Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
22 Thus says the Lord God: I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar and set it aside. I will crop off from the top of its young twigs a tender one and will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23 On the mountain of the height of Israel I will plant it. And it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a splendid cedar. And under it all fowl of every wing shall nest. In the shadow of its branches they shall nest. 24 All the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish.
I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.
Psalm 92
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day.
1 It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
and to sing praises unto Your name, O Most High:
2 to declare forth Your lovingkindness in the morning
and Your faithfulness in the night,
3 on a ten-stringed lute and on the harp,
and on the lyre with a solemn sound.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad through Your work;
I will sing joyfully at the works of Your hands.
12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those that are planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
they shall be filled with vitality and foliage,
15 to show that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Instead, I say that we are confident and willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 9 So whether present or absent, we labor that we may be accepted by Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his recompense in the body, according to what he has done, whether it was good or bad.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are revealed to God, and I trust we are also revealed in your consciences. 12 For we are not commending ourselves again to you. Instead, we give you occasion to boast on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance and not in heart. 13 If we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14 For the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge: that if one died for all, then all have died. 15 And He died for all, that those who live should not from now on live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
16 So from now on we do not regard anyone according to the flesh. Yes, though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we do not regard Him as such from now on. 17 Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new.
The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 He said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he does not know how. 28 For the earth bears fruit by itself: first the blade, then the head, then the full seed in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, immediately he applies the sickle because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed(A)
30 He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God, or with what parable shall we compare it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed which, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest seed on earth. 32 Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all shrubs, and shoots out great branches, so that the birds of the air may nest in its shade.”
The Use of Parables(B)
33 With many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. 34 Without a parable He did not speak to them. But when they were alone, He expounded on all things to His disciples.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.