Love’s Open Door
Nehemiah
2:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)
1 In the
month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was
brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in
his presence before, 2 so the king asked me, “Why does
your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of
heart.”
I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the
king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the
city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been
destroyed by fire?”
4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I
answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor
in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are
buried so that I can rebuild it.”
6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How
long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king
to send me; so I set a time.
7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to
the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me
safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a
letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make
beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and
for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was
on me, the king granted my requests. 9 So I went to
the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had
also sent army officers and cavalry with me.
10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite
official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come
to promote the welfare of the Israelites.
How was Nehemiah different in the presence of King Artaxerxes (verse
1)?
In your opinion, why was Nehemiah “very much
afraid” (verse 2)?
Why did Nehemiah’s face look sad (verse 3)?
What did Nehemiah do before he answered the
King’s question, “what is it you want” (verse 4)?
How did Nehemiah answer the question (verse 5)?
What did the King want to know (verse 6)?
In your opinion, why would Nehemiah ask for letters
to the governors asking for safe-conduct (verse 7)?
What else did Nehemiah ask for (verse 8)?
Why did the King grant Nehemiah’s requests (verse
8)?
Who did the King send with Nehemiah (verse 9)?
Why were Sanballat and Tobiah upset (verse
10)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how has the Lord opened a door
in this passage?
John 4:39-45 - New
International Version (NIV)
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because
of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So
when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he
stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more
became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what
you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is
the Savior of the world.”
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now
Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own
country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans
welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover
Festival, for they also had been there.
Why
did “many of the Samaritans from that town” believe (verse 39)?
What did the Samaritans urge Jesus to do (verse
40)?
What did Jesus do (verse 40)?
Why did “many more” become
believers (verse 41)?
What did the people know because they
heard for themselves (verse 42)?
Where did Jesus leave for (verse 43)?
What had Jesus pointed out about a
prophet (verse 44)?
How did the Galileans respond to Jesus (verse
45)?
What had the Galileans seen (verse 45)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, how
has the Lord opened a door in this passage?
In your opinion, what are the differences between
Nehemiah and Jesus that would cause “Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official”
to be disturbed by the presence of Nehemiah in
Nehemiah 2:1-10 but the Samaritans, also foreigners rejected by Israel, to have
urged Jesus to stay in John 4:39-45?
Are there alsodifferences between Sanballat and Tobiah on one hand and
the Samaritans on the other that would bring about the different reactions?
1
John 3:11-24 –
New International Version (NIV)
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We
should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who
belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he
murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were
righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and
sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we
have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who
does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a
brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has
eternal life residing in him.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life
for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and
sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a
brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God
be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love
with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our
hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn
us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear
friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before
God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because
we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And
this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus
Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The
one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this
is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
What is the message “heard from the beginning”
(verse 11)?
Who did Cain belong to (verse 12)?
Why did Cain murder his brother (verse 12)?
What should not surprise Christians (verse 13)?
How do Christians know they have passed from death to
life (verse 14)?
Who remains “in death” (verse 14)?
Who
is a murderer (verse 15)?
How
do we know what love is (verse 16)?
How
are Christians to love (verse 18)?
In
your opinion, what does John mean when he says that we can “set our hearts
at rest in his presence” because if our hearts condemn us “we know that
God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (verses 19 and 20)?
When
can “we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask”
(verses 21 and 22)?
What
is God’s command (verse 23)?
How
do we know “that he lives in us” (verse 24)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how has the Lord opened a door
in this passage?
In your opinion, how is the conflict between the Israelites and the
Horonites and Ammonites in Nehemiah 2:1-10 and Cain and his brother as reported
in 1 John 3:11-24 an indication of the reaction that Christians can expect from
the world today? How does this
conflict make it harder to be obedient to John’s instruction to “love each
other”?
In your opinion, how
can the Samaritan woman in John 4:39-45 serve as an example of the command of 1
John 3:11-24 to “love each other”?
Revelation
3:7-13 – New International Version (NIV)
7 “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of
him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he
opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I
know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no
one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word
and have not denied my name. 9 I will make those who are of
the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but
are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge
that I have loved you. 10 Since you have kept my command
to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is
going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the
earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no
one will take your crown. 12 The one who is
victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again
will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name
of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of
heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. 13 Whoever
has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Who is John to write to (verse 7)?
How is Jesus, who gives the words, described (verse 7)?
In your opinion, why is it important to tell the
church of Philadelphia “what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no
one can open” (verse 7)?
What does He know (verse 8)?
What has the church in Philadelphia done even though
they “have little strength” (verse 8)?
Who will Jesus make come and fall at the feet of the
church in Philadelphia and acknowledge that Jesus loves them (verse 9)?
Why will the church in Philadelphia be kept from “the
hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants
of the earth” (verse 10)?
Why are they to “hold on to what you have” (verse
11)?
Who will be made “a pillar in the temple of my God”
(verse 12)?
In your opinion, what is the significance of having
the name of God, the name of the city of God and the name of Jesus written on
the victorious (verse 12)?
Who is to hear (verse 13)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how has the Lord opened
a door in this passage?
In your opinion, how does
the story of Nehemiah and Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2:1-10 illustrate the ability
of God to open doors and described in Revelation 3:7-13?
In your opinion, why
would people not have expected the Samaritan woman in John 4:39-45 to be like
the members of the Church of Philadelphia who were commended in Revelation
3:7-13?
In your opinion, how is the love of God demonstrated
in these passages from Nehemiah, John, 1 John and Revelation?
In your opinion, could the love of God be considered
the door that Jesus opens that cannot be closed? Why or why not?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
