Saturday, November 27, 2021

Mark’s Good News about Jesus – What You Will – December 5, 2021

 What You Will

Psalm 42:1-5 - New International Version (NIV)

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

How does the Psalmist’s soul pant for God (verse 1)?

In your opinion, when can we go and “meet with God” (verse 2)?

What has been the Psalmist’s food (verse 3)?

Where did the Psalmist go “with shouts of joy and praise” (verse 4)?

Where is the Psalmist’s soul to put its hope (verse 5)?

Who will the Psalmist “yet praise” (verse 5)?

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

Mark 14:32-42 - New International Version (NIV)

32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”

35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.

41 Returning the third time, he said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Where did they go (verse 32)?

How did Jesus begin to feel (verse 33)?

How was Jesus’s soul (verse 34)?

What did Jesus pray for “if possible” (verse 35)?

What did Jesus say was possible for “Abba, Father” (verse 36)?

Whose will did Jesus pray to be accomplished (verse 36)?

Who was asleep (verse 37)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus tell Peter to “watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (verse 38)?

What did Jesus go back and pray (verse 39)?

When did Jesus find the disciples sleeping again (verse 40)?

Whose hands will “the Son of Man” be delivered into (verse 41)?

Who was coming (verse 42)?

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

In your opinion, how were the thirst of the Psalmist’s soul in Psalms 42:1-5 and the sorrow of Jesus’s soul in Mark 14:32-42 different?  How is the hope of the Psalmist related to Jesus’s prayer “Yet not what I will, but what you will”?    

Acts 18:18-23 – New International Version (NIV)

18 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchreae because of a vow he had taken. 19 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21 But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.

23 After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

Who accompanied Paul when he left Corinth (verse 18)?

Why did Paul have his hair cut (verse 18)?

Where did Paul go when he arrived at Ephesus (verse 19)?

How did Paul respond when the Jews of the synagogue ask him to spend more time with them (verse 20)?

In your opinion, why did Paul add “if it is God’s will” to his promise to return (verse 21)?

Who did Paul greet in Jerusalem (verse 22)?

What did Paul do as he “traveled from place to place” (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, how does the Psalmist in Psalms 42:1-5 who remembers going to the “house of God under the protection of the Mighty One” and asks “when can I go and meet with God” have a different relationship with God than Paul who, in Acts 18:18-23, is traveling and worshipping in various places and only promises to return “if it is God’s will”?

In your opinion, how is Paul in his promise to “come back if it is God’s will” in Acts 18:18-23 following the example of Jesus who was overwhelmed with sorrow in Mark 14:32-42 but prayed for the Father’s will to be done?

1 Peter 3:8-17 – New International Version (NIV)

Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,

“Whoever would love life
    and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
    and their lips from deceitful speech.
11 They must turn from evil and do good;
    they must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Who is to “be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble” (verse 8)?

How should evil be repaid (verse 9)?

In your opinion, why should those who “would love life” need to “keep their tongue from evil” (verse 10)?

What are those who want to “see good days” to seek and pursue (verses 10 and 11)?

Whose ears are attentive to the prayer of the righteous (verse 12)?

In your opinion, who will “harm you if you are eager to do good” (verse13)?

When are you blessed (verse 14)?

What should happen in our hearts (verse 15)?

How can Christians make those who speak maliciously against them ashamed (verse 16)?

What is better than suffering for doing evil (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what is the difference between the soul thirsting for God in Psalms 42:1-5 and the heart revering God in 1 Peter 3:8-17? 

In your opinion, how does Jesus praying for the Father’s will to be done despite the sorrow in His soul in Mark 14:32-42 help us to revere Jesus in our hearts even if (especially if) we suffer today as commanded by 1 Peter 3:8-17?

In your opinion, how does knowing that the well-educated and logical Paul in Acts 18:18-23 and the impetuous and enthusiastic Peter in 1 Peter 3:8-17 both value “God’s will” help us understand the importance of God’s will in our lives today? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Mark, Acts and 1 Peter teach us about moving from thirsting for God to revering Christ as Lord? 

In your opinion, when we are suffering how can we, who share the sorrow of Jesus move from sorrow to being like Jesus when He prayed “Yet not what I will, but what you will”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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