A Prepared Heart
Joshua 24:19-24 - New International
Version (NIV)
19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous
God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If
you forsake the Lord and
serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make
an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”
22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that
you have chosen to serve the Lord.”
“Yes, we are witnesses,”
they replied.
23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that
are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”
Why did Joshua tell the people they would be unable to serve the
Lord (verse 19)?
What will happen if the people “forsake the
Lord and serve foreign gods” (verse 20)?
How did the people respond to Joshua (verse 21)?
Who will be the witnesses against the people (verse
22)?
What did Joshua tell the people to throw away (verse
23)?
What were the people to yield “to the Lord,
the God of Israel” (verse 23)?
How did the people respond to Joshua’s
instruction to throw away and to yield (verse 24)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about
responding to or for God?
Matthew 27:11-31 – New International Version (NIV)
11 Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked
him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave
no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the
testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus
made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the
governor.
15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a
prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they
had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. 17 So
when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to
release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” 18 For
he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent
him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I
have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask
for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the
governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the
Messiah?” Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an
uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of
the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your
responsibility!”
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus
flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the
Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They
stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then
twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in
his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of
the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the
staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After
they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him.
Then they led him away to crucify him.
How does Jesus answer Pilate’s question “are you the king of the
Jews” (verse 11)?
How
did Jesus respond to the accusations of the chief priests and elders (verse 12)?
What
amazed the governor (verses 13 and 14)?
Who
did Pilate offer to release (verse 17)?
What message did Pilate’s wife send him (verse
19)?
Who persuaded the crowd “to have
Jesus executed” (verse 20)?
How
did the crowd answer Pilate’s question about who to release (verse 21)?
How
did the crowd answer Pilate’s question about what to do with Jesus (verse 22)?
What
did Pilate do when he “saw that he was getting nowhere” (verse 24)?
Who
did the crowd say Jesus’s blood was on (verse 25)?
What
did Pilate do with Jesus (verse 26)?
Who
stripped Jesus, put a scarlet robe on Him, put a crown of thorns on His head, told
Him “Hail, king of the Jews”, spit on Him, and struck Him on the head
(verses 27-30)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to or for God?
In
your opinion, how could the descendants of the people who said “we will
serve the Lord our God and obey him” in Joshua 24:19-24 end up shouting to
crucify Jesus and that “His blood is on us and our children” in Matthew
27:11-31?
Acts 5:25-33 –
New International Version (NIV)
25 Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are
standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” 26 At
that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not
use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.
27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the
Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We
gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have
filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of
this man’s blood.”
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather
than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised
Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God
exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might
bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We
are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God
has given to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put
them to death.
What were the men who had been put in
jail doing (verse 25)?
Why did the captain and his officers not use force (verse
26)?
Who questioned the apostles (verse 27)?
What did the high priest say the apostles “are
determined to make us guilty of” (verse 28)?
How did Peter and the apostles reply (verse 29)?
Who “raised Jesus from the dead” (verse 30)?
Who killed Jesus “by hanging him on a cross”
(verse 30)?
Why did God exalt Jesus “to his own right hand as
Prince and Savior” (verse 31)?
Who are the witnesses (verse 32)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what
does this passage teach us about responding to or for God?
In
your opinion, what is the difference between the Israelite people in Joshua 24:19-24
saying “we will serve the Lord our God and obey him” and the apostles in
Acts 5:25-33 saying “we must obey God rather than human beings”?
In
your opinion, why do the people who shouted “His blood is on us and on our
children” in Matthew 27:11-31 get upset and accuse the apostles of being “determined
to make us guilty of this man’s blood” in Acts 5:25-33?
1
Peter 3:15-18 – New International Version (NIV)
15 But in your hearts revere
Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you
to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness
and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those
who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of
their slander. 17 For it is
better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing
evil. 18 For Christ also suffered
once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to
God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
Where
should we “revere Christ as Lord” (verse 15)?
Who
should we “always be prepared to give an answer to” (verse 15)?
How
should we give that answer (verse 15)?
Why
should we keep a clear conscience (verse 16)?
What is better than suffering “for
doing evil” (verse 17)?
Who suffered for sins (verse 18)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage
teach us about responding to or for God?
In your opinion, how does Jesus’s selective
answers to the questions that Pilate asked him in Matthew 27:11-31 help us
understand what Peter meant in 1 Peter 3:15-18 when he encouraged Christians to
“always be prepared to give an answer”?
In your opinion, how do the apostles in
Acts 5:25-33 help us understand what Peter means by saying “always be
prepared to give an answer” in 1 Peter 3:15-18?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Joshua, Matthew, Acts and 1 Peter teach
us about yielding our hearts to God?
In your opinion, how does revering God help us to “always
be prepared to give an answer . . . with gentleness and respect”?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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