### New Testament
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''Daily:'' [[Devotional->DevotionalDM]] | [[Reading->ReadingsDM]] | [[Dose->Daily Dose]]
<br><br><i>(Pick a book)</i>
<table><tr><td style="color:Maroon">[[Matthew]]<td style="color:Maroon">[[Mark]]<td style="color:Maroon">[[Luke]]</tr>
<tr><td style="color:Maroon">[[John]]<td style="color:Blue">[[Acts]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[Romans]]</tr>
<tr><td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[1 Corinthians]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[2 Corinthians]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[Galatians]]</tr>
<tr><td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[Ephesians]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[Philippians]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[Colossians]]</tr>
<tr><td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[1 Thessalonians]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[2 Thessalonians]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[1 Timothy]]</tr>
<tr><td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[2 Timothy]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[Titus]]<td style="color:SaddleBrown">[[Philemon]]</tr>
<tr><td style="color:DarkMagenta">[[Hebrews]]<td style="color:DarkMagenta">[[James]]<td style="color:DarkMagenta">[[1 Peter]]</tr>
<tr><td style="color:DarkMagenta">[[2 Peter]]<td style="color:DarkMagenta">[[1 John]]<td style="color:DarkMagenta">[[2 John]]</tr>
<tr><td style="color:DarkMagenta">[[3 John]]<td style="color:DarkMagenta">[[Jude]]<td style="color:Red">[[Revelation]]</tr>
</table>}
(text-size:0.5)[''Last updated: 04/09/25'']
{
### Matthew
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Mat 1]] <td>[[2|Mat 2]] <td>[[3|Mat 3]] <td>[[4|Mat 4]] <td>[[5|Mat 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Mat 6]] <td>[[7|Mat 7]] <td>[[8|Mat 8]] <td>[[9|Mat 9]] <td>[[10|Mat 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|Mat 11]] <td>[[12|Mat 12]] <td>[[13|Mat 13]] <td>[[14|Mat 14]] <td>[[15|Mat 15]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[16|Mat 16]] <td>[[17|Mat 17]] <td>[[18|Mat 18]] <td>[[19|Mat 19]] <td>[[20|Mat 20]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[21|Mat 21]] <td>[[22|Mat 22]] <td>[[23|Mat 23]] <td>[[24|Mat 24]] <td>[[25|Mat 25]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[26|Mat 26]] <td>[[27|Mat 27]] <td>[[28|Mat 28]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Mark
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Mar 1]] <td>[[2|Mar 2]] <td>[[3|Mar 3]] <td>[[4|Mar 4]] <td>[[5|Mar 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Mar 6]] <td>[[7|Mar 7]] <td>[[8|Mar 8]] <td>[[9|Mar 9]] <td>[[10|Mar 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|Mar 11]] <td>[[12|Mar 12]] <td>[[13|Mar 13]] <td>[[14|Mar 14]] <td>[[15|Mar 15]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[16|Mar 16]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Luke
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Luk 1]] <td>[[2|Luk 2]] <td>[[3|Luk 3]] <td>[[4|Luk 4]] <td>[[5|Luk 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Luk 6]] <td>[[7|Luk 7]] <td>[[8|Luk 8]] <td>[[9|Luk 9]] <td>[[10|Luk 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|Luk 11]] <td>[[12|Luk 12]] <td>[[13|Luk 13]] <td>[[14|Luk 14]] <td>[[15|Luk 15]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[16|Luk 16]] <td>[[17|Luk 17]] <td>[[18|Luk 18]] <td>[[19|Luk 19]] <td>[[20|Luk 20]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[21|Luk 21]] <td>[[22|Luk 22]] <td>[[23|Luk 23]] <td>[[24|Luk 24]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### John
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Joh 1]] <td>[[2|Joh 2]] <td>[[3|Joh 3]] <td>[[4|Joh 4]] <td>[[5|Joh 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Joh 6]] <td>[[7|Joh 7]] <td>[[8|Joh 8]] <td>[[9|Joh 9]] <td>[[10|Joh 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|Joh 11]] <td>[[12|Joh 12]] <td>[[13|Joh 13]] <td>[[14|Joh 14]] <td>[[15|Joh 15]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[16|Joh 16]] <td>[[17|Joh 17]] <td>[[18|Joh 18]] <td>[[19|Joh 19]] <td>[[20|Joh 20]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[21|Joh 21]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Acts
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Act 1]] <td>[[2|Act 2]] <td>[[3|Act 3]] <td>[[4|Act 4]] <td>[[5|Act 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Act 6]] <td>[[7|Act 7]] <td>[[8|Act 8]] <td>[[9|Act 9]] <td>[[10|Act 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|Act 11]] <td>[[12|Act 12]] <td>[[13|Act 13]] <td>[[14|Act 14]] <td>[[15|Act 15]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[16|Act 16]] <td>[[17|Act 17]] <td>[[18|Act 18]] <td>[[19|Act 19]] <td>[[20|Act 20]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[21|Act 21]] <td>[[22|Act 22]] <td>[[23|Act 23]] <td>[[24|Act 24]] <td>[[25|Act 25]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[26|Act 26]] <td>[[27|Act 27]] <td>[[28|Act 28]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Romans
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Rom 1]] <td>[[2|Rom 2]] <td>[[3|Rom 3]] <td>[[4|Rom 4]] <td>[[5|Rom 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Rom 6]] <td>[[7|Rom 7]] <td>[[8|Rom 8]] <td>[[9|Rom 9]] <td>[[10|Rom 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|Rom 11]] <td>[[12|Rom 12]] <td>[[13|Rom 13]] <td>[[14|Rom 14]] <td>[[15|Rom 15]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[16|Rom 16]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 1 Corinthians
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|1Co 1]] <td>[[2|1Co 2]] <td>[[3|1Co 3]] <td>[[4|1Co 4]] <td>[[5|1Co 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|1Co 6]] <td>[[7|1Co 7]] <td>[[8|1Co 8]] <td>[[9|1Co 9]] <td>[[10|1Co 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|1Co 11]] <td>[[12|1Co 12]] <td>[[13|1Co 13]] <td>[[14|1Co 14]] <td>[[15|1Co 15]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[16|1Co 16]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 2 Corinthians
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|2Co 1]] <td>[[2|2Co 2]] <td>[[3|2Co 3]] <td>[[4|2Co 4]] <td>[[5|2Co 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|2Co 6]] <td>[[7|2Co 7]] <td>[[8|2Co 8]] <td>[[9|2Co 9]] <td>[[10|2Co 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|2Co 11]] <td>[[12|2Co 12]] <td>[[13|2Co 13]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Galatians
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Gal 1]] <td>[[2|Gal 2]] <td>[[3|Gal 3]] <td>[[4|Gal 4]] <td>[[5|Gal 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Gal 6]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Ephesians
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Eph 1]] <td>[[2|Eph 2]] <td>[[3|Eph 3]] <td>[[4|Eph 4]] <td>[[5|Eph 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Eph 6]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Philippians
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Phi 1]] <td>[[2|Phi 2]] <td>[[3|Phi 3]] <td>[[4|Phi 4]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Colossians
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Col 1]] <td>[[2|Col 2]] <td>[[3|Col 3]] <td>[[4|Col 4]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 1 Thessalonians
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|1Th 1]] <td>[[2|1Th 2]] <td>[[3|1Th 3]] <td>[[4|1Th 4]] <td>[[5|1Th 5]]</tr>
</table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 2 Thessalonians
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|2Th 1]] <td>[[2|2Th 2]] <td>[[3|2Th 3]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 1 Timothy
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|1Ti 1]] <td>[[2|1Ti 2]] <td>[[3|1Ti 3]] <td>[[4|1Ti 4]] <td>[[5|1Ti 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|1Ti 6]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 2 Timothy
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|2Ti 1]] <td>[[2|2Ti 2]] <td>[[3|2Ti 3]] <td>[[4|2Ti 4]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Titus
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Tit 1]] <td>[[2|Tit 2]] <td>[[3|Tit 3]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Philemon
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Phm 1]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Hebrews
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Heb 1]] <td>[[2|Heb 2]] <td>[[3|Heb 3]] <td>[[4|Heb 4]] <td>[[5|Heb 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Heb 6]] <td>[[7|Heb 7]] <td>[[8|Heb 8]] <td>[[9|Heb 9]] <td>[[10|Heb 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|Heb 11]] <td>[[12|Heb 12]] <td>[[13|Heb 13]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### James
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Jam 1]] <td>[[2|Jam 2]] <td>[[3|Jam 3]] <td>[[4|Jam 4]] <td>[[5|Jam 5]]</tr>
</table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 1 Peter
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|1Pe 1]] <td>[[2|1Pe 2]] <td>[[3|1Pe 3]] <td>[[4|1Pe 4]] <td>[[5|1Pe 5]]</tr>
</table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 2 Peter
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|2Pe 1]] <td>[[2|2Pe 2]] <td>[[3|2Pe 3]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 1 John
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|1Jo 1]] <td>[[2|1Jo 2]] <td>[[3|1Jo 3]] <td>[[4|1Jo 4]] <td>[[5|1Jo 5]]</tr>
</table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 2 John
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|2Jo 1]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### 3 John
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|3Jo 1]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Jude
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Jud 1]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]{
### Revelation
<i>(Pick a chapter)</i>
<table><tr><td>[[1|Rev 1]] <td>[[2|Rev 2]] <td>[[3|Rev 3]] <td>[[4|Rev 4]] <td>[[5|Rev 5]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[6|Rev 6]] <td>[[7|Rev 7]] <td>[[8|Rev 8]] <td>[[9|Rev 9]] <td>[[10|Rev 10]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[11|Rev 11]] <td>[[12|Rev 12]] <td>[[13|Rev 13]] <td>[[14|Rev 14]] <td>[[15|Rev 15]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[16|Rev 16]] <td>[[17|Rev 17]] <td>[[18|Rev 18]] <td>[[19|Rev 19]] <td>[[20|Rev 20]]</tr>
<tr><td>[[21|Rev 21]] <td>[[22|Rev 22]] </table>}
[[Navigator]]###Matthew 1
Mat 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Mat 1:2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
Mat 1:3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
Mat 1:4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
Mat 1:5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
Mat 1:6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
Mat 1:7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
Mat 1:8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
Mat 1:9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
Mat 1:10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
Mat 1:11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
Mat 1:12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
Mat 1:13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
Mat 1:14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
Mat 1:15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
Mat 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Mat 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Mat 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Mat 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Mat 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Mat 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Mat 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Mat 1:24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
Mat 1:25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
[[Matthew 2|Mat 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 2
Mat 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Mat 2:2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Mat 2:3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Mat 2:4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
Mat 2:5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
Mat 2:6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Mat 2:7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
Mat 2:8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
Mat 2:9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
Mat 2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Mat 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
Mat 2:12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Mat 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
Mat 2:14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
Mat 2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Mat 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
Mat 2:17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
Mat 2:18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
Mat 2:19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
Mat 2:20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.
Mat 2:21 And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
Mat 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
Mat 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
[[Matthew 3|Mat 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 3
Mat 3:1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
Mat 3:2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 3:3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Mat 3:4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Mat 3:5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
Mat 3:6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
Mat 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Mat 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mat 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Mat 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Mat 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Mat 3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
Mat 3:14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
Mat 3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Mat 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Mat 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
[[Matthew 4|Mat 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 4
Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Mat 4:12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
Mat 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
Mat 4:14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Mat 4:15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
Mat 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Mat 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Mat 4:20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
Mat 4:21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
Mat 4:22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
Mat 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Mat 4:24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
Mat 4:25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
[[Matthew 5|Mat 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 5
Mat 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
Mat 5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Mat 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Mat 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Mat 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Mat 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Mat 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Mat 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
Mat 5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
Mat 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Mat 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Mat 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
[[Matthew 6|Mat 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 6
Mat 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 6:2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Mat 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Mat 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
[[Matthew 7|Mat 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 7
Mat 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Mat 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Mat 7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Mat 7:4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Mat 7:5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Mat 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Mat 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Mat 7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Mat 7:10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
Mat 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Mat 7:28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Mat 7:29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
[[Matthew 8|Mat 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 8
Mat 8:1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
Mat 8:2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Mat 8:3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Mat 8:4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Mat 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
Mat 8:6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
Mat 8:7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
Mat 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Mat 8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Mat 8:10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Mat 8:11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 8:13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
Mat 8:14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.
Mat 8:15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
Mat 8:16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
Mat 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
Mat 8:18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.
Mat 8:19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Mat 8:20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Mat 8:21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Mat 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Mat 8:23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
Mat 8:24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
Mat 8:25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
Mat 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
Mat 8:27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
Mat 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Mat 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.
Mat 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Mat 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.
Mat 8:33 And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.
Mat 8:34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.
[[Matthew 9|Mat 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 9
Mat 9:1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
Mat 9:2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
Mat 9:3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.
Mat 9:4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
Mat 9:5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?
Mat 9:6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
Mat 9:7 And he arose, and departed to his house.
Mat 9:8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.
Mat 9:9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
Mat 9:10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
Mat 9:11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
Mat 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Mat 9:14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
Mat 9:15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
Mat 9:16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.
Mat 9:17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
Mat 9:18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
Mat 9:19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.
Mat 9:20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
Mat 9:21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
Mat 9:22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Mat 9:23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise,
Mat 9:24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
Mat 9:25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.
Mat 9:26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.
Mat 9:27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.
Mat 9:28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.
Mat 9:29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
Mat 9:30 And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
Mat 9:31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
Mat 9:32 As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
Mat 9:33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
Mat 9:34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
Mat 9:35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Mat 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Mat 9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
Mat 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
[[Matthew 10|Mat 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 10
Mat 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Mat 10:2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
Mat 10:3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
Mat 10:4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Mat 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
Mat 10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Mat 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
Mat 10:9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
Mat 10:10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
Mat 10:11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.
Mat 10:12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.
Mat 10:13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
Mat 10:14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
Mat 10:15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.
Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
Mat 10:19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Mat 10:21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Mat 10:24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Mat 10:26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Mat 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 10:40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Mat 10:41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
Mat 10:42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
[[Matthew 11|Mat 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 11
Mat 11:1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
Mat 11:2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
Mat 11:3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Mat 11:4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
Mat 11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Mat 11:6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Mat 11:7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
Mat 11:8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
Mat 11:9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
Mat 11:10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Mat 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Mat 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Mat 11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
Mat 11:14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
Mat 11:15 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 11:16 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
Mat 11:17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
Mat 11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
Mat 11:19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Mat 11:20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
Mat 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Mat 11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
Mat 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Mat 11:24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
Mat 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Mat 11:26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Mat 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
[[Matthew 12|Mat 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 12
Mat 12:1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Mat 12:9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:
Mat 12:10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
Mat 12:11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
Mat 12:12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
Mat 12:13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
Mat 12:14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
Mat 12:15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;
Mat 12:16 And charged them that they should not make him known:
Mat 12:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Mat 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
Mat 12:19 He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
Mat 12:20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
Mat 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Mat 12:22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.
Mat 12:23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?
Mat 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
Mat 12:25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
Mat 12:26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?
Mat 12:27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.
Mat 12:28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
Mat 12:29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
Mat 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Mat 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
Mat 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
Mat 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
Mat 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Mat 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Mat 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Mat 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Mat 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
Mat 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Mat 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Mat 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Mat 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
Mat 12:46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
Mat 12:47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
Mat 12:48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
Mat 12:49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
Mat 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
[[Matthew 13|Mat 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 13
Mat 13:1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
Mat 13:2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Mat 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
Mat 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Mat 13:5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
Mat 13:6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
Mat 13:7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
Mat 13:8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Mat 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Mat 13:18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Mat 13:20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Mat 13:23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Mat 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Mat 13:31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Mat 13:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
Mat 13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Mat 13:34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
Mat 13:35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Mat 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
Mat 13:37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
Mat 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Mat 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Mat 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Mat 13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
Mat 13:48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
Mat 13:49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
Mat 13:50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:51 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.
Mat 13:52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
Mat 13:53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.
Mat 13:54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?
Mat 13:55 Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
Mat 13:56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
Mat 13:57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
Mat 13:58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
[[Matthew 14|Mat 14]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 14
Mat 14:1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
Mat 14:2 And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
Mat 14:3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
Mat 14:4 For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
Mat 14:5 And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
Mat 14:6 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
Mat 14:7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
Mat 14:8 And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.
Mat 14:9 And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.
Mat 14:10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
Mat 14:11 And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.
Mat 14:12 And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
Mat 14:13 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
Mat 14:14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Mat 14:15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.
Mat 14:16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Mat 14:17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.
Mat 14:18 He said, Bring them hither to me.
Mat 14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
Mat 14:20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
Mat 14:21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
Mat 14:22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.
Mat 14:23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
Mat 14:24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
Mat 14:25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
Mat 14:26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
Mat 14:27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
Mat 14:28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
Mat 14:29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
Mat 14:30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
Mat 14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
Mat 14:32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
Mat 14:33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.
Mat 14:34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
Mat 14:35 And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased;
Mat 14:36 And besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment: and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.
[[Matthew 15|Mat 15]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 15
Mat 15:1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
Mat 15:2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
Mat 15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
Mat 15:4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
Mat 15:5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
Mat 15:6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Mat 15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
Mat 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mat 15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
Mat 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Mat 15:12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
Mat 15:13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
Mat 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Mat 15:15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
Mat 15:16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
Mat 15:17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Mat 15:20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Mat 15:21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
Mat 15:22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
Mat 15:23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
Mat 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Mat 15:25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
Mat 15:26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
Mat 15:27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
Mat 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Mat 15:29 And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
Mat 15:30 And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them:
Mat 15:31 Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
Mat 15:32 Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
Mat 15:33 And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
Mat 15:34 And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
Mat 15:35 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
Mat 15:36 And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
Mat 15:37 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.
Mat 15:38 And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
Mat 15:39 And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.
[[Matthew 16|Mat 16]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 16
Mat 16:1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
Mat 16:2 He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
Mat 16:3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
Mat 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
Mat 16:5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
Mat 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mat 16:7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
Mat 16:8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
Mat 16:9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Mat 16:10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Mat 16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Mat 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mat 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
Mat 16:14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Mat 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mat 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mat 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Mat 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
Mat 16:22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mat 16:27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Mat 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
[[Matthew 17|Mat 17]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 17
Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
Mat 17:3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Mat 17:4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Mat 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Mat 17:6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
Mat 17:7 And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
Mat 17:8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
Mat 17:9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
Mat 17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mat 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
Mat 17:12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
Mat 17:13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
Mat 17:14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
Mat 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mat 17:16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Mat 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Mat 17:22 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men:
Mat 17:23 And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.
Mat 17:24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
Mat 17:25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
Mat 17:26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.
Mat 17:27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
[[Matthew 18|Mat 18]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 18
Mat 18:1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Mat 18:2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
Mat 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Mat 18:7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
Mat 18:8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
Mat 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Mat 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 18:11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Mat 18:12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
Mat 18:13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Mat 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Mat 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Mat 18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Mat 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Mat 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Mat 18:22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Mat 18:23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Mat 18:25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Mat 18:26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Mat 18:28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
Mat 18:29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Mat 18:31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Mat 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mat 18:34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Mat 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
[[Matthew 19|Mat 19]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 19
Mat 19:1 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan;
Mat 19:2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.
Mat 19:3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
Mat 19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
Mat 19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Mat 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mat 19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
Mat 19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Mat 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Mat 19:10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
Mat 19:11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
Mat 19:12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Mat 19:13 Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.
Mat 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.
Mat 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Mat 19:18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Mat 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 19:20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Mat 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
Mat 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Mat 19:25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
Mat 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Mat 19:27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Mat 19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
[[Matthew 20|Mat 20]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 20
Mat 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Mat 20:2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Mat 20:3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Mat 20:4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Mat 20:5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
Mat 20:6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Mat 20:7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
Mat 20:8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
Mat 20:9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
Mat 20:10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
Mat 20:11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Mat 20:12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Mat 20:13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Mat 20:14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Mat 20:15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Mat 20:17 And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,
Mat 20:18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death,
Mat 20:19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Mat 20:20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
Mat 20:21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
Mat 20:22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
Mat 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Mat 20:24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.
Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Mat 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Mat 20:29 And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.
Mat 20:30 And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.
Mat 20:31 And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.
Mat 20:32 And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?
Mat 20:33 They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.
Mat 20:34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.
[[Matthew 21|Mat 21]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 21
Mat 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
Mat 21:2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
Mat 21:3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
Mat 21:4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
Mat 21:5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
Mat 21:6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
Mat 21:7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
Mat 21:8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
Mat 21:9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Mat 21:10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
Mat 21:11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
Mat 21:12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
Mat 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Mat 21:14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
Mat 21:15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,
Mat 21:16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
Mat 21:17 And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
Mat 21:18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
Mat 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Mat 21:20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
Mat 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mat 21:22 And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Mat 21:23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
Mat 21:24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Mat 21:25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?
Mat 21:26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.
Mat 21:27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
Mat 21:28 But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
Mat 21:29 He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
Mat 21:30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
Mat 21:31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
Mat 21:32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
Mat 21:33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
Mat 21:34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
Mat 21:35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
Mat 21:36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
Mat 21:37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
Mat 21:38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
Mat 21:39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
Mat 21:40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
Mat 21:41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Mat 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mat 21:43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Mat 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Mat 21:45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
Mat 21:46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
[[Matthew 22|Mat 22]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 22
Mat 22:1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
Mat 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Mat 22:15 Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.
Mat 22:16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.
Mat 22:17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?
Mat 22:18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
Mat 22:19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.
Mat 22:20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?
Mat 22:21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
Mat 22:22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.
Mat 22:23 The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him,
Mat 22:24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
Mat 22:25 Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:
Mat 22:26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.
Mat 22:27 And last of all the woman died also.
Mat 22:28 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.
Mat 22:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Mat 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.
Mat 22:31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
Mat 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
Mat 22:33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.
Mat 22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
Mat 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Mat 22:41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
Mat 22:42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.
Mat 22:43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
Mat 22:44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Mat 22:45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
Mat 22:46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
[[Matthew 23|Mat 23]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 23
Mat 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Mat 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Mat 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Mat 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
Mat 23:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
Mat 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Mat 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
Mat 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Mat 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Mat 23:14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Mat 23:16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
Mat 23:17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
Mat 23:18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
Mat 23:19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Mat 23:20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Mat 23:21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
Mat 23:22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Mat 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Mat 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mat 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[[Matthew 24|Mat 24]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 24
Mat 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Mat 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[[Matthew 25|Mat 25]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 25
Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Mat 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Mat 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Mat 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Mat 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Mat 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
Mat 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
Mat 25:16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
Mat 25:17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
Mat 25:18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
Mat 25:19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
Mat 25:20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
Mat 25:23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Mat 25:24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
Mat 25:25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
Mat 25:26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
Mat 25:27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Mat 25:28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
Mat 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
Mat 25:30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
[[Matthew 26|Mat 26]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 26
Mat 26:1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples,
Mat 26:2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
Mat 26:3 Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,
Mat 26:4 And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.
Mat 26:5 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
Mat 26:6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
Mat 26:7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat.
Mat 26:8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste?
Mat 26:9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.
Mat 26:10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
Mat 26:11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
Mat 26:12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.
Mat 26:13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
Mat 26:14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
Mat 26:15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
Mat 26:16 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
Mat 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
Mat 26:18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.
Mat 26:19 And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
Mat 26:20 Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
Mat 26:21 And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
Mat 26:22 And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?
Mat 26:23 And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
Mat 26:24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
Mat 26:25 Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
Mat 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
Mat 26:30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Mat 26:31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.
Mat 26:32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.
Mat 26:33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.
Mat 26:34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mat 26:35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.
Mat 26:36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
Mat 26:37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Mat 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Mat 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
Mat 26:43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.
Mat 26:44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
Mat 26:45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Mat 26:46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
Mat 26:47 And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
Mat 26:48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.
Mat 26:49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.
Mat 26:50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
Mat 26:51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear.
Mat 26:52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Mat 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Mat 26:54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
Mat 26:55 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
Mat 26:56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
Mat 26:57 And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.
Mat 26:58 But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end.
Mat 26:59 Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
Mat 26:60 But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses,
Mat 26:61 And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.
Mat 26:62 And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?
Mat 26:63 But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
Mat 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Mat 26:65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
Mat 26:66 What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.
Mat 26:67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
Mat 26:68 Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?
Mat 26:69 Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
Mat 26:70 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
Mat 26:71 And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
Mat 26:72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mat 26:73 And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
Mat 26:75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.
[[Matthew 27|Mat 27]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 27
Mat 27:1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
Mat 27:2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
Mat 27:3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
Mat 27:4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
Mat 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Mat 27:6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
Mat 27:7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.
Mat 27:8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
Mat 27:9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;
Mat 27:10 And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.
Mat 27:11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
Mat 27:12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
Mat 27:13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
Mat 27:14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.
Mat 27:15 Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
Mat 27:16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
Mat 27:17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
Mat 27:18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
Mat 27:19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
Mat 27:20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
Mat 27:21 The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
Mat 27:22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
Mat 27:23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
Mat 27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
Mat 27:25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
Mat 27:26 Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
Mat 27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
Mat 27:28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
Mat 27:29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
Mat 27:30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
Mat 27:31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
Mat 27:32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
Mat 27:33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
Mat 27:34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
Mat 27:35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
Mat 27:36 And sitting down they watched him there;
Mat 27:37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Mat 27:38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
Mat 27:39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
Mat 27:40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Mat 27:41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
Mat 27:42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
Mat 27:43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
Mat 27:44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
Mat 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mat 27:47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
Mat 27:48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
Mat 27:49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
Mat 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
Mat 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
Mat 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
Mat 27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Mat 27:54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
Mat 27:55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
Mat 27:56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
Mat 27:57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:
Mat 27:58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
Mat 27:59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
Mat 27:60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
Mat 27:61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.
Mat 27:62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
Mat 27:63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
Mat 27:64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
Mat 27:65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
Mat 27:66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
[[Matthew 28|Mat 28]] -- [[Navigator]]###Matthew 28
Mat 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
Mat 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Mat 28:3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
Mat 28:4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
Mat 28:5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
Mat 28:6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
Mat 28:7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
Mat 28:8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
Mat 28:9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
Mat 28:10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
Mat 28:11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.
Mat 28:12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
Mat 28:13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
Mat 28:14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
Mat 28:15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Mat 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
Mat 28:17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
[[Mark|Mar 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 1
Mar 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
Mar 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Mar 1:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Mar 1:4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Mar 1:5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
Mar 1:6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
Mar 1:7 And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
Mar 1:8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
Mar 1:9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Mar 1:10 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
Mar 1:11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Mar 1:12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.
Mar 1:13 And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.
Mar 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Mar 1:16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Mar 1:17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
Mar 1:18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
Mar 1:19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
Mar 1:20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
Mar 1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.
Mar 1:22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.
Mar 1:23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,
Mar 1:24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
Mar 1:25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
Mar 1:26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.
Mar 1:27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
Mar 1:28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
Mar 1:29 And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
Mar 1:30 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her.
Mar 1:31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
Mar 1:32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.
Mar 1:33 And all the city was gathered together at the door.
Mar 1:34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.
Mar 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Mar 1:36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
Mar 1:37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.
Mar 1:38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.
Mar 1:39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.
Mar 1:40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Mar 1:41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
Mar 1:42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.
Mar 1:43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;
Mar 1:44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Mar 1:45 But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.
[[Mark 2|Mar 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 2
Mar 2:1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
Mar 2:2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
Mar 2:3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
Mar 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
Mar 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Mar 2:6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
Mar 2:7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
Mar 2:8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
Mar 2:9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
Mar 2:10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
Mar 2:11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
Mar 2:12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.
Mar 2:13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.
Mar 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
Mar 2:15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.
Mar 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
Mar 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Mar 2:18 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?
Mar 2:19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
Mar 2:20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
Mar 2:21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.
Mar 2:22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
Mar 2:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
Mar 2:24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?
Mar 2:25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
Mar 2:26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
Mar 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Mar 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
[[Mark 3|Mar 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 3
Mar 3:1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
Mar 3:2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
Mar 3:3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
Mar 3:4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
Mar 3:5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
Mar 3:6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Mar 3:7 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea,
Mar 3:8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.
Mar 3:9 And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.
Mar 3:10 For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.
Mar 3:11 And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.
Mar 3:12 And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.
Mar 3:13 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.
Mar 3:14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,
Mar 3:15 And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:
Mar 3:16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;
Mar 3:17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:
Mar 3:18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
Mar 3:19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.
Mar 3:20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
Mar 3:21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
Mar 3:22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
Mar 3:23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
Mar 3:24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Mar 3:25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
Mar 3:26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
Mar 3:27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
Mar 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
Mar 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
Mar 3:30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
Mar 3:31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
Mar 3:32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
Mar 3:33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
Mar 3:34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
Mar 3:35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
[[Mark 4|Mar 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 4
Mar 4:1 And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.
Mar 4:2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
Mar 4:3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Mar 4:4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
Mar 4:5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
Mar 4:6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
Mar 4:7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
Mar 4:8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
Mar 4:9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mar 4:10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
Mar 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
Mar 4:12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Mar 4:13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
Mar 4:14 The sower soweth the word.
Mar 4:15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Mar 4:16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
Mar 4:17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
Mar 4:18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
Mar 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
Mar 4:20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Mar 4:21 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?
Mar 4:22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.
Mar 4:23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
Mar 4:24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
Mar 4:25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
Mar 4:26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
Mar 4:27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
Mar 4:28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.
Mar 4:29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
Mar 4:30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?
Mar 4:31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:
Mar 4:32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.
Mar 4:33 And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.
Mar 4:34 But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.
Mar 4:35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
Mar 4:36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
Mar 4:37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
Mar 4:38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
Mar 4:39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mar 4:40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
Mar 4:41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
[[Mark 5|Mar 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 5
Mar 5:1 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
Mar 5:2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
Mar 5:3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:
Mar 5:4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
Mar 5:5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
Mar 5:6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,
Mar 5:7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
Mar 5:8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
Mar 5:9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
Mar 5:10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
Mar 5:11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
Mar 5:12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
Mar 5:13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
Mar 5:14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
Mar 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Mar 5:16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
Mar 5:17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
Mar 5:18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
Mar 5:19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
Mar 5:20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.
Mar 5:21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.
Mar 5:22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
Mar 5:23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.
Mar 5:24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
Mar 5:25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
Mar 5:26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
Mar 5:27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
Mar 5:28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
Mar 5:29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
Mar 5:30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
Mar 5:31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Mar 5:32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
Mar 5:33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
Mar 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Mar 5:35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?
Mar 5:36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.
Mar 5:37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
Mar 5:38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
Mar 5:39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
Mar 5:40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.
Mar 5:41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
Mar 5:42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
Mar 5:43 And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.
[[Mark 6|Mar 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 6
Mar 6:1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
Mar 6:2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
Mar 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
Mar 6:4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
Mar 6:5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
Mar 6:6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
Mar 6:7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
Mar 6:8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
Mar 6:9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
Mar 6:10 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
Mar 6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.
Mar 6:12 And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
Mar 6:13 And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.
Mar 6:14 And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
Mar 6:15 Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.
Mar 6:16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
Mar 6:17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.
Mar 6:18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.
Mar 6:19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:
Mar 6:20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
Mar 6:21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
Mar 6:22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
Mar 6:23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
Mar 6:24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
Mar 6:25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
Mar 6:26 And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.
Mar 6:27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
Mar 6:28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.
Mar 6:29 And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
Mar 6:30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
Mar 6:31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
Mar 6:32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
Mar 6:33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him.
Mar 6:34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
Mar 6:35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
Mar 6:36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
Mar 6:37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
Mar 6:38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
Mar 6:39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
Mar 6:40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
Mar 6:41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
Mar 6:42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
Mar 6:43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
Mar 6:44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
Mar 6:45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
Mar 6:46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
Mar 6:47 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.
Mar 6:48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
Mar 6:49 But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:
Mar 6:50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
Mar 6:51 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
Mar 6:52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
Mar 6:53 And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.
Mar 6:54 And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,
Mar 6:55 And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.
Mar 6:56 And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.
[[Mark 7|Mar 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 7
Mar 7:1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
Mar 7:2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
Mar 7:3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
Mar 7:4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
Mar 7:5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
Mar 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Mar 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mar 7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
Mar 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
Mar 7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
Mar 7:11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
Mar 7:12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
Mar 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Mar 7:14 And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
Mar 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mar 7:16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
Mar 7:17 And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
Mar 7:18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
Mar 7:19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
Mar 7:20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mar 7:22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Mar 7:24 And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, and would have no man know it: but he could not be hid.
Mar 7:25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
Mar 7:26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
Mar 7:27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
Mar 7:28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
Mar 7:29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
Mar 7:30 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
Mar 7:31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.
Mar 7:32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.
Mar 7:33 And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;
Mar 7:34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
Mar 7:35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
Mar 7:36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;
Mar 7:37 And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
[[Mark 8|Mar 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 8
Mar 8:1 In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them,
Mar 8:2 I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:
Mar 8:3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.
Mar 8:4 And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?
Mar 8:5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven.
Mar 8:6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.
Mar 8:7 And they had a few small fishes: and he blessed, and commanded to set them also before them.
Mar 8:8 So they did eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets.
Mar 8:9 And they that had eaten were about four thousand: and he sent them away.
Mar 8:10 And straightway he entered into a ship with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha.
Mar 8:11 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.
Mar 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.
Mar 8:13 And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.
Mar 8:14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.
Mar 8:15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
Mar 8:16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.
Mar 8:17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?
Mar 8:18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?
Mar 8:19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.
Mar 8:20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.
Mar 8:21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?
Mar 8:22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
Mar 8:23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
Mar 8:24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
Mar 8:25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Mar 8:26 And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.
Mar 8:27 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
Mar 8:28 And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.
Mar 8:29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
Mar 8:30 And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.
Mar 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mar 8:32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
Mar 8:33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
Mar 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mar 8:35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
Mar 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Mar 8:37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mar 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
[[Mark 9|Mar 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 9
Mar 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
Mar 9:2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
Mar 9:3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
Mar 9:4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
Mar 9:5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Mar 9:6 For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.
Mar 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
Mar 9:8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.
Mar 9:9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.
Mar 9:10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
Mar 9:11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?
Mar 9:12 And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.
Mar 9:13 But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.
Mar 9:14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.
Mar 9:15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.
Mar 9:16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?
Mar 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
Mar 9:19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
Mar 9:20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mar 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
Mar 9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
Mar 9:30 And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.
Mar 9:31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
Mar 9:32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Mar 9:33 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
Mar 9:34 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.
Mar 9:35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
Mar 9:36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
Mar 9:37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.
Mar 9:38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
Mar 9:39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
Mar 9:40 For he that is not against us is on our part.
Mar 9:41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
Mar 9:42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
Mar 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Mar 9:44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Mar 9:45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Mar 9:46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Mar 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
Mar 9:48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Mar 9:49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
Mar 9:50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
[[Mark 10|Mar 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 10
Mar 10:1 And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.
Mar 10:2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
Mar 10:3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
Mar 10:4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
Mar 10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.
Mar 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.
Mar 10:7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;
Mar 10:8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.
Mar 10:9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Mar 10:10 And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter.
Mar 10:11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.
Mar 10:12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.
Mar 10:13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
Mar 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Mar 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
Mar 10:16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
Mar 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Mar 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Mar 10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Mar 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Mar 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Mar 10:22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
Mar 10:23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Mar 10:24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
Mar 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Mar 10:26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?
Mar 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
Mar 10:28 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.
Mar 10:29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
Mar 10:30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Mar 10:31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.
Mar 10:32 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him,
Mar 10:33 Saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles:
Mar 10:34 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again.
Mar 10:35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
Mar 10:36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?
Mar 10:37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.
Mar 10:38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Mar 10:39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:
Mar 10:40 But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.
Mar 10:41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John.
Mar 10:42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
Mar 10:43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
Mar 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.
Mar 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Mar 10:46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
Mar 10:47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
Mar 10:48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
Mar 10:49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
Mar 10:50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
Mar 10:51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
Mar 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.
[[Mark 11|Mar 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 11
Mar 11:1 And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,
Mar 11:2 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.
Mar 11:3 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.
Mar 11:4 And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.
Mar 11:5 And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?
Mar 11:6 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.
Mar 11:7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.
Mar 11:8 And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.
Mar 11:9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
Mar 11:10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
Mar 11:11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
Mar 11:12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
Mar 11:13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
Mar 11:14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
Mar 11:15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
Mar 11:16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
Mar 11:17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Mar 11:18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.
Mar 11:19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.
Mar 11:20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Mar 11:21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Mar 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mar 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Mar 11:27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders,
Mar 11:28 And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?
Mar 11:29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Mar 11:30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.
Mar 11:31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
Mar 11:32 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.
Mar 11:33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
[[Mark 12|Mar 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 12
Mar 12:1 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
Mar 12:2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.
Mar 12:3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.
Mar 12:4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
Mar 12:5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.
Mar 12:6 Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
Mar 12:7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.
Mar 12:8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
Mar 12:9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.
Mar 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:
Mar 12:11 This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Mar 12:12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
Mar 12:13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.
Mar 12:14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
Mar 12:15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it.
Mar 12:16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's.
Mar 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
Mar 12:18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying,
Mar 12:19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
Mar 12:20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.
Mar 12:21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.
Mar 12:22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.
Mar 12:23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.
Mar 12:24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
Mar 12:25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.
Mar 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
Mar 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.
Mar 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mar 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
Mar 12:35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?
Mar 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Mar 12:37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.
Mar 12:38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
Mar 12:39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:
Mar 12:40 Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.
Mar 12:41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
Mar 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
Mar 12:43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
Mar 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
[[Mark 13|Mar 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 13
Mar 13:1 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
Mar 13:2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Mar 13:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
Mar 13:4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
Mar 13:5 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:
Mar 13:6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mar 13:7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
Mar 13:8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
Mar 13:9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
Mar 13:10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
Mar 13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
Mar 13:12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
Mar 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mar 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
Mar 13:15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:
Mar 13:16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.
Mar 13:17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mar 13:18 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.
Mar 13:19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
Mar 13:20 And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.
Mar 13:21 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:
Mar 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
Mar 13:23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
Mar 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
Mar 13:25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
Mar 13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
Mar 13:27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Mar 13:28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:
Mar 13:29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.
Mar 13:30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
Mar 13:31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Mar 13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Mar 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
Mar 13:34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
Mar 13:35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
Mar 13:36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
Mar 13:37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
[[Mark 14|Mar 14]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 14
Mar 14:1 After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
Mar 14:2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.
Mar 14:3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
Mar 14:4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?
Mar 14:5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
Mar 14:6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.
Mar 14:7 For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
Mar 14:8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
Mar 14:9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
Mar 14:10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.
Mar 14:11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
Mar 14:12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?
Mar 14:13 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.
Mar 14:14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
Mar 14:15 And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.
Mar 14:16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
Mar 14:17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.
Mar 14:18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
Mar 14:19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
Mar 14:20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.
Mar 14:21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.
Mar 14:22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
Mar 14:23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Mar 14:25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Mar 14:26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Mar 14:27 And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
Mar 14:28 But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.
Mar 14:29 But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
Mar 14:30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Mar 14:31 But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.
Mar 14:32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.
Mar 14:33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
Mar 14:34 And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
Mar 14:35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
Mar 14:36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Mar 14:37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?
Mar 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
Mar 14:39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.
Mar 14:40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
Mar 14:41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Mar 14:42 Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.
Mar 14:43 And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
Mar 14:44 And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.
Mar 14:45 And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.
Mar 14:46 And they laid their hands on him, and took him.
Mar 14:47 And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
Mar 14:48 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me?
Mar 14:49 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.
Mar 14:50 And they all forsook him, and fled.
Mar 14:51 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
Mar 14:52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.
Mar 14:53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
Mar 14:54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
Mar 14:55 And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.
Mar 14:56 For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.
Mar 14:57 And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,
Mar 14:58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
Mar 14:59 But neither so did their witness agree together.
Mar 14:60 And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?
Mar 14:61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
Mar 14:62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Mar 14:63 Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?
Mar 14:64 Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.
Mar 14:65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
Mar 14:66 And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest:
Mar 14:67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.
Mar 14:68 But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.
Mar 14:69 And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them.
Mar 14:70 And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.
Mar 14:71 But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.
Mar 14:72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
[[Mark 15|Mar 15]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 15
Mar 15:1 And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.
Mar 15:2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.
Mar 15:3 And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.
Mar 15:4 And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.
Mar 15:5 But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
Mar 15:6 Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
Mar 15:7 And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
Mar 15:8 And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.
Mar 15:9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Mar 15:10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
Mar 15:11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
Mar 15:12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
Mar 15:13 And they cried out again, Crucify him.
Mar 15:14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
Mar 15:15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
Mar 15:16 And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.
Mar 15:17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,
Mar 15:18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!
Mar 15:19 And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.
Mar 15:20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
Mar 15:21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
Mar 15:22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.
Mar 15:23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.
Mar 15:24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.
Mar 15:25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
Mar 15:26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Mar 15:27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
Mar 15:28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
Mar 15:29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
Mar 15:30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross.
Mar 15:31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
Mar 15:32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
Mar 15:33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Mar 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mar 15:35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.
Mar 15:36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.
Mar 15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
Mar 15:38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
Mar 15:39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
Mar 15:40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
Mar 15:41 (Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.
Mar 15:42 And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
Mar 15:43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.
Mar 15:44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.
Mar 15:45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
Mar 15:46 And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.
Mar 15:47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.
[[Mark 16|Mar 16]] -- [[Navigator]]###Mark 16
Mar 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
Mar 16:2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
Mar 16:3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
Mar 16:4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
Mar 16:5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
Mar 16:6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.
Mar 16:7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
Mar 16:8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.
Mar 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
Mar 16:10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
Mar 16:11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
Mar 16:12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
Mar 16:13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.
Mar 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
Mar 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mar 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
Mar 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
[[Luke|Luk 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 1
Luk 1:1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
Luk 1:2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
Luk 1:3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,
Luk 1:4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.
Luk 1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
Luk 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Luk 1:7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
Luk 1:8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,
Luk 1:9 According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
Luk 1:10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
Luk 1:11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
Luk 1:12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
Luk 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Luk 1:14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
Luk 1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
Luk 1:16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
Luk 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Luk 1:18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
Luk 1:19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
Luk 1:20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
Luk 1:21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple.
Luk 1:22 And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.
Luk 1:23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.
Luk 1:24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,
Luk 1:25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.
Luk 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
Luk 1:27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
Luk 1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
Luk 1:29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
Luk 1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
Luk 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
Luk 1:32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
Luk 1:33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Luk 1:34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
Luk 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Luk 1:36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
Luk 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Luk 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Luk 1:39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
Luk 1:40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.
Luk 1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
Luk 1:42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
Luk 1:43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luk 1:44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
Luk 1:45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
Luk 1:46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
Luk 1:47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Luk 1:48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Luk 1:49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
Luk 1:50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
Luk 1:51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Luk 1:52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
Luk 1:53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
Luk 1:54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
Luk 1:55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Luk 1:56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.
Luk 1:57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
Luk 1:58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
Luk 1:59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
Luk 1:60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
Luk 1:61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
Luk 1:62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
Luk 1:63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
Luk 1:64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.
Luk 1:65 And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
Luk 1:66 And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.
Luk 1:67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
Luk 1:68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
Luk 1:69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
Luk 1:70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
Luk 1:71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
Luk 1:72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
Luk 1:73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
Luk 1:74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
Luk 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
Luk 1:76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
Luk 1:77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Luk 1:78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
Luk 1:79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luk 1:80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
[[Luke 2|Luk 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 2
Luk 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
Luk 2:2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
Luk 2:3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
Luk 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
Luk 2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
Luk 2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
Luk 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luk 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Luk 2:9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
Luk 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Luk 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Luk 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
Luk 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Luk 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Luk 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
Luk 2:16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
Luk 2:17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
Luk 2:18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
Luk 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
Luk 2:20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Luk 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Luk 2:22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
Luk 2:23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
Luk 2:24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
Luk 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Luk 2:27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Luk 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
Luk 2:30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Luk 2:31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Luk 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Luk 2:33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
Luk 2:34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
Luk 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Luk 2:36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
Luk 2:37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Luk 2:38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Luk 2:39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.
Luk 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
Luk 2:41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
Luk 2:42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
Luk 2:43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
Luk 2:44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
Luk 2:45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
Luk 2:46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
Luk 2:47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
Luk 2:48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
Luk 2:49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
Luk 2:50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
Luk 2:51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
Luk 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
[[Luke 3|Luk 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 3
Luk 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,
Luk 3:2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
Luk 3:3 And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
Luk 3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Luk 3:5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
Luk 3:6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Luk 3:7 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Luk 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Luk 3:9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Luk 3:10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
Luk 3:11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
Luk 3:12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?
Luk 3:13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
Luk 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
Luk 3:15 And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;
Luk 3:16 John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
Luk 3:17 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
Luk 3:18 And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.
Luk 3:19 But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,
Luk 3:20 Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.
Luk 3:21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
Luk 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
Luk 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
Luk 3:24 Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph,
Luk 3:25 Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge,
Luk 3:26 Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda,
Luk 3:27 Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri,
Luk 3:28 Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er,
Luk 3:29 Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi,
Luk 3:30 Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim,
Luk 3:31 Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David,
Luk 3:32 Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson,
Luk 3:33 Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda,
Luk 3:34 Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor,
Luk 3:35 Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala,
Luk 3:36 Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech,
Luk 3:37 Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan,
Luk 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
[[Luke 4|Luk 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 4
Luk 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
Luk 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Luk 4:3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
Luk 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Luk 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Luk 4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
Luk 4:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
Luk 4:8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Luk 4:9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:
Luk 4:10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:
Luk 4:11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Luk 4:12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Luk 4:13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
Luk 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
Luk 4:15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
Luk 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Luk 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Luk 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luk 4:20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
Luk 4:21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luk 4:22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?
Luk 4:23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
Luk 4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Luk 4:28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
Luk 4:31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.
Luk 4:32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
Luk 4:33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
Luk 4:34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.
Luk 4:35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
Luk 4:36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.
Luk 4:37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.
Luk 4:38 And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.
Luk 4:39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.
Luk 4:40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
Luk 4:41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.
Luk 4:42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.
Luk 4:43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.
Luk 4:44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.
[[Luke 5|Luk 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 5
Luk 5:1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
Luk 5:2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
Luk 5:3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.
Luk 5:4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
Luk 5:5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
Luk 5:6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
Luk 5:7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
Luk 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Luk 5:9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:
Luk 5:10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
Luk 5:11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
Luk 5:12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
Luk 5:13 And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.
Luk 5:14 And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
Luk 5:15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
Luk 5:16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.
Luk 5:17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Luk 5:18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.
Luk 5:19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
Luk 5:20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
Luk 5:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?
Luk 5:22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?
Luk 5:23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?
Luk 5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.
Luk 5:25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
Luk 5:26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.
Luk 5:27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.
Luk 5:28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
Luk 5:29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.
Luk 5:30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
Luk 5:31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
Luk 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Luk 5:33 And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
Luk 5:34 And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
Luk 5:35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
Luk 5:36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.
Luk 5:37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
Luk 5:38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
Luk 5:39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
[[Luke 6|Luk 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 6
Luk 6:1 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.
Luk 6:2 And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?
Luk 6:3 And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him;
Luk 6:4 How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?
Luk 6:5 And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Luk 6:6 And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered.
Luk 6:7 And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.
Luk 6:8 But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth.
Luk 6:9 Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?
Luk 6:10 And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
Luk 6:11 And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.
Luk 6:12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Luk 6:13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;
Luk 6:14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
Luk 6:15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
Luk 6:16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
Luk 6:17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;
Luk 6:18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed.
Luk 6:19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
Luk 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
Luk 6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
Luk 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
Luk 6:23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
Luk 6:24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
Luk 6:25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
Luk 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Luk 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Luk 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Luk 6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
Luk 6:30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
Luk 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Luk 6:32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
Luk 6:33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
Luk 6:34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
Luk 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Luk 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
Luk 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
Luk 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Luk 6:39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
Luk 6:40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
Luk 6:41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Luk 6:42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
Luk 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Luk 6:44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
Luk 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
[[Luke 7|Luk 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 7
Luk 7:1 Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.
Luk 7:2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.
Luk 7:3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.
Luk 7:4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this:
Luk 7:5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.
Luk 7:6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof:
Luk 7:7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.
Luk 7:8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Luk 7:9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Luk 7:10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.
Luk 7:11 And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.
Luk 7:12 Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
Luk 7:13 And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
Luk 7:14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
Luk 7:15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
Luk 7:16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.
Luk 7:17 And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about.
Luk 7:18 And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things.
Luk 7:19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
Luk 7:20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
Luk 7:21 And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.
Luk 7:22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.
Luk 7:23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Luk 7:24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
Luk 7:25 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.
Luk 7:26 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.
Luk 7:27 This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Luk 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Luk 7:29 And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
Luk 7:30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.
Luk 7:31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like?
Luk 7:32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.
Luk 7:33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.
Luk 7:34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!
Luk 7:35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.
Luk 7:36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat.
Luk 7:37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
Luk 7:38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Luk 7:39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
Luk 7:40 And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
Luk 7:41 There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
Luk 7:42 And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
Luk 7:43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
Luk 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Luk 7:45 Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
Luk 7:46 My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Luk 7:47 Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
Luk 7:48 And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
Luk 7:49 And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
Luk 7:50 And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
[[Luke 8|Luk 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 8
Luk 8:1 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,
Luk 8:2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
Luk 8:3 And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
Luk 8:4 And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
Luk 8:5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
Luk 8:6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
Luk 8:7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
Luk 8:8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Luk 8:9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
Luk 8:10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
Luk 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Luk 8:12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Luk 8:13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Luk 8:14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
Luk 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Luk 8:16 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.
Luk 8:17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Luk 8:18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
Luk 8:19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.
Luk 8:20 And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.
Luk 8:21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
Luk 8:22 Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.
Luk 8:23 But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.
Luk 8:24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.
Luk 8:25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
Luk 8:26 And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee.
Luk 8:27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.
Luk 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
Luk 8:29 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
Luk 8:30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.
Luk 8:31 And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.
Luk 8:32 And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.
Luk 8:33 Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.
Luk 8:34 When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country.
Luk 8:35 Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Luk 8:36 They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.
Luk 8:37 Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.
Luk 8:38 Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,
Luk 8:39 Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.
Luk 8:40 And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him.
Luk 8:41 And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his house:
Luk 8:42 For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him.
Luk 8:43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
Luk 8:44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
Luk 8:45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Luk 8:46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
Luk 8:47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
Luk 8:48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
Luk 8:49 While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.
Luk 8:50 But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole.
Luk 8:51 And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden.
Luk 8:52 And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.
Luk 8:53 And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.
Luk 8:54 And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.
Luk 8:55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.
Luk 8:56 And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.
[[Luke 9|Luk 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 9
Luk 9:1 Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.
Luk 9:2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
Luk 9:3 And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.
Luk 9:4 And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart.
Luk 9:5 And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.
Luk 9:6 And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.
Luk 9:7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead;
Luk 9:8 And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again.
Luk 9:9 And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.
Luk 9:10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.
Luk 9:11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.
Luk 9:12 And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place.
Luk 9:13 But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people.
Luk 9:14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.
Luk 9:15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.
Luk 9:16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.
Luk 9:17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.
Luk 9:18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?
Luk 9:19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.
Luk 9:20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.
Luk 9:21 And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing;
Luk 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.
Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Luk 9:24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Luk 9:25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
Luk 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.
Luk 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.
Luk 9:28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
Luk 9:29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
Luk 9:30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
Luk 9:31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
Luk 9:32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.
Luk 9:33 And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.
Luk 9:34 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.
Luk 9:35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
Luk 9:36 And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.
Luk 9:37 And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him.
Luk 9:38 And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
Luk 9:39 And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.
Luk 9:40 And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not.
Luk 9:41 And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
Luk 9:42 And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father.
Luk 9:43 And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,
Luk 9:44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.
Luk 9:45 But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.
Luk 9:46 Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest.
Luk 9:47 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him,
Luk 9:48 And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.
Luk 9:49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.
Luk 9:50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
Luk 9:51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
Luk 9:52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
Luk 9:53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
Luk 9:54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
Luk 9:55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
Luk 9:56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
Luk 9:57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Luk 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Luk 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luk 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
Luk 9:61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
Luk 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
[[Luke 10|Luk 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 10
Luk 10:1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
Luk 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
Luk 10:3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
Luk 10:4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.
Luk 10:5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house.
Luk 10:6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
Luk 10:7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
Luk 10:8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
Luk 10:9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
Luk 10:11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
Luk 10:12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
Luk 10:13 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
Luk 10:14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.
Luk 10:15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.
Luk 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.
Luk 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Luk 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luk 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
Luk 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Luk 10:22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
Luk 10:23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
Luk 10:24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Luk 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 10:26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
Luk 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Luk 10:28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
Luk 10:29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Luk 10:30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Luk 10:31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
Luk 10:32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
Luk 10:33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
Luk 10:34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
Luk 10:35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Luk 10:36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
Luk 10:37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Luk 10:38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
Luk 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
Luk 10:40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
Luk 10:41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
Luk 10:42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
[[Luke 11|Luk 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 11
Luk 11:1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Luk 11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Luk 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
Luk 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Luk 11:5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
Luk 11:6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
Luk 11:7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
Luk 11:8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
Luk 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Luk 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luk 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Luk 11:14 And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.
Luk 11:15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.
Luk 11:16 And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven.
Luk 11:17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.
Luk 11:18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.
Luk 11:19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.
Luk 11:20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
Luk 11:21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
Luk 11:22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
Luk 11:23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
Luk 11:24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
Luk 11:25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
Luk 11:26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Luk 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
Luk 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Luk 11:29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
Luk 11:30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
Luk 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Luk 11:32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Luk 11:33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
Luk 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
Luk 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
Luk 11:36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Luk 11:37 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.
Luk 11:38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
Luk 11:39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
Luk 11:40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
Luk 11:41 But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
Luk 11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Luk 11:43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
Luk 11:44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
Luk 11:45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.
Luk 11:46 And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
Luk 11:47 Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
Luk 11:48 Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
Luk 11:49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
Luk 11:51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
Luk 11:52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
Luk 11:53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
Luk 11:54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
[[Luke 12|Luk 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 12
Luk 12:1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Luk 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
Luk 12:3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
Luk 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
Luk 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Luk 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
Luk 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Luk 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
Luk 12:9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
Luk 12:10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
Luk 12:11 And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
Luk 12:12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
Luk 12:13 And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.
Luk 12:14 And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?
Luk 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
Luk 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luk 12:17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
Luk 12:18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Luk 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luk 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Luk 12:22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
Luk 12:23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
Luk 12:24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
Luk 12:25 And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
Luk 12:26 If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
Luk 12:27 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Luk 12:28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Luk 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
Luk 12:30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
Luk 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Luk 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luk 12:33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
Luk 12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luk 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
Luk 12:36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
Luk 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
Luk 12:38 And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
Luk 12:39 And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Luk 12:40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
Luk 12:41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?
Luk 12:42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
Luk 12:43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Luk 12:44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
Luk 12:45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
Luk 12:46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
Luk 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Luk 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
Luk 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
Luk 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Luk 12:54 And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.
Luk 12:55 And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.
Luk 12:56 Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
Luk 12:57 Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?
Luk 12:58 When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.
Luk 12:59 I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.
[[Luke 13|Luk 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 13
Luk 13:1 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luk 13:6 He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
Luk 13:7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
Luk 13:8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
Luk 13:9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
Luk 13:10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
Luk 13:11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
Luk 13:12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
Luk 13:13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
Luk 13:14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.
Luk 13:15 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
Luk 13:16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
Luk 13:17 And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Luk 13:18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
Luk 13:19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
Luk 13:20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Luk 13:21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
Luk 13:22 And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.
Luk 13:23 Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
Luk 13:24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
Luk 13:25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
Luk 13:26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
Luk 13:27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
Luk 13:28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
Luk 13:29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
Luk 13:30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.
Luk 13:31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee.
Luk 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
Luk 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
[[Luke 14|Luk 14]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 14
Luk 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.
Luk 14:2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.
Luk 14:3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
Luk 14:4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;
Luk 14:5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
Luk 14:6 And they could not answer him again to these things.
Luk 14:7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
Luk 14:8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
Luk 14:9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
Luk 14:10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
Luk 14:11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Luk 14:12 Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
Luk 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
Luk 14:14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
Luk 14:15 And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
Luk 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
Luk 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
Luk 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
Luk 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
Luk 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luk 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
Luk 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Luk 14:29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
Luk 14:30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
Luk 14:31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Luk 14:32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
Luk 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
Luk 14:35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
[[Luke 15|Luk 15]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 15
Luk 15:1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
Luk 15:2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
Luk 15:3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
Luk 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Luk 15:5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luk 15:6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
Luk 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Luk 15:8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
Luk 15:9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
Luk 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
Luk 15:11 And he said, A certain man had two sons:
Luk 15:12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
Luk 15:13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Luk 15:14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.
Luk 15:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
Luk 15:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
Luk 15:17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Luk 15:18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
Luk 15:19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
Luk 15:20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Luk 15:21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Luk 15:22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
Luk 15:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
Luk 15:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Luk 15:25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
Luk 15:26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
Luk 15:27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
Luk 15:28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
Luk 15:29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
Luk 15:30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
Luk 15:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
Luk 15:32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
[[Luke 16|Luk 16]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 16
Luk 16:1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
Luk 16:2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Luk 16:3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
Luk 16:4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
Luk 16:5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?
Luk 16:6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
Luk 16:7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
Luk 16:8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Luk 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Luk 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Luk 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
Luk 16:12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Luk 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
Luk 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
Luk 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
Luk 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Luk 16:18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.
Luk 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
Luk 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
Luk 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Luk 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
Luk 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luk 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Luk 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Luk 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
Luk 16:27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
Luk 16:28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Luk 16:29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
Luk 16:30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
Luk 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
[[Luke 17|Luk 17]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 17
Luk 17:1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
Luk 17:2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
Luk 17:3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
Luk 17:4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
Luk 17:5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Luk 17:7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
Luk 17:8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
Luk 17:9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
Luk 17:10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
Luk 17:11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
Luk 17:12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:
Luk 17:13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
Luk 17:14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
Luk 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
Luk 17:16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
Luk 17:17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
Luk 17:18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
Luk 17:19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luk 17:22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
Luk 17:23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
Luk 17:24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Luk 17:25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
Luk 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luk 17:27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luk 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Luk 17:31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
Luk 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.
Luk 17:33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
Luk 17:34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
Luk 17:35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Luk 17:36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Luk 17:37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.
[[Luke 18|Luk 18]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 18
Luk 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Luk 18:2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
Luk 18:3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Luk 18:4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Luk 18:5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
Luk 18:6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Luk 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Luk 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Luk 18:15 And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
Luk 18:16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Luk 18:17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
Luk 18:18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Luk 18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
Luk 18:20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Luk 18:21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Luk 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Luk 18:23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
Luk 18:24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
Luk 18:25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Luk 18:26 And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?
Luk 18:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Luk 18:28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.
Luk 18:29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,
Luk 18:30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.
Luk 18:31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.
Luk 18:32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
Luk 18:33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
Luk 18:34 And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
Luk 18:35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:
Luk 18:36 And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.
Luk 18:37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
Luk 18:38 And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
Luk 18:39 And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
Luk 18:40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,
Luk 18:41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.
Luk 18:42 And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
Luk 18:43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
[[Luke 19|Luk 19]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 19
Luk 19:1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
Luk 19:2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
Luk 19:3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
Luk 19:4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
Luk 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
Luk 19:6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
Luk 19:7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
Luk 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
Luk 19:9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
Luk 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Luk 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
Luk 19:12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
Luk 19:13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
Luk 19:14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
Luk 19:15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
Luk 19:16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
Luk 19:17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
Luk 19:18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
Luk 19:19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
Luk 19:20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
Luk 19:21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
Luk 19:22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
Luk 19:23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
Luk 19:24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
Luk 19:25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
Luk 19:26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
Luk 19:27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
Luk 19:28 And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.
Luk 19:29 And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,
Luk 19:30 Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.
Luk 19:31 And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.
Luk 19:32 And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.
Luk 19:33 And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?
Luk 19:34 And they said, The Lord hath need of him.
Luk 19:35 And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.
Luk 19:36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.
Luk 19:37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
Luk 19:38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
Luk 19:39 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
Luk 19:40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
Luk 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Luk 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Luk 19:43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Luk 19:45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
Luk 19:46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
Luk 19:47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,
Luk 19:48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.
[[Luke 20|Luk 20]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 20
Luk 20:1 And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,
Luk 20:2 And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?
Luk 20:3 And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me:
Luk 20:4 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?
Luk 20:5 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?
Luk 20:6 But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.
Luk 20:7 And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.
Luk 20:8 And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
Luk 20:9 Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.
Luk 20:10 And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:11 And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:12 And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.
Luk 20:13 Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
Luk 20:14 But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.
Luk 20:15 So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?
Luk 20:16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.
Luk 20:17 And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
Luk 20:18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Luk 20:19 And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
Luk 20:20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.
Luk 20:21 And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly:
Luk 20:22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?
Luk 20:23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?
Luk 20:24 Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's.
Luk 20:25 And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.
Luk 20:26 And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.
Luk 20:27 Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,
Luk 20:28 Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
Luk 20:29 There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children.
Luk 20:30 And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.
Luk 20:31 And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died.
Luk 20:32 Last of all the woman died also.
Luk 20:33 Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife.
Luk 20:34 And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:
Luk 20:35 But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
Luk 20:36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
Luk 20:37 Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Luk 20:38 For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.
Luk 20:39 Then certain of the scribes answering said, Master, thou hast well said.
Luk 20:40 And after that they durst not ask him any question at all.
Luk 20:41 And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David's son?
Luk 20:42 And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Luk 20:43 Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Luk 20:44 David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?
Luk 20:45 Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples,
Luk 20:46 Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;
Luk 20:47 Which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.
[[Luke 21|Luk 21]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 21
Luk 21:1 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.
Luk 21:2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites.
Luk 21:3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all:
Luk 21:4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
Luk 21:5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said,
Luk 21:6 As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Luk 21:7 And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?
Luk 21:8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
Luk 21:9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
Luk 21:10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
Luk 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Luk 21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
Luk 21:13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
Luk 21:14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
Luk 21:15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Luk 21:16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
Luk 21:17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
Luk 21:18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Luk 21:21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
Luk 21:22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luk 21:23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
Luk 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Luk 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Luk 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Luk 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Luk 21:29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
Luk 21:30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
Luk 21:31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
Luk 21:32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
Luk 21:33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Luk 21:37 And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.
Luk 21:38 And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him.
[[Luke 22|Luk 22]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 22
Luk 22:1 Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
Luk 22:2 And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.
Luk 22:3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.
Luk 22:4 And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.
Luk 22:5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
Luk 22:6 And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
Luk 22:7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
Luk 22:8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.
Luk 22:9 And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare?
Luk 22:10 And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in.
Luk 22:11 And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
Luk 22:12 And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.
Luk 22:13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
Luk 22:14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him.
Luk 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
Luk 22:16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Luk 22:17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
Luk 22:18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
Luk 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Luk 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Luk 22:21 But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.
Luk 22:22 And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed!
Luk 22:23 And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.
Luk 22:24 And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
Luk 22:25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
Luk 22:26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
Luk 22:27 For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.
Luk 22:28 Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
Luk 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
Luk 22:30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Luk 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Luk 22:33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
Luk 22:34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
Luk 22:35 And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.
Luk 22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Luk 22:37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
Luk 22:38 And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.
Luk 22:39 And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.
Luk 22:40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
Luk 22:41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Luk 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Luk 22:43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Luk 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luk 22:45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
Luk 22:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
Luk 22:47 And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.
Luk 22:48 But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
Luk 22:49 When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?
Luk 22:50 And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.
Luk 22:51 And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.
Luk 22:52 Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?
Luk 22:53 When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
Luk 22:54 Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off.
Luk 22:55 And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
Luk 22:56 But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.
Luk 22:57 And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.
Luk 22:58 And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.
Luk 22:59 And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean.
Luk 22:60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
Luk 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luk 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.
Luk 22:63 And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.
Luk 22:64 And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?
Luk 22:65 And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.
Luk 22:66 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying,
Luk 22:67 Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe:
Luk 22:68 And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go.
Luk 22:69 Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.
Luk 22:70 Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am.
Luk 22:71 And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.
[[Luke 23|Luk 23]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 23
Luk 23:1 And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate.
Luk 23:2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.
Luk 23:3 And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.
Luk 23:4 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.
Luk 23:5 And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.
Luk 23:6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.
Luk 23:7 And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.
Luk 23:8 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
Luk 23:9 Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.
Luk 23:10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.
Luk 23:11 And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.
Luk 23:12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.
Luk 23:13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
Luk 23:14 Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:
Luk 23:15 No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.
Luk 23:16 I will therefore chastise him, and release him.
Luk 23:17 (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)
Luk 23:18 And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:
Luk 23:19 (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)
Luk 23:20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.
Luk 23:21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.
Luk 23:22 And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.
Luk 23:23 And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.
Luk 23:24 And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.
Luk 23:25 And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.
Luk 23:26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.
Luk 23:27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.
Luk 23:28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.
Luk 23:29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
Luk 23:30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.
Luk 23:31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
Luk 23:32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.
Luk 23:33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
Luk 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
Luk 23:35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
Luk 23:36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar,
Luk 23:37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.
Luk 23:38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Luk 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
Luk 23:40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
Luk 23:41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
Luk 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Luk 23:44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
Luk 23:45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
Luk 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
Luk 23:47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.
Luk 23:48 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.
Luk 23:49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.
Luk 23:50 And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:
Luk 23:51 (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.
Luk 23:52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
Luk 23:53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
Luk 23:54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
Luk 23:55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.
Luk 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
[[Luke 24|Luk 24]] -- [[Navigator]]###Luke 24
Luk 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
Luk 24:2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
Luk 24:3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luk 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
Luk 24:5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
Luk 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
Luk 24:7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
Luk 24:8 And they remembered his words,
Luk 24:9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
Luk 24:10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
Luk 24:11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
Luk 24:12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
Luk 24:13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
Luk 24:14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
Luk 24:15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
Luk 24:16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
Luk 24:17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
Luk 24:18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
Luk 24:19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
Luk 24:20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
Luk 24:21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
Luk 24:22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
Luk 24:23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
Luk 24:24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
Luk 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Luk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luk 24:28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
Luk 24:29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
Luk 24:30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
Luk 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
Luk 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
Luk 24:33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
Luk 24:34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
Luk 24:35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
Luk 24:36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Luk 24:37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
Luk 24:38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Luk 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Luk 24:40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
Luk 24:41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
Luk 24:42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
Luk 24:43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
Luk 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luk 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Luk 24:46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luk 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luk 24:48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
Luk 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Luk 24:50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
Luk 24:51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
Luk 24:52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
Luk 24:53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
[[John|Joh 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 1
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Joh 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
Joh 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
Joh 1:8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
Joh 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Joh 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Joh 1:16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Joh 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Joh 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Joh 1:19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
Joh 1:20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
Joh 1:21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
Joh 1:22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
Joh 1:23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
Joh 1:24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
Joh 1:25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
Joh 1:26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
Joh 1:27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
Joh 1:28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Joh 1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Joh 1:31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
Joh 1:32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
Joh 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Joh 1:34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
Joh 1:35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
Joh 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
Joh 1:37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Joh 1:38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?
Joh 1:39 He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.
Joh 1:40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
Joh 1:41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
Joh 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
Joh 1:43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
Joh 1:44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
Joh 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
Joh 1:46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
Joh 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Joh 1:48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
Joh 1:49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
Joh 1:50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
Joh 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
[[John 2|Joh 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 2
Joh 2:1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
Joh 2:2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
Joh 2:3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
Joh 2:4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
Joh 2:5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Joh 2:6 And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.
Joh 2:7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
Joh 2:8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.
Joh 2:9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
Joh 2:10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
Joh 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
Joh 2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.
Joh 2:13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
Joh 2:14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
Joh 2:15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;
Joh 2:16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
Joh 2:17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
Joh 2:18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Joh 2:20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
Joh 2:21 But he spake of the temple of his body.
Joh 2:22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
Joh 2:23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
Joh 2:24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
Joh 2:25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
[[John 3|Joh 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 3
Joh 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
Joh 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Joh 3:9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Joh 3:10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Joh 3:11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
Joh 3:12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
Joh 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Joh 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Joh 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Joh 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Joh 3:22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
Joh 3:23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
Joh 3:24 For John was not yet cast into prison.
Joh 3:25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
Joh 3:26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
Joh 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
Joh 3:28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
Joh 3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
Joh 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
Joh 3:32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
Joh 3:33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
Joh 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Joh 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
[[John 4|Joh 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 4
Joh 4:1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
Joh 4:2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
Joh 4:3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
Joh 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
Joh 4:5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
Joh 4:6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
Joh 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
Joh 4:8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
Joh 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Joh 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Joh 4:11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
Joh 4:12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Joh 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Joh 4:15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Joh 4:16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
Joh 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
Joh 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
Joh 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Joh 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
Joh 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
Joh 4:27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
Joh 4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
Joh 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
Joh 4:30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
Joh 4:31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
Joh 4:32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Joh 4:33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
Joh 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Joh 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
Joh 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Joh 4:37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
Joh 4:39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
Joh 4:40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
Joh 4:41 And many more believed because of his own word;
Joh 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Joh 4:43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
Joh 4:44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.
Joh 4:45 Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galilaeans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast.
Joh 4:46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.
Joh 4:47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.
Joh 4:48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.
Joh 4:49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
Joh 4:50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
Joh 4:51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
Joh 4:52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
Joh 4:53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
Joh 4:54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee.
[[John 5|Joh 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 5
Joh 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Joh 5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
Joh 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
Joh 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
Joh 5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
Joh 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
Joh 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
Joh 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
Joh 5:9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
Joh 5:10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
Joh 5:11 He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.
Joh 5:12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?
Joh 5:13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place.
Joh 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
Joh 5:15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.
Joh 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
Joh 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Joh 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
Joh 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
Joh 5:21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
Joh 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
Joh 5:23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Joh 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
Joh 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Joh 5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Joh 5:31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
Joh 5:32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
Joh 5:33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.
Joh 5:34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
Joh 5:35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
Joh 5:36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
Joh 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
Joh 5:38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Joh 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
Joh 5:41 I receive not honour from men.
Joh 5:42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
Joh 5:43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
Joh 5:44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
Joh 5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
Joh 5:46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
Joh 5:47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
[[John 6|Joh 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 6
Joh 6:1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
Joh 6:2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
Joh 6:3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
Joh 6:4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
Joh 6:5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?
Joh 6:6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
Joh 6:7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
Joh 6:8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
Joh 6:9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
Joh 6:10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
Joh 6:11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
Joh 6:12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Joh 6:13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
Joh 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
Joh 6:15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
Joh 6:16 And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea,
Joh 6:17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
Joh 6:18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
Joh 6:19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.
Joh 6:20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid.
Joh 6:21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
Joh 6:22 The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereinto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone;
Joh 6:23 (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:)
Joh 6:24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.
Joh 6:25 And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?
Joh 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.
Joh 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Joh 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Joh 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Joh 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Joh 6:34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
Joh 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Joh 6:36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Joh 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Joh 6:39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Joh 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:41 The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
Joh 6:42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
Joh 6:43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Joh 6:46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
Joh 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Joh 6:48 I am that bread of life.
Joh 6:49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
Joh 6:50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Joh 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Joh 6:52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
Joh 6:58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
Joh 6:59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
Joh 6:60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
Joh 6:61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Joh 6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Joh 6:64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Joh 6:67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Joh 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.
Joh 6:70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?
Joh 6:71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.
[[John 7|Joh 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 7
Joh 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
Joh 7:2 Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.
Joh 7:3 His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
Joh 7:4 For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.
Joh 7:5 For neither did his brethren believe in him.
Joh 7:6 Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
Joh 7:7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
Joh 7:8 Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.
Joh 7:9 When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.
Joh 7:10 But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
Joh 7:11 Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?
Joh 7:12 And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.
Joh 7:13 Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
Joh 7:14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
Joh 7:15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
Joh 7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
Joh 7:17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
Joh 7:18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
Joh 7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
Joh 7:20 The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?
Joh 7:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
Joh 7:22 Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.
Joh 7:23 If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?
Joh 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Joh 7:25 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?
Joh 7:26 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
Joh 7:27 Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
Joh 7:28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
Joh 7:29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me.
Joh 7:30 Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
Joh 7:31 And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
Joh 7:32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.
Joh 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
Joh 7:34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.
Joh 7:35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?
Joh 7:36 What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
Joh 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Joh 7:40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
Joh 7:41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
Joh 7:42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
Joh 7:43 So there was a division among the people because of him.
Joh 7:44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
Joh 7:45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
Joh 7:46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
Joh 7:47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
Joh 7:48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
Joh 7:49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
Joh 7:50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
Joh 7:51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
Joh 7:52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
Joh 7:53 And every man went unto his own house.
[[John 8|Joh 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 8
Joh 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
Joh 8:2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Joh 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Joh 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
Joh 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Joh 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Joh 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Joh 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Joh 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Joh 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Joh 8:13 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.
Joh 8:14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.
Joh 8:15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
Joh 8:16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.
Joh 8:17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.
Joh 8:18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
Joh 8:19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
Joh 8:20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.
Joh 8:21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.
Joh 8:22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.
Joh 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
Joh 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Joh 8:25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.
Joh 8:26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
Joh 8:27 They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.
Joh 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
Joh 8:29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Joh 8:46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
Joh 8:47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
Joh 8:48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?
Joh 8:49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
Joh 8:50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.
Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Joh 8:52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
Joh 8:53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?
Joh 8:54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
Joh 8:55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.
Joh 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
Joh 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Joh 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Joh 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
[[John 9|Joh 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 9
Joh 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Joh 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Joh 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Joh 9:6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
Joh 9:7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
Joh 9:8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
Joh 9:9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
Joh 9:10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
Joh 9:11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
Joh 9:12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
Joh 9:13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
Joh 9:14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
Joh 9:15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
Joh 9:16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
Joh 9:17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
Joh 9:18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
Joh 9:19 And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?
Joh 9:20 His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
Joh 9:21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.
Joh 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
Joh 9:23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
Joh 9:24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.
Joh 9:25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
Joh 9:26 Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?
Joh 9:27 He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?
Joh 9:28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.
Joh 9:29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.
Joh 9:30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
Joh 9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
Joh 9:32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
Joh 9:33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.
Joh 9:34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.
Joh 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
Joh 9:36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
Joh 9:37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
Joh 9:38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
Joh 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40 And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
[[John 10|Joh 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 10
Joh 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
Joh 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Joh 10:6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
Joh 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
Joh 10:8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
Joh 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Joh 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Joh 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Joh 10:12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
Joh 10:13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
Joh 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
Joh 10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Joh 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Joh 10:19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
Joh 10:20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
Joh 10:21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
Joh 10:22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
Joh 10:23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
Joh 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Joh 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
Joh 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
Joh 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Joh 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
Joh 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
Joh 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Joh 10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Joh 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
Joh 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
Joh 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Joh 10:39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,
Joh 10:40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.
Joh 10:41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.
Joh 10:42 And many believed on him there.
[[John 11|Joh 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 11
Joh 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
Joh 11:2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
Joh 11:3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
Joh 11:4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
Joh 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
Joh 11:6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
Joh 11:7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
Joh 11:8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
Joh 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
Joh 11:10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
Joh 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Joh 11:12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Joh 11:13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
Joh 11:14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
Joh 11:15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
Joh 11:16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
Joh 11:17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
Joh 11:18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
Joh 11:19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
Joh 11:20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
Joh 11:21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Joh 11:22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
Joh 11:23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Joh 11:24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Joh 11:27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
Joh 11:28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
Joh 11:29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.
Joh 11:30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
Joh 11:31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.
Joh 11:32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Joh 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
Joh 11:34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
Joh 11:35 Jesus wept.
Joh 11:36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
Joh 11:37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
Joh 11:38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
Joh 11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
Joh 11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
Joh 11:41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
Joh 11:42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
Joh 11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Joh 11:45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
Joh 11:46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.
Joh 11:47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.
Joh 11:48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.
Joh 11:49 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,
Joh 11:50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
Joh 11:51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
Joh 11:52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Joh 11:53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.
Joh 11:54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.
Joh 11:55 And the Jews' passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.
Joh 11:56 Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?
Joh 11:57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.
[[John 12|Joh 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 12
Joh 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
Joh 12:2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
Joh 12:3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Joh 12:4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
Joh 12:5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
Joh 12:6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
Joh 12:7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
Joh 12:8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.
Joh 12:9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
Joh 12:10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;
Joh 12:11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.
Joh 12:12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
Joh 12:13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Joh 12:14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,
Joh 12:15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.
Joh 12:16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
Joh 12:17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.
Joh 12:18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
Joh 12:19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.
Joh 12:20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
Joh 12:21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
Joh 12:22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
Joh 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Joh 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Joh 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Joh 12:28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Joh 12:29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
Joh 12:30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
Joh 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Joh 12:33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.
Joh 12:34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?
Joh 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
Joh 12:36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
Joh 12:37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
Joh 12:38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Joh 12:39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
Joh 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
Joh 12:41 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
Joh 12:42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
Joh 12:43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
Joh 12:44 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
Joh 12:45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
Joh 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
Joh 12:47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
Joh 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Joh 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
Joh 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
[[John 13|Joh 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 13
Joh 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
Joh 13:2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;
Joh 13:3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
Joh 13:4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
Joh 13:5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Joh 13:6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
Joh 13:7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
Joh 13:8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
Joh 13:9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Joh 13:10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
Joh 13:11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
Joh 13:12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
Joh 13:13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
Joh 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
Joh 13:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Joh 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
Joh 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Joh 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
Joh 13:19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
Joh 13:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
Joh 13:21 When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
Joh 13:22 Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
Joh 13:23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
Joh 13:24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
Joh 13:25 He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
Joh 13:26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
Joh 13:27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.
Joh 13:28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.
Joh 13:29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.
Joh 13:30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.
Joh 13:31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
Joh 13:32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
Joh 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.
Joh 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Joh 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Joh 13:36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
Joh 13:37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.
Joh 13:38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.
[[John 14|Joh 14]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 14
Joh 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Joh 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Joh 14:4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Joh 14:5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Joh 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Joh 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Joh 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Joh 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Joh 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Joh 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Joh 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Joh 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
Joh 14:25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Joh 14:28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
Joh 14:29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
Joh 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
Joh 14:31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
[[John 15|Joh 15]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 15
Joh 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Joh 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Joh 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Joh 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Joh 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Joh 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Joh 15:18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Joh 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
Joh 15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
Joh 15:23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
Joh 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Joh 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
Joh 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
Joh 15:27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
[[John 16|Joh 16]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 16
Joh 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
Joh 16:3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
Joh 16:4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Joh 16:5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
Joh 16:6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Joh 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Joh 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Joh 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Joh 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Joh 16:12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
Joh 16:17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
Joh 16:18 They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith.
Joh 16:19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
Joh 16:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Joh 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
Joh 16:22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
Joh 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Joh 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Joh 16:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.
Joh 16:26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
Joh 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
Joh 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
Joh 16:29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.
Joh 16:30 Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.
Joh 16:31 Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?
Joh 16:32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
[[John 17|Joh 17]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 17
Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Joh 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Joh 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
[[John 18|Joh 18]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 18
Joh 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
Joh 18:2 And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.
Joh 18:3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
Joh 18:4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
Joh 18:5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.
Joh 18:6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
Joh 18:7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
Joh 18:8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:
Joh 18:9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.
Joh 18:10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
Joh 18:11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
Joh 18:12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,
Joh 18:13 And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.
Joh 18:14 Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
Joh 18:15 And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.
Joh 18:16 But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.
Joh 18:17 Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not.
Joh 18:18 And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.
Joh 18:19 The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine.
Joh 18:20 Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.
Joh 18:21 Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.
Joh 18:22 And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?
Joh 18:23 Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?
Joh 18:24 Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.
Joh 18:25 And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not.
Joh 18:26 One of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him?
Joh 18:27 Peter then denied again: and immediately the cock crew.
Joh 18:28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
Joh 18:29 Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?
Joh 18:30 They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.
Joh 18:31 Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:
Joh 18:32 That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.
Joh 18:33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
Joh 18:34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
Joh 18:35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Joh 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Joh 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
Joh 18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Joh 18:40 Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
[[John 19|Joh 19]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 19
Joh 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
Joh 19:2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
Joh 19:3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
Joh 19:4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
Joh 19:5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
Joh 19:6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
Joh 19:7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
Joh 19:8 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
Joh 19:9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
Joh 19:10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
Joh 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
Joh 19:12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
Joh 19:13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Joh 19:14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
Joh 19:15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Joh 19:16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
Joh 19:17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
Joh 19:18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
Joh 19:19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Joh 19:20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
Joh 19:21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
Joh 19:22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
Joh 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
Joh 19:24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
Joh 19:25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
Joh 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
Joh 19:27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
Joh 19:28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
Joh 19:29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Joh 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Joh 19:32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
Joh 19:33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
Joh 19:34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
Joh 19:35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
Joh 19:36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
Joh 19:37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
Joh 19:38 And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
Joh 19:39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
Joh 19:40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
Joh 19:41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
Joh 19:42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
[[John 20|Joh 20]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 20
Joh 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Joh 20:2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Joh 20:3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
Joh 20:4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
Joh 20:5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
Joh 20:6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
Joh 20:7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Joh 20:8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
Joh 20:9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
Joh 20:10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
Joh 20:11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
Joh 20:12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Joh 20:13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
Joh 20:14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
Joh 20:15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Joh 20:16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
Joh 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Joh 20:18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Joh 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Joh 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
Joh 20:23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Joh 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
Joh 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Joh 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
Joh 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Joh 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
Joh 20:30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
Joh 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
[[John 21|Joh 21]] -- [[Navigator]]###John 21
Joh 21:1 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
Joh 21:2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
Joh 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
Joh 21:4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Joh 21:5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
Joh 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
Joh 21:7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
Joh 21:8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.
Joh 21:9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
Joh 21:10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
Joh 21:11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
Joh 21:12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
Joh 21:13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.
Joh 21:14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
Joh 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
Joh 21:16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Joh 21:17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Joh 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
Joh 21:19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
Joh 21:20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
Joh 21:21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
Joh 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
Joh 21:23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
Joh 21:24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
Joh 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
[[Acts|Act 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 1
Act 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
Act 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
Act 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Act 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
Act 1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Act 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Act 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Act 1:12 Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.
Act 1:13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
Act 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
Act 1:15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
Act 1:16 Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus.
Act 1:17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.
Act 1:18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.
Act 1:19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.
Act 1:20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.
Act 1:21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
Act 1:22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
Act 1:23 And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
Act 1:24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
Act 1:25 That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.
Act 1:26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
[[Acts 2|Act 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 2
Act 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Act 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Act 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Act 2:5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Act 2:6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
Act 2:7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
Act 2:8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Act 2:9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Act 2:10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Act 2:11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
Act 2:12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Act 2:13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
Act 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
Act 2:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
Act 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Act 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Act 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Act 2:24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
Act 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Act 2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Act 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Act 2:28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Act 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Act 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
Act 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Act 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Act 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Act 2:34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Act 2:35 Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Act 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Act 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Act 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Act 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Act 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Act 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Act 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
Act 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Act 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Act 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
[[Acts 3|Act 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 3
Act 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
Act 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
Act 3:3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
Act 3:4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
Act 3:5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Act 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
Act 3:7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Act 3:8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Act 3:9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
Act 3:10 And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.
Act 3:11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.
Act 3:12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Act 3:13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
Act 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
Act 3:15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
Act 3:16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
Act 3:17 And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
Act 3:18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Act 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Act 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
Act 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
Act 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Act 3:24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
Act 3:25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
Act 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
[[Acts 4|Act 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 4
Act 4:1 And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
Act 4:2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
Act 4:3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.
Act 4:4 Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
Act 4:5 And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,
Act 4:6 And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
Act 4:7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?
Act 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
Act 4:9 If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
Act 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
Act 4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,
Act 4:16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
Act 4:17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
Act 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Act 4:21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done.
Act 4:22 For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.
Act 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
Act 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Act 4:25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Act 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
Act 4:30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
Act 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Act 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
Act 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
Act 4:34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
Act 4:35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
Act 4:36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Act 4:37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
[[Acts 5|Act 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 5
Act 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
Act 5:2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Act 5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Act 5:4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Act 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
Act 5:6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
Act 5:7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
Act 5:8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
Act 5:9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
Act 5:10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
Act 5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
Act 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
Act 5:13 And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.
Act 5:14 And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)
Act 5:15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
Act 5:16 There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.
Act 5:17 Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,
Act 5:18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.
Act 5:19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
Act 5:20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.
Act 5:21 And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
Act 5:22 But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told,
Act 5:23 Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
Act 5:24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.
Act 5:25 Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.
Act 5:26 Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.
Act 5:27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
Act 5:28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
Act 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
Act 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Act 5:31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Act 5:32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
Act 5:33 When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
Act 5:34 Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;
Act 5:35 And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
Act 5:36 For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
Act 5:37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
Act 5:38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
Act 5:39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Act 5:40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
Act 5:41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
Act 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
[[Acts 6|Act 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 6
Act 6:1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Act 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
Act 6:3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
Act 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
Act 6:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
Act 6:6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
Act 6:7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Act 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Act 6:9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
Act 6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
Act 6:11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Act 6:12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
Act 6:13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
Act 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
Act 6:15 And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
[[Acts 7|Act 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 7
Act 7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
Act 7:2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
Act 7:3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
Act 7:4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
Act 7:5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Act 7:6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.
Act 7:7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
Act 7:8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
Act 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
Act 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
Act 7:11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
Act 7:12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
Act 7:13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
Act 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
Act 7:15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
Act 7:16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
Act 7:17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
Act 7:18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
Act 7:19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
Act 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:
Act 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
Act 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
Act 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
Act 7:24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
Act 7:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Act 7:26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
Act 7:27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
Act 7:28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
Act 7:29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
Act 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
Act 7:31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
Act 7:32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.
Act 7:33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Act 7:34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
Act 7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Act 7:36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
Act 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
Act 7:39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
Act 7:40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Act 7:41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Act 7:42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
Act 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Act 7:44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
Act 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Act 7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
Act 7:47 But Solomon built him an house.
Act 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
Act 7:49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Act 7:50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
Act 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Act 7:53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
Act 7:54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
Act 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
[[Acts 8|Act 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 8
Act 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Act 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
Act 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
Act 8:4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
Act 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
Act 8:6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
Act 8:7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
Act 8:8 And there was great joy in that city.
Act 8:9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:
Act 8:10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
Act 8:11 And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.
