January 2, 2022 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Be Like Stephen

 Be Like Stephen

Exodus 6:2-8 - New International Version (NIV)

² God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. ⁴ I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. ⁵ Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶ “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ⁸ And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”

What did God say to Moses (verse 2)?

By what name had God “appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob” (verse 3)?

By what name had God not made Himself “fully known to them” (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between God’s title of God Almighty and His title as the Lord (verse 3)?

What covenant had God established with them (verse 4)?

What has God heard (verse 5)?

How will God redeem the Israelites from the Egyptians (verse 6)?

What will God do for the Israelites (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what does it mean when God says “I am the Lord your God” (verse 7)?

What is God giving to the Israelites (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why does God begin and end this statement with “I am the Lord” (verse 8)?

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

Mark 14:53-65 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵³ They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together. ⁵⁴ Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

⁵⁵ The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. ⁵⁶ Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.

⁵⁷ Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: ⁵⁸ “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’” ⁵⁹ Yet even then their testimony did not agree.

⁶⁰ Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶¹ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

⁶² “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶³ The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. ⁶⁴ “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

They all condemned him as worthy of death. ⁶⁵ Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.

Who came together when they took Jesus to the high priest (verse 53)?

How did Peter follow Jesus (verse 54)?

What could the “chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin” not find (verse 55)?

Whose statements did not agree (verse 56)?

In your opinion, what was Jesus being accused of by those who said “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands’” (verses 57 and 58)?

Who said “are you not going to answer” (verse 60)?

How did Jesus respond (verse 61)?

Who said “are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One” (verse 61)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus answer with “I am” (verse 62)?

Where does Jesus say He will be seen (verse 62)?

What did the high priest do (verse 63)?

What did they do after the high priest said “you have heard the blasphemy” (verse 64)?

How did they treat Jesus (verse 65)?

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

In your opinion, how is Jesus’s calm and confident answer, “I am”, to the hostile chief priests and Sanhedrin in Mark 14:53-65 as majestic as the “I am” of God identifying Himself to Moses as “God Almighty” and “the Lord” in Exodus 6:2-8?    

Acts 9:8-15 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

¹¹ Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”

¹² So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. ¹³ They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. ¹⁴ For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

¹⁵ All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

What was Stephen full of (verse 8)?

Where did Stephen perform “great wonders and signs” (verse 8)?

Who were the opposition “who began to argue with Stephen” (verse 9)?

How did their arguments with Stephen go (verse 10)?

What did they do in secret (verse 11)?

Where did they bring Stephen (verse 12)?

Who said “this fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law” (verse 13)?

What was Stephen accused of saying that Jesus of Nazareth would do (verse 14)?

What did the Sanhedrin see when they “looked intently at Stephen” (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, who, of all the people who were gathered in Acts 6:8-15, should know “the Lord” who revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 6:2-8?  What do their actions prove about their relationship with “the Lord”?

In your opinion, how could Jesus in Mark 14:53-65 and Stephen in Acts 6:8-15 both have been calm in the frantic storm of lies and hatred that was taking place around them and leading both of them to death?

Revelation 1:4-8 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

⁷ “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
    and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
    and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

In your opinion, who is John writing this letter to (verse 4)?

Who sends “grace and peace” (verses 4 and 5)?

How is Jesus Christ described (verse 5)?

What has Jesus done for us (verse 5)?

What has Jesus made us (verse 6)?

How is Jesus coming (verse 7)?

Who will mourn (verse 7)?

Who says “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, how is the revelation of God to Moses that “I am the Lord” in Exodus 6:2-8 expanded by the revelation of “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” to John?

In your opinion, how does the calm and truthful “I am” of Jesus to the high priest’s question, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” in Mark 14:53-65 establish Him as the “faithful witness” to all of Revelation 1:4-8? 

In your opinion, how is Stephen in Acts 6:8-15 an example of those freed from sins being a “kingdom and priests” as Revelation 1:4-8 says? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Mark, Acts and Revelation reveal to us about the different aspects of the One who says “I am”? 

In your opinion, how can we, to whom God has been revealed by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Jesus and John become more like Stephen in a world of hostility and anger?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)