March 4, 2018 – Kingdom Planting – The Kingdom is Here

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The Kingdom is Here

Joshua 3:9-17 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. ¹¹ See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. ¹² Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. ¹³ And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

¹⁴ So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶ the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Who told the Israelites to “come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God” (verse 9)?

Where is the living God (verse 10)?

What will go ahead of the Israelites in the Jordan (verse 11)?

How many men are to be chosen (verse 12)?

When will the waters of the Jorden “be cut off and stand up in a heap” (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why did the priests go ahead of the people (verse 14)?

What stage was the Jordan in (verse 15)?

Why did the water stop flowing where the Israelites were crossing (verse 16)?

How long did the “priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord” stay in the middle of the Jordan (verse 17)?

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

Mark 1:14-15 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵ “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Where did Jesus go “after John was put in prison” (verse 14)?

What did Jesus proclaim (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “the kingdom of God has come near” (verse 15)?

How are the people to respond to the message “the kingdom of God has come near” (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, how are the priests carrying the Arc of the Covenant in Joshua 3:9-17 and Jesus proclaiming the good news that the kingdom of God has come near in Mark 1:14 -15 similar?

Acts 2:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵ Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

What came when “they were all together in one place” (verse 1)?

How did it sound (verse 2)?

Where did the person that seemed like “tongues of fire” go when it separated (verse 3)?

What enabled them to speak in other tongues (verse 4)?

Who was staying in Jerusalem (verse 5)?

Why was the crowd bewildered (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why would the fact that those who were speaking were Galileans have amazed the people (verse 7)?

What did each person hear (verse 8)?

What was being declared in the tongues of each Jew and convert to Judaism (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what is the difference between the presence of God with the Israelite people in the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua 3:9-17 and the presence of God with the people of Jerusalem in Acts 2:1-11?

In your opinion, how is what happened in Acts 2:1-11 related to what Jesus said in Mark 1:14-15?

1 Corinthians 12:1-14 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³ Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

What does Paul want the Corinthian Christians, and us, to be informed about (verse 1)?

In your opinion, how could the Corinthians, or we, be “influenced and led astray to mute idols” (verse 2)?

Who has to be involved if someone says “Jesus is Lord” (verse 3)?

What links the different kinds of gifts (verse 4)?

Who does the different kinds of service serve (verse 5)?

Why is each manifestation of the Spirit given (verse 7)?

How does God distribute all the different gifts of the Spirit that are listed in verses 8 through 10 (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is Paul trying to say when he says that a body has many parts but “all its parts form one body” (verse 12)?

What are we “all baptized by one Spirit” to form (verse 13)?

What were we all given to drink (verse 13)?

What is made up of many parts (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, how is the nation of Israel crossing the Jordan together in Joshua 3:9-17 similar to the drinking of the Spirit by every member of the body of Christ as explained by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:1-14?

In your opinion, how is the Kingdom of God that Jesus said was near in Mark 1:14-15 described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:1-14?

In your opinion, what is revealed in Acts 2:1-11 and 1 Corinthians 12:1-14 about how people from all nations and across the world can become a mighty kingdom, without changing their addresses or languages?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Joshua, Mark, Acts, and 1 Corinthians reveal to us about the Kingdom of God?

In your opinion, how do we as individuals who have said, through the Holy Spirit, that “Jesus is Lord” become an active and vital part of the Kingdom of God?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)