November 30th, I saw a friend’s display picture challenging as many people as possible to study the book of Luke which has twenty-four chapters from the 1st of December till the 24th. And by Christmas morning, for as many that studied the book of Luke would have known Jesus , the reason for the season.
Without thinking it through, I spontaneously shared on my profile and asked people who wanted to join. Five of my friends, one of which I had not spoken to in like forever indicated Interest. And another invited two of her friends to a group chat where we exchange notes. Ever since the 1st of December we have been sharing notes about our readings and the things we are learning.
I am thankful I shared, I am thankful we are all learning more and remembering who our Jesus is. I am thankful for the word of God that brings life to our Souls
I have decided to share my own notes with you all. Go ahead to study the book of Luke for yourself and you could share your thoughts with me as well.
Please see below my not so fancy notes :).
Luke Chapter one
Elizabeth & Zechariah were equally yoked . Elizabeth was barren but that didn’t stop them from doing God’s work- verse 8
The more Godly marriages we have, the more Godly children we would have. The Godly marriage of Zechariah & Elizabeth bore John the Baptist who would later baptize our Lord Jesus.
Imagine if John was born in a dysfunctional family, he probably would or not become the baptist God wanted him to be
So Zechariah probably was bothered about his childlessness and he continually prayed about it, because the angel of the Lord referenced his prayers when he appeared to him- verse 13
Alcohol and the Holy Spirit perhaps are incompatible ? – verse 15
Why would the Lord say John not to consume alcohol, that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit?
John was destined to be such a great man.
Angel Gabriel announced John’s birth and Jesus’
In verse 27, the Bible tells us about Joseph’s lineage to show us that God keeps to His word. He promised David a King that would reign forever in His lineage.
Verse 33 goes ahead to confirm it.
Several ways in this chapter we see the power of the Holy Spirit upon and in a life.
The first is in the life of John and second is in the life of Jesus.
Elizabeth filled with the spirit was able to prophesy that Mary was blessed and the baby she would bear.Zechariah filled with the Holy Spirit spoke the message of God- he started to prophesy verse 67
As Christians we need the Holy spirit direly
Verse 73-75 Jesus came so that we can serve God without fear and in righteousness
In summary God is such a strategist-and a God of order. He brought John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus Christ.
As Christians we really need to grow physically and in spirit just as John the Baptist – verse 80
Luke Chapter Two
I have a feeling that Joseph going to Bethlehem, the same place King David was born is very significant and God ordered. I feel like it’s more than getting counted or taking part in the census.
Perhaps God made it so that the census will be at that time
Lord! I surrender my feet to you, to keep ordering my every step in Jesus name.
Verse 7– Points to us that Jesus was born in a lowly manger and as we would find out. He grew in stature, wisdom and everything. I feel like this is a pointer that no matter how lowly our place or family of birth is, one with the Spirit of God who allows God to lead Him/her can grow into greatness.
Verse 11– The day our freedom was announced. The day The prophecies of our freedom became manifestation.
The angel announced to the shepherds that Our savior was born.
Verse 13– First time in my entire life that I’d notice that a great army of angels actually came down to sing praises to the Lord after the birth of Jesus. Glory be the name of the Lord! Him alone is to be praised.
Verse 25– The mention of the Holy Spirit again. The Holy Spirit was with Simeon and gave Him assurance that he will live to see the Messiah. The Holy Spirit gives assurance and encouragement.
Verse 27 — The Holy Spirit also led him to the temple when Jesus was being dedicated. And the Holy Spirit helped him to recognize the Messiah. The Holy Spirit can guide and order our steps , if we allow Him.
We really need more of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in our Christian walk.
May we be filled with more of the Holy Spirit in Jesus name.
Verse 29– God is a promise keeper. He kept His promise to Simeon. I perceive Simeon is all grey and old at this time because he says, God you can take me away peacefully now. Or perhaps he wasn’t so old and was just content with seeing The Messiah
Verse 46: Nobody is too big to learn even Jesus humbly learnt at the feet of people who had more experience on earth than He did.
Verse 51 – Jesus was obedient to His parents and His mother kept all His good deeds as a treasure in her heart.
No matter how great God has told us that we would be in our generation. Humility, ability to learn, unlearn and relearn and also to be obedient to our guardians is essential.
