January 19, 2026 • 30 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Company podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think of theother and better working
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
Mark will then look forward intothis week's album reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
So we have a cup of coffee andwe start the week together on
Monday morning coffee.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
I've got my Bible.
I'm ready to talk about Luke.
I'm ready to talk aboutyesterday's sermon.
I'm ready to do all the thingsthat we need to do to get this
week started on the podcast.
It's really, it really seems tome that we're getting 2026
started in a great way.
People are locked in on thisBible reading schedule.
That is going great.
We're all looking forward toFriday's winter singing that's
(01:20):
coming up and then SuperSaturday with these three
speakers.
There's just an air ofanticipation for all of that.
It's a great start to the newyear.
And I love that we're stayingwith the gospel of Luke.
Just can't get enough of Luke'sgospel.
So let's get to it.
Grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee.
(01:40):
Let's grow together.
Yesterday I preached a sermonabout going to church and what
do we do when we just we're justnot into it.
We just don't feel likeworshiping.
What do we do about that?
How do we handle that?
Maybe you aren't looking at theupcoming winter singing with an
air of anticipation, not excitedabout Super Saturday.
(02:02):
What where are we with all ofthat?
So let me just add a couple ofthings here.
Let me add something I didn'tsay Sunday.
Sometimes the problem reallyisn't motivation or selfishness
or even sinfulness.
Sometimes the problem is simplyweariness.
And I wonder sometimes how muchwe give attention to being
rested and ready for Sunday.
When kids take those awfulstandardized tests that the
(02:23):
schools now have to administer,they send home all sorts of
stuff about making sure the kidsget a good meal the night before
and send them with healthysnacks.
And of course, they justemphasize getting to bed on
time.
No one thinks Junior is going toknock the top off the test if
he's out till midnight.
And I think that still works foradults.
If you are sitting for the CPAor the bar exam, you probably
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are not going to run a marathonthe day before, and you would
not stay out all night the nightbefore with friends.
So, an important question toask, if you lack that motivation
to get up Sunday morning and getwhere you need to be, get with
God's people and worship theLord, what's your Saturday night
look like?
Kids today are just involved ina gazillion activities, and a
(03:08):
lot of that is done on Saturday,and we're going and blowing and
we're doing.
Well, is it any surprise thenthat we're worn out, keeping the
kids out too late after a longday of kinds of maybe sports and
everything else going here andgoing there.
They're exhausted, we'reexhausted.
It is tougher to get up onSunday morning, and that isn't
just for the kids.
(03:28):
Maybe that's something adultsneed to think about.
We're traveling, we're we'replaying 36 holes of golf, we're
going fishing, we're goinghunting, we're going out
shopping, or going to seerelatives, or maybe we're binge
watching the show that we'rereally into till 1 a.m.
because we've just got to seeone more episode.
And by the time we get in bedlate Saturday night, we're just
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blown out and we're done.
Going to church tomorrow istough.
It's really going to be tough.
And then we start running outexcuses and we're live streaming
in our jammies instead of beingin church.
If your body isn't feeling it,then get your body right by
resting.
Let's value church.
(04:10):
Israel rested on the Sabbathday.
There's something about therhythms of life being taught to
us there under the law of Moses.
Let's value worship enough toarrange our schedule, to say no
to some things that we mightreally like to do that could be
good, that could be fun.
Let's value worship enough toarrange our schedule so we are
rested and ready.
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That may go a long way todefeating this.
I just don't feel like going tochurch today.
That, I think, helps us as wethink about what we need to do
before the Lord.
(05:12):
And that begins the first 13verses with some teaching on
prayer.
And I think it's obvious thatJesus taught on prayer a lot.
Luke is the gospel that showsJesus praying more than any of
the other gospels.
And so there may be somesignificant differences here in
the wording, or maybe they'renot that all fired significant,
but don't let that throw you.
I think Matthew has a slightlydifferent version of this in the
(05:35):
Sermon on the Mount that comesmuch earlier in Jesus' ministry.
But when you ask Jesus aboutprayer, this is the standard
thing that he's going to say.
And the prayer here is verysimple and very direct, and it
is just a focus like a laser onexpressing a dependence upon God
and upon wanting to do his willand being protected so that you
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can do his will.
That then leads to the parableof the persistent friend.
And I don't like that name forthat parable at all.
I think there's a lot ofmisunderstanding that goes with
this parable.
It is kind of like the parablein Luke 18, verses 5 to 8.
And we'll get to that obviouslywhen we're reading in Luke
chapter 18.
This is a parable that is onlyincluded in Luke.
(06:20):
And I think it's a great placeto see you cannot make too many
points of comparison inparables.
Sometimes people try toover-analogize.
Is that, can you do that?
Overanalogize a parable and makeeverything stand for something.
Clearly, the sleeping man hereis playing kind of a godlike
figure, but Jesus is notteaching that God sleeps and
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shuts the door and doesn't wantto be bothered.
The parable here says that Godis always ready to give.
That's what it is doing next tothe Lord's Prayer.
We pray and ask for thesethings, and Jesus then tells a
parable that says God wants togive.
And the parable here is a howmuch more parable.
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It is actually teaching the veryopposite of what a lot of people
use this parable to teach, whichis that you have to badger God
into giving what you want.
You keep beating on the dooruntil finally God relents and
blesses you.
And that idea comes probablybecause of verse 8.
Because of his impudence, that'swhat the ESV has, or other
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translations have the wordimportunity.
Now, either one of those wordsare not something that we use a
lot in regular conversation.
Oh, you're so impudent.
I guess you could play that inScrabble for a lot of points,
get it on a double and reallygo, but that's just not
something that we that we say alot.
And I am very reluctant to climbin and start talking about
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translation issues.
Here you have these committeesof outstanding scholars, and
they have years and years andyears of translation experience
and understand far more thanjust going to a lexicon and
looking at a definition becausegrammar is a lot more than just
what's the definition of theword.
It's how it's functioning in thesentence and where it is in the
(08:08):
sentence and the context and howthe author uses it and way so
much more.
Translating is very, verycomplicated.
But this word, if you if youstart looking in different
translations, is translateddifferently in a bunch of
different places (08:20):
boldness, shamelessness, hotspud, a bunch
of different translations, andthat that ought to clue us.
Something's going on here.
Something's happened.
And so one scholar surveyed 258occurrences of this term outside
the Bible and never found apositive use for this term at
all.
So the term impudence hereexpresses, one scholar said, an
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ignorance of what is shameful.
In fact, Josephus uses that termto describe a mother who ate her
child during the Roman siege ofJerusalem.
So this isn't praisingpersistence, praising impudence.
