Choosing Our Food
Ezekiel
21:8-17 - New International Version (NIV)
8 The word of the Lord came
to me: 9 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the
Lord says:
“‘A sword, a sword,
sharpened and polished—
10 sharpened for the slaughter,
polished to flash like lightning!
“‘Shall we rejoice in
the scepter of my royal son? The sword despises every such stick.
11 “‘The sword is appointed to be polished,
to be grasped with the hand;
it is sharpened and polished,
made ready for the hand of the slayer.
12 Cry out and wail, son of man,
for it is against my people;
it is against all the princes of Israel.
They are thrown to the sword
along with my people.
Therefore beat your breast.
13 “‘Testing will surely come. And what if even the
scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the
Sovereign Lord.’
14 “So then, son of man, prophesy
and strike your hands together.
Let the sword strike twice,
even three times.
It is a sword for slaughter—
a sword for great slaughter,
closing in on them from every side.
15 So that hearts may melt with fear
and the fallen be many,
I have stationed the sword for slaughter
at all their gates.
Look! It is forged to strike like lightning,
it is grasped for slaughter.
16 Slash to the right, you sword,
then to the left,
wherever your blade is turned.
17 I too will strike my hands together,
and my wrath will subside.
I the Lord have spoken.”
What
is the purpose of the sharpened sword Ezekiel is prophesying for the Lord about
(verses 8 - 10)?
In your opinion, what does it mean that the
sword despises the “scepter of my royal son” (verse 10)?
Whose hand is the sharpened and polished sword
made ready for (verse 11)?
Why was Ezekiel to “cry out and wail” (verse
12)?
What will “surely come” (verse 13)?
Where is the sword “closing” in from (verse
14)?
How will hearts react (verse 15)?
Why is the sword grasped (verse 15)?
When will the Lord’s wrath subside (verse
17)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage show
that God is in control?
John 6:22-27 - New
International Version (NIV)
22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of
the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had
not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then
some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten
the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the
crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into
the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for
me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the
loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that
spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of
Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of
approval.”
Who realized that “only one boat had
been there” (verse 22)?
How had the disciples “gone away” (verse
22)?
Where did the “boats from Tiberias” land
(verse 23)?
When did the crowd get into the boats
(verse 24)?
Why did they go to Capernaum (verse 24)?
In your opinion, why did they ask Jesus “Rabbi,
when did you get here” (verse 25)?
Why did Jesus say they were not looking
for Him (verse 26)?
Why did Jesus say they were looking for
Him (verse 26)?
Where will the food that “endures to
eternal life” come from (verse 27)?
What has God the Father placed on the Son
of Man (verse 27)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, how
does this passage show that God is in control?
In your opinion, how are the people that Ezekiel is
speaking to in Ezekiel 21:8-17 and the people that Jesus is speaking to in John
6:22-27 similar?
3
John 5-12 –
New International Version (NIV)
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the
brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They
have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner
that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the
Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We
ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together
for the truth.
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will
not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call
attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not
satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also
stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is
good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what
is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius is well spoken of
by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you
know that our testimony is true.
Who are the “brothers and sisters” that John’s
dear friend is “doing for” (verse 5)?
What have those “brothers and sisters” told
the church (verse 6)?
How are they to be sent on (verse 6)?
Why did they go out (verse 7)?
Who did they not receive help from (verse 7)?
Why should hospitality be shown “to
such people” (verse 8)?
What
did Diotrephes love (verse 9)?
What
does Diotrephes do to those who want to welcome other believers (verse 10)?
What
does John want his dear friend to imitate (verse 11)?
How
is Demetrius “spoken of” (verse 12)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage show
that God is in control?
In your opinion, how do
Diotrephes and Demetrius in 3 John 5-12 illustrate the difference between “working
for the food that spoils” and “working for the food that endures to
eternal life” that Jesus talked about in John 6:22-27?
Revelation
6:9-17 – New International Version (NIV)
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the
testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a
loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you
judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then
each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little
longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were
killed just as they had been.
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great
earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat
hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in
the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a
strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being
rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich,
the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among
the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the
mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him
who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For
the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
Where are the “souls of those who had
been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained”
(verse 9)?
What did they cry out (verse 10)?
In your opinion, why were they given a white robe (verse
11)?
How long were they to wait (verse 11)?
When did the great earthquake happen (verse 12)?
How did the “stars in the sky” fall to earth (verse
13)?
What happened to “every mountain and island” (verse
14)?
Who “hid in caves and among the rocks of the
mountains” (verse 15)?
Why did they want the mountains and the rocks to “fall
on us” (verse 16)?
What has come (verse 17)?
In your opinion, are these people who cry out right
when they say “who can withstand it” (verse 17)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how does this passage
show that God is in control?
In your opinion, how are
the disaster that Ezekiel was prophesying would happen to Judah and Jerusalem
in Ezekiel 21:8-17 and the things that happen after the opening of the sixth
seal in Revelation 6:9-17 similar?
In your opinion, how
are the signs that Jesus said He had performed in John 6:22-27 and the signs
that are coming from the opening of the seals in Revelation 6:9-17
different? How are they similar?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel,
John, 3 John and Revelation show us show us about the complexity of the One we
call Lord, Son of Man, the Name, and the Lamb?
In your opinion, how does knowing that our complex Savior
is in midst of every circumstance help us work for the “food that endures to
eternal life”?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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