Jean's Bible Study Topics of the New Testament

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Mat 17,1-21

· (112b) Thy kingdom come Ø LIGHT Ø Jesus’ light overcomes darkness Ø The light of His power -- Although Jesus shone brighter when almost no one was watching, He came down from the mountain and demonstrated His power before the masses. Power emanated from Christ because He was the light of the world; He was the Son of God who came to show us the way to the Father, and to do all of the Father's will. 

Mat 17,1-5

· (67a) Lordship of Christ Ø Jesus’ authority Ø The glory of His authority

· (140d) Temple Ø Temple made without hands Ø Hiding place Ø Living in the spiritual revelation of the word -- Peter wanted to build a house for Christ and His guests, but Jesus already had a dwelling place that Peter did not know about. Jesus was living in the spiritual revelation of God's word. Jesus is that spiritual revelation in which God wants us all to live. He is the tabernacle that was made without hands, both in the sense that He needed no earthly father in order to be conceived in His mother's womb, and in the sense that was the embodiment of all truth and wisdom from God. 

Mat 17-2

· (245c) Kingdom of God Ø Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm Ø Literal manifestations Ø Literal manifestation of Jesus Christ Ø Jesus is the light of the world

Mat 17,4-6

· (17g) Sin Ø Judging in the flesh Ø Evaluating circumstances with a carnal mind – The disciples were used to seeing Jesus as the person who had special abilities, and perhaps even as the Son of God, but they were unwilling to accept some of the ramifications of His deity, primarily His purpose for coming here, which was to die. In order to see Him the way they wanted Him they had to dismiss a lot of things He said about Himself, but when His face shone so bright they could not look directly into His face, it made them take a harder look at the person of Jesus Christ, this person they were following—after the transfiguration. They misunderstood Jesus throughout His ministry as much as they misunderstood their part in this event. They wanted to participate in some way, but their place was to merely witness His glory, and later they would participate after He sent the Holy Spirit. 

· (175k) Works of the devil Ø The religion of witchcraft Ø Ignorant of what God means Ø Ignorant of the meaning of God’s works -- It's a hard statement but a true one, that what we do for God in ignorance is more like witchcraft than righteousness. Apparently, Jesus can transfigure His body to the glory that is to come and we still wouldn't get it, according to Peter's example, of which none of us is above. Obviously, Peter didn't know what to do after the person He had been following turned into something so powerful that He could not gaze upon His form. His understanding of the Old Testament was minimal; he only knew what the Scribes and Pharisees taught him. The only thing he could think of was to build a temple, since they did that in the old days and he was good with his hands. No less, it was the wrong answer, because it was contrived from human initiative and not from divine intervention. He was not in synch with the Holy Spirit, and therefore it was witchcraft. Regardless of Peter's intent, It was more like an incantation than works initiated by God. 

· (224g) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of heaven Ø The joyful kingdom Ø We will recognize our family members in heaven 

Mat 17-5

· (79g) Listening To The Word (Key verse)

· (79j) Thy kingdom come Ø Know the word Ø Listen to the word Ø Listen to Jesus

Mat 17-6,7

· (23l) Sin Ø Poverty (Oppression) Ø Fear of the unknown Ø Fear of miracles -- People in general are not good at accepting paradigm shifts. Peter, James and John were frightened of Jesus because they had previously made up their minds about who He was. When the transfiguration occurred, it shattered their perception of Him, and proved that He was truly not of this world, but now perceived that He was a being from another dimension far greater than their own to whom they could not entirely relate. They knew He was not who they thought He was, but whether they realized that Jesus was the God of the entire universe at that point is unsure. 

Mat 17,10-12

· (59a) Paradox Ø Two implied meanings Ø Spirit of Elijah is coming / John the Baptist was like Elijah -- These verses are key to understanding end-time prophesy. The ministry of Elijah is referring to the Two Witnesses in the book of Revelation. (Whether Elijah is actually one of the two witnesses is unclear.) All we have to do is study the ministries of John the Baptist and Elijah, put them together (because the Two Witnesses are a composite of the two), and we have an instant snapshot of those key figures. The Two Witnesses will be like John the Baptist wielding the power of Elijah. Jesus here said about them that the goal of their ministry is to restore all things. That means things must not be going too well for the church if the two witnesses have to restore it. 

