Video teaching coming soon
There is no online teaching for this study yet, but the written notes and any available study resources are still below.
These are the original teaching notes from this passage.
Review…
- The Gospel of Luke… 6931664
- The focus of Luke is on the humanity of Jesus – showing Him as the perfect flawless man…
- Key Verse – Luke 19:10 – “The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.”
- Luke 1:5 – 3:28 – The birth and early years of Jesus / John the Baptist ~ Baptism of Jesus…
- Luke 4:1-44 – Temptation of Jesus / Jesus returns to Nazareth – Capernaum…
- Luke 5:1-39 – Challenge of the Religious leaders…
- Luke 6:1-19 – The Sabbath day…
- Breaking the Sabbath – Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath – Colossian 2:16-17…
- Jesus spent all night in prayer – came down and choose the 12…
- Called them Apostles – because they were to be sent out to share the Good News!
- Luke 6:20-36 – The Sermon on the Mount…
- Jesus took His disciples up on the hill – and taught them how to have a blessed life…
- Blessed are the – poor / hungry / those who weep / and the persecuted for Jesus’ sake…
- Woe unto – the rich / the full / those who laugh now / who men speak highly of…
- The key to the blessed life – the Law of God…
- The Law says eye for an eye – Jesus said ‘turn the other cheek’…
- The Law says do not steal – Jesus said ‘give freely to those who ask’…
- The Law says love your neighbor – Jesus said ‘love your enemy’…
- The standard of righteousness is God the father – showing us we are not good – need Jesus!
- Having giving us the key to our relationship with God…
- Jesus goes on to give us the keys to having a good relationship with each other…
How to be a good Christian… (6 things)
- 1st – Be Gracious – do not judge and you will not be judged… vs. 37
- Simply stated we are commanded not to Judge others…
- This is not talking about actions but intensions of the heart…
- We cannot know why someone does something – what their motive is…
- Only God knows the motive of the heart – only He can judge it…
- *Psalm 44:21 – “For He knows the secrets of the heart.”
- Don’t judge others – and you will not be judged…
- When we judge others motives – we will ourselves be judged…
- When we are judgmental of others – they tend to judge us…
- When we are short / ungracious / harsh to others – we receive the same from them…
- Better to think the best of others – don’t assume their intentions…
- Then other will tend to think the best of us and our motives…
- Forgive and you will be forgiven…
- Because if we do not forgive – then Jesus will not forgive us – Matthew 18:23-35
- There was a servant who owed the Master 10,000 talents (8 billion pesos)…
- Which makes the next statement obvious – he was not able to pay…
- But the master wiped away the debt – he was completely forgiven…
- But the man went out and would not forgive a fellow servant who owed 100P…
- If we focus on what others have done to us – then we want ‘justice’…
- We want them to pay back every centavo they have cost us…
- Our problem is we are looking in the wrong direction…
- We are looking at what they have done to us – rather than what we have done…
- The Master found out – should you not have had mercy as I had mercy on you!
- How could you not forgive so little seeing how much you have been forgiven…
- When we consider all that Jesus has forgiven us – everything (8 billion pesos)…
- How could we not forgive our brother what little debt they may owe us…
- When we really understand from our heart how much we are forgiven…
- How can we not from the heart gladly forgive others!
- 2nd – Be generous – give and it will be given back… vs. 38
- God here gives a spiritual law – when we are giving towards others – we will be blessed…
- God’s mathematics…
- If I have 100P – and I give away 20P – that means I have 80P left…
- In the same thought – if I have 100P and don’t give anything – then I have 100P…
- So it would seem to be better for me in the end – not to give anything away…
- But in reality if I give to others – I will end up with more than I stared with!
- Pressed down – squished together – to make more room – and still overflowing!
- This does not seem to make much sense – but God assures us it is a spiritual truth!
- * II Corinthians 9:6 – “This I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
- A man who sows only a few seeds – will only harvest a small crop…
- A man who sows a LOT of seed – will end up with more than he started with!
- If we are generous towards others – the tendency is for them to be generous back…
- But if we are ‘sigorista’ towards others – they will likely repay us in kind…
- The same measure we use to give to others – is how they will give back to us!
- 3rd – Be careful – who’s example you follow… vs. 39-40
- The parable of the ‘blind leading the blind’…
- We all learn best by following someone else’s example – from childhood till now…
- You learned to talk / walk / drive / cook – practically everything by example…
- So the question becomes – whose example are we following today…
- If we follow the blind (someone who does not know Jesus) we will both end up in a hole…
- Or we can choose to follow a godly example – someone who will lead us to Jesus!
- I Corinthians 11:1 – “You should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.”
