-
The
Lost and Saved
Lives
Joshua 20:1-9 - New
International Version (NIV)
1 Then the Lord said
to Joshua: 2 “Tell the Israelites to designate the
cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, 3 so
that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there
and find protection from the avenger of blood. 4 When
they flee to one of these cities, they are to stand in the entrance of the city
gate and state their case before the elders of that city. Then the elders are
to admit the fugitive into their city and provide a place to live among them. 5 If
the avenger of blood comes in pursuit, the elders must not surrender the
fugitive, because the fugitive killed their neighbor unintentionally and
without malice aforethought. 6 They are to stay in that
city until they have stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the
high priest who is serving at that time. Then they may go back to their own
home in the town from which they fled.”
7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of
Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is,
Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 8 East of the
Jordan (on the other side from Jericho) they designated Bezer in the wilderness
on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad,
and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Any of
the Israelites or any foreigner residing among them who killed someone
accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the
avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.
Who
told Joshua to tell “the Israelites to
designate the cities of refuge” (verses 1 and 2)?
Why would some flee to the city of refuge (verse
3)?
What is the fleeing person to do when they get
to the city of refuge (verse 4)?
What must the elders of the cities of refuge
not do (verse 5)?
How long is the fugitive to stay in the city
of refuge (verse 6)?
Who could flee to the cities of refuge (verse 9)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of
this passage?
Mark
8:31-38 - New International
Version (NIV)
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many
things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the
law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He
spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked
Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns
of God, but merely human concerns.”
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross
and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life
will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save
it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole
world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone
give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed
of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man
will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy
angels.”
Who
must “suffer many things and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priest and the teachers of the law, and that he must
be killed” (verse 31)?
What will happen three days after He is killed
(verse 31)?
In your opinion, why did Peter take Jesus
aside and begin to rebuke Him (verse 32)?
What did Jesus say Peter was concerned about (verse
33)?
Who must “deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (verse 34)?
What will happen to the person who wants to
save their life (verse 35)?
Who will save their life (verse 35)?
In your opinion, “what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their
soul” (verse 36)?
How will the Son of Man react to the person
who is ashamed of Jesus and His words “in
this adulterous and sinful generation” when He comes “in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (verse 38)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of
this passage?
In your opinion, what is the similarity
between fleeing to a city of refuge until the death of the high priest in
Joshua 20:1-9 and the disciple of Jesus losing their life for Jesus and the
gospel and saving their life in Mark 8:31-38?
Acts
12:1-19 – New
International Version (NIV)
1 It was about this time
that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to
persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put
to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met
with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened
during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After
arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four
squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial
after the Passover.
5 So Peter was kept in
prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
6 The night before Herod was
to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two
chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly
an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on
the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off
Peter’s wrists.
8 Then the angel said to
him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak
around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter
followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was
doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They
passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the
city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had
walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself
and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and
rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were
hoping would happen.”
12 When this had dawned on
him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where
many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter
knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the
door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so
overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the
door!”
15 “You’re out of your mind,”
they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be
his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on
knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter
motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had
brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about
this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
18 In the morning, there was
no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After
Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he
cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.
Why
did King Herod arrest “some who belonged
to the church” (verse 1)?
What did King Herod do to James the
brother of John (verse 2)?
When did King Herod seize Peter (verse 3)?
How many soldiers guarded Peter (verse
4)?
What was the church doing (verse 5)?
In your opinion, why was Peter so
heavily guarded, with two soldiers, bound with two chains, and with senteries
at the entrance (verse 6)?
What happened when the “angel of the Lord appeared” (verse 7)?
Who told Peter to “put on your clothes and sandles” (verse 8)?
In your opinion, why did Peter think
he was seeing a vision (verse 9)?
What did the iron gate do for Peter
and the angel (verse 10)?
In your opinion, what does it mean to
say “Peter came to himself” (verse 11)?
What were people doing in the “house of Mary the mother of John, also
called Mark” (verse 12)?
What did Rhoda do when Peter knocked
on the door (verse 13)?
How do we know that Rhoda was excited
(verse 14)?
What did the people who had been
praying for Peter think when Rhoda said he was at the door (verse 15)?
How did the people feel when they
opened the door and saw Peter (verse 16)?
Who did Peter say got him out of
prison (verse 17)?
What did Herod order for the guards
who had been guarding Peter (verse 19)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, what had God done for James,
who was put to death by the sword in Acts 12:1-19, that was greater than the
sanctuary cities that the Lord told Moses and Joshua to establish in Joshua
20:1-19?
In your opinion, how is Peter’s escape
from the four squads of soldiers with the help of the angel in Acts 12:1-19 a
symbolic representation of Jesus’s words “whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will
save it” in Mark 8:31-38?
1
Peter 1:3-9 – New
International Version (NIV)
3 Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has
given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance
that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for
you, 5 who through faith are
shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be
revealed in the last time. 6 In
all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These
have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory
and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though
you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now,
you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 for you are receiving the end result
of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
What has God done “in his great mercy” (verse 3)?
Where is our inheritance kept (verse 4)?
In your opinion, what does Peter mean when he
says we are “shielded by God’s power
until the coming of the salvation” through faith (verse 5)?
What does Peter say Christians may have had to
suffer “in all kinds of trials” (verse
6)?
When will “the
proven genuineness of your faith” result in praise, glory and honor (verse 7)?
What fills those who are “receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (verses
8 and 9)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of
this passage?
In your opinion, what is the difference
between the refuge that is offered by the designated cities in Joshua 20:1-9
and the shielding by God’s power through faith that Peter talks about in 1
Peter 1:3-9?
In your opinion, what is the difference
between Peter in Mark 8:31-38 who was rebuked by Jesus for having “merely human concerns” when he rebuked
Jesus for saying He was going to die and Peter in 1 Peter 1:3-9 who talks about
a “a new birth into a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”?
In your opinion, how does knowing that Peter
had a friend killed by the sword and was in jail in Acts 12:1-19 add strength
to his instruction in 1 Peter 1:3-9 to “greatly
rejoice” even though there may be griefs and trials?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Joshua,
Mark, Acts, and 1 Peter show us about the difference between being a refugee in
the world and being reborn “into a living
hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”?
In your opinion, how does Jesus losing His
life to save us enable us to save our lives by losing them for Jesus and the
gospel?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment