New Testament Bible Study by John Stanko

John Study 15: 9:1-34

Dear Student of the Word,

This week we take a look at my favorite story in the New Testament.  In John 9, we read about the man born blind whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath.  Jesus was courageous in confronting the hard-hearted Jews by healing once again on the Sabbath. The blind man was courageous, for he refused to dishonor Jesus when his interrogators investigated his healing.

This week I wrote on day six of this seven-day study:

9:23 – The parents were afraid of public rejection and humiliation.  That was more important to them than their son’s healing.  It was almost as if they wished he had not been healed.  How sad!  This is what religion can do to someone.  They had lost all their joy and compassion, trading them for the privilege of belonging to a church.  Forgive us, Lord!  Where were there priorities? Where are you priorities?

v. 24 – The investigation continued.  They summoned the blind man a second time to ask him the same questions. They tried to give him a chance to revise his story, but the man remained faithful to what he knew was the truth. The Jews tried asking him a leading question, but the man became feisty and combative with his interrogators.  This makes me want to stand and cheer the man on!

v. 25 – The man stated the truth, that he and none of those around him could judge Jesus as a sinner. Only God knew the truth.  The man did know, however, that he was blind but then could see.  The man stuck to giving his testimony, which no one can ever dispute. When is the last time you gave a testimony of what God did for you?  Perhaps you could write it instead of looking to speak it?  To whom would you send your testimony if you wrote it?

v. 26 – The authorities had already asked the man to answer these questions, but they repeated themselves, hoping perhaps to trip him up so that he would give conflicting testimony.  They also wanted to hear how Jesus had profaned the Sabbath during the healing, so they could confirm in their own minds that Jesus was in the wrong when He performed this right.

It is a dangerous thing to interrogate God to find fault with Him, yet people do it all the time.  I have done it in my own life, questioning God’s motives and faithfulness.  It is a result of the Fall that man questions what God has said and done, reserving for himself the right to decide what is good and not so good.  We can see this in the book of Job, where Job’s friends concluded that there must be something wrong or sinful with Job, while Job concluded that there must be something wrong with God.  Jesus came to glorify God in all things rather than to lead a debate about God. 

Have you ever “judged” God?  Are you judging Him now, questioning His goodness or timing?  If so, obviously you must repent of believing a lie about God, for God is nothing but faithful and true.

As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them or find the studies to Corinthians, Colossians, First Timothy, and Matthew's and Mark's gospels on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.

Plus my website archives contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse Bible studies from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation, along with the unpublished Faith Files.

Download John Study 15

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THE SOPHIA FUND UPDATE:  Last week, $150 came in for The Fund. I took some time this past week to write a thank you to everyone who has given so far, also giving an update on the Fund progress to date.  You can read about that update here.  You can also read about my rationale for The Fund here (named after my late mother) that will help feed widows and orphans in Kenya and Zimbabwe. 

Please consider a contribution of at least $5 toward the fund and hopefully more.  You can use the "Chipin" widget on the Monday Memo site to contribute, or go directly to my website to contribute there through PayPal, or send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA  15221.  Make sure you let me know it is for The Sophia Fund. Don't delay; give today and make a difference in the world.

REVELATION: I still need your help. I cannot find a publisher for an important book I have written, which is a devotional focusing on the book of Revelation. I wrote about this project in my blog last month and encourage you to read what I wrote there. In that post, I explain my urgency in wanting to get it out for people to read. Then please consider if the Lord wants you to help me to restore an important book of the Bible that has been obscured by so many weird interpretations.  If you have any questions about the project, please don't hesitate to contact me.

