HE SEES, HE KNOWS, HE CARES: THE GOSPEL of LUKEПримерок

[IMAGE CONTENT] Week 1 Read: Luke 1:1–25 SOAP: Luke 1:25 “ This is what the Lord has done for me at the time when he has been gracious to me, to take away my disgrace among people.” God has a grand plan of redemption. This plan began with creation and continues today, and it displays God's power and sovereignty. He continually works out His grand plan and allows His people to see how He is working. At the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, we learn that John was a forerunner to Christ. John was the prophet God promised to send to His people to prepare their hearts for the coming of the Messiah. John was a promise fulfilled by God to the people of Israel, and his birth was the continuation of God's grand plan of redemption. Yet, in the midst of God’s overarching, all-important plan to bring redemption to the world, He brought personal redemption to Elizabeth. Out of all of the women in Israel, God chose her. He saw her pain, her longing, and her broken heart. God not only allowed Elizabeth to be a part of His universal redemptive plan, but He also redeemed her situation. The Gospel of Luke is an account of the life of Jesus, written from one friend to another. Luke describes with clarity and conviction who Jesus is: the Son of God and the Son of Man, fully God and fully human. He shares how Jesus displayed His power and authority and how He challenged the religious leaders and their oppressive systems. But within his larger purpose for writing this Gospel, Luke displays the personal ways Jesus sees, knows, and cares for His people. Jesus often stopped what He was doing to heal, care for, and encourage the sick, disabled, and marginalized. Luke highlights this and also, more than any other Gospel writer, shows how Jesus cared for women. We will see over and over again the deity and humanity of Christ and the way He fulfilled God’s purpose to bring eternal redemption to His people. And as we do, we will also see how God never overlooks us, even in our darkest, most desperate moments. He goes out of His way to heal, redeem, and restore. As we get to know Jesus better through this study, let’s be expectant of the ways He will show His redeeming and restoring power, even in our own lives and circumstances.