January 31, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Longing for the Day

Longing for the Day

Psalm 38:9-15 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
    even the light has gone from my eyes.
¹¹ My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
    my neighbors stay far away.
¹² Those who want to kill me set their traps,
    those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
    all day long they scheme and lie.

¹³ I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
    like the mute, who cannot speak;
¹⁴ I have become like one who does not hear,
    whose mouth can offer no reply.
¹⁵ Lord, I wait for you;
    you will answer, Lord my God.

Who does the Psalmist “longings lie open before” (verse 9)?

What has happened to the light of the Psalmist’s eyes (verse 10)?

Why do “friends and companions” avoid the Psalmist (verse 11)?

When do people “scheme and lie” against the Psalmist (verse 12)?

In your opinion, why would the Psalmist say he is like the mute (verse 13)?

What can the Psalmist mouth not do (verse 14)?

Who will the Psalmist wait on (verse 15)?

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

Mark 9:14-29 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. ¹⁵ As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

¹⁶ “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked.

¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. ¹⁸ Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

¹⁹ “You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

²⁶ The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸ After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁹ He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Who was arguing with “the other disciples” (verse 14)?

What happened to the people when they saw Jesus (verse 15)?

Who had been brought to Jesus (verse 17)?

What could the disciples not do (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus say “you unbelieving generation” (verse 19)?

How did the boy react when the spirit saw Jesus (verse 20)?

How long had the boy been like this (verse 21)?

In your opinion, why did the father say “if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us” (verse 22)?

What is possible for “one who believes” (verse 23)?

How did the boy’s father respond to Jesus” (verse 24)?

What did Jesus command the impure spirit to do (verse 25)?

Why did people say that the boy was dead (verse 26)?

When did the boy stand up (verse 27)?

What did the disciples ask Jesus privately (verse 28)?

How did Jesus answer them (verse 29)?

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

In your opinion, how is the Psalmist of Psalms 38:9-15 similar to the boy of Mark 9:14-29?

Acts 14:8-20 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. ⁹ He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed ¹⁰ and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

¹¹ When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” ¹² Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. ¹³ The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ¹⁵ “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. ¹⁶ In the past, he let all nations go their own way. ¹⁷ Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” ¹⁸ Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹ Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. ²⁰ But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

Why was the man from Lystra sitting (verse 8)?

What did Paul see when he looked at the man (verse 9)?

When did the man jump up and begin to walk (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why did the crowd shout “the gods have come down to us in human form” (verse 11)?

Why did they call Paul “Hermes” (verse 12)?

Why did the priest of Zeus bring bulls and wreaths to the city gates (verse 13)?

When did Barnabas and Paul tear their clothes (verse 14)?

What did Barnabas and Paul want the people to turn “from these worthless things” to (verse 15)?

What has God’s testimony to the people been (verse 17)?

When did the crowd stone Paul and drag him out of the city (verse 19)?

When did Paul get up and go back into the city (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, how is Paul in Acts 14:8-20 like the Psalmist of Psalms 38:9-15?

In your opinion, why is it significant that in the midst of the “unbelieving generation” of Mark 9:14-29 the impure spirit was cast out of the boy; and in the midst of the people who worshiped Zeus in Acts 14:8-20 the lame man was given the ability to jump up and walk?

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ² For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,
    and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

What is Paul urging the Corinthian Christians not to do (verse 1)?

When did the Lord hear (verse 2)?

When did the Lord help (verse 2)?

What time is it (verse 2)?

What day is it (verse 2)?

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

In your opinion, how are the longings the Psalmist of Psalms 38:9-15 was waiting for the Lord to answer different from the favor that God is giving through grace in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2?    

In your opinion, how might the words of the father in Mark 9:14-29, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief”, have been appropriate for the Corinthians who are being told in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 that, “now is the day of salvation” but aren’t seeing the things that they might desire?

In your opinion, how do the people of Lystra, who in Acts 14:8-20 saw a miracle and wanted to worship Barnabas and Paul but soon changed to stoning Paul, demonstrate one of the reasons it may be hard for the people in Corinth to accept God’s favor on “the day of salvation”? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Mark, Acts and 2 Corinthians teach us about the difference between driven by our longings and receiving the favor that God longs to give us?

In your opinion, how can we learn from the father said “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” so that we can celebrate the day of our salvation?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 24, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Teller or Troubler

 Teller or Troubler

1 Kings 18:8-18 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”

⁹ “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? ¹⁰ As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. ¹¹ But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ ¹² I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. ¹³ Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. ¹⁴ And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”

¹⁵ Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”

¹⁸ “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.

What is Obadiah to tell his master (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why did Obadiah think that Elijah is “handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death” (verse 9)?

Where has Ahab had people looking for Elijah (verse 10)?

What will happen to Obadiah if he tells Ahab where Elijah is and then Elijah is not there (verse 12)?

Who has Obadiah worshipped (verse 12)?

What did Obadiah do when “Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord” (verse 13)?

What does Elijah say he will do “today” (verse 15)?

What did Ahab say when he saw Elijah (verse 17)?

How did Elijah say that Ahab and his father’s family have made trouble for Israel (verse 18)?

