you a stunted soul.”

J. I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness

“Repent therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
Acts 3:19-20

“He came the first time to die; He is coming again to raise the dead. When He came the first time, they questioned whether He was King; the next time the world will know that He is King of kings and Lord of lords. The first time He wore a crown of thorns; the next time He will be wearing a crown of glory. The first time He came in poverty; the next time He is coming in power. The first time He had an escort of angels; the next time He will come with ten thousands of His saints. The first time He came in meekness; He is coming again in majesty.”
Adrian Rogers

The Gospel According to Luke

Pastor Jim Thomas

Luke 2

1. God turned the tide against darkness with the proclamation of the angels. (Luke 2:10-12)
2. God turned the tide against silence when He spoke about the hope of redemption through the aged prophet and prophetess. (Luke 2:21-38)
3. God turned the tide against fear when Jesus spoke for Himself and clarified His mission. (Luke 2:49)
4. God continues to turn the tide of redemption history by speaking through His Word, the Holy Spirit, and the church.

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 
2 Corinthians 5:20

“If we want to participate in this Advent and Christmas event, we cannot simply sit there like spectators in a theater and enjoy all the friendly pictures. Rather, we must join in the action that is taking place and be drawn into this reversal of all things ourselves.” 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is In the Manger

“The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.” 
C.S. Lewis, Miracles

“‘Immanuel’ means the ideal has become real, the absolute has become a particular, and the invisible has become visible. The incarnation is the universe-sundering, history-altering, life-transforming, paradigm-shattering event of history.”

Tim Keller, Hidden Christmas

“Luke has told us in the angel’s words who Jesus is, and in the prophet’s words who may benefit from his message; and now in the words of the Child himself, we learn that to grasp the fullness of this message of salvation we shall need to follow the one who already knows God as his Father, as he prosecutes his Father‘s plan through the whole gospel story in order to bring us into the same relationship.”
Michael Wilcock, The Message of Luke 

The Gospel According to Luke

Pastor Tommy Bailey

Luke 1

Descriptions of Jesus in Luke:

• The Son of God (1:35)
• Light to those in darkness (1:79)
• Worthy of worship (24:52)
• The one in whom all the scriptures find their fulfillment (24:27)
• The Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost (19:10)
• The resurrected King who ascended to heaven, is reigning now and will return again (24)
• Salvation (2:30)

1. God is at work in history and households 

“To me, there is nothing more comforting than knowing that there is a God of providence who is aware not only of every one of my transgressions but of every one of my tears, every one of my aches, and every one of my fears.”

R.C. Sproul

• Zechariah – Jehovah remembers
• Elizabeth – God is an oath
• John – Jehovah has been gracious

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings…Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers…”
Malachi 4:2–6

“It is noteworthy that the clearest promises of the Messiah have been given in the darkest hours of history.” 

Charles Spurgeon

2. God is at work in darkness and silence

“God is God. If He is God, He is worthy of my worship and my service. I will find rest nowhere but in His will, and that will is infinitely, immeasurably, unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.”
Elisabeth Elliot

“God is on the move toward us, not the other way round. In the very midst of our confusion and incapacity, we are met by the oncoming Lord.”
Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ

The Minor Prophets: The God of Our Salvation

Associate Pastor Tom Yarbrough

Habakkuk 3

“Poets tell us what our eyes, blurred with too much gawking, and our ears, dulled with too much chatter, miss around and within us. Poets use words to drag us into the depth of reality itself.”
Eugene Peterson

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

Additional Reading for Habakkuk 3:

• Exodus 7
• Exodus 15
• Exodus 19
• Deuteronomy 33
• Joshua 2, 10
• Judges 4-5
• Psalm 18, 46

For Habakkuk, worshipfully recounting the story of God results in:

1. A Resolve to Wait

“It’s vital to understand that waiting isn’t an interruption of God’s plan. It is his plan. And you can know this as well: the Lord who’s called you to wait is with you in your wait.” 
Paul Tripp

2. A Reason to Rejoice

“’Rejoicing in suffering’ does not mean Christians should act happy about tragedy and pain when they feel like crying. Rather, the Bible aims the spotlight on the end result, the productive use God can make of suffering in our lives. To achieve that result, however, he first needs our commitment of trust, and the process of giving him that commitment can be described as rejoicing.” 

