Sermon: Power and Provision
Scripture Text: Luke 9:1-36
Quotes for Reflection
Hartmut Rosa, Two Versions of the Good Life & Two Forms of Fear
When something really touches us, we can never know or predict in advance what we will become as a result of this.
J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke
Thousands in every age of the church spend their lives in this way and never come to the point of drawing near to God. They satisfy themselves with a miserable round of gossip about this preacher’s sermons or that writer’s opinions. They think “this man goes too far” and “that man does not go far enough.” Some doctrines they approve and others they disapprove. Some teachers they call “sound” and others they call “unsound.” They cannot quite make up their own minds as to what is true or what is right. Year rolls on after year and finds them in the same state – talking, criticizing, fault-finding, speculating – but never getting any further. They are hovering like the moth around religion, but never settling down like the bee to feed on its treasures. They never boldly lay hold of Christ. They never set themselves heartily to the great business of serving God. They never take up the cross and become thorough Christians. And at last, after all their talking, they die in their sins, unprepared to meet God.
N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone
The more open we are to God, and to the different dimensions of God’s glory, the more we seem to be open to the pain of the world. We are right to be wary when we return from some great worship service, when we rise from a time of prayer in which God has seemed close and his love real and powerful. These things are never given for their own sake, but so that, as we are equipped by them, God can use us within his needy world.
Application Questions
1. Consider a time when you experienced the power and presence of God in your life. How did this occasion impact your outlook on life?
2. How could ‘talking, criticizing, fault-finding, and speculating’ actually be getting in the way of ‘boldly laying hold of Christ’?
3. Why might faith in God be on the rise in our day?