Jean's Bible Study Topics of the New Testament

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Mat 19-1 -- No Entries

Mat 19-2

· (145c) Witness Ø Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself Ø Healing Ø Jesus healed them all

Mat 19,3-9

· (3d) Responsibility to the Family Ø Marriage Ø Advocating marriage

· (3f) Responsibility to the Family Ø Divorce because of your hardness of heart

· (3e) Divorce (Key verse)

Mat 19,10-12

· (3g) Responsibility to the Family Ø Remaining single is better than divorce – The ability to remain single is a gift from God, but how many people in the church recognize that? The "more noble" married population shun singles, instead of seeking the richness of their gifts and input that singles offer the church. When it speaks of being a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of God, the Bible is referring to people living their lives for the sake of obtaining a better resurrection. This is one of the few cases that God sanctions severe treatment of the body (living without sex) and promises a greater reward in eternity. God sanctions and rewards this way of life because it has tremendous potential to serve the Lord in a fuller way than any married person. Eunuchs have more time and greater need for God than the married person, (married people usually just need money which is more attainable than abstinence) since their needs cannot be met in any other way except by God Himself, and therefore can drive them deeper into the anointing for help with the sensual urges of their physiology.

· (120l) Thy kingdom come Ø Manifestations of faith Ø Content with your way of life Ø Content with remaining single -- Contentment is a powerful anointing that requires lots of Bible study and prayer to remain content; and through that contentment comes every good thing that contentment promises. It is a hard and high calling from God to remain single and be content with it, because it promises a few but great rewards, mostly "to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord," 1Cor 7-35. It may not sound like much, but to devote your time to the Lord in whatever capacity He directs you can be very productive, simply because the single person generally has more time to devote to the Lord than the married person. For example, he has more time to spend reading the word of God and more time to spend in prayer. These two things if done in large quantities will make anyone a spiritual giant, who can then lead people into more accurate truth, and thus cast out false teaching and pinpoint the will of God for the church. 

Mat 19-11

· (71h) Authority Ø Ordained by God’s sovereign will Ø God chooses to work in you -- If anyone thinks they have decided to remain single for the Lord, it doesn't work that way; God elects people to assume this noble role. And if this is a position that God Himself must ordain, then married people should respect their position in the church and do more to make a way for their ministries as an expression of their devotion to Christ. If they don't, then they are suppressing the gifts of their own church and are stunting its growth both spiritually and numerically. 

· (136d) Temple Ø Your spirit is the temple of God Ø The body of Christ Ø Variation in the body -- God is the God of variation; there are many species of the same kind of plant or animal or insect, but people act just the opposite; we tend to be bigots when it comes to accepting people who are not just like us. However, if we are going to have a spirited church, we must do it God's way, and His way is having a large variation within the congregation: black and white, married and singles, gifted and ungifted, those with this gift and those with that gift, etc. The point is, the church has an obligation to accept and respect single people in the church and not to look down on them as though they are inferior just because they are different from married people. 

Mat 19,13-15

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

Mat 19-14

· (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 19,16-22

· (22e) Sin Ø Greed takes without consideration for others Ø Covetousness

· (34m) Gift of God Ø Be generous like your Father Ø Give to the poor

Mat 19,16-21

· (90e) Thy kingdom come Ø Keeping the law Ø Law is our tutor Ø It leads us to God -- The rich man knew that he was lacking something. He wanted a list of commandments that he was neglecting to work on in order to be complete, but Jesus gave him the list that he was already doing. Jesus neglected to give him a list that he was not doing, such as: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart," and "Do not Covet," because the rich man was powerless to keep these commandments, since he was in bondage to the love of money. Instead of giving the rich man a list of commandments, Jesus gave him an assignment, to liquidate all his assets and give the proceeds to the poor, which would have fulfilled the commandments to love God with all his heart and to not covet. The assignment was equivalent to the requirements law, but Jesus de-emphasized the law to show that the rich man had issues pertaining to his heart more than he needed a moderator for his works. There was an instance when Jesus said to another man that he was not far from the kingdom of God (Mk 12,32-34), but he did not say this to the rich man, even though he was supposedly keeping the second commandment to love his neighbor as himself. Jesus spoke this to a man who was exonerating love above sacrifices, implying that for the rich man to give all his possessions to the poor would not have been a sacrifice, but a way to freedom from his bondage to covetousness. 

