Responding to God’s Yes
Isaiah 61:1-6 - New International
Version (NIV)
1 The
Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is
on me,
because the Lord has
anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in
Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
4 They will rebuild the
ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
6 And you will be called priests of the Lord,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
Who
was Isaiah anointed to “proclaim good news to” (verse 1)?
In
your opinion, what is “the year of the Lord’s favor” (verse 2)?
What is the “oil of joy” to replace (verse
3)?
What will display the Lord’s splendor (verse 3)?
How long will the cities that are renewed have
been devastated (verse 4)?
Who will “shepherd your flocks” (verse 5)?
What will “you” be called (verse 6)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding
to God?
Luke 4:14-30 – New International Version (NIV)
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and
news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He
was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the
Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to
read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed
to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The
Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and
sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on
him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this
scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that
came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to
me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your
hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is
accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were
many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a
half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet
Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region
of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with
leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was
cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard
this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and
took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw
him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the
crowd and went on his way.
How
did Jesus return “to Galilee” (verse 14)?
Where
did Jesus teach (verse 15)?
What
did Jesus do on the Sabbath (verse 16)?
What
did Jesus read from (verse 17)?
What did Jesus say after He finished
reading (verse 21)?
Why were the listeners amazed at the “gracious
words that came from his lips” (verse 22)?
In your opinion, why would Jesus think
the people would want Him to “do here in your hometown what we have heard
that you did in Capernaum” (verse 23)?
Who did Jesus say is “not accepted in
his hometown” (verse 24)?
Who was Elijah sent to “when the sky was
shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the
land” (verses 25 and 26)?
Who did Elisha cleanse from leprosy
(verse 27)?
How did the people in the synagogue
react to what Jesus said (verse 28)?
What did Jesus do when they tried to “throw
him off the cliff” (verses 29 and 30)?
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, what can Isaiah 61:1-6 and Luke 4:14-30 teach us about who will
favorably receive Jesus?
2
Corinthians 1:15-22 - New International Version (NIV)
15 Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit
you first so that you might benefit twice. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to
Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you
send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was
I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly
manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?
18 But as
surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For
the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and
Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has
always been “Yes.” 20 For no matter how many
promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the
“Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21 Now it
is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He
anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us,
and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Why did Paul want to visit Corinth first (verse 15)?
When was Paul going to visit Corinth (verse 16)?
In your opinion, what do you think Paul mean by
making “plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both
“Yes, yes” and “No, no” (verse 17)?
What is not Paul’s message (verse 18)?
What has
the message from Jesus Christ “always been” (verse 19)?
How is
every promise of God a “Yes” (verse 20)?
Who makes us “stand firm in Christ” (verse 21)?
What has God set “on us” (verse 22)?
Where does God put “his Spirit” (verse 22)?
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, why should the fact that
Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:15-22 did not visit as he intended, or that we have
been hurt by people who have not followed through, not change our trust in God’s
promise in Isaiah 61:1-6 to mend the hurting or free the captives?
In your opinion, how does Jesus claiming
God’s anointing and Spirit for Himself in Luke 4:14-30 and Paul saying in 2
Corinthians 1:15-22 that God anoints us and puts His Spirit in our hearts help
Christians have confidence in God’s “Yes” today?
James 4:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you?
Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You
desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you
want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask
God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you
ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship
with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who
chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or
do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the
spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us
more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come
near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your
hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail.
Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
“What
causes fights and quarrels” (verse
1)?
What
do we do when we “cannot get” what we want (verse 2)?
Why don’t we have (verse 2)?
Why don’t we have when we ask (verse 3)?
What does the person who chooses to
become “a friend of the world” become (verse 4)?
What does God “jealously” long for
(verse 5)?
Who does God show favor to (verse 6)?
How will the devil respond if we submit
to God and resist him (verse 7)?
What are the “double-minded” to do
(verse 8)?
What should joy be changed to (verse
9)?
When will the Lord lift us up (verse 10)?
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 the discussion in James 4:1-10 about who God shows favor to help us
understand who will receive the blessings of Isaiah 61:1-6?
In your opinion, how does James 4:1-10
help us understand the reaction of those who took Jesus to the cliff to kill
him in Luke 4:14-30?
In your opinion, how does 2 Corinthians
1:15-22 help us understand why those who have humbled themselves before God and
have been lifted up as called to do in James 4:1-10 might still disappoint us?
How does it help us understand why we might disappoint ourselves?
In your opinion, what do these passages
from Isaiah, Luke, 2 Corinthians and James teach us about how to win the battle
within us?
In your opinion, how can we share God’s “Yes”
today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
