Old Testament – Isaiah 25:1-9
Isaiah is praising God in these verses. God has shown him that Babylon will be
destroyed and the Israelites will go back to Israel in the future. Isaiah is telling the
Israelites their future good news. In the second part of these verses Isaiah tells us
that God will remove death from all peoples in the future. Isaiah tells us to be
happy and rejoice in God’s salvation.
Old Testament – Psalm 23
Psalm 23 is very loved. David in this song tells about God’s goodness to him.
David states all the ways God provides for him. At the end of the psalm, David
rejoices that he will “dwell in the House of the Lord forever.” Listen to Psalm 23
sung in Hebrew (David’s language) and played with traditional Israeli instruments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWM8gSSnz_8
New Testament – Philippians 4:1-9
Paul in his first few sentences asks everyone to live in harmony. Next Paul tells us
that God wants us to rejoice always. We are to be gentle and when we ask God
for anything, we should do it with a spirit of thankfulness. Paul reminds us to
think about people and situations in a positive way. When things are going well
for us, this is easy to do. But, God wants us to be thankful, gentle and positive
even when things are hard. These habits need to be practiced all the time. Our
lives change for the better when we make a daily habit of being thankful, gentle
and positive.
New Testament - Matthew 22:1-14
Jesus tells a story of a king who had a wedding party for his son. But, all of the
invited guests made excuses as to why they couldn’t come. Some of those that
were invited seized the king’s messengers and killed them. The king was mad and
went with his army to burn the town of these people. Afterwards, the king tells
his servants to invite everybody they can find so the wedding party is filled. When
the wedding hall is full, the king comes in. He sees a man who isn’t wearing the
right outfit for the feast. The king asks how the man got in without the proper
clothes. The man is speechless and the king throws him out of the party. Jesus
ends this unhappy story with the words “Many are called but few are chosen.”
God is the king in this story. The son is Jesus and the party is the party when we
all go to heaven. The people who were asked to go to the party but made up
excuses are people who never accept God. The people who go to the party are
people who accept God and Jesus as their savior. The man who is thrown out of
the party is the person who wants to come to God in his own way without being
clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. The most important part of this parable is that
everybody is invited to the party including those we don’t think are important.
Watch the fun video below.
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