Hey, everyone! This is a challenge I pitched out to the attendees of Living Proof Live Eugene, Oregon because it corresponded with our concept but anyone is invited to participate! Here’s a bit of background:
At our Living Proof Live in Eugene, we studied the repetitions of the powerfully placed words “this Jesus” in the Book of Acts, particularly in the first and second chapters. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Luke was intent on the reader understanding that the one who is both Messiah and Lord is “this same Jesus” (1:11 CSB/NIV) who was arrested, beaten, crucified, raised from the dead, who ascended to the Father in Heaven and who will descend again to earth in like manner. The challenge is to know “this Jesus” not second hand but straight from the pages of Scripture. While He can be found in the full stretch of Scripture, what He was like when He took on human flesh and blood and walked among us can most clearly, concentratedly be seen in the canonical Gospels.
My objective was to keep it completely uncomplicated even in the title. We’re simply calling it The Luke Challenge.
All you need is a Bible, a pen and a simple spiral notebook.
Write on the front of it with a marker: In Search of This Jesus
Choose a 30-day period of time in which you commit to read the book of Luke, 1 chapter a day, for all 24 chapters. Your 6 extra days are there when you miss and need to catch up. Start at any point but don’t leave it open ended. Really try to conclude in 30 days so you don’t lose momentum. Leave a comment to this post on the day you’re beginning as a means of strengthening your commitment with a bit of accountability. I don’t know about you but that always works better for me.
2 ground rules:
1. PRAY: Each time before you read, ask Jesus for two specific things: A) to open your mind to understand the Scriptures and B) to fill you with His Holy Spirit.
2. WRITE: Take notes and make comments on each chapter with particular emphasis on who Jesus was/is and what He was like. Freestyle anyway you wish and get as detailed as you like but here’s the catch: do so in dialogue straight to Jesus. Your notes, in effect, become prayers. Communications. He speaks to you through His Word. You speak back through your pen. For example, “Lord, I’m seeing these characteristics in you in Luke 4” and “I wonder what was going through Your mind when Peter…” and “this about you is particularly confusing/fascinating/troubling/comforting/exhilarating to me,” etc. Get the idea? Record what seems to draw Jesus near to a situation and also note what seems to repel Him. Recount to Him what you see happening around Him in the scene. Record how people responded to Him, both positively and negatively. Describe Him to the degree Scripture describes Him. Record your responses to Him. Do it any way you wish but make this an exercise entirely between you and Jesus.
One of our major points at Living Proof Live was that there is a difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Jesus. This 30-day period focuses on knowing “this Jesus” who is both Messiah and Lord.
Anyone can do it with you and anyone is welcome to participate.
THEN, watch for a blog to follow this one in 30 days so that you can report having completed it and share your primary takeaways. THEN!!! If you liked it, DO THE SAME THING WITH THE BOOK OF ACTS! Luke wrote it, too, and it’s the perfect follow up.
We’re so happy to serve you here at Living Proof. We exist entirely for this purpose: to encourage people to come to know and love Jesus Christ. THIS Jesus of Scripture.
Enjoy Him!
P.S.  Our comments are all moderated so don’t panic if you don’t see yours show up right away. It’s there! You’ll see it on the next work day!
My husband and I will begin The Luke Challenge on August 1. We are eagerly anticipating the fruit that it will bear. Thank you.
Can’t wait to discover “this Jesus” in more depth beginning Monday, July 29, 2019.
I am starting the Luke challenge
So excited to start 8/1!
I’m in!!!
I’ll start July 29th!! Love this!!!
I love this!!! I’m going to do the 30 day challenge. I’ll begin leading a 24 week verse by verse study of Luke beginning in September. We read the Scriptures in order to consider what we would believe if we didn’t have anything but the Scriptures to inform our faith. (I spent a year in the book of Luke doing this very thing in 2015.) I set out to read each Gospel in this way beginning in 2013 with Matthew but found that I was having so much conversation and rereading the words so many times and talking with God about them that it took me an entire year to get through. So I spent a year in Mark (2014), Luke (2015), & John (2016). In October 2017 I began leading others through a weekly Bible Study each week. It has been LIFE CHANGING. Just this past week God highlighted something I have always struggled with in Matthew 15 & Mark 7 with the Syrophonecian Woman.
