Saturday, October 26, 2024

November 3, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Transforming Call

Transforming Call

Isaiah 6:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Who did Isaiah see “in the year that King Uzziah died” (verse 1)?

Where were the seraphim (verse 2)?

What were the seraphim calling to each other (verse 3)?

What did the seraphim’s voices cause (verse 4)?

Why did Isaiah think he was ruined (verse 5)?

How did the seraphim take away Isaiah’s guilt (verses 6 and 7)?

What was Isaiah’s response to the Lord saying “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us” (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 call?

Matthew 4:18-22 - New International Version (NIV)

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Where was Jesus walking (verse 18)?

Who did Jesus see (verse 18)?

Why were they “casting a net into the lake” (verse 18)?

Where was Jesus going to send them (verse 19)?

How did they respond (verse 20)?

Who did Jesus see when He went “on from there” (verse 21)?

Where were they (verse 21)?

What did they do when Jesus called them (verses 21 and 22)?

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

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that the calling of Isaiah was full of grandeur in Isaiah 6:1-8 but Peter, Andrew, James, and John were simply called from their workplace in Matthew 4:18-22?

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 - New International Version (NIV)

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Why does Paul “always thank my God” for the Corinthian Christians (verse 4)?

How have they been enriched (verse 5)?

What do the Corinthian Christians’ speech and knowledge confirm (verses 5 and 6)?

What do they not lack (verse 7)?

What do they “eagerly wait for” (verse 7)?

How will they be “on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 8)?

Who is faithful (verse 9)?

Where are the Corinthian Christians called (verse 9)?

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

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

In your opinion, how can we, as sinful people, find assurance of God’s grace in the calling of Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-8 and His faithfulness in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9?

In your opinion, how does the enrichment of the Corinthian Christians with spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 demonstrate how Jesus’s promise to transform Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4:18-22 might have been fulfilled?  What does Jesus promise that Peter and Andrew that He would send them out to “fish for people” mean to the Corinthian Christians, and to us?

1 Peter 1:13-25 – New International Version (NIV)

13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

How should Christians’ minds be when they set their “hope on the grace to be brought to your when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” (verse 13)?

What should they not “conform to” (verse 14)?

How should Christians be in all they do (verse 15)?

What is written (verse 16)?

How are Christians to “live out” their time (verse 17)?

What redeemed Christians “from the empty way of life” (verses 18 and 19)?

When was Jesus chosen (verse 20)?

Where are Christians “faith and hope” (verse 21)?

How should Christians love other Christians (verse 22)?

What has happened to Christians “through the living and enduring word of God” (verse 23)?

What endures forever (verse 24)?

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

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

In your opinion, how is God asking “Whom shall I send in Isaiah 6:1-8 similar to Peter’s instruction in 1 Peter 1:13-25 to “love each other deeply, from the heart”?

In your opinion, how does the transformation of Peter from a fisherman in Matthew 4:18-22 to one who provides words on grace and love and the “word of the Lord” in 1 Peter 1:13-25 give hope to each of us today?

In your opinion, how are the transformation of the two very drastically different personalities of Paul and Peter, who were called in dramatically different ways, into people who both share a message of God’s grace reassuring (Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 and Peter in 1 Peter 1:13-25)?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and 1 Peter teach us about responding to God’s call?

In your opinion, how is responding to God’s call the beginning of our own transformation?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

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