Ask and Receive: Teachings on Prayer
One day, Jesus was praying by himself and when he had finished praying, his disciples came to him and said, “Jesus, teach us how to pray.” Jesus said, “When you pray, pray like this. ‘Father, may your name be honoured. Come and set up your kingdom so what you want to happen will be done on earth in the same way it is done in heaven. Give us the food we need for today. Forgive us for doing wrong as we forgive others. Keep us from being tempted and protect us from evil.’” He then told them a story to teach them more about prayer. He said, “There was a man who had a visitor come to him late at night. He didn’t have any food to serve him so he went over to his friend’s house even though it was late and he knocked on the door. He asked his friend to give him some food. His friend said, ‘Go away, it is too late and my family and I are all in bed.’ But if the man is persistent and keeps knocking on the door, then his friend will get up and give him what he needs. In the same way, keep on asking and your will receive. Keep on searching and you will find what you are looking for. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For those of you who are fathers, if your child asked you for a fish, you wouldn’t give him a snake, would you? Or if he came to you and asked for an egg, you wouldn’t give him a scorpion and you are a sinful people. If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more does God your heavenly father give his spirit to those who ask him?”
Running: The Prodigal Son
As Jesus continued teach people about God’s kingdom, all kinds of people came to listen to him. Some religious leaders were upset about how much time Jesus spent with sinners. Jesus told them a story about a man who had two sons. One day the younger son came to his dad and said, “Dad, give me my share of the inheritance before you die.” The man divided his wealth among his two sons and a few days later, the younger son left home and went to a faraway country with all that he had. While he was there, he wasted all of his money on wild living. Before he knew it, his money was gone. There was a famine in the land at that time and he began to starve so he got a job feeding pigs. Soon he became so hungry that even the slop of the pigs were being fed looked good to him. He came to his senses and he said, “Even my father’s workers have plenty to eat and I am here starving. I am going to go home and tell him, ‘Dad, I have sinned against you and I have sinned against God, and I am not worthy to be called you son. So make me just like one of your workers.’” So he then left and went home but while he was still a long way off, his dad saw him and ran to him and hugged him. He said to his dad, “Dad, I have sinned against you and I have sinned against God and I am not worthy to be called your son.” The dad called for his servant and said, “Quick, my son has come home. Go get the finest clothes and put them on him. Get some food and let’s have a party because my son who was dead to me but now he is alive again. He was lost to me but now he is found again.” They began to celebrate. Later that day, the older son came back from working in the fields. He heard music and dancing. He called for a servant and asked, “What is going on here?” The servant said, “Your brother has come home and because he has come home safe and sound, your dad called for a celebration for him.” This made the older son really angry. He refused to go inside so his dad came out to beg him to go inside but the older son said, “Look, I have worked so hard for you all of these years. I have done everything you’ve said but you have never thrown a party for me and my friends. But this son of yours comes home after spending all of his money on prostitutes and you throw him a party?” The dad said, “Son, all I have is yours and you have been with me this whole time. It is right that we celebrate your brother because he was die but now he is alive. He was lost but now he is found.”
The Harvest: The Seventy-Two and Bartimaeus
There was so many people following Jesus and he chose seventy-two of them to go ahead of him to go into the town where he wanted to visit. He told them, “There are a lot of people who are ready to believe in me but not enough people to tell them about me. It is just like a huge green field that is ready to be harvested but without enough workers to do it. Pray to God that he would send more people to tell about who I am. I going to warn you that this could be dangerous because they might be against you and what you are doing. They might even try to hurt you. When you go into a town, look for a person who is peaceful and welcoming. Stay with him and eat with him for a worker deserves to be paid. Go into the town and heal people and tell everyone that God’s kingdom is coming. He is going to lead and save people.” So the seventy-two went out and they did this. They came back to Jesus and they were so happy telling all that had happened. Another time, Jesus and his disciples were going through another city. As they were leaving, there was a blind man begging for money on the side of the road. His name was Bartimaeus. He had heard about Jesus and he believed that he was the promised saviour. As Jesus went by, he cried out, “Jesus, descendant of David, have mercy on me.” But all the people around him said, “Shhh, be quiet.” Bartimaeus shouted even louder, “Jesus, descendant of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him, he stopped and called Bartimaeus to him. The people around Bartimaeus encouraged him and said, “Hey, good news. He’s calling you. Go on.” Bartimaeus jumped up and went to Jesus. Jesus asked him, “What is it that you want me to do for you? Bartimaeus said, “Teacher, I want to see.” Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you.” Immediately, Bartimaeus could see and he followed Jesus and his disciples along the road.
