September 21, 2014 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Jesus Saving

  

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus Saving

Matthew 14:22-36 – New International Version (NIV)

²² “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. ²³ After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, ²⁴ and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

³⁴ When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him ³⁶ and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.”

What did Jesus make the disciples do (verse 22)?

Why did Jesus go up on the mountainside (verse 23)?

Where were the disciples (verse 24)?

How did Jesus go out to them (verse 25)?

In your opinion, why did the disciples think that Jesus was a ghost (verse 26)?

How did Jesus comfort them (verse 27)?

What was Peter’s request of Jesus (verse 28)?

How did Jesus reply to the request (verse 29)?

In your opinion, how hard would it have been to step out of the boat onto the water (verse 29)?

Why did Peter, who was walking on the water, become afraid and begin to sink (verse 30)?

Who did Peter cry out to (verse 30)?

What did Jesus do (verse 31)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus say “You of little faith, why did you doubt” (verse 31)?

What happened when Jesus and Peter climbed into the boat (verse 32)?

In your opinion, why would the people in the boat worship Jesus at that moment (verse 33)?

Where did they land the boat (verse 34)?

What happened when people saw Jesus (verse 35)?

What did the people beg for (verse 36)?

Who was healed (verse 36)?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Matthew 14:22-36 show us about the Great Commission?

Job 42:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Then Job replied to the Lord:

² “I know that you can do all things;
    no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
³ You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’
    Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
    things too wonderful for me to know.

⁴ “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
    I will question you,
    and you shall answer me.’
⁵ My ears had heard of you
    but now my eyes have seen you.
⁶ Therefore I despise myself
    and repent in dust and ashes.”

Who was Job speaking to (verse 1)?

What did Job say that the Lord can do (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why does Job indicate that “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (verse 3)?

Who told Job to “Listen” (verse 4)?

What had Job’s ears heard of (verse 5)?

In your opinion, what changed Job’s perception of God (verse 5)?

How did Job react to his new understanding about God (verse 6)?

In your opinion, how is Job’s reaction to his new understanding of God in Job 42:1-6 similar to the reaction of the disciples to Jesus when he climbed into the boat and the wind died down in Matthew 14:22-36?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Job show us about the Great Commission?

Acts 12:1-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. ³ When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. ⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”

¹² When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³ Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

¹⁵ “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.”

Who was having people arrested (verse 1)?

Who was put to death with the sword (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why would the Jews approve of the persecutions and the arrests (verse 3)?

What happened to Peter when he was arrested (verse 4)?

Who was earnestly praying for Peter (verse 5)?

How was Peter sleeping (verse 6)?

Who woke Peter up (verse 7)?

What happened to the chains (verse 7)?

Where did Peter follow the angel to (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why did Peter think that everything was a vision (verse 9)?

When did the angel leave Peter (verse 10)?

What did Peter say when he “came to himself” (verse 11)?

Who was in the house of Mary the mother of John (verse 12)?

How did Rhoda respond when she heard Peter’s voice (verse 14)?

In your opinion, why did the people who had been praying for Peter not believe Rhoda (verse15)?

What did Peter keep doing while Rhoda was telling her story and people were not believing her (verse 16)?

What did Peter tell the people when they finally opened the door (verse 17)?

In your opinion, do you think that the people who did not believe Rhoda and were astonished when they opened the door and saw Peter in Acts 12:1-17 might have been like Job who, when he saw God with his own eyes and then understood himself and God differently in Job 42:1-6?

In your opinion, is God saving Peter from the prison and the execution that is to occur the next day in Acts 12:1-17 similar to Jesus reaching down and pulling the sinking Peter from the sea in Matthew 14:22-36?

In your opinion, what does this passage from Acts show us about the Great Commission?

1 Peter 1:3-9 – New International Version (NIV)

³ “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Who is to be praised (verse 3)?

What did Jesus, “in his great mercy” give us (verse 3)?

Where is the inheritance that “can never perish, spoil or fade” kept (verse 4)?

How are we shielded until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed (verse 5)?

In your opinion, how do we “greatly rejoice” even though “now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (verse 6)?

Why have trials come (verse 7)?

Who is loved without being seen (verse 8)?

What are Christians receiving as the end result of their faith (verse 9)?

In your opinion, is Peter, who had been in prison in chains in Acts 12:1-17 qualified to talk about being filled with joy in the midst of having to “suffer grief in all kinds of trials” in 1 Peter 1:3-9?

In your opinion, how can Job “despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” when his eyes had seen God in Job 42:1-6 and Peter say that those who believe in Jesus Christ “are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” in 1 Peter 1:3-9?

In your opinion, does Peter, who was lifted out of the lake by Jesus and said to have little faith in Matthew 14:22-36, have a unique understand of the great mercy of God that he speaks of in 1 Peter 1:3-9?

In your opinion, what does this passage from 1 Peter show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 15:1 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)