Key Thought

Today's Prayer

O great God of the heavens, Teacher of truth and Giver of grace, help me to know your will through Jesus. Enlighten my heart so I may live with undivided devotion to you. In the name of your precious Son, Jesus of Nazareth, King of glory, and Lord of my life, I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. One day a man found the treasure. The man was very happy to find the treasure. He hid the treasure in the field again. The man went and sold everything that he owned to buy that field. "Also, the kingdom of heaven is like a salesman looking for fine pearls. One day the salesman found a very fine pearl. The salesman went and sold everything he had to buy that pearl. "Also, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was put into the lake. The net caught many different kinds of fish. The net became full, so the fishermen pulled the net to the shore. The fishermen sat down and put all the good fish in baskets. Then they threw away the bad fish. It will be the same at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the evil people from the good people. The angels will throw the evil people into the place of fire. In that place the people will cry and grind their teeth {with pain}." {Then Jesus asked his followers,} "Do you understand all these things?" The followers said, "Yes, we understand." Then Jesus said to the followers, "So every teacher of the law who has been taught {the new things} about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house. He has new things and old things saved in that house. And he brings out those new things with the old things." When Jesus finished teaching with these stories, he left there.

Related Scripture Readings

But you should continue following the teachings you learned. You know that those teachings are true. You know you can trust the people who taught you those things. You have known the Holy Scriptures since you were a child. Those Scriptures are able to make you wise. And that wisdom leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by God. And all Scripture is useful for teaching and for showing people the things that are wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching how to live right. Using the Scriptures, the person who serves God will be ready and will have everything he needs to do every good work.

Do what God's teaching says; don't just listen and do nothing. Why? Because when you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. If you hear God's teaching and do nothing, you are like this: You are like a man that looks at his face in the mirror. The man sees himself, but he does nothing. He goes away and quickly forgets how bad he looked. But you must not be like that. You must carefully study God's perfect law that makes people free. You must continue to study it. You must listen to God's teaching and not forget what you heard. Then you must obey what God's teaching says. When you do this, it will make you truely happy.

The "Yes" to all of God's promises is in Christ. And that is why we say "Amen " through Christ to the glory of God.