June 6, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Responding to Circumstances and to God

Responding to Circumstances and to God

Lamentations 3:17-26 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ I have been deprived of peace;
    I have forgotten what prosperity is.
¹⁸ So I say, “My splendor is gone
    and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering,
    the bitterness and the gall.
²⁰ I well remember them,
    and my soul is downcast within me.
²¹ Yet this I call to mind
    and therefore I have hope:

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.

 

What has Lamentations’ author been deprived of (verse 17)?

What has happened to “all that I had hoped from the Lord” (verse 18)?

What does the author remember (verse 19)?

How does the author’s soul respond (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what can verse 21 teach us about a way we can change our outlook when things are hard (verse 21)?

Why are “we not consumed” (verse 22)?

What is “new every morning” (verse 23)?

Who is the author going to wait for (verse 24)?

Who is the Lord “good to” (verse 25)?

How should we wait for “the salvation of the Lord” (verse 26)?

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

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

⁹ “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. ¹⁰ And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. ¹¹ Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

¹² “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. ¹³ Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

What will happen to the disciples (verse 9)?

Why will the disciples stand “before governors and kings” (verse 9)?

Where must the gospel be preached (verse 10)?

What were the disciples not to “worry beforehand” about (verse 11)?

Who will be speaking when they “say whatever is given to you” (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what could be strong enough to overwhelm the bonds of brothers and fathers (verse 12)?

How will children react to parents (verse 12)?

Who will hate the disciples (verse 13)?

Who will be saved (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how are the disciples’ future in Mark 13:9-13 and the circumstances of the author in Lamentations 3:17-26 similar? How is their reason for hope also similar?      

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

¹ And Saul approved of their killing him.

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. ² Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. ³ But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

⁴ Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. ⁵ Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. ⁶ When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. ⁷ For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. ⁸ So there was great joy in that city.

What did Saul approve of (verse 1)?

Who did the “great persecution” break out against (verse 1)?

Where did “all except the apostles” scatter (verse 1)?

Who buried and mourned deeply for Stephen (verses 2)?

What did Saul begin to do (verse 3)?

Who “preached to word wherever they went” (verse 4)?

What did Philip do in “a city in Samaria” (verse 5)?

How did the crowds react to Philip (verse 6)?

Where was there “great joy” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what do the affliction and hope in Lamentations 3:17-26 and the mourning and joy in Acts 8:1-8 teach us?

In your opinion, how are the warnings of Jesus to the disciples in Mark 13:9-13 related to the events of Acts 8:1-8? 

2 Corinthians 12:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. ² I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. ³ And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— ⁴ was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. ⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. ⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

What must Paul do (verse 1)?

Where was the “man in Christ” caught up to (verse 2)?

What did the man hear (verse 4)?

What will Paul boast about himself (verse 5)?

Why would Paul not be a fool if he boasted (verse 6)?

What was Paul given to keep him “from becoming conceited” (verse 7)?

How many times did Paul pray for “the Lord to take it away” (verse 8)?

Where is God’s power made perfect (verse 9)?

Why will Paul boast “all the more gladly” about his weaknesses (verse 9)?

In your opinion, do you think that Paul mourned the thorn even while he boasted about his weaknesses (verse 9)?

When is Paul strong (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what is different between the author of Lamentations 3:17-26 waiting “quietly for the salvation of the Lord” and Paul boasting “all the more gladly about my weaknesses” in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10?  How are they related?

In your opinion, what does 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 teach us about the strength that it takes to stand “firm to the end” as the disciples were instructed to do in Mark 13:9-13? 

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that Paul, called by his Hebrew name of Saul in Acts 8:1-8, exercised strength and power in persecution but in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, as the recipient of persecution, boasts of weaknesses? 

In your opinion, how are the events of these passages from Lamentations, Mark, Acts and 2 Corinthians similar to the events of today? 

In your opinion, how should our response to the circumstances of our lives be different from our response to God in our lives?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)