Endowed with such glorious purpose and God’s plan of salvation hinging, centering on Jesus, we may wonder exactly what Jesus like? This is the type of question Luke is addressing in writing his gospel to Theophilus. This Roman official wanted certainty about Jesus. In this passage, we have another window into what Jesus, our Saviour, is really like. Luke tells us that he is settled and sorrowing.

Will those who are saved be few? Jesus tells us that it is less than we would expect, but more than we would imagine. The real question is: are we saved? Have we gone through the narrow door? Is Jesus our Saviour and Lord?

God chooses to advance his kingdom not in power, not in mass, instantaneous conversions, not in impressive people. God’s kingdom advances almost imperceptibly and often gradually. It advances in those the world calls foolish, irrelevant and insignificant. God’s kingdom operates on the principle that from little things, big things grow. A mustard seed and some leaven illustrate this point. Jesus explains in these two parables that God’s kingdom goes from little to big and from small to all.

Salvation is a result of God's compassion. Like the woman Jesus releases from her bonds, we are rescued from our slavery to sin and Satan only by God’s mercy toward us in Christ. Compassion is the response to this salvation. If you’ve seen how much you’ve been forgiven – the compassion of Christ towards you – you too will move towards others with his heart.

God has revealed himself over and over again as a God who delights in showing mercy, offers forgiveness and invites the disobedient to turn to him. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t judge or is somehow less holy. Instead, God shows his generous, gracious goodness in his patience. This the truth Jesus teaches in the parable of the fig tree in the vineyard. Jesus explains God’s patience and how we ought to respond to God’s patience.

For all of us, death is the final word; the full stop of all our lives. Yet, Easter Sunday morning changed everything. The script was flipped. Jesus was no longer dead – He had risen! John shows us through his, Peter’s and Mary’s response to the empty tomb how the resurrection brings us from doubt to faith, weeping to joy and fear to courage.

John 18:1-11 explains why Good Friday is ‘Good’ Friday and not ‘Horror’ or ‘Tragic’ Friday. John shows us that at the heart of all the awful, dreadful things that will unfold over the next 24 hours, culminating in Jesus’ crucifixion, is the Saviour who purposes all these things for the salvation of his people.

Tragedy is a reality that confronts us in a fallen world. In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus answers the 'why' of tragedy by urging us to turn to Him.

Judgement is an uncomfortable word; the most-sure-to-kill-a-conversation topic in our culture. The idea of God judging is laughable; it’s just a made-up scary story to make us more compliant – nice and good. Far better to be depressed about how the world is and live in denying the reality that there is a holy God who will hold us all to account. Jesus, however, won’t let us live in a virtual reality. God’s judgement is real and it’s coming. In Luke 12:49-59, Jesus confronts us with the reality of God’s judgement and teaches us how to respond to it.

What’s your Second Coming plan? Are you ready for a loud trumpet to sound, the sky to be unrolled like a scroll and Jesus, in all His glory, come on the clouds of heaven? What if it happened on your way to work tomorrow? Jesus teaches that if we’re ready or not, He is coming. The certain future of Jesus’ coming again, thus, shapes the way we live our day to day lives. In this passage, Jesus calls us to be ready and describes what it means to be ready.

Jesus commands, “Don’t be anxious.” Yet, Jesus isn’t being trite or insensitive to our worry. Instead Jesus digs into our anxiety’s cause, provides a cure and shows us the alternative to anxiety - generosity.

Jesus tell us that a wasted life is one spent in the pursuit of possessions. He tells us that things don't satisfy and don't save. He also explains the things that ultimately matter.

Jesus addresses a fear that is common to us all: a fear of man. Think about how often you’ve asked these sorts of questions: what does he think of me? What will they do to me? What if she rejects me for what I say? Like any fear, fear of man cripples us and as Jesus explains, it has eternal consequences. Yet, Jesus anticipates our fear in order to give us confidence to face it. This confidence stems from fearing God over fearing man.

In this passage, Jesus prosecutes the religious lawyers of Israel. In so doing, he also brings us to the bar to reveal the danger of legalism and the hope of the gospel.

Looks can be deceiving! Jesus says that just because you appear to be a Christian, doesn’t mean you are one. You can be a fake follower of Jesus. Jesus gets us to go beyond the externals and into our hearts through explaining the danger of hypocrisy and the deliverance of sincerity.

How we handle the truth about Jesus – who He is, what He said and what He did – has eternal consequences. Thus, Jesus takes us through two tests to see how we’ve handled the truth: the reflex or ‘response’ test and the eye or ‘reception’ test. 

As Jesus is confronted by sceptics, He teaches that in His arrival the kingdom of God has come. Jesus is the strong man who came to plunder Satan's kingdom and deliver our souls. We are forced to asked the question: what kingdom do we belong to? Whose side are we on?

Jesus encourages us to boldly make our requests to God, being assured that He is a Father that is ready, willing and able to provide for the needs of His children. We can also be assured that as a good Father, He always answers our prayers to His own glory which is for our good.