John Study 14: 8:31-59

Dear Student of the Word,

We continue to work our way through John's gospel, this week finishing up John 8.  In this chapter, Jesus' intent was to reveal the truth in the heart of the Jews who were secretly plotting to kill Him.  In order to do that, Jesus confronted them and declared that they were liars and that the devil and not God was their Father.  As you would expect, this infuriated the unbelieving Jews.  The chapter ends with Jesus' claim that He is the great "I AM," at which point the Jews tried to stone Him.  I wrote on day seven of this seven-day study:

v. 56 – Jesus made a remarkable statement that Abraham had seen the day of Jesus.  When did He see it and what did he see?  I have always gone to Genesis 22 for the answer:

When they reached the place God had told him about [Mount Moriah], Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided." (Genesis 22:9-14).

When Abraham saw the ram in the thicket, and he was on Mount Moriah where Jesus was talking with the Jews in John 8, he realized that one day God would provide a sacrifice for man, just as God provided a substitutionary sacrifice for Isaac.  Abraham saw the reality of Jesus and he put his faith that Jesus would act to save man from his sins.  It’s not just that Abraham saw it but that he saw it and rejoiced!

This should not surprise us.  God is able to open our eyes to see spiritual realities to which we would otherwise be oblivious.  Why not ask Him to open your eyes?  You don’t know what you may be missing.  I will follow my own advice.

v. 57 – The Jews were out of touch with everything Jesus had said so far, so we would expect that to continue.  The Jews understood that, if Jesus could talk so authoritatively about Abraham and what he saw, then Jesus was saying that He was there when Abraham did what Jesus was reporting to them.  The Jews were correct, but they could not comprehend how that could have been true.  For this statement to have been true, Jesus had to have been an eyewitness, plus know the reality of Abraham’s heart.  In other words, only God could know what Jesus was reporting.

v. 58 – Then Jesus delivered the decisive blow.  He claimed to be the great “I am” of the Old Testament.  This was the “name” or description that God Himself gave to Moses:

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"  God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:13-14).

Jesus was declaring that He was the same God who dispatched Moses to Egypt.  Can there be any more clear statement of who Jesus was?  There was never any ambivalence on Jesus’ part about who He was or what He had come to do.  He has now provoked the Jews into revealing what He contended was there all along:  murder.

v. 59 – The Jews picked up stones to hurl at Him, considering Jesus a blasphemer.  They were ready to show their true colors as murderers.  Of course, it was not Jesus’ time to depart, so He slipped away through the crowd.  Jesus did not stay around, for His time had not yet come.

That is a good example for anyone to follow who faces that kind of persecution.  If you can escape, do so.  When you have no escape, you will know that you are in God’s hands, and He will either protect you or not.  You must trust Him for whichever decision He chooses to make.  Can you trust the Lord for your well being and safety?  If you can, then are you still afraid to fly, afraid of water, fearful of traveling, concerned about avoiding missions work? 

As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them or find the studies to Corinthians, Colossians, First Timothy, and Matthew's and Mark's gospels on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.

Plus my website archives contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse Bible studies from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation, along with the unpublished Faith Files.

Download John Study 14

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REVELATION: I need your help. I urgently want to publish my next book, this time a devotional from the book of Revelation. I wrote about this project in my blog last week and encourage you to read what I wrote there. In that post, I explain my urgency in wanting to get it out for people to read. Then please consider if the Lord wants you to help me to restore an important book of the Bible that has been obscured by so many weird interpretations.  If you have any questions about the project, please don't hesitate to contact me.

THE SOPHIA FUND UPDATE:  Last week, $335 came in for The Fund.  As I promised, every penny you send is going to feed the poor in Zimbabwe and Kenya (We wired $1000 to Kenya two weeks ago, with another $500 slated to go to Zimbabwe this week). Nothing goes to overhead or administration.  Won't you consider helping orphans and widows today?  You can read about my rationale for The Fund here (named after my late mother) that will help feed widows and orphans in Kenya and Zimbabwe. 

Please consider a contribution of at least $5 toward the fund and hopefully more.  You can use the "Chipin" widget on the Monday Memo site to contribute, or go directly to my website to contribute there through PayPal, or send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA  15221.  Make sure you let me know it is for The Sophia Fund. Don't delay; give today and make a difference in the world.

