September 18, 2022 – John’s Writings – Power and Love

Power and Love

Ezekiel 1:15-28 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. ¹⁶ This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. ¹⁷ As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not change direction as the creatures went. ¹⁸ Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around.

¹⁹ When the living creatures moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the living creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose. ²⁰ Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹ When the creatures moved, they also moved; when the creatures stood still, they also stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose along with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

²² Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. ²³ Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. ²⁴ When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.

²⁵ Then there came a voice from above the vault over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. ²⁶ Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. ²⁷ I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. ²⁸ Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.

This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

What was on the ground beside “each creature with its four faces” (verse 15)?

How were the wheels structured (verse 16)?

In your opinion, why did the wheels “not change direction as the creatures went” (verse 17)?

What were the rims full of (verse 18)?

What happened when the living creatures moved (verse 19)?

Where was the spirit of the living creatures (verse 20)?

What was spread out “above the heads of the living creatures” (verse 22)?

What did Ezekiel hear when the creatures moved (verse 24)?

Where did the voice come from (verse 25)?

How was the figure described (verse 27)?

What was the appearance the likeness of (verse 28)?

How did Ezekiel react when he saw it (verse 28)?

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

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

John 5:16-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Why did the Jewish leaders begin to persecute Jesus (verse 16)?

What did Jesus say “in his defense” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus’s defense cause the Jewish leader to try “all the more to kill him” (verse 18)?

What can the Son do “by himself” (verse 19)?

What can the Son only do (verse 19)?

What does the Father show the Son (verse 20)?

How will the Jewish leaders respond to the greater works that the Father will show the Son (verse 20)?

Who will the Son give life to (verse 21)?

Who is judgment entrusted to (verse 22)?

What may “all” do (verse 23)?

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

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

In your opinion, how can Jesus, appearing so magnificent in Ezekiel 1:15-28, have the Jewish leaders persecuting and trying to kill Him in John 5:16-23?  How do you think the Jewish leaders would have responded if Jesus had appeared to them as He appeared to Ezekiel?   

1 John 4:7-16 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

What are the “dear friends” to do (verse 7)?

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

Who loves (verse 7)?

Who does not know God (verse 8)?

How did God show “his love among us” (verse 9)?

What is love (verse 10)?

Why should we love each other (verse 11)?

When is God’s love made complete in us (verse 12)?

How do “we know that we live in him and he in us” (verse 13)?

What does John testify to (verse 14)?

What occurs when someone “acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God” (verse 15)?

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

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

In your opinion, how does picturing God as described by Ezekiel 1:15-28 help us understand the definition of love that is in 1 John 4:7-16 “this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”?

In your opinion, what does 1 John 4:7-16 help us understand about what Jesus had to do to be able to give “life to whom he is pleased to give it” as He said He would in John 5:16-23?

Revelation 4:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ² At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. ³ And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. ⁴ Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. ⁵ From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. ⁶ Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. 

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. ⁸ Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.”

Where was the door that was standing open (verse 1)?

What does the voice like a trumpet tell John (verse 1)?

What was before John “at once” (verse 2)?

How did the One on the throne appear (verse 3)?

In your opinion, what do the twenty-four thrones and elders represent (verse 4)?

What were the seven lamps that were blazing (verse 5)?

What was around the throne (verse 6)?

How did they appear (verse 7)?

What do they “never stop saying” (verse 8)?

What do the twenty-four elders do when the “living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne” (verses 9 and 10)?

What do they say (verse 11)?

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

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

In your opinion, how is the response of Ezekiel to God in Ezekiel 1:15-28 and the response of the twenty-four elders to God in Revelation 4:1-11 a lesson to us in how to respond to God?  Why do you think it is hard for us to respond to God in this way? 

In your opinion, why does someone with the power and majesty that is displayed in Revelation 4:1-11 reveal themselves to the world in the way that Jesus does in John 5:16-23?

In your opinion, how does seeing the One who loves so wonderfully in 1 John 4:7-16 also described so powerfully in Revelation 4:1-11 change your understanding of love?  Why would One with that much power and majesty love as completely as 1 John describes? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Ezekiel, John, 1 John and Revelation show about the power of God and the purpose of love?

In your opinion, how can we move from being people who desire power in some form to being people who display the power of God’s love?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 11, 2022 – John’s Writings – Oh No! Not Status Quo

 

Oh No! Not Status Quo

Nehemiah 2:11-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days ¹² I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.

