For a school choir, one of the events that can really change things is going for a tour. You do everything together on a tour and that unites everyone in a common experience. It can inspire others who may not have been very interested in choir, to like singing.
Is the cross like that for us? Is it just a catalyst for positive change? Or is it more or less than that? Is it just a significant event? These are the questions we will be considering in today's lesson.
Both passages point us to one aspect of the cross-centred life. We will see that it's not so much about the lives we live and the things we do. It's about where the cross is in our lives and what it is doing there. We must understand that the cross-centred life is one of visible unity that is empowered by the cross.
We studied what Jesus teaches His disciples after he has risen. What now for the disciples? What are they suppose to do? What does the Holy Spirit do? What does it mean to have a spiritual experience? Does it mean you can perform miracles? Does it mean that you can see a vision, a dream, signs, etc.? Today, we will look at what the Bible tells us about the work of the Holy Spirit, and how that fits into the mission of the church.
What do you expect someone who comes back from the dead to say? In today's passage, we pick up then narrative from after the resurrection of Jesus. What did He say to the disciples? What is He also saying to us today?
This last study before Good Friday takes us to Jesus' last prediction of his death before he arrives at the cross. In this study in Luke 18:18-34, we'll begin by examining verses 31 to 34 and make our way back up to verse 18.
This week, we look at the transfiguration. Luke begins his account of the transfiguration by referring to the sayings of eight days ago (v.28). Clearly, he was picking up from the words and themes in the preceding verses, where Jesus spoke about His death, and called His disciples to death to self too. Verses 28 to 45, therefore, follow from these commands to come and die.
We begin the first week of this series in Luke 9:18-27, where Luke records for us the first time that Jesus predicted His death on the cross. We might have heard it said before, that Jesus' words were shocking for his disciples and those that followed Him. In our day and age, the cross is closely associated with Christianity, and often made into associated jewelry or even accessories. But in Jesus' time, the ancient world saw it as a symbol of great shame and death by the cross was reviled and reserved for terrible criminals. It is this death that Jesus predicts for Himself, and what He calls His followers to.
As we begin this series, let us go back to the cross, and consider what it means to follow One whose greatest achievement was death.
