Sunday, April 29, 2012

On 5-6-12 John 6:22-35 will be our Adult Sunday School/Uniform Series/International Sunday School Lesson, herein is my commentary. This lesson is known by some as The Bread of Life.

The Bread of Life
John 6:22-35
International Sunday School Lesson
May 6, 2012



Commentary
By
Jed Greenough




Eternal life, that is the bread that Jesus is offering in the scripture we read today, now who wouldn’t want that?  I recently (recent to when I am writing this) watched a video at 180movie.com where an open air preacher by the name of Ray Comfort was asking young adults in the area where he was at, a series of questions.  These people had little knowledge about what he was asking them but it was clear they were sincere in their answers.  What was also clear was that God was not in their lives but what was also clear was that the idea of eternal life was palpable to them all.  You could see it in the expressions of their face that even the most crass and hardened of them changed as the conversation progressed in seriousness.

For some of these young people this conversation turned their thoughts 180 degrees around and thus the name of the video.  I still remember how many of them were wearing large sunglasses and I so wanted to see their eyes but that is me being man thinking that then I would know more about what they were thinking.  But God being God as demonstrated in today’s scripture knows what is inside.  Jesus knew why the crowd was there, knew what they believed and knew who would have a faith that led to eternal life.

We all naturally think we should live forever in eternity but most don’t want to have the faith of a child that would accomplish it.  Some think if they go through some motions of faith that they are “in”.  Rather like the people of Israel who followed God around the desert day after day for 40 years but died there never seeing the Promised Land.

Many “disciples” stopped following Jesus around as we see later in today’s chapter as the teaching got more difficult.  But really it wasn’t complicated or hard for them to do they just didn’t want to give themselves over to God.

These we just mentioned turned from Jesus rather than do anything at all but there are always others who seemingly on the surface are still believing, still faithful.  It seems harsh to compare them to him but as we see also later in today’s chapter, that is where Judas was at.

I believe every one of those disciples that turned away that day knew as well as they could who Jesus was.  I also believe that Judas knew this as well.  I am confident that every one of them wanted eternal life just as everyone in your church and in your daily walk wants it as well.

What I am not confident about is who is in your church because of the bread that fills them, meaning that it is the “right thing to do” and it looks good or for social reasons, and who is there because of the bread that gives eternal life.  As in the video I mentioned when we began where I longed to see their eyes as if then I would know their hearts I still wouldn’t have known and neither can you.  But that isn’t our call that is God’s.  We want everyone to have eternal life just as God does but not everyone, not even most will receive it. 

I know I keep going further and further into today’s chapter but so be it.  In 10:69 Peter said, “We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”  He was as right as Peter the man could be or as we can be.  Again I am confident that all of them including Judas believed in who Jesus was but they didn’t all believe IN Him.  Am I making any sense?

Peter went about living out his faith every day and Judas was there.  You and I go about living out our faith every day also with some who don’t.  For us there is a never ending, consuming hunger that is never filled enough in living out that belief.  We know that no teaching of God’s is too hard but that we aren’t doing enough to live that teaching.  We want eternal life but we know we don’t deserve eternal life.  We are ashamed that Christ had to die for us but we live a life now because of it. 

We must do as Peter did confident in our own salvation and if we do we will be sharing the gospel knowing that everyone who hears it wants eternal life but only God can say who will live it.




For Discussion:


1.      One great way of sharing the gospel is to begin with this discussion of eternal life.  Asking people who they think goes to heaven will usually give you an opening to enlighten them that not everyone gets to go just because they are generally good and the need for Jesus flows right into your conversation!
2.      The Easter message I wrote for the 4-8-12 lesson is very closely tied to this one as it relates to belief/faith.
3.      Discuss in general terms those who might be among you that are simply being filled.
4.      How should that type of person in your midst be dealt with if at all?  Should the teaching in your church be such that it mirrors how Jesus dealt with them?
5.      Just for fun, how about bringing a few different types of bread to class for your group to enjoy?
6.      Feeding 5000, healing the sick, driving out evil spirits wasn’t enough for these people just as the miracles weren’t enough for their ancestors in the desert.  Yet the people followed Jesus because of those miracles.  Discuss why miracles alone aren’t enough for faith. 
7.      Discuss the danger of following after miracles as it relates to things eschatological.