No, in fact, there isn'tpersistence in the parable.
The guy doesn't keep knocking,he knocks once, he gets bread.
It is about shameless.
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It's about what's outside theboundaries of acceptable
behavior.
It's about an outrageous act.
This guy does something that'sridiculous, but you know what?
He still gets bread.
So Jesus says, if a neighborwill respond to rude, shameless
behavior and give what is asked,how much more will God bless
you?
And that, I think, istremendously encouraging.
(09:26):
In fact, in verse 13, how muchmore will the Holy Father give
the Holy Spirit?
There is Holy Spirit emphasisonce again in the Gospel of
Luke.
Then there's some conversationabout casting out demons, and
there's always some discussionhere about what exactly Jesus
means in verse 20, if it is bythe finger of God that I cast
out demons, and the kingdom ofGod has come upon you.
(09:48):
I think finger of God here isdirectly an attempt to sound
like the Exodus and to soundlike the account of Moses
bringing the plagues upon Egypt,and the magicians say, this is
the finger of God, Exodus 8,verse 19.
And notice the kingdom of Godhere is not, it is not an
institution.
(10:09):
It is not even explicitly areference to the church, which I
understand and you understandstarts in Acts chapter 2.
It is a reference to the reignand rule, the power, the might
of God.
Verse 21, when a strong manfully armed guards his own
palace, his goods are safe.
When a stranger comes, verse 22,when one's stronger, not a
stranger, I'm sorry, when one'sstronger, more coffee, that's
always the answer, then heattacks him and overcomes him.
(10:32):
What Jesus is saying is, I'mstronger than the devil.
That's what I'm that's what thisis about.
I am stronger than the devil.
Otherwise, I couldn't do thethings that you see me doing.
And there's no way that I canwork through this chapter
without saying something aboutverse 28.
Blessed rather are those whohear the word of God and keep
it.
The Mark Roberts InternationalEast Texas version says, Blessed
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rather are those who not onlyhear the podcast about the Word
of God, but then actively dowhat Jesus is teaching.
That's kind of a longertranslation, isn't it?
Then Jesus talks about the signof Jonah, the need to repent,
the need to act upon the word ofGod.
It's time to decide.
Don't sit on the fence.
And how you hear is determinedby your character.
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33, 34, 35, 36.
If you have a dark heart, you'renot going to be able to see it.
Then notice here in verse 37,Jesus eats with a Pharisee.
This is the second of threeoccasions in Luke's gospel where
Jesus eats with a Pharisee.
Luke's gospel is the only gospelwhere the Pharisees are good at
all, where they have any kind ofcommendable characteristics.
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And Jesus does.
He eats with sinners, and wetalk about that a lot.
Nobody talks about Jesus went toa Pharisee's house.
And he ate with him.
And when he ate with him, hebrought the word of God.
He absolutely brought the wordof God and said, there's some
things here that are not rightand that need to be changed.
And so Jesus preaches bravely.
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And yeah, he does a great jobhere helping the Pharisees see
that they're going to have toclean some things up, that they
can't just continue to stand onexternal righteousness.
That won't work.
Woe to you lawyers, verse 52.
Remember, lawyers are notattorneys.
They're not the guys that are onTV all the time saying, Have you
been hit by a company truck?
Have you been hurt on the jobinjury?
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Working for a large corporationthat has deep pockets.
That is not the lawyers.
The lawyers here are those whoare experts in the word of God.
It makes me uncomfortable to saythis.
Lawyers in this text would bepretty much akin to our
full-time preachers who spendall their time studying the Word
of God.
Jesus has some challenges forpeople like that, for people
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like me.
The reading for Monday, Lukechapter 11.
It's Tuesday.
It's Tuesday, and today ourreading is Luke chapter 12.
We do have Zoom tonight.
Westsiders excited about workingthrough this chapter with you
tonight in the Zoom call.
Let me just say a word or twohere about the podcast.
I'm still feeling my way alongwith these super long chapters
that Luke writes for us here andtrying to figure out exactly how
(13:12):
to do all of that.
And I'm not sure I want to workthrough and say something about
just kind of as I'm reading downthrough the chapter, here's a
little bit of this and a littlebit of that.
I may need to focus a little biton some of the passages that may
cause you to wrinkle your browand be a little unsure about
rather than saying somethingabout everything.
Let me see if I can tighten thefocus on the podcast.
So clearly, the issue today willbe the blasphemy of the Holy
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Spirit.
Luke chapter 12 and verse 10.
Everyone who speaks the readingfor Wednesday, Luke chapter 12,
everyone who speaks a wordagainst the Son of Man will be
forgiven, but the one whoblasphemes against the Holy
Spirit will not be forgiven.
Now this is not worded exactlythe same as Matthew and Mark.
There is what's going on here isthe charging of the Holy Spirit
with evil, but I still thinkthis is very much about
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hardening your heart.
One scholar said the one whohardens himself against what God
is doing as he acts to saveplaces himself beyond the reach
of God's testimony.
And I think it's significanthere that the one who hardens
himself against Jesus' earthlyministry will get another
chance, the opportunity toaccept the Holy Spirit-inspired
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preaching in the book of Acts.
But failure then will beabsolutely failure.
And I think that's where Jesus,failure then will be absolutely
fatal, I should have said.
And I think that's where Jesusis going with this, that these
people refuse to listen and theyare determined not to listen,
which means they will not seekthe forgiveness that God offers
(14:40):
to them.
From time to time, someone willcome to a shepherd, to an elder,
to a preacher and say, I think Iblasphemed against the Holy
Spirit and I'm eternally lost.
And the very fact that thatperson is concerned about it
shows that they have not donethat, because this is the hard
heart that doesn't care aboutGod, that is determined to do
what I want to do in the waythat I want to do it, and
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despite all evidence to thecontrary, I will continue in
what I want to do and what Iwant to believe.
That person is not going to seekthe salvation that God offers.
I do want to say a word hereabout the parable of the rich
fool.
Please notice Jesus' warning,verse 15, about possessions.
Luke is very concerned aboutmoney and possessions all
(15:24):
through this gospel.
And I think this is really abouthow our possessions can affect
our discipleship.
So as disciples are reading thebook of Luke, we need to think
about that and be aware of that.
Possessions can get in the way,disciple, of what you want to be
and what you should be.
And that's what's happening inthis parable.
(15:44):
So then we get to verse 22,where Jesus talks about not
being anxious.
And this material is verysimilar to the material in
Matthew chapter 6.
Jesus gives a couple ofarguments to counter anxiety.
Just work through this.
Life is more than the thingsthat are going on all around us,
the birds, the ravens, verse 24.
