May 16, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Permanent Priesthood

 Permanent Priesthood

Psalm 110 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”

² The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
    “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
³ Your troops will be willing
    on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
    your young men will come to you
    like dew from the morning’s womb.

⁴ The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵ The Lord is at your right hand;
    he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
⁶ He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
    and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
⁷ He will drink from a brook along the way,
    and so he will lift his head high.

What is the Lord going to do for “my lord” (verse 1)?

From where is the Lord extending the “mighty scepter” (verse 2)?

How will “your young men” be arrayed (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to be a priest “in the order of Melchizedek” (verse 4)?

Who will “crush kings on the day of his wrath” (verse 5)?

What will the Lord judge (verse 6)?

How will the Lord lift His head (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 12:35-37 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

³⁷ David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd listened to him with delight.

Where was Jesus teaching (verse 35)?

What question did Jesus ask (verse 35)?

How was David speaking (verse 36)?

In your opinion, in the quote “the Lord said to my Lord” who is the first Lord?  And who is the second Lord? (verse 36)?

How was the large crowd listening (verse 37)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what would the already disgruntled “teachers of the law” of Mark 12:35-37 have thought about what Jesus was implying or claiming when He quoted the first verse of Psalm 110 in Mark 12:35-37?    

Acts 24:1-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor. ² When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation. ³ Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude. ⁴ But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.

⁵ “We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect ⁶ and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.  ⁸ By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

⁹ The other Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true.

¹⁰ When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense. ¹¹ You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹² My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ¹³ And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me. ¹⁴ However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, ¹⁵ and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. ¹⁶ So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

Who went to Caesarea to bring “charges against Paul before the governor” (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why did Tertullus begin his presentation with “we have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation” (verse 2)?  Was it true?

How did Tertullus “acknowledge this” (verse 3)?

What did Tertullus want Felix to do “briefly” (verse 4)?

How did Tertullus describe Paul (verse 5)? 

What was Paul accused of doing (verse 6)?

How is Felix to “learn the truth about all these charges” (verse 8)?

What did the other Jews assert (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why is Paul’s beginning “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation” so much different that Tertullus’s in verse 2 (verse 10)?

When did Paul say he went “up to Jerusalem to worship” (verse 11)?

How did Paul respond to the charges Tertullus made against him in verse 6 (verse 12)?

How did Paul respond to the charges Tertullus made against him in verse 5 (verse 14)?

What did Paul claim to believe (verse 14)?

What did Paul hope for (verse 15)?

What does Paul strive for (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 110’s discussion of God’s troops being arrayed “in holy splendor” enrich our understanding of the meeting of Paul the prisoner (and Christian warrior) meeting with Felix in Acts 24:1-16?

In your opinion, what part does Paul in Acts 24:1-16 play in the fulfillment of the prophecy of David’s Psalm that Jesus quotes in Mark 12:35-37?

Hebrews 7:11-28 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? ¹² For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. ¹³ He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. ¹⁵ And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, ¹⁶ one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is declared:

“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

¹⁸ The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, ²¹ but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

“The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
    ‘You are a priest forever.’”

²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

²³ Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

What are the two orders of priesthood that Paul lists (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why must the law change if the priesthood changes (verse 12)?

What has no one from the tribe of the person being discussed ever done (verse 13)?

Where has “our Lord” descended from (verse 14)?

What do the two orders of priests become priests “on the basis of” (verse 16)?

Why was the “former regulation” set aside (verse 18)?

How do we “draw near to God” (verse 19)?

What has the Lord sworn (verse 21)?

What has Jesus become (verse 22)?

Why have there been many priests (verse 23)?

Why does Jesus have a “permanent priesthood” (verse 24)?

Who is Jesus able to “save completely” (verse 25)?

How is Jesus “unlike the other high priests” (verse 27)?

Who does the law appoint as high priests (verse 28)?

Who has been “made perfect forever” (verse 28)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is the image of Jesus as the perfect high priest as presented by Paul in Hebrews 7:11-28 enhanced by the prophecy of Psalm 110?

In your opinion, why does Jesus, as He taught in the temple courts in Mark 12:35-37 discuss the part of Psalm 110’s prophecy that deals with ruling instead of the part that deals with priesthood while when Paul quotes from the same Psalm in Hebrews 7:11-28 he quotes the part about priesthood and not the part that deals with ruling? 

