Intertestamental Times and the Kingdom

Today, I used Nebuchadnezzar's Dream in Daniel 2:31-45 as the jumping off point for talking about the Intertestamental times. I'm convinced that Jesus is a man of his times, as well as being the eternal man. As a result, the history of Palestine and the empires that ruled it would have affected his mindset and most particularly how people would have heard and interpreted what Jesus said about Kingdom. I also used some historical work by Dr. James D. Tabor called The Jewish World of Jesus to talk about the history of the time. Also for next week, I've asked people to read the Sermon on the Mount from the Message as a lead into the discussion of it next week. I chose the Message because I believe that we read Scriptures with certain expectations and mindsets and one of the things the Eugene Peterson does in the Message is put things into a different way that allows me to look at Scripture with some fresh eyes.