God cares for them.
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It's useless.
It doesn't add anything to yourlife, verse 25.
And then again with the liliesin verse 27.
How much more.
The chapter then closes with aseries of parables about
expectation and reality andurgency regarding the coming of
the Lord.
Jesus offers these parables tosay that you need to be watchful
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and ready at all times becausethe time of his return is
unknown.
And then the second explainsthat Jesus will come as a thief
when he is unexpected.
And then the third teaches thatbeing ready for his coming means
doing his will at all timeswhile he is gone.
Those ideas come, by the way,from one of my favorite
scholars.
I think that's a very helpfulbreakdown on these parables.
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So you get the parables hereworking towards this idea of we
just need to be ready all thetime.
And finally, verse 56, youhypocrites, talked about
hypocrisy two weeks ago.
You know how to interpret theappearance of earth and sky.
Why do you not know how tointerpret the present time?
It's happening right in front ofyou, and you can't even see it.
You can see the weather and makedecisions about that.
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I think this is a very poignantobservation on Jesus' part.
How much more, if I can use theway that Jesus teaches to make
this point, we are absolutelyfixated and fascinated about the
weather.
Our culture is all aboutweather.
And trust me, I say that assomebody who is a major weather
wonk.
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Dina can tell you, you neverwant to ask me a question about
the weather without having achair to sit down in because I'm
going to talk about the weatherand what's happening forever and
ever and ever.
And I have an amazing backyardweather station that gives me
readings so that I know what'sgoing to happen and what has
happened.
And I love to talk about theweather.
We all love to talk about theweather.
We have the apps on our phone,and the weather forecast has
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become a larger and largerportion of the newscasts.
There's weather channels,there's a couple of those now.
We are so into the weather.
Let me ask you, disciple, areyou paying attention to the
weather and you're not payingattention to Jesus?
Then you're paying attention tothe wrong thing.
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And you're in verse 56.
The reading for Tuesday, Lukechapter 12, much to talk about
here on Zoom tonight.
See tonight on Zoom call,Westsiders, Luke chapter 12 is
the reading for Tuesday.
It's Wednesday.
It is Wednesday.
And today we're reading Lukechapter 13.
One of the ways to make surethat you're on track with what
the author of a gospel is doing,seeing the portrait of Jesus
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that he is painting, is to payattention to what is unique in
his gospel.
And verses 1 to 5 are unique toLuke's gospel because Luke is
always all about repentance.
And when tragedies happen, thenthere's always going to be
someone who will say, thathappened to them because they
are a bad person.
They got what they deserved.
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Jesus says everybody's a sinnerand everybody needs to repent,
not just people who are involvedin a tragedy.
And then we get the parable ofthe fig tree, six to nine.
This is not the same as thecursing of the fig tree in
Matthew and Mark.
That's a good thing to make anote of in the margin of your
Bible.
And I think Jesus is making twopoints here that God is slow to
punish, but the time of mercyand grace don't last forever if
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you don't repent.
This is about repentance yetagain.
Then there is the healing of thewoman, verses 10 to 17 in the
synagogue.
And I said I wasn't going to gothrough the chapter blow by
blow, and here I am doingexactly that.
But this story illustrates whyjudgment must fall upon the
Jewish leadership.
They are utterly hardened toJesus and to his teachings.
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Please notice in verse 15 doesnot each of you on the Sabbath
untie?
Then verse 16 Um, this daughterof Abraham, verse 16, whom Satan
bound for 18 years, be loosed.
The word for loosed and untiedare the same.
That's the same word.
I'm going to loose her like youwould loose Your ox.
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I'm going to untie her like youwould untie your donkey.
In verse 17, the peoplerejoiced.
They rejoiced.
Jesus, Jesus just does greatstuff, and regular people say,
this is what needs to behappening.
This is what we've needed to behearing.
This is what it looks like totruly follow after God.
The mustard seed in the 11,verses 18 to 21, I preached on
(20:23):
that as part of the questionJesus asked last year.
That's October the 19th.
It was the third question.
I preached on Matthew's versionof this, so I will I will let
that stand right here.
Jesus does some additionalteaching.
And remember, we are on the roadto Jerusalem.
The journey of destiny is whatties all of this together.
And as Jesus is on the road toJerusalem, there will be people
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who meet him.
There will be encounters, andJesus does a lot of teaching.
Verse 28, 29, and 30 reminds ushere of the Jewish conception of
what heaven would be like.
What heaven would be like is toget the chance to sit down at
table with Abraham, Isaac, andJacob.
That would be the greatest thingbecause eating is so significant
in this culture.
And I have some more notes aboutthat as we journey along this
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week, talk about how that worksand so forth.
But to be invited to Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob's house, it
just doesn't get any better thanthat.
And Jesus says, verse 29, peoplewill come from the east, west,
north, and south, and they willcome.
And some of you, verse 30, arenot going to get invited.
That's very much Luke's reversaltheme, and very much Luke's
theme on all people.
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God is interested in everyone.
Let me conclude today's episodeby just noticing verse 31.
At that very hour, somePharisees came and said to him,
Get away from here, Herod wantsto kill you.
Remember, Luke is the gospelthat shows Jesus eating with
Pharisees, and it does seem herethat the Pharisees are being
nice to Jesus.
Some Pharisees are trying tohelp Jesus out.
Now there's some people aregoing to read that and say, no,
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it's a trap.
They're trying to get Jesus outof the area.
They have ulterior motives.
And I understand why anybodywould think the Pharisees are
not good, but it kind of seemslike right there, they're kind
of trying to help Jesus out alittle bit.
Reading for Wednesday, Lukechapter 13.
It's Thursday.
It's Thursday.
And today we're reading Lukechapter 14.
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For once, it's not nine zillionverses.
This is just 35 verses.
Seems like a piece of cake,doesn't it?
There are four table storiesbeing told in this chapter.
First, the healing of the man onthe Sabbath, and then Jesus goes
to the house of a ruler of thePharisees.
How about that?
Then there's the parable of thewedding feast, verses 7 to 11.
(22:32):
Parable of the great banquet.
And then verse 15, while Jesusis eating, someone says, Blessed
is everyone, verse 15, who eatsbread in the kingdom of God.
So Luke loves to eat.
Wow, I think Luke's probably anAmerican.
No question about that.
So let's talk through this alittle bit.
First of all, this is a greatplace for me to just give you
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some notes.
I think that'll be the focus ontoday's episode on eating in New
Testament times.
Outside the home, one would onlyeat with those in one's own
social group.
And even then, the seating willbe arranged according to status.
The host would invite only thosewho were on the same social,
religious, and economic plane.