Act 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Act 8:13 Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
Act 8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
Act 8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
Act 8:16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
Act 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Act 8:18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
Act 8:19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
Act 8:20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Act 8:21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
Act 8:22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Act 8:23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
Act 8:24 Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
Act 8:25 And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
Act 8:26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
Act 8:27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
Act 8:28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
Act 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
Act 8:30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
Act 8:31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
Act 8:32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
Act 8:33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
Act 8:34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
Act 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
Act 8:36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Act 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Act 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
Act 8:39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
Act 8:40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.
[[Acts 9|Act 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 9
Act 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Act 9:7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
Act 9:8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
Act 9:9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
Act 9:10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.
Act 9:11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,
Act 9:12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Act 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:
Act 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
Act 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Act 9:16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Act 9:17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Act 9:18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
Act 9:19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.
Act 9:20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
Act 9:21 But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?
Act 9:22 But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
Act 9:23 And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:
Act 9:24 But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
Act 9:25 Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.
Act 9:26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.
Act 9:27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
Act 9:28 And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.
Act 9:29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.
Act 9:30 Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
Act 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.
Act 9:32 And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.
Act 9:33 And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy.
Act 9:34 And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately.
Act 9:35 And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord.
Act 9:36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.
Act 9:37 And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.
Act 9:38 And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.
Act 9:39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.
Act 9:40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
Act 9:41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.
Act 9:42 And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord.
Act 9:43 And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner.
[[Acts 10|Act 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 10
Act 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
Act 10:2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
Act 10:3 He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.
Act 10:4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.
Act 10:5 And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:
Act 10:6 He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
Act 10:7 And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually;
Act 10:8 And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa.
Act 10:9 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
Act 10:10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
Act 10:11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
Act 10:12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
Act 10:13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
Act 10:14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
Act 10:15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Act 10:16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
Act 10:17 Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate,
Act 10:18 And called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there.
Act 10:19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
Act 10:20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
Act 10:21 Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come?
Act 10:22 And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.
Act 10:23 Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.
Act 10:24 And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends.
Act 10:25 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.
Act 10:26 But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
Act 10:27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together.
Act 10:28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
Act 10:29 Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?
Act 10:30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
Act 10:31 And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
Act 10:32 Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee.
Act 10:33 Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.
Act 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Act 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Act 10:36 The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
Act 10:37 That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;
Act 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Act 10:39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
Act 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
Act 10:41 Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
Act 10:42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
Act 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Act 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Act 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
[[Acts 11|Act 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 11
Act 11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
Act 11:2 And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him,
Act 11:3 Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
Act 11:4 But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying,
Act 11:5 I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:
Act 11:6 Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
Act 11:7 And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.
Act 11:8 But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
Act 11:9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
Act 11:10 And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.
Act 11:11 And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.
Act 11:12 And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house:
Act 11:13 And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;
Act 11:14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
Act 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
Act 11:16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Act 11:19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.
Act 11:20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.
Act 11:21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.
Act 11:22 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.
Act 11:23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.
Act 11:24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.
Act 11:25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:
Act 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Act 11:27 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
Act 11:28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Act 11:29 Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
Act 11:30 Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
[[Acts 12|Act 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 12
Act 12:1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
Act 12:2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Act 12:3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
Act 12:4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Act 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
Act 12:6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
Act 12:7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
Act 12:8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.
Act 12:9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
Act 12:10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
Act 12:11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
Act 12:12 And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.
Act 12:13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda.
Act 12:14 And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.
Act 12:15 And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.
Act 12:16 But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.
Act 12:17 But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place.
Act 12:18 Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter.
Act 12:19 And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode.
Act 12:20 And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king's country.
Act 12:21 And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.
Act 12:22 And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
Act 12:23 And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
Act 12:24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.
Act 12:25 And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.
[[Acts 13|Act 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 13
Act 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Act 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
Act 13:3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Act 13:4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.
Act 13:5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.
Act 13:6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:
Act 13:7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
Act 13:8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
Act 13:9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,
Act 13:10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
Act 13:11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.
Act 13:12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
Act 13:13 Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.
Act 13:14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.
Act 13:15 And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.
Act 13:16 Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.
Act 13:17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.
Act 13:18 And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
Act 13:19 And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.
Act 13:20 And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
Act 13:21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
Act 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
Act 13:23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
Act 13:24 When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
Act 13:25 And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.
Act 13:26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.
Act 13:27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.
Act 13:28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.
Act 13:29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
Act 13:30 But God raised him from the dead:
Act 13:31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
Act 13:32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
Act 13:33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Act 13:34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
Act 13:35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Act 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
Act 13:37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
Act 13:38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
Act 13:39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Act 13:40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
Act 13:41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
Act 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
Act 13:43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.
Act 13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Act 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
Act 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Act 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
Act 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Act 13:49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
Act 13:50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
Act 13:51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.
Act 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
[[Acts 14|Act 14]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 14
Act 14:1 And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
Act 14:2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.
Act 14:3 Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
Act 14:4 But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
Act 14:5 And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them,
Act 14:6 They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about:
Act 14:7 And there they preached the gospel.
Act 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:
Act 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
Act 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
Act 14:11 And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
Act 14:12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.
Act 14:13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
Act 14:14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,
Act 14:15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
Act 14:16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
Act 14:17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
Act 14:18 And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
Act 14:19 And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Act 14:20 Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
Act 14:21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
Act 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Act 14:23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Act 14:24 And after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.
Act 14:25 And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia:
Act 14:26 And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.
Act 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
Act 14:28 And there they abode long time with the disciples.
[[Acts 15|Act 15]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 15
Act 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Act 15:2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
Act 15:3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
Act 15:4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.
Act 15:5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
Act 15:6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
Act 15:7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
Act 15:8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Act 15:9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
Act 15:10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Act 15:11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
Act 15:12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
Act 15:13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
Act 15:14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
Act 15:15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
Act 15:16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
Act 15:17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Act 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Act 15:19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
Act 15:20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Act 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
Act 15:22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:
Act 15:23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Act 15:24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
Act 15:25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Act 15:26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 15:27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
Act 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
Act 15:29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Act 15:30 So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:
Act 15:31 Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.
Act 15:32 And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
Act 15:33 And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.
Act 15:34 Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.
Act 15:35 Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
Act 15:36 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.
Act 15:37 And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
Act 15:38 But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.
Act 15:39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;
Act 15:40 And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
Act 15:41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.
[[Acts 16|Act 16]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 16
Act 16:1 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
Act 16:2 Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
Act 16:3 Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.
Act 16:4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
Act 16:5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.
Act 16:6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
Act 16:7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
Act 16:8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
Act 16:9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
Act 16:10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
Act 16:11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis;
Act 16:12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.
Act 16:13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
Act 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
Act 16:15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
Act 16:16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
Act 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
Act 16:18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
Act 16:19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
Act 16:20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
Act 16:21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
Act 16:22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
Act 16:23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
Act 16:24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
Act 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
Act 16:26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
Act 16:27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
Act 16:28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
Act 16:29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
Act 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Act 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
Act 16:33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
Act 16:34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Act 16:35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.
Act 16:36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.
Act 16:37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
Act 16:38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans.
Act 16:39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
Act 16:40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
[[Acts 17|Act 17]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 17
Act 17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
Act 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
Act 17:3 Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
Act 17:4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.
Act 17:5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
Act 17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
Act 17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
Act 17:8 And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.
Act 17:9 And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.
Act 17:10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Act 17:12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
Act 17:13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people.
Act 17:14 And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
Act 17:15 And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.
Act 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
Act 17:17 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.
Act 17:18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
Act 17:19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
Act 17:20 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
Act 17:21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
Act 17:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
Act 17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Act 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Act 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Act 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Act 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Act 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Act 17:32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
Act 17:33 So Paul departed from among them.
Act 17:34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
[[Acts 18|Act 18]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 18
Act 18:1 After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;
Act 18:2 And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them.
Act 18:3 And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.
Act 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
Act 18:5 And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.
Act 18:6 And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
Act 18:7 And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.
Act 18:8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
Act 18:9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
Act 18:10 For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.
Act 18:11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Act 18:12 And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,
Act 18:13 Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.
Act 18:14 And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:
Act 18:15 But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters.
Act 18:16 And he drave them from the judgment seat.
Act 18:17 Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things.
Act 18:18 And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
Act 18:19 And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
Act 18:20 When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;
Act 18:21 But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
Act 18:22 And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.
Act 18:23 And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
Act 18:24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.
Act 18:25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
Act 18:26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
Act 18:27 And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:
Act 18:28 For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.
[[Acts 19|Act 19]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 19
Act 19:1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Act 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Act 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
Act 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Act 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Act 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
Act 19:7 And all the men were about twelve.
Act 19:8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Act 19:9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
Act 19:10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
Act 19:11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
Act 19:12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Act 19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
Act 19:14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
Act 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Act 19:17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Act 19:18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
Act 19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
Act 19:20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
Act 19:21 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
Act 19:22 So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
Act 19:23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
Act 19:24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
Act 19:25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
Act 19:26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
Act 19:27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
Act 19:28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Act 19:29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
Act 19:30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.
Act 19:31 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.
Act 19:32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
Act 19:33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.
Act 19:34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Act 19:35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
Act 19:36 Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.
Act 19:37 For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
Act 19:38 Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another.
Act 19:39 But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
Act 19:40 For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.
Act 19:41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
[[Acts 20|Act 20]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 20
Act 20:1 And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia.
Act 20:2 And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece,
Act 20:3 And there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia.
Act 20:4 And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
Act 20:5 These going before tarried for us at Troas.
Act 20:6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
Act 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Act 20:8 And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.
Act 20:9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
Act 20:10 And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.
Act 20:11 When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.
Act 20:12 And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.
Act 20:13 And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.
Act 20:14 And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.
Act 20:15 And we sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus.
Act 20:16 For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.
Act 20:17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
Act 20:18 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
Act 20:19 Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:
Act 20:20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,
Act 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 20:22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
Act 20:23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
Act 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Act 20:25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
Act 20:26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
Act 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Act 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Act 20:32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
Act 20:33 I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
Act 20:34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
Act 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Act 20:36 And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.
Act 20:37 And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him,
Act 20:38 Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.
[[Acts 21|Act 21]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 21
Act 21:1 And it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them, and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara:
Act 21:2 And finding a ship sailing over unto Phenicia, we went aboard, and set forth.
Act 21:3 Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden.
Act 21:4 And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
Act 21:5 And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed.
Act 21:6 And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they returned home again.
Act 21:7 And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.
Act 21:8 And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.
Act 21:9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.
Act 21:10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
Act 21:11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
Act 21:12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Act 21:13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Act 21:14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
Act 21:15 And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem.
Act 21:16 There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.
Act 21:17 And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
Act 21:18 And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
Act 21:19 And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
Act 21:20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
Act 21:21 And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
Act 21:22 What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come.
Act 21:23 Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them;
Act 21:24 Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.
Act 21:25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
Act 21:26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them.
Act 21:27 And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him,
Act 21:28 Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.
Act 21:29 (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)
Act 21:30 And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.
Act 21:31 And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
Act 21:32 Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul.
Act 21:33 Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.
Act 21:34 And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle.
Act 21:35 And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people.
Act 21:36 For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him.
Act 21:37 And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek?
Act 21:38 Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?
Act 21:39 But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
Act 21:40 And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying,
[[Acts 22|Act 22]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 22
Act 22:1 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.
Act 22:2 (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
Act 22:3 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.
Act 22:4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
Act 22:5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
Act 22:6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
Act 22:7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
Act 22:9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
Act 22:10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
Act 22:11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
Act 22:12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
Act 22:13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
Act 22:14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.
Act 22:15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
Act 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Act 22:17 And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;
Act 22:18 And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
Act 22:19 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
Act 22:20 And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
Act 22:21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
Act 22:22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
Act 22:23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,
Act 22:24 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
Act 22:25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
Act 22:26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
Act 22:27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.
Act 22:28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.
Act 22:29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
Act 22:30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.
[[Acts 23|Act 23]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 23
Act 23:1 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.
Act 23:2 And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.
Act 23:3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?
Act 23:4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?
Act 23:5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.
Act 23:6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
Act 23:7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.
Act 23:8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.
Act 23:9 And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
Act 23:10 And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.
Act 23:11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
Act 23:12 And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
Act 23:13 And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy.
Act 23:14 And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.
Act 23:15 Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.
Act 23:16 And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.
Act 23:17 Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him.
Act 23:18 So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee.
Act 23:19 Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me?
Act 23:20 And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to morrow into the council, as though they would enquire somewhat of him more perfectly.
Act 23:21 But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee.
Act 23:22 So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me.
Act 23:23 And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night;
Act 23:24 And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.
Act 23:25 And he wrote a letter after this manner:
Act 23:26 Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting.
Act 23:27 This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.
Act 23:28 And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their council:
Act 23:29 Whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds.
Act 23:30 And when it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him. Farewell.
Act 23:31 Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by night to Antipatris.
Act 23:32 On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle:
Act 23:33 Who, when they came to Caesarea, and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him.
Act 23:34 And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province he was. And when he understood that he was of Cilicia;
Act 23:35 I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall.
[[Acts 24|Act 24]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 24
Act 24:1 And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.
Act 24:2 And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence,
Act 24:3 We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.
Act 24:4 Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words.
Act 24:5 For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
Act 24:6 Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law.
Act 24:7 But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands,
Act 24:8 Commanding his accusers to come unto thee: by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him.
Act 24:9 And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so.
Act 24:10 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself:
Act 24:11 Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship.
Act 24:12 And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city:
Act 24:13 Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.
Act 24:14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
Act 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
Act 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
Act 24:17 Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings.
Act 24:18 Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult.
Act 24:19 Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had ought against me.
Act 24:20 Or else let these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council,
Act 24:21 Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day.
Act 24:22 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter.
Act 24:23 And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him.
Act 24:24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
Act 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
Act 24:26 He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him.
Act 24:27 But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix' room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.
[[Acts 25|Act 25]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 25
Act 25:1 Now when Festus was come into the province, after three days he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
Act 25:2 Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him,
Act 25:3 And desired favour against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him.
Act 25:4 But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither.
Act 25:5 Let them therefore, said he, which among you are able, go down with me, and accuse this man, if there be any wickedness in him.
Act 25:6 And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down unto Caesarea; and the next day sitting on the judgment seat commanded Paul to be brought.
Act 25:7 And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.
Act 25:8 While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.
Act 25:9 But Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?
Act 25:10 Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.
Act 25:11 For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar.
Act 25:12 Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go.
Act 25:13 And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute Festus.
Act 25:14 And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix:
Act 25:15 About whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him.
Act 25:16 To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.
Act 25:17 Therefore, when they were come hither, without any delay on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought forth.
Act 25:18 Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed:
Act 25:19 But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
Act 25:20 And because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these matters.
Act 25:21 But when Paul had appealed to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar.
Act 25:22 Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear the man myself. To morrow, said he, thou shalt hear him.
Act 25:23 And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and was entered into the place of hearing, with the chief captains, and principal men of the city, at Festus' commandment Paul was brought forth.
Act 25:24 And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer.
Act 25:25 But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him.
Act 25:26 Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, O king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to write.
Act 25:27 For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him.
[[Acts 26|Act 26]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 26
Act 26:1 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:
Act 26:2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:
Act 26:3 Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.
Act 26:4 My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;
Act 26:5 Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
Act 26:6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:
Act 26:7 Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.
Act 26:8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?
Act 26:9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Act 26:10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
Act 26:11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Act 26:12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
Act 26:13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
Act 26:14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Act 26:15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
Act 26:16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
Act 26:17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
Act 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Act 26:19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
Act 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
Act 26:21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.
Act 26:22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:
Act 26:23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
Act 26:24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
Act 26:25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.
Act 26:26 For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.
Act 26:27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.
Act 26:28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
Act 26:29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.
Act 26:30 And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them:
Act 26:31 And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.
Act 26:32 Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.
[[Acts 27|Act 27]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 27
Act 27:1 And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band.
Act 27:2 And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.
Act 27:3 And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.
Act 27:4 And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
Act 27:5 And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.
Act 27:6 And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.
Act 27:7 And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone;
Act 27:8 And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.
Act 27:9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,
Act 27:10 And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.
Act 27:11 Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.
Act 27:12 And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.
Act 27:13 And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.
Act 27:14 But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.
Act 27:15 And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.
Act 27:16 And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat:
Act 27:17 Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.
Act 27:18 And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;
Act 27:19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
Act 27:20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
Act 27:21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
Act 27:22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.
Act 27:23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
Act 27:24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
Act 27:25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
Act 27:26 Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
Act 27:27 But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;
Act 27:28 And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.
Act 27:29 Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.
Act 27:30 And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,
Act 27:31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.
Act 27:32 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.
Act 27:33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
Act 27:34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
Act 27:35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
Act 27:36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
Act 27:37 And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.
Act 27:38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
Act 27:39 And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.
Act 27:40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.
Act 27:41 And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.
Act 27:42 And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.
Act 27:43 But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:
Act 27:44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.
[[Acts 28|Act 28]] -- [[Navigator]]###Acts 28
Act 28:1 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.
Act 28:2 And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
Act 28:3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
Act 28:4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
Act 28:5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
Act 28:6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
Act 28:7 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.
Act 28:8 And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
Act 28:9 So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:
Act 28:10 Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.
Act 28:11 And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.
Act 28:12 And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.
Act 28:13 And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli:
Act 28:14 Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.
Act 28:15 And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.
Act 28:16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.
Act 28:17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
Act 28:18 Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me.
Act 28:19 But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.
Act 28:20 For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.
Act 28:21 And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee.
Act 28:22 But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.
Act 28:23 And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.
Act 28:24 And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.
Act 28:25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
Act 28:26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
Act 28:27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Act 28:28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
Act 28:29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.
Act 28:30 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,
Act 28:31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
[[Romans|Rom 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 1
Rom 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
Rom 1:2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
Rom 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Rom 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Rom 1:5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
Rom 1:6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:
Rom 1:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
Rom 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;
Rom 1:10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
Rom 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
Rom 1:12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
Rom 1:13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
Rom 1:14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
Rom 1:15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rom 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Rom 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Rom 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
[[Romans 2|Rom 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 2
Rom 2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
Rom 2:2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Rom 2:8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Rom 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
Rom 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
Rom 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
Rom 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Rom 2:17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
Rom 2:18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
Rom 2:19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
Rom 2:20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Rom 2:21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Rom 2:22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
Rom 2:25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
Rom 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
Rom 2:27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
[[Romans 3|Rom 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 3
Rom 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?
Rom 3:2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
Rom 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Rom 3:5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
Rom 3:6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
Rom 3:7 For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
Rom 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
Rom 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Rom 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
Rom 3:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Rom 3:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
Rom 3:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known:
Rom 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Rom 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Rom 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
Rom 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
[[Romans 4|Rom 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 4
Rom 4:1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
Rom 4:2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
Rom 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Rom 4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Rom 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Rom 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
Rom 4:7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
Rom 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Rom 4:9 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
Rom 4:10 How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
Rom 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:
Rom 4:12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
Rom 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Rom 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Rom 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Rom 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Rom 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Rom 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Rom 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
Rom 4:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Rom 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Rom 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Rom 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Rom 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
[[Romans 5|Rom 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 5
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Rom 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Rom 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Rom 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Rom 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Rom 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
[[Romans 6|Rom 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 6
Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
Rom 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[[Romans 7|Rom 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 7
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Rom 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
[[Romans 8|Rom 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 8
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[[Romans 9|Rom 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 9
Rom 9:1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
Rom 9:2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
Rom 9:3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
Rom 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Rom 9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Rom 9:6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Rom 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Rom 9:8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Rom 9:9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
Rom 9:10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Rom 9:25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
Rom 9:26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Rom 9:27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
Rom 9:28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
Rom 9:29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrah.
Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
Rom 9:31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Rom 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
Rom 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
[[Romans 10|Rom 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 10
Rom 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
Rom 10:2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Rom 10:3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Rom 10:5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
Rom 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Rom 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Rom 10:18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
Rom 10:19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
Rom 10:20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
Rom 10:21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
[[Romans 11|Rom 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 11
Rom 11:1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Rom 11:2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
Rom 11:3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
Rom 11:4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
Rom 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Rom 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
Rom 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Rom 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Rom 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
Rom 11:14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
Rom 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Rom 11:23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
Rom 11:24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Rom 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Rom 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
[[Romans 12|Rom 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 12
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Rom 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Rom 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Rom 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Rom 12:7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Rom 12:8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
Rom 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Rom 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Rom 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
Rom 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Rom 12:13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.
Rom 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
Rom 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Rom 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
[[Romans 13|Rom 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 13
Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Rom 13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
Rom 13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Rom 13:4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Rom 13:5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
Rom 13:6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Rom 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Rom 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
[[Romans 14|Rom 14]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 14
Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
Rom 14:3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.
Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Rom 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
Rom 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Rom 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Rom 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Rom 14:18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Rom 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
Rom 14:20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Rom 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Rom 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
[[Romans 15|Rom 15]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 15
Rom 15:1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Rom 15:2 Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
Rom 15:3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Rom 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Rom 15:6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
Rom 15:8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
Rom 15:9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
Rom 15:10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people.
Rom 15:11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.
Rom 15:12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Rom 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
Rom 15:15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,
Rom 15:16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
Rom 15:17 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.
Rom 15:18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,
Rom 15:19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
Rom 15:20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation:
Rom 15:21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.
Rom 15:22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.
Rom 15:23 But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;
Rom 15:24 Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.
Rom 15:25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.
Rom 15:26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.
Rom 15:27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.
Rom 15:28 When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.
Rom 15:29 And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.
Rom 15:30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;
Rom 15:31 That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints;
Rom 15:32 That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.
Rom 15:33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
[[Romans 16|Rom 16]] -- [[Navigator]]###Romans 16
Rom 16:1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:
Rom 16:2 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.
Rom 16:3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:
Rom 16:4 Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
Rom 16:5 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.
Rom 16:6 Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us.
Rom 16:7 Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.
Rom 16:8 Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord.
Rom 16:9 Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.
Rom 16:10 Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus' household.
Rom 16:11 Salute Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord.
Rom 16:12 Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord.
Rom 16:13 Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
Rom 16:14 Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.
Rom 16:15 Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them.
Rom 16:16 Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.
Rom 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
Rom 16:18 For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.
Rom 16:19 For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
Rom 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Rom 16:21 Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you.
Rom 16:22 I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.
Rom 16:23 Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother.
Rom 16:24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Rom 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
Rom 16:26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
Rom 16:27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
[[1 Corinthians|1Co 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 1
1Co 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
1Co 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
1Co 1:3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 1:4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
1Co 1:5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
1Co 1:6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
1Co 1:7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1Co 1:8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
1Co 1:11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
1Co 1:12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
1Co 1:13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
1Co 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
1Co 1:15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
1Co 1:16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
1Co 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1Co 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
1Co 1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
1Co 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
1Co 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
[[1 Corinthians 2|1Co 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 2
1Co 2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
1Co 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
1Co 2:3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
1Co 2:4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1Co 2:6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
[[1 Corinthians 3|1Co 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 3
1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
1Co 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
1Co 3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
1Co 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
1Co 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
1Co 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1Co 3:20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.
[[1 Corinthians 4|1Co 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 4
1Co 4:1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
1Co 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
1Co 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
1Co 4:4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
1Co 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
1Co 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
1Co 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
1Co 4:8 Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.
1Co 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
1Co 4:10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.
1Co 4:11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
1Co 4:12 And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
1Co 4:13 Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
1Co 4:14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
1Co 4:15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
1Co 4:16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
1Co 4:17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.
1Co 4:18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
1Co 4:19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
1Co 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
1Co 4:21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
[[1 Corinthians 5|1Co 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 5
1Co 5:1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
1Co 5:2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1Co 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
1Co 5:10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
1Co 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1Co 5:13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
[[1 Corinthians 6|1Co 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 6
1Co 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
1Co 6:4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
1Co 6:5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
1Co 6:6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
1Co 6:7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
1Co 6:8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
1Co 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
1Co 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
1Co 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
1Co 6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
1Co 6:14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
1Co 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
1Co 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
1Co 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
[[1 Corinthians 7|1Co 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 7
1Co 7:1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
1Co 7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
1Co 7:3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
1Co 7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
1Co 7:6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
1Co 7:7 For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
1Co 7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
1Co 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
1Co 7:10 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
1Co 7:11 But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
1Co 7:12 But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
1Co 7:13 And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
1Co 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.
1Co 7:15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
1Co 7:16 For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
1Co 7:17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.
1Co 7:18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.
1Co 7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
1Co 7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
1Co 7:21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
1Co 7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Co 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
1Co 7:25 Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
1Co 7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.
1Co 7:27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
1Co 7:28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
1Co 7:29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
1Co 7:30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
1Co 7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
1Co 7:32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
1Co 7:33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
1Co 7:34 There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
1Co 7:35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
1Co 7:36 But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
1Co 7:37 Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
1Co 7:38 So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.
1Co 7:39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
1Co 7:40 But she is happier if she so abide, after my judgment: and I think also that I have the Spirit of God.
[[1 Corinthians 8|1Co 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 8
1Co 8:1 Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
1Co 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
1Co 8:3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
1Co 8:4 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
1Co 8:5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
1Co 8:7 Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.
1Co 8:8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
1Co 8:9 But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.
1Co 8:10 For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;
1Co 8:11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
1Co 8:12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.
1Co 8:13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
[[1 Corinthians 9|1Co 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 9
1Co 9:1 Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?
1Co 9:2 If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
1Co 9:3 Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,
1Co 9:4 Have we not power to eat and to drink?
1Co 9:5 Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?
1Co 9:6 Or I only and Barnabas, have not we power to forbear working?
1Co 9:7 Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?
1Co 9:8 Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?
1Co 9:9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
1Co 9:10 Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
1Co 9:11 If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
1Co 9:12 If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.
1Co 9:13 Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
1Co 9:14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
1Co 9:15 But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.
1Co 9:16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
1Co 9:17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
1Co 9:18 What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
1Co 9:19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
1Co 9:20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
1Co 9:21 To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
1Co 9:22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
1Co 9:23 And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
1Co 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
1Co 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
1Co 9:26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
[[1 Corinthians 10|1Co 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 10
1Co 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
1Co 10:5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
1Co 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
1Co 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
1Co 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1Co 10:14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
1Co 10:15 I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say.
1Co 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1Co 10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
1Co 10:18 Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
1Co 10:19 What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
1Co 10:20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
1Co 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils.
1Co 10:22 Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
1Co 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
1Co 10:24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.
1Co 10:25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:
1Co 10:26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.
1Co 10:27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
1Co 10:28 But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:
1Co 10:29 Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience?
1Co 10:30 For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks?
1Co 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
1Co 10:32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
1Co 10:33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
[[1 Corinthians 11|1Co 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 11
1Co 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
1Co 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
1Co 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
1Co 11:5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
1Co 11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.
1Co 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
1Co 11:8 For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.
1Co 11:9 Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.
1Co 11:10 For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.
1Co 11:11 Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
1Co 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
1Co 11:13 Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?
1Co 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
1Co 11:15 But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.
1Co 11:16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
1Co 11:17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.
1Co 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
1Co 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
1Co 11:20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.
1Co 11:21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
1Co 11:22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
1Co 11:23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
1Co 11:24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
1Co 11:26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
1Co 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
1Co 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
1Co 11:30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
1Co 11:33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
1Co 11:34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.
[[1 Corinthians 12|1Co 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 12
1Co 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
1Co 12:2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
1Co 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
1Co 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
1Co 12:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
1Co 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
1Co 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
1Co 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
1Co 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
1Co 12:19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
1Co 12:20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
1Co 12:22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
1Co 12:23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
1Co 12:24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
1Co 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
1Co 12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
1Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
1Co 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
[[1 Corinthians 13|1Co 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 13
1Co 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1Co 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1Co 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
[[1 Corinthians 14|1Co 14]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 14
1Co 14:1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
1Co 14:2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
1Co 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
1Co 14:4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
1Co 14:5 I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
1Co 14:6 Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
1Co 14:7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
1Co 14:8 For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
1Co 14:9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.
1Co 14:10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.
1Co 14:11 Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
1Co 14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
1Co 14:13 Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
1Co 14:14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
1Co 14:15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
1Co 14:16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
1Co 14:17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
1Co 14:18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
1Co 14:19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
1Co 14:20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
1Co 14:21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.
1Co 14:22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
1Co 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
1Co 14:24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
1Co 14:25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
1Co 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
1Co 14:27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
1Co 14:28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
1Co 14:29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
1Co 14:30 If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.
1Co 14:31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
1Co 14:32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
1Co 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
1Co 14:34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
1Co 14:35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
1Co 14:36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
1Co 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
1Co 14:38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
1Co 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
1Co 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
[[1 Corinthians 15|1Co 15]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 15
1Co 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1Co 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1Co 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
1Co 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
1Co 15:8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
1Co 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
1Co 15:11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
1Co 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1Co 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
1Co 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
1Co 15:15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
1Co 15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
1Co 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
1Co 15:30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
1Co 15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
1Co 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
1Co 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
1Co 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
1Co 15:36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
1Co 15:37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
1Co 15:38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
1Co 15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
1Co 15:40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
1Co 15:41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
[[1 Corinthians 16|1Co 16]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Corinthians 16
1Co 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
1Co 16:2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
1Co 16:3 And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.
1Co 16:4 And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.
1Co 16:5 Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.
1Co 16:6 And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go.
1Co 16:7 For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit.
1Co 16:8 But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.
1Co 16:9 For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.
1Co 16:10 Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.
1Co 16:11 Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren.
1Co 16:12 As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time.
1Co 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
1Co 16:14 Let all your things be done with charity.
1Co 16:15 I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)
1Co 16:16 That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth.
1Co 16:17 I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied.
1Co 16:18 For they have refreshed my spirit and yours: therefore acknowledge ye them that are such.
1Co 16:19 The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.
1Co 16:20 All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss.
1Co 16:21 The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.
1Co 16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
1Co 16:23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
1Co 16:24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[[2 Corinthians|2Co 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 1
2Co 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
2Co 1:2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2Co 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
2Co 1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
2Co 1:8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
2Co 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
2Co 1:11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
2Co 1:12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
2Co 1:13 For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;
2Co 1:14 As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
2Co 1:15 And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;
2Co 1:16 And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.
2Co 1:17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?
2Co 1:18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
2Co 1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.
2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
2Co 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;
2Co 1:22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
2Co 1:23 Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.
2Co 1:24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.
[[2 Corinthians 2|2Co 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 2
2Co 2:1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
2Co 2:2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
2Co 2:3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
2Co 2:4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
2Co 2:5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
2Co 2:6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
2Co 2:7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
2Co 2:8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
2Co 2:9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
2Co 2:10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
2Co 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
2Co 2:12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,
2Co 2:13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.
2Co 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2Co 2:15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
2Co 2:16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
2Co 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
[[2 Corinthians 3|2Co 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 3
2Co 3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2Co 3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
2Co 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
2Co 3:4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
2Co 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2Co 3:7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
2Co 3:8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
2Co 3:10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
2Co 3:11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
2Co 3:12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
2Co 3:13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
2Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
2Co 3:16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
[[2 Corinthians 4|2Co 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 4
2Co 4:1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2Co 4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
2Co 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
2Co 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2Co 4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
2Co 4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
2Co 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
2Co 4:14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
[[2 Corinthians 5|2Co 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 5
2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2Co 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
2Co 5:3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
2Co 5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
2Co 5:5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
2Co 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
2Co 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
2Co 5:9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
2Co 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
2Co 5:12 For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.
2Co 5:13 For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
2Co 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
2Co 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
[[2 Corinthians 6|2Co 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 6
2Co 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
2Co 6:3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
2Co 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
2Co 6:5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
2Co 6:6 By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
2Co 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
2Co 6:8 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
2Co 6:9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
2Co 6:10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
2Co 6:11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
2Co 6:12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
2Co 6:13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
2Co 6:15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
[[2 Corinthians 7|2Co 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 7
2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2Co 7:2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
2Co 7:3 I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.
2Co 7:4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
2Co 7:5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
2Co 7:6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
2Co 7:7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.
2Co 7:8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
2Co 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
2Co 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
2Co 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
2Co 7:12 Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.
2Co 7:13 Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.
2Co 7:14 For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth.
2Co 7:15 And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.
2Co 7:16 I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.
[[2 Corinthians 8|2Co 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 8
2Co 8:1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
2Co 8:2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
2Co 8:3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
2Co 8:4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
2Co 8:5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
2Co 8:6 Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.
2Co 8:7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
2Co 8:8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.
2Co 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
2Co 8:10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.
2Co 8:11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.
2Co 8:12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
2Co 8:13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:
2Co 8:14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:
2Co 8:15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.
2Co 8:16 But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.
2Co 8:17 For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you.
2Co 8:18 And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches;
2Co 8:19 And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:
2Co 8:20 Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us:
2Co 8:21 Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.
2Co 8:22 And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you.
2Co 8:23 Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ.
2Co 8:24 Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.
[[2 Corinthians 9|2Co 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 9
2Co 9:1 For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:
2Co 9:2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.
2Co 9:3 Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:
2Co 9:4 Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.
2Co 9:5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.
2Co 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
2Co 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
2Co 9:9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
2Co 9:10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
2Co 9:11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
2Co 9:12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
2Co 9:13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;
2Co 9:14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
2Co 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
[[2 Corinthians 10|2Co 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 10
2Co 10:1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
2Co 10:2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
2Co 10:7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.
2Co 10:8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:
2Co 10:9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.
2Co 10:10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
2Co 10:11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.
2Co 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
2Co 10:13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.
2Co 10:14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:
2Co 10:15 Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,
2Co 10:16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand.
2Co 10:17 But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
2Co 10:18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.
[[2 Corinthians 11|2Co 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 11
2Co 11:1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
2Co 11:5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
2Co 11:6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.
2Co 11:7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
2Co 11:8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
2Co 11:9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
2Co 11:10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
2Co 11:11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
2Co 11:12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
2Co 11:16 I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.
2Co 11:17 That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.
2Co 11:18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
2Co 11:19 For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.
2Co 11:20 For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
2Co 11:21 I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.
2Co 11:22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
2Co 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
2Co 11:24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
2Co 11:25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
2Co 11:26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
2Co 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
2Co 11:28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
2Co 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
2Co 11:30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
2Co 11:31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
2Co 11:32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:
2Co 11:33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
[[2 Corinthians 12|2Co 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 12
2Co 12:1 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
2Co 12:3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
2Co 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
2Co 12:5 Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
2Co 12:6 For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.
2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2Co 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
2Co 12:11 I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.
2Co 12:12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
2Co 12:13 For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.
2Co 12:14 Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
2Co 12:15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
2Co 12:16 But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
2Co 12:17 Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?
2Co 12:18 I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
2Co 12:19 Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
2Co 12:20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
2Co 12:21 And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
[[2 Corinthians 13|2Co 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Corinthians 13
2Co 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
2Co 13:2 I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:
2Co 13:3 Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.
2Co 13:4 For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
2Co 13:6 But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
2Co 13:7 Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.
2Co 13:8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
2Co 13:9 For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.
2Co 13:10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.
2Co 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
2Co 13:12 Greet one another with an holy kiss.
2Co 13:13 All the saints salute you.
2Co 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
[[Galatians|Gal 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Galatians 1
Gal 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
Gal 1:2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:
Gal 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
Gal 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Gal 1:5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Gal 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Gal 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Gal 1:11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
Gal 1:12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Gal 1:13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
Gal 1:14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
Gal 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
Gal 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Gal 1:17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Gal 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Gal 1:19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.
Gal 1:20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
Gal 1:21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;
Gal 1:22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:
Gal 1:23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
Gal 1:24 And they glorified God in me.
[[Galatians 2|Gal 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Galatians 2
Gal 2:1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.
Gal 2:2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
Gal 2:3 But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:
Gal 2:4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
Gal 2:5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
Gal 2:6 But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:
Gal 2:7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
Gal 2:8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
Gal 2:9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
Gal 2:10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
Gal 2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
Gal 2:12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
Gal 2:13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
Gal 2:14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Gal 2:15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Gal 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
Gal 2:18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Gal 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
[[Galatians 3|Gal 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Galatians 3
Gal 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Gal 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
Gal 3:5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Gal 3:15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Gal 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
Gal 3:18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Gal 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Gal 3:20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
Gal 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
[[Galatians 4|Gal 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Galatians 4
Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Gal 4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Gal 4:12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.
Gal 4:13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
Gal 4:14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
Gal 4:15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
Gal 4:16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
Gal 4:17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
Gal 4:18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
Gal 4:20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.
Gal 4:21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
[[Galatians 5|Gal 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Galatians 5
Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Gal 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Gal 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Gal 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Gal 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Gal 5:8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
Gal 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Gal 5:10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
Gal 5:11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
Gal 5:12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Gal 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Gal 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
[[Galatians 6|Gal 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Galatians 6
Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Gal 6:4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Gal 6:5 For every man shall bear his own burden.
Gal 6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Gal 6:11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
Gal 6:12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
Gal 6:13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Gal 6:17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Gal 6:18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
[[Ephesians|Eph 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Ephesians 1
Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Eph 1:2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
Eph 1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
[[Ephesians 2|Eph 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Ephesians 2
Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Eph 2:17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Eph 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
[[Ephesians 3|Eph 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Ephesians 3
Eph 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Eph 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Eph 3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Eph 3:4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Eph 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Eph 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Eph 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
Eph 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Eph 3:13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Eph 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Eph 3:21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
[[Ephesians 4|Eph 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Ephesians 4
Eph 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Eph 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eph 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Eph 4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Eph 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Eph 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Eph 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
Eph 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
[[Ephesians 5|Eph 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Ephesians 5
Eph 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
Eph 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Eph 5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
Eph 5:4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Eph 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Eph 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Eph 5:7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.
Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
Eph 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Eph 5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Eph 5:12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
Eph 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Eph 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Eph 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Eph 5:33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.
[[Ephesians 6|Eph 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Ephesians 6
Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Eph 6:2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
Eph 6:3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
Eph 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Eph 6:5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
Eph 6:6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
Eph 6:7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
Eph 6:8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
Eph 6:9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Eph 6:19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Eph 6:20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Eph 6:21 But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:
Eph 6:22 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.
Eph 6:23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 6:24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
[[Philippians|Phi 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Philippians 1
Phi 1:1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Phi 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Phi 1:3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Phi 1:4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
Phi 1:5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Phi 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Phi 1:7 Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
Phi 1:8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
Phi 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
Phi 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Phi 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Phi 1:12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
Phi 1:13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;
Phi 1:14 And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Phi 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:
Phi 1:16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:
Phi 1:17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.
Phi 1:18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
Phi 1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
Phi 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
Phi 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Phi 1:22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
Phi 1:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
Phi 1:24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
Phi 1:25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;
Phi 1:26 That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.
Phi 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Phi 1:28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
Phi 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Phi 1:30 Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.
[[Philippians 2|Phi 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Philippians 2
Phi 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Phi 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Phi 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Phi 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Phi 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Phi 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Phi 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Phi 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Phi 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Phi 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Phi 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Phi 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Phi 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Phi 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
Phi 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Phi 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
Phi 2:17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
Phi 2:18 For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.
Phi 2:19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
Phi 2:20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
Phi 2:21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
Phi 2:22 But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.
Phi 2:23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
Phi 2:24 But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
Phi 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
Phi 2:26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
Phi 2:27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
Phi 2:28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
Phi 2:29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
Phi 2:30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
[[Philippians 3|Phi 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Philippians 3
Phi 3:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Phi 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
Phi 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Phi 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Phi 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Phi 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Phi 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Phi 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Phi 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Phi 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Phi 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Phi 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Phi 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Phi 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Phi 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Phi 3:16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Phi 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
Phi 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
Phi 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
Phi 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Phi 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
[[Philippians 4|Phi 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Philippians 4
Phi 4:1 Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
Phi 4:2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.
Phi 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.
Phi 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Phi 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Phi 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Phi 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Phi 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Phi 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Phi 4:10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
Phi 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Phi 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Phi 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Phi 4:14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.
Phi 4:15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.
Phi 4:16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.
Phi 4:17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
Phi 4:18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
Phi 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Phi 4:20 Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Phi 4:21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you.
Phi 4:22 All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.
Phi 4:23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
[[Colossians|Col 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Colossians 1
Col 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother,
Col 1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Col 1:3 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
Col 1:4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
Col 1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;
Col 1:6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
Col 1:7 As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;
Col 1:8 Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.
Col 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Col 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Col 1:11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
Col 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
[[Colossians 2|Col 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Colossians 2
Col 2:1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
Col 2:2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
Col 2:3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Col 2:4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
Col 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
Col 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Col 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Col 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Col 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Col 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Col 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
Col 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Col 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Col 2:19 And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
Col 2:20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Col 2:21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
Col 2:22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
Col 2:23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.
[[Colossians 3|Col 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Colossians 3
Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
Col 3:8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Col 3:18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
Col 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Col 3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
Col 3:21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Col 3:22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
Col 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Col 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Col 3:25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.
[[Colossians 4|Col 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Colossians 4
Col 4:1 Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.
Col 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
Col 4:3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:
Col 4:4 That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
Col 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Col 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
Col 4:7 All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord:
Col 4:8 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;
Col 4:9 With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.
Col 4:10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)
Col 4:11 And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.
Col 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
Col 4:13 For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.
Col 4:14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.
Col 4:15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.
Col 4:16 And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.
Col 4:17 And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.
Col 4:18 The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.
[[1 Thessalonians|1Th 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Thessalonians 1
1Th 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th 1:2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
1Th 1:4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
1Th 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
1Th 1:6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
1Th 1:7 So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
1Th 1:8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
1Th 1:9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
[[1 Thessalonians 2|1Th 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Thessalonians 2
1Th 2:1 For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain:
1Th 2:2 But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.
1Th 2:3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1Th 2:4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
1Th 2:5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:
1Th 2:6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.
1Th 2:7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:
1Th 2:8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
1Th 2:9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
1Th 2:10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
1Th 2:11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,
1Th 2:12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
1Th 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
1Th 2:14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
1Th 2:15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
1Th 2:16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
1Th 2:17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
1Th 2:18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
1Th 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20 For ye are our glory and joy.
[[1 Thessalonians 3|1Th 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Thessalonians 3
1Th 3:1 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone;
1Th 3:2 And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:
1Th 3:3 That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
1Th 3:4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
1Th 3:5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.
1Th 3:6 But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you:
1Th 3:7 Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith:
1Th 3:8 For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
1Th 3:9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
1Th 3:10 Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?
1Th 3:11 Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
1Th 3:12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
1Th 3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
[[1 Thessalonians 4|1Th 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Thessalonians 4
1Th 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
1Th 4:2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
1Th 4:5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
1Th 4:6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
1Th 4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
1Th 4:8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
1Th 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
1Th 4:10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
1Th 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
1Th 4:12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
1Th 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1Th 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
[[1 Thessalonians 5|1Th 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Thessalonians 5
1Th 5:1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
1Th 5:2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1Th 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
1Th 5:7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
1Th 5:12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
1Th 5:13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
1Th 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
1Th 5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
1Th 5:16 Rejoice evermore.
1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1Th 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
1Th 5:20 Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1Th 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
1Th 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
1Th 5:25 Brethren, pray for us.
1Th 5:26 Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.
1Th 5:27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
1Th 5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
[[2 Thessalonians|2Th 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Thessalonians 1
2Th 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2Th 1:2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
2Th 1:4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
2Th 1:5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
2Th 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
2Th 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2Th 1:9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
2Th 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
2Th 1:11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
2Th 1:12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
[[2 Thessalonians 2|2Th 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Thessalonians 2
2Th 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
2Th 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
2Th 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
2Th 2:17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.
[[2 Thessalonians 3|2Th 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Thessalonians 3
2Th 3:1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
2Th 3:2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
2Th 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
2Th 3:4 And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.
2Th 3:5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
2Th 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
2Th 3:7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
2Th 3:8 Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
2Th 3:9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
2Th 3:11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
2Th 3:12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
2Th 3:13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
2Th 3:14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
2Th 3:15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
2Th 3:16 Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.
2Th 3:17 The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.
2Th 3:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
[[1 Timothy|1Ti 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Timothy 1
1Ti 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
1Ti 1:2 Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.
1Ti 1:3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine,
1Ti 1:4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.
1Ti 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
1Ti 1:6 From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;
1Ti 1:7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
1Ti 1:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
1Ti 1:11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
1Ti 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
1Ti 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
1Ti 1:14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1Ti 1:16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
1Ti 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1Ti 1:18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
1Ti 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
1Ti 1:20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
[[1 Timothy 2|1Ti 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Timothy 2
1Ti 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
1Ti 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
1Ti 2:7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
1Ti 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
1Ti 2:9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
1Ti 2:10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
1Ti 2:11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
1Ti 2:13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
1Ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
1Ti 2:15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
[[1 Timothy 3|1Ti 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Timothy 3
1Ti 3:1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1Ti 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
1Ti 3:7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
1Ti 3:8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
1Ti 3:9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
1Ti 3:10 And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.
1Ti 3:11 Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
1Ti 3:12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
1Ti 3:13 For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
1Ti 3:14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:
1Ti 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
1Ti 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
[[1 Timothy 4|1Ti 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Timothy 4
1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
1Ti 4:6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
1Ti 4:7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
1Ti 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
1Ti 4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1Ti 4:11 These things command and teach.
1Ti 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
1Ti 4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1Ti 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
1Ti 4:15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
1Ti 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
[[1 Timothy 5|1Ti 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Timothy 5
1Ti 5:1 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
1Ti 5:2 The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.
1Ti 5:3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
1Ti 5:4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
1Ti 5:5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
1Ti 5:6 But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
1Ti 5:7 And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless.
1Ti 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
1Ti 5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
1Ti 5:10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.
1Ti 5:11 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
1Ti 5:12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.
1Ti 5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
1Ti 5:14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
1Ti 5:15 For some are already turned aside after Satan.
1Ti 5:16 If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
1Ti 5:17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
1Ti 5:18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.
1Ti 5:19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
1Ti 5:20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
1Ti 5:21 I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.
1Ti 5:22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.
1Ti 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.
1Ti 5:24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
1Ti 5:25 Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
[[1 Timothy 6|1Ti 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Timothy 6
1Ti 6:1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
1Ti 6:2 And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.
1Ti 6:3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
1Ti 6:4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
1Ti 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
1Ti 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1Ti 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
1Ti 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
1Ti 6:13 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
1Ti 6:14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1Ti 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
1Ti 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
1Ti 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
1Ti 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
1Ti 6:19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
1Ti 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
1Ti 6:21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
[[2 Timothy|2Ti 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Timothy 1
2Ti 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,
2Ti 1:2 To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
2Ti 1:3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
2Ti 1:4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
2Ti 1:5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
2Ti 1:6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2Ti 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
2Ti 1:10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
2Ti 1:11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
2Ti 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
2Ti 1:13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 1:14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
2Ti 1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.
2Ti 1:16 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:
2Ti 1:17 But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me.
2Ti 1:18 The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.
[[2 Timothy 2|2Ti 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Timothy 2
2Ti 2:1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
2Ti 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2Ti 2:5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
2Ti 2:6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
2Ti 2:7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
2Ti 2:8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
2Ti 2:9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
2Ti 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
2Ti 2:11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
2Ti 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
2Ti 2:20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
2Ti 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
2Ti 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2Ti 2:23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
2Ti 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
2Ti 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
[[2 Timothy 3|2Ti 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Timothy 3
2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Ti 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
2Ti 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2Ti 3:8 Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
2Ti 3:9 But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.
2Ti 3:10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
2Ti 3:11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
2Ti 3:14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
2Ti 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
[[2 Timothy 4|2Ti 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Timothy 4
2Ti 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2Ti 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
2Ti 4:6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
2Ti 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
2Ti 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
2Ti 4:9 Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me:
2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
2Ti 4:11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
2Ti 4:12 And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.
2Ti 4:13 The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
2Ti 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
2Ti 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
2Ti 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
2Ti 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
2Ti 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
2Ti 4:19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.
2Ti 4:20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.
2Ti 4:21 Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.
2Ti 4:22 The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.
[[Titus|Tit 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Titus 1
Tit 1:1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Tit 1:3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
Tit 1:4 To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Tit 1:5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
Tit 1:6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
Tit 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
Tit 1:8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
Tit 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
Tit 1:10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
Tit 1:11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
Tit 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
Tit 1:13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
Tit 1:14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
Tit 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Tit 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
[[Titus 2|Tit 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Titus 2
Tit 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
Tit 2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
Tit 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
Tit 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Tit 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Tit 2:6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
Tit 2:7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
Tit 2:8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
Tit 2:9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;
Tit 2:10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
[[Titus 3|Tit 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Titus 3
Tit 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Tit 3:2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
Tit 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
Tit 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Tit 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Tit 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Tit 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
Tit 3:9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
Tit 3:10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Tit 3:11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
Tit 3:12 When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.
Tit 3:13 Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.
Tit 3:14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
Tit 3:15 All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
[[Philemon|Phm 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Philemon 1
Phm 1:1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,
Phm 1:2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:
Phm 1:3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Phm 1:4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
Phm 1:5 Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;
Phm 1:6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
Phm 1:7 For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.
Phm 1:8 Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
Phm 1:9 Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Phm 1:10 I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
Phm 1:11 Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
Phm 1:12 Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:
Phm 1:13 Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:
Phm 1:14 But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.
Phm 1:15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;
Phm 1:16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
Phm 1:17 If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
Phm 1:18 If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;
Phm 1:19 I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.
Phm 1:20 Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.
Phm 1:21 Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.
Phm 1:22 But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
Phm 1:23 There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;
Phm 1:24 Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.
Phm 1:25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
[[Hebrews|Heb 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 1
Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
Heb 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Heb 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
Heb 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Heb 1:11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
Heb 1:12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
[[Hebrews 2|Heb 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 2
Heb 2:1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
Heb 2:2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
Heb 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
Heb 2:4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
Heb 2:5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
Heb 2:6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Heb 2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
Heb 2:8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Heb 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Heb 2:11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
Heb 2:12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Heb 2:13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
[[Hebrews 3|Heb 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 3
Heb 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Heb 3:2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
Heb 3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
Heb 3:4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
Heb 3:5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
Heb 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Heb 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Heb 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Heb 3:16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
Heb 3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Heb 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
[[Hebrews 4|Heb 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 4
Heb 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Heb 4:5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
Heb 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
Heb 4:7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Heb 4:8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
[[Hebrews 5|Heb 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 5
Heb 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Heb 5:2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
Heb 5:3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
Heb 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
Heb 5:5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
Heb 5:6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Heb 5:10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
[[Hebrews 6|Heb 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 6
Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Heb 6:3 And this will we do, if God permit.
Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Heb 6:7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
Heb 6:8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
Heb 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
Heb 6:10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Heb 6:11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
Heb 6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Heb 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
Heb 6:14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
Heb 6:15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
Heb 6:16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Heb 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
Heb 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Heb 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
[[Hebrews 7|Heb 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 7
Heb 7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Heb 7:2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
Heb 7:3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
Heb 7:4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
Heb 7:5 And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
Heb 7:6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
Heb 7:7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
Heb 7:8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
Heb 7:9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
Heb 7:10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
Heb 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
Heb 7:13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
Heb 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Heb 7:15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Heb 7:17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
Heb 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
Heb 7:20 And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
Heb 7:21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
Heb 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
Heb 7:23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
Heb 7:24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Heb 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
Heb 7:27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
Heb 7:28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
[[Hebrews 8|Heb 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 8
Heb 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
Heb 8:3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
Heb 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
Heb 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
[[Hebrews 9|Heb 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 9
Heb 9:1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
Heb 9:2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
Heb 9:3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
Heb 9:4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
Heb 9:5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
Heb 9:6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
Heb 9:7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Heb 9:16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Heb 9:17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Heb 9:18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Heb 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Heb 9:25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
[[Hebrews 10|Heb 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 10
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Heb 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Heb 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Heb 10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Heb 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Heb 10:8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Heb 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Heb 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Heb 10:15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 10:18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Heb 10:21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Heb 10:32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;
Heb 10:33 Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.
Heb 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
Heb 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Heb 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Heb 10:37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Heb 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
[[Hebrews 11|Heb 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 11
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb 11:2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Heb 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Heb 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Heb 11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Heb 11:15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
Heb 11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
Heb 11:18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
Heb 11:19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
Heb 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Heb 11:21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
Heb 11:22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
Heb 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
Heb 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
Heb 11:28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Heb 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
Heb 11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.
Heb 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
Heb 11:32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Heb 11:33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
Heb 11:34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Heb 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Heb 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
[[Hebrews 12|Heb 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 12
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Heb 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Heb 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Heb 12:18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Heb 12:19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
Heb 12:20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Heb 12:21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Heb 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Heb 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Heb 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Heb 12:26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
[[Hebrews 13|Heb 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###Hebrews 13
Heb 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
Heb 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Heb 13:3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
Heb 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Heb 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Heb 13:7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Heb 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Heb 13:11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Heb 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Heb 13:13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Heb 13:16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Heb 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Heb 13:18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
Heb 13:19 But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Heb 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Heb 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Heb 13:22 And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
Heb 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.
Heb 13:24 Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.
Heb 13:25 Grace be with you all. Amen.
[[James|Jam 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###James 1
Jam 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
Jam 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jam 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jam 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Jam 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Jam 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jam 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Jam 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Jam 1:9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
Jam 1:10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
Jam 1:11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Jam 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Jam 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Jam 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jam 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Jam 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Jam 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Jam 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Jam 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
Jam 1:20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Jam 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Jam 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Jam 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
Jam 1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Jam 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Jam 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
Jam 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
[[James 2|Jam 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###James 2
Jam 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
Jam 2:2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
Jam 2:3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
Jam 2:4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
Jam 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
Jam 2:6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Jam 2:7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
Jam 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Jam 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Jam 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Jam 2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
Jam 2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
Jam 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
Jam 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
Jam 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
Jam 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Jam 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jam 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Jam 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Jam 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jam 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Jam 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Jam 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Jam 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Jam 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
Jam 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
[[James 3|Jam 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###James 3
Jam 3:1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
Jam 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Jam 3:3 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
Jam 3:4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
Jam 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jam 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Jam 3:7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
Jam 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Jam 3:9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Jam 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Jam 3:11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
Jam 3:12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Jam 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
Jam 3:14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
Jam 3:15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
Jam 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Jam 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Jam 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
[[James 4|Jam 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###James 4
Jam 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Jam 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Jam 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Jam 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Jam 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jam 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jam 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jam 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jam 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jam 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Jam 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Jam 4:12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Jam 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Jam 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jam 4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Jam 4:16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
Jam 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
[[James 5|Jam 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###James 5
Jam 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Jam 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Jam 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Jam 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Jam 5:5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Jam 5:6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
Jam 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Jam 5:8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
Jam 5:9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
Jam 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
Jam 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Jam 5:12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
Jam 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
Jam 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
Jam 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Jam 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Jam 5:17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
Jam 5:18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
Jam 5:19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
Jam 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
[[1 Peter|1Pe 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Peter 1
1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
1Pe 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1Pe 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
[[1 Peter 2|1Pe 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Peter 2
1Pe 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
1Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
1Pe 2:3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
1Pe 2:4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
1Pe 2:7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
1Pe 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1Pe 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
1Pe 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
1Pe 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1Pe 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
1Pe 2:15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
1Pe 2:16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
1Pe 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
1Pe 2:18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
1Pe 2:19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
1Pe 2:20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
1Pe 2:22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
1Pe 2:23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
1Pe 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
1Pe 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
[[1 Peter 3|1Pe 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Peter 3
1Pe 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
1Pe 3:2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
1Pe 3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
1Pe 3:5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
1Pe 3:6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
1Pe 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
1Pe 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
1Pe 3:9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
1Pe 3:10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
1Pe 3:11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
1Pe 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
1Pe 3:13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
1Pe 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
1Pe 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
1Pe 3:16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
1Pe 3:17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
[[1 Peter 4|1Pe 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Peter 4
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
1Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
1Pe 4:3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
1Pe 4:4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
1Pe 4:5 Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
1Pe 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
1Pe 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
1Pe 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
1Pe 4:9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
1Pe 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
1Pe 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
[[1 Peter 5|1Pe 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 Peter 5
1Pe 5:1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
1Pe 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1Pe 5:3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
1Pe 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
1Pe 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
1Pe 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
1Pe 5:10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1Pe 5:11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
1Pe 5:12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.
1Pe 5:13 The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.
1Pe 5:14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[[2 Peter|2Pe 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Peter 1
2Pe 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
2Pe 1:11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.
2Pe 1:13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
2Pe 1:14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
2Pe 1:15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
2Pe 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2Pe 1:17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
2Pe 1:18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
2Pe 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
[[2 Peter 2|2Pe 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Peter 2
2Pe 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
2Pe 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
2Pe 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2Pe 2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
2Pe 2:7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
2Pe 2:8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
2Pe 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
2Pe 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
2Pe 2:11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2Pe 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
2Pe 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
2Pe 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2Pe 2:18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
[[2 Peter 3|2Pe 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 Peter 3
2Pe 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2Pe 3:2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
2Pe 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
2Pe 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
[[1 John|1Jo 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 John 1
1Jo 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
1Jo 1:2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
1Jo 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
1Jo 1:4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
1Jo 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1Jo 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1Jo 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jo 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
[[1 John 2|1Jo 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 John 2
1Jo 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jo 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1Jo 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jo 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1Jo 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1Jo 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
1Jo 2:7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
1Jo 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
1Jo 2:9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
1Jo 2:10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
1Jo 2:11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
1Jo 2:12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
1Jo 2:13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jo 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
1Jo 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jo 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jo 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
1Jo 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
1Jo 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
1Jo 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
1Jo 2:21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
1Jo 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1Jo 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
1Jo 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
1Jo 2:25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
1Jo 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
1Jo 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
1Jo 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
1Jo 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
[[1 John 3|1Jo 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 John 3
1Jo 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jo 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
1Jo 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1Jo 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
1Jo 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
1Jo 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
1Jo 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1Jo 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
1Jo 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1Jo 3:12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.
1Jo 3:13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
1Jo 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
1Jo 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
1Jo 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1Jo 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
1Jo 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1Jo 3:19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
1Jo 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
1Jo 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
1Jo 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1Jo 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jo 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
[[1 John 4|1Jo 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 John 4
1Jo 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
1Jo 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
1Jo 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
1Jo 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
1Jo 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jo 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
1Jo 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1Jo 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1Jo 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
1Jo 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1Jo 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
1Jo 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
1Jo 4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
1Jo 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
1Jo 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
1Jo 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1Jo 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
1Jo 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
1Jo 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jo 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
[[1 John 5|1Jo 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###1 John 5
1Jo 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
1Jo 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jo 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jo 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1Jo 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
1Jo 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1Jo 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
1Jo 5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
1Jo 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
1Jo 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
1Jo 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
1Jo 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
1Jo 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
1Jo 5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
1Jo 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
1Jo 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
1Jo 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
1Jo 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
1Jo 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
[[2 John|2Jo 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###2 John 1
2Jo 1:1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;
2Jo 1:2 For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
2Jo 1:3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
2Jo 1:4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
2Jo 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
2Jo 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
2Jo 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
2Jo 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
2Jo 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2Jo 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jo 1:11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
2Jo 1:12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
2Jo 1:13 The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.
[[3 John|3Jo 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###3 John 1
3Jo 1:1 The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
3Jo 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
3Jo 1:3 For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
3Jo 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
3Jo 1:5 Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;
3Jo 1:6 Which have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well:
3Jo 1:7 Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.
3Jo 1:8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth.
3Jo 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
3Jo 1:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
3Jo 1:11 Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
3Jo 1:12 Demetrius hath good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.
3Jo 1:13 I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee:
3Jo 1:14 But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.
[[Jude|Jud 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Jude 1
Jud 1:1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
Jud 1:2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Jud 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jud 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jud 1:5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Jud 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Jud 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
Jud 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Jud 1:10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Jud 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Jud 1:12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jud 1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Jud 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jud 1:15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Jud 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
Jud 1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Jud 1:18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Jud 1:19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Jud 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Jud 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Jud 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Jud 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Jud 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
[[Revelation|Rev 1]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 1
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Rev 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Rev 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Rev 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Rev 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Rev 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Rev 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
Rev 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
[[Revelation 2|Rev 2]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 2
Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Rev 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
Rev 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Rev 2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
Rev 2:13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
Rev 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
Rev 2:15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Rev 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
Rev 2:18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
Rev 2:19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
Rev 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rev 2:22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Rev 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
Rev 2:24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
Rev 2:25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star.
Rev 2:29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
[[Revelation 3|Rev 3]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 3
Rev 3:1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
Rev 3:2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
Rev 3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Rev 3:4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Rev 3:6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Rev 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Rev 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Rev 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
[[Revelation 4|Rev 4]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 4
Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Rev 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
Rev 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
Rev 4:4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
Rev 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Rev 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
Rev 4:7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
Rev 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Rev 4:9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
Rev 4:10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
[[Revelation 5|Rev 5]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 5
Rev 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
Rev 5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
Rev 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Rev 5:7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
Rev 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Rev 5:11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
Rev 5:12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
Rev 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
Rev 5:14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.
[[Revelation 6|Rev 6]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 6
Rev 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
Rev 6:2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Rev 6:3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
Rev 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Rev 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Rev 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
Rev 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Rev 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
[[Revelation 7|Rev 7]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 7
Rev 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev 7:2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Rev 7:5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
Rev 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 7:15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Rev 7:16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
Rev 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
[[Revelation 8|Rev 8]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 8
Rev 8:1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Rev 8:2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Rev 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
Rev 8:5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
Rev 8:6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Rev 8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Rev 8:8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
Rev 8:9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
Rev 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
Rev 8:12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
Rev 8:13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
[[Revelation 9|Rev 9]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 9
Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Rev 9:12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
Rev 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Rev 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
Rev 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Rev 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
Rev 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Rev 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
[[Revelation 10|Rev 10]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 10
Rev 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
Rev 10:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
Rev 10:3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
Rev 10:4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
Rev 10:5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
Rev 10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Rev 10:8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
Rev 10:9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10 And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
Rev 10:11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
[[Revelation 11|Rev 11]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 11
Rev 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Rev 11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Rev 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
[[Revelation 12|Rev 12]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 12
Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Rev 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Rev 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
[[Revelation 13|Rev 13]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 13
Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
[[Revelation 14|Rev 14]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 14
Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
Rev 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rev 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Rev 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Rev 14:16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
Rev 14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
Rev 14:18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
Rev 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
[[Revelation 15|Rev 15]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 15
Rev 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
Rev 15:3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
Rev 15:4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
Rev 15:5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
Rev 15:6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
[[Revelation 16|Rev 16]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 16
Rev 16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
Rev 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
Rev 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
Rev 16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
Rev 16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
Rev 16:6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Rev 16:7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
Rev 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Rev 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
Rev 16:17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Rev 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
[[Revelation 17|Rev 17]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 17
Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Rev 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Rev 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
[[Revelation 18|Rev 18]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 18
Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Rev 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
Rev 18:13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
Rev 18:14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
Rev 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Rev 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
Rev 18:18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
Rev 18:19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
Rev 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
Rev 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
[[Revelation 19|Rev 19]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 19
Rev 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
Rev 19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
Rev 19:3 And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
Rev 19:4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
Rev 19:5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
Rev 19:6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
[[Revelation 20|Rev 20]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 20
Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
[[Revelation 21|Rev 21]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 21
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Rev 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Rev 21:11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Rev 21:12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
Rev 21:13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Rev 21:15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
Rev 21:16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
Rev 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
Rev 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
Rev 21:19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
Rev 21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
Rev 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Rev 21:24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
Rev 21:25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
Rev 21:26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.
[[Revelation 22|Rev 22]] -- [[Navigator]]###Revelation 22
Rev 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Rev 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
Rev 22:4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
Rev 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Rev 22:10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Rev 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Rev 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Rev 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.### Search Results for:
(text-size:1.1)+(text-color:red)[''( $search )'']
(set: _items to (passages: where its source contains $search))
(if: _items is (a:))[''Nothing was found!'']
(for: each _a, ..._items)[(set: _anItem to _a's "name")(print: "[[" + _anItem + "]]")
]
[[Navigator]]
<!-- prints just chapter (passage) names
(for: each _a, ..._items)[(print: _a's "name")]
-->
<!-- prints whole chapters
(print: _items)
-->{
(set: $search to (trimmed: $search))
|status>[''SEARCHING for ($search)... may take 10 seconds'']
(after: 500ms)[=
(set: _chapters to (passages: where its source contains $search))
(set: $book to (passages: where its name contains $search))
<!-- (set: $found to _chapters's length) -->
(set: $found to 0)
(for: each _chapter, ..._chapters)[
(set: _verses to (split: newline,_chapter's "source"))
(set: _chapname to _chapter's "name")
(for: each _verse, ..._verses)[
(if: _verse contains $search)[(if: _verse does not contain "#")[(if: _verse does not contain "[[")[(if: _chapname is not "Navigator" and is not "DevotionalDM")[(set: $found to it + 1)(print: _verse +" ([[" + _chapname + "]])<br><br>")]]]]]]
(if: _chapters is (a:))[(replace: ?status)[''Nothing was found!''<br>]]
(else:)[(replace: ?status)[''$found Search results for: //($search)//''<br>]]
(replace: $search)[<mark>$search</mark>]
}
[[Navigator]]Notes: The tribulation is in here also.
