In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we discover that Luke lived many years with the apostle Paul, and how he travelled and assisted him! In it, we also learn how through the apostle Paul, the Gospel came to Europe and How, miraculously, through signs and wonders, it spread everywhere he went. It is after Paul’s death, that Luke wrote his Gospel and the book of Acts of the Apostles. His serious research of the facts is enriching, and contains things that are not found in the other three Gospels, yet in the main, most of it tallies with what wrote Matthew, Mark and John. Luke writes to a friend whom he calls: ‘most excellent Theophilus.’ He must have been an important and influential man, for both His Gospel and the book of Acts, have been written personally to him: He writes: ‘Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been surely believed among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who were eye-witnesses, and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.’  (Luke 1: 1-4) It is not certain that he was of Greek nationality, yet he was known as Lukas among Paul’s entourage, and he called him so.

He could have been born in Galilee or north of it, where many people were of Greek stock and settled there in the days of Alexander the Great, the Jews of that part of the country spoke Greek and Hebrew. How he came to know the Lord is not certain, but he came from Antioch, from where Barnabas went to find Paul and for a whole year they taught and ministered to this very wonderful Church. It is written: ‘In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers…While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul (Paul) for the work to which I have called them. So, after they had fasted and prated, they placed their hands on them and send them off.’ (Acts 13: 1-3) So it is there that Paul was sent to evangelise Europe, where he would spend the rest of his life.

From then on, I think that Luke kept note of all the events wherever they went! However, it happened that Luke became an important member of Paul’s team. What is certain that it pleased the Holy Spirit to add the Book of Acts to the riches of the New Testament, and I personally, am deeply grateful to God for giving us the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts that he wrote! We too can be encouraged to share with our friends all that Jesus has done, just like Luke has done, and also support, by every possible means those that have preached Christ to us and brought us the truth of the Gospel; not forgetting those that still do; through the preaching of the Gospel we, Christians,  have been saved and we ought to thank God for the faithfulness of men that shared Jesus Christ to us, whom they also received and grew to know and love Him deeply!

Thus, so far, we see in Luke’s Gospel, the end of the old order and the start of a new era, which will cover thousands of years right up to the present. In the upper room, when Jesus commemorated Passover with His disciples, He introduced the ‘The New Covenant’, for it is written: ‘After supper He took the cup saying: This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’ (Luke 22: 20). This Covenant was not sealed not with the blood of animals, as were all others, but with the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, His beloved Son. ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ (John 3:16) Believe in Him today.

Thus, preaching is God’s way of bringing the truth to the world, but preaching can only be fruitful if the pure Gospel is adhered to, a telling forth of it with the power of the Holy Spirit, with the cross right in the centre! Many critics find that it is foolishness and poopoo it, but Paul write and says: ‘Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.’ (1 Corinthians 1:17-18) So, it is paramount that preaching the Gospel continues even in this century, with the cross of Christ, for at the cross all ends and the new life begins!