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Sunday
First Lesson
Joel 3:9-17
9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the
mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into
spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather
yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones
to come down, O LORD.
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat:
for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you
down; for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness
is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the
day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall
withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice
from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but
the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of
the children of Israel.
17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion,
my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall
no strangers pass through her any more.
1st Lesson Questions -
Joel 3:9-17 Verse 14 presents a poetic and powerful description of the day of judgment. Am I ready for that day? What changes – both temporal and spiritual – do I need to make in my life to ensure that I am ready? RESOLVE.
Second Lesson
Matthew 13:36-52
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house:
and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the
parable of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed
is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of
the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the
end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire;
so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which
do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom
of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in
a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for
joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that
field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man,
seeking goodly pearls:
46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and
sold all that he had, and bought it.
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was
cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down,
and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come
forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall
be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
51 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things?
They say unto him, Yea, Lord.
52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed
unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder,
which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
2nd Lesson Questions -
Matthew 13:36-52 In this Lesson, Jesus provides additional – and quite specific – detail about the “day of the Lord” which Joel wrote about in the First Lesson. As Jesus asked the disciples, have I “understood all these things”? (V. 51) RESOLVE.