January 28th, Wednesday: Luke chaps. 5-6

Luke 5

Now if you had fished all night and caught nothing, would you be ready to go fishing again?

One reason Jesus called several fishermen to be His disciples was that they never quit.

Peter may have thought he knew more about fishing than Jesus did.

But he did what Jesus commanded.

And the Lord honoured his obedient faith.

No failure is final if you come to the Lord for a new start.

We'll see Jesus' response to sickness.

Lepers were not to approach people, but the man came to Jesus in desperation.

And Jesus healed him.

The offering that Jesus referred to, is described in Leviticus 14, and pictures the salvation work of the Lord.

Something for us to ponder.

Jesus' response to success.

You know, the crowds sought Him.

He was very popular, but Jesus withdrew to pray and commune with the Father.

He did not allow popularity to detour Him from the Father's will.

Vance Hafner said, 'Success can feather our nests so comfortably, that we forget how to fly.'

Jesus' response to sinners.

He forgave the paralytic.

He forgave Matthew the tax collector.

And Matthew's friends trusted Him because He is the 'friend of sinners.'

We can often forget that when it come to dealing with people in the world and of the world.

Never forget that Jesus is a 'friend of sinners.'

He could not forgive the religious know-it-alls of His day, because they thought they already knew it all.

He could not forgive the scribes and Pharisees, because they would not admit they were sick and in need of new clothes.

Luke 6

We'll be reading about true values.

In His ordination sermon for the apostles, Jesus emphasized the true spiritual values of life in contrast to the false values of the Pharisees.

Comfortable living is not always Christian living.

We'll read about true love.

Yes, God's people have their enemies, no doubt, even as Jesus did.

We must be Christ-like in the way we treat them.

We must be giving and forgiving.

And we must pray for them.

Not that God would destroy them, but that He would change them, change their hearts.

The best way to conquer an enemy is to make him a friend.

Keep your heart right with God and the Lord will produce the good fruit in your life.

We'll read about true obedience.

True obedience is not just words, but deeds.

It causes us to act on what we believe, and what we're obeying.

It involves hearing the Word and doing it.

You know, Judas was with Jesus just like the rest of the disciples, every day for three years.

He walked with the Lord.

He talked with the Lord.

He studied under His teaching.

He witnessed the miracles.

Judas knew Jesus intimately, yet Judas betrayed Him - It's amazing, I know.

Judas knew the vocabulary, but he did not do the will of God.

And when the storm came, his house fell.