Name: Mark
(bg: blue)[
Name: Mike
Age: 66
Phone: 5452
Tribulation]
(replace: "Age")[<u>Age</u>]{|status>[''SEARCHING for ($search)... may take 10 seconds'']
(after: 500ms)[=
(set: _chapters to (passages: where its source contains $search))
<!-- (set: $found to _chapters's length) -->
(set: $found to 0)
(for: each _chapter, ..._chapters)[
(set: _verses to (split: newline,_chapter's "source"))
(set: _page to _chapter's name)
(for: each _verse, ..._verses)[
(if: _verse contains $search)[(if: _page is not "Navigator")[(set: $found to it + 1)(print: _verse + "<br>")]]]
]
(if: _chapters is (a:))[(replace: ?status)[''Nothing was found!''<br>]]
(else:)[(replace: ?status)[''$found Search results for: //($search)//''<br>]]
}
[[Navigator]] (if: (passage:)'s name is not "Navigator" and is not "SEARCH" and is not "DevotionalDM" and is not "ReadingsDM" and is not "Daily Dose")[(replace: $search)[<mark>$search</mark>]](if: (passage:)'s name is"Navigator")[<hr>(link-rerun:"Bible Tools Launcher")[(goto-url: "Bible%20Tools%20Launcher.html")]]{(set: $thisDay to (substring: (current-date:), 5,10))
###Reading for (print: $thisDay):
''365 day plan (Monday-Friday readings)''
<hr>
(set: $stuff to (dm:
"Jan 01","Mat 1",
"Jan 02","Mat 2",
"Jan 03","Mat 3",
"Jan 04","",
"Jan 05","",
"Jan 06","Mat 4",
"Jan 07","Mat 5",
"Jan 08","Mat 6",
"Jan 09","Mat 7",
"Jan 10","Mat 8",
"Jan 11","",
"Jan 12","",
"Jan 13","Mat 9",
"Jan 14","Mat 10",
"Jan 15","Mat 11",
"Jan 16","Mat 12",
"Jan 17","Mat 13",
"Jan 18","",
"Jan 19","",
"Jan 20","Mat 14",
"Jan 21","Mat 15",
"Jan 22","Mat 16",
"Jan 23","Mat 17",
"Jan 24","Mat 18",
"Jan 25","",
"Jan 26","",
"Jan 27","Mat 19",
"Jan 28","Mat 20",
"Jan 29","Mat 21",
"Jan 30","Mat 22",
"Jan 31","Mat 23",
"Feb 01","",
"Feb 02","",
"Feb 03","Mat 24",
"Feb 04","Mat 25",
"Feb 05","Mat 26",
"Feb 06","Mat 27",
"Feb 07","Mat 28",
"Feb 08","",
"Feb 09","",
"Feb 10","Mar 1",
"Feb 11","Mar 2",
"Feb 12","Mar 3",
"Feb 13","Mar 4",
"Feb 14","Mar 5",
"Feb 15","",
"Feb 16","",
"Feb 17","Mar 6",
"Feb 18","Mar 7",
"Feb 19","Mar 8",
"Feb 20","Mar 9",
"Feb 21","Mar 10",
"Feb 22","",
"Feb 23","",
"Feb 24","Mar 11",
"Feb 25","Mar 12",
"Feb 26","Mar 13",
"Feb 27","Mar 14",
"Feb 28","Mar 15",
"Feb 29","",
"Mar 01","",
"Mar 02","",
"Mar 03","Mar 16",
"Mar 04","Luk 1",
"Mar 05","Luk 2",
"Mar 06","Luk 3",
"Mar 07","Luk 4",
"Mar 08","",
"Mar 09","",
"Mar 10","Luk 5",
"Mar 11","Luk 6",
"Mar 12","Luk 7",
"Mar 13","Luk 8",
"Mar 14","Luk 9",
"Mar 15","",
"Mar 16","",
"Mar 17","Luk 10",
"Mar 18","Luk 11",
"Mar 19","Luk 12",
"Mar 20","Luk 13",
"Mar 21","Luk 14",
"Mar 22","",
"Mar 23","",
"Mar 24","Luk 15",
"Mar 25","Luk 16",
"Mar 26","Luk 17",
"Mar 27","Luk 18",
"Mar 28","Luk 19",
"Mar 29","",
"Mar 30","",
"Mar 31","Luk 20",
"Apr 01","Luk 21",
"Apr 02","Luk 22",
"Apr 03","Luk 23",
"Apr 04","Luk 24",
"Apr 05","",
"Apr 06","",
"Apr 07","Joh 1",
"Apr 08","Joh 2",
"Apr 09","Joh 3",
"Apr 10","Joh 4",
"Apr 11","Joh 5",
"Apr 12","",
"Apr 13","",
"Apr 14","Joh 6",
"Apr 15","Joh 7",
"Apr 16","Joh 8",
"Apr 17","Joh 9",
"Apr 18","Joh 10",
"Apr 19","",
"Apr 20","",
"Apr 21","Joh 11",
"Apr 22","Joh 12",
"Apr 23","Joh 13",
"Apr 24","Joh 14",
"Apr 25","Joh 15",
"Apr 26","",
"Apr 27","",
"Apr 28","Joh 16",
"Apr 29","Joh 17",
"Apr 30","Joh 18",
"May 01","Joh 19",
"May 02","Joh 20",
"May 03","",
"May 04","",
"May 05","Joh 21",
"May 06","Act 1",
"May 07","Act 2",
"May 08","Act 3",
"May 09","Act 4",
"May 10","",
"May 11","",
"May 12","Act 5",
"May 13","Act 6",
"May 14","Act 7",
"May 15","Act 8",
"May 16","Act 9",
"May 17","",
"May 18","",
"May 19","Act 10",
"May 20","Act 11",
"May 21","Act 12",
"May 22","Act 13",
"May 23","Act 14",
"May 24","",
"May 25","",
"May 26","Act 15",
"May 27","Act 16",
"May 28","Act 17",
"May 29","Act 18",
"May 30","Act 19",
"May 31","",
"Jun 01","",
"Jun 02","Act 20",
"Jun 03","Act 21",
"Jun 04","Act 22",
"Jun 05","Act 23",
"Jun 06","Act 24",
"Jun 07","",
"Jun 08","",
"Jun 09","Act 25",
"Jun 10","Act 26",
"Jun 11","Act 27",
"Jun 12","Act 28",
"Jun 13","Rom 1",
"Jun 14","",
"Jun 15","",
"Jun 16","Rom 2",
"Jun 17","Rom 3",
"Jun 18","Rom 4",
"Jun 19","Rom 5",
"Jun 20","Rom 6",
"Jun 21","",
"Jun 22","",
"Jun 23","Rom 7",
"Jun 24","Rom 8",
"Jun 25","Rom 9",
"Jun 26","Rom 10",
"Jun 27","Rom 11",
"Jun 28","",
"Jun 29","",
"Jun 30","Rom 12",
"Jul 01","Rom 13",
"Jul 02","Rom 14",
"Jul 03","Rom 15",
"Jul 04","Rom 16",
"Jul 05","",
"Jul 06","",
"Jul 07","1Co 1",
"Jul 08","1Co 2",
"Jul 09","1Co 3",
"Jul 10","1Co 4",
"Jul 11","1Co 5",
"Jul 12","",
"Jul 13","",
"Jul 14","1Co 6",
"Jul 15","1Co 7",
"Jul 16","1Co 8",
"Jul 17","1Co 9",
"Jul 18","1Co 10",
"Jul 19","",
"Jul 20","",
"Jul 21","1Co 11",
"Jul 22","1Co 12",
"Jul 23","1Co 13",
"Jul 24","1Co 14",
"Jul 25","1Co 15",
"Jul 26","",
"Jul 27","",
"Jul 28","1Co 16",
"Jul 29","2Co 1",
"Jul 30","2Co 2",
"Jul 31","2Co 3",
"Aug 01","2Co 4",
"Aug 02","",
"Aug 03","",
"Aug 04","2Co 5",
"Aug 05","2Co 6",
"Aug 06","2Co 7",
"Aug 07","2Co 8",
"Aug 08","2Co 9",
"Aug 09","",
"Aug 10","",
"Aug 11","2Co 10",
"Aug 12","2Co 11",
"Aug 13","2Co 12",
"Aug 14","2Co 13",
"Aug 15","Gal 1",
"Aug 16","",
"Aug 17","",
"Aug 18","Gal 2",
"Aug 19","Gal 3",
"Aug 20","Gal 4",
"Aug 21","Gal 5",
"Aug 22","Gal 6",
"Aug 23","",
"Aug 24","",
"Aug 25","Eph 1",
"Aug 26","Eph 2",
"Aug 27","Eph 3",
"Aug 28","Eph 4",
"Aug 29","Eph 5",
"Aug 30","",
"Aug 31","",
"Sep 01","Eph 6",
"Sep 02","Phi 1",
"Sep 03","Phi 2",
"Sep 04","Phi 3",
"Sep 05","Phi 4",
"Sep 06","",
"Sep 07","",
"Sep 08","Col 1",
"Sep 09","Col 2",
"Sep 10","Col 3",
"Sep 11","Col 4",
"Sep 12","1Th 1",
"Sep 13","",
"Sep 14","",
"Sep 15","1Th 2",
"Sep 16","1Th 3",
"Sep 17","1Th 4",
"Sep 18","1Th 5",
"Sep 19","2Th 1",
"Sep 20","",
"Sep 21","",
"Sep 22","2Th 2",
"Sep 23","2Th 3",
"Sep 24","1Ti 1",
"Sep 25","1Ti 2",
"Sep 26","1Ti 3",
"Sep 27","",
"Sep 28","",
"Sep 29","1Ti 4",
"Sep 30","1Ti 5",
"Oct 01","1Ti 6",
"Oct 02","2Ti 1",
"Oct 03","2Ti 2",
"Oct 04","",
"Oct 05","",
"Oct 06","2Ti 3",
"Oct 07","2Ti 4",
"Oct 08","Tit 1",
"Oct 09","Tit 2",
"Oct 10","Tit 3",
"Oct 11","",
"Oct 12","",
"Oct 13","Phm 1",
"Oct 14","Heb 1",
"Oct 15","Heb 2",
"Oct 16","Heb 3",
"Oct 17","Heb 4",
"Oct 18","",
"Oct 19","",
"Oct 20","Heb 5",
"Oct 21","Heb 6",
"Oct 22","Heb 7",
"Oct 23","Heb 8",
"Oct 24","Heb 9",
"Oct 25","",
"Oct 26","",
"Oct 27","Heb 10",
"Oct 28","Heb 11",
"Oct 29","Heb 12",
"Oct 30","Heb 13",
"Oct 31","Jam 1",
"Nov 01","",
"Nov 02","",
"Nov 03","Jam 2",
"Nov 04","Jam 3",
"Nov 05","Jam 4",
"Nov 06","Jam 5",
"Nov 07","1Pe 1",
"Nov 08","",
"Nov 09","",
"Nov 10","1Pe 2",
"Nov 11","1Pe 3",
"Nov 12","1Pe 4",
"Nov 13","1Pe 5",
"Nov 14","2Pe 1",
"Nov 15","",
"Nov 16","",
"Nov 17","2Pe 2",
"Nov 18","2Pe 3",
"Nov 19","1Jn 1",
"Nov 20","1Jn 2",
"Nov 21","1Jn 3",
"Nov 22","",
"Nov 23","",
"Nov 24","1Jn 4",
"Nov 25","1Jn 5",
"Nov 26","2Jn 1",
"Nov 27","3Jn 1",
"Nov 28","Jud 1",
"Nov 29","",
"Nov 30","",
"Dec 01","Rev 1",
"Dec 02","Rev 2",
"Dec 03","Rev 3",
"Dec 04","Rev 4",
"Dec 05","Rev 5",
"Dec 06","",
"Dec 07","",
"Dec 08","Rev 6",
"Dec 09","Rev 7",
"Dec 10","Rev 8",
"Dec 11","Rev 9",
"Dec 12","Rev 10",
"Dec 13","",
"Dec 14","",
"Dec 15","Rev 11",
"Dec 16","Rev 12",
"Dec 17","Rev 13",
"Dec 18","Rev 14",
"Dec 19","Rev 15",
"Dec 20","",
"Dec 21","",
"Dec 22","Rev 16",
"Dec 23","Rev 17",
"Dec 24","Rev 18",
"Dec 25","Rev 19",
"Dec 26","Rev 20",
"Dec 27","",
"Dec 28","",
"Dec 29","Rev 21",
"Dec 30","Rev 22",
"Dec 31",""
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###Devotional for (print: $thisDay):
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"Jan 01","This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. (Exo 12:2)||New Year's resolutions are good but fragile, that is, easily broken. New Year's prayers are better; they ascend to the throne of God and set answering wheels in motion. As we come to the beginning of another year, we would do well to make the following prayer requests our own:||Lord Jesus, I rededicate myself afresh to You today. I want you to take my life this coming year and use it for Your glory. 'Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.'||I pray that You will keep me from sin, from anything that will bring dishonor to Your Name.||Keep me teachable by the Holy Spirit. I want to move forward for You. Don't let me settle in a rut.||May my motto this year be, 'He must increase; I must decrease.' The glory must all be Yours. Help me not to touch it.||Teach me to make every decision a matter of prayer. I dread the thought of leaning on my own understanding. 'I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,' (Jer 10:23).||May I die to the world and even to the approval or blame of loved ones or friends. Give me a single, pure desire to do the things that please Your heart.||Keep me from gossip and criticism of others. Rather help me to speak what is edifying and profitable.||Lead me to needy souls. May I become a friend of sinners, as You are. Give me tears of compassion for the perishing. 'Let me look on the crowd as my Savior did, till my eyes with tears grow dim. Let me view with pity the wandering sheep, and love them for love of Him.'||Lord Jesus, keep me from becoming cold, bitter or cynical in spite of anything that may happen to me in the Christian life.||Guide me in my stewardship of money. Help me to be a good steward of everything you have entrusted to me.||Help me to remember moment by moment that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. May this tremendous truth influence all my behavior.||And, Lord Jesus, I pray that this may be the year of Your return. I long to see Your face and to fall at Your feet in worship. During the coming year, may the blessed hope stay fresh in my heart, disengaging me from anything that would hold me here and keeping me on the tiptoes of expectancy. 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus!'",
"Jan 02","In lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. (Php 2:3)||To esteem others better than self is unnatural; fallen human nature rebels at such a blow to its ego. It is humanly impossible; we do not have the power in ourselves to live such an otherworldly life. But it is divinely feasible; the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers us to efface self in order that others might be honored.||Gideon illustrates our text. After his three hundred men had defeated the Midianites, he called for the men of Ephraim to add the final blow. They cut off the escape route and captured two Midianite princes. But they complained that they had not been called earlier. Gideon replied that the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim was better than the vintage of Abiezer (Jdg 8:2), that is, the mopping-up operation conducted by the men of Ephraim was more illustrious than the whole campaign waged by Gideon. This spirit of selflessness appeased the Ephraimites.||Joab showed great unselfishness when he captured Rabbah and then called for David to come and administer the coup de grace (2Sa 12:26-28). Joab was quite content that David should get credit for the victory. It was one of the nobler moments in Joab's life.||The Apostle Paul esteemed the Philippians better than himself. He said that what they were doing was the significant sacrifice to God, whereas he was nothing more than a drink offering, poured out over the sacrifice and service of their faith (Php 2:17).||In more recent times, a beloved servant of Christ was waiting in an anteroom with other distinguished preachers, ready to file out onto the platform. When he finally appeared at the door and a thunderous ovation took place, he quickly stepped aside so that those who were following him would receive the applause.||The supreme example of self-abnegation is the Lord Jesus. He humbled Himself that we might be exalted. He became poor that we might become rich. He died that we might live.||'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'",
"Jan 03","Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. (Joh 7:24)||One of the most deep-seated frailties of fallen humanity is the persistent tendency to judge according to appearance. We judge a person according to his looks. We judge a used car by its body. We judge a book by its cover. No matter how often we are disappointed and disillusioned, we stubbornly refuse to learn that 'all is not gold that glitters.'||In his book Hide or Seek, Dr. James Dobson says that physical beauty is the most highly valued personal attribute in our culture. We have made it what he calls 'the gold coin of human worth.' Thus a beautiful child is more favored by adults than a plain one. Teachers tend to give better grades to attractive children. Pretty children get less discipline than others. Homely children are more subject to blame for misdemeanors.||Samuel would have chosen the tall, good-looking Eliab to be king (1Sa 16:7), but the Lord corrected him, 'Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.'||The greatest case of misjudgment in history occurred when the Lord Jesus visited our planet. Apparently He was not prepossessing as far as physical appearance was concerned. He had no form or comeliness, and when men saw Him, no beauty that they should desire Him (Isa 53:2). They could see no beauty in the only truly beautiful Person who ever lived!||Yet He Himself never fell into this terrible trap of judging according to looks, for before His advent, it was prophesied of Him, 'He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears' (Isa 11:3). To Him it was not the face but the character that counted. Not the cover but the contents. Not the physical but the spiritual.",
"Jan 04","Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. (Zec 4:6)||This verse enshrines the important truth that the work of the Lord is not carried on by human ingenuity and strength but by the Holy Spirit.||We see it in the capture of Jericho. It was not the armed might of Israel that caused the walls to fall down. The Lord was the One who delivered the city into their hands when the priests blew the trumpets seven times.||If it had depended on a huge army, Gideon would never have defeated the Midianites, because his army had been thinned down to three hundred men. And their unconventional weaponry consisted of earthenware pitchers with torches inside. It could only have been the Lord who gave them the victory.||Elijah purposely eliminated any possibility that human might or power might ignite the altar by pouring twelve barrels of water over it. When the fire fell, there could be no question as to its divine source.||Left to human ingenuity, the disciples could fish all night but catch nothing. That provided the opportunity for the Lord to show them that they must look to Him for true effectiveness in service.||It's easy for us to think that money is the greatest need in Christian service. Actually it never was and never will be. Hudson Taylor was right when he said that what we need to fear is not too little money but too much unconsecrated money.||Or we resort to behind-the-scenes politicking, or to highpowered promotional programs, or to the psychological manipulation of people, or to clever oratory. We engage in vast construction programs and in organizational empire building, vainly thinking that these are the keys to success.||But it is not by might or by power or by any of these things that the work of God is forwarded. It is by the Spirit of the Lord.||Much so-called Christian work today would still continue if there were no Holy Spirit. But genuine Christian work is that which makes Him indispensable by waging the spiritual warfare, not with carnal weapons but with prayer, faith and the Word of God.",
"Jan 05","The people that are with thee are too many for me... (Jdg 7:2)||Everyone of us has a subtle desire for numbers and a tendency to judge success by statistics. There is a measure of reproach connected with small groups whereas large crowds command attention and respect. What should our attitude be in this area?||Large numbers should not be despised if they are the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work. This was the case at Pentecost when about 3,000 souls were swept into the kingdom of God.||We should rejoice in large numbers when they mean glory for God and blessing for mankind. It is only proper for us to long to see multitudes lifting their hearts and voices in praise to God, and reaching out to the world with the message of redemption.||On the other hand, large numbers are bad if they lead to pride. God had to reduce Gideon's army lest Israel should say, 'Mine own hand hath saved me' (Jdg 7:2). E. Stanley Jones once said he loathed our contemporary 'scramble for numbers, leading, as it does, to collective egotism.'||Large numbers are bad if they lead to dependence on human power rather then on the Lord. This was probably the trouble with David's census (2Sa 24:2-4). Joab sensed that the king's motives were not pure and he protested--but in vain.||Large numbers are undesirable if, in order to achieve them, we lower standards, compromise Scriptural principles, water down the message, or fail to exercise godly discipline. There is always the temptation to do this if our minds are set on crowds rather than on the Lord.||Large numbers are less than ideal if they result in a loss of close fellowship. When individuals get lost in the crowd, when they can be absent and not be missed, when nobody shares their joys and sorrows, then the whole concept of body life is abandoned.||Large numbers are bad if they stifle the development of gift in the body. It is not without significance that Jesus chose 12 disciples. A huge crowd would have been unwieldy.||God's general rule has been to work through a remnant testimony. He is not attracted by large crowds or repelled by small ones. We should not boast in large numbers, but neither should we be content with small numbers if they are the result of our own sloth and indifference.",
"Jan 06","For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.||If a young believer learns this lesson early in his Christian life, he will save himself from a world of trouble later on. The Bible teaches that there is NO GOOD THING in our old, evil un-regenerate nature. The flesh is absolutely no good. It is not improved one iota at the time of conversion. It is not improved by a lifetime of consistent Christian living. In fact, God is not trying to improve it. He has condemned it to death at the Cross and wants us to keep it in the place of death.||If I really believe this, it will deliver me from a futile search. I will not look for anything good where God has already said it can't be found.||It will deliver me from disappointment. I am never disappointed when I don't find any good in myself. I knew it wasn't there in the first place.||It will deliver me from introspection. I start with the premise that there is no victory in self. In fact, self-occupation spells defeat.||It will guard me from psychological and psychiatric counseling which turns the searchlight on self. Such therapy only compounds the problem instead of solving it.||It teaches me to be occupied with the Lord Jesus. Robert Murray McCheyne said, 'For every look you take at self, take ten looks at Christ.' That is a good balance! Someone else said that even a sanctified self is a poor substitute for a glorified Christ. And the hymnwriter wrote, 'How sweet away from self to flee, and shelter in our Savior.'||Much modern preaching and many new Christian books send people on an introspective binge, occupying them with their temperament, their self-image, their hang-ups and inhibitions. The whole movement is a tragedy of overbalance and it leaves a trail of human wreckage.||'I am too bad to be worth thinking about; what I want is to forget myself and to look to God, who is indeed worthy of all my thoughts.'",
"Jan 07","We walk by faith, not by sight.||Did you ever stop to wonder why a baseball game is more exciting to most people than a prayer meeting? Yet comparative attendance records prove that it is so.||Or we might ask, 'Why is the Presidency of the United States more appealing than overseership in an assembly?' Parents don't say to their sons, 'Eat your food and some day you may be an elder.' No, they say, 'Clean your plate and some day you may grow up to be President.'||Why is a successful career in business more attractive than the life of a missionary? Christians often discourage their children from going to the mission field, content to see them rise to be 'titled officials in secular enterprises.'||Why is a television documentary more absorbing than the study of God's Word? Think of the hours spent before the TV set and the hurried moments before the open Bible!||Why are people willing to do for dollars what they wouldn't do for love to Jesus? Many who are tireless in their work for a corporation are lethargic and unresponsive when the Savior calls.||Finally why does our nation loom larger and more important than the Church? National politics are colorful and engrossing. The Church often seems to lumber on without dynamic.||The reason for all these things is that we walk by sight and not by faith. Our vision is distorted. We don't see things as they actually are. We value the temporal above the eternal. We value the soulish above the spiritual. We value man's judgment above God's.||When we walk by faith, all is changed. We have 20/20 spiritual vision. We see things as God sees them. We value prayer as the unspeakable privilege of having direct audience with the Sovereign of the universe. We see that an elder in an assembly means more to God than the ruler of a nation. We see, with Spurgeon, that if God calls a man to be a missionary, it would be a tragedy to see him drivel down into a king.' We see television as a never-never land of unreality, whereas the Bible holds the key to a life of fulfilment. We are willing to spend and be spent for Jesus in a way we would never be willing for an unworthy impersonal corporation. And we reckon that our local church is more important to God and to His people than the greatest empire in the world.||Walking by faith makes all the difference!",
"Jan 08","Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently. (ASV)||The work of the Lord is so important, pressing, sublime and awebegetting that a curse rests upon anyone who does it negligently. The God who wants and deserves the best cannot bear with sloth, delays, halfheartedness, or slipshod methods. When we think of the tremendous issues involved, we are not surprised.||During the latter part of 1968 a young Christian in Prague, Czechoslovakia witnessed to another young Czech named Jan Palach. There seemed to be a genuine interest on Jan's part, and so the Christian promised to deliver a New Testament to him. He was filled with good intentions but he let weeks pass before he even obtained the New Testament. Then he kept delaying its actual delivery.||On January 16, 1969, Jan Palach stood in St. Wencelas Square, poured gasoline over his body and set himself afire. He never lived to see the New Testament that had been promised to him.||Good intentions are not enough. It has been said that the streets of hell are paved with good intentions. But they don't get the work done. They must be translated into action. And here are a few ways to do it.||First, never refuse when the Lord directs you to do some act of service for Him. If He is Lord, then it is ours to obey without question.||Second, don't procrastinate. Delays are deadly. They rob others of needed help and blessing, and fill us with guilt and remorse.||Third, do it diligently. 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might'. If it's worth doing at all, it's worth doing well.||Finally, do it for God's glory. 'Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God,'.||We should all have the spirit of Amy Carmichael, who wrote, 'The vows of God are upon me. I may not stay to play with shadows or pluck earthly flowers till I my work have done and rendered up an account.'",
"Jan 09","...Show piety at home...||You've heard the expression, 'A devil at home, a saint abroad.' It describes the horrible tendency to be gracious and outgoing to those in the outside world and yet be harsh and unkind at home.||This is a failing that is not confined to any particular class of people. Young people have to guard against it. It's so easy to be a TV personality with one's peers, yet be a terror to one's parents. Husbands may maintain a charming front with their business associates, then when they come home, they turn off the charm and are their normal, irritable selves. Preachers may have a scintillating style in the pulpit and a rotten disposition in the family room.||It is one of the perverse streaks of our fallen state that we are sometimes meanest to those who are closest to us, who do the most for us, and who, in our saner moments, we love the best. Thus Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote:|| One great truth in life I've found,||While journeying to the West;||The only folks we really wound||Are those we love the best.||We flatter those we scarcely know.||We please the fleeting guest,||And deal full many a thoughtless blow||To those we love the best.||Another poet echoed these sentiments as follows: 'We have greetings for the stranger and smiles for the guest, but oft for our own the bitter tone, though we love our own the best.'||'It is very easy to have a church religion, or a prayer-meeting religion, or a Christian-work religion; but it is altogether a different thing to have an everyday religion. To 'show piety at home' is one of the most vital parts of Christianity, but it is also one far too rare; and it is not at all an uncommon thing to find Christians who 'do their righteousness' before outsiders 'to be seen of men,' but who fail lamentably in showing their piety at home. I knew a father of a family who was so powerful in prayer at the weekly prayer meeting, and so impressive in exhortation that the whole church was edified by his piety; but who, when he went home after the meetings, was so cross and ugly that his wife and family were afraid to say a word in his presence.' (H.W. Smith).||Samuel Johnson said, 'Every animal revenges his pains upon those who happen to be near.' Man should avoid this natural tendency.||What we are at home is a truer index of our Christian character than what we are in public.",
"Jan 10","...and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (NASB)||Many people have a view of the Christian life that is excessively idealistic. They think it should be one uninterrupted series of mountaintop experiences. They read Christian books and magazines and hear personal testimonies of dramatic events and conclude that this is all of life. In their dream-world, there are no problems, heartaches, trials and perplexities. There is no hard work, no daily routine, no monotony. All is Cloud 9. When they don't find their life fitting this pattern, they feel discouraged, disillusioned and deprived.||The true facts are these. Most of the Christian life is what G. Campbell Morgan calls 'the way of plodding perseverance in the doing of apparently small things.' This is the way I have found it. There has been a full share of menial tasks, of long hours of disciplined study, of service without apparent results. At times the question has arisen, 'Is anything really being accomplished?' Just then the Lord would drop some token of encouragement, some wonderful answer to prayer, some clear word of guidance. And I would be strengthened to go on for a while longer.||The Christian life is a long-distance race, not a 50 yard dash, and we need endurance to run it. It is important to start well but what really counts is the endurance that enables us to finish in a blaze of glory.||Enoch will always have an honored place in the annals of endurance. He walked with God--think of it--for 300 years. But we need not think that those were years of undiluted glamor or uninterrupted thrill. In a world like ours, it was inevitable that he should have his share of trials, perplexities and even persecutions. But he did not grow weary in well doing. He endured to the end.||If you are ever tempted to quit, remember the words of NEB, 'You need endurance if you are to do God's will and win what He has promised.'||A noble life is not a blaze||Of sudden glory won,||But just an adding up of days||In which God's will is done.",
"Jan 11","...that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.||As far as the Bible is concerned, there must be the testimony of two or three witnesses in order to form a valid judgment. If we would only observe this principle, we would save ourselves oceans of trouble.||The natural tendency for us is to hear one person's side of a case and to immediately decide in his favor. He sounds convincing and our sympathies go out to him. Then later we learn that his was only one side of the story. When we hear the other side, we realize that the first man had distorted the facts or at least colored them in his own favor. Thus, 'the first to plead his case seems just until another comes and examines him' (NASB). When we make a decision before trying to ascertain the full facts, we act less righteously than the world's judicial system and place ourselves under the censure of NASB, 'He who gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him.'||When Ziba reported to David that Mephibosheth hoped to gain the throne, David accepted the slander without investigation and gave all of Mephibosheth's property to Ziba. Later Mephibosheth had a chance to tell the king the true facts. David then realized that he had made a decision without having sufficient evidence.||The Lord Jesus recognized this principle. He said that His testimony concerning Himself was not sufficient. So He presented the testimony of four witnesses: John the Baptist (vv. 32-35); His works (v. 36); God, the Father (vv. 37, 38); the Scriptures (vv. 39, 40).||By failing to obtain the competent testimony of two or three witnesses, we can cause broken hearts, ruined reputations, divided churches and severed friendships. If we follow God's Word, we will avoid tons of injustice and human hurt.",
"Jan 12","...what hast thou that thou didst not receive?...||This is a good question because it reduces us all to size. We do not have anything that we did not receive. We received our physical and mental equipment through birth. What we look like and how brainy we are is something too far beyond our control to justify pride. It is an accident of birth.||All that we know is a result of our education. Others have poured information into our minds. Often when we think we have had an original thought, we find it in a book we first read twenty years ago. Emerson said, 'All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.'||What about our talents? Some talents definitely run in the family. They are developed by training and by practice. But the point is that they did not originate with us. They were given to us.||Pilate was inflated by the authority he wielded, but the Lord Jesus reminded him, 'You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given you from above' (NASB).||In short, every breath man draws is a gift from God. That is why Paul goes on to ask in (Phillips), 'If anything has been given to you, why boast of it as if it were something you had achieved yourself?'||And that is why, for instance, Harriet Beecher Stowe refused to take any credit for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin: 'I, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin? No, indeed, I could not control the story; it wrote itself. The Lord wrote it, and I was but the humblest instrument in His hand. It all came to me in visions, one after another, and I put them down in words. To Him alone be the praise!'||The constant realization that we have nothing that we did not receive delivers us from boasting and self-congratulation, and leads us to give God the glory for anything good that we are or have done.||So, 'let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord'.",
"Jan 13","I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.||It is easy to misunderstand a verse like this. We read it and immediately think of hundreds of things that we cannot do. In the physical realm, for instance, we think of some ridiculous stunt requiring superhuman power. Or we think of some great mental achievement that lies far beyond us. So the words become a torture to us instead of a comfort.||What the verse actually means, of course, is that the Lord will give us power to do anything He wants us to do. Within the circle of His will there are no impossibilities.||Peter knew this secret. He knew that, left to himself, he couldn't walk on water. But He also knew that if the Lord told him to do it, then he could do it. As soon as Jesus said, 'Come,' Peter got out of the boat and strode across the water to Him.||Ordinarily a mountain will not slide into the sea at my command. But if that mountain stands between me and the accomplishment of God's will, then I can say 'Be removed,' and it will.||What it boils down to is that 'His commands are His enablements.' Therefore He will provide strength to bear any trial. He will enable me to resist every temptation and conquer every habit. He will strengthen me to have a clean thought life, to have pure motives, and to always do the thing that pleases His heart.||If I am not getting the strength to accomplish something, if I am threatened with physical, mental or emotional collapse, then I may well question if I have missed His will and am seeking my own desires. It is possible to do work for God that may not be the work of God. Such work does not carry the promise of His power.||So it is important to know that we are moving forward in the current of His plans. Then we can have the joyous confidence that His grace will sustain and empower us.",
"Jan 14","All things are yours.||The unsaintly saints in Corinth had been squabbling over human leaders in the church. To some Paul was the ideal. Others made Apollos their favorite. And still others felt that Cephas was superlative. Paul is telling them that it is ridiculous to limit their choice to one when all these men belong to them. Instead of saying, 'Apollos is mine,' they ought to say, 'Paul, Apollos and Cephas are all mine.'||It is a word for us today. We err when we become exclusive followers of Luther, Wesley, Booth, Darby, Billy Graham or any other great gift to the Church. All these men are ours and we can rejoice in the measure of light that each of them gives to us. We shouldn't become followers of any one man.||But it is not only servants of the Lord who are ours. The world is ours. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. One day we are going to come back and reign over the world with the Lord Jesus. In the meantime, unconverted men are running things as if the world belonged to them. But it doesn't. They are simply caretakers, managing it for us until the day when we take possession.||Life is ours. This does not mean simply that we have life; all men have that. It means that we have the more abundant life, eternal life, the very life of Christ. Our life is not vanity and vexation of spirit. It is meaningful, purposeful and rewarding.||And death is ours. We are no longer subject to slavery all our lives through fear of death. Now death is the messenger of God that brings our souls to heaven. Therefore to die is gain. In addition to all this, we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. When I think of this I am reminded of Guy King's whimsical remark, 'What fortunate beggars we are!'",
"Jan 15","For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.||The liberty of the child of God is one of his priceless possessions. Made free by the Son, he is free indeed. But he is called to responsible freedom, not to license.||Children want to be free from the restraints of home. Young people want to be free from the discipline of study. Adults want to be free from their marriage vows. Still others rebel against being boxed in by regular employment. But these are not the freedoms to which we are called.||The stars are not free to leave their orbits and wander throughout space. A train is not free to leave the tracks and meander over the countryside. A plane is not free to leave its assigned course; its safety depends on the pilot's obeying the regulations.||Jowett comments, 'There is no realm where the lawless are the free. In whatever way we wish to go we must accept bondage if we would discover liberty. A musician must reverence the laws of harmony if he would exult in his lovely world. A builder must put himself in bondage to the law of gravity, or it is not a house that emerges, but a rubbish-heap. What sort of liberty does a man enjoy who consistently defies the laws of health? In all these realms to trespass is to be maimed, to pay homage is to be free.'||It is true that the believer is free from the law but that does not mean that he is lawless. He is now enlawed to Christ, bound by the cords of love, and committed to obey the numerous commandments that are found in the New Testament.||The believer is free from sin as master;(Rom 6:18; Rom 6:22) but only to become a servant to God and to righteousness.||The believer is free from all men in order to become a servant to all, that he might win the more.||But he is not free to use his liberty as a pretext for evil (RSV). He is not free to indulge the flesh. He is not free to stumble or offend another person. He is not free to bring dishonor on the Name of the Lord Jesus. He is not free to love the world. He is not free to grieve the indwelling Holy Spirit.||Man does not find fulfillment or rest in doing his own thing. He finds it only in taking Christ's yoke and learning of Him. 'His service is perfect freedom.'",
"Jan 16","The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.||Here is a message that glows with hope and promise. Just because a man has failed does not mean that God has put him on the shelf.||David's failures are recorded with stark realism. As we read them, we sit in the dust with him and burn with shame. But David knew how to break before the Lord, how to repent with bloodearnestness. And God was not through with him. God forgave him and restored him to a life of fruitfulness.||Jonah failed to answer God's missionary call and wound up in the belly of a great fish. In that animate submarine, he learned to obey. When God called him the second time, he went to Nineveh, preached imminent judgment, and saw the whole city plunged into deepest repentance.||John Mark made a brilliant start with Paul and Barnabas, but then he copped out and went home. God did not abandon him, however. Mark returned to the battle, regained the confidence of Paul, and was commissioned to write the Gospel of the Unfailing Servant.||Peter failed the Lord in spite of his protestations of undying loyalty. Men would write him off by saying that the bird with the broken wing could never fly as high again. But God did not write him off and Peter flew higher than ever. He opened the doors of the kingdom to 3000 at Pentecost. He labored tirelessly and suffered repeatedly at the hands of persecutors. He wrote the two epistles which bear his name, then crowned a glorious life of service with a martyr's death.||So when it comes to service, God is the God of the second chance. He is not through with a man just because that man has failed. Whenever He finds a broken and a contrite heart, he bows to lift up the head of his fallen soldier.||This must not be taken to condone sin or failure, however. The bitterness and remorse of having failed the Lord should serve as sufficient deterrent.||Neither does it mean that God gives the unrepentant sinner a second chance after this life. There is a terrible finality about death. For the man who dies in his sins, the awful sentence is, 'Wherever the tree falls, there it lies.'",
"Jan 17","With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.||Paul's instructions to slaves are freighted with meaning for all who profess to be servants of Jesus Christ.||They show, first of all, that any honorable work, no matter how menial it is, can be done to the glory of God. The slaves to whom Paul wrote may have mopped floors, cooked meals, washed dishes, tended animals or cultivated crops. Yet the Apostle said that these chores could be done 'as unto Christ' (v. 5); that in performing them, the slaves were 'the bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God' (v. 6); that they were 'doing service, as to the Lord' (v. 7); and that they would be rewarded by the Lord for 'doing a good job' (v. 8).||It is easy in our thinking to make a dichotomy between the secular and the sacred. We think of our week-day work as being secular whereas our preaching, witnessing and Bible teaching are sacred. But this passage teaches that for the Christian there need be no such distinction. Realizing this, the wife of a well-known preacher put a motto over her kitchen sink, 'Divine services conducted here three times daily.'||A servant with this clause||Makes drudgery divine;||Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws||Makes that and the' action fine.||George Herbert||There is another choice lesson here, namely, that no matter how low a person may be on the social ladder, he is not shut out from the choicest blessings and rewards of Christianity. He may never exchange his work clothes for a business suit, but if his work is of such good quality as to bring glory to Christ, he will receive a full reward. 'Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free' (v. 8).||Believing this, we should pray, in the lines of George Herbert:||Teach me, my God and King,||In all things Thee to see,||And what I do in anything||To do it as for Thee.",
"Jan 18","My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight...||The fact that Christ's Kingdom is not of this world is enough to keep me out of the world's politics. If I participate in politics, then I am casting a vote of confidence in the system's ability to solve the world's problems. But frankly I have no such confidence because I know that 'the whole world lies in the power of the evil one'.||Politics has proved singularly ineffective in solving the problems of society. Political remedies are nothing but a Band-Aid on a festering sore; they do not get at the source of the infection. We know that sin is the basic trouble in our sick society. Anything that fails to deal with sin cannot be taken seriously as a cure.||It becomes a matter of priorities, then. Should I spend time in political involvement or should I devote that same time to the spread of the Gospel? Jesus answered the question when He said, 'Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God'. Our top priority must be to make Christ known because He is the answer to this world's problems.||'The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds'. This being so, we come to the daring realization that we can shape national and international history through prayer, fasting and the Word of God more than we could ever do through the ballot.||A public figure once said that politics is by its very nature corrupt. He added this word of warning: 'The church should not forget its true function by trying to participate in an area of human affairs where it must be a poor competitor...It will lose its purity of purpose by participating.'||God's program for this age is to call out of the nations a people for His name (see). Rather than making people comfortable in a corrupt world, He is committed to saving people out of it. I should be committed to working with God in this glorious emancipation.||When the people asked Jesus how to work the works of God, He answered that the work of God is to believe on Him whom God had sent (see). This then is our mission--to lead men to belief, not to the ballot-box.",
"Jan 19","If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.||Without the assurance of this verse, it would be practically impossible to go on in the Christian life. As we grow in grace, we have a deepening awareness of our utter sinfulness. We must have some provision for instant cleansing for sins, otherwise we are doomed to perpetual guilt and defeat.||John tells us that, for believers, provision is made through confession. The unbeliever receives judicial forgiveness from the penalty of sins through faith in the Lord Jesus. The believer receives parental forgiveness from the defilement of sins through confession.||Sin breaks fellowship in the life of the child of God, and that fellowship remains broken till the sin is confessed and forsaken. When we confess, God is faithful to His Word; He has promised to forgive. He is just in forgiving because the work of Christ at the Cross has provided a righteous basis on which He may do so.||What this verse means, then, is that when we confess our sins, we can know that the record is clear, that we have been completely cleansed, that the happy family spirit has been restored. As soon as we are conscious of sin in our lives, we can go into the presence of God, call that sin by its name, repudiate it, and know with certainty that it has been put away.||But how do we know for certain? Do we feel forgiven? It is not at all a question of feelings. We know that we have been forgiven because God says so in His Word. Feelings are undependable at best. God's Word is sure.||But suppose someone says, 'I know that God has forgiven me but I can't forgive myself'? This might sound very pious but actually it is dishonoring to God. If God has forgiven me, then He wants me to appropriate that forgiveness by faith, to rejoice in it, and to go out and serve Him as a cleansed vessel.",
"Jan 20","And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.||God's ability to forget sins that have been covered by the blood of Christ is one of the most soul-satisfying truths in Scripture.||It is a great wonder when we read, 'As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us'. It is a marvel that we can say with Hezekiah, 'Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back'. It boggles the mind when we hear the Lord saying, 'I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins'. But it is even more wonderful when we read, 'I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more'.||When we confess our sins, He not only forgives, He forgets instantly. We are not stretching the truth when we say that He immediately buries our sins in the sea of His forgetfulness. This is illustrated by the experience of a believer who was having a ding-dong struggle with a besetting sin. In a moment of weakness, he gave in to the temptation. Rushing into the presence of the Lord, he blurted out, 'Lord, I've done it again.' Then he thought he heard the Lord saying, 'What have you done again?' The point, of course, is that in that split second following confession, God had already forgotten.||This is a delightful paradox-that the omniscient God can forget. On the one hand He knows everything. He counts the stars and names each one. He numbers our tossings and keeps count of our tears. He marks the sparrow's fall. He numbers the hairs of our head. And yet He forgets those sins that have been confessed and forsaken. David Seamands said, 'I don't know how divine omniscience can forget but I know it does.'||There is one final point! It has been well said that when God forgives and forgets, He puts up a sign reading 'No fishing.' It is forbidden for me to fish up my own past sins or the sins of others that God has forgotten. In this respect we must have a poor memory and a good forgettery.",
"Jan 21","But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.||There are verses in the Bible that seem to assign evil actions to God. For example, when Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, 'God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem' (Jdg 9:23). In the days of Ahab, Micaiah said to the wicked king, 'The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets' (1Ki 22:23). Job attributed his losses to the Lord when he said, 'What? shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil?'. Then again the Lord Himself says in, 'I make peace, and create evil.'||Yet we know that because God is holy, He can neither originate evil nor condone it. No sin, sickness, suffering or death come from the Lord. He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. It is unthinkable that He should be the cause of anything that is contrary to His own moral perfection.||It is clear from other scriptures that Satan is the author of disease, suffering, tragedy and destruction. Job's losses and intense pain were caused by the Devil. Jesus said that the woman who was bent double had been bound by Satan for eighteen long years (Luk 13:16). Paul spoke of his thorn in the flesh as 'the messenger of Satan'. Satan is the culprit behind all the troubles of mankind.||But how then do we reconcile this with the verses that picture God as creating evil? The explanation is simply this: in the Bible God is often said to do what He permits to be done. It is the difference between His directive will and His permissive will. He often allows His people to go through experiences that He never would have chosen for them in the first place. He allowed Israel to wander forty years in the wilderness whereas His directive will, if it had been accepted, would have brought them into the Promised Land by a shorter route.||Even in permitting the evil of demons and of man, God always has the last word. He overrules it for His own glory and for the blessing of those who are exercised by it.",
"Jan 22","He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.||The hireling prophet, Balaam, spoke a remarkable truth when he said that the all-seeing God could not see sin in His people, Israel. What was true of Israel then is wonderfully true of the believer today. As God looks upon him, He cannot find a single sin for which to punish him with eternal death. The believer is 'in Christ'. That means that he stands before God in all the perfection and worthiness of Christ. God accepts him in all the acceptability of His own beloved Son. It is a position of favor that cannot be improved on and that will never end. Search as He may, God cannot find any charge against the one who is in Christ.||This is illustrated by an incident involving an Englishman and his Rolls Royce. He was touring France on his vacation when the rear axle broke. The local garage could not replace the axle, so they phoned to England. The company sent not only a rear axle, but two mechanics to see that it was properly installed. The Englishman continued on his trip, then returned to England, expecting to receive the bill. When months passed and no bill arrived, he wrote to the company, described the entire incident and asked for the bill. Shortly afterwards, he received a letter from the company saying, 'We have searched our records carefully and can find no record of a Rolls Royce ever having had a broken rear axle.'||God can search His records carefully and can find no record of any sin on a believer's account that would condemn him to hell. The believer is accepted in the Beloved One. He is complete in Christ. He is clothed in all the righteousness of God. He has an absolutely perfect standing before God. He can say with triumph and confidence:||Reach my blest Savior first;||Take Him from God's esteem;||Prove Jesus bears one spot of sin,||Then tell me I'm unclean.",
"Jan 23","Seekest thou great things for thyself; seek them not.||There is a subtle temptation, even in Christian service, to become great, to see one's name in the magazines or hear it over the radio. But it is a great snare. It robs Christ of glory. It robs ourselves of peace and joy. And it makes us prime targets for the Devil's bullets.||It robs Christ of Glory. As C. H. Mackintosh said, 'There is always the utmost danger when a man or his work becomes remarkable. He may be sure Satan is gaining his objective when attention is drawn to aught or anyone but the Lord Jesus Himself. A work may be commenced in the greatest possible simplicity, but through lack of holy watchfulness and spirituality on the part of the workman, he himself or the results of his work may attract general attention, and he may fall into the snare of the devil. Satan's grand and ceaseless object is to dishonor the Lord Jesus. And if he can do this by what seems to be Christian service, he has achieved all the greater victory for the time.' Denney also said it well, 'No man can at one and the same time prove that he is great and that Christ is wonderful.'||We rob ourselves in the process. Someone said, 'I never knew real peace and joy in service until I ceased trying to be great.'||And the desire to be great makes us sitting ducks for Satanic attack. The fall of a well-known personality brings greater reproach on the cause of Christ.||John the Baptist assiduously renounced any claims to greatness. His motto was, 'He must increase; I must decrease.'||We too should sit down in the lowest place until the Lord calls us to go up higher. A good prayer for each of us is, 'Keep me little and unknown, loved and prized by Christ alone.'||Nazareth was a little place--||And so was Galilee.",
"Jan 24","Don't worry over anything whatever. (Phillips)||There is so much that a person could worry about--the possibility of cancer, heart trouble or a multitude of other diseases; foods that are supposedly harmful, accidental death, a communist takeover, nuclear war, runaway inflation, an uncertain future, the grim outlook for children growing up in a world like this. The possibilities are numberless.||And yet we are told in God's Word, 'Don't worry over anything whatever.' God wants us to have lives that are free of care. And for good reasons!||Worry is unnecessary. The Lord is looking out for us. He holds us in the palms of His hands. Nothing can happen to us apart from His permissive will. We are not the victims of blind chance, accidents or fate. Our lives are planned, ordered, directed.||Worry is futile. It never solves a problem or avoids a crisis. As someone has said, 'Anxiety never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength.'||Worry is harmful. Doctors are agreed that many of their patients' ailments are caused by worry, tension, nerves. Ulcers rate high on the list of worry-related maladies.||Worry is sin. 'It doubts the wisdom of God; it implies He doesn't know what He is doing. It doubts the love of God; it says He doesn't care. It doubts the power of God; it says He is not able to overcome the circumstances that cause me to worry.'||Too often we are proud of our worrying. When a husband reproached his wife for her incessant worrying, she replied, 'If I didn't worry, there'd be precious little of it done around here.' We will never get deliverance from it until we confess it as sin and utterly renounce it. Then we can say with confidence:||I have nothing to do with tomorrow,||My Savior will make that His care;||Should he fill it with trouble and sorrow,||He will help me to suffer and bear.||I have nothing to do with tomorrow;||Its burdens, then, why should I share?||Its grace and its strength I can't borrow;||Then why should I borrow its care?",
"Jan 25","God is love.||The coming of Christ brought a new word for love into the Greek language-- agape. There was already a word for friendship (philia) and one for passionate love (eros), but there was none to express the kind of love which God showed in giving His only begotten Son and which He calls on His people to show to one another.||This is another-worldly love, a love with new dimensions. The love of God had no beginning and it can have no end. It is a love that has no limit, that can never be measured. It is absolutely pure, free from all taint of lust. It is sacrificial, never counting the cost. Love manifests itself in giving, for we read, 'God so loved the world that He gave...' and 'Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us...' Love ceaselessly seeks the welfare of others. It goes out to the unlovely as well as to the lovely. It goes out to its enemies as well as to its friends. It is not drawn out by any worthiness or virtue in its objects but only by the goodness of the donor. It is utterly unselfish, never looking for anything in return and never exploiting others for personal advantages. It does not keep a count of wrongs, but throws a kindly veil over a multitude of slights and insults. Love repays every discourtesy with a kindness, and prays for its would-be murderers. Love always thinks of others, esteeming them better than self.||But love can be firm. God chastens those whom He loves. Love cannot countenance sin because sin is harmful and destructive, and love desires to protect its objects from harm and destruction.||The greatest manifestation of God's love was the giving of His beloved Son to die for us on the Cross of Calvary.||Who Thy love, O God, can measure,||Love that crushed for us its Treasure,||Him in whom was all Thy pleasure,||Christ, Thy Son of love?||(Allaben)",
"Jan 26","Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.||We must not think of love as an uncontrollable, unpredictable emotion. We are commanded to love, and this would be quite impossible if love were some elusive, sporadic sensation, coming as unaccountably as a common cold. Love does involve the emotions but it is more a matter of the will than of the emotions.||We must also guard against the notion that love is confined to a world of dream castles with little relation to the nitty-gritty of everyday life. For every hour of moonlight and roses, there are weeks of mops and dirty dishes.||In other words, love is intensely practical. For instance, when a plate of bananas is passed at the table and one has black spots, love takes that one. Love cleans the washbasin and bathtub after using them. Love replaces paper towels when the supply is gone so that the next person will not be inconvenienced. Love puts out the lights when they are not in use. It picks up the crumpled Kleenex instead of walking over it. It replaces the gas and oil after using a borrowed car. Love empties the garbage without being asked. It doesn't keep people waiting. It serves others before self. It takes a squalling baby out so as not to disturb the meeting. Love speaks loudly so that the deaf can hear. And love works in order to have the means to share with others.||Love has a hem to its garment||That reaches right down to the dust--||It can reach the stains of the streets and lanes,||And because it can, it must.||It dare not rest on the mountain;||It must go down to the vale;||For it cannot find its fulness of mind||Till it kindles the lives that fail.",
"Jan 27","Redeeming the time.||In a day when men of the world are becoming increasingly allergic to work, Christians must make the most of every passing moment. It is a sin to waste time.||Voices from every age testify to the importance of diligent labor. The Savior Himself said, 'I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work'.||Thomas a Kempis wrote, ''Never be idle or vacant; be always reading or writing or praying or meditating or employed in some useful labor for the common good.'||When asked the secret of his success as an interpreter of the Word, G. Campbell Morgan said, 'Work--hard work--and again, work!'||We should never forget that when the Lord Jesus came into the world, He served as a carpenter. The greater part of His life was spent in the shop in Nazareth.||Paul was a tentmaker. He considered it an important part of his ministry.||It is a mistake to think that work is a result of the entrance of sin. Before sin entered, Adam was placed in the garden to dress it and to keep it. The curse involved the toil and sweat that accompany work. Even in heaven there will be work, for 'his servants shall serve him'.||Work is a blessing. Through it we find fulfillment of our need for creativity. The mind and body function best when we work diligently. When we are usefully occupied, we enjoy greater protection from sin, because 'Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do' (I. Watts). Thomas Watson said, 'Idleness tempts the devil to tempt.' Honest, diligent, faithful work is a vital part of our Christian testimony. And the results of our labor may outlive us. As someone has said, 'Everyone owes it to himself to provide himself with some useful occupation while his body is lying in the grave.' And William James said, 'The great use of a life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.'",
"Jan 28","He that believeth shall not make haste.||In an age of supersonic travel and highspeed communications, in a culture where hurry is the watchword, it brings us up short to learn that haste is seldom used of God in a good sense in the Bible. Seldom, I say, because there is the instance where the father runs to meet the returning prodigal, suggesting that God hastens to forgive. But generally speaking, God is not in a hurry.||When David said, 'The king's business required haste', he was guilty of subterfuge, and we should not use his words to justify our frenetic rushing back and forth. The plain truth is, as our text states, if we are really trusting the Lord, we don't have to be in a hurry. The urgency of our task can be better served by a quiet walk in the Spirit than by a frenzy of carnal activity.||Here is a young man who is in a hurry to get married. He reasons that if he doesn't act quickly, someone else might get the girl. The truth is that if God wants that girl for him, no one else can get her. If she is not God's choice, then he will have to learn the hard way, 'Marry in haste; repent at leisure.'||Another is in a hurry to go into so-called full-time work. He argues that the world is perishing and that he cannot wait. Jesus did not argue that way during the years in Nazareth. He waited till God called Him forth to public ministry.||Too often we are in a hurry in our personal evangelism. We are so anxious to rack up professions that we pick the fruit before it is ripe. We fail to allow the Holy Spirit to thoroughly convict the person of sin. The result of such a method is a trail of false professions and of human wreckage. We should 'let patience have her perfect work'.||The true effectiveness of our lives lies not in rushing madly about on self-appointed missions, but in Spirit-directed activity that is ascertained by patiently waiting on the Lord.",
"Jan 29","Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.||In almost everyone's life there are things which he never would have chosen, which he would like to be rid of, but which can never be changed. There is the matter of physical impairments or abnormalities. Or it may be a chronic, low-grade illness that will not leave us alone. Again it may be a nervous or emotional disorder that lingers as a most unwelcome guest.||So many live defeated lives, dreaming of what might have been if only. If only they were taller. If only they were better looking. If only they had been born in a different family, race or even sex. If only they were built to excel in athletics. If only they could know perfect health.||The lesson that these people should learn is that there is peace in accepting what cannot be changed. What we are, we are by the grace of God. He has planned our lives with infinite love and infinite wisdom. If we could see as well as He, we would have arranged things exactly as He has done. Therefore we should be able to say, 'Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.'||But there is a step further. We don't have to accept these things in a spirit of meek resignation. Knowing that they were permitted by a God of love, we can make them the cause of praise and rejoice. Paul prayed three times that his thorn in the flesh might be removed. When the Lord promised grace to bear the thorn, the Apostle exclaimed, 'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me'.||It is one of the signs of spiritual maturity when we can rejoice in the seemingly adverse circumstances in life and use them as means of glorifying God. Fanny Crosby learned the lesson early in life. When she was only eight, the blind poetess wrote:||Oh, what a happy child I am||Although I cannot see!||I am resolved that in this world||Contented I will be.||How many blessings I enjoy||That other people don't!||So weep or sigh because I'm blind||I cannot, nor I won't!",
"Jan 30","Freely ye have received, freely give.||Fritz Kreisler, one of the world's greatest violinists said, 'I was born with music in my system. I knew musical scores instinctively before I knew my ABC's. It was a gift of Providence. I did not acquire it. So I do not even deserve thanks for the music...Music is too sacred to be sold. And the outrageous prices the musical celebrities charge today are truly a crime against society.'||These are words that everyone in Christian work might take to heart. The Christian ministry is a ministry of giving, not of getting. The question is not, 'What is there in it for me?' but rather 'How can I best share the message with the greatest number?' In the service of Christ, it is far better that things should cost rather than that they should pay.||It is true that 'The labourer is worthy of his hire' and that 'They which preach the gospel should live of the gospel'. But this does not justify a man's setting a price on his gift. It does not justify charging exorbitant royalties for the use of hymns. It does not justify unconscionable fees for speaking or singing engagements.||Simon the Sorcerer wanted to buy the power of conferring the Holy Spirit on others. No doubt he saw this as a way of making money for himself. By his action, he gave his name to our language (simony) to describe the buying or selling of religious privileges. It is no overstatement to say that the religious world today is shot through with simony.||If the dollar could somehow be removed from so-called Christian work, a great deal of it would stop immediately. But there would still be faithful servants of the Lord who would press on till their last ounce of strength was expended.||We have received freely; we ought to give freely. The more we give, the wider the blessing, and the greater the reward--good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.",
"Jan 31","Judge not, that ye be not judged.||People who know little else about the Bible often know this verse and use it in a most bizarre way. Even when a person is criticized for unspeakable wickedness, they piously gurgle, 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.' In other words, they use the verse to forbid any condemnation of evil.||The plain fact of the matter is that, while there are areas where we must not judge, there are other areas where judgment is commanded.||Here are some instances where judging is out. We must not judge people's motives; not being omniscient, we cannot know why they do what they do. We mustn't sit in judgment on the service of another believer; to his own Master he stands or falls. We mustn't condemn those who have conscientious scruples about things that are morally neutral; it would be wrong for them to violate their conscience. We mustn't judge by outward appearances or show respect of persons; it's what is in the heart that counts. And certainly we should avoid a harsh, critical censorious spirit; a habitual fault-finder is a poor advertisement for the Christian faith.||But there are other areas where we are commanded to judge. We must judge all teaching to see whether it agrees with the Scriptures. In order to avoid unequal yokes, we must judge whether others are true believers. Christians should judge disputes between believers rather than allow them to go to civil courts. The local church must judge in cases of extreme forms of sin and disfellowship the guilty offender. Those in the church must judge which men have the qualifications of elders and of deacons.||God does not expect us to throw away our critical faculty or abandon all moral and spiritual standards. All He asks is that we refrain from judging where it is forbidden and that we judge righteously where it is commanded.",
"Feb 01","...the gospel of the glory of Christ.||We should never forget that the gospel is the good news of the glory of Christ. True, it concerns the One who was crucified and who was buried. But He is no longer on the Cross, no longer in the Tomb. He has risen, has ascended to heaven, and is the glorified Man at God's right hand.||We do not present Him as the humble Carpenter of Nazareth, the suffering Servant or the Stranger of Galilee. Neither do we present Him as the effeminate do-gooder of modern religious art.||We preach the Lord of life and glory. He is the One whom God has highly exalted and given a Name which is above every name. At His Name every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Him Lord to the glory of God the Father. He is crowned with glory and honor, a Prince and a Savior.||Too often we dishonor Him by the message we preach. We exalt man with his talents and create the impression that God would be lucky to have such a man to serve Him. We make it sound as if man were doing a colossal favor to the Lord by trusting Him. That isn't the Gospel which the Apostles preached. They said, in effect, 'You are the guilty murderers of the Lord Jesus Christ. You took Him and with wicked hands nailed Him to the tree. But God raised Him from the dead and glorified Him at His own right hand in heaven. He is there today, in a glorified body of flesh and bones. His nail-scarred hand holds the sceptre of universal dominion. He is coming back again to judge the world in righteousness. And you'd better REPENT and turn to Him in FAITH. There is no other way of salvation. There is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.'||O, for a fresh vision of the Man in the glory! And for a tongue to tell forth the myriad glories that crown His brow! Surely then, as at Pentecost, sinners would tremble before Him and cry out, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'",
"Feb 02","...the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine...has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (Darby's translation)||'God has shone in...for the shining forth.' Here we learn that we are not meant to be the terminals of God's blessings but only the channels. The expression 'God has shone in' refers to our conversion. Whereas in the original creation He commanded light to shine, in the new creation He Himself has shone in our hearts.||But He did not do it in order that we might selfishly hoard the floodtide of His blessings. Rather He did it so that the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ might be made known through us to others.||In similar vein, Paul spoke of how God had 'revealed his Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen'. God reveals His Son in us that we might reveal Him to others. When the truth of this came home to me years ago, I wrote on the flyleaf of my Bible:||If of Jesus Christ their only view||May be what they see of Him in you,||MacDonald, what do they see?||No wonder that Ian MacPherson said, 'Preaching is something august, sublime, awe-begetting--a supernatural act, the transmission of a Person through a person to a company of persons, the Person so conveyed being the everlasting Jesus.' He illustrated it by an incident that happened when King George V was speaking on the radio and his words were being relayed to America. A vital cable broke in the New York station, plunging the staff into panic. 'Then Harold Vivien, a junior mechanic saw in a moment what to do. Seizing the ends of the broken wire, he held them, grimly and gallantly, as the current conveying the royal message was transmitted. Electrical charges of some two hundred and fifty volts shook his body, convulsing him from head to foot and causing him considerable pain. But he did not relax his grasp. Resolutely, desperately, he clung to the cable till the people heard the king.'||Channels only, blessed Master,||But with all Thy wondrous pow'r||Flowing thro' us Thou canst use us||Ev'ry day and ev'ry hour.",
"Feb 03","And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.||We believe that the angel in this passage is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. And His ministry here is full of comfort and encouragement for us.||What is He doing? He takes the prayers of all saints, adds His precious incense to them and presents them to God the Father.||We know only too well that our prayers and praises are very imperfect. We don't know how to pray as we should. Everything we do is stained with sin, with false motives, with selfishness.||'The holiest hours we spend in prayer upon our knees,||The times when most we deem our songs of praise will please,||Thou Searcher of all hearts, forgiveness pour on these.'||But before our worship and intercession ever get to God the Father, they pass through the Lord Jesus. He removes every trace of imperfection so that when they finally reach the Father they are flawless. And something else that is very wonderful happens. He offers the incense with the prayers of the saints. The incense speaks of the fragrant perfection of His person and work. It is this that gives efficacy to our prayers.||What an encouragement this should be to us. We are all too aware of how we bungle in prayer. We slaughter the rules of grammar, express ourselves inelegantly and say things that are doctrinal absurdities. But this need not discourage us from praying. We have a Great High Priest who edits and purifies all our communications with the Father.||Mary Bowley captured the truth in poetic form when she wrote:||Much incense is ascending||Before the eternal throne;||God graciously is bending||To hear each feeble groan;||To all our prayers and praises||Christ adds His sweet perfume,||And love the censer raises||These odours to consume.",
"Feb 04","If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.||The psalmist had been going through a rough patch. He saw the wicked prospering in the world, whereas his own life was a nightmare of trouble and suffering. He began to have doubts about the justice of God, the love of God, and the wisdom of God. It seemed as if the Lord rewarded wickedness and punished uprightness.||But Asaph made a noble resolve. He determined not to parade his doubts lest he should stumble any of God's children.||Probably most of us have doubts and questions at times. Especially when we are almost at the end of endurance, when everything seems ready to cave in on top of us, it is easy to question the providence of God. What should we do?||We are certainly permitted to share our doubts with someone who is spiritually qualified to counsel us. Sometimes we are too distracted to see the light at the end of the tunnel, whereas it is quite clear to others and they can lead us to it.||As a general rule, we should 'never doubt in the darkness what has been revealed to us in the light.' We should not interpret God's Word by circumstances, no matter how bleak. Rather we should interpret our circumstances by the Scriptures and realize that nothing can ever thwart God's purposes or nullify His promises.||But above all, we should not go around needlessly parading our doubts. There is the terrible danger of stumbling Christ's little ones, concerning whom He said, 'Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea'.||Our certitudes are numberless; our doubts, if any, are few. Let us share our certitudes. As Goethe said, 'Give me the benefit of your convictions, if you have any, but keep your doubts to yourself, for I have enough of my own.'",
"Feb 05","I know that Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted. NASB)||No purpose of God can be thwarted. Man may have his wickedness, but God has His way. Man may have a lot to say, but God will have the last word. Solomon reminds us that 'there is no wisdom or counsel against the Lord'. And Jeremiah adds his testimony that 'every purpose of the Lord shall be performed'.||Joseph's brothers decided to get rid of him by selling him to a band of Midianites. But all they succeeded in doing was accomplishing the will of God. The Midianites provided free transportation for Joseph to Egypt where he rose to be Prime Minister and the savior of his people.||When the man who was born blind received his sight and trusted the Savior, the Jews excommunicated him from the synagogue. Was it a great victory for them? No, Jesus would have led him out anyway because the Good Shepherd 'calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out'. So they merely saved Jesus the effort of doing it.||Men's wickedness reached its Everest when they took the Lord Jesus and, nailing Him to a cross, put Him to death. But Peter reminded them that He was delivered up by 'the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God'. God overruled man's gargantuan crime by raising Christ up to be Lord and Savior.||Donald Gray Barnhouse told the story of a wealthy landowner who had beautiful trees on his estate. 'But he had a bitter enemy who said, 'I will cut down one of his trees; that will hurt him.' In the dark of the night the enemy slipped over the fence and went to the most beautiful of the trees, and with saws and axes he began to work. In the first light of morning he saw in the distance two men coming over the hill on horseback, and recognized one of them as the owner of the estate. Hurriedly he pushed the wedges out and let the tree fall; but one of the branches caught him and pinned him to the ground, injuring him so badly that he died. Before he died, he screeched out, 'Well, I have cut down your beautiful tree,' and the estate owner looked at him with pity and said, 'This is the architect I have brought with me. We had planned to build a house, and it was necessary to cut down one tree to make room for the house; and it is the one you have been working at all night.''",
"Feb 06","Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.||There is a subtle deception that attending meetings, conferences and seminars is doing the work of God. We listen to messages and talk about what we know we should be doing, and the delusion creeps over us that we are accomplishing His will. What we are actually doing is increasing our responsibility and deceiving ourselves. We deceive ourselves that we are spiritual when actually we might be quite carnal. We deceive ourselves that we are growing when the truth is that we are stagnant. We deceive ourselves that we are wise when we are pathetically foolish.||Jesus said that the wise man is the one who hears His words and does them. The foolish man also hears His words but does nothing about them.||It is not enough to listen to a sermon and walk away saying 'What a marvelous message.' The true test is when we go away saying, 'I will do something about what I heard.' Someone has said that a good sermon not only stretches the mind, warms the heart, and tans the hide but it also provokes the will to action.||In the middle of his message, a preacher once asked his audience the name of the first hymn they had sung. No one knew. He asked the text of Scripture that had been read. No one knew. He asked what announcements had been made. No one could remember. The people were playing church.||Before every meeting, we might well ask ourselves the following questions. Why did I come? Am I willing to have God speak to me personally? Will I obey Him if He does?||The Dead Sea justly earned its name by constant input without corresponding outflow. In our lives, information without application leads to stagnation. The Savior's persistent question comes home to us, 'Why call ye me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say?'",
"Feb 07","I have been crucified with Christ.||When the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, He died not only as my Substitute; He died also as my Representative. He died not only for me but as me. When He died, there is a real sense in which I died. All that I was as a child of Adam, all my old, evil, unregenerate self was nailed to the Cross. In God's reckoning, my history as a man in the flesh came to an end.||That is not all! When the Savior was buried, I too was buried. I am identified with Christ in His burial. This pictures the removal of the old 'I' from God's sight forever.||And when the Lord Jesus arose from the dead, I arose too. But the picture changes here. It is not the one who was buried who arose, not the old self. No, it is the new man - Christ living in me. I arose with Christ to walk in newness of life.||God sees all this as having taken place positionally. Now He wants it to be true practically in my life. He wants me to reckon myself to have gone through this cycle of death, burial and resurrection. But how do I do this?||When temptation comes to me, I should reply to it exactly as a corpse reacts to any solicitation to evil. No response! I should say, in effect, 'I have died to sin. You are no longer my master. I am dead as far as you are concerned.'||Day by day I should reckon my old, corrupt self to have been buried in the grave of Jesus. This means I will not be introspectively occupied with it. I will not look for anything worthwhile in it or be disappointed at its utter corruption.||Finally, I will live each moment as one who has risen with Christ to newness of life--new ambitions, new desires, new motives, new freedom and new power.||George Muller told how this truth of identification with Christ first came home to him:||There was a day when I died. Died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure, to the approval or blame even of my brothers or friends, and since then, I have studied only to show myself 'approved unto God.'",
"Feb 08","He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.||The Lord Jesus spoke these words concerning the Pharisees. They had just committed the unpardonable sin, attributing His miracles to Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, when actually they were done in the power of the Holy Spirit. It was now evident that they would not accept Him as the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world. Because they did not take a decided stand for Christ, they were necessarily against Him. Because they didn't serve on His side they worked against Him.||When it comes to the Person and work of Christ, there can be no neutrality. There is no way of straddling this fence. A man is either for Christ or he is against Him. Anyone who says he cannot decide has already decided.||When it comes to the truth concerning Christ, there can be no compromise. In biblical Christianity there are some areas where there can be a reasonable difference of opinion but this is not one of them. As A. W. Tozer has reminded us, 'Some things are not negotiable.' We must adhere steadfastly to the absolute deity of the Lord Jesus, His virgin birth, His true humanity, His sinless nature, His substitutionary death for sinners, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to God's right hand and His coming again. When men start to hedge on these cardinal doctrines they are left with a demi-Savior, who is no Savior at all.||The poet laid it on the line when he wrote:||''What think ye of Christ?' is the test||To try both your state and your scheme;||You cannot be right in the rest||Unless you think rightly of Him:||As Jesus appears to your view,||As He is beloved or not,||So God is disposed to you,||And mercy or wrath is your lot.",
"Feb 09","He that is not against us is for us.||At first this seems to flatly contradict our previous verse, but there is no contradiction. There the Savior was speaking to the unbelieving Pharisees and saying, 'If you aren't for Me, you're against Me.' But here it is a different matter. The disciples had just restrained a man who was casting out demons in Jesus' Name. They had no better reason than that he didn't associate with them. Jesus said, 'Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.'||When it comes to salvation, those who are not for Christ are against Him. But when it comes to service, those who are not against Him are for Him.||We are not called to oppose others who are serving the Lord. It is a big, wide world, and there is plenty of room for all of us to get on with our work without stepping on one another's toes. We should take to heart the Saviors words, 'Forbid him not.'||At the same time we should notice that Jesus did not tell John and the others to go and join this man. Some use methods that are unacceptable to others. Some have different emphases in the message they preach. Some have greater light than others. And some have liberty to do things about which others have a bad conscience. We cannot expect to pour every believer into the exact same mold as ourselves. But we can rejoice in every triumph of the Gospel, as Paul did. He said, 'Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice'.||Sam Shoemaker asked the preceptive question, 'When shall we learn that in the great warfare of light against darkness in our time, we are going to need the support of allies who may not be to our personal taste, and learn that it is going to take all Christians working and pulling together to make headway against the storm of anti-Christ?'",
"Feb 10","This I say then, Walk in the Spirit...||Exactly what is involved in walking in the Spirit? Actually it is not as complicated and impractical as some tend to think. Here is what a day's walk in the Spirit would be like!||First, you start the day in prayer. You confess all known sin in your life; this makes you a clean vessel and therefore usable by God. You spend time in praise and worship; this gets your soul in tune. You turn over control of your life to Him; this makes you available for the Lord to live His life through you. In this act of rededication, you 'cease from needless scheming and leave the ruling of your life to Him.'||Next, you spend time feeding on the Word of God. Here you get a general outline of God's will for your life. And you may also receive some specific indication of His will for you in your present circumstances.||After your quiet time, you do the things that your hands find to do. Ordinarily they will be the prosaic, routine, mundane duties of life. This is where a lot of people have wrong ideas. They think that walking in the Spirit is foreign to the world of aprons and overalls. Actually it is mostly composed of faithfulness and diligence in one's daily work.||Throughout the day you confess and forsake sin as soon as you are aware of it. You praise the Lord as His blessings come to mind. You obey every impulse to do good, and refuse every temptation to evil.||Then you take what comes to you during the day as being His will for you. Interruptions become opportunities to minister. Disappointments become His appointments. Phone calls, letters, visitors are seen as part of His plan.||Harold Wildish quoted the following summary in one of his books:||'As you leave the whole burden of your sin, and rest upon the finished work of Christ, so leave the whole burden of your life and service, and rest upon the present inworking of the Holy Spirit.'||'Give yourself up, morning by morning, to be led by the Holy Spirit and go forth praising and at rest, leaving Him to manage you and your day. Cultivate the habit all through the day, of joyfully depending upon and obeying Him, expecting Him to guide, to enlighten, to reprove, to teach, to use, and to do in and with you what He wills. Count upon His working as a fact, altogether apart from sight or feeling. Only let us believe in and obey the Holy Spirit as the Ruler of our lives, and cease from the burden of trying to manage ourselves; then shall the fruit of the Spirit appear in us, as He wills, to the glory of God.'",
"Feb 11","...the division of soul and spirit.||When the Bible speaks of man in his tripartite being, the order is always spirit, soul and body. When men use these terms together, the order almost invariably is body, soul and spirit. Sin has turned God's order upside down. Now man puts the body first, then the soul, and the spirit last of all.||The two non-material parts of man's being are his spirit and his soul. The spirit enables him to have fellowship with God. The soul has to do with his emotions and passions. Although it is not possible for us to distinguish the spirit and soul in minute detail, we can and should learn to distinguish between what is spiritual and soulish.||What then is spiritual? Preaching that exalts Christ is. Prayer to God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit is. Service that is motivated by love to the Lord and empowered by the Spirit is. Worship that is in spirit and truth is.||And what is soulish? Preaching that draws attention to man, to his oratory, commanding presence or wit. Mechanical prayers with no real heart involvement but designed to make an impression on others. Service that is self-appointed, carried on for monetary reward, or employing carnal methods. Worship that revolves around visible, material aids rather than the unseen spiritual realities.||What does the Church of God have to do with consecrated buildings, stained glass windows, ecclesiastical vestments, honorific titles, candles, incense and all such trappings? Or, coming closer to home, what does the Church have to do with Madison Avenue promotional efforts, with fund raising for hire, with evangelistic gimmickry, with personality cults, with musical extravaganzas?||The advertising in the average Christian magazine is enough to show how soulish we have become.||Paul draws a distinction between service that is gold, silver, precious stones and that which is wood, hay and stubble. Everything that is spiritual will resist the fire of God's discerning judgment. All that is soulish will go up in flames.",
"Feb 12","...neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem.||For the Samaritans, the center of worship was on Mt. Gerizim. For the Jews, Jerusalem was the place on earth where God had placed His Name. But Jesus announced a new order to the woman of Samaria, '...the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.'||There is no longer a single place on earth which is designated for worship. In our dispensation, a Holy Person has taken the place of a holy site. The Lord Jesus Christ is now the gathering center of His people. Jacob's words have found their fulfillment, '...unto him shall the gathering of the people be'.||We gather to Him. We are not drawn together by a consecrated building with stained glass windows and organ music. We do not gather to a man, no matter how gifted or eloquent. The Lord Jesus is the divine magnet.||The place on earth is not important; we may meet in a chapel, a home, a field or a cave. In true worship, we enter by faith into the heavenly sanctuary. God the Father is there. The Lord Jesus is there. The angels are there in festal array. The saints of the Old Testament period are there. And the saints of the Church age who have died are there. And in such august company we are privileged to pour out our hearts in worship to God through the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. So while our bodies are still on earth, in spirit we pass 'far, far above the restless world that wars below.'||Does this contradict the Savior's words, 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them' ? No, this is also true. He is present in a special way when His people meet together in His Name. He takes our prayers and praises and presents them to the Father. What a privilege to have the Lord Jesus in our midst.",
"Feb 13","Owe no man anything, but to love one another.||We need not take this verse as a prohibition against any and every kind of debt. In our society we cannot escape telephone bills, gas and light bills, and water bills. Also under certain circumstances, it may be better discipleship to buy a house on a mortgage, thus building up equity, than to pay out the same monthly amount in rent. And it is impossible to run a business today without contracting some debts.||But the verse certainly does forbid other practices. It forbids going into debt when there is slim chance to repay. It forbids borrowing to purchase a product that depreciates in value. It forbids getting into arrears. It forbids going into debt for nonessentials. It forbids plunging into debt over our heads, the temptation to overspend on impulse because we have credit cards. It forbids wasting the Lord's money by paying exorbitant interest charges on the unpaid balance.||The verse is designed to save us from dunning creditors, from marital problems caused by overspending, and from bankruptcy court, all of which are devastating to the Christian testimony.||In general, we should practice financial responsibility by living modestly and within our means, always remembering that the borrower is slave to the lender (see).||The one debt that is always in order for the Christian is the obligation to love one another. We are obligated to love the unconverted and to share the Gospel with them. We are obligated to love the brethren and to lay down our lives for them. This kind of indebtedness will never get us in trouble with the law. Rather, as Paul says, it is the fulfilling of the law.",
"Feb 14","And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.||When the early Christians were undergoing persecution, they did not wait for their circumstances to change. Instead they glorified God in the circumstances.||Too often we fail to follow their example. We postpone action until conditions are more favorable. We see roadblocks as hindrances rather than as stepping-stones. We excuse our copping-out on the ground that our circumstances are not ideal.||The student remains uninvolved in Christian service until he graduates. Then he is preoccupied with romance and marriage. After that the pressures of employment and family life keep him from throwing himself into the work. He decides to wait for retirement; then he will be free to give the rest of his life to the Lord. By the time he retires his energy and vision are gone and he succumbs to a life of leisure.||Or it may be that we find ourselves having to work with people who rub us the wrong way. Perhaps these people have positions of leadership in the local church. Though they are faithful and hardworking, we find them objectionable. So what do we do? We sulk on the sidelines, waiting for a few first-class funerals. But it doesn't work. People like that always have surprising longevity. Waiting for funerals is unproductive.||Joseph didn't wait to get out of prison to make his life count; he had a ministry for God in prison. Daniel became a power for God during the Babylonian captivity. If he had waited till the exile was over it would have been too late. It was during Paul's imprisonment that he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. He didn't wait for his circumstances to improve.||The simple fact is that circumstances are never ideal in this life. And for the Christian, there is no promise that they are going to improve. So in service, as in salvation, now is the accepted time.||Luther said, 'He who desires to wait until the occasion seems completely favorable for his work will never find it.' And Solomon warned that 'he who watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap'.",
"Feb 15","Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.||Bread here is probably used, figuratively, for the grain from which it is made. In Egypt, seed was sown on flooded areas. As the waters receded, the crop came forth. But it did not happen immediately. The harvest came 'after many days.'||Today we live in an 'instant' society, and we want instant results. We have instant mashed potatoes, instant tea, coffee and cocoa, instant soup and instant oatmeal. Also, we have instant credit at the bank and instant replays on TV.||But it is not like that in Christian life and service. Our kindnesses are not rewarded immediately. Our prayers are not always answered right away. And our service does not usually produce immediate results.||The Bible repeatedly uses the agricultural cycle to illustrate spiritual service. 'A sower went forth to sow...' 'I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.' 'First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.' It is a gradual process, over an extended period of time. The squash grows more quickly than an oak tree, but it still takes time.||Therefore, to expect instant results from our uncalculating deeds of kindness is unrealistic. To expect immediate answers to prayer is immature. To press for a decision the first time a person hears the Gospel is unwise. Certainly the normal experience is to give, pray and serve untiringly over a protracted period of time. You do so with the confidence that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. After a while, you see results, not enough to inflate you with pride, but enough to encourage you to press on. The full results will not be known till we reach heaven--which is--after all, the best and safest place to see the fruit of our labors.",
"Feb 16","Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful.||Nothing is perfect in this life. All laughter is mingled with sorrow. Every diamond has a flaw. Each person has some character defect. In all of life, there's a worm in the apple.||It is good to be idealistic; God has set within us a longing for perfection. But it is also good to be realistic; we never will find absolute perfection under the sun.||It is easy for young people to think that their family is the only one that has quarrels. Or that their parents are the only ones who don't have scintillating TV personalities.||It is easy to be disappointed with our local church fellowship, all the time supposing that everything is rosy in the church across the street.||Or it is easy to go through life forever looking for friends who are absolutely ideal. We expect perfection in others even though we can't produce it ourselves.||We should face the fact squarely that everyone has personality flaws, some more glaring than others. Often the more outstanding a person is, the more obvious his faults are. Instead of being disappointed with the flaws, we would do well to emphasize the good qualities in other believers. Everyone has some of these too. But only one Person has all of them combined, that is, the Lord Jesus.||I often think that the Lord has purposely left us with an unsatisfied desire for Perfection down here so that we will look off to Him in whom there is neither spot nor blemish. He represents the sum of all moral beauties. There is no disappointment in Him.",
"Feb 17","In pressure thou hast enlarged me. (Darby)||It is true that 'calm seas never made a sailor.' It is through tribulation that we develop patience. It is through pressure that we are enlarged.||Even men of the world have realized that difficulties have educative and broadening values. Charles Kettering once said, 'Problems are the price of progress. Don't bring me anything but problems. Good news weakens me.'||But especially from the Christian world come testimonies to the profit derived from trials.||We read, for instance, 'To suffer passes, but to have suffered endures for eternity.'||The poet adds this confirmation:||And many a rapturous minstrel among those sons of light||Will say of his sweetest music, 'I learnt it in the night;'||And many a rolling anthem that fills the Father's home||Sobbed out its first rehearsal in the shade of a darkened room.||Spurgeon wrote, in his inimitable way:||'I am afraid that all the grace I have got out of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours might almost lie on a penny. But the good I have received from my sorrows and pains and griefs is altogether incalculable. What do I not owe to the hammer and the file? Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house.'||And yet why should we be surprised? Does not the unnamed writer to the Hebrews tell us, 'Now obviously no 'chastening' seems pleasant at the time: it is in fact most unpleasant. Yet when it is all over we can see that it has quietly produced the fruit of real goodness in the character of those who have accepted it' (Phillips).",
"Feb 18","*'Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?'||When there are mysteries in life too deep for us to fathom, we can relax in the confidence that the Judge of all the earth is the God of absolute and infinite righteousness.||There is the question of the status of children who die before reaching the age of accountability. For many of us, it is enough to know that 'of such is the kingdom of God.' We believe that they are safe through the blood of Jesus. But for others who are still not satisfied, the words of our verse should be sufficient. God can be counted on to do what is right.||There is the perennial problem of election and predestination. Does God choose some to salvation without at the same time choosing some to be damned? After the Calvinists and Arminians have all had their say, we can have full confidence that there is no unrighteousness with God.||Again there is the seeming injustice that the wicked often prosper while the righteous are passing through deep tribulation. There is the recurring question as to the fate of the heathen who have never heard the Gospel. Men puzzle over why God ever allowed sin to enter. We often stand dumb in the face of tragedies, of poverty and hunger, of horrible physical and mental impairments. Doubt continually murmurs, 'If God is in control, why does He permit it all?'||Faith replies, 'Wait till the last chapter is written. God hasn't made His first mistake. When we are able to see things from a clearer perspective, we will realize that the Judge of all the earth has done right.'||God writes in characters too grand||For our short sight to understand;||We catch but broken strokes, and try||To fathom all the mystery||Of withered hopes, of death, of life,||The endless war, the useless strife,--||But there, with larger, clearer sight,||We shall see this--His way was right.||John Oxenham",
"Feb 19","When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. (RSV)||There is no book on psychology like the Bible. It gives insights on human behavior that you cannot find in any other place. Here, for instance, it describes a man whose own waywardness wrecks his life, yet rather than shoulder the blame himself, he turns around and vents his spleen on the Lord.||How true to life! We have known people who made a profession of being Christians but who then became involved in vile forms of sexual immorality. This brought them to shame, disgrace and financial ruin. But would they repent? No, they turned against Christ, renounced the faith, and became militant atheists.||More often than we probably realize, apostasy has its roots in moral failure. A. J. Pollock told of meeting a young man who began to spew out all kinds of doubts and denials concerning the Scriptures. When Pollock asked him, 'What sin have you been indulging in?' the young man broke down and poured out a lurid story of sin and indecency.||The gross injustice lies in man's perverse way of raging against the Lord for the consequences of his own sins. W. F. Adeney said, 'It is monstrous to charge the providence of God with the consequences of actions which He has forbidden.'||How true it is that 'everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved,'! The Apostle Peter reminds us that scoffers 'walking after their own lusts' are 'willingly ignorant'. Pollock comments, 'This brings out a most important truth that the inability and reluctance to receive the truth of God is very largely because of what is moral. Often a man wants to go on with his sin, or the flesh has a natural dislike to God. Maybe the searching character of the light, and the restraining influence of the Bible are resented. It is not the head that is so much at fault as the heart.'",
"Feb 20","I will not eat until I have told my errand.||Just as Abraham's servant had a sense of urgency in connection with his mission, so should we. This does not mean we must race around in all directions at once. It does not mean that we must do everything in nervous haste. But it does mean that we should give ourselves to the task before us as a matter of top priority.||We should adopt the attitude expressed in Robert Frost's lines:||The woods are lovely, dark and deep,||But I have promises to keep||And miles to go before I sleep.||Amy Carmichael captured the spirit when she wrote: 'The vows of God are on me. I may not stay to play with shadows or pluck earthly flowers till I my work have done and rendered up an account.'||In another place, she wrote:||Only twelve short hours--O never||Let the sense of urgency||Die in us, Good Shepherd, ever||Let us search the hills with Thee.||It is said that Charles Simeon kept a picture of Henry Martyn in his study, and that everywhere he went in the room, it seemed that Martyn was looking at him and saying, 'Be earnest, be earnest; don't trifle, don't trifle.' And Simeon would reply, 'Yes, I will be in earnest; I will, I will be in earnest; I will not trifle, for souls are perishing, and Jesus is to be glorified.'||Hear the urgency in the words of the intrepid Apostle Paul: 'This one thing I do... I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus'.||And did not our blessed Savior live with a sense of urgency. He said, 'I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished'.||There is no excuse for Christians to rest on their oars.",
"Feb 21","I dwell among mine own people.||A prominent woman in Shunam showed hospitality to Elisha whenever he passed that way. Eventually she suggested to her husband that they build an extra bedroom so that the prophet would have his own room. Desiring to reward this gracious hostess, Elisha asked what he could do for her--perhaps an introduction to the king or to the commander-in-chief. Her simple reply was 'I dwell among my own people.' In other words, 'I am happy with my lot in life. I love the common people among whom I live. I don't particularly desire to move among the upper crust. Hobnobbing with famous people holds no special attraction for me.'||She was a wise woman! Those who are never content unless they're socializing with the famous, the wealthy, the aristocratic often have to learn that most of earth's choicest people never make the front page--or the society page, for that matter.||I have had some contact with big names in the evangelical world, but I have to confess that, for the most part, the experience has been disappointing. And the more I have seen of what is ballyhooed in the Christian press, the more disillusioned I have become. If I have to make a choice, give me those humble, godly, solid citizens who are unknown in this world but well-known in heaven.||A. W. Tozer mirrored my sentiments well when he wrote, 'I believe in saints. I've met the comics; I've met the promoters; I've met the founder who puts his name on the front of the building so people will know he founded it. I've met converted cowboys not too well converted. I have met all kinds of weird Christians throughout the United States and Canada, but my heart is looking for saints. I want to meet the people who are like the Lord Jesus Christ...Actually, what we want and ought to have is the beauty of the Lord our God in human breasts. A winsome, magnetic saint is worth 500 promoters and gadgeteers and religious engineers.'||Charles Simeon voiced similar sentiments. 'From the first day I set off to the present hour...my intercourse has been with the excellent of the earth, and every one of them striving to the utmost of his power to show me kindness for the Lord's sake.'||So--orchids to the woman of Shunem for the spiritual insight in her words, 'I dwell among mine own people.'",
"Feb 22","For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, (NASB)||A revolutionary insight! The gifts in are given to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry. As soon as the saints can carry on, the gift can move on.||This means that success in Christian work is working one's self out of a job in the shortest possible time, then looking for new worlds to conquer.||This is what Paul did. He went to Thessalonica, for instance, preached to the Jews for three Sabbaths, and left behind a functioning assembly. No doubt that was an exception as far as speed in the establishing of a work was concerned. The longest Paul ever stayed in one place at a time was two years. That was at Ephesus.||God never intended that His saints should be perpetually dependent on any of the gifts mentioned. The gifts are expendable. If the saints remain professional sermon-tasters, never becoming involved in the work of service, they never develop spiritually the way they should and the world will never be evangelized the way God intended.||William Dillon said that a successful foreign missionary never has a foreign successor. That should be equally true of workers in the homeland--when the worker's task is completed, the saints themselves should take over, not start looking for another pulpiteer.||Too often we preachers look at our position as a lifetime appointment. We reason that others couldn't do the work as well. We excuse our permanence by the fact that the attendance would drop if we left. We complain that others can't do things right and that they're not dependable. But the fact is that they have to learn. And in order to learn they have to be given opportunities. There must be training, delegation of responsibilities, and evaluation of progress.||When the saints reach the point where they feel they can carry on without a particular preacher or teacher, that's no reason for him to sulk or nurse wounded feelings. It's cause for celebration. The worker is released to go where he's more needed.||It's a bad scene when the work of God is permanently built around a man, no matter how gifted he is. His great aim should be to multiply his effectiveness by building up the saints to the point where they are no longer dependent on him. In a world like ours, he never needs to be without work in other places.",
"Feb 23","A wise man will hear.||The essential difference between the wise man and the fool in the book of Proverbs is that the wise man will hear and the fool won't.||It isn't a question of the fool's mental capacity. Actually he may have unusual intellectual ability. But he just cannot be told anything. He labors under the fatal delusion that his knowledge is infinite and his judgments are infallible. If his friends try to counsel him, they receive scorn for their efforts. They watch him trying to escape the inevitable results of sinful and stupid actions, but they are helpless to avert the crash. And so he goes on from one crisis to another. Now his finances are a disaster. Now his personal life is in shambles. Now his business totters on the edge of chaos. But he rationalizes that life is giving him a bad deal. It never occurs to him that he is his own worst enemy. He is generous in dispensing advice to others, oblivious of his inability to run his own life. A compulsive talker, he holds forth with the aplomb of an oracle.||The wise man is made of better stuff. He realizes that everyone's mental wires have been somewhat crossed by the Fall. He knows that others can sometimes see aspects of a problem that he has overlooked. He is willing to acknowledge that his memory may be faulty at times. He is teachable, welcoming any input that will help him make the right decisions. Actually he solicits the advice of others because he knows that 'in the multitude of counselors there is safety'. Like everyone else, he sometimes makes mistakes. But he has this saving virtue that he learns from his mistakes and makes every failure a springboard to success. He is grateful for a deserved rebuke and is willing to say, 'I was wrong. I am sorry.' Wise children submit to parental discipline; fools rebel. Wise young people obey the scriptural precepts concerning moral purity; fools do their own thing. Wise adults judge everything by whether it is well-pleasing to the Lord; fools act according to what pleases themselves.||And so it is that the wise grow wiser, and the fools are stuck fast in the rut of their own folly.",
"Feb 24","Adam...begat a son in his own likeness, after his image.||It is a basic fact of physical life that we beget children in our own likeness, after our image. Adam begat a son in his own likeness, and called his name Seth. When people saw Seth they probably said what people have been saying ever since: 'Like father, like son.'||It is also a sobering fact of spiritual life that we beget children in our own image. When we are used to introduce others to the Lord Jesus, they insensibly take on characteristics similar to our own. Here it is not a matter of heredity but of imitation. They look up to us as the ideal of what Christians should be and unconsciously pattern their behavior after ours. Soon they manifest the family likeness.||This means that the place I give to the Bible in my life will set the standard for my children in the faith. It means that my emphasis on prayer will become theirs also. If I am a worshiper, this characteristic will probably rub off on them too.||If I adhere to the stern demands of discipleship, they will figure that this is the norm for all believers. On the other hand, if I water down the Savior's words and live for wealth, fame and pleasure, I can expect them to follow my lead.||Zealous soul winners tend to beget on-fire personal workers. Those who find pleasure and profit in Scripture memory pass on the vision to their spiritual children.||If you are irregular about attendance at the meetings of the assembly, you can hardly expect your proteges to be any different. If you are usually late, they will probably be late too. If you sit in the back row, don't be surprised if that influences them to do likewise.||On the other hand, if you are disciplined, dependable, punctual and vitally involved, your Timothys will follow your faith.||So the question for each of us is, 'Am I content to beget children in my own image?' The Apostle Paul could say, 'Be followers of me'. Can we say that?",
"Feb 25","According to your faith be it unto you.||When Jesus asked two blind men if they believed that He was able to give them sight, they replied that they did. As He touched their eyes, He said, 'According to your faith be it unto you,' and their eyes were opened.||It would be easy to conclude from this that if we just have enough faith, we can get anything we want, whether wealth, healing, or whatever. But that is not the case. Faith must be based upon some word of the Lord, some promise of God, some command of Scripture. Otherwise it is nothing more than wishful credulity.||What we learn from our text is that the extent to which we appropriate the promises of God depends on the measure of our faith. After promising King Joash that he would have victory over the Syrians, Elisha told him to smite the ground with his arrows. Joash smote three times, then stopped. Elisha angrily announced that the king would have only three victories over Syria whereas he could have had five or six. The measure of his victory depended on his faith.||It is that way in the life of discipleship. We are called to walk by faith, to forsake all. We are forbidden to lay up treasures on earth. How far do we dare to go in obeying these commands? Should we do away with life insurance, health insurance, savings accounts, stocks and bonds? The answer is, 'According to your faith be it unto you.' If you have faith to say, 'I will work hard for my current needs and the needs of my family, put everything above that in the work of the Lord, and trust God for the future,' then you can be absolutely certain that the Lord will take care of your future. He has said that He would and His word cannot fail. If, on the other hand, we feel we should exercise 'human prudence' by providing for a rainy day, God will still love us and will still use us according to the measure of our faith.||The life of faith is like the waters that flow from the Temple in You can go in to your ankles, to your knees, to your loins--or, better still, you can swim in them.||God's choicest blessings, of course, are for those who trust Him most fully. Once we have proved His faithfulness and sufficiency, we want to put away the crutches, props and pillows of 'common sense.' Or, as someone has said, 'Once you walk on the water, you never want to ride in a boat again.'",
"Feb 26","How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?||By these words our Lord indicates that we cannot at the same time seek man's approbation and the approval of God. He also affirms that once we embark on a quest for human accreditation, we have dealt a body-blow to the life of faith.||In similar vein the Apostle Paul expresses the moral inconsistency between coveting man's praise and God's: '...for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ' (b).||Let me illustrate. Here is a young believer who wants an advanced degree in some area of theology. But he wants the degree from an accredited university. It must be from an accredited institution. Unfortunately the only accredited universities offering that degree are ones that deny the great fundamental truths of the faith. To list that degree after his name means so much to him that he is willing to take it from men who, though known as scholars, are enemies of the Cross of Christ. Almost inevitably he becomes defiled in the process. He never again speaks with the same conviction.||The desire to be known in the world as a scholar or a scientist has built-in hazards. There is the subtle danger to compromise, to sacrifice Biblical principles for a more liberal stance, to become more critical of fundamentalists than of modernists.||Christian schools face an agonizing choice--whether or not to seek accreditation from a recognized agency in the educational world. The lust to be 'accredited' often results in a watering down of their Bible emphasis and the adoption of carnal principles laid down by men who do not have the Spirit.||The thing to be greatly desired is to be 'approved unto God.' The alternative is too costly, for 'on the coin for which we sell the truth, there is at all times, faint as it may be, the image of Anti-christ' (F. W. Grant).",
"Feb 27","But God hath chosen...the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.||If a carpenter can take waste, scrap lumber and make a splendid piece of furniture out of it, it brings more credit to him than if he uses only the finest of materials. So when God uses things that are foolish, worthless and weak to accomplish glorious results, it magnifies His skill and power. People cannot attribute the success to the raw materials; they are forced to confess that it can only be the Lord who deserves the credit.||The book of Judges provides repeated illustrations of God using the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Ehud, for example, was a lefthanded Benjamite. The left hand in Scripture speaks of weakness. Yet Ehud brought down Eglon, king of Moab and won rest for Israel for eighty years.||Shamgar went into battle wielding an oxgoad, and yet with this unlikely weapon he slew 600 Philistines and delivered Israel (3:31). Deborah was a member of the 'weaker sex,' yet by the power of God she won a smashing victory over the Canaanites (4:1; 5:31). Barak's 10,000 foot soldiers were a poor match, humanly speaking, against Sisera's 900 chariots of iron, yet Barak swept the field (4:10, 13). Jael, another member of the 'weaker sex,' killed Sisera with such a non-weapon as a tent pin (4:21). According to the Septuagint, she held the pin with her left hand. Gideon marched against the Midianites with an army that the Lord had reduced from 32,000 to 300 (7:1-7). His army is pictured under the figure of a cake of barley bread. Since barley bread was the food of the poor, the picture is one of poverty and feebleness (7:13). The unconventional weapons of Gideon's army were earthenware pitchers, torches and trumpets (7:10). And as if that were not enough to insure defeat, the pitchers had to be broken (7:19). Abimelech was felled by a woman's hand hurling a piece of millstone (9:53). The name Tola means a worm, an inauspicious title for a military deliverer (10:1). When we first meet Samson's mother, she is a nameless, barren woman (13:2). Finally, Samson killed 1000 Philistines with nothing more lethal than the jawbone of an ass (15:15).",
