Responding to God
Genesis 12:1-4 - New International
Version (NIV)
1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from
your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I
will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had
told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years
old when he set out from Harran.
Where was Abram to leave (verse 1)?
Where was Abram to go (verse 1)?
What will the Lord make Abram into (verse 2)?
Who will God bless (verse 3)?
Who will be blessed through Abram (verse 3)?
What did Abram do (verse 4)?
How old was he when he did this (verse 4)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding
to God?
Psalm 121 –
New International Version (NIV)
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where
does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the
Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he
who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will
neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor
the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he
will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will
watch over your coming and going
both
now and forevermore.
What will the psalmist do (verse 1)?
Where
does his help come from (verse 2)?
What
will the watcher not do (verse 3)?
What
will the one who watches over Israel not do (verse 4)?
Who is the watcher (verse 5)?
When will the sun not “harm you” (verse
6)?
What
will the Lord “watch over” (verse 7)?
How
long will the Lord “watch over your coming and going” (verse 8)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?
In
your opinion, how is the message of Psalm 121, a psalm that was sung as the
people made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, appropriate for Abram as he traveled
to the promised land in Genesis 12:1-4?
John
3:1-17 –
New International Version (NIV)
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a
member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at
night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come
from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not
with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the
kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked.
“Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the
kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh
gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You
should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The
wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where
it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not
understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we
speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you
people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to
you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I
speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into
heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just
as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be
lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have
eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only
Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Who was Nicodemus (verse 1)?
What did Nicodemus know about Jesus (verse 2)?
What has to happen for someone to “see
the kingdom of God” (verse 3)?
Why did Nicodemus think this was impossible
(verse 4)?
What
does the person who wants to enter the “kingdom of God” need to be born
of (verse 5)?
Who
“gives birth to spirit” (verse 6)?
What
should not surprise Nicodemus (verse 7)?
Who
can you not tell where they come from or where they are going (verse 8)?
What
did Nicodemus ask (verse 9)?
What
do we “speak of” (verse 11)?
In
your opinion, how can Nicodemus believe Jesus when He speaks “of heavenly
things” (verse 12)?
Who
has “gone into heaven” (verse 13)?
What
must happen to the “Son of Man” (verse 14)?
Who
“may have eternal life in him” (verse 15)?
Why
did God give “his one and only Son” (verse 16)?
What
did God not “send his Son into the world to” do (verse 17)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?
In your
opinion, how are the earthly transition of Abram to a new home in Genesis 12:1-4
and the process of entering the kingdom of heaven that Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus
in John 3:1-17 similar?
In your opinion, how does John 3:1-17 answer Psalm
121’s question, “where does my help come from”?
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 – New International
Version (NIV)
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our
forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If,
in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but
not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham
believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a
gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who
does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited
as righteousness
13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received
the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the
righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who
depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is
worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where
there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by
grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to
those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is
the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made
you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in
whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into
being things that were not.
How
is Abraham described (verse 1)?
What
would Abraham not have to boast about before God (verse 2)?
Why
was it credited to Abraham “as righteousness” (verse 3)?
Who
are wages an obligation to (verse 4)?
Whose
“faith is credited as righteousness” (verse 5)?
How
did “Abraham and his offspring” receive the promise that “he would be
heir of the world” (verse 13)?
When
does “faith” mean nothing (verse 14)?
What
does the law bring (verse 15)?
Who
are “Abraham’s offspring” that the promise comes to by faith (verse 16)?
What
does God do (verse 17)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what
does this passage teach us about responding to God?
In your opinion, how does Romans 4:1-5,
13-17 help us understand what God meant by promising Abram “and all peoples
on earth will be blessed through you” in Genesis 12:1-4?
In
your opinion, how does Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 show fulfillment of the belief expressed
in Psalm 121 that “my help comes from the Lord”?
In your opinion, how does John 3:1-17
help us understand the statement, “the God who gives life to the dead”, in
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17?
In
your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, Psalms, John, and Romans
reveal to us about the promises of God?
In your opinion, what should our response be to God
today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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