Holydays

15th December – Luke 15: “Rejoice With Me!”

Hey friends, welcome to December 15th. Luke 15 is heaven’s favourite chapter, the one that makes angels sing. Tax collectors and sinners are drawing near to Jesus, and the Pharisees grumble: “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” Jesus answers with a parable with three parts that climb like a crescendo, each ending with the same heavenly sentiments: “Rejoice with me!”

Part 1 – The Son Seeking the Lost Sheep (vv. 3-7)

“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing… Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost” (vv. 4-6).

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the Son who seeks. He doesn’t wait for the sheep to find its way—He goes into the wilderness, over mountains and thorns, until He finds it. Then, gently, He lays it on His shoulders and carries it home.

“I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance” (v. 7).

Part 2 – The Spirit Seeking the Lost Coin (vv. 8-10)

“Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost” (vv. 8-9).

Here’s the Holy Spirit, lighting the lamp of God’s Word to shine into dark corners, sweeping with conviction to expose our sin and need, searching diligently until the lost is found. That silver coin was likely part of a bride’s headdress, precious and personal. You’re not just a face in the crowd to God; you’re treasured.

“Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (v. 10).

Part 3 – The Father Seeking the Lost Son (vv. 11-32)

We know this one… the younger son demands his inheritance, wastes it in the far country, ends up in a pigsty, “comes to himself,” and heads home rehearsing, “Father, I have sinned…”

“But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (v. 20).

The Father, waiting, watching, running (undignified for an Eastern patriarch), embracing the stink of pigs and prodigality, restoring robe, ring, shoes, feast. “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (v. 24).

Even the elder brother’s grumbling can’t dim the celebration.

Three parables, one heartbeat:

The Son seeks and carries.

The Spirit shines and convicts.

The Father runs and restores.

And every time one sinner repents, heaven throws a party: “Rejoice with me!”

Friends, this Christmas, remember: you were the lost sheep on His shoulders, the lost coin under His lamp, the lost son in His arms.

And if you’re still far off, hear the Father running toward you right now.

There’s joy in heaven waiting to break loose over you.

Come home.

See you tomorrow for Luke 16. Grace and peace, and ring the bells of heaven! 🙏

Hey friends, welcome to December 9th. Luke 9 is the hinge chapter of the whole Gospel. Everything now turns toward the cross, and Jesus asks the question that still echoes today: “Whom say ye that I am?” (v. 20).

Scene 1 – Power Shared (vv. 1-17)  

Jesus “called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases” (v. 1). He sends them out to preach the kingdom with nothing but a staff: no bread, no money, no extra coat. They go, and villages everywhere receive the gospel.

When they return, the crowds are so huge that Jesus takes everyone to a desert place. Five thousand men (plus women and children) are hungry. The disciples say, “Send them away.” Jesus answers, “Give ye them to eat” (v. 13). They have five loaves and two fishes, practically nothing, in their view.  

He takes the little boy’s lunch, looks up to heaven, blesses it, brakes it, and keeps giving it to the disciples to set before the multitude. Everyone eats and is filled, and twelve baskets of fragments are left over.

The lesson is unmistakable: the blessing always flows from Jesus → to the disciples → to the hungry crowd. We have nothing to give the world until we first come to Him empty-handed and let Him multiply what we place in His hands.

Scene 2 – The Question That Changes Everything (vv. 18-27)  

One day Jesus is praying alone with the Twelve, and He asks, “Whom say the people that I am?”  

They answer, “John the Baptist; but some say Elias; and others, that one of the old prophets is risen again.”  

Then He looks straight at them: “But whom say ye that I am?”  

Peter answers, “The Christ of God” (v. 20).  

Immediately Jesus tells them, for the first time, that the Christ must suffer, be rejected, killed, and rise again the third day. Then He adds the hardest words of all:  

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (v. 23).

Scene 3 – Glory Revealed (vv. 28-36)  

Eight days later He takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain to pray. While He prays, “the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering” (v. 29). Moses and Elijah appear in glory, talking with Him about His coming “decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem” (v. 31).  

Sleepy Peter blurts out something about building three tabernacles, but a bright cloud overshadows them and the Father’s voice thunders:  

“This is my beloved Son: hear him” (v. 35).

Scene 4 – Power Restored and Children Welcomed (vv. 37-48)  

The next day, down in the valley, a desperate father begs Jesus to deliver his demon-tormented only son. The disciples had tried and failed. Jesus cries, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?” (v. 41), yet He casts the spirit out, gently gives the boy back to his father, and all are astonished at the majesty of God.  

