JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY COM

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Mat 14,1-5

(95a) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective >> False perspective in the world – Herod would regularly venture into the dungeon and converse with John, who no doubt had many stories to tell about the wilderness, living on locus and wild honey, though Herod’s ego was only paper-thin and could not endure criticism. John told Herod to repent, and nobody tells Herod to repent. All rulers live and rule by their egos, and if anyone messed with Herod’s self-image, his life was in jeopardy. In another gospel account of this story it speaks about Herod while John was still alive, “For Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him” (Mk 6-20). Helping to resolve the conflict, these separate gospel accounts refer to two different times, an earlier time when John was first thrown in prison and a time after Herod had come to know John. The people were offended at John yet honored him as a prophet, whereas Herod did not respect his position as a prophet. Herod was not a Jew and had no interest or respect for Israel’s religion and laws. We might think Herod would respect a person who receives knowledge from God, but when it comes to worldly people, the things they respect and hold dear rarely have anything to do with God.

(103l) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by circumstances >> Purified Through hardship – John represents the transition between the old and new covenants, the old based on the faith of Abraham in combination with obeying the Law of Moses, and the new based on the faith of Christ in combination with obeying the Holy Spirit. When we think about John, how he was led into the wilderness, being similar to the life of Abraham, who also was led by the Spirit to a land that he did not know and started a new life apart from his relatives, it must have been difficult for both of them. It seems that God took care of Abraham better than He took care of John, though John readily adapted to the wilderness. A person who is able to live in the wilderness is an amazing character in his own right.

Mat 14-1,2

(18e) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Presumptuous speculation

(177k) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the will of God >> Man’s knowledge of God is based on presumption – We can talk to a worldly person about God, either quoting Scripture to him or else getting philosophical or theological, and he might reply with reasoning similar to King Herod in these verses with a lot of speculation. If Herod really wanted to know if Jesus was John the Baptist, he could have easily ascertained that knowledge; instead, he preferred his own ideas better than the truth, which is typical of worldly people. It was fanciful to him that a man came back to life and was doing miracles, and he probably felt he deserved partial credit for the miracles Jesus was performing, since he had John murdered.

Mat 14-3,4

(134j) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Immorality >> Physical adultery

Mat 14,6-12

(85k) Thy kingdom come >> Words of your mouth >> Better not to say anything >> Words will make you obligated 

(183b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Sin is the incubator of witchcraft >> Through satanic influence -- King Herod did not have anything personal against John the Baptist; the king had him beheaded because Herod opened his big mouth and promised a pretty girl anything she wanted. He offered her half his kingdom in terms of marriage and the position of queen, but the girl who danced for Herod had a mother with the heart Jezebel. Being a witch she chose spite over greed, because she hated John the Baptist and his message of repentance. She opposed the gospel because it opposed the demons that lived in her and her deeds.

Mat 14,13-21

(143j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Jesus is popular because of His works -- See commentary: Lk 9,12-17

Mat 14-14

(145c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Jesus healed them all -- This verse goes with verses 35&36. Compare this verse with Act 3,1-12, particularly verse twelve, “Why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?” When Peter grabbed the lame beggar at the temple gate and pulled him to his feet, immediately his legs were made well. This caused a stir, and a large crowd gathered, and the Pharisees caught wind of what happened and tried to suppress the event. Peter denied that it was by his power or pity that the man stood in good health but by the name of Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter fourteen Jesus said that He had compassion and healed their sick, as though the power He used to heal the people was His own, yet Jesus gave all the credit to His Father (Jn 9-4,5). He even gave credit to His Father for coming here in the first place (Jn 3-16). It wasn’t Jesus idea to come to us in the flesh; Jesus doesn’t have any ideas of His own; rather, everything Jesus did fulfilled His Father’s plan. The Father gave Jesus the power of healing and led Him to heal those who were destined to receive a touch from His hand, and the same was true with Peter and John; it wasn’t based on their whimsical desire to heal someone but on hearing the voice of God and doing what He said, that is, based on obeying the Holy Spirit. So when people lay hands on others, do they really hear the voice of God speaking to them, or are they just doing it because they read it in the Bible, treating it like a recipe book. That is not how it works. We become students of the word and disciples of prayer for the purpose of tuning our ear to the Holy Spirit; so obeying Him becomes the fruit of our lives.