All that to say!!! i’m excited to see what He reveals to me about THIS JESUS as I walk with Him again and again through the Gospels. ❤️
Committing to start August 1st! ❤️
Starting the Luke challenge
Me and my friend Jen are starting tomorrow morning
I love this!!
I’m going to try this! We are doing the David A Heart Like His Bible Study at our ladies’ group right now so it will be a challenge to keep up with homework from that and do this but it sounds like a good plan!
I’m excited!
I’m nearing the end of another 30-day challenge with a small group of women from my church. As soon as we meet that challenge, I will begin the Luke Challenge and encourage the women in my group to do it as well. I’m excited to learn more about “this Jesus” that I love and serve!
I’m in. 7/28/19
Thank you for coming to Eugene and reminding us who This Jesus is! I’ve been wandering in my studies and I’m so excited and ready to commit to the Luke Challenge- to first hand (not second hand!) get to know and fall in love with Jesus more. Thank you for your passion and allowing the Spirit to speak in and through you.
Starting 8/1.
I started the 30 day Luke Challenge today. Loving it. Thank you!!!
I was at Eugene live and have started the Luke 1study! Thank you for this idea & the accountability.
I was invited to do this with a group of my dear friends. I will be starting on August 1 so I have a reading plan for the whole month Looking forward to learning more about This Jesus!
Starting the Luke Challenge on 7-28
I started today, July 28th! I need something to restart my daily study habit and keep me accountable. This is just what I need!!
I am starting the Luke Challenge today. Very excited to hear God.
Committed to start tomorrow morning: Monday, July 29,2019. Thank you for these directions and this opportunity! Excited for The Quest through Luke and Acts! ❤️
So encouraged to watch the Spirit on the move and in action through the weekend! Thank you for your sensitivity to His leading.
I will be starting the Luke challenge on July 31st. Can’t wait to see how “This Jesus” wants to make Himself known through this time! It feels like a great way to stretch out the weekend.
I’m starting the Luke Challenge on July 29. I’m excited to see what God will do through this challenge. Thank you for the great teaching in Eugene this weekend! It’s always such a blessing to attend a live event. Continuing to pray for You and the ministry.
I started on 7/28 🙂
I started the Luke challenge today with a few friends that I went to see Beth Moore with. My husband is also joining in on this.
Started the Luke Challenge this morning. Looking forward to getting to know Jesus better and ignite a deeper passion for scripture and my relationship with this Jesus.
LPL Eugene was amazing! I felt as if we were physically present before the throne of God during worship. Your words were challenging and kindled a fresh fire. I am starting the Luke challenge July 28, 2019 and feel this is the beginning of an exciting and important new season in my walk with Jesus. Thank you for your commitment to the ministry you have. My life is one of many that has been incredibly blessed over the years because of your commitment!
Beth, I’m so glad I went. All week I was feeling the spiritual growth. God was moving me to the next step of healing my broken heart (father issues). All day yesterday I was emotional. Lots of reflecting and lots of clarity. After two years I’m ready to stop being stuck in the pain. Yesterday whatever was holding me to the pain released me and I feel my faith has returned. Thank you for that message. BTW I use to live in Liberty Hill Texas and worked in Cedar Park, so your stories of home always brings back fond memories. I love Texans!
I start the Luke Challenge today, July 29th.
I will be starting on August 1, 2019. New Month, New Reading!
I’m starting this challenge today, July 29th.
I am starting this morning Monday July 28th. I have invited our Women’s Bible study to join. Love you Beth and praying for Living Proof. ❤️
I’m in! What an amazing idea. I will be starting today, the 29th of July. I can’t wait!
Staring the Luke Challenge 7/29/19! Angie Stull
Committed 7/29/19
Love this, Beth ~ thanks for the idea! Starting right this second on 7.29.19.
Thank you for this challenge. It is God directed for me because I had already been given the book of Luke to read this summer as an introduction to a Bible Study I will be a part of this fall. Looking so forward to what God has for me in “this Jesus”.
I’m in! I am starting August 1st.
