Weekly Lessons and Daily Bible Readings

March 1, 2026 – lesson 9

LOVE ACTS

Printed Passage:  Mark 12:28-34; James 2:14-17

Key Verse:   If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.(Mark 12:33, KJV)

Think About It:
What can believers do besides pray to help people with the tremendous human needs that have been caused by hateful wars and conflicts?  

Printed Passage:  Mark 12:28-34; James 2:14-17

Mark 12:28-34
The First Commandment
²⁸ One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”
²⁹ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;
³⁰ you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 
³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 
³² Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 
³³ and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 
³⁴ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

 James 2:14-17
Faith without Works Is Dead
¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Surely that faith cannot save, can it? 
¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food 
¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?
¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Devotional Reading for March 2-8, 2026:
MONDAY: Work and Discipline – Proverbs 12:1-2, 10-14
TUESDAY:  The Temple of the Body  –  1 Corinthians 6:12-20
WEDNESDAY:  The Discipline of Right Choices  –   1 Corinthians 9:19-27
THURSDAY:  God is Always with me – Psalm 139:1-12
FRIDAY: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – Psalm 139:13-24
SATURDAY: The Superior Training in Godliness – 1 Timothy 4:7-12
SUNDAY: Pure in Mind and Spirit – Daniel 1:8-17

March 22, 2026 – lesson 12

PUTTING AN END TO PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION

Printed Passage:  Acts 10:9-15, 30-35; Galatians 3:28-29

Key Verse: There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.  (Galatians 3:28, NRSVue)

Think About It:
In what ways do prejudice and discrimination hinder people, especially believers, from enjoying the blessings of God?

Printed Passage:  Acts 10:9-15, 30-35; Galatians 3:28-29
Acts 10:9-15
⁹ About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 
¹⁰ He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while it was being prepared he fell into a trance. 
¹¹ He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 
¹² In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. 
¹³ Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” 
¹⁴ But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” 
¹⁵ The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

Acts 10:30-35
³⁰ Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. 
³¹ He said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms have been remembered before God. 
³² Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 
³³ Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.”

Gentiles Hear the Good News
³⁴ Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 
³⁵ but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.

Devotional Reading for March 23-29, 2026:
MONDAY:  A Kingdom Not of This World – John 18:28-38
TUESDAY:  The Lord’s Peace – Number 6:22-26
WEDNESDAY:  God Is Exalted among the Nations – Psalm 46
THURSDAY:  God Guides the Destiny  of Nations – Amos 9:7-12
FRIDAY: Glory and Honor of the Nations – Revelation 21:21-27
SATURDAY: The Nations Shall Gather to God – Isaiah 2:1-5
SUNDAY:  All Peoples Are Kin – Acts 17:22-28

March 29, 2026 – lesson 13

UNDERSTANDING LEADS TO PEACE

Printed Passage:  Isaiah 2:2-4; Acts 17:26-28

Key Verse:  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the  mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3, NRSVue)

Think About It:
What actions can believers undertake us to "be the change" that will positively impact peach and increase the likelihood of world peace?

Printed Passage:  Isaiah 2:2-4; Acts 17:26-28
Isaiah 2:2-4
² In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.
³  Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴ He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.

 Acts 17:26-28
²⁶ From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 
²⁷ so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 
²⁸ For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we, too, are his offspring.’

Devotional Reading for March 30-April 5, 2026:
MONDAY:  Many Dwellings in the Father's House – John 14:1-4
TUESDAY:  Encouraging Words of Hope – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
WEDNESDAY:  I know that My Redeemer lives – Job 19:23-27
THURSDAY:  Awake and Sing for Joy – Isaiah 26:12-19
FRIDAY: Give Thanks to the Lord – Psalm 118:15-24
SATURDAY: Christ Is Risen from the Dead – 1 Corinthians 15:13-20
SUNDAY:  Death Is Swallowed Up in Victory – 1 Corinthians 15:5--58