May 31, 2026 – A Study of Matthew – Following Jesus

Following Jesus

Isaiah 53:7-12 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
¹¹ After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

Where will God’s servant be led (verse 7)?

Why was He punished (verse 8)?

What was He assigned (verse 9)?

What does the Lord make His life (verse 10)?

When will He “be satisfied” (verse 11)?

Where will He be given “a portion” (verse 12)?

Who did He make “intercession for” (verse 12)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being children of God?

Matthew 16:21-28 - New International Version (NIV)

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. ²⁶ What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

²⁸ “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

What did Jesus explain to His disciples (verse 21)?

Who rebuked Jesus (verse 22)?

What kind of concerns did Jesus say Peter had (verse 23)?

Who must “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (verse 24)?

What will those who lose their life for Jesus find (verse 25)?

In your opinion, “what can anyone give in exchange for their soul” (verse 26)?

How will each person be rewarded (verse 27)?

What will some not taste before “they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (verse 28)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being children of God?

In your opinion, how does Isaiah 53:7-12 help us understand what the “concerns of God” are that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 16:21-28?

Romans 8:5-17 - New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Who has their minds set on, “what the Spirit desires” (verse 5)?

What is “the mind governed by the flesh” (verse 6)?

What does the “mind governed by the flesh” not do (verse 7)?

Who “cannot please God” (verse 8)?

What realm are the people who “the Spirit of God lives in” in (verse 9)?

Who “gives life because of righteousness” (verse 10)?

What will “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead” do if He is living in you (verse 11)?

What do “brothers and sisters” hot have an obligation to (verse 12)?

How do Christians “put to death the misdeeds of the body” (verse 13)?

Who are children of God” (verse 14)?

What has the Spirit “brought about” in those who receive Him (verse 15)?

Who does the Spirit testify with (verse 16)?

What do we share with Christ “in order that we may also share in his glory” (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being children of God?

In your opinion, how does the servant in Isaiah 53:7-12 display the “mind governed by the Spirit” described in Romans 8:5-17?

In your opinion, how does Romans 8:5-17 help us better understand the disagreement between Peter and Jesus in Matthew 16:21-28?

1 Peter 4:7-11 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

What is near (verse 7)?

How should Christians prepare to pray (verse 7)?

What “covers a multitude of sins” (verse 8)?

What should not accompany hospitality (verse 9)?

Who should “use whatever gift you have received to serve others” (verse 10)?

How should the one who speaks speak (verse 11)?

How should the one who serves serve (verse 11)?

How should God be praised (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about being children of God?

In your opinion, how does the servant in Isaiah 53:7-12 fulfill the instructions in 1 Peter 4:7-11?

In your opinion, how does 1 Peter 4:7-11 help us understand how to follow Jesus’s instructions about being a disciple in Matthew 16:21-28?

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 4:7-11 teach us about how to be children of God as instructed by Romans 8:5-17?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, and 1 Peter teach us about following Jesus?

In your opinion, what does it mean to be led by the Spirit today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

February 14, 2021 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Rejecting or Accepting Service

 Rejecting or Accepting Service

1 Kings 12:1-17 - New International Version (NIV)

¹Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. ² When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. ³ So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: ⁴ “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

⁵ Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then come back to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked.

⁷ They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”

⁸ But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹ He asked them, “What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. ¹¹ My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

“What share do we have in David,
    what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel!
    Look after your own house, David!”

So the Israelites went home. ¹⁷ But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

Why did Israel go to Shechem (verse 1)?

Why was Jeroboam in Egypt (verse 2)?

What did Jeroboam and “the whole assembly of Israel” say to Rehoboam (verses 3 and 4)?

What did Rehoboam ask Jeroboam to do (verse 5)?

Who was the first group of people Rehoboam ask for advice (verse 6)?

In your opinion, how could Rehoboam becoming a servant to the people cause them to become his servants (verse 7)?