"Feb 28","He will destroy them...so that you may drive them out and destroy them.||In all of God's dealings with mankind, there is a curious merging of the divine and the human.||Take the Bible, for example. There is the divine Author, and there are human authors, who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.||As far as salvation is concerned, it is of the Lord from start to finish. There is nothing a man can do to earn or deserve it. And yet he must receive it by faith. God clearly elects individuals to salvation, but they must enter in at the strait gate. And so Paul writes to Titus of 'the faith of God's elect.||From the divine standpoint, we are 'kept by the power of God.' Yet there is also the human side--'through faith'. 'Kept by the power of God through faith.'||Only God can make me holy. Yet He will not make me holy without my cooperation. I must add to my faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. I must put on the whole armor of God. I must put off the old man and put on the new man. I must walk in the Spirit.||You find the merging of the divine and the human in the whole area of Christian ministry. Paul plants, Apollos waters, but God gives the increase.||When we come to leadership in the local church, we learn that only God can make a man an elder. Paul reminded the Ephesian elders that it was the Holy Spirit who had made them overseers. Yet a man's own will is involved. He must desire to exercise oversight (JND).||Finally, in the text with which we began, we see that it is God who destroys our enemies, but we must drive them out and destroy them.||In order to be balanced Christians, we must recognize this merging of the divine and human. We must pray as if everything depended on God but work as if everything depended on us. Or to borrow the wartime exhortation, 'Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.' As someone suggested, we must pray for a good harvest but keep on hoeing.",
"Feb 29","Jesus Christ...is Lord of all ||One of the great themes of the New Testament is the lordship of Jesus Christ. Over and over we are reminded that He is Lord and that we should give Him that place in our lives.||To crown Jesus as Lord means to surrender our lives to Him. It means to have no will of our own, but to want His will supremely. It means the willingness to go anywhere, do anything, and say whatever He desires. When Joshua asked the captain of the Lord's army, 'Are you for us or against us?' the captain replied, in effect, 'I didn't come either to assist or hinder you. I came to take over' (see). So the Lord doesn't come as sort of a glorified assistant; He comes to take supreme command of our lives.||The importance of lordship can be seen in the fact that whereas the word 'Savior' occurs only 24 times in the New Testament, the word 'Lord' occurs 522 times. It is also significant that whereas men invariably say 'Savior and Lord,' in that order, the Scriptures always say 'Lord and Savior.'||To make Jesus our Lord is the most reasonable, logical thing we can do. He died for us; the least we can do is live for Him. He bought us; we are no longer our own. 'Love so amazing, so divine, demands our souls, our lives, our all.'||If we can trust Him for our eternal salvation, can we not trust Him for the management of our lives? 'There is a lack of sincerity about committing the eternal soul to God and holding back the mortal life--professing to give Him the greater and withholding the lesser' (R. A. Laidlaw).||How then, do we crown Jesus as Lord? There must be a crisis experience when for the first time we turn over the controls to Him, when every area of our life is placed under His sovereign sway. It is a total commitment with 'no reserve, no retreat, no regrets.'||From then on it becomes a matter of moment by moment yielding to His guidance, presenting our bodies to Him so that He can live His life through us. The crisis becomes a process.||It makes good sense! With His wisdom, love and power, He can do a far better job of running our lives than we can",
"Mar 01","Are there not twelve hours in the day? Qohn 11:9)||When Jesus suggested going back to Judea, the disciples were terrified. The Jews had tried to stone Him there only recently, and now He was talking about a return visit. In answer to the disciples' apprehension, Jesus said, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day?' At first glance, the question seems to be completely disconnected from the conversation. But what the Savior was saying was this! The working day is made up of twelve hours. When a person is yielded to God, every day has its appointed program. Nothing can thwart the accomplishing of that program. So even if Jesus went back to Jerusalem, and even if the Jews tried to kill Him again, they could not succeed. His work was not finished. His hour had not yet come.||For every child of God it is true that he is 'immortal till his work is done.' This should impart great peace and poise to our lives. If we are living in the will of God, and if we follow reasonable rules of health and safety, we will never die a moment ahead of time. Nothing can come to us apart from His permissive will.||Many Christians worry themselves sick over the food they eat, the water they drink, the air they breathe. In our pollution-conscious society there is always something to suggest that death is knocking at the door. But this anxiety is unnecessary. 'Are there not twelve hours in the day?' Hasn't God placed a hedge around the believer which the devil is powerless to penetrate?||If we believe this, it will save us from a lot of second-guessing. We will not say, 'If the ambulance had only arrived sooner' or 'If the doctor had only detected the growth four weeks earlier' or 'If my husband had only taken a different airline.' Our lives are planned by infinite wisdom and in infinite power. He has a perfect timetable for each of us, and His trains run on perfect schedule.",
"Mar 02","The fruit of the Spirit is love...||The phrase 'the fruit of the Spirit' teaches us at the outset that the virtues that follow can be produced only by the Holy Spirit. An unconverted man is incapable of manifesting any of these graces. Even a true believer is powerless to reproduce them by his own strength. So when we think of these graces, we must remember that they are supernatural and other-worldly.||The love spoken of here, for instance, is not the eros of passion, or the philia of friendship, or the storge of affection. It is agape love--the kind of love which God has shown to us and which He wants us to show to others.||Let me illustrate! Dr. T. E. McCully was the father of Ed McCully, one of the five young missionaries martyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador. One night when Dr. McCully and I were on our knees together in Oak Park, Illinois, his thoughts went back to Ecuador and to the Curaray River that holds the secret of the whereabouts of Ed's body. He prayed, 'Lord, let me live long enough to see those fellows saved who killed our boys, that I may throw my arms around them and tell them I love them because they love my Christ.' When we arose I saw rivulets of tears zig-zagging down his cheeks.||God answered that prayer of love. Some of those Auca Indians later professed faith in Christ. Dr. McCully went to Ecuador, met these men who murdered his son, threw his arms around them, and told them he loved them because they loved his Christ.||That is agape love. It is impartial, seeking the highest good of all--the homely as well as the handsome, foes as well as friends. It is unconditional, asking for nothing in return for its constant giving. It is sacrificial, never minding the cost. It is unselfish, more concerned with the needs of others than its own. It is pure, free from any trace of impatience, envy, pride, vindictiveness or spite.||Love is the greatest virtue of the Christian life. Without it our noblest endeavors are worthless.",
"Mar 03","The fruit of the spirit is...joy.||Man never finds real joy till he finds the Lord. Then he enters in to what Peter calls 'joy unspeakable and full of glory'.||Anyone can rejoice when circumstances are favorable, but the joy which is the fruit of the Spirit is not the result of earthly circumstances. It springs from our relationship to the Lord and from the precious promises He has given to us. Christ would have to be dethroned before the Church could be finally robbed of its joy.||Christian joy can coexist with suffering. Paul weds the two when he speaks of 'all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness'. The Thessalonian saints had received the word 'in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost' (1Th 1:6). Suffering saints down through the centuries have testified how the Lord has given them songs in the night.||Joy can coexist with sorrow. The believer can stand by the grave of a loved one, shed tears of sorrow at the loss, yet rejoice at the knowledge that the loved one is in the presence of the Lord.||But joy cannot coexist with sin. Whenever a Christian sins, he loses his song. Not until he confesses and forsakes that sin is the joy of his salvation restored.||The Lord Jesus told His disciples to rejoice when they were reviled, persecuted and falsely accused. And they did! Not many years later we read of them leaving the courtroom, 'rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name'.||Our joy increases as we grow in the knowledge of the Lord. At first, perhaps, we can rejoice in minor irritations, chronic ailments and trivial inconveniences. But the Spirit of God wishes to bring us to the point where we can see God when circumstances are at their worst and rejoice in the knowledge that His way is perfect. We are spiritually mature when we can say with Habakkuk, 'Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation'.",
"Mar 04","The fruit of the Spirit is... peace...||As soon as we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That means that the hostility between ourselves and God has ceased since Christ has effectively dealt with the cause of that hostility--our sins.||We also have peace of conscience knowing that the work is finished, Christ has paid the penalty of our sins, and God has forgotten them.||But then the Holy Spirit also wants us to enjoy the peace of God in our hearts. This is the serenity and tranquility that come from knowing that our times are in the hands of God and that nothing can happen to us apart from His permissive will.||So we can remain calm when we have a tire blowout on the busy freeway. We don't have to lose our composure when heavy traffic causes us to miss the plane. Peace means remaining cool in a car crash. Or when grease ignites on the kitchen range.||This fruit of the Spirit enables a Peter to sleep soundly in jail, a Stephen to pray for his murderous assailants, a Paul to comfort others in a shipwreck.||When a plane flies into clear air turbulence, and is thrown around like a feather in the gale, when the wing tips flex thirteen feet, when most of the passengers are screaming as the plane lurches, falls, rises and dips, peace enables a believer to bow his head, commit his soul to God, and praise God for whatever may be the outcome.||Or to change the illustration, the Spirit of God can give peace to us when we sit in the doctor's office and hear him say, 'I'm sorry to tell you but it's malignant.' He can enable us to reply, 'I'm ready to go, Doctor. I'm saved by the grace of God, and for me it will be 'absent from the body, at home with the Lord.''||And so in the words of Bickerstith's lovely hymn, we can have 'Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin...by thronging duties pressed...with sorrows surging round...with loved ones far a way...our future all unknown' because 'Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.'",
"Mar 05","The fruit of the Spirit is...longsuffering...||Longsuffering is the virtue that bears up patiently and even triumphantly under the aggravations of life. While it may refer to a patient response to adverse circumstances, it usually refers to a merciful endurance of the provocations of people.||God is longsuffering with man. Think for a moment of the gross sinfulness of the human race at the present time--the legalization of prostitution, the popularization of homosexuality, the laws permitting abortions, the breakdown of marriage and the home, the wholesale rejection of moral standards, and, of course, man's crowning sin--the utter rejection of God's Son as only Lord and Savior. One could scarcely blame God if He were to wipe out mankind with a stroke. But He doesn't do it. His goodness is designed to lead men to repentance. He is not willing that any should perish.||And His will is that this longsuffering should be reproduced in the lives of His people as they yield to the Holy Spirit. This means that we should not be quick-tempered. We should not fly off the handle easily. We should not try to get even with people when they have wronged us. Instead we should display what someone has called 'a kind of conquering patience.'||When Corrie and Betsie ten Boom were enduring indescribable sufferings in the concentration camp, Betsie would often say that they must help these people after they were released. They simply had to find a way to help them. Corrie thought, of course, that her sister was planning some program to rehabilitate the victims of the Nazis. It wasn't till later that Corrie realized that Betsie meant her persecutors. She wanted to find some way to teach them to love. Corrie commented, 'And I wondered, not for the first time, what sort of a person she was, this sister of mine...what kind of road she followed while I trudged beside her on the all-too-solid earth' (The Hiding Place, p. 175).||The road Betsie followed was the road of longsuffering. And Corrie walked it too, in spite of her humble disclaimer.",
"Mar 06","The fruit of the Spirit is...kindness...||The King James Version has the word 'gentleness' here but almost all modern versions read 'kindness.' 'The fruit of the Spirit is...kindness.'||Kindness describes the gentle, gracious, generous disposition that results in the doing of favors, the showing of mercies, and the bestowing of benefits on others. The kind person is gracious, not harsh; sympathetic, not indifferent; and helpful, not uninvolved. He is considerate, compassionate and charitable.||There is a natural kindness which even the people of the world show to one another. But the kindness which is produced by the Spirit is supernatural. It goes above and beyond anything that man is capable of doing by himself. It enables a believer to lend, hoping for nothing in return. It enables him to show hospitality to those who cannot repay him. It enables him to reward every insult with a courtesy. A Christian university student displayed this supernatural kindness toward another student who was an alcoholic. The latter had become so disgusting that he had been rejected by his classmates and finally was evicted from his quarters. The Christian had an extra bed in his room and so invited the drunk to live with him. Many nights the believer had to clean up his roommate's vomit, take his clothes off, bathe him and put him to bed. It was a magnificent display of Christian kindness.||And--to complete the story--it paid off. Once, during a sober period, the dissolute fellow asked with irritation, 'Say, look here, why are you doing all this for me? What are you after?' The Christian replied, 'I'm after your soul'--and he got it.||When Dr. Ironside was cleaning out the cellar one day, he called a Jewish junk dealer to cart away the papers, magazines, rags and scrap metal. Dr. Ironside pretended to bargain seriously for a good price for the junk, but the junk man won, of course. When he was taking the last load out to his truck, kindly H. A. I. called him back, saying, 'Oh, I forgot something. I want to give you this in the Name of the Lord Jesus.' And he handed him fifty cents.||The junk dealer went away, saying, 'No one ever gave me anything in the Name of Jesus before.'||'The fruit of the Spirit is...kindness.'",
"Mar 07","The fruit of the Spirit is...goodness...||Goodness means excellence of character. Someone has defined it as 'virtue equipped at every point,' which simply means that the person possessing it is kind, virtuous and righteous in every area of life.||Goodness is the opposite of badness. A bad man may be deceitful, immoral, treacherous, unjust, cruel, selfish, hateful, covetous, and/or intemperate. The good man, though not perfect, exemplifies truth, justice, purity and other similarly desirable traits.||The Apostle Paul distinguishes between a righteous man and a good man in The righteous man is just, honest and straightforward in his dealings, but he may be icily detached from others. The good man, on the other hand, is affectionate and lovable. One would scarcely die for a righteous man, but one might die for a good man.||And yet we must remember that goodness can be firm. It would not be good to condone or overlook sin. And so goodness can rebuke, correct and discipline. We see this when the Lord Jesus, who is goodness incarnate, cleansed the Temple.||A unique feature of goodness is that it can overcome evil. Paul wrote to the Roman believers, 'Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good'. When we allow someone else's hatred to ruin our disposition, we have been overcome by his evil. But when we rise above it and show grace, mercy and love, we have overcome evil with good.||Murdoch Campbell tells of a godly Highland minister whose wife tried to make life miserable for him. One day as he was reading his Bible, she snatched it from his hands and threw it in the fire! He looked up into her face and said quietly, 'I don't think I've ever sat by a warmer fire.' His goodness overcame her evil. She became a lovely, gracious wife. As Campbell comments, 'His Jezebel became a Lydia. His thorn became a lily.' Goodness had conquered!",
"Mar 08","The fruit of the Spirit is...faith...||This fruit of the Spirit is generally understood as being faithfulness. It is not the faith that saves, or the trust we exercise in God day by day (although it may include that). Rather it is our fidelity and dependability in our dealings with the Lord and with one another. Someone has defined it as being 'true to oneself, to one's nature, to any promise given, to any trust committed.'||When we say that a man's word is his bond, we mean that in dealing with him, no written contract is necessary. If he has agreed to do something, he can be depended on to do it.||The faithful man keeps appointments on time, pays his bills on schedule, attends the meetings of the local fellowship regularly, performs tasks assigned to him without having to be constantly reminded. He is unswervingly true to his marriage vows and unfailing in the discharge of his family responsibilities. He is conscientious in setting money aside for the work of the Lord and careful also in his stewardship of time and talents.||Faithfulness means being true to one's word, even at great personal cost. The faithful man 'swears to his own hurt, and does not change' (c NASB). In other words, he does not cancel one supper engagement when he receives another that promises a better menu or more congenial company. He does not renege on a work assignment to go on a recreational trip (unless he first arranges for a satisfactory substitute). He sells his house at the agreed price even if someone later offers him $10,000 more.||The ultimate in faithfulness is being willing to die rather than renounce one's loyalty to Christ. When the king demanded that a faithful Christian retract his confession of Christ, the man replied, 'The heart thought it; the mouth spoke it; the hand subscribed it; and if need be, by God's grace the blood shall seal it.' When Polycarp was offered life in exchange for a denial of the Lord, he chose rather to be burned at the stake, saying, 'These eighty-six years have I served my Lord. He never did me any harm, and I cannot deny my Lord and Master now.'||The martyrs were faithful unto death, and will receive a crown of life.",
"Mar 09","The fruit of the Spirit is...meekness...||When we think of meekness, we are apt to think of Caspar Milquetoast, the comic strip character who was the embodiment of timidity and weakness. But this fruit of the Spirit is something very different. It comes from supernatural power, not from weakness.||It refers first of all to a believer's loving submission to all God's dealings in his life. The meek man bows to the will of God without rebellion, questioning or complaint. He reckons that 'God is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind.' Realizing that there is no chance or accident, he believes that God is working everything together for good in his life.||Meekness also includes the believer's relationship with others. Here he is self-effacing, not self-assertive and humble, not haughty. The meek man is one who practices brokenness. When he has said or done something wrong, he conquers pride by saying, 'I am sorry. Please forgive me!' He would rather lose face than self-respect. When he suffers for doing what is right, he endures it patiently without any thought of fighting back. When he is falsely accused, he refrains from defending himself. As Trench says, the meek man accepts the injuries and insults of others as permitted by God for his chastening and purifying.||Someone has defined a meek man as 'one who accepts the will of God without resentment, who can afford to be gentle and mild because of inward strength, and who is under the perfect control of God.' When a parishioner told Dr. Alexander Whyte that a fellow minister was being castigated as an unbeliever, Dr. Whyte blazed with indignation. When the parishioner added that the critic said that Dr. Whyte himself was not a true believer, he said, 'Please leave the office so that I can be alone and examine my heart before the Lord.' THAT is meekness.||We are all called to take the yoke of Him who is 'meek and lowly in heart.' As we do so, we find rest for our souls and will ultimately inherit the earth.",
"Mar 10","The fruit of the Spirit is...temperance...||The preferred rendering of this last fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Temperance has become associated particularly with restraint in the use of intoxicating drinks. Self-control carries the thought of moderation or abstinence in every area of life.||By the power of the Holy Spirit, the believer is enabled to exercise self-control over his thought life, his appetite for food and drink, his speech, his sex life, his temper and every other power that God has given him. He need not be enslaved by any passion or desire.||Paul reminded the Corinthians that an athlete practices self-control in all things. He himself was determined that he would not be enslaved by anything and so he pommeled his body and subdued it, lest after preaching to others, he himself should be disqualified (See RSV).||The disciplined Christian avoids overeating. If coffee, tea or Cokes have a grip on him, he kicks the habit. He refuses to be mastered by tobacco in any form. He carefully avoids use of tranquilizers, sleeping pills or other pharmaceuticals, except where medically prescribed. He controls the time given to sleeping. If he is plagued by the problem of lust, he learns to expel impure thoughts, concentrate on a clean thought life, and keep busy with constructive activity. To him every addiction or besetting sin is a Goliath to be conquered.||We often hear Christians complain that they can't break a certain habit. Such defeatism guarantees failure. It means that the Holy Spirit is not able to give the needed victory. The fact is that unconverted people, who do not have the Spirit, are often able to quit smoking or drinking or gambling or swearing. How much more easily should Christians be able to do it through the indwelling Spirit!||Self-control, like the other eight fruits of the Spirit, is supernatural. It enables believers to exercise discipline over themselves in ways that others cannot match.",
"Mar 11","Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way; in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison||One of the surface lessons we learn from this passage is that Christians should not be prone to engage in lawsuits. It is a natural reaction to rush to court to seek redress for grievances and damages. But the believer is guided by higher principles than natural reactions. The will of God often cuts across the grain of nature.||Our law courts today are glutted with accident claims, malpractice suits, divorce cases and inheritance claims. In many cases, people rush to the lawyer in the hope of getting rich quick. But the Christian must settle things by the power of love and not by the processes of law. As someone has said, 'If you go in for legal processes, then legal processes will get you, and you will pay the last penny.'||The only one who is sure to win is the lawyer; his fee is assured. A cartoon pictured the process this way. A plaintiff was pulling the head of a cow, the defendant was pulling the tail--and the lawyer was milking the cow.||In Christians are positively forbidden to go to law against other Christians. For one thing they should take their disputes to some wise man in the church. But even beyond that they should be willing to be wronged and cheated rather than go to law before the judges of this world's system. This, incidentally, would rule out all cases of divorce involving believing partners.||But what about cases between a believer and an unbeliever? Doesn't the Christian have to stand up for his rights? The answer is that it is far better to forego his rights in order to demonstrate that Christ makes a difference in a person's life. It does not require divine life to institute a suit against someone who has wronged him. But it does take divine life to commit his cause to God and use the case as an opportunity to witness to the saving, transforming power of Christ. As much as possible, he should live at peace with all men.||'A man started to build a fence between himself and his neighbor. The neighbor came and said; 'When you bought that lot you bought a court case along with it. That fence is going to be five feet in my land.' The man replied, 'I knew I would always have a nice neighbor next to me. I'll tell you what I suggest: You put up the fence where you think it should go, send me the bill and I'll pay for it.' The fence was never put up. No need!' (E. Stanley Jones).",
"Mar 12","Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.||Here is both a rewarding encouragement and a warning that should bring us up short. Whatever we do to Christ's brethren is reckoned as being done unto Himself.||We can show kindness to the Lord Jesus any day by showing kindness to a fellow-believer. When we show hospitality to God's people, it is the same as if we entertain Him in our homes. If we give them the master bedroom, we are giving it to Him.||Almost anyone would be quick to do everything possible for the Savior if He came as King of kings and Lord of lords. But He commonly comes to our door in very humble guise, and it is this that puts us to the test. The way we treat the least of His brethren is the way we treat Him.||A godly old preacher visited an assembly in hopes of being able to share with the saints from the Word. He did not have personal charisma and may not have had a dynamic pulpit style. But he was a servant of God and did have a message from the Lord. The elders told him that they could not ask him to stay for meetings and suggested that he go to a meeting in the black ghetto. He did, and was warmly received by the brethren there. During his week of meetings, he took a heart attack and died. It was as if the Lord was saying to the brothers in the fashionable assembly, 'You may not have wanted him but I did. In refusing him you refused Me.'||In his poem 'How the Great Guest Came,' Edwin Mark-ham tells of an old cobbler who made elaborate preparations for a dreamed-of visit from the Lord. The Lord never came. But when a beggar came, the cobbler put shoes on his feet. When an old lady came, the cobbler helped her with her load and gave her food. When a lost child came, the cobbler took her back to her mother.||Then soft in the silence a voice he heard:||Lift up your heart, for I kept my word.||Three times I came to your friendly door;||Three times my shadow was on your floor.||I was the beggar with bruised feet,||I was the woman you gave to eat,||I was the child in the homeless street.",
"Mar 13","Take heed what ye hear. (Mar 4:24)||The Lord Jesus cautions us to be careful what we hear. We are responsible to control what enters through the eargate, and equally responsible to put what we do hear to proper use.||We should not listen to what is blatantly false. The cults are spewing out their propaganda in unprecedented volume. They are always looking for someone who is willing to listen. John says we should not receive cultists into our house or even greet them. They are against Christ.||We should not listen to what is deceitfully subversive. Young people in colleges, universities and seminaries are often subjected to a daily barrage of doubts and denials concerning the Word of God. They hear the miracles explained away, the Lord Jesus condemned with faint praise and the plain meaning of Scripture watered down. It is impossible to sit under subversive teaching and not be affected by it. Even if the student's faith is not destroyed, his mind is defiled. 'Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?'. The obvious answer is 'No.'||We should not listen to what is impure or suggestive. The worst form of pollution in today's society is mind pollution. The one word that describes most newspapers, magazines, books, radio and TV programs, movies and human conversations is filth. Through constant exposure to this, the Christian is in danger of losing his sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. And that is not the only danger! When we receive vile and suggestive stories in our minds, they have a way of coming back to haunt us during our most holy moments.||We should not fill our minds with things that are worthless or trifling. Life is too short and the task too urgent for that. 'All must be earnest in a world like ours.'||Positively, we should be careful to hear the Word of God. The more we saturate our minds with the Word of God and obey its sacred precepts, the more we will think God's thoughts after Him, the more we will be transformed into the image of Christ, and the more we will be separated from the moral pollution of our environment.",
"Mar 14","Take heed therefore how ye hear. (Luk 8:18)||In the Christian life it is a question not only of what we hear but also of how we hear.||It is possible to hear the Word of God with an attitude of indifference. We can read the Bible as we would read any other book, seemingly unconcerned that the Almighty God is speaking to us in it.||We can hear with a critical attitude. Here we put human intellect above the Scriptures. We sit in judgment on the Bible instead of letting the Bible judge us.||We can hear with a rebellious attitude. When we come to portions that deal with the stern demands of discipleship or with women's subjection and head-covering, we become enraged and utterly refuse to obey.||We can be forgetful hearers, like the man in the Book of James 'who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was' (Jam 1:23,24 NASB).||Perhaps the most common class is the callous hearers. These people have heard the Word so much that they have become insensitive. They listen to a sermon mechanically. It has become a ho-hum routine. Their ears are jaded. Their attitude is 'What can you tell me that I haven't already heard?'||The more we hear the Word of God without obeying what we hear, the more we become judicially deafened. If we refuse to hear, we lose the capacity to hear.||The best way to hear is to hear reverently, obediently and seriously. We should approach the Bible with the determination to do what it says, even if no one else is doing it. The wise man is the one who not only hears but does. God is looking for men who tremble at His word.||Paul commended the Thessalonians because when they heard the word of God, they did not receive it 'as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God' (1Th 2:13). In the same manner we should be careful how we hear.",
"Mar 15","For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. (Luk 9:24)||Basically there are two attitudes we believers can take toward our life. We can try to save it or we can purposefully lose it for Christ's sake.||The natural thing is to try to save it. We can live a self-centered life, trying to protect ourselves from effort and inconvenience. We can make careful plans to cushion ourselves from shocks, to guard against loss, to avoid any form of discomfort. Our house becomes like a private estate posted with 'No Tres; passing' signs. It is for the family only--with minimal hospitality shown to others. Our decisions are made on the basis of how things will affect us. If they disrupt our plans or involve a lot of work or require expenditure of funds to help others, we turn thumbs down. We tend to devote inordinate attention to our personal health, refusing any service that might call for sleepless nights, for contact with sickness, or death, for any physical risks. We also give a higher priority to personal appearance than to the needs of those around us. In short, we live to cater to the body, which, in a few short years, will be eaten by worms if the Lord doesn't come.||In trying to save our life, we lose it. We suffer all the miseries of a selfish existence and miss out on all the blessings of living for others.||The alternative is to lose our life for Christ's sake. This is a life of service and of sacrifice. While we do not take needless risks or court martyrdom, we do not turn away from duty with the plea that we have to live at all cost. There is a sense in which we 'fling our soul and body down for God to plow them under.' We count it our greatest joy to spend and be spent for Him. Our home is open, our possessions are expendable, our time is available to those in need.||In thus pouring out our lives for Christ and for others, we find life that is life indeed. In losing our lives, we actually save them.",
"Mar 16","For I say unto you, that unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. (Luk 19:26)||The word 'hath' at the beginning of this verse means more than mere possession. It includes the idea of obeying what we have been taught and of using what we have been given. In other words, it is not just what we have but rather what we do with what we have.||Here is a great principle for us, then, in the study of the Bible. As we follow the light which we receive, God gives us more light. The man who makes the best progress in the Christian life is the one who is determined to do what the Bible says, even if he doesn't see anyone else around him doing it. In other words, it isn't a matter of one's intelligence quotient. What really counts is his obedience quotient. The Scriptures open up their treasures most readily to the obedient heart. Hosea said it well: 'Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord' (6:3). The more we practice what we have been taught, the more the Lord will reveal to us. Information plus application leads to multiplication. Information without application leads to stagnation.||The principle applies also to the use of our gifts and talents. The man whose pound increased to ten pounds was given authority over ten cities, and the man whose talent gained five pounds was given rule over five cities.||This shows that the proper discharge of our responsibilities is rewarded with greater privileges and responsibilities. The man who did nothing with his pound lost it. So those who refuse to use what they have for the Lord eventually lose the ability to do so. 'If you don't use it, you lose it.'||We know that when we fail to use any part of the body it atrophies or wastes away. It is through constant use that normal development takes place. So it is in spiritual life. If we bury our gift, either through timidity or laziness, we will soon find that God has put us on the shelf and is using others in our place.||Therefore it is of utmost importance that we obey the precepts of Scripture, claim the promises and use whatever abilities God has given us.",
"Mar 17","Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule.||It seems to me that the horse and the mule picture two wrong attitudes we might have when we are seeking the Lord's guidance. The horse wants to charge ahead; the mule wants to lag behind. The horse tends to be impatient, high-spirited and impetuous. The mule on the other hand is stubborn, intractable and lazy. The psalmist says that neither animal has understanding. Both have to be controlled by bit and bridle, otherwise they will not come near to their master.||God's desire is that we be sensitive to His leading, not plunging ahead in our own wisdom and not holding back when He has shown His will.||Here are a few rules-of-thumb that might be helpful in this regard.||Ask God to confirm His guidance in the mouths of two or three witnesses. He has said, 'In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established' (b). These witnesses may include a verse of Scripture, the counsel of other Christians and the marvelous converging of circumstances. If you get two or three distinct indications of His will, you will not have any doubts or misgivings.||If you are seeking God's guidance and no guidance comes, then God's guidance is for you to stay where you are. It is still true that 'darkness about going is light about staying.'||Wait until the guidance is so clear that to refuse would be positive disobedience. The children of Israel were forbidden to move until the pillar of cloud and fire moved. No rationalizations on their part could excuse independent action. Their responsibility was to move when the cloud moved--not sooner and not later.||Finally, let the peace of Christ umpire in your heart. That is a free translation of It means that when God is really guiding, He so influences our intellects and emotions that we have peace about the right way and no peace about any other way.||If we are anxious to know the divine will and quick to obey it, we will not need the bit and bridle of God's discipline.",
"Mar 18","Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.||The key word in is 'others.' The Lord Jesus lived for others. Paul lived for others. Timothy lived for others. Epaphroditus lived for others. We too should live for others.||We are told to do this not only because it is right but also because it is for our own good. If it is sometimes costly to live for others, it is more costly not to do so.||Our society is filled with people who live only for their own personal interests. Rather than keeping busy in serving others, they sit at home brooding. They think about every minor ache and pain and soon become confirmed hypochondriacs. In their loneliness they complain that no one takes an interest in them and soon they wallow in self-pity. The more time they have to think about themselves, the more depressed they become. Life becomes one great introspective horror of darkness. Soon they go off to the doctor and gulp enormous quantities of pills--pills that can never cure self-centeredness. Then they frequent the psychiatrist's couch to somehow find relief for their boredom and weariness with life.||The best therapy for people like that is a life of service for others. There are shut-ins to be visited. There are senior citizens who need a friend. There are hospitals that welcome volunteer help. There are people who could be cheered by a letter or a card. There are missionaries who welcome news from home (and perhaps they could use a little greenery to brighten up the scenery). There are souls to be saved and Christians to be taught. In short there is no excuse for anyone to be bored. There is enough to do to fill one's life with productive activity. And in the very process of living for others, we widen our circle of friends, make our own lives more interesting, and find fulfilment and satisfaction. P.M. Derham said, 'A heart that is full of compassion for others is less likely to be absorbed in its own sorrows and poisoned by its own self pity.'||Others, yes, Lord, others,||Let this my motto be.||Help me to live for others||That I may live like Thee.",
"Mar 19","Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.||The Song of Deborah rehearses the curse on Meroz for staying on the sidelines while the army of Israel was locked in combat with the Canaanites. The people of Reuben also come in for withering scorn; they had good intentions but never left the sheepfolds. Gilead, Asher and Dan receive dishonorable mention for their non-intervention.||Dante said, 'The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in a time of great moral crisis.'||The same sentiments are echoed in the book of Proverbs, where we read, 'If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?'. Kidner comments, 'It is the hireling, not the true shepherd, who will plead bad conditions (10), hopeless tasks (10) and pardonable ignorance (12); love is not so lightly quieted--nor is the God of love.'||What would we do if a great wave of anti-Semitism swept over our country, if Jewish people were herded off to concentration camps, to gas chambers, to ovens? Would we risk our own lives in order to grant them asylum?||Or if some of our fellow-Christians were being persecuted, and if it was a capital offense to shelter them, would we welcome them into our homes? What would we do?||Or perhaps we could take a less heroic but more contemporary case. Suppose you are a director of a Christian organization where a faithful employee is being railroaded to satisfy the spleen of another director who is wealthy, and influential. When the final vote is taken, would you sit on your hands and remain silent?||Suppose we had been on the Sanhedrin when Jesus was tried, or at the Cross when He was crucified? Would we have been neutral or would we have identified ourselves with Him?||'Silence is not always golden; sometimes it is just plain yellow.'",
"Mar 20","Father, I have sinned... (Luk 15:21)||It was not until the prodigal son returned repentant that the father ran out to meet him, fell on his neck and kissed him. It would not have been righteous to administer forgiveness until first there was repentance. The scriptural principle is, '... if he repent, forgive him' (Luk 17:3).||There is no record that the father sent help to the prodigal as long as he was in the far country. Actually to have done so would have been to obstruct the work of God in the rebel's life. The Lord's goal was to bring the wayward one down to the dregs. He knew that the son had to come to the end of himself, that he would never look up until first he had hit bottom. The sooner the wanderer got to the husks, the sooner he would be ready to break. So the father had to commit his son to the Lord, and wait for the crisis of extremity.||This is one of the hardest things for parents to do--especially for mothers. The natural tendency is to bail out a rebellious son or daughter from every emergency that the Lord sends along. But all that such parents succeed in doing is hinder the Lord in His purpose and prolong the agony for the loved one.||Spurgeon once said, 'The truest love to those who err is not to fraternize with them in their error but to be faithful to Jesus in all things.' It is not love to indulge a person in his wickedness. Love rather turns the person over to the Lord and prays, 'Lord, restore him, no matter what the cost may be.'||One of the biggest mistakes David made was bringing Absalom back before there was any repentance. Before long Absalom was winning the hearts of the people and plotting a revolt against his father. Finally he drove his father from Jerusalem and was anointed king in his place. Even when he set out with his army to destroy David, the latter instructed his men to spare Absalom in the event of a confrontation. But Joab thought better of it and slew Absalom.||Parents who are willing to bear the pain of watching God reduce their son or daughter to life in a pig-pen are often spared a greater sorrow.",
"Mar 21","Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shall thou restrain.||One of the fascinating features of human history is the way in which God makes man's wrath praise Him. Ever since the Fall, man has shaken the fist against God, against His people and against His cause. Instead of judging such wrath on the spot, the Lord lets it work itself out, harnessing it for His glory and for the blessing of His people.||A group of men devised evil against their brother, selling him to a band of nomads who took him to Egypt. God raised him up to be second in power and the savior of his people. Joseph later reminded his brothers, 'You meant evil against me but God meant it for good'.||Haman's rage against the Jews resulted in his own destruction and in the exaltation of those he sought to destroy.||Three young Hebrews were thrown into a furnace of fire so hot that it consumed those who threw them in. But the Hebrews emerged unscathed and without even the smell of smoke on them. The heathen king then decreed death for anyone who said a word against the God of the Jews.||Daniel was cast into the den of lions for praying to the God of heaven. But his miraculous deliverance resulted in another decree by his pagan ruler, demanding reverence and respect for the God of Daniel.||Coming over to the New Testament era, the persecution of the church resulted in the more rapid dissemination of the Gospel. The martyrdom of Stephen had within it the seeds of Saul's conversion. The imprisonment of Paul produced four letters that became part of the Holy Bible.||Later, the ashes of John Hus were thrown into the river, and everywhere the river flowed, the Gospel followed shortly thereafter.||Men tear up the Bible and throw it to the wind, but someone picks up a random page, reads it and is gloriously saved. Men scoff at the doctrine of Christ's second coming, and thereby fulfil the prophecy that scoffers will come in the last days.||So God makes the wrath of man to praise Him--and what won't praise Him He restrains.",
"Mar 22","Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart.||One of the great desires of David's heart was to build a Temple for Jehovah in Jerusalem. The Lord sent word that he would not be permitted to build the Temple because he was a man of war, but the Lord added these significant words, 'Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart.' It seems clear from this that God counts the desire for the act when we are unable to carry out our desires for Him.||This does not apply when our failure to perform is due to our own procrastination or inaction. Here the desire is not enough. As has been said, the streets of hell are paved with good intentions.||But there are many occasions in the Christian life when we want to do something to please the Lord but are prevented by circumstances beyond our control. A young convert, for instance, desires to be baptized but is forbidden by unbelieving parents. In such a case, God counts his unbaptism for baptism until he leaves home and can obey the Lord without being insubordinate to his parents.||A Christian wife desires to attend all the meetings of the local assembly but her drunken husband insists that she stay at home. The Lord rewards both her subjection to her husband and her desire to meet with others in His Name.||An aged sister wept as she watched others serving meals at a Bible Conference. It had been her great joy to do this for many years, but now she was physically unable. As far as God is concerned she receives as rich a reward for her tears as the others do for their labors.||Who knows how many there are who have willingly offered themselves for service on the mission fields, yet they were never able to travel beyond their own hometown? God knows--and all of these holy aspirations will be rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ.||The principle also applies in the matter of giving. There are those who are already investing sacrificially in the work of the Lord and just wish they could give more. In a coming day, the divine ledger will show that they did give more.||The ill, the handicapped, the shut-ins, the aged are not cut off from first-place honors, because, 'in His mercy, God judges us, not only by our achievements, but by our dreams.'",
"Mar 23","Neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.||When David was instructed to offer burnt offerings where the Lord had stopped the pestilence, Araunah offered as an outright gift a threshing floor, oxen, and wood for the fire. But David insisted on buying these things. He would not offer to the Lord something that cost him nothing.||We know that it costs nothing to become a Christian, but we should also know that a life of genuine discipleship costs plenty. 'A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing.'||Too often the extent of our commitment is determined by considerations of convenience, cost, and comfort. Yes, we'll go to the prayer meeting if we aren't tired or if we don't have a headache. Yes, we'll teach the Bible Class as long as it doesn't conflict with a weekend in the mountains.||It makes us nervous to pray in public, to give a testimony, to preach the Gospel--therefore, we remain silent. We have no desire to help at the rescue mission for fear of picking up lice or fleas. We shut out any thought of the mission field because of a horror of snakes or spiders.||Our giving is too often a tip instead of a sacrifice. We give what we will never miss--unlike the widow who gave all. Our hospitality is determined by the measure of expense, inconvenience and mess to our homes--unlike the soul winner who said that every rug in his house has been stained by drunks throwing up on them. Our availability to people in need ceases when we lie down on our water bed--unlike the elder who was willing to be roused at any time in order to be of spiritual or material assistance.||Very often when the call of Christ comes to us, we are prone to ask ourselves, 'What's in it for me?' or 'Will it pay?' The question is rather, 'Is this an offering that really costs?' It has been well said, 'It is better in the spiritual life that things should cost than that they should pay.'||When we think of what our redemption cost our Savior, it seems a poor return that we should hold back from cost and sacrifice for Him.",
"Mar 24","Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.||We must always remember that whenever the Lord tells us to do something, He gives us the needed power. All His commands include His enablement, even when His commands are in the realm of the impossible.||Jethro said to Moses, 'If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure'. 'The principle is that God assumes full responsibility for enabling His man to fulfill every task to which He has appointed him' (J. O. Sanders).||In His ministry the Lord Jesus met at least two men who were paralyzed (,). On both occasions He told them to get up and carry their pad. As they exercised the will to obey, power flowed into their helpless limbs.||Peter sensed that if the Lord Jesus called him to come on the water, then he could walk on water. As soon as Jesus said 'Come,' Peter went down out of the ship and walked on the water.||It is doubtful that the man with the withered hand could stretch it out; yet when our Lord told him to do it, he did and the hand was restored.||The idea of feeding 5000 with a few loaves and fishes is out of the question. But whenever Jesus said to the disciples, 'Give them to eat,' the impossibility vanished.||Lazarus had lain in the grave for four days when Jesus called, 'Lazarus, come forth.' The command was accompanied by the necessary power. Lazarus came forth.||We should appropriate this truth. When God leads us, we should never cop out with the plea that we can't do it. If He tells us to do something, He will supply the power. It has been well said, 'The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God will not sustain you.'||It is equally true that when God orders something, He pays for what He orders. If we are sure of His leading, we need not worry about the finances. He will Provide.||The God who opened the Red Sea and the Jordan so that His people could pass over is the same today. He is still in the business of removing impossibilities when His people obey His will. He still supplies all needed grace to do whatever He commands. He still works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.",
"Mar 25","In the beginning God--||If we separate the first four words of from the rest of the verse, they form a sort of motto for all of life. They say, 'God first.'||We find this motto suggested in the first commandment, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' No one and nothing must take the place of the true and living God.||We find it taught in the story of Elijah and the widow who had only enough flour and oil left to make one final loaf for her son and herself. Surprisingly Elijah said, 'Make me a little loaf first.' Though this might sound like gross selfishness, it wasn't. Elijah was a representative of God. He was saying, 'Just put God first and your supply of the necessities of life will never fail.'||The Lord Jesus taught the same thing centuries later on the Mount when He said, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you'. The central priority of life is the kingdom of God and His righteousness.||Again the Savior asserted His prior claim in, 'If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.' Christ must have first place.||But how do we put God first? We have our family to care for. We have our secular employment to think of. We have a multitude of duties crying out for our time and resources. We put God first by loving Him with a love beside which all other loves are hatred in comparison. By using all material things as a trust from Him, holding onto only those things which can be used in connection with His kingdom. By giving top priority to matters of eternal consequences, remembering that even good things are sometimes enemies of the best.||Man's best interests lie in a right relationship with God. The right relationship is when God is given first place. Even when man puts God first, he will have some problems, but he will find fulfilment in life. But when he puts God second, he will have nothing but problems--and a miserable existence.",
"Mar 26","What is that to thee? follow thou me.||The Lord Jesus had just told Peter that he would live to be an old man, and then die a martyr's death. Peter immediately looked across at John and wondered out loud if John would receive preferred treatment. The Lord's reply was, 'What is that to thee? follow thou Me.'||Peter's attitude reminds us of the words of Dag Hammar-skjold: 'In spite of everything, your bitterness because others are enjoying what you are denied is always ready to flare up. At best it may lie dormant for a couple of sunny days. Yet, even at this unspeakably shabby level, it is still an expression of the real bitterness of death--the fact that others are allowed to go on living.||If we would take to heart the words of the Lord, they would solve many a problem among Christian people.||It is so easy to become resentful when we see others prospering more than we are. The Lord allows them to have a new home, a new car, a cottage by the lake.||Others whom we might consider less devoted have good health while we battle two or three chronic ailments.||That other family has fine looking children who excel in athletics and in academics. Our children are the common, garden variety.||We see other believers doing things that we don't have liberty to do. Even if the things are not sinful, we become resentful at their liberty.||Sad to say, there is a certain amount of professional jealousy among Christian workers. One preacher is offended because another is more popular, has more friends, is more in the public eye. Or another is piqued because his colleague uses methods he does not approve.||To all of these unworthy attitudes, the words of the Lord come with striking forcefulness, 'What is that to thee? follow thou me.' How the Lord deals with other Christians is really none of our business. Our responsibility is to follow Him in whatever pathway He has marked out for us.",
"Mar 27","The wind blozveth where it listeth.||The Spirit of God is sovereign. He moves as He pleases. We try to pour Him into our particular mold, but our attempts are invariably frustrated.||Most of the types of the Holy Spirit are fluid - wind, fire, oil, and water. We may try to hold these in our hands but they have a way of saying 'Don't fence me in.'||The Holy Spirit will never do anything that is morally wrong, but in other areas He reserves the right to act in exceptional and unconventional ways. For example, while it is true that God has given headship to man, we cannot say that the Holy Spirit cannot raise up a Deborah to lead God's people if He wishes.||In days of declension, the Spirit permits behavior that ordinarily would be forbidden. Thus David and his men were allowed to eat the shewbread, which was reserved exclusively for the priests. And the disciples were justified in plucking grain on the Sabbath day.||People say that there is a definite, predictable pattern of evangelism in the Book of Acts, but the only pattern I can see is the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit.||The apostles and others did not follow a textbook; they followed His leading, which was often quite different from what common sense would have dictated.||For instance, we see the Spirit leading Philip to leave a successful revival in Samaria in order to witness to a lone Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza.||In our own day, we must guard against dictating to the Holy Spirit what He can and cannot do. We know that He will never do anything that is sinful. But in other areas He can be counted on to do the extraordinary. He is not limited to a certain set of methods. He is not bound by our traditional ways of doing things. He has a way of protesting against formalism, ritualism and deadness by raising up new movements with reviving power. We should therefore be open to this sovereign working of the Holy Spirit and not be found sitting on the sidelines, criticizing.",
"Mar 28","The hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her.||Amnon burned with lust for his half-sister, Tamar. She was beautiful, and he was determined to have her. He was frustrated because he knew that what he wanted to do was clearly forbidden by the law of God. But he was so consumed by desire for her that no other considerations seemed important. So he pretended to be ill, lured her into his room and violated her. He was willing to sacrifice everything for that one moment of passion.||But then lust turned to hatred. After he had selfishly exploited her, he despised her and probably wished he had never seen her. He ordered her to be thrown out and the door locked behind her.||This vignette of history is being replayed every day. In our freewheeling society, moral standards have been largely abandoned. Premarital sex is accepted as normal. Couples live together without the formality of marriage. Prostitution is legalized. Homosexuality has become an accepted alternative life style.||Young and old alike see someone they like and that settles it. They recognize no higher law. They are bound by no inhibitions. They are determined to get what they want. They wave off any thought of right or wrong, and rationalize that they cannot live a normal life in any other way. So they take the plunge, as Amnon did, and think that they have achieved fulfilment.||But what had looked so beautiful in prospect often looks very hideous in retrospect. Guilt is inevitable, no matter how hotly it is denied. A mutual loss of self-respect leads to resentment. That in turn often boils over into quarreling and then into hatred. The person who once seemed so indispensable is now positively repulsive. From there it is an easy step to beatings, court-battles and even murder.||Lust lays a rotten foundation on which to build a lasting relationship. Men ignore God's law of purity to their own loss and destruction. Only the grace of God can bring forgiveness, healing and restoration.",
"Mar 29","No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.||The Christian has been enlisted by the Lord, and is on active service for Him. He must not entangle himself in the affairs of everyday life. The emphasis here is on the word entangle. He cannot completely divorce himself from worldly business. He must work in order to provide the necessities of life for his family. There is a certain amount of involvement in everyday interests that is unavoidable. Otherwise he would have to go out of the world, as Paul reminds us in||But he mustn't allow himself to become entangled. He must keep his priorities straight. Even things that are good in themselves can sometimes become the enemies of the best.||Wm. Kelly says that 'to entangle oneself in the businesses of life means really to give up separation from the world by taking one's part in outward affairs as a bona fide partner in it.'||I have become entangled when I become involved in the world's politics as a means of solving man's problems. That would be like spending my time 'rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.'||Or I have become entangled when I put more emphasis on social service than on the Gospel as a panacea for the world's ills.||I have become entangled when business gets such a grip on me that I give my best efforts to the making of money. In thus gaining a living, I lose a life.||I have become entangled when the kingdom of God and His righteousness cease to have first place in my life.||I have become entangled when I am caught up by things that are too small for a child of eternity--like the mineral deficiencies in the tomato and cocklebur, the summer habits of Wyoming antelope, the microbic content of cotton T-shirts, the browning reaction in potato chips or the post-rotational movements of a pigeon's eye. These studies may be all right as a means of livelihood but they aren't worthy of a life passion.",
"Mar 30","And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.||This is one of those verses that perplex us most when the going is roughest. As long as the wind blows gently, we have no trouble saying, 'Lord, I believe.' But when the storms of life arise, we say, 'Help Thou my unbelief.'||And yet we know the verse is true. God does work all things together for good. We know it because the Bible says it. Faith appropriates it, even when we cannot see or understand.||We know it is true because of the character of God. If He is a God of infinite love, of infinite wisdom and of infinite power, then it follows that He is planning and working for our highest good.||We know it is true because of the experience of God's people. In Choice Gleanings the story is told of an only survivor of a wreck who was thrown on an uninhabited island. He managed to build himself a hut, in which he placed all that he saved from the wreck. He prayed to God for deliverance and anxiously scanned the horizon each day to hail any passing ship. One day he was horrified to find his hut in flames; all he had went up in smoke. But that which seemed the worst was in reality the best. 'We saw your smoke signal,' said the captain of the ship that came to his rescue. Let us remember that if our lives are in God's hands, 'All things work together for good.'||Admittedly there are times when faith falters, when the burden seems unbearable and the darkness unendurable. We ask in our extremity, 'What good can possibly come out of this?' There is an answer. The good that God is working out is found in the next verse --that we should be 'conformed to the image of His Son.' It is as the sculptor's chisel wastes away the marble that the image of the man appears. And it is as the blows of life chip away all that is unworthy in us that we become changed into His blessed likeness. So if you cannot find any other good in the crises of life, remember this one--conformity to Christ.",
"Mar 31","Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.||In listing the qualifications of an elder, the Apostle Paul cautions against the assumption of this work by one who is young in the faith. Overseership requires the wisdom and sound judgment that come only by spiritual maturity and godly experience. Yet how often this principle is violated! A successful young businessman, politician or professional man comes into the fellowship of the local church. We feel that if we don't get him involved immediately, he might leave and go elsewhere, so we catapult him into a place of leadership. We would be better advised to follow Paul's dictum for deacons, '...let these also first be proved.'||A more glaring violation of this spiritual principle is seen in the way that newly-converted stars are publicized and glamorized in the evangelical firmament. It may be a football hero who has just come to saving faith in Christ. Some religious promoter gets a hold of him and has him billed all the way from Dan to Beersheba. As soon as word gets out that a Hollywood actress has been born again, she becomes headline news. Her opinions are sought on everything from capital punishment to premarital sex--as if conversion has given her instant wisdom on all subjects. Now it is an ex-criminal who has come to know the Lord. One fears for him as he is exploited by covetous agents who are out for a fast buck.||Says Dr. Paul Van Gorder, 'I have never been in favor of getting a sinner up from his knees and showing him off in front of a crowd. Irreparable harm has been done to the cause of Christ by parading noted figures of the entertainment, sports, and political world across the evangelical platform before sufficient time has elapsed to indicate whether the seed of the Word of God has penetrated and really taken root.'||It probably gives some Christians a boost to their religious ego when a drug addict or a politician is heralded as the latest addition to the faith. Perhaps they suffer from feelings of insecurity or inferiority, and every converted celebrity helps to boost their sagging confidence.||But these exploited heroes and heroines often become sitting ducks for the Devil's potshot. Unaware of his subtle devices, they fall into sin and bring enormous reproach on the testimony of the Lord Jesus.||We are thankful for everyone who is genuinely saved, whether famous or obscure. But we are mistaken if we think we can best advance the cause of Christ by pushing novices to the pulpit or TV camera.",
"Apr 01","...in Him you have been made complete.||Contrary to popular opinion, there are no degrees of fitness for heaven. A person is either absolutely fit or he is not fit at all. This goes counter to the common notion that at the top of God's totem pole are good, clean-living people, at the bottom are the crooks and mobsters, and in between are those with varying degrees of fitness for heaven. It is an enormous mistake. We are either fit or we aren't. There is nothing in between.||Actually none of us is fit in himself. We are all guilty sinners, deserving eternal punishment. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have all gone astray and turned to our own way. We are all unclean, and all our best works are like filthy rags.||Not only are we totally unfit for heaven, but there is nothing we can do by ourselves to make us fit. Our best resolutions and noblest endeavors cannot avail to put away our sins or to provide us with the righteousness that God demands. But the good news is that God's love provides what His righteousness demands, and He provides it as a free gift. 'It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast,'.||Fitness for heaven is found in Christ. Whenever a sinner is born again, he receives Christ. God no longer sees him as a sinner in the flesh; He sees him in Christ, and accepts him on that basis. God has made Christ to be sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (see).||So what it comes down to is this. Either we have Christ or we don't. If we have Christ, we are as fit for heaven as God can make us. Christ's fitness becomes ours. We are as worthy as He is, because we are in Him.||On the other hand, if we don't have Christ, we are as lost as we can possibly be. To be without Him is the fatal deficiency. Nothing else can ever make up for this crucial lack.||It should be clear then that no believer is any more fit for heaven than another believer. All believers have the same title to glory. That title is Christ. No believer has more of Christ than another. Therefore none is more fit for heaven than another.",
"Apr 02","For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.||While it is true, as we have seen on the previous page, that there are no degrees of fitness for heaven, it is also true that there will be degrees of reward in heaven. The Judgment Seat of Christ will be a place of review and reward where some will be rewarded more than others.||Also there will be differing capacities for enjoying the glories of heaven. Everyone will be happy but some will have greater capacity for happiness than others. Everyone's cup will be full but some will have bigger cups than others.||We must get away from the idea that we will all be exactly alike when we reach the glorified state. The Bible nowhere teaches such dull, faceless uniformity. Rather it teaches that crowns will be awarded for lives of faithfulness and devotedness, and that while some are being rewarded, others will suffer loss.||Here are two young men who are the same age and who are converted at the same time. One goes out and lives the next forty years by giving top priority to the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The other gives the best of his life to making money. The first talks enthusiastically about the things of the Lord, the second about activity in the market. The first has a greater capacity for enjoying the Lord now, and he will take that greater capacity to heaven. The second, though equally fit for heaven through the Person and work of Christ, is spiritually dwarfed, and he takes that reduced capacity to heaven.||Day by day we are determining the rewards that we will receive and the measure to which we will enjoy our eternal home. We determine it by our knowledge of the Bible and our obedience to it, by our prayer life, by our fellowship with God's people, by our service for the Lord, and by our faithful stewardship of all that God has given to us. As soon as we realize that we are building for eternity with every passing day, it should have a profound effect on the choices we make and the priorities we set.",
"Apr 03","...as (a man) thinketh in his heart, so is he.||A. P. Gibbs used to say, 'You are not what you think you are, but what you think--this is what you are.' This means that the mind is the spring from which behavior flows. Control the source and you control the stream that flows from it.||Therefore control of the thought-life is basic. That is why Solomon said, 'Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life' Here the heart is used as a synonym for the mind.||James reminds us that sin begins in the mind. If we think about a thing long enough, eventually we'll do it.||Sow a thought and reap an act.||Sow an act and reap a habit.||Sow a habit and reap a character.||Sow a character and reap a destiny.||The Lord Jesus emphasized the importance of the thought-life by equating hatred with murder and by equating the lustful look with adultery. He also taught that it's not what a man eats that defiles him but what he thinks (Mar 7:14-23).||We are responsible for what we think because we have the power to control it. We can think about lewd, suggestive things or we can think about what is pure and Christlike. Each one of us is like a king. The empire that we rule over is our thought-life. That empire has tremendous potential for good and enormous potential for evil. We are the ones who determine which it will be.||Here are some positive suggestions as to what we can do. First, take the whole matter to the Lord in prayer, saying 'Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me'. Second, judge every thought by how it appears in the presence of Christ. Third, confess every evil thought instantly and expel it. Next, avoid having a blank, empty mind. Fill it with positive, worthy thoughts. Fifth, exercise discipline over what you read, see, and hear. You cannot expect a pure thought life if you feed on filth and pollution. Finally, keep busy for the Lord. It's when you shift your mind into neutral that vile fantasies seek admission.",
"Apr 04","Through faith we understand...||'Through faith we understand...' These words embody one of the most basic principles of spiritual life. We believe God's Word first, then we understand. The world says, 'Seeing is believing;' God says, 'Believing is seeing.' The Lord Jesus said to Martha, 'Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see...'. Later He said to Thomas, '...blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed'. And the Apostle John wrote, 'These things have I written unto you that believe...that ye may know...'. Believe first, then you'll know.||Billy Graham tells how this principle came alive in his life: 'In 1949 I had been having a great many doubts concerning the Bible. I thought I saw apparent contradictions in Scriptures. Some things I could not reconcile with my restricted concept of God. When I stood up to preach, the authoritative note so characteristic of all great preachers of the past was lacking. Like hundreds of other seminary students, I was waging the intellectual battle of my life. The outcome could certainly affect my future ministry.||'In August of that year I had been invited to Forest Home, Presbyterian conference center high in the mountains outside Los Angeles. I remember walking down a trail, tramping into the woods, and almost wrestling with God. I dueled with my doubts, and my soul seemed to be caught in the crossfire. Finally, in desperation, I surrendered my will to the living God revealed in Scripture. I knelt before the open Bible and said, 'Lord, many things in this book I do not understand. But thou hast said, ''The just shall live by faith.'' All I have received from Thee, I have taken by faith. Here and now, by faith, I accept the Bible as Thy Word. I take it all. I take it without reservations. Where there are things I cannot understand, I will reserve judgment until I receive more light. If this pleases Thee, give me authority as I proclaim Thy Word, and through that authority convict men of sin and turn sinners to the Saviour!||'Within six weeks we started our Los Angeles crusade, which is now history. During that crusade I discovered the secret that changed my ministry. I stopped trying to prove that the Bible was true. I had settled in my own mind that it was and this faith was conveyed to the audience.'",
"Apr 05","And be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.||There is a definite order to be followed in connection with Scriptural forgiveness. If we would follow this order we would save ourselves a lot of headaches and heartaches.||The first thing to do when you have been wronged is to forgive that person in your heart. You don't tell him yet that he has been forgiven, but by forgiving him in your heart, you leave the matter between the Lord and him. This prevents your gastric juices from turning into sulphuric acid, and saves you from other horrible physical and emotional disorders.||Next you go to the brother and rebuke him (Luk 17:3). Instead of blabbing to others about how you have been wronged, 'Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone'. Try to contain the problem as much as possible, that is, try to keep it as private as you can.||If he does not confess and ask forgiveness, then go to him with one or two witnesses. This provides adequate Scriptural testimony as to the offender's attitude.||If he is still unbending, then you take the matter to the assembly, accompanied by the witnesses. If he refuses to listen to the judgment of the assembly, then, of course, he is dis-fellowshiped.||But if at any point during this process, he repents, then you forgive him (Luk 17:3). You have already forgiven him in your heart, but now you administer forgiveness to him. Here it is important not to gloss over the matter. Don't say 'Oh that's alright. You really didn't do anything wrong.' Rather say, 'I very gladly forgive you. Now the whole matter is closed. Let's get down and pray together.'||The shame of having to confess and repent may deter him from wronging you again. But even if he repeats his sin and then repents, you must forgive him. Even if he does it seven times in one day and repents seven times, you must forgive him--whether you think he's sincere or not (Luk 17:4).||We must never forget that we have been forgiven millions. We must not hesitate to forgive others for what amounts to a few dollars, figuratively speaking.",
"Apr 06","If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.||Today's English Version translates the first part of this verse, 'Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know...' It is a wonderful promise that if a person sincerely desires to know, God will show him.||When a sinner has come to the end of himself and when he prays in deep extremity, 'Oh God, reveal Yourself to me,' God always does. It is a prayer that never goes unanswered.||A hippie, living in a cave in the Southwest, was ready to end it all. He had sought satisfaction in liquor, drugs, sex, and the occult. But still his life was empty, empty, empty. He could see no way out of his misery. Huddled in the cave one day, he cried out, 'Oh God--if there is a God--reveal yourself to me, or I'm going to end my life.'||Within ten minutes, a young Christian, who 'just happened' to be passing, stuck his head in the mouth of the cave, saw the hermit-hippie and said, 'Hi, mind if I speak to you about Jesus?'||You know what happened! The hippie listened to the good news of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to the Savior and found forgiveness, acceptance and new life. He had prayed out of the depths; God heard and answered. I have never heard of anyone who prayed like that without having a special revelation of the Lord to his soul.||Of course, the promise is true to Christians as well. If a man sincerely desires to know what the will of God for his life is, God will show it to him. If he wants to know the proper pathway as far as church fellowship is concerned, God will make it known. No matter what the need may be, God is committed to meet it, if we want His will supremely. The thing that stands between us and a true knowledge of God's mind is our own lack of desperate desire.",
"Apr 07","But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.||Paul's letter to the Philippians was really an acknowledgment of a gift which he had received from the believers at Philippi. We are probably safe in assuming that it was a gift of money. The surprising thing is the way in which the apostle magnifies the gift. He calls it 'an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.' In He uses a similar expression to describe Christ's great gift of Himself at Calvary. He speaks of it as 'an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.' It is breathtaking to think that a gift given to a servant of the Lord should be memorialized with language similar to that which describes the Unspeakable Gift.||J. H. Jowett comments finely on this point. 'How vast, then, is the range of an apparently local kindness! We thought we were ministering to a pauper, and in reality we were conversing with the King. We imagined that the fragrance would be shut up in a petty neighborhood, and lo, the sweet aroma steals through the universe. We thought that we were dealing only with Paul, and we find that we were ministering to Paul's Savior and Lord.' When we understand the true spiritual nature of Christian giving and the vast range of its influence, we are delivered from giving grudgingly or of necessity. We are immune forever to the gimmickry of professional fund-raisers who extort by cajolery, pathos or comedy. We see that giving is a form of priestly service, not a legal enaction. We give because we love, and we love to give.||The truth that my minuscule gifts to the Great God fill the throne room of the universe with fragrance should inspire me to humble worship and hilarious giving. Never again will the offering on Sunday morning be a boring, if necessary, part of the service. It will be as truly a means of giving directly to the Lord Jesus as if He were bodily present.",
"Apr 08","For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. (a NASB)||A Christian university student was witnessing to another student who was from a liberal seminary. When the believer quoted a verse, the seminarian said, 'I don't believe the Bible.' The Christian quoted another verse, only to be met with 'I told you I don't believe the Bible.' The third time the Christian quoted a verse the seminarian became agitated and exploded, 'Don't quote the Bible to me. I've already told you I don't believe it.' By then the believer felt completely frustrated and defeated. He figured that he was a total failure as a soul winner.||It so happened that Dr. H. A. Ironside was a guest at his home that night. At the supper table, the Christian student shared his disappointing experience about the seminarian. Then he asked Dr. Ironside, 'When you are trying to witness to someone and he says to you, 'I don't believe the Bible,' what do you do?' Dr. Ironside replied with a happy smile, 'I just quote more of it.'||That is excellent advice for any would-be soul winners. When people say they don't believe the Bible, just quote more of it. The Word of God is living and powerful. It has an effect on people even when they don't believe it.||Suppose two men are dueling. One says to the other, 'I don't believe your sword is real steel.' What happens? Does the second man lay down his sword and admit defeat? Or does he give a scientific discourse on the carbon content and malleability of the metal? Ridiculous! He gives his opponent a good sharp jab and lets him feel how real the sword is. So it is with the Bible. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. It needs to be used more than it needs to be defended. It is well able to defend itself.||I do not deny that there is a place for proofs of the inspiration of the Scriptures. Such proofs serve a valuable purpose in confirming the faith of those who are already saved. In a few cases they help people come to saving faith. But generally speaking people aren't convinced by human reasonings or arguments. 'A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.' Men need to be confronted with the powerful Word of God. A single verse of Scripture is worth a thousand arguments.||This highlights the importance of Scripture memorization. If I haven't committed verses to memory, the Spirit will not be able to bring them forth at the appropriate time. But the main point is that God has not promised to honor my words, but He has promised to honor His own. So in dealing with the unsaved, I must use the sword of the Spirit generously and watch it produce conviction and conversion by a miracle of grace.",
"Apr 09","...he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. (b)||I once saw a lamb die. It was a most moving, most awful sight.||As it was brought to the place of execution, it looked especially lovable. Children would have loved to cuddle it. The young of every species are darling--kittens, puppies, chicks, calves and colts--but a lamb is especially appealing.||As it stood there, it was a picture of innocence. Its white fleece, without blemish, gave the appearance of purity. It was gentle and mild, helpless and defenseless. It's eyes were especially expressive; they spoke of fear, of pathos and poignancy. There seemed to be no reason why anything so young, so beautiful should have to die.||Now the legs were tied and the pathetic lamb was lying on its side, breathing heavily, as if aware of impending death. With one deft motion, the butcher moved the knife across the throat. The blood poured out over the ground. The little body was convulsed by the death throes, then shortly it lay still. The gentle lamb had died.||Some of the spectators had turned away from the sight; it was too sad to watch. Others were wiping away the tears. No one wanted to speak.||By faith I see another Lamb dying--the Lamb of God. It is a most blessed, most awful sight.||This Lamb is altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand, the fairest of the fair. As He is brought to the place of execution, He is in the prime of life.||He is not only innocent--He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, without spot and without blemish. There seems no reason why anyone so pure should ever be put to death.||But the executioners take Him and nail Him to the Cross, hands and feet. There He suffers the concentrated torments and horrors of hell as a Substitute for sinners. Through it all His eyes are filled with love and forgiveness.||Now His suffering time is ended. He dismisses His spirit and His body hangs limp on the Cross. A soldier pierces His side and out gushes blood and water. The Lamb of God has died.||My heart is filled. Scalding tears flow freely. I fall to my knees and thank Him and praise Him! Just to think--He died for me! I will never cease to love Him.",
"Apr 10","...ye need not that any man teach you.||At first glance this verse poses problems. If we don't need anyone to teach us, why did the risen Lord give teachers to build up the saints for the work of ministering ?||In order to understand John's meaning, it helps to know the background of his letter. At the time he wrote, the church was being plagued by false teachers known as Gnostics. These heretics had once professed to be sincere believers in the Lord Jesus and had been in the fellowship of local assemblies. But then they had left to push their false views concerning the humanity and deity of Christ.||They professed to have superior knowledge, hence the name Gnostic, from the Greek word gnosis--'to know.' They probably said something like this to the Christians: 'What you have is good, but we have additional truth. We can take you beyond the simple teachings and initiate you into new and deeper mysteries. If you are going to be full-grown and fulfilled, you need our teachings.'||But John warns the Christians that it is all a hoax. They don't need any of these imposters to teach them. They have the Holy Spirit. They have the Word of truth. And they have God-ordained teachers. The Holy Spirit enables them to discern between truth and error. The Christian faith has been once for all delivered to the saints, and anything that claims to be in addition to it is fraudulent. Christian teachers are needed to explain and apply the Scriptures, but they must never transgress by going beyond the Scriptures.||John would be the last one to deny the need for teachers in the Church. He himself was a teacher par excellence. But he would be the first one to insist that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate authority, and that He leads His people into all truth through the pages of Holy Writ. All teaching must be tested by the Bible. If it professes to be in addition to the Bible, if it claims equal authority with the Bible, or if it does not agree with the Bible, then it must be rejected.",
"Apr 11","And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. ||The Lord Jesus had no sooner risen from the dead when His enemies began to fabricate an alibi to explain away the miracle. The best falsehood that they could concoct at that time was that the disciples came by night and stole the body. (The swoon theory, suggesting that Jesus did not really die but only swooned, didn't surface till centuries later.) Unfortunately for the theft theory, as for all the other theories, it raises more questions than it answers. For example:||Why didn't the chief priests and elders question the original report of the guards concerning the empty tomb? They accepted it as true and hastened to devise an explanation as to how it had happened.||Why were the soldiers sleeping when they should have been on watch? The Roman penalty for sleeping on duty was death. Yet they were promised immunity from punishment. Why?||How could all the soldiers have fallen asleep at the same time? It taxes credulity to think they would all have risked death for a time of sleep.||How could the disciples have rolled the stone without waking the guards? The stone was large and could not be moved noiselessly.||How could the disciples have moved the stone at all? In a typical Herodian-style tomb, the stone was rolled till it fell down into a lower slot. It was easier to seal such a tomb than it was to open it. Besides, the tomb had been made as 'sure' as the Roman authorities were able to make it.||Is it likely that the disciples, recently so fearful that they fled for their lives, would have the courage to face the Roman guards and rob the sepulcher? They would know that such an offense was punishable by a severe sentence.||If the soldiers were all asleep, how did they know that the disciples had stolen the body?||If the disciples stole the body, why did they take time to remove the graveclothes and fold the napkin? (;). Why would the disciples want to steal the body?||There was no reason. Actually they were surprised and incredulous when they learned He had risen.||Finally, would the disciples, honorable men that they were, go forth and preach the resurrection at great personal risk if they knew it was a lie? Paul Little said, 'Men do not die for what they know is a lie.' They sincerely believed that Jesus has risen. The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!",
"Apr 12","If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches.||Unrighteous mammon here refers to earthly riches or material treasures. No illusion is more prevalent than that the man who has a lot of material possessions is rich. We speak of houses and land as real estate because we think they are real wealth. We speak of stocks and bonds as securities because we think they provide security.||But in the Lord distinguishes between the unrighteous mammon and true riches. The things men think are wealth aren't wealth at all.||John was a godly Christian who served as caretaker for a wealthy aristocrat's estate. One night John had a vivid dream in which he was told that the richest man in the valley would die before midnight the following evening. When John met his employer the next morning, he shared the dream with him. At first the millionaire pretended to be completely unconcerned. He never felt better. And he didn't believe in dreams anyway.||But as soon as John left, he called his chauffeur to drive him to the doctor's office. He told the doctor he wanted a complete physical checkup. As expected, the tests revealed that he was in splendid condition. And yet he was still worried about John's dream, so as he was leaving the doctor's office, he said, 'By the way, Doctor, could you come to my house for supper tonight and for a visit afterwards.' The doctor agreed to come.||The supper went on routinely and they talked over a wide range of subjects. Several times the doctor made a start to leave, but each time the host prevailed upon him to stay a little longer.||Finally when the clock struck midnight, the godless rich man, greatly relieved, said goodnight to the doctor.||A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. When the gentleman opened the door, the adult daughter of old John stood there and said, 'Please, sir, my mother wanted to let you know that my father had a heart attack and died a little while ago.'||The richest man in the valley had died that night.",
"Apr 13","Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.||One of the great tests of Christian behavior is whether there is any glory for God in it. Too often we test our conduct by the question, 'Is there any harm in it?' But that is not the question. What we must ask is this: 'Is there any glory for God in it?'||Before engaging in any activity, we should be able to bow our head and ask the Lord to glorify Himself in what we are about to do. If God cannot be honored by it, then we should refrain from doing it.||Other religions might be satisfied with behavior that has the absence of harm in it. Christianity moves beyond the merely negative to the distinctly positive. Therefore, as Keith L. Brooks said, 'If you would be a successful Christian, stop hunting for the harm there is in things, and start looking for the good. If you want your life to be happy, cast your lot among those persons who are asking for the 'good' and not the 'harm' there is in it.'||Things might be harmless in themselves and yet be a dead weight in the Christian race. There is no law against an Olympic runner's toting a sack of potatoes in the 1500 meter race. He can carry the spuds but he can't win the race. So it is with the Christian. Things may be harmless and yet be a hindrance.||But usually when we ask 'Is there any harm in it?' our question betrays a hidden doubt. We don't ask that about activities that are legitimate on the face of them--such as prayer, Bible study, worship, witness and our daily work.||Incidentally, any honorable work can be done to the glory of God. That is why some housewives have this motto over their kitchen sink: 'Divine services conducted here three times daily.'||Whenever in doubt, we could follow this advice from John Wesley's mother; 'If you wish to determine the lawfulness of a pleasure, follow this rule: Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away the relish of spiritual things; whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin.'",
"Apr 14","...whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.||What is true greatness?||In the kingdom of this world, the great man is the one who has risen to a place of wealth and power. He has a retinue of aides and assistants, conditioned to follow his orders. He is accorded V.I.P. treatment and receives special favors wherever he goes. People regard him with respect and awe because of his rank. He never has to stoop to anything menial; there are always others to do that for him.||But in the Kingdom of our Lord, things are quite different. Here greatness is measured by the extent to which we serve rather than the extent to which we are served. The great man is the one who stoops to become a slave for others. No service is too menial. He does not expect any special treatment or thanks. When one of George Washington's men saw him performing a menial service, he objected, saying, 'General, you are too big a man to be doing that.' Washington replied, 'Oh, no, I'm just the right size.'||Commenting on, Roy Hession reminds us that 'there are five marks of the bondslave: (1) He must be willing to have one thing on top of another put on him, without any consideration being given to him. (2) In doing this, he must be willing not to be thanked for it. (3) Having done all this, he must not charge the master with selfishness. (4) He must confess that he is an unprofitable servant. (5) He must admit that doing and bearing what he has in the way of meekness and humility, he has not done one stitch more than it was his duty to do.'||When our Lord left the heights of glory to become a Man on this planet, he 'took upon him the form of a servant'. He was among us as One who serves. He said, 'The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many'. He girded Himself with a towel, the apron of a slave, and washed His disciples' feet.||'The servant is not greater than his lord'. If He stooped so low to serve us, why should we think it beneath our dignity to serve others?||Wast Thou, Savior, meek and lowly,||And will such a worm as I,||Weak and sinful and unholy||Dare to lift my head on high?",
"Apr 15","...by love serve one another.||Someone has said, 'Self thinks itself great and is served. Love serves and is great.'||A popular Gospel singer witnessed to the man sitting next to him in a restaurant and had the joy of leading him to Christ. In the weeks that followed, he discipled this new convert. Then Fred, the new believer, was stricken with inoperable cancer and was taken to a convalescent hospital where, unfortunately, care was below standard. The Gospel singer, a radio celebrity, visited faithfully, changed the bed, bathed and fed his 'Timothy', and did many other things that the staff should have been doing. On the night Fred died, this well-known singer was holding him in his arms, whispering comforting verses of Scripture into his ear. '...by love serve one another.'||A senior instructor at a Bible School often found the men's room awash after the morning rush. He would patiently clean the fixtures, then get down and wipe the floor dry. Not all his best teaching was done in the classroom. The students were humbled and inspired by the example of their respected teacher cleaning up after them. '...by love serve one another.'||In that same Bible School, a member of the basketball team had the heart of a true servant. After a game, when all the players would rush down to be first in the showers, he would stay in the gym and see that it was set in order for the next day. He 'found in the selfishness of others an opportunity to identify himself afresh with the Lord as the servant of all.' '...by love serve one another.'||A Christian mother from rural Turkey was taken to London to donate a kidney for her ailing son. She assumed that to give a kidney would cost her life. When the English doctor asked if she was sure she was willing to give a kidney to her son, she replied, 'I am willing to give two kidneys.' '...by love serve one another.'||In a world dominated largely by self-interest, the pathway of selfless, sacrificial service is not overcrowded. Opportunities beckon throughout every day for innovative acts of servanthood.",
"Apr 16","...as dying, and, behold, we live.||The Bible is full of paradoxes, that is, truths that seem contrary to what we would normally suppose or truths that seem to contradict one another. G. K. Chesterton maintained that paradox is truth standing on its head to attract attention. Here are a few of the paradoxes trying to attract our attention.||We save our lives by losing them; we lose our lives by loving them.||We are strong when we are weak, and powerless in our own strength.||We find perfect freedom in being Christ's slave, and bondage when we are free from His yoke.||We find more joy in sharing what we have than we do in getting more. Or, in the words of our Lord, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'.||We increase what we have through scattering it, and experience poverty through hoarding it.||We have a new nature that cannot sin, yet everything we do is stained by sin.||We conquer by yielding and experience defeat by fighting (c).||We are abased when we exalt ourselves, but He exalts us when we abase ourselves (Luk 14:11).||We are enlarged by pressure (JND) and shrunk by prosperity.||We can possess all things, yet have nothing; we can be poor, yet make many rich.||When we are wise (in man's view) then we are fools (in God's sight), but when we are fools for Christ's sake, then we are truly wise.||The life of faith brings freedom from care and anxiety; the life of sight brings fear of loss through moths, rust and thieves.||The poet sees the Christian life as paradox from start to finish:||How strange is the course that a person must steer,||How perplexed is the path he must tread;||The hope of his happiness rises from fear,||And his life he receives from the dead.||His fairest pretensions must wholly be waived,||And his best resolutions be crossed;||Nor can he expect to be perfectly saved||Till he finds himself utterly lost.||When all this is done, and his heart is assured||Of the total remission of sins;||When his pardon is signed and his peace is procured,||From that moment his conflict begins. (Selected).",
"Apr 17","...you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. (RSV)||The Lord Jesus warned His disciples against high-sounding titles that cater to the ego and put self in the place of the Trinity. God is our Father, Christ is our Master, the Holy Spirit is our Teacher. We should not arrogate these titles to ourselves in the assembly. In the world, of course, we have an earthly father, in our work we have a master or employer, and in school we have teachers. But in the spiritual realm, the members of the Godhead fill these roles and should be honored exclusively as such.||God is our Father in the sense that He is the Giver of life. Christ is our Master because we belong to Him and are subject to His direction. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher because He is the Author and Interpreter of Scripture; all our teaching must be guided by Him.||How strange, then, that churches perpetuate honorific titles just as if Christ had never warned against them. Priests and ministers are still called Father and Padre and are sometimes referred to as Dominie, meaning Lord. Clergymen regularly use the title 'Reverend,' a word that is used in the Bible only of God (see, '...reverend and holy is his name.') The title 'Doctor' comes from the Latin docere, to teach. So doctor means teacher. The degree, whether earned or honorary, may come from an institution that is a pesthouse of infidelity rather than a bulwark of the Christian faith. Yet when a man is introduced as 'Doctor' in the assembly, the implication is that his words have added authority because of his degree. This, of course, is completely unfounded. A hunchbacked garbage collector, filled with the Holy Spirit, may speak more truly as an oracle of God.||There is a place for titles in the so-called secular world. The principle that applies in that sphere is 'Render therefore to all their dues: ...honour to whom honour'. But the principle that applies in the assembly is laid down by the Lord in the words, '...you are all brethren' (RSV).",
"Apr 18","For now we see through a glass, darkly...||At few times in our Christian experience is this so evident as when we come to the Lord's Table to remember Him in His death for us. 'We see through a glass, darkly.'||There seems to be a thick, impenetrable veil. We are on one side of it with all our finite limitations. On the other side is the whole great drama of our redemption--Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Gabbatha, Calvary, the empty tomb, the exalted Christ at God's right hand. We realize that there is something enormously vast there, and we try to take it in, but feel more like clods than like living beings.||We try to comprehend the Savior's sufferings for our sins. Our minds strain to take in the horror of His being forsaken by God. We know that He endured the torment that we should have endured for all eternity. Yet we are frustrated to realize that there is so much more beyond. We are standing at the edge of an unexplored sea!||We think of the love that sent Heaven's best for earth's worst. We are moved when we remember that God sent His only-begotten Son into this jungle of sin to seek and to save that which was lost. But we are dealing with a love that passes knowledge. We can know only in part.||We sing of the grace of the Savior, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich. It is enough to make angels gasp. Our eyes strain to see the vast dimensions of such grace. But it is in vain. We are limited by our human shortsightedness.||We know that we should be overcome by the contemplation of His sacrifice at Calvary, but we are too often strangely unmoved. If we really entered in to what lies beyond the veil, we would be reduced to tears. Yet we have to confess...||Oh, wonder to myself I am,||Thou loving, bleeding, dying Lamb,||That I can scan the mystery o'er||And not be moved to love thee more.||Or, in the words of another, we must ask:||Am I a stone, and not a man, that I can stand||O Christ, beneath Thy cross,||And number drop by drop,||Thy blood's slow loss,||And yet not weep?||Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, our eyes are beholden. We long with burning desire for the time when the veil will be removed and when we will see with better vision the awesome meaning of the broken bread and the outpoured wine.",
"Apr 19","These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.||Some of us will be eternally thankful to God for this verse because it taught us that assurance of salvation comes first and foremost through the Word of God and not through feelings. The Bible was written, among other reasons, so that those who believe on the Name of the Son of God can know that they have eternal life.||We can be thankful that assurance does not come through feelings, because they fluctuate with every passing day. 'God does not ask the soul to say, 'Thank God I feel so good,' but turns the eye another way, to Jesus and His Word.' When someone once asked Martin Luther, 'Do you feel that your sins have been forgiven?' he replied, 'No, but I'm as sure of it as that there's a God in heaven. For feelings come and feelings go And feelings are deceiving My warrant is the Word of God Naught else is worth believing.' C. I. Scofield reminds us that 'justification takes place in the mind of God and not in the nervous system of the believer.' H. A. Ironside used to say, 'I don't know I am saved because I feel happy, but I feel happy because I know I am saved.' And he knew he was saved by the written Word of God.||When we read that the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, we must remember that the Spirit witnesses to us primarily through the Scriptures. We read, for instance, 'He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.' We know that we have trusted in Christ for our eternal salvation; He is our only hope for heaven. The Spirit of God therefore witnesses to us through this verse that we are sons of God.||Of course, there are other means of assurance. We know we are saved because we love the brethren; because we hate sin and practice righteousness; because we love the Word of God; and because we have the instinct of prayer. But the first and fundamental means of assurance is the surest, most dependable thing in the universe, the Word of God. George Cutting said it well in his memorable tract Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment: 'It's the blood that makes us safe; it's the Word that makes us sure.'",
"Apr 20","If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.||When a person gets grounded early in the doctrine of grace, he saves himself from a host of problems in later life. It is so basic to understand that salvation is a free gift of God's grace and that it is given to those who not only do not deserve it but who in fact deserve the very opposite. There is nothing meritorious a person can do or become to earn eternal life. It is given to those who abandon any thoughts of personal worthiness but who rest their case on the worthiness of the Savior alone.||If we see that salvation is all of grace, then we can have full assurance. We can know that we are saved. If salvation depended in the slightest degree on ourselves and our miserable attainments, then we could never know for sure. We wouldn't know whether we had done enough good works or the right kind. But when it depends on the work of Christ, then there doesn't have to be any nagging doubt.||The same is true of our eternal security. If our continued safety somehow depended on our own ability to hold out, then we might be saved today and lost tomorrow. But as long as our safety depends on the Savior's ability to keep us, we can know we are eternally secure.||Those who live under grace are not helpless pawns of sin. Sin does have dominion over those under law because the law tells them what to do but doesn't give them the power to do it. Grace gives a person a perfect standing before God, teaches him to walk worthy of his calling, enables him to do it by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and rewards him for doing it.||Under grace, service becomes a joyful privilege, not a legal bondage. The believer is motivated by love, not by fear. The memory of what the Savior suffered to provide salvation inspires the saved sinner to pour out his life in devoted service.||Grace also enriches life by inspiring thanksgiving, worship, praise and adoration. The knowledge of who the Savior is, of what sinners we are by nature and by practice, and of all He has done for us causes our hearts to overflow in loving adoration to Him.||There's nothing like the grace of God. It's the crown jewel of all His attributes. Get grounded in the truth of the sovereign grace of God and it will transfigure all of life.",
"Apr 21","The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. (Luk 6:40)||In this passage the Lord Jesus was reminding the Twelve that when they went out to disciple others, they could not expect their disciples to progress further in the spiritual life than they themselves had attained. In other words, the extent of our positive influence on others is limited by what we ourselves are. Or as O. L. Clark said:||You cannot teach what you do not know;||You cannot lead where you do not go.||The Savior went on to reinforce the lesson by the story of the mote and the beam. A man is walking by a threshingfloor when a sudden gust of wind lands a tiny speck of chaff squarely in his eye. He rubs it, pulls the top lid down over the bottom one, and tries all the wellmeaning advice of his friends as to how to get the mote out of his eye. Then I come along with a telephone pole jutting out of my eye and say to him, 'Here, my dear friend, let me help you get that atom out of your eye.' With his head at an angle, he looks up at me with his remaining good eye and says, 'Don't you think you ought to take the pole out of your own eye first?'||Of course! I can't help someone who is struggling with a besetting sin if I am even more shackled by that particular sin. I can't press on him obedience to some plain command of Scripture if I have not obeyed it myself. Any spiritual failure in my life seals my lips in that particular area.||When my disciple has become perfect, that is, when I have finished training him, I cannot expect him to be one centimeter above my own spiritual stature. He may progress up to my height, but I cannot lead him beyond it.||All of which emphasizes afresh that we must take heed to ourselves. Our ministry is to be a ministry of character. It's what's inside that counts. We may be eloquent, clever, and fast-talking but if there are blind-spots in our lives, areas of neglect and disobedience, then our discipling of others is a case of the blind leading the blind.",
"Apr 22","If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.||This favorite Gospel verse zeroes in on the two basic truths that are so hard for fallen man to accept--the incarnation and the resurrection. There can be no salvation without accepting these doctrines and all that they signify.||First we must confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, that is, that the One who was born in Bethlehem's stable is none other than God manifest in the flesh. The deity of the Lord Jesus is essential to the whole plan of salvation.||Second, we must believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead. But this means more than the simple fact of the resurrection. It includes the fact that the Lord Jesus died on the Cross as our Substitute. He paid the penalty that our sins deserved. He endured the wrath of God that we should have endured eternally. Then on the third day God raised Him from the dead as a proof of God's entire satisfaction with Christ's sacrifice for our sins.||When we receive Him as Lord and Savior, the Bible says that we are saved.||But someone may ask, 'Why is confession put before believing? Don't we believe first and then confess?'||In verse 9 Paul is emphasizing the incarnation and the resurrection, and he gives the historical order in which they occurred - the incarnation first and the resurrection thirty-three years later.||In the next verse he puts believing before confessing. 'For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' Here the order is that which takes place when we are born again. First, we trust the Savior and are justified. Then we go out to confess the salvation which we have already received.||Our verse has an artless simplicity and perennial freshness about it. No wonder the children sing:||Romans ten and nine||Is a fav'rite verse of mine;||Confessing Christ as Lord,||I am saved by grace divine;||For there the words of promise||In golden letters shine:||Romans ten and nine.",
"Apr 23","Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.||We learn first from this verse that Christ is the gathering center for His people. We don't gather to a denomination, a church, a building or a great preacher but Christ alone. 'Unto him shall the gathering of the people be'. 'Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice'.||A second lesson is that we must go to Him outside the camp. The camp here has been defined as 'the whole earthly religious system adapted to the natural man.' It is the religious sphere in which Christ is dishonored or downgraded. It is the pagan monstrosity that masquerades today as Christianity, 'having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.' Christ is outside, and we must go out to Him.||We also learn that meeting to Christ alone outside the camp involves reproach. It seldom occurs to Christians that there is reproach connected with obedience to the Lord in the matter of church fellowship. More often church associations carry a measure of prestige and status. But the closer we get to the New Testament ideal, the more likely it is that we will have to share His reproach. Are we willing to pay that price?||He called me out, the Man with garments dyed,||I knew His voice--my Lord, the crucified;||He showed Himself, and oh, I could not stay,||I had to follow Him--had to obey.||It cast me out--this world when once it found||That I within this rebel heart had crowned||The Man it had rejected, spurned and slain,||Whom God in wondrous power had raised to reign.||And so we are without the camp, my Lord and I,||But oh, His presence sweeter is than any earthly tie||Which once I counted greater than His claim;||I'm out, not only from the world, but to His Name.||Selected",
"Apr 24","If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.||In this verse, the temple of God refers to the local assembly. Paul is not speaking to individual Christians but to believers collectively when he says 'which temple ye (plural) are.' The saints in Corinth comprised a temple of God.||It is also true, of course, that individual believers are a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle brings this out in : 'What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?' The Holy Spirit of God dwells in the body of every child of God.||But in our text for today it is the assembly that is in view. Paul is saying that if any man destroys the assembly, God will destroy him. It is the same word that is translated 'defile' and 'destroy' in this verse. It is used of marring a local church by leading it away from that condition of holiness of life and purity of doctrine in which it should abide, and of God's retributive destruction of the offender who is guilty of this sin' (W. E. Vine).||So our verse warns us that it is a serious thing to tamper with a local fellowship. In fact, it is a form of self-destruction. Yet how diffident people often are in this very area. Here is a man who doesn't get his own way in the assembly. Or he becomes involved in a violent personality clash with some other brother. Rather than make things right in a Scriptural manner, he lines up people to take his side and forms a faction in the church. Things go from bad to worse and soon there is an open split.||Or perhaps it is a carnal sister who carries on a campaign of gossip and back-biting against someone else. Her slanderous tongue lashes out until the church is filled with bitterness and strife. She will not stop until a once-prosperous assembly lies in ruins.||People like this are playing a perilous game. They cannot get away with it. The Great God of the universe is committed to wreck those who wreck His assembly. Let all who are inclined to faction beware!",
"Apr 25","But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.||It is generally understood that Paul here borrows a figure from the victory parade of a military leader just returned from a foreign conquest. The general is at the head of the parade, savoring the sweet satisfaction of victory. Behind him are his jubilant troops. Then behind them are the prisoners-of-war, slated for punishment, perhaps death. All along the parade route are incense burners, filling the air with aroma. But the aroma means different things to different people, depending on whose side they are on. To those who are loyal to the commander in chief, it is the fragrance of victory. To the captives, however, it is an omen of defeat and retribution.||The pathway of a servant of the Lord parallels this picture in several respects. The Lord always leads him in triumph. Though it might not always seem like victory, the fact is that he is on the winning side and God's cause can never fail.||Everywhere he goes, he carries the aroma of Christ with him. But this aroma means different things to different people. To those who bow to the Lord Jesus, it is the scent of everlasting life. To those who refuse the Gospel, on the other hand, it is the smell of death and destruction.||But in both cases God is glorified. He is glorified in the salvation of the repentant, and he is also vindicated in the refusal of those who are perishing. When the latter stand before Christ, at the Judgment of the Great White Throne, they will not be able to blame God for their plight. They had the opportunity to be saved but refused it.||We generally judge the effectiveness of Christian service by how many people are saved. Perhaps there is a suggestion in this passage that it would be equally valid to judge it by how many people, after receiving a clear presentation of the Gospel, reject it and plunge into hell.||God is glorified in both cases. To Him there is the sweet incense of grace in the first instance and of justice in the second.||Solemn issues! No wonder the Apostle asks, in closing, 'Who is sufficient for these things?'",
"Apr 26","Thou shalt never wash my feet.||The Lord Jesus had just girded Himself with a towel and filled a basin with water, preparatory to washing the disciples' feet. When He came to Peter, He met this emphatic refusal, 'Thou shalt never wash my feet.'||Why? Why didn't Peter want to submit to this gracious ministry from the Lord? On the one hand, there may have been a sense of unworthiness; he did not consider himself worthy to be served by the Lord. But there is also the real possibility that Peter's attitude was one of pride and independence. He did not want to be on the receiving end. He did not want to be dependent on others for help.||This same attitude keeps many people from being saved. They want to earn salvation or deserve it, but to receive it as a free gift of grace is beneath their dignity. They don't want to feel indebted to God. But 'no one who is too proud to be infinitely in debt will ever be a Christian' (James S. Stewart).||There is also a lesson here for those who are already Christians. We have all met believers who are compulsive givers. They are always doing for others. Their lives are poured out in service for their relatives and neighbors. Their generosity deserves high praise. But there is a fly in the ointment! They never want to be on the receiving end. They never want anyone to do anything for them. They have learned how to give generously but they have never learned how to receive graciously. They enjoy the blessing of ministering to others, but they deny to others that same blessing.||Paul proved himself to be a gracious recipient of gifts from the Philippians. In thanking them, he said, 'Not because I desire a gift; but I desire fruit that may abound to your account'. He thought of their reward more than of his own need.||'It is told of Bishop Westcott that at the end of his life he said he had made one great mistake, for, while he had always been willing to do for others to the limit of his ability, he had never been willing to let others do for him, and as a result some element of sweetness and completeness was missing. He had not allowed himself the discipline of receiving many kindnesses which could not be repaid' (J. O. Sanders).||An unknown poet summed it up well when he wrote:||J hold him great, who, for love's sake,||Can give with generous, earnest will;||But he who takes for love's sweet sake,||I think I hold more generous still.",
