Even when we spend time with Jesus, we can be doubtful like Thomas
Martha and Mary believed Jesus was the Messiah but they still did not believe he had come to raise Lazarus from the dead
Jesus was really good friends with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He wept when he saw how sad Mary and Martha were at the death of their brother. Jesus had real emotions.
Jesus was really confident in his relationship with God. He prayed for Lazarus to be raised from the dead to show them that he was the Son of God and came from God.
Jesus promised that when we believe in him we will live and never die. Live- spiritually, we will not experience a spiritual death. Physical death is not a final event, the way humans think of it. We will live forever spiritually, if we do what God says.
Thomas was doubting and focusing on going to Jerusalem to die. He also doubted when Jesus came back from the dead. This is another example of being around Jesus and not really understanding his power.
When God allows us to go through suffering, it is usually for a larger purpose; for example to help us know him better and believe in him more. Suffering can lead to growth.
The religious leaders of the time knew it was the power of God that raised Lazarus from the dead yet they knowingly rejected Jesus as the Son of God. They were more interested in keeping their position and status in society.
These blind men knew that Jesus was the son of David, which was a huge accomplishment for this time among the Jews. Many of the Jews did not see Jesus as the son of David and should have known because the Torah predicted he would come and do the things he was doing.
These blind men, although physically blind and likely needed help to get to Jesus, were not spiritually blind. They could see that Jesus was special and could heal their blindness.
What does this verse proclaim about Jesus? Why did Matthew start out his gospel writing like this?
This verse proclaims that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of David
Matthew wrote his gospel especially for the Jewish readers who did not believe Jesus was who he said he was, the son of David, the Messiah, the son of God whom the prophets foretold his coming.
In this passage David decided to build a house for God but God turned it around and told David he would build a house for David. As a matter of fact, he promised David he was going to build him a royal dynasty that would last forever and his bloodline would always rule. Jesus came from this line and was known as the son of David as a result.
Although David was not perfect and fell short several times, he always repented and sought to maintain his relationship with God. Therefore, God chose him and blessed him and his future descendants with this promise.
This covenant that God made with David was not dependent on David’s actions but it was dependent on God’s faithfulness.
The blind men that Jesus healed must have known their old testament scriptures well enough to recognize that Jesus was the son of David and called out to him for healing.
The blind men knew who Jesus was despite having a physical disability
Sometimes having a disability makes us more in tune with our relationship with God because we can more easily recognize our need for God in our lives.
These men could be healed because they already had faith in who Jesus was. Their faith did not come as a result of being healed.
Do you have faith in Jesus that he can heal you?
The Blind men responded to Jesus, Yes Lord, when Jesus asked them if they believed he could heal them. In your life, do you say, Yes Lord, I believe you can heal me?
Do you act like you believe Jesus can help you? Faith is not just believing. It includes acting on what you believe.
Why did Israel want a King? What excuses did they make about needing a King?
Israel wanted a king so they could be like the other nations around them that had a person as a king. Having God as their king was not enough for them.
They were making excuses that they needed a king because Samuel’s sons were corrupt and Samuel was old and they needed a king to lead them.
The truth of the matter was that they were rejecting God as their king. They were intentionally breaking their covenant relationship with God and demanding a person to be their king.
Fortunately, Samuel was wise enough to seek advice from God with this issue. This shows that although Samuel was old, he was still wise to seek God’s advice in his life.
God was very aware that Israel had been rejecting Him as their King since he rescued them from Egypt, yet he remained faithful to his promises to protect them and make them a great nation
God is faithful to us even when we are unfaithful to him. His presence gives us protection even when we may not deserve it or we are unaware of it.
How does this passage relate to the passage in 1 Samuel regarding Israel wanting a king?
In this passage, the Jews chose Barabbas over Jesus. Although they accused Jesus of being King of the Jews, they still chose to crucify him and let the worldly leader go free.
The Jews are consistent in the rejection of God as their King. Here they are rejecting the son of God as their King.
Israel was an adulteress wife, yet God still pursued her and claimed her as his own.