How did Rehoboam react to the advice he received (verse 8)?

Who was the second group of people Rehoboam ask for advice (verse 8)?

What was their reply (verses 10 and 11)?

How did Rehoboam answer Jeroboam and all the people after the three days had passed (verse 13)?

Whose word was fulfilled in all that happened (verse 15)?

How did “all Israel” answer king Rehoboam (verse 16)?

Where did the Israelites go (verse 16)?

Who did Rehoboam still rule over (verse 17)?

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

Mark 9:30-37 - New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, ³¹ because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” ³² But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

³³ They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” ³⁴ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

³⁵ Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

³⁶ He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Why did Jesus “not want anyone to know where they were” (verses 30 and 31)?

Where did Jesus tell the disciples that “the Son of Man is going to be delivered into” (verse 31)?

What would happen three days after He was killed (verse 31)?

In your opinion, why were the disciples afraid to ask Jesus what He meant (verse 32)?

What did Jesus ask them when they were in the house in Capernaum (verse 33)?

Why did the disciples keep quiet (verse 34)?

What did Jesus tell the Twelve (verse 35)?

Who did Jesus take into His arms (verse 36)?

Who welcomes Jesus (verse 37)?

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

In your opinion, how is the advice of the elders who had served Rehoboam’s father in 1 Kings 12:1-17 similar to the instruction Jesus gave the disciples in Mark 9:30-37?  In your opinion, why were the disciples more like the young men who had grown up with Rehoboam?

Acts 4:23-31 – New International Version (NIV)

²³ On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴ When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. ²⁵ You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
²⁶ The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.’

²⁷ Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. ²⁸ They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. ²⁹ Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. ³⁰ Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

³¹ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

What did Peter and John do “on their release” (verse 23)?

How did everyone react when they heard the report (verse 24)?

By who did they say God spoke “through the mouth of your servant, our father David” (verse 25)?

Who do the “kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together” against (verse 26)?

Who conspired “against your holy servant Jesus” (verse 27)?

What did those who conspired together do (verse 28)?

How did Peter, John, and those with them identify themselves to the Lord when they ask to be enabled “to speak your word with great boldness” (verse 29)?

What did they pray would happen “through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (verse 30)?

What happened after the people prayed (verse 31)?

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

In your opinion, how are Jeroboam and those from Israel who told Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12:1-17 that they would serve him if he lightened their load different from Peter, John, and the people with them coming to God in prayer and asking the Lord to “enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” in Acts 14:23-31?

In your opinion, how have Peter and John, who would have been with those arguing about “who was the greatest” in Mark 9:30-37, changed to have become the people who prayed in Acts 14:23-31 “Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness”?

1 Peter 4:7-11 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

What is near (verse 7)?

Why should we “love each other deeply” (verse 8)?

What should be offered “to one another” (verse 9)?

How should each one “use whatever gift you have received” (verse 10)?

Who should speak “as one who speaks the very words of God” (verse 11)?

How should the one who serves do so (verse 11)?

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

In your opinion, what is the difference between how Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12:1-17 thought people would serve him and the service in 1 Peter 4:7-11 that Peter calls Christians to provide? 

In your opinion, what does Peter’s teaching in 1 Peter 4:7-11 that Christians should act “so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” show us that he learned from Jesus lesson “anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all” in Mark 9:30-37?

In your opinion, what does 1 Peter 4:7-11 reveal about the strength of the love that Peter and John had that enabled them to receive threats from those in power and then in Acts 4:23-31 pray “Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness”?

In your opinion, what do these passages from 1 Kings, Mark, Acts and 1 Peter teach us about the strength of the one being served and the one serving?  Is there difference in this from a worldly and a heavenly perspective?

In your opinion, how do we learn to serve so that God is praised?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

July 10, 2016 – Teachings from the Rock – Loving Deeply

Loving Deeply

1 Kings 17:15-24 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶ For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

¹⁷ Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

¹⁹ “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. ²⁰ Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

²² The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. ²³ Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

What was there every day for Elijah, the woman and her family (verse 15)?

