October 20, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Serve Him Only

Serve Him Only

Deuteronomy 6:10-19 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, ¹¹ houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

¹³ Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. ¹⁴ Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; ¹⁵ for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. ¹⁶ Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, ¹⁹ thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.

Who is going to bring the people into “the land he swore to your fathers” (verse 10)?

What do the houses, wells, vineyards, and olive groves have in common (verse 11)?

Who had brought the people “out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (verse 12)?

Who are the Israelites to serve (verse 13)?

Who are the Israelites to avoid (verse 14)?

Who is jealous (verse 15)?

Where did the Israelites put God to the test (verse 16)?

What are the Israelites to keep (verse 17)?

Who determines what is “right and good” (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about worshipping God in this passage?

1 Chronicles 21:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. ² So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.”

³ But Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

⁴ The king’s word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. ⁵ Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.

⁶ But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king’s command was repulsive to him. ⁷ This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.

⁸ Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”

Who “rose up against Israel” (verse 1)?

What did David tell Joab to do (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why did Joab think this would “bring guilt on Israel” (verse 3)?

What “overruled Joab” (verse 4)?

How many fighting men did Joab report were in Israel (verse 5)?

Why did Joab not include “Levi and Benjamin” (verse 6)?

How did God view the command (verse 7)?

What did David say to God (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about worshipping God in this passage?

In your opinion, how is David demanding a census of the Israelites in 1 Chronicles 21:1-8 a failure to be obedient to the commands of Moses given to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:10-19?

Matthew 4:8-11 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Where did the devil take Jesus (verse 8)?

What did the devil show Jesus (verse 8)?

What did the devil promise Jesus (verse 9)?

What did Jesus have to do to receive the promise (verse 9)?

Where did Jesus tell Satan to go (verse 10)?

Who did Jesus say was to be worshiped (verse 10)?

What happened after the devil left Jesus (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about worshipping God in this passage?

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s reply to Satan in Matthew 4:8-11 put into action the commands of Deuteronomy 6:10-19? 

In your opinion, how is Satan’s incitement of David to sin in 1 Chronicles 21:1-8 similar to his temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:8-11?

Revelation 14:6-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷ He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸ A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

⁹ A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, ¹⁰ they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” ¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

What did angel “flying in midair” have to “proclaim to those who live on the earth” (verse 6)?

How are “those who live on the earth” to respond to God (verse 7)?

Who does the second angel say has “fallen” (verse 8)?

Who says “if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand” (verse 9)?

What will the people who receive “its mark on their forehead or on their hand” drink (verses 9 and 10)?

How long will the “smoke of their torment” rise (verse 11)?

What is called for “on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus” (verse 12)?

Who is “blessed” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about worshipping God in this passage?

In your opinion, how do the warnings of worshipping gods other that the Lord that Moses gave the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:10-19 show up as consequences in Revelation 14:6-13?

In your opinion, how is the futility of David relying on the numbers in 1 Chronicles 21:1-8 revealed in Revelation 14:6-13?

In your opinion, how does Revelation 14:6-13 warn us that the temptation Jesus received to worship Satan in Matthew 4:8-11 is still offered to people today?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, 1 Chronicles, Matthew, and Revelation teach us about what interferes with our worship of God?

In your opinion, how can we serve only God today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 5, 2023 – John’s Writings – God is Working

God is Working

Exodus 12:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ² “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. ⁴ If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵ The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶ Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. ⁷ Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸ That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. ⁹ Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. ¹⁰ Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. ¹¹ This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

Where were Moses and Aaron when God gave them the message (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why was this month “to be for you the first month, the first month of your year” (verse 2)?

What is each man to take on the tenth day of the month (verse 3)?

How is a household to respond if it is too small “for a whole lamb” (verse 4)?

Where will the lambs come from (verse 5)?

When will the lambs be slaughtered (verse 6)?

Where is the blood to be put (verse 7)?

What is to be eaten with the lamb (verse 8)?

How is the lamb to be prepared (verse 9)?

What is to happen to any meat that is left over (verse 10)?

How is the Lord’s Passover to be eaten (verse 11)?

What will happen when God passes through Egypt (verse 12)?

Who will the Lord bring judgment on (verse 12)?

What will happen when God sees the blood (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage display God working?

John 9:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

What did Jesus see (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why would the disciples ask “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind (verse 2)?

Why was the man born blind (verse 3)?

When must Jesus and the disciples “do the works of him who sent me” (verse 4)?

When is Jesus “the light of the world” (verse 5)?

What did Jesus do (verse 6)?

What happened when the man “went and washed” (verse 7)?

Who asked “isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg” (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why would others say “no, he only looks like him” (verse 9)?

How did the man answer the question “how then were your eyes opened” (verses 10 & 11)?

How did the man answer the question “where is this man” (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage display God working?

In your opinion, how are the acts of putting the blood on the sides and top of the doorframes in Exodus 12:1-13 and  going to the pool to wash in John 9:1-12 similar?  How are the results of the two acts similar?

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

¹ My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

³ We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. ⁴ Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. ⁵ But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Why does John write (verse 1)?

Who is the “advocate with the Father” for the one who sins (verse 1)?

Who is Jesus “the atoning sacrifice” for (verse 2)?

What do we have to do “if we keep his commands” (verse 3)?

Who is a liar (verse 4)?

What happens to anyone who “obeys his word” (verse 5)?

How must the one who claims to live in Jesus live (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage display God working?

In your opinion, how are the lambs that were sacrificed in Exodus 12:1-13 and the atoning sacrifice of 1 John 2:1-6 similar in what they accomplish?

