One Greater Than Jonah

Luke 11:27-32

Sermon Notes

1) Who’s Blessed? 27-28

2) Who’s Condemned? 29-32

Reflection questions:

1. Was Jesus’ mother blessed? Why was she blessed? Because she had a baby who turned out to be Jesus? Because she came to understand that God looks upon the humble and the lowly? (See Luke 1:37-49) Is the greatest blessing that Mary received also available to you?

2. Why did Jesus not provide a sign when the people asked for a sign? Had received other signs before? What else does Scripture say about demanding signs and rejecting the signs that God has given? See I Corinthians 1:22 and Luke 16:19-31, especially vv.30-31.

3. Was Jonah a good prophet? Did Jonah understand God’s attributes and God’s mercy? (See Jonah 1:9, 12; 2:8-9; 4:2-3.) Was Jonah’s problem a lack of knowledge? A lack of something else?

4. Why is Jesus greater than Jonah? Compare Matthew’s account: Matthew 12:38-42.

Jesus and Beelzebul: The Debate about Demons?

Luke 11:14-26

Sermon Notes

1) Their Accusation: Discrediting the Demon Slayer because of Doubt, 14-16

2) Jesus’s Response: Divided Houses Are Doomed to Failure, 17-19

3) Jesus’s Alternative: Divine Intervention Explains Everything, 20-23

4) Jesus’s Ultimatum: Indecision Leads to Demoniac Domination, 23-26

Reflection questions:

1. Is doubt always a bad thing? Read Psalms 42-43; how do you see the Psalmist being honest about his doubts? How do you see him take his doubts to God, instead of using them to turn away from God?

2. Can you think of other times when Jesus presented the Gospel as an ultimatum, a choice that required an urgent, decisive response? See Luke 18:18-27 for one example.

3. Read 1 Peter 5:6-11. What does this passage tell you about Satan’s power? How should we respond in light of Satan’s power? Is God trying to scare us, sober us, encourage us (or all of the above, or something else) through these verses?

Our Heavenly Father Who Wants to Give Us Good Gifts

Luke 11:1-13

Sermon Notes:

1) The Pattern: Pray like this, vv. 1-4

2) The Reason: Because your father loves to hear the voice of prayer, vv. 5-8

3) The Plea: Ask, Seek and Knock, vv. 9-10

4) The Reason: Because your father loves to give good gifts, vv. 11-13

 

Reflection questions: 

1.       Do you ever use the Lord’s Prayer to guide your prayer time? Why or why not? Do you think it’s too hard to pray like this? If so, google “Martin Luther, A Simple Way to Pray,” a prayer guide that includes the Lord’s Prayer, which Luther wrote when his barber asked him for advice on prayer. (If you get lucky, you might find a free copy online)

2.       Do you “play” at prayer, or are you persistent? Is there anything in your life that you’ve stopped praying for, because you think God is not going to answer the way you want? Do you (or anyone you know) have a story about a long-time prayer request that God finally answered? 

3.       How you approach your Father when you pray? Like a miser, who might give you something good once in a while if he really feels like? Or like a Prodigal Father (Luke 15:20ff) who runs to meet his runaway son while he is still far off, like a father “who is able and ready to help us?” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q100)  

The Greatest Commandment

Luke 10:25-27, 38-42

Sermon Notes

1) The Picture of Two Good Things, 38-39

2) The Distraction of Many Things, 40-41

3) The Necessity of One Thing, 41-42

 

Reflection questions:

  1. Does Jesus ever say which “one thing is necessary?” What does the story seem to imply that the “one thing” is?

  2. What one thing does Jesus focus on in Matthew 6:25-34? And what does He tell us not to focus on? (And why shouldn’t we focus on it? See Mt 6:32; Mt 6:8.)

  3. What one thing does Paul focus on in Philippians 3:10-15?

  4. What one thing did David seek in Psalm 27:4? Compare Ps 84, especially vv. 1-2, 10.

Christ’s Patient Endurance with His Clueless Disciples

Luke 9:37–50

Sermon Notes

  1. The disciples’ unbelief: lack of faith in the Son’s power, 37–42
  2. The disciples’ indifference: lack of understanding about the Son’s mission, 43–45
  3. The disciples’ arrogance: lack of humility in the Son’s presence, 46–48
  4. The disciples’ combativeness: lack of awareness of the Son’s enemies, 49–50

Reflection questions

  1. Whose unbelief does Jesus condemn in this passage? Compare Mark 9:18–25. What is the remedy for unbelief? (Consider this quote from Calvin’s Harmony of the Evangelists, II:325–6 – “As our faith is never perfect, it follows that we are partly unbelievers ... It is our duty in the meantime, carefully to shake off the remains of infidelity which adhere to us, to strive against them, and to pray to God to correct them, and, as often as we are engaged in this conflict, to fly to him for aid.”)n
  2. Is it wrong to strive to be great? Is it wrong to strive to the greatest, or greater than your brothers and sisters in Christ?
  3. Read Luke 9:50. Now read Luke 11:23 (and the context). Who or what is Jesus denouncing in each verse? What common allegiance is he encouraging? What common enemy is present in both passages?