"Apr 27","...he began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord.||There is an alarming tendency in some Christian circles to fawn over men because they are scholars, even though they are disloyal to the Person of Christ.||Here is a man, for instance, who is a brilliant writer, a master in the use of illustrations, a commentator whose word studies are superb. But this man denies the Virgin Birth. He explains away the miracles of our Lord. He rejects the literal, bodily resurrection of the Savior. He speaks patronizingly of Jesus as one who must find a place in any gallery of the world's heroes. To him, Jesus is just one among many heroes. What this amounts to, of course, is damning the Son of God with faint praise. This man is simply not true to the Lord.||It is shocking, then, to find Christians defending a man like this for his brilliant scholarship. With mealy mouth, they extol his intellectual prowess and pass lightly over his heretical treatment of Christ. They like to quote him as a respected authority and to move in the same scholarly circles. If challenged for fraternizing with one who is an enemy of the Cross of Christ, they use weasel words to play down the seriousness of the offense. Not uncommonly, they attack fundamental, Bible-believing Christians for daring to speak out against one who is such an acknowledged authority.||It is time that Christians recapture a sense of righteous anger when their Savior is being betrayed in the halls of scholarship. This is no time for compromise. The truth concerning His Person and work is not negotiable. We must stand and be counted.||The prophets did not speak equivocally when the truth of God was at stake. They were fiercely loyal to the Lord and lashed out at those who dared to deny or belittle Him.||The apostles too bristled at any effort to rob the Lord of His glory. They chose loyalty to Christ over renown in the theological world.||The martyrs chose to die rather than compromise their loyalty to the Son of God. They were more interested in God's approval than man's.||Our responsibility is to be faithful to the Lord Jesus in all things, and to take an adversary relationship to anyone or anything that fails to give Him His proper place of preeminence.",
"Apr 28","Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.||In the first four verses of, Solomon describes how good advice can and should be passed down from one generation to another. He tells how his father had taught him, then urges his son, in turn, to pay attention to good doctrine and sound instruction.||It is sensible for young people to learn as much as possible from their earthly parents concerning the practical affairs of life. But it is also true that, in the spiritual sphere, every young Christian should have a spiritual mentor--someone to whom he can go with his questions, someone in whom he can confide, someone who will share from a rich store of experience and someone who will be candid in dealing with areas of need. If a parent can fill this role, all the better. But if not, someone else should be sought out.||Godly, mature believers have accumulated a vast amount of practical knowledge. No doubt they have experienced defeats, but they have learned valuable lessons from them and have learned how to avoid them the next time. Older Christians can often see aspects of a problem that young people might miss. And they have learned to be balanced and to avoid unreasonable extremes.||A wise young Timothy will cultivate a Paul, trying to draw on his wisdom and know-how. He will save himself from humiliations and blunders by checking first with someone who has been through it before him. Instead of treating old age with contempt, he will honor those who have fought in the conflict and have maintained a good record.||Generally speaking, older saints will not push themselves on the young. They know that no advice is as unwelcome as advice that is unsolicited. But, when asked, they are always glad to share insights that have been of help to them along the way.||So whether a young person is having a struggle with lust, or wants to know how to find God's guidance, or seeks to raise a family for the Lord, or wonders if God is calling him to the mission field, or needs help in managing his finances, or longs for a more effective prayer life--he would be wise to seek the help of a spiritual guide who can bring the light of Scripture to shine on the particular problem. Underneath those gray hairs there is often a fund of wisdom to be tapped. Why learn the hard way when you can profit from the insights and past experience of others?",
"Apr 29","Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.||Faith is implicit trust in the Word of God. It is confidence in the trustworthiness of God. It is the conviction that what God says is true and that what He promises will come to pass. It deals primarily in the realm of the future ('things hoped for') and the realm of the invisible ('things not seen').||Whittier said that 'the steps of faith fall on the seeming void, and find the rock beneath.' But not so! Faith is no leap in the dark. It demands the surest evidence, and finds that evidence in the Word of God.||Some people have the misconception that if you just believe a thing strongly enough it will come to pass. But that is credulity, not faith. Faith must have some revelation of God to lean on, some promise of God to cling to. If God promises something, then it is as sure as if it had already happened. If He foretells the future, then it is certain to be fulfilled. In other words, faith brings the future within the present and makes the invisible seen.||There is no risk in believing God. God cannot lie, He would not deceive, and He cannot be deceived. To believe God is the most rational, sane, logical thing a person can do. What is more reasonable than that the creature should believe the Creator?||Faith is not limited to possibilities but invades the realm of the impossible. Someone has said, 'Faith begins where possibilities end. If it's possible then there's no glory for God in it. If it's impossible, it can be done.'||Faith, mighty faith the promise sees||And looks to God alone;||Laughs at impossibilities||And cries, 'It shall be done.'||Admittedly there are difficulties and problems in the life of faith. God tests our faith in the crucible of trial and affliction to see if it is genuine. We often have to wait long years to see the fulfilment of His promises, and sometimes we have to wait till we reach the other side. But 'difficulties are food for faith to feed on' (George Muller).||'Without faith it is impossible to please him'. When we refuse to believe Him, we are saying that He is a liar, and how can God be pleased by people who call Him a liar?",
"Apr 30","If ye love me, keep my commandments.||Commandments? In the New Testament? Whenever people hear the word commandments, they immediately think legalism. But the two words are not synonymous. No one spoke more of commandments than the Lord Jesus, yet no one was less legalistic than He.||What is legalism? Though the word itself is not found in the New Testament, it describes man's ceaseless effort to earn or deserve God's favor. Basically it signifies the attempt to gain justification or sanctification by lawkeeping. That is its real meaning.||But today the word is used in a wider sense to describe what are thought of as rigid, moralistic rules. Any attempt to classify certain practices as taboo is 'legalistic.' In fact, the word 'legalism' is now used as a handy club to beat back almost any restraints on Christian behavior or any negatives.||How, then, should a Christian think in order to avoid the danger associated with 'legalism'?||First of all, it is true that a Christian is free from the law, but it is important to add quickly that he is not lawless. He is enlawed to Christ. He shouldn't do as he pleases but as Christ pleases.||Secondly, it must be remembered that the New Testament is filled with commandments, including a fair number of negatives. The difference is that these commandments are not given as law, with penalty attached. They are given as instructions in righteousness for the people of God.||Next, things may be lawful for a Christian but they may not be profitable. They may be lawful but they may also be enslaving.||It is possible that a believer may have liberty to do something and yet he might stumble someone else in doing it. In that case he shouldn't do it.||Just because someone dubs a prohibition as 'legalistic' doesn't mean it is bad. People also use the word 'puritanical' to denounce certain codes of conduct, but the behavior of the Puritans was more Christ-honoring than that of many who criticize them.||Very often when Christians castigate accepted patterns of godly behavior as 'legalism,' it may be a sign that they themselves are becoming more permissive and are drifting from their moral moorings. They naively imagine that by throwing mud at so-called legalists or Puritans, they themselves will look better.||Our safety lies in staying as close to the teachings of Scripture as possible, not in trying to see how close we can get to the edge of the precipice",
"May 01","If ye ask anything in my name, I will do it.||God answers prayer. He answers it exactly the same way we would if we had infinite wisdom, love and power. Sometimes He gives us what we want, sometimes He gives us something better, but always what we need. Sometimes He answers our prayers quickly; at other times He teaches us to wait patiently. God answers prayer; sometimes when hearts are weak, He gives the very gifts His children seek. But often faith must learn a deeper rest, And trust God's silence when He cannot speak; For He whose name is love will send the best. Stars may burn out, nor mountain walls endure, But God is true, His promises are sure|| To those who seek. There are conditions to prayer. Often what seems like a blank check ('if ye ask anything') has conditions attached ('in My Name'). Individual prayer promises must be considered in the light of all other Scriptures on the subject.||There are mysteries to prayer. It is easy to think up all kinds of questions about the 'whys' and 'wherefores.' But, for the most part, they are not edifying. It is better to pray and to see God work than to solve all the mysteries connected with prayer. I like what Archbishop Temple said: 'When I pray, coincidences happen. When I do not, they don't.'||When we pray to God in the Name of the Lord Jesus, it is just the same as if He were making those requests to the Father. This is what gives such significance and power to our prayers. And this is why we never come closer to omnipotence than when we pray. Of course, we will never be omnipotent, even in eternity. But when we pray in the Name of the Lord Jesus, we lay hold on infinite power.||The best prayer comes from a strong, inward necessity. This means that the more we are dependent on the Lord, the more effective our prayer life will be.||When we pray, we see things happen that would never happen according to the laws of chance or probability. Our lives crackle with the supernatural. They become radioactive with the Holy Spirit. And when we touch other lives, something happens for God.||We should be like the saint who said, 'I measure my influence by the number who need my prayers and the number who pray for me.'",
"May 02","And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.||A recurring problem among Christians is maintaining the proper balance between evangelism and social involvement. Evangelicals are often criticized for being too concerned with people's souls and not enough with their bodies. In other words, they don't spend enough time feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick and educating the illiterate.||To say anything against any of these ministries would be like criticizing motherhood. The Lord Jesus certainly was concerned with man's physical needs, and He taught His disciples to be concerned also. Historically, Christians have always been out in front in compassionate causes.||But as in so many other areas of life, it is a question of priorities. Which is more important, the temporal or the eternal? Judged on this basis, the Gospel is the main thing. Jesus intimated this when He said, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe...' Doctrine comes before social involvement.||Some of man's most pressing social problems are the result of false religion. For example, there are people dying of starvation who won't kill a cow because they believe a relative may be reincarnated in the cow. When other nations send enormous shipments of grain, the rats eat more of it than the people, because no one will kill the rats. These people are shackled by false religion and Christ is the answer to their problems.||In trying to strike the proper balance between evangelism and social service, there is always the danger of becoming so occupied with 'coffee and doughnuts' that the Gospel is crowded out. The history of Christian institutions is filled with such examples where the good has become the enemy of the best.||Certain forms of social involvement are questionable if not altogether 'out.' The Christian should never participate in revolutionary attempts to overthrow the government. It is doubtful that he should resort to political processes to right social injustices. Neither the Lord nor the apostles did. More can be accomplished through the spread of the Gospel than through legislation.||The Christian who forsakes all to follow Christ, who sells all to give to the poor, who opens his heart and pocketbook whenever he sees a genuine case of need, need not have a guilty conscience over social unconcern.",
"May 03","He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.||No one can sin and get away with it. The results of sin are not only inescapable, they are extremely bitter. Sin may look like a harmless pussy but it eventually devours like a pitiless lion.||The supposed glamor of sin receives wide coverage. We seldom hear the other side. Few leave behind a description of their downfall and subsequent misery.||One of Ireland's most brilliant authors did. This man began to dabble in unnatural vice. One thing led to another until he became embroiled in lawsuits and finally landed in prison, where he wrote the following:||'The gods had given me almost everything. I had genius, a distinguished name, high social position, brilliancy, intellectual daring: I made art a philosophy, and philosophy an art: I altered the minds of men and the colour of things: There was nothing I said or did that did not make people wonder...I treated Art as the supreme reality, and life as a mere mode of fiction: I awoke the imagination of my century so that it created myth and legend around me: I summoned up all systems in a phrase, and all existence in an epigram.||'Along with these things, I had things that were different. I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease. I amused myself with being a flaneur, a dandy, a man of fashion. I surrounded myself with the smaller natures and the meaner minds. I became the spendthrift of my own genius, and to waste an eternal youth gave me a curious joy. Tired of being on the heights I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensations. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. Desire, at the end, was a malady, or a madness, or both. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber one has some day to cry aloud on the housetops...I ended in horrible disgrace.'||The essay in which he wrote the above confession bears the appropriate title De Profundis--out of the depths.",
"May 04","There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.||Twice in the book of Proverbs (14:12 and 16:25) we learn that man's judgment as to the right way is not reliable. What seems right to him ends in disaster and death.||During World War II the Navy gave a vivid illustration of this to its flight personnel. It was trying to impress on them that when they were flying at high altitudes and did not use their oxygen, they could not trust their senses. A pilot was instructed to enter a decompression chamber and sit down at a table on which was a sheet of mathematical problems. Oxygen was withdrawn from the chamber to simulate high altitudes. When the air became less dense, the pilot was told to solve the problems. He was also told that no one had done so correctly so far.||The pilot would breeze through the problems with utmost confidence that he had beaten the system. The problems seemed easy, and he had every assurance that he would receive a perfect score. There was no doubt in his mind about it.||But when oxygen was fed back into the chamber, and he emerged to have his paper corrected, he learned that his ability to solve problems had been seriously impaired by the lack of oxygen getting to his brain. The lesson was, of course, that if he flew at high altitudes without using his oxygen, he wouldn't be able to trust his own judgment, and he would be inviting a crash.||Man's judgment has been seriously impaired by sin. He feels absolutely sure that the way to heaven is by doing the best he can. If you tell him that no one has ever been saved by good works, he still has every confidence that he will be the first to beat the system. He is certain that God would never turn him away from the gates of heaven.||But he is wrong, and if he persists in his lack of 'spiritual oxygen', he will perish. His safety lies in trusting the Word of God rather than his own judgment. If he does so, he will repent of his sins and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Because God's Word is truth, those who believe it can be confident that they are following the right route.",
"May 05","Esau...for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.||It is often possible to barter life's best values for a momentary gratification of physical appetite.||That is what Esau did. He had come in from the field tired and hungry. At that moment Jacob was cooking a pot of red bean soup. When Esau asked for a bowl of the 'red stuff,' Jacob said, in effect, 'Sure, I'll give you some if you'll sell me your birthright in return.'||Now the birthright was a valuable privilege which belonged to the oldest son in a family. It was valuable because it gave him the place of eventual headship in the family or tribe and entitled him to a double portion of the inheritance.||But at that moment, Esau considered the birthright worthless. What good is a birthright, he thought, to a man who is as famished as I? His hunger seemed so overpowering that he was willing to give almost anything to satisfy it. In order to pacify a momentary appetite, he was willing to surrender something that was of enduring value. And so he made the awful bargain!||A similar drama is being reenacted almost daily. Here is a man who has maintained a good testimony for years. He has the love of a fine family and the respect of his Christian fellowship. When he speaks, his words carry spiritual authority, and his service has the blessing of God upon it. He is a model believer.||But then comes the moment of fierce passion. It seems as if he is being consumed by the fires of sexual temptation. All of a sudden nothing seems so important as the satisfaction of this physical drive. He abandons the power of rational thought. He is willing to sacrifice everything for this illicit alliance.||And so he takes the insane plunge! For that moment of passion, he exchanges the honor of God, his own testimony, the esteem of his family, the respect of his friends and the power of a sterling Christian character. Or as Alexander Maclaren said, 'He forgets his longings after righteousness; flings away the joys of divine communion; darkens his soul; ends his prosperity; brings down upon his head for all his remaining years a cataract of calamities; and makes his name and his religion a target for the barbed sarcasms of each succeeding generation of scoffers.'||In the classic words of Scripture, he sells his birthright for a mess of pottage.",
"May 06","How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel.||There comes a time in life when we must stop mourning over the past and get on with the work of the present.||God had rejected Saul from being king. The action was final, irreversible. But Samuel had difficulty in accepting it. He had been closely associated with Saul and he now wept to see his hopes disappointed. He continued to mourn a loss that would never be retrieved. God said, in effect, 'Quit mourning. Go out and anoint Saul's successor. My program has not failed. I have a better man than Saul to step onto the stage of Israel's history.'||We would like to think that Samuel not only learned the lesson for himself but that he passed it on to David, who took Saul's place as king. At any rate, David showed that he had learned the lesson well. As long as his baby was dying, he fasted and mourned, hoping that God would spare the child. But when the infant died, he bathed, changed his clothes, went to the Tabernacle to worship, then ate a meal. To those who questioned his realism, he said, 'Now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him but he shall not return to me'.||This has a voice for us in our Christian life and service. Sometime it may happen that a ministry might be wrenched away from us and given to someone else. We grieve over the death of an avenue of service.||It may be that a friendship or a partnership is severed, and that, as a result, life seems empty and flat. Or that we have been cruelly disappointed by someone who was very dear to us. We mourn the death of a valued relationship.||Or it may be that some life-long dream is shattered or some ambition is frustrated. We mourn the death of a noble aspiration or vision.||There is nothing wrong about mourning, but it should not be prolonged to the extent that it cripples our effectiveness in meeting the challenges of the hour. E. Stanley Jones said he made it a point to 'recover within the hour' from the griefs and blows of life. An hour may not be long enough for most of us, but we must not be forever inconsolable over circumstances that cannot be changed.",
"May 07","He careth for you.||The Bible is fairly full of tokens of God's marvelous care for His people. During Israel's forty-year trek through the wilderness, they ate food from heaven, had an unfailing supply of water, and were equipped with shoes that never wore out.||It is the same in our wilderness journey. To prove this, our Lord reminds us how His care for us is so much greater than His care for birds, flowers and animals. He speaks of sparrows, for instance. He provides their food. Not one of them is forgotten before God (Luk 12:6). Not one falls to the ground without Him, or, as H. A. Ironside said, 'God attends the funeral of every sparrow.' The moral of the story, of course, is that we are of more value to Him than many sparrows.||If He clothes the lilies of the field more beautifully than Solomon was ever attired, He will much more clothe us. If He makes provision for the care of oxen, how much more will He care for our needs.||As our High Priest, the Lord Jesus bears our names on His shoulders--the place of power and on His breast--the place of affection. Also our names are engraved in the palms of His hands, a fact that inevitably reminds us of the nail wounds He sustained for us at Calvary.||He knows the exact number of the hairs of our head. He numbers our tossings at night and keeps count of our tears in His book (RSV).||Whoever touches us, touches the apple of His eye. No weapon formed against us can prosper.||Whereas the heathen carry their gods on their shoulders, our God carries His people.||When we go through the waters, the rivers or the fire, He is with us. In all our afflictions, He is afflicted.||The One who guards us neither slumbers nor sleeps. Someone has called this characteristic of God 'the divine insomnia'.||The Good Shepherd who gave His life for us will not withhold any good from us (;;).||He cares for us from the beginning of the year to the end. He bears us even to old age. In fact He will never leave us or forsake us. God really cares!",
"May 08","And I will give thee the treasures of darkness.||When God made this promise to Cyrus, He was speaking of material treasures from lands of darkness that Cyrus would conquer. But we are not doing violence to the verse when we take it and apply it in a spiritual sense.||There are treasures that are discovered in the dark nights of life that are never found in days of unrelieved sunshine.||For instance, God can give songs in the darkest night that would never have been sung if life were completely devoid of trials. That is why the poet wrote:||And many a rapturous minstrel among those sons of light||Will say of his sweetest music, 'I learned it in the night;'||And many a rolling anthem that fills the Father's home||Sobbed out its first rehearsal in the shade of a darkened room.||There is the darkness of what J. Stuart Holden calls 'life's inexplicable mysteries--the calamities, the catastrophes, the sudden and unexpected experiences which have come into life, and which all our forethought has not been sufficient to ward off; and life is dark because of them--sorrow, loss, disappointment, injustice, misconception of motive, slander.' These are often the things that make life dark.||Humanly speaking, none of us would choose this darkness, and yet its benefits are incalculable. Leslie Weatherhead wrote, 'Like all men, I love and prefer the sunny uplands of experience, when health, happiness and success abound, but I have learned far more about God and life and myself in the darkness of fear and failure than I have ever learned in the sunshine. There are such things as the treasures of darkness. The darkness, thank God, passes. But what one learns in the darkness, one possesses for ever.'",
"May 09","...the maid that is of the land of Israel.||A person doesn't have to be known by name in order to accomplish great exploits for God. In fact, some of the people in the Bible who won immortal fame are not identified by their names.||There were the three men who brought water to David from the well of Bethlehem. David considered this act of devotion so remarkable that he would not drink the water but poured it out as a holy offering. But the men are unnamed.||We do not know the name of the great woman of Shunem but she will always be remembered for building a prophet's chamber for Elisha.||It was an anonymous Jewish maid whose advice sent Naaman to Elisha to be healed of leprosy. God knows her name, and that is all that matters.||Who was the woman who anointed the head of Jesus (Mat 26:6-13)? Matthew does not give her name, but her fame is announced in the words of our Lord, 'Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her' (v. 13).||The poor widow who cast her two mites into the treasury is another of 'God's unknowns' (Luk 21:2). She illustrates the truth that it's wonderful how much you can do for God if you don't care who gets the credit.||Then, of course, there was the lad who gave his five loaves and two fishes to the Lord and saw them multiplied so that they fed 5000 men plus women and children. We don't know his name but what he did will never be forgotten.||A final illustration! Paul sent two brothers to Corinth with Titus in connection with a collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem. He does not give their names but he eulogizes them as messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ.||As Gray looked at the tombstones of obscure people in a country churchyard, he wrote:||Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,||And waste its sweetness in the desert air.||With God, however, nothing is wasted. He knows the names of all those who serve Him anonymously, and He will reward in a manner that is worthy of Himself.",
"May 10","...we are not ignorant of his devices.||It is important to know the devices of our enemy, the Devil. Otherwise he is likely to take advantage of us.||We should know that he is a liar, and has been from the beginning. In fact, he is the father of lies. He lied to Eve by misrepresenting God, and he has been doing it ever since.||He is a deceiver. He mixes a little truth with error. He imitates or counterfeits everything that is of Cod. He poses as an angel of light and sends out his messengers as ministers of righteousness. He deceives by using great signs and lying wonders (2Th 2:9). He corrupts the minds of people.||Satan is a murderous destroyer, (Joh 10:10). His goal and the goal of all his demons is to destroy. There is no exception to that statement. As a raging lion, he goes about seeking whom he may devour. He persecutes God's people and destroys his own slaves through drugs, demon-ism, alcohol, immorality and related vices.||He is the accuser of the brethren. The word 'devil' (Gr. diabolos) means accuser or slanderer, and as his name is, so is he. All those who slander the brethren are doing the devil's work.||He sows discouragement. Paul warned the Corinthians that if they did not forgive the repentant backslider, Satan might gain an advantage by plunging the brother into extreme discouragement.||Just as Satan, speaking through Peter, sought to dissuade Jesus from going to the Cross, so he encourages Christians to spare themselves from the shame and suffering of crossbearing.||A favorite ploy of the Wicked One is to divide and conquer. He seeks to sow strife and discord among the saints, knowing that 'a house divided against itself cannot stand.' Sad to say, he has been all too successful in this strategy.||He blinds the minds of unbelievers lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should shine unto them and they should be saved. He blinds them by amusements, false religion, procrastination and pride. He occupies them with feelings rather than facts, and with themselves rather than Christ.||Finally, Satan attacks right after great spiritual victories or mountaintop experiences, when the danger of pride is greatest. He looks for a weak spot in our armor, and shoots straight for it.||The best defense against the Devil is to live in unclouded fellowship with the Lord, covered by the protective gear of a holy character.",
"May 11","Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and liath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.||Jeremiah here takes an illustration from the art of wine-making to teach us that a life of ease does not produce strength of character.||Whenever wine is being fermented in casks or vats, lees or dregs settle to the bottom. If the wine is left undisturbed, it becomes unpalatable. So the vintner must pour out the wine from vessel to vessel, eliminating the dregs and impurities. When he does this, the wine developes strength, aroma, color and flavor.||Moab had lived a life of ease. He had never suffered the disruption of going into captivity. He had insulated himself from troubles, trials and privations. The result was that his life was flat and insipid. It lacked fragrance and piquancy.||What is true of wine is true of us also. We need disruption, opposition, difficulties and disturbances to rid us of impurities and to develop the graces of a Christ-filled life.||Our natural tendency is to protect ourselves from anything that would unsettle us. We strive unceasingly to nestle.||But God's will for us is that our lives should be a perpetual crisis of dependence on Him. He is forever stirring up the nest.||In her biography of Hudson Taylor, Mrs. Howard Taylor wrote: 'This life that was to be made a blessing the wide world over must pass through a very different process (i.e., different from being settled on his lees), including much of that emptying and re-emptying 'from vessel to vessel', so painful to the lower nature, from which we are being refined.'||When we realize what the Divine Vintner is seeking to accomplish in our lives, it saves us from rebellion and teaches us submission and dependence. We learn to say:||Leave to His sovereign sway||To choose and to command;||So shalt thou wondering own His way,||How wise, how strong His hand.||Far, far above thy thought||His counsel shall appear,||When fully He the work hath wrought||That caused thy needless fear.",
"May 12","For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.||Some in the church in Corinth were trying to make the Gospel intellectually respectable. Their preoccupation with the wisdom of this world made them sensitive to those aspects of the Christian message which were offensive to the philosophers.||There was no thought of their abandoning the faith, only of redefining it so that it would be more palatable to the scholars.||Paul came down hard on this attempt to marry the world's wisdom to God's. He knew only too well that the achieving of intellectual status would result in a loss of spiritual power.||Let's face it! There is that about the Christian message that is scandalous to Jews and foolish to Gentiles. And not only that--most Christians are not what the world would call wise, mighty or noble. Sooner or later we have to face up to the fact that instead of belonging to the intelligentsia, we are foolish, weak, base, despised--in fact, we are nobodies as far as the world is concerned.||But the wonderful thing is that God uses that message, which seems to be foolish, in saving those who believe. And God uses nonpersons like us to accomplish His purposes. In choosing such unlikely instruments, He confounds all the pomp and pretension of this world, eliminates any possibility of our boasting, and insures that He alone gets the credit.||This is not to say that there is no place for scholarship. Of course there is. But unless that scholarship is combined with deep spirituality, it becomes a deadening and dangerous thing. When scholarship sits in judgment on the Word of God, claiming, for instance, that some writers used more reliable sources than others, it represents departure from the truth of God. And when we court the approbation of scholars like that, we are vulnerable to all their heresies.||Paul did not come to the Corinthians with excellence of speech or of wisdom. He determined to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He knew that power lay in the simple, straightforward presentation of the Gospel, not in occupation with knotty problems or unprofitable theories, or in the worship of intellectualism.",
"May 13","But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.||It would be difficult to imagine a more effective and foolproof method of drowning than this. The millstone here was not the small one that was operated by hand, but the great one that was turned by an ass. To have a millstone like that secured around one's neck would mean speedy and inescapable drowning.||At first we might be startled by the vehemence of the Savior's words. He seems to thunder out with unusual condemnation against the sin of offending a little one. What is it that provokes such anger?||Let us take an illustration! Here is a minister of the Gospel who has a constant line of people coming to him for counseling. Among them is a young person who is enslaved by some sexual sin. This young person needs help--desperately. He (or she) looks to the minister as one in whom he can have confidence, as one who will help him find the way of deliverance. But instead of that, the minister finds himself inflamed with passion, he makes improper advances, and soon he has led his counselee back into immorality. The young person is shattered by this betrayal of trust and is thoroughly disillusioned by the religious world. It may be that he is crippled spiritually for the rest of his life.||Or the offender may be a college professor who labors tirelessly to rob his students of whatever faith they may have. By sowing doubts and denials, he undermines the authority of the Scriptures and attacks the Person of our Lord.||Again it may be a Christian whose behavior stumbles a young believer. Overstepping the fine line between liberty and license, he is seen engaging in some questionable activity. The young Christian interprets his behavior as acceptable Christian conduct and leaves the path of godly separation to plunge into a life of worldliness and compromise.||We should be solemnly warned by the words of the Savior that it is a tremendously serious thing to contribute to the ethical, moral or spiritual delinquency of a minor who belongs to Him. Better to drown in literal water than to drown in a sea of guilt, disgrace and remorse for causing one of His little ones to fall into sin.",
"May 14","Let there be no...silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting. (RSV)||Excessive levity should be avoided because it inevitably results in a leakage of spiritual power.||The preacher deals with serious issues, with life and death, with time and eternity. He may deliver a masterpiece of a message, and yet if there is undue humor in it, people are apt to remember the jokes and forget the rest.||Oftentimes the power of a message can be dissipated by lighthearted conversation afterwards. A solemn Gospel appeal may result in the hush of eternity coming over a meeting. Yet when the people rise to leave, there is the buzz of social chatter. People talk about the football scores or the business of the day. Little wonder that the Holy Spirit is grieved and nothing happens for God.||Elders who are forever cracking jokes have little real spiritual impact on young people who look to them for inspiration. They might think that their wit ingratiates them with the young, but the truth is that the latter feel a keen sense of disappointment and disillusionment.||A form of levity that is especially harmful is making puns on the Bible, using passages of Scripture to get a laugh rather than to change a life. Every time we pun on the Bible, we lower its sense of authority in our own lives and in the lives of others.||This does not mean that a believer must be a gloomy Gus, without a trace of humor showing. It means rather that he should control his humor so that it will not cancel out his message.||Kierkegaard tells of the circus clown who ran into a town to cry out that the circus tent on the outskirts was on fire. The people listened to his cries and roared with laughter. He had been clowning so much that he had lost his credibility.||Charles Simeon kept a picture of Henry Martyn in his study. Wherever Simeon went in the room, it seemed that Martyn was following him with his eyes and saying, 'Be earnest, be earnest; don't trifle, don't trifle.' And Simeon would reply, 'Yes, I will be in earnest; I will, I will be in earnest; I will not trifle, for souls are perishing, and Jesus is to be glorified.'",
"May 15","Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer,||The Israelites were chronic complainers as they trekked through the desert. They complained about the water supply. They complained about the food supply. They complained about their leaders. When God gave them manna from heaven, they soon grew tired of it and longed for the leeks, onions and garlic of Egypt. Although there were no food markets or shoe stores in the wilderness, God provided an unfailing supply of groceries for forty years, and shoes that never wore out. Yet instead of being grateful for this miraculous provision, the Israelites complained without letup.||Times haven't changed. Men today complain about the weather: it's either too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry. They complain about the food, like lumpy gravy or burnt toast. They complain about their work and wages, then about unemployment when they have neither. They find fault with the government and its taxes, at the same time demanding ever-increasing benefits and services. They are unhappy with other people, with their car, with service in the restaurant. They complain about minor pains and aches, and wish they were taller, thinner, better looking. No matter how good God has been to them, they say, 'What's He done for me lately?'||It must be a trial to God to have people like us on His hands. He has been so good to us, providing not only the necessities of life, but luxuries which His own Son did not enjoy when He was here upon earth. We have good food, pure water, comfortable homes, clothes in abundance. We have sight, hearing, appetite, memory and so many other mercies that we take for granted. He has protected us, guided us and sustained us. Best of all, He has given us eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what thanks does He receive? Too often He hears nothing but a tirade of complaints.||I had a friend in Chicago years ago who had a good answer when asked, 'How are you?' He would always reply, 'It would be a sin to complain.' I often think of that when tempted to murmur. It's a sin to complain. The antidote to complaining is thanksgiving. When we remember all that the Lord has done for us, we realize that we have no reason to complain.",
"May 16","Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.||The world is presented in the New Testament as a kingdom that is opposed to God. Satan is its ruler, and all nonbelievers are subjects. This kingdom makes its appeal to man through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. It is a society in which man tries to make himself happy without God, and in which the name of Christ is unwelcome. Dr. Gleason L. Archer Jr. says that the world is 'the organized system of rebellion, self-seeking and enmity toward God which characterizes the human race in opposition to God.'||The world has its own amusements, politics, art, music, religion, thought-patterns and life-style. It seeks to force everyone to conform and hates those who refuse. This explains its hatred of the Lord Jesus.||Christ died to deliver us from the world. Now the world is crucified to us and we to it. It is positive treason for believers to love the world in any of its forms. In fact, the Apostle John says that those who love the world are the enemies of God.||Believers are not of the world, but they are sent into it to testify against it, to denounce its works as evil, and to preach salvation from it through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.||Christians are called to walk in separation from the world. In the past, this may have been too narrowly limited to dancing, theaters, smoking, drinking, card playing and gambling. But it includes much more. Much of what comes over the TV is worldly, appealing to the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. Pride is worldly, whether it be pride of titles, degrees, salary, heritage or a big name. Luxurious living is worldly, whether palatial homes, gourmet foods, attention-getting clothing and jewelry or prestige cars. So is a life of ease and pleasure, spent largely on travel cruises, shopping sprees, sports and recreation. Our ambitions for ourselves and for our children may be worldly, even while we appear to be spiritual and pious. Finally, sex outside of marriage is a form of worldliness.||The more devoted we are to the Savior and the more sold-out we are to Him, the less time we will have for worldly pleasures and amusements. C. Stacey Woods said, 'The measure of our devotion to Christ is the measure of our separation from the world.'||We are but strangers here, we do not crave||A home on earth, which gave Thee but a grave;||Thy cross has severed ties which bound us here,||Thyself our treasure in a brighter sphere.||J. G. Deck",
"May 17","...whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea and will rejoice.||It is a common failing among men to acknowledge no good beyond their own private circle. It is as if they have a monopoly on excellence and refuse to admit that anyone else can be or do anything comparable. They remind us of the humorous bumper-sticker, 'I'm O.K. You're so so.' Even this would be a grudging admission for some of them to make.||Their church is the only right one. Their service for the Lord is what really counts. Their views on all subjects are the only authoritative ones. They are the people and wisdom will die with them.||Paul did not belong to that school. He recognized that others were also preaching the Gospel. True, some were doing it out of jealousy, hoping to annoy him. But he could still give them credit for proclaiming the Gospel, and could still rejoice that Christ was being preached.||In his commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, Donald Guthrie wrote, 'It takes great grace for independent thinkers to acknowledge that truth can flow in channels other than their own.'||It is a distinctive feature of the cults that their leaders profess to speak the last word on all matters of faith and morals. They demand unquestioning obedience to their pronouncements, and seek to isolate their followers from contact with any dissenting views.||In the seldom-read introduction to the King James Version of the Bible, the translators wrote of 'self-conceited Brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil.' The lesson for us is to be large-souled, to be willing to acknowledge good wherever we find it, and to realize that no believer or Christian fellowship can afford to claim that they are the only right ones or that they have a corner on the truth.",
"May 18","...he spake unadvisedly with his lips.||When the people of Israel grumbled about the lack of water at Kadesh, God told Moses that water would flow if he would speak to the rock. But Moses was fed up with the people by now, so he lashed out at them, saying, 'Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of the rock?' Then he smote the rock twice with his rod. By his angry words and disobedient action, he misrepresented God to the people. The result was that he forfeited the privilege of leading the children of Israel into the promised land.||It is easy for a man of burning zeal to be intemperate with other believers. He is so self-disciplined whereas they need to be forever babied along. He is so knowledgeable and they so ignorant.||But what he must learn is that they are still God's beloved people, and that the Lord will not tolerate any verbal abuse of them. It is one thing to preach the Word of God in such power that people are convicted and torn up. But it is quite another thing to scold them severely as an expression of personal irritation. This will cut a man off from God's best rewards.||When David's illustrious men are listed in, there is one name that is conspicuous by its absence. It is the name of Joab, David's commander-in-chief. But why is his name missing? It has been suggested that the reason is that Joab used the sword on some of David's friends. If so, the incident is full of warning for us when we are tempted to use our tongues as a sword on God's people.||When James and John, the sons of thunder, wanted to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans, Jesus said, 'Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of'. How apropos the rebuke is to us when we speak unadvisedly with our lips to those who are His not only by creation (as the Samaritans were), but by redemption as well.",
"May 19","...the judgment of God is according to truth.||God is the only One in the universe who is perfectly qualified to judge. We can be everlastingly thankful that He has not entrusted the final judgment to us. Think of some of the disabilities under which an earthly judge works. It is impossible for him to be completely objective. He may be influenced by the prominence of the defendant or by his appearance. He may be influenced by bribes or by other more subtle considerations. He cannot always know if a witness is lying. Or if not lying, the witness may be withholding the truth. Or again, he may be shading the truth. Or finally, he may be sincere but inaccurate.||The judge cannot always know the motives of those with whom he deals--and it is important to establish motives in many legal cases.||Even the polygraph or lie detector can be fooled. Hardened criminals can sometimes control their physiological reactions to guilt.||But God is the perfect Judge. He has absolute knowledge of all acts, thoughts and motives. He can judge the secrets of men's hearts. He knows all the truth; nothing can be withheld from Him. He is not a respecter of persons but treats each one impartially. He knows the mental ability with which each one is endowed; an imbecile may not be as responsible as others for his actions. He knows the differing moral strengths of His subjects; some may resist temptation more easily than others. He knows the differing privileges and opportunities each one has, and the extent to which a person sins against light. He detects sins of omission as easily as sins of commission, secret sins as easily as public scandal.||Therefore we need not fear that the heathen who has never heard the Gospel will be treated unjustly. Or that those who have suffered wrongfully through life will be unavenged. Or that wicked tyrants who have escaped in this life will go unpunished.||The Judge on the bench is a perfect Judge, and His justice will be according to truth and therefore absolutely perfect.",
"May 20","...no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. (Luk 5:37,38)||The bottles referred to here were actually containers made from the hides of animals. When these wineskins were new, they were pliable and somewhat elastic. But when they became old, they were stiff and inflexible. If new wine was placed in old skins, the fermenting action of the wine would build up too much pressure for the old wineskins to accommodate, and they would burst.||Here in, Jesus uses this to illustrate the clash between Judaism and Christianity. He is saying that 'the outmoded forms, ordinances, traditions and rituals of Judaism were too rigid to hold the joy, the exuberance and the energy of the new dispensation.'||This chapter contains dramatic illustrations. In verses 18-21, we see four men tearing up the roof of a house in order to bring a paralyzed man to Jesus for healing. Their innovative, unconventional method is an illustration of the new wine. In verse 21, the scribes and Pharisees begin to find fault with Jesus; they are the old wineskins. Again, in verses 27-29 we have Levi's enthusiastic response to Christ's call, and the banquet he held to introduce his friends to Jesus. That is the new wine. In verse 30, the scribes and Pharisees grumble again. They are the old wineskins.||We see this in all of life. People get set in traditional ways of doing things and find it hard to adjust to change. The housewife has her own way of doing the dishes and finds it irritating to see someone else fumbling around in her sink. The husband has his own ideas as to how a car should be driven, and nearly loses his senses when wife or children drive.||But the great lesson for all of us is in the spiritual realm. We should be flexible enough to allow for the joy, the effervescence, the enthusiasm of the Christian faith, even if it comes in unconventional ways. We neither want nor need the stodginess and cold formalism of the Pharisees, who sat on the sidelines criticizing when God was working.",
"May 21","Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.||One day some Greeks came to Philip with the noble request, 'Sir, we would see Jesus!' But why did they want to see Him? Perhaps they wanted to take Him back to Athens as a popular new philosopher. Or perhaps they wanted to save Him from crucifixion and death, which now seemed inevitable.||Jesus answered with one of the great laws of harvest: a kernel of grain must fall into the ground and die if it is to become productive. If He were to save Himself from death, He would abide alone. He would enjoy the glories of heaven by Himself; there would be no saved sinners there to share His glory. But if He died, He would provide a way of salvation by which many would enjoy eternal life. It was imperative for Him that He die a sacrificial death rather than live a comfortable life.||T. G. Ragland once said, 'Of all plans of ensuring success, the most certain is Christ's own, becoming a grain of wheat, falling into the ground and dying. If we refuse to become grains of wheat...if we will neither sacrifice prospects, nor risk character, and property and health; nor, when we are called, relinquish home, and break family ties, for Christ's sake; then we shall abide alone. But if we wish to be fruitful, we must follow our Blessed Lord Himself, by becoming a corn of wheat, and dying, then we shall bring forth much fruit.||Years ago I read of a group of missionaries in Africa who had labored tirelessly for years without seeing any lasting fruit for God. In desperation, they finally announced a conference where they would get before God in prayer and fasting. In the discussion that followed, one of the missionaries said, 'I don't think we'll ever see blessing until a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies.' Shortly afterward, that same missionary took sick and died. Then the harvest began - the blessing which he had predicted.||Samuel Zwemer wrote:||There is no gain but by a loss,||You cannot save but by a cross;||The corn of wheat to multiply||Must fall into the ground and die.||Wherever you ripe fields behold,||Waving to God their sheaves of gold,||Be sure some corn of wheat has died,||Some soul there has been crucified--||Someone has wrestled, wept and prayed,||And fought hell's legions undismayed.",
"May 22","Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?||When we give a man or woman the place in our life that only God should have, we are in for a bitter disappointment. We will soon learn that the best of men are men at best. Although they might have some very fine qualities, yet they still have feet of iron and clay. This may sound like cynicism, but it is not. It is realism.||When the invaders were threatening Jerusalem, the people of Judah looked to Egypt for deliverance. Isaiah denounced them for this misplaced trust, saying, 'Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all that trust in him'. And Jeremiah said later, under similar circumstances, 'Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord'.||The psalmist showed genuine insight on this subject when he wrote, 'It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes'. And again, 'Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish'.||Of course, we must realize that there is a certain sense in which we have to trust one another. What would a marriage be, for instance, without a certain measure of trust and respect? In business life, the use of checks as money is based on a system of mutual trust. We trust doctors to diagnose and prescribe properly. We trust the labels on cans and packages in the food market. It would be almost impossible to live in any society without some confidence in our fellows.||The danger comes when we trust man to do what only God can do, when we take the Lord off the throne and put man on it. Anyone who displaces God in our affections, who takes His place as our confidence, who usurps any of His prerogatives in our lives--that one is certain to disappoint us bitterly. We will realize too late that man is not worthy of our trust.",
"May 23","That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.||Twice in His great high priestly prayer, our Lord prayed that His people might be one (verses 21 and 22, 23). This prayer for unity has been seized as Scriptural support for the ecumenical movement--a great organizational union of all professing Christian churches. Unfortunately this ecumenical unity is achieved through abandoning or reinterpreting fundamental Christian doctrines. As Malcolm Muggeridge wrote, 'By one of our time's larger ironies, ecumenicalism is triumphant just when there is nothing to be ecumenical about; the various religious bodies are likely to find it easy to join together only because, believing little, they correspondingly differ about little.'||Is this the kind of unity that the Lord Jesus was praying for in ? We think not. He said that the unity He had in mind would result in the world's believing that God had sent Him. It is extremely doubtful that any external federation would have this effect.||The Lord defined the unity He had in mind when He said, '...as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.' He also said, '... even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.' What unity does the Father and Son share which we can also have a part in? Not the fact of their common deity; we can never share in that. I would suggest that the Lord Jesus was referring to a unity based on common moral likeness. He was praying that believers might be one in exhibiting the character of God and of Christ to the world. This would mean lives of righteousness, holiness, grace, love, purity, longsuffering, self-control, meekness, joy and generosity. Ronald Sider suggests in Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger that the unity for which Christ prayed was manifested when the early Christians shared freely with one another whenever there was need. They had a true spirit of koinonia or community. 'Jesus' prayer that the loving unity of His followers would be so striking that it would convince the world that He had come from the Father has been answered--at least once! It happened in the Jerusalem church. The unusual quality of their life together gave power to the apostolic preaching' (Act 4:32-35).||Such unity today would have a profound impression on the world. As Christians presented a united testimony in radiating the life of the Lord Jesus, unbelievers would be convicted of their own sinfulness and would thirst for the living water. Today's tragedy is that many Christians are scarcely distinguishable from their worldly neighbors. Under such circumstances, there is little inducement for unbelievers to be converted.",
"May 24","Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished.||'You may have already won $100,000!' With this and similar come-ons, we are constantly barraged by the temptation to participate in some form of gambling. The housewife shopping in the supermarket is enticed by the latest sweepstakes. The average citizen is encouraged to send his name (together with a subscription for a magazine) to participate in an upcoming lottery involving millions. Or it may be a bingo contest in which you are almost assured of being a winner.||Then, of course, there are the more obvious forms of gambling--roulette, horse-racing, dog-racing, the numbers game, etc.||What does the Bible have to say about all this? Nothing good.||It says, 'Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase'.||It says, 'He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him'.||It says, 'Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means. When his life is half gone, they will desert him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool' (NIV).||While the Ten Commandments do not explicitly say, 'Thou shalt not gamble,' they do say, 'Thou shalt not covet', and what is gambling but a form of covetousness?||Gambling will always have an evil connotation for believers when they remember that Roman soldiers gambled for the Savior's seamless robe at the scene of His crucifixion.||Consider also the poverty and grief that chronic gamblers have brought to their families, the crimes that have been committed to recoup losses, and the evil associations frequently linked with gambling, and it will be seen that it should have no place in a Christian's life.||After reminding Timothy that the believer should be content with food and raiment, Paul warned that 'they that will be (desire to be) rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition'.",
"May 25","...go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. (b)||Someone has done or said something which has offended you or bothered you in some way. The Bible says to go and tell him his fault, but you don't want to do it; it's too difficult.||So you start brooding about it. You begin rehearsing what he has done, how he was utterly in the wrong. When you should be working, your mind is going over all the details, and your gastric juices become sulphurous. When you should be sleeping, you resurrect the unpleasant incident, and the pressure builds up in the boiler. The Bible says to go and tell him his fault, but you just can't face up to it.||You try to think of some way in which you can get the message across to him anonymously. Or you hope that something will happen to shame him for what he has done. It doesn't happen. You know what you ought to do, but you dread the trauma of a face to face confrontation.||By this time, the ordeal is harming you a lot more than it is harming him. People can tell by your glum appearance that something is bothering you. When they talk to you, your mind is off in another hemisphere. Your work suffers because you are preoccupied. In general, you are too distracted to be effective. And the Bible still says, 'Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.' By a tremendous display of willpower, you have refrained from talking to anyone else about it, but finally the pressure becomes unbearable. You break down and tell one person-just for his prayer fellowship, of course. Instead of giving you the expected sympathy, he says, 'Why don't you go and talk to the one who has offended you?'||That does it! You decide to bite the bullet. After rehearsing your speech, you obey the Word by telling him his fault. He takes it surprisingly well, is sorry that it has happened, and asks your forgiveness. The interview is terminated by prayer.||As you walk away a great load is lifted from your shoulders. Your stomach quits churning and your metabolism returns to normal. You kind of hate yourself for not having had the sense to obey the Scriptures more promptly.",
"May 26","Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.||God's instructions to King Saul were clear enough. Slay the Amalekites and destroy all their possessions. All of them. Don't take any spoil. But Saul spared King Agag and the choicest of the sheep, oxen, fatlings and lambs.||When Samuel met Saul in the morning at Gilgal, Saul confidently announced that he had done exactly what the Lord commanded. But at that very moment, a barnyard choir began its oratorio-sheep bleating and oxen lowing. Very embarrassing!||Samuel wanted to know, of course, how the sheep were bleating if Saul had killed them all. The King then tried to cover his disobedience by blaming the people and by excusing them on religious grounds. He said, 'The people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord.'||It was then he heard God's prophet thunder out the convicting words, 'Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.'||Obedience is more important than rituals, sacrifices and offerings. I heard once of a family who treated their mother with cool contempt and disobedience during her lifetime. But when she died, they dressed her corpse in a Dior original. A despicable and futile attempt to atone for years of rebellion and discourtesy!||We often hear people defending an unscriptural position or unscriptural associations on the ground that they can have a wider influence in this way. But God is not deceived by such specious rationalizations. He wants our obedience--He will take care of our sphere of influence. The truth is that when we are disobedient, our influence is negative. Only when we are walking in fellowship with the Lord can we exert a godly influence on others.||William Gurnall said, 'Sacrifice without obedience is sacrilege.' And it becomes even worse when we cloke our disobedience with some pious, religious excuse. God is not hoodwinked.",
"May 27","...whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?||The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day taught that if a man swore by the Temple, he wasn't necessarily obligated to do what he promised. But if he swore by the gold of the Temple, then that was a different story. He was bound by that oath. They made the same false distinction between swearing by the altar and swearing by the sacrifice on it. The former oath could be broken; the latter was binding.||The Lord told them that their sense of values was completely twisted. It is the Temple that gives the gold special value, and it is the altar that sets apart the sacrifice in a special way.||The Temple was the dwelling place of God on earth. The highest honor that any gold could have was to be used in that dwelling. Its connection with the House of God set it apart in a unique way. So it was with the altar and the sacrifice on it. The altar was an integral part of the divine service. No animal could be more highly honored than to be sacrificed on the altar. If animals could have ambitions, they would have all aimed for that destiny.||A tourist bought an inexpensive amber necklace in a secondhand shop in Paris. He became curious when he had to pay heavy customs in New York. He went to a jeweler to have it appraised and was offered $25,000. A second jeweler offered $35,000. When he asked why it was so valuable, the jeweler put it under a magnifying glass. The tourist read, 'From Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine.' It was the name of Napoleon that made the necklace so valuable.||The application should be clear. In ourselves we are nothing and can do nothing. It is our association with the Lord and with His service that sets us apart in a special way. As Spurgeon said, 'Your connection with Calvary is the most wonderful thing about you.'||You may have an unusually brilliant mind. That is something to be thankful for. But remember this. It is only as that mind is used for the Lord Jesus Christ that it ever reaches its highest destiny. It is Christ that sanctifies your intellect.||You may have talents for which the world is willing to pay a high price. You may even think that the Church is too insignificant for them. But it is the Church that sanctifies your talents, and not your talents that sanctify the Church.||You may have bundles of money. You can hoard it, spend it on self-indulgence, or use it for the Kingdom. The greatest use to which it can be put is to spend it in furthering the cause of Christ. It is the Kingdom that sanctifies your wealth, not vice versa.",
"May 28","But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.||The Bible teaches that we become like what we worship. That important insight is found in today's text. Let's break it down this way:|| But we all--that is, all true believers;|| with open or unveiled face--sin causes a veil between our faces and the Lord. When we confess and forsake the sin, we have an open or unveiled face;|| beholding as in a glass--the glass or mirror is the Word of God, in which we behold|| the glory of the Lord--meaning His moral excellence. In the Bible we gaze upon the perfection of His character, the beauty of all His works and ways;|| are changed into the same image--we become like Him. We are changed by beholding. The more we are occupied with Him, the more like Him we become.||This change is|| from glory to glory--from one degree of glory to another. The change does not take place all at once. It is a process that continues as long as we behold Him. The transformation of our character is effected|| even as by the Spirit of the Lord--the Holy Spirit produces likeness to Christ in all those who gaze by faith upon the Savior as He is revealed in the Bible.||In The Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne, it wasn't Mr. Gathergold or General Blood and Thunder or Old Stony Phiz or the poet, but Ernest--who, gazing in quiet meditation on the Great Stone Face, eventually came to resemble it.||I heard once of a man who went daily to a Buddhist temple and sat with legs akimbo and arms folded, gazing upon the green statue. It was said that after years of this meditation, he actually came to resemble the Buddha. Whether that is true, I don't know, but I do know that reverent occupation with the Son of God produces moral resemblance to Him.||The way to holiness is through gazing upon the Lord Jesus. It is not ordinarily possible to think of Christ and of sin at the same time. During those moments when we are taken up with Him, we are most free from sin. Our goal then should be to increase the percentage of our time when we are beholding Him.",
"May 29","Not that I speak in respect of want...||It is noteworthy that Paul never made his own financial needs known. His was a life of faith. He believed that God had called him into His service, and was utterly convinced that God pays for what He orders.||Should Christians today publicize their needs or beg for money? Here are a few considerations: There is no Scriptural justification for this practice. The apostles made known the needs of others, but never asked for money for themselves.||It seems more consistent with the life of faith to look to God alone. He will provide the needed funds for anything he wants us to do. When we see Him providing in just the right amount at just the right time, our faith is greatly strengthened. And He is greatly glorified when the provision is undeniably miraculous. On the other hand, He does not get the credit when we manipulate our own finances through clever fund-raising techniques.||By using appeals and solicitation, we can carry on works 'for God' that might not be His will at all. Or we can perpetuate a work long after the Spirit has departed from it. But when we are dependent on His supernatural provision, we can continue only as long as He supplies.||High-pressure solicitation introduces a new way of measuring success in Christian work. The one who is most clever in public relations is the one who gets the most money. It may be that worthy works suffer because the fund campaigns siphon off the money. This often gives rise to jealousy and disunity.||C. H. Mackintosh took a dim view of publicizing one's own personal needs. 'To make known my wants, directly or indirectly, to a human being is departure from the life of faith, and a positive dishonor to God. It is actually betraying Him. It is tantamount to saying that God has failed me, and I must look to my fellow for help. It is forsaking the living fountain and turning to a broken cistern. It is placing the creature between my soul and God, thus robbing my soul of rich blessing, and God of the glory due to Him.'||In similar vein, Corrie Ten Boom wrote in Tramp for the Lord, 'I would much rather be a trusting child of a rich Father, than a beggar at the door of worldly men.'",
"May 30","...no man knoweth the Son, but the Father.||There is deep mystery connected with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Part of the mystery is the combination of absolute deity and full humanity in one Person. There is the question, for instance, how One who has the attributes of God can at the same time have the limitations of finite Man. No mere man can comprehend the Person of Christ. Only God the Father understands.||Many of the most serious heresies that have racked the Church have centered on this subject. Heedless of their own frailty, men have occupied themselves with that which is too deep for them. Some have overemphasized the deity of our Lord at the expense of His humanity. Others have so stressed His humanity as to detract from His Godhood.||William Kelly once wrote, 'The point where error comes in is as to the Son of God becoming a man; for it is the complex person of the Lord Jesus that exposes persons to break down fatally. There are those, no doubt, who dare to deny His divine glory. But there is a far more subtle way in which the Lord Jesus is lowered; where, although He is owned to be divine, the manhood of the Lord is allowed to swamp His glory, and neutralize the confession of His person. Thus, one is soon perplexed, and one lets that which puts Him in association with us here below work so as to falsify that which He has in common with God Himself. There is but one simple safeguard that keeps the soul right as to this, which is, that we do not venture to pry and never dare to discuss it, fearing to rush in human folly on holy ground, and feeling that on such ground as this we should be only worshipers. Wherever this is forgotten by the soul, it will invariably be found that God is not with it--that He allows the self-confident one, who of himself ventures to speak of the Lord Jesus to prove his own folly. It is only by the Holy Ghost that he can know what is revealed about the Only-begotten.'||A venerable servant of the Lord once advised his students to stick to the language of Scripture itself when discussing the dual nature of our Lord. It is when we inject our own ideas and speculations that errors creep in.||No man knows the Son. Only the Father knows Him.||The high myst'ries of His fame||The creature's grasp transcend.||The Father only--glorious claim--||The Son can comprehend.||Josiah Conder",
"May 31","But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,||The natural man is the one who has never been born again. He does not have the Spirit of God. He is disinclined to receive spiritual truths because they sound like nonsense to him. But that is not all! He cannot understand spiritual truths because they can only be understood by the illumination of the Holy Spirit.||This must be emphasized. It is not just that the unsaved man doesn't want to understand the things of God. He cannot understand them. He has a native incapacity for doing so.||This helps me in properly evaluating the scientists, philosophers and other professional people of the world. As long as they speak about mundane matters, I respect them as experts. But as soon as they start intruding into the spiritual realm, I write them off as unqualified to speak with any authority.||I am not unduly surprised if some college professor or even some liberal clergyman grabs the headlines with doubts or denials concerning the Bible. I have come to expect that and disregard it. I realize that the unregenerate have gone beyond their depth when they talk about the things of the Spirit of God.||F. W. Boreham likened the great men of science and philosophy to second-class passengers on an ocean liner, barred from the first-class promenade. 'Scientists and philosophers--as such--are, so to speak, 'second-class passengers,' and they must be kept on their own side of the barrier. They are not authorities on the Christian faith... The fact is that we have a faith which cannot be shocked by the contempt of second-class passengers, and which derives no real support from their corroboration and patronage.'||Of course, there is the occasional scientist or philosopher who is a saint. In such a case, Boreham said, 'I always discover a 'first-class ticket' peeping out of his pocket; and as I stroll the promenade in his delightful company, I no more think of him as a scientist than I think of Bunyan as a tinker. We are fellow passengers--first-class.'||Said Robert G. Lee, 'Men may be critical and scholarly and scientific, knowing all about rocks and molecules and gases, and yet be utterly incompetent to sit in judgment upon Christianity and the Bible.'",
"Jun 01","And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a -prosperous man.||I have heard that one of the earliest versions of the English Bible translated this verse, 'And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a luckye fellow.' Perhaps 'luckye' at that time had a different meaning. At any rate we are glad that later translators removed Joseph from the realm of luck.||For the child of God there is no luck. His life is controlled, guarded, planned by a loving heavenly Father. Nothing happens to him by chance.||That being so, it is inconsistent for a Christian to wish 'Good luck' to someone else. Nor should he say 'I lucked out.' Such expressions are a practical denial of the truth of divine providence.||The unbelieving world associates various things with good luck-a rabbit's foot, a wishbone, a four-leaf clover, a horseshoe (always with ends pointing upward so the luck won't spill out!). Men cross their fingers and knock on wood, as if those actions could affect events favorably or avert misfortune.||The same people associate other things with bad luck-a black cat, Friday the 13th, walking under a ladder, the number 13 on a room or on the floor of a building. It is sad to think of people living in bondage to such superstitions, a bondage that is both needless and fruitless.||In (NASB), God threatened punishment for those in Judah who, it seems, were worshiping the god of chance.||But you who forsake the Lord,||Who forget My holy mountain,||Who set a table for Fortune,||And who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny.||We cannot be positive as to the particular sin involved but it sounds suspiciously as if the people were bringing offerings to idols that were associated with luck and chance. God hated it and still does.||What confidence it gives us to know that we are not the helpless pawns of blind chance, or of the rolling of cosmic dice, or of Lady Luck. Everything in life is planned, is meaningful and is purposeful. For us it is our Father, not fate; Christ, not chance; love, not luck.",
"Jun 02","It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. (b)||It is not uncommon for God's people to suffer from nervous depression, just as Elijah did. Moses and Jonah also wished they could die (;). The Lord has never promised believers exemption from this type of trouble. Neither does the presence of this affliction necessarily indicate a lack of faith or spirituality. It could happen to any one of us.||When it does strike, it is something like this. You feel that God has forsaken you, even though you know very well that He never forsakes His own. You go to the Word of God for comfort, and invariably you turn to a passage on the unpardonable sin or the hopeless condition of an apostate. You experience the frustration of having an affliction that cannot be removed by surgery and cannot be cured by medicines. Your friends suggest that you should 'snap out of it,' but they never tell you how. You pray and long for some quick remedy, but find that while nervous prostration comes in pounds, it leaves in ounces. All you can think about is yourself and your own misery. In your despondency, you wish you could die by some dramatic act of God.||Depression like this can have several different causes. There may be a physical problem; anemia, for instance, can cause your mind to play tricks on you. There may be a spiritual cause; sin unconfessed or unforgiven can do it. There may be an emotional basis; the unfaithfulness of a spouse can bring it on. Overwork or extreme mental stress can lead to nervous exhaustion. Or it may be caused by a medication to which a certain individual may react unfavorably.||What can be done? First, go to God in prayer, asking Him to work out His wonderful purposes. Confess and forsake all known sin. Forgive anyone who may have wronged you. Then have a thorough medical checkup to rule out any physical ailment as a possible reason. Take drastic action to eliminate causes of overwork, worry, stress and anything else that might be bothering you. Regular rest, good food and physical work out of doors all provide good therapy.||From then on, you must learn how to pace yourself, daring to say 'no' to claims on you that might push you over the brink again.",
"Jun 03","And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.||In a society like ours,, and with a corrupt old nature like ours, we are constantly faced with problems of ethics that test the sincerity of our commitment to Christian principles.||The student, for instance, is tempted to cheat on his exams. If all diplomas earned dishonestly were returned, the schools and colleges would scarcely contain them.||The taxpayer is forever tempted to understate his income, overstate his expenses or withhold some pertinent information altogether.||The name of the game in business, politics and law is payola. Bribes are used to pervert justice. Gifts change hands to get orders. Kickbacks keep business coming. Payoffs appease local inspectors who often make extreme and sometimes ridiculous demands.||Almost every profession has its own pressures to be dishonest. The Christian doctor is called on to sign his name to insurance claims that are patently false. The lawyer must decide whether to defend a criminal whom he knows to be guilty, or to handle a divorce case where both parties are Christians. The used car dealer fights a battle within whether to adjust the odometer to show a lower mileage. The laborer faces the decision, in joining a union, of committing himself to violence in the event of a strike. Should a Christian flight attendant serve liquor (or, choosing that job, does she have any choice)? Should a Christian athlete play on the Lord's Day? Should a Christian grocer sell cigarettes, which are known to produce cancer?||Is it worse for a Christian architect to design a nightclub or a modernistic, liberal church building? Should a Christian organization accept gifts from a brewery? Or from a Christian who is living in sin? Should a buyer accept a crate of oranges or a box of jams and jellies from one of his suppliers at Christmas time?||The best deciding rule is the one in our text--'to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.'",
"Jun 04","Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.||The thought of God is undoubtedly the greatest thought that can occupy the human mind. Great thoughts of God ennoble all of life. Small thoughts of God destroy those who hold them.||God is very great. After a magnificent description of the power and majesty of God, Job said, 'Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways: and how small a whisper do we hear of him! but the thunder of his power who can understand?' (RV). We see only the fringes, and hear only a whisper!||The Psalmist reminds us that the glance of God produces an earthquake and His touch precipitates volcanic eruptions.||The Lord has to humble Himself to behold things in heaven. He is so great that He calls the stars by name.||When Isaiah tells us that the train of God's glory fills the Temple, he leaves us to imagine how great the full display of His glory must be. Later he pictures God as measuring the oceans in the hollow of His hand and measuring the skies by the width of His spread hand. To Him the nations are a drop in a bucket or the dust on the scales (40:15). All the forests of Lebanon and all its animals would not be sufficient to make a suitable burnt offering to Him (40:16).||The prophet Nahum says, 'The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet'.||In the midst of another breathtaking description of the glory of God, Habakkuk says, 'and there was the hiding of his power'. All of which says that human language breaks down in any attempt to picture the greatness of God.||As we contemplate some of the attributes of God in the next few days, they should lead us to:||· Wonder-- because He is wonderful.||· Worship-- because of Who He is and all He has done for us.||· Trust-- because He is worthy of our full, undivided confidence.||· Serve-- because it is one of life's greatest privileges to serve such a Master.||· Imitate-- because His will is that we should be more and more like Him.||(However, there are some attributes of God, such as His wrath, that we should not imitate, and others, such as His infinity, that we cannot imitate.)",
"Jun 05","God...knoweth all things.||The omniscience of God means that He has perfect knowledge of everything. He has never learned and can never learn.||One of the great passages on the subject is, where David wrote: 'O Lord, thou has searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.'||In, we learn that God counts the number of the stars and calls them all by name. The wonder of this increases when Sir James Jeans tells us that 'the total number of stars in the universe is probably something like the total number of grains of sand on all the sea shores of the world.'||Our Lord reminded His disciples that not a sparrow falls to the ground unnoticed by our Father. And in the same passage He said that the very hairs of our head are all numbered.||It is clear then that 'all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do', causing us to join with Paul in saying 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!'.||The omniscience of God is filled with practical meaning for every one of us. There is warning. God sees everything we do. We can't keep anything secret from Him.||There is comfort. He knows what we are going through. As Job said, 'He knoweth the way that I take'. He counts our tossings and numbers our tears in His bottle (RSV).||There is encouragement. He knew all about us and yet He saved us anyway. He knows what we feel in worship and prayer but cannot express.||There is wonder. Although God is omniscient, yet He can forget the sins He has forgiven. As David Seamands said, 'I don't know how divine omniscience can forget but it does.'",
"Jun 06","Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord. (b)||When we speak of God's omnipresence, we mean that He is present in all places at one and the same time. A Puritan named John Arrowsmith told of a heathen philosopher who once asked, 'Where is God?' The Christian answered, 'Let me first ask you, 'Where is He not?''||An atheist wrote on a wall, 'God is nowhere.' A child came along and changed the spacing to read, 'God is now here.'||We are indebted to David for a classic passage on the omnipresence of God. He wrote, 'Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.'||When we speak of omnipresence, we must be careful not to confuse it with pantheism. The latter says that all is God. In some of its forms, men worship trees or rivers or the forces of nature. The true God controls the universe and fills the universe, but He Himself is separate from the universe and is greater than it.||What practical influence should the truth of God's omnipresence have in the life of His people?||There is the solemn reminder, of course, that we cannot hide from God. He is inescapable.||There is unspeakable comfort in knowing that God is always with His people. He never leaves us. We are never alone.||Then there is challenge! Because He is always with us, we should walk in holiness and in separation from the world.||He has promised His presence in a special way when two or three are gathered together in His Name: He is in the midst. This should inspire deep reverence and solemnity in the gatherings of the Saints.",
"Jun 07","The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.||The omnipotence of God means that He can do anything that is not inconsistent with His other attributes. Hear the uniform testimony of Scripture! 'I am the Almighty God'. 'Is anything too hard for the Lord?'. 'I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted'. 'There is nothing too hard for Thee' Qer. 32:17). 'With God all things are possible'. 'For with God nothing shall be impossible'.||But it is understood that God cannot do anything that is inconsistent with His own character. For instance, it is impossible for God to lie. He cannot deny Himself. He cannot sin because He is absolutely holy. He cannot fail because He is absolutely dependable.||The omnipotence of God is seen in His creation and sustaining of the universe, in His providence, in the salvation of sinners, and in the judgment of the impenitent. The greatest display of His power in the Old Testament was the Exodus; in the New Testament, the resurrection of Christ.||If God is omnipotent, then no man can fight successfully against Him. 'There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord'.||If God is omnipotent, then the believer is on the winning side. One with God is a majority. 'If God be for us, who can be against us'.||If God is omnipotent, then in prayer we can deal in the realm of the impossible. As the chorus says, we can laugh at impossibilities and cry, 'It shall be done.'||If God is omnipotent, then we have the unutterable comfort that:||The Savior can solve every problem,||The tangles of life can undo.||There is nothing too hard for Jesus,||There is nothing that He cannot do.||'When my weakness leans on His might, all seems light.'",
"Jun 08","To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.||The wisdom of God is a thread that runs all through the Bible. For example! 'With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding...With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his'; (Job 12:16). 'O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches'. 'The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens'. 'Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his'. 'For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe'.'Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom...'.||The wisdom of God refers to His perfect insight, His unerring discernment and His infallible decisions. Someone has defined it as His ability to produce the best possible results by the best possible means. It is more than knowledge. It is the ability to use that knowledge properly.||All the works of God express His wisdom. The marvelous design of the human body, for instance, bears eloquent tribute to it.||And God's wisdom is seen in the plan of salvation. The Gospel tells us how sin's penalty is paid, God's justice is vindicated, His mercy is dispensed righteously, and the believer in Christ is better off than he ever could have been if Adam had not fallen.||Now that we are saved, the wisdom of God speaks tender comfort to our souls. We know that our God is too wise to make a mistake. Though there are things in life that are hard to understand, we know that He cannot err.||We can have utmost confidence in His guidance. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows pathways of blessing of which we are completely unaware. His way is perfect.||Finally, He wants us to grow in wisdom. We should be wise unto that which is good. We should walk circumspectly, as wise men, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. We should be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.",
"Jun 09","Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.||When we speak of the holiness of God, we mean that He is spiritually and morally perfect in His thoughts, deeds, motives and in every other way. He is absolutely free from sin and defilement. He cannot be anything but pure.||The Scriptural testimony to His holiness is abundant. Here are a few examples. 'I the Lord your God am holy'. 'There is none holy as the Lord'. 'O Lord my God, mine Holy One... Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity'. 'God can not be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man'. 'God is light, and in him is no darkness at all' (b). 'Thou only art holy'.||Even the stars are not pure in His sight. The priesthood and the sacrificial system of the Old Testament taught, among other things, the holiness of God. They taught that sin had brought distance between God and man, that there must be a go-between to bridge the gap, and that a holy God can be approached only on the basis of the blood of a sacrificial victim.||The holiness of God was also demonstrated in a unique way at the Cross. When He looked down and saw His Son bearing our sins, God forsook His Well-beloved for those three terrible hours of darkness.||The application of all this to us is clear. The will of God is that we should be holy 'For this is the will of God, even your sanctification' (1Th 4:3). 'As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation'.||Thoughts of the holiness of God should also produce in us a profound sense of reverence and awe. As He said to Moses, 'Put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground'.||T. Binney marveled at the holiness required to stand in the presence of God.||Eternal light! Eternal light!||How pure the soul must be||When, placed within Thy searching sight,||It shrinks not, but with calm delight||Can live, and look on Thee.||Our hearts overflow with worship when we realize that we have that necessary purity imputed to us through faith in the Lord Jesus.",
"Jun 10","I am the Lord; I change not.||The attribute of God which describes Him as changeless is called His immutability. He does not change in His essential being. He does not change in His attributes. He does not change in the principles by which He operates.||The psalmist contrasted the changing destiny of the heavens and earth with God's changelessness: 'They shall be changed, but thou art the same'. James describes the Lord as 'the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning'.||There are other Scriptures that remind us that God does not repent. 'God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent'. 'The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent'.||But what, then, do we do with verses that say that God does repent? 'It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth'. 'The Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel' (b). See also and||There is no contradiction. God always acts on these two principles: He always rewards obedience and always punishes disobedience. When man shifts from obedience to disobedience, God must still be true to His own character by shifting from the first principle to the second. This seems like repentance to us, and it is so described in what we might call the language of human appearance. But it does not indicate regret or changeableness.||God is always the same. In fact, that is one of His names. '...thou, the Same, thou alone art the God of all the kingdoms of the earth' (Darby). That name is also found in Margin, and Margin, all in Darby's translation.||The immutability of God has been a comfort to His saints in all ages, and a theme of their song. We celebrate it in the immortal lines of Henry F. Lyte:||Change and decay in all around I see--||O thou who changest not, abide with me!||It is also a quality for us to imitate. We should be stable, constant and stedfast. If we are vacillating, fickle and mercurial, we misrepresent our Father to the world.||'Be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord'.",
"Jun 11","Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.||Love is that quality in God which causes Him to lavish unbounded affection on others. His love is manifest in giving good and perfect gifts to the beloved.||We can give only a few of the myriad of verses that speak of that love! 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee'. 'God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us'. 'But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us...'. And, of course, the best known of all, 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whososoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life'.||When John says 'God is love', he is not defining God, but insisting that love is a key element in the divine nature. We do not worship love, but the God of love.||His love had no beginning and can have no end. It is limitless in its dimensions. It is absolutely pure, without taint of selfishness or any other sin. It is sacrificial, never minding the cost. It seeks only the welfare of others, and nothing in return. It goes out to the unlovely as well as to the lovely, to enemies as well as to friends. It is not drawn out by any virtues in its objects, but only by the goodness of the Giver.||The practical implications of this sublime truth are obvious. 'Therefore be imitators of God,' said Paul, 'as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us' (a, NASB). Our love should ascend to the Lord, should flow out to our brethren, and should extend to the unsaved world.||Contemplation of His love should also inspire deepest worship. As we fall at His feet, we must say repeatedly:||How Thou canst love me as Thou dost||And be the God Thou art||Is darkness to my intellect||But sunshine to my heart.",
"Jun 12","The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus...||The grace of God is His favor and acceptance to those who do not deserve it; who, in fact, deserve the very opposite; but who trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.||Four of the better known verses on grace are these! 'The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ'. 'Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus'. 'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich'. 'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast'.||Some extol God's grace as the chief of all His virtues. Samuel Davies, for instance, wrote:||Great God of wonders! all Thy ways||Display Thine attributes divine;||But the bright glories of Thy grace||Above Thine other wonders shine:||Who is a pard'ning God like Thee?||Or who has grace so rich and free?||But who can say that one of God's attributes is greater than another?||God has always been a God of grace-in the Old Testament as well as in the New. But that aspect of His character was revealed in a new and arresting way with the coming of Christ.||Once we come to understand something of the grace of God, we become worshipers forever. We ask ourselves, 'Why should He have chosen me? Why should the Lord Jesus have shed His life's blood for one so unworthy? Why should God not only save me from hell, but bless me with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies now, and destine me to spend eternity with Him in heaven?' No wonder we sing of the amazing grace that saved such wretches!||Then, too, God wants His grace to be reproduced in our own lives and to flow through us to others. He wants us to be gracious in our dealings with others. Our speech should be always with grace, seasoned with salt. We should impoverish ourselves that others might be enriched. We should grant favor and acceptance to the unworthy and the unlovely.",
"Jun 13","God...is rich in mercy.||The mercy of God is His pity, lovingkindness and compassion on those who are guilty, failing, distressed or needy. The Scriptures emphasize that God is rich in mercy and plenteous in mercy. His mercy is abundant; it is great unto the heavens. 'For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him'. God is spoken of as 'the Father of mercies', One who is 'very pitiful and of tender mercy'. He is impartial in bestowing mercy: 'for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust'. Men are not saved by works of righteousness but by His sovereign mercy (;). His mercy endures forever to those who fear Him (Luk 1:50), but for the impenitent it is for this life only.||There is a difference between grace and mercy. Grace means that God showers me with blessings which I do not deserve. Mercy means that He does not give me the punishment that I do deserve.||Every doctrine of the Scripture has duty attached. The mercies of God require, first of all, that we should present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. It is the most reasonable, rational, sane, sensible thing we can do.||Then, too, God would have us to be merciful to one another. A special reward is promised to the merciful: 'they shall obtain mercy'. The Lord would rather have mercy than sacrifice, that is, great acts of sacrifice are unacceptable if they are divorced from personal godliness.||The good Samaritan is the one who shows mercy to his neighbor. We show mercy when we feed the hungry, clothe the poor, nurse the sick, visit the widows and orphans, and weep with those who weep.||We are merciful when we refuse the opportunity to take vengeance on someone who has wronged us, or when we show compassion on those who have failed.||Remembering what we are, we should pray for mercy for ourselves and for others (;).||Finally the mercies of God should tune our hearts to sing His praise.||When all thy mercies, O my God,||My rising soul surveys,||Transported with the view I'm lost,||In wonder, love, and praise.||Joseph Addison",
"Jun 14","The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.||The wrath of God is His fierce anger and retributive punishment directed against unrepentant sinners in time and in eternity. A. W. Pink has pointed out that it is as much a divine perfection as is His faithfulness, power and mercy. We need make no apology for it.||In pondering the wrath of God, there are a few facts we should keep in mind.||There is no conflict between God's love and His wrath. True love punishes sin, rebellion and disobedience.||If men refuse God's love, what is left but His wrath? There are only two eternal abodes, heaven and hell. If men refuse heaven, they thereby choose hell.||God did not create hell for men, but for the devil and his angels. The Lord does not desire the death of the wicked. But there is no alternative for the Christ-rejecter.||Judgment is spoken of as God's strange work. The suggestion is that He prefers to show mercy (b).||There is no vindictiveness or spite in God's wrath. It is righteous wrath, without any stain of sin.||The wrath of God is an attribute we are not called to imitate. It is peculiarly His in the sense that He alone can exercise it with absolute justice. Thus Paul writes to the Romans, 'Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord''.||The Christian is called on to display righteous anger, but it must be righteous. It must not overflow into sinful wrath. And it should be exercised only when God's honor is at stake, never in self-defense or self-justification.||If we really believe in the wrath of God, it should move us out to share the Gospel with those who are still on the broad road that leads to destruction. And when we preach the wrath of God, it should be with tears of compassion.",
"Jun 15","His compassions fail not, they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.||God is faithful and true. He cannot lie or deceive. He cannot go back on His word. He is absolutely trustworthy. No promise of His can ever fail.||'God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?'. 'Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God'. 'Thy faithfulness is unto all generations'.||God's faithfulness is seen in His calling us into the fellowship of His Son. It is seen in not allowing us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. It is seen in the way He establishes us and keeps us from evil (2Th 3:3). Even if some do not believe, yet He remains faithful: He cannot deny Himself.||The Lord Jesus is truth incarnate. The Word of God is sanctifying truth. 'Let God be true, but every man a liar'.||The knowledge that God is faithful and true floods our souls with confidence. We know that His Word cannot fail, that He will do as He has promised. We know, for instance, that we are eternally secure, because He said that no sheep of His will ever perish. We know that we will never want because He has promised to supply all our needs.||God wants His people to be faithful and true. He wants us to be true to our word. He wants us to be dependable in keeping appointments. We should not be given to lies, exaggeration or half-truths. We should be faithful in keeping our promises. Christians, above all people, should be faithful to their marriage vows. They should be faithful in discharging their commitments in the assembly, in business and in the home.||How we should praise and thank the Lord for His faithfulness. He is the God who cannot fail.||He cannot fail--for He is God||He cannot fail--He gave His Word.||He cannot fail--He'll see you through.||He cannot fail--He'll answer you.||C. E. Mason, Jr.",
"Jun 16","Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.||God is sovereign. That means that He is the supreme Ruler of the universe, and that He can do as He pleases. But having said that, we must quickly add that what God pleases is always right. His way is perfect.||Isaiah quotes the Lord as saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my Pleasure'. When Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his right mind, he said, 'He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?'. The Apostle Paul insists that man has no right to question God's actions: 'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?'. And in another place he speaks of God as the One 'who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will'.||Spurgeon said, 'We proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter.'||To put it very simply, the doctrine of the sovereignty of God is a doctrine that allows God to be God.||It is a truth that fills me with reverence and awe. I cannot comprehend all its ramifications, but I can worship and adore.||It is a truth that moves me to submit myself to Him. He is the Potter; I am the clay. He has rights to me by creation and redemption. Under no circumstances should I talk back to Him or question His decisions.||It is a truth that is full of comfort. Since He is the supreme Ruler, I know that He is working out His purposes and that they will reach their desired end.||Though there are things in life I can't understand, I can be sure that the dark threads are as necessary for His weaving as the threads of gold and silver.",
"Jun 17","Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?.||There are other attributes of God that must be mentioned, even if only briefly. Contemplation of these divine perfections lifts the soul from earth to heaven, from the petty to the sublime.||· God is righteous, that is, He is just, equitable and fair in all His dealings. He is 'a just God and a Saviour''.||· God is incomprehensible. He is too great to be understood by the human mind. As Stephen Charnock said, 'It is visible that God is. It is invisible what He is.' And Richard Baxter said, 'You may know God, but not comprehend Him.'||· God is eternal--without beginning or end. Eternity is His lifetime.||· God is good. He is 'good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works'.||· God is infinite. He has no limits or boundaries. 'His greatness is beyond calculation, measurement or human imagination.'||· God is self-existent. He did not receive His existence from any outside source. He is the Fountain of His own life as well as of all other life.||· God is self-sufficient, that is, He has within the Trinity all that He could ever need.||· God is transcendent. He is far above the universe and time, and is separate from the material creation.||A final attribute of God is His foreknowledge. Christians are divided on whether God's foreknowledge determines who will be saved, or whether it is merely a prior knowledge of who will trust the Savior. Judging from, I believe that God sovereignly selected certain individuals and decreed that all whom He thus foreknew would eventually be glorified.||And so we come to the end of our consideration of the attributes of God. But it is a subject that in another sense has no end. God is so great, so majestic, so awesome that we only see through a glass darkly. Because He is infinite, He never can be fully known by finite minds. Throughout eternity we will dwell on the wonders of His Person and will still have to say, 'The half has not been told.'",
"Jun 18","Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.||When James wrote these words, he didn't mean to suggest that if a believer did these things, he did all that was required of him. Rather he was saying that two outstanding examples of ideal religion are to visit orphans and widows and to keep oneself pure.||We might have thought that he would have zeroed in on expository preaching, or missionary work, or personal soul winning. But no! He thinks first of visiting those in need.||The Apostle Paul reminded the Ephesian elders how he had visited 'from house to house'. J. N. Darby considered visiting 'the most important part of the work.' He wrote, 'The clock strikes the hours and the passers-by hear it, but the works inside make the clock go, and keep the striking and the hands right. I think that visiting should be your substantive work, and take all else as it comes. I dread much public testimony: and especially so, if there be no private work' (from a letter to G. V. Wigram, Aug. 2, 1839).||An elderly widow, living alone, reached the stage where she depended on help from neighbors and friends. With time on her hands, she kept a diary of anything and everything that happened during the day-especially of contacts with the outside world. One day neighbors realized that they hadn't seen any signs of life around her house for several days. The police were called to enter the house, and they found that she had been dead for several days. For three days prior to her death, the only entry in her diary was 'No one came,' 'No one came,' 'No one came.'||In the busyness of our everyday lives, it is all too easy to forget the lonely, the needy, the infirm. We give priority to other matters, and often to those forms of service that are more public and glamorous. But if we want our religion to be pure and undefiled, we will not neglect the orphans and widows, the aged and shut-ins. The Lord has a special concern for those who need help, and a special reward for those who step forward to fill the need.",
"Jun 19","...as thy days, so shall thy strength be.||God promises to give His people strength according to their needs at any particular time. He does not promise it in advance of the need, but when the crisis comes, the grace is there to meet it.||Perhaps you are called to go through a patch of sickness and suffering. If you knew in advance how great the testing would be, you would say, 'I know I could never bear it.' But all the divine support comes with the testing, to your amazement and everyone else's.||We live in fear of the time when our loved ones will be called away by death. We are sure our little world will fall apart and that we ourselves will be utterly unable to cope. But it isn't that way at all. We are conscious of the Lord's presence and power in a way we never knew before.||Many of us have close scrapes with death in accidents and situations of extreme peril. We find our hearts flooded with peace when ordinarily we would be in panic. We know it is the Lord, coming alongside to help.||As we read the stories of those who have heroically laid down their lives for the sake of Christ, we realize afresh that God gives 'martyr grace for martyr days.' Their cool courage was beyond human bravery. Their bold witness was obviously empowered from on high.||Now it should be obvious that worrying in advance of the need produces nothing but ulcers. The fact is that God doesn't give the grace and strength until they are needed. As D. W. Whittle said,||I have nothing to do with tomorrow,||The Savior will make that His care;||Its grace and its strength I can't borrow,||Then why should I borrow its care?||Annie Johnson Flint's memorable lines are ever apropos.||He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;||He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.||To added affliction He addeth His mercy;||To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.||When we have exhausted our store of endurance,||When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,||When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,||Our Father's full giving is only begun.",
"Jun 20","Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. (What are some of the things that a Christian husband desires in his wife? The following is a suggested list. Hopefully no one will be so immature as to expect all this in any one woman.||First of all, she should be a godly woman-one who is not only born again but spiritually minded as well. This woman puts Christ first in her life. She is a woman of prayer and active in the service of the Lord. A woman of Christian character and integrity whom he can respect spiritually; and who respects him in return.||She is a woman who takes her God-given place of subjection and who actively assists her husband to take his proper place as head...She is faithful to her marriage vows-- She is a good wife and mother of her children-- She is personally neat and attractive, one who does not go to extremes in dress, one who is feminine and ladylike but not prissy.||This ideal wife is a good homemaker, who keeps the place neat and clean and who manages its affairs efficiently. She serves good meals on a regular schedule and loves to show hospitality to others... It goes without saying that she should share the same goals and interests as her husband.||When differences arise, she is willing to bring her problems to the surface rather than clam up, pout or sulk. She is willing to negotiate differences and is able to apologize and confess if necessary.||She is not a gossip nor a busybody, meddling in other people's affairs. She has a meek and a quiet spirit and is not contentious or a nagger.||This wife cooperates in living within the family income. She is not obsessed with a desire for fancy things, and does not strive to keep up with the Joneses.||She is willing to accept adversity, if necessary.||She renders her husband his conjugal rights joyfully, not passively nor disinterestedly.||She has a good temperament, is a good sport, is not a social climber, and is entirely trustworthy.||Husbands should be grateful when they find a majority of these traits in their wives, and wives can use these as a checklist to help them climb higher.",
"Jun 21","Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.||What does a Christian wife desire in her husband? Her first concern should be with his spiritual life, not with his physical appearance.||He should be a man of God, one who seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. His objective is to serve the Lord and to be active in the local fellowship. In the home he should maintain a family altar, and be an example of the believer.||This man takes his proper place as head of the house, but he is not a tyrant.||He loves his wife and thereby wins her subjection rather than demanding it. He is respectful to her, treating her like a lady at all times. He is faithful, understanding, longsuffering, kind, thoughtful, considerate and joyful.||The ideal husband is a good provider, one who is diligent in business. But money is not his first priority. He is not covetous or greedy.||He is one who loves his children, trains them, spends time with them, plans social activities for them, is a good example for them and gives each one individual attention.||He is a lover of hospitality. His home is open to the Lord's servants, to all Christians and to the unsaved as well.||He keeps lines of communication open with his wife and family. He understands and accepts their limitations and can laugh goodnaturedly at their blunders. He shares with them on a social and intellectual basis. When he does or says something wrong, he is quick to admit his mistake and apologize. He is always open to suggestions from the family. It is highly desirable that he be able to keep on top when his wife is down.||Other desirable traits are that he be clean and well-groomed, unselfish, honest, gentle, dependable, loyal, generous and appreciative. He should have a good sense of humor and be neither grouchy nor complaining.||Few if any men embody all these virtues and it is unrealistic to expect them all. A wife should be grateful for those which she does find and lovingly help her husband to develop others.",
"Jun 22","Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1Th 5:21)||Sometimes it seems that Christians are especially prone to accept passing fads and winds of doctrine. John Blanchard wrote of two tour-bus drivers who were comparing notes. When one mentioned that he had a bus full of Christians, the other said, 'Really? What do they believe?' To which the first replied, 'Anything I tell them!'||One minute it may be a food fad. Certain foods are denounced as poison and others are credited with almost magical properties. Or it may be a medicinal fad, claiming spectacular results for some strange weed or extract.||Christians can be gullible when it comes to financial appeals. In this country, at least, they respond readily to publicity involving orphans or anti-Communist crusades without investigating the integrity of the sponsoring agency.||Impostors have a heyday among believers. No matter how ridiculous their sob story, they are able to rake in the money.||Perhaps the problem is that we fail to distinguish between faith and gullibility. Faith believes the surest thing in the universe, that is, the Word of God. Gullibility accepts things as fact without evidence and sometimes in the face of evidence to the contrary.||God never intended His people to abandon their powers of discernment or their critical faculty. Interspersed in the Bible are such exhortations as the following:||'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good' (1Th 5:21),||'...take forth the precious from the vile',||'And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment',||'Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world'||The danger is especially great, of course, in connection with doctrinal fads and novelties. But in many other areas as well it is possible for Christians to get sidetracked or duped with schemes or crazes that they pursue with exaggerated zeal.",
"Jun 23","...those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (1Th 4:14 NASB)||How are we to react when one of our loved ones dies in the Lord? Some Christians fall apart emotionally. Others, while sorrowful, are able to bear up heroically. It depends on how deep our roots are in God and how fully we appropriate the great truths of our faith.||First of all, we should view the death from the Savior's standpoint. It is an answer to His prayer in, 'Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory...' When our loved ones go to be with Him, He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints'.||Then we should appreciate what it means to the one who has died. He has been ushered in to see the King in His beauty. He is forever free from sin, sickness, suffering and sorrow. He has been taken away from the evil to come. 'Nothing compares with the homegoing of a saint of God...to go home, to leave these old clods of clay, to be loosed from the bondage of the material-welcomed by the innumerable company of angels.' Bishop Ryle wrote, 'The very moment that believers die, they are in paradise. Their battle is fought. Their strife is over. They have passed through that gloomy valley we must one day tread. They have gone over that dark river we must one day cross. They have drunk that last bitter cup which sin has mingled for man. They have reached that place where sorrow and sighing are no more. Surely we should not wish them back again! We should not weep for them but for ourselves.' Faith appropriates this truth and is enabled to stand firm like a tree planted by rivers of water.||For us the death of a loved one always involves sadness. But we sorrow not as others who have no hope (1Th 4:13). We know that our loved one is with Christ, which is far better. We know that the separation is only for a little while. Then we will be reunited on the hillsides of Immanuel's land, and will know each other under better circumstances than we have ever known down here. We look forward to the Lord's coming when the dead in Christ shall rise first, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1Th 4:16-17). This hope makes all the difference.||And so the consolations of God are not too small for us. Our sorrow is mingled with joy, and our sense of loss is more than compensated by the promise of eternal blessing.",
