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Bible Lesson: SUBSTANCE

From the Christian Science Quarterly

Citations from The Amplified Bible

For week of March 8-14, citations compiled by Bruce Cunningham, e-mail: cunninghambruce123@yahoo.com

Golden Text

Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that whatever God does, it endures forever;

nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it.

Responsive Reading

Psalm 16:5 The Lord is my chosen and assigned portion, my cup;

You hold and maintain my lot.

Psalm 37:3 Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good;

so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass. 6 And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.

11 . . the meek [in the end] shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in

the abundance of peace.

18 The Lord knows the days of the upright and blameless, and their heritage will

abide forever. 19 They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; and in the

days of famine they shall be satisfied.

21 . . . . the [uncompromisingly] righteous deal kindly and give [for they are able].

31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

34 Wait for and expect the Lord and keep and heed His way, and He will exalt you

to inherit the land; . . . .

Section 1

Psalm 104:24 O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom have You

made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.

30 When You send forth Your Spirit and give them breath, they are created, and You

replenish the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works --

Psalm 115:14 May the Lord give you increase more and more, you and your

children. 15 May you be blessed of the Lord, Who made heaven

and earth!

Ezekiel 34:11 For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I Myself, will search for My sheep

and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his sheep in the day that he is among his flock that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep; and

I will rescue them out of all places where they have been scattered in the day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land; and I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there shall they lie down in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

15 I will feed My sheep and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God.

16 I will seek that which was lost and bring back that which has strayed, and I will

bandage the hurt and the crippled and will strengthen the weak and the sick, . . . 26 And I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing, and I will

cause the showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of

blessing [of good insured by God's favor].

Section 2

Psalm 51:1 HAVE MERCY upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; . . . . .

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 116:7 Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

2 Kings 4:1 NOW THE wife of a son of the prophets cried to Elisha, Your servant my

husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two sons to be his slaves.

2 Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what have you [of sale value]

in the house?

She said, Your handmaid has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.

3 Then he said, Go around and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty

Vessels – and not a few. 4 And when you come in, shut the door upon you and your sons. Then pour out [the oil you have] into all those vessels, setting aside each one when it is full. 5 So she went from him and shut the door upon herself and her sons, who brought to her the vessels as she poured the oil.

6 When the vessels were all full, she said to her son, Bring me another vessel.

And he said to her, There is not a one left. Then the oil stopped multiplying.

7 Then she came and told the man of God. He said, Go, sell the oil and pay your

debt, and you and your sons live on the rest.

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly

blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].

Section 3 NIV
Jeremiah 30:11 . . I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; . . . . . .

17 For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds,

says the Lord, . . . . .

2 Kings 4:8 One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a rich and influential woman

lived, who insisted on his eating a meal. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he stopped there for a meal. 9 And she said to her husband, Behold now,

I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by continually. 10 Let us make a small chamber on the [housetop] and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then whenever he comes to us, he can go [up the outside stairs and rest] here.

17 . . the woman conceived and bore a son at that season the following year, as

Elisha had said to her. 18 When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father with the reapers. 19 But he said to his father, My head, my head!

The man said to his servant, Carry him to his mother. 20 And when he was brought to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.

21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door

upon him and went out. 25 So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite. 26 Run to meet her and say, Is it well with you? Well with your husband? Well with the child?

And she answered, It is well.

32 When Elisha arrived in the house, the child was dead and laid upon his bed.

33 So he went in, shut the door on the two of them, and prayed to the Lord.

35 Then he returned and walked in the house to and fro and went up again and

stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and then opened his eyes. 36 Then [Elisha] called Gehazi and said, Call this Shunammite.

So he called her. And when she came, he said, Take up your son.

Section 4

Psalm 61:1 HEAR MY cry, O God; listen to my prayer. 3 For You have been a shelter

and a refuge for me, a strong tower against the adversary. 4 I will dwell in Your tabernacle forever; let me find refuge and trust in the shelter of Your wings.

2 Kings 8:1 NOW ELISHA had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life,

Arise and go with your household and sojourn wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine, and moreover, it will come upon the land for seven years. 2 So the woman arose and did as the man of God had said. She went with her household and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.

3 At the end of the seven years the woman returned from the land of the Philistines,

and she went to appeal to the king for her house and land.

4 The king talked with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me all the

great things Elisha has done.

5 And as Gehazi was telling the king how [Elisha] had restored the dead to life,

behold, the woman whose son he had restored to life appealed to the king for her house and land. And Gehazi said, My lord O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha brought back to life.

6 When the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her

a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land even until now.

Psalm 23:6 Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the

days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord

[and His presence] shall be my dwelling place.

Section 5

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and

through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

Matthew 4:23 And He went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and

preaching the good news (Gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every weakness and infirmity among the people.

Matthew 12:9 And going on from there, He went into their synagogue.

10 And behold, a man was there with one withered hand. And they said to Him, Is it lawful or allowable to cure people on the Sabbath days? -- that they might accuse Him.

11 But He said to them, What man is there among you, if he has only one sheep and

it falls into a pit or ditch on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?

12 How much better and of more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful and

allowable to do good on the Sabbath days. 13 Then He said to the man, Reach

out your hand. And the man reached it out and it was restored, as sound as the

other one.

Section 6

Isaiah 58:11 And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and

in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.

12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of

[buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called

Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.

Psalm 52:1 . . . . The loving-kindness of God endures all day long.