God ordained several divine encounters for Jesus as He walked along the road with His disciples. These encounters come in the form of three men, who either volunteer or are invited by Jesus to follow Him. Their three different responses illuminate three of the primary excuses the Israelites had for not following Jesus. These excuses haven’t changed thousands of years later. We need to be aware of them in our lives today.

The Bible gives us four accounts of Jesus’ life, not just so we can learn the most about Him, but so we can learn the most about His disciples too. In His 12 followers, we see men dedicated to their Lord but constantly falling short, missing the big picture, and struggling to grasp the magnitude of the moment they are living in. Ultimately, they struggle to recognize the magnitude of the Person they are following. This truth is so encouraging to believers today, who also fall short and miss the mark, but continue to strive after Jesus and follow His example. In Luke 9, that example is a demonstration of divine grit and divine grace.

The twelve disciples were given intimacy and closeness to Jesus that no other Christians in history have experienced. We might expect that being in the physical presence of Jesus and hearing His teaching from His own mouth would have transformed these men into "super-Christians." But they suffered from the same struggle with selfishness that is common today. Jesus will confront their self-centerness with the example of a child.

God encourages believers in their walk with Him by giving them spiritual victories in their lives. But many Christians don't understand how easily these victories can be twisted into vices. When we forget where our power comes from, when we are tempted to take the credit for these victories, suddenly God-sufficiency becomes self-sufficiency, and the sin of pride takes over our lives. Jesus' disciples fell into this trap after a successful week of witnessing, and Jesus lovingly reminded them, and us, who ultimately has the power over the kingdom of darkness.

Almost everyone universally accepts the existence of an afterlife. Some cultures use mythology, some adapt from the Bible, others refuse to predict what eternity will be, but still acknowledge that earthly death is not the end. Only a select few human beings--besides Jesus--have been given any meaningful glimpse of what the glory of the eternal kingdom will look like here on earth. And every single one of those people are in this text from the Gospel of Luke.

There are many different aspects of our lives that go into decision-making here on earth. People consider their financial portfolio, their lifestyle and comfort, input from their friends and family, and many other factors. But Jesus is about to challenge His disciples to give up their freedomes and their choices and allow Him to determine their path and their future. He still gives us that same challenge today.

For Jesus' twelve disciples, it was easier to say the right theological truths about Jesus with their mouths than it was for them to believe them in their hearts and lives. After being equipped by God to minister on earth, and after declaring profound theological truths about Jesus, Peter and the disciples will be put to the test by Jesus, who wants to know if their heart-living matches their head-knowledge. Jesus is asking us the same question today.

Jesus gave His disciples supernatural and divine power on earth and commissioned them to go out and exercise that power in Israel. When they returned, the disciples were filled with awe and wonder, not at what Jesus did, but at what they did. Have you ever been tempted to do the same? Well, Jesus is about to give a needed and humbling lesson to these disciples, and to us today: when God works through us, God alone deserves the credit and the glory.

The Great Commission is more than just an abstract concept, it's a practical command for us to obey today. But does he idea of preaching the gospel and witnessing to others sometimes seem to be too daunting for you to do? The disciples felt the same way. After sitting under Jesus' teaching for two years, the disciples are sent out by their Lord to do the work of the kingdom, but Jesus doesn't leave them unprepared. He gives them--and us--a very practical checklist as we make disciples of all the nations.

True manhood is not chauvinistic. True strength is not condescending. True leadership is not tyrannical. Peter reminds us that we will never be leaders in our homes, churches, and societies, if we are not following the example of Christ.