November 15, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Fixing Our Eyes

Fixing Our Eyes

Exodus 13:11-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ “After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, ¹² you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. ¹³ Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

¹⁴ “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ ¹⁶ And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

Who had the Lord “promised on oath” to give the land of the Canaanites to the Israelites (verse 11)?

What is to be given to the Lord (verse 12)?

How are firstborn donkeys redeemed (verse 13)?

Who brought Israel “out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (verse 14)?

What happened “when the Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let” the Israelites go (verse 15)?

What will the redeeming of the firstborn sons be like (verses 15 and 16)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about remembering what God has done?

Matthew 23:1-12 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ² “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³ So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴ They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

⁵ “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶ they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷ they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

⁸ “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Who was Jesus talking to (verse 1)?

Where do the “teachers of the law and the Pharisees” sit (verse 2)?

What should those listening to Jesus not do (verse 3)?

What are the Pharisees “not willing” to do (verse 4)?

Why do they do things (verse 5)?

What do they love (verses 6 and 7)?

How many teachers are there (verse 8)?

Where is the Father (verse 9)?

Who is the Instructor (verse 10)?

In your opinion, who is the “greatest among” us (verse 11)?

What will happen to “those who humble themselves” (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about remembering what God has done?

In your opinion, how does the teachers of the law and the Pharisees wearing of the phylacteries conflict with the original purpose as stated in Exodus 13:11-16?

Galatians 6:1-10 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. ² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. ³ If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. ⁴ Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, ⁵ for each one should carry their own load. ⁶ Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.

⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

How should “brothers and sisters” restore a person caught in a sin (verse 1)?

How do Christians “fulfill the law of Christ” (verse 2)?

Who deceives themselves (verse 3)?

Who should Christians not compare themselves with (verse 4)?

What should each person carry (verse 5)?

Who should Christians share with (verse 6)?

What do people reap (verse 7)?

Who will reap eternal life (verse 8)?

When will Christians reap a harvest (verse 9)?

Who should Christians “especially” do good to (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about remembering what God has done?

In your opinion, how does remembering what God has done, as Exodus 13:11-16 commands the Israelites to do, help us test our actions as Galatians 6:1-10 commands?

In your opinion, what could the Pharisees in Matthew 23:1-12 learn from the discussion of burdens and loads in Galatians 6:1-10?

Hebrews 12:1-3 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

What surrounds Christians (verse 1)?

What should Christians “throw off” (verse 1)?

How should we run “the race marked out for us” (verse 1)?

Who is “the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (verse 2)?

Why did Jesus endure the cross (verse 2)?

Where did Jesus sit (verse 2)?

How can Christians “not grow weary and lose heart” (verse 3)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about remembering what God has done?

In your opinion, what is the fundamental difference between what is instructed in Exodus 13:11-16 for Hebrews to do and what is instructed in Hebrews 12:1-3 for Christians to do even though they are similar?

In your opinion, how do the Pharisees in Matthew 23:1-12 get totally wrong according to Hebrews 12:1-3?

In your opinion, what does combining Galatians 6:1-10 and Hebrews 12:1-3 help Christians do?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Matthew, Galatians, and Hebrews teach Christians about living in the world today?

In your opinion, what does it mean to fix our eyes on Jesus today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 8, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Lord Jesus

Lord Jesus 

You Tube - De-Icing Our Lives

Psalm 110:1-7 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ The Lord says to my lord:

“Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”

² The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
    “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
³ Your troops will be willing
    on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
    your young men will come to you
    like dew from the morning’s womb.

⁴ The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵ The Lord is at your right hand;
    he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
⁶ He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
    and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
⁷ He will drink from a brook along the way,
    and so he will lift his head high.

Who said “to my lord: sit at my right hand” (verse 1)?

Where will the “mighty scepter” be extended from (verse 2)?

Who “will be willing on your day of battle” (verse 3)?

What will the Lord “not change his mind” about (verse 4)?

Who will the Lord crush (verse 5)?

Who will He judge (verse 6)?

How will He hold his head (verse 7)?

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

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

Matthew 22:41-46 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

⁴³ He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

⁴⁴ “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

⁴⁵ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” ⁴⁶ No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Who were gathered together (verse 41)?

How did they answer the question, “Whose son is he?” (verse 42)?

What did Jesus say that David called the Messiah (verse 43)?

Who did the Lord tell to “sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet” (verse 44)?

What did Jesus ask them (verse 45)?

How did they respond (verse 46)?

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

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

In your opinion, what do the verses that come after the part of Psalm 110 that Jesus quotes in Matthew 22:41-46 help us understand about the positions Jesus fills?