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

Mark 9:2-13 - New International Version (NIV)

² After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. ³ His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

⁵ Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶ (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

⁷ Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

⁸ Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰ They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

¹¹ And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

¹² Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? ¹³ But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”

What happened when Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain to where they were all alone (verse 2)?

Who appeared before them (verse 4)?

Why did Peter not know what to say (verse 6)?

What did the voice from the cloud say (verse 7)?

When did Jesus tell Peter, James, and John that they could tell people what they had seen (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why did Peter, James, and John discuss what ““rising from the dead” meant” (verse 10)?

What did they ask Jesus (verse 11)?

What does Jesus say Elijah does when he comes first (verse 12)?

Who does Jesus say “must suffer much and be rejected” (verse 12)?

Who does Jesus say has come and that “they have done to him everything they wished” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how do Elijah and Obadiah being faithful to God in the time of Ahab in 1 Kings 18:8-18 help us understand the reason that Peter, James, and John needed to hear the voice from the cloud saying “This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to him!” in the time of the Sanhedrin and the kingdom of Rome in Mark 9:2-13?

Acts 4:13-22 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ¹⁴ But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. ¹⁵ So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. ¹⁶ “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷ But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸ Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! ²⁰ As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹ After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. ²² For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Why did the courage of Peter and John astonish the Sanhedrin (verse 13)?

Who was standing with Peter and John that made it hard for the Sanhedrin to say anything (verse 14)?

What could the Sanhedrin not deny (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why did they want to “stop this thing from spreading any further among the people” (verse 17)?

What did they command Peter and John not to do (verse 18)?

What did Peter and John want the Sanhedrin to judge (verse 19)?

What can Peter and John not help (verse 20)?

When did the Sanhedrin let Peter and John go (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, how is the confrontation of Elijah and Ahab in 1 Kings 18:8-18 similar to the confrontation of Peter and John with the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:13-22?

In your opinion, how do the event and comments of Jesus in Mark 9:2-12 help us understand the source of the courage that Peter and John had in Acts 4:13-22 when they faced the Sanhedrin, who had conspired to have Jesus killed?

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.

What does John say that he proclaims, “concerning the Word of life” (verse 1)?

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

Where was “the eternal life” (verse 2)?

Why does John proclaim what he had seen and heard (verse 3)?

Who is John’s fellowship with (verse 3)?

Why does John write (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, how is what Obadiah did for Elijah in 1 Kings 18:8-18 similar to what John is doing for God in 1 John 1:1-4? 

In your opinion, how has the fear and confusion that Peter, James, and John felt in Mark 9:2-13 been transformed into the joy that John expresses in 1 John 1:1-4?

In your opinion, how does John’s testimony in 1 John 1:1-4 explain how “unschooled, ordinary men” were able to astonish the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:13-22? 

In your opinion, how do these passages from 1 Kings, Mark, Acts and 1 John challenge us to choose between being a “troubler” for the world, like Ahab and the Sanhedrin, or a troubler of the world, like Elijah, Peter, and John?  How do we demonstrate our choice?

In your opinion, how do we as “ordinary” believers astonish people today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 17, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – The New Thing

 The New Thing

Isaiah 43:18-19 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

What is to be forgotten (verse 18)?

Where should the hearer not dwell (verse 18)?

What is God doing (verse 19)?

In your opinion, why wouldn’t the hearer perceive what “springs up” (verse 19)?

What is God making in the wilderness (verse 19)?

In your opinion, how will the wasteland be changed by the streams God is making in it (verse 19)?

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

Mark 8:31-9:1 - New International Version (NIV)

³¹ He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

¹ And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Who did Jesus teach them would reject the Son of Man (verse 31)?

What would happen to the Son of Man three days after He was killed (verse 31)?

Who took Jesus “aside and began to rebuke him” (verse 32)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus tell Peter “you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (verse 33)?

What does Jesus tell the disciples that those who want to be His disciple need to do (verse 34)?

Who will lose their life (verse 35)?

Who will save their life (verse 35)?

In your opinion, “what good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (verse 36)?

Who will the Son of Man be ashamed of (verse 38)?

Who will “see that the kingdom of God has come with power” (verse 1)?

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

In your opinion, how is Isaiah’s prophecy about a “new thing” in Isaiah 43:18-19 reflected in what Jesus is talking about in Mark 8:31-9:1?

Acts 5:17-20 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. ²⁰ “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

Who was filled with jealousy (verse 17)?

What did they do to the apostles (verse 18)?

When did the angel of the Lord open the doors and bring them out (verse 19)?

Where were the disciples to go (verse 20)?

What new thing were the disciples to tell the people about (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, who in Acts 5:17-20 is not listening to the command in Isaiah 43:18-19 to “forget the former things; do not dwell on the past”?  In your opinion, why would they not want to forget the past?

In your opinion, how is Peter in Mark 8:31-9:1 like the high priest and his associates in Acts 5:17-20?  What can we learn from the fact that Peter went from being rebuked in Mark to being jailed for filling the high priest with jealousy in Acts?

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Who will Paul now regard from a “worldly point of view” (verse 16)?