Philip Yancey

3. A Reinforced Faith

“A man may be haunted with doubts and only grow thereby in faith. Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood.” 
George Macdonald

“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” 
Romans 10:17

“This little book opens in gloom and closes in glory. It begins with a question mark and closes with an exclamation point. Habakkuk is a big WHY? Why God permits evil is a question that every thoughtful mind has faced. I think that this book is the answer to that question. Will God straighten out the injustice of the world? This book answers that question. Is God doing anything about the wrongs of the world? This book says that He is.”

J. Vernon McGee

“We don’t live on explanations, we live on promises, and the promises of God are based on the character of God.”
Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” 
Philippians 4:4

The Minor Prophets: The God of Our Salvation

Pastor Matt Pierson

Habakkuk 2

“How does Habakkuk help us…as we struggle to work out in our day what it means to believe in God’s sovereignty, justice, and love? How can we live as faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of a violent and unjust world?”
Chris Wright, Hearing the Message of Habakkuk

The 5 Woes spoken against Babylon:

1. Wealth by plunder
2. Security through oppression
3. Empires built on violence
4. Exploitation of humans and nature
5. Idolatry

“Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens, he does all that he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes but do not see.
They have ears but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”

Psalm 115:2-8

“We think that idols are bad things, but that is almost never the case. The greater the good, the more likely we are to expect that it can satisfy our deepest needs and hopes. Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life.”
Timothy J. Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

1. Embrace the Long Journey of Faith

“We are not presented with a moral code and told, ‘Live up to this,’ nor are we provided with a set of goals and told, ‘Go for it.’ We are introduced to God and invited to follow Him.”

Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

“The growth of trees and plants takes place so slowly that it is not easily seen. Daily we notice little change. But, in course of time, we see that a great change has taken place. So it is with grace. Sanctification is a progressive, lifelong work. It is an amazing work of God’s grace and it is a work to be prayed for.”
John Owen

2. Adopt a Posture of Watching and Waiting on the Lord

“If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us; it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord’s people have always been a waiting people.”

Charles Spurgeon

“The people of God are not merely to mark time, waiting for God to step in and set right all that is wrong. Rather, they are to model the new heaven and new earth, and by so doing awaken longings for what God will someday bring to pass.”
Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud

3. Cultivate the Spiritual Discipline of Silence

“It is in silence that mending takes place. It is there that discovery gives birth to creativity. Wisdom is born in silence. Peace is passed in the river of silence. It is the seed of silence that flowers into strength and courage.”
Kim Thomas, Even God Rested

“In a world of noise, confusion, and conflict it is necessary that there be places of silence, inner discipline and peace. In such places love can blossom.”   

Thomas Merton     

“For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
Habakkuk 2:3

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Habakkuk 2:14

“But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Habakkuk 2:20

The Minor Prophets: The God of Our Salvation

Pastor Jim Thomas

Habakkuk 1

• Habakkuk 1: Wondering and Wrestling
• Habakkuk 2: Watching and Waiting
• Habakkuk 3: Worshiping and Witnessing

1. Habakkuk had real questions about the LORD.

“In my distress I called upon the LORD, 
And cried to my God for help; 
He heard my voice out of His temple, 
And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.”
Psalm 18:6

“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? 
Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer; 
And by night, but I have no rest.”
Psalm 22:1-2

