Back to highlights from Luke’s gospel. And that’s all we can do…highlights.

In Luke, accounts of miracles don’t begin until late in chapter 4, which ends this way:

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4.42 – 43, ESV)

Two simple observations:

• People want him to stay (and continue to meet their needs), but Jesus knows it’s time to leave. How does he know? Answer: he begins his day in prayer in “a desolate place.” When they want him to say, his answer is firm: “I MUST preach…to the other towns as well…” Jesus gathered his strength and direction during his times of solitude. Luke reiterates:

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5.16, NIV)

• God’s direction often results in movement. Paul and Barnabas were part of a thriving ministry in Antioch when…

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13.1 – 3, NIV)

We had just gotten the Navigators 2:7 Series going well in Omaha in 1977 when the Air Force sent us to Alabama. No problem. The ministry thrived in our absence. When we moved from Alabama to Colorado in 1984, we again left behind a 2:7 series in process. No problem. God again moved someone else in to take care of that.

We tend to like things to stay the same. We stay in place. Our leaders stay in place. But sometimes God’s work requires that we be open to change.

After this, Paul stayed many days longer [in Corinth] and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila…And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there…Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. (Acts 18.18, 19, 24 – 26, ESV)