1. The Parables As you read these stories, ask yourself what Jesus wanted to teach us… Think of an example in your own life That could match each story. Important stories Jesus told

2. The Sheep and the Goats Every kindness done to others Is a kindness done to Me. Bible Reading: Matthew 25:31-46 Memory Verse: “You did it for me.” Matthew 25:40

3. This is the story Jesus told about: “The Sheep and the Goats” Jesus talked to his disciples while they sat together on the Mount of Olives, which is a hill above Jerusalem. Jesus said, “The Son of Man will come again in His great glory. All His angels will come with Him. He will be King and sit on His great throne. He will divide up the people, just the way a shepherd divides sheep from goats. The people he calls sheep will be on his right, and the people he calls goats will be on his left. The king will turn to the people in his right, and say, “Come, you happy ones!

4. You have pleased my Father. I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to see me.” The people will be very surprised. “When did we do all these things?” they will ask the king. “When did we see you hungry or thirsty? When did we help you?” The king will say, “When you did it for even the most unimportant person, then you did it for me?” Then he will turn to the ones on his left hand. “But you!” he will say, “You saw me hungry and thirsty, poor and sick and in prison, and what did you do for me? Nothing!”

5. These people will cry, “But sir, when did we see you hungry or thirst or needing clothes?” “When you didn’t do it for even the most unimportant person, then you did not do it for me.” Are the sheep 1.On the right hand side of the King? 2. On the left hand side of the King? 3.Do the goats stand for good or bad people?

6. “You did it for me." (Matthew 25:40). Can you list five actions that have happened to you or that you have been able to help other people with? When Jesus comes as King, He will judge the nations (Matthew 25:31-46). He said the basis for that judgment will be how people treated Him when He was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or imprisoned.

7. Those being judged will ask when they saw Him in these situations, and Jesus will say, "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" Because all people are created in God's image, and because Jesus by His words and example taught us that He cares deeply how we treat others, we should treat all people with kindness and compassion. Thinking It Over Our love for Christ is only as real as our love for our neighbor.