Friends, I need to ask for special prayer today before we
look at Luke 9. This morning, I will be driving to Roanoke to meet my daughter
Kimberly and my grandson Luke. Then early Sunday morning we will be driving to
Boston Massachusetts for an appointment early Monday morning with a doctor at the
Boston Children’s Hospital, who is a leading specialist in the world on the
condition that Luke has with his brain.
This appointment and the insurance approval are both wonderful
miracles. The hand of God’s divine providence is so obvious in every aspect of
this consultation visit. Please pray for traveling mercies for us, and wisdom
for the doctor and his staff as they examine Luke, look at his x-rays and
medical records, and make possible recommendations for future treatment.
We can’t thank you enough for your prayers over the past
several years for Luke. I’m convinced that it is only because of your prayers
and God’s grace that Luke is still with us today and making such great progress!
We truly appreciate you and can’t say it enough: Thank you! Thank you! Thank
you! Thank you!
During this time, I will attempt to continue to post the
devotionals by Oswald Chambers, Henry Blackaby, Dr. Elmer Towns, and the daily Psalms
reading video to social media. I hope to be back in my home office here in
Sneads Ferry, NC on Wednesday morning to continue our study through the Gospel
of Luke! Thank you for both your patience and your prayers!
In Luke 9, Jesus is training and preparing His twelve
disciples for the time He will be gone to heaven, and they will be left to fulfilled
His Great Commission by sharing God’s love and the Gospel message with the
whole world! We have said it often, but it bears repeating, “We can minister to
the multitudes as Jesus did, but we can only disciple a few”. To personally be
a disciple is not an easy road to go down. Jesus promised us trials and
tribulations (John 16:33). But our main task as a disciple of Jesus Christ,
according to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, is to disciple others. “Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age. Amen.”
But it can be very discouraging and disappointing when you
have spent years discipling and pouring your life into some followers of Jesus,
and then you find them without the power of the Holy Spirit to bear fruit, expressing
jealousy and envy, arguing with one another, and generally lacking love for the
people they have been called to reach and serve. That is what Jesus is
experiencing in this passage.
In this chapter, not only have the disciples of Jesus expressed
lack of love for the hungry multitudes (“send them away” v. 12), for one
another (vv. 46-48), they also showed a lack of love for believers outside
their own group (Luke 9:49-50). We should be very careful not to be critical of
other believers and ministries that don’t believe exactly like us, or do
ministry a “different way” (see Romans 14:1-13). Believers who think that their group is the
only group God recognizes and blesses are in for a shock when they get to
heaven.
We should never forget that our zeal to fulfill the “Great
Commission” is not a substitute for neglecting the “Great Commandment”, which
is to both love God and our neighbor! (see Romans 13:8-10). The gifts of the
Spirit without the fruit of Spirit profits nothing as far as the Lord is
concerned (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
The first fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:22). We
might have great faith and hope, but the greatest witness of the presence and power
of Jesus in our lives, is expressing His love to others! (1 Corinthians 13:13).
In John 13:35 Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another."
How is your love for Jesus and others today?
God bless!
