June 14, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Love in a Perverse World

Love in a Perverse World

Deuteronomy 32:15-21 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
    filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.
They abandoned the God who made them
    and rejected the Rock their Savior.
¹⁶ They made him jealous with their foreign gods
    and angered him with their detestable idols.
¹⁷ They sacrificed to false gods, which are not God—
    gods they had not known,
    gods that recently appeared,
    gods your ancestors did not fear.
¹⁸ You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
    you forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹ The Lord saw this and rejected them
    because he was angered by his sons and daughters.
²⁰ “I will hide my face from them,” he said,
    “and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
    children who are unfaithful.
²¹ They made me jealous by what is no god
    and angered me with their worthless idols.
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
    I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.

Who “abandoned the God who made them” (verse 15)?

How did they make God jealous (verse 16)?

Who did they sacrifice to (verse 17)?

What did they do to “the God who gave” them birth (verse 18)?

What did the Lord do when He “saw this” (verse 19)?

How is the generation described (verse 20)?

What will the Lord do “by those who are not a people” (verse 21)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about following God in a perverse world?

Matthew 17:14-20 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. ¹⁵ “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. ¹⁶ I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

¹⁷ “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” ¹⁸ Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

What did the man who approached Jesus do (verse 14)?

Who did the man want Jesus to “have mercy on” (verse 15)?

What could the disciples not do (verse 16)?

How does Jesus describe the generation (verse 17)?

What happened when “Jesus rebuked the demon” (verse 18)?

Where did the disciples ask Jesus why couldn’t we drive it out” (verse 19)?

How much faith does it take to move a mountain (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about following God in a perverse world?

In your opinion, what does Jesus in Matthew 17:14-20 help us understand about what it takes to remove ourselves from the perverse generation described in Deuteronomy 32:15-21, the one that He was talking to, and the one that we live in?

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

What makes a person who can “speak in the tongues of men or of angels” into a resounding gong (verse 1)?

What is someone who has “a faith that can move mountains” but not love (verse 2)?

How much does someone gain if they give everything but “do not have love” (verse 3)?

What is patient and kind (verse 4)?

In your opinion, how can love not keep a record of wrongs (verse 5)?

What does love rejoice with (verse 6)?

How long does love persevere (verse 7)?

How is love different from prophecies, tongues and knowledge (verse 8)?

What do we do “in part” (verse 9)?

When are the ways of childhood put behind (verse 11)?

How are we known (by God) (verse 12)?

What is the greatest of “faith, hope and love” (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about following God in a perverse world?

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 help us understand about how the relationship with God of the descendants of those listening to Moses’s song in Deuteronomy 32:15-21 could and abandon God?

In your opinion, how does our understanding of what the disciples lacked change when we read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 after reading Jesus’s accurate emphasis on the lack of their faith in Matthew 17:14-20?

Philippians 2:12-18 - New International Version (NIV)

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and :trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good -purpose.

¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸ So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

What does Paul want the Philippian Christians to “work out” (verse 12)?

Who works in Christians “to fulfill his good purpose” (verse 13)?

How does Paul instruct the Philippians Christians to do “everything” (verse 14)?

What does Paul recognize about the generation they are living in (verse 15)?

What should they “hold firmly to” as they shine in that generation (verses 15 and 16)?

How does Paul feel, even as he is “being poured out like a drink offering” (verse 17)?

How should the Philippian Christians respond to Paul (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about following God in a perverse world?

In your opinion, what does Moses anticipating the Israelite people abandoning God in Deuteronomy 32:15-21 help us understand why Paul would instruct in Philippians 2:12-18 to “continue to work out your salvation”?

In your opinion, how are the generation that Jesus is talking to in Matthew 17:14-20 and the generation that Christians are living among in Philippians 2:12-18 connected?

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 help us understand about what we need to work on to follow the instructions of Philippians 2:12-18 to “work out your salvation”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and Philippians teach us about not being people of the world?

In your opinion, how do we grow our faith among a people who have abandoned God today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 9, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – This Little Light of Mine

This Little Light of Mine

Isaiah 30:18-26 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
    therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
    Blessed are all who wait for him!

¹⁹ People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. ²⁰ Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. ²¹ Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” ²² Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”

²³ He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. ²⁴ The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. ²⁵ In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. ²⁶ The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

Why will the Lord “rise up to show you compassion” (verse 18)?

Who is blessed (verse 18)?

When will the Lord be gracious (verse 19)?

What “will be hidden no more” (verse 20)?

What will the voice from behind say (verse 21)?

What will they say when “idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold” are desecrated (verse 22)?

What will be “rich and plentiful” (verse 23)?

How will the fodder and mash that the oxen and donkeys eat be spread out (verse 24)?

Where will the streams of water flow (verse 25)?

How bright with the sunlight shine (verse 26)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about living in light?

Matthew 5:13-16 - New International Version (NIV)

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

What are “you” (verse 13)?

In your opinion, “if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again” (verse 13)?

What is salt that loses saltiness good for (verse 13)?

What are “you” (verse 14)?

What cannot be hidden (verse 14)?

Where do people not put a lamp that is lit (verse 15)?

What will the lamp do when it is “put on its stand” (verse 15)?

Where should our light shine (verse 16)?

When do others glorify our “Father in heaven” (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about living in light?

In your opinion, how does God’s graciousness, that includes bringing bright light, in Isaiah 30:18-26 relate to the light that Matthew 5:13-16 says we are to let “shine before others”?

Philippians 2:12-18 - New International Version (NIV)

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸ So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

What does Paul want the Philippian Christians to “continue to work out” (verse 12)?

Who “works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (verse 13)?

What should Christians do “without grumbling or arguing” (verse 14)?

How does Paul describe the generation in which he wants Christians to be “children of God without fault” (verse 15)?

Where will Christians shine as they “hold firmly to the word of life” (verses 15 and 16)?

What will Paul be able to boast “on the day of Christ” (verse 16)?

What is Paul able to do with Christians even if he “is being poured out like a drink offering” (verse 17)?

How should Christians react with Paul (verse 18)?

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about living in light?

In your opinion, what does Philippians 2:12-18 reveal about how people should respond to God’s graciousness when they cry for help as described in Isaiah 30:18-26?

In your opinion, how does Philippians 2:12-18 help us understand how Christians can let our “light shine before others” as commanded in Matthew 5:13-16?

Revelation 21:22-27 – New International Version (NIV)

²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Why did John “not see a temple in the city” (verse 22)?

What is the light of the city (verse 23)?

What is the city’s lamp (verse 23)?

Who will walk by the city’s light (verse 24)?

Why will the gates never be shut (verse 25)?

What will be brought to the city (verse 26)?

Who will enter the city (verse 27)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about living in light?

In your opinion, how does the light and healing in Isaiah 30:18-26 anticipate the magnificent light of the city in Revelation 21:22-27?

In your opinion, how do those whose “names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” in Revelation 21:22-27 letting their “light shine before others” as commanded in Matthew 5:13-16 glorify the One whose glory lights the city of Revelation 21:22-27?

In your opinion, how can the city described in Revelation 21:22-27 be a source of inspiration for those who are struggling to work out their “salvation with fear and trembling” in the “warped and crooked generation” in Philippians 2:12-18?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Isaiah, Matthew, Philippians and Revelation teach us about the source of light?

In your opinion, how do we let our lights shine today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)