Speak These Words (Luke 24:36-53, Jeff Kliewer)

Let's pray. Father, as we come now to the last section of the book of Luke, we acknowledge these are your words given to us.

We have heard your word, Lord. We ask that you would help us to be not merely hearers of the word, but doers.

Help us today to package these thoughts up in our brains and live them out in our lives.

Give us a handle to hold on to, that it would guide us, that your word would be our guide day in and day out.

Help us, Lord, because we are a forgetful people. We forget what we learned last week, let alone last year.

God, we are so prone to wander. Lord, we feel it. So take your word now and seal it upon our hearts and change us from the inside out.

Help us, God. We need you desperately. And God, as a preacher, I confess, I can do nothing.

I need you, God. I need you.

So I ask now that you would give me the words to speak and give us ears to hear your word.

Give us arms and legs to go out and do what you've called us to do. In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, this is the last sermon. And so what I've done is I've taken the main themes of the book of Luke that we've studied and we've looked at for a little over a year now.

And I put them on a piece of paper and kind of given references. So find this in your bulletin.

You'll notice that I think seven or eight of them are laminated. It's like Willy Wonka and the

Chocolate Factory. You get the golden ticket here if you happen to get that. There's no prize that comes with it, except for maybe

Father Laskin might give you a special blessing. I mean, Father Wilt. No.

In all seriousness, I had extra laminate from the thing that we made last time for Ryan.

So just a few people got theirs laminated, but if not, I'm sorry. But take this with you because this summarizes the book of Luke that we've been studying.

And the book is taken as a whole. The purpose of studying expositorily, rather than just grabbing a section here and then jumping to another book, then jumping to the

Old Testament, New Testament, and flying all around the Bible, we go book by book. We study through an entire book so that the themes, the main ideas, come out together.

So things aren't isolated, but they fit together as a whole. So we do an expository series through a book of the

Bible. Well, we're finishing Luke today, and I want us to just take a quick moment here before we get into the very last section and look at some of the themes that I think are some of the most important that come through the book of Luke.

The first, we'll go through all 10 briefly, but the first to me is the essential call of the book.

It's a call to discipleship, to become a disciple of Christ. And the definition of a disciple in the book of Luke is one who leaves everything to follow

Christ. It's a picture of full devotion, leaving everything to follow

Christ. In Luke chapter five, when he calls his first disciples, we're told they left everything and followed

Christ. Later in chapter five, Matthew, the tax collector, is sitting at his booth, and Jesus calls him, and it says he left everything and followed

Christ. And then throughout the book of Luke, you hear this call to discipleship, which involves a heavy cost.

Jesus will say, come follow me, and someone will say back, well, first let me go bury my father, and then

I'll come follow you. And Jesus says, no, let the dead bury their dead. You come follow me. And he'll say to another, come follow me, and then he'll give this cost that comes with it.

Foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

And time and again, he'll circle back to this theme throughout the book of Luke that following Jesus means that you take up your cross.

That you're willing to suffer with him. That you're willing to let go of certain things in your life.

The sin that so easily entangles. The materialism.

Everything that would pull us back and grab us as part of this world, we need to be willing to cut ties.

The word for it is repent. Repent, turn away, think a new way about your life.

Cut ties and follow Christ. That is the theme that runs through the book of Luke. That's the call of the book.

To become a true, fully devoted follower of Christ. Now second, there's another theme that you see, and it really begins to develop in chapter nine.

When it says that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. He determined a purpose.

Now this purpose was determined before the foundation of the world, and here we're told in the book that he goes on this travel narrative.

This journey that we're told about. From Galilee to Jerusalem. He's going there for a purpose.

And so you see in chapter nine, verse 51, and then in 1250, 1322, 1725, 1831 to 34.

1928, these markers in the text that he is going to Jerusalem.

He's on purpose. There's something he has to do there, and this is the point of the gospel of Luke.

No one takes the life of Jesus from him. He goes on purpose to give his life willingly on the cross.

There is purpose in the dying of Jesus, and it's not that he's overpowered by wicked men.