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Mat 14,15-32

(147c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> God exercises authority over His creation – Although Jesus stepped away from all the glory of heaven, He still retained His authority over the creation. He simply chose not to use it in most cases. For example, He let the soldiers spit in His face, pull out His beard and mercilessly whip Him. Although He could have called twelve legions of angels, it was not the will of His Father that He should do so. It will always be a miracle whenever God does something to His creation; we will forever be awed by Him because we will never comprehend how he does it.

Mat 14,15-20

(227i) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Dependence on Jesus >> Depending on Jesus to impart His gifts into us >> To give us what we give to the world

Mat 14,22-36

(187h) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> Spirit versus the flesh >> Deny the flesh to walk in the Spirit >> More the flesh dies, more the spirit lives – Our flesh needs to be frequently subjected to the will of God through long periods of prayer and made to understand that it is not in charge. The flesh will never benefit from salvation until the First Resurrection, but it doesn't understand forestalling rewards, much less waiting for another life to come. There will be a resurrection from the dead, and we will receive spiritual bodies, but what is a spiritual body but an oxymoron to our finite understanding? The flesh that we know in this life will not be the flesh that we will know in our resurrected bodies. Our present physical state is on a dead-end course, but our spirit has been redeemed. Our faith serves no benefit to our flesh but is destined to perish, so it has no incentive to serve the Lord. The only benefit our faith offers our flesh is righteous living, inviting us to eat right and live right and avoid abusing our bodies with alcohol and other forms of dissipation that can shorten the lifespan, but these are incidental benefits that the flesh hardly appreciates. It prefers what it wants over what it needs. If we allow our flesh to seek its own benefit, it will undermine our faith in the process of destroying itself before the time. Therefore Paul said, “I buffet my body and make it my slave” (1Cor 9-27), and this is what Jesus was doing with his flesh on the mountain, subjecting it to long hours in prayer and depriving it of sleep, a type of fasting, and then He came from the mountain spiritually refreshed, though physically deprived.

Mat 14-23

(7k) Responsibility >> Use time wisely >> Get ready >> Make time to pray – Jesus often spent the whole night in prayer. Even when He prayed with His disciples, they prayed many hours, but when He went alone, He sacrificed his sleep. He returned from the mountain after a day and a night of prayer and began ministering for days after that. Instead of preparing for ministry with a good night sleep, knowing they wouldn’t get much once the journey started, He did just the opposite; He prepared in prayer. The physical aspect would take care of itself. What He needed more was His connection with God.

(82g) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Where to pray – Where we pray is significant. It can mean the difference between breaking though or spending a boring session feeling like we're talking to ourselves. Jesus had special places where He went to pray, and all those places were outdoors in beautiful settings, such as in the mountains or in flower gardens. He preferred surrounding Himself with natural beauty, perhaps to remind Him of his origins. It is good to have a handful of favorite places and switch from one to another. The idea is to maintain balance between moderate distraction and none at all, so our prayers are not hindered by over stimulation or boredom.

Mat 14,24-33

(164f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world system >> Satan’s system of authority >> He is the prince of the power of the air -- Yes, it was just a storm, or was it? Perhaps it was Satan attempting to destroy Jesus' chosen men whom He had already invested much time, effort and patience. 

Mat 14-24,25

(215a) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God Has Good Timing >> God is always right on time -- If the disciples could have chosen when Jesus came to their rescue, they would have decided on an earlier time. The same with us, when the world is in turmoil like the storm the disciples faced; we expect Jesus to come immediately and save us, but according to this passage, we could be waiting a lot longer than that. Why does God wait so long to show up when He is needed? He is enjoys pulling as much faith from us as He can, as He shapes us into the image of Christ.

