Grateful for Luke & Ready for Acts!
Our study of the Gospel of Luke has truly been an epic adventure! Tim Nellis shared some of the highlights last Sunday, but they are worth celebrating again.
We began preaching through Luke in November 2022. That same month, Calvary members Jeffrey and Sarah Yates welcomed their son Benny, and now, at the conclusion of our series, he is 3½ years old (and has a baby brother!). It’s a fun reminder of just how long and meaningful this journey has been.
Over the course of this study, we preached 119 sermons through 24 chapters and 1,151 verses. Altogether, that adds up to 2 days, 11 hours, and 30 minutes of teaching through the Gospel of Luke!
On a recent podcast, Eric and I even issued a challenge: we will buy ice cream for anyone who can prove they’ve listened to all 119 sermons. We already have a friend in Florida ready to take us up on that and apparently, we may be headed to Tampa!
Along the way, we explored Luke through 11 mini-series:
- Luke 1–2: The Thrill of Hope
- Luke 3–4: Get Ready
- Luke 4–6: Jesus Revealed
- Luke 6–8: What If Jesus Was Serious?
- Luke 7–8:39: Faith Like This
- Luke 8:40–9:45: Who Is This?
- Luke 9:46–12:34: The Way of Jesus
- Luke 12:35–14:35: Kingdom Priorities
- Luke 15–19:27: Kingdom Parables
- Luke 19:28–24:12: The Week That Changed the World
- Luke 24:13–53: This Is Not the End
What a gift it has been to walk through this Gospel together.
As Luke writes in his opening words: “I too have decided to write an orderly account… so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:3–4). Our prayer is that this journey has strengthened your confidence in the truth of the Gospel and deepened your walk with Jesus.
And now, beginning this Sunday, we have the joy of stepping into “Luke, Volume 2”- the Book of Acts.
Acts is Luke’s second narrative, telling the story of the birth of the Church, the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, the courage of the first believers, and the unstoppable mission of God. It reads like a fast-moving story, filled with moment after moment of God at work through ordinary people.
As we begin this new journey, our prayer is that we would become the kind of people described in Acts 4:13:
“They were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John… they recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”
May that be true of us.
May our families, friends, neighbors and our city recognize the people of Calvary Church as ordinary people who have been with Jesus.
May it be so.
Matt Doan
Reach Pastor