¹³ By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; ¹⁵ so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. ¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” ¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.

They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

Where did Nehemiah go (verse 11)?

What had Nehemiah not told the people (verse 12)?

How did Nehemiah find the walls and the gates of Jerusalem (verse 13)?

What was there not enough room for “toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool” (verse 14)?

Where did Nehemiah reenter (verse 15)?

Why did the officials not know where Nehemiah was going or what he was doing (verse 16)?

What did Nehemiah want to do about Jerusalem being in ruins and the gates being burned (verse 17)?

What did they start to do after Nehemiah told them about the “gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me” (verse 18)?

How did Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab react when they heard what was going on (verse 19)?

Who did Nehemiah say would give success (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

John 5:1-16 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵ One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰ and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 

Why did Jesus go “up to Jerusalem” (verse 1)?

What is the pool near the Sheep Gate called in Aramaic (verse 2)?

Who would lie there (verse 3)?

How long had the “one who was there” been an invalid (verse 5)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus ask the man, “do you want to get well” (verse 6)?

How did the man answer Jesus’s question (verse 7)?

What did Jesus tell the man (verse 8)?

What happened to the man and what did he do (verse 9)?

Who told the man “it is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat” (verse 10)?

How did the man answer (verse 11)?

Why did the man have no idea who had healed him (verses 12 and 13)?

What did Jesus warn the man (verse 14)?

What did the man tell the Jewish leaders (verse 15)?

Why did the Jewish leaders begin to persecute Jesus (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that Nehemiah and the other Jews were mocked and ridiculed when they began a good work in Nehemiah 2:11-20 and Jesus was persecuted for doing a good work on the Sabbath in John 5:1-16?   

1 John 4:1-6 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

⁴ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. ⁵ They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

What are the “dear friends” not to believe (verse 1)?

Why are they to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (verse 1)?

How can we “recognize the Spirit of God” (verse 2)?

Which spirits are the antichrists (verse 3)?

Where are the antichrists (verse 3)?

Why have the “dear children” overcome the antichrists (verse 4)?

Where are the antichrists from (verse 5)?

What viewpoint do the antichrists speak from (verse 5)?

How does the world respond to the antichrists (verse 5)?

Who listens to John (verse 6)?

Who does not listen to John (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, how is the confidence that Nehemiah has when he is answering “Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab” in Nehemiah 2:11-20 similar to the confidence of John as he talks about the conflict between Christians and antichrists in 1 John 4:1-6?

In your opinion, who in John 5:1-16 meets the definition of antichrists that is given by 1 John 4:1-6?

Revelation 3:14-22 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

²¹ To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Who is John to write to (verse 14)?

How is Jesus, who gives the words, described (verse 14)?

What does Jesus know (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus wish they were either hot or cold (verse 15)?

Why is Jesus about to spit them “out of my mouth” (verse 16)?

What do the Christians of Laodicea say (verse 17)?

What do they not realize (verse 17)?

How does Jesus counsel them (verse 18)?

Who does Jesus “rebuke and discipline” (verse 19)?

How should the Laodicean Christians respond to the “rebuke and discipline” (verse 19)?

What is Jesus doing (verse 20)?

Who will Jesus “come in and eat with” (verse 20)?

What will Jesus give to the “one who is victorious” (verse 21)?

Who is to hear (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from this passage about how God can be opposed and followed?

In your opinion, who, in Nehemiah 2:11-20, was lukewarm like the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22 and what was the rebuke and discipline that they responded to? 

In your opinion, how can the thirty-eight-year invalid in John 5:1-16 be an inspiration to the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22 who Jesus said was “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” and who told “I stand at the door and knock”?

In your opinion, how is the conflict between Christians and antichrists that 1 John 4:1-6 explains different from the problems of the Laodicean church of Revelation 3:14-22?  How could it be the same conflict, just completely within the church? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Nehemiah, John, 1 John and Revelation show about the willingness of God to be satisfied with the status quo?  How does help us understand how God can be opposed, and how God can be followed?

In your opinion, how do people of the world move from disgrace to victory?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 4, 2022 – John’s Writings – Love’s Open Door

 

Love’s Open Door

Nehemiah 2:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, ² so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

I was very much afraid, ³ but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

⁴ The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, ⁵ and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”

⁶ Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.

⁷ I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? ⁸ And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. ⁹ So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.

