November 24, 2019 – Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Transformed by Forgiveness

-                        The

Transformed by Forgiveness


2 Chronicles 7:11-22 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, ¹² the Lord appeared to him at night and said:

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

¹³ “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

¹⁷ “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, ¹⁸ I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’

¹⁹ “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰ then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. ²¹ This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ ²² People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”

What had Solomon finished (verse 11)?

Who chose the temple (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that the Lord began His statement to Solomon with “when” (verse 13)?

How would the Lord’s people need to act in order to be forgiven and have their land healed (verse 14)?

What will the Lord’s ears be attentive to (verse 15)?

Where will the Lord’s eyes and heart always be (verse 16)?

How does Solomon need to walk before the Lord (verse 17)?

What will the Lord establish (verse 18)?

When will the Lord “uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name” (verses 19 and 20)?

Who will be appalled (verse 21)?

What will people understand about why the temple is “a heap of rubble” (verses 21 and 22)?

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

Mark 2:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Who heard that Jesus had come home (verse 1)?

How were people gathered around Jesus (verse 2)?

What did the four men carry (verse 3)?

Why did they make an opening in the roof (verse 4)?

When did Jesus say “son, your sins are forgiven” (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why were the teachers of the law thinking “Why does this fellow talk like that?  He’s blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (verses 6 and 7)?

What did Jesus say to them (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus ask them “Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?” (verse 9)?

What did Jesus want them to know (verse 10)?

What did Jesus tell the man (verse 11)?

How did the people who saw this respond (verse 12)?

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

In 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 the Lord promises “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land”?  In your opinion, do you think the paralyzed man in Mark 2:1-12 was going to Jesus expecting Him to fulfill that promise Why or why not?

Acts 16:11-15 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. ¹² From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵ When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

How did Paul, Silas and Timothy travel (verse 11)?

Where was the “Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia” (verse 12)?

Why did they go to the river (verse 13)?

What did they do when they got to the river (verse 13)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to us today that Lydia was “a worshiper of God” and that “the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message” (verse 14)?

Who was baptized (verse 15)?

How did Lydia persuade them to stay at her house (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does it mean that the Lord did for Lydia along a river in a foreign land in Acts 16:11-15 what He had promised Solomon to do for the Israelites in the temple in 2 Chronicles 7:11-22?

In your opinion, how are the paralyzed man in Mark 2:1-12 and Lydia in Acts 16:11-15 similar?  What do we have in common with them?

Philippians 3:12-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Who “took hold” of Paul (verse 12)?

What one thing does Paul do (verse 13)?

How is Paul called heavenward (verse 14)?

Who will clear up our thinking if it is different from Paul’s (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “live up to what we have already attained” (verse 16)?

Who does Paul say we should keep our eyes on (verse 17)?

How do “many live” (verse 18)?

What is “their god” (verse 19)?

Where is a Christian’s citizenship (verse 20)?

What will Jesus Christ do (verses 20 and 21)?

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

In your opinion, how is the transformation of the nation of Israel that was promised when its people called on the Lord, humbled themselves, prayed, sought the face of the Lord and turned from their wicked ways in 2 Chronicles similar to the transformation Paul speaks of in Philippians 3:12-21?

In your opinion, how does Jesus being able to heal the paralyzed man prove not only His ability to forgive that man of sin in Mark 2:1-12, but also that he can give us citizenship in heaven as Paul promises in Philippians 3:12-21?

In your opinion, how does the Lord opening Lydia’s heart in Acts 16:11-15 help us understand how we can imitate Paul in Philippians 3:12-21 and forget what is behind and strain for what is ahead?

In your opinion, what can we, whose sins are forgiven, learn from the paralyzed man and from Lydia?

In your opinion, what do these passages from 2 Chronicles, Mark, Acts and Philippians teach us about Jesus ability to forgive our sins and to transform us?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

May 19, 2019 – Learning from James – Living Righteously for God

-                        The

Living Righteously for God


Jeremiah 31:30-34 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge.

³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
³² It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

Who will die for their own sin (verse 30)?

When will the Lord make “a new covenant” (verse 31)?


What did Israel’s ancestors do with the old covenant (verse 32)?


In your opinion, what does the Lord mean when He says “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (verse 33)?


What will the people be (verse 33)?


Why will people not tell their neighbor “know the Lord” (verse 34)?


What will the Lord forgive (verse 34)?


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

Mark 2:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)                  

¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

What did the people hear (verse 1)?

Why was there “no room left” (verse 2)?


How did they they get the paralyzed man to Jesus (verses 3 and 4)?


What did Jesus say when He “saw their faith” (verse 5)?


In your opinion, why did the teachers of the law think “He’s blaspheming!” (verses 6 and 7)?


What did Jesus know “in his spirit” (verse 8)?


In your opinion, why did Jesus ask “Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’” (verse 9)?


What did Jesus want the teachers of the law to know (verse 10)?


What did Jesus tell the paralyzed man (verse 11)?


Why was everyone amazed (verse 12)?


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


In your opinion, how does Jesus healing the paralyzed man whose sin He had forgiven in Mark 2:1-12 prove His authority to replace the old covenant that was broken with the new covenant that was promised in Jeremiah 31:30-34?


2 Corinthians 5:15-21 – New International Version (NIV)

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.

Who did Jesus die for (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “regard no one from a worldly point of view” (verse 16)?

When has “the new creation” come (verse 17)?

How did God reconcile us to Himself (verse 18)?

What is God not counting against people (verse 19)?

What does Paul implore “on Christ’s behalf” (verse 20)?

How can we “become the righteousness of God” (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does 2 Corinthians 5:15-21 help us understand about how the promise that God made in Jeremiah 31:30-34 to “remember their sins no more” is fulfilled by Jesus?

