Lessons                                                                       Bread of Life                                                               15 May 2021

Acts 1:12–26

          ₁₂Then [the apostles] returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. ₁₃And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. ₁₄All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

          ₁₅In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about ₁₂₀) and said, ₁₆“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. ₁₇For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” ₁₈(Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. ₁₉And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ₂₀“For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate,

          and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

“‘Let another take his office.’

₂₁So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ₂₂beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” ₂₃And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. ₂₄And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen ₂₅to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ₂₆And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Psalm ₁

₁Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the | wicked,*

nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of | scoffers;

₂but his delight is in the law | of the Lord,*

and on his law he meditates | day and night.

₃He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not | wither.*

In all that he does, he | prospers.

₄The wicked | are not so,*

but are like chaff that the wind | drives away.

₅Therefore the wicked will not stand

in the | judgment,*

nor sinners in the congregation of the | righteous;

₆for the Lord knows the way of the | righteous,*

but the way of the wicked will | perish.

1 John 5:9–15

          ₉If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. ₁₀Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. ₁₁And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ₁₂Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

          ₁₃I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. ₁₄And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ₁₅And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

John 17:11b–19

          [Jesus said:] “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ₁₂While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ₁₃But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. ₁₄I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ₁₅I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ₁₆They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ₁₇Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ₁₈As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ₁₉And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”