Saturday, January 25, 2020

February 2, 2020 – Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Lasting Radiance

Lasting Radiance


Exodus 34:29-35 - New International Version (NIV)

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

When was Moses’s face radiant (verse 29)?

Who was afraid to come near Moses because of his radiant face (verse 30)?

What did Aaron and the community leaders do when Moses called them (verse 31)?

What did Moses do when all the Israelites came near him (verse 32)?

When did Moses put a veil over his face (verse 33)?

In your opinion, why did Moses take the veil off “whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him” (verse 34)?

When would Moses put the veil back over his face (verse 35)?

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

Mark 4:21-25 - New International Version (NIV)

21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

Where is a lamp put (verse 21)?

What is “meant to be disclosed” (verse 22)?

Where is “whatever is concealed” meant to be (verse 22)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus say “if anyone has ears to hear, let them hear” (verse 23)?

How will what we hear be measured (verse 24)?

What will happen for “whoever has” (verse 25)?

What will be taken away from “whoever does not have” (verse 25)?

In your opinion, “has” or “does not have” what (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, how does Moses’s face that he received when he entered the Lord’s presence in Exodus 34:29-35 help us understand what it means to be the lamp that Jesus refers to in Mark 4:21-25? 

Acts 13:4-12 – New International Version (NIV)

The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.

They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”

Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

How were Barnabas and Saul “sent on their way” (verse 4)?

What did they proclaim in Salamis in the Jewish synagogues (verse 5)?

Who is Bar-Jesus (verse 6)?

Why did the proconsul send for Barnabas and Saul (verse 7)?

Who opposed them (verse 8)?

What filled Paul (verse 9)?

How did Paul describe Elymas (verse 10)?

What was going to be the proof that the hand of the Lord was against Elymas (verse 11)?

Why did Elymas grope about (verse 11)?

Why did the proconsul believe (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, what is the difference between Moses speaking with the Lord and having a radiant face when he talked with the people in Exodus 34:29-35 and Paul being filled with the Holy Spirt and amazing the proconsul in Acts 13:4-12?

In your opinion, how is Elymas being made blind in Acts 13:4-12 an example of Jesus’s statement in Mark 4:21-25 that whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them”?

2 Corinthians 3:7-18 – New International Version (NIV)

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

What was transitory but still brought so much glory that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses (verse 7)?

What will be even more glorious (verse 8)?

In your opinion, what is the ministry that brought condemnation (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what is the ministry that brings righteousness (verse 9)?

Why can we be very bold (verse 12)?

Who “put a veil over his face to” (verse 13)?

What happened to the minds of the Israelites because of the veil (verse 14)?

How is the veil taken away (verse 14)?

What happens when Moses is read (verse 15)?

When is the veil taken away (verse 16)?

Where is there freedom (verse 17)?

What is happening to those who “with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory” (verse 18)?

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


In your opinion, how does Jesus’s lesson in Mark 4:21-25 relate to those who have turned to the Lord and are being transformed as described in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18?

In your opinion, what should those who have turned to the Lord as described in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 learn from the opposition of Elymas to Barnabas and Paul who were full of the Holy Spirit according to Acts 13:4-12?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Mark, Acts and 2 Corinthians teach us about what it means to be a radiant Christian?

In your opinion, how can we be a lamp on a stand?



(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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