Mat 14,25-31

(122l) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Boldness to rebuke the Church for unbelief -- After Peter boldly jumped out of the boat after Jesus, at first glance it appears all He got for his faith was reproof for sinking. However, maybe he got something out there on the water that the other disciples didn't receive, something indescribable. Peter could do more than tell about his experiences with the wind and the waves; He could tell what it was like to face the storm in the middle of the sea without a boat, standing on the waves holding Jesus' hand. Abandoning the boat in a storm is not easy, but when we see Jesus beckoning us to come, he suddenly realized he was safer with Him than in the boat. See also: Peter's faith; Mat 14,26-33; 206i

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Mat 14,26-33

(206i) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Conditions to promises >> Conditions to doing the works of Jesus -- It was a great thing Peter did, leaving the false security of the boat, believing it was safer with Jesus. Jesus offered no vessel of security except faith, which made a better vessel than that old wooden bucket; but when Peter's faith failed, Jesus wasn't any better an alternative than the boat. Although it was noble of Peter, spiritual principles cannot be violated, not even for nobility's sake. God operates by faith alone, not by good intensions. We quit believing God, we sink. Spiritual principles are like the laws of gravity that pulled Peter into the water, but Peter had something greater than faith in Jesus; he had Jesus Himself, and so do we when we realize our beliefs are actually true! See also: Peter's faith; Mat 14,26-32; 232e

Mat 14,26-32

(232e) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Count the cost >> Assess the property before you buy it -- Peter counted the cost and assessed the boat's value and determined it was safer standing next to Jesus, so he abandoned ship and found his way to Jesus, though he tripped on the way there. Peter received mounds of criticism for sinking, but none of it is warranted, for he alone had courage to venture from the flailing craft. It was his greatest triumph! See also: Peter's faith; Mat 14,27-33; 122j

Mat 14,26-28

(70c) Authority >> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Being sensitive to the Spirit >> Test the spirits -- The disciples had seen many strange things while walking with Jesus, and though Peter was confident that it was Him, he wasn't interested in jumping into the sea after an aberration.

Mat 14,27-33

(122j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Boldness in adverse circumstances >> Do the will of God in the face of adversity – Peter stepped from the boat, leaving the others in the safety of the craft. We give Peter a hard time because he was an impulsive blowhard, always wanting to be the leader, but great leaders have the gift of leadership. Many people want to be leaders but are not gifted as such, and whether Peter was a good leader is questionable. What we know for sure about Peter is that Jesus loved him and even respected him to the point of being one of His three closest disciples. Peter loved the Lord with all his heart; there is no questioning that either, but for the rest of Peter and His foibles, this one incident makes up for them all. He climbed out of the boat and walked on water; with Jesus there all he needed was His permission. Had Jesus said ‘no’, that would have been the end of it, and it also would have indicated God's intension of limiting man's divinity with Himself, but Jesus’ invitation meant that God intended to make man in His image in ways that no one can even fathom. Peter knew he could walk on water with Jesus there, and he also knew if he couldn’t, Jesus would save him, so it was a no-risk opportunity to miraculously walk with the Lord. There is only one thing we need to know before we venture into ministry: we need to know that God is calling us to do it, so that if we hesitate, He will make up the difference for our doubts. See also: Peter's faith; 146j

(146j) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders >> Proof that Jesus is the son of God >> That the Church may believe – Peter never walked on water again to our knowledge; instead, people brought the sick on cots, and when the apostle Paul walked past them, even His shadow when it touched them made them whole. How were Jesus’ miracles greater than the miracles of the apostles? How were Peter and Paul able to perform miracles? We understand how Jesus performed miracles; He was the Son of God, but how did Peter walk on water? They were just ordinary men. Peter and John grabbed a lame man saying, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene -walk!” (Act 3-6), and the lame beggar was healed. For everyone who has performed miracles, whether Jesus or the apostles or someone from the 21st century, we know that God was at work in them. See also: Peter's faith; 254d