He goes on purpose to lay down his life for his sheep. He goes on purpose.

Number three, there is a theme of law to the proud, but grace to the humble.

You see when this lawyer, who's very prideful and very full of himself, asks what he can do to be justified.

In Luke chapter 10, he calls himself righteous. He expects that Jesus will agree with him, but instead

Jesus goes on to give the parable of the good Samaritan and reveals to this lawyer that he has no righteousness of his own, that he would be like the

Pharisee or the religious leader that passes on the other side of the street, but obedience to God is not a matter just of doing certain things, checking certain boxes.

No, there's an activity that you're called to do, to love those who are hurting, to rescue the poor, to help those who have been beaten and left in a ditch.

This is the righteousness that you would need, and the point of it is to show that you don't have that kind of righteousness.

Another man comes in Luke chapter 18, thinking himself righteous. The rich young ruler comes saying, what do

I need to do to inherit eternal life? So Jesus recites to him the law.

The 10 commandments, do these things. And the rich young ruler, thinking himself righteous, prideful, says

I've done all these things since I was young. So Jesus responds to him, okay, one thing you still lack.

Go sell everything that you have and come follow me. And this prideful man is exposed by the law as not truly following it.

The law breaks him because he's not keeping the law that thou shalt not covet. His heart is tied to his possessions.

He doesn't realize it, but he is breaking the law. Thou shalt not covet. Jesus exposes his prideful heart and his deep need for a savior.

He uses the law to break him. But then you have a blind man in that same chapter, sitting by a gate in Jericho.

And the blind man is calling out, have mercy on me.

He knows himself a sinner. He knows himself to be broken and in need of salvation. And he cries for mercy and Jesus simply heals him.

Grace to the humble. That humble heart that's calling out for salvation, for help, he's quick to save.

Now, even that change of heart comes from God. To make us humble. Sometimes he uses the law to break us.

Sometimes he uses circumstances in our lives like blindness. But this theme occurs over and over again.

Law to the proud, grace to the humble. Number four, you see a reoccurring theme of the trustworthiness of scripture.

The Bible can be trusted. When John the Baptist shows up on the scene, we're told that this prophet, who's greater than all the other prophets we're actually told later on, this prophet was foretold in the book of Malachi, a forerunner who prepares the way for the

Messiah. Later on, as Jesus is teaching, he refers to the law, to Moses, to the

Psalms, to the writing, saying that he is the fulfillment of the scriptures. We read the book of Luke and through the word of God, our trust in the word of God is built up.

And this teaching comes to a head in that 24th chapter. As we studied last week on the road to Emmaus, where Jesus takes these disciples on a walk.

They're physically walking on the road to Emmaus, but Jesus walks them through the Old Testament scriptures, showing how he is the fulfillment.

Finally, in the breaking of bread, the fulfillment of the Passover. His body broken, his blood poured out.

All of these things are a fulfillment of scripture. And Luke makes this point over and over again.

The word of God can be trusted. Prophecies of old come true in the life of Jesus.

That theme recurs. Number five, this is so important.

Listen, take care how you hear the word of God.

Remember the old man who hears good news that he and his wife are gonna have a son named

John the Baptist. And he's standing in the presence of Gabriel and he's received this word from God.

And Zechariah says, how can I know that this is really true? And Gabriel says,

I stand in the presence of God and I'm bringing this word to you. And the implication is, you're not hearing what

I'm saying. I am bringing you the word of the Lord. And he says, so you will be mute, unable to speak until John is born.

You see, his problem was he wasn't really hearing the word of the Lord. Be careful how you hear. A farmer went out and scattered seed and it fell on four different kinds of soil.

And one was like a cart path and the birds of the air came and gobbled it right up the second that word fell.

Another soil was rocky and it gave a little bit of a shoot but there was no root and so the sun scorched it.

A third kind of soil that the word of God fell on was thorny soil.

And that plant grew up but the thorns, the concerns of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth choked out that plant.

And the fourth soil was good soil. Take care how you hear, we're told in Luke 8, verse 18.

Take care how you hear. There was only one good soil in the parable of the soils.