Acts 2:29-39 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁹ “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. ³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. ³³ Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. ³⁴ For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
³⁵ until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’

³⁶ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

What of David’s, “is here to this day” (verse 29)?

What did David know (verse 30)?

Who was not going to be “abandoned to the realm of the dead” (verse 31)?

What had God done for Jesus (verse 32)?

What has Jesus “poured out” (verse 33)?

Where did David not ascend to (verse 34)?

Who was the Lord going to make “a footstool for your feet” (verses 34 and 35)?

What has God made Jesus (verse 36)?

How did the people respond (verse 37)?

What did Peter say the people should do (verse 38)?

Who was the promise for (verse 39)?

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

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

In your opinion, what does Psalm 110 help us understand the titles of Lord and Messiah that Peter gives to Jesus in Acts 2:29-39?

In your opinion, why would the Pharisees in Matthew 22:41-46 respond to Jesus by not asking more questions, but the people in Acts 2:29-39 respond to Peter by saying “what shall we do?

Ephesians 1:15-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

What had Paul “heard about” (verse 15)?

What had Paul not “stopped giving” (verse 16)?

Why was Paul asking for God to give them “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation” (verse 17)?

Why was Paul asking for the eyes of their hearts to “be enlightened” (verses 18 and 19)?

What has God’s “great power for us who believe” already done (verses 19 and 20)?

Where has Christ been raised to (verses 20 and 21)?

What has been placed us Christ’s feet (verse 22)?

What is the church (verses 22 and 23)?

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

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

In your opinion, what does Ephesians 1:15-23 reveal about the people in the kingdom of the priest/king that David called “Lord” in Psalm 110:1-7?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the contrast of the fear to ask questions in Matthew 22:41-46 and the blessings that Paul is asking for those who believe in Ephesians 1:15-23?

In your opinion, how does Ephesians 1:15-23 show what comes after responding to the instruction in Acts 2:29-39 to “repent and be baptized”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Matthew, Acts, and Ephesians teach us about how to react to Lord Jesus?

In your opinion, what can we know Lord Jesus better today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 1, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Complete Love

Complete Love

Deuteronomy 6:4-12 – New International Version (NIV)

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰ When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, ¹¹ houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Who “is one” (verse 4)?

How is Israel to “love the Lord” (verse 5)?

Where are the commandments to be (verse 6)?

How are they to be impressed on the children (verse 7)?

Where are they to be tied (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why would they be written on the doorframes and gates (verse 9)?

Who had the Lord sworn to that He’d bring the Israelites to “the land” (verse 10)?

What had the Israelites not done in the land (verse 11)?

What were the Israelites not to do (verse 12)?

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

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

Matthew 22:34-40 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Who had Jesus silenced (verse 34)?

What did the Pharisees do (verse 34)?

What was the one who tested Jesus an expert in (verse 35)?

How did Jesus answer the question, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law” (verses 36 and 37)?

How does Jesus describe that commandment (verse 38)?

What is the second commandment (verse 39)?

How do the Law and the Prophets relate to these two commandments (verse 40)?

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

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

In your opinion, how does Deuteronomy 6:4-12 help us understand what it means to follow what is the “greatest commandment” in Matthew 22:34-40?

Romans 13:8-10 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

What debt should continue to be outstanding (verse 8)?

Which commandments are “summed up” in the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (verse 9)?

Why is love “the fulfillment of the law” (verse 10)?

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

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

In your opinion, how is the instruction to love expanded when Deuteronomy 6:4-12 and Romans 13:8-10 are read together?

In your opinion, how does Romans 13:8-10 help us understand why Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40 that “all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”?

1 John 4:7-16 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

¹³ This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 

Where does love come from (verse 7)?

Who does not know God (verse 8)?

How did God show “his love among us” (verse 9)?

What is love (verse 10)?

Why should we “love one another” (verse 11)?

What happens “if we love one another” (verse 12)?

How do we know “that we live in him and he in us” (verse 13)?

What had John seen that he testified to (verse 14)?

Who lives in God (verse 15)?

What do we “know and rely on” (verse 16)?

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

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

In your opinion, how does 1 John 4:7-16 help us understand how it is possible for us to be obedient to the command in Deuteronomy 6:4-12 to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength”?

In your opinion, what does it change when you realize that the One who commands us to love in Matthew 22:34-40 is also the One that “love comes from” in 1 John 4:7-16?

In your opinion, how does the concept that we have a “continuing debt to love one another” in Romans 13:8-10 become more understandable when we consider the description of love in 1 John 4:7-16?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Matthew, Romans, and 1 John teach us about God’s love for us?

In your opinion, how can we respond to God’s love for us today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)