October 6, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Word of Life

Word of Life

Deuteronomy 8:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

⁶ Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

What do the Israelite people need to do to “live and increase” (verse 1)?

Why did the Lord lead them into the “wilderness these forty years” (verse 2)?

Who caused the Israelites to hunger (verse 3)?

What does man “live on” (verse 3)?

How long did the Israelites clothes last (verse 4)?

Where are they to know that the Lord disciplines them (verse 5)?

Who were the Israelites to revere (verse 6)?

What kind of land is the Lord bringing them into (verse 7)?

What will the Israelites lack in the land (verse 9)?

What are the Israelites to do after they “have eaten and are satisfied” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about God’s Word in this passage?

Matthew 4:1-4 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Who led Jesus “into the wilderness” (verse 1)?

What was going to happen to Jesus in the wilderness (verse 1)?

Why was Jesus hungry (verse 2)?

Who came to Jesus (verse 3)?

What was Jesus to do if He was “the Son of God” (verse 3)?

What was written (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about God’s Word in this passage?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that Moses gave the Israelite people the instruction about living on “every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” as they were preparing to leave the forty years they had spent in the wilderness in Deuteronomy 8:1-10 and Jesus quoted it to the tempter after forty days of fasting in the wilderness in Matthew 4:1-4?

John 1:1-5 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

When “was the Word” (verse 1)?

Where was “the Word” (verse 1)?

What was “the Word” (verse 1)?

Who was the Word with “in the beginning” (verse 2)?

What was made through the Word (verse 3)?

What was made without the Word (verse 3)?

Where was the “life that was the light of all mankind” (verse 4)?

Where does the light shine (verse 5)?

What has not overcome the light (verse 5)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about God’s Word in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the word that Moses talks about in Deuteronomy 8:1-8 related to the Word that John introduces in John 1:1-5? 

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s answer to the tempter in Matthew 4:1-4 become more powerful when you consider that the Word is the creator, the life, and the light of humanity?

1 John 1:1-4 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write this to make our joy complete.

What does John do with “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched” (verse 1)?

What appeared (verse 2)?

What does John proclaim to (verse 2)?

Where was the life (verse 2)?

Why does John proclaim “what we have seen and heard” (verse 3)?

Who is in fellowship with John (verse 3)?

Why does John write (verse 4)?

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

In your opinion, what do we learn about God’s Word in this passage?

In your opinion, how are the commands of Moses to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:1-10 being fulfilled by John in 1 John 1:1-4 as he proclaims the Word of life?

In your opinion, how is the living “that comes from the mouth of God” in Matthew 4:1-4 more fully explained in 1 John 1:1-4?  How would you compare it to the life that comes from eating bread?

In your opinion, how is John’s theologically important discussion of the Word in John 1:1-5 made real by his testimony in 1 John 1:1-4?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Matthew, John and 1 John teach about what gives us life?

In your opinion, when is Jesus’s answer to the tempter appropriate for us to give today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 29, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Transforming Love

Transforming Love

Psalm 2:1-12 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Why do the nations conspire
    and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
    against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
³ “Let us break their chains
    and throw off their shackles.”

⁴ The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
    the Lord scoffs at them.
⁵ He rebukes them in his anger
    and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
⁶ “I have installed my king
    on Zion, my holy mountain.”

⁷ I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
    today I have become your father.
⁸ Ask me,
    and I will make the nations your inheritance,
    the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹ You will break them with a rod of iron;
    you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

¹⁰ Therefore, you kings, be wise;
    be warned, you rulers of the earth.
¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear
    and celebrate his rule with trembling.
¹² Kiss his son, or he will be angry
    and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
    Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Who conspires (verse 1)?

Who bands together “against the Lord and against his anointed” (verse 2)?

What do they want to “throw off” (verse 3)?

How does “the One enthroned in heaven” respond (verse 4)?

How do they react to “his wrath” (verse 5)?

Who has the Lord installed “on Zion, my holy mountain” (verse 6)?

What is the Lord’s decree (verse 7)?

