Opening or Cursing
Revelation 3:14-22 –
New International Version (NIV)
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These
are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s
creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor
hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because
you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You
say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do
not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I
counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich;
and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve
to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and
repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and
they with me.
21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit
with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on
his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit
says to the churches.”
How does Jesus
identify himself to the “angel of the
church in Laodicea” (verse 14)?
What do the deeds
of the church of Laodicea show Jesus about them (verse 15)?
What does Jesus
wish about the people of the church of Laodicea (verse
15)?
Why is Jesus going
to spit them out of His mouth (verse 16)?
In your opinion,
why do the people of the church of Laodicea say “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing” (verse 17)?
What do the people
of Laodicea not realize about themselves (verse 17)?
Why did Jesus want
the people of Laodicea to buy from Him “gold
refined in the fire” (verse 18)?
What kind of
clothes did Jesus want them to buy to “cover
your shameful nakedness” (verse 18)?
Who does Jesus “rebuke and discipline” (verse 19)?
In your opinion,
why does Jesus command “be earnest”
before he commands “repent” (verse 19)?
Where is Jesus
standing and knocking (verse 20)?
When will Jesus “come in and eat with that person” (verse 20)?
Where will the
victorious have be given a right to sit (verse 21)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
Hebrews 12:1-6 - New
International Version (NIV)
1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of
witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing
our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before
him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition
from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to
the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely
forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses
his son? It says,
“My
son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
What are
Christians surrounded by (verse 1)?
In your opinion, what is the “everything that hinders” that we are to
throw off (verse 1)?
How are we to run “the race marked out for us” (verse 1)?
Who is the “pioneer and perfecter of faith” (verse 2)?
Why did Jesus
endure the cross (verse 2)?
In your opinion,
how does considering Jesus “who endured
such opposition from sinners” help us to “not grow weary and lose heart” (verse 3)?
In your opinion,
who, in their “struggle against sin”
did resist to the point of shedding blood
(verse 4)?
What does the
quotation say not to lose when we are rebuked by the Lord (verse 5)?
Who does the Lord
discipline (verse 6)?
How many of the
people God accepts does He chasten (verse 6)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how does Paul in Hebrews
12:1-6 when he says to “throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” give a vivid
illustration of how to obey the command of Jesus in Revelation 3:14-22 to “be earnest and repent”?
John 14:15-27 - New
International Version (NIV)
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I
will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be
with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot
accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he
lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as
orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not
see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On
that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am
in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one
who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will
love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you
intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.
My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These
words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But
the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach
you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
What does Jesus tell us to do if we
love Him (verse 15)?
Who will Jesus ask to give us “another advocate to help you and be with
you forever” (verse 16)?
Why can the world not accept the Spirit of
truth (verse 17)?
Where will the Spirit of truth be for
those who love Jesus (verse 17)?
How will Jesus not leave us (verse 18)?
Who will live because Jesus lives (verses 15 and 19)?
In your opinion, what does it mean that
Jesus is in the Father and in us and we in Him (verse 20)?
Who will be “loved by my Father” (verse 21)?
Who else will love the one who is “loved by my Father” (verse 21)?
Who ask “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not
to the world” (verse
22)?
In your opinion, what does it mean to “obey my teaching” (verse 23)?
Who will not obey the teaching of Jesus (verse
24)?
Who will “teach you all things and will remind you of everything I
have said to you”
(verse 26)?
What does Jesus give to us (verse 27)?
In your opinion, how does someone “not let your hearts be troubled and
do not be afraid” as commanded by Jesus (verse 27)”
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how, in a world filled
with things that hinder and sin that entangles and opposition from sinners and
struggle against sin to the point of shedding His blood as Paul talks about in
Hebrews 12:1-6, can Jesus have peace and give that peace to others in John
14:15-27?
In your opinion, how does Jesus in His statement
that “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” in Revelation 3:14-22
help us to understand what He meant in John
14:15-27 when He talked about keeping His commands and obeying His teaching?
Revelation 16:8-21
– New International Version (NIV)
8 “The fourth angel poured out his bowl on
the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were seared
by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these
plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the
beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues
in agony 11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains
and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river
Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the
East. 13 Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like
frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast
and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are demonic
spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to
gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays
awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in
Hebrew is called Armageddon.
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out
of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 Then
there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe
earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on
earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19 The great city split
into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered
Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his
wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be
found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a
hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of
hail, because the plague was so terrible.”
What was the sun
allowed to do when the fourth angel pour out his bowl (verse 8)?
How did the people who were “seared by the intense heat” respond to
God (verse 9)?
In your opinion, why did they refuse “to repent and glorify him” (verse 9)?
Where did the fifth angel pour out his
bowl that caused the beast’s kingdom to be plunged into darkness (verse 10)?
What did the people who “gnawed their tongues in agony” do (verses
10 and 11)?
What did the people who “gnawed their tongues in agony” refuse
to do (verses 10 and 11)?
Why did the sixth angel pour “out his bowl on the great river Euphrates” (verse
12)?
What came “out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out
of the mouth of the false prophet” (verse 13)?
What are the kings of the whole world to
be gathered together for (verse 14)?
Who is blessed (verse 15)?
Where will the kings gather together
(verse 16)?
Where does the seventh angel pour out his
bowl (verse 17)?
In
your opinion, why does the loud voice from the throne in the temple say “it is done” (verse 17)?
What
happened next (verse 18)?
Whose
cup was filled with “the wine of the fury
of his wrath” (verse 19)?
What
could not be found (verse 20)?
Why
did the people curse God (verse 21)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, what
is the difference between the people who love Jesus and keep His commandments
in John 14:15-27 and the people who curse God in Revelation 16:8-21?
In your opinion, what does the quote the
Paul gives in Hebrews 12:1-6 that “the
Lord disciplines the one he loves” help us to understand about the angels
pouring out the bowls in Revelation 16:8-21?
In your opinion, is
the statement that Jesus made in Revelation 3:14-22 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they
with me” a promise that any of the people who
cursed God in Revelation 16:8-21 could have claimed?
In your opinion, what do these passages,
from Revelation, Hebrews and John show us about ourselves today?
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