July 28, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Building God’s House

Building God’s House

Isaiah 66:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ This is what the Lord says:

“Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
    Where will my resting place be?
² Has not my hand made all these things,
    and so they came into being?”
declares the Lord.

“These are the ones I look on with favor:
    those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
    and who tremble at my word.
³ But whoever sacrifices a bull
    is like one who kills a person,
and whoever offers a lamb
    is like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
whoever makes a grain offering
    is like one who presents pig’s blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense
    is like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways,
    and they delight in their abominations;
⁴ so I also will choose harsh treatment for them
    and will bring on them what they dread.
For when I called, no one answered,
    when I spoke, no one listened.
They did evil in my sight
    and chose what displeases me.”

⁵ Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
“Your own people who hate you,
    and exclude you because of my name, have said,
‘Let the Lord be glorified,
    that we may see your joy!’
    Yet they will be put to shame.
⁶ Hear that uproar from the city,
    hear that noise from the temple!
It is the sound of the Lord
    repaying his enemies all they deserve.

 

Where is the Lord’s throne (verse 1)?

 

What is the earth to the Lord (verse 1)?

What has “made all these things” (verse 2)?

Who does the Lord “look on with favor” (verse 2)?

What have people “chosen” (verse 3)?

Who answered when the Lord called (verse 4)?

Why are the people who “tremble at” the Lord’s word excluded (verse 5)?

What is “that uproar from the city” and “that noise from the temple” (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s house?

Luke 11:24-28 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”

²⁷ As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”

²⁸ He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

What does “an impure spirit” do after leaving a person when it does not find a place to rest (verse 24)?

What does it find “when it arrives” (verse 25)?

Why is the “final condition of that person” worse than the first (verse 26)?

Who did the “woman in the crowd” call out as blessed (verse 27)?

Who did Jesus say is blessed (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s house?

In your opinion, how would Jesus’s answer to the woman in Luke 11:24-28 been appropriate for all those who Isaiah 66:1-6 was addressed to?

Acts 7:44-60 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴⁴ “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. ⁴⁵ After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, ⁴⁶ who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

⁴⁸ “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:

⁴⁹ “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
    Or where will my resting place be?
⁵⁰ Has not my hand made all these things?’

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

⁵⁴ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷ At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸ dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

What did “our ancestors” have in the wilderness (verse 44)?

Who “drove out” the nations before the ancestors (verse 45)?

Who “asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob” (verse 46)?

Where does “the Most High” not live (verse 48)?

What is heaven (verse 49)?

How are the people Stephen is talking to “just like” their ancestors (verse 51)?

What did they do to the “Righteous One” (verse 52)?

How was the law they received given (verse 53)?

Who was “furious and gnashed their teeth at him” (verse 54)?

How was Stephen filled (verse 55)?

What did Stephen see (verse 56)?

Who covered their ears (verse 57)?

Where did the witnesses lay their coats (verse 58)?

What did Stephen pray (verse 59)?

When did Stephen fall asleep (verse 60)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s house?

In your opinion, how was the conflict between the religious leaders and Stephen in Acts 4:44-59 anticipated in Isaiah 6:1-6?

In your opinion, what does Jesus’s lesson in Luke 11:24-28 help us understand about the leaders of the house of God in Acts 7:44-59? 

1 Corinthians 3:9-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. ¹⁴ If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

¹⁶ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

What does Paul say we (the Christian readers) are (verse 9)?

How was Paul able to lay the foundation (verse 10)?

Who is the foundation that is “already laid” (verse 11)?

How will everyone’s work “be shown for what it is” (verse 12 and 13)?

When will the builder “receive a reward” (verse 14)?

What will happen if the builder’s work is destroyed (verse 15)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to be “only as one escaping through the flames” (verse 15)?

Who is “God’s temple” (verse 16)?

What are Christians “together” (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s house?

In your opinion, how does 1 Corinthians 3:9-17 help answer God’s question in Isaiah 66:1-6 “Where is the house you will build for me?”?

In your opinion, what does reading Luke 11:24-28 and 1 Corinthians 3:9-17 help us understand about how we live our choices today?