It brought shame, in fact, upona family to bring people into
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the house that would violatethat custom.
So here, this is a big deal.
Who gets in and who doesn't getin?
And that says a lot about whatthe ruler of the Pharisees
thinks of Jesus, that he inviteshim into his home.
Now, all of this matters becauseeating becomes one of the
biggest issues in the NewTestament church.
Peter won't go to Cornelius'house in the book of Acts
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because he will not eat with aGentile.
And Barnabas and Peter thenlater get carried away in
Galatians chapter 2, Paul says,because they won't eat with
Gentiles.
And eating is the thing that'sdividing the church in Rome and
in Corinth.
What can we eat?
Who could we eat with?
How do we handle all that?
Eating is a huge deal in the NewTestament world.
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And that's a big break from howthings are today.
We just go into a restaurant, wesit down, we eat, we don't think
about who else is in here, arethey on the same social and
economic status?
It doesn't have that sameemphasis, that same feeling in
our world today.
And that applies especially tothe parable of the ambitious
guest, verses 7 to 14.
I don't know where I got thattitle.
That's a great title for aparable.
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Today I'm telling you theparable of the ambitious guest.
One scholar noted that theseating would be done in a large
U, the couches.
Remember, everybody's recliningat table.
Nobody's sitting in a Europeanchair.
We're reclining at table here.
Thank you very much, verse 15 inthe ESV.
And the couches would bearranged in a U.
And the chief seat would be thecenter of the bottom of the U at
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the base, because you commandthe room.
You can see everybody on bothlegs of the U.
And so then the positions ofhonor would be on the left and
right of that position, and thenyou just, you know, keep going
down from there.
So what Jesus says is here's abanquet, and there's this rush
for everybody to climb intothese chief seats to get on the
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couches at the bottom of the U.
And Jesus says that's adisaster.
Don't do that, and you getLuke's reversal theme again.
And this is very much aboutself-promotion.
That is senseless, that's vain.
Let God promote you.
Any other kind of self-promotionis of no real value.
And then Jesus talks a littlebit about who you invite and
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that you ought to break some ofthese rules, these social
engagement rules, verse 13 and14.
Don't do that.
Instead, have generosity in whoyou bring into your home.
That must have really causedsome people to set up and say,
oh, I don't know about thisJesus guy.
I don't know if I want to dolike that, but that's what Jesus
(25:47):
is talking about.
And that leads then to the greatdiscipleship sayings in verses
25 to 35.
These are some of the bestdiscipleship sayings anywhere in
the Gospels, and we need to readthose and think about those and
pray about those and be surethat we are counting the cost of
discipleship.
Reading for Thursday, Lukechapter 14.
(26:09):
It's Friday.
It is Friday, and today we'rereading Luke 15.
The reading for Friday, Lukechapter 15.
Need to be careful here.
I could talk about this chapterforever.
I have literally preached agospel meeting on nothing but
the prodigal son.
I'm not even kidding.
Five nights on the prodigal son.
Love these parables.
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Probably the biggest key here isto make sure you've got one and
two, verses one and two, as thedriving force behind everything
that's happening here.
All these parables go together.
They all flow out of peoplebeing unhappy, Pharisees and
Scribes being unhappy, thatJesus is trying to bring some
people into the kingdom, tryingto teach some people, having
compassion for some people, thatthe Pharisees and the scribes
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have written off.
God doesn't want those people.
Jesus, you need to get away fromthose people.
And there are somemisunderstandings about what is
lost here.
It's very, very common forpeople, for example, to say that
the widow, she has lost a coinout of her dowry and now she
can't get married.
There is no support for that.
It gets told all the time.
It makes people cry.
(27:13):
I guess it preaches well.
It's just not true.
And I guess I should have saidsomething about the shepherd,
because in Luke 15, 1 to 7,here, with all this shepherding
business, sometimes we get losttalking about the 99.
How could he leave the 99?
What about them?
Are the wolves going to jump onthem?
Are they all going to Starbuckswhile he's gone?
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What about the 99 sheep?
That is utterly unimportant.
Don't think about the 99.
What we need to focus on is thelost sheep and how risky it is
for the shepherd to go get thatsheep.
And please do pay attention tohow much joy and optimism there
is in this chapter.
There's rejoicing in verse 5, 6,7, 9, 10, 23, 24, and 32.
(28:01):
The last thing that I will sayto all of this is that the
keynote in the parable of theprodigal son is repentance, but
and maybe that's not the lastthing I'm going to say, because
I'm going to say one more thing.
I am not convinced.
I am not convinced that Jesusdid not tell all three of these
parables to get to verse 25 andtell the story of the older
(28:22):
brother.
That I think is where all ofthis points and where all of
this is headed.
Maybe a little bit like Nathan'sparable with David, which just
catches David completelyunawares.
David's jumping up and down andscreaming and saying, Boy, that
guy's just terrible.
And then Nathan just drops ahammer on him.
It's you, pal.
And so here's some people whoare complaining about Jesus
(28:44):
reaching out to folks who theyhave decided God doesn't care
about.
And Jesus gets to verse 25 andhe's looking at those people.
You are the older brother.
And the amazing thing about bothof these stories, the prodigal
son and the older brother, isthat the father goes out to both
of them.
That's a violation of the socialmores and customs of the day.
No dad would do that, but thefather loves both boys.
(29:08):
And the father wants both boysto be in the father's house.
That's what Jesus is doing inLuke chapter 15.
The reading for Friday, Luke 15.
Thank you so much for listeningto the podcast this week.
I really enjoy doing that.
Love, love, love.
(29:29):
Getting to work in the Word ofGod with you, talk about the
sermon, and help daily Biblereading be more meaningful.
One of the big keys in dailyBible reading is people have to
understand it, have to be ableto lock into what's going on
there and figure out what Jesusis talking about, for example,
in Luke's gospel, and make gooduse of that if we don't
understand when we can't do thewill of God.
(29:50):
So I appreciate you listeningand giving me this opportunity
to be in your ears and talk moreabout Luke's gospel.
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you Monday with a cupof coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (30:12):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website, justChristians.com, and our Facebook
page.
Our music is from Upbeat.io.
That's Upbeat with two Ps,U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators
(30:36):
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Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special
Monday Morning Company podcast.
On this podcast, our preacher,Mark Roberts, will help you get
your week started right with alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think of theother and better working
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
Mark will then look forward intothis week's album reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
So we have a cup of coffee andwe start the week together on
Monday morning coffee.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
I've got my Bible.
I'm ready to talk about Luke.
I'm ready to talk aboutyesterday's sermon.
