Responding to God’s Perfect Faithfulness
Isaiah
25:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)
1 Lord, you are
my God;
I
will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness
you
have done wonderful things,
things
planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the
fortified town a ruin,
the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;
it
will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you;
cities
of ruthless nations will revere you.
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a
refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and
a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is
like a storm driving against a wall
5 and like the heat of the desert.
You silence the uproar of foreigners;
as
heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,
so
the song of the ruthless is stilled.
6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty
will prepare
a
feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the
best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the
shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will
wipe away the tears
from
all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from
all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
How has the Lord done the “wonderful things, things planned long
ago” (verse 1)?
What has the Lord made of the “fortified
town” (verse 2)?
Who will honor the Lord (verse 3)?
In your opinion, what does it mean to say that
the Lord is “a shelter from the storm” (verse 4)?
What will the Lord prepare on “this mountain”
(verse 6)?
What is the “shroud that enfolds all
peoples, the sheet that covers all nations” that the Lord will swallow up
forever (verses 7 and 8)?
Who will “wipe away the tears from all
faces” (verse 8)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
Mark 14:22-26 - New
International Version (NIV)
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given
thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it;
this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to
them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I
will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it
new in the kingdom of God.”
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
What did Jesus say after He “took
bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples” (verse
22)?
Who drank from the cup (verse 23)?
What did Jesus say was “poured out for
many” (verse 24)?
When will Jesus drink the fruit of the
vine again (verse 25)?
What did they do before going to the
Mount of Olives (verse 26)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does Jesus giving His body and
His blood in the meal in Mark 14:22-26 have to do with the Lord removing the “shroud
that enfolds all peoples” in Isaiah 25:1-8?
Acts
16:16-34 –
New International Version (NIV)
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met
by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She
earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She
followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most
High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She
kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned
around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to
come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was
gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the
marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them
before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city
into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us
Romans to accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the
magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After
they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the
jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When
he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet
in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing
hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly
there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were
shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains
came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the
prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he
thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted,
“Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before
Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked,
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be
saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word
of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At
that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then
immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The
jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was
filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole
household.
How was the female slave able to predict the future
(verse 15)?
What did the slave who followed Paul shout (verses 16
and 17)?
When did the spirit leave her (verse 18)?
When did the slave’s owners seize Paul
and Silas and bring them to the magistrates (verses 19 and 20)?
What
did the magistrates order (verses 22)?
Where
did the jailer put Paul and Silas after they had been “severely flogged” (verses
23 and 24)?
What
were the other prisoners listening to “about midnight” (verse 25)?
What
made the prison doors fly open and the prisoner’s chains come loose (verse
26)?
Why
was the jailer going to kill himself (verse 27)?
In
your opinion, why did the jailer rush to Paul and Silas and ask “sirs, what
must I do to be saved” (verses 28 through 30)?
How
did Paul and Silas answer (verse 31)?
What
did they speak to the jailer and his household (verse 32)?
How
did the jailer respond (verse 33)?
Why
was the jailer “filled with joy” (verse 34)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In
your opinion, who, in Acts 16:16-34, was the needy that
Isaiah 25:1-8 says the Lord will be a refuge for “in their distress”?
In
your opinion, how is Jesus’s message at the last supper in Mark 14:22-26
related to the salvation of the jailer and his household in Acts 16:16-34?
Romans 12:1-8
– New International Version (NIV)
1 Therefore,
I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true
and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then
you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good,
pleasing and perfect will.
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not
think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with
sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of
you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many
members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so
in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all
the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to
the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy
in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving,
then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to
encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give
generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show
mercy, do it cheerfully.
What is “true and proper worship” (verse 1)?
How are we to be transformed (verse 2)?
In your opinion, what does Paul mean when he says
that we “will be able to test and approve what God’s will is” (verse 2)?
How are we to think of ourselves (verse 3)?
What do a body’s members not have (verse 4)?
Who do members of the body of Christ belong to (verse
5)?
How are we given different gifts (verse 6)?
What should we do with the gifts that we have been
given (verses 6 through 8)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how do
those who are needy and seek refuge in the Lord as promised by Isaiah 25:1-8 end
up receiving much more than the refuge they seek according to Romans 12:1-8?
In your opinion, what does Romans 12:1-8
teach us about the “new covenant” that Jesus spoke of in Mark 14:22-26?
In your opinion, what does
Paul and Silas “praying and singing hymns” in Acts 16:16-34 while they
were in stocks and after receiving a severe flogging show that they done with
God’s “good, pleasing and perfect will” that Paul mentions in Romans
3:19-26?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah,
Mark, Acts and Romans teach us about the perfect faithfulness of God and what
He planned long ago?
In your
opinion, how can we respond to God’s “good, pleasing and perfect will”?
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