The problem with the first three is they didn't hear the word of the Lord. That word was preached.

It had gone out into all the earth. But not all were hearing. There is good soil that hears the word of the

Lord. Hear the word of the Lord. The Pharisees had a problem with this, didn't they? Over and over again,

Jesus preaches and what do they do? The very word of God is being proclaimed.

They grumble, they complain, they don't hear it. They don't have ears to hear.

Hear the word of the Lord. Number six, go to the

Lord's school of prayer. This theme of learning how to pray.

It begins early on before Jesus is born when Anna is there in the temple.

And this old widow, she has one thing that she devotes herself to. It's to prayer.

She fasts and she prays all day long and all night long except her sleep.

She lives there in the temple. And she was praying for the consolation of Israel. And her eyes saw that salvation when

Jesus was presented in the temple. The disciples will see Jesus praying before he selects the 12.

He spends all night praying. When is the last time you spent all night in a season of prayer?

Be like Jesus. The disciples noticed, in fact, they saw his prayer life. They were so astonished by the way

Jesus prayed. They said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. And he taught them the

Lord's prayer. And some of the principles that we see in that is to pray not first of all just asking and spewing out everything that we want him to do for us but no, to begin by hallowing his name.

To begin with praise. To spend time just worshiping him, sitting in his presence and praying, glorifying his name.

That's what we learn in the Lord's school of prayer. And to think about who we need to forgive.

To forgive those who have hurt us. To go to a brother and ask for forgiveness.

We learn these things in the Lord's school of prayer. Did the disciples get it? I know I don't get it right away.

I would be a lot like the disciples were on the night Jesus was arrested. What does he say to them?

Stay awake with me and pray. That the Lord will not allow you to fall into temptation.

Instead, what do they do? They fall asleep. How many of you are like me?

You have good intentions to pray before you're going to bed and next thing you know, you're dreaming instead of praying. You there with me?

Stay awake, spend some time in prayer. Wake up before the kids to pray.

Preaching to myself. We need to go with the Lord in his school of prayer. Next, number seven.

We see a theme a couple of times, a few times in the book of Luke, that after he's gone and he's ascended to the father, that we are to watch for his coming.

He gives us signs of his coming. And I don't know about you, but when

I look at U .S. News and World Report, Fox News, CNN, whatever I happen to click on, it looks a lot like what

I see in the book of Luke. I don't know when Jesus is coming. I'm not gonna pick a date, but when

I see the earthquakes in various places and the famines and the pestilence and the hatred of men in their hearts, a depraved culture returning to the days of Noah when the thoughts of men's hearts were nothing but evil all the time, it looks to me like the second coming of Christ is drawing close.

When I see what's happening in Israel as they're the center of the world and yet such a small country surrounded by enemies and threatened all the time, read the words of Jesus.

And Christians hated and persecuted, beheaded. We're told of these things right here in the book of Luke.

The signs of the times to point us to Christ. But why? Why do we need to need?

Why do we need to need? I gotta calm down. I get all hyped up when I'm preaching. We look at these signs because it points us to the coming savior.

We get sleepy when we think it's just gonna go away. It's just gonna go on forever. But when we're reading the word of God, when we see our savior is coming quickly, we're a lot more likely to witness to our co -worker if we think

Jesus might be back tomorrow. It draws us out of that sleepiness.

It awakens us. His coming could be before I finish preaching today. That's why I speak so quickly. I don't know if he's gonna come before I'm done.

Next, number eight. We see again and again, the disciples being sent on mission.

In chapter nine, he sends the 12. In chapter 10, he sends the 72. And then you see these little missions. Go and you're gonna find a man with a donkey and he's gonna do this, that, and the other.

And go and prepare this room for me. And okay, we're gonna feed these 5 ,000 people.

You give them something to eat. And they say, how can we do that? Well, they're to look to him as the provider.

But they have a mission. They have work to do. So when they go out, they're sent out to proclaim the kingdom of God.

And not only so, but also to cast out demons and to heal the sick. We, church, are sent on a mission.