Mat 17,14-21

· (146f) Witness Ø Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself Ø Deliverance from demon possession Ø Casting out violent demons

Mat 17,14-18

· (138b) Temple Ø Building the temple (with hands) Ø Reproof Ø Jesus reproves His disciples for their unbelief -- These were strong words used against the disciples for their inability to perform miracles, but this was Jesus' standard for His disciples. They needed to get used to performing miracles on a daily basis, until it became a normal part of their lives, even as it was for their master. Jesus knew that if they were not able to perform miracles through the hand of God, their own hands in a couple generations will pick up swords and spears in the name of God as tools of spreading the gospel. "O unbelieving and perverted generation," He said of His disciples; what did He say of the generations that soon followed them, and what is He saying about us today?

Mat 17,15-21

· (241e) Kingdom of God Ø Opposition toward the kingdom of God Ø Hindering the kingdom Ø Obstacles in the way of the kingdom Ø Ask but don’t receive because of unbelief

Mat 17,15-18

· (198j) Denying Christ Ø Man exercises his will against God Ø Frustrating the grace of God Ø Frustrating Jesus through unbelief

Mat 17,16-20

· (203b) Denying Christ Ø Dishonor God by your unbelief

Mat 17,17-20

· (20h) Sin Ø Doubt replaces faith

Mat 17-17

· (69d) Authority Ø Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) Ø God is angry at sin

· (70e) Authority Ø Familiarity-enemy of discernment Ø Spirit grieves over sin -- Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are one and the same. Jesus responds to a situation in the same manner that the Holy Spirit responds under similar conditions. Also, you have heard the saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt." That statement is true. This was the problem with the disciples on the mountain during the transfiguration a few verses back and it is their problem with curing the demoniac. The battle rages between spending time with Jesus and that time breeding contempt. The Spirit grieves over our contempt for Him after we have spent time searching the Scriptures and in prayer. It leaves our ministries fruitless.  

Mat 17,18-21

· (107b) Thy kingdom come Ø Truth Ø Word creates faith Ø Jesus’ words create faith -- The solution to curing the demoniac (the way to impart new life into your ministry) is through the word of God and prayer. But the verse above indicates that it is also the way that makes us familiar with Jesus, and that familiarity can breed contempt if we are not careful. There is a cycle of familiarizing yourself with Jesus through the word of God and prayer, that familiarity revitalizing your ministry, then that familiarity breeding contempt, so that we need to go back to the Bible and prayer to become more familiar with Him to combat the contempt, and thus revitalizing your ministry up another notch, until it is taken down again by contempt. How to rise above this vicious cycle is to set checks and balances and to lay in wait for the enemy of familiarity and overpower it before it overpowers you. 

Mat 17-18

· (216a) Sovereignty Ø God controls time Ø Suddenly Ø Being healed without delay

Mat 17-19,20

· (162e) Works of the devil Ø Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) Ø Bondage Ø A slave to unbelief Ø Bondage to an inability to believe

Mat 17-20

· (54c) Paradox Ø Opposites Ø Weak faith

· (213b) Sovereignty Ø God is infinite Ø God is all powerful Ø All things are possible with God -- Jesus set the carrot before the horse and told us to go after it, that if we pursue it with all our hearts we will attain this level of faith. So where is it? Why don't we see it anywhere among God's believers? Perhaps it is because we don't seek it as a people. In other words it is unattainable to one person, but as the church we can set that level of faith as our goal and attain it together. What do you think one person would do with that kind of faith, or what do you think society would do to a person who had that kind of faith? As a church we could confide in each other, for there is safety in numbers. God is not interested in raising up one person; He wants to raise up the entire church to a level of faith that can relate to God whom nothing is impossible to Him. This is His standard and expects us to pursue it and attain it. 

