Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: Luke

  • Be Still…

    “Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth!”

    Psalm 37:7

    What were the instructions of the risen Christ Jesus to the Apostles for the time after He ascended once more into Heaven?

    WAIT.

    Luke 24:48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

    Even when we witness Christ crucified and resurrected, we must not get ahead of His higher purposes and timetable.

    What did the Lord say to frightened Apostles when He appeared suddenly in an upper room?

    Luke 24: “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

    John 20:Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

    In fact, what had Jesus spoken to His creation of the wind and sea when the Disciples in a boat with Him had thought they might perish by drowning?

    Mark 4:39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

    He offered the blood and sacrifice of His peace for the sake of those He loved.

    Jesus had assured that His peace will remain with those who have faith in Him.

    John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

    Jesus had often instructed the Disciples of the Source of His peace.

    Matthew 26:36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”

    41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed…

    Be still and know that Jesus IS Lord.

    Pray to the Father and He will send you the Spirit.

    Jesus tells a parable of a great wedding feast.

    (Do Christians not expect to receive the invitation of our Lord to this glorious joining of the church to her Bridegroom?)

    One wanted to celebrate the wedding feast without an invitation. He did not wait for the invitation, but just showed up as an uninvited guest.

    Matthew 22:12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’

    And he was speechless.

    It’s the same word: Before the King, the man had to be still. He had nothing to say.

    13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

    WAIT! on the Lord.

    Pray; and He will send the Spirit.

    If the Disciples of the first century always seemed so distracted, how much more the distracted christians of this twenty-first century.

    Be still. Pray. Wait for the Spirit. Then obey our Lord.

    Psalm 25

    English Standard Version (ESV)
    Teach Me Your Paths

    To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
    2 O my God, in you I trust;
    let me not be put to shame;
    let not my enemies exult over me.
    3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame…

    Jesus IS victorious over sin and death!

    Jesus IS Lord. Let us pray for His paths.

    4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
    5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all the day long.

     Be still, beloved believer.

    Pray and wait for the Spirit.

    16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
    17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
    bring me out of my distresses.
    18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,
    and forgive all my sins.

    Lord, Jesus, You have died for my sins.

    20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
    Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
    21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
    for I wait for you.

    We wait for You, Lord Jesus.

     

  • Until He Was Taken Up – 3

    Until He Was Taken Up – 3

    It’s evening. Cleopas and another disciple of Jesus have left Jerusalem, broken bread with a fellow sojourner in Emmaus. The risen Jesus is revealed in the breaking of the bread. They return to Jerusalem with the Good News.

    Luke 24:

    And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

    (Women have seen the empty tomb. The women ran to the Apostles Simon Peter and John with the Good News the empty tomb. They witnessed the empty tomb and embalming linens, then returned to their own home. Mary has wrapped her arms around her risen Lord, whose crucified body she had partially wrapped in the linens of death.)

    35 Then they (Cleopas and the disciple who had stopped in Emmaus) told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

    36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”

    37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

    38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

    Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

    40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

    41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate before them.

    44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

    45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them,

    “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

    48 You are witnesses of these things.

  • The Ascension

    The Ascension

    Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

    4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

    The crucified and risen Christ Jesus walked with, ate with, and instructed the disciples for more than a month.

    We know that Jesus spent these precious forty days not only instructing the Apostles how to take the Gospel into all the world, but also instructing other true disciples of the early church.

    1 Corinthians 15: … Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

    6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time…

    Jesus’ instruction to the Apostles, now to be led in unity of Christ’s purpose by Peter, would have been frequent and private as He had done throughout His three-year incarnate mission leading to the Cross.

    These same Apostles had witnessed Jesus transfigured and standing with Moses and Elijah. These same Apostles had witnessed the love and power of hundreds of miracles. These same Apostles had witnessed Jesus (and then Peter briefly) walking on the Sea of Galilee!

    The Apostles, disciples of the Way, Jews and Romans had witnessed His horrific crucifixion; and now more than five hundred had witnessed Jesus’ glorious resurrection.

    Acts 1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

    7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

    9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

    road-to-emmaus10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

    This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

    The Power and Majesty of God Almighty: once again evident to mere mortal men.

    MapBethanyJerusalemReturning to Luke’s description of Jesus’ ascension in his first scroll:

    Luke 24:

    48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

    50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them.

    51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

    52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.