The Israelites were having difficulty staying faithful to God in part because they wanted to be like the other nations around them and have a god they could see and control.
God promised Israel his marriage to her would be forever, with righteousness and justice and with love and compassion.
God’s request from Israel was to acknowledge him, to know HIM
It is important to remember that in the end death will not win
Jesus came to the earth, died and was raised to a new life to give everyone the same opportunity. As christians, we can die to our old selves, get baptized and be raised to a new life. We will have the ability to live a repented life on earth and a hope of resurrection with Jesus when he returns.
This is essential to the core of the Christian Faith
Read 1 Johnand discuss some passages that describe this core of the Christian Faith, living like Jesus
1 John 2: 3-6is a great example, if you claim to be a Christian, you must live like Jesus did.
Describe some ways you can tell if someone is living like Jesus, refer back to Ephesians 4: 1-6
The person would be humble and gentle
The person would be patient and bearing with others
The person would be forgiving and turning to God for answers
Describe some ways you might act if you are not trying to live like Jesus, again refer back to Ephesians 4: 1-6
The person would retaliate and become defensive in relationships
The person would be quick to anger, judgmental and impatient
The person would be unforgiving and turning to their own methods to solve problems
They would damage the unity in relationships for the sake of winning or being right
What is so great about making every effort to “keep unity”? What is “unity”?
When Paul told the readers to keep unity, this implied we are already unified with each other. Working to keep unity is the challenge, but it is encouraging that God has already given us the gift of unity in our relationships.
Unity is working together with others to reach the same goal. It does not mean we have to have the same exact ideas, thoughts or feelings. It means adjusting our ideas, thoughts and feelings as necessary to reach a common goal. Our relationship with God and our relationship with each other is essential to maintaining unity.
God has given us one Body, Spirit, Hope, Lord, Faith and Baptism. God has made us all-everyone.
God has made us all and as disciples we belong to Jesus. Because we belong to Jesus, we can imitate his humility and keep peace in our relationships.
God is our husband and looks after and takes care of our needs
He brought us out of a lonely broken place and provided us with everything that we need to live
God has a personal and intimate relationship with us and his concern for us is deeply personal
God gives us time to grow and seeks us out when we are ready to receive him
It is easy to forget how much God loves and cares for us.
When Jesus returns, we will have full redemption and will experience the full treasures from God. As members of the church we will one day be married to our great bridegroom Jesus.
God has made us his Queen and the future bride of Jesus, how do you respond to this gift from God?
She was making poor decisions and not trusting in God
Although God had delivered her from troubles before and personally made a promise to her that she would have a son, she did not believe God
She was putting her faith in events going on around her instead of in God’s promises
It is important to have people involved in your life who can help you to trust in God when you are going through difficulties in your life. Faithful friends can help you to remember all the times God delivered you in the past.
Discuss some characteristics of Abraham
He did not trust in God, but he trusted his wife who did not give him the best advice
He was looking to his culture for advice to help him establish his Kingdom, instead of trusting in God’s promises.
We need to remember in our lives that God has a plan laid out for us in our lives. We sometimes forget this and instead of seeking out God’s will for our lives, we find a way to deviate from God's plans.
When we deviate from God’s plan for our lives, generations of our family members are usually negatively impacted.
Discuss some characteristics of Hagar
Hagar was rumored to be an Egyptian princess but was a slave to Abraham and Sarai
She was forced to marry Abraham and to have a child for Sarai
God saw her cry for help and delivered her
In Genesis 21- Hagar and her son Ishmael were removed from the family and God heard her cry again. God invited Hagar into a relationship with him.
We are now part of a greater promise and free to have faith in God. We are no longer bound by the laws of Jewish traditions. Anyone who wants to have a relationship with God is able to do so. We now have freedom to live as Chrisitians because of Jesus and his sacrifice.
Read Isaiah 42:1-9: What do we learn about Jesus from this passage?
God calls Jesus his servant
The Messiah will show who God is
He will show the way to life eternal
He will open eyes that are blind
Jesus will bring justice to the nations, we do not have to seek justice for ourselves when we are wronged
God was intimately involved with Jesus, holding his hand
God gave Jesus his glory, so we could trust that He was from God
Read John 9:1-8: Who were the blind characters in this passage and why?
