November 23, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – It’s Your Choice

It’s Your Choice

Ezekiel 18:25-32 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? ²⁶ If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. ²⁷ But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. ²⁸ Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. ²⁹ Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

³⁰ “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

What do the Israelites say (verse 25)?

What will happen to the righteous person who “turns from their righteousness” (verse 26)?

How can a wicked person “save their life” (verse 27)?

What does the wicked person have to consider to “surely live” (verse 28)?

Who says “the way of the Lord is not just” (verse 29)?

How can the Israelites avoid the downfall of sin (verse 30)?

What “new” things are the Israelites to get (verse 31)?

Who takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone” (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between choosing righteousness or wickedness?

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

What “is like a man who sowed good seed in his field” (verse 24)?

Who sowed the “weeds among the wheat” (verse 25)?

When did the weeds appear (verse 26)?

Who ask “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field?” (verse 27)?

Why didn’t the man who sowed the good seed want the weeds pulled up (verses 28 and 29)?

How long were the wheat and weeds to be allowed to grow together (verse 30)?

What did the disciples ask for (verse 36)?

Who sowed the good seed (verse 37)?

What is the good seed (verse 38)?

When is the harvest (verse 39)?

What will happen to the weeds (verse 40)?

Who will weed out the kingdom of “everything that causes sin and all who do evil” (verse 41)?

Where is the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verse 42)?

What will the righteous do (verse 43)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between choosing righteousness or wickedness?

In your opinion, how does Ezekiel 18:25-32 help us understand why the owner in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 was patient in removing the weeds?

Ephesians 4:17-24 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

How does Paul define living “as the Gentiles do” (verse 17)?

Why are they “darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God” (verse 18)?

What have they lost that causes them to give “themselves over to sensuality” (verse 19)?

How were the Ephesian Christians taught when they “heard about Christ” (verses 20 and 21)?

What were the Ephesian Christians taught to do with their “old self” (verse 22)?

Where were they to “be made new” (verse 23)?

How was their “new self” created (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between choosing righteousness or wickedness?

In your opinion, how does the command in Ezekiel 18:25-32 to “get a new heart and a new spirit” help us understand the instruction to “put on a new self” in Ephesians 4:17-24?

In your opinion, what does Ephesians 4:17-24 help us understand about the wheat and the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43?

2 Peter 3:8-18 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 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.

What does Peter want those who have faith to remember (verse 8)?

Why is the Lord patient (verse 9)?

How will “the day of the Lord” come (verse 10)?

What kind of lives should the faithful live (verse 11)?

What will “the day of God” bring about (verse 12)?

Where does righteousness dwell (verse 13)?

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

What does “our Lord’s patience” mean (verse 15)?

What should Peter’s “dear friends” be on guard for (verse 17)?

How should Christians grow (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the difference between choosing righteousness or wickedness?

In your opinion, how does 2 Peter 3:8-18 expand on the necessity of repentance which is commanded in Ezekiel 4:17-24?

In your opinion, how is the warning about the destruction of the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 broadened in 2 Peter 3:8-18?

In your opinion, how does 2 Peter 3:8-18 help us understand how one who has put on the “new self” of Ephesians 4:17-24 should approach life?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Ezekiel, Matthew, Ephesians and 2 Peter teach us about God’s patience?

In your opinion, how can Christians live righteously today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 16, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – Let Them Hear

Let Them Hear

Jeremiah 5:18-25 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. ¹⁹ And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’

²⁰ “Announce this to the descendants of Jacob
    and proclaim it in Judah:
²¹ Hear this, you foolish and senseless people,
    who have eyes but do not see,
    who have ears but do not hear:
²² Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord.
    “Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
    an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
    they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
²³ But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴ They do not say to themselves,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains in season,
    who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
²⁵ Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
    your sins have deprived you of good.

What will the Lord not  do “in those days” (verse 18)?

How is the question, “Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?” to be answered (verse 19)?

Where is the message to be proclaimed (verse 20)?

How are the people who “have eyes but do not see” described (verse 21)?

Who made the “sand a boundary for the sea” (verse 22)?

What have the people with “stubborn and rebellious hearts” done (verse 23)?

What do they “not say to themselves” (verse 24)?

What have their sins deprived them of (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of hearing?

Matthew 13:10-17 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

 

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

What did the disciples ask Jesus (verse 10)?

Who had been given the “knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (verse 11)?

From whom will “even what they have will be taken from them.” (verse 12)?

In your opinion, what does Jesus mean when He says, “though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (verse 13)?

Who prophesied “you will be ever hearing but never understanding” (verse 14)?

What do the people hardly do “with their ears” (verse 15)?

What would happen if the people turned (verse 15)?

Why are the disciples blessed (verse 16)?

Who “longed to hear what you hear but did not hear it” (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of hearing?

In your opinion, how does Jeremiah 5:18-25 help us understand the problem that causes Jesus to say that “though hearing, they do not hear or understand”?

2 Timothy 4:1-8 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ² Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

⁶ For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Who will “judge the living and the dead” (verse 1)?

What is the charge that Paul gives to Timothy (verses 1 and 2)?

What kind of teachers will people “gather around” themselves (verse 3)?

How will people respond to “the truth” (verse 4)?

What does Paul want Timothy to “keep” in all situations (verse 5)?

When is the “time for” Paul’s departure (verse 6)?

What has Paul finished (verse 7)?

Who will receive “the crown of righteousness” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of hearing?

In your opinion, how could what Jeremiah is saying in Jeremiah 5:18-25 be a model for Timothy as he tries to apply Paul’s instructions given in 2 Timothy 4:1-8?

In your opinion, how are the people with calloused hearts in Matthew 13:10-17 like the people with itchy ears in 2 Timothy 4:1-8?

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.”

Whose words are these (verse 14)?

What is known about the deeds of the Laodicean Church (verse 15)?

Why are they about to be spit “out of my mouth” (verse 16)?

In your opinion, how can they view themselves as rich while actually being “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (verse 17)?

What is the counsel (verse 18)?

How does God treat those whom He loves (verse 19)?

What will happen to those who hear Jesus’s voice and open the door (verse 20)?

Who will sit with Jesus on His throne (verse 21)?

What should those with ears hear (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the importance of hearing?

In your opinion, how are the people that Jeremiah is warning in Jeremiah 5:18-25 like the people that Jesus is warning through John in Revelation 3:14-22?

In your opinion, what does Revelation 3:14-22 help us understand about why some people in Matthew 13:10-17 have blessed eyes and ears?

In your opinion, how does 2 Timothy 4:1-8 help us understand how the people of the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22 could be lukewarm and about to be spit out?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Jeremiah, Matthew, 2 Timothy and Revelation help us understand about the blessings of hearing God?

In your opinion, how can we hear God more clearly today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)