October 25, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Our Resurrection

Our Resurrection

Daniel 12:1-4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. ² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³ Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. ⁴ But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”

Who will arise “at that time” (verse 1)?

What will the “multitudes who sleep” awaken to (verse 2)?

Who will “shine like the brightness of the heavens” (verse 3)?

How will “those who lead many to righteousness” shine (verse 3)?

What will people “go here and there” to do (verse 4)?

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

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

Matthew 22:23-33 - New International Version (NIV)

²³ That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ²⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. ³⁰ At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. ³¹ But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

³³ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

What do the Sadducees “say” (verse 23)?

Who was supposed to marry the widow of a man with no children (verse 24)?

How many brothers married the woman and did not have any children (verses 25 and 26)?

In your opinion, why would the Sadducees ask who would be the widow’s husband “at the resurrection” (verse 28)?

Why were the Sadducees “in error” (verse 29)?

Who will people be like “at the resurrection” (verse 30)?

What had God said “about the resurrection of the dead” (verses 31 and 32)?

Who is God the God of (verse 32)?

What “astonished” the crowds (verse 33)?

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

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

In your opinion, what does Matthew 22:23-33 help us understand about where the knowledge that Daniel 12:1-4 says many will seek can be found?

1 Corinthians 15:35-44 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” ³⁶ How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. ³⁷ When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. ³⁸ But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. ³⁹ Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. ⁴⁰ There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. ⁴¹ The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

⁴² So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; ⁴³ it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴ it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

What will “someone” ask (verse 35)?

When does what is sowed come “to life” (verse 36)?

What is not planted “when you sow” (verse 37)?

Who determines the body that a seed will have (verse 38)?

What is not the same (verse 39)?

How do heavenly bodies and earthly bodies differ (verse 40)?

How is the body that is sown perishable raised (verse 42)?

How is the body that is sown in weakness raised (verse 43)?

How is the body that is sown as a natural body raised (verse 44)?

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

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

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 help us understand about the awakening of those that Daniel 12:1-4 says “sleep in the dust”?

In your opinion, how does 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 help us understand the resurrection that Jesus explained in Matthew 22:23-33?

2 Timothy 2:14-21 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. ¹⁵ Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. ¹⁶ Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. ¹⁷ Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, ¹⁸ who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

²⁰ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. ²¹ Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

What is Timothy to warn “God’s people” about (verse 14)?

What does Paul want Timothy to “correctly” handle (verse 15)?

Who becomes “more and more ungodly” (verse 16)?

What lie are Hymenaeus and Philetus spreading that is destroying “the faith of some” (verse 18?

How does “God’s solid foundation” stand (verse 19)?

What must “everyone who confesses the name of the Lord” do (verse 19)?

How can the uses of articles in a large house be divided (verse 20)?

Who will be “instruments for special purposes” (verse 21)?

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

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

In your opinion, how does 2 Timothy 2:14-21 explain what we need to do to avoid being those who Daniel 12:1-4 says are awakened to “shame and everlasting contempt”?

In your opinion, how is the importance of “God’s solid foundation” demonstrated by the different lies about the resurrection told by the Sadducees in Matthew 22:23-33 and by Hymenaeus and Philetus in 2 Timothy 2:14-2?

In your opinion, does the cleansing to be “instruments for special purposes” that 2 Timothy 2:14-21 talks about only apply to the resurrection body that 1 Corinthians 15:35-44 talks about, or does it also apply to the perishable natural body we have prior to resurrection?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Daniel, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and 2 Timothy teach us about the ways that resurrection can be attacked by the world?

In your opinion, how do we present ourselves to God as one approved today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 18, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Living In His Image

Living In His Image

Genesis 1:26-28 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Whose image is mankind made in (verse 26)?

What is mankind to rule over (verse 26)?

Who created mankind, “male and female” (verse 27)?

What did God say to them (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about living as the image of God?

Matthew 22:15-22 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

²² When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Who planned to trap Jesus “in his words” (verse 15)?

How did they say that Jesus “taught the way of God” (verse 16)?

Why did they say that Jesus was not “swayed by others” (verse 16)?

In your opinion, how is the question “is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not” a trap (verse 17)?

What did Jesus know (verse 18)?

What did Jesus want them to show Him (verse 19)?

Whose image was on the coin (verses 20 and 21)?

What were they to give to Caesar (verse 21)?

What were they to give to God (verse 21)?

How did the Pharisees feel about Jesus’s answer (verse 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about living as the image of God?

In your opinion, what does Genesis 1:26-28 help us understand about what Jesus said should be given to God in Matthew 22:15-22?

Romans 1:18-25 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

What is “the wrath of God” being revealed against (verse 18)?

How is “the truth” suppressed (verse 18)?

What has been “clearly seen” since the creation of the world (verse 20)?

What happened to people who didn’t glorify God on give Him thanks (verse 21)?

Who “became fools” (verse 22)?

What was the “glory of the immortal God” exchanged for (verse 23)?

What did God give them over to (verse 24)?

What did they worship “rather than the Creator” (verse 25)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about living as the image of God?

In your opinion, what do the actions of people in Romans 1:18-25 reveal about their corruption of the instructions in Genesis 1:26-28 “rule over” the living creatures?