We have work to do in Puerto Rico. We have some work to do in Costa Rica. We have some work to do in Camden and in Frankfurt and in Kensington.

We have missions to accomplish. And we're doing it. But there's more to do.

And we're gonna be busy doing these things until he comes. Sent on mission, that's number eight.

Number nine, oh, this is one that many of us need to hear. Fear not,

God is in complete control. That theme of the sovereignty of God.

And he'll call them together and teach them not to fear.

In fact, I heard it taught, and I think this is right, that there are 366 times in the

Bible where the command to fear not is given. Someone said, that's like one for every day of the year.

Including leap years. 366 times in the

Bible we're told to fear not. Jesus will say, look, a sparrow can't fall from the sky without God's control, his permission.

The hairs on your head are numbered. Fear not, little flock. It's your father's good will to give you the kingdom.

Fear not, he's in control. And so from that posture, trusting him, we come to the last thing.

Proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sin in his name.

We're told about a banquet. And some don't want to come to the banquet, especially those who thought they deserved something even better.

The prideful, a lot of the proud. But Jesus tells his followers, go out into the highways and byways, stand in the hedges.

Go up on the rooftops and invite them to come in. Call them to repentance, call them to faith.

Invite them to the banquet. And that leads us now to the last section in Luke because he ends on this theme.

He's given us these words. We're just gonna be quick here, but we're gonna finish the book of Luke on this theme.

A call, he's given us these words now to be the witnesses, to speak these words.

Luke chapter 24, 36 through 53. Take a deep breath.

We're almost done with the whole book of Luke. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you.

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled?

And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is

I myself. Touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.

And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat?

They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the

Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the

Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you.

But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, blessing

God. In that section from verse 36 to 43, we see

Jesus showing himself bodily risen from the dead and giving convincing proofs that he is alive, that he is bodily risen from the dead.

Acts chapter one, we'll pick up where this leaves off. And we're told in the third verse that when

Jesus appeared over those 40 days, he gave many convincing proofs that he is alive.

That's the point of this section, that his body has risen from the dead.

See my hands, touch and feel. He's involving their senses. Hear my words, I'm speaking to you.

I'm in the flesh. And then he seals it with that piece of fish. Give me some food.

And I don't know if he just gobbled it up real quick, but he eats in their presence. He demonstrates that he's alive.

That's the point of that first section. By many convincing proofs, he shows that he has risen from the dead.

Can you put yourself in the shoes of the disciples though? They're gathered together.

They're hearing the report from the road to Emmaus. And others have seen Jesus. Peter has seen him now.

The women have seen him. They're celebrating. They're excited. They're filled with joy. But then boom, he is in the room with them.

We're told by the text that they are startled by this. One time I drove up to church. I was the only one here early in the morning.

And I noticed in the field that there were deer, which there normally are. But this time there was also a big turkey.

Have you seen that big old turkey that roams around here sometimes? He had wandered up and was looking in this window over here.

So I got an idea. As I came in the building, I came in real quiet, and I came in the sanctuary and I crawled on the floor.

And as he was looking in the window, my head just popped up. And I said, peace to you. And his eyes lit up and boom, he was gone into the woods.

I had a lot of fun with that turkey. That's what it must have been like.

Do you see in the text? Verse 37. They were startled. They were startled.

What on earth? Boom, he's just right there. And he just says, peace to you.

But they're not filled with peace when they hear that. Look, their reaction in verse 38. They're startled, frightened, and they think they are seeing a spirit.

They're seeing a ghost. He says to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?

Do doubts arise in your hearts from time to time? Is this story true? Did he rise from the dead?

Well, he shows with convincing proofs that this is no ghost. This is no figment of their imagination.

This isn't just what they hoped would happen. See my hands and my feet.

Makes all the difference, doesn't it? They saw a physical body that rose from the dead.

Later on, the Gnostics will come along and say, well, Jesus never really died. It just looked that way.

And Jesus never really rose from the dead. Just a spirit. Well, see, the

Bible precludes that from being the case. He rose bodily from the grave, and he ate a piece of fish in the midst of the disciples to prove it.

And every other religion should take note of this. Because false prophets will come along and make claims.

