August 31, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – Proclaim from the Roofs

Proclaim from the Roofs

Isaiah 8:11-17 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹² “Do not call conspiracy
    everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
    and do not dread it.
¹³ The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
    he is the one you are to fear,
    he is the one you are to dread.
¹⁴ He will be a holy place;
    for both Israel and Judah he will be
a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
    a trap and a snare.
¹⁵ Many of them will stumble;
    they will fall and be broken,
    they will be snared and captured.”

¹⁶ Bind up this testimony of warning
    and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.
¹⁷ I will wait for the Lord,
    who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my trust in him.

What is the Lord warning Isaiah not to do (verse 11)?

What should Isaiah not “call conspiracy” (verse 12)?

Who should Isaiah “fear” and “dread” (verse 13)?

What is the Lord “for the people of Jerusalem” (verse 14)?

What will many of the people of Jerusalem do (verses 14 and 15)?

Where is “God’s instruction” to be sealed up (verse 16)?

Who will Isaiah “wait for” (verse 17)?

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

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

 Matthew 10:24-33 - New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

²⁶ “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. ²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. ³⁰ And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

³² “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

Who is not “above the teacher” (verse 24)?

What “is enough for students” (verse 25)?

What will happen to everything that is concealed (verse 26)?

Where should what is told by Jesus in the dark to be spoken (verse 27)?

What is to be proclaimed “from the roofs” (verse 27)?

Who should we “be afraid of” (verse 28)?

What will not “fall to the ground outside your Father’s care” (verse 29)?

What “are all numbered” (verse 30)?

Why should we not “be afraid” (verse 31)?

Who will Jesus acknowledge (verse 32)?

Who will Jesus disown (verse 33)?

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

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

In your opinion, how was Isaiah in Isaiah 8:11-17 an example of obedience to the command of Jesus in Matthew 10:24-33 to acknowledge Him ”before others”?

 Romans 10:9-13 - New International Version (NIV)

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

What happens “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead” (verse 9)?

Where do you believe and “are justified” (verse 10)?

What happens when your mouth professes faith (verse 10)?

Who “will never be put to shame” (verse 11)?

Who does the Lord richly bless (verse 12)?

Who “will be saved” (verse 13)?

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

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

In your opinion, was Isaiah’s waiting for the Lord in Isaiah 8:11-17 sufficient to be saved according to Romans 10:9-13?

In your opinion, how do Matthew 10:24-33 and Romans 10:9-13 agree on what it takes to be saved?

1 Timothy 6:11-16 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

What does Paul instruct Timothy to “pursue” (verse 11)?

What is Paul calling for Timothy to “fight” (verse 12)?

When was Timothy called to eternal life (verse 12)?

Who “gives life to everything” (verse 13)?

How long is Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith” (verses 12 and 14)?

When will God bring about the “appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (verses 14 and 15)?

Where does God live (verse 16)?

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

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

In your opinion, how do Paul’s instructions to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:11-16 provide the alternative to the direction Isaiah was warned not to take in Isaian 8:11-17?

In your opinion, how is the acknowledgement of Jesus in Matthew 10:24-33 further explained in 1 Timothy 6:11-16?

In your opinion, how does Romans 10:9-13 help us understand what the “good confession” in Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:11-16 is?

In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Isaiah, Matthew, Romans, and 1 Timothy about what happens when we proclaim God to others?

In your opinion, how does the “good confession” change us?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

January 23, 2022 - Mark’s Good News about Jesus – Pursuing Righteousness

Pursuing Righteousness

1 Samuel 26:7-13 - New International Version (NIV)

⁷ So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

⁸ Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”

⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? ¹⁰ As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹ But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”

¹² So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping, because the Lord had put them into a deep sleep.

¹³ Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them.

Where did David and Abishai go “by night” (verse 7)?

What was Saul doing (verse 7)?

Who was around Saul (verse 7)?

In your opinion, why did Abishai think that “God has delivered” David’s enemy into his hands (verse 8)?

Why did David tell Abishai not to destroy Saul (verse 9)?