How has the way Paul regarded Christ changed (verse 16)?

What has come for anyone who “is in Christ” (verse 17)?

What has gone (verse 17)?

How did God reconcile “us to himself” (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what does “not counting people’s sins against them” have to do with God “reconciling the world to himself” (verse 19)?

What has God committed Paul to (verse 19)?

How does Paul view himself (verse 20)?

What can we become through the One who had no sin and was made to be sin (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, how is God’s message through Isaiah in Isaiah 43:18-19 to “forget the former things” because He is “doing a new thing” echoed by Paul’s discussion about reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21? 

In your opinion, how are Jesus’s statements about who will save their lives and who will lose their lives in Mark 8:31-9:1 affirmed by Paul’s discussion of reconciliation and new creations in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21?

In your opinion, who, in Acts 5:17-20, is regarding people from the “worldly point of view” that Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 he “once regarded Christ” with? 

In your opinion, how could we tell if we were regarding people and the world from the “worldly point of view” today? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Mark, Acts and 2 Corinthians reveal to us about people are changed by the “new thing” that God is doing?

In your opinion, how do we become “new creations” in an old world today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 10, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Messiah

Messiah

Malachi 4:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. ² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. ³ Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.

⁴ “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.

⁵ “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. ⁶ He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

What will the day that is coming do to the “arrogant and every evildoer” (verse 1)?

Who says “not a root or a branch will be left to them” (verse 1)?

How will the rays of “the sun of righteousness” effect those who revere the Lord’s name (verse 2)?

Who will act on that day (verse 3)?

In your opinion, why does the Lord tell the Israelites through Malachi to remember “the law of my servant Moses” (verse 4)?

When will the Lord send “the prophet Elijah” (verse 5)?

What will Elijah do “or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction” (verse 6)?

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

Mark 8:27-30 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

²⁸ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

²⁹ “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

³⁰ Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

Where did Jesus and His disciples go (verse 27)?

What did Jesus ask the disciples (verse 27)?

Who did the people say Jesus was (verse 28)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask the disciples “who do you say that I am” (verse 29)?

How did Peter answer the question for the disciples (verse 29)?

In your opinion, how is Peter’s answer different from the people’s answer (verses 28 and 29)?

What did Jesus warn the disciples (verse 30)?

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

In your opinion, what would the people who had studied the promise in Malachi 4:1-6 have been expecting if Peter shared his statement in Mark 8:27-30 that Jesus was the Messiah?

Acts 26:15-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ¹⁶ ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them ¹⁸ to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

¹⁹ “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. ²⁰ First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. ²¹ That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. ²² But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— ²³ that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

What was Paul’s question (verse 15)?

How did Jesus identify Himself to Paul (verse 15)?

Why did Jesus say He appeared to Paul (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus tell Paul that He would “rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles” (verse 17)?

Who is Jesus sending Paul to (verse 17)?

Why was Jesus sending Paul to “open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God” (verse 18)?

In your opinion, why did Paul tell King Agrippa that he was “not disobedient to the vision from heaven” (verse 19)?

What did Paul preach “to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles” (verse 20)?

Who seized Paul in the temple courts and tried to kill him (verse 21)?

Who helped Paul (verse 22)?

What did the prophets and Moses say would happen (verses 22 and 23)?

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

In your opinion, what does Acts 26:15-23 reveal about how Paul’s thoughts about the prophecy in Malachi 4:1-6 may have changed when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus?  What may have remained the same?

In your opinion, what can be learned by the difference between Jesus asking the disciples “who do you say I am” in Mark 8:27-30 and Paul asking “who are you, Lord” in Acts 26:15-23?

Revelation 11:15-19 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become
    the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
    and he will reign for ever and ever.”

¹⁶ And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, ¹⁷ saying:

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
    the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
    and have begun to reign.
¹⁸ The nations were angry,
    and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
    and for rewarding your servants the prophets
and your people who revere your name,
    both great and small—
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

¹⁹ Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.

What did the seventh angel do (verse 15)?

What has the “kingdom of the world” become (verse 15)?

Who “fell on their faces and worshiped God” (verse 16)?

Why did they give thanks to the “Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was” (verse 17)?

Who was angry (verse 18)?

Who will be judged (verse 18)?

Who will be rewarded (verse 18)?

Who will be destroyed (verse 18)?

What was opened (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, how are the day of the prophecy in Malachi 4:1-6 and the time of the prophecy in Revelation 11:15-19 different?  How are they similar? 

In your opinion, how is the insufficiency of who the “people” thought Jesus was in Mark 8:27-30 revealed in the way the Messiah is revealed in Revelation 11:15-19?

In your opinion, what has changed between the time Jesus sent Paul to “open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light” in Acts 26:15-23 and when the twenty-four elders tell their Lord and Messiah “the time has come for judging the dead” in Revelation 11:15-19? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Malachi, Mark, Acts and Revelation teach us about the difference between John the Baptist, Elijah, or the other prophets, and Jesus?

In your opinion, what are each of us called by Jesus to do in a world that is approaching the time for judging and rewarding?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)