Notes on Jesus' healing of demon-possessed man:
*The religious leaders have a completely different interpretation of where the power to cast out demons is coming from.
*Jesus shows once again that he is smarter than everyone else. Satan won't cast out Satan, and God won't cast out God.
*"by whom do your sons cast them out?" = “The Jewish exorcists operated in conventional fashion by use of herbs and magical formulae, and the results were probably insignificant. The practice was sanctioned by custom, and harmless. But in casting out devils, as in all other things, Jesus was original, and His method was too effectual. His power, manifest to all, was His offence.” (Bruce)
*"The kingdom of God" coming upon you = Shalom or a completeness in restoration (how God intended it) has come upon the man.
*Jesus makes it clear that we are either with Him or against Him. We are either working and gathering with Him, or we are scattering..no in between.
*The Holy Spirit's ministry was to testify that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and Son of God. To disregard this message is to disregard the Holy Spirit.
*True blasphemy is not just words in a simple formula: It is a life that rejects the Holy Spirit's work and testimony without ever coming to repentance.
Notes on Fruit/Tree
*A bad tree can't bear good fruit. A good tree can't bear bad fruit.
*Jesus knows that our words reveal our hearts. It is by them that we will be justified and condemned.
Notes on Request for Signs & Jonah
*These Pharisees had most likely already seen a sign. They were more than likely just looking for a way to discount Him once again. Signs would not change the heart of these people.
*Jonah - 3 days and 3 nights in belly of fish. Sound familiar?
*Jonah - came bringing the good news of God's love and forgiveness to a wicked city
*Jonah - The Ninevites recognized God's warning and turned...will people do so with Jesus?
*Jonah - Jonah was born in Gath-hepher...Jesus may have used Jonah as an example because he lived right by him in Nazareth.
*Jesus is telling the people that He is God's sign to them. He is greater than Jonah, Solomon, etc.
Notes on the unclean Spirit
*Knowing about Jesus and rejecting Him was worse than before when Jesus didn't yet walk the earth.
*"I will return to my house." - “The foul fiend calls the man, ‘My house.’ His audacity is amazing. He did not build or buy that house, and he has no right to it.” (Spurgeon)
*A house is only empty when the Spirit is not dwelling within it.
Notes on Jesus' True Family
*It's very possible that Jesus' earthly family had caught wind of Jesus' controversial ways and was coming to talk Him out of it. Either way, Jesus makes some very bold statements here.
*My earthly family has no special privileges given to them from me.
*Mary, Joseph, James, etc have no higher place than anyone else who does the will of the Father.
*Jesus is calling people to a family.
Luke 11
Notes on Prayer
*Again, we see Jesus praying. This was a regular occurrence for Him.
*The disciples saw this example, and one of them wanted to know how they could pray with such love/devotion.
*Prayer is repeated from Matthew 6. If Jesus says it twice, it must be important.
*Notice the "Our" - We pray in community, as one part of the body.
*"Father" - through Jesus we identify God as our Father as well.
*"heaven" - God has dominion over everything...He is majestic.
*"hallowed" - Set apart and exalted is God.
*"kingdom come" - We long for Christ's eternal rule on the earth, and we desire for it to begin through us.
*"will be done" - We recognize that no matter what it is God's will that needs to be accomplished, not ours.
*forgiveness" - We must continually recognize who God is and where we have fallen short of His calling.
*Likewise, we forgive others who have fallen short of our standards, because Christ has forgiven such a large debt for us.
*Jesus is not concerned here with a long-winded and educated prayer. He is showing His disciples that prayer is a recognition of God's Story, our work within that story, and a continuing reliance upon that story.
*v5-8 = In the custom of that day, a whole family lived together in a one-room house. On one side of the house was a raised platform where they all slept; down on the ground were all their animals - a cow, perhaps some sheep and goats and so forth. There was no way the man could come to the door without disturbing the whole household.
*God often may wait for our passionate persistence in prayer.
*God desires to pour out good gifts upon us, but rarely do we ask, believe, and persist.
Notes on the Woman's Response - Blog Post:
“A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
When I first came across this verse I was completely confused by the randomness of this encounter. In fact, I lol’d (that stands for “laughed out loud” for those of you who have never chatted, text, or emailed). The people next to me wondered what was happening and I proceeded to try to recreate the situation and humor I found in it. Jesus just finished a rather lengthy conversation on demon possession and the Son of Man being a “sign” for this generation when a woman in the crowd pipes up with the above verse. This encounter is only found in Luke, so why in the world is this in here? I was forced to do some HEAVY digging through commentaries to understand why.
Mary was blessed when she had Jesus. We are told this in Luke 1:41, 42, 48. The lady in this story was so ecstatic over hearing the words of Jesus, she was most likely overcome with excitement considering how proud and blessed his mother must be to have bore such a son as Jesus! This is when she proclaims the above verse. However, Jesus takes this blessing and puts it in the proper context. Mary was indeed blessed, but she was blessed because she heard the Word of God and was obedient to it (Hendrikson). Jesus calls for a people who hear the Word of God and do it. He’s not just interested in a people who ride the coat-tails of a blessed people from a different generation. He’s looking for a long obedience in the same direction today just as He has throughout history. He’s looking for a people that are passionate for Him. As always, this only happens out of a love for and an anticipation of our Savior.
True, that may have been a bit of a Midrash there, but I want to echo the writer of Hebrews: “Christ, however, was faithful over God’s house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. As in my anger I swore,‘They will not enter my rest.’” Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.
Notes on the ending of Luke 11
Sermon - Audio
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