"Jun 24","Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God.||The death of children is always an especially severe trial of the faith of God's people, and it is important to have some solid moorings to hold us at such a time.||The general belief among Christians is that children who die before they reach the age of accountability are safe through the blood of Jesus. The reasoning goes something like this: the child himself has never had the capacity to either accept or reject the Savior, so God reckons to him all the value of the work of Christ on the Cross. He is saved through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, even though he himself has never fully understood the saving value of that work.||As far as the age of accountability is concerned, no one but God knows what that is. It is clearly different in each case since one child may mature earlier than another.||While there is no Scripture that says specifically that children who die before the age of accountability go to heaven, there are two lines of Scripture that support this view. The first is our verse for today: 'Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God'. Speaking of children, Jesus said, '...of such is the kingdom of God.' He didn't say that they had to become adults to enter the kingdom of God, but that they themselves are characteristic of those who are in the kingdom of God. This is a very strong argument for the salvation of little children.||Another line of proof is as follows. When Jesus was speaking of adults, He said, 'The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost' (Luk 19:10). But when he was speaking of children, He omitted any mention of seeking. He simply said, 'The Son of man is come to save that which was lost'. The implication here is that children have not wandered away as adults have, and that the Savior sovereignly gathers them into His fold at the time of their death. Although they have never known about the work of Christ, God knows about it and reckons all the saving value of that work to their account.||We should not question the providence of God when He takes children away from us. As Jim Elliot wrote, 'I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those whom I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling eternity, and I must not restrict Him to old men and women.'",
"Jun 25","O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!||Whether Absalom was a saved man or not, his father's wail mirrors the grief of many believers who mourn the death of an unsaved relative for whom they may have prayed for many years. Is there any balm in Gilead for such an occasion? What is the Scriptural attitude to take?||Well, first of all, we cannot always be sure whether the person actually did die without Christ. We have heard of the testimony of one man who was thrown by a horse and who trusted Christ 'Between the stirrup and the ground, he mercy sought and mercy found.' Another man slipped off a gangplank and was converted before he hit the water. If either had died in these mishaps, no one would have known that he died in faith.||We believe that it is possible for a person to be saved in a coma. Medical authorities tell us that a person in a coma can often hear and understand what is being said in the room, even if he himself cannot speak. If he can hear and understand, why can he not receive Jesus Christ by a definite act of faith?||But let us suppose the worst. Let us suppose that the person actually did die unsaved. What should be our attitude then? We should very clearly take sides with God against our own flesh and blood. It is not God's fault if anyone dies in his sins. At stupendous cost, God has provided a way by which people can be saved from their sins. His salvation is a free gift, quite apart from debt or merit. If men refuse the gift of eternal life, what more can God do? He certainly cannot populate heaven with people who don't want to be there, for then it would not be heaven.||So if some of our loved ones do go into eternity without hope, all we can do is share the grief and heartbreak of the Son of God, who, weeping over Jerusalem, said, 'I would but ye would not.'||We know that the Judge of all the earth will do right, so we vindicate Him in the punishment of the lost as much as in the salvation of repentant sinners.",
"Jun 26","And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place...they departed into a desert place...the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them...Jesus...was moved with compassion.||It is easy for us to be annoyed by interruptions. I blush to think how often I have chafed at unexpected demands that prevented me from accomplishing some self-appointed task. Perhaps I was writing, and the words were flowing easily. Then the phone rang or someone was at the door in need of counsel. It was an unwelcome intrusion.||The Lord Jesus was never upset by interruptions. He accepted them all as part of His Father's plan for that day. This gave tremendous poise and serenity to His life.||Actually, the extent to which we are interrupted is often an index of our usefulness. A writer in the Anglican Digest said, 'When you are exasperated by interruptions, try to remember that their very frequency may indicate the valuableness of your life. Only the people who are full of help and strength are burdened by other people's need. The interruptions which we chafe at are the credentials of our indispensability. The greatest condemnation that anyone could incur--and it is a danger to guard against--is to be too independent, so unhelpful, that nobody ever interrupts us and we are left uncomfortably alone.||We all smile nervously when we read the experience of a busy housewife. One day when she had planned an unusually full schedule, she looked up from her work to see her husband come home earlier than usual. 'What are you doing here?' she asked with thinly-veiled annoyance. 'I live here,' he replied with a pained smile. She wrote later, 'Since that day I've made it a point to lay aside my work when my husband comes home. I give him a loving welcome and let him know he's really tops.'||Every morning we should turn the day over to the Lord, asking Him to arrange every detail. Then if someone interrupts us, it is because He has sent that person. We should find out the reason and minister to it. That could be the most important thing we do all day, even if it came disguised as an interruption.",
"Jun 27","Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing...||From some of the restrictions Paul places on woman's ministry in the church, it might seem that she is reduced to a nonentity. For instance, she is not permitted to teach or to usurp authority over the man, but must be in silence (v. 12). Some might conclude that she is relegated to an inferior place in the Christian faith.||But verse 15 clears up any such misconception. 'She shall be saved in childbearing...' Clearly this is not referring to the salvation of her soul, but rather to the salvation of her position in the church. To her is given the tremendously important privilege of raising sons and daughters for God.||William Ross Wallace said, 'The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.' Behind almost every great leader is a great mother.||It is doubtful that Susannah Wesley ever ministered from a pulpit, but her ministry in the home has had a worldwide outreach through two of her sons, John and Charles.||In our society it is fashionable for many women to desert the home in order to carve out more glamorous careers in the business or professional world. To them housework is drab and raising a family is a dispensable chore.||At a Christian women's luncheon, the conversation had drifted to the subject of careers. Each one was rhapsodizing about her position and her salary. There is no question that there was a spirit of rivalry! Finally one turned to a housewife who had three stalwart sons and asked, 'And what is your career, Charlotte?' Charlotte replied humbly, 'I raise men for God.'||Pharaoh's daughter said to the mother of Moses,' Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages'. Perhaps one of the greatest surprises at the Judgment Seat of Christ will be the high wages the Lord pays to those women who have devoted themselves to raising boys and girls for Him and for eternity.||Yes, 'she shall be saved in childbearing...' Woman's place in the church is not one of public ministry, but perhaps the ministry of godly childbearing is of far greater importance in the eyes of God.",
"Jun 28","He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (Mar 16:16)||If this were the only verse in the Bible on the subject, we might justifiably conclude that salvation is by faith plus baptism. But when there are 150 verses in the New Testament that condition salvation on faith alone, we must conclude that those 150 verses cannot be contradicted by one or two like this one.||However, although baptism is not essential for salvation, it is essential for obedience. God's will is that all who have trusted His Son as Lord and Savior should publicly identify themselves with Him in the waters of believer's baptism.||The New Testament does not contemplate any such anomaly as an unbaptized believer. It assumes that when a person is saved, he will be baptized. In the book of Acts, the disciples practiced what we might call 'instant baptism.' They didn't wait for a formal service in a church setting, but baptized immediately on the basis of a person's profession of faith.||The sequence of belief and baptism is so close that the Bible speaks of them in the same breath-- 'He that believeth and is baptized...'||In our desire to avoid the unscriptural teaching of baptismal regeneration, we often allow the pendulum to swing too far in the opposite direction. People are apt to go off with the false idea that it doesn't really matter whether they are baptized. But it does matter.||We hear some saying glibly, 'I can go to heaven without being baptized.' I always answer them, 'Yes, that is true. You can go to heaven without being baptized, but if you do, you'll be unbaptized for all eternity.' There will be no opportunity for baptism in heaven. It is one of those acts in which we can obey the Lord now or never.||All who have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior should lose no time in being baptized. In this way they publicly identify themselves with Him in His death and resurrection and they publicly commit themselves to walk with Him in newness of life.",
"Jun 29","Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.||Here is an insight that has revolutionized and transformed many a life.||The duplication of 'verily' or 'truly' at the outset alerts us to expect something momentous. We will not be disappointed.||'I say unto you.' The 'I' is the Lord Jesus; we know that from verse 19. What we must also know is that when He says something, it is absolutely and invariably true. He cannot lie. He cannot deceive. He cannot be deceived. Nothing can be more sure and dependable than what He says.||To whom is He speaking? 'I say unto you.' The Eternal Son of God is speaking to you and to me. We never had anyone so illustrious speak to us before and never will. We ought to listen!||'He that heareth my word.' The 'He' means 'anyone.' It has the same force as 'whoever.' To hear His word means not just to hear it with the ears, but to hear and believe, to hear and receive, to hear and obey.||'...and believeth on him that sent me.' We know that it was God the Father who sent Him. But the important question is, 'Why did He send Him?' I must believe that the Father sent His Son to die as my Substitute, to pay the penalty I deserved, to shed His blood for the remission of my sins.||And now comes the threefold promise. First, 'hath everlasting life.' As soon as a person believes, he possesses eternal life. It's just as plain as that. Second, he 'shall not come into condemnation.' This means he will never be consigned to hell because of his sins, because Christ has paid the debt, and God will not demand payment twice. Third, he 'is passed from death unto life.' He passes from a condition in which he is spiritually dead as far as his relation to God is concerned, and is born again into a new life that will never end.||If you have truly heard His Word and if you have believed on the Father who sent Him, then the Lord Jesus Christ assures you that you are saved.||No wonder it is called 'Good News'.",
"Jun 30","And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.||Israel was in conflict with the forces of Amalek. Moses was on top of the hill,, overlooking the battle field. The position of Moses' hand spelled the difference between victory and defeat. The uplifted hand turned Amalek back. The lowered hand turned Israel back.||As long as Moses' hand was raised, he pictured the Lord Jesus as our Intercessor, 'for us His hands uplifting in sympathy and love.' It is through His intercession that we are saved to the uttermost. But from then on, the type breaks down, because our Intercessor's hand is never lowered. No fatigue causes Him to need outside help. He always lives to make intercession for us.||There is a second way in which we may apply this incident, namely, to ourselves as prayer warriors. The uplifted hand pictures our faithful intercession for those believers who are engaged in the spiritual conflict on the mission fields of the world. When we neglect the ministry of prayer, the enemy prevails.||A missionary and his party on safari had to spend the night in an area infested by brigands. They committed themselves to the Lord's care, then retired. Months later when a brigand chief was brought to a mission hospital, he recognized the missionary. 'We intended to rob you that night out in the open country,' he said, but we were afraid of your twenty-seven soldiers.'||Later, when the missionary related this in a news letter to his home church, one of the members said, 'We had a prayer meeting that same night and there were twenty-seven of us present.'||When our God beholds us there,||Pleading in the place of prayer,||Then the tide of battle turns,||Then the flame of conquest burns,||Then the flag of truth prevails,||Foes slink back and Satan quails!||Then the faltering wail of fear||Turns to victory's ringing cheer!||Bring us, Lord, O bring us there,||Where we learn prevailing prayer.||Then we can see another insight in this incident. The Lord swore that He will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Amalek is a picture of the flesh. The Christian must wage ceaseless warfare against the flesh. Prayer is one of his principal weapons. The faithfulness of his prayer life often spells the difference between victory and defeat.",
"Jul 01","...then shall I know even as also I am known.||It is quite normal and understandable for us as Christians to wonder if we will know our loved ones in heaven. While there is no Scripture that deals specifically with the subject, there are several lines of reasoning that lead us to a positive conclusion.||First of all, the disciples recognized Jesus in His resurrected, glorified body. His physical appearance was unchanged. There was no mistaking that it was 'this same Jesus.' This suggests that we too will have our own distinctive features in heaven, though in a glorified form. There is no suggestion that we will all look alike. When it says in that we shall be like the Lord Jesus, it means morally like Him, i.e., forever free from sin and its consequences. But certainly we will not look like Him so as to be mistaken for Him. Never!||Second, there is no reason to believe that we will know less in heaven than we know down here. We recognize one another down here; why should it be thought strange that we should recognize each other up there? If we shall know then as we are now known, that should be decisive.||Paul expected to know the Thessalonians in heaven. He said that they would be his hope, joy and crown of rejoicing (1Th 2:19).||There are indications in the Bible that people have been given and will be given the ability to identify people they have never seen before. Peter, James and John recognized Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.||The rich man in Hades recognized Abraham (Luk 16:24). Jesus told the Jews that they would see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God (Luk 13:28). We are told to make friends through the wise stewardship of our money so that these friends will welcome us to the everlasting habitations (which assumes that they will recognize us as their benefactors) (Luk 16:9).||But one word of caution should be added! While it seems clear that we will know our loved ones in heaven, we will not know them in the same relationships that existed on earth. For instance, the husband-wife relationship will no longer be in effect. That seems to be the clear meaning of the Savior's words in, '...in the resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage.'",
"Jul 02","Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.||Mary sat quietly at Jesus' feet and heard His word. Martha was flustered and upset in her service, and resented the fact that Mary didn't pitch in to help. The Lord Jesus didn't correct Martha for her service but for the spirit in which she was doing it. Also there is a suggestion that Martha's priorities were wrong; she shouldn't have put service above worship.||Many of us are like Martha. We are achievers, who would rather be doing than sitting. We pride ourselves on being organized, efficient, able to accomplish. We are so preoccupied with our work that our morning Bible reading is often interrupted by the memory of sixty things that have to be done. Our prayers tend to be helter-skelter because our mind wanders from Dan to Beersheba, planning out the day. It is easy for us to resent it when others don't grab a towel and help. We feel that everyone should be doing what we are doing.||Then there are those who are like Mary. They are lovers. Their lives exude affection for others. To them people are more important than pots and pans. One Person in particular is the Object of their affection. They are not lazy, though it might seem that way to us Marthas. It's just that they have different priorities.||We ourselves appreciate a person who is warm and loving more than one who is coldly capable and efficient. Our hearts are captured by a child who showers us with hugs and kisses more than by one who is too busy with his toys to pay much attention to us.||Someone has well said that God is more interested in our worship than in our service; the heavenly Bridegroom is wooing a bride, not hiring a servant.||Christ never asks of us such busy labor||As leaves no time for sitting at His feet||The patient attitude of expectation||He often counts a service most complete.||Mary chose that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. May we all do the same!",
"Jul 03","Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.||Hospitality is not only a sacred duty (Be not forgetful to entertain strangers); it carries within it the promise of glorious surprises (for thereby some have entertained angels unawares).||It had started out as just another ordinary day for Abraham. Suddenly three men appeared before him as he sat by the door of his tent. The patriarch reacted in the typical middle-eastern manner--he washed their feet, arranged a cool resting place for them under a tree, went out to the herd for a calf, asked Sarah to bake some bread, then served them a sumptuous meal.||Who were these men anyway? Two of them were angels; the third was the angel of the Lord. We believe that the angel of the Lord was the Lord Jesus appearing as a Man (see where the angel is called 'the Lord').||So Abraham entertained not only angels, he entertained the Lord Himself in one of His many preincarnate appearances. And we may have the same privilege, startling as it may seem!||How many Christian families can testify to the blessing received from entertaining godly men and women in their homes. Impressions for God have been made on children that followed them all through their lives. Zeal for the Lord has been rekindled, sorrowing hearts have been comforted, problems have been resolved. How much we owe to these 'angels' whose very presence was a benediction in the home!||But it is also our incomparable privilege to have the Lord Jesus as a guest. Whenever we receive one of His people in His Name, it is the same as if we received Him. If we really believe this, we will spend and be spent in the wonderful ministry of hospitality as never before. We will 'use hospitality one to another without grudging'. We will treat every guest the same as we would treat Christ Himself. And our homes will be like the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany--where Jesus loved to be.",
"Jul 04","Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee.||A backslidden condition is often like cancer; we don't know we have it. We can grow spiritually cold so gradually that we don't realize how carnal we have actually become. Sometimes it takes a tragedy, a crisis or the voice of some prophet of God to awaken us to our desperate need. Only then can we claim God's promise, 'I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground'.||I am in need of revival when I have lost my enthusiastic zest for the Word of God, when my prayer life has lapsed into a dull routine (or lapsed altogether), when I have left my first love. I need a fresh touch from God when I am more interested in TV programs than in the meeting of the local fellowship, when I am punctual for work but late for meetings, when I am regular at my job but spasmodic at the assembly. I need reviving when I am willing to do for dollars what I am unwilling to do for the Savior, when I spend more money on self- indulgence than I do on the work of the Lord.||We need revival when we harbor grudges, resentments, bitter feelings. When we are guilty of gossiping and backbiting. When we are unwilling to confess wrongs we have committed or to forgive others when they confess their faults to us. We need reviving when we fight like cats at home, then appear in the assembly as if all were sweetness and light. We need to be revived when we have become conformed to the world in our talk, our walk, our whole life-style. How great is our need when we are guilty of the sins of Sodom--pride, fullness of bread and prosperous ease !||As soon as we realize our coldness and barrenness, we can claim the promise of, 'If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.'||Confession is the road to revival!||O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee;||Send a revival--start the work in me.||Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need.||For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.||J. Edwin Orr",
"Jul 05","Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings. (1Th 5:19-20)||We usually think of quenching in connection with a fire. We quench the fire when we throw water on it. In so doing, we either douse it completely or greatly reduce its scope and effectiveness.||Fire is used in the Scriptures as a type of the Holy Spirit. He is fervent, burning, enthusiastic. When people are under the control of the Spirit, they are glowing, ardent and overflowing. We quench the Spirit when we suppress the manifestation of the Spirit in the gatherings of God's people.||Paul says, 'Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings.' The way in which he links the quenching of the Spirit with the despising of prophesyings leads us to believe that quenching has to do primarily with meetings of the local church.||We quench the Spirit when we make a man ashamed of his testimony for Christ, whether in prayer, worship or ministry of the Word. Constructive criticism is one thing, but when we carp at a man over words or nitpicking details, we are apt to discourage or stumble him in his public ministry.||We also quench the Spirit when we have services so overorganized that He is effectively in a straitjacket. If arrangements are made in prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit, then no one can object. But arrangements that are made on the basis of human cleverness have the effect of leaving the Holy Spirit as a Spectator instead of as the Leader.||God has given many gifts to the Church. He uses different gifts at different times. Perhaps a brother has a word of exhortation for the fellowship. If all public ministry is centralized in some other man, then the Spirit does not have liberty to bring forth the needed message at the appropriate time. This is another way of quenching the Spirit.||Finally, we quench the Spirit when we refuse His promptings in our own lives. Perhaps we are powerfully moved to minister on a certain subject but we hold back because of the fear of man. We feel impelled to lead in public prayer but remain seated because of shyness. We think of a hymn that would be especially appropriate but we lack the courage to give it out.||The net result is that the fire of the Spirit is quenched, our meetings lose their spontaneity and power, and the local body is impoverished.",
"Jul 06","And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption.||Just as it is possible for us to quench the Spirit in the meetings of the church, so it is possible for us to grieve Him in our private lives.||There is a certain tenderness about the word 'grieve'. We can only grieve someone who loves us. The neighborhood brats don't grieve us, but our own naughty children do.||We hold a special place of nearness and dearness to the Holy Spirit. He loves us. He has sealed us until the day of redemption. He can be grieved by us.||But what grieves Him? Any form of sin brings sorrow to His heart. It is not by accident that Paul here calls Him the Holy Spirit. Anything that is unholy bows Him down with grief.||The exhortation 'grieve not' comes in the middle of a series of sins against which we are warned. The list is not intended to be exhaustive but merely suggestive.||Lying grieves the Spirit (v. 25)--white lies, black lies, fibs, exaggerations, half-truths and shaded truths. God cannot lie and He cannot give that privilege to His people.||Anger that overflows into sin grieves the Spirit (v. 26). The only time that anger is ever justified is when it is in God's cause. All other anger gives the devil a beachhead (v. 27).||Stealing is grievous to the Holy Spirit (v. 28), whether from mother's purse or from our employer's time, tools or office supplies.||Unwholesome speech grieves the Holy Spirit (v. 29). This runs the gamut from dirty, suggestive jokes to idle chatter. Our conversation should be edifying, appropriate and gracious.||Bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice complete the list in chapter 4.||One of the favorite ministries of the Holy Spirit is to occupy us with the Lord Jesus Christ. But when we sin, He has to turn from this ministry in order to restore us to proper fellowship with the Lord.||But even then He is never grieved away. He never leaves us. We are sealed by Him unto the day of redemption. However, this should not be used as an excuse for carelessness but should be one of the greatest motives for holiness.",
"Jul 07","For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.||Taken by themselves, the sufferings of this present time can be appalling. I think of the gruesome sufferings of the Christian martyrs. I think of what some of God's people have had to endure in the concentration camps. What shall we say concerning the horrible sufferings associated with war? The cruel dismemberment and paralysis connected with accidents? The unspeakable pain of human bodies racked by cancer or other diseases?||And yet physical suffering isn't the whole story. It seems at times that bodily pain is easier to bear than mental torture. Isn't that what Solomon meant when he wrote, 'The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?' ? There is the suffering that comes with unfaithfulness in the marriage relationship, or with the death of a loved one, or with disappointment over a broken dream. There is the heartbreak of being forsaken, of being betrayed by a close friend. We wonder oftentimes at the ability of the human frame to endure the blows, the agonies, the crushing griefs of life.||Viewed by themselves, these sufferings are overwhelming. But when seen alongside the coming glory, they are only pinpricks. Paul says they are 'not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.' If the sufferings are so great, how much greater must be the glory!||In another passage, the Apostle Paul indulges in a delightful burst of spiritual imagery when he says that 'our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory'. Seen on the scales, the afflictions are feather-light while the glory is infinitely heavy. Judged by the calendar, the sufferings are momentary while the glory is eternal.||When we see the Savior at the end of the journey, the sufferings of this present time will fade into insignificance.||It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.||Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ.||One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,||So bravely run the race till we see Christ.||Esther K. Rusthoi",
"Jul 08","...they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. (Son 1:6)||The brothers of the Shulamite maiden had sent her to work in the vineyard. She kept so busy tending the vines that she neglected her own vineyard, that is, her personal appearance. Her skin had become swarthy and dried, and no doubt her hair was unkempt.||There is always the danger of neglecting our own vineyard by becoming overly occupied with someone else's. There is the peril, for instance, of becoming so engrossed with the evangelization of the world that one's own family is lost. If God gives us children, those children are our number one mission field. When we stand before the Lord, one of the greatest joys will be to be able to say, 'Behold, I and the children which God hath given me'. Not all the accolades from appreciative audiences will compensate for the loss of our own sons and daughters.||It does seem from the Scriptures that responsibility begins at home. After Jesus had driven the demons out of Legion, He charged him, 'Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee'. It often seems that the most difficult place to evangelize is in our own backyard, but that is where we should start.||Again when the Lord commissioned His disciples, He said, '...both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth'. Begin in 'Jerusalem' (your home base)!||Andrew was determined not to neglect his own vineyard. We read of him, 'He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ'.||There are, no doubt, cases where a believer is faithful in seeking to win his loved ones to the Lord Jesus, and yet they persist in their unbelief. We cannot guarantee the eternal salvation of our relatives and friends. But what we must guard against is the possibility of being so preoccupied in ministering to others that we neglect our own family circle. Our own vineyard, in such cases, should have priority.",
"Jul 09","For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.||No one can ever really call on the Name of the Lord without being saved. This call of desperate earnestness never goes unanswered. When we get to the end of our own resources, when we abandon all hope of saving ourselves, when we have nowhere to turn but up, if at that time we send a distress call to the Lord, He will hear and answer.||A young Sikh named Sadhu Sundar Singh determined that if he could not find peace, he would commit suicide. He prayed, 'Oh God, if there is a God, reveal Thyself to me tonight.' If he didn't get an answer in seven hours, he was going to put his head on the railroad track as the next train rushed to Lahore.||In the early hours of the morning, he had a vision of Jesus coming into his room and saying in Hindustani, 'You were praying to know the right way. Why do you not take it? I am the way.'||He rushed into his father's room and said, 'I am a Christian. I can serve no one else but Jesus. Till the day I die, my life is His.'||I have never known of anyone who called on the Name of the Lord in blood-earnestness without being heard. Of course, there are those who pray to the Lord when they are in a tight spot, who promise to live for Him if He will deliver them, and who then quickly forget once the pressure has been lifted. But God knows their hearts; He knows they were only fox-hole opportunists who never made a genuine heart-commitment to Him.||The fact remains that God will always reveal Himself to the one who is desperate to find Him. In countries where the Bible is not readily available, He may do it in a vision. Elsewhere He may do it through a Scripture portion, through personal witness, through Christian literature or through the miraculous converging of circumstances. So in a real sense it is true that 'he who seeks God has already found Him.' It's that sure!",
"Jul 10","If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.||Those who teach and preach the Christian faith should practice what they preach. They should present to the world a living example of the truth. The will of God is that the Word should become flesh in the lives of His people.||The world is more impressed by action than by talk. Wasn't it Edgar Guest who wrote, 'I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day'? And there is the well-known jibe, 'What you are speaks so loud, I can't hear what you say!'||It was said of one preacher that when he was in the pulpit, the people wished he would never leave it; but when he was out of the pulpit, the people wished he would never enter it again.||H. A. Ironside said, 'Nothing locks the lips like the life.' In similar vein, Henry Drummond wrote, 'The man is the message.' Carlyle added his testimony: 'Holy living is the best argument that tells for God in an age of fact...Words have weight when they have a man behind them.' E. Stanley Jones said, 'The Word has to become flesh in us before it can become power through us.' 'If I preach the right thing but do not live it, I am telling an untruth about God,' said Oswald Chambers.||Of course we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only One who perfectly embodies what He teaches. There is absolutely no contradiction between His message and His life. When the Jews asked Him, 'Who are you?' He replied, 'Just what I have been claiming all along' (NIV). His conduct corresponded to His claims. Ours should do so increasingly.||Two brothers were doctors, one a preacher and the other an M.D. One day a troubled woman came to see the preacher, but she was not sure which of the doctors lived there. When the preacher opened the door, she asked, 'Are you the doctor who preaches or the one who practices?' The question impressed him afresh with the necessity of being a living example of what he taught.",
"Jul 11","Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.||In yesterday's study we saw that our conduct should correspond to our creed. But in order to balance the subject we must add two postscripts.||First, we have to acknowledge that we will never fully and completely live out the truth of God as long as we are in this world. After we have done our best, we still have to say that we are unprofitable servants. But we must not use this fact to excuse failure or even mediocrity: our obligation is to continually try to close the gap between our lips and our lives.||The second consideration is this. The message is always greater than the messenger, no matter who he is. Andrew Murray said, 'We who are the Lord's servants will sooner or later have to preach words which we ourselves are unable to fulfil.' Thirty-five years after he wrote the book Abide in Christ, he wrote, 'I would like you to understand that a minister or Christian author may often be led to say more than he has experienced. I had not then (when he wrote Abide in Christ) experienced all that I wrote of. I cannot say that I have experienced it all yet.'||The truth of God is superlative and sublime. It is so supernal that, as Guy King wrote, it 'causes one to fear lest one should in any wise spoil it by touching it.' But must it go forever unheralded simply because we do not reach its loftiest summits? On the contrary we will proclaim it, even if in so doing we condemn ourselves. To whatever extent we fail to experience it ourselves, we will make it the aspiration of our hearts.||Once again we emphasize that these considerations must never be used to excuse behavior that is unworthy of the Savior. But they should keep us from unwarranted condemnation of a true man of God just because his message sometimes leaps to heights which he himself has not attained. And it should not keep us ourselves from holding back the full counsels of God, even if we have not experienced them in full. God knows our hearts. He knows whether we are practicing hypocrites or passionate aspirants.",
"Jul 12","The battle is not yours, but God's.||If a man is a soldier of the Cross, he can expect to be attacked sooner or later. The more courageously he declares the truth of God and the more accurately he exemplifies the truth in his own life, the more he will be subjected to assault. An old Puritan said, 'He that standeth near his Captain, is a sure target for the archers.'||He will be accused of wrongs he did not do. He will be savaged by gossip, slander and backbiting. He will be ostracized and ridiculed. This treatment will come from the world and, sadly enough, it may sometimes come from fellow-Christians.||At such times, it is important to remember that the battle is not ours, but God's. And we should claim the promise of : 'The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.' What this means is that we don't have to defend ourselves or fight back. The Lord will vindicate us at the proper time.||F. B. Meyer wrote, 'How much is lost by a word! Be still; keep quiet; if they smite thee on one check, turn the other also. Never retort. Never mind your reputation or character--they are in his hands, and you mar them by trying to retain them.'||Joseph stands out as an example of one who did not try to vindicate himself when falsely accused. He committed his cause to God, and God cleared his name and promoted him to great honor.||An aged servant of Christ testified that he had been wronged many times over the years. But he prayed in the words of Augustine, 'Lord, deliver me from the lust of always vindicating myself.' He said that the Lord had never failed to justify him and to expose his accusers.||The Lord Jesus, of course, is the supreme Example. '...when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously'.||This, then, is the message for today. We don't have to defend ourselves when we are falsely accused. The battle is the Lord's. He will fight for us. We should hold our peace.",
"Jul 13","Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.||We live in a day when cults are multiplying with amazing rapidity. Actually there are no new cults; they are just variations of heretical groups that sprang up in New Testament days. It is their variety that is new, not their basic tenets.||When John says that we should test the spirits, he means that we should test all teachers by the Word of God so that we can detect those that are false. There are three fundamental areas where the cults expose themselves as being counterfeits. No cult can pass all three of these tests.||Most of the cults are fatally defective in their teaching concerning the Bible. They do not accept it as the inerrant Word of God, the final revelation of God to man. They give equal authority to the writings of their own leaders. They claim new revelations from the Lord and boast of 'new truth.' They publish their own translation of the Scripture which twists and perverts the truth. They accept the voice of tradition on a par with the Bible. They handle the Word of God deceitfully.||Most of the cults are heretical in their teachings concerning our Lord. They deny that He is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. They might admit that He is the Son of God, but by this they mean something less than equality with God the Father. Often they deny that Jesus is the Christ, teaching that the Christ is a divine influence that came upon the man Jesus. Often they deny the true, sinless humanity of the Savior.||A third area in which the cults stand condemned is in what they teach concerning the way of salvation. They deny that salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus alone. Every one of them teaches another gospel, namely, salvation by good works or good character.||When propagators of these cults come to our door, what should be our response? John leaves us in no doubt: 'Don't have him inside your house; don't even greet him. For to greet such a man is to share in the evil that he is doing.' (Phillips).",
"Jul 14","(We) have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.||On the previous page, we noted three areas in which the cults expose themselves as being untrue to the Christian faith that has been once-for-all delivered unto the saints. There are other characteristics of the cults of which we should not only be aware but which we should carefully avoid in our own Christian fellowships.||For instance, their leaders build up what we might call a personality cult, setting themselves forth as virtual messiahs and wonder-men. Men with charisma often exercise harsh, autocratic control over the laity, demanding submission and threatening dire punishment for failure to obey.||They often claim to be exclusive possessors of the truth, make prideful claims to certain distinctives, and criticize all other groups that disagree. Some claim to combine the best of other doctrines and thus to be the final word. They imply that no one can be fully happy until he is initiated into their mysteries.||They try to isolate their members from all other teachers, from all others who profess to be believers and from books written by others than their own leaders.||They often prescribe a legalistic lifestyle that becomes a system of bondage. They equate holiness with certain rituals and observances which men can do by their own strength rather than by divine life.||They exploit the people financially by a system of clever psychological manipulations. The leaders live in splendor and luxury, while many of the people are reduced to near poverty.||Many of the cults are sheep-stealers, conducting raids on other religious institutions rather than trying to reach the unchurched.||They overemphasize one doctrine or a few doctrines, completely neglecting vital areas of divine revelation.||They treat those who teach the truth as enemies. Thus Paul asked the legalistic Galatians, 'Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?'.||It is unfortunate that any of these attitudes or acts should ever creep into sound Christian fellowships, but as long we are in the body, we all have to guard against them zealously.",
"Jul 15","But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.||God is far more interested in how we treat other people than in how many religious ceremonies we go through. He prefers mercy to sacrifice. He places practical morality above ritual. It might seem strange to read that God doesn't desire sacrifice, because it was He who instituted the sacrificial system in the first place. But there is no contradiction. While it is true that He ordered the people to bring sacrifices and offerings, He never intended these to take the place of justice and kindness. 'To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice'||The Old Testament prophets thundered out against people who observed all the proper rituals, yet who cheated and oppressed their neighbors. Isaiah told them that God was fed up with their burnt offerings and religious holidays as long as they oppressed the fatherless and widows. He told them that the fast God desired was to treat their employees fairly, to feed the hungry and clothe the poor. Unless their lives were right, they might as well offer a dog's head or swines' blood.||Amos told the people to stop their religious observances because God would continue to hate these rituals until justice and mercy flowed like a mighty torrent. And Micah warned that what God wants more than ritual is reality--the reality of fairness, justice, mercy and humility.||In our Lord's day, the Pharisees earned His scorn by pretending to be religious with long, public prayers while evicting widows from their homes. They were careful to give God a tenth of the mint in their garden, but this could never take the place of justice and faith. It is futile for us to bring our offering to the Lord if our brother has a valid grievance against us; the gift is acceptable only after the wrong has been righted. Attending church regularly will never serve as a cover-up for dishonest business practices during the week. There is no use giving mother a box of chocolates on Mother's Day if we treat her hatefully during the year. Or a shirt to father on Father's Day if we do not show love and respect to him the rest of the time.||God is not fooled by externals or rituals. He sees the heart and our day-by-day behavior.",
"Jul 16","Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.||Faithful people are an endangered species; they are rapidly vanishing from the human race. If David mourned their demise in his day, we often wonder how he would feel if he lived today.||When we speak of a faithful person, we mean one who is trustworthy, reliable, dependable. If he makes a promise, he keeps it. If he has a responsibility, he fulfills it. If he has honorable allegiances, he is staunchly loyal to them.||The unfaithful man makes an appointment, then either fails to keep it or is inexcusably late. He agrees to teach a Sunday School class, yet fails to arrange for a replacement when he cannot be present. You can never depend on him. His word means nothing. No wonder Solomon said, 'Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint'.||God is looking for faithful men and women. He wants stewards who are faithful in caring for His interests. He wants teachers who are faithful in passing on the great truths of the Christian faith. He wants believers who are faithful to the Lord Jesus, sharing His rejection and bearing the cross. He wants people who are uncompromisingly loyal to His inspired, inerrant, infallible Word. He wants Christians who are loyal to the local assembly, instead of wandering from church to church like religious gypsies. God wants saints who are faithful to other believers and faithful to the unsaved as well.||As in all other virtues, the Lord Jesus is our glorious example. He is the faithful and true Witness, a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. His words are true, His promises are unfailing and His ways are utterly dependable.||Although men might not put a high premium on faithfulness, God does. The Lord Jesus commended the faithfulness of His disciples with the words, 'Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me' (Luk 22:28,29). And the ultimate reward for faithfulness will be to hear His accolade, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant:... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord'.",
"Jul 17","And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.||When God first called Abraham to be the head of His chosen earthly people, He promised to bless the friends of that nation and to curse its enemies. In the intervening centuries the Jewish people have suffered untold hostility and discrimination, but the curse of God has never been lifted on anti-Semitism.||Haman plotted the destruction of the Jewish people in Persia. He inveigled the king into signing an unalterable decree. For a while everything seemed to be moving in his favor. But then snags developed. The arch-conspirator staggered from disappointment to failure till finally he was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, the Jew.||Failing to learn from history, Adolph Hitler was doomed to relive it. He inaugurated a vicious program to wipe out the Jews with his concentration camps, gas chambers, ovens, mass shootings. It seemed that nothing could stop him. But then the tide turned and he died ignominiously with his mistress in a Berlin bunker.||Anti-Semitism will reach its most horrendous climax during the Great Tribulation. The Jews will be delivered up to be afflicted and killed; they will be hated by all the Gentile nations. Vast numbers will be massacred. But the pogrom will be interrupted by the personal advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have persecuted His people will be destroyed; those who have befriended Christ's Jewish brethren will enter the Kingdom.||No true believer should ever allow his soul to be tainted with a trace of anti-Semitism. His Lord, his Savior, his best and truest Friend was and is a Jew. God used the Jewish people to give and preserve the Scriptures. Although God has temporarily set aside the nation because of its rejection of the Messiah, He still loves Israel for the Fathers' sake. No one who hates the Jews can expect the blessing of God on his life and service.||'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee'. They shall also prosper who love the Jewish people.",
"Jul 18","Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.||David was ecstatic when he brought the ark to Jerusalem and when it was placed in the tent that he had specially prepared for it. Sensing that this was one of his greatest achievements and one of the most glorious moments in his career, the king danced before the Lord with all his might. His wife, Michal, ridiculed him for what she thought was shameful behavior. As a direct result of her critical attitude, she had no child unto the day of her death.||We learn from this that a critical spirit produces barrenness. Of course, when we say that, we are not speaking about constructive criticism. If criticism is true, we should welcome it and benefit from it. There are few friends in life who love us enough to give helpful criticism.||But destructive criticism can be devastating. It can destroy the work of God in someone's life, and can undo the progress of years in a few minutes.||In the incident involving David, the ark represents Christ and the ark given its place in Jerusalem speaks of Christ enthroned in the human heart. When that happens, the Spirit-filled believer cannot help but express his exuberance and enthusiasm. This often stirs up the hostility of unbelievers and sometimes the scorn of other Christians. But that critical spirit inevitably leads to barrenness.||It can lead to barrenness not only in an individual life but in a local assembly as well. Take, for example, a fellowship where the young people are subjected to a continual torrent of criticism. They are taken to task for the way they dress, for their hair styles, for their public prayers, for their music. Instead of patiently training them, the leadership expects them to be instantly full-grown. Soon the young people drift away to more congenial fellowships, and the assembly is left to die on the vine.||Let us be warned by the example of Michal that censoriousness not only harms its victims but takes its revenge on the one who practices it. That revenge is spiritual barrenness.",
"Jul 19","...as he is, so are we in this world. (b)||Here is one of those New Testament truths that shocks us by its sheer audacity. We would not dare to utter the words if we did not see them in the Bible. But they are gloriously true, and we can revel and rejoice in them.||In what sense are we like Christ in this world? Our minds almost automatically think first of the ways we are not like Him. We do not share with Him the attributes of deity, such as omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. We are full of sin and failure whereas He is absolutely perfect. We do not love as He loves, or forgive as He forgives.||How, then, are we like Him? The verse explains. 'Herein has love been perfected with us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that even as he is, we also are in this world' (Darby). God's love has so worked in our lives that we will not be terrified when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. The reason for our confidence is that we have this in common with the Savior--judgment is behind us. We are like Him with respect to judgment. He bore the judgment of our sins on the Cross of Calvary and settled the sin question once for all. Because He took the punishment of our sins, we will never have to take it. We can confidently sing, 'Death and judgment are behind me, grace and glory lie before, all the billows rolled o'er Jesus, there they spent their utmost power.' Just as judgment is forever past for Him, so it is past for us also, and we can say, 'There is no condemnation, there is no hell for me, the torment and the fire, mine eyes shall never see. For me there is no sentence, for me death has no sting: because the Lord who loves me will shield me with His wing.'||We are like Him not only with respect to judgment but also with respect to acceptance before God. We stand before God with the same favor that the Lord Jesus does, because we are in Him. 'Near, so very near to God I could not nearer be, for in the Person of His Son,/1 am as near as He.'||And finally, we are like Christ because we are loved by God the Father, just as Christ is. In His high-priestly prayer, the Lord Jesus said, '...thou...hast loved them, as thou hast loved me' (b). Thus, it is no exaggeration for us to say, 'Dear, so very dear to God, I could not dearer be. The love wherewith He loves His Son, such is His love to me.'||So it is blessedly true that as Christ is, so are we in this world.",
"Jul 20","A man that hath friends must show himself friendly.||Even though all modern versions translate this verse differently, the King James Version enshrines the valuable truth that friendships must be cultivated. They thrive on attention but die through neglect.||An editorial in Decision Magazine said, 'Friendships don't just happen; they have to be cultivated--in short, we have to work at them. They are not built on just taking, they are built on giving. They are not just for the good times, they are for the bad times as well. We do not hide our needs from a true friend. Neither do we hold onto a friend only to have his help.'||A good friend is worth keeping. He stands by you when you are falsely accused. He commends you for whatever is praiseworthy, and is frank to point out areas that need improvement. He keeps in touch over the years, sharing your joys and sorrows.||That is important--keeping in touch. It can be done by letters, cards, phone calls, visits. But friendship is a two-way street. If I consistently fail to answer letters, I am saying that I don't consider the friendship worth continuing. I am too busy. Or I can't be bothered. Or I hate writing letters. Few friendships can survive on continued neglect.||Our refusal to communicate is often a form of selfishness. We are thinking of ourselves, of the time, effort and cost involved. True friendship thinks of others--how we can encourage or comfort or cheer or help; how we can minister spiritual food to them.||How much we owe to friends who have come alongside with the Spirit-given word when it was most needed! There was a time in my life when I was feeling very low over a deep disappointment in Christian service. A friend who could not have known of my discouragement wrote a cheery letter in which she quoted, 'Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.' It was just the word I needed to pick me up and set me to work again.||Charles Kingsley wrote, 'Can we forget one friend, can we forget one face, which cheered us to the end, which nerved us for our race? To godlike souls, how deep our debt! We would not, if we could, forget.'||Most of us have only a few close friends in life. That being so, we should do all in our power to keep those friendships strong and healthy.",
"Jul 21","Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.||It is possible to live a long, long life as a believer and yet never learn to cast our care on the Lord. We can memorize the verse and even preach it to others, yet never really practice it in our own lives. We know theologically that God cares for us, that He is concerned with our affairs, and that He is well able to take care of the greatest anxieties we could imagine. Yet we insist on tossing and turning in our beds at night, fretting, worrying and imagining the worst.||It doesn't have to be that way. I have a friend who faces more problems and headaches than most of us have ever known. If he had to bear them himself, he would be a spiritual basket-case. What does he do? He takes them to the Lord and leaves them there, gets up from his knees, crawls into bed, sings a few verses of a hymn, and is off to sleep in no time.||Bill Bright once said to LeRoy Eims, 'LeRoy, I have found great comfort in I have concluded in my own life that either I carry my burdens or Jesus does. We cannot both carry them, and I've decided to cast them on Him.'||Eims decided to try it. He wrote, 'I went to my room and began to pray. To the best of my ability I did what Bill had said. For months I had carried a heavy knot in my stomach. I could actually feel the thing leaving. I experienced the deliverance of God. No, the problem did not go away, and hasn't to this day. But the burden is gone. I no longer spend sleepless nights or cry myself to sleep. I can honestly face the burdens with a joyful spirit and thankfulness of heart.'||Most of us can identify with the one who wrote: 'It is God's will that I should cast my care on Him each day. He also asks me not to cast my confidence away. But oh! how stupidly I act when taken unawares, I cast away my confidence and carry all my cares.||And all the time the Savior is saying to us:||Bear not a single care thyself,||One is too much for thee.||The work is mine and mine alone.||Thy work is 'Rest in Me.'",
"Jul 22","Behold, Lord...if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.||As soon as Zacchaeus had opened his heart to the Lord Jesus, a divine instinct told him that he should make restitution for the past. It might sound from the text that there was a question whether he had ever cheated anyone, but it is reasonable to believe that the 'if' really means 'since' in the case of this rich tax collector. He had gotten money dishonestly, he knew it, and he was determined to do something about it.||Restitution is good Bible doctrine and good Bible practice. When we are converted, we should restore to the rightful owner things we have taken wrongfully. Salvation doesn't relieve a person from making right the wrongs of the past. If money was stolen before salvation, a true sense of the grace of God requires that this money be repaid. Even legitimate debts contracted during one's unconverted days are not cancelled by the new birth.||Years ago, when hundreds of people were saved in Belfast under the preaching of W. P. Nicholson, the local factories had to build huge sheds to hold the stolen tools that were returned by the new converts.||Mammoth warehouses would be needed in this country to house the loot taken from the Armed Services alone. To say nothing of the steady leak of tools, supplies and merchandise that flows illegally from factories, offices and stores.||Ideally, when restitution is made by a believer, it should be done in the Name of the Lord Jesus. For example, 'I stole these tools when I worked for you years ago, but I was saved recently and my life has been transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ. He has put it on my heart to return the tools and to ask your forgiveness.' In this way, the glory goes to the Savior, where it belongs.||There are circumstances where, as a matter of Christian testimony, interest should be paid on money that was stolen. The trespass offering in the Old Testament foreshadowed this. It required the payment of damages plus one-fifth.||Admittedly, there are situations where, because of the passing of time or because of changed conditions, it is no longer possible to make restitution. The Lord knows about this. If the sin is confessed, He accepts the sincere desire for the actual act--but only in those cases where restitution is impossible.",
"Jul 23","...they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.||The people recognized that Peter's ministry was a ministry of power. Wherever he went, the sick were healed. No wonder the crowd wanted to get into his shadow! He wielded a tremendous influence.||Everyone of us casts a shadow. Inevitably we influence the lives of those we contact. Herman Melville wrote: 'We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.'||You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day, by the deeds that you do, by the words that you say. Men read what you write, Whether faithless or true. Say! What is the gospel according to you?||When asked which of the gospels was his favorite, one man answered, 'The gospel according to my mother.' And John Wesley once said, 'I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians of England.'||It is sobering to realize that someone looks at each one of us and thinks, 'That's just what a Christian should be.' It may be a son or daughter, a friend or neighbor, a teacher or student. You are his hero, his model, his ideal. He watches you more closely than you think. Your business life, your church life, your family life, your prayer life--all these set the pattern for him to imitate. He wants your shadow to overshadow him.||Generally we think that shadows are nothings. But the spiritual shadow we cast is something real. Therefore we must ask ourselves this question: When to the last great reckoning the lives I meet must go, Shall this wee, fleeting touch of mine/have added joy or woe? Shall He who looks their records o'er -/of name and time and place - Say 'Here a blessed influence came' or 'Here is evil's trace'? (Strickland Gillilan).||Robert G. Lee wrote: 'You can no more prevent what you are, what you say, and what you do from affecting other people than you can prevent your body from casting a shadow in sunlight. What you are within you shows without, with no ambiguous expression. You exert an influence which mere language and strong persuasion are feeble to express.'",
"Jul 24","One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.||The word 'alike' should be omitted from this verse; it was added by the translators. It should read, 'another esteemeth every day/' that is, he looks upon every day as sacred.||To Jews, living under law, the Sabbath or seventh day was especially sacred. The law forbade labor on that day and restricted travel. Additional offerings were required.||Christians, living under grace, are never commanded to keep the Sabbath. To them all days are sacred, even though they believe that there is a principle in the Word of one day of rest in seven. They cannot be condemned for failing to keep the Sabbath.||The first day of the week, that is, the Lord's Day, stands out in the New Testament for several reasons. The Lord Jesus arose on that day. After His resurrection He met with His disciples on two successive Sundays (Joh 20:26). The Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost on the first day; Pentecost occurred seven Sundays after the Feast of Firstfruits (;), which symbolizes Christ's resurrection (1Co 15:23). Hie disciples gathered to break bread on the first day of the week. And Paul gave instructions to the Corinthians to take a special offering on the first day of the week. However, it is not a day of special obligation, like the Sabbath, but a day of special privilege. Because we are released from our normal employment on Sunday, we are able to devote it to the worship and service of our Lord in a way we are not able to devote the other days.||While we have liberty to regard all days as equally sacred, we do not have liberty to do anything on Sunday that might stumble others. If working around the house, repairing the car or playing football would stumble a brother, then we should forego what we might consider to be a legitimate right. As Paul said, 'Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way'.||Jews under law had their day of rest at the end of a week of work. Christians under grace begin their week with a day of rest, because Christ has finished the work of redemption.||C. I. Scofield pointed out that the true character of the Lord's Day is illustrated by the way our Lord used it: 'He comforted weeping Mary; walked seven miles with two perplexed disciples, giving a Bible reading by the way; sent messages to other disciples; had a private interview with backslidden Peter; and imparted the Holy Spirit to the men in the upper chamber.'",
"Jul 25","And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.||There is a law of compensation in life. According to that law, people who are deficient in one respect are given some counterbalancing benefit in another. The law prevents anyone from having everything. What one person lacks in beauty, she may make up for in practical wisdom. A man who is not well-coordinated in athletics may have a better disposition than if he were. Poets are not always practical, and artists are not always good managers of their finances.||When God saw that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, He caused Leah to be more prolific. Years later the law of compensation worked in the same way with Hannah and Peninnah. Elkanah loved Hannah more than Peninnah, but Peninnah had children and Hannah did not.||Though Fanny Crosby did not have the gift of sight, she had the gift of song to a superlative degree. Her hymns are one of the Church's great legacies. Alexander Crudens suffered from severe depression but he had the strength to produce the concordance that bears his name.||Here is a humble Christian who cannot preach for sour apples; he has no public gift at all. But he is a mechanical genius, and thankfully can keep the preacher's car in operating condition. The preacher is hopeless in mechanics. When anything goes wrong with his car, all he can do is raise the hood, put his head under it and pray.||If someone objects that the law of compensation does not work perfectly in this life, we would have to agree. There are inequalities and injustices. But this life is not all! The last chapter has not been written. When God pulls back the curtain and lets us see the world beyond, we realize that the scores are evened and the tables turned. We hear Abraham, for example, say to the rich man, 'Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented' (Luk 16:25).||In the meantime, it's good for us to take a balanced view of life. Instead of concentrating on our deficiencies, we should remember that God has given us some qualities and abilities that others who seem to be more favored do not have. This will save us from feelings of worthlessness, inadequacy and envy.",
"Jul 26","For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.||Our Lord is not speaking here about the direct purpose of His coming but rather about its almost inevitable result. He is saying that whenever people would follow Him, they could expect bitter opposition from their relatives and friends. In that sense, He did not come to bring peace but a sword (v. 34).||History has fulfilled the prophecy. Wherever people have turned to the living, loving Savior, they have met with abuse and hostility. They have been ridiculed, disinherited, thrown out of the home, fired from their jobs, and, in many cases, murdered.||The opposition is completely irrational. Here is a father whose son was a dope addict. But now that son has turned his back on drugs and is actively serving Christ. You'd think the father would be pleased. But no! He's furious. He frankly admits he would rather have his son the way he was before.||Others are saved from alcoholism, from crime, from sex perversion, from the occult. They naively think that their relatives will not only be ecstatic but will want to become Christians themselves. It doesn't work that way. The coming of the Lord Jesus brings division into the family.||To forsake the religion of one's parents for Christ inflames the deepest passions. For instance, a family may be Jewish in name only, yet for a member of that family to become a Christian provokes violent emotional outbursts. The offender is called a renegade, a traitor, and is even associated with Hitler as an enemy of the Jews. Christian pleas and protests fall on deaf ears.||In many Muslim countries, conversion to Christ is punishable by death. The sentence is carried out not by the government but by the immediate family. The wife, for instance, may put ground glass in her husband's food.||And yet through the bold confession of new converts and through their patient, Christ-like endurance of hatred and persecution, others come to realize the emptiness of their own lives and their own religion, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. And so the ranks grow through opposition, and thrive through persecution.",
"Jul 27","And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. (Eze 33:32)||One of the ironies of declaring the word of the Lord is that people are often intrigued with the speaker but not with the message that requires action on their part.||This is true with public preaching. The people admire the preacher. They remember his jokes and his illustrations. They hang on his enunciation. Like the woman who said, 'I could almost weep every time my minister says that blessed word 'Mesopotamia.'' But they are paralyzed as far as obedience is concerned. They are immunized against action. They are anesthetized by the pleasant voice.||This is a familiar syndrome to those who carry on a counseling ministry. There are some people who get a secret satisfaction out of being counseled. They thrive on being the center of attention for that brief hour or so. They enjoy the fellowship of the counselor so much that they become chronic counselees.||Presumably they have come to get advice. But they don't really want advice. Their minds are already made up. They know what they want to do. If the counselor's advice agrees with their own desire, then they are fortified. If not, they will reject his advice and continue on in their stubborn way.||King Herod belonged to this class of dilettantes. He used to enjoy listening to John the Baptist (Mar 6:20) but he was a superficial dabbler. He had no intention of letting the message change his life.||Erwin Lutzer writes, 'I've discovered that the most frustrating problem in helping those who come for counsel is simply that most people do not want to change. Of course, they are prepared to make minor adjustments - particularly if their behavior is getting them into trouble. But most of them are comfortable with their sin as long as it doesn't get out of hand. And often they'd prefer to have God keep His activity in their lives to a minimum.'||Some counselors have developed a stratagem to bridge the gap between hearing and doing. They give the counselee a specific assignment - something that he must do before he appears for another session. This tends to eliminate those who are not serious. It prevents wasting time for them both.||It is a serious thing to reach the stage in life where we can hear God's Word and not be moved by it. We must pray for continued sensitivity to the voice of the Lord and a readiness to perform whatever He says.",
"Jul 28","Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.||The trembling sinner fears that God will not receive him. The penitent backslider doubts that God can ever forget. But our verse reminds us that those who return to the Lord are greeted with bounteous mercy and abundant pardon.||This is illustrated by a story that surfaces periodically over the years--a story in which the details change but the message lives on. It is about a rebellious son who left home, went to New York, lived in sin and shame, finally landed in jail. After four years in prison, he was paroled and desperately wanted to go home. But he was tortured by the fear that his father would not receive him. He couldn't face the disappointment of being rejected.||Finally he wrote his dad giving no return address. He said that he would be on the train the following Friday. If the family wanted him, they should tie a white handkerchief on the oak tree in the front yard. If he saw no handkerchief as the train passed, he would keep going.||Now he is on the train, sullen and withdrawn, fearing the worst. As it happens, a Christian is sitting beside him. After several unsuccessful tries, the Christian finally gets him to open up and tell his story. They are now fifty miles from his home. The returning prodigal fluctuates between fear and hope. Forty miles. He thinks of the disgrace he has brought on his parents, and how he has broken their hearts. Thirty miles. The wasted years pass before his mind. Twenty miles. Ten miles. Five miles.||At last the house comes into view. He sits there stunned. The oak tree is covered with white strips of cloth, fluttering madly in the breeze. He gets up, brings down his suitcase and prepares to get off at the station.||The tree, of course, speaks of the Cross. With arms outstretched and decked with innumerable promises of pardon, it beckons the repentant sinner to come home. What a welcome to the Fathers house! What unbounded forgiveness when the wanderer returns!",
"Jul 29","Shouldest those help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.||King Jehoshaphat had joined wicked King Ahab in war against the Syrians. It was an unholy alliance that almost cost his life. The Syrians mistook Jehoshaphat for Ahab and were about to kill him when they realized their mistake. Although Jehoshaphat escaped death, he didn't escape a stinging rebuke from the prophet Jehu. God is angry when His people love those who hate Him and cooperate with the ungodly.||Where could such a thing happen today? It could happen when professed evangelical Christians join with avowed liberals in great religious crusades. These liberals deny the great fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. They seek to undermine the authority of the Scriptures with their doubts and denials. Although posing as Christians, they are actually enemies of the Cross of Christ. Their god is their belly. Their glory is in their shame. They mind earthly things (see). The cause of Christ cannot possibly benefit from their patronage. It can only suffer.||As the ecumenical movement gains momentum, Bible-believing Christians will face increasing pressure to close ranks with every ungodly element in Christendom. If they refuse, they will be ridiculed and denounced, and their liberties will be curtailed. Yet faithfulness to Christ will require them to walk a path of separation.||One of the unkindest cuts of all comes when real Christians are contemptuous of their brothers who refuse to work with the ungodly. It is not unknown for Christian leaders to speak with appreciation of the modernists while assailing the fundamentalists. They fawn over liberal scholarship, quote liberal writers approvingly and show a lovely tolerance of liberal heresies. But they have nothing but scornful epithets for their fundamentalist brothers who seek to maintain clear-cut lines of demarcation between the righteous and the ungodly.||To court the favor of God's enemies or seek their help is a policy of treachery. Loyalty to Christ demands that we stand with His uncompromising followers against the foe.",
"Jul 30","...as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. ||When David recovered the city of Ziklag from the Amalekites, some of his men did not want to share the spoil with 200 who had stayed behind at the brook Besor. David ruled that those who stayed by the supplies should share equally with those who went into the battle.||For every soldier who engages in combat, there are several who work behind the lines. In the U. S. Army in World War II, only about 30% of the troops were in combatant units. The others were support personnel, serving in such units as engineer, quartermaster, ordnance, communications, chemical, transportation and military government.||There is a parallel to this situation in the work of the Lord. Although all Christians are soldiers, not all are in the front line of battle. Not all are preachers, or evangelists, or teachers, or pastors. Not all are missionaries serving on the battle fronts of the world.||God has support personnel in His army too. There are His faithful prayer warriors who agonize daily until the tide of battle turns. There are His devoted stewards who live sacrificially so that they can send more money to the front. There are those who provide food and accommodations for those who are in face-to-face conflict with the enemy. Then think of those who type manuscripts that will one day carry the message to distant lands. Think of those who edit, translate and print Christian literature. Think of the women of excellence who minister in the home, raising sons and daughters for the service of the King. For every one in the thick of the battle, there are several others serving as support personnel.||When the rewards are passed out, those who had supportive roles will share equally with those who were acclaimed as war heroes. Those who served quietly behind the lines will share equal honors with the evangelical celebrities.||God is able to sort it all out. He can accurately measure the importance of everyone's contribution. There will be plenty of surprises. Inconspicuous people whom we thought to be fairly unimportant will be seen to have occupied crucial positions. Without them, we ourselves would have been powerless.",
"Jul 31","There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.||The greatest of all investments is the investment of one's life for Jesus Christ. The important considerations in any investment are the safety of the principal and the rate of return. Judged on this basis, no investment can compare with the life that's lived for God. The principal is absolutely safe because He is able to keep that which we have committed unto him. As for the income, it boggles the mind by its immensity.||In today's passage, the Lord Jesus promises to repay one hundredfold. That amounts to a 10,000% rate of interest--something that is unheard of in the world. But that is not all!||Those who have forsaken the comforts of a home in order to serve the Lord Christ are promised the warmth and conveniences of many homes, where they are shown the kindness of God for Jesus' sake.||Those who forego the delights of marriage and a family, or who sever other tender earthly ties for the Gospel's sake, are promised a worldwide family, many of whom actually become closer than blood-relatives.||Those who forsake lands are promised lands. They leave behind the privilege of owning a few acres of real estate, and gain the immeasurably greater privilege of claiming countries and even continents for the precious Name of Jesus.||They are also promised persecutions. At first this seems to be a sour note in an otherwise harmonious symphony. But Jesus includes persecutions as a positive return on one's investment. To share the reproach of Christ is greater treasure than all the wealth of Egypt.||Those are the dividends in this life. Then the Lord adds, '...and in the world to come eternal life.' This looks forward to eternal life in its fullness. Though eternal life itself is a gift received by faith, there will be differing capacities for enjoying it. Those who have left all to follow Jesus will share a greater degree of reward in the City Foursquare.||When we consider the transcendent returns from a life invested for God, it's strange that more people do not participate. Investors can be extremely shrewd when it comes to stocks and bonds, yet strangely dense when it comes to the best investment of all.",
"Aug 01","A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.||The combination of golden apples in a setting of silver is pleasingly appropriate. The two go together well. It is the same with a golden word spoken at just the proper time. 'A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!'.||A veteran missionary lady is dying in the cancer ward, still conscious but too weak to talk. A godly elder goes to her bedside just as the evening visiting hours are closing. Leaning over her bed, he quotes (Son 8:5), 'Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?' She opens her eyes and smiles. That is her last contact with this sobbing, suffering world. Before dawn breaks, she has left this wilderness, leaning on her Beloved. It was just the right word!||A family is numb with grief over the loss of a loved one. Friends crowd around with messages of condolence, but none seem to assuage the heartache. Then a letter comes from Dr. H. A. Ironside, quoting, 'Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.' That proves to be the right word from the Lord to snap the chain of sorrow.||As a group of young Christians are on a long trip, one starts to share some doubts concerning the Scriptures which he has picked up in one of his college courses. After listening for a while, one of the quieter, more forgettable passengers startles the group by quoting from memory: 'Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.' It was an apple of gold in a setting of silver!||Then there is the familiar story of how Ingersoll, standing before a large audience, defied God to strike him dead in five minutes--if there was a God. The five minutes passed, heavy with suspense. The fact that Ingersoll was still alive was supposed to demonstrate that no God exists. Just then a nondescript Christian arose in the audience and asked, 'Mr. Ingersoll, do you think you can exhaust the mercy of God in five minutes?' It was a word on target.||The proper word, spoken at the proper time, is truly a gift from God. We might well covet the gift so that the Spirit of God can use us to speak the appropriate word of comfort, encouragement, warning or rebuke.",
"Aug 02","...they feared as they entered into the cloud. (Luk 9:34)||Peter, James and John were on the mount with Jesus. Sensing that this was a significant moment in history and desiring to somehow preserve its glory, Peter proposed erecting three booths--one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. This, of course, would have put the Lord on the same level as the two Old Testament saints. God thwarted the project by enveloping them in a cloud. Luke tells us that 'they feared as they entered into the cloud.'||They shouldn't have feared. It was a cloud of glory, not of judgment. It was a temporary phenomenon, not a permanent fact of life. God was in the cloud, even though He was not visible.||Oftentimes clouds come into our lives and, like the apostles, we fear as we enter into one of these clouds. When God calls us to a new sphere of service, for instance, there is often the fear of the unknown. We imagine the worst in the way of dangers, discomforts and disagreeable situations. Actually we are just being afraid of a blessing. When the cloud lifts, we find that God's will is good and acceptable and perfect.||We fear as we enter the cloud of sickness. Our minds run wild with alarm. We interpret every word and facial movement of the doctor as an omen of doom. We diagnose every symptom as pointing to a terminal disease. But when the illness passes, we find ourselves saying with the psalmist, 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted'. God was in the cloud and we did not know it.||We fear when we enter the cloud of sorrow. What good, we ask, could ever come out of such tears, anguish and bereavement. Our whole world seems to collapse in ruins around us. But there is instruction in the cloud. We learn how to comfort others with the comfort with which the Lord comforts us. We come to understand the tears of the Son of God in a way we could never have known otherwise.||We needn't fear as we enter the clouds of life. They are educative. They are temporary. They are not destructive. They may hide the Lord's face but not His love and power. So we should take to heart the words of William Cowper:||Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;||The clouds ye so much dread||Are big with mercy, and shall break||In blessings on your head.",
"Aug 03","He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.||What an interesting insight! The great, transcendent God doesn't take pleasure in the legs of a man!||We can think of this in connection with the world of athletics. The track star, lithe and swift, crossing the finish line with hands flung high in victory. The basketball player, streaking down the court to sink the winning basket. The football hero, muscular and strong, irresistibly plunging through the line.||The crowd goes wild. They are jumping, shouting, cheering (or alternately booing and catcalling). They are fanatics, emotionally involved in every play. You might say that they take pleasure in the legs of a man--that is, in his ability to play the game.||Our verse is not intended to prohibit an interest in athletics. The Bible elsewhere speaks well of the value of bodily exercise. But God's disinterest in the legs of a man should remind us to keep our priorities in balance.||It is easy for a young believer to become so engrossed in some sport that it becomes the passion of his life. All his best efforts are aimed toward achieving excellence. He disciplines his time, his food intake, his sleep. He practices endlessly, perfecting skill in every conceivable play. He maintains an exercise regimen, designed to keep him in top physical condition. He thinks and talks about this sport as if it were his life. Perhaps it actually is.||Sometimes a young Christian like this is brought up short when he realizes that God doesn't take pleasure in the legs of a man. If he wants to walk in fellowship with God, he must adopt God's perspective.||What, then, does God take pleasure in? The eleventh verse of tells us: 'The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.' In other words, God is more interested in the spiritual than in the physical. The Apostle Paul mirrors this same value system when he says that 'bodily exercise profiteth (a) little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.'||One hundred years from today, when the cheers have died away, when the stadium is empty, and the score is forgotten, the thing that will really count is a life that first sought the kingdom of God and His righteousness.",
"Aug 04","The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.||The Lord Himself is righteous and loves to see His people acting in a righteous manner. He is pleased when believers instinctively make choices that are consistent with divine or moral law.||But it is not always easy in a world such as ours. We are constantly tempted to compromise in the areas of morals and ethics. Some or the temptations are blatant; others are insidious. It takes both discernment and backbone to walk a straight line.||It would not be possible to catalog all the problem areas, but perhaps a selective list will provide a base for future decision-making.||Bribes and kickbacks are forms of unrighteousness. So are gifts made to a purchasing agent in order to prejudice his judgment-- It is wrong to kite checks, that is, to issue them without sufficient funds in the account in the hope that you can deposit enough money before the checks are collected... It's illegal to mail a package of merchandise with writing enclosed and not pay the extra postage for the letter... A form of deceit is to tell a caller that the boss is not in when, in fact, he is sitting in the adjacent office...Any misuse of company time or expense account with personal expenditures that are not related to the business... And then of course there is the widespread practice of falsifying income tax returns, either by understating income or padding contributions and expenses... The filing of fraudulent insurance claims has reached epidemic proportions... Work slowdowns and work that is below standard are wrong... And perhaps one of the most frequent abuses is the unauthorized use of an employer's time to transact personal business.||It is not right to stand up for relatives or friends when they are clearly in the wrong. This is misguided affection and false loyalty. The cause of righteousness is served when we stand for truth against sin, no matter who the guilty person is.||Similarly, it is wrong to side in with an excommunicated person on the sentimental notion that someone has to befriend the offender. This only succeeds in creating division in the church and hardening the offender in his wickedness.||Finally, it is never right for someone to shoulder the blame for something he hasn't done. There are some peace-loving souls who are willing to take the blame when the guilty refuses to come forward and confess. Peace cannot be won by the sacrifice of truth.||Courage, brother! do not stumble,||Though thy path is dark as night;||There's a star to guide the humble:||'Trust in God, and do the Right.'||Norman MacLeod",
"Aug 05","The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.||(Jam 1:20) The picture is not an unfamiliar one. A church business meeting is in progress. A decision must be made. It is not about some great doctrine of the faith, but perhaps about building an addition, or painting the kitchen, or distributing some funds. A disagreement develops, anger rises, tempers flare and shouting erupts. A few strongminded vocal individuals finally prevail, then leave with the delusion that they have forwarded the work of God. Whatever else they have forwarded, they have not advanced God's work or accomplished His will. Man's wrath does not work the righteousness of God.||The story is told that Emerson rushed out of some committee meeting where there had been a lot of argument and mental strife. While he was still seething with anger, he seemed to hear the stars say to him, 'Why so hot, little man?' To which Leslie Weatherhead comments: 'How wonderfully the silent stars in their majesty and remote beauty, hush our spirits, as if they were really saying, 'God is great enough to take care of you', and 'Nothing troubling you is as important as it seems.''||We know, of course, that there is a time for righteous anger. That time is when the honor of God is at stake. But James is not thinking of that when he speaks of the wrath of man. He is thinking of the man who insists on having his own way, and who, when blocked, explodes in anger. He is thinking of the proud person who considers his own judgment infallible and who is therefore intolerant of dissent.||To the man of this world, an explosive temper is a sign of strength. To him it is a badge of leadership, a means of commanding respect. He thinks that meekness is weakness.||But the Christian knows better. He knows that when he loses his temper, he loses respect. Every outburst of temper is a failure. It is the work of the flesh, not the fruit of the Spirit.||Christ has taught him a better way. It is the way of self-control, of giving place to God's wrath, of showing all meekness to all men. It is the way of patiently enduring wrong, of turning the other cheek. The Christian knows that he hinders the work of God by displays of temper, he obscures any visible difference between himself and the unconverted, and he seals his lips as far as testimony is concerned.",
"Aug 06","Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.||Sometimes as I sit at the Lord's Supper, I have to ask myself, 'What is the matter with me? How can I sit here and contemplate the passion of the Savior and not be melted in tears?'||An unknown poet faced the same questions; he wrote: 'Am I a stone, and not a man, that I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross, and number, drop by drop, Thy blood's slow loss, and yet not weep? Not so the sun and moon, which hid their faces in a midnight sky, while earth convulsed and groaned --yet only I can look, unmoved, unwooed. Great God, I must not be, or I shall know the anger that He bore. Oh Lord, I pray Thee, turn and look once more, and smite this rock, my heart.'||Another wrote in a similar spirit: 'O wonder to myself I am, Thou loving, bleeding, dying Lamb, that I can scan the mystery o'er, and not be moved to love Thee more.'||I admire those sensitive souls who are so moved by the sufferings of the dying Redeemer that they break down and cry. I think of my Christian barber, Ralph Ruocco. Often as he stood over me, he would talk about the agonies which the Savior endured. Then with his tears falling on the cloth cover, he would say, 'I don't know why He was willing to die for me. I am such a wretch. Yet He bore the penalty of my sins in His body on the Cross.'||I think of the sinful woman who washed the Savior's feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair, and kissed His feet, and anointed them with ointment (Lul 7:38). Although living on the other side of the Cross, she was more attuned emotionally than I with all my superior knowledge and privilege.||Why am I such a block of ice? Is it that I have been brought up in a culture where it is considered unmanly to weep? If so, then I wish I had never known that culture. It is not a disgrace to weep in the shadow of Calvary; the disgrace lies in not weeping.||Borrowing Jeremiah's words, I must henceforth pray, 'Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night'; weep, that is, over the sufferings and death which my sins brought on the sinless Savior. And I take as my own the immortal words of Isaac Watts: Well might I hide my blushing face, while His dear cross appears; Dissolve my heart in thankfulness, and melt my eyes to tears.||Lord, deliver me from the curse of a dry-eyed Christianity!",
"Aug 07","...to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.||In this exalted passage, the Messiah is describing some of the marvelous exchanges which He brings to those who receive Him. He gives beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, praise for heaviness.||We bring Him the ashes of a life burned out with pleasure, the ashes of a body ruined by liquor or drugs. We bring Him the ashes of wasted years in the wilderness, or the ashes of frustrated hopes and shattered dreams. And what do we get? He gives us beauty, the beauty of a dazzling bridal diadem. What an exchange! 'The poor wearied drudge of sin is honored by becoming the consort of the holy God' (J.H. Jowett). Mary Magdalene, controlled by seven demons, is not only delivered but becomes a daughter of the King. The Corinthians come to Him in all their degradation and are washed, sanctified and justified.||We bring Him the tears of mourning. These are tears brought on by sin, defeat and failure. Tears caused by tragedy and loss. Tears over shattered marriages and wayward children. Can He do anything with these briny, scalding tears? Yes, He can wipe them away and give us the oil of joy in their place. He gives us the joy of forgiveness, the joy of acceptance, the joy of His family, the joy of finding the reason for our existence. In short, He gives us 'the joy of the bridal feast for heavy-footed woe.'||Finally, He takes from us the spirit of heaviness. We all know what this spirit is like--the burden of guilt, remorse, shame and humiliation. The spirit of loneliness, of rejection, of betrayal. The spirit of fear and anxiety. He takes them all away and gives us the garment of praise. He puts a new song in our mouth, even praise to our God. The grumbler is filled with thanksgiving, the blasphemer with worship.||Something beautiful, something good,||All my confusion He understood.||All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife||And He made something beautiful of my life.||(Gaither)",
"Aug 08","...do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great. (Luk 6:35.)||These commandments of our Lord refer to our behavior toward all men, converted and unconverted, but we shall be thinking of them particularly in regard to financial dealings among individual Christians. It is sadly true that some of the most serious conflicts among believers arise over money matters. It shouldn't be so, but unfortunately the old adage still holds: when money comes in the door, love goes out the window.||A simple solution might be to forbid all financial dealings among the saints, but we cannot do this as long as the Bible says, 'Give to every man that asketh of thee' and '...lend, hoping for nothing again' (Luk 6:30,35). So we must adopt various guidelines that enable us to obey the Word and yet avoid strife and broken friendships.||We should give to any genuine case of need. The gift should be unconditional. It should not obligate the other person in any way either to vote with us in a church meeting or to defend us when we are wrong. We must not try to 'buy' people with our kindnesses.||The commandment to give to every man who asks has certain exceptions. We should not give to anyone to finance gambling, drinking, or smoking. We should not give to underwrite some foolish, get-rich scheme that caters to man's covetousness.||When we lend for a worthy cause, we should do so with the attitude that we don't care if the money is never returned. Nonpayment will not affect our friendship. And we should not charge interest on the loan. If a Jew, living under law, could not collect interest from a fellow-Jew, how much less should a Christian, living under grace, collect interest from a fellow-believer.||If a case arises where we are not quite sure whether the need is genuine, it is generally better to seek to meet the need. If we must err, it is better to do so on the side of grace.||In giving to others, we must face the fact that recipients of charity often feel resentment toward the donor. This is a price we must be willing to pay. When Disraeli was once reminded that a certain man hated him, he said, 'I don't know why. I haven't done anything for him lately.'",
"Aug 09","And he left all, rose up, and followed him. (Luk 5:28).||Picture Levi sitting at a table beside the highway, collecting taxes from those who passed by. If he was a typical tax-collector, he pocketed considerable sums of money instead of turning them in to the despised Roman government.||On this particular day Jesus passed by and said, 'Follow me.' A tremendous spiritual awakening took place in Levi's life. He saw his sins exposed. He realized the emptiness of his life. He heard the promise of better things. His response was immediate. 'He left all, rose up, and followed him.' In doing so he anticipated Amy Carmichael's pregnant lines: 'I heard His call, 'Come, follow!' That was all. My earthly gold grew dim, My soul went after Him, I rose and followed: That was all. Who would not follow If they heard Him call?'||But Levi, or Matthew as he is better known, little realized on that day when he answered the call of Christ the great things that would flow from his obedience.||First of all, of course, he experienced the priceless blessing of salvation. From then on he wore out his sandals on the toes instead of on the heels. From then on he had more joy even when he was sad than he formerly had when he was glad. From then on he could say in the words of George Wade Robinson, 'something lives in every hue, Christless eyes have never seen.'||Then too, Matthew became one of the Twelve Apostles. He lived with the Lord Jesus, heard His incomparable teachings, became a witness of His resurrection, went forth with the message glorious, and finally laid down His life for the Savior.||To Matthew was given the unspeakable privilege of writing the first gospel. We said that he left all, but the Lord allowed him to keep his pen. That pen was used to portray the Lord Jesus as the true King of the Jews.||Yes, Matthew left all, but in doing so, he gained all, and found the real reason for his existence.||There is a sense in which the call of Christ comes to every man, woman, boy and girl. We can answer or we can refuse. If we respond, He blesses us beyond our wildest dreams. If we refuse, He finds others to follow Him. But we can never find a better Christ to follow.",
"Aug 10","The people said that it thundered.||God had just spoken from heaven in clear, articulate tones. Some said that it thundered. They gave a naturalistic explanation for what was divine and miraculous.||That is one attitude we can take toward miracles today. We can try to explain them away as nothing more than natural occurrences.||Or we can say flatly that the age of miracles has passed. We can conveniently relegate them to a dispensational pigeonhole.||A third attitude is to go to the other extreme and claim to experience miracles which, in fact, are nothing but the product of a vivid imagination.||The proper approach is to acknowledge that God can and does perform miracles in our day. As the Sovereign Lord, He can do as He pleases. There is no scriptural reason why He should have abandoned miracles as a means of revealing Himself.||A miracle occurs every time someone is born again. It is a mighty demonstration of divine power, delivering that person from the kingdom of darkness and translating him into the kingdom of the Son of God's love.||There are miracles of healing when medical science has given up and all human hope is gone. Then, in answer to believing prayer, God sometimes chooses to touch the body and restore the person to health.||There are miracles of provision, when the wallet is all but empty. And miracles of guidance, when we stand at the crossroads and don't know which way to go.||There are miracles of preservation when, for example, someone walks away without a scratch from a tangled mass of steel that used to be an automobile.||Yes, God still works miracles, but not necessarily the same ones. He has never chosen to repeat the ten plagues which He sent on Egypt. Though Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever, it does not follow that His methods are the same. The fact that He raised the dead when He was on earth does not mean that He raises the dead today.||One final word! Not all miracles are divine. The devil and his agents can perform miracles. In a coming day, the second beast of will deceive the earthdwellers by the miracles he will perform. Even today we must test all purported miracles by the Word of God and by the direction in which they lead people.",
"Aug 11","Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God. ||God has irregulars in His army, and very often these are the ones who win the greatest victories. In their zeal for the Lord they seem eccentric. They use original methods instead of sticking to the traditional ones. They are always saying and doing the unexpected. They can murder the English language and violate every known rule of preaching and teaching, yet see great gains for God's kingdom. Often they are dramatic, even electrifying. People are shocked, but they never forget them.||These irregulars are a constant source of embarrassment to the staid and conventional, to those who shudder at the thought of violating cultural norms. Other Christians try to change them, to make them more normal, to put out the fire. But fortunately for the Church, their efforts are usually in vain.||It is hard for us to believe that our Lord seemed peculiar to His contemporaries. 'So zealous was He in His work that often He had no time even to eat, and His mother and brothers wanted to take Him home because they thought He was going 'off his head'. They said, 'He is beside himself.' But it was Jesus who was the sane man, not his brothers' (W. Mackintosh Mackay).||It is apparent that people accused the Apostle Paul of being strange. His answer to the charge was: 'Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God' ||We have all heard of one of God's irregulars who wore a sandwich board with writing on the front and back. On the front it said, 'I'm a fool for Christ's sake.' Then on the back it read, 'Whose fool are you?'||The trouble with most of us is that we are too much like the ordinary to create any stir for God in society. As someone has said, 'We leave the average where it is. We are like Peter, standing outside the judgment hall where Christ was on trial, just 'warming himself.''||Rowland Hill, the great London preacher, was eccentric. So was C.T. Studd. And Billy Bray. And W.P. Nicholson, the Irish evangelist. Would we want them to have been any different? No, when we consider how God used them, we only wish we were more like them. 'Better a thousand times effective peculiarity than ineffective ordinariness. First love may sometimes be peculiar, but, thank God, it is effective; and some of us have lost it' (Fred Mitchell).",
"Aug 12","A man that is a heretic, after the first and-second admonition, reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.||When we think of a heretic, we usually think of someone who holds and propagates views that are contrary to the great fundamental truths of the faith. We think of men like Arius, Montanus, Marcion and Pelagius who lived in the second and third centuries AD.||I do not propose to reject that definition of heretic but to broaden it. A heretic, in the New Testament sense, also includes anyone who obstinately promotes a teaching, even of secondary importance; that causes division in the church. He may be true to the fundamentals and yet push some other teaching that causes strife because it differs from the accepted belief of the fellowship he is in.||Most modern translations read 'factious man' instead of 'heretic.' A factious man is stubbornly determined to ride his doctrinal hobbyhorse even if it will cause a split in the church. His conversation inevitably reverts to this pet subject. No matter where he turns in the Bible, he thinks he finds support for his view. He cannot minister the Word publicly without introducing it. He is a Johnny-one-note. He has only one string on his violin, and plays only one note on that string.||His behavior is utterly perverse. He completely disregards the thousand and one teachings in the Bible that would build up the saints in their faith, and majors on one or two deviant doctrines that serve only to create a schism. It may be that he harps on some particular aspect of prophecy. Or he may overemphasize a gift of the Spirit. Or his obsession may be with the five points of Calvinism.||When the church leaders warn him against pursuing his selfwilled crusade, he is unrepentant. He insists that he would not be faithful to the Lord if he did not teach these things. He will not be silenced. He has a 'super-spiritual' answer for every argument that is used against him. The fact that he is creating strife and division in the church does not deter him in the least. He seems unmoved by the divine decree, 'If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him'.||The Scripture says that this person is subverted, is sinning, and is self-condemned. He is subverted in the sense that he has a 'moral twist' (Phillips), a 'distorted mind' (NEB), is 'warped' (NIV). He is sinning because the Bible condemns such behavior. And he knows it, in spite of his pious protestations. After two warnings the fellowship should shun him, hoping by this social ostracism to cause him to abandon his factiousness.",
"Aug 13","Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.||When Jesus spoke these words, He was referring to a meeting of the church convened to deal with a sinning member who refuses to repent. Other efforts to handle the offender have failed and now he is brought before the church. If he still refuses to repent; he must be disfellowshipped. The Lord Jesus promises His presence at such a meeting called to deal with a matter of church discipline.||But the verse surely has a wider application. It is true wherever and whenever two or three are gathered in His Name. To gather in His Name means to meet as a Christian assembly. It means to gather together by His authority, acting on His behalf. It means to gather with Him as the attraction. It means to gather in accordance with the practice of the early Christians for 'the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers'. It means to gather with Christ as the center, to gather to Him (;).||Wherever believers are thus gathered to the Person of the Lord Jesus, He promises to be present. But someone may ask, 'Isn't He present everywhere? As the omnipresent One, is He not in all places at one and the same time?' The answer is, of course, that He is. But He promises to be present in a special way when saints gather in His Name.||'...there am I in the midst.' That is, in itself, the strongest single reason why we should be faithful in attending all the meetings of the local assembly. The Lord Jesus is there in a special way. Many times we may not be conscious of His promised presence. At those times we accept the fact by faith, based upon His promise. But there are other times when He manifests Himself to us in an unusual way. Times when heaven seems to bend very low. Times when all hearts are bowed beneath the influence of the Word. Times when the glory of the Lord so fills the place that a deep sense of reverential awe grips the people and tears flow freely. Times when our hearts burn within us.||We never know the times of these sacred visitations. They come unannounced and unexpectedly. If we are not present, we miss them. Then we share a loss similar to that of Thomas. He was not present when the risen, glorified Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples on the evening of His resurrection. It was a moment of glory that could never be recaptured.||If we really believe Christ is present when His people gather in His Name, we will be much more determined to attend than if the President were going to be there. Nothing short of death or terminal illness would hinder our presence.",
"Aug 14","The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.||There is nothing more beautiful in God's spiritual creation than a believer who demonstrates a true spirit of brokenness. Even God Himself finds such a person irresistible; He can resist the proud and haughty, but He can't resist the broken and humble.||In our natural condition, none of us is broken. We are like a wild donkey's colt--rebellious, stubborn, impetuous. We resist the bit, the bridle and the saddle of God's will. We refuse to be harnessed, wanting only our own way. As long as we are unbroken, we are unfit for service.||Conversion is like the beginning of the breaking process. The penitent sinner can say, 'The proudest heart that ever beat, Has been subdued in me; The wildest will that ever rose To scorn Thy cause or aid Thy foes Is quelled, my God, by Thee!' In conversion, we take the yoke of Christ upon us.||But it is possible to be a believer and still behave very much like an unbroken colt that wants to roam the range as it pleases. We must learn to turn over the reins of life to the Lord Jesus. We must submit to His dealings in our life without kicking, bucking or jumping. We must be able to say:||His way is best||We cease from needless scheming||And leave the ruling of our life to Him.||We need to practice brokenness not only toward God but toward our fellow men as well. This means that we will not be proud, assertive, arrogant. We will not feel compelled to stand up for our rights or to defend ourselves when accused unjustly. When we are insulted, ridiculed, abused or slandered, we will not fight back. Broken people are quick to apologize when they have said or done something wrong. They don't carry grudges or keep a count of wrongs against them. They look upon others as better than themselves. When they encounter delays, interruptions, breakdowns, accidents, schedule changes and disappointments, they do not respond with frenzy, panic, hysteria or ruffled feathers. They display poise and equanimity in the crises of life.||If a married couple is truly broken, they will never need to go to the divorce court. Broken parents and children never experience a generation gap. Broken neighbors never need to erect fences. Churches with people who have learned the way of brokenness experience continual revival.||When we come to the Lord's Supper and hear the Savior say, 'This is my body, broken for you,' the only proper response is, 'This is my life, Lord Jesus, broken for you.'",
"Aug 15","Take heed, and beware of covetousness. (Luk 12:15)||Covetousness is the excessive desire for wealth or possessions. It is a mania that grips people, causing them to grasp for more and more. It is a fever that drives them to crave things they don't actually need.||We see covetousness in the business man who is never satisfied. He says he will stop when he has accumulated a certain amount, but when that time comes, he is greedy for more.||We see it in the housewife whose life is one unending shopping spree. She squirrels away tons of miscellany till her attic, garage and storage area bulge with the loot.||We see it in the tradition of Christmas gifts and birthday gifts. Young and old alike judge the success of the occasion by the amount of booty they are able to accumulate.||We see it in the disposition of an estate. When someone dies, his relatives and friends shed a ritual tear, then descend like vultures to divide the prey, often starting a civil war in the process.||Covetousness is idolatry (;). It puts self-will in the place of God's will. It expresses dissatisfaction with what God has given, and is determined to get more, no matter what the cost may be.||Covetousness is a lie, creating the impression that happiness is found in the possession of material things. The story is told of a man who could have anything he wanted by merely wishing for it. He wished for a mansion, servants, a Cadillac, a yacht and presto! they were there instantly. At first it was exhilarating, but then as he began to run out of new ideas, he became dissatisfied. Finally he said, 'I want to get out of here. I want to create something, to suffer something. I'd rather be in hell than here.' The attendant answered, 'Where do you think you are?'||Covetousness tempts people to compromise, to cheat, to sin in order to get what they want.||It unfits a man for leadership in the church. Ronald Sider asks, 'Would it not be more biblical to apply church discipline to people whose greedy acquisitiveness has led to 'financial success' than to elect them to the board of elders?'||When greed leads to embezzlement, extortion or other public scandals, it calls for excommunication.||And if covetousness is not confessed and forsaken, it leads to exclusion from the Kingdom of God.",
"Aug 16","And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.||Few Christians take these words seriously, yet they are as truly the Word of God as They tell us to be satisfied with food and covering. That word 'covering' includes a roof over our heads as well as the clothes we wear. In other words, we should be content with the minimum essentials and put everything above that into the work of the Lord.||The man who has contentment has something that money cannot buy. E. Stanley Jones said, 'Everything belongs to the man who wants nothing. Having nothing, he possesses all things in life, including life itself... He is rich in the fewness of his wants rather than in the abundance of his possessions.'||Years ago when Rudyard Kipling spoke to a graduating class at McGill University, he warned the students against putting a great premium on material wealth. He said, 'Some day you'll meet a man who cares for none of these things and then you'll realize how poor you are.'||'The happiest state of a Christian on earth seems to be that he should have few wants. If a man has Christ in his heart, heaven before his eyes, and only as much of temporal blessings as is just needful to carry him safely through life, then pain and sorrow have little to shoot at; such a man has little to lose' (William C. Burns).||This spirit of contentment seems to have characterized many of God's giants. David Livingston said, 'I am determined not to look upon anything that I possess except as in relation to the Kingdom of God.' Watchman Nee wrote, 'I want nothing for myself; I want everything for the Lord.' And Hudson Taylor said that he enjoyed 'the luxury of having few things to care for.'||To some, the idea of contentment means the lack of drive and ambition. They picture the contented person as a drone or a freeloader. But that is not godly contentment. The contented Christian has plenty of drive and ambition, but they are directed toward the spiritual, not the material. Rather than being a freeloader, he works so that he can give to those who are in need. In Jim Elliot's words, the contented person is the one for whom God has 'loosed the tension of the grasping hand.'",
"Aug 17","...them that honor me I will honor...||One of the many ways in which we can honor the Lord is by standing true to divine principles and by steadfastly refusing to compromise.||During his early years Adam Clarke worked for a silk merchant. One day his boss showed him how he should stretch the silk when measuring it out for a customer. Adam said, 'Sir, your silk may stretch but my conscience won't.' Years later God honored that honest clerk by enabling him to write the Bible commentary that bears his name.||Eric Liddell was scheduled to run in the 100 meters event in the Olympic Games. But when he found that the heats for this event were scheduled for Sunday, he told the manager that he wouldn't run. He felt that by dishonoring the Lord's Day, he would be dishonoring the Lord Himself. A great storm of criticism broke. He was accused of being a spoilsport, of letting his country down, of being a straightlaced religious fanatic. But he would not go back on his decision.||When he noticed that the heats for the 220 meters were scheduled for a weekday, he asked his manager for permission to run, even if that wasn't his distance. He won the first heat, the second heat, then the semi-finals. On the day of the finals, as he strode to the starting place, someone pressed a small piece of paper in his hand. He glanced down and saw the words, '...them that honor me I will honor.' That day he not only won the race but set a new world's record.||The Lord gave him the greater honor of serving as one of His ambassadors in the Far East. During World War II, he was interned by the Japanese and died in a concentration camp, thus winning the martyr's crown.||Adam Clarke and Eric Liddell followed in the illustrious line of men like Joseph who honored God by his sterling character and was honored by God by becoming the savior of his people in a time of famine. Men like Moses whose loyalty to his God was honored by his leading the nation of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Men like Daniel whose refusal to compromise brought him a place of distinction in the Persian Kingdom. And--greatest of all--the Lord Jesus who honored His Father as no one else, and has been given the Name above every name.",
"Aug 18","Let not him who girds on his armor boast like him who takes it off.||Although these words were spoken by a wicked king, Ahab, they are words of truth. Even ungodly men sometimes lapse into truth.||The king of Syria had made insulting, degrading demands of Ahab, threatening military disaster if he did not obey. But in the battle that followed, the Syrians were forced to retreat and their king had to flee for his life. His performance didn't match his boast.||Today's text would have been good advice for Goliath also. When he saw David approaching, he said, 'Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field'. But David easily felled him with a single stone from his sling. The giant had boasted too soon.||When we are young Christians, it is easy for us to overestimate our own ability. We act as if we could take on the world, the flesh and the devil single-handed. We might even reproach older Christians for their failure to evangelize the world. We will show them how to do it! But our boasting is premature. The battle has only started and we are acting as if it were all over.||In an informal gathering of believers one evening, the spotlight was shining on a brilliant young preacher who was present. He found it quite satisfying to be the center of interest. Also in the group was a Sunday School teacher who had had a profound influence on his life. Someone said to this teacher, 'You must be quite proud of your former student.' His reply was, 'Yes, if he goes on well to the end.' At the time, the young preacher thought that that was a rather sour note to inject into an otherwise pleasurable evening. But later, given the perspective of years, he realized that his old teacher was right. It isn't how you put on your armor that counts. It's how you finish the battle.||Actually the battle is never over in this life. It will not be over until we stand before our great Captain in heaven. Then we will hear His appraisal of our service--the only appraisal that really counts. And no matter what His appraisal might be, we will have no grounds for boasting. We will say with heartfelt humility, 'We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do' (Luk 17:10).",
