Jesus' Final Week According to All Four Gospels - Part Five

Note: Click the links below for downloadable PDF files for you to read along.

Jesus' final week according to the four gospels:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o_-okSwk1TesOUEffFw4sl-xawsPFHmr/view?usp=sharing

Scriptures for reading:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AGBuYmsnOvfN0zi_vpTNQYDs37w1V09Y/view?usp=sharing

Highlights:

Lesson #1: Authorities

* What ruler, anywhere, has God not put in power?

* "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God; the powers that exist are ordained by God. Therefore, he who opposes the power is resisting the ordinance of God, and they who resist shall receive to themselves damnation" (Romans 13:1-2).

* Of course, we are not to submit to anyone who would have us do something contrary to the will of God.

* Never Do something evil out of respect for a man -- any man.

Lesson #2: Customs

* The scribes and Pharisees required God's people from Moses' seat to obey the customs of Israel.

* God required His people to obey the scribes and Pharisees. That is why Jesus commanded his disciples to obey them; it was God's will

* Jesus himself observed the customs of his time, such as the Feast of Dedication.

* The only time Jesus had a problem with the customs of his time is when those customs took precedence over the commandments of God.

Lesson # 3: Appearances

* In the main, those around the world whom God has called are poor and cannot compete with those who are expert in appearances. But the good news is that this is not a competition.

* If you serve God spiritually and truly, as Jesus said, that is all there is to it. No better service than that can be rendered to God.

Lesson # 4: Grand Titles

* The word, "Rabbi" means "my Great One", understood as "my Leader" or "my Teacher".

* Why would Jesus demand that no one except himself be called "teacher" when the scriptures plainly state that Jesus gives teachers to God's people? Such literal contradictions are found in many places in the Bible.

* Only with the Spirit's help can we see how it all fits together.

* It is a dangerous thing to try to put scriptures together without being led by the Spirit. Men can and have put scriptures together in myriads of ways, thinking they were right.

* If a man is not speaking words that came from God, then God has not sent him.

* In the kingdom of God, the only people who are telling the truth are those who are copying and repeating what Jesus says.

* In sum, Jesus condemned men for conferring high-sounding religious titles on one another; he was not condemning the spiritual experiences we have in him.

Lesson # 5: Conversion

* Converting a person to somebody's version of the gospel is not the same thing as converting him to the Lord.

* When someone is converted to the religion called Christianity, to what has he been converted?

* How does one become a member of the religion of Christianity? If we enter it in a way different from the way we enter the body of Christ, then they cannot be the same thing.

* Does Jesus baptize a person with the holy Ghost into Christianity? Of course not. Men join Christianity; Jesus does not baptize men into it.

* Then, what is this thing, really, that has granted itself the prestigious title of "Christianity" and claims to be the body of Christ? It is the lovely, highly esteemed, "mother of harlots and abominations of the earth", just as the angel told John in Revelation 17. And God is calling for His children to come out of her. Thank God for the call!

* He has called us out of Christianity so that we may learn to worship Him in spirit and in truth, together.

Lesson # 6: Confused Priorities

* To a heart gone astray, priorities get mixed up.

* By Jesus' time, THINGS had become more important to Israel's leaders than God's people, whose welfare they were supposed to be watching out for.

* God is, first of all, a God of relationships, and we want to be like Him.

* The most important part of your life is your relationship with God, His Son, and one another. That is "the mind of Christ" because that is the mind of God.

Lesson # 7: Blindness

* It is a most terrifying aspect of the wrath of god, that if pushed to it, He will curse someone with such darkness that he doesn't even realize he is in the dark.

* If God blinds you, you do not know that you are blind.