Kingdom Fruit Becoming Clear: When we bear Kingdom Fruit, it impacts how we live our lives. In this section of Luke, Jesus makes it clear through teaching and action, that the fruit we bear changes everything.

Bearing Kingdom Fruit: The parable of the sower and the seed is an oft-misunderstood parable. While many believe it directed toward unbelievers and their response to the Word, Jesus directs it at those who already know God, his covenant people. It is a parable about the diverse ways that God's people apply the truth to their lives, and the awful consequence of not handling it correctly. How are you handling the truth God has given you?

How to Gauge the Forgiveness Levels in Your Life: In this encounter, Jesus teaches a Pharisee how to tell if someone knows they are forgiven. That truth helps us check out our understanding of the forgiveness we have received.

Tripping Over Shadows: When John the Baptist languished in prison, he sent his disciples for a definitive word from Jesus about his role. In response, Jesus not only honors John, but highlights how the religious leaders had stumbled over John, and over him.

The Messiah: Responding to Human Need - Luke shares two stories of how Jesus responded to human need. In this way he reminds us of how to live in faith, and to grow in our understanding of God's love for his people.

Discerning God in Those You Follow: Jesus informs his disciples that it is absolutely necessary to know the teachers you follow. He shares several short teachings with build on each other to hightlight how important it is that we choose wisely when it comes to biblical teachers and teachings.

Training Disciples to Lean Toward Grace: The words of Jesus, directed at disciples, can cut like a knife through our excuses and our equivocations. He expects his disciples to live at a different level than the world, but he also provides the power so we can.

The Disciple's Path: In Matthew's gospel, he records Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in the broad context of a mixed audience. When Luke shares a similar teaching, it is in a different location, and focused especially on Jesus' disciples. It reveals a disciple's path, and applies to us today in important ways.

Learning to See the Importance of Human Need: While the religious leaders of Jesus' day valued principles over people, Jesus himself took a different tack. Let's learn from him about how to value our neighbor.

The Importance of Becoming More Palatable: In this passage, Jesus speaks to the difficulty of introducing new paradigms to those entrenched older structures. In this context, he explains the honor to be accorded to those who followed the Covenant of Moses, as well as making way for the New Covenant. It is a reminder to those who follow the new covenant that we must become more tasty to those around us.

Messianic Healing: Willing and Able - Through two stories about healing, Luke drives home how Jesus healed, his heart for healing, and how we, too, have been given the same Holy Spirit to touch people's lives.

Transitional Moments with Jesus: The Lord seldom calls us to serious commitment without preparing us first, through his actions in and around us, and his teaching of us. This message emphasizes the three-stage process he used when he called his disciples, and reminds us he still works the same way today.

The Frontline of the Kingdom: Jesus' message was a Kingdom message. As Luke introduces us to Jesus' ministry, he reminds us that we are on the frontlines of Kingdom, and the type of things we can expect as we also walk in Kingdom.

Responding to a Spirit-Empowered Prophet: While one of Luke's main emphases was that Jesus was empowered Holy Spirit, and dependent on him just as we are, he also doesn't hold back on what that can cost. Right at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, Luke reminds us of the price of walking in the power of the Spirit.

Pressing Through Temptation: While Jesus demonstrates that the Father's faith in him is well-placed, we learn strategies to resist the Accuser, and fight temptation.

The Messiah We Needed: In every way, Jesus was the Messiah we needed. Through his baptism, he demonstrated that he was our perfect substitute. Through his genealogy, we see the plan of the ages unfold.

When God Needs a Winnowing Fork: John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Messiah. In the process, he was God's winnowing fork, separating those who would follow God from those who would not. This activity continues today among those whom God has given the same type of calling. This message will help define that calling more fully.

Developing a Worldview: The account of the young Jesus at the temple shows us Jesus' growing awareness of who he was, and his growing understanding of how imperfect human beings operated. We can fine tune our worldview, as we watch Jesus develop his.

Fulfilling the Law: Minding the Details — Jesus filled the law perfectly, even as an infant. God had provided parents who would mind the details for their child. As they did, God revealed his purposes more fully. In the same way, when we mind the details, God reveals his purposes more fully to us.

The Light Dawns: The eyes of faith had long sought the baby born in Bethlehem. He arrived with humility and fanfare, to change everything.