The Gospel According to Luke

So, for the next Bible Study series, I was actually led to study the Book of Luke.  Typically, I am somewhat reluctant to go through one of the Gospels, since those are probably the most familiar books in the NT and maybe even the whole Bible.   However, on the other hand, because it IS one of the Gospels, and I can't even remember when I went through any of them verse by verse, it would be great to go back to study the foundation of the Life of the Person Who it is all about.  

So, that's why I decided to go with simply the title that is used in many Bibles, "The Gospel According to Luke"; because that is what I want to focus on - the GOSPEL.    So, the outline of the series is the timeline of the Life of Christ:  Birth, Early Life, Baptism, Temptation, Rejection, Ministry, Teaching, Death, Burial, RESURRECTION, and Ascension.  Of course, the pinnacle and the central theology of our faith is the RESURRECTION; and that is what the whole study will lead up to.

The timing of it all works fairly well also, since we start with the story of His Birth in December during the Christmas Season.  It would have been timely to study the Death, Burial, Resurrection chapters at around Easter as well; but, it will actually take quite a bit longer than that... really, to the end of September.

I could've gone with Mark, a shorter Gospel; but, I can relate to Luke.   He is an analytical writer who pays attention to details.   And having gone through Acts, it just pointed me to Luke as the natural choice, since we are now familiar with his narrative writing style.    Also, John is a lot more theological and could pose more of a challenge with my critics in class; and I also would relate to the more Gentile perspective of Luke over the more Hebrew perspective of Matthew.    I may study Matthew whenever I reach the point when I'm ready to tackle the Book of Hebrews.

So, I'm excited to see what God will teach me through this series.   One of the biggest challenges I may face is to ensure that I try to look at these familiar passages with "new eyes"; that I don't just fall into taking the easy road of just repeating what I had learned throughout my life, but that I will allow the Holy Spirit to reveal new "nuggets" of TRUTH that I may never have noticed before; or that He will help me to apply known TRUTHS in a fresh new way.  Amen.