March 15, 2026 – Lent – Glimpses through God’s Eyes

Glimpses through God’s Eyes

1 Samuel 16:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

² But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

⁴ Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

⁵ Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ⁹ Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

¹² So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

Where was the Lord sending Samuel (verse 1)?

What did Samuel think Saul would do (verse 2)?

Who was Samuel to anoint (verse 3)?

Why did the elders of Bethlehem tremble (verse 4)?

Who did Samuel consecrate (verse 5)?

Who did Samuel think was the “Lord’s anointed” (verse 6)?

What does the Lord look at (verse 7)?

Why did Samuel ask Jesse “are these all the sons you have” (verses 8-11)?

What was Jesse’s youngest son doing (verse 11)?

How was the youngest son described (verse 12)?

How did the Spirit of the Lord come onto David (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what God sees?

Psalm 23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Who is David’s shepherd (verse 1)?

Where does the Lord lead David (verse 2)?

Why does the Lord guide David “along the right paths” (verse 3)?

What comforts David when he walks through “the darkest valley” (verse 4)?

How does the Lord anoint David (verse 5)?

Where will David dwell (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what God sees?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 23 help us understand how David was changed by the anointing he received in 1 Samuel 16:1-13?

John 9:1-(35-41) – New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

What did Jesus ask the man who had been born blind (verse 35?

Why was the man unable to answer Jesus’s question (verse 36)?

What did the man need in order to believe (verse 36)?

In your opinion, why is Jesus’s statement you have now seen him” significant (verse 37)?

What did the man do after he said “I believe” (verse 38)?

Why had Jesus come into the world (verse 39)?

Who will “see” (verse 39)?

Who will “become blind” (verse 39)?

What did the Pharisees ask (verse 40)?

Why did Jesus say that the Pharisees “guilt remains” (verse 41)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what God sees?

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s interaction with the man born blind in John 9:1-(35-41) prove again the statement of God to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 that “the Lord does not look at the things that people look at”?

In your opinion, how might the worship of the man born blind in John 9:1-(35-41) been similar to David’s worship in Psalm 23?

Ephesians 5:8-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

What were God’s holy people in Ephesus “once” (verse 8)?

What does the “fruit of the light” consist in (verse 9)?

How should “fruitless deeds of darkness” be treated (verse 11)?

What is shameful (verse 12)?

How does “everything that is illuminated” change (verse 13)?

What is the sleeper to “wake up” and do (verse 14)?

What will Christ do for the sleeper who wakes up (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about what God sees?

In your opinion, how would David’s experience in being anointed in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 have been like the Christian in Ephesians 5:8-14 who Paul tells to “wake up, sleeper”?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 23 provide guidance for the Christian of Ephesians 5:8-14 who is looking for guidance in living as a child “of the light”?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s discussion of light and darkness in Ephesians 5:8-14 help us understand Jesus’s discussion of those who are blind and those who see in John 9:1-(35-41)?

In your opinion, what do these passages from 1 Samuel, Psalms, John, and Ephesians reveal to us about dwelling “in the house of the Lord”?

In your opinion, how can we live as “children of light” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 19, 2023 – John’s Writings – Seeing Salvation

Seeing Salvation

Exodus 14:26-15:3 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. ²⁸ The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

²⁹ But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰ That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. ³¹ And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

15 ¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

“I will sing to the Lord,
    for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
    he has hurled into the sea.

² “The Lord is my strength and my defense;
    he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
³ The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.

What was Moses to do “so that the waters my flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen” (verse 26)?

Who swept the Egyptians “into the sea” (verse 27)?

How many Egyptians survived (verse 28)?

What was the sea like when the Israelites went through (verse 29)?

Who saved “Israel from the hands of the Egyptians” (verse 30)?

How did the Israelites respond to seeing “the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians” (verse 31)?

Who “sang this song to the Lord” (verse 1)?

What does the song say the Lord has become (verse 2)?

Why will they praise the Lord (verse 2)?

What is the Lord (verse 3)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about salvation?

John 9:35-41 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

What did Jesus hear (verse 35)?

Who did Jesus ask “do you believe in the Son of Man” (verse 35)?

What did the man want to know so that he could believe (verse 36)?

In your opinion, why is the statement “you have now seen him” a very powerful testimony to this man (verse 37)?

How did the man respond to Jesus (verse 38)?

Why did Jesus say He had “come into this world” (verse 39)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean by “so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (verse 39)?

What did the Pharisees who heard Jesus ask (verse 40)?

Why does the Pharisees’ guilt remain (verse 41)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about salvation?

In your opinion, how is the Israelites reaction to God in Exodus 14:26-15:3 different from the reaction of the man who had been given his sight to Jesus in John 9:35-41?

1 John 2:15-23 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

¹⁸ Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. ²¹ I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

What are we not to love (verse 15)?

Who does not have “love for the Father” (verse 15)?

What does not come from the Father (verse 16)?

Who will live forever (verse 17)?

What time is it (verse 18)?

Who has already come (verse 18)?

How did they know the antichrists did not belong (verse 19)?

What do Christians have (verse 20)?