In your opinion, what does 2 Corinthians 5:15-21 help us understand about what Jesus did to get the “authority on earth to forgive sins” that He claimed in Mark 2:1-12?


James 1:19-27 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Who should be “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (verse 19)?

What does human anger not produce (verse 20)?


How should we accept the word planted in us (verse 21)?


In your opinion, how can we deceive ourselves by merely listening “to the word” (verse 22)?


What is someone “who listens to the word but does not do what it says” like (verses 23 and 24)?


Who will be blessed (verse 25)?


Whose “religion is worthless” (verse 26)?


What does God accept “as pure and faultless” (verse 27)?


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


In your opinion, what does Jeremiah 31:30-34’s discussion about the two covenants help us understand about the word James 1:19-27 says we are to “humbly accept” being planted into us?


In your opinion, how does Jesus telling the man whose sins He had forgiven in Mark 2:1-12 to “get up, take your mat and go home” foreshadow James telling us not to just listen to the word “which can save us” but to “do what it says” in James 1:19-27?


In your opinion, what can following the teachings in James 1:19-27 which instructs us to look “intently into the perfect law that gives freedom” and continue in it help us to not regard anyone, including ourselves, “from a worldly point of view” as Paul indicates he will no longer do in 2 Corinthians 5:15-21?


In your opinion, what do these passages from Jeremiah, Mark, 2 Corinthians and James help us understand about how Jesus can remember our “sins no more”?


In your opinion, how do we move from merely hearing the word to having it written on our hearts and then living it?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 25, 2018 – Kingdom Planting – Speaking, Saving and Spreading

-            The

Speaking, Saving and Spreading

Joshua 6:15-21 - New International Version (NIV)              

¹⁵ On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶ The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

²⁰ When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. ²¹ They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

How many times did the Israelites march around Jericho on the seventh day (verse 15)?

When did Joshua command the army to “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that everything within the city is “to be devoted to the Lord” (verse 17)?

Why are Rahab and those in her house to be spared (verse 17)?

What would people bring about if they took some of the devoted things (verse 18)?

Where are the articles of bronze and iron to go (verse 19)?

What happened “at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout” (verse 20)?

What happed to every living thing in the city (verse 21)?

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

Mark 2:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ² They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³ Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷ “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

⁸ Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? ⁹ Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? ¹⁰ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ¹² He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

What did people hear when “Jesus again entered Capernaum” (verse 1)?

Why was there “no room left, not even outside the door” (verse 2)?

Who did the four men carry to Jesus (verse 3)?

How did they get the man to Jesus (verse 4)?

Whose faith did Jesus see (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus tell the man “your sins are forgiven” (verse 5)?

Who was thinking to themselves “Why does this fellow talk like that?  He’s blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (verses 6 & 7)?

What did Jesus immediately know (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask “which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’” (verse 9)?

What did Jesus want the to know (verse 10)?

What did Jesus tell the man (verse 11)?

What did the man do (verse 12)?

Who praised God and said “we have never seen anything like this” (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, how is the Israelite army confronting the might of the city of Jericho in Joshua 6:15-21 similar to Jesus confronting authority of the teachers of the law in Mark 2:1-12?

Acts 4:8-20 – 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.”

What filled Peter (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why would Peter start his statement to the rulers and elders of the people by saying “if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness” (verse 9)?

How did Peter say that the lame man “stands before you healed” (verse 10)?

What has become the cornerstone (verse 11)?

What “is found in no one else” (verse 12)?

Why were the rulers and elders of the people astonished (verse 13)?

Why did they have nothing to say (verse 14)?

What did they do after ordering Peter and John to “withdraw from the Sanhedrin” (verse 15)?

What did “everyone living in Jerusalem” know (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why did the rulers and elders of the people want to “stop this thing from spreading any further among the people” (verse 17)?

What command did they give to Peter and John (verse 18)?

How did Peter and John reply (verse 19)?

What can Peter and John not “help speaking about” (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, how is the confrontation of the Israelite people with the established might of Jericho after entering the Promised Land in Joshua 6:15-21 similar to Peter and John’s confrontation with the Sanhedrin after receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 4:8-20?

In your opinion, how does Jesus proving that He has the authority to forgive sins by telling the lame man “take up your mat and go home” in Mark 2:1-12 similar to Peter and John proving that salvation is found in Jesus Christ through the lame man standing in front of the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:8-20?

1 Timothy 2:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

Who does Paul instruct Timothy “that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for” (verse 1)?

Why should the “petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving” be made “for kings and all those in authority” (verse 2)?

Who wants “all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (verses 3 and 4)?

Who is the “mediator between God and mankind” (verse 5)?

What has “now been witnessed to at the proper time” (verses 5 and 6)?

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

In your opinion, how is “Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house” being spared in Joshua 6:15-21 an example of Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 2:1-6 that God our Savior “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”?

In your opinion, what role does Jesus’s authority to forgive sins, proven by causing the lame man to walk after first forgiving his sins in Mark 2:1-12, play in establishing the truth of Paul’s statement in 1 Timothy 2:1-6 that the is “one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people”?

In your opinion, how do Paul’s instruction in 1 Timothy 2:1-6 that “first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people” and Peter and John’s statement to the Sanhedrin that they “cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” in Acts 4:8-20 provide a foundation for Christians when dealing with people or establishments who have not accepted “the cornerstone”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Joshua, Mark, Acts, and 1 Timothy teach us about Jesus Christ desires for all people?

In your opinion, how should Christians respond today to a world that rejects Christ and seeks to stop Christianity “from spreading any further among the people”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)