November 10, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Loving Because We’re Loved

Loving Because We’re Loved

Deuteronomy 10:12-20 – New International Version (NIV)

¹² And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

¹⁴ To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. ¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. ¹⁹ And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 

Who is asking Israel to do these things: fear the Lord, walk in obedience, love the Lord, serve the Lord “with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees” (verses 12 and 13)?

Why were the “commands and decrees” given to the people of Israel (verse 13)?

What punctuation does the sentence that makes up verses 12 and 13 end with?

Who do the “the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it” belong to (verse 14)?

How did the Lord feel about the ancestors of the Israelites (verse 15)?

In your opinion, why does Moses include the instructions to “circumcise your hearts” and to “not be stiff-necked any longer” in the same short sentence?  How are they related (verse 16)?

Who is “mighty and awesome” (verse 17)?

Who does the Lord defend (verse 18)?

Who are the Israelites to love (verse 19)?

Who are the Israelites to “hold fast to” (verse 20)?

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

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

Matthew 4:23-25 - New International Version (NIV)

²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. ²⁴ News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. ²⁵ Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.

Where did Jesus teach (verse 23)?

What did Jesus proclaim (verse 23)?

How many diseases and sicknesses did Jeus heal (verse 23)?

Where did the news of Jesus spread to (verse 24)?

Who was brought to Jesus (verse 24)?

What did Jesus do (verse 24)?

Who followed Jesus (verse 25)?

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

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

In your opinion, how do Jesus’s actions in Matthew 4:23-25 show His obedience to the instructions Moses gave the Israelite people in Deuteronomy 10:12-20?

1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. ²⁹ Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰ Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹ Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

And yet I will show you the most excellent way.

13 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.

What is each Christian a part of (verse 27)?

Who has placed apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, healing, helping, guidance and tongues in the church (verse 28)?

Do all Christians have all the gifts (verses 29 and 30)?

What is Paul going to show (verse 31)?

What is missing if Paul could speak in “the tongues of men or of angels” but was only “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (verse 1)?

When would Paul be nothing even if he had “the gift of prophecy” and could “fathom all mysteries and all knowledge” and had “a faith that can move mountains” (verse 2)?

What would Paul gain if he gave everything to the poor and his body to hardship, but did not love (verse 3)?

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

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

In your opinion, how can 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3 be thought of as the Christian’s version of Moses’s instruction to the Israelite people to “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer” from Deuteronomy 10:12-20?

In your opinion, how does seeing what Jesus did in Matthew 4:23-25 help us understand what Paul wants Christians, as the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3, to be motivated to do today? 

1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.

²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Who are Christians to warn (verse 14)?

Who are Christians to be patient with (verse 14)?

What should Christians “always strive to do” (verse 15)?

When should Christians “rejoice” (verse 16)?

When should Christians “pray” (verse 17)?

Why should Christians “give thanks in all circumstances” (verse 18)?

Who should Christians “not quench” (verse 19)?

What should Christians test (verses 20 and 21)?

How should Christians treat evil (verse 22)?

What does Paul pray that “the God of peace” will do for each Christian (verse 23)?

What does the “one who calls” do (verses 23 and 24)?

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

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

In your opinion, how does Paul’s prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” help Christians deal with the impossibility of perfectly obeying the Deuteronomy 10:12-20 commands to “fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul”?

In your opinion, how does Jesus in Matthew 4:23-25 model for us what Paul means when he instructs Christians to encourage, help, be patient, and rejoice in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24?

In your opinion, how does 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3 teach us about how to more successfully follow the instructions in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Deuteronomy, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and 1 Thessalonians teach us about why having a circumcised heart is vital in our relationship with God?  What does it mean in our relationship with others?

In your opinion, how does knowing we can trust “the God of peace” help us when we feel too “stiff-necked” to do our part in the “body of Christ” today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

November 3, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Transforming Call

Transforming Call

Isaiah 6:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Who did Isaiah see “in the year that King Uzziah died” (verse 1)?

Where were the seraphim (verse 2)?

What were the seraphim calling to each other (verse 3)?

What did the seraphim’s voices cause (verse 4)?

Why did Isaiah think he was ruined (verse 5)?

How did the seraphim take away Isaiah’s guilt (verses 6 and 7)?

What was Isaiah’s response to the Lord saying “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us” (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s call?

Matthew 4:18-22 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” ²⁰ At once they left their nets and followed him.

²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Where was Jesus walking (verse 18)?

Who did Jesus see (verse 18)?

Why were they “casting a net into the lake” (verse 18)?

Where was Jesus going to send them (verse 19)?

How did they respond (verse 20)?

Who did Jesus see when He went “on from there” (verse 21)?

Where were they (verse 21)?

What did they do when Jesus called them (verses 21 and 22)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s call?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that the calling of Isaiah was full of grandeur in Isaiah 6:1-8 but Peter, Andrew, James, and John were simply called from their workplace in Matthew 4:18-22?

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 - New International Version (NIV)

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.

Why does Paul “always thank my God” for the Corinthian Christians (verse 4)?

How have they been enriched (verse 5)?

What do the Corinthian Christians’ speech and knowledge confirm (verses 5 and 6)?

What do they not lack (verse 7)?

What do they “eagerly wait for” (verse 7)?

How will they be “on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 8)?

Who is faithful (verse 9)?

Where are the Corinthian Christians called (verse 9)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s call?

In your opinion, how can we, as sinful people, find assurance of God’s grace in the calling of Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-8 and His faithfulness in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9?

