September 25, 2022 – John’s Writings – Repent and Love

 

Repent and Love

Ezekiel 18:25-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? ²⁶ If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. ²⁷ But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. ²⁸ Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. ²⁹ Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

³⁰ “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

What do the Israelites (and sometimes we in our hearts) say (verse 25)?

In your opinion, how does Ezekiel, on behalf of the Lord, turn the Israelites (and our) statement around in the two questions “Is my way unjust?  Is it not your ways that are unjust” (verse 25)?

What will happen to a righteous person who “turns from their righteousness and commits sin” (verse 26)?

How will a wicked person save their life (verse 27)?

What must the wicked person consider and turn away from (verse 28)?

In your opinion, why does Ezekiel repeat the essence of verse 25 in verse 29?

How will the Lord judge (verse 30)?

What does Ezekiel call for the Israelites to do so that “sin will not be your downfall” (verse 30)?

What are the Israelites to do after they “rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed” (verse 31)?

Who takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone” (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

John 5:24-30 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. ³⁰ By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

What does the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” have (verse 24)?

What will the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” avoid (verse 24)?

Where has the one who “hears my word and believes him who sent me” crossed from and to (verse 24)?

In your opinion, who are the dead in this quote “a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God” (verse 25)?

What will happen to the dead who hear “the voice of the Son of God” (verse 25)?

What has the Father granted the Son (verse 26)?

Why has the Father given the Son the “authority to judge” (verse 27)?

What will all who “are in their graves” hear (verse 28)?

When those who have “done what is good” come out of their graves what will they do (verse 29)?

When those who have “done what is evil” come out of their graves what will they do (verse 29)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the crossing “over from death to life” in verse 24 and those in the grave hearing His voice and coming out in verses 28 and 29? 

Why is the judgment of Jesus just (verse 30)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how does John 5:24-30 help us understand how to be obedient to the Lord’s command to “get a new heart and a new spirit” in Ezekiel 18:25-30?   

1 John 4:17-5:4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

5 ¹ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

When love is made complete what will we have on “the day of judgment” (verse 17)?

What are Christians like “in this world” (verse 17)?

What does “perfect love” drive out (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why does fear have something to do with punishment (verse 18)?

Why do we love (verse 19)?

Who is a liar (verse 20)?

What command has been given to those who love God (verse 21)?

Who is “born of God” (verse 1)?

How do we “know that we love the children of God” (verse 2)?

What is “love for God” (verse 3)?

What does “everyone born of God” do (verse 4)?

What is “the victory that has overcome the world” (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how does 1 John’s statement that “we love because he first loved us” show us how it possible for us to obey Ezekiel’s command to “repent and live!”?

In your opinion, how is the crossing “over from death to life” that Jesus promises those who hear His word and believe “Him who sent me” in John 5:24-30 expanded by John in his discussion of love and overcoming the world in 1 John 4:17-5:4?

Revelation 5:1-7 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ² And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴ I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵ Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

⁶ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 

What did John see “in the right hand of him who sat on the throne” (verse 1)?

What did the “mighty angel” proclaim in a loud voice (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why was there “no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth” who could “open the scroll or even look inside it” (verse 3)?

How did John react when “no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside” (verse 4)?

What did the elder who spoke to John say the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” had done (verse 5)?

What was “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” able to do (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why does John who had just heard about “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” then see “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (verse 6)?

Where was the Lamb standing (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to say that the Lamb “had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth” (verse 6)?

What did the Lamb do (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what is in the scroll?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about the transformation from being wicked and dead to believing and living in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the conflict between a people who thought that God was unjust and the Lord who called for them the “repent and live” in Ezekiel 18:25-32 reflected in the fact that no one could open the scroll, until the “lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” had triumphed in Revelation 5:1-7? 

In your opinion, what is revealed that the “Son of Man” in John 5:24-30, who is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David” of Revelation 5:1-7, is qualified to do?  What is revealed that the “Son of God” in John 5:24-30, who is the “Lamb, looking at if it had been slain” in Revelation 5:1-7, earned the right to do?

