READ Romans 15:4-13
RE-Read verse 4: What hope do the scriptures encourage you to have? What does this have to do with Patience?
What other encouragements do you find in this particular passage of scripture? What challenges you? What else strikes you as interesting?
Read verse 7: How has Christ welcomed you? How do you welcome others? How can you more fully glorify God in obeying this command?
Read through the passage and look for the presence or idea of “harmony.” What do you observe? What do you learn about God’s heart through this observation? What do you learn about how to follow Jesus through this observation?
RE-Read verse 12: Who is the root of Jesse? Let’s look at what Isaiah says about this person:
READ Isaiah 11:1-10
Isaiah paints the picture of a family tree, starting with Jesse, the father of King David. What do you learn about the Shoot of Jesse or Root of Jesse from this passage?
Scholars think that the book of Isaiah was written between 7th or 8th BCE, while Romans was written ~55 CE. That puts a minimum of 700 years between them. What does this span of time holding the same topic and hope tell you about the kind of patience involved in the life of faith?
Consider the role of fear in this passage. Take a look at the passage verse-by-verse and articulate about how fear is present, at work, or anything else interesting about fear. What do you learn about God by paying attention to the story of fear in these verses?
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READ Matthew 3:1-12
Re-Read verse 8. We are spending the year learning about the fruit of the Spirit. How might this text be related? What different perspective does this shed for you on the fruit of the Spirit?
Re-Read verse 9: This contains an interesting example about Abraham. Why would this suggestion hold such weight? [Check out Genesis 18:1-15] What does this say about the wideness of God’s heart and desire for drawing unexpected characters into this family?
We have different imagery here about tree roots. What does this imagery teach about the Root of Jesse? What does this say about the connection between the Root of Jesse and the Fruit of the Spirit?
READ Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19
Try using this text as a guided prayer.