What did David think would happen to Saul (verse 10)?

What did David say that the “Lord forbid” (verse 11)?

Where was the spear and water jug that David took (verse 12)?

Where did David go (verse 13)?

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

Mark 15:6-15 - New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. ⁷ A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. ⁸ The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

⁹ “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, ¹⁰ knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

¹² “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

¹³ “Crucify him!” they shouted.

¹⁴ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Who was customarily released at the festival (verse 6)?

What had Barabbas done “in the uprising” (verse 7)?

What did the crowd ask Pilate to do (verse 8)?

Who did Pilate think the crowd wanted released (verse 9)?

Why did Pilate think the chief priests handed Jesus over to him (verse 10)?

In your opinion, would the chief priests have said that they stirred up the crowd for a righteous reason (verse 11)?

Who ask “what shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews” (verse 12)?

What did the crowd tell Pilate (verse 13)?

How did the crowd respond when Pilate ask them “what crime has he committed” (verse 14)?

What did Pilate do to satisfy the crowd (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, how was David’s approach in 1 Samuel 26:7-13 to dealing with Saul, who had declared himself an enemy of David, the opposite of the chief priests’ approach in Mark 15:6-15 of dealing with Jesus?    

Acts 21:30-36 – New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. ³¹ While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³² He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

³³ The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. ³⁵ When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. ³⁶ The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”

Who was aroused (verse 30)?

In your opinion, would they have said they were aroused for a good reason (verse 30)?

What happened after they dragged Paul from the temple (verse 30)?

Who heard that the “whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar” (verse 31)?

When did the rioters stop beating Paul (verse 32)?

In your opinion, why was Paul, who they were beating, arrested and bound with chains (verse 33)?

Why could the commander not get the truth (verse 34)?

Why was Paul carried by the soldiers (verse 35)?

What was the crowd shouting (verse 36)?

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

In your opinion, how could the crowd in Jerusalem, who had grown up hearing about how David spared Saul in 1 Samuel 26:7-13, have reacted with such violence against Paul in Acts 21:30-36?

In your opinion, how has the situation changed from the time that the chief priests used Pilate to have Jesus killed in Mark 15:6-15 to the time when the crowd is trying to kill Paul in Acts 21:30-36?

1 Timothy 6:11-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

What is Paul telling Timothy to pursue (verse 11)?

In your opinion, what is the “good fight of the faith” that Paul is telling Timothy to fight (verse 12)?

When was Timothy called to eternal life (verse 12)?

What did Christ Jesus make before Pontius Pilate (verse 13)?

How long if Timothy to “keep this command” (verse 14)?

What is God going to “bring about in his own time” (verses 14 and 15)?

Who is to have “honor and might forever” (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, how do Abishai and David in 1 Samuel 26:7-13, demonstrate pursuing “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” as Timothy was instructed to do in 1 Timothy 6:11-16 instead of the falling prey to temptation to what seemed like a good thing? 

In your opinion, did Pilate when he tried to release Jesus and ended up releasing Barabbas in Mark 15:6-15 “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” as Timothy was commanded to by Paul in 1 Timothy 6:11-16?  Why or why not?  How about the high priests?  Why or why not?  Do you think that Pilate and the high priests would have said they were pursuing righteousness?

In your opinion, do you think that the people who were aroused in Acts 21:30-36 thought they were pursuing or resisting the righteousness, godliness and faith that Paul commanded Timothy to pursue in 1 Timothy 6:11-16?  How does adding love, endurance and gentleness change the tenor of the command? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from 1 Samuel, Mark, Acts and 1 Timothy teach us about the challenge of pursuing “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” as an individual?  Do you think it is easier or harder as part of a group? 

In your opinion, how can we who believe today discern the temptation that we need to flee and the righteousness we are commanded to pursue?

November 26, 2017 – Moses and Jesus and Us – Philosophy and Worship

-            The

Philosophy and Worship

Exodus 12:31-39 - New International Version (NIV)

³¹ During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. ³² Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

³³ The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. ³⁵ The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. ³⁶ The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸ Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

Who tells Moses to leave and “worship the Lord as you have requested” (verse 31)?

