This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is our third day together in our fourth week of looking through the book of
Luke, so that means chapter 18 today. We're continuing along this journey with
Jesus. And in one sense, if you put yourself in this journey, not just reading
what the disciples did, but seeing yourself as a disciple on this journey with
Jesus, this is the journey of your life.

Jesus is headed toward the cross and all along the way he is teaching us as his
followers. In this chapter, the focus is on the disciples and he has four
attitudes of the heart that are vital for any follower of Jesus. Pray and don't
give up, he says.

Don't be prideful, he says. Let the children come to me, he says. Remember that
what's impossible with men is possible for God, he says.

If you want to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ, those are core
attitudes of the heart, core values in your life. First Jesus says pray and
don't give up. Chapter 18 verse 1, then Jesus told his disciples a parable to
show them that they should always pray and not give up.

And then he goes on to tell the story of an unjust judge who answered a widow's
request, not because he wanted to, but just because she was persistent. And at
the end of that story, Jesus says in verse 7, Now this is another parable of
negative comparison which we talked about at the beginning of the week. Jesus
isn't saying God is like the unjust judge, he's saying if an unjust judge will
do this, won't God, your Father who loves you, who created you, won't he do
this?

So Jesus says always pray, don't give up. Now I do not understand the mystery of
prayer. I do not understand the timing of God's answers or the times when I
don't seem to see an answer.

But I do understand that God has told me to not give up. And I do understand
that when God says you will see justice quickly, quickly to us means in the next
few seconds, quickly to God might mean in eternity. Because he knows the time we
have on this earth is so very, very brief.

So without having to understand every reason why every prayer gets answered or
doesn't get answered in the way and in the timing that I would like, I can focus
on this. Keep praying. Don't give up.

Keep talking to God about it. There's something you've stopped talking to God
about. This is Jesus' encouragement, keep talking to God about it.

And if it's painful to talk to him about it, tell him it's painful to talk to
you about it. And watch what he does with your heart, watch what he does with
your life. Pray and don't give up, Jesus said.

That's the attitude of a disciple. The main attitude of a disciple is don't be
prideful. Being in verse 9, Jesus says this, "To some who were confident of
their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this
parable, 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a
tax collector.

The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself. 'God, I thank you that I am not
like other men, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.

' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven
but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner. ' I tell you,
Jesus said, that this man rather than the other went home justified before God.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will
be exalted. " I don't know how to add much to what Jesus says there. Don't be
prideful.

Pride is the trap of those who serve God. It's so easy to fall into pride. Don't
be prideful, Jesus says.

In that prayer, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner," there's never a day in your
life when you should get past the wonder of being able to pray that prayer and
know that God answers it with his forgiveness. Don't be prideful. Pray and don't
give up.

A third heart attitude of a disciple, Jesus says, "Let the children come to me.
" Many of you know this story. It begins in verse 15.

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the
disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and
said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the
kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

" I tell you the truth. Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a
little child will never enter it. The disciples were in the midst of their
important day, and in the midst of this important day, some moms bring some
children to see Jesus.

Jesus doesn't have time for them. Immediately, Jesus, seeing what is happening,
calls the mothers, calls the children, calls some dads who might have been there
over, "Let the little children come to me. " And then he teaches.

He says, "If you can't have a heart like this, then you aren't going to be able
to follow me. " What is it about the heart of a child that's different that we
need to learn from? For one thing, a child knows how to depend on his or her
parents.

If you and I are going to have a relationship with God, it doesn't depend on us,
it's us depending on him. If I can't learn that, if I can't get that, I'm never
going to get what it means to relate to him on a daily basis. Jesus is teaching
us also here as disciples.

It's not as if there's someone who is too unimportant, someone that Jesus does
not have time for. "Let the little children come to me," he says. In fact,
they're some of the greatest in the kingdom of God.

And then there's a fourth heart attitude of a disciple, the attitude that what
is impossible with men is possible with God. A rich young ruler came to Jesus
and asked how he could inherit eternal life. Knowing that riches were this young
ruler's God, Jesus told him to give them up to follow him, but he could not.

He walked away sadly. And then Jesus turns and he talks to his disciples. The
disciples lived in a culture that believed riches meant God's favor, meant God's
blessing.

So if a rich man couldn't get into the kingdom, then nobody could get into the
kingdom they believed. Now before I read what Jesus said about that, it's
striking to me that you have the young children and the rich young ruler one
right after the other. There's something in being like a child that's an open
door to the kingdom of heaven.

And there's something in having many riches that can be a closed door to the
kingdom of heaven. It's just a reminder to us, be more childlike in your faith,
not possessive, but childlike. And to those who believe that riches were somehow
an open door to the kingdom of heaven, Jesus says this in verse 24.

Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter into the
kingdom of God. Indeed, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Those who heard him
asked, "Who then can be saved?

" Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God. " As a
steward, as a manager of what God has given, I'm not looking at what I can do
for him. I'm looking for what he can do in us, what he can do in this world.

If I'm looking at what's possible for men, then riches are going to be
impressive. And buildings and budgets and schedules and all the things that
impress us, all the things that we can see. But those are just an example of
tools that God can use.

But if that's all I build on, that tool actually becomes a weight, a weight
around my neck. Because I'm just depending on what's possible for me. What's
impossible for men is possible with God.

Salvation itself is not possible without the saving grace of God and Jesus
Christ. You can't earn it on your own. You can't buy it on your own.

You can't work for it on your own. And neither is any other work that God wants
to do in our lives. I know you want to be involved in the impossible.

So don't get involved in what just men can do. Look for what can God do. As
Jesus is walking with his disciples, he once again, as they're coming towards
the end of this journey, he reminds them of the journey they're on.

Verses 31 to 34. Jesus took the 12 aside and he told them, "We're going up to
Jerusalem and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man
will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles.

They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him. On the
third day, he will rise again. " The disciples did not understand any of this.

Its meaning was hidden from them and they did not know what he was talking
about. The disciples didn't understand. Now you and I on the other side of the
cross, it's as clear as a bell.

The exact things that Jesus said would happen did happen. We can see it. We know
it.

But they didn't get it because they hadn't yet seen it. As I read about these
disciples, it makes me wonder. It makes me wonder what it is that God is telling
me that I just don't get because I haven't seen it yet.

That I just don't get that he could do in my finances or that he could do in my
family or that he could do in my faith. If you haven't seen it yet but God is
telling you to do it, go ahead and do it. Because as you do it, that's when you
will see it.

And then as you see it, that is a glorious moment of saying, "Lord, now my eyes
are opened. " We're going to see that in these disciples' lives in a few
chapters. But how about your life?

What's hidden from you right now? It's often at the point where God is asking
you to do something and you don't understand why. Because it doesn't make sense
to you.

It's hidden from you right now. And your step of faith is to say, "God, yes,
yes, I'll do that. " Let's take that step right now.

Jesus, yes. Whatever it is today, there may be something in my mind, maybe
nothing in my mind right now. But I want to say yes to you.

As it comes across my path, as I get that opportunity, as I have the chance to
pray, as I can serve someone else, as you open a door for me. Lord, help the
answer to be yes. As I trust in you, as I trust in your path, your direction,
your guidance.

Lord, I need you if I'm going to trust in you. So I pray in my relationship with
you today, I pray for a deep sense of trust and a deep sense of your goodness
and grace. In your name, I pray, amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to stop in Jericho and then Jesus arrives in Jerusalem.