(254d) Trinity >> Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is the life of the Spirit >> We live because He is life >> God gives life to our faith in Jesus – Walking on water with the Son of God was something Peter took with him the rest of his life; it became his badge of honor. It wasn’t Peter’s faith that powered him to do this; it was God that enabled him, and he accessed this power through faith. Do we actually understand faith? No, absolutely, we do not, but we do know that if we take a shortcut and say faith alone enabled Him to walk on water, we step into a mud puddle of theology. What is the essence of faith? From a human standpoint, of course we understand that faith is a sense of conviction, an act of our volition to believe something is real. However, the faith Peter used to interact with God that night was not human faith, for walking on water is not normal human behavior. Rather, he received a God-given faith. He didn’t walk on water because he believed in certain doctrines, nor because of certain convictions, though conviction led him to step from the boat. Peter interacted with Jesus while he stood on the lake and made baby-steps in His direction. He walked on water knowing God as He is and not as we perceive Him. God as we perceive Him is a person who resembles us in a way, but the revelation that Peter received transcended His perceptions. He saw God as One who could do anything, who created the heavens and the earth, who was presently with him, in whom nothing is impossible. This makes God a unique person, someone we can believe when He tells us we can walk on water. Peter believed He could walk on water because Jesus invited Him to come, and He invites us all to believe in Him to change the world in ways that bring His kingdom that much closer to fruition. It may not always be the will of God that we walk on water, but if we believe in God that He can do anything, a day will come when He will beckon us from the boat and prove that in Him all things are possible. If we come to Him with the intension of fulfilling His purpose, whatever He is calling us to do we can do. See also: Peter's faith; Mat 14,28-33; 107a

Mat 14-27

(23l) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Fear of the unknown >> Fear of miracles

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Mat 14,28-33

(107a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Word creates faith >> Receiving unction from God -- Peter did it right; he didn't just jump out of the boat, he first asked permission and affirmed the will of God before he jumped. The power of this story is in the fact that when Jesus permitted Peter to come to Him, Peter immediately knew that he could walk on water; and that if he sank, it didn't matter, because Jesus was there to save him. See also: Peter's faith; Mat 14,28-31; 78e

Mat 14,28-31

(68g) Authority >> We have been given authority to be the children of God – Peter came to the conclusion to walk on water from the very teachings of Christ, which revolved around this statement: ‘Whatever I do, you can do’ (Jn 14-12), which means, ‘I am the Son of God, and you are all sons of God’ (Mat 5,43-45). Jesus taught that once He goes to heaven, this authority still belongs to us. Of course the problem is, most people don’t have that kind of faith, and there is a reason for this; there is a lack of unity in the Church. With unity everything Jesus said becomes possible. We should be growing both spiritually and numerically; signs and wonders should be relatively common, and faith should abound, but none of these things are happening because of a lack of unity, which has led to a lack of faith. We should become salt and light and the world's conscience, so that many would see and believe, and we should cause others to think twice about sinning, and it would be a better world because of us. As it is, we live in a world where the Church has lost its solidarity, and for that reason it has lost its faith. There are still pockets of faith and many believers are greatly committed to Christ, but their numbers are fearfully decreasing. See also: Unity; Mat 17-20; 213b

(78e) Thy kingdom come >> Sincerity >> Taking God to heart >> Having pure motives and desires – If Peter had little faith, how little faith had the other disciples who didn't leave the boat? It makes us wonder what was Peter's motive for wanting to walk on water? Knowing him, a blustery fellow and highly emotional, he must have been at least partially motivated by pride, but there was something that Jesus admired about him. Peter no doubt had the feeling he was in the will of God to climb from the false security of the boat toward the safety of Christ, probably figuring it was a no-lose situation, so long as Jesus was with him. There was no mention of anyone walking on water again. Miracles were prevalent after Pentecost but no more walking on water. The disciples didn’t have the advantage of the Holy Spirit prior to Pentecost, and by the time they received it, Jesus was gone, so there was never a time when Christ was present with the anointing in His people. We will just have to wait for heaven before we experience both at the same time. See also: Peter's faith; 96e

