New Witnesses
Ezekiel 18:25-32 - New International Version (NIV)
25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you
Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? 26 If
a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will
die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. 27 But
if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does
what is just and right, they will save their life. 28 Because
they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them,
that person will surely live; they will not die. 29 Yet the
Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people
of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
30 “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to
your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid
yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a
new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? 32 For I take
no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
What do the
Israelites say (verse 25)?
Who will die
if they turn from their righteousness and commit a sin (verse 26)?
How will the
wicked person save their life (verse 27)?
In your
opinion, what does it mean to “consider all the offenses they have committed
and turn away from them” (verse
28)?
What do the
Israelites say (verse 29)?
How will the
Lord judge the Israelites (verse 30)?
What are the
Israelites to do after getting rid of all the offenses they have committed (verse 31)?
Who takes no
pleasure in the death of anyone (verse 32)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 2:18-22 - New
International Version (NIV)
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people
came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the
Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while
he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But
the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day
they will fast.
21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.
Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And
no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the
skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new
wine into new wineskins.”
Who was
fasting (verse 18)?
What did “some
people” ask Jesus (verse 19)?
In your
opinion, why don’t the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them (verse
20)?
When do the
guests of the bridegroom fast (verse 21)?
Why is a patch
of unshrunk cloth not used to patch a garment (verse 22)?
Where is new
wine poured (verse 23)?
In your opinion, how is Ezekiel’s command to “get
a new heart and a new spirit” In Ezekiel 18:25-32 related to Jesus teaching
about the old and new wineskins in Mark 2:18-22?
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about
all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was
taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the
apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented
himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared
to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On
one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not
leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard
me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but
in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at
this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the
Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a
cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when
suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of
Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same
Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way
you have seen him go into heaven.”
What did Luke write to Theophilus in the former
book (verse 1)?
When was Jesus taken
into heaven (verse 2)?
How many days did Jesus appear to the disciples and give
them convincing proofs that He was alive (verse 3)?
How long were the apostles to wait in Jerusalem (verse 4)?
What were the apostles to be baptized with (verse 5)?
In your opinion, why did the disciples ask “Lord, are you
at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel” (verse 6)?
What was not for the apostles to know (verse 7)?
What were the apostles to be (verse 8)?
What happened to Jesus (verse 9)?
Who appeared beside them (verse 10)?
How will Jesus come back (verse 11)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is Jesus’s suffering that Luke writes
about in Acts 1:1-11 proof of the Lord’s statement in Ezekiel 18:25-32 “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the
Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!”
In your
opinion, what does Luke’s summary in Acts 1:1-11 teach us about the “new
wine” that Jesus was talking about in Mark 2:18-22?
Colossians
3:1-11 –
New International Version (NIV)
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on
things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you
died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When
Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with
him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:
sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because
of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in
these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also
rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and
filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other,
since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and
have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of
its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or
uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in
all.
What are the
hearts of the Christian to be set on (verse 1)?
What are the
minds of Christians not be be set on (verse 2)?
Where is the
life of the Christian hidden (verse 3)?
When will the
Christian appear with Christ in glory (verse 4)?
In your
opinion, why should a Christian put to death “whatever belongs to your
earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed”
(verse 5)?
What is coming
because of these things (verse 6)?
When did
Christians walk in these ways (verse 7)?
What should
Christians do with “anger, rage, malice, lander, and filthy language” (verse
8)?
What have
Christians “taken off” (verse 9)?
What have
Christians “put on” (verse 10)?
Who is “all and is in
all” (verse
11)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your
opinion, how are the discussion’s of Ezekiel about a new heart and a new spirit
in Ezekiel 18:25-32 and Paul about the new self in Colossians 3:1-11
different? How are they similar?
In your
opinion, how does the fact that Jesus told those who were with Him for years,
heard His teaching, witnessed His miracles and were witnesses of the proofs
that He was alive to wait in Jerusalem for “the gift my Father promised” in
Acts 1:1-11 help us understand how the transformation from old self to new self
that Paul teaches about in Colossians 3:1-11 takes place?
In your
opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, Mark, Acts and Colossians teach
us about the difference between a life without Jesus and a life with Jesus?
In your
opinion, how are we witnesses to Jesus today?
No comments:
Post a Comment