What are the Israelites to take with them (verse 32)?

In your opinion, why does the Pharaoh ask Moses to bless him (verse 32)?

Why did the Egyptians urge the people to “hurry and leave the country” (verse 33)?

How did the Israelites carry their dough (verse 34)?

What did the Israelites ask the Egyptians for (verse 35)?

Who made the Egyptians “favorably disposed” to the Israelites (verse 36)?

How many Israelite men were there (verse 37)?

In your opinion, who were the “many other people” who left with the Israelites (verse 38)?

What did they use to bake their “loaves of unleavened bread” (verse 39)?

Why was the dough without yeast (verse 39)?

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

Luke 6:17-23 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰ Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
²² Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

Who was with Jesus (verse 17)?

Why had they come (verse 18)?

Why did people try to touch Jesus (verse 19)?

In your opinion, why did Jesus look at the disciples when He said “blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (verse 20)?

What will disciples “who weep now” do (verse 21)?

What will disciples be “when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man” (verse 22)?

How should disciples behave when they are hated, excluded and rejected (verse 23)?

How were the prophets treated (verse 23)?

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

In your opinion, what can we learn from the fact that when the Israelite people left their slavery in Egypt to begin the process of becoming a nation in Exodus 12:31-39 there were “many other people” with them; and that after all the disciples were gathered, in Luke 6:17-23, and Jesus began teaching there were people from Jerusalem and Judea and “the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon” with Him?

Colossians 2:6-15 – New International Version (NIV)

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

How are the Colossians to “continue to live” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, what does it mean to be “rooted and built up in” Jesus (verse 7)?

What does the “hollow and deceptive philosophy” that can take Christians captive depend on (verse 8)?

Where does the “fullness of the Deity” live (verse 9)?

What are Colossian Christians (and Christians today) brought to “in Christ” (verse 10)?

In your opinion, what is the circumcision that is “not performed by human hands” (verse 11)?

What happens to the “whole self ruled by the flesh” in baptism (verses 11 and 12)?

How is the Christian who has been baptized “raised with him” (verse 12)?

What does God do for those who were dead in sins when He makes them “alive with Christ” (verse 13)?

What has God done with our “legal indebtedness” (verse 14)?

Who has God made a “public spectacle” of (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, how are Paul’s instructions in Colossians 2:6-15 to “continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” connected to the blessings that Jesus proclaimed in Luke 6:17-23 to the poor, hungry, weeping and hated?

In your opinion, what can we learn from the Israelite people in Exodus 12:31-39 who left in a hurry with the unbaked bread dough about how Christian’s should follow Paul’s command in Colossians 2:6-15 to “just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him”?

1 Timothy 6:11-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴ to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

What does Paul tell Timothy, who he calls “man of God”, to pursue (verse 11)?

When was Timothy called to eternal life (verse 12)?

Who gives life to everything (verse 13)?

How long is Timothy to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” (verse 14)?

What will God “bring about in his own time” (verses 14 and 15)?

Who “lives in unapproachable light” (verses 15 and 16)?

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

In your opinion, how do Paul’s instructions to Timothy to “flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness” in 1 Timothy 6:11-16 help us understand how to follow his instruction in Colossians 2:6-11 to “see to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world”?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s instruction to Timothy to “take hold of the eternal life to which you were called” in 1 Timothy 6:11-16 help us to understand how Jesus’s promise to the poor, hungry, weeping and hated in Luke 6:17-23 is fulfilled?

In your opinion, how are the Israelites leaving Egypt in Exodus 12:31-39 an example for those us when we try to obey Paul’s instructions in 1 Timothy 6:11-16 to flee and pursue?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Exodus, Luke, Colossians, and 1 Timothy teach us about leaving slavery and taking hold of eternal life today?

In your opinion, how can we truly leave behind “hollow and deceptive philosophy” and “worship the Lord”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)