I think these are all ingredients/preparation for a great leader.
Luke Chapter Three
As prophesied by Isaiah about a man shouting in the desert, get ready the road for the Lord.
It came to manifestation, John the Baptist from the desert ( I want to call this a desert period) A time to just be alone with God and allow us speak to us.
Verse 2 — John after a word came from the Lord, he went about preaching the gospel.
He points that repentance from our sins should come before baptism.
Verse 21, Even Jesus was baptized. After we repent and confess our sins, we should be baptized in the name of the Lord.
More so, in verse 9 he mentions the great Axe that is ready to cut off any tree that does not bear good fruits. I believe Jesus Christ said this same thing too during His ministry. The great Axe is God, we Christians are the trees and we have responsibilities to bear good fruits like the fruit of the spirit and many more good fruits. He went ahead to give an example of sharing what we have with those who do not.
Told the tax collectors what to do, told the soldiers what not & what to do. This goes ahead to confirm that the word of God is for everyone
Verse 15 says that the hope of people who listened began to rise. I believe this was the work of the word of God. The word of God brings hope to its listeners & hearers.
Verse 16– There is the place for the man of God like John to baptize believers by water but it is through Jesus Christ that we are baptized in the Holy Spirit & fire.
Verse 17, I believe is a pointer to how true believers and unbelievers will end. Jesus will gather us to Himself to be with Him in heaven in Jesus name, Amen
And unbelievers will be thrown into fire that never burns out.
Verse 19 – John was bold to reprimand the Governor at that time for the evils he did.
That we may have bold men and women of God who would stand for what is right in our generation in Jesus name.
Woah!! The genealogy of Jesus Christ!!! It was traced down to David, to Abraham and then Adam.
God cited this for reasons, definitely!!
Jesus is the son of God ultimately, He is in the lineage of Adam who the Bible called the son of God.
Wait!! They both have similarities. They both were made without fertilization of an egg by a sperm. The Holy Spirit did the creative work
Luke Chapter Four
Verse 1 – To have a fresh fill of the Holy Spirit or the infilling of the Holy Spirit, some level of sacrifice is needed. Jesus sacrificed His leisure, His food, being around His friends and family for 40 days.
By the time He was done, He returned filled of the Holy Spirit, led by the Holy spirit and able to overcome the temptation of the devil.
Verse 5-7 shows us that the devil does have some power in his hands and he has access to the wealth of this earth, he gives to those who worship him. And he offered this to Jesus. But the thing about this power and wealth is it leads to eternal condemnation. It robbs the benefactors of the peace that only God gives.
Plus worshipping anything asides the God who created the heavens and the earth is idolatry as cited by Jesus in Verse 8
Verse 9- 12 shows how the devil quotes scriptures I believe it’s Psalm 91 and Jesus counters it with another scripture. The devil did this all in the bid to tempt the Messiah and cause His downfall. I think it’s important for we Christians to learn and memorize as many scriptures as we can and also pray for the spirit of discernment to know when it is the devil speaking or if it’s God.
The devil could come to us quoting scriptures and we could fall for it line, hook and sinker.
I pray that the Lord fills us more with the Spirit of discernment In Jesus name and the ability to memorize more of His word in Jesus name.
Verse 13 says the devil left Jesus for awhile, I have a feeling the devil tempted Jesus some more but it probably wasn’t recorded in the Bible. So I think as believers as long as we live, we should endeavor to stand strong in the Lord, lest we fall.
We shall not fall into temptation in Jesus name.
Verse 14-15 we see what the power of the Holy Spirit can do. Helped Jesus in His teaching ministry and also helped to spread the fame of Jesus.
Verse 21– Jesus read the prophecy of prophet Isaiah and went on to say that those words of the Lord has come true. This is assurance that every word of the Lord will come true.
May we have faith to believe everything God says about us and patience to wait and see them manifest in Jesus name.
Verse 28-30 I tried to picture Jesus being dragged by the Nazarenes all the way to a cliff about to throw Him off. Woahh!!
But it seems like Jesus was just calm through it all and He just walked out from the crowd.
What a woah! Such calmness I pray for Lord.
