Day 1- PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED

How did Jesus describe the Kingdom of God? What would the Kingdom of God grow into?
A mustard seed was the tiniest seed known to man in Jesus’ time. The Kingdom of God started with Jesus and 12 men. After Jesus died, resurrected and ascended into heaven, God’s Kingdom started to grow at rapid rates. There are about 1 billion followers of Christ on earth right now and billions who have lived thousands of years before your time. When Peter and John preached the gospel after Jesus left the earth, there were men who tried to kill them. Look at how one of the Pharisees responded.
Read Acts 5:33-39. What had happened to other people claiming to be someone important? What was Gamaliel’s advice? Since Jesus’ time, has Christianity gotten bigger or faded away to non-existence? How does history and this verse support what Jesus taught in the parable of the mustard seed?

Day 2- PARABLE OF THE WORKERS IN THE VINEYARD

Read Matthew 20:1-16
What did the workers who were hired at the beginning of the day get?
What about the middle of the day? End of day?
A denarius was a full days wage. Logic would think that the worker who worked all day would get more than the worker who worked only one hour. Jesus wanted His disciples to understand that His kingdom would be different. It doesn’t matter when you joined God’s team, you are promised the same thing. What does this mean? It doesn’t matter if you believed in Jesus when you were little or if you decided to believe in Him right before your last breath… all who believe in Him are promised the same thing, eternal life.
How does this give you comfort for people you know who don’t believe in Jesus?

Day 3- THE PARABLE OF THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT

Read Matthew 18:21-35
How many times are you to forgive your brother? How did the master forgive his servants debt? Was the servant able to pay the master back? What did the servant do after He was free from his debt?
There is no way that you can pay back the debt you owe God. Your debt is big because of your sin. God knows this and this is why He sent Jesus to forgive you of your sins. A forgiven person forgives others. The unforgiving man was freed from his large debt and then unmercifully held others to their small debts owed to him. God forgives you so you should be forgiving of others.
Read Colossians 3:13
Have you received the Lord’s forgiveness? Do you have a forgiving heart?

Day 4- THE HIDDEN TREASURE AND THE PEARL

Read Matthew 13:44-46
What did the person do when he found the hidden treasure?
What did the person do when he found the pearl of great value?
Read Philippians 3:8
How does this verse line up with these two parables?
Do you consider all things loss compared to knowing Christ?

Day 5- THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SHEEP

Read Luke 15:3-7
What will the Shepherd do for one lost sheep? What does He do when He finds the sheep?
Jesus does not want you to be lost. He will find you and go after you. If God would have known, out of the billions of people who have lived on earth, that only you would believe in Him, He still would have done all the work on the cross just for you.
He loves you that much. What do you learn about Jesus in this parable? Does Jesus care about people entering His kingdom?