The Gospel of Luke - Chapters 14 - 15

What do we read about in the fourteenth & fifteenth chapters of Luke's Gospel?
What do we learn from Luke?


What is the main focus?
Is it important to know the words from this chapter?

I am continuing to write my thoughts on the Gospel of Luke. 

If you missed The Overview or any of the chapters please click  HERE  for a list of them all.

Now let's look at the Fourteenth Chapter of Luke.

Today we are dividing this chapter into 4 sections

Healing in a Pharisee's House on the Sabbath v. 1-6:

Jesus was at a meal in the home of a Pharisee and we are told straight away in verse 1 that 

"they watched Him closely"

Jesus saw a man who was ill and asked what may seem to us like a simple question however with the rules the Pharisees had it was not so simple.

His question was in verse 3

“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

                 The answer was in verse 4

SILENCE

His action was immediate in verse 4

“He took him and healed him, and let him go.”

He then spoke to them in verse 5

“Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”

                            The result was in verse 6

SILENCE

It is indeed a serious thing to make laws into something they are not meant to be.

God has always intended good through His Laws to the people He created, not legalistic attitudes.

Exaltation & Humility v. 7-14:

Jesus then used the place and situation He was in to teach a parable. 

Normally I think the main focus people take from this parable about guests at a wedding feast is the fact of Jesus talking to the guests coming and choosing good places to sit and then being asked to move because a more honoured guest has arrived.  They have esteemed themselves to great. 

It is better for us not to think so highly about ourselves and leave it to the host to recognise our worth.

Which leads us to the well known  verse 11

But then there is the other fact that is not mentioned so often in the next section  verses 12 - 14 where Jesus talks to the host of the meal about who he invites.

We as hosts are not to invite people who will honour us in return but we should be reaching out to help others who may need more help or friendship and not expect anything in return.

I leads to the idea of rewards and we must not look for a reward on earth as we are told in 
 verse 14

“And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

We must not forget this second part and end up having ulterior motives for our actions.

The Parable of the Great supper  v. 15-24:

One of the guests in this Pharisee's house makes a statement in verse 15

“Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Which is when Jesus tells the parable of the Great Supper.

Briefly:
A man plans a great feast and invites many people but when the feast is ready they all have excuses for not attending.
When the man hears this he says in verse 21

‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’

Which is very similar to verse 13 from the previous talk of humility and exaltation.

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 

So we see what we should be doing is what God would do.

God has a blessing for all His creation but not all the people will accept it.
And
He will not keep a place for us if we keep saying no because there are other things more important to us.

Leaving All to Follow Christ  v. 25-35:

It is not surprising that the previous parable leads into this next section of verses.
There Jesus had been talking to a limited number of people in a house but now here we see how He talks in a similar vein to crowds who follow Him.

Jesus knows that people follow Him about and will listen to His teachings

BUT

Do they really mean to follow Him faithfully and keep His teachings?

People have different reasons for being in a crowd of followers but here we see that each person must know how much they are willing to give up - when or if it is needed - to be a true follower of Christ.

Extreme examples are given but to take just one of them it is not meant that as Christians we leave our families who depend on us and do not offer comfort, companionship, love or help because in God's Word we know we are taught to love and care for others.

It is pointing out that in the end we cannot let other factors keep us from our true walk with God, or draw us away from the faith.   We must instead not jump into something we do not firmly believe because we will not finish the race like Paul talks about in  2 Timothy 4 v 7-8

Not to be mistaken for the thought of

"I won't be able to keep this salvation"

But more like the lesson we are taught in the parable of the sower - with all the distractions and hindrances and attacks of the devil.

Because we do not have to keep our Salvation - Jesus is the One who does all the keeping and He is well able to do that.

Now let's look at the Fifteenth Chapter of Luke.

Today we are dividing this chapter into 3 sections.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep  v. 1-7:

Can you imagine Jesus saying these words from verse 6 ?

‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

Well we should be able to imagine this because this is how He felt when He brought us into His Kingdom.

