Group Bible Study

We are thinking about the supernatural acts that surrounded the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest act of supernatural power was His resurrection from death. That's our focus today: Before he became a Christian, Josh Mc Dowell tried to disprove the resurrection of Christ for his college thesis. As he began to study and write, his careful study of the Scriptures, evidence from history, and his logical reasoning led him to the opposite conclusion. The evidence he uncovered affected him to his core. He wrote a book called  “Evidence that Demands a Verdict,” which has become one of the most popular Christian books of our time. It indeed illuminates the whole resurrection story. The climax of this story, i.e., Jesus' rising from the dead, gives us all a foretaste of the victory we can expect to experience as Christians. Death had no power over Jesus. It will have no control over us. Having watched where Joseph and Nicodemus put the body, it is likely that the women...

We are continuing in our daily meditations upon the supernatural ministry of the Lord Jesus. Today, we focus on three supernatural displays of God’s power at the crucifixion of Christ: Matthew’s gospel records the first supernatural phenomena: “From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land ” (Matthew 27:45).  Passover always occurred on a full moon, so a solar eclipse was out of the question during a full moon, and even if it could, an eclipse cannot last for three hours. This darkening sun was a sign of judgment and divine displeasure at what took place at Calvary. Jesus was bearing the wrath of God on sin during those three crucial hours. That was why Jesus spoke the words, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me." Some commentators say that the darkening of the sun was sent as a veil to cover the nakedness and sufferings of Christ. The second supernatural phenomenon was that of a great earthquake when Christ died, with the tombs openin...

We are continuing to look at the supernatural ministry of Jesus while He walked this earth. Today we look at the healing of the servant of the High Priest, and the supernatural overcoming of a detachment of Roman soldiers: Judas had betrayed Jesus to the priests and religious elite of Jerusalem. He told them that Jesus would be in the Garden of Gethsemane. They sent a “detachment” of soldiers (John 18:3). The Greek word  speira  is used of the subgroup of Roman soldiers. This fighting force consisted of 450 men. This was in addition to those sent from the Chief Priests and Pharisees. Some scholars have estimated that there may have been as many as six hundred soldiers and men sent to arrest Jesus. Why so many? It was likely they were expecting a fight and that there might be more of Christ’s disciples in the garden with Him. They brought lanterns because, perhaps, they were expecting Jesus to hide. The Lord didn’t wait for them to come looking for Him, He took the i...

We are continuing to look at the supernatural ministry of the Lord Jesus while He walked among us. Today we look at Mark's account of the healing of a deaf-mute: 31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.   32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.  33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue.   34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”   35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.   36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.   37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all ...

In our daily devotional, we are continuing to consider all the supernatural acts of the power of the Lord Jesus. Today, we come to the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead: 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.  39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”  40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus s...

In our daily devotional, we are looking at all the supernatural acts of the Lord Jesus when He walked on earth. Today we look at the supernatural feeding of more than 5,000 people: 12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”  13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all this crowd.”  14 (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”  15 The disciples did so, and everyone sat down.  16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people.  17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of...

We are continuing our series of looking at all the supernatural acts of Jesus when He walked among us. Today, we focus on Christ’s supernatural control of the wind and the waves:  22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out.  23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.  24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm.  25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him” (Luke 8:22-25). The Sea of Galilee is more than six hundred feet below sea level and famous for its sudden storms. In 1978, I was living in Israel for several months and being a fis...

In our daily meditations, we are continuing to think on the supernatural acts of Jesus while He walked this earth. Today we come to the casting out of a demon from a woman’s daughter: 21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."  23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."  24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."  25 The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.  26 He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."  27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."  28 Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have grea...

In our daily meditations, we are looking at the many supernatural acts of the Lord Jesus. Today we have the healing of a man with dropsy: 1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.  2 There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy.  3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"  4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away.  5 Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?"  6 And they had nothing to say (Luke 14:1-6).    The Greek word translated  carefully watched means to watch on the side or to watch insidiously. In other words, they were watching out of the corner of their eyes, hoping to catch Jesus on something He said or did. It was a Sabbath, so was this a setup? I can't imagi...

We are continuing in our daily devotions on the supernatural acts of Jesus while He walked among us. The gospel writer, Luke, shares with us the case of a lady who would probably be diagnosed by physician's today as Marie-Strümpell Disease, a fusion of the spinal bones. There are no medicines known today that can cure this physical condition. But in this particular case, the disease had a spiritual cause rather than a medical. 10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,  11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.  12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."  13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.  14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on...

In our daily devotionals, we are looking at each of the supernatural acts of the Lord Jesus while He walked on earth. Today, we look at His supernatural power to deliver a boy from a demon. Matthew, Mark, and Luke describe the scene: 37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.  38 A man in the crowd called out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.  39 A spirit seizes him and he suddenly screams; it throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It scarcely ever leaves him and is destroying him.  40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.” (Luke 9:37-40). When Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, He found a father in desperation. He said to Jesus,  “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child” (v. 38). An unseen evil spirit was torturing his only son. When the spirit came upon him, it tried to kill him by throwing the boy into fire...

We are focusing our daily meditations on the supernatural power of the Lord Jesus when He walked among us. Today, we look at the healing of an invalid: 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.   2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda   and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.   3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.   5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.   6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"  7 "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."  8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."   9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and w...

In our daily devotional, we are focusing on the acts of the supernatural power of the Lord Jesus when He walked on earth. In our passage today, we read about the kind of faith that pleases God. We're not talking about faith in faith—that holds nothing that will please the true God. Faith in God and the One He has sent is what pleases the heart of God (John 6:29; Hebrews 11:6). 11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee.  12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy  met him. They stood at a distance  13 and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"   14 When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.  15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.  16 He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.   17 Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where ...