December 29, 2019 – Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Making Our Joy Complete

Making Our Joy Complete


Deuteronomy 18:9-15 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. ¹⁰ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, ¹¹ or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. ¹² Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. ¹³ You must be blameless before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. ¹⁵ The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

What are the Israelites not to do when they “enter the land the Lord your God is giving you” (verse 9)?

How many should be found who “sacrifices the son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead” (verses 10 and 11)?

In your opinion, why would the practice of these things be “detestable to the Lord” (verse 12)?

How must the Israelites be before God (verse 13)?

In your opinion, why are the Israelites to be different from those nations they “will dispossess” (verse 14)?

Who will the Lord God raise up “from your fellow Israelites” (verse 15)?

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

Mark 3:7-12 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. ⁸ When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. ⁹ Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. ¹⁰ For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. ¹¹ Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” ¹² But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.

Where did Jesus withdraw to with His disciples (verse 7)?

When did people come to Jesus (verse 8)?

Why did Jesus tell His disciples “to have a small boat ready for him” (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why were those with diseases “pushing forward to touch him” (verse 10)?

What did impure spirits cry out when they saw Jesus (verse 11)?

What “strict orders” did Jesus give to the impure spirits (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, how would someone who recieved the truth about Jesus from an impure spirit in Mark 3:7-12 been similar to someone who received information about the world or the future from any of the methods that are banned in Deuteronomy 18:9-15?

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

¹⁶ Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” ¹⁸ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

¹⁹ When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰ They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹ by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

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.

How did the female slave predict the future (verse 16)?

In your opinion, was she accurate in her predictions (verse 16)?

What did she shout when she followed Paul around (verse 17)?

In your opinion, was she accurate (verse 17)?

When did the spirit leave her (verse 18)?

Why did her owners drag Paul and Silas “into the marketplace” (verse 19)?

Who joined the attack against Paul and Silas (verse 22)?

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

What were Paul and Silas doing at midnight (verse 24)?

Why was the jailer going to kill himself (verse 27)?

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

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

What filled the jailer (verse 34)?

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

In your opinion, why were the people who heard the female slave shouting apparently not saved, but the jailer and his family were saved?

In your opinion, how does the disruption caused by the female slave possessed by the impure spirit who was shouting a truth in Acts 16:16-34 help us understand why the practices listed in Deuteronomy 18:9-15 were considered to be detestable and were banned?

In your opinion, why would Paul in Acts 16:16-34 not have followed the example of Jesus in Mark 3:7-12 and silenced the impure spirit?

1 John 1:1-4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write this to make our joy complete.

Why is John’s message about the Word of life valid (verse 1)?

What did John see and testify to (verse 2)?

What “was with the Father and has appeared to us” (verse 2)?

Why does John proclaim “what we have seen and heard” (verse 3)?

Where is John’s fellowship (verse 3)?

Why does John write this (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, how would the message someone received through one of the banned practices of Deuteronomy 18:9-15 be different, even if the content of the message was the same, from what John is proclaiming in 1 John 1:1-4?

In your opinion, why is John’s message in 1 John 1:1-4 about Jesus being the Son of God different from the message of the impure spirits who shouted that Jesus was the Son of God in Mark 3:7-12?

In your opinion, how are the messages of Paul ans Silas, who were singing in the jail at midnight in Acts 16:16-34, and the message of John, who was proclaiming what he saw with his own eyes according the 1 John 1:1-4, similar?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Mark, Acts and 1 John teach us about listening to and fellowshiping with Jesus?

In your opinion, how can we make our  joy complete today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

December 22, 2019 – Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Hard Hearts and New Attitudes

Hard Hearts and New Attitudes


Deuteronomy 30:11-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. ¹² It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” ¹⁴ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

What is not too difficult (verse 11)?

Why won’t they need to ask “who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it” (verse 12)?

Where is the word (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what does Moses mean when he says “I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction” (verse 15)?

Who are the the Israelites to love and walk in obedience to (verse 16)?

What will happen if the Israelites are drawn to “bow down to other gods and worship them” (verses 17 and 18)?

Who did Moses call as witnesses (verse 19)?

In your opinion, how do the Israelites “choose life” (verse 19)?

Who is their life (verse 20)?

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 (verse 1)?

Why were some of the people in the synagogue watching Jesus closely (verse 2)?

What did Jesus ask the man to do (verse 3)?

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

How did the people respond to Jesus question (verse 4)?

What distressed Jesus (verse 5)?

When was the man’s hand restored (verse 5)?

In your opinion, was there anything unusual about the Pharisees plotting with the Herodians (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, how would a refusal by the Israelite people to love the Lord as commanded by Moses in Deuteronomy 30:11-20 be similar to the refusal of the people Jesus ask the question about the Sabbath to answer it in Mark 3:1-6?

Acts 2:36-41 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

What has God “made this Jesus, who you crucified” (verse 36)?

In your opinion, why were the people “cut to the heart” (verse 37)?

How did Peter answer the question “brothers, what shall we do” (verses 37 and 38)?

What gift will the people who follow Peter’s instruction receive (verse 38)?

Who is the promise for (verse 39)?

What did Peter plead for the people to do (verse 40)?

Who was baptized (verse 41)?

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

In your opinion, how does the command of Moses in Deuteronomy 30:11-20 to “love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess” similar to the plea of Peter to “save yourselves from this corrupt generation” in Acts 2:36-41?

