March 7, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Heart Conditions

 Heart Conditions

Exodus 34:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. ³ No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

⁴ So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹ “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

What words will the Lord write on the two tablets that Moses chisels out (verse 1)?

Where is Moses to present himself to the Lord (verse 2)?

Who is to come with Moses (verse 3)?

When did Moses go up Mount Sinai (verse 4)?

What did the Lord proclaim (verse 5)?

What is “the Lord, the Lord the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger” abounding in (verse 6)?

Who does the Lord not leave unpunished (verse 7)?

How did Moses react to the Lord (verse 8)?

What does Moses ask for the Lord to do for this “stiff-necked people” (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Mark 10:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

² Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

³ “What did Moses command you?” he replied.

⁴ They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

⁵ “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. ⁶ “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ⁷ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, ⁸ and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

¹⁰ When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. ¹¹ He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. ¹² And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

What did Jesus do when the crowds came to Him (verse 1)?

How did the Pharisees test Jesus (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask “what did Moses command you” (verse 3)?

What did the Pharisees say that Moses permitted (verse 4)?

Why did Jesus say that Moses wrote this law (verse 5)?

How did God make “them” (verse 6)?

Who is a man united to (verse 7)?

What do the two become (verse 8)?

What should “no one separate” (verse 9)?

When did the disciples ask Jesus about this (verse 10)?

When does a husband commit adultery (verse 11)?

When does a wife commit adultery (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is being stiff-necked, like Moses described the people as being in Exodus 34:1-9, and having hard hearts, as Jesus described the people in Mark 10:1-12 similar?  How are they different?

Acts 28:23-28 – New International Version (NIV)

²³ They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. ²⁴ Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. ²⁵ They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:

²⁶ “‘Go to this people and say,
“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
²⁷ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

²⁸ “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”

What did Paul do “from morning till evening” (verse 23)?

How did they react to what Paul said (verse 24)?

What did those who disagreed do (verse 25)?

Who did Paul say spoke the truth (verse 25)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “be ever hearing but never understanding” and “ever seeing but never perceiving” (verse 26)?

What has happened to “this people’s heart” (verse 27)?

Who will listen to “God’s salvation” (verse 28)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does the reaction of the Jewish people to Paul in Acts 28:23-28 show the importance of the prayer of Moses in Exodus 34:1-9 for God to “forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance”?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s teaching in Acts 28:23-28 help us understand the process that causes a person’s heart to become hard enough to reject both God and spouse like Jesus discusses in Mark 10:1-12?

Hebrews 3:12-19 – New International Version (NIV)

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. ¹⁵ As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts
    as you did in the rebellion.”

¹⁶ Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷ And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

What does Paul warn the Hebrews not to have (verse 12)?

What does Paul say to do “so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (verse 13)?

How long are Christians to “hold our original conviction firmly” (verse 14)?

In your opinion, how is hearing God’s voice linked to hardening of hearts (verse 15)?

What is the hardening of hearts linked to (verse 15)?

Who “heard and rebelled” (verse 16)?

What happened to those that God was angry with for forty years (verse 17)?

Why were they unable to enter God’s rest (verses 18 and 19)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 3:12-19 teach us about how to react to the God that Exodus 34:1-9 says is “abounding in love and faithfulness” and who forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin, but does not let the guilty go unpunished? 

In your opinion, how does beginning a question with “is it lawful”, like the Pharisee’s question in Mark 10:1-12, demonstrate that the hardening of the heart “by sin’s deceitfulness, described in Hebrews 3:12-19 has already begun?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s quote “if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” in Hebrews 3:12-19 provide hope for all who might feel condemned by his quote in Acts 28:23-28 when he said, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”  For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Mark, Acts and Hebrews help us understand about how the condition of our heart effects our response to the generosity of God?

In your opinion, how can we “encourage one another daily” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 28, 2018 – Moses and Jesus and Us – Forgiven and Reconciled

Forgiven and Reconciled

Exodus 34:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. ³ No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

⁴ So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹ “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

What did Moses do to the first tablets (verse 1)?

When is Moses to be ready (verse 2)?

Who can come with Moses (verse 3)?

What did Moses chisel out (verse 4)?

Where did the Lord stand (verse 5)?

Who is “abounding in love and faithfulness” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between “forgiving wickedness” and not leaving “the guilty unpunished” (verse 7)?

What did Moses do “at once” (verse 8)?

Who is “stiff-necked” (verse 9)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Luke 23:32-43 - New International Version (NIV)

³² Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. ³³ When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

³⁶ The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷ and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

³⁸ There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Who was led out to be executed with Jesus (verse 32)?

Where were they crucified (verse 33)?

Why did Jesus ask His Father to “forgive them” (verse 34)?

In your opinion, why can’t Jesus save others and Himself (verse 35)?

What did the soldiers do (verse 36)?

How did the soldiers want Jesus to prove that he was “king of the Jews” (verse 37)?

What written notice was above Jesus (verse 38)?

What did one of the criminals want Jesus to do (verse 39)?

How did the other criminal rebuke him (verse 40)?

What did the criminal think that Jesus had done wrong (verse 41)?

In your opinion, why does the criminal, who is suffering torment and dying on the cross, ask for Jesus to “remember me” instead of asking to be taken from the cross (verse 42)?

Where will the criminal join Jesus (verse 43)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is Moses petitioning the Lord in Exodus 34:1-9 similar to the plea of the second criminal to Jesus in Luke 23:32-43?

2 Corinthians 5:11-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. ¹² We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Why does Paul try to persuade others (verse 11)?

Who does Paul want the Corinthians to be able to answer (verse 12)?

Who would Paul be for if in his right mind (verse 13)?

What compels Paul (verse 14)?

Who should those who live now live for (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to regard someone “from a worldly point of view” (verse 16)?

What has come for anyone in Christ (verse 17)?

Who did God give a ministry of reconciliation to (verse 18)?

What is God not counting (verse 19)?

What does Paul implore (verse 20)?

Why did God make “him who had no sin to be sin for us” (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does the interaction of the second criminal and Jesus on the cross in Luke 23:32-43 help us understand the reconciliation to Christ that Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21?

In your opinion, how is God’s statement in Exodus 34:1-9 that He is “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,  maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” proven in Paul’s message of reconciliation given in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21?

Jude 1:17-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

What does Jude want his friends to remember (verse 17)?

When will there be “scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires” (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “follow mere natural instincts” (verse 19)?

How do Jude’s dear friends keep themselves “in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life” (verses 20 and 21)?

How are we to treat those who doubt (verse 22)?

How should “others” be saved (verse 23)?

What is to be hated (verse 23)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how does Jude 1:17-23 help us understand what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 by “from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view”?

In your opinion, how are Jesus’s actions on the cross in Luke 23:32-43 an example of what Jude means in Jude 1:17-23 when he writes “be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear”?

In your opinion, what can we learn from Moses plea for the “stiff-necked people” people of Israel in Exodus 34:1-9 and the “scoffers” that Jude talks about and then encourages his “dear friends” to snatch from the fire in Jude 1:17-23?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Luke, 2 Corinthians, and Jude show us about God’s forgiveness and our reconciliation?

In your opinion, how should each of us who have been snatched from death respond to God and to those who have not been reconciled?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)