Like Surah 4, 157 that says, it is supposed that Jesus was crucified. Really, they crucified him not, it only appeared that way to them.

And the claim of the Muslim would be that Jesus never died. And so he never rose.

Maybe Judas replaced Jesus on the cross, that's the claim. But the eyewitnesses say, look what

John says at the beginning of his epistle in 1 John, who we have seen and heard what we have touched with our hands and seen with our eyes.

This we proclaim to you concerning the word of life. The Christian message is not like any other religious message in the world, which gives you rituals and traditions for you to do and to follow that come from the opinions of men.

The Christian message is the breaking in of the real true

God into history, born of a virgin, walking among us on our streets in Jerusalem, crucified outside that city gate, but risen from the dead and alive in body form.

This changes everything. This is reality, this is truth. And that's the claim of the text.

They could touch those hands that were pierced with nails. And this body in their midst is eating a piece of fish.

Continue with me in verse 44 through 49. Now, this bodily resurrection becomes our proclamation.

Encapsulated in words to be delivered from pulpits like we're doing right now, until he comes back.

But not only in pulpits, in workplaces and in schoolyards, at lunchroom tables, at your next door neighbor's door.

44, then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you.

Back in chapter nine, verse 21 and 22, he said, the son of man must be rejected.

It must be persecuted and must suffer and be killed and be raised on the third day.

This is what he said would happen. And then it happens in real time. It happens not only in accordance with his own words, but also what all the prophets had foretold.

We looked at this last week. He says that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the

Psalms must be fulfilled. So we are given the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, 39 books of inspired prophecy written at least 400 years before Jesus came and they speak of him.

And he himself, a prophet as well as a priest and a king, as well as the Lord of the universe, spoke words which the apostles are entrusted to record and give to us.

And so when we have the book of Luke, we have the very word of God. This is what we're given.

We have these words. These are my words. This is the word of God.

And so he then says in verse 45, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the

Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

You are my witnesses of these things. Doesn't it look like the devil is doing everything he can to resist this.

We live in a culture in America that is diametrically opposed to this worldview.

It is fortified against this worldview because this worldview says that Christ opens their minds to understand the scriptures.

But our culture says the exact opposite about an open mind. Our culture will say, you need to have an open mind.

And an open mind means that whatever somebody says is true for them.

And if you close your mind to what they say, then you are a closed minded bigot and you're intolerant because you think your truth is better than their truth.

And they say that when you come to the scriptures, you come and you bring your interpretations with you.

You bring your truth to the text. If you're a Buddhist, then make

Jesus a Buddhist. If you're a Muslim, then find the Muslim teaching in the gospels.

Whatever it is that you believe about the world in which you live, your truth can be found here.

It's here for you. The world says that's what it is to have an open mind.

But brothers and sisters, please hear this. Don't miss this. An opened mind is a mind that has been quickened by the spirit of the living

God to believe the words of the living God. And truth is objective and real.

It's not created by us. We are not little gods that speak truth into existence. God tells the truth and he has given us these words.

And an open mind is one that's controlled by the spirit to see what is here and to believe what is written in Moses and the prophets and the

Psalms. Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.

And that part isn't too hard for our culture to agree with. It's the next verse. Here's the rub, but here's the good news.

In verse 47, it says, and that repentance and forgiveness of sin would be proclaimed in his name.

The gospel is a call to repentance, to turn away, to make a break, to leave behind your old way of thinking about your rights and your life and what's right and what's wrong.

Repentance means to change your way of thinking, to think again, to have a new view, to make a break with your old self.

It means to turn away from sin. And how do we know what sin is? Thus it is written.

In all areas of morality, including sexual morality, the scriptures teach us what is true and what is right.

And to become a follower of Christ means that we must repent and turn away from dead works to receive the forgiveness of sin.

And that's the good news, that God is willing to forgive sin.

It doesn't matter what sin you've committed, however vile it was and is, he is willing to forgive you.

As you repent of those things and you turn to Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness of sin.

There is a flow that comes from that tree on Calvary's hill.

