October 4, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Building on the Cornerstone

Building on the Cornerstone

Psalm 118:15-25 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ Shouts of joy and victory
    resound in the tents of the righteous:
“The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
¹⁶     The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
    the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
¹⁷ I will not die but live,
    and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
¹⁸ The Lord has chastened me severely,
    but he has not given me over to death.
¹⁹ Open for me the gates of the righteous;
    I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord
    through which the righteous may enter.
²¹ I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
    you have become my salvation.

²² The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
²³ the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴ The Lord has done it this very day;
    let us rejoice today and be glad.

²⁵ Lord, save us!
    Lord, grant us success!

Where do “shouts of joy and victory” resound (verse 15)?

What has “the Lord’s right hand” done (verse 16)?

What will the Psalmist proclaim (verse 17)?

How has the Lord “chastened” the Psalmist (verse 18)?

Which gates does the Psalmist want opened (verse 19)?

Where may the righteous enter (verse 20)?

What has the Lord become (verse 21)?

Who rejected the stone that become the cornerstone (verse 22)?

Who “has done this” (verse 23)?

How should we respond to what the Lord has done (verse 24)?

Who do we ask to “save us” (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about accepting Jesus?

Matthew 21:33-46 - New International Version (NIV)

³³ “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. ³⁴ When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵ “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷ Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

³⁸ “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

⁴¹ “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

⁴³ “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

What did the landowner do with the vineyard (verse 33)?

When did he send his servants (verse 34)?

How were the servants treated (verse 35)?

How many servants did the landowner send the second time (verse 36)?

Why did he send his son (verse 37)?

How did the tenants respond to the son (verses 38 and 39)?

What will the landowner do (verses 40 and 41)?

What has “become the cornerstone” (verse 42)?

Who will the “kingdom of God” be given to (verse 43)?

What will happen to someone who falls on the stone (verse 44)?

Who was Jesus talking about (verse 45)?

Why was Jesus not arrested (verse 46)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about accepting Jesus?

In your opinion, what is different about the Psalmist in Psalms 118:15-25 and the tenants in Matthew 21:33-49?

Acts 4:8-22 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹ If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, ¹⁰ then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹ Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
    which has become the cornerstone.’

¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

¹³ When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ¹⁴ But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. ¹⁵ So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. ¹⁶ “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷ But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸ Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! ²⁰ As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²¹ After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. ²² For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

Who filled Peter (verse 8)?

What did Peter want the rulers and elders to know about how the man was healed (verses 9 and 10)?

In your opinion, what does Peter saying “you builders” in his description of Jesus as the cornerstone mean to all those who had gathered (verse 11)?

Where is salvation found (verse 12)?

Why were the rulers and elders who gathered “astonished” (verse 13)?

Who stood with Peter and John (verse 14)?

What did the rulers and elders want to accomplish (verses 15 – 17)?

What did they command Peter and John not to do (verse 18)?

How did Peter and John respond (verses 19 and 20)?

Why could the rulers and elders not decide how to punish them (verse 21)?

How old was the man who was healed (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about accepting Jesus?

In your opinion, how are Peter and John in Acts 4:8-22 and the Psalmist in Psalms 118:15-25 alike?

In your opinion, what does Acts 4:8-22 help us understand about the people that Jesus said the kingdom of God would be given to in Matthew 21:33-46?

1 Peter 2:4-12 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

⁸ and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Who is “rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him” (verse 4)?

Why are believers, like living stones, “being built into a spiritual house” (verse 5)?

Who will “never be put to shame” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the stone being “precious” to those who believe and the “cornerstone” for those who do not believe (verse 7)?

Why do those who do not believe stumble (verse 8)?

What are the “chosen people” declare (verse 9)?

What have the “people of God” received (verse 10)?

What do “sinful desires” do (verse 11)?

Who should see the good deeds of believers (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about accepting Jesus?

In your opinion, how is Psalm 118:15-25 as model for the “chosen people” of 1 Peter 2:4-12?

In your opinion, how does 1 Peter 2:4-12 help us understand the “kingdom of God” that Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 21:33-46?

In your opinion, how does 1 Peter 2:4-12 help us understand what Peter meant in Acts 4:8-22 when he questioned the rulers and elders about listening to them or God?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Matthew, Acts, and 1 Peter teach us about how Jesus is rejected?

In your opinion, how do we build on the cornerstone today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 27, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – The Way of Righteousness

The Way of Righteousness

Jonah 2:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

 ¹ From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. ² He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
    and you listened to my cry.
³ You hurled me into the depths,
    into the very heart of the seas,
    and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
    swept over me.
⁴ I said, ‘I have been banished
    from your sight;
yet I will look again
    toward your holy temple.’
⁵ The engulfing waters threatened me,
    the deep surrounded me;
    seaweed was wrapped around my head.
⁶ To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
    the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.

⁷ “When my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
    to your holy temple.

⁸ “Those who cling to worthless idols
    turn away from God’s love for them.
⁹ But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
    will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
    I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

¹⁰ And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Where was Jonah when he prayed (verse 1)?

What did he do in his “distress” (verse 2)?

Where had he been “hurled” (verse 3)?

What had he been “banished from” (verse 4)?

What “threatened” him (verse 5)?

Who removed him from the pit (verse 6)?

What was happening to Jonah when he prayed (verse 7)?

Who “turns away from God’s love for them” (verse 8)?

What will Jonah say (verse 9)?

Why did the fish vomit “Jonah onto dry land” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about repentance?

Matthew 21:23-32 - New International Version (NIV)

²³ Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵ John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Who asked, “by what authority are you doing these things” (verse 23)?

How was Jesus’s question about the source of John’s baptism related to that question (verses 24 and 25)?

