July 1, 2018 – Kingdom Planting – A Kingdom of the Redeemed

-            The

A Kingdom of the Redeemed

Joshua 23:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)                

¹ After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man, ² summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges and officials—and said to them: “I am very old. ³ You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you. ⁴ Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. ⁵ The Lord your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.

⁶ “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left. ⁷ Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them. ⁸ But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.

When did the Lord give Israel a “rest from all their enemies around them” (verse 1)?

What did Joshua say to the the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel (verse 2)?

Who fought for Israel (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what did Joshua mean by “an inheritance for your tribes” (verse 4)?

Why will the Lord push out the nations (verse 5)?

What are the Israelites to be careful to do (verse 6)?

Who are the Israelites not to associate with (verse 7)?

Who are the Israelites not to swear by, serve or bow down to (verse 7)?

What are the Israelites to do (verse 8)?

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

Mark 12:28-34 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁸ One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

³² “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. ³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

What did the teacher of the law notice (verse 28)?

What did the teacher of the law ask Jesus (verse 28)?

Who is one (verse 29)?

How does Jesus say that we should love the Lord our God (verse 30)?

What is the second most important commandment (verse 31)?

In your opinion, why does the teacher of the law say “well said, teacher” (verse 32)?

What is “more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (verse 33)?

What did Jesus see about the teacher’s answer (verse 34)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean by “you are not far from the kingdom of God” (verse 34)?

What did no one dare to do “from then on” (verse 34)?

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

In your opinion, how is Joshua’s instruction to the Israelite people to “be careful to obey all that is written in the book of the law of Moses” in Joshua 23:1-8 explained by Jesus in His answer to the teacher’s question in Mark 12:28-34?

Acts 16:22-34 – New International Version (NIV)

²² The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. ²³ After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴ When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. ²⁷ The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. ³⁴ The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

What did the magistrates order (verse 22)?

When were Paul and Silas thrown into prison (verse 23)?

What did the jailer do with Paul and Silas (verse 24)?

In your opinion, why were Paul and Silas “praying and singing hymns to God” (verse 25)?

What happened when the “violent earthquake” occured (verse 26)?

What was the jailer about to do when he thought the prisoners had escaped (verse 27)?

Who shouted “don’t harm yourself” (verse 28)?

What did the jailer do (verse 29)?

In your opinion, why did the jailer ask “what must I do to be saved” (verse 30)?

How did Paul and Silas answer the question (verse 31)?

What did Paul and Silas do (verse 32)?

When were the jailer and his household baptized (verse 33)?

Why was the jailer “filled with joy” (verse 34)?

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

In your opinion, why is there a difference between Joshua’s commandment in Joshua 23:1-8 to “be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses” and Paul and Silas’s instruction in Acts 16:22-34 to “believe in the Lord Jesus”?

In your opinion, why is there a difference between Jesus’s commandment in Mark 12:28-34 to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and Paul and Silas’s instruction in Acts 16:22-34 to “believe in the Lord Jesus”?

1 Peter 1:13-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

What are we to do “with minds that are alert and fully sober” (verse 13)?

What does Peter say that was are not be conform to (verse 14)?

Why are we to “be holy in all” we do (verses 15 and 16)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear” (verse 17)?

What did not redeem us “from the empty way of life” (verse 18)?

What did redeem us “form the empty way of life" (verses 18 and 19)?

When was Christ chosen (verse 20)?

Who is a Christians “faith and hope” in (verse 21)?

How should we “love one another” (verse 22)?

What kind of seed are we “born again” through (verse 23)?

How are we “born again” (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, how are the Israelites who Joshua instructed in Joshua 23:1-8 to “not associate with these nations that remain among you” and the Christians that Peter instructs in 1 Peter 1:13-23 to “live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear” similar?

In your opinion, what does Peter in 1 Peter 1:13-23 show us about what the teacher of the law from Mark 12:28-34 needed to do to move from being “not far from the kingdom of God” to being “redeemed”?

In your opinion, how does  the instruction in 1 Peter 1:13-23 to  “set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed” help us understand how Paul and Silas, after being flogged and while in stocks, could have been singing in Acts 16:22-34?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Joshua, Mark, Acts, and 1 Peter show us about living as citizens of the Kingdom of God in a world that is lost?

In your opinion, how do we move from attempting to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength to being redeemed?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)