· (229b) Kingdom of God Ø God’s kingdom is a living organism Ø Kingdom grows by itself Ø Growing In Numbers Corresponds With Spiritual Growth Ø Kingdom grows in strength

Mat 17-21

· (82d) Thy kingdom come Ø Three elements of prayer Ø Our approach Ø How to pray

· (189j) Die to self (Process of substitution) Ø Separation from the old man Ø Masochism (Self-made martyr) Ø Fasting Ø Fasting simulates dying to self

· (206i) Salvation Ø God makes promises on His terms Ø Conditions to promises Ø Conditions to doing the works of Jesus

Mat 17,24-27

· (1f) Responsibility Ø Avoid offending God Ø become all things to all men Ø without compromise -- Jesus was a native of the land and was therefore exempt from the tax, but to keep from arguing with the people He just paid them. He conformed to their view of Him without compromising the truth of His identity to avoid an unnecessary confrontation with the authorities of that region, to keep the door open for anyone who He may have otherwise offended by defending His legal status as a son of Israel. Perhaps Jesus was fishing for those tax gatherers too.

· (9b) Responsible to prevent the appearance of evil – Jesus paid the tax for Peter and Himself, but what about the rest of the disciples? They weren't concerned about it. Jesus did it to ease Peter's mind, not to pay taxes. Jesus along with His disciples were citizens of heaven first. They were citizens of Israel, but were not recognized as citizens by their own countrymen. Had Jesus not paid the tax gatherers, He may have been thrown in jail. Had He argued with them, He would have lost respect with the people as well as the argument itself most likely and offended God in the process. So He paid the tax, not with His own money, but with His Father’s money. And since it was God’s money from which He paid the tax that was charged only to strangers, then God must have been the stranger. 

Mat 17-24,25

· (70b) Authority Ø Discernment Ø Sensitivity To The Spirit

· (152f) Witness Ø Validity of the Father Ø Witnesses of the father Ø Jesus is a prophet Ø Jesus prophesies to the church

Mat 17,25-27

· (217j) Sovereignty Ø God overrides the will of man Ø God’s will over man Ø I never knew you Ø Because you are not of His sheep -- Since their country did not recognize Jesus and His disciples as citizens of Israel, then how could God recognize those tax gatherers as as citizens of heaven?

Mat 17-27

· (1a) Avoid offending Man (Key verse)

· (62c) Paradox Ø Anomalies Ø Responding cleverly to your enemies Ø Cheat them -- Normally, Jesus never performed miracles to flaunt His power or to feed freeloaders, but healed the sick and fed the hungry, etc. who had real needs. In this case, however, Jesus made an exception; He performed a miracle without really needing to (He could have paid the tax gatherers out of their treasury, for example, or just not paid them at all). The purpose of this miracle, among other things I'm sure, was to secretly scoff at the people who did not recognize them as citizens of their own country, and thus did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.  

· (119a) Thy kingdom come Ø Manifestations of faith Ø Freedom Ø Law of the spirit Ø Freedom from the law -- Jesus no doubt was the most law abiding person to ever live, yet He didn't live by the law of the land, but rather by the law of the Spirit of freedom. Living by the law puts you in bondage to it, but living by the Spirit sets you free from the bondage of the law while inadvertently fulfilling all of its requirements. Jesus in a way was demonstrating His freedom from the law by paying taxes without any cost to Himself. He drew the money from the storehouse of His Fathers infinite reserves. 

· (147d) Witness Ø Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself Ø God exercises authority over every living thing

Mat 18,1-4

· (56f) Paradox Ø Opposites Ø Humble yourself for the right motives

Mat 18,3-5

· (33d) Gift of God Ø God is our Father Ø Kingdom belongs to the children of God

· (192c) Die to self (Process of substitution) Ø Result of putting off the old man Ø Gain by losing Ø Life for life Ø Losing your identity to gain God’s identity -- The kingdom of God belongs to children, not to adults. Children are born with faith in God. The definition of an adult is someone who has forgotten where they came from. Adults come from childhood and children come from God. Forget everything you learned in the world as an adult and remember how you once believed. We were closer to the truth at the beginning of our lives without even seeking it than we are now after so long pursuing what we have deemed to be reality. 

· (224i) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of heaven Ø The people of heaven Ø Traits of the people who make it to heaven

Mat 18,6-10

· (28i) Gift of God Ø God is our advocate Ø God crushes those who make us stumble

Mat 18-6

· (241f) Kingdom of God Ø Opposition toward the kingdom of God Ø Hindering the kingdom Ø Obstacles in the way of the kingdom Ø Obstacles that keep you from Jesus

Mat 18-8,9

· (21d) Sin Ø Disobedience will condemn you to hell -- Here is another one of Jesus' scary statements that make us fear God as we read His word. He was implying that bondage to the sins we practice can lead us to hell. According to the context of verse seven, He was referring primarily to the things people do that cause the righteous to stumble, but He made it also apply to His "righteous" children by leaving it open ended to refer to anyone. 

