Seeking His Kingdom and His Righteousness
Isaiah 11:1-10 - New International
Version (NIV)
1 A
shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will
rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the
poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the
wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
6 The wolf will live with
the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the
viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a
banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his
resting place will be glorious.
Where will the shoot “come up from”
(verse 1)?
Who will rest on the shoot (verse 2)?
In your opinion, how can you “delight in the
fear of the Lord” (verse 3)?
How will He judge the needy (verse 4)?
What “will be his belt” (verse 5)?
Where will the wolf live (verse 6)?
What will the lion eat (verse 7)?
Where will the young child put its hand (verse 8)?
What will fill the earth “as the water
covers the sea” (verse 9)?
Who will “stand as a banner for the peoples”
(verse 10)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of Christ’s
righteousness in a Christian life?
Matthew
6:25-34 - New
International Version (NIV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you
will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more
than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the
birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than
they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour
to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the
field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you
that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of
these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the
field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not
much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not
worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we
wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and
your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of
its own.
What is life more than (verse 25)?
Who feeds the “birds of the air” (verse 26)?
In your opinion, “can any one of you by worrying
add a single hour to your life” (verse
27)?
What don’t the flowers of the field do (verse 28)?
Who was not “dressed like one of these” (verse
29)?
What happens to the “grass of the field” (verse
30)?
What do pagans run after (verses 31 and 32)?
When are we to seek “his kingdom and his
righteousness” (verse 33)?
What does each day have enough of (verse 34)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what
does this passage teach us about the importance of Christ’s righteousness in a
Christian life?
In
your opinion, how is not worrying about what we eat, drink or wear, as
instructed by Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34 a part of seeking the kingdom described
in Isaiah 11:1-10?
Ephesians 6:10-20 – New International Version (NIV)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put
on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the
devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of
God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your
ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand
firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the
breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your
feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In
addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take
the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds
of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on
praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for
me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will
fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for
which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it
fearlessly, as I should.
How
should we “be strong” (verse 10)?
Why
should we “put on the full armor of God” (verse 11)?
Who
are our struggles against (verse 12)?
What
does putting on the full armor of God enable us to do “when the day of evil
comes” (verse 13)?
Where should the breastplate of
righteousness be (verse 14)?
In your opinion, what is the source of
the righteousness?
How should our feet be fitted (verse
15)?
What
can the shield of faith do (verse 16)?
What
is the “sword of the Spirit” (verse 17)?
When
should we pray (verse 18)?
What
did Paul want prayers for him to ask for (verse 19)?
How
did Paul want to declare the “mystery of the gospel” (verse 20)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, why
are the things that the “Spirit of the Lord” will rest upon the branch
in Isaiah 11:1-10 different from the things the believer is to put on to stand
against the devil’s schemes in Ephesians 6:10-20?
In
your opinion, how is equipping yourself with the whole armor of God to stand
against the devil’s schemes as instructed by Paul in Ephesians 6:10-20 a part
of the seeking “first his kingdom and his righteousness” as commanded in
Matthew 6:25-34?
2 Peter 1:1-8 – New International
Version (NIV)
1 Simon
Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of
our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we
need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through
these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that
through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith
goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge,
self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance,
godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to
mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and
unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who does Simon Peter write the letter to (verse 1)?
How
are the readers to receive “grace and peace” (verse 2)?
What
has “His divine power” given us (verse 3)?
What
can Christians participate in through “his very great and precious promises”
(verse 4)?
What
are we to add to faith (verse 5)?
What
is the chain that connects faith to love (verses 5, 6, and 7)? Faith, _____________, _____________,
_____________, _____________, _____________, _____________, Love
In
your opinion, why is righteousness not a part of that chain?
How
do we keep from “being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 8)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage
teach us about the importance of Christ’s righteousness in a Christian life?
In your opinion, how
does 2 Peter 1:1-8 help us understand why it is important that Isaiah 11:1-10
highlights the righteousness of the Branch?
In your opinion, how does having
confidence in the promise that “His divine
power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our
knowledge of him who called us” in
2 Peter 1:1-8 help us move away from the worrying that Matthew 6:25-34
instructs us to avoid?
In your opinion, how are the things that
Christians are to put on in Ephesians 6:10-20 different from the things that
Christians are to possess in increasing qualities in 2 Peter 1:1-8 different? Why would Christians need both?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Ephesians and 2
Peter teach us about how seeking “his kingdom and his righteousness” is
the beginning of the way that Christians escape the “corruption of the world
caused by evil desires”?
In your
opinion, how is seeking “his kingdom and his righteousness” critical to
balancing our standing against the devil’s schemes and being productive in our “knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ”?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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