In your opinion, how can the love that 1 John 4:17-5:4 says Jesus has for us move us from a fear of punishment to a confidence that the only one worthy of opening the scroll in Revelation 5:1-7 can move us from a fear of punishment to the confidence to love? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about the transformation from viewing God as unjust to being confident that Jesus will enable us in our faith to have victory over the world?

In your opinion, how is Jesus transforming you (you do not need to answer this out loud)? 

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 18, 2022 – John’s Writings – Power and Love

Power and Love

Ezekiel 1:15-28 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. ¹⁶ This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. ¹⁷ As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. ¹⁸ Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

¹⁹ When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. ²⁰ Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. ²³ Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. ²⁴ When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

²⁵ Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. ²⁶ Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. ²⁷ I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. ²⁸ Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.

This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

What was on the ground beside “each creature with its four faces” (verse 15)?

How were the wheels structured (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why did the wheels “not change direction as the creatures went” (verse 17)?

What were the rims full of (verse 18)?

What happened when the living creatures moved (verse 19)?

Where was the spirit of the living creatures (verse 20)?

What was spread out “above the heads of the living creatures” (verse 22)?

What did Ezekiel hear when the creatures moved (verse 24)?

Where did the voice come from (verse 25)?

How was the figure described (verse 27)?

What was the appearance the likeness of (verse 28)?

How did Ezekiel react when he saw it (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about God in this passage?

John 5:16-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Why did the Jewish leaders begin to persecute Jesus (verse 16)?

What did Jesus say “in his defense” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus’s defense cause the Jewish leader to try “all the more to kill him” (verse 18)?

What can the Son do “by himself” (verse 19)?

What can the Son only do (verse 19)?

What does the Father show the Son (verse 20)?

How will the Jewish leaders respond to the greater works that the Father will show the Son (verse 20)?

Who will the Son give life to (verse 21)?

Who is judgment entrusted to (verse 22)?

What may “all” do (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about God in this passage?

In your opinion, how can Jesus, appearing so magnificent in Ezekiel 1:15-28, have the Jewish leaders persecuting and trying to kill Him in John 5:16-23?  How do you think the Jewish leaders would have responded if Jesus had appeared to them as He appeared to Ezekiel?   

1 John 4:7-16 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

What are the “dear friends” to do (verse 7)?

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

Who loves (verse 7)?

Who does not know God (verse 8)?

How did God show “his love among us” (verse 9)?

What is love (verse 10)?

Why should we love each other (verse 11)?

When is God’s love made complete in us (verse 12)?

How do “we know that we live in him and he in us” (verse 13)?

What does John testify to (verse 14)?

What occurs when someone “acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God” (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about God in this passage?

In your opinion, how does picturing God as described by Ezekiel 1:15-28 help us understand the definition of love that is in 1 John 4:7-16 “this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 4:7-16 help us understand about what Jesus had to do to be able to give “life to whom he is pleased to give it” as He said He would in John 5:16-23?

Revelation 4:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ² At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³ And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴ Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. 

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.”

Where was the door that was standing open (verse 1)?

What does the voice like a trumpet tell John (verse 1)?

What was before John “at once” (verse 2)?

How did the One on the throne appear (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what do the twenty-four thrones and elders represent (verse 4)?

What were the seven lamps that were blazing (verse 5)?

What was around the throne (verse 6)?

How did they appear (verse 7)?

What do they “never stop saying” (verse 8)?

What do the twenty-four elders do when the “living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne” (verses 9 and 10)?

What do they say (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn about God in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the response of Ezekiel to God in Ezekiel 1:15-28 and the response of the twenty-four elders to God in Revelation 4:1-11 a lesson to us in how to respond to God?  Why do you think it is hard for us to respond to God in this way? 

In your opinion, why does someone with the power and majesty that is displayed in Revelation 4:1-11 reveal themselves to the world in the way that Jesus does in John 5:16-23?

In your opinion, how does seeing the One who loves so wonderfully in 1 John 4:7-16 also described so powerfully in Revelation 4:1-11 change your understanding of love?  Why would One with that much power and majesty love as completely as 1 John describes? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation show about the power of God and the purpose of love?