I'm ready to do all the thingsthat we need to do to get this
week started on the podcast.
It's really, it really seems tome that we're getting 2026
started in a great way.
People are locked in on thisBible reading schedule.
That is going great.
We're all looking forward toFriday's winter singing that's
(01:20):
coming up and then SuperSaturday with these three
speakers.
There's just an air ofanticipation for all of that.
It's a great start to the newyear.
And I love that we're stayingwith the gospel of Luke.
Just can't get enough of Luke'sgospel.
So let's get to it.
Grab your Bible, grab yourcoffee.
(01:40):
Let's grow together.
Yesterday I preached a sermonabout going to church and what
do we do when we just we're justnot into it.
We just don't feel likeworshiping.
What do we do about that?
How do we handle that?
Maybe you aren't looking at theupcoming winter singing with an
air of anticipation, not excitedabout Super Saturday.
(02:02):
What where are we with all ofthat?
So let me just add a couple ofthings here.
Let me add something I didn'tsay Sunday.
Sometimes the problem reallyisn't motivation or selfishness
or even sinfulness.
Sometimes the problem is simplyweariness.
And I wonder sometimes how muchwe give attention to being
rested and ready for Sunday.
When kids take those awfulstandardized tests that the
(02:23):
schools now have to administer,they send home all sorts of
stuff about making sure the kidsget a good meal the night before
and send them with healthysnacks.
And of course, they justemphasize getting to bed on
time.
No one thinks Junior is going toknock the top off the test if
he's out till midnight.
And I think that still works foradults.
If you are sitting for the CPAor the bar exam, you probably
(02:46):
are not going to run a marathonthe day before, and you would
not stay out all night the nightbefore with friends.
So, an important question toask, if you lack that motivation
to get up Sunday morning and getwhere you need to be, get with
God's people and worship theLord, what's your Saturday night
look like?
Kids today are just involved ina gazillion activities, and a
(03:08):
lot of that is done on Saturday,and we're going and blowing and
we're doing.
Well, is it any surprise thenthat we're worn out, keeping the
kids out too late after a longday of kinds of maybe sports and
everything else going here andgoing there.
They're exhausted, we'reexhausted.
It is tougher to get up onSunday morning, and that isn't
just for the kids.
(03:28):
Maybe that's something adultsneed to think about.
We're traveling, we're we'replaying 36 holes of golf, we're
going fishing, we're goinghunting, we're going out
shopping, or going to seerelatives, or maybe we're binge
watching the show that we'rereally into till 1 a.m.
because we've just got to seeone more episode.
And by the time we get in bedlate Saturday night, we're just
(03:49):
blown out and we're done.
Going to church tomorrow istough.
It's really going to be tough.
And then we start running outexcuses and we're live streaming
in our jammies instead of beingin church.
If your body isn't feeling it,then get your body right by
resting.
Let's value church.
(04:10):
Israel rested on the Sabbathday.
There's something about therhythms of life being taught to
us there under the law of Moses.
Let's value worship enough toarrange our schedule, to say no
to some things that we mightreally like to do that could be
good, that could be fun.
Let's value worship enough toarrange our schedule so we are
rested and ready.
(04:32):
That may go a long way todefeating this.
I just don't feel like going tochurch today.
That, I think, helps us as wethink about what we need to do
before the Lord.
(05:12):
And that begins the first 13verses with some teaching on
prayer.
And I think it's obvious thatJesus taught on prayer a lot.
Luke is the gospel that showsJesus praying more than any of
the other gospels.
And so there may be somesignificant differences here in
the wording, or maybe they'renot that all fired significant,
but don't let that throw you.
I think Matthew has a slightlydifferent version of this in the
(05:35):
Sermon on the Mount that comesmuch earlier in Jesus' ministry.
But when you ask Jesus aboutprayer, this is the standard
thing that he's going to say.
And the prayer here is verysimple and very direct, and it
is just a focus like a laser onexpressing a dependence upon God
and upon wanting to do his willand being protected so that you
(05:57):
can do his will.
That then leads to the parableof the persistent friend.
And I don't like that name forthat parable at all.
I think there's a lot ofmisunderstanding that goes with
this parable.
It is kind of like the parablein Luke 18, verses 5 to 8.
And we'll get to that obviouslywhen we're reading in Luke
chapter 18.
This is a parable that is onlyincluded in Luke.
(06:20):
And I think it's a great placeto see you cannot make too many
points of comparison inparables.
Sometimes people try toover-analogize.
Is that, can you do that?
Overanalogize a parable and makeeverything stand for something.
Clearly, the sleeping man hereis playing kind of a godlike
figure, but Jesus is notteaching that God sleeps and
(06:41):
shuts the door and doesn't wantto be bothered.
The parable here says that Godis always ready to give.
That's what it is doing next tothe Lord's Prayer.
We pray and ask for thesethings, and Jesus then tells a
parable that says God wants togive.
And the parable here is a howmuch more parable.
(07:01):
It is actually teaching the veryopposite of what a lot of people
use this parable to teach, whichis that you have to badger God
into giving what you want.
You keep beating on the dooruntil finally God relents and
blesses you.
And that idea comes probablybecause of verse 8.
Because of his impudence, that'swhat the ESV has, or other
(07:22):
translations have the wordimportunity.
Now, either one of those wordsare not something that we use a
lot in regular conversation.
Oh, you're so impudent.
I guess you could play that inScrabble for a lot of points,
get it on a double and reallygo, but that's just not
something that we that we say alot.
And I am very reluctant to climbin and start talking about
(07:46):
translation issues.
Here you have these committeesof outstanding scholars, and
they have years and years andyears of translation experience
and understand far more thanjust going to a lexicon and
looking at a definition becausegrammar is a lot more than just
what's the definition of theword.
It's how it's functioning in thesentence and where it is in the
(08:08):
sentence and the context and howthe author uses it and way so
much more.
Translating is very, verycomplicated.
But this word, if you if youstart looking in different
translations, is translateddifferently in a bunch of
different places (08:20):
boldness, shamelessness, hotspud, a bunch
of different translations, andthat that ought to clue us.
Something's going on here.
Something's happened.
And so one scholar surveyed 258occurrences of this term outside
the Bible and never found apositive use for this term at
all.
So the term impudence hereexpresses, one scholar said, an
(08:42):
ignorance of what is shameful.
In fact, Josephus uses that termto describe a mother who ate her
child during the Roman siege ofJerusalem.
So this isn't praisingpersistence, praising impudence.
No, in fact, there isn'tpersistence in the parable.
The guy doesn't keep knocking,he knocks once, he gets bread.
It is about shameless.
(09:04):
It's about what's outside theboundaries of acceptable
behavior.