Mat 19-16

· (166c) Works of the devil Ø Manifestations of the devil Ø Wisdom of the world Ø Man’s wisdom excuses his sinful nature Ø Man’s wisdom wants to earn his ticket to heaven -- This verse goes with verse 22

· (174d) Works of the devil Ø The religion of witchcraft Ø Form of godliness Ø Self righteousness Ø Trying to please God by your own good works -- This verse goes with verse 20

Mat 19-20

· (174d) Works of the devil Ø The religion of witchcraft Ø Form of godliness Ø Self righteousness Ø Trying to please God by your own good works -- This verse goes with verse 22

Mat 19,21-26

· (20l) Sin Ø Disobedience Ø Paying no attention to the word

Mat 19-21,22

· (234i) Kingdom of God Ø Pursuing the kingdom Ø Invest in the kingdom Ø Sold out Ø Relinquishing your assets to Christ Ø Dispose of every asset except Christ -- Juggling materialism with the Kingdom of God is tricky business, since the two are essentially opposites of each other. This is difficult to understand for people who believe in the power of wealth, because it has blinded their eyes to the wealth of following Christ. They are unable to understand that the power of God is more real and more applicable in this world than even money. Perhaps you don't believe that, only because you have never seen the body of Christ in action in unity, living and walking in the power of God. Some day it will become this, and when it does, it will make believers out of people who once believed in money. 

· (191l) Gain By Losing (A Paradox) (Key verse)

· (192d) Die to self Ø Result of putting off the old man Ø Gain by losing Ø Receiving from God by substitution Ø Wheeling and dealing in God’s spiritual economy

Mat 19-22

· (166c) Works of the devil Ø Manifestations of the devil Ø Wisdom of the world Ø Man’s wisdom excuses his sinful nature Ø Man’s wisdom wants to earn his ticket to heaven -- This verse goes with verse 16

· (174d) Works of the devil Ø The religion of witchcraft Ø Form of godliness Ø Self righteousness Ø Trying to please God by your own good works -- This verse goes with verse 16

Mat 19,23-26

· (92g) Thy kingdom come Ø The narrow way Ø What kind of trail is this? Ø Gate is small and few are those who find it

· (249i) Priorities Ø God’ s preeminence Ø Wealth Ø World’s perception of wealth Ø The worlds wealth erodes good values Ø Being a slave to wealth

Mat 19-23,24

· (224k) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of heaven Ø The people of heaven Ø Traits of people who don’t make it to heaven

· (213a) God Is All Powerful (Key verse)

· (213b) Sovereignty Ø God is infinite Ø God is all powerful Ø All things are possible with God

Mat 19,27-30

· (192i) Die to self (Process of substitution) Ø Result of putting off the old man Ø Gain by losing Ø Gain God’s kingdom to lose the domain of darkness Ø Gain heaven to lose the world -- We have a choice to place our assets and investments in the attainment of either more things in this world or more glory in heaven, but we can't have both because the world and God's kingdom are opposites of each other. You can gain the kingdom of God by losing the world, but you gain nothing by losing Jesus. He said that if we leave our family, our home or our business for the gospel's sake, God will reimburse us (here on earth; we don't have to wait for it) many times over, while also securing our place in heaven. However, if we think we are going to gain something by pursuing the things of this world, we will receive our reward in full in whatever trifle vestige we obtain. 

