Repent, Remember and Hold Fast
Nehemiah
1:1-11 - New International Version (NIV)
1 The words
of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in
the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers,
came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish
remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the
province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken
down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days
I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then
I said:
“Lord, the God of
heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of
love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let
your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your
servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of
Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s
family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very
wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you
gave your servant Moses.
8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses,
saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the
nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands,
then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will
gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a
dwelling for my Name.’
10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your
great strength and your mighty hand. 11 Lord, let your ear
be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your
servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by
granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
Where was “Nehemiah son of Hakaliah” (verse 1)?
What did he question “Hanani” about (verse
2)?
Why were “those who survived the exile and
are back in the province” in trouble and danger (verse 3)?
How did Nehemiah respond when he “heard
these things” (verse 4)?
How does Nehemiah describe God at the beginning
of his prayer (verse 5)?
Whose sins against God does Nehemiah confess (verse
6)?
How have they acted (verse 7)?
What was to happen to the Israelites if they
were unfaithful (verse 8)?
What was to happen if, after they were
unfaithful, they returned to God and obeyed God’s commands (verse 9)?
How had “they” been redeemed (verse 10)?
What success did Nehemiah pray for (verse
11)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is the destruction of the
devil’s work taking place in this passage?
John 4:27-38 - New
International Version (NIV)
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find
him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you
talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and
said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me
everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They
came out of the town and made their way toward him.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know
nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought
him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him
who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a
saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and
look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now
the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal
life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus
the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I
sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work,
and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Why
were the disciples surprised (verse 27)?
What did the disciples not ask (verse 27)?
In your opinion, why did the woman leave
her water jar when she went back to town (verse 28)?
What did the woman tell the people in the
town (verse 29)?
What did the woman ask the people in the
town (verse 29)?
How did the townspeople respond (verse 30)?
What did the disciples urge Jesus to do
(verse 31)?
How did Jesus respond to them (verse 32)?
What is Jesus’s food (verse 34)?
Why did Jesus want the disciples to open
their “eyes and look at the fields” (verse 35)?
When does “the one who reaps draws a
wage and harvests a crop for eternal life” (verse 36)?
What is true (verse 37)?
Who has reaped the benefits of others
hard work (verse 38)?
In your opinion, what is the basic
message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is
the destruction of the devil’s work taking place in this passage?
In your opinion, would you say that Nehemiah as he
was investigating and then praying in Nehemiah 1:1-11 would be placed into the
category of one who sows or of one who reaps from John 4:27-38? Does the fact that he might fall into one of
these categories limit what Nehemiah might do in the future to only that
category? Are we limited today to one or
the other?
1
John 3:1-10 –
New International Version (NIV)
1 See what great love the Father has
lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what
we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know
him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of
God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that
when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he
is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify
themselves, just as he is pure.
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is
lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he
might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No
one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has
either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The
one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The
one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been
sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to
destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of
God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them;
they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This
is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the
devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is
anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
What is the proof that God has lavished “great
love” on us (verse 1)?
Why does the world “not know us” (verse 1)?
What are we (verse 2)?
What will we be (verse 2)?
Who will we be like (verse 2)?
What do those who hope in Christ do (verse 3)?
Who
breaks the law (verse 4)?
Where
is there no sin (verse 5)?
Who
does not keep on sinning (verse 6)?
Who
is righteous (verse 7)?
Why
did the Son of God appear (verse 8)?
Who
does not continue to sin (verse 9)?
How
do we know “who the children of God are” (verse 10)?
In
your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, how is the destruction of the
devil’s work taking place in this passage?
In your opinion, how is the redemption of the Israelite people in Nehemiah
and the destruction of the devil’s work (the taking away of sins) in 1 John
3:1-10 similar? How is the conflict
between what we are called to be and what we are apparent in both Nehemiah
1:1-11 and in 1 John 3:1-10? How can we
who have been redeemed today learn from both the redemption and the conflict
following redemption of the Israelites and the early Christians?
In your opinion, in
John 4:27-38, where Jesus explained the concept of sowing and reaping, who was
sowing, who was reaping, and how were they both destroying the work of the
devil, as 1 John 3:1-10 indicates is the Son of God’s purpose?
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.
Who is John to write to (verse 1)?
Who are the words that John is to write from (verse 1)?
What does Jesus know (verse 1)?
What does Jesus command them to strengthen (verse 2)?
In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says “I
have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God” (verse 2)?
What are the Christians from Sardis to hold fast to
(verse 3)?
When will Jesus come if they “do not wake up”
(verse 3)?
Who will walk with Jesus “dressed in white” (verse
4)?
In your opinion, how are the “few people” who
are mentioned in (verse 4) different from the “victorious” who also will
be dressed in white in (verse 5)?
Who is to hear (verse 6)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, how is the destruction
of the devil’s work taking place in this passage?
In your opinion, how does
Nehemiah’s prayer in Nehemiah 1:1-11 serve as a model for those in Sardis, and
for the rest of us who want the victory that Jesus talks about in Revelation
3:1-6?
In your opinion, who in
John 4:27-38 would be an example of the victorious who repent, remember, and
hold fast in Revelation 3:1-6?
In your opinion, what do these passages from Nehemiah,
John, 1 John and Revelation teach all about the conflict that happens after
redemption?
In your opinion, how is a Christian remembering and
holding fast similar to a non-Christian repenting?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