The disciples were blinded by their own traditions, they believed bad things happened to people as a result of sins their parents committed. They could not see the real reason this beggar was blind from birth.
The beggar was born blind so that God’s work could be displayed in his life. It is important to understand that the beggar was chosen by God for this purpose. When bad things happen to you in your life do you see it as an opportunity for God’s work to be displayed in your life? It is very inspiring when individuals overcome hardships in their lives and trust in God’s deliverance.
What was Jesus referring to when he said they were to work as long as he was there with them? Meaning, make the most of every opportunity to do good. Healing on the Sabbath was more important than obeying the man-made rules of the Sabbath.
Neat trivial fact: the Pool of Siloam-means “sent”. Remember in Isaiah, Jesus was going to be "sent" to save the world.
Read John 9:8-12: Why were the onlookers unable to recognize the healed beggar?
Perhaps the healed beggar was acting differently now that he was healed.
Perhaps they never even really knew what he looked like because he was an outcast, ie. the blind beggar that no one really paid any attention.
Perhaps the onlookers were still blinded by their own inability to recognize the power of Jesus to heal lifelong conditions. They could not connect the miracle to Jesus in their minds. Afterall, using mud in someone’s eyes to heal them seems ridiculous.
It is important to note also that the man did not require faith to be healed, he was healed although he did not know who Jesus was. In order to be healed however, he had to obey Jesus and do something- go wash in the pool.
Read John 9:13-17: Why were the Pharisees having such a difficult time understanding this miracle?
The Pharisees were blinded by their own religious traditions. They were caught up in obeying the tradition of the Sabbath and unable to recognize that Jesus was more important than the Sabbath itself. We need to still do good things on the Sabbath. Jesus performed lots of miracles on the Sabbath to drive this point home to his followers.
God created the Sabbath for humans to rest. God stopped creating on the Sabbath, he did not stop existing. The Pharisees went as far to say this man was not from God because he did not keep the Sabbath, by their definition. How many times do we say someone is not a Christian because they do not obey rules that were man-made?
Read John 9:35-38: Who are the spiritually blind in this passage and did they regain true sight?
The Pharisees were unable to see that Jesus was doing good on the sabbath and this man was able to see as a result. Instead of rejoicing and worshiping God for this miracle, they threw the healed man out of the synagogue. The Pharisees remained blind.
The man was thrown out but Jesus found him and helped him to realize who really healed him. The beggar transformed from not knowing who Jesus was, to calling him an unknown man, to calling him a prophet and finally to proclaiming Jesus was the Son of Man. The blind man allowed himself to be transformed by this interaction with Jesus. We can be transformed in the same way if we allow our eyes to really be healed by Jesus to see who he is. We can be healed from our spiritual blindness when we obey his commands and acknowledge that he is the one doing the healing in our lives.
Several individuals at church on Sunday shared a verse or song that really encouraged them in their daily walk with God. Here is a sample of what was shared by various individuals:
Remember, as Christians, we are more than conquerors and cannot be separated from the Love of God that is in Jesus our Lord.
God doesn’t move away from us, we are usually the ones that move away from God. Jesus intercedes for us to help us stay close to God, he takes the bullets for us and protects us in our daily walk with God so that we can stay close to God.
God wants to hear from us. We do not have to be worried about anything as long as we turn everything over to God and give thanks. Remember to fill your mind up with thoughts of heaven so that peace will dwell in your heart.
Read Philemon verse 4-7
As Christians, we can encourage each other with our faithfulness to God.
Even when we have doubts in our lives, Jesus takes the time to come to us and make sure we believe. Look back at all the events of your life and recount how God was present and helped you to continue to believe in Him.
We live in a world that is full of bad news stories, however, we can read these verses and remember the Good News that Jesus is with God and is preparing a new place for us to come and dwell with him.
Jesus was willing to give up everything he had for us so that we could have a chance to be with Him and God. We will one day be together with Jesus and God!