The Parable of the Lost Coin  v. 8-10:

Can you imagine Jesus saying these words from verse 9 ?

‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’

Well we should be able to imagine this because this is how He felt when He brought us into His Kingdom.


Yes these two portions of Scripture are parables Jesus told but they were told to express the love and joy He and all of Heaven feel for each person that accepts His gift of Salvation.




The Parable of the Lost Son  v. 11-32:


The son left the father and went his own way, just as we (all people have sinned against God and gone our own way)


Brings to my thoughts  Romans 3 v 23

The father never forgot about his son and waited looking out for him all the time (God wants everyone to be saved)


Brings to my thoughts  John 3 v 16

When the son returns home the father has a special meal for him, clothes for him, shoes and a ring, gifts to show him how important he was to his father and how he was part of the family.


Brings to my thoughts  Romans 6 v 23

Because to the father the son was dead until he came home  verse 24

for this my son was dead and is alive again; 

he was lost and is found

You can find more posts on the chapters of Luke  HERE  

Appointment with Death - Book Review

I am reading through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and writing a review on each one.

Appointment with Death

1938

Description

The unstoppable Hercule Poirot finds himself in the Middle East with only one day to solve a murder in the classic Agatha Christie mystery, Appointment with Death

Among the towering red cliffs of Petra, like some monstrous swollen Buddha, sits the corpse of Mrs. Boynton. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist is the only sign of the fatal injection that killed her.

My Thoughts

This is the 31st book by Agatha Christie and the 18th Poirot Mystery

The actual murder takes place on an Archaeological Dig in the Middle East but the preamble to it is set in a travelling atmosphere so it has the added mix of having people of various nationalities intertwined more than those of her novels which are set in the United Kingdom.


The usual family members of course are involved and then the people involved in the dig plus some other visitors.

Many servants and manual workers but is there a red herring in this one?

Who are we meant to like and to dislike?

Does Miss Christie try to lead us up the wrong path?

Yes of course she does but which path is the wrong one and which is the right one.

Not one of my favourites partly because I'm not so fond of that type of location but she does present us with what looks like an impossible murder and of course that is Christie at her finest.

If you would like to know more about this book then click on the title or picture above.

 Here is a link to a list of her novels on Amazon
Books by Agatha Christie



If thinking of reading this book in the future why not pin this pic to go back to later.

Disclaimer:
I did not receive a free copy of this book or any other incentive to review this book.

I have owned all the Christie novels for many years.

Top 10 Ways To Learn Scripture. Bible Memorization.

I could never do it!

          Do what?

Memorize Scripture!

          Yes you could.

Many people think they could never manage to memorize one verse of the Bible let alone 4 verses or a whole Psalm.

But it can be done if you really want to do it.

I'm going to Teach you how you can memorize any verse you want to.


When someone asks me which is my favourite Psalm I normally have not trouble in replying because I have always loved Psalm 34 since I was a teenager.

But no I have never tried to memorize the whole Psalm, that would be 22 verses and I'm not sure I would ever have the will power to learn all 22.


There are verses within the Psalm that I have memorized simply because I have liked them and read them so often that I do know them off by heart.


That is my first words of advice to anyone wishing to know how they can memorize any bible verses



1.  Read the verse often, every day, multiple times in the day.


Let's take verse 1 of Psalm 34 as an example.

This verse is easier to memorize than other verses because it is not a long verse and the two parts of the one sentence flow easily together.

Just read it out loud to yourself right now and you will see what I mean.

Yes?

Leave your bible open at the verse and come back often to lift up your bible and simply read the verse a few times.

Come back to it tomorrow and do the same thing throughout the day.

I am sure that you will have memorized that verse in a few days and will be saying it to yourself even as you are reaching for your Bible.

2.  Write out the verse.

It is well-known that writing something out helps us to remember better so use that now to help you memorize the scriptures.

Look at Psalm 34 v 2 

My soul shall make her boast in the Lord:

the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

Get a notebook and turn to a new page.

Write the verse on two lines - it easily falls into 2 sections so one section to each line.

As you write it read it out loud.

Leave a line and repeat and repeat until you are at the bottom of the page in your notebook.

By now you will have seen the flow of that verse (this is one of the reasons that the Psalms are easier to learn than other passages because it feels like they have a flow to the words, remember they have a rhythm because they were originally songs) and this rhythm or beat will help you as you speak it out.

Think of that verse doesn't it make you feel glad because when others hear of our trust in the Lord they will be glad too - in other words we will have encouraged others.

3.  Feel the excitement of a verse that is an exaltation to praise the Lord.

Psalm 34 v 3  is a good example of this.

The Psalmist David was urging united praise to God in this verse, what better than having the sense of others praising God with you.

If you and I are both praising His Name we are united.

4.  Personal Testimony - Action from you and Result from God.

Psalm 34 v 4 is a great verse to know when sharing your testimony because it is so much a part of our testimonies.

Haven't we all been in this position of being fearful of something and when we take it to God we have proved that He has answered our prayer.

It certainly was part of David's testimony because he wrote this at a time when he had been very afraid for his life.

This is an example of a verse where once you have learned the first part of the verse the second is natural follow-on.

So always think of the meaning of the first part of a verse and in a lot of instances it will help you to remember the second part.

5.  Instruction and the reason why it is good advice.

This time we are going to look at Psalm 34 v 8

When we instruct or teach or tell someone the way to do something  or what is good for someone we normally then give them the explanation of why this is a good instruction or teaching or the result that has been seen in the past.

The instruction or recommendation here is to taste and see that the Lord is good.

The explanation is that we know people have been blessed when they do this. 

So if a verse has an instruction mostly it will also have that reason why it is a good instruction and they go hand in hand so we have another help to memorize.

6.  Question and Answer within a verse.

If you ask a question you expect an answer to that question and in some verses we see that pattern so use it to your advantage when memorizing.

When the first part of the verse poses a question check if the second part answers it and if so then learn it as a question and an answer - it really will help.

I'm going to go to another Psalm here to use 2 very well-known verses to help you see my point.


Psalm 121 v 1 & 2

In verse 1 we have the question

From whence does my help come?

and

 in verse 2 we have the answer.

My help comes from the Lord who made

Heaven and earth.

Logical to have an answer follow a question and hence verse 1 is not complete without verse 2.

Listen to anyone quoting from the start of this Psalm and they never quote verse 1 on it's own.

7.  Understand the meaning of the verse.

Let's Look at Psalm 34 v 1 again 

A verse like this one has only one sentence which is in two parts.

Things are always easier to learn if they are logical or make sense to the learner.

The first part of the verse is a statement

I will bless the Lord at all times:

You say this to yourself even 3 times and you almost have it learnt off by heart.

I say almost here because for the rest of the next hour you will remember it and maybe for the rest of today you will remember it but perhaps you might not be so fluent in it by tomorrow.

But you are on your way to memorizing this verse.

The second part of the verse is another similar statement which is a logical follow-on from the first part

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

it's a natural follow-on statement because if we want to bless God all the time then we will have to have words of Praise and Adoration and Love for Him coming to our thoughts throughout our waking hours and hence we will be speaking out words that represent that.

By now you know the meaning of the verse and it is always easier to learn a verse when you understand it.

That is not to say that if we do not understand a verse fully we cannot memorize the verse and hopefully we will try to learn verses we don't understand and pray that through the memorizing of the verse God will give us understandng of it.

Also when a verse has the words  AND  or  BUT  in it then we will have two parts of the verse in accordance with each other or in opposition to each other.

So a follow-on coming naturally from the first part,  or two parts in agreement using the AND, or two parts in opposition using the BUT give you clear definition and meaning in a verse and make it easier to learn.

8.  Make it easy to see the verse clearly &  regularly each day.

We cannot have our Bible at hand every moment of the day so if you feel you need frequent readings of the verse like pop-up reminders then do the following:

Get a post-it pad and write the verse out clearly on it then tear off the post-it and stick it on

• the mirror you will use first thing each morning and last thing each night
• the front cover of your Bible
• the front cover of the book you are currently reading
• the door of the fridge
• the door of the cupboard where you go to get your favourite mug for that cup of coffee

Psalm 34 v 1 and 3  (see pics above)  are great ones for the mirror.

