Burning Joy
Exodus 3:1-15 - New International Version (NIV)
1 Now Moses
was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he
led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain
of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.
Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So
Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not
burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw
that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses!
Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for
the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he
said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and
the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look
at God.
7 The Lord said, “I
have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out
because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So
I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring
them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with
milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has
reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So
now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of
Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and
bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to
you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of
Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to
them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is
his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who
I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
Where did
Moses lead Jethro’s flock (verse 1)?
What was
strange about the bush that was on fire (verse 2)?
How did Moses
answer God when He called “Moses! Moses!” from the bush (verse 4)?
Why was Moses
to take off his sandals (verse 5)?
In your
opinion, why did God identify Himself as “the God of your father, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (verse 6)?
What had God
seen (verse 7)?
What had God “come
down” to do (verse 8)?
Where is God
sending Moses (verse 10)?
In your
opinion why does Moses react by saying “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and bring the Israelites out of Egypt” (verse 11)?
Who said “I
will be with you” (verse 12)?
What did Moses
want to be able to tell the Israelites (verse 13)?
How is Moses
supposed to respond to the Israelites (verse 14)?
What else is
Moses to say to the Israelites (verse 15)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 6:45-56 - New
International Version (NIV)
45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on
ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After
leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he
was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the
oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to
them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but
when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried
out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.
Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I.
Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them,
and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they
had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored
there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people
recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and
carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And
wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in
the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak,
and all who touched it were healed.
What did Jesus
make His disciples do (verse 45)?
Why did Jesus go
up on the mountainside (verse 46)?
When did Jesus
see the disciples “straining at the oars, because the wind was against them”
(verses 47 and 48)?
In your
opinion, why was Jesus “about to pass” the disciples (verse 48)?
What did the
disciples think Jesus was (verse 49)?
Why did Jesus
say, “Take courage!” (verse 50)?
What happened
when Jesus climbed into the boat with them (verse 51)?
In your
opinion, why does Mark point out that “they had not understood about the
loaves; their hearts were hardened” (verse 52)?
Where did they
anchor (verse 53)?
Who did the
people recognize (verse 54)?
Who did the
people carry to Jesus (verse 55)?
What happened
to those who touched the edge of Jesus cloak (verse 56)?
In your opinion, how are the disciples response
to Jesus in Mark 6:45-56 and Moses to God in Exodus 3:1-15 similar? Is there anything that we can learn from
their responses that applies to our lives today?
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said:
“People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For
as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even
found an altar with this inscription: to
an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and
this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of
heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And
he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself
gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one
man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he
marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God
did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find
him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we
live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have
said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that
the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design
and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but
now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has
set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has
appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the
dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them
sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
Who did Paul tell “I see that in every way
you are very religious” (verse 22)?
How did Paul know they
were very religious (verse 23)?
What was Paul going to proclaim (verse 23)?
Who “made the world and everything in it” (verse 24)?
In your opinion, why does Paul make a point of God not being
served by human hands but rather giving “life and breath and everything
else” (verse 25)?
How did God make all the nations (verse 26)?
Why did God make all the nations and then mark “out their
appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (verses 26
and 27)?
What had some of their own poets said (verse 28)?
Why should we “not think that the divine being is like
gold or silver or stone” (verse 29)?
What does God now command (verse 30)?
How has God given proof that “he will judge the world
with justice by the man he has appointed” (verse 31)?
What were the two reactions to Paul’s message (verse 32)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is Moses’s reaction to the burning bush
in Exodus 3:1-15 like the people of Athens having an alter “TO AN UNKNOWN
GOD” in Acts 17:22-32?
In your opinion, how are the people of Athens in Acts
17:22-32 like the disciples in Mark 6:45-56 who had “not understood about
the loaves”? How might we be like
them today?
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.
How has “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ” given us (Christians) “new birth into a living hope” (verse 3)?
Where is our
inheritance kept (verse 4)?
How are we “shielded
by God’s power” (verse 5)?
What should we
be doing even though we “may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of
trials” (verse 6)?
Why have
trials come (verse 7)?
In your
opinion, how can we love and believe in someone we have not seen (verse 8)?
What is the “end
result of your faith” (verse 9)?
In your opinion, what
changed for Peter, who in Mark 6:45-56 was one of those whose “heart were
hardened”, that he was able to speak with passion and enthusiasm about a “new
birth into a living hope” in 1 Peter 1:3-9?
In your opinion, what is the difference between the people
of Athens in Acts 17:22-32 who have an alter “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD” and the
people in 1 Peter 1:3-9 who “are filled with an inexpressible and glorious
joy”?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Mark, Acts
and 1 Peter teach us about how God wants us to seek, reach out and find Him?
In your opinion, how can we move from finding “I AM WHO I AM”, in the burning bush to being people burning “with an inexpressible and glorious joy”?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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