It's about an outrageous act.
This guy does something that'sridiculous, but you know what?
He still gets bread.
So Jesus says, if a neighborwill respond to rude, shameless
behavior and give what is asked,how much more will God bless
you?
And that, I think, istremendously encouraging.
(09:26):
In fact, in verse 13, how muchmore will the Holy Father give
the Holy Spirit?
There is Holy Spirit emphasisonce again in the Gospel of
Luke.
Then there's some conversationabout casting out demons, and
there's always some discussionhere about what exactly Jesus
means in verse 20, if it is bythe finger of God that I cast
out demons, and the kingdom ofGod has come upon you.
(09:48):
I think finger of God here isdirectly an attempt to sound
like the Exodus and to soundlike the account of Moses
bringing the plagues upon Egypt,and the magicians say, this is
the finger of God, Exodus 8,verse 19.
And notice the kingdom of Godhere is not, it is not an
institution.
(10:09):
It is not even explicitly areference to the church, which I
understand and you understandstarts in Acts chapter 2.
It is a reference to the reignand rule, the power, the might
of God.
Verse 21, when a strong manfully armed guards his own
palace, his goods are safe.
When a stranger comes, verse 22,when one's stronger, not a
stranger, I'm sorry, when one'sstronger, more coffee, that's
always the answer, then heattacks him and overcomes him.
(10:32):
What Jesus is saying is, I'mstronger than the devil.
That's what I'm that's what thisis about.
I am stronger than the devil.
Otherwise, I couldn't do thethings that you see me doing.
And there's no way that I canwork through this chapter
without saying something aboutverse 28.
Blessed rather are those whohear the word of God and keep
it.
The Mark Roberts InternationalEast Texas version says, Blessed
(10:53):
rather are those who not onlyhear the podcast about the Word
of God, but then actively dowhat Jesus is teaching.
That's kind of a longertranslation, isn't it?
Then Jesus talks about the signof Jonah, the need to repent,
the need to act upon the word ofGod.
It's time to decide.
Don't sit on the fence.
And how you hear is determinedby your character.
(11:18):
33, 34, 35, 36.
If you have a dark heart, you'renot going to be able to see it.
Then notice here in verse 37,Jesus eats with a Pharisee.
This is the second of threeoccasions in Luke's gospel where
Jesus eats with a Pharisee.
Luke's gospel is the only gospelwhere the Pharisees are good at
all, where they have any kind ofcommendable characteristics.
(11:42):
And Jesus does.
He eats with sinners, and wetalk about that a lot.
Nobody talks about Jesus went toa Pharisee's house.
And he ate with him.
And when he ate with him, hebrought the word of God.
He absolutely brought the wordof God and said, there's some
things here that are not rightand that need to be changed.
And so Jesus preaches bravely.
(12:04):
And yeah, he does a great jobhere helping the Pharisees see
that they're going to have toclean some things up, that they
can't just continue to stand onexternal righteousness.
That won't work.
Woe to you lawyers, verse 52.
Remember, lawyers are notattorneys.
They're not the guys that are onTV all the time saying, Have you
been hit by a company truck?
Have you been hurt on the jobinjury?
(12:26):
Working for a large corporationthat has deep pockets.
That is not the lawyers.
The lawyers here are those whoare experts in the word of God.
It makes me uncomfortable to saythis.
Lawyers in this text would bepretty much akin to our
full-time preachers who spendall their time studying the Word
of God.
Jesus has some challenges forpeople like that, for people
(12:49):
like me.
The reading for Monday, Lukechapter 11.
It's Tuesday.
It's Tuesday, and today ourreading is Luke chapter 12.
We do have Zoom tonight.
Westsiders excited about workingthrough this chapter with you
tonight in the Zoom call.
Let me just say a word or twohere about the podcast.
I'm still feeling my way alongwith these super long chapters
that Luke writes for us here andtrying to figure out exactly how
(13:12):
to do all of that.
And I'm not sure I want to workthrough and say something about
just kind of as I'm reading downthrough the chapter, here's a
little bit of this and a littlebit of that.
I may need to focus a little biton some of the passages that may
cause you to wrinkle your browand be a little unsure about
rather than saying somethingabout everything.
Let me see if I can tighten thefocus on the podcast.
So clearly, the issue today willbe the blasphemy of the Holy
(13:35):
Spirit.
Luke chapter 12 and verse 10.
Everyone who speaks the readingfor Wednesday, Luke chapter 12,
everyone who speaks a wordagainst the Son of Man will be
forgiven, but the one whoblasphemes against the Holy
Spirit will not be forgiven.
Now this is not worded exactlythe same as Matthew and Mark.
There is what's going on here isthe charging of the Holy Spirit
with evil, but I still thinkthis is very much about
(13:58):
hardening your heart.
One scholar said the one whohardens himself against what God
is doing as he acts to saveplaces himself beyond the reach
of God's testimony.
And I think it's significanthere that the one who hardens
himself against Jesus' earthlyministry will get another
chance, the opportunity toaccept the Holy Spirit-inspired
(14:19):
preaching in the book of Acts.
But failure then will beabsolutely failure.
And I think that's where Jesus,failure then will be absolutely
fatal, I should have said.
And I think that's where Jesusis going with this, that these
people refuse to listen and theyare determined not to listen,
which means they will not seekthe forgiveness that God offers
(14:40):
to them.
From time to time, someone willcome to a shepherd, to an elder,
to a preacher and say, I think Iblasphemed against the Holy
Spirit and I'm eternally lost.
And the very fact that thatperson is concerned about it
shows that they have not donethat, because this is the hard
heart that doesn't care aboutGod, that is determined to do
what I want to do in the waythat I want to do it, and
(15:03):
despite all evidence to thecontrary, I will continue in
what I want to do and what Iwant to believe.
That person is not going to seekthe salvation that God offers.
I do want to say a word hereabout the parable of the rich
fool.
Please notice Jesus' warning,verse 15, about possessions.
Luke is very concerned aboutmoney and possessions all
(15:24):
through this gospel.
And I think this is really abouthow our possessions can affect
our discipleship.
So as disciples are reading thebook of Luke, we need to think
about that and be aware of that.
Possessions can get in the way,disciple, of what you want to be
and what you should be.
And that's what's happening inthis parable.
(15:44):
So then we get to verse 22,where Jesus talks about not
being anxious.
And this material is verysimilar to the material in
Matthew chapter 6.
Jesus gives a couple ofarguments to counter anxiety.
Just work through this.
Life is more than the thingsthat are going on all around us,
the birds, the ravens, verse 24.
God cares for them.
(16:06):
It's useless.