The King Arrives: The Triumphal Entry
Jesus and his disciples were headed toward Jerusalem for a special religious holiday. As they got closer to the city, a large crowd started forming and they were cheering for Jesus and starting shouting, “Blessings to the promised saviour. The king who God said would rule forever.” The religious leaders in the crowd told Jesus, “You need to tell them to stop. They shouldn’t be saying things like that. Jesus told the religious leaders, “Even if I told them to stop, the rocks would cheer for me.” As the city came into view, Jesus began weeping. He said, “People of Jerusalem, you more than anyone else should know what will bring you peace but you didn’t recognize that God is here with you. Jesus, then continued on into the city and when he had got to the temple, he saw that there were people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. Jesus threw out the sellers. He said, “God said this house should be a house of prayer. You are cheating and stealing from people.” Every day, after that, Jesus was teaching at the temple and the religious leaders were looking for a way to assassinate him but they couldn’t do it because the crowds were hanging on to Jesus’ every word.
Goodbye: The Last Supper
While Jesus and his disciples were in Jerusalem to celebrate the religious holiday, Satan himself entered Judas who was one of Jesus’ disciples. He went to the religious leaders and agreed to betray Jesus if they paid him. They paid him some money so from then on Judas was looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. When Jesus and the disciples were together for dinner, Jesus first took some water and he washed each of his disciples’ feet one by one. He said to them, “I am your teacher, but what I have done, I have done as an example for you so that you should do the same thing for each other.” He then told them, “One of you is going to betray me.” They each asked if it was them. Even Judas asked, “It’s not me, is it?” Jesus said to him, “You have said it. Now what you have to do, go and do quickly.” So Judas got up and left. Jesus said to them, “I give you a new commandment that you should follow. Love each other like I have loved you. If you love each other like this. The whole world will know that you are my disciples.” Jesus took some bread, “He broke it and said this is my body which is given for you. Take some and eat it. Do this to remember me.” They all took some and ate. Jesus took a cup of wine and said, “This is my blood which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins. Take this and drink it.” So they all drank some. They sang a song to celebrate the holiday and went out of the city to the mountain to pray.
The Vine: Remaining in Love
As they were in their way to the mountain to pray, Jesus continued teaching his disciples and he gave them a word picture. He said, “I am like the grapevine and people are like the branches of the grapevine. If you stay connected to me, you will produce much fruit such as love, peace, and joy. God my father is like the gardener. If anyone doesn’t stay connected to me, they will be cut off from the grapevine and thrown into the fire that never goes out. Since you are already connected to me, stay connected to me. My father will trim you so that you can be even more fruitful. This is all to the glory of God. The only way you can produce fruit is if we stay connected. If you don’t stay connected to me, you won’t be able to do much of anything. But if you stay connected to me keeping in mind everything I have told you, then you can ask me for anything and I will give it to you. I tell you these things so you will be overflowing with joy. I want you to love each other just as I have loved you. I want you to obey me not because you are like my servants but because I have told you everything that my father has told me. That makes you my friends. There is no greater love of a person than one who is willing to give up their life for their friend. Now that I have told you these things, you are my friends. Don’t be surprised if evil people in the world hates you because they hated me first. In this life you will have difficulty but have peace and be encouraged because I have overcome all the evil in the world.”