In your opinion, how can we move from being people who desire power in some form to being people who display the power of God’s love?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 11, 2022 – John’s Writings – Oh No! Not Status Quo

 

Oh No! Not Status Quo

Nehemiah 2:11-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days ¹² I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.

¹³ By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; ¹⁵ so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. ¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” ¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.

They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

Where did Nehemiah go (verse 11)?

What had Nehemiah not told the people (verse 12)?

How did Nehemiah find the walls and the gates of Jerusalem (verse 13)?

What was there not enough room for “toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool” (verse 14)?

Where did Nehemiah reenter (verse 15)?

Why did the officials not know where Nehemiah was going or what he was doing (verse 16)?

What did Nehemiah want to do about Jerusalem being in ruins and the gates being burned (verse 17)?

What did they start to do after Nehemiah told them about the “gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me” (verse 18)?

How did Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab react when they heard what was going on (verse 19)?

Who did Nehemiah say would give success (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

John 5:1-16 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵ One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰ and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 

Why did Jesus go “up to Jerusalem” (verse 1)?

What is the pool near the Sheep Gate called in Aramaic (verse 2)?

Who would lie there (verse 3)?

How long had the “one who was there” been an invalid (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask the man, “do you want to get well” (verse 6)?

How did the man answer Jesus’s question (verse 7)?

What did Jesus tell the man (verse 8)?

What happened to the man and what did he do (verse 9)?

Who told the man “it is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat” (verse 10)?

How did the man answer (verse 11)?

Why did the man have no idea who had healed him (verses 12 and 13)?

What did Jesus warn the man (verse 14)?

What did the man tell the Jewish leaders (verse 15)?

Why did the Jewish leaders begin to persecute Jesus (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that Nehemiah and the other Jews were mocked and ridiculed when they began a good work in Nehemiah 2:11-20 and Jesus was persecuted for doing a good work on the Sabbath in John 5:1-16?   

1 John 4:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

What are the “dear friends” not to believe (verse 1)?

Why are they to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (verse 1)?

How can we “recognize the Spirit of God” (verse 2)?

Which spirits are the antichrists (verse 3)?

Where are the antichrists (verse 3)?

Why have the “dear children” overcome the antichrists (verse 4)?

Where are the antichrists from (verse 5)?

What viewpoint do the antichrists speak from (verse 5)?

How does the world respond to the antichrists (verse 5)?

Who listens to John (verse 6)?

Who does not listen to John (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, how is the confidence that Nehemiah has when he is answering “Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab” in Nehemiah 2:11-20 similar to the confidence of John as he talks about the conflict between Christians and antichrists in 1 John 4:1-6?

In your opinion, who in John 5:1-16 meets the definition of antichrists that is given by 1 John 4:1-6?

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.”

Who is John to write to (verse 14)?

How is Jesus, who gives the words, described (verse 14)?

What does Jesus know (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus wish they were either hot or cold (verse 15)?

Why is Jesus about to spit them “out of my mouth” (verse 16)?

What do the Christians of Laodicea say (verse 17)?

What do they not realize (verse 17)?

How does Jesus counsel them (verse 18)?

Who does Jesus “rebuke and discipline” (verse 19)?

How should the Laodicean Christians respond to the “rebuke and discipline” (verse 19)?

What is Jesus doing (verse 20)?

Who will Jesus “come in and eat with” (verse 20)?

What will Jesus give to the “one who is victorious” (verse 21)?

Who is to hear (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, who, in Nehemiah 2:11-20, was lukewarm like the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22 and what was the rebuke and discipline that they responded to? 

In your opinion, how can the thirty-eight-year invalid in John 5:1-16 be an inspiration to the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22 who Jesus said was “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” and who told “I stand at the door and knock”?

In your opinion, how is the conflict between Christians and antichrists that 1 John 4:1-6 explains different from the problems of the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22?  How could it be the same conflict, just completely within the church? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Nehemiah, John, 1 John and Revelation show about the willingness of God to be satisfied with the status quo?  How does help us understand how God can be opposed, and how God can be followed?

In your opinion, how do people of the world move from disgrace to victory?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)