Lessons                                                                       Bread of Life                                                              9 March 2024

Numbers 21:4–9

        ₄From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ₅And the people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food." ₆Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ₇And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. ₈And the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." ₉So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Psalm 107:1–9

₁Oh give thanks to the Lord, for | he is good,*

        for his steadfast love endures for- | ever!

₂Let the redeemed of the Lord| say so,*

        whom he has redeemed from | trouble

₃and gathered in | from the lands,*

        from the east and from the west,

        from the north and | from the south.

₄Some wandered in | desert wastes,*

        finding no way to a city to | dwell in;

₅hungry and | thirsty,*

        their soul fainted with- | in them.

₆Then they cried to the Lord in their | trouble,*

        and he delivered them from | their distress.

₇He led them by a | straight way*

        till they reached a city to | dwell in.

₈Let them thank the Lord for his | steadfast love,*

        for his wondrous works to the chil- | dren of men!

₉For he satisfies the | longing soul,*

        and the hungry soul he fills | with good things.

Ephesians 2:1–10

        ₁And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ₂in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ₃among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ₄But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ₅even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ₆and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ₇so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ₈For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ₉not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ₁₀For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

John 3:14–21

        ₁₄[Jesus said:] "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ₁₅that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

        ₁₆"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ₁₇For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ₁₈Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ₁₉And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. ₂₀For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ₂₁But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God."