May 08 2025

Thursday May 08

Luke 18:1-8 – Who Will You Meet Today?

1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.' " 6 Then the Lord said, "Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

Today we will be looking at a new chapter, Luke chapter 18. But before we get into this chapter, I couldn’t help but think back over 50 years ago when I was in Bible College in Lynchburg, I went to Winchester, Virginia, to be a part of starting a new church, Shenandoah Valley Baptist Church. Right after I graduated in 1975, I became the senior pastor of the church. Shortly after that, I met a dear friend who greatly influenced our lives and greatly encouraged and assisted us in my early days of ministry. His name was Dave Sisler.

We were very sorry and sad to hear that Dave went to be with the Lord earlier this week. He was someone who invested in us in many different ways. One of the ways he tried to help us, I’ll never forget, was taking me and my brother-in-law, Ronnie Riggins, to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, because we were getting ready to plant a new church up there. Ronnie was going to go up there and meet some people and start a church, and we were excited about that. So Dave took us up to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and he introduced us to a man that he knew by the name of Charlie “Tremendous” Jones. Dave was involved in Amway in a really big way, and Charlie Tremendous Jones was one of the top motivational speakers in the world at that time and spoke at the Amway conventions. So Dave personally knew him.

I’ll never forget our first meeting with Charlie Tremendous Jones there in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in his bookstore with Ronnie Riggins and Dave. That’s a longer story, but Charlie Tremendous Jones, over the years, also became a part of the church that was started there with Ronnie, and became a friend of ours too. One of the things that Charlie was famous for saying is, “Two things will change your life more than anything else in the next five years are the people you meet and the books you read.”

I said all that to first give honor to my friend Dave Sisler. He’s going to be greatly missed by many people, especially his family, but also to make a point. The Bible is a book of people. If you want to learn the Bible, learn the people of the Bible. God introduces us to people in the Bible, and through these people, the main person we meet is God Himself. When you meet people, you meet them in their books, you meet them in their lives, you meet them in their stories, and your life can be forever changed because. And especially through the people of the Bible, you meet God.

Now, in this story in front of us today in Luke chapter 18, Jesus is teaching a lesson about prayer, that men ought always to pray, not to faint, not to give up hope. This parable is teaching us that either we’re going to be praying, or we’re going to be fainting, quitting, throwing up our hands, throwing in the towel, and walking away from our Christianity. The importance and the power and place of prayer that Jesus speaks about here is wonderful.

So Jesus told this parable, saying, “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

For the next few days, we’ll be talking about this parable and the three people in this story that we’re going to meet: the widow lady, the unjust judge, and the widow’s adversary. Through them, we’re going to hear and learn about how great our God is to take care of us when we cry out to Him day and night.

Today you might think about who you’re going to meet and how you can influence their lives or maybe how they might influence your life.

God bless.