Saturday, June 17, 2023

July 9, 2023 – John’s Writings – A People of New Hearts

A People of New Hearts

Ezekiel 36:24-32 - New International Version (NIV)

24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices. 32 I want you to know that I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and disgraced for your conduct, people of Israel!

Where will the Lord gather his people from (verse 24)?

Where will He bring them back to (verse 24)?

When will the people be clean (verse 25)?

What will they be cleansed from (verse 25)?

What kind of heart will the people be given (verse 26)?

How is their current heart described (verse 26)?

Whose Spirit will be put into the people (verse 27)?

What will the relationship between the people and God be (verse 28)?

What will God save the people from (verse 29)?

Why will the people no longer suffer disgrace because of famine (verse 30)?

Why will the people loathe themselves (verse 31)?

Who will these things not be done for (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s kingdom?

John 18:33-38 - New International Version (NIV)

33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.

Where did Pilate go (verse 33)?

What did Pilate ask Jesus (verse 33)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask “is that your own idea” (verse 34)?

How did Pilate respond to the question (verse 35)?

What did Jesus say about His kingdom (verse 36)?

What did Pilate conclude about Jesus (verse 37)?

Why did Jesus say that He “was born and came into the world” (verse 37)?

Who listens to Jesus (verse 37)?

In your opinion, why did Pilate say “what is truth” (verse 38)?

Who did Pilate tell “I find no basis for a charge against him” (verse 38)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s kingdom?

In your opinion, does Jesus’s statement in John 18:33-38 that “my kingdom is not of this world” your understanding of the prophesy “I will gather you from all the countries” in Ezekiel 36:24-32?

1 John 3:11-18 – 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.

What is the message “you heard from the beginning” (verse 11)?

Who “belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother” (verse 12)?

Why did he murder his brother (verse 12)?

What should Christians not be surprised by (verse 13)?

What do Christians know “because we love each other” (verse 14)?

Who is a murderer (verse 15)?

What does no murderer have residing in themselves (verse 15)?

How do we “know what love is” (verse 16)?

Who can love not be in (verse 17)?

How are we commanded to love (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s kingdom?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 3:11-18 help us understand the new heart and new spirit that Ezekiel 36:24-32 says will be given those who are cleansed?

In your opinion, how is the truth that Jesus says that He came to testify to in John 18:33-38 represented in 1 John 3:11-18?

Revelation 21:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

What did John see (verse 1)?

What had happened to “the first heaven and the first earth” (verse 1)?

Where was the Holy City coming from (verse 2)?

How was the Holy City prepared (verse 2)?

Where is God’s dwelling place (verse 3)?

Why is there “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (verse 4)?

Who says “I am making everything new” (verse 5)?

What will “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” give without cost (verse 6)?

Who will “inherit all this” (verse 7)?

What are “the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars” consigned to and what is it (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s kingdom?

In your opinion, what does the promise in Ezekiel 36:24-32 to cleanse from their impurities those who are gathered teach us about the people who God is going to dwell with according to Revelation 21:1-8?

In your opinion, how is the kingdom Jesus spoke of in John 18:33-38 revealed in Revelation 21:1-8?

In your opinion, for those who 1 John 3:11-18 says are hated by the world, how is everything transformed by the promises of Revelation 21:1-8? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation help us understand about the hearts of the people of the kingdom of God and of the people who hate them?

In your opinion, how do people move from hate to love?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment