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Five

We Want a Sign

Week 53 | Section 62

We Want a SignThe pharisees remain antagonistic, doubting the signs they have already seen and the testimony of Jesus and John the Baptist. While they wished to have him tried and killed, they would have to sway the masses. But Jesus continued to win the hearts of the people, not by any campaign but by living with integrity as the Messiah, the Lord who saves.


Scripture:

Matthew 12:38-45
38 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”1¯2¯3 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign,4 but no sign5will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.6 40  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.7 41  The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah;8¯9 and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.10¯11 42  The queen of the south12 will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth13 to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here. 43  When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn’t find it. 44  Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came out,’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45  Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”14¯15¯16¯17


Group Dialog:

  1. What do you want/require before obeying God?
  2. How was Jesus confirmed and approved for ministry? Did he require the blessing of the Pharisees?
  3. How have you heard God speak to you? (In the Word, in prayer, through another person).
  4. How can your current situation affect your response time when convicted?
  5. Have you made yourself available to God? What evidence is there in your calendar that your relationship with God and his Kingdom purposes are your priority?
  6. In what ways are you still trying to live by your own power, by your own rules, your own methods? What aspects of your thoughts, your life , your ministry have you not yet yielded to the Holy Spirit’s control?

Learning Objectives:

Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice, admonishment, Great commission, sin, repentance, change of heart, worship,


Study Notes: