March 30, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – Pressing On

 Pressing On

Psalms 22:11-19 - New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
¹⁵ My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

¹⁹ But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

What is near (verse 11)?

Where are the “strong bulls of Bashan” (verse 12)?

What has happened to His bones (verse 14)?

How does His mouth feel (verse 15)?

What happens to His hands and feet (verse 16)?

How do people respond (verse 17)?

What did they do with His clothes (verse 18)?

What is His plea to the Lord (verse 19)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the suffering of Jesus?

Matthew 27:32-44 – New International Version (NIV)

³² As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³ They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ³⁴ There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷ Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

³⁸ Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹ Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴² “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴ In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Who did they force to carry the cross (verse 32)?

What does Golgotha mean (verse 33)?

How did Jesus respond to the offer of the wine mixed with gall (verse 34)?

What did they do with His clothes (verse 35)?

Where was the “the charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS” placed (verse 37)?

Who was on His right and His left (verse 38)?

What did those who passed by do (verse 39)?

How was Jesus challenged to prove He was the “Son of God” (verse 40)?

Who said “He saved others . . . but he can’t save himself” (verses 41 and 42)?

What did the rebels “who were crucified with him” do (verse 44)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the suffering of Jesus?

In your opinion, how does Psalm 22:11-19 help us understand the suffering Jesus faced in Matthew 27:32-44?

Hebrews 13:8-16 – New International Version (NIV)

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. ¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

¹¹ The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹² And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³ Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. ¹⁴ For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. ¹⁶ And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Who “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (verse 8)?

What “is good for our hearts” (verse 9)?

Who does not have a right to eat at our alter (verse 10)?

What is the sin offering that the high priest carries into “the Most Holy Place” (verse 11)?

Why did Jesus suffer “outside the city gate” (verse 12)?

What does Paul invite us to bear “outside the camp” (verse 13)?

What are we looking for (verse 14)?

How does Paul say we please God (verse 15)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the suffering of Jesus?

 

In your opinion, what does Psalm 22:11-19 help us understand about what Hebrews 13:8-16 says Jesus endured outside of the city gate to “make people holy”?

In your opinion, how does the torment of the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders in Matthew 27:32-44, ““He saved others, . . . but he can’t save himself”” shown by Hebrews 13:8-16 to be accurate only because of the choice Jesus made about who He was saving?

 Philippians 3:7-14 – New International Version (NIV)

⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

What does Paul “consider loss” (verse 7)?

Why does Paul “consider everything a loss” (verse 8)?

Where does the righteousness Paul desires come from (verse 9)?

What did Paul want to participate in (verse 10)?

What did Paul hope to attain (verse 11)?

What does Paul “press on to take hold of” (verse 12)?

What is the “one thing” Paul does (verse 13)?

How has God called Paul heavenward (verse 14)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about the suffering of Jesus?

 

In your opinion, how are the messages of Psalm 22:11-19 and Philippians 3:7-14 similar?

In your opinion, is Paul’s statement in Philippians 3:7-14 that he wants to participate in the suffering of Jesus, found in Matthew 27:32-44 literal?  If not literal, then what does Paul mean?

In your opinion, how does Philippians 3:7-14 show us how to respond to the amazing gift of Jesus that is revealed in Hebrews 13:8-16?

In your opinion, what do these passages from Psalms, Matthew, Hebrews and Philippians teach us about the suffering of Jesus on the cross, and the reason for His suffering?

In your opinion, as people who have been made holy through the suffering and blood of Jesus, what goal should we expect to reach?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 23, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – A Prepared Heart

A Prepared Heart

Joshua 24:19-24 - New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. ²⁰ If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

²¹ But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”

²² Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”

“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.

²³ “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

²⁴ And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”

Why did Joshua tell the people they would be unable to serve the Lord (verse 19)?

What will happen if the people “forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods” (verse 20)?

How did the people respond to Joshua (verse 21)?

Who will be the witnesses against the people (verse 22)?

What did Joshua tell the people to throw away (verse 23)?

What were the people to yield “to the Lord, the God of Israel” (verse 23)?

How did the people respond to Joshua’s instruction to throw away and to yield (verse 24)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to or for God?

Matthew 27:11-31 – New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

¹² When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. ¹³ Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” ¹⁴ But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

¹⁵ Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶ At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸ For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

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

²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

²⁵ All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”

²⁶ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰ They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹ After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

How does Jesus answer Pilate’s question “are you the king of the Jews” (verse 11)?

How did Jesus respond to the accusations of the chief priests and elders (verse 12)?

What amazed the governor (verses 13 and 14)?

Who did Pilate offer to release (verse 17)?

What message did Pilate’s wife send him (verse 19)?

Who persuaded the crowd “to have Jesus executed” (verse 20)?

How did the crowd answer Pilate’s question about who to release (verse 21)?

How did the crowd answer Pilate’s question about what to do with Jesus (verse 22)?

What did Pilate do when he “saw that he was getting nowhere” (verse 24)?

Who did the crowd say Jesus’s blood was on (verse 25)?

What did Pilate do with Jesus (verse 26)?

Who stripped Jesus, put a scarlet robe on Him, put a crown of thorns on His head, told Him “Hail, king of the Jews”, spit on Him, and struck Him on the head (verses 27-30)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to or for God?

In your opinion, how could the descendants of the people who said “we will serve the Lord our God and obey him” in Joshua 24:19-24 end up shouting to crucify Jesus and that “His blood is on us and our children” in Matthew 27:11-31?

Acts 5:25-33 – New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” ²⁶ At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.

²⁷ The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ²⁸ “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

²⁹ Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! ³⁰ The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

³³ When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death.

What were the men who had been put in jail doing (verse 25)?

Why did the captain and his officers not use force (verse 26)?

Who questioned the apostles (verse 27)?

What did the high priest say the apostles “are determined to make us guilty of” (verse 28)?

How did Peter and the apostles reply (verse 29)?

Who “raised Jesus from the dead” (verse 30)?

Who killed Jesus “by hanging him on a cross” (verse 30)?

Why did God exalt Jesus “to his own right hand as Prince and Savior” (verse 31)?

Who are the witnesses (verse 32)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to or for God?

In your opinion, what is the difference between the Israelite people in Joshua 24:19-24 saying “we will serve the Lord our God and obey him” and the apostles in Acts 5:25-33 saying “we must obey God rather than human beings”?

In your opinion, why do the people who shouted “His blood is on us and on our children” in Matthew 27:11-31 get upset and accuse the apostles of being “determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood” in Acts 5:25-33?

1 Peter 3:15-18 – New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶ keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

Where should we “revere Christ as Lord” (verse 15)?

Who should we “always be prepared to give an answer to” (verse 15)?

How should we give that answer (verse 15)?

Why should we keep a clear conscience (verse 16)?

What is better than suffering “for doing evil” (verse 17)?

Who suffered for sins (verse 18)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about responding to or for God?

In your opinion, how is Joshua’s instruction to the Israelites to “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord” in Joshua 24:19-24 applicable to Christian’s who Paul commands “in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” in 1 Peter 3:15-18?

In your opinion, how does Jesus’s selective answers to the questions that Pilate asked him in Matthew 27:11-31 help us understand what Peter meant in 1 Peter 3:15-18 when he encouraged Christians to “always be prepared to give an answer”?

In your opinion, how do the apostles in Acts 5:25-33 help us understand what Peter means by saying “always be prepared to give an answer” in 1 Peter 3:15-18? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Joshua, Matthew, Acts and 1 Peter teach us about yielding our hearts to God?

In your opinion, how does revering God help us to “always be prepared to give an answer . . . with gentleness and respect”?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)

March 16, 2025 – A Study of Matthew – The Choice for Salvation

The Choice for Salvation

Zechariah 11:4-13 - New International Version (NIV)

⁴ This is what the Lord my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter. ⁵ Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them. ⁶ For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the Lord. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”

⁷ So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. ⁸ In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.