What do Christians know (verse 20)?

Why did John write to Christians (verse 21)?

Who is the antichrist (verse 22)?

Who “has the Father also” (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about salvation?

In your opinion, how are the miracle of the Lord becoming the “salvation” of Moses and the Israelites by taking them through the sea in Exodus 14:26-15:3 and the miracle of Jesus transforming people from loving the world to loving the Father in 1 John 2:15-23 similar?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 2:15-23 help us understand about the judgment that Jesus says in John 9:35-41 he came into the world for?

Revelation 15:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. ² And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God ³ and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
    Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations.
⁴ Who will not fear you, Lord,
    and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
    and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

⁵ After this I looked, and I saw in heaven the temple—that is, the tabernacle of the covenant law—and it was opened. ⁶ Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. ⁷ Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. ⁸ And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Why are these the “seven last plagues” (verse 1)?

Who are those who are “standing beside the sea” (verse 2)?

Whose song did they sing (verse 3)?

Who is holy (verse 4)?

Why will all nations “come and worship before you” (verse 4)?

What is the other name given to the temple in heaven that was opened (verse 5)?

Who came out of the temple (verse 6)?

What was given to the angels (verse 7)?

Where could no one enter “until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about salvation?

In your opinion, how are the song of Moses and the Israelites who had been saved from the Egyptians in Exodus 14:26-15:3 and the song of “those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name” in Revelation 15:1-8 similar?

In your opinion, how are the man who saw Jesus and believed in John 9:35-41 and “those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name” in Revelation 15:1-8 similar?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 2:15-23 help us understand about “those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name” in Revelation 15:1-8? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, John, 1 John and Revelation help us see about ourselves?

In your opinion, how can a lost, blind person who loves the world be transformed and become one of those who are “victorious of the beast and its image and over the number of its name”?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

December 9, 2018 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Burning Bushes for the Spiritually Blind

Burning Bushes for the Spiritually Blind

Exodus 3:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)                 

¹ Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Where did Moses lead his father-in-law’s flock (verse 1)?

Who appeared to Moses in the “flames of fire from within a bush” (verse 2)?

What did Moses want to know (verse 3)?

When did God call to Moses (verse 4)?

How did Moses answer God’s call (verse 4)?

Why was Moses to remove his sandals (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why did God identify Himself as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (verse 6)?

Why did Moses hide his face (verse 6)?

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

Zechariah 2:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. ² I asked, “Where are you going?”

He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”

³ While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him ⁴ and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. ⁵ And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’

⁶ “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the Lord.

⁷ “Come, Zion! Escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon!” ⁸ For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye— ⁹ I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me.

¹⁰ “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. ¹¹ “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. ¹² The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. ¹³ Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”

Who did Zechariah see when he looked up (verse 1)?

What was the man going to do (verse 2)?

Who came to meet the angel who was speaking to Zechariah (verse 3)?

Why will Jerusalem “be a city without walls” (verse 4)?

What will God be to Jerusalem (verse 5)?

Where were the people to flee from (verse 6)?

Where were the people who ”live in  Daughter Babylon” to come (verse 7)?

What will the Lord do the those who touch “the apple of his eye” (verses 8 and 9)?

Where is the Lord Almighty going to live (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that “many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day” (verse 11)?

What will the Lord inherit (verse 12)?

Where will the Lord choose (verse 12)?

How is all mankind to respond to the Lord (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what are the similarities between the place that Moses stood in Exodus 3:1-6 and the city of Jerusalem that Zechariah sees in Zechariah 2:1-13?

John 9:35-41 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

What had Jesus heard about the man He ask “do you believe in the Son of Man” (verse 35)?

How did the man respond to Jesus’s question “do you believe in the Son of Man” (verses 35 and 36)?

In your opinion, why is the quote “you have now seen him” significant (verse 37)?

What did the man do after saying, “Lord, I believe” (verse 38)?

How does Jesus define judgment after He says “for judgment I have come into this world” (verse 39)?

Who said “are we blind too” (verse 40)?

Why does their guilt remain (verse 41)?

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

In your opinion, how is the response of Moses to God in Exodus 3:1-6 similar to the response of the man who was blind from birth in John 9:35-41 to Jesus?

In your opinion, what does John 9:35-41 teach us about how to respond to God’s command issued through Zechariah in Zecharian 2:1-13 to “escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon” if we consider the world of today the “Daughter Babylon”?

Romans 10:5-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”  ⁶ But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

What does Moses say about the “righteousness that is by the law” (verse 5)?

What does not say “in your heart, ‘who will ascend into heaven” (verse 6)?

What says “the word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart” (verses 6 and 8)?

In your opinion, why does Paul connect the declaring “Jesus is Lord” with the mouth and belief in the heart that God raised Jesus from the dead with salvation (verses 9 and 10)?

Who will “never be put to shame” (verse 11)?

Why is there “no difference between Jew and Gentile” (verse 12)?

Who will be saved (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what is Paul trying to get us to understand with his questions in verses 14 and 15?

“Not all the Israelites” have accepted what (verse 16)?

Where does faith come from (verse 17)?