In your opinion, how does the enrichment of the Corinthian Christians with spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 demonstrate how Jesus’s promise to transform Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4:18-22 might have been fulfilled?  What does Jesus promise that Peter and Andrew that He would send them out to “fish for people” mean to the Corinthian Christians, and to us?

1 Peter 1:13-25 – New International Version (NIV)

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
²⁵     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

How should Christians’ minds be when they set their “hope on the grace to be brought to your when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” (verse 13)?

What should they not “conform to” (verse 14)?

How should Christians be in all they do (verse 15)?

What is written (verse 16)?

How are Christians to “live out” their time (verse 17)?

What redeemed Christians “from the empty way of life” (verses 18 and 19)?

When was Jesus chosen (verse 20)?

Where are Christians “faith and hope” (verse 21)?

How should Christians love other Christians (verse 22)?

What has happened to Christians “through the living and enduring word of God” (verse 23)?

What endures forever (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about God’s call?

In your opinion, how is God asking “Whom shall I send” in Isaiah 6:1-8 similar to Peter’s instruction in 1 Peter 1:13-25 to “love each other deeply, from the heart”?

In your opinion, how does the transformation of Peter from a fisherman in Matthew 4:18-22 to one who provides words on grace and love and the “word of the Lord” in 1 Peter 1:13-25 give hope to each of us today?

In your opinion, how are the transformation of the two very drastically different personalities of Paul and Peter, who were called in dramatically different ways, into people who both share a message of God’s grace reassuring (Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 and Peter in 1 Peter 1:13-25)?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and 1 Peter teach us about responding to God’s call?

In your opinion, how is responding to God’s call the beginning of our own transformation?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

October 27, 2024 – A Study of Matthew – Wake Up, the Kingdom is Near

Wake Up, the Kingdom is Near

Isaiah 9:1-7 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

² The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
³ You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.
⁴ For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.
⁵ Every warrior’s boot used in battle
    and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
    will be fuel for the fire.
⁶ For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

Who will there be “no more gloom for” (verse 1)?

What have the “people walking in darkness” seen (verse 2)?

What has the Lord Almighty increased (verse 3)?

What three things have been shattered (verse 4)?

Which boot “will be destined for burning” (verse 5)?

Who will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (verse 6)?

How will He establish and uphold His kingdom (verse 7)?

What “will accomplish this” (verse 7)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the kingdom of heaven?

Matthew 4:12-17 - New International Version (NIV)

¹² When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³ Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— ¹⁴ to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵ “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
    the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
    Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ the people living in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
    a light has dawned.”

¹⁷ From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

When did Jesus withdraw “into Galilee” (verse 12)?

Where was Capernaum (verse 13)?

Why did Jesus go (verse 14)?

How is Galilee described (verse 15)?

Who “have seen a great light” (verse 16)?

What has dawned on “those living in the land of the shadow of death” (verse 16)?

Why are the people Jesus is preaching to called to “Repent” (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the kingdom of heaven?

In your opinion, how is David’s kingdom that the child will rule in Isaiah 9:1-7 related to the kingdom of heaven that Jesus says has “come near” in Matthew 4:12-17?

Ephesians 5:8-20 - New International Version (NIV)

⁸ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰ and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹ Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³ But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴ This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What had the readers of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians once been (verse 8)?

What are they “now” (verse 8)?

What is the “fruit of the light” (verse 9)?

What are they to “find out” (verse 10)?

How are they to react to “the fruitless deeds of darkness” (verse 11)?

What is shameful (verse 12)?

What happens to “everything that is illuminated” (verse 13)?

When will Christ shine on the sleeper (verse 14)?

How should the reader live (verse 15)?

Why should the reader make “the most of every opportunity” (verse 16)?

What does the reader need to understand to avoid being “foolish” (verse 17)?

How should the reader be filled (verse 18)?

Where should the music the reader sings “to the Lord” come from (verse 19)?

What should the reader “always” do (verse 20)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the kingdom of heaven?

In your opinion, what do we learn about the darkness in Isaiah 9:1-7 from the darkness that believers in Ephesians 5:8-20 used to be in?  How is great light of Isaiah related to the “light of the Lord” in Ephesians?

In your opinion, how is the repenting that Jesus calls for in Matthew 4:12-17 related to the waking that Paul calls for in Ephesians 5:8-20?

James 4:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? ⁶ But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
    but shows favor to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Where do “fights and quarrels” come from (verse 1)?

What happens when the readers “covet” (verse 2)?

Why do the readers “not receive” (verse 3)?

Who becomes “an enemy of God” (verse 4)?

What says that “he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us” (verse 5)?

Who does God show “favor to” (verse 6)?

Who should the reader “submit” to (verse 7)?

Who should the reader “resist” (verse 7)?

When will God “come near to you” (verse 8)?

What does Paul say will happen if the readers “humble” themselves “before the Lord” (verse 10)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the kingdom of heaven?

In your opinion, what is the difference between God humbling the “the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali” in Isaiah 9:1-7 and people humbling themselves “before the Lord” in James 4:1-10?

In your opinion, what does James 4:1-10 reveal to us about the repenting that Jesus commanded “because the kingdom of heaven has come near” in Matthew 4:12-17?

In your opinion, how is the humbling of ourselves that James 4:1-10 commands related to the invitation to be filled by the Spirit that Ephesians 5:8-20 gives?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Ephesians, and James teach us about the difference between the world and the kingdom of heaven?

In your opinion, how is Jesus’s call to “repent” an invitation to becoming people who always give “thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”?

In your opinion, how do we live as “children of light” in the dark world today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)