“A mind not agitated by good questions cannot possibly appreciate the significance of even the best answers. It is easy enough to teach the  answers parrotwise. But to develop actively  inquisitive minds alive with real questions, profound questions—that is another story.” 
Mortimer J. Adler, Jr.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. Never lose a holy curiosity. Don’t stop to marvel.”
Albert Einstein, Old Man’s Advice to Youth: Never Lose a Holy Curiosity

2. Habakkuk brought his questions directly to the LORD.

“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. He is neither ignorant, so that we need to instruct him, nor hesitant, so that we need to persuade him. He is our father—a father who loves his children and knows all about their needs.”
John Stott

3. Habakkuk watched, waited and trusted the LORD.

Just because we can’t figure out what God is up to, what God’s plans and purposes might be at any given moment, does not mean God is inactive, incapable, or indifferent.  While we wait upon the LORD, the Holy Spirit offers strength for the weak, rest for the weary, comfort for the brokenhearted, and hope to those crushed in spirit.

“The call to wait on God is an invitation to trust and hope. It entails believing that one day—even if today is not that day—he will make all things right. In times of waiting, as we seek God in prayer, we must learn to listen to him as well as talk to him—to shut out the clatter and quietly wait as he unfolds to us his person, purposes, promises, and plan.”
Randy Alcorn

The Minor Prophets: The God of Our Salvation

Pastor Tommy Bailey

Obadiah

“There is nothing so natural to man, nothing so insidious and hidden from our sight, nothing so difficult and dangerous, as pride.”
Andrew Murray, Humility

The Pride of Edom: 

• Position (vs. 3)
• Production (vs. 5)
• Wealth (vs. 6)
• Alliances (vs. 7)
• Intellect (vs. 8)
• Strength (vs. 9)

“The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind…it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 

The Tyranny of Pride: 

• The deception of pride (vs. 3)
• The destructiveness of pride (vs. 10-14)

“Pride in the religious sense is the arrogant refusal to let God be God. It is to grab God’s status for one’s self. In the vivid language of the Bible, pride is puffing yourself up in God’s face…wishing instead to be the Creator, Independent, reliant on one’s own resources…Pride is the grand illusion, the fantasy of fantasies, the cosmic put-on.”

Lewis Smedes, Love Within Limits: Realizing Selfless Love in a Selfish World

“Self-deception is not the worst thing you can do, but it’s the means by which we do the very worst things. The sin that is most distorting your life right now is often the one you can’t see.”
Timothy Keller

The Fruit of Edom’s Pride:

• Aloof/arrogant
• Indifferent to suffering
• Gloating over suffering

The Hope of the Kingdom:

• The reversal of pride (vs. 21)
• The death of pride (vs. 15)

“Humbling ourselves often feels like death, but it really is not. It’s holy chemotherapy that kills the cancer of pride.”

Jon Bloom

“It is a wonderfully liberating experience when the desire to please God overtakes the desire to please ourselves, and when love for others displaces love for self. True freedom is not freedom from responsibility to God and others in order to live for ourselves, but freedom from ourselves in order to live for God and others.”
John Stott

The Minor Prophets: The God of Our Salvation

Ryan Motta

Haggai

“I believe I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether.”
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

“If the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy”

Corrie Ten Boom

“Failure is being successful at things that don’t matter.”
Rico Tice, Faithful Leaders

“When we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
 1 John 1:9

1. The time to act is now (Verses 1:1-11) 

“One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.”
John Piper

“Sometimes struggling is a nice word for postponed obedience.”

Elisabeth Elliot

2. Behold God’s glory and get to work (Verses 1:13-15; 2:1-9)

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 2:4-5 – 4

3. We will succeed because the Lord is with us (Verses 2:1-9; 20-23)

The Minor Prophets: The God of Our Salvation

Pastor Matt Pierson

Jonah 3 & 4

“The primary purpose of the book of Jonah is to engage readers in theological reflection on the compassionate character of God  and in self-reflection on the degree to which their own character reflects this compassion, to the end that they become vehicles of this compassion in the world that God has made and so deeply cares about.”
Introduction to Jonah, The ESV Study Bible

Questions to Consider from Jonah 3-4: 

1. Do you have a “repugnant other”?
2. What is your posture towards a “repugnant other”?

The Cast of Jonah 3-4:

• Yahweh
• Jonah
• Pagan Ninevites
• Some cattle, a worm, and a random gourd plant

“Yahweh’s hard word may not be his last word but rather a call to prayer for new mercies. Sometimes what sounds like a final decree is a subtle invitation.”

Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Kings:The Power and the Fury

“And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I shall show mercy.”
Exodus 33:19

1. Are you sitting in the seat of Jonah or following the footsteps of Jesus?

“If you want to see what judgment looks like, go to the cross. If you want to see what love looks like, go to the cross.”
D.A. Carson

“The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man alone.”

John Stott

2. God sees beyond the sin

“He has displayed….his lavish love for the most wayward prodigal or most vile outcast. His enemies are not defined as people who have done bad things, and his friends are not defined as those who have done good things. No, his enemies are those who cannot bear the fact that he eats with people who have done bad things. People like me, and you.”
David Gibson, The Lord of Psalm 23

3. God often calls us to love outside of our comfort zone

“God cares how we believers relate to and treat people who are deeply different from us.”

Timothy Keller, The Prodigal Prophet

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace…And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near…”
Ephesians 2:13,14a,17

4. God sovereignly appoints events and encounters 

“Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
Genesis 18:25

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9

Questions for reflection from Jonah 3-4: 

1. Do you have a repugnant other? 
2. What is your posture towards a “repugnant other”?

“There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.”
Corrie Ten Boom

“One who has been touched by grace will no longer look on those who stray as “those evil people” or “those poor people who need our help.” Nor must we search for signs of “loveworthiness.” Grace teaches us that God loves us because of who God is, not because of who we are.”

Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace

The Minor Prophets: The God of Our Salvation

Pastor Jim Thomas

Jonah 1 & 2

Overview of Jonah:

• Chapter 1 – Jonah runs from God
• Chapter 2 – Jonah cries out to God
• Chapter 3 – Jonah reluctantly obeys God
• Chapter 4 – Jonah questions God then God questions Jonah

“The Assyrians were the Nazi storm-troopers of the ancient world. They were the pitiless, power-crazed foe. They showed no quarter in battle, uprooting entire peoples in their fury for conquest. They extinguished the northern kingdom of Israel… For Jonah, Nineveh, then, was no ordinary city, it carried doom-laden, tragic memories, it stood as a symbol of evil incarnate.”
Hayyim Lewis, Assembly of Rabbis

“Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans and exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no one can be in the presence of [the Cross] for long without overcoming this double exclusion.”
Miroslav Volf, The Spacious Heart

“A fierce mercy lies at the heart of God’s nature, such that no man-made boundary, be it moral, or geographical, may exclude the glory of that most exquisite quality from the human arena.”

Rosemary Nixon, The Message of Jonah

“The older son of the parable of the prodigal poses a challenge to us: We’re willing to receive our Father’s gifts and join Jesus at His table, but are we willing to eat and drink with all the riffraff He attracts?” 
Peter Leithart

“Ignorance of the depth of God’s grace causes our most severe problems. Until we understand it, we are, like Jonah, just a shadow of what we could be and should be.”

Tim Keller, The Prodigal Prophet

How is Jesus the greater Jonah?

• Obedience to the LORD: arise, go, preach, save
• Compassion towards all, including His enemies
• Suffered injustice, rejection, torture and death
• Paid the price for the sins of the world
• Rose from the grave and now offers new life, even to the worst of His enemies

“Do you want to know a truth that in the momentous challenges of our modern world will be at once a quest to inspire you, an anchor to hold you fast, a rich fare to nourish you, and a relationship you will prize above all others? Listen to Jesus of Nazareth; answer his call.”
Os Guinness, The Call