Christ, Christians, and the Necessity of the Cross

Luke 9:18–26

Sermon Notes

  1. The Christ of God, 18–20
  2. The Christ of the Cross, 21–22
  3. The Servants of the Cross, 23–26

Reflection questions

  1. Judas Iscariot was present with Peter and Jesus during Peter’s great confession, v.20. What does Scripture tell us about those who confess Christ but later deny Him? See 1 John 2:19
  2. 1st-Century Israel wanted a king to free them from Roman occupation. (See John 6:14–15) They wanted Messiah to conquer by force instead of conquering by suffering (v22). In what ways do you seek to avoid suffering (which Christ says is inevitable for Christians) in this life?
  3. Reflect on your own (or discuss, if you’re with a group) what this quote means: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” (Jim Elliot) And if you don’t already know his life story, Google Jim Elliot.

The Needy Need Him

Luke 9:10–17

Sermon Notes

  1. The searching need to know
  2. The broken need fixing
  3. The hungry need provision

Sermon Questions

1a) What are some life questions you think you'll never find the answer to?
1b) Has the Bible at least partially answered that question for you?
2a) If you could fix something broken in the world, what would it be?
2b) How has the coming of Jesus show us a glimpse of healing for that brokenness?
3a) What do you fear most that you might one day find yourself in lack of?
3b) Is God able to provide that? What must you believe in order for that fear to go away?

Sending the 12

Luke 9:1-9

Sermon Notes

1)       Jesus’s Disciples are given power to proclaim and heal, 1-2

2)       Jesus’s Disciples are just passing through with no possessions, 3-5

3)       Jesus’s enemies are perplexed yet pursuing, 6-9

Reflection questions:

1)       Do you ever underestimate the power that God has given you to testify about His Kingdom? If so, consider Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 2:9-10; 2 Tim. 1:7. What role do good works play in the proclamation of the gospel? See Titus 2:10

2)       Read 1 Timothy 6:6-10. Compare and contrast these verses with vv.3-4 and with Isaiah 55:3. What does God’s Word say about contentment? Why does He also invite us to enjoy “rich food”? Can we enjoy His good gifts and still understand the difference between needs and wants?

3)       Read 1 Peter 3:15. What do you think it looks like to defend the hope that is within you “with gentleness and respect”?

Miracles & Multitasking

Luke 8:40-56

Sermon Notes

  1. Jesus the Preacher is willing to heal, 40-42

  2. Jesus the Preacher has power to heal, 43-46

  3. Jesus the Preacher is not THAT Kind of Faith Healer, 47-48

    FILL IN BLANKS

    A. Lack of healing does not equal ________ faith, ________ faith – Mark 9:24; Luke 8:52-53 B. There are different ________ of healing - physical, spiritual, temporary, permanent – Ps 103:2-5 C. Everyone who believes in Jesus will ________ be healed. – John 3:16, Phil. 3:20-21; I John 3:2 D. To receive ________, ________ healing, you must believe – John 3:16-18 E. The ________ of our faith, not the ________ of our faith, is what matters – Mark 9:24; Luke 8:52-53; John 10:27-30 F. Faith is a ________ – Eph 2:8-9

  4. Sometimes, Jesus the Preacher heals to overcome unbelief, 49-56

Reflection questions

  1. If faith is a gift, then how should respond to God for the gift that He has given? See Eph 2:8-10, especially v.10. Romans 11:33-36; Romans 12:1. Also, 2 Cor. 9:15
  2. Read Luke 11:11-13. How do you view God – as the father who gives his children a serpent or a scorpion? Or as the father who loves to give good gifts to His children? See also Rom 8:31-32.
  3. Have you ever said or thought something like what Jairus’s friend says in v.49 – That Jesus could heal while she was still alive, but He can’t heal the little girl after she died? What unbiblical limits have you put on God’s power to save?