In your opinion, how do you think Ananias, the high priest who went to Paul’s trial in Caesarea in Acts 24:1-16, would have responded to what Paul said about the priesthood in Hebrews 7:11-28?  How does Ananias being there before Felix prove the differences between the priesthood of those appointed by the law and the priesthood of the One appointed by the oath? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Mark, Acts and Hebrews teach us about how truly different Jesus is from what we in the world normally expect of a leader?

In your opinion, how should we respond today to the One who is sitting at the right hand of the Father until makes His enemies “a footstool for your feet”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 9, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – A Command to Love

 

A Command to Love

Hosea 6:4-11 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴ “What can I do with you, Ephraim?
    What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears.
⁵ Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
    I killed you with the words of my mouth—
    then my judgments go forth like the sun.
⁶ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
    and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
⁷ As at Adam, they have broken the covenant;
    they were unfaithful to me there.
⁸ Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    stained with footprints of blood.
⁹ As marauders lie in ambush for a victim,
    so do bands of priests;
they murder on the road to Shechem,
    carrying out their wicked schemes.
¹⁰ I have seen a horrible thing in Israel:
    There Ephraim is given to prostitution,
    Israel is defiled.

¹¹ “Also for you, Judah,
    a harvest is appointed.

“Whenever I would restore the fortunes of my people,

What is the love of Ephraim and Judah like (verse 4)?

How were Ephraim and Judah cut “in pieces” (verse 5)?

What does God desire instead of sacrifice (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why would God desire “acknowledgement” more than “burnt offerings” (verse 6)?

What have Ephraim and Judah broken (verse 7)?

How is the city of Gilead described (verse 8)?

Who are “bands of priests” compared with (verse 9)?

Where was a “horrible thing” seen (verse 10)?

What is appointed for Judah (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 12:13-34 - New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And they were amazed at him.

¹⁸ Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ¹⁹ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. ²⁰ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. ²¹ The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. ²² In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. ²³ At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? ²⁵ When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. ²⁶ Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

²⁸ One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

³² “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. ³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Who was sent to catch Jesus “in his words” (verse 13)?

In your opinion, how is the question “is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not” a trap (verse 14)?

What did Jesus know (verse 15)?

How did Jesus return the question to the Pharisees and Herodians (verses 15 and 16)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (verse 17)?

What did the Sadducees say (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why did the Sadducees ask Jesus a complicated question about resurrection (verses 19 through 23)?

Why were the Sadducees in error (verse 24)?

What will the dead be like when they rise (verse 25)?

What did God say to Moses at the burning bush (verse 26)?

Who ask Jesus “of all the commandments, which is the most important” (verse 27)?

What did Jesus say was the most important commandment (verse 30)?

What did Jesus say was the second commandment (verse 31)?

How did Jesus view the man who stated “To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (verses 33 and 34)?

What did no one dare to do after these discussions (verse 34)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how are the religious leaders who confront Jesus in Mark 12:13-24 similar to the nations of Ephraim and Judah in Hosea 6:4-11?  Has what God wants changed?    

Acts 9:19b-26 – New International Version (NIV)

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. ²⁰ At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. ²¹ All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” ²² Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

²³ After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, ²⁴ but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. ²⁵ But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

²⁶ When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 

Where did Saul spend days with the disciples (verse 19b)?

Where did Saul begin to preach “that Jesus is the Son of God” (verse 20)?

Why were those who heard him astonished (verse 21)?

How did Saul baffle “the Jews living in Damascus” (verse 22)?

What did the Jews conspire to do (verse 23)? 

Where did the Jews watch for Saul (verse 24)?

What did Saul’s followers do (verse 25)?

Why were the disciples afraid of Saul in Jerusalem (verse 26)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how are the Jews in Damascus in Acts 9:19b through 26 similar to the bands of priests in Hosea 6:4-11?

In your opinion, how is obedience to the two commandments that Jesus claims are the most important in Mark 12:13-34 displayed in Acts 9:19b-26?

James 2:8-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

When does James say “you are doing right” (verse 8)?

What is a sin (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why does stumbling at one point of the law make one “guilty of breaking all of it” (verses 10 and 11)?

How are believers to “speak and act” (verse 12)?

What will be shown to “anyone who has not been merciful” (verse 13)?

What “triumphs over judgment” (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how are God’s statement in Hosea 6:4-11 that He desires “mercy, not sacrifice” and the royal law that James 2:8-13 says is found in the Scripture to “love your neighbor as yourself” related?

In your opinion, what does Jesus reveal in Mark 12:13-34 about the “law that gives freedom” which James 2:8-13 commands us to “speak and act” as though we will be judged by? 

