Do spiritual people give thanks differently than natural, God-fearing humans? How might we end Thanksgiving weekend not simply as thankful Americans but as Christ-grateful Christians? Psalm 30 gives us a remarkable glimpse into how one deeply religious man became arrogant in his prosperity, was humbled in great losses, cried out to God for help, and learned afresh to thank his Lord as a spiritual, rescued man.

The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus is a children's Sunday School favorite and for good reason. Zacchaeus is little and so are kids. Zacchaeus wanted a look at Jesus and wouldn't we all? Maybe. This story in Luke 19:1-10 comes at a crossroads in Luke's gospel account and in our lives as hearers.

It seems inevitable that our eyesight goes bad. Usually around age forty. These days there are a few solutions to ensure good eyesight until old age. But our spiritual seeing problems are a different matter. We are born blind, unable to see ourselves rightly, God for who he is, or Christ for all he has done for sinners. Blindness is a deliberately chosen metaphor for our spiritual condition since the blind cannot heal themselves. In Luke 18:31–43 we come to the last stop before Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. There he makes a final prediction concerning his death and resurrection and shows his powers of spiritual healing for one last miracle before the cross.

Jesus just commended infants as a model for how we enter the kingdom of heaven—wholly dependent upon God and not ourselves. To make his point clear, in Luke 18:18–30, we meet a man in quite the opposite position. He is rich and he is a ruler, powerful and a man of many possessions. He comes to Jesus with a question, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" That's a good question. Jesus' answer points a clear way if we have ears to hear what he has to say.

Jesus taught us to pray as a means of not losing heart (Luke 18:1–8). Our prayers shape our inner life and relationship with God. They also reveal. In Luke 18:9–17, Jesus teaches us a simple and counterintuitive truth: being worthy to enter the kingdom of God requires knowing you're not. Self-righteousness is a problem made plain in our prayers to God—how we see ourselves in relation to God and others. So, it turns out, prayer is not the answer. The way into the kingdom is nothing nothing less—and nothing more!—than the mercy of God for sinners in Christ.

Waiting is hard when you know how long you'll wait. Waiting is near impossible when you don't. Jesus promised his disciples that one day the Son of Man will return and God's justice will reign. But first they must wait. And they don't know how long. Which might lead to great discouragement and doubt. Jesus prepares his disciples for those days with a parable of a persistent widow and an unjust judge. As we await the kingdom, Jesus means to strengthen our hearts from Luke 18:1-8, that upon his return he might find faith on earth.

Luke presents us with another conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees on a familiar topic. Jesus is asked "when" the kingdom of God will show up, and he begins a conversation across multiple audiences spanning multiple topics like lightning, marriage, sulfur, and even vultures. In this passage we receive a description of God's kingdom for the ages and pictures that will leave no doubt. "The days are coming", Jesus says, and we better not turn back from his words. In Luke 17:20-37 our Lord will instruct us on the aspects of God's kingdom in a way that we cannot miss.

This two-part series establishes a simple claim: the church is the beginning and end of missions. It is through the local church that the Holy Spirit sends out his workers. When God works through them the result is local churches that bear his name. Acts 14:19–28 sets our attention on that lofty goal of starting, strengthening, and ultimately leaving behind local churches that carry the work forward. Listen as we consider how the goal of global church planting shapes our missions aims and plans.

Luke's first work for Theophilus gave us all that Jesus began to do and teach, and his second work, Acts, gives us all he continues to do. Our risen Lord ascended to the Father and now continues his mission to spread his glory to the ends of the earth. That mission launches from his Spirit-empowered body, the church. In Acts 13:1-12, we meet the church at Antioch, a church formed by persecution and eager to get about that mission. How did they go about that work? What did they actually do? Listen as we learn from this sister church the work to commit ourselves to for the sake of this unstoppable mission.

Have you ever been so overjoyed that you shouted out loud? Have you ever been so overwhelmed with someone that you fell down in front of them? We see both of these responses in the life of one leper healed by Jesus. But what happened to the other nine? As we see in Luke 17:11–19, it is possible to be glad for Jesus' gifts without being grateful to Jesus and for Jesus himself. Thanksgiving sounds easy enough. We're taught to write thank you notes as children. But true thanksgiving in the heart is a miracle God works in those who are his children by faith.