In your opinion, what does Romans 1:18-25 help us understand about the Pharisees and Herodians in Matthew 22:15-22?

Revelation 22:11-17 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”

¹² “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

¹⁴ “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Who should “continue to do wrong” (verse 11)?

What should the holy person do (verse 11)?

What will Jesus give to “each person” (verse 12)?

What do those who “wash their robes” have the right to (verse 14?

Who is “outside” (verse 15)?

Who is “this testimony” for (verse 16)?

Who is to “take the free gift of the water of life” (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about living as the image of God?

In your opinion, what does the difference between those who are rewarded and those who are left outside in Revelation 22:11-17 teach us about the “image of God” that people were created in in Genesis 1:26-28?

In your opinion, what does Revelation 22:1-17 help us understand about Jesus’s instruction in Matthew 22:15-22 to give back to “God what is God’s”?

In your opinion, what does Romans 1:18-25 help us understand about the people who Revelation 22:11-17 says are the “dogs” that are outside?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Genesis, Matthew, Romans, and Revelation teach us about the difference between those who give to the world and those who give to God?

In your opinion, how can we be the image of God today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 11, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Will You Attend?

Will You Attend?

Isaiah 25:6-9 – New International Version (NIV)

⁶ On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
    a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
    the best of meats and the finest of wines.
⁷ On this mountain he will destroy
    the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
⁸     he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
    from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.

⁹ In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;
    we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
    let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Who will the feast on the mountain that the Lord Almighty prepares be for (verse 6)?

What will be destroyed (verses 7 and 8)?

Who will “wipe away the tears from all faces” (verse 8)?

What will be removed (verse 8)?

What had “our God” done after “we trusted in him” (verse 9)?

What should we “be glad” (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about a Christian’s relationship with God?

Matthew 22:1-14 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

¹³ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

How did Jesus speak to them (verse 1)?

What had the king prepared for his son (verse 2)?

How did those who had been invited respond to their notices (verse 3)?

What did the king then do (verse 4)?

How did the invitees respond (verses 5 and 6)?

What happened to the invitees (verse 7)?

Who did “not deserve to come” (verse 8)?

Where did the servants go to find people to attend (verses 9 and 10)?

In your opinion, did these people deserve to attend (verses 9 and 10)?

What did the king see (verse 11)?

How did the man respond to the king’s question (verse 12)?

What happened to the man (verse 13)?

How many are chosen (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about a Christian’s relationship with God?

In your opinion, how are the people who attend the banquet in Isaiah 25:6-9 and the people who attend the banquet in Matthew 22:1-14 similar?

Hebrews 2:1-15 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ² For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, ³ how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. ⁴ God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

⁵ It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. ⁶ But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    a son of man that you care for him?
⁷ You made them a little lower than the angels;
    you crowned them with glory and honor
⁸     and put everything under their feet.”

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. ⁹ But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰ In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹ Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. ¹² He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

¹³ And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Why should we “pay the most careful attention” (verse 1)?

What has “every violation and disobedience” received (verse 2)?

Who “confirmed” the salvation “first announced by the Lord” (verse 3)?

How did God testify to the salvation (verse 4)?

Who did the Lord not subject “the world to come” (verse 5)?

Who was made “a little lower than the angels” but had everything put “under their feet (verses 6 - 8)?

Where was Jesus “for a little while” (verse 9)?

Who tasted “death for everyone” (verse 9)?

How was “the pioneer of their salvation” made perfect (verse 10)?

Who makes up “the same family” (verse 11)?

Where will “praises” be sung (verse 12)?

Who is “here” (verse 13)?

How was the “power of him who holds the power of death” broken (verse 14)?

Who is freed (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about a Christian’s relationship with God?

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 2:1-15 help us understand about how the people who are at the banquet in Isaiah 25:6-9 have their disgrace removed?

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 2:1-15 help us understand about how the guests at the wedding banquet that the kingdom of heaven is like in Matthew 22:1-14 were provided with the appropriate clothes?

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— ⁶ God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Who was Paul “called to be an apostle” of (verse 1)?

How does Paul define the “church of God in Corinth” (verse 2)?

Who is the letter to in addition to the “church of God in Corinth” (verse 2)?

How does Paul bless those the letter is sent to (verse 3)?

Why does Paul thank God for those the letter is sent to (verse 4)?

How have the letter’s recipients been “enriched” (verse 5)?

What does the recipients’ enrichment confirm (verse 6)?

What do the recipients not lack (verse 7)?

Why will the recipients be kept “firm” (verse 8)?

Who called the recipients “into fellowship with his Son” (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about a Christian’s relationship with God?

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 help us understand about what comes after the removal of disgrace that Isaiah 25:6-9 proclaims?

In your opinion, what does 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 teach us about the enrichment of each of those who are invited to the wedding in Matthew 22:1-14?

In your opinion, what does the combination of Hebrews 2:1-15 and 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 teach us about the transformation of those who come to God’s amazing banquet?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Hebrews, and 1 Corinthians teach us about who will attend the heavenly banquet?

In your opinion, why can we rejoice and be glad in His salvation today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)