Upcoming Adult Sunday School Class Commentaries


5-13-12:  The Good Shepherd John 10:7-18
5-20-12:  The Resurrection and the Life John 11:17-27 or John 11:17-27, 41-44
5-27-12:  The Way, the Truth, and the Life John 14:1-14
6-3-12:    Rules for Just Living (Practice Justice) Exodus 23:1-9





Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved


Sunday, April 22, 2012

On 4-29-12 John 9:1-17 will be our Adult Sunday School/Uniform Series/International Sunday School Lesson, herein is my commentary. This lesson is known by some as Healing the Blind Man aka Blind Man Receives Sight

Healing the Blind Man
or
Blind Man Receives Sight
John 9:1-17
International Sunday School Lesson
April 29, 2012



Commentary
By
Jed Greenough




Do you live your life out in creeds?  I believe we all do or at least should and if you spend much time in God’s word I believe that at just the right moment He impresses those creeds upon you by speaking to you from His word.  As Christians that means we are to share those realizations with our brothers and sisters.

There have been two creeds that God has impressed upon me more than any others.  The first is that we have a duty to each other.  I have responsibility for you and you have responsibility for your brother and so on down the line. 

That responsibility for you one day might be to let a fellow Christian know that they are straying from God’s path.  It might be that because your gift is encouragement you are to lift someone up at a crucial moment.  It could be that you have the ability to give monetary support.  Perhaps you need to teach and you haven’t been but act to rectify the situation.  All these things and more are done because of our responsibility for each other.

For me that responsibility is in this weekly sharing with you.  The goal being that by ripple effect I can create a positive influence in the church.  This brings me to the second creed which is to impress upon you our need to throw out the “me” mentality that pervades our sermons, songs, programs, classes and prayers and turn back to glorifying God.  I know there are those among you that do this and God bless you, but I know that there are many more that need to look with new eyes and listen with ears that hear.

When you examine your pet project in the church and when you look at what are social classes instead of truly Biblical ones you will be turning onto the track.  When you start hearing the we’s and I’s and the pride in your speaking moments and when you turn it to the He’s and Him’s meaning God and His will and His praises then you will have returned to what He intended.

Last week when we read about Jesus and the Samaritan woman visiting at the well we were given the message of worshiping the Father in spirit and truth.  This giving God the glory is one of those ways we do this.  We forget this at times just as the Jewish people did by taking the spirit of God’s law and twisting it into something that it wasn’t. 

Today’s scripture is an example of this with regard to the Sabbath.  God gave them the command to honor the Sabbath by not working but resting.  They took it and shaped it like a potter does a new creation into something unrecognizable.  In today’s scripture the Pharisees looked for wrong in a good that was done because it was done on the Sabbath.  This is not the spirit and truth that God intended and they show that they are not the potter but the clay and the clay can no more make a pot then a pot can drink from itself. 

Jesus demonstrates this potter’s touch by turning some clay into sight.  He did it on the Sabbath because healing was the thing do to at that time.  It did not matter what day it was.  This is the spirit of God, the truth of God.  And it was demonstrated to bring glory back to the Father which was the intention in the beginning.

Are you ready to search out all the ways that God has demonstrated in the scriptures that the true way, the right way is to first and always give Him the glory?  Can your pride accept that God could make a man blind for years just for this day with Jesus to show that?

The Pharisees demonstrated in the latter verses of this chapter that they could no longer do that or were not willing to do that.  We read that they excommunicated people who acknowledged Jesus and it appears they did it to the man that Jesus healed.

God’s intent was that man worship and glorify Him but they took away the only means that people knew how to do that.  The complete opposite of what God intended.

