Luke-- Jesus, Our Savior and Friend

The Ambassador Group

06. Luke: Women in the Ministry of Jesus

Jesus, Our Savior and Friend The Book of Luke by John M.

Fowler Edited for audio by The Ambassador Group Exploration 6 Women in the Ministry of Jesus For you are all sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all 1 in Christ Jesus." Galatians chapter 3 verses 26 through 28 New King James Version.

Luke's gospel is sometimes called the gospel of women because more than any other 1 it makes special mention of how caring Jesus was to the needs of women, and also how involved women were in his ministry.

In the time of Jesus, as in some cultures today, women were deemed of little worth.

Some Jewish men in that time thanked God they were not created a slave, a Gentile, or a woman.

Greek and Roman society sometimes treated women even worse.

Roman culture developed its permissiveness to an almost unlimited licentiousness.

A man often had a wife only in order to produce legitimate children who would inherit his property, and he had concubines for his own sinful pleasures.

Against such a backdrop of women being treated so badly, Jesus brought the good news that women are, indeed, daughters of Abraham.

Let's hear his words in Luke chapter 13 verse 16.

Remember this verse from our last exploration?

And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these 18 years, Be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" How happy the women of those days must have been to hear that in Jesus they are children of God and of equal worth with men in the sight of God.

The message today for women of all nations remains the same.

We are all men and women, 1 in Christ Jesus.

Only Luke records the reaction of these women to the wonder of cosmic history, that the Son of God took human flesh in order to complete the redemptive mission of the Father and fulfill the messianic hopes of His people.

Though these women didn't fully understand what was happening, Their words and reactions to these astonishing events revealed their faith and wonder at the works of God.

Luke chapter 1 verses 39 through 45 describes the encounter between Elizabeth and Mary.

As you listen, notice what Elizabeth says that reveals her understanding, however limited, of the great events that were taking place.

And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth.

And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.

And she spake out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

And blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord." After Elizabeth spoke, Mary then followed with her own words in Luke chapter 1, verses 46-55.

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden.

For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed, for he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is His name.

And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation.

He hath shewed strength with His arm, He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He hath helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.

Often understood to be a song, these words are full of fragments from the Old Testament, attesting that Mary was a devoted student of Scripture and thus a fit mother for Jesus.

Mary's song is rooted not only in Scripture but deep down in her relationship with God.

An identity emerges between her soul and her Lord, and between her faith and Abraham's hope.

Listen to the story of Anna and the temple, told in Luke chapter 2, verses 36-38.

What important truths are brought to light in this story?

And there was 1 Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, in the tribe of Assur.

She was of great age and had lived with an husband 7 years from her virginity.

And she was a widow of about fourscore and 4 years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings, and prayers, night and day.

And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." Expectant hope finds its radical fulfillment in Jesus.

An old widow recognizes the miracle, and from then on she made it her compulsive mission to proclaim the Savior to all those who came to the temple.

She became the first woman evangelist of the gospel.

Can you imagine the wonder and astonishment of these women at the events unfolding around them.

What can you do to keep alive in your own heart the wonder and astonishment of the great truths that you and I have been called to proclaim?

Women and Jesus Healing Ministry the day after, that he went into a city called Nain, and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.

Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her.

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.

And he came and touched the bier, and they that bear him stood still.

And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

And he that was dead sat up and began to speak.

And there came a fear on all, And they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited his people.

And this rumor of him went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about.

Luke chapter 7, verses 11 through 17, tells us the story about the miracle at Nain.

This woman, impoverished and widowed, now faced another trial, the death of her only son.

A large crowd of mourners was with her in the funeral procession, expressing public grief and sympathy.

The loss of her only son, coupled with the uncertain future of life alone, turned the widow into a picture of absolute sorrow and hopelessness.

But the funeral procession going out of the city met with another procession entering into it.

At the head of the outgoing procession was death in a casket.

At the head of the incoming procession was life in the majesty of a Creator.

As the processions met, Jesus saw the widow, hopeless and full of grief.

When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her, and He said, Don't cry.

Luke chapter 7, verse 13, New International Version.

The plea not to cry would have been meaningless had it not come from Jesus, the Lord of Life.

For behind the command, Don't cry, was the power to remove the reason for her crying.

Jesus reached forward, touched the coffin, and ordered the young man to arise.

The touch was considered a ceremonial defilement, as we will hear in the Old Testament book of Numbers.

Numbers chapter 19, verses 11-13 says, He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean 7 days.

He shall purify himself with it on the third day and on the seventh day he shall be clean.

But if he not purify himself on the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.

Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the Lord.

And that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him.

He shall be unclean, his uncleanness is yet upon him." But to Jesus, compassion was more important than ceremonies.

Meeting human needs was more urgent than adhering to mere rituals.

The village of Nain not only witnessed a great miracle, but also received a marvelous message.

