Elliott's Muses

A lot of people know that Luke's Gospel is only Volume 1 of Luke's writings.  He also wrote the book of Acts...which has been called "The Acts of the Apostles", but would be better entitled, "The Acts of the Holy Spirit". As we dive into the next part of the Bible's story we remember that Luke ends his Gospel account with a short reminder that "more is yet to come".  Luke 24 contains the Resurrection account, the meeting of Jesus with the 2 on the road to Emmaus, and then an appearance/visit with the Disciples - all that first Easter Sunday.  Then Luke sums it up: Luke 24:46-53 46  Then Jesus 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. 49   And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay i...

The title sounds like an assignment for a journalism class.  It is in actuality a short series of questions that give us the ability to sort through the story of Jesus in the Gospel.  AS we work our way through the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - the perspective of Jesus is like a Kaleidoscope.  It depends upon how you turn the eye piece.  Keep your eye on Jesus and look at his works.  One moment he is declaring - repentance, forgiveness, compassion, warning, rebuke, love.  He is again  teaching, healing,  confronting...but most of all asking questions. For example, Who do you say that the Son of Man is?  Matthew 16:16  16  Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” There you see...  Son of Man (look at Daniel 7 to understand this), the Christ (Messiah, the Promised one of God) and the Son of the Living God.   What?  If we had to sum up Jesus' ministry we need on...

Charles Hadden Spurgeon was a preacher and teacher of God's Word for decades in the 19th century.  His Pulpit was the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London and without microphone or other sources of technology he preached to 10,000 people with a voice that made clear his authority arose from the Word of God.  While a great preacher, he was first of all a Pastor.  He loved God and his people. He wrote this masterpiece entitled -  "God will Finish His Work" Hebrews 12:22-24  22  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23  and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24  and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.  Remember that there are two kinds of perfectio...

This week we turn the page in the series I'm teaching about the story of the Bible - the Big Picture story - that I've entitled "From Garden to Glory".  Volume 1 of that story  is the Old Testament story - which prepares the way for the Lord Jesus to come.  The entire Old Testament story is one of the great need for Redemption, and the impossibility of any human, or system of religion, or attempts to change the world for the better to do what only God can do. There is the 1st lesson for us in terms of Faith and Salvation - it is completely and only a work of God.  From beginning to end we recognize that God is the central person for any good thing that can occur in relation to us in the world and in eternity. God is the Creator - He begins it all...and the Prophets kept reminding us that the significance of that cannot be underestimated.  The Prophet Isaiah speaking some 700 years before Jesus stated it clearly: Isaiah 42:5 This is what God the LORD says--...