(96e) Thy kingdom come >> Attitude >> Positive attitude toward God >> Good attitude toward Jesus – Peter had a positive attitude about Jesus; He knew what would please the Lord. There was no other purpose for Peter climbing from the boat than to simply demonstrate God's faith, for he knew it was the Lord’s will when Jesus beckoned him on the water. We no longer see signs and wonders and some say miracles are no longer the will of God, but they are just making excuses for the Church’s lack of faith. We are living in an age of apostasy, and God is unwilling to perform miracles even among those who are faithful, because He doesn’t want to associate with the Church’s sin. If God performed miracles among those who believed in Him, though the Church as a whole lies in a state of apostasy, the next day those in the world would see other Christians behaving badly and wonder why God would endorse such behavior, when in fact He doesn’t. "Christians" think they are getting away with their bad behavior, but they don't know that the absence of miracles is a sign that judgment is coming. Peter walked on water because he was a good man and because his fellow disciples were faithful; they each paid with their lives as martyrs, except John and Judas Iscariot. A day is coming when signs and wonders will return during a Great Endtime Revival. God will re-institute the true doctrines of the faith through his Jewish witnesses, and God will endorse them through the working of miracles. See also: Peter's faith; 121h

(114g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Implementing the revelation of the Holy Spirit -- It is one thing to get a revelation from heaven, but it is quite another thing to implement that revelation, because it always does battle against the natural elements and with spiritual forces of wickedness in high places, whether those forces be of men or of sea. We must dream the right dreams, and then see them fulfilled. In this way we will grow as the people of God. 

(121h) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Hope >> Expectation >> Expecting good things based on God’s character >> Expecting good things because He is God -- Peter learned to expect nothing but good things from Jesus, regardless of the circumstances. Peter could even get out of the boat during a storm that threatened their lives, and it would somehow be okay. Peter believed in Jesus' proven character, that He was both big enough and good enough to never let him down. See also: Peter's faith; Mat 14-30,31; 227j

Mat 14-28,29

(70jb) Authority >> Believer’s authority >> We have been given authority over all creation >> We have authority over the elements

(29d) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> Delivered from adversity

(198i) Frustrating the Grace of God (Key verse)

(198j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Frustrating the grace of God >> Frustrating Jesus through unbelief -- Jesus takes our unbelief very seriously. It is like telling God He is incompetent, worse, it demonstrates our distance from Him, and how little we know of Him. This is a direct insult to Him of which there no excuse, except that we are weak, fleshly creatures and faint at the slightest test of faith. God is made of faith, while man is made of dust. 

(227j) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Depending on Jesus to fulfill His purpose in us -- God calls us to do and to be certain things with a purpose and then ultimately does most of the work to complete His purpose in us. God calls us to be Spiritual creatures and to live accordingly. Look at Peter in this example, Jesus called Peter to believe in Him, yet Jesus did most of the work to keep Peter from drowning. Did Peter do something wrong? He doubted, otherwise no, Peter did his part, he got out of the boat, and then it was up to God to do the rest; after all, how could God ask Peter to walk on water? God does not expect a lot from us; He just expects us to believe in Him enough to climb out of the boat. To us that sounds like a lot. See also: Peter's faith; Mat 14-30; 171l

Mat 14-30

(171l) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance of circumstances – This is an amazing statement, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” It means that doubt was the reason he began to sink. He started looking at the wind and the waves, and they reminded him that he cannot walk on water, but this was not about Peter; it was about God permitting Him to perform miracles. This was the fisherman’s greatest fear to be in the middle of the lake during a storm. Throughout their adult lives they navigated the lake and fished for a living, and they knew storms could suddenly appear from nowhere and swamp their boat, and they could drown. He began to recall his fears, and before long past experience started eating into his faith, and then he couldn’t recall how he was standing on the lake. Faith suddenly became a very nebulous, intangible and theoretical concept, while the wind and the waves grew very large in his mind; but while he first stood on the water, the rolls were reversed: faith was tangible and the wind and the waves were speculative. He must have looked at Jesus and thanked God He was there, His presence being the reason he left the boat in the first place. This was the plan: if and when he failed, Jesus would save him. See also: Peter's faith; Mat 14,34-36; 146k

(20f) Doubt (Key verse)

(20g) Sin >> Doubt is the consequence of the fear of death

(203b) Denying Christ >> Dishonor God >> Dishonor God by your unbelief 

MATTHEW CHAPTER 15

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Mat 15,1-9

(9k) Responsibility >> Strengthen one another >> Tend to the widows – As usual, Jesus would not answer the Pharisees question, but asked them a question instead, which they could not answer. The Pharisees taught the people to give their money to the Church, money they could have (and should have) used to help their parents, including their mothers who lost their husbands. Of course the motive of the Pharisees was to pilfer the treasury. See also: Hypocrisy; 179b

