Luke 17

1 – 2

Jesus said to his followers, “Things will surely happen that cause people to sin. But how terrible for the one who causes them to happen. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large stone around his neck than to cause one of these weak people to sin.

It is a very serious thing to bring sin into the life of a little child. Be very careful how you act and how you talk to a child. Do not plant your anger or other weak areas into a child.

Fathers, do not lead your children into anger. Ephesians 6:4

3 – 4

So be careful! “If your brother sins, tell him he is wrong. But if he is sorry and stops sinning, forgive him. If your brother sins against you seven times in one day, but he says that he is sorry each time, then forgive him.”

Forgiveness is one of the ways that we can tell who is a real follower of Jesus. Jesus said to stop in the middle of your prayer and make things right with your brother before you come back and pray. Matthew 5:24

5. The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us more faith!”

It hurts us to forgive someone who has hurt us. We do not have enough faith to forgive. This means we are thinking that the person who hurt us will get away with it! It takes faith to trust God that He will work with that person about what they have done to you.

6. The Lord said, “If your faith is as big as a mustard seed, then you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Dig yourself up and plant yourself in the sea!’ And the tree will obey you.

Jesus is talking to His followers. His promises are not for just anybody. If you are walking with the Lord in taking up your cross and denying yourself then you can claim these promises and things that look impossible in your life will not be able to stop you.

7 – 10

Suppose one of you has a servant who has been plowing the ground or caring for the sheep. When the servant comes in from working in the field, would you say, ‘Come in and sit down to eat’?

No, you would say to your servant, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Then get yourself ready and serve me. When I finish eating and drinking, then you can eat and drink.’

The servant does not get any special thanks for doing what his master told him to do. It is the same with you. When you do everything you are told to do, you should say, ‘We do not deserve any special thanks. We have only done the work we should do.’”

The real heart of a servant will do more than is asked. They do not only help with the way things but make everything look better than before. They love helping others and they do expect to get anything from what they do for others.

11 – 14

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Traveling from Galilee to Samaria, he came into a small town. Ten men met him there. These men did not come close to Jesus, because they all had a harmful skin disease. But they called to him, “Jesus! Master! Please help us!”

When Jesus saw the men, he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” While the ten men were going, they were healed.

Obey first and as you do the healing will come. The Old Testament said that if a man was healed of leprosy he should go and show himself to the priest. Jesus wanted this man to be a witness to the Jewish priests. They would remember that the Old Testament said the Messiah would heal.

15 – 19

When one of them saw that he was healed, he went back to Jesus. He praised God in a loud voice. Then he bowed down at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (This man was a Samaritan.)

Jesus asked, “Ten men were healed; where are the other nine? Is this Samaritan the only one who came back to thank God?” Then Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go on your way. You were healed because you believed.”

Sometimes people who have trapped in evil are tired of this life and they ask God to change them. Some of these have started a new life and can see that God has given them another chance at life.

After this there are some who go back into being a slave of the devil. They forgot to thank God for what they had. We see that healing of the body is not the only thing that is needed.

20 – 21

Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?” Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. People will not say, ‘Look, God’s kingdom is here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ No, God’s kingdom is close to you.”

The Jews are thinking that they will be free from the Romans when the Messiah comes. They think that God’s way of life is built on the rules that they added to the Bible. Jesus is showing them that when they hear his Words they are hearing about the real kingdom of God and can have it when they give up their own ways.

22 – 23

Then Jesus said to his followers, “The time will come when you will want very much to see one of the days of the Son of Man. But you will not be able to see it. People will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or, ‘Look, here he is!’ Stay where you are; do not go away and search.

There are already many groups who say that Jesus is with them and will soon show Himself. Matthew shows us that every eye will see Him so there is no way that Jesus will come and hide Himself with some crazy group of people.

24 – 25

The Son of Man will come again. On the day he comes he will shine like lightning, which flashes across the sky and lights it up from one side to the other. But first, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the people of this time.

Until we see Jesus in the sky there is no reason to think that He has already come!

26 – 30

When the Son of Man comes again, it will be as it was when Noah lived. In the time of Noah, people were eating, drinking, and getting married even on the day when Noah entered the boat. Then the flood came and killed all the people. It will be the same as during the time of Lot.

Those people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. They were doing these things even on the day Lot left Sodom. Then fire and sulfur rained down from the sky and killed them all. This is exactly how it will be when the Son of Man comes again.

People are not getting ready for the Lord’s return. The men of Noah’s day watched him build an ark and were not interested. God will use us to show them there is a way out but many will ignore us.

Already we see a spirit of evil spreading over the earth like never before. Men are plainly saying that killing and burning cities is good. Government leaders are saying that these evil things are good. Killing babies in the worst possible way is now called good.

31 – 36

On that day, if a man is on his roof, he will not have time to go inside and get his things. If a man is in the field, he cannot go back home. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife? Whoever tries to keep his life will give up true life. But whoever gives up his life will have true life.

At the time when I come again, there may be two people sleeping in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. There may be two women grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the same field. One man will be taken, but the other man will be left behind.

Those who are left behind on the earth will be hunted by the antichrist, God has made a place for the Jews to hide. God cares about the things the Jews will have to run away from even though they waited until the very last days to see the truth!

37. The followers asked Jesus, “Where will this be, Lord?” Jesus answered, “People can always find a dead body by looking for the vultures.”

False teachers will have their followers.