While the disciples argue about who is the greatest, Jesus sets a little child in their midst and says, “Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me… For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great” (v. 48).

Scene 5 – Hands to the Plough (vv. 57-62)  

Three men want to follow Jesus.  

– One says, “Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” Jesus replies, “Foxes have holes… but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (v. 58).  

– Another is told, “Follow me.” He answers, “Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.” Jesus says, “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God” (v. 60).  

– The third says, “I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home.” Jesus answers, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (v. 62).

Five scenes, one blazing heartbeat:  

Jesus is the Christ of God, the glorious Son Who shares His power, reveals His glory, carries His cross, and calls every one of us to follow Him all the way to Jerusalem.

So He still asks us today:  

“But whom say ye that I am?”  

May our answer be the same as Peter’s—and may our lives prove it by denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily, keeping our hands to the plough, and never looking back.

7 December – Luke 7: “God Hath Visited His People”

Hey friends, welcome to December 7th. Today we’re in Luke 7, and if you’ve ever wondered what it feels like when heaven actually breaks into earth, this is the chapter.

The whole chapter is one long crescendo of wonder. Everywhere Jesus goes, people are asking the same question in a dozen different ways: “Who IS this?” By the way, in church today, we are beginning a new sermon series entitled, “What Child Is This?” This morning we will give the first answer, “His Name Shall Be Called… Wonderful!” And in the evening service, “His Name Shall Be Called… Counsellor!”

This time of year is a wonderful time to consider what I believe to be the theme of this 7th chapter of Luke, “God Hath Visited Us”

Scene 1 – Just outside Capernaum

A Roman centurion has a servant who is at the point of death. He sends Jewish elders to Jesus with this message: “Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof… but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed” (vv. 6-7).

Jesus marvels out loud—something He almost never does—and says, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (v. 9). The servant is healed that very same hour.

Scene 2 – The village of Nain (the name means “pleasant” or “beautiful”)

Jesus meets a funeral procession. A widow is burying her only son. Luke says Jesus’ heart “yearned over her” (v. 13 (the Greek is “his bowels were moved with compassion”). He touches the bier and says, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise” (v. 14). The dead boy sits up and begins to speak. The crowd is seized with holy fear and cries out, “God hath visited his people!” (v. 16). That’s the line of the whole chapter.

Scene 3 – John the Baptist, locked in Herod’s prison

Even John sends two disciples to ask, “Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?” (v. 19). Jesus doesn’t give a long answer. He simply heals multitudes right in front of John’s messengers—blind see, lame walk, lepers cleansed, deaf hear, dead raised, poor have the gospel preached to them—then tells them, “Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard” (v. 22). After they leave, Jesus pays John the highest compliment any human ever received: “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist” (v. 28).

Scene 4 – Simon the Pharisee’s house

A woman “which was a sinner” crashes the dinner party, weeping, washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair, kissing them, and anointing them with precious ointment. Simon sneers inside: “If this man were a prophet, he would know what manner of woman this is” (v. 39). Jesus reads his mind, tells the beautiful parable of the two debtors, and then turns to the woman and says, “Thy sins are forgiven… Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace” (vv. 48, 50). The table is stunned silent: “Who is this that forgiveth sins also?”

Four scenes. Four different groups of people. One growing realisation:

• A Gentile soldier sees Jesus as the ultimate authority.
• A grieving widow sees Jesus as the Lord over death.
• A doubting prophet sees Jesus as the promised Messiah.
• A sinful woman sees Jesus as the Friend of sinners.
• And the only right answer rings out from the lips of ordinary people in Nain: “God hath visited his people!”

Friends, that’s still the right answer today.

When marriages are raised from the dead, when addictions lose their power, when the proud are humbled and the broken are comforted, when sinners like us are forgiven much and therefore love much—God hath visited His people.

Before we read the whole chapter together in a moment, let me close with the hymn that Edward Hayes Plumptre wrote after reading Luke 7. I think it captures the heartbeat of this chapter perfectly:

“Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old was strong to heal and save;

It triumphed o’er disease and death, o’er darkness and the grave.

To Thee they went—the blind, the dumb, the palsied and the lame,

The leper with his tainted life, the sick with fevered frame.

“And lo! Thy touch brought life and health, gave speech, and strength, and sight;

And youth renewed and frenzy calmed owned Thee, the Lord of light.

And now, O Lord, be near to bless, almighty as of yore,

In crowded street, by restless couch, as by Gennesaret’s shore.

“Be Thou our great Deliverer still, Thou Lord of life and death;

Restore and quicken, soothe and bless with Thine almighty breath.

