I must congratulate anyone who has come back this week, for last week's passage was one of the most difficult I have ever tried to teach. It required a lot of hard thinking. There are few people who are willing to do the work involved in learning to think for themselves. Should I get a big spoon?

We did fairly well at staying in the text, the hands were a little shaky, but just by way of warning, I will remind you tonight. When I ask for hands, that doesn't mean stick your hand up and start talking, it might be time to move on, and I need to have the latitude to move on. I've got to have cooperation on the hands from all of you. For those who are remembering it is disrespectful for others to just speak.

As I was saying, we did fairly well at hearing the text and understanding it, but we had little time for application. We would really have to race through the facts and the interpretation to get to the application and have enough time to do it justice.

What sort of sign would the Jews have accepted? Why? Anywhere in Matt.

Would you accept a sign from God that told you to go to the worst parts of town and reach out to the drug dealers and pimps and prostitutes, or would your "religion" tell you that such a sign was not from God?

What principle was Jesus teaching when He refused to give signs to an adulterous generation yet did not refuse to give signs to someone like Gideon? first things first--Don't beat your head against a wall. Don't cast your pearls before swine-- relationship comes before proof or power.

What are some possible applications?

If we're not getting signs from God, we should first ask if we are in a right relationship with Him. What have we done with the sign of Jonah.