How is the message heard (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does Moses’s reaction to God in Exodus 3:1-6 tell us about the man who Paul quotes in Romans 10:5-17 as saying “the person who does these things will live by them”?

In your opinion, what does Paul in Romans 10:5-17 help us understand about the people who will live in the Jerusalem that a “man with a measuring line in his hand” is going out to measure in Zechariah 2:1-13?

In your opinion, how does the reaction of the man who had been born blind to Jesus in John 9:35-41 help us understand the miracle of salvation that Paul is explaining in Romans 10:5-17?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Zechariah, John and Romans teach us about what the “blind” who see understand about God?

In your opinion, how can we be a bush on fire but that does not burn up for those who are spiritually blind?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

April 10, 2016 – Letters From Home – Reputation versus Book of Life

Reputation versus Book of Life

Revelation 3:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

⁴ Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. ⁶ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

What does He “who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” know about the reputation of the church of Sardis (verse 1)?

What does He know about the reality of the church of Sardis (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what could cause this difference between the reputation and the reality (verse 1)?

What should the church do for “what remains and is about to die” (verse 2)?

How are the deeds found “in the sight of my God” (verse 2)?

What is the church in Sardis to do after they remember and hold fast to what they “have received and heard” (verse 3)?

How will the one “who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” come if the church in Sardis does not “wake up” (verse 3)?

Why will the “few people” in Sardis who have not soiled the clothes walk with Jesus (verse 4)?

In your opinion, why will “the one who is victorious” also be dressed in white (verse 5)?

From what will Jesus “never blot out the name of that person” (verse 5)?

Who will Jesus “acknowledge that name before” (verse 5)?

What is “whoever has ears” commanded to hear (verse 6)?

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

Romans 3:22-31 - New International Version (NIV)

²² “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ²⁶ he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. ²⁸ For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, ³⁰ since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. ³¹ Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”

Who is the given the righteousness that “is given through faith in Jesus Christ” (verse 22)?

What have all, including all Jews and all Gentiles, done (verse 23)?

How are all justified freely (verse 24)?

How is Christ’s “shedding of his blood” as a “sacrifice of atonement” to be received (verse 25)?

In your opinion, why had God “in his forbearance . . . left the sins committed beforehand go unpunished” (verse 23)?

How does God presenting “Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood” serve to “demonstrate his righteousness at the present time” (verse 26)?

Where is boasting (verse 27)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the “law that requires works” and the “law that requires faith” (verse 27)?

How is a person justified (verse 28)?

What is apart from that justification (verse 28)?

How are the circumcised and the uncircumcised both justified (verse 30)?

In your opinion, how does Paul in Romans 3:22-31 not nullify but uphold the law “by this faith” (verse 31)?

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

In your opinion, how does Paul’s discussion about being justified by faith in Romans 3:22-31 help to understand why Jesus tells the people of the church of Sardis “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead” in Revelation 3:1-6?

John 9:35-41 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ “Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

What did Jesus ask the blind man who He had healed on the Sabbath and who the Pharisees had thrown out of the synagogue (verse 35)?

How does the man respond (verse 36)?

In your opinion, what is the significance of Jesus telling the man who had been born blind “you have now seen him” (verse 37)?

How does the man, who now sees, respond to Jesus (verse 38)?

Why has Jesus “come into this world” (verse 39)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (verse 39)?

What did the Pharisees who were with Jesus ask Him (verse 40)?

In your opinion, why do the Pharisees who claim to see remain guilty (verse 41)?

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

In your opinion, how does Paul’s claim in Romans 3:22-31 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” help us to understand the difference between the blind man who now sees and the Pharisees who claim to see and are blind in John 9:35-41?

In your opinion, how does the contrast of the blind man who now sees and the Pharisees who are still blind in John 9:35-41 help us to understand the ones who “have not soiled their clothes” and the ones who “have a reputation for being alive, but . . . are dead” in Revelation 3:1-6?

Revelation 20:11-15 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

What and who did John see (verse 11)?

What “fled from his presence” (verse 11)?

Who did John see “standing before the throne” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the books and the “book of life” (verse 12)?

How were the dead judged (verse 12)?

What did the sea and death and Hades give up (verse 13)?

Where were death and Hades thrown (verse 14)?

What is the second death (verse 14)?

Who else was thrown into the lake of fire (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, how does John’s discussion in John 3:22-31 about the blind man and the Pharisees help us to understand his vision in Revelation 20:11-15 about the books and the book of life and those who are thrown into the lake of fire?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s statement that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” in Romans 3:22-31 help us to understand what might be in the books of Revelation 20:11-15?  In addition, how does Paul’s discussion about being “justified by faith” in Romans 3:22-31 help us to understand how people’s names are recorded in the “book of life” of Revelation 20:11-15?

In your opinion, how does John’s vision of the books and the “book of life” in Revelation 20:11-15 help us to understand the statement that Jesus makes in Revelation 3:1-6 to the church of Sardis that He knows “your deeds” and that “you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead”?

In your opinion, what do these passages, from Revelation, Romans and John show us about ourselves today?

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