< Luke 11 >

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, emphasising reverence to God, the coming of his kingdom, his will being done in earth as in heaven, and forgiveness of sins. He urged his disciples to be importunate (ask ceaselessly) in their requests and taught this by parable. vs.5-9Luke 11:5-9XWaiting for response Great blessings will certainly come to the saints at the return of Jesus if they ask for them earnestly in prayer, v.9Luke 11:9XWaiting for response and they include the gift of the Holy Spirit. v.13Luke 11:13XWaiting for response The apostles and the early disciples had a foretaste of “the powers of the world to come” Hebrews 6:5Hebrews 6:5XWaiting for response which enabled them to perform miracles of healing, and in the future the saints will possess these powers on a much greater scale to bless of Israel and the whole world. God will account these saints are his and will give them the very best gifts.vs.11-13Luke 11:11-13XWaiting for response

The truly blessed, said Jesus, are “they that hear the word of God, and keep it”.v.28Luke 11:28XWaiting for response Sadly, there have not been many such in any generation since those days. Even when Jesus was in their midst doing mighty deeds the Jews did not receive his teaching, so the opportunity was given to the Gentiles to hear and obey. Jesus alluded to this when he referred to the prophet Jonah, sent to Gentiles who repented at his warning,v.32Luke 11:32XWaiting for response and the word of “the greater than Jonah” was also received joyfully by Gentiles in the Roman Empire Acts 13:48.Acts 13:48XWaiting for response The Jewish religious leaders were more concerned with the minutiae of the Law, such as taking from the people their rightful tenth, even of the smallest herbs, instead of the really important matters like justice and the love of God.v.42Luke 11:42XWaiting for response They were just like their ancestors who had killed righteous men from Abel to Zechariah, the last prophet of the Old Testament to be killed by his brethren. v.51Luke 11:51XWaiting for response They not only rejected the word of God themselves but also took away the key of knowledge from the people,v.52Luke 11:52XWaiting for response and they listened to Jesus, not to learn the truth but, “saught to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him”.v.54Luke 11:54XWaiting for response