Dec. 06, 2020

This Week’s Teaching:

 1)  A Secret Kingdom

 Luke 17:20-21:  Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." 

Mark 4:10-12:  When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.  He told them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.  But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, "'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" 

DQ 1) What makes the kingdom of God a secret to many people? 

            In answering this question, consider 2 Corinthians 3:12-18.

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2)  A Bountiful Kingdom

Mark 4:26-29:  He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like.  A man scatters seed on the ground.  Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.  All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.  As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." 

Mark 4:30-32:  Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it?  It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground.  Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade." 

DQ 2) How does the kingdom of God bountifully affect 

           individuals?

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3)  Kingdom Blessings 

Luke 18:29-30:  "I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life." 

DQ 3) How should individuals who are connected to the kingdom 

           of God significantly influence other people?  

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