Verse 34: Even demons know who Jesus is! And they obey His command and are subject to His authority
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Verse 42: At daybreak Jesus went to a lonely place, I believe this is a place of quiet time. A time to just be alone with God to speak with Him and allow Him speak to us.
I think quiet time is very essential for Christians, I pray God helps us to observe our quiet times daily in Jesus name.
Luke Chapter Five
I am imagining how loud and amplified Jesus’ voice must have been. I do not think they had microphones those days. Jesus preached to the crowd from a boat, somewhere in the middle of the water. Cruise!!!
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Luke 5-10 I am thinking why did Jesus choose Simon , James & John as his disciples? Perhaps because they were diligent at what they did. And they could probably bring their diligence to serving God and sharing the gospel .But a couple of things I saw in these verses was that, we probably could work and work but without Jesus in it with us. It would amount to nothing just like the disciples who toiled all night without catching fishes. And With Jesus in the boat with them in the morning, they caught an overflow of fishes.
Verse 13– A touch from Jesus healed the man of his terrible skin disease. What a mighty God we serve!!
May we experience the touch of Jesus in every area of our lives in Jesus name.
Verse 16 – Humble Jesus! He didn’t let the fame get into His head, instead He went to a lonely place to pray.
May God help us to be truly humble and be able to retreat from the crowd to pray in Jesus name.
Verse 17 – The power of God was present for Jesus to heal the sick. Meaning Jesus healed by the power of God available for Him. I think this is the same with true men and even children of of God too. We are able to pray for and see healing through and by the Power of God available in our lives.
May the Power of God avail much for us in Jesus name.
Verse 27- 31 Jesus came for all who have sinned and have been separated from God and His love.
Luke Chapter six
Verse 3 – Jesus knew the word of God because He had spent time studying it as He grew. He knew how to use it as well, He used it in response to the Judgmental Pharisees
May we be able to rightly study and divide the word of God in Jesus name.
Verse 5: I strongly believe that Jesus gave us the power to choose the day we could observe our sabbath here. He says, the son of man is Lord of the sabbath. We must observe sabbath, a day of rest from all our works but we can choose which day. My thoughts 🤷🏻♀️
Verse 12–14 Jesus prayed all night before He chose His disciples, His close buddies. The men that He’d spend all of His Ministerial life with while on earth.
Verse 17-19 People came from far and wide to listen to our Jesus . He taught and healed them all. Verse 19 says that power was going from Him,meaning power left Him just as virtue flowed out of him to the woman with the issue of blood to convict souls, heal people.
In a previous chapter , I had said Jesus healed people according to the amount of the power of God available.
I strongly believe that’s why Jesus usually spent all night praying to God to recharge to receive more power from God.
Verse 20-26 The beatitudes , no condition is permanent. Things, seasons change so quickly. Let’s ensure we are on the Lord’s side whatever we do, so we can reap and enjoy eternal rewards.
May the good Lord help us to run and finish our Christian race strongly in Jesus name.
Verse 37-46 Jesus is telling and showing us how to love, not just our friends but our enemies. It could be a hard something.
But I pray God’s Love is shed abroad in our lives daily so that we can share with the world in Jesus name.
Verse 37-38 The way we treat our neighbors, friends and family is the same way God will treat us.
Verse 43-45 The mouth is a channel to express all the things we have ingested and kept safe in our hearts, whether good or bad.
May we ingest and regurgitate the word of God and the things that please Him always in Jesus name.
Verse 46-50 it’s not enough to read/study God’s word. We should live our lives by it.
May the good Lord help us to be hearers and doers of His word in Jesus name.
Luke Chapter Seven
Verse 1-10
Such great faith shown by the commander. He believed that at the command of Jesus everything whatsoever will adhere/corporate/obey. Even Jesus identifies that He has not seen such great faith in the whole of Israel.
May the Holy Spirit help us to have such great faith everyday, every night in Jesus name .
Verse 13– Jesus is referred to as the Lord. I know the Holy Trinity is one but I feel there is a deeper meaning or reason for referring to Jesus as the Lord here.
But I see that the Lord has emotions just like we do. I mean we are created in His image, so it makes sense that we have emotions just like Him. That’s why as Christians we should be careful and endeavor not to hurt God or grief the Holy Spirit as the Bible tells us.