How was Nehemiah different in the presence of King Artaxerxes (verse 1)?

In your opinion, why was Nehemiah “very much afraid” (verse 2)?

Why did Nehemiah’s face look sad (verse 3)?

What did Nehemiah do before he answered the King’s question, “what is it you want” (verse 4)?

How did Nehemiah answer the question (verse 5)?

What did the King want to know (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why would Nehemiah ask for letters to the governors asking for safe-conduct (verse 7)?

What else did Nehemiah ask for (verse 8)?

Why did the King grant Nehemiah’s requests (verse 8)?

Who did the King send with Nehemiah (verse 9)?

Why were Sanballat and Tobiah upset (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, how has the Lord opened a door in this passage?

John 4:39-45 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

⁴³ After the two days he left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) ⁴⁵ When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.

Why did “many of the Samaritans from that town” believe (verse 39)?

What did the Samaritans urge Jesus to do (verse 40)?

What did Jesus do (verse 40)?

Why did “many more” become believers (verse 41)?

What did the people know because they heard for themselves (verse 42)?

Where did Jesus leave for (verse 43)?

What had Jesus pointed out about a prophet (verse 44)?

How did the Galileans respond to Jesus (verse 45)?

What had the Galileans seen (verse 45)?

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

In your opinion, how has the Lord opened a door in this passage?

In your opinion, what are the differences between Nehemiah and Jesus that would cause “Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official” to be disturbed by the presence of Nehemiah in Nehemiah 2:1-10 but the Samaritans, also foreigners rejected by Israel, to have urged Jesus to stay in John 4:39-45?  Are there alsodifferences between Sanballat and Tobiah on one hand and the Samaritans on the other that would bring about the different reactions?   

1 John 3:11-24 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹² Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. ¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

¹⁹ This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

What is the message “heard from the beginning” (verse 11)?

Who did Cain belong to (verse 12)?

Why did Cain murder his brother (verse 12)?

What should not surprise Christians (verse 13)?

How do Christians know they have passed from death to life (verse 14)?

Who remains “in death” (verse 14)?

Who is a murderer (verse 15)?

How do we know what love is (verse 16)?

How are Christians to love (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what does John mean when he says that we can “set our hearts at rest in his presence” because if our hearts condemn us “we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (verses 19 and 20)?

When can “we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask” (verses 21 and 22)?

What is God’s command (verse 23)?

How do we know “that he lives in us” (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, how has the Lord opened a door in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the conflict between the Israelites and the Horonites and Ammonites in Nehemiah 2:1-10 and Cain and his brother as reported in 1 John 3:11-24 an indication of the reaction that Christians can expect from the world today?  How does this conflict make it harder to be obedient to John’s instruction to “love each other”?

In your opinion, how can the Samaritan woman in John 4:39-45 serve as an example of the command of 1 John 3:11-24 to “love each other”?

Revelation 3:7-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. ⁸ I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ⁹ I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. ¹² The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. ¹³ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Who is John to write to (verse 7)?

How is Jesus, who gives the words, described (verse 7)?

In your opinion, why is it important to tell the church of Philadelphia “what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (verse 7)?

What does He know (verse 8)?

What has the church in Philadelphia done even though they “have little strength” (verse 8)?

Who will Jesus make come and fall at the feet of the church in Philadelphia and acknowledge that Jesus loves them (verse 9)?

Why will the church in Philadelphia be kept from “the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth” (verse 10)?

Why are they to “hold on to what you have” (verse 11)?

Who will be made “a pillar in the temple of my God” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what is the significance of having the name of God, the name of the city of God and the name of Jesus written on the victorious (verse 12)?

Who is to hear (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how has the Lord opened a door in this passage?

In your opinion, how does the story of Nehemiah and Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2:1-10 illustrate the ability of God to open doors and described in Revelation 3:7-13? 

In your opinion, why would people not have expected the Samaritan woman in John 4:39-45 to be like the members of the Church of Philadelphia who were commended in Revelation 3:7-13?

In your opinion, how can Christians, who are told in 1 John 3:11-24 that they will be hated by the world, find comfort in the promise of Jesus in Revelation 3:7-13 to the members of the Church of Philadelphia about the open door? 

In your opinion, how is the love of God demonstrated in these passages from Nehemiah, John, 1 John and Revelation?

In your opinion, could the love of God be considered the door that Jesus opens that cannot be closed?  Why or why not?

 

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)