In your opinion, how does the transformation of Saul in Acts 9:19b-26 from one who came to take Christians prisoner to one who “grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah” an example of what James 2:8-13 calls speaking and acting as “those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Hosea, Mark, Acts and James teach us about what God desires?

In your opinion, how can we demonstrate obedience to Jesus’s command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and His commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself” today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 2, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Provoking to Peace

 Provoking to Peace

Jeremiah 7:11b-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ . . . But I have been watching! declares the Lord.

¹² “‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³ While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. ¹⁴ Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. ¹⁵ I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your fellow Israelites, the people of Ephraim.’

¹⁶ “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. ¹⁷ Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. ¹⁹ But am I the one they are provoking? declares the Lord. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?

²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.

What has the Lord been doing (verse 11)?

Where is Jeremiah to go (verse 12)?

What did the Lord do “again and again” while the people of Judah were doing wicked things (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why would the Lord do “to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors” what he had done in Shiloh (verse 14)?

Where is the Lord going to thrust the people of Judah (verse 15)?

What will the Lord not listen to (verse 16)?

How do the people “in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem” arouse the Lord’s anger (verses 17 and 18)?

In your opinion, are the people of Judah and Jerusalem provoking the Lord or harming themselves (verse 19)?

What is going to be poured out (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 11:27-12:12 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. ²⁸ “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ³⁰ John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”

³¹ They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ³² But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

³³ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

¹ Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ² At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

⁶ “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
¹¹ the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹² Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

Who came up to Jesus in the temple courts (verse 27)?

What did they ask Jesus (verse 28)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask them for the origin of John’s baptism (verses 29 and 30)?

Why could they not answer “from heaven” (verse 31)?

Why could they not answer “of human origin” (verse 32)?

How did they answer (verse 33)?

What did the man do with the vineyard that he planted and protected (verse 1)?

Who did the man send to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard (verse 2)?

What happened to that person (verse 3)?

How were the other people sent to the vineyard treated (verses 4 and 5)?

How did the man think they would respond to his son (verse 6)?

Why was the son killed (verses 7 and 8)?

“What will the owner of the vineyard do” (verse 9)?

What happens to “the stone the builders rejected” (verse10)?

What did “the teachers of the law and elders” know (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how are the people of Judah and Jerusalem in Jeremiah 7:11b-20 and the chief priests and elders of Mark 11:27-12:12 similar? 

Acts 3:11-15 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. ¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. ¹⁴ You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. ¹⁵ You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 

Where were Peter and John when “the people were astonished and came running to them” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, why did Peter ask “why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk” (verse 12)?

Who “has glorified his servant Jesus” (verse 13)?

Who “handed him over to be killed” (verse 13)?

Who had the astonished people verse 11 disowned (verse 14)? 

What did they do to “the author of life” (verse 15)?

What had God done for “the author of life” (verse 15)?

What had Peter and John done (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does the rejection of God by the people of Judah and Jerusalem in Jeremiah 7:11b-20 compare to the rejection of God by the people in the temple in Acts 3:11-15?

In your opinion, how is the question that Jesus asks in Mark 11:27-12:12 “what then will the owner of the vineyard do” and His answer to that question “he will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others” relevant to Peter’s words in Acts 3:11-15?

Romans 5:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

How do “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 1)?

What do “we boast in the hope” of (verse 2)?

In your opinion, how can we “also glory in our sufferings” (verses 3 and 4)?

What “has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (verse 5)?

When did Christ die “for the ungodly” (verse 6)?

Who might “someone . . . possibly dare to die” for (verse 7)?

How did God demonstrate “his own love for us” (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the people of Judah and Jerusalem in Jeremiah 7:11b-20 who are arousing God’s anger and the people that Paul is speaking to in Romans 5:1-8 who are boasting “in the hope of the glory of God”?

In your opinion, why is being willing to answer “John’s baptism-was it from heaven or of human origin” in Mark 11:22-12:12 important to the justification through faith that Paul discusses in Romans 5:1-8?  What does an unwillingness to answer this question demonstrate? 

In your opinion, how do you think the surprise of the people in Acts 3:11-15 about a lame man being given the ability to walk would compare with their surprise if they understood that Jesus, who they handed over to be killed and then disowned, was declared by Paul in Romans 5:1-8 to have loved them enough to die for them?  What does it take to accept that love? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Jeremiah, Mark, Acts and Romans teach us about how we, who have sinned, can respond to God?

In your opinion, how can we move from being people who are “harming themselves” to being people who “have peace with God”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)