In your opinion, how is the man who stretched out his hand and was healed by Jesus in Mark 3:1-6 similar to the 3,000 people who accepted the message of Peter and where baptized in Acts 2:36-41?

Ephesians 4:17-32 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Who does Paul tell the Ephesian Christians they must no longer live like (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the Gentiles are “darkened in their understanding” (verse 18)?

Why have the Gentiles “given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity” (verse 19)?

When did the Ephesian Christians learn about a different way of life (verses 20 and 21)?

How is the old self being corrupted (verse 22)?

Where were the Ephesian Christians to be “made new” (verse 23)?

What was the new self created to be like (verse 24)?

Why were the Ephesian Christians to “speak truthfully to your neighbor” (verse 25)?

What should they not give the devil (verse 27)?

Why must those who have been stealing work (verse 28)?

What is to come from the Ephesian Christians mouths (verse 29)?

Why were they sealed with the Holy Spirit (verse 30)?

How are they to forgive (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, how would the result of the change that Paul is asking the Ephesian Christians to make in Ephesians 4:17-32 similar to the result of obedience to the command that Moses gave the Israelite people in Deuteronomy 30:11-20?

In your opinion, who, in Mark 3:1-6, is most like the Gentiles that Paul warns us to no longer live like in Ephesians 4:17-32?  What is the best demonstration of replacing the old self with the new?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that Paul describes the Gentiles in Ephesians 4:17-32 as being ignorant because of “hardening of the hearts” and Luke describes the people listening to Peter in Acts 2:36-41 as being “cut to the heart”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Mark, Acts and Ephesians teach us about why it is difficult to be sensitive to the Word of God even though He is very near to us?

In your opinion, what can we do today to follow Paul’s instruction to “be made new in the attitude of your minds”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

December 15, 2019 – Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Enter That Rest

Enter That Rest

Exodus 31:12-18 - New International Version (NIV)

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses, ¹³ “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.

¹⁴ “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. ¹⁵ For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. ¹⁶ The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. ¹⁷ It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

¹⁸ When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

Who was talking to Moses (verse 12)?

What was observing the Lord’s Sabbaths to be (verse 13)?

In your opinion, how will the Sabbaths help the Israelites “know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy” (verse 13)?

What is to happen to the person who works on the Sabbath (verse 14)?

When is work to be done (verse 15)?

How long are the Israelites to observe the Sabbath (verse 16)?

What is the Sabbath to be between the Lord and the Israelites (verse 17)?

How were the “tablets of stone” inscribed (verse 18)?

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

Mark 2:23-28 - New International Version (NIV)

²³ One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵ He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶ In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

²⁷ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Where was Jesus going on the Sabbath (verse 23)?

What did His disciples began to do (verse 23)?

In your opinion, why did the Pharisees ask “look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath” (verse 24)?

Who was Jesus example in His answer (verse 25)?

What did David do (verse 26)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean by “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (verse 27)?

What is the Son of Man Lord of (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, how does Jesus saying that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” in Mark 2:23-28 help us understand why the Lord was instructing Moses in the observation of the Sabbath in Exodus 31:12-18?

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

¹ After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ² There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, ³ and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. ⁴ Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

⁵ When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. ⁶ But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

⁷ Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. ⁸ Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

Where did Paul go (verse 1)?

Why was Aquila in Corinth (verse 2)?

What did Paul, Aquila and Priscilla have in common (verse 3)?

What did Paul do on the Sabbath (verse 4)?

To whom did Paul testify in his preaching that “Jesus was the Messiah” (verse 5)?

How did Paul react when the Jews opposed him and became abusive (verse 6)?

Who was Titius Justus (verse 7)?

What did Crispus, the synagogue leader and his household believe (verse 8)?

What happened to the Corinthians “who heard Paul” and believed (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what do the conflicts in Acts 18:1-8 between Paul and the Jews in the synagogue reveal about their different views of the Sabbath and the Lord who gave them the Sabbath commandment in Exodus 31:12-18?

In your opinion, what does the Jews rejection of Paul in the synagogue in Acts 18:1-8 reveal about their acceptance of Jesus who proclaimed in Mark 2:23-28 that He was “Lord even of the Sabbath”?

Hebrews 4:1-13 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. ³ Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. ⁴ For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” ⁵ And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

⁶ Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, ⁷ God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

What still stands (verse 1)?

Why was “the message they heard” of no value to them (verse 2)?

Who enters “that rest” (verse 3)?

What did God speak about the seventh day (verse 4)?

In your opinion, who will “never enter my rest” (verse 5)?

Why did “those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them” not enter the rest (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “harden your hearts” (verse 7)?

What remains for “the people of God” (verse 9)?

How are people who enter God’s rest similar to God (verse 10)?

Why should we try to enter that rest (verse 11)?

What is “alive and active” (verse 12)?

What is “laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how is the Sabbath that the Israelite people are commanded to observe in Exodus 31:12-18 different from the Sabbath-rest that Paul is urging us to enter in Hebrews 4:1-13?

In your opinion, what has the One who said He was the “Lord even of the Sabbath” in Mark 2:23-28 done that Paul explains that Joshua had not done in Hebrews 4:1-13?

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 4:1-13 teach us about the difference between the abusive Jews who opposed Paul and Crispus, the synagogue leader and his family, who believed in the Lord in Acts 18:1-8?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Mark, Acts and Hebrews teach us about what it means to observe the Sabbath today?

In your opinion, how do we “make every effort to enter that rest”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)