It’s Your Choice
Ezekiel 18:25-32 – New International Version (NIV)
25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the
Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not
your ways that are unjust? 26 If a righteous person turns
from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the
sin they have committed they will die. 27 But if a wicked person turns
away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right,
they will save their life. 28 Because they consider all the
offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely
live; they will not die. 29 Yet the Israelites say, ‘The
way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not
your ways that are unjust?
30 “Therefore, you Israelites, I
will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses;
then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all
the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit.
Why will you die, people of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the
death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
What do the Israelites say (verse 25)?
What will happen to the righteous person who “turns from their righteousness” (verse 26)?
How can a wicked person “save their life” (verse 27)?
What does the wicked
person have to consider to “surely live” (verse 28)?
Who says “the way of the Lord is not just” (verse 29)?
How can the Israelites avoid the downfall of sin (verse 30)?
What “new” things are the Israelites to get (verse
31)?
Who takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone”
(verse 32)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the
difference between choosing righteousness or wickedness?
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 - New International
Version (NIV)
24 Jesus
told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who
sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was
sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When
the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The
owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your
field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An
enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The
servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’
he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat
with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At
that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in
bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
36 Then he
left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said,
“Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37 He
answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The
field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The
weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who
sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the
harvesters are angels.
40 “As the
weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the
age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his
angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin
and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the
blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then
the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Whoever has ears, let them hear.
What “is like a man who sowed good seed in his field” (verse 24)?
Who sowed the “weeds among the wheat” (verse 25)?
When did the weeds appear (verse 26)?
Who ask “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?” (verse 27)?
Why didn’t the man who sowed the good seed want the weeds pulled up (verses
28 and 29)?
How long were the wheat and weeds to be allowed to grow together (verse 30)?
What did the disciples ask for (verse 36)?
Who sowed the good seed (verse 37)?
What is the good seed (verse 38)?
When is the harvest (verse 39)?
What will happen to the weeds (verse 40)?
Who will weed out the kingdom of “everything that causes sin and all
who do evil” (verse 41)?
Where is the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verse 42)?
What will the righteous do (verse 43)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference
between choosing righteousness or wickedness?
In your opinion, how does Ezekiel 18:25-32 help us understand why the
owner in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 was patient in removing the weeds?
Ephesians 4:17-24 - New International Version (NIV)
17 So I tell you this, and
insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do,
in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all
sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as
to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way
of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ
and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard
to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being
corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the
attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new
self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
How does Paul define living “as the Gentiles do” (verse 17)?
Why are they “darkened in their understanding and
separated from the life of God” (verse 18)?
What have they lost that causes them to give “themselves
over to sensuality” (verse 19)?
How were the Ephesian Christians taught when they “heard
about Christ” (verses 20 and 21)?
What were the Ephesian Christians taught to do with their “old
self” (verse 22)?
Where were they to “be made new” (verse 23)?
How was their “new self” created (verse 24)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion,
what does this passage teach us about the difference between choosing
righteousness or wickedness?
In your opinion, how
does the command in Ezekiel 18:25-32 to “get a new heart and a new spirit” help
us understand the instruction to “put on a new self” in Ephesians
4:17-24?
In your opinion, what
does Ephesians 4:17-24 help us understand about the wheat and the weeds in
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43?
2 Peter 3:8-18 - New International Version (NIV)
8 But do
not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand
years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is
not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he
is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance.
10 But the
day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a
roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and
everything done in it will be laid bare.
11 Since
everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look
forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring
about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the
heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking
forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
14 So then,
dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be
found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear
in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear
brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He
writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His
letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and
unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to
their own destruction.
17 Therefore,
dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you
may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from
your secure position. 18 But grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both
now and forever! Amen.
What does Peter want those who have faith to remember (verse 8)?
Why is the
Lord patient (verse 9)?
How will “the
day of the Lord” come (verse 10)?
What kind of
lives should the faithful live (verse 11)?
What will “the
day of God” bring about (verse 12)?
Where does
righteousness dwell (verse 13)?
How should
the faithful “make every effort to be found” (verse 14)?
What does “our
Lord’s patience” mean (verse 15)?
What should Peter’s
“dear friends” be on guard for (verse 17)?
How should
Christians grow (verse 18)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion,
what does this passage teach us about the difference between choosing
righteousness or wickedness?
In your opinion, how does 2 Peter 3:8-18 expand on the
necessity of repentance which is commanded in Ezekiel 4:17-24?
In
your opinion, how is the warning about the destruction of the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30,
36-43 broadened in 2 Peter 3:8-18?
In your opinion, how
does 2 Peter 3:8-18 help us understand how one who has put on the “new self”
of Ephesians 4:17-24 should approach life?
In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Ezekiel, Matthew,
Ephesians and 2 Peter teach us about God’s patience?
In your
opinion, how can Christians live righteously today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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