John Study 13: 8:1-30

Dear Student of the Word,

Yes, it's a week later and time for your weekly dose from John's gospel.  This week we move into John 8 where we consider the story of the woman caught in adultery and then continue with Jesus discourse on the Temple Mount to the unbelieving Jews.  Jesus was faithful to His mission and purpose regardless of whether or not He got immediate results.  He trusted the Father with what He was doing.  This week I wrote on day-seven of this seven-day study:

v. 26 – Jesus was a faithful and reliable messenger, the one referred to in Proverbs:

Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the spirit of his masters (Proverbs 25:13).

Are you a faithful messenger?  Do you deliver the message that God has given you for those around you?  Are you giving testimony and bearing witness to others of God’s goodness in your life?

v. 27 – The Jews did not understand that Jesus was talking about the Father, yet Jesus kept right on talking. That was His mission and that was what He had to do in obedience to the Father.  Can you be so faithful in the face of so much misunderstanding and dullness on the part of your target audience? 

v. 28 – Jesus made a reference to His death that was imminent, then only months away. Many more would see from that point forward the truth of His words and deeds.  This was an act of faith on Jesus’ part, for He had to trust the results for His mission to the Father.  He could not see the results from His ministry at that point in time, yet He remained faithful to the cause and call.  Can you be faithful and not focus on results but on your performance?  That is a difficult thing to do.  Your results may not come until after you’re gone!

I am writing these studies with such faith, for I have no idea of how God will use them.  Yet I have written every day for the last eight years in faith and hope. 

v. 29 – Jesus always did the things that pleased the Father and you and I have the same duty and privilege.  Pleasing God is a theme that runs throughout the New Testament.  Here are a few examples.  Can you find more?

I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God (Philippians 4:18).

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God (1 Timothy 5:14).

{May God] equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:21).

v. 30 – As Jesus preached and taught, many put their faith in Him, just because of what He said. There is that dynamic of the Spirit bearing witness to the truth that I mentioned earlier.  That is still the way that people come to faith in Christ: through His preached word.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (Romans 10:14-17).

Are you preaching and teaching the Word?  When and to whom?  Are you discouraged with the results?  If so, then encourage yourself today.  The results are in God’s hands and you can reap an abundant harvest if you don’t give up.

A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy brings healing (Proverbs 13:17).

As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them or find the studies to Corinthians, Colossians, First Timothy, and Matthew's and Mark's gospels on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.

Plus my website archives contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse Bible studies from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation, along with the unpublished Faith Files.

Download John Study 13

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REVELATION: I need your help. I urgently want to publish my next book, this time a devotional from the book of Revelation. I wrote about this project in my blog last week and encourage you to read what I wrote there. In that post, I explain my urgency in wanting to get it out for people to read. Then please consider if the Lord wants you to help me to restore an important book of the Bible that has been obscured by so many weird interpretations.  If you have any questions about the project, please don't hesitate to contact me.

THE SOPHIA FUND UPDATE: Last week, $110 came in for The Fund and I placed a container in a major restaurant to collect money for The Fund. As I promised, every penny you send is going to feed the poor in Zimbabwe and Kenya (We wired $1000 to Kenya two weeks ago, with another $500 slated to go to Zimbabwe as soon as someone can carry it over for me). Nothing goes to overhead or administration.  Won't you consider helping orphans and widows today?  You can read about my rationale for The Fund here (named after my late mother) that will help feed widows and orphans in Kenya and Zimbabwe. 

Please consider a contribution of at least $5 toward the fund and hopefully more.  You can use the "Chipin" widget on the Monday Memo site to contribute, or go directly to my website to contribute there through PayPal, or send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA  15221.  Make sure you let me know it is for The Sophia Fund. Don't delay; give today and make a difference in the world.