It doesn't add anything to yourlife, verse 25.
And then again with the liliesin verse 27.
How much more.
The chapter then closes with aseries of parables about
expectation and reality andurgency regarding the coming of
the Lord.
Jesus offers these parables tosay that you need to be watchful
(16:27):
and ready at all times becausethe time of his return is
unknown.
And then the second explainsthat Jesus will come as a thief
when he is unexpected.
And then the third teaches thatbeing ready for his coming means
doing his will at all timeswhile he is gone.
Those ideas come, by the way,from one of my favorite
scholars.
I think that's a very helpfulbreakdown on these parables.
(16:47):
So you get the parables hereworking towards this idea of we
just need to be ready all thetime.
And finally, verse 56, youhypocrites, talked about
hypocrisy two weeks ago.
You know how to interpret theappearance of earth and sky.
Why do you not know how tointerpret the present time?
It's happening right in front ofyou, and you can't even see it.
You can see the weather and makedecisions about that.
(17:10):
I think this is a very poignantobservation on Jesus' part.
How much more, if I can use theway that Jesus teaches to make
this point, we are absolutelyfixated and fascinated about the
weather.
Our culture is all aboutweather.
And trust me, I say that assomebody who is a major weather
wonk.
(17:31):
Dina can tell you, you neverwant to ask me a question about
the weather without having achair to sit down in because I'm
going to talk about the weatherand what's happening forever and
ever and ever.
And I have an amazing backyardweather station that gives me
readings so that I know what'sgoing to happen and what has
happened.
And I love to talk about theweather.
We all love to talk about theweather.
We have the apps on our phone,and the weather forecast has
(17:52):
become a larger and largerportion of the newscasts.
There's weather channels,there's a couple of those now.
We are so into the weather.
Let me ask you, disciple, areyou paying attention to the
weather and you're not payingattention to Jesus?
Then you're paying attention tothe wrong thing.
(18:12):
And you're in verse 56.
The reading for Tuesday, Lukechapter 12, much to talk about
here on Zoom tonight.
See tonight on Zoom call,Westsiders, Luke chapter 12 is
the reading for Tuesday.
It's Wednesday.
It is Wednesday.
And today we're reading Lukechapter 13.
One of the ways to make surethat you're on track with what
the author of a gospel is doing,seeing the portrait of Jesus
(18:36):
that he is painting, is to payattention to what is unique in
his gospel.
And verses 1 to 5 are unique toLuke's gospel because Luke is
always all about repentance.
And when tragedies happen, thenthere's always going to be
someone who will say, thathappened to them because they
are a bad person.
They got what they deserved.
(18:57):
Jesus says everybody's a sinnerand everybody needs to repent,
not just people who are involvedin a tragedy.
And then we get the parable ofthe fig tree, six to nine.
This is not the same as thecursing of the fig tree in
Matthew and Mark.
That's a good thing to make anote of in the margin of your
Bible.
And I think Jesus is making twopoints here that God is slow to
punish, but the time of mercyand grace don't last forever if
(19:19):
you don't repent.
This is about repentance yetagain.
Then there is the healing of thewoman, verses 10 to 17 in the
synagogue.
And I said I wasn't going to gothrough the chapter blow by
blow, and here I am doingexactly that.
But this story illustrates whyjudgment must fall upon the
Jewish leadership.
They are utterly hardened toJesus and to his teachings.
(19:40):
Please notice in verse 15 doesnot each of you on the Sabbath
untie?
Then verse 16 Um, this daughterof Abraham, verse 16, whom Satan
bound for 18 years, be loosed.
The word for loosed and untiedare the same.
That's the same word.
I'm going to loose her like youwould loose Your ox.
(20:00):
I'm going to untie her like youwould untie your donkey.
In verse 17, the peoplerejoiced.
They rejoiced.
Jesus, Jesus just does greatstuff, and regular people say,
this is what needs to behappening.
This is what we've needed to behearing.
This is what it looks like totruly follow after God.
The mustard seed in the 11,verses 18 to 21, I preached on
(20:23):
that as part of the questionJesus asked last year.
That's October the 19th.
It was the third question.
I preached on Matthew's versionof this, so I will I will let
that stand right here.
Jesus does some additionalteaching.
And remember, we are on the roadto Jerusalem.
The journey of destiny is whatties all of this together.
And as Jesus is on the road toJerusalem, there will be people
(20:46):
who meet him.
There will be encounters, andJesus does a lot of teaching.
Verse 28, 29, and 30 reminds ushere of the Jewish conception of
what heaven would be like.
What heaven would be like is toget the chance to sit down at
table with Abraham, Isaac, andJacob.
That would be the greatest thingbecause eating is so significant
in this culture.
And I have some more notes aboutthat as we journey along this
(21:09):
week, talk about how that worksand so forth.
But to be invited to Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob's house, it
just doesn't get any better thanthat.
And Jesus says, verse 29, peoplewill come from the east, west,
north, and south, and they willcome.
And some of you, verse 30, arenot going to get invited.
That's very much Luke's reversaltheme, and very much Luke's
theme on all people.
(21:29):
God is interested in everyone.
Let me conclude today's episodeby just noticing verse 31.
At that very hour, somePharisees came and said to him,
Get away from here, Herod wantsto kill you.
Remember, Luke is the gospelthat shows Jesus eating with
Pharisees, and it does seem herethat the Pharisees are being
nice to Jesus.
Some Pharisees are trying tohelp Jesus out.
Now there's some people aregoing to read that and say, no,
(21:51):
it's a trap.
They're trying to get Jesus outof the area.
They have ulterior motives.
And I understand why anybodywould think the Pharisees are
not good, but it kind of seemslike right there, they're kind
of trying to help Jesus out alittle bit.
Reading for Wednesday, Lukechapter 13.
It's Thursday.
It's Thursday.
And today we're reading Lukechapter 14.
(22:12):
For once, it's not nine zillionverses.
This is just 35 verses.
Seems like a piece of cake,doesn't it?
There are four table storiesbeing told in this chapter.
First, the healing of the man onthe Sabbath, and then Jesus goes
to the house of a ruler of thePharisees.
How about that?
Then there's the parable of thewedding feast, verses 7 to 11.
(22:32):
Parable of the great banquet.
And then verse 15, while Jesusis eating, someone says, Blessed
is everyone, verse 15, who eatsbread in the kingdom of God.
So Luke loves to eat.
Wow, I think Luke's probably anAmerican.
No question about that.
So let's talk through this alittle bit.
First of all, this is a greatplace for me to just give you
(22:53):
some notes.
I think that'll be the focus ontoday's episode on eating in New
Testament times.