It is the blood of Christ and it is for the forgiveness of sin.

And those who are willing to come can come. And the call is issued to the banquet table.

Come, come. It's indiscriminate. It doesn't look at the melanin count in your skin.

Jew, Gentile, slave -free, men, women, rich, poor, the big sinners and the little sinners.

This blood is given that you can come. The Holy Spirit quickens you to believe this gospel, but this blood washes sin away.

It's good news. Forgiveness of sin. Are you really willing to tell your neighbor to repent?

That's the hard part. Turn away from sin, turn to Christ.

You say, well, I'm too loving for that. I don't wanna be mean.

What's more loving? To leave someone in their sin without the forgiveness of sin to face eternal condemnation before a holy and righteous

God or to call them to repent of sin and turn to a savior who washes sin away, who gives remission of sin.

That means to take that sin away and throw it into a sea of forgetfulness where it is no more.

It's more loving to preach the gospel. The loving thing to do is to be a witness.

Verse 48, you are witnesses of these things. Guess what?

You can't do this on your own. Everything that we studied leading up to this is connected here.

Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. You need the empowerment of the

Holy Spirit. You need to be born again. You need to have the baptism of the Holy Spirit and his power working in you to be a witness.

It's connected with praying, following, studying the scriptures.

As you grow as a disciple in the truth, he will give you opportunities for the gospel.

He will give you the courage. It's the Holy Spirit that empowers your witness, verse 49. You can't do it on your own.

And finally, the last section, verses 50 to 53. He brings them out to that mountain and he ascends to heaven right before their eyes.

Story's not over. Story's not over. Because he says he will return the same way that he left.

We're told in Zechariah that when he comes back, his foot will split that mountain in half and divide it at his coming.

We finished the book of Luke at this point, but Luke actually wrote two books. So when we finish with a couple of things leading into Christmas, in the new year, we're gonna pick up right where we left off in the book of Acts.

Because the ascending of Jesus to the Father leaves us here, but not as orphans. We are left here to do his work.

The book of Acts will teach us how to do that. This little verse that we see in 49, wait in Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the

Father, that needs to be fleshed out. The book of Acts will show us what that means.

To receive the power of God, Acts 1 .8, and then be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

So we're gonna go into Acts next. But with this, we're closing the book of Luke. And I know some of you have taken the challenge this year to read it over and over again.

I hope you picked up on some of these themes. I hope it's becoming a part of your life, because the point of this study that we do is not just to have

Bible quiz knowledge, although the knowledge aspect of it is important, but to take what we're learning and apply it in our lives.

So take this card with you, and don't just throw it on a shelf, never to be seen again. Go through it again and again.

Return to these themes. Go back into that school of prayer. Go back into the scriptures again and again.

Let's close in prayer. Worship team, if you'd come up. Guys, as we pray,

I'm just gonna give you a minute to be quiet before God. If you've been praying, and you've never repented of your sin and trusted in Christ, listen, the good news.

He will wash your sin away. Turn away from sin and trust in Christ, and he will be found a perfect savior.

But maybe you are a Christian. You know this word. You need to be a witness.

Spend some time asking for power from on high, for help in your prayer closet.

Pray on your own here. Just take 30 seconds. Take a minute to just pray and call on the name of the

Lord to apply these teachings from the book of Luke. Let's pray. Father, these are your words.

You have given us your words. Now give us ears to hear.

Let us be that good soil that receives the seed of your word and grows to become a plant and a tree that yields fruit 30, 60, 90 times what was sown.

Pray for each one of us in this room this morning and watching this video that we would be hearers and doers of your word.

Take this book of Luke, your words that you have given us, and change us,

God, and unleash us, God, as witnesses, proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sin in the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name.

Let us not be ashamed of that name. Let us be bold to proclaim the truth.

Let us be humble to know that we are just beggars, showing other beggars where to find bread.

Release this church, God, in the power of your Holy Spirit to be witnesses.

Thank you, God, for the book of Luke. We treasure it, God. This book contains your words.

The words of the living God. Change us.

Sanctify us by your word. Your word is truth. In Jesus' name, amen.