Hard Hearts or New
Attitudes
Exodus 7:14-24 - New International Version (NIV)
14 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river.
Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was
changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent
me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the
wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is
what the Lord says: By this you
will know that I am the Lord: With
the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will
be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and
the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”
19 The Lord said
to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the
waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the
reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt,
even in vessels of wood and stone.”
20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of
Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water
was changed into blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the
river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was
everywhere in Egypt.
22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their
secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and
Aaron, just as the Lord had said. 23 Instead,
he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. 24 And
all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could
not drink the water of the river.
What
does the Pharaoh’s refusal to let the people go show about his heart (verse 14)?
In
your opinion, why is it significant that Moses was to confront the Pharaoh at
the Nile (verse 15)?
Who
has the Pharaoh not listened to (verse 16)?
What
will the Pharaoh know when the water turns to blood after Moses strikes it with
his staff (verse 17)?
How
will things change when the water in the Nile turns to blood (verse 18)?
What
will happen when Aaron takes his staff and stretches his hand over the waters
of Egypt (verse 19)?
How
did Moses and Aaron react to the Lord’s command (verse 20)?
What
happened when the water changed into blood (verse 21)?
What
did the Egyptian magicians do (verse 22)?
In
your opinion, why did the Pharaoh “not
take even this to heart” (verse 23)?
How
did the Egyptians get drinking water (verse 24)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Luke 5:17-26 - New
International Version (NIV)
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of
the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and
from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the
sick. 18 Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and
tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19 When
they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the
roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd,
right in front of Jesus.
20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are
forgiven.”
21 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to
themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but
God alone?”
22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you
thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to
say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But
I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go
home.” 25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what
he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26 Everyone
was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have
seen remarkable things today.”
Who
was listening to Jesus teach (verse 17)?
What
power of the Lord was with Jesus (verse 17)?
What
did the men carrying the paralyzed man on the mat try to do (verse 18)?
Why
did the men take the paralyzed man up on the roof (verse 19)?
How
did Jesus respond to the faith of those who carried the paralyzed man (verse 20)?
In
your opinion, were the Pharisees and teachers of the law right when they
thought “who can forgive sins but God
alone” (verse 21)?
What
did Jesus know (verse 22)?
In
your opinion, why did Jesus ask “which is
easier: to say, ‘your sins are forgiven,” or to say ‘get up and walk’?” (verse
23)?
How
does Jesus prove to the Pharisees and teachers of the law that He has the “authority on earth to forgive sins” (verse
24)?
What
did the paralyzed man do on his way home (verse 25)?
Who
was amazed and praised God (verse 26)?
With
what were they filled (verse 26)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, why is the Pharaoh’s reaction to God demonstrating that He is
Lord by turning the water to blood in Exodus 7:14-24 different than the people
who heard Jesus forgive sins and then prove His authority to do so by healing
the paralyzed man in Luke 5:17-26?
Ephesians 4:17-24 –
New International Version (NIV)
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you
must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They
are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because
of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having
lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to
indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when
you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that
is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way
of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful
desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and
to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness.
How does Paul say the Gentiles live (verse 17)?
Why are the Gentiles “separated
from the life of God” (verse 18)?
What caused the Gentiles to give “themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of
impurity” (verse 19)?
When did the Ephesian Christians learn a new way of life
(verses 20 and 21)?
What were the Ephesian Christians taught about their “former way of life” (verse 22)?
How are the Ephesian Christians to “be made new” (verse 23)?
Who is the new self to be created like (verse 24)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does the man who was paralyzed before
the forgiveness of his sins and the picks up his mat and carries it home after
the forgiveness of his sins in Luke 5:17-26 help illustrate Paul’s discussion
of the ‘old self’ and the ‘new self’ in Ephesians 4:17-24?
In your opinion, how is the loss of sensitivity that leads
to the hardening of the heart that Paul warns against in Ephesians 4:17-24
demonstrated by Pharaoh’s reaction to the confrontation he had with God at the
Nile in Exodus 7:14-24?
1 John 1:5-10 –
New International Version (NIV)
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to
you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we
claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do
not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is
in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If
we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not
in us.
What
message does John declare (verse 5)?
When do we lie and “not live out the truth” (verse 6)?
How
are we purified if we walk in the light (verse 7)?
In
your opinion, how is claiming to be without sin deceiving ourselves (verse 8)?
What
will the One who is “faithful and just” do
if we confess our sins (verse 9)?
What
is not in us if we claim we have not sinned (verse 10)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, what does 1 John 1:5-10 reveal about the difference between
sinfulness in the old and new selves that Paul talked about in Ephesians
4:17-24?
In
your opinion, how is the forgiveness of the paralyzed man by Jesus, which was
proven by his picking up his mat and walking home praising God in Luke 5:17-26,
similar to the change in one who, according to 1 John 1:5-10, confesses their
sins, is purified by the blood of Jesus, and walks in the light?
In
your opinion, how are those who John says deceive themselves because they claim
to be without sin in 1 John 1:5-10 similar to the Pharaoh who would not listen
to God in Exodus 7:14-24?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Luke, Ephesians, and 1 John
teach us about walking in the darkness and walking in the light?
In
your opinion, how can we avoid the hard heart of the old self and have a new
attitude and a new self?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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