Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / December 31 - Luke 5

Transcript

December 31 - Luke 5 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it is Wednesday, the very
• 0:16
  last day of 2020. Five, 31st of December.
• 0:19
  So delighted that you have taken this moment to invite me into
• 0:24
  your day, whether you are busy, whether you are taking it easy
• 0:27
  in the morning, noon or night. So good to have your company as
• 0:33
  today. We are going to continue
• 0:35
  following Jesus footsteps as he moves around Judea and shares
• 0:41
  his life with people around him, healing, calling them to follow
• 0:45
  him and challenging them. What an incredible time.
• 0:49
  And here we are at the end of this year.
• 0:52
  And as we wrap up this year, it's kind of fitting that we're
• 0:56
  going to begin today's reading with Jesus calling his
• 0:59
  disciples, his very first disciples.
• 1:02
  And I wonder in what way Jesus might be calling us to follow
• 1:05
  him in the year ahead. That might be really clear for
• 1:08
  you or that might be something that you are going to take some
• 1:11
  time and reflect and discern to hear God's call and whatever
• 1:15
  that looks like for you. But this is a glorious time of
• 1:19
  year to do just that. So friends, you are perfectly
• 1:23
  positioned to do just that, sitting at the foot of Luke,
• 1:27
  that wonderful storyteller, and for the Word of God to shape the
• 1:31
  rhythm of our day as we read together.
• 1:34
  Luke chapter 5. One day, as Jesus was preaching
• 1:47
  on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in
• 1:51
  on him to listen to the word of God.
• 1:53
  He noticed 2 empty boats at the water's edge, for the fishermen
• 1:57
  had left them and were washing their Nets.
• 2:00
  Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to
• 2:04
  push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught
• 2:08
  the crowds from there. When he had finished speaking,
• 2:11
  he said to Simon, Now go out where it is deeper and let down
• 2:15
  your Nets to catch some fish. Master Simon replied, we worked
• 2:20
  hard all last night and didn't catch a thing, but if you say
• 2:24
  so, I'll let the Nets down again.
• 2:27
  And this time their Nets were so full of fish they began to tear
• 2:32
  a shark for help, brought their partners in the other boat and
• 2:35
  soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of
• 2:38
  sinking. When Simon Peter realised what
• 2:42
  had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, Oh
• 2:45
  Lord, please leave me, I'm such a sinful man.
• 2:50
  For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught,
• 2:53
  as were the others with him. His partners James and John, the
• 2:57
  sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.
• 3:01
  Jesus replied to Simon. Don't be afraid.
• 3:04
  From now on you'll be fishing for people.
• 3:08
  And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed
• 3:11
  Jesus. In one of the villages, Jesus
• 3:15
  met a man with an advanced case of leprosy.
• 3:18
  When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground,
• 3:22
  begging to be healed. Lord, he said, if you are
• 3:25
  willing, you can heal me and make me clean.
• 3:29
  Jesus reached out and touched him.
• 3:32
  I am willing, he said. Be healed and instantly the
• 3:37
  leprosy disappeared. Then Jesus instructed him not to
• 3:40
  tell anyone what had happened. He said go to the priest and let
• 3:44
  him examine you. Take along the offering required
• 3:47
  in the Law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy.
• 3:50
  This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.
• 3:54
  But despite Jesus instructions, the report of his power spread
• 3:58
  even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to
• 4:03
  be healed of their diseases. But Jesus often withdrew to the
• 4:07
  wilderness for prayer. One day while Jesus was
• 4:11
  teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were
• 4:14
  sitting nearby. It seemed that these men showed
• 4:17
  up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as
• 4:21
  from Jerusalem, and the Lord's healing power was strongly with
• 4:26
  Jesus. Some men came carrying a
• 4:28
  paralysed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to
• 4:32
  Jesus, but they couldn't reach him because of the crowd.
• 4:35
  So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles.
• 4:38
  Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd
• 4:42
  right in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said
• 4:46
  to the man, Young man, your sins are forgiven.
• 4:51
  But the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to themselves,
• 4:54
  Who does he think he is? That's blasphemy.
• 4:57
  Only God can forgive sins. Jesus knew what they were
• 5:01
  thinking, so he asked them, Why do you question this in your
• 5:05
  heart? Is it easy to say your sins are
• 5:09
  forgiven or stand up and walk? So I will prove to you that the
• 5:14
  Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
• 5:18
  And Jesus turned to the paralysed man and said, stand
• 5:21
  up, pick up your mat and go home.
• 5:25
  And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up,
• 5:28
  picked up his mat and went home, praising God.
• 5:32
  Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised
• 5:35
  God, exclaiming, We have seen amazing things today.
• 5:41
  Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named
• 5:45
  Levi sitting in his tax collector's booth.
• 5:49
  Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him.
• 5:52
  So Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
• 5:57
  Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest
• 6:00
  of honour. Many of Levi's fellow tax
• 6:03
  collectors and other guests also ate with him.
• 6:06
  But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law
• 6:08
  complain bitterly to Jesus disciples.
• 6:11
  Why do you eat and drink with such scum?
• 6:15
  Jesus answered them. Healthy people don't need a
• 6:18
  doctor, Sick people do. I have come to call not those
• 6:22
  who think they are righteous, but those who know they are
• 6:25
  sinners and need to repent. One day.
• 6:30
  Some people said to Jesus, John the Baptist's disciples fast and
• 6:35
  pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees.
• 6:38
  Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?
• 6:42
  Jesus responded. Do wedding guests fast while
• 6:45
  celebrating with the groom? Of course not, but someday the
• 6:49
  groom will be taken away from them and then they will fast.
• 6:53
  Then Jesus gave them this illustration.
• 6:56
  No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it
• 7:00
  to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would
• 7:03
  be ruined, and the new patch wouldn't even match the old
• 7:06
  garment. And no one puts new wine into
• 7:09
  old wine skins, for the new wine would burst the wine skins,
• 7:13
  spilling the wine and ruining the skins.
• 7:16
  New wine must be stored in new wineskins.
• 7:19
  But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine.
• 7:23
  The old is just fine, they say. Ah Jesus, here we are on the
• 7:37
  cusp of the old year coming into the new and we are challenged by
• 7:42
  this beautiful reading challenge that you are not just coming to
• 7:50
  slightly refresh things or be a kind presence, but you bring
• 7:54
  about a completely new way. You bring about a new wine that
• 7:59
  is not going to fit into our old ways of thinking, into that old
• 8:03
  wineskin. Let us not say that the old is
• 8:07
  just fine, like the people in Jesus story.
• 8:12
  Oh, let us turn to this new way that you bring with both hands
• 8:15
  and hold on to you for dear life.
• 8:19
  Because it's you, it's your love, it's your grace, it's your
• 8:23
  Kingdom. That is our life.
• 8:26
  That is what we want to spend our days serving and our nights
• 8:30
  dreaming of. Ah, let us be your disciples,
• 8:34
  always in service of you and not chasing after the old things of
• 8:39
  this world. So as we think about the the old
• 8:44
  year gone and the new year to come, we recommit ourselves to
• 8:48
  you, our loving Lord and your Kingdom.
• 8:53
  And may our lives reflect that Kingdom as our number one
• 8:57
  priority. And so we pray all of this in
• 9:00
  your amazing, revolutionary and loving name, Jesus, Amen.