Let’s use the words of Jesus from verse 4.  As long as we have a day to do it in lets you and I do the work of He who chose us, “and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father—to Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 1:6









For Discussion:


1.      Discuss opinion as to why Jesus didn’t just heal the man instead of going through the process that He did.
2.      Discuss what people think now and have thought in the past about God using us in ways such as He did by making this man blind for His glory.
3.      Other incidents during Sabbath: Matthew 12:1-14, Mark 1:21-28, Luke 13:10-17, Luke 14:1-6 and John 5:1-15.
4.      Read today’s verse 16.  Are we ever guilty of such sweeping statements?  Of course!  Discuss.
5.      Discuss in general terms people that may be known who have been afflicted in some manner that have turned from God.
6.      Discuss people that may be known who though afflicted have given God more glory.
7.      Discuss how God uses affliction such as blindness in our life to give us “sight”.
8.      As I write this Fall has only just begun and as you read this Spring has barely sprung.  Do you need an upcoming lesson before it is posted?  Let me know!

Upcoming Adult Sunday School Class Commentaries


5-6-12:    The Bread of Life John 6:22-35
5-13-12:  The Good Shepherd John 10:7-18
5-20-12:  The Resurrection and the Life John 11:17-27 or John 11:17-27, 41-44
5-27-12:  The Way, the Truth, and the Life John 14:1-14




Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved

Sunday, April 15, 2012

On 4-22-12 John 4:7-15, 23-26, 28-30 or John 4:7-15, 21-30 will be our Adult Sunday School/Uniform Series/International Sunday School Lesson, herein is my commentary. This lesson is known by some as Woman of Samaria aka Samaritan Woman Finds Living Water.

Woman of Samaria
or
Samaritan Woman Finds Living Water
John 4:7-15, 23-26, 28-30
 or
 John 4:7-15, 21-30
International Sunday School Lesson
April 22, 2012



Commentary
By
Jed Greenough




We all have favorites; things that we return to again and again and in doing so those things start to become a part of our essence.  For me those things are the places that I return to year after year.  It is the family times that have become tradition, the things I collect and the outdoors.  For many of you it is work, studies, sports and music and though we are each in God’s image these favorites help to differentiate us.

As Christians also we have the things we gravitate toward in the scripture that become our favorites as we create our own individual understanding.  I can tell you that I gravitate towards this book of John because of places like this chapter.  I have dwelt in Romans so often that my previous Bible came apart at the seams there!  Things eschatological have given me a sense of duty to you my brothers and sisters. 

And I wonder what shapes you readers?  Are your favorites found in the Synoptic Gospels because this is where Jesus seems most to dwell to you?  For some it will be the letters from Paul and for some it is the rich fact filled history found throughout the Bible from Genesis to Acts.

My personal belief and in which I am quite confident is that God speaks to us through His word just the way we do with our children.  To the precocious child I speak of things more in depth, to the more serious child I speak of matters more of the heart and to the budding artist things less structured in nature.  Would God the Father be any different with us?

For me, John 4:1-42 cannot be broken down to the scripture chosen for our lesson today and since I have this format I will share with you what God directs me most towards in these verses and why I like to seek guidance from them.

I like that Jesus doesn’t act like others in part because I am often like that.  In His day Jews would have crossed over the Jordan River rather than pass through Samaria.  I like to think that Jesus did this for just as many layered reasons as His word is layered with meaning for each of us.  Examples are that He wasn’t prejudiced, that all of us one day would be alike in worshiping Him, that we don’t have to do things the way everyone does them and that sometimes we should search our mind for new ways to do just that.

I like that we see so readily the Old Testament and the New Testament come together with their recorded history in verses such as 4, 5, and 19.

I like that Jesus doesn’t find it necessary to answer the Samaritan woman’s question of how he could ask her for a drink but rather tells her about His living water.

I like, albeit with fear and trembling, that He demonstrates that He knows all we have ever done.

I like that though Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman and to the disciples it seems clear that He is talking directly to me as He talks of this living water, all that I have done, that we must understand what it is to worship Him in Spirit and truth and through his discourse on the harvest of the crop for eternal life.

I also like the lesson we can receive about witnessing and sharing the good news about Jesus.  The witness of the woman was immediate, the response from those with whom she shared was eager and it was effective.

Finally I like sharing my favorites with you.  I know that in the end no matter how unique we each are He can and does speak to us in a unique way but we all without disparity can drink from the same spring of living water and that being born in the same Spirit we can now all worship in spirit and in truth. 