"Aug 19","Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people. (Exo 22:28)||When God gave the Law to Moses, He included a specific prohibition against speaking reproachfully or disrespectfully of those who hold positions of authority. The reason for this is clear. These rulers and leaders are representatives of God. 'There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God'. The ruler is a 'minister of God to thee for good'. Even though the leader may not know the Lord personally, still he is the Lord's man officially.||The link between God and human rulers is so close that He sometimes refers to them as gods. Thus in today's verse we read, 'Thou shalt not revile the gods,' which may mean governmental authorities. And in; (Psa 82:6) the Lord refers to judges as gods--not meaning that they are deities but simply that they are agents of God.||In spite of King Saul's murderous attacks on David, the latter would not allow his men to harm the king in any way because he was the Lord's anointed.||When the Apostle Paul unknowingly reproached the high priest, he quickly repented and apologized, saying, 'I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people'.||Respect for authorities applies even in the spirit realm. This explains why Michael, the archangel, did not dare to bring a railing accusation against Satan, but simply said, 'The Lord rebuke thee'.||One of the marks of latter-day apostates is that they despise governments and are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.||The lesson for us is clear. We are to respect our rulers as official servants of God even though we might not agree with their policies or approve of their personal character. Under no circumstances should we ever say what one Christian said in the heat of a political campaign, 'The president is a lowdown scoundrel.'||Further we are to pray 'for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty'.",
"Aug 20","If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?||The words chastening, chasteneth, chastisement and chastened occur seven times in the first 11 verses of As a result it is easy for the casual reader to get a wrong impression. He might easily picture God as an angry Father who is forever whipping His children. This misconception arises from thinking of chastening as nothing but punishment.||It is a great relief to learn that chastening in the New Testament has a much broader meaning than that. It really means child-training, and includes all parental activity that is involved in raising a child. Kittel defines it as 'the upbringing and handling of the child which is growing up to maturity and which needs direction, teaching, instruction and a certain measure of compulsion in the form of discipline or even chastisement.'||The Christians to whom the book of Hebrews was written were suffering persecution. The writer speaks of this persecution as part of the chastening of the Lord. Does this mean that God had sent the persecution? Certainly not! It was inspired by enemies of the gospel. Was God punishing the Christians because of their sins? No, the persecution was probably brought on because of their faithful witness for Him. In what sense then could persecution be said to be the chastening of the Lord? In the sense that God allowed it to take place, and then used it as part of His educative program in the lives of His people. In other words, He used the persecution to refine, mature and conform His children to the image of His Son.||It goes without saying that this type of chastening is not pleasant at the time. The chisel deals roughly with the marble. The furnace subjects the gold to intense heat. But it is all worthwhile when the face of the man appears in the marble and when the gold is purified from dross.||It is self-defeating to despise the chastening of the Lord or to faint under it. The only proper attitude is to remember that God is using it as a training device, then to try to get the maximum benefit from it. That is what the writer means when he says that 'it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby' (b).",
"Aug 21","...I would rather speak five words that can be understood, in order to teach others, than speak thousands of words in strange tongues. (TEV)||The subject here, of course, is the use of tongues without interpretation in the meetings of the church. Paul is opposed to the practice. He insists that what is spoken must be intelligible, otherwise no one is edified.||But the verse can be applied in a broader sense. When we speak, we should speak loudly enough for everyone to hear, otherwise we might just as well be speaking in a foreign language. In almost every audience there are people who are hard of hearing. It is a great trial to them when a speaker's voice is so soft that they miss the train of thought. Because love thinks of others, not self, it speaks with sufficient volume for all to hear.||Love also uses words that are simple enough for the average person to understand. We have a great message--the greatest message in all the world. It is important that people hear and understand the message. If we use involved, obscure, technical jargon, we defeat our own purpose.||A preacher went to the Far East to minister to the people, using an interpreter, of course. The first sentence of his message was, 'All thought may be divided into two categories--concrete and abstract.' Looking down at the audience of toothless grandmothers and restless children, the interpreter translated it as, 'I have come all the way from America to tell you about the Lord Jesus/' From that point on, it is said, the message was firmly in the hands of the angels.||In a recent issue of a Christian magazine, I came across such expressions as: normative datum of a trans-historical category; work that is not eclectic but that has existential relevance; a vertical continuum of consciousness; the canonical language of affirmation; classical causality at the extreme limits of measurement. Pity the poor people who are asked to wade through such religious gobbledegook! Spare us all from those who have a ponderous way of saying nothing in infinite sentences!||We hear that the average TV or radio program is beamed at those with a third-grade education. That should be a cue to Christians who want to reach the world with the message of redemption. We should 'make the message clear and plain: CHRIST RECEIVETH SINFUL MEN.' Better to speak five words and be understood than 10,000 words in a language no one can understand.",
"Aug 22","Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.||One of the much-loved hymns for children says, 'I think when I read that sweet story of old, When Jesus was here among men, How He called little children as lambs to His fold, I should like to have been with Him then.' Probably most of us have shared that sentimental desire at one time or another. We think how nice it would have been to enjoy the personal companionship of the Son of God during His earthly ministry.||But what we should realize is that it is better to know Him today, as He is revealed by the Spirit through the Word. Instead of being at a disadvantage, we are actually more privileged than the disciples. Look at it this way: Matthew saw Jesus through Matthew's eyes, Mark through Mark's eyes, Luke through Luke's eyes, and John through John's eyes. But we see Him through the eyes of all four Evangelists. And, to carry the thought a step farther, we have a fuller revelation of the Lord Jesus in the entire New Testament than any of the disciples had when they were on earth.||There is an additional sense in which we are more privileged than the contemporaries of Jesus. When He was mingling with the crowd in Nazareth or Capernaum, He was necessarily closer to some than to others. In the upper room, John leaned on His bosom, whereas the other disciples reclined at varying distances. But all that is changed now. The Savior is equally close to all believers. He is not only with us; He is in us.||When Mary met the resurrected Lord, she wanted to cling to Him in the same way she had previously known Him. She did not want to lose His physical, bodily presence. But Jesus said to her, 'Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father...'. He was saying, in effect, 'Mary, don't cling to me in an earthly, physical sense. When I ascend to my Father, the Holy Spirit will be sent to the earth. Through His ministry you will know me in a fuller, clearer, more intimate way than you have ever known me before.'||So the conclusion is this: Instead of wishing we had been with Jesus when He was on earth, we should realize, rejoicingly, that it is better to be with Him now.",
"Aug 23","For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.||It is a bad bargain to exchange a fountain for cisterns, and especially for broken cisterns. A fountain is a spring of cool, pure, refreshing water, gushing forth from the earth. A cistern is an artificial reservoir for storing water. The water in it may become stagnant and foul. When the cistern is broken, the water leaks out and pollution seeps in.||The Lord is a Fountain of living waters. His people can find lasting satisfaction in Him. The world is a cistern, and a broken cistern at that. It offers the hope of pleasure and happiness, but those who seek satisfaction in it are inevitably disappointed.||Mary was brought up in a Christian home where the Word of God was read and memorized. But she rebelled against her parents' lifestyle and left home, determined to live it up. Dancing became the passion of her life. Trying to repress all memories of her Christian background, she lived from one dance to the next.||One night while gliding across the dance floor with her partner, she was arrested by a verse of Scripture which she had learned as a girl: 'For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.' In the middle of the dance, she was convicted of her sin. Realizing the emptiness of her life, she turned to the Lord and was converted. She excused herself from continuing the dance, left the hall and never returned.||From that moment she could identify with the poet who wrote: 'I tried the broken cisterns, Lord, But ah! the waters failed! E'en as I stooped to drink they'd fled, And mocked me as I wailed. Now none but Christ can satisfy, None other name for me; There's love, and life, and lasting joy, Lord Jesus, found in Thee.'||Mary experienced the truth of the Savior's words, 'Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life'.",
"Aug 24","Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.||Stephen had been brought up on the mission field. He professed faith in Christ at an early age and had been the means of leading several to the Lord. When he first came back to the States to attend college, he maintained a good testimony. But then he began to drift. Coldness set in. He compromised with sin. Soon he began to dabble in Eastern religions.||When his parents came home on furlough, they were heartsick. They pled, reasoned, and entreated, but he was adamant. Finally they went to visit him where he lived with three others. What they saw there utterly crushed them. They went home and wept bitterly.||They went to bed and tried to sleep but it was useless. Finally at 4 a.m. they decided to get up and have their morning devotions. Ordinarily they would have been reading on that day, but the husband said, 'Not Jeremiah!' thinking that the weeping prophet would have no comfort for them. But the Lord overruled and they turned to When they got to the 16th verse, they read, 'Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy.'||Thousands of Christian parents today are brokenhearted, mourning over rebel sons and daughters. When they pray, the heavens seem like brass. They begin to wonder if God ever can or will restore the backslider.||They should remember that no case is too hard for the Lord. They should continue in prayer, watching in the same with thanksgiving. They should plead the promises of God's Word.||When the mother referred to above wondered if she had been justified in claiming, she read in, 'I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.'",
"Aug 25","But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.||Paul had a narrow scrape with death in the province of Asia. We cannot be sure exactly what happened, but it was so serious that if we had asked him, 'Is it going to be life or death?' he would have said, 'Death.'||Most people whom God uses have had a similar experience at one time or another in their lives. Biographies of great men of God record marvelous deliverances from disease, from accidents, from personal attacks.||Sometimes God uses this kind of experience to get a man's attention. Perhaps he is riding the crest of the wave as far as material prosperity is concerned. Everything is going his way. Then suddenly he is laid low with illness. The surgeon removes yards of cancerous intestines. This causes him to reevaluate his life and to rethink his priorities. Realizing how short and uncertain life is, he determines to give the rest of it to the Lord. God raises him up and gives him many additional years of fruitful service.||It was different in Paul's case. He had already yielded his life to the Lord for service. But there was the dangerous possibility that he might try to serve in his own strength, and by his own cleverness. So the Lord brought him to the brink of the grave in order that he might not trust in himself but in the God of resurrection. There would be many times in his tumultuous career when he would face predicaments beyond human solution. Having already proved the sufficiency of the God of the impossible, he would not be daunted.||These close encounters with death are blessings in disguise. They show us how frail we are. They remind us of the folly of this world's values. They teach us that life is a short story that can end very unexpectedly. When we face death, we realize that we must work the works of Him that sent us while it is day, for the night is coming when no man can work. In a sense we all have the sentence of death in ourselves--a healthy reminder to put Christ's interests first and to depend upon His power and wisdom.",
"Aug 26","Establish thou the work of our hands upon us.||The margin of the New American Standard Bible reads '...give permanence to the work of our hands.' Now that is a thought worth pondering and a request worth praying! We should make it our ambition to spend our lives doing that which will last.||This finds an echo in the New Testament when the Lord Jesus said, 'I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain'.||F. W. Boreham said that each of us should provide himself with some honorable occupation that he can do while his body is lying in the grave. But we should advance the thought beyond the grave and say that each of us should be building for eternity.||So much of modern activity is of transient importance and of fleeting value. The other day I heard of a man who was devoting his life to a chemical analysis of fifty volatile chemicals in the skin of a Bartlett pear. Even Christians can fall into the trap of building castles in the sand, of chasing bubbles, and of becoming experts in trivia. As someone has said, we can be guilty of spending our lives straightening pictures in a burning house.||There are many types of work that are of eternal significance, and we should concentrate on these. First is the development of Christian character. Our character is one of the few things we will take to heaven. It needs cultivating now.||Souls won to Christ are of abiding importance. They will be worshipers of the Lamb of God forever and ever.||Those who teach the Word of truth, who disciple young believers, who feed the sheep of Christ are making a deposit in lives that will last indefinitely.||Parents who raise their sons and daughters for the service of the Kingdom are assured that their work will endure.||Faithful stewards who invest their money for Christ and His cause are engaged in a ministry that cannot fail.||Those who devote themselves to the work of prayer will see some day how every prayer was answered in God's own time and way.||Anyone who serves God's people is engaged in a work for eternity. The humblest servant of Christ has superior vision to the wisest men of the world. His work will last while theirs will go up in a mushroom cloud.",
"Aug 27","Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?...He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. (Psa 15:4)||In, David is describing the person who is qualified to be a companion of the Great God. One of the aspects of this man's character is that he stands by his word, even at great personal cost to himself. If he makes a promise or a commitment, he remains faithful to it.||Here, for example, is a Christian who is selling his house. A buyer comes along and agrees to pay the asking price. The seller agrees to the deal. Before any papers are signed, someone else offers $5,000 more for the house. Legally, perhaps, the seller can reject the first offer and thus make $5,000 more on the transaction. But morally he is obligated to be true to his spoken word. His testimony as a dependable Christian is at stake.||Or here is a believer who has an infected wisdom tooth. His dentist refers him to an oral surgeon who treats the tooth with an antibiotic, then makes an appointment for the extraction. After witnessing to the surgeon, the Christian leaves the office. On the way home he meets a friend who tells him where he can get the extraction done for half the amount. No doubt he could pay the surgeon for the work already done, then go to the other dentist. But should he?||Sue has just accepted a supper invitation from an older couple. Then the phone rings and she is invited to a pot-luck supper with a group of young people her own age. She is between a rock and a hard place. She doesn't want to disappoint the older couple, yet she desperately wants to be with the young people.||The decision is often most difficult when large amounts of money are at stake. But no amount of money should induce us to break a promise, to go back on a commitment, to discredit our Christian testimony and to bring dishonor on the Name of the Lord. No matter what the cost may be, we must disprove Voltaire's snide remark that 'when it comes to money, all men are of the same religion.'||The man of God 'always does what he promises, no matter how much it may cost' (TEV); he 'keeps a promise even if it ruins him' (LB).",
"Aug 28","Be sure your sin will find you out.||God has built certain unalterable principles into this world of ours, and not all man's ingenuity can escape the outworking of these principles. One of them is that you can't sin and get away with it.||Some of us learned this early when we swiped jam or other foods which left their tell-tale marks which mother easily discovered. But the truth applies to all of life, and is attested by every newspaper.||The poem 'The Dream of Eugene Aram' is a remarkable illustration of the point. Thinking he could commit a 'perfect crime/' Aram murdered a man and threw his body into the river--'a sluggish water, black as ink, the depth was so extreme.' The next morning he went down to the riverbank where he had committed the crime||And sought the black accursed pool,||With a wild misgiving eye;||And he saw the dead in the riverbed||For the faithless stream was dry.||He tried to cover the body with a huge pile of leaves, but that night a great wind blew through the area, leaving the corpse plainly visible.||Then down I cast me on my face,||And first began to weep,||For I knew my secret then was one||That earth refused to keep,||On land or sea, though it should be||Ten thousand fathoms deep.||Finally he buried his victim in a remote cave, but years later the skeleton was discovered; he was tried for the crime, and executed. His sin had found him put.||But there is another way in which sin catches up with us. E. Stanley Jones reminds us that 'it registers itself in inner deterioration, in the inner hell of not being able to respect yourself, in compelling you to live underground in blind labyrinths.'||And even if a man's sin could somehow remain undetected in this life, it will surely overtake him in the next. Unless that sin has been cleansed through the blood of Jesus, it will be brought to light in the Day of Judgment. Whether it be acts, thoughts, motives or intents; it will be charged against him and the penalty announced. That penalty, of course, is eternal death.",
"Aug 29","Christ is all.||There is a tendency for us Christians to spend a great deal of our time looking for new spiritual experiences that will somehow guarantee permanent victory or freedom from the ups and downs of daily living. We rush around to conventions, conferences, seminars and workshops in search of the elusive magic formula that will smooth out the rough places of life. Glossy brochures assure us that Dr. So-and-So will share a great new breakthrough that will make us radioactive with the Spirit. Or some zealous neighbor insists on dragging us to the Municipal Auditorium to hear about a recently discovered shortcut to the abundant life.||The lures are legion. One preacher offers the royal road to fulfillment. Another advertises the threefold secret of victory. Now we go to a seminar on keys to the deeper life. The next week there is a convention on five easy steps to holiness. We surge forward for an altarcall experience by which we will receive the filling of the Spirit. Or we become obsessed with healing of the body as if that were the most important thing in life. One minute we are off on a Christian psychology kick, the next on healing of the memories. We compass land and sea for some new spiritual high.||There is no doubt that many of these speakers are sincere and that there is value in some of the things that they say. But we return to the nitty-gritty of life to find that there is no short cut to holiness, that the problems are still there, and that we must live day by day in dependence on the Lord.||Eventually we should learn that it is better to be occupied with the Lord Jesus than with experiences. There is no disappointment in Him. We have all we need in Him. He is the all-sufficient One.||A. B. Simpson spent the early part of his life in the quest for experiences, but he found that they didn't satisfy. Then he wrote the lovely hymn entitled 'Himself,' the first verse and chorus of which are as follows:||Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord;||Once it was the feeling, now it is His Word;||Once His gifts I wanted, now the Giver own;||Once I sought for healing, now Himself alone.||All in all forever, Jesus will I sing;||Everything in Jesus, And Jesus everything.",
"Aug 30","Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine.||One of the many noteworthy features of the Word of God is that it never isolates doctrine from duty. Take, for example. It is one of the classic passages in the New Testament on the doctrine of Christ. We learn there of His equality with God the Father, His self-emptying, His incarnation, His servanthood, His death and His subsequent glorification. But this is introduced, not as a doctrinal treatise, but as an appeal to the Philippians and to us to have the mind of Christ. If we live for others as He did, this will eliminate strife and vainglory. If we take the low place as He did, God will exalt us in due time. The passage is intensely practical.||I often think of this when I read books on systematic theology. In these books the authors seek to gather together all that the Bible teaches on the doctrines of the faith, whether of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, angels, man, sin, redemption, etc. While this has definite value, it can be very cold when isolated from godly living. A person can be intellectually proficient in the great doctrines and yet be sadly deficient as to his Christian character. If we study the Bible as God has given it to us, we never get a dichotomy between doctrine and duty. The two are always beautifully balanced and woven together.||Perhaps the doctrinal subject that has been most divorced from our personal responsibility is prophecy. Too often it has been presented in such a way as to cater to curiosity. Sensational speculations concerning the identity of the Antichrist may draw the crowds but they don't develop holiness. Prophecy was never intended to tickle itching ears but rather to shape Christian character. George Peters lists 65 ways in which the Second Advent is calculated to affect our doctrine, duty and character; and I don't doubt that there are many more than that.||The lesson for us is that we should never divorce theology from practical godliness. In our own personal study and in teaching the Word to others, we should emphasize Paul's exhortation to Timothy, 'Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine...'",
"Aug 31","What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.||It is always eminently fine when a believer makes great renunciations for Jesus' sake. Here is a man whose talents have brought him wealth and fame, yet in obedience to the divine call, he lays them at the Saviors feet. Or a woman whose voice has opened doors to the world's great concert halls. But now she feels she must live for another world, so she gives up her career to follow Christ. After all, what are reputation or fortune or earthly distinctions when compared to the incomparable gain of winning Christ?||Ian MacPherson asks, 'Is there anywhere a sight more deeply moving than that of a man laden with gifts, laying them all numbly and adoringly at the Redeemer's feet? And that, after all is where they were meant to be. In the words of a wise old Welsh divine, 'Hebrew, Greek and Latin are all very well in their place; but their place is not where Pilate put them, over Jesus' head, but rather at His feet.''||The Apostle Paul renounced wealth, culture, and ecclesiastical status and counted them loss for Christ. Jowett comments that 'when the Apostle Paul regarded his aristocratic possessions as great gains, he had never seen the Lord; but when 'the glory of the Lord' blazed upon his wondering eyes these things faded away into shadow and even eclipse. And it was not only that the Apostle's former gains were cheapened in the effulgence of the Lord, and stood revealed as contemptible nothings m his hands; it was that he ceased to think of them at all. They vanished entirely from the mind where they had been treated as supreme and sacred deposits.'||It is strange, then, that when a man forsakes all to follow Christ, some think that he has lost his mind. Some are shocked and uncomprehending. Some weep and offer alternate routes. Some argue on the basis of logic and common sense. A few approve and are stirred to their depths. But when a person walks y faith, he is able to appraise the opinions of others properly.||C. T. Studd forsook a private fortune and fine prospects at home to devote his life to missionary service. John Nelson Darby turned his back on a brilliant career to become an unctionized evangelist, teacher and prophet of God. The five martyrs of Ecuador renounced the comforts and materialism of the United States to bring Christ to the Auca tribe.||People call it a great sacrifice but it is no sacrifice. When someone tried to commend Hudson Taylor for the sacrifices he had made for Christ, he said, 'Man, I never made a sacrifice in my life.' And Darby said, 'It is no great sacrifice to give up refuse.'",
"Sep 01","And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.||Every fiftieth year in Israel's calendar was known as the year of jubilee. The soil was supposed to lie fallow. Land reverted to its original owner. Slaves were set free. It was a joyous time of freedom, grace, redemption and rest.||When someone bought a piece of property, he had to take into account the nearness of the year of jubilee. For instance, the land would be more valuable if forty-five years remained before the next year of jubilee. But if there was only one year left, the land would hardly be worth buying. The buyer would be able to raise only one crop.||There is a sense in which the Lord's coming will be the year of jubilee for believers today. They will enter into the eternal rest of the Father's house. They will be set free from the shackles of mortality, and receive their glorified bodies. And all the material things that have been entrusted to them as stewards will revert to their original owner.||We should take this into account in valuing our material possessions. We may have thousands of dollars worth of real estate, investments and bank deposits. But if the Lord should come today, they would be worth nothing to us. The closer we get to His coming, the less real value they have. This means, of course, that we should put them to work today in the advancement of the cause of Christ and in the alleviation of human need.||Just as the year of jubilee was ushered in by the blowing of a trumpet, so the Lord's return will be announced by the sound of 'the last trump.' 'All this teaches us a fine lesson. If our hearts are cherishing the abiding hope of the Lord's return, we shall set light by all earthly things. It is morally impossible that we can be in the attitude of waiting for the Son from heaven, and not be detached from this present world... One who lives in the habitual expectation of Christ's appearing must be separated from that which will be judged and broken up when He comes... May our hearts be affected and our conduct in all things influenced by this most precious and sanctifying truth' (C. H. Mackintosh).",
"Sep 02","Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. (Luk 9:57)||Sometimes I think we talk and sing too glibly about the Lordship of Christ, about total commitment, and about absolute surrender. We parrot neat little cliches like, 'If He's not Lord of all, then He's not Lord at all.' We sing, 'All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.' We act as if total commitment involved little more than attending church every Sunday.||It isn't that we are insincere; it's just that we don't realize all that's involved. If we acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, it means that we are willing to follow Him in poverty, rejection, suffering and even death.||'Some faint at the sight of blood. One day a young enthusiast came to Jesus with the finest of all possible purposes in his heart. 'Lord,' he said, 'I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.' Nothing could be finer than that. But Jesus did not thrill. He knew that the young man did not understand all that was involved in his promise. Therefore He told him that He Himself was more homeless than the foxes, that he might have to sleep supperless upon the mountainside. He showed him a cross with a bit of crimson on it, and at that he who was all eagerness fell into a dead faint. While he yearned for the goods, the price was greater than he was willing to pay. It is too often the case. Some of you are not in the fight, not because the call of Christ makes no appeal, but rather because you are afraid of a little bloodletting. Therefore you say whiningly: 'But for these vile guns, I would have been a soldier'' (Chappell).||If Jesus didn't thrill when the young man in volunteered to go with Him all the way, I'm sure He did thrill when Jim Elliot wrote in his diary 'If I would save my life blood--forbear to pour it out as a sacrifice in opposition to the example of my Lord--then must I feel the flint of the face of God set against my purpose. Father, take my life, yea, my blood, if Thou wilt, and consume it with Thine enveloping fire. I would not save it, for it is not mine to save. Have it, Lord, have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for the world. Blood is only of value as it flows before Thine altars.'||When we read words like those, and remember that Jim did pour out his blood as a martyr in Ecuador, some of us realize how little we know about absolute surrender.",
"Sep 03","But not as the offense, so also is the free gift: for if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.||In, Paul contrasts the two federal heads of the human race, Adam and Christ. Adam was the head of the first creation; Christ is the head of the new creation. The first was natural; the second is spiritual. Three times Paul uses the words 'much more' to emphasize that the blessings flowing from Christ's work superabound over the losses incurred by Adam's sin. He is saying that 'in Christ the sons of Adam boast more blessings than their father lost.' Believers are better off in Christ than they ever would have been in an unfallen Adam.||Let us suppose, for a moment, that Adam hadn't sinned, that instead of eating of the forbidden fruit, he and his wife decided to obey God. What would have been the result in their lives? As far as we know they would have continued to live indefinitely in the Garden of Eden. Their reward would have been long life on earth. And this would have been true of their offspring.||As long as they too continued without sinning, they would have lived indefinitely in Eden. They would not have died.||But in that state of innocence, they would have no prospect of ever going to heaven. There would be no promise of being indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit. They would never become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. They would never have the hope of being conformed to the image of God's Son. And there would always be the terrible possibility that they might sin and forfeit the earthly blessings they enjoyed in Eden.||Think, by contrast, of the infinitely superior position which Christ has won for us by His atoning work. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. We are accepted in the Beloved, complete in Christ, redeemed, reconciled, forgiven, justified, sanctified, glorified, made members of the body of Christ. We are indwelt and sealed by the Spirit and He is the earnest of our inheritance. We are eternally secure in Christ. We are children of God and sons of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. We are as near to God and as dear to God as His own beloved Son. And there is much, much more. But that is enough to show that believers are better off today in the Lord Jesus Christ than they would have ever been in an innocent Adam.",
"Sep 04","Then I restored that which I took not away.||The speaker in is the Lord Jesus. In verse 4 He is saying that in His glorious work of redemption, He made restitution to God for losses that had been caused by man's sin. No doubt He is picturing Himself as the true trespass offering.||When a Jew stole from another Jew, the law of the trespass offering required him to repay the amount that was stolen and to add one-fifth of that value.||Now God was robbed through man's sin. He was robbed of service, worship, obedience and glory. He was robbed of service because man turned to serve self, sin and Satan. He was robbed of worship because man bowed down to carved images. He was robbed of obedience because man rejected God's authority. He was robbed of glory because man failed to give Him the honor that was His due.||The Lord Jesus came to restore what He did not take away.||Aside He threw His most divine array,||And veiled His Godhead in a robe of clay,||And in that garb did wondrous love display,||Restoring what He never took away.||He not only restored what had been stolen through man's sin but added more. For God has received more glory through the finished work of Christ than He lost through the sin of Adam. 'He lost creatures through sin, He gained sons through grace.' We may go so far as to say that God has been more glorified through the Savior's work than He ever could have been even in an eternity of unfallen Adams.||Perhaps we have here an answer to the question, 'Why did God allow sin to enter?' We know that God could have made men without the power of free moral choice. But He chose to make them with the ability to love and worship Him of their own volition. And that, of course, means that they also had the ability to disobey Him, to reject Him, to turn away from Him. Man chose to disobey Him, bringing in a great holocaust of sin. But God is not defeated by the sin of His creatures. In His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, the Lord Jesus triumphed over sin, hell and Satan. Through His work, God has received greater glory; and redeemed man has received richer blessings than if sin had never entered this world of ours.",
"Sep 05","He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.|| He was in the world. It was incredible grace that the Lord of life and glory would ever come to live on this tiny planet. It would not be newsworthy to say of anyone else, 'He was in the world.' That is something over which man has no control. But for Him, it was a deliberate choice, an act of wonderful compassion.|| and the world was made by Him. The wonder increases! The One who was in the world is the One who made the world. He who fills the universe compressed Himself into the body of a baby, a youth, a man, and in that body dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead.|| and the world knew him not. This was a case of inexcusable ignorance. The creatures should have recognized their Creator. Sinners should have been struck by His sinlessness. They should have known by His words and works that He was more than just a man.|| He came unto his own. Everything in the world belonged to Him. As Creator, He had inalienable rights to it all. He did not trespass on someone else's property.|| and his own received him not. Here was the ultimate insult. The Jewish people rejected Him. He had all the credentials of the Messiah, but they didn't want Him to rule over them.|| But as many as received him. An unrestricted invitation goes out. It is for Jews and Gentiles alike. The sole condition is that they must receive Him.|| to them gave he power to become the sons of God. What an undeserved honor--that rebel sinners should become children of God through a miracle of love and grace!|| even to them that believe on his name. The terms could not be simpler. Authority to become children of God is granted to all those who, by a definite act of faith, receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.||So there is sad news and glad news. First the sad news: 'the world knew him not' and 'his own received him not.' Then the glad news: 'But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.' If you have not already received him, why not believe on His Name today?",
"Sep 06","And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.||Contrary to the attitude of some, work is not a curse; it is a blessing. Before sin ever entered into the world, God assigned Adam to tend the Garden of Eden. It was after man had sinned that God cursed the ground - but not work itself. He decreed that, in trying to make a living from the ground, man would encounter sorrow, frustration and sweat.||One old worthy said, 'Blest work! if thou dost bear God's curse, what must His blessing be?' But work does not bear His curse. It is part of our essential being. It is part of our need for creativity and for self-worth. It is when we succumb to idleness that the danger of sinning is greatest. And it is often when we retire from an active life that we begin to fall apart.||We should not forget that God commanded His people to work ('Six days shalt thou labor'). Men tend to overlook that and to emphasize the other part that commands them to rest on the seventh day.||The New Testament labels the loafer as 'disorderly' or 'unruly' and decrees that if a man won't work, he should be allowed to go hungry (2Th 3:6-10).||The Lord Jesus is our supreme Example of a hard Worker. 'What days of toil were His! What nights of laboring prayer! Three years in the ministry made an old man of Him. 'Thou art not yet fifty years old,' they said, making a rough guess at his age. Fifty? He was only thirty! I will make no secret of it.' (Ian MacPherson).||Some people develop an allergy to work because their job has some disagreeable feature. They should realize that no job is completely ideal. Every occupation has some drawback. But the Christian can do it to the glory of God, 'not somehow, but triumphantly.'||The believer labors, not only to supply his own needs but to help others who are in need. This adds a new, unselfish motive to work.||Even in eternity we will work for 'his servants shall serve him'.||In the meantime we should follow Spurgeon's advice: 'Kill yourselves with work, and then pray yourselves alive again.'",
"Sep 07","Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.||What should a Christian do when he finds himself in a church that has become increasingly liberal and modernistic? This church was founded by men who believed in the inerrancy of the Bible and in all the other fundamental doctrines of the faith. It had a glorious history of evangelical fervor and of missionary endeavor. Many of its ministers were well-known scholars and faithful preachers of the Word. But the denominational seminaries have been taken over by a new breed, and now the ministers coming out of them preach a social gospel. They still use biblical phraseology but they mean something completely different by it. They undermine the major Bible doctrines, give natural explanations for the miracles, and scoff at biblical morality. They are out front in advocating radical politics and subversive causes. They speak contemptuously of fundamentalists.||What should a Christian do? Perhaps his family has been associated with this church for generations. He himself has contributed generously over the years. His closest friends are in the church. He wonders what would happen to the young people in his Sunday School class if he should leave. Shouldn't he remain in the church and be a voice for God as long as possible?||His arguments seem plausible to him. And yet it vexes his righteous soul to see people coming to the church for bread week after week and getting nothing but a stone. He values his associations there and yet it grieves him to hear his Savior condemned with faint praise.||There is no doubt what he should do. He should leave the church. That is the clear command of God's Word. If he removes himself from this unequal yoke, God will take care of all the consequences. God will assume responsibility for those Sunday School students. God will provide new friendships. In fact, God Himself promises to be a Father to him in a closeness that can only be known by those who are unquestioningly obedient. 'The blessedness of true separation is nothing less than the glorious companionship of the great God Himself.'",
"Sep 08","When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.||We have all heard of the man who, when he finds himself in a tight spot, makes a vow to God. He promises that if God delivers him, he will trust, love and serve Him forever. But when he escapes from the crisis, he forgets all about the vow and goes on living the same old life.||What place do vows have in the life of a Christian, and what guidelines are given in the Word on this subject?||First of all, it is not necessary to make vows. They are not commanded, but are generally voluntary promises made to the Lord in gratitude for His favors. Thus we read in NIV: 'But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.'||Second, we should be careful not to make rash vows, that is, vows that we won't be able to fulfill or that we might later regret. Solomon warns us, 'Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few'.||But if we do make a vow, we must be careful to keep it. 'If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth'. 'When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you.' (NKJV).||It is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. 'Better it is that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay'.||There may be exceptional cases where it would be better to break a vow than to continue in it. Before his conversion, a man may have taken vows in a false religion or in a secret fraternal order. If it would be contrary to God's Word to fulfill those vows, then he must obey the Scriptures, even at the cost of breaking the vows. If they were simply vows not to divulge certain secrets, then he could remain silent concerning them the rest of his life, even after severing his ties with the order.||Perhaps the vow that is most commonly broken today is the marriage vow. Solemn promises made in the presence of God are treated as of no great importance. But God's verdict stands: 'The Lord your God will surely require it of you and you will be guilty of sin' (NIV).",
"Sep 09","A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.||When we read this verse, we should not jump to the conclusion that a financial inheritance is intended. It is far more likely that the Spirit of God is referring to a spiritual heritage. A person could have been brought up by parents who were poor, yet godly; and that person might be everlastingly grateful for the memory of a mother and father who read the Bible daily, prayed together as a family, and raised him in the fear and admonition of the Lord--even though they didn't leave him a cent when they died. A spiritual inheritance is the best kind.||Actually a son or daughter could be ruined spiritually by inheriting a large amount of money. Sudden wealth often proves intoxicating. Few are able to manage it wisely. Few who inherit fortunes go on well for the Lord.||Another consideration is that families are often torn apart by jealousy and strife when an estate is divided. It is true that 'where there's a will, there are a lot of relatives.' Family members who have lived peacefully for years suddenly become enemies over a few bits of jewelry or china or furniture.||Oftentimes Christian parents leave their wealth to unsaved children, to relatives in false religions or to ungrateful children, when that money could have been better used for the spread of the Gospel.||Sometimes this business of leaving money to children is a veiled form of selfishness. The parents actually want to hold onto it for themselves as long as they can. They know that death will one day tear it from their grip, so they then follow the tradition of bequeathing it to their children.||But no will has yet been devised that cannot be broken or eroded by legal fees. A parent can't be sure that his wishes will be carried out after he is gone.||Therefore the best policy is to give generously to the work of the Lord while one is still alive. As the saying goes, 'Do your giving while you're living; then you'll know where it's going.'||And the best way to make out a will is to say, 'Being of sound mind I put my money to work for God while I was alive. I leave my children the heritage of a Christian background, a home where Christ was honored, and where God's Word was revered. I commend them to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build them up and give them an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.'",
"Sep 10","Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.||Sometimes an illustration is the best commentary on a verse.||Captain Mitsuo Fuchida was the Japanese pilot who directed the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He sent back the message, 'Tora, Tora, Tora,' indicating the complete success of his mission. But World War II was not over. As the conflict raged on, the tide of battle turned until finally the United States was victorious.||During the war, the Japanese executed an elderly missionary couple in the Philippines. When their daughter in the U.S. got the news, she decided to visit Japanese prisoners of war and share with them the good news of the Gospel.||When they asked her why she was so kind to them, she would reply, 'Because of the prayer my parents prayed before they were killed.' But that is all she would say.||After the war Mitsuo Fuchida was so bitter that he decided to bring the United States before an international tribunal to be tried for war atrocities. In an attempt to collect evidence, he interviewed Japanese prisoners of war. When he debriefed those who were held in the U.S., he was chagrined to hear, not of atrocities, but of the kindness shown by a Christian lady whose parents had been killed in the Philippines. The prisoners told how she supplied them with a book called the New Testament and mentioned that her parents had prayed some unknown prayer before they were executed. This was not exactly what Fuchida wanted to hear but he made a mental note of it anyway.||After hearing the story numerous times, he went out and bought a New Testament. When he read the Gospel of Matthew, his attention was arrested. He read through Mark and his interest deepened. When he came to, light flooded his soul. 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.' Instantly he knew the prayer that the elderly missionary couple had prayed before they were killed.||'He no longer thought of the American woman or the Japanese prisoners of war, but of himself, a fierce enemy of Christ, whom God was prepared to forgive in answer to the prayer of the crucified Savior. At that very moment he sought and found forgiveness and eternal life by faith in Christ.'||Plans for the international tribunal were scrapped. Mitsuo Fuchida spent the rest of his life proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ in many countries.",
"Sep 11","Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God...when all that thou hast is multiplied. (Deu 8:13)||As a general rule, God's people cannot stand material prosperity. They thrive much better under adversity. In his parting song, Moses predicted that Israel's prosperity would ruin them spiritually: 'But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation'.||The prophecy was fulfilled in Jeremiah's day, when the Lord complained, '...when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses'.||Again we read in, 'According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me'.||After returning from exile, the Levites confessed that Israel had not responded properly to all that the Lord had done for them: '...so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations' (Neh 9:25, 26).||We tend to look upon material prosperity as an undeniable evidence of the Lord's approval of what we are and do. When profits in our business soar, we say, 'The Lord is really blessing me.' It would probably be more accurate to look upon those profits as a test. The Lord is waiting to see what we will do with them. Will we spend them on self-indulgence? Or will we act as faithful stewards, using them to send the good news to the uttermost parts of the earth? Will we hoard them in an effort to amass a fortune? Or will we invest them for Christ and His cause?||Said F. B. Meyer, 'If it should be debated as to whether sunshine or storm, success or trial, were the severer test for character, the shrewdest observers of human nature would probably answer that nothing so clearly shows the real stuff of which we are made as prosperity, because this of all tests is the severest.'||Joseph would have agreed. He said, 'God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction'. He profited more from adversity than he did from prosperity, although he conducted himself favorably under both circumstances.",
"Sep 12","But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey.||When Jesus was twelve, His parents and He went from Nazareth to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of the Passover. Doubtless they traveled with a large crowd of other pilgrims. It was inevitable that boys of the same age would pal together during the festivities. Therefore, on the return trip to Nazareth, Joseph and Mary assumed that Jesus was with the other young people somewhere in the caravan. But He wasn't. He had stayed behind in Jerusalem. They traveled for a full day before they missed Him. Then they had to backtrack to Jerusalem where they found Him after three days.||There is a lesson in this for us all. It is possible for us to suppose Jesus is in our company when He is not. We may think that we are walking in fellowship with Him when actually sin has come between our souls and the Savior. Spiritual decline is subtle. We are not conscious of our coldness. We think that we are the same as ever.||But other people can tell. They can tell by our talk that we have drifted away from our first love and that worldly interests have taken precedence over the spiritual. They can detect that we have been feeding on the leeks, the onions and the garlic of Egypt. They notice that we have become critical whereas once we were loving and kind. They notice that we use a lot of street talk instead of the language of Zion. Whether they notice it or not, we have lost our song. We are unhappy and miserable ourselves and tend to make other people miserable too. Nothing seems to go right. Money leaks out of our pockets. If we try to witness for the Savior, we have little impact on others. They don't see that much difference between themselves and us.||Usually it takes a crisis of some kind to reveal to us that Jesus is not in our company. It may be that we hear God's voice speaking to us through some anointed preaching. Or a friend might put an arm around us and confront us with our low spiritual condition. Or it may be a sickness, the death of a loved one, or some tragedy that brings us to our senses.||When that happens, we have to do what Joseph and Mary did--go back to the place where we last saw Him. We have to go back to the place where some sin broke our fellowship with Him. By confessing and forsaking our sin, we find forgiveness, and begin traveling with Jesus in our company once more.",
"Sep 13","Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him.||When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, there were two remarkable features. First of all, his face shone. He had been in the presence of the Lord, who revealed Himself in a bright, shining glory cloud known as the Shekinah. The radiance on the face of Moses was a borrowed glow. After speaking with God, the lawgiver carried away some of the splendor and effulgence of the glory. It was a transfiguring experience.||The second notable feature was that Moses did not know that his face was luminous. He was totally unconscious of the unique cosmetic he carried away from communion with the Lord. F. B. Meyer comments that that was the crowning glory of that transfiguration--the fact that Moses was unaware of it.||There is a sense in which Moses' experience can be ours. When we spend time in the presence of the Lord, it shows. It may actually show in our faces, because there is a close link between the spiritual and the physical. But I do not press the physical, because some cultists often have very benign faces. The important point is that communion with God transfigures a person morally and spiritually. That is what Paul teaches in : 'But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.'||But the crowning glory of that transfiguration is that we ourselves are not conscious of it. Others can tell. They take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. But the change is hidden from our own eyes.||How is it that we are blissfully unaware that the skin of our face is shining? The reason is this: The closer we are to the Lord, the more we are aware of our sinfulness, our unworthiness, our wretchedness. In the glory of His presence, we are led to self-abhorrence and deep repentance.||If we were conscious of our own radiance, that would lead to pride and the radiance would instantly be replaced with repugnance, because pride is repugnant.||So it is a blessed circumstance that those who have been on the mount with the Lord and who carry away the borrowed glow do not realize that the skin of their face is shining.",
"Sep 14","As the Lord lives, there shall no punishment come upon you for this thing.||Earlier in his reign, Saul had decreed that all mediums and spiritists should be cut off from the land. But then things went from bad to worse in his personal and public life. After Samuel's death, the Philistines massed against Saul's army at Gilboa. When he couldn't get any word from the Lord, he consulted a witch in Endor. She fearfully reminded him that he had ordered the removal of all witches from the land. It was then that Saul reassured her, 'As the Lord lives, there shall no punishment come upon you for this thing'.||The lesson is clear. People have a tendency to obey the Lord only as long as it suits them. When it no longer suits them, they can always think up excuses for doing whatever they want.||Did I say 'they'? Perhaps I should have said 'we'. We all tend to evade Scriptures, bend them, or explain them away when we don't want to obey.||For example, there are some plain instructions concerning the role of women in the church. But they seem to clash with the current feminist movement.||So what do we do? We say that those commandments were based on the culture of that day and do not apply to us today. Of course, when we once admit that principle, we can get rid of almost anything in the Bible.||Sometimes we come to some hard-hitting statements of the Lord Jesus concerning the terms of discipleship. If we feel they demand too much of us, we say, 'Jesus didn't mean that we should do it, but only that we should be willing to do it.' We deceive ourselves that we are willing, when we have no intention of ever doing it.||We can be very firm in demanding that offenders be disciplined according to the stern demands of the Word. But when an offender turns out to be our relative and friend, we can insist that the demands be relaxed or overlooked altogether.||Another device we have is to classify Scripture commandments as 'important' or 'not important.' Those in the 'not important' category can be disregarded--or at least that is what we tell ourselves.||In all of these false reasonings, we are actually wresting the Scriptures to our own destruction. God wants us to obey His Word whether it suits us or not. That is the pathway to blessing.",
"Sep 15","Hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.||Sometimes words in the Christian vocabulary have a different meaning than they have in ordinary usage. 'Hope' is one of those words.||As far as the world is concerned, to hope often means to look forward to something unseen but with no certainty of fulfillment. A man in deep financial trouble may say, 'I hope everything will turn out all right,' but he has no assurance that it will. His hope may be nothing but wishful thinking. The Christian hope also looks forward to something unseen, as Paul reminds us in : 'Hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?' All hope deals in the realm of the future.||But what makes the Christian hope different is that it is based on the promise of the Word of God and is therefore absolutely certain. 'We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure' (NIV). Hope is 'faith laying hold of God's Word and living in the present assurance of what God has promised or predicted' (Woodring). 'Notice that I am using hope to mean 'certainty.' Hope in Scripture refers to future events that will happen come what may. Hope is not a delusion to buoy our spirits and keep us going forth blindly to an inevitable fate. It is the basis of all Christian living. It represents ultimate reality' (John White).||Because the believer's hope is based on God's promise, it can never lead to shame or disappointment. 'Hope without God's promises is empty and futile, and often even presumptuous. But based on the promises of God, it rests upon His character and cannot lead to disappointment' (Woodring).||The Christian hope is spoken of as a good hope. Our Lord Jesus and God our Father have loved us and have given us 'everlasting consolation and good hope through grace' (2Th 2:16).||It is called a blessed hope, referring particularly to the coming of Christ: 'Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ'.||And it is called a living hope. 'In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' (NIV).||The Christian's hope enables him to endure seemingly endless delays, tribulation, persecution, and even martyrdom. He knows that these experiences are only pinpricks compared to the coming glory.",
"Sep 16","Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not desire his death.||We live in a permissive society. Especially in the area of child-training, people listen to the advice of psychologists and sociologists rather than to the teachings of God's Word. Many adults who were brought up by parents who dared to discipline them determine to allow their children freedom and self-expression. What are the results?||Such children grow up with a deep sense of insecurity. They are misfits in society. They find it difficult to cope with problems and troubles, and seek release in drugs and liquor. A few years of discipline would have made the rest of life much easier for them.||Not surprisingly they live undisciplined lives. Their personal appearance, their living quarters, their personal habits all betray their careless and disorderly mindset.||They are satisfied with mediocrity or less. They lack the drive to excel in sports, music, art, business and other areas in life.||Such children become alienated from the parents. These parents thought they would win the undying love of their children by withholding punishment. Instead they won the hatred of their offspring.||Their rebellion against parental authority extends to other areas of life--to school, employment and government. If their parents had only broken their wills early in life, they would have made it easier for their children to submit in the normal areas of life.||Rebellion spreads to moral standards set forth in the Scriptures. Young rebels flout the divine commands concerning purity and abandon themselves to loose and reckless living. They manifest a deep loathing for whatever is good, and a love for whatever is unnatural, obscene and hideous.||Finally, parents who fail to break the will of a child through discipline make it harder for that child to be saved. Conversion involves the breaking of the will in its rebellion against the rule of God. That is why Susannah Wesley said, 'The parent who studies to subdue selfwill in his child works together with God in the renewing and saving of a soul. The parent who indulges it does the Devil's work, makes religion impractical, salvation unattainable, and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body, forever.'",
"Sep 17","And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, ofrin their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.||The mark of the beast! During the Tribulation period a powerful and evil ruler will arise, ordering all people to receive a mark in their forehead or in their right hand. Those who refuse will suffer the wrath of the beast. Those who submit will suffer the wrath of God. Those who refuse will reign with Christ in His millennial glory. Those who submit will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.||As we read this, we can feel quite detached from it all, knowing that it belongs to the future, and believing that the Church will be raptured home to heaven in the meantime. And yet there is a sense in which the mark of the beast is with us now. There are times in life when we are forced to choose between loyalty to God and bowing to a system that is opposed to God.||There are times when, in order to gain employment, for instance, we are asked to accept conditions that are clearly contrary to divine principles. It is easy to rationalize at such times. Unless we can work, we can't buy groceries. And unless we can get food, we can't survive. And we have to live, don't we? Under this false excuse, we agree to the demands and, in effect, take the mark of the beast.||Whatever threatens our food supply or our continued existence throws us into panic, and we are tempted to sacrifice almost anything to avert that threat. The same arguments that men will use to justify worshiping the image in the Tribulation period are the arguments that present themselves to us today when we must choose between God's truth and our own lives.||The idea that we must live is false. What we must do is obey God and love not our lives unto death.||F. W. Grant wrote, 'On the coin for which we sell the truth, there is at all times, faint as it may be, the image of Antichrist.' So the question is not, 'Would I refuse to take the mark of the beast if I were living in the Tribulation?' but rather 'Do I refuse to sell the truth now?'",
"Sep 18","Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? (Luk 17:17)||The Lord Jesus healed ten lepers but only one returned to thank Him, and that one was a despised Samaritan.||One of the valuable experiences for us in life is to encounter ingratitude, for then we can share in a small degree the heartbreak of God. When we give generously and do not receive so much as an acknowledgment, we have a greater appreciation of Him who gave His beloved Son for a thankless world. When we pour out ourselves in tireless service for others, we join the fellowship of the One who took the place of a slave for a race of ingrates.||Unthankfulness is one of the unlovely traits of fallen man. Paul reminds us that when the pagan world knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. A missionary to Brazil discovered two tribes who had no words for 'Thank you.' If a kindness was shown to them, they would say 'That is what I wanted' or 'That will be useful to me.' Another missionary, working in North Africa, found that those to whom he ministered never expressed gratitude because they were giving him the opportunity of earning merit with God. It was the missionary who should be grateful, they felt, because he was acquiring favor through the kindness he showed them.||Ingratitude permeates all of society. A radio program called 'Job Center of the Air' succeeded in finding jobs for 2500 people. The emcee later reported that only ten ever took time to thank him.||A dedicated school teacher had poured her life into fifty classes of students. When she was eighty, she received a letter from one of her former students, telling how much he appreciated her help. She had taught for fifty years and this was the only letter of appreciation she had ever received.||We said that it is good for us to experience ingratitude because it gives us a pale reflection of what the Lord experiences all the time. Another reason why it is a valuable experience is that it impresses on us the importance of being thankful ourselves. Too often our requests to God outweigh our thanksgiving. We take His blessings too much for granted. And too often we fail to express our appreciation to one another for hospitality, for instruction, for transportation, for provision, for numberless deeds of kindness. We actually come to expect these favors almost as if we deserved them.||The study of the ten lepers should be a constant reminder to us that while many have great cause for thanksgiving, few have the heart to acknowledge it. Shall we be among the few?",
"Sep 19","For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.||Christ did not come to call the righteous nor did He die for good people. It was not for decent, respectable, refined people that He went to the Cross. He died for the ungodly.||Of course, from God's standpoint, all mankind is ungodly. We were all born in sin and shaped in iniquity. Like lost sheep, we have gone astray and turned to our own way. In God's pure eyes, we are depraved, unclean and rebellious. Our best efforts to do what is right are nothing but filthy rags.||The trouble is that most people are not willing to admit that they are ungodly. By comparing themselves with the criminal elements in society, they imagine that they are quite fit for heaven. They are like the distinguished upper-class matron who prided herself on her social involvement and donations to charity. When a Christian neighbor witnessed to her, she said she felt no need of being saved; her own good works were sufficient. She reminded him that she was a church member and that she came from a long line of 'Christians.' The Christian took a slip of paper, wrote UNGODLY on it in capital letters, then turned to her and asked, 'Would you mind if I pinned this to your blouse?' When she saw the word UNGODLY, she bristled. 'Of course, I would mind,' she said. 'No one is going to tell me I'm ungodly.' He then explained to her that by refusing to admit her sinful, lost, hopeless condition, she cut herself off from any benefit in the saving work of Christ. If she wouldn't confess she was ungodly, then Christ didn't die for her. If she wasn't lost, then she couldn't be saved. If she was well, then she didn't need the Great Physician.||A special party was once held in a large civic auditorium. It was for children who were blind, crippled or otherwise impaired. The youngsters came in wheelchairs, on crutches, and led by the hand. While the party was underway, a patrolman found a little boy crying on the front steps of the building.||'Why're you crying,' he asked sympathetically?||'Because they won't let me in.'||'Why won't they let you in?'||The little fellow sobbed, 'Because there's nothing the matter with me.'||That's the way it is with the Gospel feast. If there's nothing the matter with you, you can't get in. In order to gain admittance, you have to prove that you are a sinner. You have to acknowledge that you are ungodly. It was for the ungodly that Christ died. As Robert Munger said, 'The Church is the only fellowship in the world where the one requirement for membership is the unworthiness of the candidate.'",
"Sep 20","Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.||The natural tendency is to want to hobnob with the upper crust. In every human heart there is the lust to associate with those who are prominent, wealthy and aristocratic. So Paul's advice in really cuts across the grain of nature. He says, 'Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position' (NIV). There are no castes in the Church. Christians should live above class distinctions.||A story that illustrates this is told of Fred Elliot. One morning he was having family devotions at the breakfast table when he heard a noisy clatter in the yard. He realized that the garbage collector had arrived. So he put down his open Bible on the table, went to the window, opened it, called out a cheery greeting to the scavenger, then returned to the table to resume the devotions. To him it was just as sacred to greet the garbage collector as it was to read the Bible.||There was another servant of the Lord who took our text quite literally. Jack Wyrtzen conducted a Bible camp each summer at Schroon Lake, N.Y. At one of the adult conferences, a guest showed up with a serious physical impairment. Because he could not control the muscles of his mouth, he was not able to swallow all his food. Much of it came back out and fell down on the newspapers with which he covered his chest and lap. The scene was not conducive to pleasant eating and as a result, this man usually sat at a table by himself.||Because of the pressures of his work Jack Wyrtzen was often late arriving at the dining hall. Whenever he appeared at the door, people would wave to him excitedly, beckoning him to come and sit at their table. But Jack never did. He always went to the table where this guest was eating alone. He condescended to a man of low estate.||'A Christian general was once seen talking to a poor old woman. Friends remonstrated with him, saying, 'You ought to consider your rank.' The general answered, 'What if my Lord had considered His rank?''(Choice Gleanings).||In his poem 'For A' That and A' That,' Robert Burns reminds us that in spite of a lowly position in life, a man's a man for all that. He says that the man of independent mind can laugh at the tinsel show of fools in silk.||When we think of how our Savior condescended to us in our low estate, it is absurd that we should fail to do so with others.",
"Sep 21","Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.||'...them also that love his appearing.' For many years I thought that this expression referred to those believers who had kindly, sentimental feelings about the coming of the Lord. They would be rewarded with a crown of righteousness because their hearts glowed warm when they thought about the Rapture.||But surely it means more than this. To love His appearance means to live in the light of His coming, to behave as if He were coming today.||Thus, to love His appearing means to live in moral purity. For, as John reminds us, 'every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure'.||It means to stay disentangled from the things of this life. We should set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth.||It means to serve God's people, giving them 'meat in due season'. The Lord pronounces a special blessing on those who are doing that when He comes.||In short, it means that we won't do anything that we would not want to be found doing when He appears. We would not go anywhere that would cause shame at His coming. We would not say anything that would be offensive in His presence.||If you knew Christ were coming in a week, how would you spend the intervening days? Does it mean you would give up your job, go to a mountaintop and spend all day reading the Bible and praying? Does it mean you would go into 'full-time Christian work,' preaching and teaching day and night?||If we are really walking with the Lord today and living in the center of His will, it would mean carrying on as usual. If, however, we are living for self, then it would require some revolutionary changes.||It is not enough to have kind thoughts about the Savior's return. The crown of righteousness is reserved for those who love it enough to let the truth mold their lives. It is not enough to hold the truth about His coming; the truth must hold us.",
"Sep 22","...say Amen.||Amen is an extremely useful word with which to express hearty approval of what is being said. Many congregations could afford to use it more often in their services.||The word is found 68 times in the Bible. From it is clear that it was used in the meetings of the early church. So we can be assured that the use of the Amen is eminently scriptural.||Not only so, it is imperative. The sublime nature of the truths we deal with require the intelligent expression of enthusiastic appreciation. It seems like ingratitude to hear such truths and never make a vocal response.||It is always an encouragement to the speaker when his audience says 'Amen' at those places in his message where he has made an effective point. It tells him that the people are following him and that they share his spiritual and emotional exuberance.||And it is good for the person who says the Amen. It keeps him involved as an attentive listener. It keeps him from becoming apathetic when he should be amazed.||I would suggest that it is good for outsiders who may be present. They sense that the Christians are enthusiastic, that they enjoy their faith, that they believe what they believe. The use of the Amen expresses life and fervor. Its absence speaks of dullness and deadness.||Amen is one of three Bible words that are practically universal. In most languages these words are the same. So you can go almost anywhere and say, 'Maranatha! Hallelujah! Amen!' and people will understand you as saying 'The Lord is coming! Praise the Lord! So be it.'||Of course, the word 'Amen' should be used discerningly. It would be inappropriate to use it to express enthusiasm over misfortune, tragedy or sorrow.||It is a shame that some bodies of Christians have stopped using the Amen because it has been abused in meetings given over to extreme emotionalism. Like all good things, it can be used or overdone. But we should not be robbed of this scriptural practice just because some have used it undiscerningly. Amen?",
"Sep 23","O my soul, come not thou into their secret.||These words are found in Jacob's blessing of his sons. When he thought of the cruelty which Simeon and Levi showed to the men of Shechem, he said, 'O my soul, come not thou into their secret.'||I would like to borrow the words and use them in a broader sense. There are secrets connected with sin which it is better never to know.||Temptation puts on its best face and suggests that we can never be happy until we have been initiated into its mysteries. It offers thrills, physical gratification, emotional highs, and the lure of the unknown.||Many people, especially those who have lived sheltered lives, are stirred by these appeals. They feel that they have missed out on true pleasures. They consider themselves disadvantaged. They think they can never be satisfied until they get a taste of the world.||The trouble is that sin does not come alone. There are built-in hazards and enduring consequences. When we come to experience any sin for the first time, we unloose a flood of pain and remorse.||Yielding to temptation lowers our resistance to sin. Once we have committed a sin, it is always easier to do it the next time. Soon we become expert in the sin. We even become slaves to it, bound by the chains of habit.||The moment we give in to temptation, our eyes are opened to a sense of guilt that we never had before. The exhilaration of breaking the code of sin is followed by a terrible sense of moral nakedness. It is true that the sin can be confessed and forgiven, but all through life there is the embarrassment of meeting former partners in transgression. There is the stabbing of memory when we unavoidably revisit the places of our folly. There are unwanted occasions when the whole sordid episode flashes back during our most holy moments--when our bodies actually pulsate and our lips muffle a groan.||While it is wonderful to experience the forgiveness of God for these sins, it is still better not to enter into their secrets in the first place. What poses as an attractive secret proves to be a nightmare. Pleasure soon turns to horror, and a moment of passion results in a lifetime of regret.||In the hour of trial, our response should be, 'O my soul, come not thou into their secret.'",
"Sep 24","I have learned by experience.||Laban had learned by experience that the Lord had blessed him for Jacob's sake. It was a good lesson to learn. Experience is a great teacher.||I am impressed by the way that experience often helps us to understand verses in the Bible. We may be acquainted with the verses intellectually, but when we pass through some new experience, the verses come alive. They seem to stand out in neon lights. We have a new appreciation of them.||Martin Luther's wife said that she would never have known what certain verses in the Psalms meant if God had not brought her under certain afflictions.||When Daniel Smith and his wife were missionaries in China, a robber band cut a wide hole through the side of their house one night. While the Smith's slept, the robbers cleaned out the drawers and cupboards. If the missionaries had not slept soundly, they might have been killed. Later, in describing the incident, Mr. Smith said, 'I never understood until that morning. 'Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.'' What it means, of course, is that you can't fully enter into Habakkuk's joy in calamity until you have experienced the kind of loss that he described.||When Corrie Ten Boom was in a concentration camp, she had to appear before the judge. 'The judge...still had his job to do, and there came a day when he showed me papers that could mean not only my death sentence but also the death sentence of family and friends.||''Can you explain these papers?' he asked. 'No, I can't,' I admitted. Suddenly he took all the papers and threw them in the stove! When I saw the flames destroy those condemning papers I knew I had been guarded by divine power, and understood as never before : 'Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.''||The new insights we gain in the sacred Scriptures through the experiences of life make those experiences tremendously worthwhile.",
"Sep 25","Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?||Paul's experience with the Christians in Galatia reminds us that we often make enemies of our friends when we tell them the truth. The apostle had introduced these people to the Lord and nurtured them in the faith. But later when false teachers infiltrated their Christian assemblies, Paul had to warn believers that they were forsaking Christ for the law. That caused them to become hostile toward their father in the faith.||It was also true in Old Testament times. Elijah was always honest and forthright in his messages to Ahab. Yet one day when Ahab met him, he said, 'Art thou he that troubleth Israel?'. 'Troubleth Israel'? Why, Elijah was one of the best friends Israel ever had! But his thanks for being faithful was to be denounced as a troublemaker.||Micaiah was another fearless prophet. When Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of the Lord whom they could consult, the king of Israel said, 'There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.' The king didn't want the truth, and hated the one who spoke it to him.||In the New Testament we find John the Baptist telling Herod, 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife' (Mar 6:18 NIV). It was true, but such courageous handling of the truth soon led to John's execution.||Our Lord stirred up the hatred of the unbelieving Jews. What caused this hatred? It was because He had told them the truth. He said, 'But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth'.||Thomas Jefferson wrote, 'If you meant to escape malice, you should have confined yourself within the sleepy line of regular duty. There are two sides to every question, and if you take one with decision and act on it with effect, those who take the other will, of course, be hostile in proportion as they feel that effect.'||The truth often hurts. Instead of bowing to it, men often curse the one who speaks it. The true servant of the Lord has already counted this cost. He must speak the truth or die. He knows that the wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.",
"Sep 26","I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.||God never leaves Himself without a witness. In the darkest days, a voice sounds out for Him in clear, articulate tones. Often in the most unusual circumstances, He raises up some unexpected confessor to speak His Name boldly.||In the days before the flood, the earth was gripped by violence and immorality. But Noah was there to take a valiant stand for the Lord.||It seemed to Elijah that all Israel had sunk in idolatry, but God had 7000 men that had not bowed to Baal.||In the midst of spiritual deadness and moral decline John Hus, Martin Luther and John Knox stepped forth on the stage of history to defend the cause of the Most High.||More recently, God was acknowledged when the telegraph was discovered. The first message to be transmitted was 'What hath God wrought!'||When Apollo 8 was returning to the earth after the first manned flight to the moon, on Christmas Eve, 1968, three astronauts took turns reading from, then concluded, 'And from the crew of Apollo 8 we close with...God bless you, all of you on the good earth.'||In spite of the enraged protests of infidels, the United States Postal Service issued an Apollo 8 stamp with words from, 'In the beginning...'||The currency of the United States bears the motto 'In God we trust.'||The calendar abbreviation A.D. reminds us that this is the year of our Lord (Anno Domini).||Is it a coincidence that the stellar heavens feature a virgin, a man-child, a serpent and a cross--all important participants in the drama of redemption? Is it the Gospel in the stars?||Even atheists sometimes slip by acknowledging the Lord. An atheistic ruler said at a summit meeting in Austria in 1979, 'God will not forgive us if we fail.'||There is a certain moral imperative in the universe that our God be publicly acknowledged. When the disciples praised the Lord Jesus as the King that had come in the Name of the Lord, the Pharisees demanded that Christ rebuke them. But He said to them, 'I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out' (Luk 19:40).||We need not fear that God's name will ever be unsung or His honor neglected. At the very time when men pronounce Him dead, He will raise up some witness to confound His enemies and comfort His friends.",
"Sep 27","But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.||It probably comes as a shock to anyone reading this verse that the fearful and unbelieving are listed together with what we would think of as outrageous, vile sinners, and that they will share the same punishment for all eternity.||It probably comes as an added surprise to note that the fearful are listed first. This should be tremendously sobering to any who excuse their timidity as a trifling matter. Perhaps they are afraid to accept the Lord Jesus because of what their friends might say, or because they are of a naturally retiring disposition. God does not excuse it as a trifle; He views it as culpable cowardice.||It should also be sobering to those who are listed second--the unbelieving. We hear people say, 'I can't believe' or 'I wish I could believe.' But those are insincere statements. There is nothing about the Savior that makes it impossible for men to believe in Him. The trouble does not lie in man's intellect but in his will. Unbelievers don't want to believe on Him. The Lord Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews of His day, '...you refuse to come to me to have life' NIV).||No doubt many of the fearful and unbelieving think of themselves as decent, cultured and moral people. In this life they would want nothing to do with murderers, with the immoral, or with those who practice magic arts. But the irony is that they will spend eternity together because they never came to Christ for salvation.||Their doom is 'the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.' This is, of course, the supreme tragedy. People may argue about the existence of hell and the fact of eternal punishment, but the Bible is very explicit. Hell does exist at the end of a Christless life.||What makes it especially sad is that neither the fearful or the unbelieving or any of the others listed in our verse have to go to the lake of fire. It is completely unnecessary. If they would just repent of their fears and doubts and other sins, and turn to the Lord Jesus in simple, trusting faith, they would be forgiven, cleansed and made fit for heaven.",
"Sep 28","Be not overcome of evil, hut overcome evil with good.||If this verse had been written by uninspired men, it would have said, 'Don't let people walk all over you. Give them back a dose of their own medicine.' The world thinks in terms of retaliation and of revenge.||But we learn a different lesson in the school of Christ. We should not allow ourselves to be overpowered by evil. Rather we should use good to defeat evil.||A story attributed to Francis of Assisi illustrates the point. As a little boy was playing in the neighborhood of his home, he discovered that there was an echo when he shouted. It was his first experience with echoes, so he began to experiment. He shouted 'I hate you' and the message came back 'I hate you.' Raising his volume, he hollered 'I hate you' and the words came back with greater intensity 'I hate you.' The third time he cried out with all his strength 'I hate you' and the words bounced back with great vehemence 'I hate you.' This was all he could take. He ran back to his house, sobbing convulsively. His mother had heard the loud yelling out in the yard, but still she asked, 'What's the matter, dear?' He answered, 'There's a little boy out there who hates me.' She thought for a moment, then said, 'I'll tell you what to do. You go outside and tell that little boy that you love him.'||So the youngster ran out and called out 'I love you.' Sure enough, the words came back, clear and gentle, 'I love you.' He called again with greater emphasis, 'I love you' and once again he heard the answering 'I love you.' A third time he cried out with deep sincerity, 'I love you' and the words came back to him tenderly, 'I love you.'||As I write this, people all over the world are shouting 'I hate you' at one another and wondering why tensions keep mounting. Nations are expressing hatred of other nations. Religious groups are locked in combat. Races are striving against one another. Neighbors are quarreling over the back fence. And homes are torn by quarrels and bitterness. These people are allowing themselves to become conquered by evil, because hate breeds hate. If they would just change their strategy by repaying hatred with love, they would conquer evil with good. They would discover that love breeds love.||We can never be too careful||What the seeds our hands sliall sow;||Love from love is sure to ripen,||Hate from hate is sure to grow.",
"Sep 29","Salvation is of the Lord.||We are all familiar with the zealous 'soul winner' who dashes around, buttonholing unsuspecting prospects, leading them through a salvation formula, and badgering them until they finally make a profession in order to get rid of him. He chalks up another convert and then looks around for more heads to count. Is this evangelism?||We would have to admit that it is not. It is a form of religious harassment. Like any service performed in the energy of the flesh, it does more harm than good.||John Stott was right when he wrote: 'Christ has the keys. He opens the doors. Then let us not barge our way unceremoniously through doors which are still closed. We must wait for Him to make openings for us. Damage is continually being done to the cause of Christ by rude or blatant testimony. It is indeed right to seek to win for Christ our friends and relatives at home and at work. But we are sometimes in a greater hurry than God. Be patient! Pray hard and love much, and wait expectantly for the opportunity of witness.'||We may not agree with much of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's doctrine, but we might well take to heart the following words of his: 'The word of salvation has its limits. He has neither power nor right to force it on other men... Every attempt to impose the Gospel by force, to run after people and proselytize them, to use our own resources to arrange the salvation of other people, is both futile and dangerous... We shall only meet with the blind rage of hardened and darkened hearts, and that will be useless and harmful. Our easy trafficking with the word of cheap grace simply bores the world to disgust, so that in the end it turns against those who try to force on it what it does not want.'||Real conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit. It is 'not of the will of man' in the sense that a man cannot produce it by his own efforts, however well intended. People who are pressured into a profession of Christ without the full consent of their will become disillusioned, disaffected and often become enemies of the Cross of Christ.||It is one of the great experiences of life when the Holy Spirit uses us in the salvation of another person. But it is bizarre and grotesque when we try to do it in our own strength.",
"Sep 30","He (Andrew) first findeth his own brother Simon...and he brought him to Jesus.||The normal method of personal evangelism is for Christians to witness for Christ within the context of their daily lives. This does not mean that God never uses the 'cold turkey' approach, that is, walking up to total strangers and presenting the Gospel to them. He does! But it is far more convincing when a believer witnesses to people who know him and who can see that Christ makes a difference in his life. This is what Simon did.||Walter Henrichsen tells of a young man who was extremely apprehensive about witnessing on his college campus. Henrichsen asked him, 'Joe, how many students on campus do you know personally? By that I mean when they see you they know you by name.' After being there for a couple of months, he knew only two or three men.||'I said, 'Joe, in the next four weeks, I want you to get to know as many students on campus as you can. Let's set our goal at fifty students. You don't have to witness to them. You don't even have to tell them you are a Christian. All you have to do is get to know them. Stop by their rooms and chat with them. Play ping-pong with them. Go to athletic events with them. Go to meals together. Do anything you want, but get to know fifty men so that one month from today, when I return, you can introduce me to each one of them by name.''||When Henrichsen met the young man a month later, this fellow had led six men to Christ. 'We didn't talk about whether he had gotten to know fifty people. We didn't have to. He had discovered for himself that as he became friends with 'the publicans and sinners,' the Lord naturally provided opportunities for him to share his faith.'||With regard to this method of evangelizing within the context of our daily lives, two observations should be made. First, the life of the personal worker is important. It makes a difference whether he is walking close to the Lord. He may be ever so glib in presenting a prepackaged message, but if his life isn't holy, it cancels out his message.||The second observation is that this method doesn't put the emphasis on instant results, and that is in its favor. Jesus likened the salvation process to the growth of grain; you don't harvest the crop the same day you plant the seed. It is true that some people are saved the first time they hear the gospel, but they represent a small fraction of the total. Generally speaking, conversion is preceded by a period of hearing the message, of being convicted of sin, and of resisting the voice of the Holy Spirit.",
"Oct 01","For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.||The insistent voice of the Holy Spirit reminds mortal man frequently in the Scriptures of the brevity of his life. By the repeated use of similes, the Spirit of the Lord impresses on us that our days are limited and passing swiftly.||For instance, He likens life to a weaver's shuttle, the device that darts back and forth in the loom almost faster than the eye can follow.||Job speaks of life as wind, here one minute and gone the next, never to return. The psalmist echoes the sentiment, speaking of 'a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again'.||Bildad unnecessarily reminds Job that 'our days on earth are a shadow', a picture that is repeated in, 'My days are like a shadow that declineth.' A shadow is ephemeral--lasting a very short time.||Job compares his life to a leaf, fragile, frail and fading; and to dry stubble, driven away by the winds. Isaiah appeals to the Lord's pity by reminding Him that 'we all do fade as a leaf'.||David describes his days as a handbreadth, as narrow as the width of his hand. Viewing life as a journey, it would be about four inches long.||Moses, the man of God, depicts life as a sleep, in which time passes without our being conscious of it.||In the same place, Moses speaks of people and their lives as grass: 'In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withereth'. Centuries later David used the same figure in describing our transiency: 'As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more'. As Spurgeon said, the grass is 'sown, grown, blown, mown, gone.' And that is life in a nutshell!||Finally James adds his testimony that life is as evanescent as vapor. It appears for a brief moment, then vanishes away.||This accumulation of similes is designed to do two things. First, it should motivate the unconverted to consider the shortness of time and the importance of being ready to meet God. Second it should cause believers to number their days so that they might apply their hearts to wisdom. This will result in lives or devotion and dedication to Christ, in lives that are lived for eternity.",
"Oct 02","There shall not be found among you...any one that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.||God warned His people Israel against any dabbling in the world of the occult. All the activities listed in today's verses are connected with demonism and must therefore be avoided. The warning is just as applicable to believers today as it was in the Old Testament.||Divination is fortune-telling. It includes the use of the crystal ball, clairvoyance, palmreading, phrenology, reading tea cups, and every other similar effort to foretell the future.||An observer of times is an astrologer, one who uses the position of the stars and planets to project their influence on human affairs. The daily horoscope in the newspaper is connected with astrology, as is the use of the signs of the zodiac.||An enchanter is one who influences others by charms and incantations.||A witch is a woman who exercises supernatural power through contact with demons. The contacts are ultimately evil and injurious.||A charmer is one who pronounces bans or curses on others and who has demonic power to make them come to pass. (Such curses are ineffective on believers).||Consulters with familiar spirits are mediums who are able to contact the world of evil spirits. These spirits often impersonate dead relatives of those who consult the mediums.||A wizard is one who uses magical arts in the realm of spiritism. Sometimes 'wizard' is the male form of the word 'witch'.||A necromancer is a person who professes to conjure the spirits of the dead in order to reveal the future or influence events.||Christians should avoid all these and also such modem manifestations of spiritism as yoga, transcendental meditation, Hare Krishna, seances, black magic, white magic, hypnotism, water-divining, spiritistic healing, numerology, and praying to the dead. They should also know that the following items are stock-in-trade for spiritists: mindexpanding drugs, the ouija board, playing cards, Tarot cards, dice, pendants, medallions, amulets, dominos, sticks and bones (when used for mystical purposes).",
"Oct 03","And he healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons. (Mar 1:34 NASB)||Some Christians tend to think of demon-possession as a phenomenon that existed when our Lord was on earth but is no longer present today. That is a misconception that should be corrected. Almost every day's newspaper contains accounts of mindless crimes that give every indication of being demon-inspired. There are certain symptoms of demon-possession that help us to identify it and to distinguish it from mental illness.||First of all, a demon eventually leads his victim into violence and destruction. The purpose of a demon is always to destroy.||A person who is demon-possessed has two or more personalities--his own and that of the demon(s). He may speak with different voices and identify himself with different names.||This person is capable of supernatural feats of strength or supernatural powers of knowledge.||Although he may speak patronizingly of the Lord Jesus at times, his normal behavior will be to blaspheme or react violently to any mention of the Lord, or of prayer, or of the blood of Christ, or of the Word of God.||His behavior is extremely strange, erratic and restless. Others can neither understand him, control him, nor rehabilitate him. He may be suicidal, and may live in bondage to fear and superstition.||Demon-possession is often closely associated with the use of hallucinogenic drugs. These drugs usher the person into the transcendental realm and open his being to the entrance of demons. The word translated 'witchcraft' (KJV) or 'sorcery' (NASB) comes from the Greek word 'pharmakia' meaning drugs.||The demon-possessed person is often sadistic, exhibiting unusual mental or physical cruelty, and sometimes mutilating and dismembering the bodies of his victims.||Other demon-possessed people may be morbid, frequenting cemeteries, collecting skulls or other bones, or obsessed with gruesome stories.||The sun and the moon, especially the new moon, exercise profound influence in the world of demonism. Hence the reassuring promise of the Word to believers, 'The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night'.||Demons can be exorcised by prayer and by the authority of the Name of the Lord Jesus. But lasting deliverance for the person is only found when that person is born again through faith in the Savior.",
"Oct 04","Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.||The first and last words of this short prayer begin with the letters TV, and the verse is especially appropriate when applied to television. Most of the programs on TV are vanity. They picture a world that doesn't exist and a life that is far removed from reality.||Television is a robber of precious time. Watchers squander hours that can never be retrieved. Generally speaking, TV has caused a decline in Bible reading, thus tuning out the voice of God and lowering the spiritual temperature of viewers without their realizing it.||The harmful effects of TV on children are well known. Their morals are corrupted because violence is glorified, sex is glamorized and pornography is publicized. The children suffer educationally, finding neither time nor desire to read or to write. Their values are determined by what they see on the screen, and their entire thinking is molded by anti-Christian propaganda.||The humor that is served up on the tube is filthy, and most of the rest of the script is filled with vile innuendos.||The advertising is not only stupid but morally destructive as well. It seems that nothing can be sold without a bevy of Hollywood harlots exposing vast portions of their anatomy and using body language to incite lust.||In many families TV has caused a breakdown of communications. Members are so captivated by the programs that they no longer carry on constructive conversations with one another.||In the area of music, the lyrics are often highly objectionable. They glorify lust, treat adultery and homosexuality as valid lifestyles, and make a hero of the violent man.||If it be objected that there are wholesome Christian programs on the TV, the answer is that these are only the sugar coating on a poison pill. The plain fact is that the overall effect of TV is destructive of spiritual vitality.||A Christian had ordered a television set to be delivered to his home. When he saw the truck pull up out front, he noticed the advertising on the side of the truck, 'TV brings the world into your living room/' That was all he needed. He had the set returned to the store.||No one who sits glued to the television set will ever make history for God. It is one of the principle causes of spiritual decline in our day.",
"Oct 05","Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.||God had given the land of Canaan to the people of Israel. It was theirs by divine promise. But they still had to make it their own. They had to occupy it. The rule of possession was, 'Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you.'||God has given us many great and precious promises. The Bible is full of them. But we must appropriate them by faith. Only then are they really ours.||Take, for instance, the promises concerning salvation. The Lord repeatedly promises that He will give eternal life to those who repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And yet the promise does us no good until we claim it by trusting the sinners Savior.||Let us go a step further! A person may genuinely believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and yet not enjoy the assurance of salvation. For instance, he may think that it is presumption to say that he is saved. And so he may go on in doubt and darkness. The Word promises that those who believe on the Name of the Son of God have eternal life, but this must be appropriated by faith in order to be enjoyed.||God loves to be trusted. He is pleased when we take Him at His Word. He is honored when we claim the most improbable promises and reckon on them as being fulfilled.||One day when Napoleon was reviewing his troops, his horse bolted so violently that the Emperor was in danger of being thrown. A private rushed forward, seized the reins and quieted the horse.||Fully aware that his helper was a lowly private, Napoleon said, 'Thank you very much, Captain!''Taking him at his word, the private replied, 'Of which regiment, sir?'||Later, when the former private rehearsed the incident to his friends, they mocked his confidence in thinking he was now a Captain. But it was true! The Emperor had said so, and he had claimed the promotion on the spot.||The believer's situation is somewhat similar. He can be a Captain or remain a private. He can enjoy the riches that are his in Christ Jesus or live in virtual poverty. 'We can have as much of God as we wish. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber in our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank, and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor? Whose fault is it that Christian people generally have such scanty portions of the free riches of God?' (McLaren).",
"Oct 06","He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. (Son 5:16)||The devoted, loyal, steadfast love of the Shulamite maiden for her beloved pictures the kind of love which we should have for the Eternal Lover of our souls. Notice the following particulars.||First, she loved everything about him. She extols the beauties of his complexion, head, hair, eyes, cheeks, lips, hands, body, legs, countenance and mouth (Son 5:10-16). We, of course, do not think of the physical features of the Lord Jesus, but we should be just as articulate in extolling His moral excellencies.||She thought of him day and night. Whether she was working in the vineyard or retiring for the night, or even when she was dreaming, he was the one who filled her vision and occupied her mind. It is good for us if our love for the Lord Jesus is so great that He fills our hearts from morning to evening.||She had eyes only for him. Others might try to woo and win her with words of glowing admiration, but she would redirect the praise and apply it to her beloved. So, when the voice of the world seeks to allure us, we should say, 'O worldly pomp and glory, your charms are spread in vain. I've heard a sweeter story, I've found a truer gain. Where Christ a place prepareth, there is my loved abode. There shall I gaze on Jesus. There shall I dwell with God.'||She could talk about him most readily. Her mouth spoke out of the abundance of her heart. Her lips were the pen of a ready writer. Ideally we should be able to talk about our Lord more readily and eloquently than any other subject. Unfortunately it is not always so.||She felt her own unworthiness very keenly. She apologized for her unkempt appearance, for her ordinariness, and for her unresponsiveness to him. When we think of our sinfulness, our proneness to wander, and our disobedience, we have even more cause to wonder that Christ would ever be interested in us.||Her great delight was to be with him. She ardently longed for the time when he would come to claim her as his bride. With how much greater longing should we look forward to the coming of the Heavenly Bridegroom, that we might be with Him for all eternity.||In the meantime, her heart seemed to be a helpless captive, and she confessed that she was sick with love. She did not feel she could contain any more. Let us aspire to have hearts that are captivated by Jesus, and that are filled to overflowing with love for Him!",
"Oct 07","Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.||The Apostle Paul did not think that he had arrived, and neither should we. We are all in need of change. Liu Shao-chi said, 'Men should regard themselves as being in need of and capable of being changed. They should not look upon themselves as something unchanging, perfect, holy, and beyond reform... Otherwise men cannot make progress.'||The trouble is that most of us resist change in ourselves. We are desperately anxious to see others change. Their personality quirks annoy us and we wish they would reform. But we are either oblivious to our own idiosyncrasies or satisfied to perpetuate them. We want to remove the splinter from someone else's eye but rather admire the pole in our own. Their faults and failures are hideous whereas ours are darling.||The problem lies in our own will. We can change if we really want to. If we face up to the fact that we have some undesirable traits in our character, we have made a start toward becoming better persons.||But how can we know what changes are needed? One way is for us to let the Word of God act as a mirror. As we read and study it, we see what we should be, and how far we fall short of the standard. When the Bible condemns something of which we are guilty, we should face the fact bravely and determine to do something about it.||Another way to learn ways in which we are unChristlike is to listen carefully to our relatives and friends. Sometimes their suggestions come in a velvet glove; sometimes they come like a sledgehammer. Whether the remarks are veiled or blatant, we should get the message and accept it gratefully.||In fact, it is a very good practice to cultivate the loving criticism of friends. For instance, we could say, 'I hope you will feel free to let me know of any undesirable traits in my personality or any ways I have that prove irritating to others.' A real friend will do just that.||It is sad to think of people who go through life, making pests of themselves in the church, in the home, and in society, just because no one was willing to level with them or they were not willing to change.||If we take the time and trouble to find out the areas where we rub people the wrong way, and if we then take positive steps to eliminate these areas, we will be better people to live with.",
"Oct 08","Speak not evil one of another, brethren.||While the word 'gossip' is not found in the King James Version of the Bible, the idea is certainly included in such words as backbiting, evil speaking, and whispering. And it goes without saying that the practice is uniformly condemned.||To gossip means to reveal information about another person that is designed to put him in a bad light. In other words, the information is mean or unkind. Usually there is the element of secrecy or confidentiality; the person doing the gossiping would not want to be quoted.||Two women in Brooklyn were talking. One said, 'Tilly told me that you told her what I said about her and I told you not to tell her.' The other replied, 'She's a mean thing. I told Tilly not to tell you I told her.' The first speaker responded, 'Well, I told Tilly I wouldn't tell you she told me--so don't tell her I did.'||There are rare souls in the world who never say anything negative about another person. I have known such, and admire them beyond my powers of description. One told me that if he couldn't say anything good about someone else, he would say nothing. Another said he always tried to see something in other believers which reminded him of the Lord Jesus. A third started to say something negative about a third party, then he interrupted himself in the middle of the sentence and said, 'No, it wouldn't be edifying.' (I've been dying of curiosity ever since.)||Paul had heard that there were contentions among the Corinthians. In confronting them with the fact, he said that he had been told by the household of Chloe. Clearly Chloe's family was not gossiping. They were sharing the information so that the problem might be solved.||The Apostle also wrote some strong words against Hymeneus, Alexander and Philetus (;), because they were harming the cause of Christ. He also warned Timothy about Phygellus, Hermogenes and Demas (2Ti 4:10), men who seemingly turned back after putting their hand to the plow. But this was not gossip. It was important intelligence for believers engaged in a common warfare.||When someone came to a noted preacher with a juicy bit of gossip, he took out a black notebook and told the gossip that he would write it down, have the talebearer sign it, and pass the information on to the person involved. It is said that he opened the book hundreds of times but never made a single entry.",
"Oct 09","...keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good.||Notice the last three words of today's verse--'for thy good.' All the commandments of the Lord are for our good. Many people do not realize this. They think of God as a stem Judge who imposes rules and regulations that take all the fun out of life. But it isn't so! He is interested in our welfare and pleasure, and designs all His laws toward that end.||Let us take a few of the Ten Commandments, for example. Why does God say that we should have no other gods? Because He knows that men become like the objects of their worship, and false gods lead to depravity.||Why does He say that we should not make graven images? Because idolatry is closely linked with demonism. 'The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons', and the purpose of demons is always to destroy.||Why does God set apart one day in seven for rest? Because He created man and knows that man's constitution requires rest from labor. Nations that have tried to enforce seven-day work weeks found that productivity slumped, and they had to abandon the experiment.||Why does God command children to obey their parents? Because it saves the children from lives of recklessness and riot, and even from premature death.||Why does God forbid adultery? Because He knows that it destroys the home and the family as well as the happiness of those involved.||Why does God forbid murder? Because it leads to guilt and remorse, to imprisonment and sometimes to capital punishment.||Why does God condemn coveting? Because sin begins in the mind. If we indulge it there, eventually we will commit the act. Unless we can control the fountain, we won't be able to control the stream that flows from it.||And so it is with other sins--taking God's Name in vain, stealing, bearing false witness, etc. We can't get away with them. They take their toll in our spirits, souls and bodies. Every sin sets painful reflex actions in motion, robbing the sinner of peace, joy and satisfaction. We reap what we sow. Our chickens come home to roost.||Years ago someone wrote a book entitled 'The Kindly Laws of God.' They really are kindly because they are designed for our own good.",
"Oct 10","Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking he put away from you, with all malice.||Life brims with provocative situations that tempt a person to lose his temper. Perhaps you can identify with some of the following scenarios. A waiter spills hot coffee on you or makes you wait interminably for your food. You arrive home with your latest purchase only to find that the merchandise is defective. When you try to get a refund, the salesman is insolent. Or perhaps you have been given wrong information that causes you to miss your plane. The first week you have your new car, some careless driver puts a dent into the side of it. Then a store promises to deliver an appliance on a certain date. You stay home but no appliance arrives! Repeated delivery promises are broken. The clerk at the supermarket overcharges you, then is rude when you speak to him about it. Your neighbor hassles you over some minor squabble between her child and yours--and her child was obviously to blame. Another neighbor drives you up the wall with loud stereo music and wild parties. A fellow employee heckles you constantly, probably because of your Christian testimony. The computer makes an error on your monthly account, then in spite of your repeated protests by phone, the error reappears month after month. In your favorite sport, the referee makes a grossly bad call. Or the problem may be a clash of wills over TV programs in the living room of your home.||There is no way of avoiding some of these irritating situations. But for the believer, the important thing is how he reacts to them. The natural way is to explode in anger, to tell off the offender in a few well-chosen words. But when a Christian loses his temper, he loses his testimony also. There he stands, livid with rage, his eyes like piercing steel, his lips quivering. There is no way he can speak a word for the Lord Jesus. He is behaving like a man of the world. He is no longer a Bible but a libel.||The tragedy is that the person who has wronged him probably needs the Gospel. Perhaps his annoying behavior is because of some crisis in his personal life. If he were just shown love and consideration, he might be won over to the Savior.||Eruptions of temper have done much to nullify the witness of believers and to bring dishonor on the name of the Lord. A mad Christian is a poor advertisement for the faith.",
"Oct 11","If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan?||This is a good verse to challenge us when we are tempted to give up too quickly and too easily. If we can't face minor difficulties, how can we expect to face major ones? If we buckle under the petty blows of life, how will we bear up under the sledgehammer blows?||We hear of Christians who sulk and pout because someone has offended them. Others turn in their resignation because someone has criticized them. Still others get their nose out of Joint because some pet idea has been voted down.||Folks with minor physical ailments often howl like a wounded bear. One wonders what they would do with a catastrophic illness. If a businessman can't cope with day to day problems, it is unlikely he will be able to face the big ones.||We all need a certain amount of tough-mindedness. By that we do not mean that we should be harsh or insensitive. Rather we mean that we should be able to bend with the punches. We need the resiliency that bounces back and carries on.||Perhaps you are facing a crisis today. At the moment it seems monumental. You are tempted to quit. And yet a year from now it won't seem important at all. This is the time when you should say with the psalmist, 'For by Thee I can run upon a troop; and by my God I can leap over a wall'.||The unidentified writer of Hebrews makes an interesting observation to those whom he was challenging to endure. He says, 'Ye have not yet resisted unto blood'. In other words, you have not paid the ultimate price--martyrdom. If Christians go to pieces over a broken dish or a lost cat or a disappointed love affair, what would they do if they were faced with martyrdom?||Most of us would have quit long ago if we gave in to our feelings. But you don't quit in the Christian warfare. You pick yourself up from the ground, shake off the dust, and move forward into the conflict. Victory in the minor skirmishes will help us win the major battles.",
