Introduction Peter leads a large group of disciples to an isolated (perhaps secretive) meeting where Jesus will once again give them their marching orders. Then they make their way back to Jerusalem to await the coming Holy Spirit as the movement switches into its...

Introduction After rising from the dead, Jesus appears to His disciples on several occasions. Paul lists the appearances in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. He appeared to many people individually — to His leaders on several occasions and even to a group of disciples numbering...

Introduction After laying His life down for you and me, two men come to retrieve His body and prepare it for burial. One is Joseph of Arimathea and the other is our friend Nicodemus. As you read today, take special note of these two men. The Lord is risen indeed!...

Introduction Jesus is identified to the crowd of people who have come to take Him away by Judas, who has come to betray Him. Judas kisses Jesus, and Jesus responds by calling him “Friend” (Matt. 26:50). He was a friend of sinners until the end! Betrayed into the hands...

Introduction Jesus shared a lot of cool stuff with His disciples that night [of the last supper] in the upper room, besides the fact that He loved them and expected them to lead as servant leaders. He tells them once again that He will be leaving them but not to be...

Introduction Jesus spends the week teaching at the temple during the day and in prayer, communicating to His Father each evening on the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37). The things Jesus teaches this week are incredibly significant. They are a study, in and of themselves,...

Introduction As Jesus makes His way from Jericho to Jerusalem, He is about to receive an incredible gift from the Father — a king’s welcome into the Holy City. It is a day of celebration and great emotion. What will happen as Jesus enters Jerusalem? Take a close look!...

Introduction After spending several months on the other side of the Jordan River in Perea, Jesus makes His way back across the Jordan and into the town of Jericho, where He will reinforce many of the leadership principles that He has been teaching His growing team of...

Introduction Jesus continues His teaching over the next several months. We only have time in this study to cover a couple of His lessons on leadership development. These days for Jesus are packed with incredible teaching on the development of leaders. One of the most...

Introduction Jesus leaves the Feast of Dedication and travels to the other side of the Jordan River, where John had baptized him three years earlier (John 10:40). Jesus will use this as a base for the next few months, awaiting His final entrance into Jerusalem and His...

Introduction Jesus returns to Galilee and continues to train His apostles and prepare the next group of disciples who He will soon send out on their first mission trip. But there is another feast, the Feast of Dedication, or Lights [which is today's Hanukkah]. This is...

Introduction After meeting with Moses and Elijah, they went back down the mountain, and “[w]hen they came back to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were...

Introduction A week after this incredible leadership team evaluation, Jesus reveals that He has begun a movement that is so powerful that the gates of Hell will not be able to slow its advance. Jesus, as the leader of this movement, is Himself the Lion of Judah and...

Introduction [We are going to fast-forward through a chunk of events due to the 50 days limit]. After walking on water, Jesus continues to train His leadership team for the mission. He is teaching them about love, humility, faith, and their understanding of authority....

Introduction After a full day of ministry and picking up twelve baskets of leftovers, Jesus sees that the disciples are exhausted. So He sends them off in a boat, onto the Sea of Galilee to get them away from the crowd and allow them to rest, while he dismisses...

Introduction The news of John’s death and the way in which he died stung like a sharp knife, piercing Jesus’ soul. Grieving, Jesus retreats to the comfort of the Father and the silence of the Sea of Galilee. He tells His disciples to come with Him and He escapes to a...

Introduction Meanwhile, as the disciples are wandering the countryside having the adventure of a lifetime, something else very exciting was happening in Israel. It was the birthday of King Herod and he was throwing a party for himself that would last for days, if not...

Introduction After months of intensive leadership training, it is finally time for the twelve apprentices to be sent out on their own mission trip. Remember, Jesus called these twelve guys for two reasons: first, so that they might be with Him and grow closer to him...

Introduction Have you ever been so tired that you slept right through a storm? That is where we find Jesus today. As the movement continues to expand, Jesus finds it harder and harder to find a place to rest or even get a bite to eat. In Mark 3:20, Peter notes “Then...

Introduction It appears that there is a curious Pharisee living in Capernaum, who has been following the ministry of Jesus. He is intrigued enough to risk his reputation and invite Jesus over for a meal with some of his friends. Jesus accepts the invitation and what...

Introduction Wow! I hope you are wrestling with leading like Jesus. I so want to be a leader that loves, is humble, has great faith in God and who knows who his authority is. I struggle with all four aspects of leadership and so need Jesus living in me and through me...

Introduction After choosing the first leaders for the movement and laying out the Father’s plan for reaching the world, Jesus comes down from the mountain and returns to His home and ministry center in Capernaum. His leaders are now with Him almost 24/7. And who does...

Introduction After letting His disciples know what they should expect as they leave this mountaintop experience with Him, He turns His attention to explaining the Father’s plan for reaching the world. I imagine the atmosphere was electrifying with everyone...

Introduction When we left Jesus yesterday He had just announced the appointment of twelve leaders. I am not sure that everyone was happy with the final decision. What about the women disciples? Yes, there were many women who were not just Christ-followers, but also...

Introduction [This week, we are looking at a new phase in Jesus' Ministry.] This phase in Jesus’ life is focused on leadership development. As the movement continues to grow, Jesus begins to hand-select from His disciples a few to be servant leaders of the movement....