For Discussion:


1.      Don’t hesitate to share with others your specific likes and especially favorites from the Scripture.  If God had something to say to you then you have something to share.
2.      The Jews and Samaritans have a common ancestry.  Research what happened and why the Samaritans worshiped differently from the Jews.
3.      Discuss the immorality of this woman evidenced from the life she had led but yet how Christ still found use for her.
4.      Write out what worshiping in spirit and truth means to you so that you are prepared.
5.      Discuss her witness.
6.      Every day, every minute the harvest is ripe.  Christ wanted His disciples to prioritize.
7.      The hospitality may have been different then but look at how the Samaritans eagerly urged Jesus to stay and share with them.  How can we be more hospitable with regard to those that share the good news?
8.      Discuss all the things that we can take from this passage (1-42) that can help us as Christians from matters of faith, to convicting a sinner, to witnessing, whatever comes to mind.


Upcoming Adult Sunday School Class Commentaries


4-29-12:  Healing the Blind Man (Blind Man Receives Sight) John 9:1-17
5-6-12:    The Bread of Life John 6:22-35
5-13-12:  The Good Shepherd John 10:7-18
5-20-12:  The Resurrection and the Life John 11:17-27 or John 11:17-27, 41-44
5-27-12:  The Way, the Truth, and the Life John 14:1-14





Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved


Sunday, April 8, 2012

On 4-15-12 John 2:13-22 will be our Adult Sunday School/Uniform Series/International Sunday School Lesson, herein is my commentary. This lesson is known by some as Cleansing the Temple aka Temple is Cleansed.

Cleansing the Temple
or
Temple is Cleansed
John 2:13-22
International Sunday School Lesson
April 15, 2012



Commentary
By
Jed Greenough



Do you ever have difficulty with these transitions we make with our lessons due to Christmas and Easter?  For me sometimes it is rather like the changing of the clocks we do in Spring and Fall but I like the transition this time.  I think too often we lower our standards after all we do in building up to Easter and this lesson can be an eye opener if we let it.

But it is difficult to switch from the joy of Christ’s resurrection last week and the scene in today’s scripture of Christ’s righteous indignation.  But if it is difficult for me I consider how it happens throughout every day for Him as the lives of men play out before Him.  I can only say it is a good thing that God is patient or the way that we swing back and forth in our behaviors like a pendulum would have brought an end to man long ago.

And as we speak of men it reminds me that Jesus the man was the one who cleared this temple.  He took His strong carpenter’s hands and put them to work fashioning a whip of sorts and went about clearing the court of the temple of those things that though necessary for worship at the temple had no place within the temple.

If you had a background similar to mind it would be much easier to realize the size of the task of getting animals of various types and temperaments to go anywhere you want them to especially by yourself.  As Passover was a required time for adults to come to Jerusalem to make their offering who knows the numbers of animals that may have been involved here.  Once done with the larger animals He moved on and made small work out of the money changers tables.  Doesn’t it make you wonder why no one attempted to stop Him? 

Clearly this was a consuming zeal for Jesus but have you considered in what ways he could feel the same way today?  Let’s think about what He saw in His Father’s house that day.

As we said, these sheep and cattle and doves were all necessary for the people in order to make their offerings.  As the Jews traveled from all over to reach the temple in Jerusalem they needed the correct animal for their sacrifice and they needed to purchase the animals with money from different sources and of differing denominations.  Jesus knew all this, so what was the problem?

As we mention often, our God is a God of peace and order and His house would be as well.  Again for me it is easy to imagine the cacophony of sound and the mess from all these beasts and the more there were the louder and messier and smellier.

Besides the literal stink there is the figurative one that no doubt filled Jesus’ senses as the money changers sought to make a profit from their enterprise at the expense of those they were doing business with.  His problem wouldn’t have been with the honest but rather those that even in the temple couldn’t keep from being dishonest in their trade.  This would have been no less offensive and perhaps more so to Christ.

So let’s put all this manure and all these dishonest businesses that would have been found in this holy place at this holy time and transport them far away to the sanctuary of your church.  Can you imagine?  The carpet would be wet and stained forever; wood floors and pews or upholstered chairs would be gouged and ripped.  Oppressive odors, sights, dander and flies would violate your senses.  Add to that the din of beast and business haggling and all remaining sanctity would escape like the air from a balloon.