In Jesus, there is no difference between the emotional pangs of men and those of women, and His presence confronts and confounds the power of death.

Let's listen to another story of someone being brought back to life.

This miracle is recorded in Luke chapter 8 verses 41, 42, and 49-56.

And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue.

And he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his house.

For he had 1 only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she lay a-dying.

While he yet spake, there cometh 1 from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying unto him, Thy daughter is dead.

But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole.

And when he came to the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden.

But he said, Weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth.

And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.

And he put them all out and took her by the hand and called, saying, Made, arise.

And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat.

And her parents were astonished, but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.

Jairus was an influential person, a ruler of the synagogue, an officer in charge of the care and the services of the synagogue.

Each Sabbath, he would choose the person who would lead in prayer, scripture reading, and preaching.

He was a person not only of eminence and influence, but also of wealth and power.

He loved his daughter and did not hesitate to approach Jesus for the healing of his child.

In these stories, it was the power of Jesus' words that brought a dead son back to his mother and a dead daughter back to her father.

Daniel Ferraz

Kalamazoo SDA Church

Husbands Love Your Wives as Christ Loves the Church

The sermon today is entitled, The Better Half.

You know, Sometimes husband and wife refer to themselves as the other half, you know, vice versa.

And I want to talk today about the better half.

And as Jasper so rightly reminded us, the month of February is Marriage Emphasis Month.

So next, tomorrow we'll be having a Valentine's Banquet, and I want to see you all here with your wives and husbands.

I'll be here too with my wife and my wife will be here too with her husband.

And that's the way it's going to be for all eternity.

So today I want to talk about the better half, but before I begin, somebody once wrote that if you took any 12 wedded couples, 6 of them will jump overboard and divorce.

4 will stay on deck without joy or love and only 2 will have a complete marriage.

Father in heaven, We don't understand just how much you want for us.

But Lord, we're here to listen to your voice this morning.

Help husbands and wives to love 1 another.

But Father, I want to talk about my bride and your bride.

So please guide and bless, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

You know, wedding is, marriage I should say, Marriage is a wonderful thing.

And I don't know, husbands and wives, if you remember your wedding day.

And I remember my wedding day for various reasons.

You know, for a young man and a young woman, it's probably the most exciting day of your life, or the most exciting event, to get married.

I remember being a little boy and wondering, who will I marry?

And I just want to share with you something that happened at our wedding day.

And I think my wife knows where I'm going.

I haven't told her yet what I was going to say.

I hate to tell her what's coming up in the sermon, otherwise she'll say, you know, I've heard it already.

But you know, I've also learned, I've also learned, men, please pay attention, I've also learned that communicating with my wife is like talking with the other half of my brain.

You see, You have to get this thing about marriage.

I guess I can tell a little bit of story, but I have to watch the time.

We've actually done the wedding pictures before the wedding.

We get wedding pictures after the wedding as well and during, but it's kind of nice to get some wedding pictures when you're not all flustered and sweating up and tired out.

We got to the wedding and it was in the church, in the main church there.

And I remember being so nervous, but happy.

And It was kind of going on long, you know how weddings go too long.

But the part I want to share with you was the reception.

Wedding cake was all fruit cake, all the way down to the bottom.

But anyway, my wife had let me into this kind of strange custom that they had, I think way back in Germany, where if the husband wasn't man enough to keep hold of his wife, somebody might come and steal her.

So she told me this before the wedding, and I was a little bit concerned about this, as I would be rightly, right?

You don't want to get your wife, your bride stolen from you on your wedding day.

So I thought, and I thought, well, let me try and make sure this doesn't happen." And so I secretly was in Watford 1 time and I saw a pair of toy handcuffs.

I thought, yes, I'll buy me some of those.

And so I took those and I thought, this will be my safety.

When I see any danger, I'm just going to put 1 side on me and 1 side on her, and where she goes, I'm going, and that's going to spoil the game.

This thing had been planned in advance to steal my bride, like calculated well, the escape route, the car, the people involved, where she was going to go.

Notes had already been written as to the trail that I should follow to try and find my wife.

Could you imagine the upheaval to the reception and everything, going to play this game?

Anyway, so my mom, my mother was really on my side, praise God for mothers.

She said, now you make sure she was in the know and she was keeping an eye out for me.

So there's music, there's speeches, we're having beautiful food, and you can get distracted.

And I, after a while, was forgetting about this thing, about the wife getting stolen.

And I don't know how it happened, because I have to cut the long story short.

It's a really nice story, kind of fun, but I have to cut it short.

After a while, suddenly my mom is nudging me for all she's worth and saying, she's gone, they got her.

And the thing was, I'm remembering it just now, you had to get the bride's bouquet and the bride for it to really count.

And the bouquet was gone, and Petra was nowhere to be seen.

And suddenly I look around and I see going down the pathway, it's a really nice area and gardens and so on, and my bride in a white dress was running away from her husband.