Why was the answer to Jesus’s question “We don’t know” (verses 25 - 27)?

How did Jesus respond to that answer (verse 27)?

What did the first son do after telling his father, “I will not” (verses 28 and 29)?

What did the other son do after telling his father, “I will, sir” (verse 30)?

Which son “did what his father wanted” (verse 31)?

Who is “entering the kingdom of God” ahead of the chief priests and the elders (verse 31)?

What had the chief priests and elders not done (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about repentance?

In your opinion, how are the tax collectors and prostitutes in Matthew 21:23-32 and Jonah in Jonah 2:1-10 different from the chief priests and elders who were questioning Jesus?

Acts 13:38-41 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁸ “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ³⁹ Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

⁴¹ “‘Look, you scoffers,
    wonder and perish,
for I am going to do something in your days
    that you would never believe,
    even if someone told you.’”

How is the forgiveness of sins proclaimed (verse 38)?

What could not be obtained through the law of Moses (verse 39)?

What are they to “take care” about (verse 40)?

Who is to “wonder and perish” (verse 41)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about repentance?

In your opinion, what does Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2:1-10 help us understand about the difference between Paul’s friends and the scoffers in Acts 13:38-41?

In your opinion, how are the two sons in Matthew 21:23-32’s parable like Paul’s friends and the scoffers in Acts 13:38-41?

2 Peter 1:3-11 - New International Version (NIV)

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, ¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What has God’s divine power given us (verse 3)?

What do “his very great and precious promises” allow us to participate in (verse 4)?

For what reason should we “make every effort” to add goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection and love (verses 5-8)?

What is someone who does not have these qualities (verse 9)?

What can keep Christians from stumbling (verse 10)?

What kind of welcome “into the eternal kingdom” will a Christian who keeps adding these things receive (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about repentance?

In your opinion, how could Jonah, after ending up on the beach in Jonah 2:1-10, have benefited from the instruction of 2 Peter 1:3-11?

In your opinion, how were the tax collectors and prostitutes in Mattew 21:23-32 able to receive a “rich welcome” into the kingdom of 2 Peter 1:3-11?

In your opinion, how would following the instructions in 2 Peter 1:3-11 help people not to become a scoffer in Acts 13:38-41?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Jonah, Matthew, Acts, and 2 Peter teach us about the way of righteousness?

In your opinion, how do we confirm our calling today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 20, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Faith, Love, and Mercy

Faith, Love, and Mercy

Jeremiah 8:9-13 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ The wise will be put to shame;
    they will be dismayed and trapped.
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
    what kind of wisdom do they have?
¹⁰ Therefore I will give their wives to other men
    and their fields to new owners.
From the least to the greatest,
    all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
    all practice deceit.
¹¹ They dress the wound of my people
    as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
    when there is no peace.
¹² Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
    No, they have no shame at all;
    they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
    they will be brought down when they are punished,
says the Lord.

¹³ “‘I will take away their harvest,
declares the Lord.
    There will be no grapes on the vine.
There will be no figs on the tree,
    and their leaves will wither.
What I have given them
    will be taken from them.’”

How do the wise show they don’t have wisdom (verse 9)?

Who is “greedy for gain” (verse 10)?

What do they say “when there is no peace” (verse 11)?

What don’t they know how to do (verse 12)?

What will happen to the fig tree (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about what God asks of us?

Matthew 21:18-22 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

When was Jesus going “back to the city” (verse 18)?

What was on the fig tree (verse 19)?

Why did the tree wither (verse 19)?

Who ask “how did the fig tree wither so quickly” (verse 20)?

In your opinion, what is harder; to have faith or to not doubt (verse 21)?

What will happen if someone with faith tells a mountain to throw itself “into the sea” (verse 21)?

What happens if someone believes and asks in prayer (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about what God asks of us?

In your opinion, what does the fig tree without figs in Jeremiah 8:9-13 help us understand about what the fig tree in Matthew 21:18-22 might represent?

1 Corinthians 13:1-7 - 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.

When is a Christian a “resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (verse 1)?

What is a Christian with faith that can move mountains and no love (verse 2)?

Who gains nothing when they give all they possess to the poor (verse 3)?

What is kind (verse 4)?

What does love not keep a record of (verse 5)?

What does love rejoice with (verse 6)?

When does love hope (verse 7)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about what God asks of us?

In your opinion, what might be similar for those who have no shame in Jeremian 8:9-13 and those who don’t have love in 1 Corinthians 13:1-7?

In your opinion, what do the statements about moving mountains in Matthew 21:18-22 and in 1 Corinthians 13:1-17 help us understand about faith?

Jude 1:17-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. ¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

²⁰ But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

²² Be merciful to those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Whose words does Jude want us to remember (verse 17)?

When will there “be scoffers who follow their own ungodly desires” (verse 18)?

What do these people who divide us not have (verse 19)?

How are Christians to keep themselves “in God’s love” (verses 20 and 21)?

Who should Christians be merciful to (verse 22)?

How should some be saved (verse 23)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to “show mercy, mixed with fear” (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage help us understand about what God asks of us?

In your opinion, how does Jude 1:17-23 guide Christians in a world full of people like those that Jeremiah 8:9-13 describes?

In your opinion, what do the statements about doubt in Matthew 21:18-22 and in Jude 1:17-23 help us understand faith?

In your opinion, how do the statements describing love in 1 Corinthians 13:1-17 provide guidance for following the instructions in Jude 1:17-23 to keep ourselves “in God’s love”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Jeremiah, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and Jude teach us about the difference between those who reject God and those who trust in His mercy?

In your opinion, what should our response to God’s call be today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)