In your opinion, how are the work of Jesus in returning sight to the blind man in John 9:1-12 and His work as the atoning sacrifice in 1 John 2:1-6 different? 

Revelation 14:6-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷ He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸ A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

⁹ A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, ¹⁰ they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” ¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

What did the “angel flying in midair” have to proclaim (verse 6)?

Who was it to be proclaimed to (verse 6)?

Why should we “fear God and give him glory” (verse 7)?

How is God described (verse 7)?

Who does the second angel say is fallen (verse 8)?

What had the one who had fallen made the nations drink (verse 8)?

What will the one who “worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand” drink (verses 9 and 10)?

How long will “the smoke of their torment” rise (verse 11)?

What does this call for “on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus” (verse 12)?

Who does the voice say is blessed (verse 13)?

What will they rest from (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how does this passage display God working?

In your opinion, how are the differences between the people of Israel and the people of Egypt in Exodus 12:1-13, similar to the differences between the people of God and the people who worship the beast and take its mark in Revelation 14:6-13?

In your opinion, how is the choice the man who had mud put on his eyes by Jesus made, to do what Jesus said or do something else, in John 9:1-12 the same choice as those who hear the “eternal gospel” in Revelation 14:6-13 have to make?

In your opinion, how does 1 John 2:1-6 proclaiming that Jesus is the advocate for those who sin help the people of God to have “patient endurance” in the circumstances of Revelation 14:6-13? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, John, 1 John and Revelation teach us about God’s judgment and how people are prepared to be passed over?

In your opinion, how, in the turmoil between those who follow God and those who reject God, can God display His work in us today?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 13, 2019 – Looking Backward and Forward from Zechariah – Making a Name or Patiently Enduring

-            The

Making a Name or Patiently Enduring

 Genesis 11:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶ The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

⁸ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

What did the “whole world” have (verse 1)?

Where did people settle (verse 2)?

In your opinion, why did they say “let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly” (verse 3)?

Why did the people want “a tower that reaches to the heavens” (verse 4)?

Who came “to see the city and the tower the people were building” (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why would it be bad for the world to have one people for whom “nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (verse 6)?

How did the Lord propose to keep the world from being one people for whom “nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (verse 7)?

Where did the Lord scatter the people (verse 8)?

Why was the city called Babel (verse 9)?

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

Zechariah 5:5-11 - New International Version (NIV)           

⁵ Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.”

⁶ I asked, “What is it?”

He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.”

⁷ Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! ⁸ He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.

⁹ Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

¹⁰ “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me.

¹¹ He replied, “To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.”

Who told Zechariah to “look up and see what is appearing” (verse 5)?

What is the basket (verse 6)?

Who was in the basket (verse 7)?

About whom did the angel say “this is wickedness” (verse 8)?

What did the two women with wings “like those of a stork” do (verse 9)?

What did Zechariah ask the angel (verse 10)?

In your opinion, why is the woman being taken to “the country of Babylonia” (verse 11)?

When will the basket be set “there in its place” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, is there a connection between the city of Babel of Genesis 11:1-9 and the country of Babylonia of Zechariah 5:5-11, and if so what is the connection?

John 12:20-29 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Who “went up to worship at the festival” (verse 20)?

What did they request of Philip (verse 21)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (verse 23)?

What must happen for a single seed to produce many seeds (verse 24)?

Who will keep their life in the world “for eternal life” (verse 25)?

What must the one who serves Jesus do (verse 26)?

In your opinion, why had Jesus come (verse 27)?

Whose name did Jesus ask the Father to glorify (verse 28)?

Where did the voice come from that said “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (verse 28)?

What did the crowd say they heard (verse 29)?

What did the others hear (verse 29)?

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

In your opinion, what is the difference between the motivation of the people who plan to build and tower in Genesis 11:1-9 and Jesus in John 12:20-29?

In your opinion, why wasn’t taking wickedness to Babylonia in Zechariah 5:5-11 effective in removing all wickedness and how might the hour in which the Son of Man is glorfiedin John 12:20-29 lead to a different outcome?

Revelation 14:6-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷ He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

⁸ A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

⁹ A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, ¹⁰ they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. ¹¹ And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” ¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

¹³ Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”

What did the angel have to proclaim “to every nation, tribe, language and people” (verse 6)?

Who does the angel say is to be worshiped (verse 7)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to say that Babylon the Great “made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries” (verse 8)?

What will anyone who “worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on the forehead or on their hand” drink (verses 9 and 10)?

How long will the “smoke of their torment” rise (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to have “patient endurance” (verse 12)?

Who does the voice from heaven say is blessed (verse 13)?

Why does the Spirit say they “will rest from their labor” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does Babylon the Great’s “maddening wine of her adulteries” that is discussed in Revelation 14:6-13 have in common with the desire to “make a name for ourselves” that the people from Babel had in Genesis 11:1-9?

In your opinion, what is the significance that in Zechariah 5:5-11 we see “wickedness” being taken to the country of Babylonia where a house will be built for it and in that Revelation 14:6-13 we are told that “Babylon the Great” who had made the nations drink the “maddening wine of her adulteries” has fallen?

In your opinion, how is hour that Jesus came for, the hour in which the Son of Man was “to be glorified”, in John 12:20-29, related to the “eternal gospel” the angel was proclaiming to all who live on the earth in Revelation 14:6-13?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, Zechariah, John and Revelation teach us about the conflict that each of us have between making “a name for ourselves” and remaining faithful to Jesus?

In your opinion, how can we live in “patient endurance” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)