John Study 12: 7:25-53

Dear Student of the Word,

It's time once again for your weekly study from John.  This week we move on to John 7, where Jesus came to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, taught in the Temple courts and had an encounter once again with the Jewish authorities.  At this point, the leaders had put out a contract on Jesus' life, determining that He must die. 

With that in mind, this is what I wrote on day six of this seven-day study that you can download below:

vs. 50&51 – Nicodemus had courage, for he was at least willing to ask a question that challenged the pronouncement that all were against Jesus on the ruling council.  It takes great courage to challenge authoritarian leadership, especially when they are set on preserving their own world and power.  The council had become dictators and saw themselves as vastly superior to “the people.”  They considered the people under a curse due to their ignorance of the Law, which meant that the leaders’ studies and knowledge had set them free.  They did not and could not see their bondage.

The leaders did not allow people to speak freely or openly; everything had to be said in “whispers.”  They attempted to rule by fiat and edicts, telling the people what they could or could not do and believe. 

The interesting point here is that Nicodemus was correct!  The Law did require that the accused have a hearing, but the leaders were not interested in due process or procedure here. They were only interested at that point in ridding the earth of Jesus’ presence.  Therefore, their judgment was clouded and biased.  That makes Nicodemus’ comment all the more courageous and a harbinger of things to come, for Jesus would have an impact on that Council for many years to come.  If fact, Jesus’ presence and their ultimate decision about what to do with Jesus both contributed to the end of that leadership council thirty years later.

How courageous are you to stand up to authority that has gone bad?  Are you whispering, saying what you think needs to be said, but hiding it from those who would disapprove?  Are you saying what you believe about Jesus in the settings where He has placed you?  Remember what Jesus said in another gospel:

If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels (Luke 9:26).

v. 52 – The council members turned on one of their own and rebuked Nicodemus, accusing him of being from Galilee and thus sympathetic to Jesus due to parochial influence. The Council was so certain that no good could come from Galilee that they dismissed Jesus because of where He lived!  This was the equivalent of discrimination or bias, which also renders leadership ineffective when they operate in it. 

Throughout these studies, I have been “hard” on leaders.  Leadership requires much development and great skill; it isn’t just a gift.  All leaders, even spiritual ones, have the power to do great good or cause great upset and evil. We see the effects of poor leaders throughout history, the Bible and current affairs.  That is why I am passionate about leaders developing and training themselves to be all God wants them to be.  Leaders are not and never will be perfect, but they have the responsibility to perform at the highest level possible, admitting mistakes along the way.

What kind of leader are you?  What kind of leader do you want to be?  What price are you willing to pay to be a great leader?

As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. You can write them or find the studies to Corinthians, Colossians, First Timothy, and Matthew's and Mark's gospels on the site where this week's entry is posted. You can also go there to sign up to receive each week's study.

Plus my website archives contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse Bible studies from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, Hebrews and Revelation, along with the unpublished Faith Files.

Download John Study 12

************************************

REVELATION: I need your help. I urgently want to publish my next book, this time a devotional from the book of Revelation. I wrote about this project in my blog last week and encourage you to read what I wrote there. In that post, I explain my urgency in wanting to get it out for people to read. Then please consider if the Lord wants you to help me to restore an important book of the Bible that has been obscured by so many weird interpretations.  If you have any questions about the project, please don't hesitate to contact me.

THE SOPHIA FUND UPDATE:  Last week, $200 came in for The Fund. As I promised, every penny you send is going to feed the poor in Zimbabwe and Kenya (we wired $1000 to Kenya this past week). Nothing goes to overhead or administration.  Won't you consider helping orphans and widows today?  You can read about my rationale for The Fund here (named after my late mother) that will help feed widows and orphans in Kenya and Zimbabwe. 

Please consider a contribution of at least $5 toward the fund and hopefully more.  You can use the "Chipin" widget on the Monday Memo site to contribute, or go directly to my website to contribute there through PayPal, or send a tax-deductible check to PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA  15221.  Make sure you let me know it is for The Sophia Fund. Don't delay; give today and make a difference in the world.