Who gave Elijah the word to speak about the jar of flour and the jug of oil (verse 16)?

What happened to the son of the woman who owned the house (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why did the woman think that Elijah had something against her (verse 18)?

Where did Elijah take the woman’s son (verse 19)?

What did Elijah ask the Lord (verse 20)?

Where was Elijah when he cried out “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him” (verse 21)?

In your opinion, why does 1 Kings say “the Lord heard Elijah’s cry” (verse 22)?

What returned to the boy (verse 22)?

How did Elijah respond to the miracle (verse 23)?

In your opinion, why, after the miracle of the jar of flour and jug of oil not emptying, does the woman say to Elijah “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth” (verse 24)?

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

John 21:15-19 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

When did Jesus ask Simon Peter “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these” (verse 15)?

How did Peter respond (verse 15)?

What instruction did Jesus give Peter (verse 15)?

What did Jesus then ask Peter (verse 16)?

How was this answer different from his first answer (verse 16)?

What did Jesus then ask Peter (verse 17)?

How did this make Peter feel (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why does Peter say “Lord, you know all things” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, why does Jesus respond to each of Peter’s assertions that he loves Jesus with a command to “Feed” or “take care of” His lambs or sheep (verses 15, 16 and 17)?

What will happen to Peter when he is old (verse 18)?

What was Peter going to do that “would glorify God” (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, how is Elijah stretching out on the boy three times and crying out “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him” in 1 Kings 17:15-24 similar to Jesus asking Peter three times if he loves Him in John 21:15-19?

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 - New International Version (NIV)

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

What makes speaking “in the tongues of men or of angels” only “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (verse 1)?

In your opinion, what should we learn about love if Paul considers someone who had the “gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge” along with a “faith that can move mountains” to be nothing if they do not have love (verse 2)?

What, instead of love, motivated the giver of everything to the poor and the body to hardship in verse 3?

What is love (verse 4)?

What does love not do (verse 5)?

What does love rejoice with (verse 6)?

What does love “always” do (verse 7)?

In your opinion, why does Paul say that prophecies, tongues and knowledge will end but that “love never fails” (verse 8, 9 and 10)?

When did Paul talk, think and reason like a child (verse 11)?

What do we see now (verse 12)?

In your opinion, why is love greater than faith or hope (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, how is Jesus indicating to Peter that he should show his love of Jesus by feeding the lambs, taking care of the sheep and feeding the sheep in John 21:15-19 enriched by Paul’s statements that doing things without love has no value in 1 Corinthians 13?

In your opinion, how does Elijah’s response to the accusation in 1 Kings 17:15-24 that the son was killed because Elijah had something against his mother a demonstration of the power of love that Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 13?

1 Peter 4:7-11 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

What is near (verse 7)?

Why should we “be alert and of sober mind” (verse 7)?

In your opinion, how does love cover “a multitude of sins” (verse 8)?

How should hospitality be offered (verse 9)?

What should each of us use the gift we have received for (verse 10)?

How should the one who speaks speak (verse 11)?

What should we do “with the strength God provides" (verse 11)?

How should God be praised (verses 11)?

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

In your opinion, what are the similarities of the commands of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and Peter in 1 Peter 4:7-11?

In your opinion, how do Peter’s comments in 1 Peter 4:7-11 show that he has embraced the requests he received from Jesus in John 21:15-19 when he assured Jesus that he loved Him?

In your opinion, how does Elijah in 1 Kings 17:15-24 demonstrate obedience to what Peter commands in 1 Peter 4:7-11 to be alert and of sober mind so that we can pray and loving each other deeply?

In your opinion, what do these passages, from 1 Kings, John, 1 Corinthians and 1 Peter show us about ourselves today?

Next, back to Peter 4:12 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)