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Walking in obedience

Move from hearing to practice through love, dependence and justice.

1. 1. Read and discover - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   John 14:15

   ¹⁵ If you love me, keep my commandments.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   Jesus connects love with keeping his commands in a discourse about presence and comfort; obedience responds to a relationship.

   Reflect

   • How does Jesus connect love for him with practicing his teaching?

   Put it into practice

   Practice one teaching of Jesus in your treatment of someone today.

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2. 2. The true vine - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   John 15:1-5

   ¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.

   ² Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

   ³ You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

   ⁴ Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

   ⁵ I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   The vine describes continuing dependence on Jesus; fruit grows through abiding rather than self-sufficiency.

   Reflect

   • What does staying connected to Jesus mean in the picture of a branch and vine?

   Put it into practice

   Set aside daily time to hear and practice one teaching of Jesus.

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3. 3. Hearing and doing - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   James 1:22-25

   ²² But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

   ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;

   ²⁴ for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

   ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   James compares hearing without acting to forgetting one’s face; a mature response joins attention and practice.

   Reflect

   • What does the mirror comparison teach about hearing the word and putting it into practice?

   Put it into practice

   Turn one teaching read today into a specific action.

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4. 4. Building through practice - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Matthew 7:24-27

   ²⁴ “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

   ²⁵ The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.

   ²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

   ²⁷ The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell—and its fall was great.”

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   Both builders hear and both face storms; the difference lies in practicing Jesus’ words.

   Reflect

   • What does the person building on rock do differently?

   Put it into practice

   Choose a teaching and specify how to practice it this week.

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5. 5. Justice, mercy and humility - Read lesson

   World English Bible

   Micah 6:8

   ⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

   Read the full chapter

   Understanding the passage

   Micah contrasts just living with multiplying offerings; relationship with God includes how others are treated.

   Reflect

   • What might justice, mercy and humility look like in daily life?

   Put it into practice

   Review a relationship in which you can act more fairly.