15 Feb - Luke 5

We are in Luke 5 for the Tattoo Church Reading Plan today. We put this together to help you understand what you’re reading in the Bible and to help you grow as a person and in your relationship with God. If you’re not there yet and are just curious feel free to join us as well. Here are some points to think about:

1. We see a more detailed account of Jesus calling his first few disciples to follow him. We read about this before in Mark 1. We find out that Jesus had just performed a miracle in these guys presence giving them more fish than their boats could even handle. This must have been worth a lot of money to these men but what happens next is crazy . . . they leave it all. The greatest catch, which equaled the greatest pay out, of their lives they left on the boats to rot in order to follow after Jesus.
2. Next we read about Jesus healing a man with leprosy and telling him not to tell everyone. Of course the news spread that Jesus could heal people and they started coming in droves. On a side note I can’t help but think Jesus was like, “Seriously dude? I heal you and tell you not to tell anyone.” Then I could see the ex-leper guy say, “No way man, I didn’t tell anyone.” At which Jesus would reply, “Bro, I just healed you from an incurable disease, don’t you think I know you’re lying to me?” . . . anyhow, I digress.
3. Did you catch what Jesus did in verse 16? He “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Sound familiar? We talked about it yesterday.
4. We read another account of the story where a sick guy’s friends hoist him on a roof and cut a hole into it to lower him down to Jesus. We read about this before when we read Mark 2.
5. Then we read about this tax collector named Levi that Jesus told to follow him and the guy did. You’re probably thinking, “Yea, I get it I don’t like the I.R.S. either” but this was a way bigger deal back then. Levi would have been considered a traitor by his people since Levi was Jewish and was collecting taxes for the oppressive Roman rulers. Also, it was common that tax collectors back then would often extort extra money from people to line their own pockets. If this were the case Levi would have been a traitor and thief. Yet, Jesus called him to follow and be one of his apprentices. This must have caused quite the stir.
6. Then Levi threw Jesus a big party and invited all his friends over. Remember when we read this before that these were the people the religious leaders would not associate with? And yet Jesus was at ease spending time with them. In fact, they were drawn to Jesus.

The books of the Bible titled Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are sometimes referred to as the Gospels. They are the account of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. They have a few similar stories in them all but they are all written by different authors and with slightly different perspectives but no contradictions. It really helps us to get a better picture of the life of Jesus. For this reason a lot of what we have read in Luke so far we’ve covered before when we read through Mark. It’s really cool though to see how some authors give us more detailed accounts of some of the stories. 

So now the application: Do you like me often feel like you’re not the type of person to be accepted by God? Well, you’re not; neither am I. The cool thing is we’re the kind of people Jesus chose to follow him when he was on earth. So, obviously we are the type of people God chooses. So, where are you at with him today? Are you still skeptical? No worries. God welcomes your doubts. Do you have questions? Me too and God welcomes our questions. Do you say you follow him but don’t really live it out all the time? Unfortunately I do as well but God forgives and we do our best to do life with him everyday. If you have any questions and want to chat feel free to email me at Tommy@tattoochurch.com If you pray take some time today and get really honest with God about where you’re at with him and ask him to help you experience him in a more real way today. If you don’t pray and are skeptical then maybe do this; say “God if you’re really up there prove it to me.” Don’t expect a voice from heaven or anything. But if you’re genuinely searching for God it’s my experience that he makes himself known to you.