(179b) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Jesus rebukes the Pharisees >> Rebuked for loving money -- What could be more evil than tampering with religious doctrine to direct the flow of unrighteous mammon into their pockets? What hope did the Pharisees have of entering the Kingdom of Heaven? They were a true form of the reprobate mind. See also: Hypocrisy; Mat 15,7-9; 173c

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Mat 15,13-20

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Mat 15,21-28 

MATTHEW CHAPTER 16

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Mat 16,1-4

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(108h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Revelation of Jesus Christ >> Spiritual revelation >> Revelation of His identity -- We either have a mere factual knowledge of Christ, or we have a revelation of Him. Those with mere facts may not be saved, but those who personally know God are definitely saved, and if we have a spiritual revelation of Jesus Christ, He calls us blessed. See also: Faith; 129k

(129k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Single minded >> Determination – It would be easy to prove that Paul wrote to promote unity more than anybody else; in fact, all his letters to the churches were for the purpose of unity, and in this unity Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, and He responded, “Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” This indicates that God is willing to demonstrate His power through His people when they are in a state of unity, and we obtain unity through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Many times we have seen in Scripture God moving with power among His people. The Roman guards threw Peter in prison with the intension of the next day martyring him, but an angel of the Lord came and released him. In other instances God performed miracles to free His people from the hands of their enemies; this occurs only when the Church is acting as one. See also: Faith; Mat 16,13-18; 109h

(109h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit the teacher >> Spirit teaches us about the word – Peter, the apostle the Catholic Church chose as their mascot, bore witness against Catholicism in this passage. Jesus called him Peter (literally translated ‘stone’).  Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” The Lord was saying that He (flesh and blood) did not reveal to Peter that Jesus was the Son of God; rather the Holy Spirit revealed it to Him, and upon this foundation, on the spiritual revelation of God’s word, He would build His Church, not on Peter. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit doesn't reveal God's truth to us, we don't know it. Nevertheless, Catholicism picked Peter from the twelve apostles and figuratively built their Church around him, and literally built Saint Peter’s Basilica over his supposed bones. In 1Pet 5,1-3 Peter testified against the Catholic Church saying, “Shepherd the flock of God” commanding the leaders and the elders to exercise oversight over the people. However, this is not how the Catholic Church does business; it is not even how the protestant Church operates. Church clergy of organized religion doesn't oversee the ministry; they are the ministry! The Bible in no way teaches this to be proper church structure! See also: Faith; Mat 16,13-17; 150f / Catholicism; Mat 16-18; 140g / Building the Church on Peter instead of Christ; 1Pet 2,6-8; 141b

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(144f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The Church bears witness of Jesus >> It bears witness of the Holy Spirit -- Jesus testified of Peter that he had a working knowledge of Israel's Messiah by a revelation of the Holy Spirit, which is the goal of faith. Peter finally struck gold! To bear witness of -- Jesus testified of Peter that he had a working knowledge of Israel's Messiah by a revelation of the Holy Spirit, which is the goal of faith. Peter finally struck gold! To bear witness of Jesus by the Spirit is to bear witness that the Father sent His Son, and God is Spirit. See also: Faith; Mat 16-18; 140g

(46k) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Demons are subject to the Church through Christ -- Throughout the centuries the Church has been hit by every known attack but never sunk. Jesus is in her boat; it may have filled with water but it remains afloat on humanity that works with the devil to conspire against God's elect. If the devil ever destroyed the Church, the world would die soon afterward in a mournful whimper of human depravity, which the Bible prophesies in the last days will happen, except that God will protect His Church. 

