The ministry of Jesus centred on the kingdom of God, and in this fifth session Jerry explains how Luke's carefully ordered narrative pulls together three key perspectives on the kingdom of God, each centred round a pivotal miracle and each using a series of parables to drive home the thrilling truths which lie at its heart.

Jerry leads you through the first part of what's commonly referred to as Luke's "travel narrative": Jesus travels from Galilee in northern Israel to Jerusalem in the south - and in so doing deliberately passes through Samaria. His mission as the 'true Man' will see His disciples going out to fill the earth with God's message and God's rule - and in many ways the journey through Samaria is a'dress rehearsal' for them.

Jerry explains how this third section of Luke's gospel follows the previous section, with the concentration on 7 miracles here underlining the authority of Jesus - which is the central thrust of this next part of Luke's gospel. Jesus is the 'true Man' who has come to exercise the rule of God, through the Word of God, by the power of the Spirit of God: and the miracles are a key way in which He is 'accredited' as such by God.

The Manifesto

Jerry leads you through this second section of Luke’s gospel and shows how Luke portrays Jesus as the ‘true Man’, clear in His calling to do what the first man, Adam, so signally failed to do – namely to exercise the rule of God through the Word of God, in the power of the Spirit of God.

The Man

Duncan Ryan rounds off this module with a session which examines what the Reformers taught in respect to the Christian life: in so doing he shows how committed they were to giving the law of God its rightful place in the life of faith, and to insisting that Christians are called into rather than out of the world.

Duncan Ryan works through the Reformers' teaching on the crucial theme of the church as the body through whom the Lord Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, continues to move forward His work, and highlights the careful balance in the Reformers' perspective.

Duncan Ryan builds on the previous session (about the believer's union with Christ) to expound the Reformers' teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, with particular reference to the works of John Owen and John Calvin

Duncan Ryan works through the key doctrine of the believer's union with Christ, showing how the Reformers highlighted the significance of Jesus becoming 'one of us', and the implications of our being made 'one with Him'. 

Duncan Ryan explores the Reformers' exposition of the Biblical doctrine of justification, and explains why they were so adamant in insisting that it is only by grace, through faith, and in Christ, that a person is justified.