April 15, 2018 – Kingdom Planting – Responding in Hope

-            The

Responding in Hope

 Joshua 8:18-29 - New International Version (NIV)              

¹⁸ Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand. ¹⁹ As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.

²⁰ The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. ²¹ For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. ²² Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. ²³ But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

²⁴ When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. ²⁵ Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. ²⁶ For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. ²⁷ But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.

²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. ²⁹ He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.

Where will the Lord deliver Ai when Joshua holds out the javelin in his hand (verse 18)?

What happened when Joshua held out the javelin in his hand (verse 19)?

Who had “no chance to escape in any direction” (verse 20)?

When did “Joshua and all Israel” turn and attack (verse 21)?

In your opinion, why was the Israelite attack so successful that it left no “survivors nor fugitives” (verse 22)?

Where did they take the king of Ai (verse 23)?

How many people were killed (verses 24 and 25)?

When did Joshua draw “back the hand that held out his javelin” (verse 26)?

Why did Israel carry off the “livestock and plunder” (verse 27)?

What did Joshua make Ai (verse 28)?

What did they do with the body of the king (verse 29)?

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

Mark 3:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ² Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. ³ Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

⁴ Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

⁵ He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶ Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

Who was in the synagogue when Jesus went in (verse 1)?

Why were “some” watching Jesus closely (verse 2)?

Where did Jesus tell the man to stand (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask them “which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill” (verse 4)?

In your opinion, why did the people who were watching Jesus remain silent (verse 4)?

What deeply distressed Jesus (verse 5)?

What happened when the man stretched out his hand (verse 5)?

Who began to plot to kill Jesus (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, how is the outcome of the confrontation of Joshua and the Israelites against Ai in Joshua 8:18-29 similar to the outcome of Jesus and those who watched in Mark 3:1-6?

Acts 5:17-32 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

²¹ At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. ²² But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, ²³ “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” ²⁴ On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.

²⁵ Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” ²⁶ At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.

²⁷ The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ²⁸ “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

²⁹ Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! ³⁰ The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

What filled the high priest and all his associates (verse 17)?

Where did they put the apostles (verse 18)?

Who “opened the doors of the jail and brought them out” (verse 19)?

What were the disciples to do (verse 20)?

Who “sent to the jail for the apostles” (verse 21)?

What did they find at the jail (verse 22)?

In your opinion, why did they say “we found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors” (verse 23)?

How did the captain of the guard and chief priests react to this (verse 24)?

Where were the men they had put in jail (verse 25)?

Why did the captain and his officials not use force (verse 26)?

Where were the apostles taken (verse 27)?

In your opinion, why did the high priest say the apostles were “determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood” (verse 28)?

How did Peter and the other apostles reply to the high priests statement that “we gave you strict orders not to teach in his name” (verses 28 and 29)?

Who “raised Jesus from the dead” (verse 30)?

Why did God exalt Jesus “to his own right hand as Prince and Savior” (verse 31)?

Who are the witnesses (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, how is the outcome of the confrontation of Joshua and the Israelites against Ai in Joshua 8:18-29 similar to the outcome of the arrest of the apostles in Acts 5:17-32?

In your opinion, why w ere the Pharisees and Herodians of Mark 3:1-6 and the Sadducees and high priest of Acts 5:17-32 so intent on stopping Jesus and Peter and the apostles who were healing people?

1 Peter 3:8-18 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. ⁹ Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For,

“Whoever would love life
    and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
    and their lips from deceitful speech.
¹¹ They must turn from evil and do good;
    they must seek peace and pursue it.
¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

¹³ Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” ¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

What does Peter instruct God’s elect to be (verse 8)?

How are God’s elect to respond to evil (verse 9)?

What are those who “would love life and see good days” to keep their tongue from (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “turn from evil and do good” (verse 11)?

Who is the “face of the Lord” against (verse 12)?

In your opinion, “who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good” (verse 13)?

When are we blessed (verse 14)?

How should we view Christ in our hearts (verse 15)?

How should we answer those who ask us for the reason for the hope that we have (verse 15)?

What does keeping a clear conscience do to those who “speak maliciously against” good behavior in Christ (verse 16)?

What is better to suffer for (verse 17)?

Why did Christ suffer “once for sins” (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what changed for Peter, who was the apostle with the sword in the garden when Jesus was captured and who would have been taught from Joshua 8:18-29 how to proceed, to make him the person who in 1 Peter 3:8-18 instructs us to “repay evil with blessing” and to respond “with gentleness and respect”?

In your opinion, what does Jesus, who was angry at the Pharisees in Mark 3:1-6 but reacted by healing the man with the withered hand, teach us today about how to respond to Peter’s instruction that, if it is God’s will it is better to “suffer for doing good than for doing evil”?

In your opinion, how did the words of the angel who told Peter and the other apostles in Acts 5:17-32 to “tell the people all about this new life” prepare him to instruct us to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” in 1 Peter 3:8-18?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Joshua, Mark, Acts, and 1 Peter teach us about how to respond to adversity?

What is the reason for the hope that you have?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)