· (47c) Judgment Ø Hell is a place of sorrow Ø Hell is to be avoided at any cost

· (63e) Paradox Ø Anomalies Ø Sarcasm Ø Exaggerate the truth to make a point -- Anyone who was committed enough to cut off their arm or leg or to gouge out their eye for the sake of abstaining from sin would also be committed enough to simply quit sinning short of mutilating themselves. Jesus was not seriously asking anyone to dismember themselves but was serious about abstaining from sin, suggesting that if it took this extreme of a measure to quit, you would not be sorry you did it in the life to come. 

· (248l) Priorities Ø God’ s preeminence Ø Values Ø The Highest Values Ø The life to come is more important than this one -- There are countless instances in the New Testament alone that encourage us to sacrifice this life for the sake of the life to come. In these verses, Jesus was sarcastically referring to a more literal manifestation (not translation) of that sacrifice. When the Bible speaks more realistically about sacrificing your life, it is in line with denying your evil, fleshly desires, in short "Dying To Self"-ish interests. There is an entire chapter in this Bible program you are now using devoted to this very subject. 

Mat 18-9,10

· (135g) Temple Ø Your body is the temple of God Ø Sins of the body Ø Abortion Ø Consequences of abortion Ø Do not despise one of these little ones -- As you can see here, people do just the opposite of what Jesus told them to do. He said to cut out our body parts and throw them from us, so we do. However, we cut out the body that is not part of us (another human being, our offspring) and throw it from us, and it becomes a worse sin than the one that compelled us to mutilate ourselves. Man hopelessly distorts everything commandment of God and destroys everything that is beautiful for a sense of personal gain. The angels of those fetuses, "continually behold the face of God the Father who is in heaven." To bad their parents are unaware of it. 

Mat 18-9

· (22i) Sin Ø Lust (craving pleasure) Ø Lust of the eyes

Mat 18-10

· (15c) Servant Ø Ministering spirits Ø Angels give help in time of need – Jesus described angels as having the capability of ministering to people and seeing the face of God at the same time. This implies that heaven is here, all around us, and we just can’t perceive it. It eliminates the notion that heaven is myriads of miles away, replacing it with the very viable plausibility that heaven is simply shifted to another dimension, similar to being unable to perceive some colors of the light spectrum that our eyes were not designed to see. This also paints a far more vivid picture of man sinning directly in the face of God, just as the Bible says. The context of this verse is the persecution of God’s children. Jesus states very graphically that whatever the wicked do to His elect will be done right under His nose; therefore, how much more likely will it be recorded, and not forgotten, unless they repent?

· (73d) Authority Ø Respect Positions Of Authority Ø In the church

Mat 18-11 -- No Entries

· (161a) Wander (Key verse)

· (161g) Works of the devil Ø Essential characteristics Ø Satan’s attitude determines our direction Ø Wandering from the fold of the sheep

· (207d) Salvation Ø God makes promises on His terms Ø Eternal security? Ø You can get lost again --  -- These verses go with verses 23-35. According to these verses, it sounds like you can lose your salvation. What do you think? See below verses 23-35 for additional commentary. 

· (206j) Eternal Security? (Key verse)

Mat 18,15-20

        · (116d) Thy kingdom come Ø Working the grace of God Ø Through worship Ø Through

His authority

Mat 18,15-18

· (138d) Temple Ø Building the temple (with hands) Ø Reproof Ø Reprove your brother in the right spirit

Mat 18,15-17

· (10a) Responsibility to bring order to the church Ø Dealing with problems

· (21f) Sin Ø Disobedience opposes unity in the church -- Sin has a corrosive effect on the church that erodes its unity that you have gained through faithfulness. It is important to arrest sin within the body of Christ before it causes any damage to the minds and hearts of the people who are striving to serve God, since the church is meant to be a place that offers protection and safety from the world and its evil influences. 

