Compassion, Confrontation, and Power

Sabbath - The Person, Pattern and Promise

While the Pharisees turned the Sabbath into a burden of strict rules and missed its original purpose, Jesus reclaimed it. We are called to view the Sabbath not as a rule, but as a life giving pattern found in Christ that requires ceasing our own striving to actively enjoy God.

Compassion, Confrontation, and Power

In Luke 5:12–26, we see an intentional outline of Jesus’s compassion, confrontation, and power shown in the healing of two people. Jesus uses His divine power to address humanity's deepest problem; sin and the need for forgiveness; rather than just fixing surface-level, presenting problems.

Beyond Our Limits

As we considered Luke's account of Jesus calling His first disciples, we see a contrast between the safety of the shore with the vulnerability of the deep water. Jesus purposefully confronts Peter's self-sufficiency to show him to take a step of faith. Believers are called to surrender self-sufficiency and security, and fully commit to following Christ who gives abundant life now and for eternity.

Authority of Jesus and His Mission

This Sunday we dove into Luke 4:31-44, and recognized Jesus' absolute authority over evil as demonstrated through his miraculous healings. These miracles serve as signs of Christ's power over the effects of sin and death, while cautioning that the ultimate purpose of Jesus's mission was to offer access to the Father through the proclamation of the Gospel rather than just temporary physical healing. How are we called to participate in the mission of Jesus?

Prayer

We considered the concept of becoming a "house of prayer" as defined in Mark 11, and emphasized that believers carry both the authority of Jesus and the intimacy with God. In what ways are we using prayer as a tool to see God's kingdom break out into our city?