Mat 19-28

· (224l) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of heaven Ø The holy of holies Ø The throne room of heaven -- The Holy of Holies is a place of judgment, and anyone allowed to enter in becomes a judge of those who are outside its parameters as to why they are not with them who occupy its firmament when they have been invited to enter through the door that continually stands open before them (Rev 3-8,9). 

Mat 19-30

· (56b) Paradox Ø Lose by gaining Ø Lose your place by seeking the first place

· (56i) Paradox Ø Opposites Ø Last is first and the first is last

· (224j) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of heaven Ø The people of heaven Ø Those in heaven who are blessed indeed

Mat 20,1-16

· (13l) Serve God though small in stature Ø Least is the greatest 

· (35d) Gift of God Ø God is willing to Give Ø No partiality with God’s generosity

· (225b) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of heaven Ø Equality in heaven– Those who worked the shortest period received the greatest pay for their efforts ( if you calculated their wage on an hourly basis). However, according to this parable, God doesn’t pay on an hourly basis, but pays a salary—one flat rate. Regardless of how long you have worked you receive the same amount. What then does this salary represent? What does everyone have in common who are in heaven? That's it, they are in heaven! Just the fact that you are there is the greatest gift anyone could receive; it overshadows any possible fringe benefits of faithfulness. No matter how long you have labored in the hot sun as a Christian, you go to heaven just like the guy who says "I do" to Jesus on his death bed. Our presence in heaven is our reward for being a Christian, and the crowns we will wear are based on faithfulness. Just remember though, according to Rev 4-10, the elders cast their crowns before the throne (indicating their contempt for any peripheral rewards compared to their salvation) and worshiped the king in His presence, being present with Him as their greatest gift from God.  

· (225d) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Parables Ø Parables about wealth Ø Parables about a land owner and his farm

· (236e) Kingdom of God Ø Pursuing the kingdom Ø Invest in the kingdom Ø Invest your strength into the kingdom Ø Invest your labors

Mat 20-2

· (17l) Sin Ø Unrighteous judgment Ø Discerning by the flesh Ø Making distinctions between each other -- This verse goes with verses 8-16; see them for commentary.

Mat 20,8-16

· (17l) Sin Ø Unrighteous judgment Ø Discerning by the flesh Ø Making distinctions between each other – These verses go with verse 2. There are two ways you could look at this land owner, either as generous to the last-hired or as stingy to the first-hired. Jesus called him generous. Have you met people who consider themselves discerning, but only discern the faults in others and not their strengths, as the first-hires were to the landowner, who accused Him of injustice? Those are the ones who are sensitive in the flesh to peoples’ negative idiosyncrasies, but have no inkling of the positive things God is working in them. Note also that they are most sensitive to the sins that they themselves practice. This is by no means true discernment, but borderlines on witchcraft. This kind of person has a problem comprehending a true form of justice; they are convinced by their own opinions that they don’t give God a chance to demonstrate the fairness of His own justice, which starts with wisdom, and then goes to forgiveness, generosity, and compassion, none of which His accusers possess. 

· (56i) Paradox Ø Opposites Ø Last is first and the first is last

Mat 20-11

· (158b) Works of the devil Ø Essential characteristics Ø Divide and conquer Ø Strife Ø Grumbling

Mat 20-14,15

· (216k) Sovereignty Ø God overrides the will of man Ø God’s will over man Ø God Is Independent Of His Creation Ø You cannot control God’s desire for you Ø man is not in control of God’s gift