Introduction The sixth fishing expedition is amazing and, honestly, a bit astonishing to me. There is this guy living in Capernaum — he is well off, well-dressed, has it all. He is, in fact, the son of the powerful Alphaeus and commissioned, trusted, and protected by...

Introduction After this last fishing expedition, the movement is snowballing. Did you catch how the movement of multiplication is beginning to get out of control? Peter notes that during this time in the ministry, the leper “went out and began to talk freely,...

Introduction As Jesus moves throughout the Galilee of the Gentiles, sharing who He is, He comes across a man covered from head to toe with a fatal disease. What will happen and how will this lead to a teaching experience and a fishing expedition for His team? Let’s...

Introduction Okay, so far we have Jesus fishing at the synagogue and at the disciple Peter’s house. Where will He go next? One outreach was well planned, the other spontaneous. What kind of event will follow? When we left Jesus yesterday, under the direction of His...

Introduction We are in the process of looking at the first six fishing-for-men expeditions of Jesus. We are doing this for two reasons. Do you remember what they are? His aim was both to train the ministry team and to reach the masses. Although the previous expedition...

Introduction Jesus is now ready to begin what will be another year and a half of fishing-for-men expeditions with His disciples. We will be looking at the first six expeditions. These are the first six outreach events that Jesus does in order to train His young...

Introduction Jesus leaves Jerusalem and makes His way back up north to His new home in Capernaum. He most likely heads over to the shores of the Sea of Galilee to meet up with some of His early followers, who had returned home as well to their parents, wives and...

Introduction It is a big day for Jesus! Today we read that he will appear before the religious leaders in Jerusalem. He is being brought up on two very serious charges. Charge #1: Jesus broke Sabbath by healing a man and then telling him to carry his mat (do...

Introduction After moving to Capernaum, Jesus makes the long trip down to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Jews. (Some believe this was the second Passover that Jesus attended. Some believe it was the Feast of Tabernacles, thus placing the following two events about 6-7...

These next two phases in Jesus’ life we have titled Ministry Training and Expanded Outreach. We do this because we see Jesus doing two things here at the same time. As the ministry grows, Jesus issues His next call: “‘Come, follow me’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you...

IntroductionJesus now moves back to the His hometown of Nazareth, the place where he had grown up. Remember what it had been like for Jesus from your study in Psalms 69:12? Jesus may have suffered here in His youth at the hands of the elders who had constantly...

IntroductionAs Jesus and His followers leave Samaria and head back into Galilee, the news about Him has already reached the people and the talk in all Israel is about the new prophet on the scene — Jesus of Nazareth. As His hometown tries to sort through their...

IntroductionJesus had been baptising in the Judean countryside (Jn 3:22), while John had been baptising in Aenon (further North). Some time after John realised that Jesus’ ministry was outgrowing his own and made the beautiful decision to put Jesus first, Jesus...

IntroductionTake a moment and find Aenon on the map. Note that Aenon is near the border of Samaria. This is a very important place, and we need to ask the question — why was John the Baptist near Samaria? What was he doing there? Up until this time, he had spent his...

IntroductionJesus’ display of passion in the temple during the Passover must have raised many eyebrows, but Jesus was then launched onto the stage of popularity in His day. The Bible says, “When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all...

IntroductionJesus leaves the wedding ceremony at Cana and heads up to Jerusalem with His disciples and family for the feast of the Passover. This seven-day Jewish feast has its roots in God’s deliverance of His people from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. Jesus...

IntroductionAfter you have challenged your family and friends to come and check out Jesus, you must begin to explain to them what the Bible says about Him. You must tell them who He is. There is a lot that the Bible says about who Jesus is, so where do you begin? We...

IntroductionAfter more than forty days in the wilderness, Jesus comes through the time of temptation and embarks on a mission to start making disciples. He begins by calling people to “Come and see,” to come and investigate the facts of who He is. He then opens their...

IntroductionGod the Father opens the heavens and speaks to Jesus, telling Him that He loves Him, identifying Him as His Son and telling Him that He is well pleased with Him. What a moment in Jesus’ life! Immediately following this event, the Bible says that the Spirit...

IntroductionJesus begins His earthly ministry when He is about thirty years old (Luke 3:23). This first phase of Jesus’ earthly ministry will last about a year and a half. Let’s look at the circumstances surrounding this momentous occasion. Jesus’ ministry starts when...

IntroductionIf you had any doubt that Jesus suffered for you after yesterday’s study, today’s might hit you hard. In Psalms, we get a glimpse into Jesus’ relationship with His brothers and His community. The picture is a sad one. It shows what life was like for Jesus...

IntroductionToday, we will be leaving the gospels and looking at an Old Testament Messianic passage. A Messianic passage is a section of scripture in the Old Testament in which God shines light on the coming Messiah, giving people a view of what is to come. We will be...

IntroductionWhen we left the story yesterday, the Magi (wise men) had just visited Jesus and His family and had brought Him some very expensive gifts. During the night, His father had a dream in which the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “‘Get up, take the...

IntroductionJoseph and Mary took the baby Jesus and went to look for family in the Judean Hills of Bethlehem. Remember, this is the land of both their families, which is why they had returned here for the worldwide census, issued by Caesar Augustus. Jesus' Family was...

IntroductionEach day we will be looking deep into the life of the God/Man - Jesus. We will be walking through the 33 years of the earthly life of our Lord. Let's begin by looking at Jesus' first look at the world. Start your time asking God to open the eyes of your...