April 18 We often judge other people. We feel that we are more important and more godly than others. And, when something happens to other people who we feel are less worthy of God’s love, we sometimes blame their misfortune on their sin. That was the case with the two groups Dr. Luke introduces us…
April 2 Chapter 1 covers a lot of ground from Dr. Luke’s careful investigation into Jesus’ background, to his relative John’s birth after his father was struck speechless while serving in the Temple, and finally to Zechariah’s prophecy regarding his son. Luke was a Gentile physician, likely from Troas. His Gentile background is why he,…
March 21 Mark 9:2–13 records the Transfiguration, where Jesus gave Peter, James, and John a glimpse of the consummation of the Kingdom of God. This story is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels.[1] But, just prior to the Transfiguration in all of the Synoptics, Jesus tells the three disciples “Truly I tell you,…
March 15 Immediately after calming the storm in Mark 4, Jesus arrived at the region of the Gerasenes (also called the Gadarenes or the Gergesenes). Sadly, about a thousand years ago, someone decided to put a chapter break in the text between these events, because if you’re reading one chapter at a time, you might…
March 2 A favorite topic of conversation for many believers is the End Times. Theologians call this subject: Eschatology. The Bible says quite a bit about it in Daniel, Revelation, and Matthew 24. But comparatively, it’s a very small part of Scripture. Many theologians and preachers make a big deal of eschatology, trying to determine…
February 6 In Matthew 6, Jesus provides a stark contrast between the attitudes of the Jewish leaders and His own. He speaks of giving, praying, and fasting on one hand, then possessions and anxiety about provisions on the other. But, if we boil down the entire chapter, we immediately see the division: self-centeredness and God-centeredness. In…