- A disciple is not above his master…
- If you want to know if you have chosen a good example to follow – look at the person…
- Ultimately you are going to become like the person you are following…
- If their lives are out of control – if they are making poor decisions…
- If you don’t like what you see – then you may want to reconsider your choice…
- 4th – Be patient – with the speck in your brother’s eye… vs. 41-42
- Often when we see someone who is struggling with sin we want to help…
- If someone has something in their eye – it irritates – keeps them from seeing clearly…
- We want to get the spec (dry chaff / labhang) out of their eye…
- The idea is that we want to ‘help’ others get rid of the littlest flaw…
- A sin or struggle – something that keeps them from seeing Jesus clearly…
- The problem – we have a beam (main house supporting beam) in out eye!
- It’s hard to see and to take the spec out of their eye when we have a beam in our own…
- The beam in our eye – is the same speck we are trying to get out of someone else’s…
- But in our eye the small speck becomes a HUGE beam!
- Our sin always looks worse on someone else – it’s easy to see our sins in others lives…
- We are sensitive to the sin because we are convicted about it ourselves…
- If we are greedy – we see greed in others / if we are prideful – we see pride in others…
- Hypocrite – first get the beam out of your own eye…
- Let us first deal with our own hearts before we reach out to help others…
- Get rid of your sin before we ‘try’ and help someone else for their struggle…
- 5th – Be fruitful – you are known by your fruit… vs. 43-45
- Good and bad trees…
- Trees can only produce one kind of fruit – that fruit tells you a lot about the tree…
- You cannot get a mango from a buko tree – or a mais from tubo…
- Good and Bad people…
- In the same way our words and actions reveal what is in our heart…
- How do you know what is in someone’s heart – look at their fruit…
- I can tell you I am a Christian – but what kind of ‘fruit’ comes from my life…
- * James 2:17-18 – “So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless…”
- It is easy to say we have ‘faith’ and ‘believe’ in Jesus – but the proof is in our actions…
- If we say we’re Christians – but still live like the world – then do we really have faith…
- We can call ourselves Christians – but if we are continually sinning – are we really…
- The test of our hearts is the fruit that comes from our lives!
- Put your faith to the test…
- * II Corinthians 13:5 – “Test yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine.”
- Eternity is too important to be uncertain – check out the fruit on your branches…
- Be certain that you ‘bear’ the fruit of a life transformed by Jesus…
- 6th – By founded – on the Rock... vs. 46-49
- Many will say Lord – Lord…
- The idea is that they confess Jesus with their mouths…
- Their words are right – but their actions don’t match their words…
- You are not a Christian just because you can say the right words…
- Two foundations – the rock / and sand…
- When you build a house – nothing is more important than a good foundation…
- The challenge is it takes a lot of work to dig down – lay a solid footing…
- It is far easier to just throw up a house right on top of the sand…
- We make the excuse – ‘some day we’ll dig deeper’ – but the reality is we are on sand…
- The storms of life are coming…
- Everyone will face difficult times in their life – sickness / financial / relationships…
- Theses storms can come quite unexpectedly – giving us no time to prepare…
- The only hope we have is that we have built are life on a solid foundation…
- Built on a rock…
- The only constant in life – the only unshakable foundation we can build upon – Jesus!
- Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today, and for ever.”
- The challenge for us is that it’s not easy – it takes a lot of work to live for Jesus…
- We have to make a daily choice to deny ourselves – live our lives for God…
- Not just knowing God’s Word – not just saying the right things – but doing them!
- The benefit is when the storms of life come – we are unshakable!
- If our things are stolen – our house burns down – we know God provides for us…
- If we get sick – the doctor gives us bad news – we know the Great Physician…
- Not matter what life throws at us – we have nothing to fear…
- Romans 8:32 – “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
- Built on sand…
- It is easier to live our lives our way – do what we want – not listen to God’s Word…
- We can go where we like – we can do what we want – say anything…
- But then we are our foundation – and when trials come – we have no where to go…
- When life falls apart because of our choices – and it will – Galatians 6:7…
- We can’t go blaming God – it is not His fault – we choose not to build on the Rock…
- Some compromise and listen to God’s Word – but still do what they want…
- * James 1:22-25 – “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”
- Those who attend Bible studies – agree with everything that is said…
- Then go home and inexplicably forget everything they just heard!
- The Bible is not a textbook you must learn – it is an instruction manual to follow…
- You can know all words – but if it does not change your actions – it means nothing!
- When the storms come – immediately the house falls – and is completely ruined!
- Destruction is not necessarily a bad thing – sometimes it is necessary…
- Often we need to loose everything – in order to learn to build our house on the Rock…
- But how much better not to have to go through the devastation…
- Choose to obey God’s Word – choose Jesus – choose to build you life on the solid Rock!