FRUITFUL LIVES
EZEKIEL 36:8-9 (CEV)
Trees will grow on you mountains of Israel and produce fruit for my people, because they will soon come home. I will take care of you by plowing your soil and planting crops on your fertile slopes.
MATTHEW 20:1 (MSG)
God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
SUMMARY SENTENCE
God is cultivating his people into an awesome vineyard.
PRAYER
Loving God, thank you for investing in us -- even when we are resistant to growth. Cultivate your kingdom in me. Shower me with your grace. I want to produce good fruit for you. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
