James - lesson 1 - a letter from a friend

Insights:

• "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (1:22). There's no question that reading and responding to God's Word will benefit our lives by drawing us nearer to Him - that's really what studying the Bible is all about.
  
• For further study, read Psalm 119:97-104. How does James' attitude towards God's law compare to the one described in this passage? In light of what you've read, what is your attitude toward God's law? [Answer as a comment below]

The Miracles of Jesus - Session 6 - Grateful Outcasts

Insights:

• He does not go to the temple to offer sacrifice to God for his cleansing, but returns to Jesus. He recognizes that the restorative power of God is in Jesus. (Joel Green)
  
• Only here in all the New Testament are such thanks directed to Jesus. Elsewhere they are directed to God. (Robert Stein)
  
• It was well with his soul and with his body. (Leon Morris)

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The Miracles of Jesus - Session 5 - Fruitless Lives

Insights:

• Cursing the fig tree is an acted parable related to cleansing the temple and conveying a message about Israel. (D. A. Carson)
  
• Unless Israel repents, like the fig tree it will perish. (Craig Blomberg)
  
• Jesus himself replaces the temple as the centre of true worship of God. (Ben Witherington III)
  
• Those who profess to be God's people but live unfruitful lives are warned. (Leon Morris)
  
• When he comes, what will he find? Will he find fruit or just leaves? And will he pronounce judgment upon us? (David Garland)
  

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The Miracles of Jesus - Session 4 - A Faith-full Outsider

Insights:

• The faith of the centurion and the Cannanite woman are exceptions in the ministry of Jesus, which is to bring blessing to humankind universally. (John Nolland)
  
• Jesus is willing to reach out to those who are beyond the pale so that the least, the last, and the lost might become the first, the most, and the found. (Ben Witherington III)
  

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The Miracles of Jesus - Session 3 - Knowing the King

Insights:

• He flees from the temptation to secret prayer, for here is the source of his strength to resist evil. (E. M. Bounds)
  
• I had never seen Jesus as I saw him then. I had seen him as powerful. I had seen him as wise. I had witnessed his authority and marveled at his abilities. But what I witnessed last night I know I'll never forget.
  I saw God. The God who can't sit still when the storm is too strong. The God who lets me get frightened enough to need him and then comes close enough for me to see him. The God who uses my storms as his path to come to me.
  I saw God. It took a storm for me to see him. But I saw him. And I'll never be the same.

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The Miracles of Jesus - Session 2 - The Heartbeat of God

Insights:

• Those who believe in Jesus become his possession. As a result of believing in Jesus, there should be a total difference in the way we live, in how we use our money, in how we think, in the TV shows that we watch, in how we treat our families, in how we spend our free time. Believing in Jesus changes everything. (Matt Williams)
  
• The picture of the kingdom of God as a feast is prominent in Judaism and in the synoptic teaching, and the abundance of wine is a feature of the feast. (George Beasley-Murray)
  
• The abundannt provision at these shared meals is symbolic of the joy of God's uncalculating forgiveness, and a pointer to the eschatological messianic banquet.

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The Miracles of Jesus - Session 1 - The Clean Daughter

Insights:

• What a different between the crowds that are curious about Jesus and the few who reach out and touch him! (Mark Fackler)
  
• Jesus speaks of "youth faith"; it is important that the woman understand that she had not been cured by magic... Her cure had been the result of a mighty power in Jesus, but it came to her because of her faith, not because of magic in a touch. (Leon Morris)
  
• The word translated "healed" is literally "saved.". Both physical healing and theological salvation are in mind. (W.W.Wessel)
  
• It was the grasp of her faith rather than her hand that had secured the healing she sought. (William Lane)
  
• In God's kingdom the nobodies become somebodies. (David Graland)
  
  
  
  

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The Prayers of Jesus - Session 6 - A Friend in High Places

Insights:

• "Whatever you ask" does not mean whatever might be on your wish list. (AndrewLincoln)
  
• With the proper formula, a spirit-induced sickness could be cured, a chariot race could be won, and sexual passions could be enhanced. (Clint Arnold)
  
• This is not intended to rationalize unanswered prayer but to encourage prayer that is in line with the will of God, as revealed in Christ. (Andrew Lincoln)
  
• As I read and meditate on the Word morning by morning, I try to allow it to shape my prayer… by my saying to God things I would not have said had I not just previously been filling my mind and heart with his Word. (Felicity Houghton)
  
• Praying "if it is your will" does not demonstrate a lack of faith, but a lack of knowledge of God's will in a specific situation. (Terrance Tiessen)
  
• We are working with God to determine the future! We are to change the world through prayer. (Richard Foster)
  
• Prayer has bridled the rage of lions, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, and stayed the sun in its course. (Chrysostom, early church father)
  
• He is not going to help us develop our own kingdoms when we are called to establish his kingdom! (Neil Anderson)
  
• What is necessary is an increasing knowledge of the Scriptures so that we may learn how to pray with confidence in Jesus' name. (D. A. Carson)
  
