Luke 4

1 – 2

Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. The Spirit led Jesus into the desert where the devil tempted Jesus for 40 days. Jesus ate nothing during that time. When those days were ended, He was very hungry.

Sometimes we cannot explain it but we know that God is leading us to do something. God will always give you two or three witnesses from the Bible or from strong Christians to confirm where He is leading you. Sometimes He is leading us into the desert where we do not want to go. It is best to bow our heads and quietly trust Him even in the desert. Jesus was tested with every evil thing that we have been tempted with. Hebrews 4:15

3 – 4

The devil said to Jesus, “Since you are the Son of God, tell this rock to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures: ‘A person does not live only by eating bread.’”

The devil knows that Jesus is the Son of God. He wants Jesus to show off His power. Jesus cared more about feeding others than His own needs.

5 – 8

Then the devil took Jesus and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The devil said to Jesus, “I will give you all these kingdoms and all their power and glory. It has all been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish. If You worship me, all will be Yours.”

Jesus answered, “It is written in the Scriptures: ‘You must worship the Lord your God. Serve only Him!’”

When Adam and Eve ate the fruit they were giving control of the things of the world to the devil. At the end of the world Jesus will take control again. The devil is telling Jesus that there is another way to save the world.

9 – 10

Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put Him on a high place of the Temple. He said to Jesus, “Since you are the Son of God, jump off! It is written in the Scriptures: ‘He has put his angels in charge of You. They will watch over You.’

Jesus answers each attack with Scripture. We need to have Scripture ready to use when we are attacked or we will fall into a pit. Even if you do not understand everything you read just keep reading the Word and God will begin to open your mind to understand and you will have the same power of the Word growing inside of you. James 4:7, Psalm 91:11

11 – 12

‘They will catch You with their hands. And you will not hit Your foot on a rock.’” Jesus answered, “But it also says in the Scriptures: ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”

This Psalm goes on to talk about God protecting us in all things we face in daily life. It is not telling us to do something to test God. The devil is an expert in giving us only a piece of a Bible verse and twisting it to say what he wants. Pay attention! Psalm 91:12

13. After the devil had tempted Jesus in every way, he went away to wait until another time.

The devil came back many times to make trouble for Jesus. The devil does the same to us. Telling us lies is the only weapon he has. If we fill ourselves with the truth of God’s Word we will know when a lie is being told to us. Matthew shows us that Jesus told the devil to leave. We can do this also. James 4:7, Matthew 4:10, John 14:30

14 – 15

Jesus went back to Galilee with the power of the Holy Spirit. Stories about Jesus spread all through the area. He began to teach in the synagogues, and all the people praised Him.
At this time the only thing the people could understand was that Jesus came to show them God’s kingdom. A kingdom has a king and a king tells his people how he wants them to live. This means that in God’s kingdom people live differently than the way the world lives.

16 – 17

Jesus traveled to Nazareth, where He had grown up. On the Sabbath day He went to the synagogue as He always did. Jesus stood up to read. The book of Isaiah the prophet was given to Him. He opened the book and found the place where this is written:

We need to know the Bible so well that no matter what chapter is opened to us we can get a lesson from it.

18. “The Spirit of the Lord is in Me. This is because God chose me to tell the Gospel to the poor. God sent me to tell the prisoners of sin that they are free, and to tell the blind that they can see again. God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly,

The people needed to hear that they were spiritually blind and slaves to evil. If you have spent any time with people who are trapped in evil you know that their lives are sick with anger and sadness. We cannot set them free but it is a sad thing if we do not even bring them the Gospel so that the Lord can set them free!
Isaiah 58:6, Isaiah 61:1

19. and to announce the time when the Lord will show kindness to His people.”

The people would know that this chapter was talking about a time in Israel when people were set free from slavery. Jesus did not keep reading because the chapter goes on to talk about the final judgment. It was not time to talk about His second coming but to understand His first coming! Isaiah 61:2

20 – 21

Jesus closed the book, gave it back, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue was watching Jesus closely. He began to speak to them. He said, “While you heard these words just now, they are coming true!”

They all knew that this chapter was speaking about the Messiah. They knew that Jesus was saying that He was the Messiah.

22. All the people praised Jesus. They were amazed at the beautiful words He spoke. They asked, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

When you have been spending time with the Lord, and He sends you someone who needs help, they will think that you have all the answers. God will give you the answers and the power to pass on so do not think it came from yourself!

23. Jesus said to them, “I know that you will tell me the old saying: ‘Doctor, heal yourself.’ You want to say, ‘We heard about the things you did in Capernaum. Do those things here in your own town!’”

The people of His home town wanted to see Him do something for them but they did not want to hear His teaching. Many people are like this.

24 – 27

Then Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. A prophet is not accepted in his own town. What I say is true. During the time of Elijah it did not rain in Israel for three and a half years. There was no food anywhere in the whole country. And there were many widows in Israel during that time.

But Elijah was sent to none of those widows. He was sent only to a widow in Zarephath, a town in Sidon. And there were many with a harmful skin disease living in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha. But none of them were healed except Naaman, who was from the country of Syria.”

The Jews taught that non-Jews were only good for feeding the fires of hell. The people were angry that Jesus was talking about non-Jews being helped by God.

28 – 30

When all the people in the synagogue heard these things, they became very angry. They got up and forced Jesus out of town. The town was built on a hill. They took Jesus to the edge of the hill and wanted to throw Him off. But Jesus walked through the crowd and went on His way.

When people do not want to hear what we are saying, the Lord has told us to move on to another place and speak the Word. We are the king’s messengers and we need to spend our time with people who are ready top listen. Do not forget to pray for the ones who are not ready yet!

31 – 32

Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee. On the Sabbath day, Jesus taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because He spoke with authority.

The Jewish leaders always talked about what other Jewish leaders have taught. Do not teach the Bible by talking about what someone else has said. God has given you a life message which gives power to your words!

33 – 37

In the synagogue there was a man who had an evil spirit from the devil inside him. The man shouted in a loud voice, “Jesus of Nazareth! What do you want with us? Did You come here to destroy us? I know who you are—God’s Holy One!”

But Jesus warned the evil spirit to stop. He said, “Be quiet! Come out of the man!” The evil spirit threw the man down to the ground before all the people. Then the evil spirit left the man and did not hurt him.

The people were amazed. They said to each other, “What does this mean? With authority and power He commands evil spirits, and they come out.” And so the news about Jesus spread to every place in the whole area.

We see that some people come to church with demons. The real person is looking for help and that is why we need to study the Bible so that we can see what the problem is and help them.

38 – 39

Jesus left the synagogue and went to Simon’s [Peter’s] house. Peter’s mother-in-law was very sick with a high fever. They asked Jesus to do something to help her. He stood next to her and commanded the fever to leave. It left her immediately, and she got up and began serving them.
Being healed so that we can serve is a normal part of the Christian life.
40 – 41

When the sun went down, the people brought their sick to Jesus. They had many different diseases. Jesus put his hands on each sick person and healed every one of them. Demons came out of many people. The demons would shout, “You are the Son of God.” But Jesus gave a strong command for the demons not to speak. They knew Jesus was the Christ.
We do not let demons speak about the Gospel. They will pretend that they are teaching something about God and later add some lies and people will follow.

42 – 44

At daybreak, Jesus went to a place to be alone, but the people looked for him. When they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving. But Jesus said to them, “I must tell the Gospel about God’s kingdom to other towns, too. This is the reason why I was sent.” Then Jesus kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Our reason for living is to help other people know what Jesus has done for us and what He can do for them.