The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them ⁹ and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.”

¹⁰ Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹ It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.

¹² I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.

Which flock is Zechariah to shepherd (verse 4)?

Who does “not spare them” (verse 5)?

What will the Lord no longer have “on the people of the land” (verse 6)?

Which members of the flock did Zechariah “particularly” shepherd (verse 7)?

What were the names of the two staffs that Zechariah took (verse 7)?

How did the flock react to Zechariah (verse 8)?

What was going to happen to the “perishing” (verse 9)?

What was revoked with the breaking of the staff called Favor (verse 10)?

Who “knew it was the word of the Lord” (verse 11)?

How much was Zechariah paid (verse 12)?

What did Zechariah do with what he was paid (verse 13)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the choice for salvation?

Matthew 27:1-10 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. ² So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

³ When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴ “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

⁵ So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

⁶ The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” ⁷ So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸ That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, ¹⁰ and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

When did “all the chief priests and the elders of the people” make their plans (verse 1)?

What did the chief priests and elders do (verse 2)?

How did Judas react when he saw Jesus was condemned (verse 3)?

How did the chief priests and elders respond when Judas said “I have betrayed innocent blood” (verse 4)?

Where did Judas throw the money (verse 5)?

What did Judas do next (verse 5)?

Why was it against the law to put the money “into the treasury” (verse 6)?

What did they decide to do with the money (verse 7)?

What has the field been called (verse 8)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the choice for salvation?

In your opinion, how do the reactions of the chief priests and elders to Jesus in Matthew 27:1-10 and the flock the Zechariah to Zechariah 11:4-13 compare?

Acts 22:1-16 – New International Version (NIV)

¹ “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”

² When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.

Then Paul said: ³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵ as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

⁸ “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ⁹ My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

¹⁰ “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ ¹¹ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

¹² “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. ¹³ He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴ “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. ¹⁵ You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

Who did Paul want to listen to his defense (verse 1)?

How zealous was Paul (verse 3)?

Who did Paul persecute “to their deaths” (verse 4)?

What did the voice say to Paul (verse 7)?

Whose voice was it (verse 8)?

In your opinion, why is Paul’s question, “what shall I do, Lord” crucial (verse 10)?

How did Paul get to Damascus (verse 11)?

What did Ananias say as he stood beside Paul (verse 13)?

What did Ananias tell Paul to do (verse 16)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the choice for salvation?

In your opinion, how would the flock who detested Zechariah in Zechariah 11:4-13 have been transformed by asking the questions that Paul did in Acts 22:1-16, “who are you” and “what shall I do”?

In your opinion, why did Judas, who “betrayed innocent blood” in Matthew 27:1-10, have such a different outcome than Paul, who admitted to persecuting “followers of this Way to their death”, did in Acts 28:1-16?

Romans 10:11-17 – New International Version (NIV)

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.”

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. 

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

Who does the Lord “richly” bless (verse 12)?

Who will be saved (verse 13)?

Who has beautiful feet (verse 15)?

What did not all the Israelites accept (verse 16)?

How is the message heard (verse 17)?

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

In your opinion, what does this passage reveal to us about the choice for salvation?

In your opinion, why would the flock, and especially the oppressed of the flock, detest Zechariah in Zechariah 11:4-13 and likewise some of those who heard the message of salvation not accept it in Romans 10:11-17?

In your opinion, what do the “how” questions of Romans 10:11-17 reveal to us about the closeness of Judas to salvation in Matthew 27:1-10?

In your opinion, how does the salvation of Paul in Acts 22:1-16 serve to illustrate the salvation process outlined by the “how” questions of Romans 10:11-17? 

In your opinion, what do these passages from Zechariah, Matthew, Acts and Romans teach us the difference between being saved and remaining lost?

In your opinion, how is the teamwork of Jesus and Ananias in the salvation of Paul an example for us today?

(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)