Genesis 4:2b-12 –
New International Version (NIV)
Now
Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In
the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering
to the Lord. 4 And
Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his
flock. The Lord looked with favor
on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did
not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord
said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If
you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not
do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but
you must rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the
field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed
him.
9 Then the Lord
said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I
don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 The Lord said,
“What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the
ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the
ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When
you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a
restless wanderer on the earth.”
What did Abel and Cain
do (verse 2)?
Who brought “some of the fruits of the soil as an
offering to the Lord” (verse 3)?
What did Abel
bring (verse 4)?
How did the Lord
respond to Abel and his offering (verse 4)?
Why did Cain
become angry with a downcast face (verse 5)?
In your opinion,
why did the Lord ask “why are you angry”
(verse 6)?
What causes sin to
be crouching at Cain’s door (verse 7)?
Why did Abel go
into the field (verse 8)?
What did Cain do
in the field (verse 8)?
In your opinion,
why did the Lord ask Cain “where is your
brother Abel” (verse 9)?
How did Cain
answer the Lord (verse 9)?
What cries out to
the Lord from the ground (verse 10)?
What had the
ground received from Cain’s hand (verse 11)?
Why will Cain
become a “restless wanderer on the earth”
(verse 12)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
John 14:1-7 - New
International Version (NIV)
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God;
believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that
were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for
you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You
know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are
going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know
me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen
him.”
In your opinion,
why does Jesus follow the instruction to “do
not let your hearts be troubled” with “believe
also in me” (verse 1)?
What is in His Father’s house (verse 2)?
Where is Jesus
going to take the disciples (and all who believe) (verse 3)?
In your opinion,
why does Jesus say “you know the way to
the place where I am going” (verse 4)?
What does Thomas
ask (verse 5)?
What does Jesus
claim about Himself (verse 6)?
How does Jesus say
we get to the Father (verse 6)?
Who do we know if
we know Jesus (verse 7)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how does what Jesus shares
in John 14:1-7 offer peace for all those, who like Cain from Genesis 4:2b-12
are restless wanderers of the earth?
Hebrews 11:1-4 - New
International Version (NIV)
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance
about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were
commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s
command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did.
By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings.
And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
What is “confidence in
what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (verse 1)?
Why were the ancients commended (verse 2)?
How was the
universe formed (verse 3)?
What did Abel bring to God (verse 4)?
Why was Abel commended as righteous (verse
4)?
In your opinion, how does Abel still
speak, “even though he is dead” (verse
4)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, what does Jesus in His
discussion of John 14:1-7 reveal that goes beyond what the ancients that Paul commends
in Hebrews 11:1-4 could not have known?
In
your opinion, how does the contrast of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:2b-12 help
Paul explain faith in Hebrews 11:1-4?
Revelation 1:1-8 –
New International Version (NIV)
1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to
show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his
angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he
saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed
is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those
who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
4 John,
To
the seven churches in the province of Asia:
Grace
and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the
seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who
is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the
kings of the earth.
To
him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and
has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be
glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is,
and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Why did God give Jesus the revelation (verse 1)?
How did Jesus make the revelation known (verse
1)?
What did John testify to (verse 2)?
Why is the one who reads aloud or those
who hear the “words of the prophecy” blessed
(verse 3)?
Who is John writing to (verse 4)?
Who is the blessing of “grace and peace” from (verse 4)?
How is Jesus described (verse 5)?
What has Jesus done (verse 5)?
In your opinion, what does it mean to be “a kingdom and priests” (verse 6)?
In your opinion, who is “coming with the clouds” (verse 7)?
Who will see Him (verse 7)?
Who will mourn (verse 7)?
Who is the “Alpha and the Omega” (verse 8)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message
of this passage?
In your opinion, how
does Abel, who Paul says in Hebrews 11:1-4 “still
speaks, even though he is dead” help us to understand how to be the “kingdom and priests” that John in
Revelation 1:1-8 says that we who are freed from our sins by the blood of Jesus
are made to be?
In your opinion, what does Revelation 1:1-8
help us understand about how Jesus could say in John 14:1-7 that He is “the way and the truth and the life” and that “no one
comes to the Father except through me”?
In your opinion, how
is the blood of Jesus that Revelation 1:1-8 says frees us from our sins the
perfect response to the blood that Cain shed in Genesis 4:2b-12 that caused him
to become a restless wanderer?
In your opinion, what do these passages
from Genesis, John, Hebrews and Revelation help us understand about living in
grace and peace in a world of turmoil?
In your opinion, how
do these passages help us to serve God as a kingdom and priests?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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