Mat 18,18-20

· (83b) Thy kingdom come Ø Receiving from God through prayer Ø Ask and it shall be given

Mat 18-19,20

· (67k) Jesus delegates authority Ø Praying in Jesus’ name

Mat 18-20

· (254k) Trinity Ø Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son Ø Jesus is equal with the Holy Spirit Ø Power of Jesus’ Spirit -- Jesus can bodily be in only one place at a time, so what if two pairs of people are praying in different regions of the world? Jesus can not be in both places at once, implying that Jesus meant He would be there spiritually. Jesus and the Holy Spirit must both be there by necessity (because Jesus promised and because the Holy Spirit is able). The two of them, though occupying different offices work in perfect harmony together and are thus one and the same. 

Mat 18,21-35

· (120e) Thy kingdom come Ø Manifestations of faith Ø Forgiving your brother Ø Don’t forgive your brother and God won’t forgive you -- We see a 50% divorce rate in the world today; in the church it is very close to the same! Jesus said it is because people won't forgive each other. Who is the one who loses when we refuse to forgive? What part of his life was this man in the story able to retain who couldn't find it in his heart to forgive? He lost his wife and children and everything he owned, perhaps including his soul. His bitterness reduced him to the bare essentials of life, and introduced to him a new level of suffering he would not have known had he simply forgiven his debtors.

Mat 18,23-35

· (184f) Works of the devil Ø The origin of lawlessness Ø Abusing the grace of God Ø Spending His grace on your pleasures Ø Trying to take advantage of God’s kindness

· (198c) Denying Christ Ø Man exercises his will against God Ø Man withers when he is in control Ø Ungrateful

· (207d) Salvation Ø God makes promises on His terms Ø Eternal security? Ø You can get lost again -- These verses go with verses 12-14. In this parable we have a picture of a person getting saved (forgiven of his sins) and then turning around and losing his forgiveness from God. If you back up to Matthew 18,12-14, Jesus refers to one of His sheep being on the verge of perishing, then He breaks in to the message of forgiveness. It sounds like bitterness can lead to losing your salvation, which seems to be the theme of this portion of Scripture. The Bible teaches that forgiveness is a wonderful thing and that bitterness is equally terrifying, and that we really don't have a choice but to forgive, since the consequences are so undesirable and costly. This parable is suggesting the interconnection between our salvation and our walk with Christ. The tortures Jesus mentions in verse 34 can refer to this life as well as the end of this life, as he wakes up in hell and all that it entails. 

· (225e) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Parables Ø Parables about wealth Ø Parables about a king and his kingdom

Mat 18,25-27

· (120a) Thy kingdom come Ø Manifestations of faith Ø Curse of God is broken Ø Curse of God’s Judgment is broken

Mat 18-25

· (3f) Responsibility to the Family Ø Divorce because of your hardness of heart – This verse goes with verses 32-35. See commentary above, verses 21-35.

Mat 18,28-35

· (175h) Works of the devil Ø The religion of witchcraft Ø Ignorance Ø Dodging the issue (willful ignorance) Ø Dodging the issue to get what you want

Mat 18,32-35

· (3f) Responsibility to the Family Ø Divorce because of your hardness of heart -- These verses go with verse 25

· (21e) Sin Ø Disobedience does not understand God -- The man (fool) in the parable didn't gain any insight about God after being forgiven or showed any gratitude toward Him, but acted like he was entitled to a pardon as though he deserved it. Somehow in his self-centered reasoning the person who owed him a couple dollars didn't deserve to be pardoned though his debt was far less than what he owed the king who had compassion on him. He couldn't see himself in the man who now needed his mercy because he never mused on the king's kindness, but immediately went on with his life like there was never a time when he owed him anything. His mind was cluttered and clouded by all the events and concerns of the world to stop and consider how gracious the king was to him. It didn't change his life!

· (73e) Authority Ø Respect Positions Of Authority Ø Respect Jesus’ Authority

Mat 18-34,35

· (51g) Judging the Church with the world Ø No partiality between saved and unsaved

· (65i) Paradox Ø Anomalies Ø Satan Glorifies God

· (104a) Thy kingdom come Ø Purifying process Ø Purified by circumstances Ø Purified through judgment