To hands that work and eyes that see give wisdom’s heavenly pow’r,

That whole and sick, and weak and strong, may praise Thee evermore.”

He is still the same Jesus.

May every one of us, in whatever condition we find ourselves today, hear Him speak the words that woman heard:

“Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”

Hey friends, happy December 6th! 

David Skinner is reading chapter 6 in the video. Let us know if you’d like to read.

But first, please do us a favour. If you let these videos play to the end, the YouTube algorithms are much more likely to recommend them to others. If people click a video and then stop watching quickly, it doesn’t get shown to others. Of course you could also push like or even subscribe if you want to see each day’s devotion.

Tomorrow in church we begin a new sermon series entitled, “What Child Is This?” We sang that carol in the city centre today. Thank you to those who joined us! One of my favourites we sang was “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.” And as we think about the Sabbath in Luke 2, consider the rest that Christ can give. On the very first Sabbath in the Bible, God rested from His work of CREATION on the seventh day. But then, after man sinned, a new work began – the work of REDEMPTION. And that was the work Christ came to do. He would not rest from that work, and when challenged about it, He replied, “My Father worth hitherto, and I work.” But on the cross He would say, “It is finished,” and we now can rest in the work He has accomplished. So, He is Lord of the Sabbath, and He is Lord of everything else. 

In Luke 6, this is a great chapter if you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to follow a Master who is who completely upside-down from the world.

The chapter opens on a couple of Sabbath days that set the religious leaders on edge.

First Sabbath scene: The disciples are walking through a cornfield, rubbing grain in their hands to eat because they’re hungry. The Pharisees pounce: “Why do ye that which is not lawful on the sabbath days?” (v. 2). Jesus answers, “The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” (v. 5).

Second Sabbath scene: Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, and there’s a man with a withered right hand. The scribes and Pharisees are watching like hawks, waiting to see if He’ll heal on the Sabbath so they can accuse Him. Jesus knows their thoughts, calls the man forward, and asks one devastating question: “Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?” (v. 9)?” Then He says, “Stretch forth thy hand.” The man does, and it’s restored whole. The religious leaders are filled with madness and start plotting what they might do to Jesus.

Right after this, Jesus spends all night in prayer on a mountain, comes down at daybreak, chooses the Twelve apostles, and then—here’s the beautiful detail Luke gives us—He descends with them and stands “in the plain” (or “on a level place,” v. 17) with a massive crowd pressing in from Judea, Jerusalem, even the Gentile coast of Tyre and Sidon. They’ve all come to hear Him and to be healed, and verse 19 says, “the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.”

And right there, in the chaos, with thousands of desperate, sick, demon-possessed people pushing in, power flowing out of Him; but then, most importantly, Jesus turns to His disciples and starts teaching the Sermon on the Plain:

• Love your enemies
• Bless them that curse you
• Give to every man that asketh, even if he takes your coat, let him have your cloak also
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
• Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful
• Judge not… condemn not… forgive
• Give, and it shall be given unto you
• Every tree is known by his own fruit
• And the climax: “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (v. 46)

Then He tells the story of the two house-builders, one on the rock, one on the sand, and says the difference shows up when the storm hits.

So what’s going on here? Why teach the hardest sermon ever in the middle of possibly the loudest, messiest crowd imaginable?

I think Jesus is doing exactly what He’s telling.

He’s showing His disciples, in real time, what the words look like with skin on.

• He’s Lord of the Sabbath → so mercy triumphs over man-made rules.
• He’s healing Gentiles and Jews alike on a level place → because His kingdom levels every social peak or valley.
• He’s letting the broken and demonised touch Him → because He came for the poor, the prisoner, the mourning, the hated (vv. 20-22).
• He’s loving the unlovely, giving without expecting return, refusing to curse those who will soon crucify Him → because that’s what citizens of His kingdom do.

And He delivers the whole sermon surrounded by people who are literally being made whole the moment they touch Him, so nobody can say, “That’s impossible.” It’s happening right in front of them.

My favourite verse today is verse 19 (KJV):

“And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.”

Every single person who came to Jesus in Luke 6 walked away healed. Every one.

Friends, the same Jesus is still Lord of the Sabbath, still Lord of the storm, still the same virtue still flows out of Him today. And He’s still looking for disciples who will show the same mercy, sacrificial, giving love, and actually build our lives on the Rock of His words (not just admiring them)

Because the disciple is not above his Master. If they hated Him, they’ll hate us. If He loved anyway, so must we.

So let me leave you with the question Jesus asked on that level place:

“Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

May the answer, by His grace, be different for us today than it was for the Pharisees back then. Rest in His power today.