Now let’s imagine that you are the first on the scene.  How would you feel and what would you do?  It would not matter if you were a pastor or elder, deacon or secretary, 30 year member or new Christian, you would be filled with indignation and justifiably so.  Can you imagine the absurdity of someone questioning you if in your indignation you cleared your church of this abhorrent mess?  The thought is bizarre that it would have to be asked and one would think the asker delusional if they could not see the authority that any believer would have in removing this unclean and unholy chaos.

As long as we have moved from that day and time in Jerusalem to your church today let’s do a freeze frame so to speak of this picture in our minds eye and pick out the most offensive thing in the room to God.  Is it the smaller mess of a dove or the largest of that of the cattle?  Would it be the unfair exchange of one type of money or the incorrect change purposefully given back?  The answer is that one is just as offensive to God as another.

Now let’s look at our church mercifully cleaned of that scene and examine what remains in your house of worship.  Are there things that don’t belong?  I don’t think there are going to be any animals and their messes but are there things that don’t belong that might be offensive to Christ?  No money changing tables but are you raising money for things that aren’t for the true benefit of the kingdom?  Are there things being practiced that a holy God of order would find offensive?  There might not be any offenses as large as that left behind by the cattle in the temple but there might be some “doves”.  In God’s eyes they are all the same.

God does not change.  If order and sanctity and a holy, reverent, awe-struck approach to Him were important once they still are now.  We don’t need crystal cathedrals to approach Him but we do need to make sure our worship doesn’t need some cleaning.

 

For Discussion:


1.      In case you haven’t thought of it there is a temple within us as well (1 Cor 6:19).
2.      Discuss how God might cleanse our “temple”.
3.      Would your place of worship pass inspection?  Discuss.
4.      For some OT background see Exodus 12 and Deuteronomy 16:16-17.
5.      Mark 11:16 tells us that Jesus “would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.”
6.      According to Mark 16:18 that at that time the chief priests and the teachers of the law began looking for a way to kill him.  Discuss.
7.      Be prepared to discuss the difference in timing of the clearing of the temple from John’s account and that found in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

Upcoming Adult Sunday School Class Commentaries


4-22-12:  Woman of Samaria (Samaritan Woman Finds Living Water) John 4:7-15, 23-26, 28-30 or John 4:7-15, 21-30
4-29-12:  Healing the Blind Man (Blind Man Receives Sight) John 9:1-17
5-6-12:    The Bread of Life John 6:22-35
5-13-12:  The Good Shepherd John 10:7-18





Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved

Sunday, April 1, 2012

On 4-8-12 John 20:1-10, 19-20 will be our Adult Sunday School/Uniform Series/International Sunday School Lesson, herein is my commentary. This lesson is known by some as The Living Word aka Jesus Lives.

The Living Word
or
Jesus Lives
John 20:1-10, 19-20
International Sunday School Lesson
April 8, 2012



Commentary
By
Jed Greenough





How long have you “known” Jesus?  Do you remember how you came to faith?  How do you think that happened? 

Today because I read all the corresponding scriptures in Matthew, Mark and Luke I have an overwhelming need to talk of the general message but what I won’t do is concentrate on today’s chosen scripture except in this general way.

The idea of people believing in Jesus is more what I want you to think about.  Do you concern yourself with the spreading of the gospel perhaps spurred on at Easter?  Do you worry about people you have taught or witnessed to and people that you have seen make the profession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing they might have life in His name?

In all the accounts in the Bible of Christ’s resurrection and subsequent appearances we see a lack of understanding of what had occurred with Jesus.  Though He had told them and others that He would suffer and die but later arise their first thought still was that someone had physically taken His body away.

In John 20:2 we read that Mary Magdalene told Peter and John that, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”  In verse 9 we read after seeing the empty tomb, “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”

In Luke 24:25 we can read of certain disciples hearing these words from the risen Christ, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken!  Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter His glory?”

Further along in Luke 24 these disciples revealed their account to the Eleven and those with them when Jesus again appeared.  They thought they were seeing a ghost and had doubts prompting Christ to say, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?”