When will the Lord make “the nations your inheritance” (verse 8)?

How will they be broken (verse 9)?

Who should “be warned” (verse 10)?

How should the Lord’s rule be celebrated (verse 11)?

Who is blessed (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the Son of God?

Isaiah 11:1-11 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
² The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
³ and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;
⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness will be his belt
    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb,
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
    and a little child will lead them.
⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
⁸ The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰ In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. ¹¹ In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.

Where will the shoot “come up from” (verse 1)?

What will “rest on him” (verse 2)?

What will He “delight in” (verse 3)?

How will He “strike the earth” (verse 4)?

What will “be his belt” (verse 5)?

Where will the lamb live (verse 6)?

What will the lion eat (verse 7)?

Where will the young child put its hand (verse 8)?

What will the earth be filled with “as the waters cover the sea” (verse 9)?

Who will “stand as a banner for the peoples” (verse 10)?

Who will the Lord “reach out his hand a second time to reclaim” (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the Son of God?

In your opinion, why would the kings of the earth “band together against the Lord and against his anointed” in Psalm 2:1-12 when Isaiah 11:1-11 says that His Anointed will have “the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord” and will judge with righteousness?

Matthew 3:13-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Where did Jesus come to (verse 13)?

What did Jesus come to do (verse 13)?

How did John react to Jesus’s purpose (verse 14)?

What did John think he needed (verse 14)?

How did John react when Jesus said, “Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (verse 15)?

When was heaven opened (verse 16)?

What did Jesus see (verse 16)?

What did the voice from heaven say (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the Son of God?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 2:1-12 help us understand reluctance of John to baptize Jesus in Matthew 3:13-17? 

In your opinion, how is the shoot that “will come up from the stump of Jesse” in Isaiah 11:1-11 revealed to be so much more with the words from heaven in Matthew 3:13-17?

Ephesians 1:18-2:10 – New International Version (NIV)

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.

2 ¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Which eyes did Paul pray “may be enlightened” (verse 18)?

What did Paul pray that the enlightenment would enable Christians to know (verses 18 and 19)?

What did God do when he exerted His “mighty strength” (verses 19 and 20)?

What is Christ seated far above (verse 21)?

Where is Christ appointed (verse 22)?

What is Christ’s body (verses 22 and 23)?

How had Christians been in their “transgressions and sins” (verse 1)?

What did Christians used to follow (verse 2)?

What were Christians “by nature deserving of” (verse 3)?

What did God, who has “great love for us” and is “rich in mercy” do “even when we were dead in transgressions” (verses 4 and 5)?

How have we been saved (verse 5)?

Where did God seat us after raising “us up with Christ” (verse 6)?

What will God show “in the coming ages” (verse 7)?

What “is the gift of God” (verse 8)?

Why can no one boast (verse 9)?

What has God “prepared in advance for us to do” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal about the Son of God?

In your opinion, how does Ephesian 1:18-2:10 help us understand the blessings received by those who follow the recommendation to “take refuge” in the Son in Psalm 2:1-12?

In your opinion, how is the transformation accomplished by the power of God as described in Ephesians 1:18-2:10 shown in Isaiah 11:1-11 to be only the beginning of the transformations that God’s power will accomplish?

In your opinion, how does the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3:13-17 anticipate the mighty power of God raising Jesus from the dead and seating Him in the heavenly realms as described in Ephesians 1:18-2:10?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Matthew, and Ephesians teach us about what the Son of God has and will accomplish?

In your opinion, how do our lives today show that the eyes of our hearts have been enlightened?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

September 22, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Preparing God’s Way

Preparing God’s Way

Isaiah 40:1-11 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Comfort, comfort my people,
    says your God.
² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
    that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.

³ A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.
⁴ Every valley shall be raised up,
    every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
    the rugged places a plain.
⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
    and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶ A voice says, “Cry out.”
    And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,
    and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
    Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall,
    but the word of our God endures forever.”