Anyways verse 13 says the Lord’s heart was filled with pity for the widow who had lost her only son and He told not to cry.
And Jesus touched the coffin, spoke gently I imagine and told the boy to get up. And the boy’s spirit heard and obeyed.
May every seemingly dead situations in our lives receive the touch of Jesus in Jesus name.
Verse 16 got me thinking, the people praised God and acknowledged that God had come to save His people. This got me thinking, there were no miracles like this during the times of the prophets- Isaiah, Joel, Nehemiah and the rest. They saw and had conversations with God but the people did not experience the power of God The way people did after Jesus came.
Lord! I thank you for coming to save us and thank you for your healing power available to as many as believe and faith in you. Thank You Jesus .
Verse 18-23 I am thinking John sent his messengers to Jesus to ask Him if He was really the Messiah that was promised. He probably was seeking confirmation which is normal. When God sends His word, there is always confirmation.
But didn’t John see when the dove came upon the head of Jesus and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased? I am thinking John didn’t or just didn’t want to base his judgment on that. What do you think?
But Jesus acknowledged that John the Baptist was greater than any man that ever lived.
Verse 30 Pharisees rejected God’s purpose for their lives and refused to be baptized by John.
May we happily accept and walk in accordance to God’s purpose for our lives in Jesus name.
Verse 36-50 I like how Jesus spoke to Simon about the sinful woman using a parable and asking him questions. The wisdom of God though!
And our faith in Jesus has the power to save us and set us free.
May the good Lord bless the reading of His word in Jesus name.
Luke Chapter Eight
Verse 1-3 Jesus went around towns and bill preaching the word of God. That seems to be what He was all about, His father’s Business. And His father did provide for Him through the women and people who followed Him around. The Bible mentions Joanna, Mary and many other women who who helped Jesus and His disciples with their resources.
If God truly sends you to handle His business, you don’t worry, He will take care of you and handle your businesses too.
Verse 4– At the gather of every crowd, Jesus saw it as an opportunity to share the word of God.
O Lord! That we may have the boldness and grace to share the gospel when you want us to in Jesus name.
Verse 5-8 As I read the parable , I thought to myself, the bird, torn talked about could be social media, wrong influence and so on that may what to choke up the word of God that has been dropped in our spirit.
I pray that the word of God is well rooted and grows to bear fruits in our lives in Jesus name.
Verse 9-10 The way we are ingesting the word of God and understanding, to some people it’s all parables. They are clueless.
Lord, be merciful and open the understanding of souls being lost who do not understand your word or who you are in Jesus name.
Verse 16– God has not made us the light of the world to stay covered up. He expects us to shine His light wherever we go , However He tells us to.
Verse 17– Absolutely nothing we do in the covers will stay covered, a day of uncovering will come . Whether good or bad.
May God’s light shine brighter and brighter through our lives and in our lives in Jesus name.
Verse 23-24 Jesus the son of God who the winds hear and obey!
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But Verse 25 shows us we also can speak to whatever storm or wind is disturbing or scaring us and it would obey. But we should do it with so much faith in Jesus.
May our faith in God increase and May we be able to exercise our faith always in Jesus name.
Verse 26- 28 I was sad as I read how the evil spirit in the man had tormented him, for years he went without clothes, he would break chains he was bound with. I can only imagine the sores and bruises the man had plus oppression.
It goes on to back up my believe that every man is controlled by the kind of spirit that lives inside him/her
May the spirit of God fill us afresh daily and control our lives in Jesus name.
Verse 39 – Everyone in the town were afraid after they saw the miracle of casting out many demons that Jesus did.
Mob, the man that was delivered begged to follow Jesus but Jesus told him to stay back and tell people about what God had done for him.And the man obeyed, I can imagine at least one person would have received Christ into their life after hearing such a testimony
God would love us to share our testimonies with people around us, it could encourage or bring them closer to God.
Verse 56: I am wondering why Jesus told Jairus and his wife not to tell anyone what had happened?
But what stood out for me was when the messenger came and said,”don’t bother, she’s dead”
But Jesus said she was only sleeping. The report of Jesus is what we should believe, not the report of man.
May God help us in Jesus name