In your opinion, how does Stephen’s statement that “the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands” followed by Isaiah’s question “What kind of house will you build for me?” in Acts 7:44-59 provide a basis for understanding 1 Corinthians 3:9-17?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, Acts and Hebrews teach us about who builds the house of God?

In your opinion, how do we build God’s house today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

July 21, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Growing in Grace

Growing in Grace

Isaiah 65:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
    I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
    I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
² All day long I have held out my hands
    to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
    pursuing their own imaginations—
³ a people who continually provoke me
    to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
    and burning incense on altars of brick;
⁴ who sit among the graves
    and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
    and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
⁵ who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,
    for I am too sacred for you!’
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that keeps burning all day.

⁶ “See, it stands written before me:
    I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;
    I will pay it back into their laps—
⁷ both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,”
    says the Lord.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
    and defied me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
    the full payment for their former deeds.”

⁸ This is what the Lord says:

“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes
    and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,
    there is still a blessing in it,’
so will I do in behalf of my servants;
    I will not destroy them all.
⁹ I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
    and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;
my chosen people will inherit them,
    and there will my servants live.

 

Who did the Lord reveal Himself to (verse 1)?

 

What has the Lord done “all day long” (verse 2)?

What do the people continually do (verse 3)?

Where do the people sit (verse 4)?

Why do the people warn others to “keep away” (verse 5)?

How will the Lord pay back (verse 6)?

Where will the “full payment” be measured (verse 7)?

Why will the Lord “not destroy them all” (verse 8)?

Who “will inherit” (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, where do we see God’s grace in this passage?

Luke 20:9-19 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. ¹⁰ At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. ¹² He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴ “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”

¹⁷ Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

¹⁹ The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

What did the man who planted the vineyard do (verse 9)?

When did he send a servant to the tenants (verse 10)?

How did the tenants treat the second servant (verse 11)?

Who did the tenants wound and throw out (verse 12)?

How did the owner think the tenants might respond to his son (verse 13)?

Why did the tenants decide to kill the son (verse 14)?

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them” (verses 15 and 16)?

How did the people respond (verse 16)?

What has become the cornerstone (verse 17)?

Who will be “broken to pieces” (verse 18)?

Why did “teachers of the law and the chief priests” not arrest Jesus (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, where do we see God’s grace in this passage?

In your opinion, who, in Luke 20:9-19, are the people that God says in Isaiah 65:1-12 are the “obstinate people” and who are the ones who ”found” the Lord?

Romans 10:19-11:7 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.”

¹⁹ Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”

²⁰ And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

²¹ But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

11 ¹ I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? ⁴ And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷ What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 

What did “all the Israelites” not do (verse 16)?

Where does faith come from (verse 17)?

“Did they not hear” (verse 18)?

Who did Moses say “I will make you envious” by (verse 19)?

Who did Isaiah say the Lord would be “found by” (verse 20)?

What did Isaiah say about Israel (verse 21)?

How does Paul answer the question “did God reject his people” (verse 1)?

Who “appealed to God against Israel” (verse 2)?

How did the Lord answer the appeal “I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me” (verses 3 and 4)?

How is the remnant of the present time chosen (verse 5)?

Who obtained what they sought (verse 7)?

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

In your opinion, where do we see God’s grace in this passage?

In your opinion, how does Paul in Romans 10:19-11:7 provide hope for all those, in Isaiah 65:1-12 and in the world, who live among “an obstinate people”?

In your opinion, what does Romans 10:19-11:7 help us understand about the people who will receive the vineyard in Luke 20:9-19? 

2 Peter 3:13-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵ Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶ He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Where will righteousness dwell (verse 13)?

How should Christians “make every effort to be found” (verse 14)?

What “means salvation” (verse 15)?

Who distorts Paul’s letters and “the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (verse 16)?

What does Peter instruct Christians be on guard against (verse 17)?

How are Christians to grow (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, where do we see God’s grace in this passage?

In your opinion, how does Peter in 2 Peter 3:13-18 help those who are blessed to be the ones who the Lord in Isaiah 65:1-12 calls “my chosen people” understand what they should “make every effort” to be?

In your opinion, what does 2 Peter 3:13-18 help us understand about the tenants who will lose the vineyard and the tenants who will receive the vineyard in Luke 20:9-19?

In your opinion, what does 2 Peter 3:13-18 help those that Romans 10:19-11:7 calls a “remnant chosen by grace” understand about the source of their salvation?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, Romans and 2 Peter teach us about the attitudes that lead to rejecting God’s grace?

In your opinion, how can we continue to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

July 14, 2024 – Isaiah in the New Testament – Responding to God’s Yes

Responding to God’s Yes

Isaiah 61:1-6 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations.
⁵ Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
    foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
⁶ And you will be called priests of the Lord,
    you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
    and in their riches you will boast.

Who was Isaiah anointed to “proclaim good news to” (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what is “the year of the Lord’s favor” (verse 2)?

What is the “oil of joy” to replace (verse 3)?

What will display the Lord’s splendor (verse 3)?

How long will the cities that are renewed have been devastated (verse 4)?

Who will “shepherd your flocks” (verse 5)?

What will “you” be called (verse 6)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

Luke 4:14-30 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

²³ Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”

²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

How did Jesus return “to Galilee” (verse 14)?

Where did Jesus teach (verse 15)?

What did Jesus do on the Sabbath (verse 16)?

What did Jesus read from (verse 17)?

What did Jesus say after He finished reading (verse 21)?

Why were the listeners amazed at the “gracious words that came from his lips” (verse 22)?

In your opinion, why would Jesus think the people would want Him to “do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum” (verse 23)?

Who did Jesus say is “not accepted in his hometown” (verse 24)?

Who was Elijah sent to “when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land” (verses 25 and 26)?

Who did Elisha cleanse from leprosy (verse 27)?

How did the people in the synagogue react to what Jesus said (verse 28)?

What did Jesus do when they tried to “throw him off the cliff” (verses 29 and 30)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, what can Isaiah 61:1-6 and Luke 4:14-30 teach us about who will favorably receive Jesus?

2 Corinthians 1:15-22 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. ¹⁶ I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

¹⁸ But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” ²⁰ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. ²¹ Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Why did Paul want to visit Corinth first (verse 15)?

When was Paul going to visit Corinth (verse 16)?

In your opinion, what do you think Paul mean by making “plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no” (verse 17)?

What is not Paul’s message (verse 18)?

What has the message from Jesus Christ “always been” (verse 19)?

How is every promise of God a “Yes” (verse 20)?

Who makes us “stand firm in Christ” (verse 21)?

What has God set “on us” (verse 22)?

Where does God put “his Spirit” (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, why should the fact that Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:15-22 did not visit as he intended, or that we have been hurt by people who have not followed through, not change our trust in God’s promise in Isaiah 61:1-6 to mend the hurting or free the captives?

In your opinion, how does Jesus claiming God’s anointing and Spirit for Himself in Luke 4:14-30 and Paul saying in 2 Corinthians 1:15-22 that God anoints us and puts His Spirit in our hearts help Christians have confidence in God’s “Yes” today? 

James 4:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

“What causes fights and quarrels” (verse 1)?

What do we do when we “cannot get” what we want (verse 2)?

Why don’t we have (verse 2)?

Why don’t we have when we ask (verse 3)?

What does the person who chooses to become “a friend of the world” become (verse 4)?

What does God “jealously” long for (verse 5)?

Who does God show favor to (verse 6)?

How will the devil respond if we submit to God and resist him (verse 7)?

What are the “double-minded” to do (verse 8)?

What should joy be changed to (verse 9)?

When will the Lord lift us up (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to God?

In your opinion, how does the discussion in James 4:1-10 about who God shows favor to help us understand who will receive the blessings of Isaiah 61:1-6?

In your opinion, how does James 4:1-10 help us understand the reaction of those who took Jesus to the cliff to kill him in Luke 4:14-30?

In your opinion, how does 2 Corinthians 1:15-22 help us understand why those who have humbled themselves before God and have been lifted up as called to do in James 4:1-10 might still disappoint us?  How does it help us understand why we might disappoint ourselves?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Luke, 2 Corinthians and James teach us about how to win the battle within us?

In your opinion, how can we share God’s “Yes” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)