• Brother Yun, one of China's house church leaders, prayed and fasted for months before receiving a Bible in 1974. When he received it he said, "Every day from morning to late evening I read the Word of God… I finished reading through the whole Bible, so I started to memorize one chapter per day. After 28 days I had memorized the whole gospel of Matthew." (Paul Hattaway)
  
• This is our comfort, because God answers every prayer, for either he gives what we pray for, or something far better. (Soren Kierkegaard)
  
• As a parent gives to a child from his or her wisdom what the child needs, so does God. COnsequently, we may receive answers we do not want, find things we are not looking for, and have doors open we do not expect. (David Garland)

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The Prayers of Jesus - Session 5 -Praying with Purpose

Insights:

• If you really want to know someone's heart, listen to them pray. (Michael Card)
  
• The extent of God's protection over us every single day is beyond our comprehension. (Bruce Barton)
  
• Unity is beyond human ability.
  
• The basis of the unity of the Church is the nature of God and the reality of his redemptive activity. More specifically, it is an outflow of the relations within the Triune God. (George Beasley-Murray)
  
• The cross was to be not a defeat but a victory. (Leon Morris)
  
• Unity among believers is grounded in the love and unity that exists among the Godhead: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
  

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The Prayers of Jesus - Session 4 -Praying to a Good God

Insights:

• Shame would come upon the whole village - not just on the friend - if he offered mere subsistence. (M.M.B. Turner)
  
• Friends come through for us despite inconvenience to themselves, and sometimes despite mixed motives for their goodness. How much more can we be confident that God will come through for us. (Joh Nolland)
  
• If we do not want what we are asking for enough to be persistent, we do not want it very much.
  
• God gives us every "good gift" (Matthew 7:11), but the greatest gift that God can give us is the Spirit (Luke 11:13).
  
• People ought not to think of God as unwilling to give: he is always ready to give good gifts to his people. But it is important that they do their part by asking. (Leon Morris)

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The Prayers of Jesus - Session 3 - Joining in Jesus' Prayer

Insights:

• When Christians pray "Your Kingdom come" they are praying for the completion of a kingdom which has already come with Jesus. (Oscar Cullmann)
  
• The term "bread" has multiple meanings. In antiquity "bread" was never taken as something merely material.
  
• The term "Father" is used with reference to God in the Old Testament 40 times; but in the New Testament 260 times. Jesus has radically changed the believer's view of God as "Father." (I. H. Marshall)
  
• The complete experience of God's will on earth occurs only when his kingdom comes to earth in its final form, causing an overthrow of all evil rule.
  
• The prayer is for our needs, not our greeds. (D. A. Carson)
  
• He only denounces his disciples' anxiety about the future, not responsible care for the future. (Michael Wilkins)
  
• We are taught to pray in the first person plural: "us," "we," and "our." The Lord's Prayer never leads to individualistic prayer. (Michael Wilkins)
  
• He wishes to be called Father rather than Lord, so that he may give us great confidence in seeking him and great help in beseeching him.
  
• When we know God as our Father, we understand that he cares about his will for our lives even more than we do. To place our lives in his hands means that he will always bring about what is best for us, even when it may mean sacrifice, or hardship, or difficult times. (Michael WIlkins)
  
• People who pray for the coming of the kingdom of God rightly pray that the kingdom of God might be established in them. (Origen, an early church father)

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The Prayers of Jesus - Session 2 - Our God Listens

Insights:

• If a wicked man will sometimes do good, even if from bad motives, how much more will God do right! -Leon Morris
  
• What Jesus has highlighted in his example and emphasized in his teaching about prayer is the goodness of the Father. -I. H. Marshall
  
• In prayer, we should draw ourselves to God and not try to pull God down to us.

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The Prayers of Jesus - Session 1 - Watch and Pray

Insights:

• It takes a life of prayer, a lifestyle of prayer, a lifetime of prayer to confront this kind of evil. (David Garland)
  
• A nameless woman anoints Jesus. A bystander carries his cross. A pagan centurion who was there to supervise his execution confesses that he is the son of God. A council member who condemned him to death obtains the body and buries it in his tomb. Women followers watch and go to anoint the body. Male disciples betray, take their rest, flee, and deny - because the flesh is weak, and they do not pray. (David Garland)
  
• My prayer life became a strategy session during which I informed God about what I intended to accomplish and then asked for blessing with added recommendations about how God could best meet my needs. (Darrell Back)
  
• I especially need your prayers because I am (like pilgrim in Bunyan) traveling across "a plain called Ease." Everything without and many things within are marvelously well. (C. S. Lewis)
  
• I am so busy now that if I did not spend two or three hours each day in prayer, I would not get through the day. (Martin Luther)
  
• We are going to face those times of testing when we least expect it. The only way for us to be prepared is to be prepared as Jesus was: in a lifetime, lifestyle of prayer with God. (David Garland)

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