Building on the Cornerstone
Psalm 118:15-25 – New International Version (NIV)
15 Shouts of joy and victory
resound
in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty
things!
16 The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the
Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17 I will not die but live,
and
will proclaim what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has
chastened me severely,
but
he has not given me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I
will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord
through
which the righteous may enter.
21 I will give you thanks, for you answered
me;
you
have become my salvation.
22 The stone the builders
rejected
has
become the cornerstone;
23 the Lord has done
this,
and
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 The Lord has done it
this very day;
let
us rejoice today and be glad.
25 Lord, save us!
Lord, grant us success!
Where do “shouts of joy and victory” resound (verse 15)?
What has “the Lord’s right hand” done (verse 16)?
What will the Psalmist proclaim (verse 17)?
How has the Lord “chastened” the Psalmist (verse 18)?
Which gates does the Psalmist want opened (verse 19)?
Where may the righteous enter (verse 20)?
What has the Lord become (verse 21)?
Who rejected the stone that become the cornerstone (verse 22)?
Who “has done this” (verse 23)?
How should we respond to what the Lord has done (verse 24)?
Who do we ask to “save us” (verse 25)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your
opinion, what does this passage teach us about accepting Jesus?
Matthew 21:33-46 - New International
Version (NIV)
33 “Listen
to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall
around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the
vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When
the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his
fruit.
35 “The
tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first
time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of
all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But
when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come,
let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him
and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore,
when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will
bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the
vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest
time.”
42 Jesus
said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The
stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore
I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a
people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this
stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
45 When the
chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking
about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they
were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
What did the landowner do with the vineyard
(verse 33)?
When did he send his servants (verse 34)?
How were the servants
treated (verse 35)?
How many servants did the landowner
send the second time (verse 36)?
Why did he
send his son (verse 37)?
How did the
tenants respond to the son (verses 38 and 39)?
What will the
landowner do (verses 40 and 41)?
What has “become
the cornerstone” (verse 42)?
Who will the “kingdom
of God” be given to (verse 43)?
What will
happen to someone who falls on the stone (verse 44)?
Who was Jesus
talking about (verse 45)?
Why was Jesus
not arrested (verse 46)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your
opinion, what does this passage teach us about accepting Jesus?
In your
opinion, what is different about the Psalmist in Psalms 118:15-25 and the
tenants in Matthew 21:33-49?
Acts 4:8-22 - New International Version (NIV)
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we
are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was
lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this,
you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man
stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is
“‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be
saved.”
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and
John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished
and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But
since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them,
there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to
withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 “What
are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem
knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But
to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn
them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
18 Then they called them in again and
commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But
Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to
him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking
about what we have seen and heard.”
21 After further threats they let them
go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were
praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was
miraculously healed was over forty years old.
Who filled Peter (verse 8)?
What did Peter want the rulers and elders to know about how
the man was healed (verses 9 and 10)?
In your opinion, what does Peter saying “you builders”
in his description of Jesus as the cornerstone mean to all those who had
gathered (verse 11)?
Where is salvation found (verse 12)?
Why were the rulers and elders who gathered “astonished”
(verse 13)?
Who stood with Peter and John (verse 14)?
What did the rulers and elders want to accomplish (verses 15
– 17)?
What did they command Peter and John not to do (verse 18)?
How did Peter and John respond (verses 19 and 20)?
Why could the rulers and elders not decide how to punish
them (verse 21)?
How old was the man who was healed (verse 22)?
In your opinion,
what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about
accepting Jesus?
In your opinion, how are Peter and John in Acts 4:8-22 and
the Psalmist in Psalms 118:15-25 alike?
In your opinion, what does Acts 4:8-22 help us understand
about the people that Jesus said the kingdom of God would be given to in
Matthew 21:33-46?
1 Peter 2:4-12 - New International Version (NIV)
4 As you come to him, the living
Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual
house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in
Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is
precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders
rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and,
“A stone that causes
people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they
disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as
foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against
your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the
pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good
deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Who is “rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to
him” (verse 4)?
Why are believers, like living stones, “being built into
a spiritual house” (verse 5)?
Who will “never be put to shame” (verse 6)?
In your opinion, what is the difference between the stone
being “precious” to those who believe and the “cornerstone” for those
who do not believe (verse 7)?
Why do those who do not believe stumble (verse 8)?
What are the “chosen people” declare (verse 9)?
What have the “people of God” received (verse 10)?
What do “sinful desires” do (verse 11)?
Who should see the good deeds of believers (verse 12)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about
accepting Jesus?
In your opinion, how
is Psalm 118:15-25 as model for the “chosen people” of 1 Peter 2:4-12?
In your opinion, how does 1 Peter 2:4-12 help us understand
the “kingdom of God” that Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 21:33-46?
In your opinion, how does 1 Peter 2:4-12 help us understand
what Peter meant in Acts 4:8-22 when he questioned the rulers and elders about
listening to them or God?
In your
opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Matthew, Acts, and 1 Peter teach
us about how Jesus is rejected?
In
your opinion, how do we build on the cornerstone today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
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