Loving Because We’re Loved
Deuteronomy 10:12-20
– New International
Version (NIV)
12 And now, Israel, what does
the Lord your God ask of
you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love
him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you
today for your own good?
14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the
highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and
loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the
nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your
hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of
lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no
partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the
fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you,
giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to
love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in
Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to
him and take your oaths in his name.
Who is asking Israel to do these things: fear the Lord, walk in obedience,
love the Lord, serve the Lord “with all your heart and with all your soul,
and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees” (verses 12 and 13)?
Why were the “commands
and decrees” given to the people of Israel (verse 13)?
What punctuation
does the sentence that makes up verses 12 and 13 end with?
Who do the “the
highest heavens, the earth and everything in it” belong to (verse 14)?
How did the Lord
feel about the ancestors of the Israelites (verse 15)?
In your opinion, why
does Moses include the instructions to “circumcise your hearts” and to “not
be stiff-necked any longer” in the same short sentence? How are they related (verse 16)?
Who is “mighty
and awesome” (verse 17)?
Who does the Lord
defend (verse 18)?
Who are the
Israelites to love (verse 19)?
Who are the
Israelites to “hold fast to” (verse 20)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what
does this passage teach us about loving others?
Matthew 4:23-25 - New International Version (NIV)
23 Jesus went throughout
Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good
news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the
people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and
people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering
severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the
paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from
Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan
followed him.
Where did Jesus teach (verse 23)?
What did Jesus proclaim (verse 23)?
How many
diseases and sicknesses did Jeus heal (verse 23)?
Where did the news of Jesus spread to (verse 24)?
Who was brought to Jesus (verse 24)?
What did Jesus do (verse 24)?
Who followed Jesus (verse 25)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about loving others?
In your opinion, how do Jesus’s actions in Matthew 4:23-25 show His
obedience to the instructions Moses gave the Israelite people in Deuteronomy
10:12-20?
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3 - New International
Version (NIV)
27 Now you
are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And
God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second
prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of
helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are
all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do
all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all
interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
And yet
I will show you the most excellent way.
13 1
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I
have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all
knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do
not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to
the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do
not have love, I gain nothing.
What is each Christian a part of (verse 27)?
Who has placed apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles,
healing, helping, guidance and tongues in the church (verse 28)?
Do all
Christians have all the gifts (verses 29 and 30)?
What is Paul going to show (verse 31)?
What is missing if Paul could speak in “the tongues
of men or of angels” but was only “a resounding gong or a clanging
cymbal” (verse 1)?
When would Paul be nothing even if he had “the gift
of prophecy” and could “fathom all mysteries and all knowledge” and
had “a faith that can move mountains” (verse 2)?
What would Paul gain if he gave everything to the poor
and his body to hardship, but did not love (verse 3)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about loving
others?
In your opinion, how can 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3 be
thought of as the Christian’s version of Moses’s instruction to the Israelite
people to “Circumcise your
hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer” from Deuteronomy 10:12-20?
In your
opinion, how does seeing what Jesus did in Matthew 4:23-25 help us understand
what Paul wants Christians, as the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3,
to be motivated to do today?
1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 – New International Version
(NIV)
14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those
who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the
weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays
back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each
other and for everyone else.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat
prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is
faithful, and he will do it.
Who are Christians to warn (verse 14)?
Who are Christians to be patient with (verse 14)?
What should Christians “always strive to do” (verse 15)?
When should Christians “rejoice” (verse 16)?
When should Christians “pray” (verse 17)?
Why should Christians “give thanks in all circumstances”
(verse 18)?
Who should Christians “not quench” (verse 19)?
What should Christians test (verses 20 and 21)?
How should Christians treat evil (verse 22)?
What does Paul pray that “the God of peace” will do
for each Christian (verse 23)?
What does the “one who calls” do (verses 23 and 24)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion,
what does this passage teach us about loving others?
In your opinion, how does Paul’s prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and
through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” help Christians
deal with the impossibility of perfectly obeying the Deuteronomy
10:12-20 commands to “fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love
him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul”?
In
your opinion, how does Jesus in Matthew 4:23-25 model for us what Paul means
when he instructs Christians to encourage, help, be patient, and rejoice in 1
Thessalonians 5:14-24?
In your opinion, how
does 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3 teach us about how to more successfully follow
the instructions in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Matthew,
1 Corinthians, and 1 Thessalonians teach us about why having a circumcised heart
is vital in our relationship with God?
What does it mean in our relationship with others?
In your
opinion, how does knowing we can trust “the God of peace” help us when
we feel too “stiff-necked” to do our part in the “body of Christ”
today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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