9.  Make or Use Bible Verse Graphics

A.  The verses you have seen above are all graphics that I have made and I can tell you that in making the graphics I learn the verses.

In making and working with something we spend (a good deal of) time thinking about the words and especially with the shorter verses we tend to end up learning them. 

So if you want to try your hand at making a graphic or writing the verse and illustrating it then this can help you learn it and you can put it in all the places you could put a post-it note.

I post a bible verse graphic every morning on my Facebook Page for Sandra's Ark  so if you want to be encouraged by a verse each day or have a graphic you can Save in Facebook then click through to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and follow the page to see those graphics in your feed each day.

B. Another way to use a graphic is to set it as wallpaper or lock screen pic on your phone - then you always have it on hand.

For this you will need it to be a suitable portrait shape and size so most of the normal verse graphics you see will not suit.

I have a few verses made out for screen savers & you can download them from

 My Resource Library

And now for the last Way to learn your Bible Verse and I have to say it is my favourite way.

10.  Sing It.

For years we have known that singing is one of the easiest ways to learn and memorize.

When we were teenagers my husband Fred and I learnt a song and loved it and it is one of the ways I have always remembered the start of Psalm 34.

Many others have benefited in memorization from putting words of scripture to music so

if you can find a song based very closely to the scripture passage then use it.

If you want to learn the song I used to memorize the first 4 verses of Psalm 34

 you can hear it in the video below.

10 Bible Verses of Encouragement in Times of Anxiety, Worry & Stress

We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage us all when we are anxious or worried or under any kind of stress.

I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.

So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to turn to in times of  Anxiety, Worry & Stress

1.   Philippians 4 v 4-9     

Starting off with a great passage in Philippians, look it up, read it through and then focus in on these three points:

This tells us to Start by Rejoicing in the Lord  v. 4

Then We Should Turn to God in Prayer and tell Him how we feel because that is what we are instructed to do  v. 6-7

Finally we need to turn our eyes and minds away from the things that make us anxious and focus on the good  v. 8

and always remember we are instructed again and again in the Bible not to worry about anything in the future.

2.   John 14 v 1

    

The whole of this chapter is worth reading and it will aptly speak to your heart

 Just as the disciples needed to be told to believe in Jesus and not be worried, so must we believe and trust in Him.

3.   Luke 12 v 22 - 34    

Again lift your Bible and read through this passage for yourself and see how Jesus explains why we as well as the disciples should not worry. 

22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. 

 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

The two verses above are just the basis of it.

4.   Psalm 55 v 22

This verse is on a post-it note because we really must remember it, daily.

5.   Philippians 4 v 19

One of my favourite chapters in the Bible and yes we were in that chapter for the first portion in this list but this is later on in the chapter.

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

I want to draw your attention to the "all" in that verse because sometimes we can believe for some but not all.

6.   1 Peter 5 v 7

Do we truly believe we can cast everything on Him?

We should if we trust in Him and believe His Word.

7.   Psalm 94 v 19

It's not just one care or worry that God cares about but all of them.

In the multitude of my anxieties within me,

Your comforts delight my soul.

Our God can make the difference in all our circumstances.

8.   Matthew 8 v 19-31

Oh we know this story so well or at least we think we do.

Read the passage and then be in awe of the Lord who can take care of us through anything because everything that besets us is subject to Him.

9.   Matthew 6 v 34

God is the one who knows what tomorrow holds and Jesus wisely tells us to concentrate on today and not to worry ahead in time.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Then we must also remember that we should always consider how we can help others in their anxiety, worry and stress.

So to finish here is a verse to encourage us to encourage others by the way we treat them and talk to them.

10.   Proverbs 12 v 25

Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression,

But a good word makes it glad.

A simple action "a good word" and then we can direct others to the Bible passages and verses that have helped us already and on to Jesus the Saviour of the World.