Mat 20,17-19 -- No Entries

Mat 20,20-28

· (73a) Hierarchy of authority Ø Authority makes you accountable Ø Kingdom of God is opposite of the world -- Whatever authority people have in the church, whether they be pastors or lay persons, should be accompanied by at least the same amount of humility and servant-hood toward the saints, otherwise their ministers will run the church like a worldly business. The two sons of Zebedee were denied their mother's request to sit at Jesus' right and left-hand, because those positions were created for two specific saints, people who lived as two of the greatest servants of all time, probably Moses and Elijah. In the world you don't have to be a servant to have great authority; you just need the gift of gab, a stubborn pride that does not accept mediocrity and a good dose of ambition to pursue your dreams, but humility and servant-hood is not needed or even recommended to succeed in the world. However, the church is not set up that way; in fact, if you stumble into a church that is not based on servant-hood from the top down, then run from that church and never look back, because their leaders are invariably abusing the flock. When you think of Jesus as the Son of God who never abused His authority once, His level of humility is unsearchable. Jesus asked her, "are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?;" He asked her a rhetorical question that she should have answered no. The question implied that because her two sons were not able to drink the cup of sorrows that Jesus was going to drink in service to the church, neither were they fit to receive such positions of authority. 

Mat 20,20-23

· (241c) 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 Ø Asking with wrong motives

Mat 20-22,23

· (42k) Judgment Ø Satan destroyed Ø Conform to the glory of Christ’s death

· (229i) Kingdom of God Ø God’s kingdom is a living organism Ø Partaking of Jesus’ suffering

Mat 20-23

· (71g) Authority Ø Ordained by God’s sovereign will Ø God chooses you

· (219j) Sovereignty Ø God overrides the will of man Ø Predestination Ø God’s calling is our destiny

· (224j) Kingdom of God Ø Illustrating the kingdom Ø Description of heaven Ø The people of heaven Ø Those in heaven who are blessed indeed

Mat 20,24-28

· (84h) Thy kingdom come Ø Words of your mouth Ø Gossip Ø Attacking a person’s character

· (164d) Works of the devil Ø Manifestations of the devil Ø The world system Ø Satan rules the world Ø Satan is a tyrant over the world -- Within these verses, was Jesus condoning the system of tyranny in the world or was He exposing it? The way of the world is accepted by nearly everyone, no questions asked, but Jesus didn't because He knows a better way. We know that the kingdom of God which will reign forever and ever will be run according to these verses, which is also how He wants His church to operate in the world today. In the grand scheme of eternity, this temporal age is but a bleep on a radar screen, which is how long this inverted system of the world will last where the lesser serve the greater. The rest of eternity will be based on a system where those who hold greater positions will serve those with less authority in order to achieve equality; it will run on a system that will last forever. No one will lust for power if it means becoming a greater servant!

· (12n) Servant Ø Jesus is the son of man – This term "Son of man" is not well understood, and is therefore widely ignored by the church, though it is a simple concept. Jesus got into a lot of trouble proclaiming Himself to be the Son of God, but no one seemed to care about the Son of man. To say that He was the Son of God was saying that He had all power and was equal with the Father, but to say that He was the Son of man was saying that He was the humblest of all men, the youngest and servant of all. That was not a threat to anyone, but what most people fail to realize is that you can’t have one without the other; power and humility go hand in hand. See: Jn 5-27

· (56k) Paradox Ø Opposites Ø Least are greatest

· (72g) Hierarchy Of Authority (Key verse)

Mat 20,26-28

· (77i) Thy kingdom come Ø Tapping into the power of God through humility Ø The most humble are the greatest servants -- The greatest servants should also have the greatest positions of authority in the church. Their ministries based on servant-hood should not be suppressed but exonerated by all those who eat the fruit of it. The church should make room for the gifts of those who offer their services in humility; they should set them up as examples and imitate their behavior and zeal, and let them help direct the church into higher levels of service and spiritual plateaus, regardless of their titles or diplomas. 

Mat 20-28

· (209i) Salvation Ø The salvation of God Ø Jesus is our sacrifice Ø Jesus paid the price for us Ø Jesus paid our ransom with His own blood

Mat 20,29-34

· (144j) Witness Ø Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself Ø Healing Ø Methods of healing Ø Healed by Jesus’ touch

Mat 20-34

· (93k) Thy kingdom come Ø Following Jesus as He lights the way