Well, men, I don't know what happened, but I had a rush of adrenaline.

I was not about to let my wife get stolen from me.

And so I grabbed the hand that was on my wife's arm, flung it away, and I pushed this guy away, and I picked up my bride in my arms, and I took her, carried her right the way back up the hill again and put her back where she should be, sitting next to me.

Now I spoiled a lot of people's fun that day.

But I want to turn this a little serious because that's not the only time that somebody's trying to steal a bride or a husband.

The Power of God's Forgiveness

3- Our Joy in Forgiveness

I hope you're blessed and relaxed and happy in the Lord.

It's a great privilege to be at this nice pulpit.

See, I like my papers to be spread out so that I can see.

And you know, did anybody ever tell you that I get nervous?

I don't know what it is, but you probably think I'm good at this, but it's hard every time, so I need God's blessing and God's grace.

But what I do love to do is to share the wonderful things that God teaches me, and lately He's been teaching me about forgiveness and the healing power of forgiveness.

And so for past 2 sermons, I've been kind of springboarding off of this book, but off of this very biblical principle of forgiveness.

And so I entitled the series, The Power of God's Forgiveness.

And really, it's only God who knows how to forgive.

But we looked at this book because it's Dr.

Dick Tibbets has written it and entitled it Forgive to Live, How Forgiveness Can Save Your Life, and how forgiveness can be healing.

And there are various types of forgiveness that we looked into.

There's relational forgiveness where 2 individuals look for reconciliation.

And then there's spiritual forgiveness where an individual looks for forgiveness to God for their sins.

And then there's this personal forgiveness, which is the individual often by themselves will make a choice, a decision to forgive and to look at the situation that caused them anger or bitterness in a different light, in a powerful light where the individual, the person becomes a victor and not the victim.

Where an individual becomes better and not bitter.

And we looked last week at the power of freedom in forgiveness.

And I don't want to spend the time to summarize the sermon.

And you know, some powerful, powerful biblical truths.

And it's strange because the more I'm looking at this aspect of forgiveness, you know, as a topic, really that's Christianity.

That salvation is God's forgiveness to us and us being so grateful to the Lord and us as servants, we forgive those who trespass against us because we have had a debt that we could never pay back, forgiven by God, but at great cost.

So I'd like to invite you to bow with me as we pray for this third, it will be the last in this series on the power of God's forgiveness, but it's entitled Joy in Forgiveness.

So first we looked at our need to forgive.

It's not really an option because we pray in the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our trespasses to God as we forgive those that trespass against us.

So we must have a forgiving nature, and that needs to come from God.

And then our freedom in forgiveness, so that we're not locked for years, people with resentments and bitterness against others, and now the joy.

So let us bow our heads as we look at this very, very powerful truth.

Father in heaven, We come to you weak, sinful, with hardened hearts, seeking, Lord, for you to break away the hardness of our heart and to give us a heart of flesh, that, Lord, you may be able to use this sinner who I am to speak words of encouragement, words of faith, and words of power, and words of forgiveness.

Please touch my mind, give me the thoughts, let your people be fed.

And Lord, may we be inspired by your great attribute of forgiveness when it's not fair even.

And we pray that we may understand and experience more of the joy and the fullness of life that you want us to have in Jesus' name, amen.

We looked at a number of definitions of forgiveness and 1 of them was that to forgive means that we look at the past in a new light so that we can be energized in our present experience to be able to achieve the goals that we have in our life.

In other words, forgiveness, when we engage in this gift, this divine gift, it is healing for us and it is peace and power from God.

And so we looked at it almost as a strategy to keep us healthy, because we looked at how high blood pressure and other illnesses are provoked by an unforgiving spirit.

And it's amazing that title, Forgive to Live, and he did research and he did case studies, and there was no other factor that could be allowed to come into this study.

If anybody did any exercise or anything unusual, they were discounted from the study.

It was only those that engaged in the attitude of forgiveness that were counted, and so their blood pressure was measured before they went through the teaching and the principles of forgiveness, and then it was measured afterwards, and it was seen to have been radically lowered.

And so forgiveness To live is a powerful concept, but it is so basic to our Christian living.

When you think about it, you know, we hold on to the pain of the hurt of what somebody has done or somebody has said, but that actually kills.

It actually inhibits our present ability, affects and weakens our spirituality.

But today I want to focus on the joy of forgiveness, that we can stop destroying our own life.

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All Teachings

06. Luke: Women in the Ministry of Jesus

39m

Husbands Love Your Wives as Christ Loves the Church

53m

3- Our Joy in Forgiveness

53m

2- Our Freedom in Forgiveness

57m

1- Our Need to Forgive

39m

In His Strength

45m

Overcoming, Victory, and the Brain

45m

How to Ride a Cloud (Reading Revelation- 4)

30m

Faces About the Cross

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Operation BluePrint

25m

What Does the Future Hold?

29m

Power In the Name

45m

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