(137b) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Jesus is the foundation >> Jesus is the rock of the Church’s foundation

(140g) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Christ builds the temple from the bricks of the Church -- Catholicism thinks the Church is built upon the foundation of Peter, the screw-up. The name "Peter" means "Rock," of whom Peter is a microcosm of the Church (an exemplary member of the body of Christ), and the Church is built on what he proclaimed, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. To understand this by revelation of the Holy Spirit is the rock of truth to which Jesus was referring, and God's hope is that His church will walk in that faith. See also: Catholicism; Mat 16,13-18; 109h / Faith; Mat 16,1-4; 20f

(116d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through worship >> Through His authority -- These are the keys of the kingdom: believing in Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit (the Spirit and the word). If we don't believe God by the Spirit, then heaven is bound and gagged, but if we do believe God by the Spirit, there are things we can say and do that will open the windows of heaven, and we will see the hand of God move in our lives.

(79b) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind >> Satan will control your mind if you don’t

(94p) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective >> False perspective in the Church -- Although the disciples were wild about Jesus, they still didn't have a clue about what He came to do. They all had visions of Him taking over the religious institutions of their time, and ultimately the Roman Empire and becoming King of the nations as prophesied in the Old Testament, of which Israel would be the center, and all the nations would come and worship their Messiah. In return, all good things would emanate through Him to the rest of the world, and everyone would live in peace and prosperity for a thousand years. That would put the disciples right at the top next to Him. It was so fun and easy to believe in Jesus that way; they were looking at being top governors of a new world empire. No wonder the disciples never understood Jesus' plan until after the resurrection; they didn't want to let go of their dream until Jesus gave them a better one. Although they had to suffer (most of them died as martyrs), it was still better than their hope of ruling next to Jesus, why? Their dream was deferred to a time set by the Father to become top-ranking officials of a kingdom after they had inherited a resurrected body that can never get sick, feel pain or die. See also: See also: Slowness of heart; 247j / Millennium (Expecting the Kingdom of God to appear immediately); Mat 17,15-18; 198j

(247a) God’s Interests (Key verse)

(247j) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> God’s interests >> God’s interests are not man’s interests – Jesus called Peter Satan for trying to protect Him. This incident arose from Jesus telling His disciples that He would go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed, and on the third day rise from the dead. Rising from the dead would have sounded fine to Peter, except that he never heard it, according to Jesus' parable about the sower, "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road" (Mat 13-19). The enemies of Jesus knew more about Him rising from the dead than His own disciples, because they were in a better place to hear Him say it (Mat 27,62-66). We think His disciples would have heard Him better than His enemies, but that was not the case. It all goes back to motive; we know what we want to know; we believe what we want to believe, and we hear what we want to hear. All Peter heard was that Jesus was going to suffer many things and die; he never heard Jesus say that He would rise from the dead; those words turned to static in his ears. Peter’s apparent attitude was that if he could keep Jesus from dying in the first place, He wouldn’t have to rise from the dead. This is how Peter and all the disciples treated Jesus throughout His entire three-year ministry: they took very little of what he said to heart. Instead, they merely considered what He said, weighed it against their preconceived notions and dismissed what contradicted, instead of believing in Him and accepting everything He said as the word of God. See also: See also: Slowness of heart; Mat 16,1-4; 70g

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(55j) Lose By Gaining (Key verse)

(55k) Paradox >> Gain the world to lose your soul >> He who saves his life shall lose it -- Whoever wants to hold onto this life in the flesh will lose everything, but whoever is willing to let go of this life and adhere to the kingdom of heaven, one in which the human soul living a temporal life will gain eternal life in paradise, will become kings and priests of the entire universe! There is another life waiting for us just beyond our mortality that is better and one that is permanent, where we find our true life hidden in Christ that God had prepared for us from all eternity.

(48e) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your deeds >> In the day of judgment

(26ba) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death is hell >> Rejecting Christ has the sentence of hell -- It seems that people residing in hell will be able to witness the return of Christ and the establishment of His thousand-year reign on earth. Zech 12-10 says, "They shall look on him whom they pierced." The actual people who killed Christ will see the return of Christ from their location in hell. Also, Rev 1-7 says, "Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail [mourn] because of him. Even so, Amen." Those in hell will not taste the full brunt of their anguish until they see what they have lost when God establishes His kingdom on the earth.

(48n) Judgment >> Jesus’ enemies are destroyed >> Enemies of His glory