a LETTER to our READERS

Dear Women’s Ministry Leader,

We’re so happy to bring you this issue of Bible Study Source magazine! Our team spends our days thinking about you and your ministry, and working with our amazing teachers to craft Bible studies that will help people read, understand, and apply God’s Word.

Packed into this issue are eight of our newest small group Bible studies, along with some perennial favorites, and a sneak peek of next fall’s lineup. If you’d like to check out these studies in more detail, head over to our YouTube channel (YouTube.com/ HarperChristianResources). You can watch the first sessions of all of our Bible studies for free and subscribe to our channel to never miss a video!

We hope the stories and mini teachings in this issue encourage you. We recognize the effort and sacrifice you put in on behalf of the women in your community, as you seek to help them grow closer to Jesus. Our team is praying for you and cheering you on!

In Him,

Beth Murphy, Director, HarperChristian Resources Sara Riemersma, Editor, HarperChristianWomen

P.S. We need your help! Do you ever wish Bible study publishers knew more about your group Bible study dynamics and how you actually use study guides and videos? Do you have a few minutes each month to share your ideas with us, react to cover designs, and give us your opinions on study features like personal homework and group discussion questions? Join our research panel of Bible study leaders, who get monthly surveys and earn points toward Bible study purchases!

Hey, y'all, my name’s Lisa Harper. I’m a middle-aged chick—which basically means that my hair’s chemically dependent and my favorite pants are stretchy! More importantly, Jesus is my first love, my Savior, my living hope, and my main squeeze.

Second only to my love for Jesus is my love for my daughter, Missy, who God blessed me with through the miracle of adoption. In addition to being a passionate Christ-follower and passionately biased mom, I’m a mediocre author, Bible teacher, recovering Pharisee, Tex-Mex food lover, a doctoral candidate at Denver Seminary, and a bona-fide, born and bred storyteller.

My mom, Patti Angel (yes, that’s her real last name), will tell you that I started telling stories as soon as I could string a few words together and only got windier as I grew up! I’ve always loved stories—telling stories, listening to stories, reading stories, and writing stories because I think human narrative is the heartbeat of real life. More significantly, as a Christian I believe that at its core, the Bible is a love story. Which leads me to a good-natured warning: this new Bible study on Luke is going to contain lots of stories and the Hero of every single one will be Jesus!

Speaking of stories, a few years ago I went to church with a young friend named Laurie who I met while volunteering at a faith-based addiction recovery program. Laurie had turned her life over to Jesus after experiencing horrific abuse, which led to drug addiction and ultimately being arrested for possession with intent to sell. And like most of my friends in recovery she is refreshingly honest. Even in church!

After listening to the pastor preach for a few minutes about what a motley crew the disciples were—how they were largely uneducated, coarse, and mistake-prone men—Laurie elbowed me in the ribs and whispered loud enough for most of the congregation to hear, “Hey Miss Lisa, Jesus has a thing for losers, doesn’t he?”

Although it’s admittedly informal, “Jesus has a thing for losers” could be an apropos subtitle for the Gospel according to Luke because his narrative reads more like Jerry Springer than Shakespeare! It’s replete with stories about Jesus engaging with outliers and outcasts like Samaritans, tax collectors, and the poor—people that ancient culture would surely have labeled as losers—yet the King of all kings lavished them with unconditional love and what some regarded as scandalous grace.

A great example of our Redeemer’s counter cultural compassion is found in Luke 18, which Luke frames in verse 9:

Anyway, here’s the story our Savior told those supercilious stinkers:

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:9-14, NIV).

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In other words, the audience Jesus told the following parable to was a haughty group of yahoos who had the double whammy of being self-righteous and judgmental, which is like going to the movies only to find out the audio isn’t working and the popcorn’s stale!

It wasn’t uncommon in the First Century to lump tax collectors with sinners because ancient tax collectors—also called “publicans” as they collected public revenue on behalf of the government—were about as well loved as dinner-time telemarketers! And to add insult to injury, they were infamous for charging whatever the market would bear and then skimming off the top before turning the coffers over to Rome. Which meant Jewish tax collectors built their bank accounts on the backs of their fellow countrymen, making them the worse kind of traitors because their Beemers and fancy Mediterranean homes came at the expense of their friends, family, and neighbors.

Yet Luke makes one of those ancient Jewish IRS agents the unlikely star of this story! The takeaway is:

Human nature presumes that we have to earn favor with God. That we have to justify ourselves by checking off all the boxes on some sort of spiritual “to do” list. But the tenor and tone of our Redeemer’s earthly life and ministry prove otherwise. Luke paints a compelling portrait of Jesus opening the restorative refuge of His arms wide to include mistake-prone misfits and that is the really, really good news of his gospel account!

I’m so excited we’re going to be diving deep into Luke together—this is going to be an awesome adventure, y’all!

Lisa

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In each study, a central theme—a beautiful word—threads throughout the book, helping you connect and apply each book of the Bible to your daily life.

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