My Dear Jesus,
Thank you for Luke’s attention to detail and sense of order. A physician would notice such things and take the time to assure that we know we are getting all the facts. it is comforting. It provides structure and context and reminds me that nothing escapes your notice and intention. You have considered ALL THINGS, even down to the lineage of Elizabether, from “daughters of Aaron,” the first priest. She figures prominently in the story and becomes an encouraging speaker of God’s prophetic word to the mother of Christ and the bearer of the playmate and older cousin, the baptizer and proclaimer of the Messiah. Her son, John the Baptist, becomes the first martyr in the cause of your mission. And even when he expresses a moment of doubt, you lovingly reassure him and remind him through tangible evidence.
Zacharias’ reaction to the angel of the Lord reminds me that righteousness and reverence contain an element of holy and appropriate fear but that you are a good and loving Divine God who hears our petitions and answers the deepest cries of our hearts with compassion. We need not quake in fear of destruction. We can receive your presence and your message with expectant joy and readiness to respond. Lord, I repent that I did not always recognize that children were a sign of your favor. I grieve that many have failed to see and acknowledge that truth. Use your people to bring that truth back to the world. Thank you that Catie Byrd Kelley, sweet grandaughter called and empowered by you, has embraced the ministry of life-sanctifying proclamation through her work in law. May her effort find favor in hearts and courtrooms.
It is interesting how that little phrase, “For nothing is impossible with God,” was used to convince a skeptical virgin that she would bear a child by assuring her that her much older menopausal barren cousin was also going to bear a child and was, in fact, already six months along! It apparently seemed more farfetched for Elizabeth to have conceived than for Mary herself to conceive and she was convinced and comforted! Then angel’s case was made. Mary was not alone in this miracle and she hastened to go see Elizabeth. Suraely, a six month pregnant Elizabeth and she would have a lot to talk about. Oh, Jesus, you do not leave us without role models, teachers, companions, and firneds and confidants for comfort and accountability! You have created us for intimate fellowship and community. and with Zacharias struck mute for the entire term of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, this was the perfect time for Elizabeth and Mary to ond in their unique pregnancies and pray for their sons, search the Scriptures and prepare for their roles as mothers, too, to two children God had especially equipped and called for his work! I cannot imagine their excitement! It makes Mary’s proclamation of the Magnificat so much more understandable and relatable when seen in the light of the circumstances and timeframe.
Zacharias’ prophecy speaks of redemption as an accomplished fact with the birth of John. The wheels of it all are in motion. It is clear to Elizabeth, Mary, and him. Three witnesses are all that are required to establish the truth of it. And this chapter ends with “And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit….” (v.80). Jesus, you have shown me in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “be ye wholly sanctified- spirit, soul, and body”- that spirit is first and foremost that which is God’s charge to us as parents and individuals to cultivate in children, whether they are biological or spiritual children to us. And it’s why you put the name “Titus 2” on my heart for the discipleship ministry with women to which you called me. Nothing is wasted in your realm, Jesus. And truly, nothing is impossible with you, Holy One!
I thank you, Jesus, that you are this God that works in such intricate details and that Luke has shown us some of these details that preceded your birth and set the stage through the lives of Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, and John in today’s reading.
Desiring to experience more of your goodness daily,
Cathy
Starting on 6/29. I need this so.
I’ll be starting the challenge on July 29. I’m so excited!! Thank you!
Getting started this morning. This speaks to a need I have been sensing in my own walk.. the reality of the person of Jesus.
I’m committing to start on Monday, July 29th! Excited to see what Jesus wants to teach me through His Word.
I started Luke challenge today.
Starting the Luke Challenge now.
Started Luke on July 29
I am finishing up a Bible Study and this is a great project for me to observe on towards! I love doing my bible studies, but I know my goal should be to walk the pages of scripture more. I just never know how to do that on my own. I usually need some kind of direction. This is simple and perfect for me! Thank you for the idea!
I’m starting the Luke challenge today – 7/29/19. In search of this Jesus!
Committed to start the Luke Challenge.
Had just started reading Luke but this is a great way to dig further into it. I am seeking to really know my Lord and Savior!!