⁹ You who bring good news to Zion,
    go up on a high mountain.
You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
    lift up your voice with a shout,
lift it up, do not be afraid;
    say to the towns of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
    and he rules with a mighty arm.
See, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense accompanies him.
¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd:
    He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
    he gently leads those that have young.

Who says “Comfort, comfort my people” (verse 1)?

How is Isaiah to speak to Jerusalem (verse 2)?

Where is the way to be prepared for the Lord (verse 3)?

What will happen to mountains and hills (verse 4)?

Who will see “the glory of the Lord” (verse 5)?

What is the faithfulness of “all people” like (verse 6)?

Why do “the flowers fall” (verse 7)?

What “endures forever” (verse 8)?

What is the one who brings good news to say (verse 9)?

How does the Sovereign Lord come (verse 10)?

Where does the Sovereign Lord carry the lambs (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, how is our need for the Lord revealed in this passage?

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

¹ In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Where did John the Baptist preach (verse 1)?

Why was he calling for people to “repent” (verse 2)?

What did “the prophet Isaiah” say about John (verse 3)?

What was John’s food (verse 4)?

Where did people come from to see John (verse 5)?

What did people do as John baptized them “in the Jordan River” (verse 6)?

Who did John call a “brood of vipers” (verse 7)?

What fruit were the “brood of vipers” to produce (verse 8)?

What did John warn the “brood of vipers” not to say (verse 9)?

Where is the ax (verse 10)?

What does John baptize with (verse 11)?

What will the one who comes after John baptize with (verse 11)?

Where is the wheat gathered (verse 12)?

What happens to the chaff (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, how is our need for the Lord revealed in this passage?

In your opinion, how does Isaiah being instructed to “speak tenderly to Jerusalem” and proclaim that “her sin has been paid for” in Isaiah 40:1-11 pave the way for John who Matthew says is “a voice of one calling in the wilderness” to baptize people who confessed their sins, and confront the Pharisees and Sadducees?

Hebrews 12:18-29 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; ¹⁹ to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, ²⁰ because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” ²¹ The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

²² But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³ to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ²⁷ The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our “God is a consuming fire.”

What had they “not come to” (verse 18)?

How did people who heard the words react (verse 19)?

What was to happen to anything that touched the mountain (verse 20)?

Who said “I am trembling with fear” (verse 21)?

Where have Christians come to (verse 22)?

Where are the names written (verse 23)?

Who is “the mediator of a new covenant” (verse 24)?

Who should we “not refuse” (verse 25)?

What has been promised (verse 26)?

What will be removed (verse 27)?

How should we worship God (verse 28)?

What is our God (verse 29)?

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

In your opinion, how is our need for the Lord revealed in this passage?

In your opinion, how is the “glory of the Lord” that Isaiah 40:1-11 says will be revealed now displayed to us in Hebrews 12:18-29? 

In your opinion, what does Hebrews 12:18-29 reveal to us about the clearing of the threshing floor anticipated by Matthew 3:1-12?

2 Peter 3:10-18 – New International Version (NIV)

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.

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

What will be “destroyed by fire” (verse 10)?

What kind of lives should we live (verse 11)?

How will the heavens be destroyed (verse 12)?

What are “we looking forward to” (verse 13)?

Who should “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (verse 14)?

What means “salvation” (verse 15)?

Who distorts Scriptures (verse 16)?

What should we be on guard against (verse 17)?

What should we grow in (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, how is our need for the Lord revealed in this passage?

In your opinion, how does confidence that the Lord “tends his flock” and “gathers the lambs in his arms” as promised in Isaiah 40:1-11 comfort us as we face the truths that 2 Peter 10-18 proclaims will happen?

In your opinion, why would John, who knew that the Lord was coming as revealed in 2 Peter 3:10-18, confront the Pharisees and Sadducees by calling them a “brood of vipers” in Matthew 3:1-12?

In your opinion, how are consequences of choosing either of the two mountains in Hebrews 12:18-29 revealed in 2 Peter 3:10-18?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Hebrews and 2 Peter teach us about preparing the “way for the Lord” in our lives today?

In your opinion, how in today’s challenging world can we “be thankful”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)