Condemned: Arrest and Trial
Jesus and his disciples continued to the mountain to pray and when they got there, Jesus was agonizing over the suffering that he knew was coming. He went out by himself and prayed, “Father, if there is any other way to accomplish this than my suffering, then make it happen but do what you want, not what I want. When he was finished praying, Jesus went back to the disciples and suddenly a mob appeared with swords and clubs. Judas was leading them and Judas betrayed Jesus by pointing him out to the crowd. The other disciples said, “What should we do? Should we fight back and Peter took a sword and he cut off one of the ears of the servants in the crowd.” Jesus said, “No, stop.” He healed the man’s ear. Jesus said to the religious leaders in the crowd, “Am I so dangerous that you come at me with swords to arrest me? I was at the temple with you every day but you didn’t arrest me then but I understand that now is your time, the time when darkness rules.” They arrested Jesus. They took him to one of the house of the religious leaders. The men who were guarding Jesus beat him and mocked him. In the morning, they took him before the religious counsel and questioned him. “Are you the promised saviour, the son of God? Jesus replied, “You said it yourselves, that’s me.” The religious leaders were infuriated because what Jesus was saying was against the religious law. They said, “We have heard enough. This man deserves to die.” They didn’t have the authority to kill Jesus so they took him to Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate questioned Jesus but found him innocent. He took Jesus back to the religious leaders and said, “This man has done nothing wrong. I will have him whipped and release him.” And even after Jesus was whipped, the religious leaders in the crowd shouted, “Kill him, kill him!” Pilate said, “He has done nothing wrong.” The crowd was insistent and shouted even louder, “Kill him, kill him!” Finally, Pilate gave in. He handed Jesus to the Roman soldiers to be executed.
Finished: The Crucifixion
The Roman soldiers led Jesus and two criminals away to be killed. They took them out to the hill called “The Skull.” There the Roman soldiers took two pieces of wood and nailed them in the shape of a cross. They made three crosses and nailed Jesus and the two criminals to each to one of the crosses. They stood the crosses upright. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” There was a big crowd stood there watching all of this and some people in the crowd were weeping and mourning but others were mocking Jesus. There were some religious leaders who said, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he is really God’s promised saviour.” One of the criminals said, “You are God’s promised saviour? If you are, save yourself and save us too.” The other criminal said, “What are you saying? We deserve what’s happened to us but this man has done nothing wrong.” He turned to Jesus and said, “Remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus said, today, you will be with me in heaven.” It was about noon and from noon until three, the whole sky got really dark. Jesus said, “My God, why have you abandoned me? I give you my spirit. It is finished.” And then he died. Immediately, there was a huge earthquake and all the rocks were shaking. There was a Roman officer who was there and when he saw everything that had happened, he worshipped God. He said, “Surely, this man was innocent.” Everyone in the crowd went away full of sorrow over what had happened. There was a religious leader who hadn’t agree with the decision to kill Jesus. He got permission to bury Jesus’ body. He took Jesus’ body off the cross and he wrapped it in strips of cloth. He took the body and put it in a new tomb that had been carved out of rock. There was some women who were followers of Jesus and they saw all that had happened. They saw how a big stone was rolled in front of the tomb and then everyone went back to their home.
Empty: The Resurrection
On the third day after Jesus was killed, the women who saw him being buried came to take care of the body. As they approached the tomb, they saw that the huge stone had been rolled away. The tomb was empty. The only thing that was in there was the cloth Jesus had been wrapped in. Two angels appeared and the women were afraid and bowed down in front of them. One of the angels said, “Don’t be afraid. Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive? He is not here. Don’t you remember what he told you that he would have to suffer and die but that he would be raised to life again?” The women then remembered. They ran to tell the disciples. When they told them, they thought the women were crazy. But Peter needed to see for himself so he ran to the tomb and saw the stone had been rolled away. The tomb was empty and the only thing there was the cloth that Jesus had been wrapped in. He left wondering what had happened. Later the disciples were discussing this and Jesus appeared right in front of them and they were afraid because they thought he was a ghost. Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid. It is me, Jesus, I am alive. Can’t you see the nail marks in my hands and feet?” To help them understand, Jesus explained the prophecies about himself that he would have to suffer and die but God would raise him up to life again three days later. He told them, “Now you are going to tell the whole world that when they turn from their sins and turn to God, God will forgive them. God’s spirit will be with you as you do this.”
Go: The Great Commission
After Jesus was killed and brought back to life, he was with his disciples and many others for forty days proving that he was alive. One day, he and his disciples were on a mountain and they were there worshipping him though some still doubted. He told them, “All authority and everything has been given to me by God so go and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the father, son, and God’s spirit. Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. Remember I will always be with you.” Another day, he was with his disciples in a town outside of Jerusalem. There he told them, “God’s spirit will give you power when he comes to you. You will tell everyone what you have seen and heard from me in Jerusalem and in the surrounding areas and in the whole earth.” When he had finished saying this, he was taken up into heaven through the clouds and they couldn’t see him anymore. While they were looking into the sky, suddenly, two angels appeared. They asked, “Why are you looking for Jesus up there? He has gone to heaven. Someday, in the same way he went up, he will come back.”