Outside the home, one would onlyeat with those in one's own
social group.
And even then, the seating willbe arranged according to status.
The host would invite only thosewho were on the same social,
religious, and economic plane.
It brought shame, in fact, upona family to bring people into
(23:15):
the house that would violatethat custom.
So here, this is a big deal.
Who gets in and who doesn't getin?
And that says a lot about whatthe ruler of the Pharisees
thinks of Jesus, that he inviteshim into his home.
Now, all of this matters becauseeating becomes one of the
biggest issues in the NewTestament church.
Peter won't go to Cornelius'house in the book of Acts
(23:37):
because he will not eat with aGentile.
And Barnabas and Peter thenlater get carried away in
Galatians chapter 2, Paul says,because they won't eat with
Gentiles.
And eating is the thing that'sdividing the church in Rome and
in Corinth.
What can we eat?
Who could we eat with?
How do we handle all that?
Eating is a huge deal in the NewTestament world.
(23:57):
And that's a big break from howthings are today.
We just go into a restaurant, wesit down, we eat, we don't think
about who else is in here, arethey on the same social and
economic status?
It doesn't have that sameemphasis, that same feeling in
our world today.
And that applies especially tothe parable of the ambitious
guest, verses 7 to 14.
I don't know where I got thattitle.
That's a great title for aparable.
(24:17):
Today I'm telling you theparable of the ambitious guest.
One scholar noted that theseating would be done in a large
U, the couches.
Remember, everybody's recliningat table.
Nobody's sitting in a Europeanchair.
We're reclining at table here.
Thank you very much, verse 15 inthe ESV.
And the couches would bearranged in a U.
And the chief seat would be thecenter of the bottom of the U at
(24:43):
the base, because you commandthe room.
You can see everybody on bothlegs of the U.
And so then the positions ofhonor would be on the left and
right of that position, and thenyou just, you know, keep going
down from there.
So what Jesus says is here's abanquet, and there's this rush
for everybody to climb intothese chief seats to get on the
(25:03):
couches at the bottom of the U.
And Jesus says that's adisaster.
Don't do that, and you getLuke's reversal theme again.
And this is very much aboutself-promotion.
That is senseless, that's vain.
Let God promote you.
Any other kind of self-promotionis of no real value.
And then Jesus talks a littlebit about who you invite and
(25:26):
that you ought to break some ofthese rules, these social
engagement rules, verse 13 and14.
Don't do that.
Instead, have generosity in whoyou bring into your home.
That must have really causedsome people to set up and say,
oh, I don't know about thisJesus guy.
I don't know if I want to dolike that, but that's what Jesus
(25:47):
is talking about.
And that leads then to the greatdiscipleship sayings in verses
25 to 35.
These are some of the bestdiscipleship sayings anywhere in
the Gospels, and we need to readthose and think about those and
pray about those and be surethat we are counting the cost of
discipleship.
Reading for Thursday, Lukechapter 14.
(26:09):
It's Friday.
It is Friday, and today we'rereading Luke 15.
The reading for Friday, Lukechapter 15.
Need to be careful here.
I could talk about this chapterforever.
I have literally preached agospel meeting on nothing but
the prodigal son.
I'm not even kidding.
Five nights on the prodigal son.
Love these parables.
(26:30):
Probably the biggest key here isto make sure you've got one and
two, verses one and two, as thedriving force behind everything
that's happening here.
All these parables go together.
They all flow out of peoplebeing unhappy, Pharisees and
Scribes being unhappy, thatJesus is trying to bring some
people into the kingdom, tryingto teach some people, having
compassion for some people, thatthe Pharisees and the scribes
(26:52):
have written off.
God doesn't want those people.
Jesus, you need to get away fromthose people.
And there are somemisunderstandings about what is
lost here.
It's very, very common forpeople, for example, to say that
the widow, she has lost a coinout of her dowry and now she
can't get married.
There is no support for that.
It gets told all the time.
It makes people cry.
(27:13):
I guess it preaches well.
It's just not true.
And I guess I should have saidsomething about the shepherd,
because in Luke 15, 1 to 7,here, with all this shepherding
business, sometimes we get losttalking about the 99.
How could he leave the 99?
What about them?
Are the wolves going to jump onthem?
Are they all going to Starbuckswhile he's gone?
(27:35):
What about the 99 sheep?
That is utterly unimportant.
Don't think about the 99.
What we need to focus on is thelost sheep and how risky it is
for the shepherd to go get thatsheep.
And please do pay attention tohow much joy and optimism there
is in this chapter.
There's rejoicing in verse 5, 6,7, 9, 10, 23, 24, and 32.
(28:01):
The last thing that I will sayto all of this is that the
keynote in the parable of theprodigal son is repentance, but
and maybe that's not the lastthing I'm going to say, because
I'm going to say one more thing.
I am not convinced.
I am not convinced that Jesusdid not tell all three of these
parables to get to verse 25 andtell the story of the older
(28:22):
brother.
That I think is where all ofthis points and where all of
this is headed.
Maybe a little bit like Nathan'sparable with David, which just
catches David completelyunawares.
David's jumping up and down andscreaming and saying, Boy, that
guy's just terrible.
And then Nathan just drops ahammer on him.
It's you, pal.
And so here's some people whoare complaining about Jesus
(28:44):
reaching out to folks who theyhave decided God doesn't care
about.
And Jesus gets to verse 25 andhe's looking at those people.
You are the older brother.
And the amazing thing about bothof these stories, the prodigal
son and the older brother, isthat the father goes out to both
of them.
That's a violation of the socialmores and customs of the day.
No dad would do that, but thefather loves both boys.
(29:08):
And the father wants both boysto be in the father's house.
That's what Jesus is doing inLuke chapter 15.
The reading for Friday, Luke 15.
Thank you so much for listeningto the podcast this week.
I really enjoy doing that.
Love, love, love.
(29:29):
Getting to work in the Word ofGod with you, talk about the
sermon, and help daily Biblereading be more meaningful.
One of the big keys in dailyBible reading is people have to
understand it, have to be ableto lock into what's going on
there and figure out what Jesusis talking about, for example,
in Luke's gospel, and make gooduse of that if we don't
understand when we can't do thewill of God.
(29:50):
So I appreciate you listeningand giving me this opportunity
to be in your ears and talk moreabout Luke's gospel.
I'm Mark Roberts.
I want to go to heaven.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you Monday with a cupof coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (30:12):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, you can connect with
us through our website, justChristians.com, and our Facebook
page.
Our music is from Upbeat.io.
That's Upbeat with two Ps,U-P-P-P-E-A-T, where creators
(30:36):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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