WHO IS THIS MAN, JESUS?

Throughout Luke's gospel, this has been the central question, asked in various ways, over and over again. You have asked this question, too, haven't you? Who is Jesus? Is he just another teacher, a prophet, something more?

THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST

The disciples had been so impressed by his teaching that they left everything they knew to follow him, study him, and slowly become more like him. It was not long before they started seeing things that would raise this question in their hearts, too, and when he calmed a storm at sea by the simple command, "Peace! Be still," they asked, "“Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

In Luke 9, you find their answer...

WHO IS THIS MAN, JESUS?

Throughout Luke's gospel, this has been the central question, asked in various ways, over and over again. You have asked this question, too, haven't you? Who is Jesus? Is he just another teacher, a prophet, something more?

THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BEST

The disciples had been so impressed by his teaching that they left everything they knew to follow him, study him, and slowly become more like him. It was not long before they started seeing things that would raise this question in their hearts, too, and when he calmed a storm at sea by the simple command, "Peace! Be still," they asked, "“Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

In Luke 9, you find their answer...

There is an old hymn that gets stuck in my head and heart from time to time, one I learned in the earliest days of my walk with Christ, one that never lets go. "O To Be Like Thee" was written by Thomas Chisholm in 1897. Its music may be dated, but its spirit should never be. As we continue our journey through the life of Christ in the Gospel of Luke, its second stanza fits like a soundtrack:

Oh! to be like Thee, full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting

,Seeking the wand’ring sinner to find.

Oh! to be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee,

Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

"Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart." As we look at his life this morning, we are going to look at 10 characteristics of Jesus' heart that truly stamp his image on a disciple, so that we may have a heart--and the life that brings--just like His.

There is an old hymn that gets stuck in my head and heart from time to time, one I learned in the earliest days of my walk with Christ, one that never lets go. "O To Be Like Thee" was written by Thomas Chisholm in 1897. Its music may be dated, but its spirit should never be. As we continue our journey through the life of Christ in the Gospel of Luke, its second stanza fits like a soundtrack:

Oh! to be like Thee, full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting

,Seeking the wand’ring sinner to find.

Oh! to be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee,

Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

"Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart." As we look at his life this morning, we are going to look at 10 characteristics of Jesus' heart that truly stamp his image on a disciple, so that we may have a heart--and the life that brings--just like His.

Poor disciples. It had been a hard, exhausting day, followed by a near-deadly storm at night, plus the emotional drain of having been rebuked by Jesus for having so little faith. And this was supposed to be their trip to rest and recuperate. We don't know if they left the boat and expected to finally rest, or if by this time they were trepidatious about what shoe was going to fall next. If it was the latter, their nervousness would be justified. Naked, dirty and bloody, and screaming like a banshee demon-possessed guy was not the welcome wagon the Decapolis Chamber of Commerce had been going for

Poor disciples. It had been a hard, exhausting day, followed by a near-deadly storm at night, plus the emotional drain of having been rebuked by Jesus for having so little faith. And this was supposed to be their trip to rest and recuperate. We don't know if they left the boat and expected to finally rest, or if by this time they were trepidatious about what shoe was going to fall next. If it was the latter, their nervousness would be justified. Naked, dirty and bloody, and screaming like a banshee demon-possessed guy was not the welcome wagon the Decapolis Chamber of Commerce had been going for

WHEN THE GOING GETS ROUGH, THE ROUGH GET...A NAP???

When I was a kid, my dog was terrified by storms. The slightest clap of thunder and opening of the back door and she was in the house, down the stairs, and into a corner that was the single farthest spot in the house from that door back out into a scary, loud storm. She expected us to give her a place of peace when peace had fled her world. I imagine that's what the disciples expected of Jesus, or at the very least that he would grab a bucket or oar and pitch in. But instead, he was napping...and that's when they felt, "Somethin' 'bout that boy ain't right." Who is this guy?

WHEN THE GOING GETS ROUGH, THE ROUGH GET...A NAP???

When I was a kid, my dog was terrified by storms. The slightest clap of thunder and opening of the back door and she was in the house, down the stairs, and into a corner that was the single farthest spot in the house from that door back out into a scary, loud storm. She expected us to give her a place of peace when peace had fled her world. I imagine that's what the disciples expected of Jesus, or at the very least that he would grab a bucket or oar and pitch in. But instead, he was napping...and that's when they felt, "Somethin' 'bout that boy ain't right." Who is this guy?

Guest Speaker: Jerry DeBord

Guest Speaker: Jerry DeBord