Author: Norm

SCRIPTURE: Luke 15 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ [Luke 15:1-2] Are you sensing a pattern yet? How often in Luke do we not sense God’s frustration with religious people for…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 14 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: This reading makes me think of another saying of Jesus, For many are invited, but few are chosen. [Matthew 22:14] Jesus urges the Pharisees to show hospitality to “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind”, and says in His parable that this is who God invites to His kingdom banquet. The invite…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 13 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! [Luke 13:34] These words reveal the heart behind Jesus’ call to repentance and His warning…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 12 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Jesus warns His disciples about spiritual and material worldliness, as seen in the Pharisees (focusing on religious performance) and the story of the rich fool. Jesus shows that a worldly spirit does not alleviate worry or trouble, it only makes it worse. He then goes on to show that a life of…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 11 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! [Luke 11:13] This passage reveals the heart of Jesus’ message – a restored relationship with God! God is our Father,…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ [Luke 10:10-11] Whether we see it or accept it or…