You believe in Jesus, these people knew Him.  They were taught by Him and ate with Him.  Some probably were with Him 24 hours a day and had been for quite some time but still there were doubts, but yet you believe, blessed are you.

Jesus after talking to a doubting disciple named of course Thomas said in John 20:29, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

So again how did you come to believe?  How do others come to believe a message of our God allowing Himself to be a sacrifice for the world, killed on a cross but arising from the dead 3 days later?

You see how those who knew Him reacted to seeing Him.  You read of those who had seen and heard this miraculous conclusion to a story that started with Christ on the cross but yet expect people who only hear the story at Easter to believe today.  They only hear the end story and the rest of the time quite often it is something else they hear.

Belief is the key word here.  How many attending some great meeting in a stadium came forward after the sermon while many stayed behind.  Similarly how many have done it after a stirring sermon at church?  There is a reason I say that John 3:16 is the most “dangerous” verse in the Bible and it is this word belief and in this instance believes.

For many there is a lack of understanding because there is more to the word than what appears on the surface.  Just as there is with much of the Greek language there are specific nuances with the words so let’s take a look at this word “believes”.

That word in John 3:16 in Greek is pisteuō which according to the Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance means “to believe, put one’s faith in, trust with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow.”

You see there is a faith that involves commitment here folks and how many people that have walked forward share more in common with those that stayed behind in that they have no commitment at all?  Further there is another thing that many would rather not discuss found in this book of John.  Beginning with John 6:25 the teaching to the following disciples becomes more involved and the grumbling begins.  In verse 64-65 Christ says, “Yet there are some of you who do not believe.”  (Yep, it is that same Greek word; they had no real commitment to Christ) “He went on to say, “This is why I told you (in verses 37 and 44) that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled Him.”

Not everyone believes, even those who really knew Christ doubted the story of His resurrection and it is most likely that not everyone who comes forward has been enabled nor are they committed.

For those that God enabled Jesus convinced them of His identity and therefore in His resurrection and your job is similar.  You can’t know those He has enabled but you can treat everyone the same.  That is what John did with writing the book that we are now studying.  In 20:30-31 we read, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.  But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  He wrote it for all to read, those the Father has enabled and those He has not.  But to those that truly believe (pisteuō) He will give eternal life.”

Let’s put it one final way, only those who have faith understand.  I wonder what faith means in Greek. The word is Pistis meaning:  belief, trust, with an implication that actions based on that trust may follow!  Same definition!

So it is good to be spurred on to share the gospel at Easter afresh.  It is reasonable to consider those you teach and witness to and those who have made a profession but  be sure you are doing as John did and tell the whole story not just the end story and leave the enabling to the Father.  But remember Romans 10:14-15

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Preach, teach, live a life of belief/faith that tells the whole story of the gospel.  That is what your listeners need to hear and see.  Keep the message on Jesus and the commitment to those He enables will preclude you from having to share a gospel the rest of the year that isn’t really the gospel at all.  This is a vital part of your pisteuō not just at Easter but always.



For Discussion:


1.      Read the parallel accounts in Matthew 28, Mark 16, and Luke 24 and discuss them.
2.      I see a relationship to their personalities in how John stopped at the entrance and Peter rushed in, do you?
3.      Discussed the cloth that was folded up by itself.
4.      Discuss the importance of verse 19’s, “the doors locked for fear of the Jews”. 
5.      Do we metaphorically have our doors locked?
6.      Discuss the change that came over the disciples after this.
7.      Discuss how much of our churches’ message is the delivery of a social gospel instead of the entirety of Christ’s story.
8.      In this electronic age, if your church is strong in sharing the gospel can you come up with ideas to impress upon your brothers and sisters in other churches the importance of the need?


Upcoming Adult Sunday School Class Commentaries


4-15-12:  Cleansing the Temple (Temple is Cleansed) John 2:13-22
4-22-12:  Woman of Samaria (Samaritan Woman Finds Living Water) John 4:7-15, 23-26, 28-30 or John 4:7-15, 21-30
4-29-12:  Healing the Blind Man (Blind Man Receives Sight) John 9:1-17
5-6-12:    The Bread of Life John 6:22-35





Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved