What Jesus Did

[After Jesus said he would be killed and resurrected,] he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me."

—Luke 9:23 NLT

Key Thought​

If we are going to be Jesus' followers, his disciples, we're going to have to be willing to walk in the way of the cross. Doing so means giving up our self interests [1] and our pride. [2] It means we live to honor Christ and to bless others in his name. [3] And...

 

[After Peter's confession of Jesus as the Messiah,] Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. "The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things," he said. "He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead."

—Luke 9:21-22 NLT

Key Thought​

Once the apostles had the right designation for Jesus — the Messiah from God, they needed to have the implications...

 

[After the disciples responded about who people said Jesus was,] he asked them, "But who do you say I am?"
Peter replied, "You are the Messiah sent from God!"


—Luke 9:20 NLT

Key Thought​

No matter what people of the world — whether it was the crowd or Herod or other enemies of Jesus — might think of him, Jesus' was concerned that his disciples knew the truth about him. He would leave his mission in their hands. They would be called upon to put their lives on the line. They...

 

One day Jesus left the crowds to pray alone. Only his disciples were with him, and he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
"Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead."

—Luke 9:18-19 NLT

Key Thought​

The Gospel of Luke reminds us that so many of the great moments of Jesus' life and ministry were tied to prayer. Sometime soon, get a specially colored highlighter and read the...

 

[After Jesus blessed the five loaves of bread and the two fish and the disciples distributed them to the crowd of more than 5,000 [1] people, they] all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!

—Luke 9:17 NLT

Key Thought​

Our story began with Jesus telling his disciples to feed the more than 5,000 people themselves. [1] "Impossible!" was effectively their reply. Yet, when all was said and done, the twelve apostles picked up...

 

[Jesus told the apostles to feed the crowd, but they said there wasn't enough food.] For there were about 5,000 men there.
Jesus replied, "Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each." So the people all sat down. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people.

—Luke 9:14-16 NLT

Key Thought​

For those...

 

[Jesus wanted to slip quietly away with his apostles.] But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick.
Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, "Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place."

But Jesus said, "You feed them."

"But we have only...

 

When the apostles returned [from their teaching and healing mission], they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida.

—Luke 9:10 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus often worked to give his disciples some quiet downtime. With the pressures of the crowd, their own experience with ministry, the teaching Jesus was giving them, and the pressures of everyday living, they needed rest. So do we! As the next verses reveal, [1] sometimes...

 

When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about everything Jesus was doing, he was puzzled. Some were saying that John the Baptist had been raised from the dead. Others thought Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets risen from the dead.
"I beheaded John," Herod said, "so who is this man about whom I hear such stories?" And he kept trying to see him.

—Luke 9:7-9 NLT

Key Thought​

Despite the fact that Jesus didn't do his miracles to impress people, [1] the miracles...

 

[After Jesus commissioned the disciples,] they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

—Luke 9:6 NLT

Key Thought​

Like Jesus' preaching, the preaching of the Good News by the Twelve involved an effort to reach both heart and body. I believe we must take away two important understandings from what Jesus instructed [1] and what the disciples did.

1. We are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus by carrying his message to others...