"Oct 12","Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.||There is a right and a wrong way of doing everything, and this is certainly true in the matter of obtaining guidance. Today's verse describes the wrong way. It pictures a man building a bonfire, then using the fire and the sparks to provide illumination for his path.||Notice that there is no mention of consulting the Lord. There is no suggestion that the man has made it a matter of prayer. He has unbounded confidence that he knows the best way. In his arrogant independence, he leans on his own understanding. In Henley's words, he is the master of his own fate and the captain of his own soul.||But notice the aftermath! 'This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.' The man who manufactures his own guidance is heading for trouble. Anyone who is that headstrong and willful will live to regret it. He will learn by experience that God's way is the best way.||The preceding verse (v. 10) gives us the right way of obtaining guidance. It says, 'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.' Notice three things about this man. First of all, he fears the Lord in the sense that he fears displeasing Him or walking in independence of Him. Second, he obeys the voice of God's Servant, the Lord Jesus. Third, he is willing to admit that he walks in darkness and has no light. He acknowledges that he does not know which way to go.||What should such a person do? He should trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. In other words, he should acknowledge his own ignorance, ask the Lord to guide him, and depend completely on the divine guidance.||Our God is a God of infinite wisdom and love. He knows what is best for us and designs only what is for our good.||He knows, He loves, He cares.||Nothing this truth can dim.||He does the very best for those||Who leave the choice to Him.",
"Oct 13","What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?||The question calls for a negative answer. Ordinarily a father wouldn't give his son a stone in place of bread. Certainly the Heavenly Father would never do it.||But the sad fact is that we sometimes do that very thing. People come to us in deep spiritual need. Perhaps we are insensitive to what is really troubling them. Or we put them off with some surface panacea instead of sharing the Lord Jesus with them.||E. Stanley Jones illustrates this with a story he tells on himself (it takes a great man to tell a story that discloses a personal failure). 'When the (Indian) Congress members in their newly acquired powers were sometimes using these powers for themselves instead of the country's good, it was proving too much for Jawaharlal Nehru to bear. He said he was thinking of resigning the Prime Ministership and going off to regain his inner spirit. I saw him at that time, and at the close of the interview I offered him a bottle of tablets of the cereal grasses, containing all the known vitamins. He took the bottle with thanks but added, 'My problem is not physical implying that it was spiritual. Instead of offering him grace, I offered him grass. He asked for bread, and I gave him a stone... I knew I had the answer, but I didn't know how to say it. I was afraid of offending the great man. I should have remembered the motto on the Sat Tal Ashram wall: 'There is no place in which Jesus Christ is out of place.' But I didn't. I remembered my hesitations and they prevailed.||'I offered him grass tablets when he really wanted grace--the grace and power that would heal him at the heart. Then he could have said, 'I am healed at the heart. Now let the world come on--the world of impossible problems. I'm ready.''||I am afraid that the experience of Dr. Jones is all too familiar to many of us. We encounter people who have deep spiritual needs. They drop some word that provides a wide open door for us to minister Christ to them. But we fail to take advantage of it. We either suggest some band-aid remedy for a spiritual wound or we change the subject to something of trivial value.||Prayer: Lord, help me to seize every opportunity to witness for You, to enter every opened door. Help me to overcome my hesitations, giving bread and grace where they are needed.",
"Oct 14","Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.||People often quote this verse, forgetting that it is part of a conditional promise. The previous verse says, 'Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.' Then follows the promise, 'And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' In other words, the liberating power of the truth depends on our continuing in His Word.||It is not enough just to know the truth in an intellectual sense. We must obey it and practice it. As we live by the precepts of the Bible, we are freed from innumerable evils.||As soon as we obey the Gospel call, we are freed from guilt and condemnation and introduced into the liberty of the sons of God.||Then we are freed from sin as master. It no longer holds the upper hand in our lives.||We are free from the law. Not that we become lawless, but we are now enlawed to Christ. We are henceforth motivated to holiness by love to the Savior rather than by the fear of punishment.||We enjoy freedom from fear because perfect love casts out fear. God is now our loving heavenly Father, not a stern Judge.||We are free from the bondage of Satan. He no longer leads us about at will.||We are freed from sexual immorality, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.||We are free from false teaching. God's Word is truth, and the Holy Spirit leads His people into all truth, and teaches them to discern truth from error. Those who continue in His Word are freed from superstition and from the dominion of evil spirits. What an emancipation this is--to be set free from the power of demonic forces!||We are freed from the fear of death. No longer the king of terrors, death ushers the soul into the presence of the Lord. To die is gain.||We are freed from enslaving habits, from the love of money and from hopelessness and despair. Henceforth the language of our heart is:||Low at Thy feet, Lord Jesus; this is the place for me;||There I have learned sweet lessons, truth that has set me free.||Free from myself, Lord Jesus, free from the ways of men;||Chains of thought that once bound me never will hind again.",
"Oct 15","O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!||It has been called the passing of religious opportunity. It means that people are favored with a marvelous visitation, a glorious opportunity, but they fail to seize it.||That is what happened to Jerusalem. The incarnate Son of God walked its dusty streets. Its ochre-tinted buildings looked down on the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. The people heard His matchless words and saw Him perform miracles that no other man had ever performed. But they failed to appreciate Him. They would not receive Him.||Things would have been so much better for them if they had. Conditions would have been like those described in : 'Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured forever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.'||Isaiah also describes what might have been. 'O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me'.||Bret Harte wrote, 'Of all the words of tongue or pen, the saddest are, 'It might have been.''||Think of those who have rejected the Gospel call. Jesus of Nazareth passed by but they missed Him. Now they are living empty lives and facing an eternity of doom.||Or think of those believers who heard the call of Christ to some specific sphere of service but failed to respond. They have no idea of the present blessings and eternal rewards which they have missed.||It is true that sometimes opportunity knocks only once. Though it is laden with choicest treasures, it may seem at the moment to conflict with personal plans or to involve personal sacrifice. It represents God's very best for us, but for reasons of our own we let the opportunity pass. We refuse His best and settle for His second best. All the time He is saying, 'I would but you would not.'",
"Oct 16","For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.||At selected times in human history, God has burst forth in judgment on men in order to show His extreme displeasure at certain sins they have committed. Obviously He does not strike men dead every time these sins are committed. If He did, the population of the world would be drastically reduced. But He has gone on record on isolated occasions to warn mankind that such ungodliness and unrighteousness will not go unpunished. If He does not deal with it in time, He most surely will in eternity.||When God looked down and saw that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence, He sent a cataclysmic flood, destroying the world. Only eight people escaped with their lives.||Later the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah became centers of homosexuality. Sodom was also guilty of pride, fulness of bread, and prosperous ease. God revealed His wrath from heaven by raining fire and brimstone on these cities, consigning them to perpetual extinction.||'Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord, when they offered strange fire'. They should have used fire from the altar, but they decided to approach God in some other way. By smiting them with instant death, the Lord warned future generations against attempts to approach Him in any way other than the way He has appointed.||Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, failed to acknowledge the Most High who rules in the affairs of men. Instead he claimed full credit for all the glory of Babylon. God punished him with madness. The king was driven away from men to live like an animal in the field. He ate grass like oxen, his body was wet with the dew of heaven, his hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws.||Ananias and Sapphira pretended to make a total sacrifice of their property to the Lord, but they secretly held back part for themselves. They both died suddenly as a warning against insincerity in worship and in service.||Some time later Herod accepted worship instead of giving God the glory. He was consumed by worms and died.||Sinful men should not presume on the seeming silence and inaction of God. Just because He doesn't always punish sin instantly doesn't mean that He won't punish it ultimately. In isolated instances down through the years, He has given His verdict and revealed the penalties that follow.",
"Oct 17","Buy the truth, and sell it not.||There is often a price to be paid in obtaining the truth of God, and we should be willing to pay the price, whatever it may be. Once having obtained the truth, we should not give it up.||The verse is not to be taken with such strict literalness that we would buy Bibles and Christian literature, but would not sell them under any circumstances. Buying the truth here means making great sacrifices to achieve the knowledge of divine principles. It may mean hostility from one's family, loss of employment, separation from religious ties, financial loss, or even physical abuse.||To sell the truth means to compromise it or abandon it altogether. We should never be willing to do that.||In his book Church in the House, Arnot wrote: 'It is a general law of human nature that what comes lightly, goes lightly. What we gain by a hard struggle, we retain with a firmer grasp, whether it be our fortune or our faith. Those men who have obtained great wealth without any trouble or toil of their own, often scatter it and die in poverty. It is seldom that the man who gains a fortune by gigantic labor wastes the wealth he has won. In like manner, give me the Christian who has fought his way to his Christianity. If it is through fire and water that he has reached the wealthy place, he will not lightly leave his rich inheritance.'||Saints of all ages have turned their back on family, fame and fortune in order to enter the strait gate and walk the narrow way. Like the Apostle Paul, they have counted all else but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord. Like Rahab they have renounced the idols of paganism and acknowledged Jehovah as the only true God, even if it seemed like betrayal of their own people. Like Daniel, they have refused to sell the truth, even if it meant being thrown into a den of bloodthirsty lions.||We live in a day when the spirit of the martyrs is largely gone. Men would rather compromise their faith than suffer for it. The voice of the prophet is missing. Faith is flabby. Convictions concerning the truth are condemned as dogmatism. In order to achieve a show of unity, men are willing to sacrifice fundamental doctrines. They sell the truth and buy it not.||But God will always have those choice souls who so value the hidden treasure of truth that they are willing to sell all that they have to buy it, and having bought it, they are unwilling to sell it at any price.",
"Oct 18","I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients.||When we first read these verses, they sound like the words of an immature braggart or a full grown egotist. In fact, we might almost be surprised to find such boasts in the Bible. They seem rather sub-Christian.||However, as we study the verses more closely, we find a key that removes the difficulty. The psalmist gives a reason for his superior understanding. He says, '... for thy testimonies are my meditation.' In other words, he is saying that he has more understanding than all his teachers who do not know the Scriptures. He understands more than the ancients whose knowledge was purely secular. He is not contrasting himself with other believers, but only with the men of this world.||And of course he is right! The humblest believer can see more on his knees than the most learned unbeliever can see on his tiptoes. Let us consider a few illustrations:||Here is a governmental leader assuring the people that there will be peace in the world if a certain course of action is followed. In a remote village, a Christian farmer hears the speech on his radio. He knows that there will never be peace until the Prince of Peace sets up His Kingdom on earth. Not till then will men beat their swords into plowshares and learn war no more. The farmer has more understanding than the diplomat.||Now meet a renowned scientist who teaches that the universe as we know it came into being without divine agency. Sitting in his class is a recent convert to Christ. Through faith this student understands that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. The student has insight that the scientist does not possess.||Then again we think of the psychologist who seeks to explain human behavior but who is unwilling to accept the fact of inborn sin. The believer who knows God's word realizes that every man inherits an evil, corrupt nature, and that failure to recognize this can only lead to worthless solutions to man's problems.||So the psalmist was not indulging in idle boasting when he said he had more understanding than all his teachers. Those who walk by faith have better vision than those who walk by sight. Those who meditate on God's testimonies see truths that are hidden from the wise and prudent.",
"Oct 19","What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.||In the matter of our soul's salvation, there is nothing we can do to earn or deserve it- We cannot put God in our debt or reimburse Him in any way, because salvation is a gift of grace.||The proper response to God's free offer of eternal life is first to take the cup of salvation, that is, to accept it by faith. Then we should call upon the name of the Lord, that is, thank and praise Him for the unspeakable gift.||Even after we are saved there is nothing we can do to repay the Lord for all His benefits toward us. 'Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small.' However, there is a fitting response we can make, and that is the most reasonable thing we can do. 'Love so amazing so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.'||If the Lord Jesus gave His body for us, the least we can do is give our bodies for Him.||Pilkington of Uganda said, 'If He is King, He has a right to all.' C. T. Studd said, 'When I came to see that Jesus Christ had died for me, it didn't seem hard to give up all for Him.'||Borden of Yale prayed, 'Lord Jesus, I take hands off as far as my life is concerned. I put Thee on the throne in my heart.'||Betty Scott Stam prayed, 'I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to Thee, to be Thine forever.'||Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, 'In that day, when I surrendered myself to my Savior, I gave Him my body, my soul, my spirit; I gave Him all I had, and all I shall have for time and for eternity. I gave Him all my talents, my power, my faculties, my eyes, my ears, my conscience, my limbs, my emotions, my judgment, my whole manhood, and all that could come of it, whatever fresh capacity or new capability I might be endowed with.'||Finally, Isaac Watts reminded us that 'drops of grief can n'er repay the debt of love I owe,' then added 'Dear Lord, I give myself away, 'tis all that I can do.'||The passion of Jesus--His bleeding hands and feet, His wounds, His tears demand one fitting response: The sacrifice of our lives for Him.",
"Oct 20","And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate! (1Ch 11:17)||Bethlehem was David's home town. He knew all its streets and lanes, the market place, and the community well. But now the Philistines had a garrison in Bethlehem and David was holed up in the Cave of Adullam. When three of his men heard David yearn for a drink of water from the well at Bethlehem, they broke through the enemy lines and brought the water to him. He was so moved by this courageous act of love and devotion that he could not drink the water, but rather poured it out as a libation to the Lord.||We may think of David here as a picture of the Lord Jesus. Just as Bethlehem was David's place, so the entire 'earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof.' David should have been on the throne but instead he was in the Cave. Similarly our Lord should be enthroned by the world but instead He is rejected and disowned. We can liken David's longing for water to the Savior's thirst for the souls of men all over the world. He longs to be refreshed by seeing His creatures saved from sin, self and the world. David's three courageous men picture those intrepid soldiers of Christ who throw aside considerations of personal comfort, convenience and safety in order to fulfill the desire of their Commander-in-chief. They carry the good news to all the world, then offer their converts to the Lord as a sacrifice of love and devotion. David's emotional reaction suggests the Savior's response when He sees His sheep crowding to Him from every tribe and nation. He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied.||In David's case, he didn't have to command, coax or cajole his men. The slightest hint was all they needed; they welcomed it as an order from their commander.||What then shall we do when we know the longing of the heart of Christ for those whom He purchased with His precious blood? Must we have high pressure missionary appeals and altar calls? Is it not enough to hear Him ask, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Shall it be said of us that we are unwilling to do for our Commander what David's men were willing to do for him? Or shall we say to Him, 'Your slightest longing is my command'?",
"Oct 21","Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.||When you look out at the religious world today, you see numerous religions, denominations and cults. And yet basically there are only two religions, as suggested in today's text. On the one hand there is the wide gate and the broad, well-traveled way that leads to destruction. On the other is the strait gate and sparsely traveled, narrow way that leads to life. All religions can be classified under one or the other. The feature that distinguishes the two is this: one religion tells what man must do to earn or deserve salvation; the other tells what God has done to provide salvation for man.||The true Christian faith is unique in that it calls on men to receive eternal life as a gift by faith. All other religions tell men that they must earn their salvation by works or by character. The Gospel tells how Christ finished the work necessary for our redemption. All other systems tell men what they must do to redeem themselves. It is the difference between DOING and DONE.||The popular idea is that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. But the Bible teaches that there are no good people, and that the only ones who go to heaven are sinners saved by God's grace. The Christian Gospel eliminates boasting; it tells man that there are no meritorious deeds he can do to win God's favor because he is dead in trespasses and sins. All other religions cater to man's pride by implying that there is something he can do to save himself or to assist in his salvation.||All false religions are 'the way that seems right unto a man' but are also the way which ends in death. Salvation by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ seems 'too easy' to men but this is the way that leads to life. In false religions Christ is nothing or only something. In the true Christian faith Christ is everything.||In other religions there can be no real assurance of salvation because a person never knows whether he has done enough good works or the right kind. The believer in Christ can know he is saved because it isn't a question of his works but rather of Christ's work for him.||Only two religions--one of law, the other of grace. One of works, the other of faith. One of doing, the other of believing. One of trying, the other of trusting. The first leads to condemnation and death, the second to justification and life.",
"Oct 22","And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses.||One important insight we gather from this verse is that Moses appointed Joshua as his successor, knowing that his own ministry would be coming to an end. In doing so, he set a good example for others who are in places of spiritual leadership. Some may think that this is too elementary to emphasize but the fact is that there is often gross failure to train successors and to turn work over to them. There seems to be an innate resistance to the idea that we are replaceable.||Sometimes this is a problem that faces an elder in a local fellowship. Perhaps he has served faithfully for many years, but the day is approaching when he will no longer be able to shepherd the flock. Yet it is hard for him to train a younger man to take his place. He may see young men as threats to his position. Or he may contrast their inexperience with his own maturity and conclude that they are quite unsuitable. It is easy for him to forget how inexperienced he was at one time, and how he came to his present maturity by being trained to do the work of an overseer.||This can also be a problem on the mission field. The missionary knows that he should train nationals to assume places of leadership. But he rationalizes that they cannot do it as well as he. And they make so many mistakes...and attendance at the meetings will drop if he does not do all the preaching. And anyway, they don't know how to lead. The answer to all these arguments is that he should look upon himself as being expendable. He should train the nationals and delegate authority to them until he works himself out of a job in that particular area. There are always unfilled fields elsewhere. He never needs to be unemployed.||When Moses was replaced by Joshua there was a smooth transition. There was no vacuum of leadership. The cause of God did not suffer trauma. That's the way it should be.||All God's servants should rejoice to see younger men raised up to places of leadership. They should count it a great privilege to share their knowledge and experience with these disciples, then turn the work over to them before they are forced to do so by the hand of death. They should have the selfless attitude that Moses displayed on another occasion when he said, 'Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets.'",
"Oct 23","He (the Holy Spirit) shall not speak of himself; hut whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. (b, 14)||When the Lord Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would not speak of Himself, He did not mean that the Spirit would never make any reference to Himself. Rather, the thought is that the Spirit would not speak on His own authority or independently of God the Father. This is borne out by the words that follow: '...whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.' The New American Standard Bible reads, 'He will not speak on His own initiative.'||But having said that, we should add that the Holy Spirit does not ordinarily talk about Himself. One of His characteristic ministries is to glorify Christ. Jesus said, 'He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.'||This means that when we hear ministry that exalts the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be sure that it is Spirit-inspired. On the other hand, when we hear messages that glorify the speaker rather than the Lord, we can be sure that the Spirit is grieved. He cannot witness to the greatness of Jesus and the greatness of the speaker at the same time.||'The most spiritual teaching will ever be characterized by a full and constant presentation of Christ. He will ever form the burden of such teaching. The Spirit cannot dwell on aught but Jesus. Of Him He delights to speak. He delights in setting forth His attractions and excellencies. Hence, when a man is ministering by the power of the Spirit of God, there will always be more of Christ than anything else in his ministry. There will be little room in such ministry for human logic and reasoning... The Spirit's sole object...will ever be to set forth Christ' (C. H. Mackintosh).||In that connection, the evangelical world should reconsider the practice of introducing speakers by extravagant recitals of academic achievements and theological honors. It is unrealistic to praise a man to the skies and then expect him to preach in the power of the Holy Spirit.||One great test of written ministry is whether it glorifies the Lord Jesus. I remember reading a book on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. At first I thought it strange that the author seemed to spend more time on the moral excellencies of Christ than on the Holy Spirit. Then I realized that this presented a true view of the Person and work of the Spirit.||Jim Elliot wrote in his journal, 'If men were filled with the Spirit, they would not write books on that subject, but on the Person whom the Spirit has come to reveal. Occupation with Christ is God's object, not fulness of the Spirit.'",
"Oct 24","And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.||The subject of hell generates enormous resistance in the human heart. This resistance is most often expressed in the question, 'How could a God of love sustain an everlasting hell?'||If Paul were answering the question he would probably say at the outset, 'Who art thou that repliest against God?' or 'Let God be true and every man a liar.' Translation: the creature really has no right to question the Creator. If God sustains an everlasting hell, He has valid reasons for doing so. We have no right to question His love or His justice. Yet we are given sufficient information in the Bible to vindicate God in this matter.||First of all, we know that God did not make hell for man, but for the devil and his angels.||We also know that it is not God's desire that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. If any man goes to hell, it is a great sorrow to the heart of the Lord.||It is man's sin that causes the problem. The holiness, righteousness and justice of God demand that sin be punished. The divine decree is, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die'. This is not arbitrary on God's part. It is the only attitude that a Holy Being can take toward sin.||God could have let the matter rest there. Man sinned, therefore he must die.||But God's love intervened. In order that man might not perish eternally, He went to the ultimate extreme to provide a way of salvation. He sent His unique Son to die as a Substitute for sinful men, paying the penalty for them. It was wonderful grace on the Savior's part to bear man's sins in His body on the cross.||Now God offers eternal life as a free gift to all who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not save men against their will. They must choose the way of life.||Frankly there is nothing else that God could have done. He has already done more than could be expected. If men refuse His free offer of mercy, there is no alternative. Hell is the deliberate choice of those who refuse heaven.||To charge God with blame for sustaining an everlasting hell is completely unjust. It overlooks the fact that He emptied heaven of its Best so that earth's worst might never know the agonies of the lake of fire.",
"Oct 25","There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. (b)||The friendship of Jesus is a theme that evokes a warm response in the hearts of His people everywhere. When He was on earth, He was derided as 'a friend of publicans and sinners', but Christians have taken the taunt and converted it to a title of honor.||Before going to the cross, our Lord called His disciples 'friends.' 'Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you'.||Some of our best-loved hymns take up this theme; for example, 'What a friend we have in Jesus'; 'There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus'; and 'I've found a friend, oh, such a friend.'||Why does the friendship of Jesus strike such a responsive chord? I think the primary reason is that many people are lonely. They may be surrounded by other people, yet not surrounded by friends. Or they may be largely cut off from intercourse with others. This is often the case with older people who have outlived their contemporaries.||Loneliness is cruel. It is bad for a person's physical, mental and emotional health. It gnaws away at his morale, sets his nerves on edge, and makes him weary of life. Often it drives people to desperation so that they are willing to compromise with sin or take other insane plunges. To such people the friendship of Jesus comes with the healing properties of the balm of Gilead.||Another reason why His friendship is so appreciated is that it never fails. Human mends often let us down or drift out of our lives, but this Friend proves true and steadfast.||Earthly friends may fail and leave us,||One day soothe, the next day grieve us;||But this Friend will ne'er deceive us. Oh, how He loves!||Jesus is the Friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is the Friend who loves at all times.||The fact that the Lord Jesus is not bodily present with us does not set a limit on the reality of His friendship. Through the Word He speaks to us, and in prayer we speak to Him. It is in this way that He makes Himself real to us as the Friend we need. It is in this way that He answers the prayer,||Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me a living, bright reality;||More present to faith's vision keen than any earthly object seen;||More dear, more intimately nigh than e'en the closest earthly tie.",
"Oct 26","Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.||Peter reminds his readers that they are strangers and pilgrims, a reminder that was never more needed than today. Pilgrims are people who are travelling from one country to another. The country they are passing through is not their own; they are aliens in it. It is the country to which they are going that is their homeland.||The hallmark of a pilgrim is a tent. Thus, when we read that Abraham dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, we are to understand that he considered Canaan an alien land (even though it had been promised to him). He lived in a temporary dwelling because he 'looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God' (RV). So the pilgrim is not a settler. He is a man on the move.||Because he is going on a long journey, he travels light. He does not allow himself to be weighed down with a lot of material possessions. He cannot afford to be burdened with unnecessary baggage. He must jettison anything that hinders his mobility.||Another feature of the pilgrim is that he is different from the people around him who are at home. He does not conform to their lifestyle, their habits, or even their form of worship. In the case of the Christian pilgrim, this means that he heeds Peter's admonition to abstain from 'fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.' He does not allow his character to be molded by his environment. He is in the world but not of it. He passes through an alien country without adopting its mores and value-judgments.||If the pilgrim is passing through hostile territory, he is careful not to fraternize with the enemy. That would constitute disloyalty to his leader. He would be a traitor to the cause.||The Christian pilgrim is passing through enemy territory. This world gave our Leader nothing but a cross and a grave. To befriend such a world is to betray the Lord Jesus. The cross of Christ has severed any ties which ever bound us to the world. We do not covet the world's praise or fear its condemnation.||The pilgrim is sustained on his journey by the knowledge that every day's march brings him that much closer to home. He knows that once he reaches his destination, he will quickly forget all the hardships and dangers of the way.",
"Oct 27","There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.||In reading a verse like this, it is tremendously important to know what it means and what it does not mean. Otherwise we might find ourselves adopting grotesque positions that do violence to the rest of Scripture and to the facts of life.||The key to the verse is found in the words 'in Christ Jesus.' Those words describe our position, that is, what we are in the sight of God. They do not refer to our everyday practice, that is, what we are in ourselves or in the society in which we live.||What the verse is saying, then, is that there is neither Jew nor Greek as far as standing before God is concerned. Both the believing Jew and the believing Gentile are in Christ Jesus and therefore both stand before God in a position of absolute favor. Neither has any advantage over the other. It does not mean that physical differences or temperamental distinctions are abolished.||In Christ Jesus, there is neither bond nor free. The slave finds the same acceptance through the Person and work of Christ that the free man does. And yet, in everyday life, the social distinctions persist.||There is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus. A believing woman is complete in Christ, accepted in the Beloved, justified freely - just the same as a believing man. She has the same freedom of access into the presence of God.||But the verse must not be pressed to refer to everyday life. The sexual distinction remains--male and female. The resultant roles remain--father and mother. The divinely appointed positions of authority and subjection to that authority remain--the man is given the place of headship and the woman that of subjection to the authority of the man. The New Testament even specifies difference in the ministries of the man and the woman in the church (1Ti 2:12;). Those who argue that there should be neither male nor female in the church are forced to twist these Scriptures, assign unworthy motives to the Apostle Paul, or even question the inspiration of his words in these passages.||What they must understand is that whereas racial, social and sexual differences are abolished as far as standing before God is concerned, they are not abolished in everyday life. They should also realize that these differences have nothing to do with inferiority. The Gentile, the slave, the woman are not inferior to the Jew, the free man or the male. In many ways they may be superior. Instead of trying to rewrite God's order in creation and in providence, they should accept it and rejoice in it.",
"Oct 28","There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.||The Holy Spirit here lets us in on a delightful secret. It is contrary to all that we would expect and yet invariably true. The secret is this: the more you give, the more you have. The more you hoard, the less you have. Generosity multiplies itself. Stinginess breeds poverty. 'What I gave, I have; what I spent, I had; what I kept, I lost.'||It doesn't mean that you will reap the same coinage that you sow, that the faithful steward will become financially rich. He may sow dollars and reap souls. He may sow kindness and reap friends. He may sow compassion and reap love.||It means that a generous person reaps rewards that others cannot know. He opens his mail and learns that the gift of money he sent met a critical need at just the right time and in exactly the right amount. He learns that a book he bought for a young believer was used by God to change the whole direction of a life. He hears that a kindness he showed in the Name of Jesus was a link in the chain of that person's salvation. He is deliriously happy. His joy knows no bounds. He would never trade places with others who seem to have more than he.||The other side of the truth is that hoarding leads to poverty. We really don't get pleasure out of money that is lying in the bank. It may delude us with a false sense of security, but it cannot provide true and lasting enjoyment. Any meager interest that the money may earn is peanuts compared with the thrill of seeing money used for the glory of Christ and the blessing of our fellow-men. The man who withholds more than is meet may have a large bank balance but he has a small joy balance in this life and a small credit balance in the bank of heaven.||Today's verse is intended not only to set forth a divine principle but also to issue a divine challenge. The Lord is saying to us, 'Prove it for yourself. Make your loaves and fishes available to Me. I know you intended to have them for your own lunch. But if you turn them over to Me, there will be plenty for your own lunch and for thousands of others. You would feel awkward to eat your lunch while those around you were just sitting, watching you eat. But think of the satisfaction of knowing that I used your lunch to feed the multitude.'||We lose what on ourselves we spend||We have as treasure without end||Whatever, Lord, to Thee we lend,||Who givest all.||--Charles Wordsworth",
"Oct 29","But whoso hath the world's goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in htm? (RV)||In medical circles, it would be unthinkable to have a cure for cancer and not share it with cancer patients throughout the world. To withhold the cure would betray a callous and inhumane lack of compassion.||The Apostle John paints a parallel picture in the spiritual realm. Here is a man, a professing believer, who has accumulated a fair amount of wealth. He lives in luxury, comfort and ease. All around him is a world of enormous spiritual and physical need. Millions throughout the world have never heard the Gospel. They live in darkness, superstition and hopelessness. Many of them are suffering the ravages of famine, war and natural disaster. The man of wealth is oblivious to all this need. He is able to block out the moans of a sobbing, suffering humanity. He could help if he wanted to, but he prefers to hold on to his money.||It is at this point that John drops his bomb. He asks, 'How does the love of God abide in him?' The question implies of course, that the love of God does not dwell in him. And if the love of God does not dwell in him, there is valid reason for doubting that he is a true believer.||This is very serious. The church today exalts the man of wealth, appoints him to the board of elders, and points him out to visitors. The sentiment prevails, 'It's nice to see rich Christians.' But John asks, 'If he is a real Christian, how can he hold on to all that surplus wealth when so many are starving for bread?'||It seems to me that this verse forces us to one of two courses of action. On the one hand we can reject the plain meaning of John's words, stifle the voice of conscience and condemn the man who dares preach the message. Or we can receive the word with meekness, use our wealth to meet our brother's need, and have a conscience void of offense toward God and man. The believer who is satisfied with a modest standard of living so that everything above that can go into the work of the Lord can live at peace with God and with his needy brother.",
"Oct 30","I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.||The Apostle John was certainly not unaware of the joy of personal soul-winning. It brings tremendous spiritual exhilaration to lead a sinner to the Lord Jesus. But for John, a greater joy--in fact, the greatest joy--was to see his children in the faith going on steadfastly for the Lord.||Dr. M. R. DeHaan wrote, 'There was a time in my ministry that I often said, 'The greatest joy of a Christian is to lead a soul to Christ.' As the years passed, I changed my mind...So many, over whom we rejoiced when they made their professions, soon fell by the wayside, and our joy came to ultimate grief and sorrow. But to come back to a place years afterward and find 'converts' growing in grace, walking in the truth--this is the greatest joy.'||When asked for the thing that brings more joy than anything else in life, LeRoy Eims said, 'When the person you have led to Christ grows and develops into a dedicated, fruitful, mature disciple who then goes on to lead others to Christ and help them in turn as well.'||It is not surprising that this should provide the greatest joy. The spiritual has its parallel in the natural. There is great joy when a baby is born, but there is always the nagging question. 'How will he turn out?' How pleased the parents are when he matures and proves to be a man of excellent character and accomplishments! So we read in : 'My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.'||One practical lesson that emerges from all this is that we should not be satisfied with superficial methods of evangelism and of discipleship. If we want spiritual children who will walk in the truth, we must be prepared to pour our lives into theirs, a costly process involving prayer, instruction, encouragement, counseling and correction.",
"Oct 31","A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.||What determines whether a son turns out to be wise or foolish? What are the factors that determine whether he becomes a John or a Judas?||Parental training is certainly one important consideration. This includes a thorough grounding in the sacred Scriptures. The sanctifying influence of the Word cannot be overemphasized.||It includes a home that is fortified by prayer. The mother of an outstanding evangelical preacher attributed his preservation from moral and doctrinal evil to the fact that she 'wore out her knees in prayer for him.'||It means the use of firm discipline so that the.child learns to obey and to submit to authority. We hear loud outcries today against strict discipline, but more lives have been wrecked by indulgence than by the use of the rod (Pro 23:13-14).||It means providing the child with the security of knowing he is loved. Discipline must be administered as an act of love and not of temper.||It means that the parents must provide a living example of what they profess. Hypocrisy in religion has proved a stumbling block to many children of Christian parents.||But then the child's will is also involved. When he leaves home, he is free to make his own decisions. Often children brought up in the same home under the same conditions turn out differently.||Two facts of life have to be faced. One is that most people have to get a taste of the world for themselves. The other is that most people prefer to learn through shame and disgrace rather than through wise counsel.||Wise parents do not pressure their children into making a profession of faith. If children want to come to the Lord, they should be encouraged. But if they are talked into a false profession, then abandon that profession in later years, they are harder to win for Christ.||If Christian parents have done their best to raise a child in the fear and admonition of the Lord, only to have the child later make shipwreck, what then? For one thing they should remember that the last chapter hasn't been written. No case is too difficult for the Lord. By continuing earnestly in prayer and by keeping channels of communication open many have lived to see their prodigal return. In other cases, the prayers of parents have been answered after they themselves have gone home to be with the Lord.",
"Nov 01","In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.||Our ignorance as to how and when God will use our service should prompt us to be tireless in buying up opportunities. The Lord often works when we least expect it, and He works in an infinite number of novel ways.||A Christian sailor, stationed at a naval air base, was standing near the corner of a hangar, witnessing to a buddy. A third sailor, out of sight around the corner, heard the Gospel, became convicted of his sins, and was soundly converted. The fellow to whom the message was directly addressed did not respond.||A preacher, checking the acoustics of a new auditorium, boomed out the words of, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' To all appearance there was no one listening. Again he sounded out the timeless words of John the Baptist: 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' The main floor was empty but a workman in the first balcony was smitten by the message and turned to the Lamb of God for forgiveness and new life.||An American Bible teacher spoke to a young American tourist in a railroad station in Paris. (Both came from the same city in the States and from the same neighborhood in that city). The young man was irritated to be confronted. He said, 'Do you think you're going to save me in a Paris railroad station?' The Bible teacher replied, 'No, I can't save you. But nothing happens by chance in life. It was no accident that we met here. I think that God is speaking to you and that you'd better listen.' In the days that followed, a Christian gave the traveler a ride to Vienna, witnessing to him on the way. Back in the States, that same believer invited him to a Christian ranch in Colorado. On the last day of his stay at the ranch, the fellow was standing alone in the swimming pool. Soon another guest joined him in the water, spoke to him quietly about the Lord, and had the great joy of leading him to the Savior. Years later the American Bible teacher was introduced to an earnest young disciple at the close of a meeting. The name sounded faintly familiar. Then he remembered. It was the tourist he had spoken to in a railroad station in Paris.||The moral, of course, is that we should be diligent for Christ in the morning and evening, in season and out of season. We never know which blow will break the granite or which word will be the life-giving one.",
"Nov 02","Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.||It is not uncommon for a person to become discouraged in his service for the Lord and to quit. I suppose that most of us have faced that temptation at one time or another. Therefore, in today's reading I would like to share four passages that have been a tremendous encouragement to me and that have kept me from quitting. The first is : 'Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.' There are moments, fortunately rare, when years of service for the Lord seem to evaporate into nothingness. All our work seems to have been wasted effort. It appears to be another case of 'love's labor lost.' But not so! Our verse assures us that God's justice will insure that we are royally rewarded. Nothing that is done for Him is ever in vain.||The second passage is : 'For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.' Those engaged in distributing the living Word of God are assured of success. Results are guaranteed. His Word is irresistible. Just as the armies of the world are powerless to prevent the rain and snow from falling, so all the hosts of demons and of men are unable to stop the Word from going forth and producing revolutions in human lives. We are on the winning side.||Then there is that remarkable encouragement in : 'He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.' Have you ever been snubbed because of your Christian testimony? Or ostracized? Or mocked? Or abused? Has someone slammed the door in your face? Well, don't take it too personally. In rejecting you, people are really rejecting the Savior. The way people treat you is the way they treat the Lord. How wonderful to be so closely linked with the Son of God!||Then, of course, there is (quoted above). Paul has been setting forth the truth of the resurrection. If this life were all, then our labor would be in vain. However, beyond the grave lies the eternal glory. Everything done in the Lord's Name will be rewarded then. No loving service will have been fruitless or futile.||Christian service is the most glorious of all callings. There is never a valid reason for quitting. The encouragements of God's Word are enough to keep us from turning back.",
"Nov 03","Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.||Even in the days of the apostles, there was a great deal of confusion in the religious world. Two men, for instance, were teaching the bizarre doctrine that the resurrection of believers was past. To us such an idea is crazy. But it was serious enough to overthrow the faith of some people. The question naturally arises, 'Were these two men genuine Christians?'||We often face the same question today. Here is a prominent clergyman who denies the Virgin Birth. A seminary professor teaches that the Bible contains error. A college student claims to be saved by grace through faith, yet clings to sabbath-keeping as an essential for salvation. A businessman tells of a conversion experience, yet remains in a church that venerates idols, teaching salvation through sacraments, and claims that its leader is infallible in matters of faith and morals. Are these people true Christians?||To be very frank, there are cases where we cannot know definitely whether a person's Christianity is genuine or counterfeit. Between the true and the false, the white and the black, there is a gray area. We cannot be sure in this area. Only God knows.||What is sure in a world of uncertainty is the foundation of God. Whatever He builds is firm and solid. There is a seal on His foundation and on that seal are two inscriptions. One presents the divine side, the other the human. The first is a declarative, the second an imperative.||The divine side is that the Lord knows those who are His. He knows those who genuinely belong to Him even if their actions are not always what they should be. On the other hand He is aware of all pretense and hypocrisy, of all who have an outward show but not inward reality. We may not be able to distinguish the sheep from the goats but He can and does.||The human side is that everyone who names the Name of Christ should depart from iniquity. This is how a man can prove the reality of his profession. Anyone who continues in sin loses credibility as far as his claim to being a Christian is concerned.||This then is our resource when we find it difficult to distinguish between wheat and tares. The Lord knows those who are His. All who claim to be can demonstrate it to others by separation from sin.",
"Nov 04","In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devihwhosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother/'||Years ago almost every home had a large family album in the living room. It had a stuffed leather cover embossed in gold. A leather strap with clasp extended from the right edge of the back cover over to the right side of the top cover where the clasp latched securely into its socket. The pages were of stiff, glossy paper-board, ornamented with floral patterns and gilt edges. On each side of a page were cut-out sections where photographs were inserted. When visitors looked through the album, they would often remark that Josh looks just like his grandpa' or that 'Sarah surely has the family likeness.'||John's first epistle reminds me of that old family album because it pictures those who are members of God's family and who have the family likeness. However, here it is a matter of spiritual and moral resemblance rather than physical.||There are at least eight ways in which Christians are spiritual 'look-alikes.' The first is that they all say the same tiling about Jesus. They confess that He is the Christ, that is, the Messiah or Anointed One (1Jn 5:1). To them Jesus and Christ are one and the same Person.||All Christians love God (5:2). Even though that love may often be weak and vacillating, there is never a time when a believer cannot look up into the face of God and say, 'You know that I love You.'||All Christians love the brethren (2:10; 3:10, 14; 4:7, 12). This is the hallmark of all who have passed from death to life. Because they love God, they love those who are born of God.||Those who love God characteristically keep His commandments (3:24). Their obedience is motivated, not by fear of punishment, but by love to Him who gave His all.||Christians do not practice sin (3:6, 9; 5:18). True, they commit acts of sin, but sin is not the dominating power in their lives. They are not sinless but they do sin less.||Members of God's family practice righteousness (2:29; 3:7). It is not just that they do not habitually sin--that could be negative and passive. They reach out to others with deeds of righteousness--that is positive and active.||The seventh characteristic of members of God's family is that they do not love the world (2:15). They realize that the world is a system that man has built up in opposition to God, and that to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God.||Finally Christians overcome the world by faith (5:4). They see beyond the sham of passing things to those things that are eternal. They live for the things that are not seen.",
"Nov 05","Holding faith, and a good conscience.||The conscience is a monitoring mechanism which God has given to man to approve right conduct and to protest against what is wrong. When Adam and Eve sinned, their consciences condemned them and they knew they were naked.||Like all other parts of man's nature, the conscience was affected by the entrance of sin so that it is not always completely reliable. The old maxim 'Let your conscience be your guide' is not an invariable rule. However, even in the most depraved, the conscience still flashes its red and green signals.||At the time of conversion a person's conscience is purged from dead works by the blood of Christ. This means that he no longer depends on his own works to give him a favorable standing before God. His heart is sprinkled from an evil conscience because he knows that the sin question has been settled once for all by the work of Christ. Conscience does not condemn him any more as far as the guilt and condemnation of sin are concerned.||Henceforth the believer desires to have a conscience void of offense toward God and man. He desires to have a good conscience (1Ti 1:19). And he desires to have a pure conscience.||The believer's conscience needs to be educated by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. In this way he develops an increasing sensitivity toward questionable areas of Christian conduct.||Believers who are excessively scrupulous over matters that are not right or wrong in themselves have a weak conscience. If they go ahead and do something that their conscience condemns, they sin and defile their conscience.||The conscience is something like an elastic band. The more it is stretched, the more it loses its elasticity. Also the conscience can be stifled. A man can so rationalize his wrong behavior that he can make the conscience say anything he wants it to say.||Unbelievers can have a seared conscience, as if cauterized by a hot iron. By the continual rejection of the voice of conscience, they finally reach the stage where they are past feelings. It no longer hurts them to sin.||God holds men responsible for what they do with their consciences. No divinely-given faculty can be abused with impunity.",
"Nov 06","Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.||In its setting, this prophecy of Isaiah looked forward to the joyous return of God's chosen people from their seventy-year captivity in Babylon.||It may also refer to Israel's still-future restoration when the Messiah will regather them to the land from all over the world. That too will be a time of great jubilation.||But in its widest sense, we are justified in applying the verse to the rapture of the Church. Awakened by the shout of the Lord, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, the bodies of the redeemed of all the ages will rise from the grave. Living believers, changed in a moment, will join them as they ascend to meet the Lord in the air. Then begins the grand processional to the Father's house.||It is quite possible that the entire route will be flanked by angelic hosts. At the head of the procession will be the Redeemer Himself, flushed with His glorious victory over death and the grave. Then come the ransomed throng, some from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, they are singing with all musical perfection, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.'||Every one in the multitude is a trophy of God's wonderful grace. Each was ransomed from sin and shame, and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Some went through deep suffering for their faith, others laid down their lives for the Savior. But now all the scars and mutilations are gone, and the saints have their deathless, glorified bodies.||Abraham and Moses are there, David and Solomon. There are the beloved Peter, James, John and Paul. Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Knox and John Calvin are there. But they are no more conspicuous now than God's hidden ones, unknown on earth, yet well-known in heaven.||Now the saints are marching into the King's palace. Sorrow and sighing are gone forever, and everlasting joy is on their heads. Faith has become sight and hope has received its long-awaited consummation. Loved ones greet each other with fervent embraces. Overflowing gladness prevails. Everyone is awed by the amazing grace that has brought them from the depths of sin to such heights of glory.",
"Nov 07","Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. (Mar 5:19)||When we are first saved, we think it is so simple, so wonderful that all our relatives will want to believe on the Savior when we tell them. Instead we find in some cases that they are resentful, suspicious and hostile. They act as if we had betrayed them. Finding ourselves in such an atmosphere, we often respond in ways that actually hinder their coming to Christ. Sometimes we lash back at them, then become distant, moody and withdrawn. Or we criticize them for their unChristian lifestyle, forgetting that they do not have the divine power necessary for meeting Christian standards. It is easy under such circumstances to give them the impression that we consider ourselves superior to them. Since they are likely to accuse us of a 'holier than thou' attitude anyway, we should carefully avoid giving them just cause for doing so.||Another mistake we often make is to force the Gospel down their throats. In our love for them and our zeal for their souls, we estrange them by our offensive evangelism.||One thing leads to another. We fail to show loving submission to our parents, as if our Christian faith released us from any obligation to obey them. Then we increasingly absent ourselves from home, spending the time at church services and with Christians. This, in turn, increases their resentment against church and Christians. When Jesus healed the demoniac, Legion, He told him to go home and tell his friends what great things the Lord had done for him. That is the first thing we should do--give a simple, humble, loving testimony of our conversion.||Then this should be coupled with the witness of a changed life. We should let our light so shine before them that they will see our good works, and glorify our Father in heaven.||This will mean showing new honor, submission, love and respect for our parents, taking their advice unless it conflicts with Scripture. We should be more helpful at home than we have ever been before - cleaning our room, washing dishes, taking out the trash--and all this without being asked.||It will mean taking criticism patiently without retaliating. They will be pleasantly stunned by our spirit of brokenness, especially if they have never seen it before. Little kindnesses help break down opposition--letters of appreciation, greeting cards, phone calls and gifts. Instead of cutting ourselves off from our parents, we should spend time with them in an effort to strengthen relationships. Then they will be more likely to accept an invitation to attend church with us--and eventually to commit themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.",
"Nov 08","Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.||When a person becomes a Christian, he might think that he has to make a clean break with everything associated with his former life. To correct this thinking, the Apostle Paul lays down the general rule that a person should remain in the same calling in which he was at the time of his conversion. Let us consider this rule and suggest what it means and what it does not mean.||In its immediate context, the verse applies to a special marriage relationship. It is the case where one partner gets saved but the other does not. What should the believer do? Should he divorce his wife? No, says Paul, he should remain in that marriage relationship with the hope that his partner will be converted through his testimony.||In general, Paul's rule means that conversion does not require the violent disruption or forcible overthrow of pre-salvation relationships and associations that are not expressly forbidden by Scripture. For instance, a Jew need not resort to surgery in order to obliterate the physical mark of his Jewishness. Neither should a believing Gentile submit to some physical change like circumcision in order to distinguish him from the heathen. Physical features or marks are not what really matter. What God wants to see is obedience to His commandments.||A man who is a slave at the time of his new birth should not rebel against his servitude and thus bring trouble and punishment upon himself. He can be a good slave and a good Christian at the same time. Social position and class distinctions do not matter with God. However, if a slave can obtain his freedom by legitimate means, he should do so.||So much for what Paul's rule means. It should be obvious that there are important exceptions to the rule. For instance, it does not mean that a man in an ungodly occupation should continue in it. If a man is a bartender or operates a house of prostitution or a gambling casino, he will know by spiritual instinct that he has to make a change.||Another exception to the general rule has to do with religious associations. A new convert must not continue in any system where the great fundamentals of the Christian faith are denied. He must separate himself from any church where the Savior is dishonored. This would also apply to membership in social clubs where the Name of Christ is banned or even unwelcome. Loyalty to the Son of God requires that a believer resign from all such.||To summarize, then, the rule is that a new believer should remain in the calling in which he was called unless that calling is sinful and dishonoring to the Lord. He does not have to break with past associations unless they are clearly forbidden by the Word of God.",
"Nov 09","What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?.||James does not say that the man in today's verse has faith. The man himself says he has faith, but if he really had saving faith, he would have works also. His faith is a matter of words only, and that kind of faith cannot save anyone. Words without works are dead.||Salvation is not by works. Neither is it by faith plus works. Rather it is by the kind of faith that results in good works.||Why then does James say in verse 24 that a man is justified by works? Isn't this a flat contradiction of Paul's teaching that we are justified by faith? Actually there is no contradiction. Both are true. The fact is that there are six different aspects of justification in the New Testament, as follows:||We are justified by God --He is the One who reckons us righteous.||We are justified by grace --God gives us justification as a free, undeserved gift.||We are justified by faith --we receive this gift by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.||We are justified by blood --the precious blood of Christ is the price that was paid for our justification.||We are justified by power --the power that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead is the power that makes our justification possible.||We are justified by works --good works are the outward evidence to all that we have been truly justified.||It is not enough to testify to a conversion experience. We must demonstrate it by the good works that inevitably follow the new birth.||Faith is invisible. It is an unseen transaction that takes place between the soul and God. People cannot see our faith. But they can see the good works that are the fruit of saving faith. They have reason to doubt our faith until they see the works.||Abraham's good work was his willingness to slay his son as an offering to God. Rahab's good work was betraying her country. The reason they were 'good' works is because they demonstrated faith in Jehovah. Otherwise they would have been bad works, namely, murder and treason.||The body separated from the spirit is dead. That's what death is--the separation of the spirit from the body. So faith without works is dead also. It is lifeless, powerless and inoperative.||A living body demonstrates that an invisible spirit dwells within. So good works are the sure sign that there is saving faith, invisible as it is, dwelling within the person.",
"Nov 10","Maintain the spiritual glow. (Moffatt)||One of the laws that operates in the physical realm is that things tend to lose momentum or unwind or burn out. That is not a scientific statement of the law, but it gives the general idea.||We are told, for instance, that the sun is burning at a furious rate, and that although it can continue for a long time, its time-span is declining.||Bodies age, die and return to dust. A pendulum set in motion by hand slows down and then stops. We wind a clock or watch and soon it needs to be rewound. Hot water cools off to room temperature. Metals tarnish and grow dim. Colors fade. Nothing lasts indefinitely and there is no perpetual motion. Change and decay affect everything.||The world itself grows old. Speaking of the heavens and the earth, the Scripture says, 'They shall perish; but thou (God's Son) remainest: and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed'.||Unfortunately there seems to be a similar principle in the spiritual realm. It is true of individuals, churches, movements and institutions.||Even if a person begins the Christian life brilliantly, there is always the danger of zeal abating, of power subsiding and of vision ebbing. We grow weary, complacent, cold and old.||The same is true of churches. Many have started on the crest of a great movement of the Holy Spirit. The fire continues to burn brightly for years. Then decline sets in. The church leaves its first love. The honeymoon is over. Evangelistic fervor gives way to routine services. Doctrinal purity may be sacrificed for a worthless unity. At last an empty building is a silent witness that the glory has departed.||Movements and institutions are subject to decay. They may start off as mighty evangelistic outreaches, then become so engrossed in social work that the Gospel is largely neglected. Or they may begin with the enthusiasm and spontaneity of the Spirit, then lapse into cold ritual and formality. We need to guard against spiritual decline. We need to experience what Norman Grubb calls continuous revival. We need to 'maintain the spiritual glow.'",
"Nov 11","He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.||Living Bible paraphrases this verse, 'What a shame--yes, how stupid!--to decide before knowing the facts!' This pinpoints an important lesson. You cannot make an intelligent decision until you hear all the facts. Unfortunately many Christians do not wait to hear both sides of an issue. They form a judgment on the basis of one man's story, and often that judgment is totally wrong.||In 1979 Gary Brooks (fictitious name) was a member of the Board of Deacons of an evangelical church. He was extremely popular. He had a warm, outgoing personality. Whenever he entered a room full of people, it seemed to light up. He distinguished himself by serving the members of the church whenever they needed help. He was always attentive to the older folks in the congregation. His wife and two sons were also active in church affairs. The Brooks were looked on as a model family.||It was like an exploding bomb, therefore, when word got out that the elders had disciplined Gary by relieving him of his work as a deacon and asking him to refrain from participating in the communion service. Friends rallied to his defense and called on other church members to oppose the elders in this decision. The elders were at a disadvantage, not wishing to make a public announcement of all they knew. So they had to sit back and listen to Gary's virtues being extolled, knowing that there was another side to the story. And they had to take considerable abuse in the process.||What did the elders know? They knew that Gary's marriage was on the rocks because he had been carrying on an affair with his secretary. They knew that he had misappropriated church funds to finance his high lifestyle. They knew that he had engaged in unethical business practices, and that his testimony in the business world was negative. They also knew that he had lied to them when they confronted him with evidence of his wrongdoing.||Rather than submit to the discipline of the elders, Gary organized his friends in open defiance, even at the risk of splitting the church. Eventually a few of his followers spoke to one of the elders and learned some of the sad facts, but then they were too ashamed to do an about face. So they continued to fight on his behalf.||Three lessons emerge from all of this for us. First, don't try to form a judgment until you know all the facts. Second, if you can't get all the facts, withhold your judgment. Finally, don't let the bonds of friendship pressure you into defending unrighteousness.",
"Nov 12","He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him.||The first part of this verse points out a failing that is common to most of us--we invariably present evidence in such a way as to put ourselves in the best possible light. It comes quite naturally to us. For instance, we withhold facts that would prove damaging to us and concentrate on our good points. We compare ourselves with others whose failings are more obvious. We pass the blame for our actions on to others. We assign pious motives to actions that are patently wrong. We twist and distort the facts until they have only a faint resemblance to the reality. We use emotionally colored words to paint a more favorable picture.||Adam blamed Eve, 'The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat'. Eve blamed the Devil, 'The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat'.||Saul defended his disobedience in sparing the sheep and oxen of the Amalekites by assigning a pious motive: 'The people took of the spoil...to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God'. He also suggested, of course, that if there was blame, it was the people's, not his.||David lied to Ahimelech in order to get weapons, saying 'The king's business required haste'. Actually David wasn't on the king's business; he was fleeing from King Saul.||The woman at the well withheld the truth. She said, 'I have no husband'. Actually she had had five husbands and was now cohabiting with a man to whom she was not married.||And so it goes! Because of our fallen nature, inherited from Adam, it is difficult for us to be completely objective when presenting our own side of a matter. Our tendency is to picture ourselves in the most favorable light. We can have a kindly regard toward sins in our own life when we would vigorously condemn those same sins in someone else's.||'He that is first in his own cause seemeth just, but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him,' that is, when his neighbor has a chance to testify, he gives a more accurate presentation of the facts. He exposes all the subtle attempts at whitewashing and self-vindication. He tells the story without distortion.||Ultimately God is our Neighbor--the One who brings to light the hidden things of darkness and reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart. He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we are to walk in unclouded communion with Him, we must be honest and aboveboard in all our testimony, even if it results in our own undoing.",
"Nov 13","Ye have not, because ye ask not.||A verse like this raises an interesting question. If we have not because we ask not, what great things are we missing in life simply because we do not pray for them?||A similar question arises from, ''The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.' If this righteous man doesn't pray, then does it not follow that little is accomplished through him?||The trouble with most of us is that we do not pray enough, or when we do pray, we ask for so little. We are what C.T. Studd called 'nibblers of the possible instead of grabbers of the impossible.' Our prayers are timid and unimaginative when they should be bold and daring.||We should be honoring God by praying for great things. In John Newton's words,||Thou art coming to a King,||Large petitions with thee bring;||For His grace and power are such,||None can ever ask too much,||When we do this, we not only honor God; we enrich ourselves spiritually. He loves to open heaven's treasures to us, but today's verse suggest that He only does it in answer to prayer.||It seems to me that this verse answers a question that we often hear. The question is this: does prayer actually move God to do things that He would not have done otherwise, or does it merely bring us into harmony with what He would have done anyway? The answer seems clear: God does things in answer to prayer that He would not have done otherwise.||Our imaginations can run riot in two directions as we ponder this. First, we can think of the tremendous achievements that have come as a direct result of prayer. Borrowing the words of, we remember those who 'subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.'||But we can also think of what we ourselves might have accomplished for Christ if we had only asked. We can think of the many exceedingly great and precious promises in the Word which we have failed to claim. We have been weak when we might have been powerful. We have touched a few lives for God when we might have touched thousands or even millions. We have asked for acres when we might have asked for continents. We have been spiritual paupers when we might have been plutocrats. We do not have because we do not ask.",
"Nov 14","Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.||There are two kinds of greatness in the New Testament and it is helpful to distinguish them. There is a greatness associated with one's position and another greatness linked with one's personal character.||In speaking of John the Baptist, Jesus said that there was no greater prophet than he. Here the Savior was speaking about the greatness of John's position. No other prophet had the privilege of being the forerunner of the Messiah. It does not mean that John had a better character than any of the Old Testament prophets, but only that his was the unique assignment of introducing the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.||In, Jesus said to the disciples, 'My Father is greater than I.' Did He mean that His Father was greater personally? No, because all members of the Godhead are equal. He meant that the Father was enthroned in heavenly glory whereas He Himself was being despised and rejected by men on earth. The disciples should have rejoiced to know that Jesus was going back to the Father because then He would have the same glorious position as the Father.||All believers enjoy a great position by reason of their identification with the Lord Jesus. They are sons of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.||But then the New Testament also speaks of personal greatness. For instance, in, Jesus said, 'Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.' The greatness here is a greatness of personal character, demonstrated by a life of service to others.||Most men of the world are interested only in greatness as far as their position is concerned. The Lord Jesus referred to this when he said, 'The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors' (Luk 22:25). But as far as their personal character is concerned, they may be utterly devoid of greatness. They may be adulterers, embezzlers and alcoholics.||The Christian realizes that positional greatness without greatness of character is worthless. It's what's inside a person that counts. The fruit of the Spirit is more important than a high place on the corporate ladder. It's better to be listed among the saints than among the stars.",
"Nov 15","...this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. (b)||Ordinarily when we read these words, we tend to think that Paul was speaking about his past sins. He knew that these sins had been forgiven, that God had put them behind His back, and that He would never remember them again. So Paul was determined to forget them too and to 'press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.'||I still think that is a valid application of the verse. But Paul is not thinking about his sins in this passage. Rather he is thinking about the things in which he might have boasted--his lineage, his former religion, his zeal and his legal righteousness. Now these things meant nothing to him. He was determined to forget them.||I am reminded of John Sung, the devoted Chinese evangelist, who had come to the United States for training. Now he was on his way back to China. Leslie Lyall writes that 'one day, as the vessel neared the end of its voyage, John Sung went down to his cabin, took out of his trunk his diplomas, his medals, and his fraternity keys and threw them all overboard except his doctor's diploma, which he retained to satisfy his father. This was later framed and hung in his old home. The Rev. W. B. Cole saw it there about 1938. Dr. Sung noticed Mr. Cole looking at it one day and said, 'Things like that are useless. They mean nothing to me.''||''There must be great renunciations if there are to be great Christian careers!' Dr. Denney's words might have been written with Dr. Sung in mind. It is probably the chief secret of John Sung's career that there came a day when he made just such a renunciation of all that this world holds dear.'||Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast||Save in the Cross of Christ my God;||All the vain things that charm me most,||I sacrifice them to His blood.||Man's honors are transient, empty things. They are cherished for a moment, then gather dust for decades. The Cross is all our glory. We make it our ambition to be well-pleasing to Him who died for us and rose again. All that matters is to hear His 'Well done!' and to be approved unto God. We are willing to renounce everything else to win that prize.",
"Nov 16","...they that are unlearned and unstable wrest...the Scriptures, unto their own destruction. (b)||Dr. P. J. Van Gorder used to tell about a sign over a woodworker's shop which said, 'All kinds of twisting and turning done here.' It is not only woodworkers that are good at that; many professing Christians twist and turn the Scriptures when it suits them. Some, as our verse says, even wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction.||We are all fairly expert at rationalizing, i.e., at excusing our sinful disobedience by giving creditable explanations or assigning worthy motives to our actions. We often try to bend the Scriptures to suit our behavior. We give plausible but untrue reasons for our conduct or attitudes. Here are some examples.||A Christian businessman knows that it is wrong for him to go to law against another believer. Yet when he is challenged about it, he says, 'Yes, but he was definitely wrong, and the Lord doesn't want him to get away with it.'||Jane is planning to marry John, even when she knows he is not a believer. When a Christian friend reminds her that this is forbidden by, she says, 'Yes, but the Lord told me to marry him so I can lead him to Christ.'||Glen and Ruth profess to be Christians, yet they are living together without being married. When a friend of Glen pointed out that this was fornication and that no fornicator will inherit the kingdom of God, Glen replied, 'That's what you say. We are deeply in love with one another, and in God's sight we are married.' Here is a Christian family living in luxury and splendor, in spite of Paul's admonition that we should live simply, being content with food and covering. They justify their lifestyle with the pat answer, 'There's nothing too good for the people of God.'||Or here is a covetous businessman, greedily amassing all the wealth he can. His philosophy is, 'There's nothing the matter with money. It's the love of money that's the root of all evil.' It never occurs to him that he might be guilty of loving money.||Men try to put a better interpretation on their sins than the Scriptures allow. And when they are determined to disobey the Word, one excuse is as good (or bad) as another.",
"Nov 17","And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.||There was no question as to what God required in sacrificial animals. They had to be without spot or blemish. He expected His people to offer the choicest animals from their herds or flocks. God wants the best.||But what were the Israelites doing? They were offering blind, lame and sick animals. The choice animals would bring a high price in the market, or would be desirable for breeding. So the people offered the culls, saying in effect, 'Anything is good enough for the Lord.'||Before we look down on the Israelites with shock and scorn, we should ponder whether we twentieth century Christians might also be dishonoring God by failing to give Him the best.||We spend our lives building a fortune, trying to make a name for ourselves, living in a status home in suburbia, enjoying the finer things, then give God the fag end of a burned-out life. Our finest talents go to business and the professions, and the Lord gets our spare evenings or weekends.||We raise our children for the world, encouraging them to make a lot of money, marry well, and own a prestigious home with all the modern conveniences. We never hold the work of the Lord before them as a desirable way in which they should spend their lives. The mission field is all right for other people's children, but not for ours.||We spend our money on expensive cars, recreational vehicles, sailing boats, and high class sports equipment, then give a paltry dollar or two to the work of the Lord. We wear expensive clothes, then get a feeling of euphoria when we donate our cast-offs to the Salvation Army.||What we are saying, in effect, is that anything is good enough for the Lord, but that we want the best for ourselves. And the Lord is saying to us, 'Go, and offer it to the President. See if he would be pleased with it.' The President would be insulted. Well, so is the Lord. Why should we treat Him in a way we would not think of treating the President?||God wants the best. He deserves the best. Let us determine with all sincerity that He will have our best.",
"Nov 18","Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.||One important element of practical wisdom is tactfulness. The Christian should learn how to be tactful. This means that he should develop a delicate sensitivity as to what to do or say so as to avoid offense and cement good relations. The tactful person puts himself in the other fellow's shoes and asks himself, 'How would I like to have that said or done to me?' He seeks to be diplomatic, considerate, gracious and discerning.||Unfortunately the Christian faith has had its share of tactless adherents. One classic example was a Christian barber in a small midwestern town. When a luckless customer entered the shop one day and asked for a shave, the barber seated him, tied the usual white cloth around his neck and tilted back the chair. On the ceiling the customer saw the words 'Where will you spend eternity?' The barber lathered his face liberally; then as he began to sharpen the razor on the strop, he began his evangelistic witness with the question, 'Are you prepared to meet God?' The customer bolted out of the chair--towel, lather and all--and hasn't been heard from since.||Then there was the zealous student who went out one night to do some personal evangelism. Walking down a dark street, he saw a young lady walking ahead of him in the shadows. As he tried to catch up with her she began to run. Anxious, he ran after her. When she doubled her pace, he did the same. Finally she ran up onto the porch of a house in near shock and started fumbling in her handbag for her keys. As he ran up onto the porch, she was too paralyzed with fear to scream. Then smilingly he handed her a tract and left, happy to have reached another sinner with the Gospel.||Great tact is needed in visiting the sick. It doesn't help to say, 'You really do look sick' or 'I knew a person with the same trouble--and he died.' Who needs that kind of comfort?||And we should be tactful when we visit the bereaved. We shouldn't be like the Texan who said to the widow of a slain politician, 'And just to think that it had to happen in Texas!'||God bless those choice saints who always seem to know how to speak the gracious, appropriate word. And God teach the rest of us how to be tactful diplomats instead of tactless bumblers.",
"Nov 19","I know thy...tribulation, and poverty.||Seven times in His letters to the churches of Asia, the Lord Jesus says 'I know' and usually those words are used in a favorable sense. 'I know thy works...thy labour...thy patience...thy tribulation...thy poverty...and charity...and faith.' In those words 'I know' there is tremendous comfort and sympathy and encouragement for God's people.||Lehman Strauss points out that when Jesus said 'I know,' 'He did not use the word ginoske, which frequently means to know in the sense of realizing through progress in knowledge. He used the word oida, which suggests fullness of knowledge, to know perfectly, not merely from observation, but from experience. Though suffering saints are unknown to the world and hated by the world, they are known to the Lord and loved by Him. Christ knows the persecution and poverty of His own; He knows how the world looks upon them. Many a tired, tried, and troubled saint has been strengthened and encouraged by those two monosyllables, I know. Those two words uttered by our Saviour touch our troubles with the smile of God, and make this world's suffering 'not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us''||They are words of sympathy. Our Great High Priest knows what we are going through because He has been through it Himself. He is the Man of sorrows and is acquainted with grief. He has suffered, being tempted.||They are words of sharing. As the Head of the body, He shares the trials and persecutions of the members. 'In every pang that rends the heart, the Man of sorrows has a part.' He not only knows intellectually what we are going through; He knows it as a matter of present experience. He feels it.||They are words of promised help. As our Paraclete, He comes alongside to bear our burdens and wipe away our falling tears. He is there to bind up our wounds and to drive back our foes.||Finally, they are words of assured rewards. He knows everything we do and suffer because of our identification with Him. He keeps a careful record of every act of love, obedience and patience. One day soon He will richly repay.||If you are passing through a valley of sorrow or suffering just now, hear the Savior saying to you, 'I know.' You are not alone. He is with you in the valley, will bring you safely through, and will lead you safely to your desired destination.",
"Nov 20","Be careful that nobody spoils your faith through intellectualism or high-sounding nonsense. Such stuff is at best founded on men's ideas of the nature of the world and disregards Christ! (Phillips)||The word which Phillips translates 'intellectualism' here is the one from which we get the word 'philosophy.' Basically it means the love of wisdom, but then it has acquired a further meaning, namely, the search for reality and the purpose of life.||Most human philosophies are expressed in complicated, highsounding language. They are above the head of the common man. They appeal to those who like to use their intellectual powers in clothing human speculations with words that are difficult to understand.||Frankly, human philosophies are inadequate. Phillips speaks of them as 'intellectualism and high-sounding nonsense.' They are based on man's ideas of the nature of things and disregard Christ. As famous a philosopher as Bertrand Russell is quoted as saying toward the close of his life, 'Philosophy has proved a washout to me.'||The wise Christian is not taken in by the high-sounding nonsense of modern intellectualism. He refuses to bow at the shrine of man's wisdom. Instead he realizes that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ. He tests all human philosophies by the Word of God and rejects all that is contrary to the Scriptures.||He is not moved when philosophers hit the headlines with some new attack on the Christian faith. He has the maturity of judgment to realize that he cannot expect anything better from them.||He does not feel inferior that he cannot converse with the philosophers in words of many syllables or follow them in their involved reasonings. He is suspicious of their inability to state their message simply, and rejoices that the Gospel is such that wayfaring men, though fools, can grasp it.||He detects in modern philosophies the lure of the serpent, '...ye shall be as gods'. Man is tempted to exalt his mind above the mind of God. But the wise Christian rejects the devil's lie. He casts down human reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.",
"Nov 21","At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and...every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.||What a scene that will be! Every knee in the universe bowing to the sacred name of Jesus! Every tongue confessing that He is Lord! God has decreed it and it will surely come to pass.||This is not universal salvation. Paul is not suggesting here that all created beings will eventually embrace Christ as their living, loving Lord. Rather he is saying that those who refuse to make the great confession in this life will be compelled to make it in the next. All created beings will eventually acknowledge the truth about Jesus Christ. There will be universal submission.||In one of his messages, Jesus is Lord, John Stott said, 'During the coronation of Her Majesty the Queen in Westminster Abbey, one of the most moving moments was when the crown was about to be placed upon her head and when the Archbishop of Canterbury, the chief citizen in the country, called four times towards each point of the compass in the Abbey, north, south, east and west, 'Sirs, I present unto you the undoubted Queen of this realm. Are you willing to do her homage?' And not until a great affirmative shout had thundered down the nave of Westminster Abbey four times was the crown placed upon her head.'||Then John Stott added, 'And I say unto you tonight, Ladies and Gentlemen, 'I present unto you Jesus Christ as your undoubted King and Lord. Are you willing to do Him homage?''||That insistent question rings down the centuries. From many, a great affirmative shout goes up, 'Jesus Christ is our Lord.' From others the defiant reply is, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.' The clenched fist will one day be forced open and the hitherto unbending knee will bow to Him whose Name is above every Name. The tragedy is that it will be too late then. The day of God's grace will have ended. The opportunity to trust the sinner's Savior will have passed. The One whose Lordship had been spurned will then become the Judge, seated upon a great white throne.||If He is not your Lord today, confess Him as such. Be willing to do Him homage!",
"Nov 22","Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity (love)...||After a young soprano had made her debut on the opera stage, a critic wrote that her brilliant performance would have been even better if she had ever loved. He detected the absence of love. Apparently her singing was technically correct but it lacked warmth.||We too can go through life, doing everything according to the rules. We can be honest, dependable, righteous, generous, energetic and humble. Yet all these virtues cannot compensate for a lack of love.||Many of us have a hard time knowing how to give love and to receive it. I read recently of a celebrity 'who could do everything except express what he felt for the people he loved.'||In his book, People in Prayer, John White wrote, 'For many years I was frightened of being loved. I did not mind giving love (or what I thought was love), but I grew ill at ease if anyone, man, woman or child, showed too much affection for me. In our family we had never learned how to handle love. We were not very expert at demonstrating it or receiving it. I don't mean that we did not love one another or that we did not find ways of showing it. But we were very British. When I was nineteen and leaving home to go to war, my father did something quite unprecedented. He put his hands on my shoulder and kissed me. I was stunned. I knew neither what to say nor what to do. For me it was very embarrassing while for my father it must have been very sad.'||One day White had a vision of Christ standing before him, with nail-scarred hands outstretched toward him. At first he felt helpless to receive Christ's love. Then he prayed, 'O Lord, I want to grasp your hands. But I can't.'||'In the quietness that followed, there came to me an assurance that the defensive wall I had built around me would gradually be dismantled and that I would learn what it was to let Christ's love wrap around me and fill me.'||If we have built defensive walls around ourselves, hindering the flow of love to and from us, we must let the Lord dismantle those walls, and deliver us from the fears that make us cold Christians.",
"Nov 23","...the way of transgressors is hard. (b)||If proof were needed that the way of transgressors is hard, we would only need to pick out a daily newspaper at random and we would find plenty of illustrations. I did that just as an experiment and here are the results:||A Nazi war criminal who had escaped detection and capture in South America for 35 years committed suicide. The fear of trial and probable execution made further living unendurable.||A 74 year old man was kidnapped at gunpoint by three men who demanded $90,000 ransom from his son. The son is a reputed drug dealer, currently fleeing from police and federal drug agents.||A member of the U. S. House of Representatives was expelled from the House for accepting a bribe in return for a promise to grant a political favor. It appears that his ouster from Congress will be permanent.||Afghan rebels continue to battle invading Russian troops. The newspaper article does not mention the fact that the government of Afghanistan had previously bulldozed the only Christian church building in the country. Could the Russian invasion be divine retribution?||A police captain falsely reported that his car had been stolen. He hoped to collect insurance on it. He had been considered an outstanding officer and was likely to be tapped for police chief one day. Now he has been dropped from the force and awaits a criminal investigation.||Sometimes we, like the Psalmist, are tempted to envy the wicked. It seems that the world is their oyster and everything works out well for them. But we forget that they reap an inevitable harvest of guilt, shame and fear of exposure. Often they become victims of blackmail and extortion. They fear for their own lives and the lives of their family members. They have to maintain elaborate and expensive protection systems. They face the prospect of arrest, costly litigation and fines or imprisonment. Life becomes a nightmare instead of the dream for which they had hoped.||One man who had learned the lesson well said to Sam Jones, the preacher, with deep conviction, 'I know one verse of Scripture and I know that one is true: 'The way of transgressors is hard.'' He had proved that sin's built-in consequences are inescapable and extremely unpleasant.",
"Nov 24","Then began he to curse and to swear.||A bishop was walking alone in his garden one day, meditating on the activities of the past week. When the memory of a very embarrassing incident flashed across his mind, he let out a string of expletives that were rather salty, to say the least. One of his parishioners, walking on the other side of the high garden wall, heard the unministerial language and gasped in disbelief.||It was a case of private profanity--a heartbreaking trial in the life of many an earnest child of God. Hundreds groan under the oppression of this hideous habit, realizing how dishonoring it is to the Lord and how defiling it is in one's own life. Yet all their efforts to break the habit prove fruitless.||The unwelcome words usually pour forth when a person is alone (or thinks he is) and when he is under nervous tension. Sometimes they are the audible expression of pent-up anger. Sometimes they give vent to our feelings of frustration. In the bishop's case, they were his natural reaction to the shame of being embarrassed.||Even worse than the agony of private profanity is the fear that some day the words will slip out in public. Or when we are asleep. Or when we are under an anesthetic in the hospital.||This old habit returned to Peter on the night of the Savior's trial. When he was pointed out as a companion of Jesus of Galilee, he denied it with curses and swearing. He never would have done it in a relaxed state, but now he was in peril and in extreme duress, and the words came forth with all the facility of his unconverted days.||In spite of our best intentions and most earnest resolutions, the words slip out before we have a chance to think. They catch us completely off guard.||Must we despair of ever conquering this Goliath in our lives? No, there is the promise of victory over this as over all other temptations. First, we must confess and forsake the sin every time we fall. Then we must cry to God to put a watch before our lips. We must ask for power to respond to the unfavorable circumstances of life with poise and quietness. Sometimes the act of confessing the fault to some other believer helps to break the powerful habit. Finally, we must always remember that while others may not hear it on earth, our Father hears it in heaven. The remembrance of how offensive it is to Him should serve as a powerful deterrent for us.",
"Nov 25","...and be ye thankful.||A thankful heart adds sparkle to all of life. At the close of a dinner, one of the children said, 'That was a good meal, Mother.' That remark created a new sense of warmth in an already happy house.||Too often we fail to express our thanks. The Lord Jesus healed ten lepers, but only one returned to give thanks, and that one was a Samaritan (Luk 17:17). Two lessons emerge. Gratitude is rare in a world of fallen men. And when it does appear, it often comes from the least-expected sources.||It is easy for us to feel grieved when we show kindness to others and they do not even have the courtesy to say 'Thank you.' By the same token, we should realize how others feel when we fail to express gratitude for favors received.||Even a cursory examination of the Bible reveals that it is punctuated with exhortations and examples of thanksgiving to God. We have so many things for which to be grateful to Him; we could not possibly tabulate them all. Our whole lives should be psalms of thanks to Him.||Ten thousand, thousand precious gifts My daily thanks employ; Nor is the least a cheerful heart To taste those gifts with joy.||And we should cultivate the habit of expressing thanks to one another as well. A warm handshake, a phone call or a letter--what uplift they bring! An aged doctor received a note of thanks along with the payment from one of his patients. He kept that note among his prized possessions; it was the first one he had ever received.||We should be quick to express gratitude for gifts, for hospitality, for free transportation, for the loan of tools or other equipment, for help with our work projects, for every form of kindness and service that is shown to us.||The trouble is that too often we take these things for granted. Or we are too undisciplined to sit down and write a letter. In that case, we must work at the habit of thanksgiving, developing an awareness of all that we have for which to be grateful, then training ourselves to acknowledge these things promptly. The promptness of the acknowledgment doubles the thanks.",
"Nov 26","Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.||The first part of today's verse is 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.' This is usually taken to mean that people must have goals toward which they are working. They must have a definite program in mind with a clear picture of the results desired and the steps leading to them.||But the word vision here means 'a revelation from God.' And the word 'perish' means 'cast off restraint.' So the thought is that where the Word of God is not known and respected, the people run wild.||The contrast is found in the second half of the verse: 'He that keepeth the law, happy is he.' In other words, the path of blessedness is found in obeying the will of God as it is found in the Word.||Let us think about the first part of the verse. Where people abandon the knowledge of God, they become unrestrained in their conduct. Suppose, for instance, that a nation turns away from God and explains everything on the basis of the evolutionary process. That means that man is the result of purely natural processes and not the creation of a supernatural Being. If that is so, then there is no basis for ethical standards. All our behavior is the inevitable result of natural causes. As Lunn and Lean point out in The New Morality, 'If the first living cell evolved by a purely natural process on the surface of a lifeless planet, if the mind of man be as much the product of natural and material forces as a volcano, it is as irrational to condemn South African politicians for apartheid as to condemn a volcano for erupting lava.'||If God's Word is rejected, then there are no absolute standards of right and wrong. Ethical truths depend on the individuals or groups holding them. People become the judge of their own conduct. Their philosophy is 'If it feels good, do it.' The fact that 'everyone's doing it' is all the justification that is needed.||Thus the people cast off restraint. They abandon themselves to fornication, adultery and homosexuality. Crime and violence increase to alarming proportions. Corruption spreads throughout business and government. Lying and deceit become accepted forms of behavior. The fabric of society disintegrates.||'...but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.' Even when the rest of the world runs riot, the individual believer can find the good life in believing and obeying God's Word. This is the only way to go.",
"Nov 27","Surely I come quickly.||As we approach the end of the age, it is predictable that many will abandon the hope of Christ's any-moment return. But the truth is still there whether men hold it or not.||The fact is that the Lord Jesus may come at any time. We do not know the day or hour of the Bridegroom's return for His bride; this means that He could come today. There is no prophecy that needs to be fulfilled before we hear His shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. True, the church expects to experience tribulation throughout its time on earth, but the horrors of the Tribulation period are not part of its destiny. If the church has to go through, the Tribulation, that would mean that the Lord couldn't come for at least seven years, because we certainly are not in the Tribulation now, and when it does come, it will last for seven years.||There is a large body of Scripture texts that teach us to be ready at all times for the Savior to appear. Notice the following: '...nearer than when we believed'.||'The night is far spent, the day is at hand'.||'The Lord is at hand'.||'For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry'.||'...the coming of the Lord draweth nigh'.||'...the judge standeth before the door'.||'But the end of all things is at hand''. These verses seem designed to create the impression on the mind that the Lord's coming is imminent. It is an event for which we should be watching and waiting. We should be busy in His service, faithfully carrying out our stewardship.||R. A. Torrey once said, 'The imminent return of our Lord is the great Bible argument for a pure, unselfish, devoted, unworldly, active life of service. In much of our preaching we urge people to live holy and work diligently because death is swiftly coming, but this is never the Bible argument. The Bible argument always is, Christ is coming; be ready when He comes.'||Our responsibility is clear. Our loins should be girded, our lights should be burning, and we should be like those who wait for their Lord (see). Let us not succumb to those who teach that we have no right to expect Him at any moment. Rather let us believe in His imminent return, teach it enthusiastically, and let the truth shine out in our lives.",
"Nov 28","By the grace of God I am what 1 am.||One of the self-inflicted agonies of life is trying to be someone you were never intended to be. Everyone is a unique creation of God. As someone has said, 'When He made us, He threw away the pattern.' He never intended us to try to change it.||Maxwell Maltz wrote, ''You' as a personality are not in competition with any other personality simply because there is not another person on the face of the earth like you, or in your particular class. You are an individual. You are unique. You are not 'like' any other person and can never become 'like' any other person. You are not 'supposed' to be like any other person and no other person is 'supposed' to be like you.'||'God did not create a standard person and in some way label that person by saying 'this is it.' He made every human being individual and unique just as He made every snowflake individual and unique.'||Everyone of us is the product of the wisdom and love of God. In making us as we are, He knew exactly what He was doing. Our appearance, our intelligence and our talents represent His best for us. Anyone with infinite knowledge and infinite love would have done the same.||Now then, to wish we were someone else is an insult to God. It suggests that He has made a mistake or has withheld from us something that would have been for our good.||Lusting to be like someone else is futile. There is a finality about what God has made us and what He has given us. Of course we can imitate the virtues of other people, but what we are thinking about here is what we are as God's creation.||If we go through life dissatisfied with God's design for our lives, we will be paralyzed with feelings of inferiority. But it is not a question of inferiority. We are not inferior--just individual and unique.||The attempt to be someone else is doomed to end in failure. It is as unthinkable as a little finger trying to do the work of the heart. That was not God's design and it simply won't work.||The proper attitude is to say with Paul, 'By the grace of God I am what I am'. We should rejoice in what we are as a distinct design of God and determine to use what we are and have to the maximum for His glory. There are many things we won't be able to do, but there are other things we can do that others cannot.",
"Nov 29","I can of mine own self do nothing.||Twice in the Lord Jesus says that He can do nothing of Himself. In verse 19, He says, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself...' Then again in verse 30 He says, 'I can of mine own self do nothing...'||When we first read these verses, we are apt to feel disappointed. They seem to say that Jesus was limited in His power, just like ourselves. But if He is God, as He claimed to be, He must be omnipotent. How then could He say that He could do nothing of Himself? Indeed, the enemies of the Gospel have used these verses to show that Jesus was just a man with all the limitations of humanity.||But look more closely! Our Lord was not speaking of His physical power. What He was insisting was that He was so devoted to the will of His Father that He could not do anything on His own initiative. He was so morally perfect that He could not act in self will. He wanted nothing apart from the will of God.||You and I cannot say that we can do nothing of ourselves. Too often we act independently of the Lord. We make decisions without consulting Him. We yield to temptation with full knowledge that we are sinning. We choose our own will above His. The Lord Jesus could do none of these things.||Therefore, instead of suggesting that Jesus Christ was weak and finite, the verses prove the very opposite--that He was divinely perfect. This is made clear by reading the verses in their entirety rather than stopping at midpoint. What Jesus said in verse 19 was, 'The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.' In other words, the Son cannot act independently of the Father, but He can do whatever the Father does. It is a claim to equality with God.||Then again in verse 30, Jesus said, 'I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.' This means that He made decisions only on the basis of instructions that He received from His Father, and that His complete submission to God's will insured that these decisions were correct.||J. S. Baxter points out that this passage contains seven distinct claims by Christ to be equal with God. Equal in working (v. 19); equal in knowing (v. 20); equal in resurrecting (w. 21,28, 29); equal in judging (vv. 22, 27); equal in honor (v. 23); equal in regenerating (vv. 24, 25); equal in self-existence (v. 26). Our Savior is not a weak, frail creature with limited power but omnipotent God manifest in the flesh.",
"Nov 30","Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ...For every man shall bear his own burden. (Gal 6:5)||A casual reading of these two verses might easily convince a person that they present a glaring contradiction. The first says we should bear one another's burdens, the second that we must bear our own burden.||The word translated 'burdens' in verse 2 means anything that weighs a person down spiritually, physically and emotionally. In its immediate context it refers to the heavy weight of guilt and despondency that has come into the life of a man who has been overtaken in a fault (v. 1). We help such a brother when we throw a loving arm around him and win him back to a life of fellowship with God and with God s people. But burdens also include the sorrows, troubles, trials and frustrations of life which come to us all. We bear one another's burdens when we comfort, encourage, share our material things, and give constructive advice. It means to involve ourselves in the problems of others, even at a great personal cost. When we do this, we fulfill the law of Christ; which is to love one another. We demonstrate our love in a practical way by spending and being spent for others.||A different word is used for 'burden' in verse 5. Here it means anything that has to be carried, without any hint as to whether the load is heavy or light. What Paul is saying here is that everyone will have to bear his own load of responsibility at the judgment seat of Christ. It will not be a question then as to how we compare with others. We will be judged on the basis of our own record, and the rewards will be passed out accordingly.||The connection between the two verses seems to be this. A person who restores one who is overtaken in a fault might fall into the trap of feeling himself superior. In bearing the burdens of the fallen brother, he might somehow think of himself as being on a higher level of spirituality. He sees himself as comparing favorably with the sinning saint. Paul reminds him that when he stands before the Lord, he will have to give account for himself, for his own work and for his own character, and not for the other person. He will have to bear his own load of accountability.||So the two verses do not fight against one another. Rather they live in the closest harmony.",
"Dec 01","If thou shalt hear say...then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain... (Deu 13:14)||If a rumor circulated that the people of a city in Israel had forsaken God for idols, there had to be an intensive investigation before any punitive action could be taken.||We should be no less careful when we hear a rumor or gossip, but should apply the six tests: Is it hearsay? Have I inquired? Have I made search? Have I asked diligently? Is it true? Is it certain?||In fact, it would be a good idea if we used the same thoroughness and caution before passing on sensational news items that appear in religious circles from time to time. Let me give some illustrations!||Some time ago the story circulated that stones for building a temple in Jerusalem were stored in a pier in New York, ready for shipment to Israel when the proper time arrived. The stones were reported to be of Indiana limestone. Christians circulated the news enthusiastically, only to be discredited when it was learned that there was no truth to the report.||At another time, the story broke that scientists had fed extensive data concerning the calendar of human history into a computer and that the results confirmed the Scriptural narrative of Joshua's long day. Anxious for any news that confirms the Bible, believers avidly spread the story in magazines and by the spoken word. Then the bubble burst. The story proved to be without foundation.||More recently a mathematical computation has been used to suggest that some unpopular public figure might be the Antichrist. Here is how it works! A numerical value is assigned to each letter of this personality's name. Then by following a certain series of additions, subtractions, multiplications and divisions, you come up with the number 666. Of course, it proves nothing at all. Mathematical computations could be devised to yield 666 for almost anyone's name.||I have a tract stating that Charles Darwin, in the closing days of his life, disavowed evolution and returned to his faith in the Bible. This may be true. I would like to believe that it is true. Maybe some day I'll find that it is true. But in the meantime I have no documentation for the story, and I dare not circulate it until I do have.||We will save ourselves a lot of embarrassment and save the Christian faith from being discredited if we apply the six tests in today's verses: Is it hearsay? Have I inquired? Have I made search? Have I asked diligently? Is it true? Is it certain?",
"Dec 02","...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.||Singing here is linked to the filling of the Spirit, as if song is one of the sure results of the filling. Perhaps this is why almost all the great revivals of history have been accompanied by singing. The Welsh revival is a notable example.||No people have as much to sing about as Christians, and no people have such a rich heritage of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Our hymns express in majestic language what we so often feel but cannot express. Some hymns express thoughts that may be beyond our own experience--hymns of total commitment such as 'All to Jesus I Surrender.' In such cases, we can sing them as the aspiration of our hearts.||In spiritual singing, it is not the rhythm or the melody or the harmony that counts. The important thing is that the message comes from the heart and rises to God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary Bowley expressed this truth well in the lines:||O Lord, we know it matters not||How sweet the song may be;||No heart but of the Spirit taught||Makes melody to Thee.||The Spirit of God can use singing just as He can use the preaching of the Word. The mother of Grattan Guinness heard a farmer singing as he plowed his field, and she decided not to commit suicide by drowning in the river. Dr. Guinness said later, 'All that I am for God, I owe to a humble Christian plowman singing the praises of the Lord as he did his lowly task.'||Those who engage in the ministry of Christian music have to guard against two perils. One is the danger of self creeping in. As with other forms of public ministry, it is easy to embark on a giant ego trip. There is always the temptation to try to impress people with one's talent rather than singing to the glory of God and for the blessing of His people.||The other is the danger of entertaining rather than edifying. It is all too possible to sing words with great musical skill and yet not convey the message to the hearts of the listeners. And it is possible to excite people emotionally with songs that are frothy, frivolous and quite unworthy of the Lord we love.||Different cultures have different tastes in music, but in all cultures the songs should be doctrinally sound, uniformly reverent, and spiritually edifying.",
"Dec 03","He...preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.||After Saul of Tarsus was converted, the churches of Judea heard that this arch-persecutor of the Christian faith had become an ardent preacher and defender of the faith. It was a remarkable reversal.||In more recent times, there have been spectacular incidents where men have done a similar about-face.||Lord Littleton and Gilbert West decided jointly that they would overthrow the faith of those who defended the Bible. Littleton would disprove the records of the conversion of Saul, while West would prove conclusively that the resurrection of Christ was a myth. 'They both had to acknowledge that they were rusty about the Bible records, but they decided, 'If we are to be honest, we ought at least to study the evidence. They conferred often during their work on the subjects in hand. In one of these conferences Littleton opened his heart to his friend and confessed that he was beginning to feel that there was something in it'. The other man replied that he himself had been a bit shaken by the results of his study. Finally, when the books were finished, the two authors met and found that each of them, instead of writing against, had produced books in favor of the subjects they had set out to ridicule. They agreed that after going into all the evidence as legal experts, they could honestly do nothing else but accept what the Bible records state as true regarding both subjects' (Frederick P. Wood). Lord Littleton's book was The Conversion of St. Paul. West's book was titled The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The infidel, Robert C. Ingersoll challenged an agnostic, Lew Wallace, to write a book showing the falsity of the record concerning Jesus Christ. Wallace spent years in researching the subject, much to the sorrow of his Methodist wife. Then he began to write. When he had finished nearly four chapters, he realized that the records concerning Christ were true. He fell on his knees in repentance and trusted Christ as Lord and Savior. Then he wrote the book Ben Hur, presenting Christ as the divine Son of God.||Frank Morison wanted to write a story concerning Christ, but since he didn't believe in the miraculous, he decided to limit himself to the seven days leading up to the crucifixion. However, as he studied the biblical records, he extended the subject to the resurrection. Convinced now that Christ had truly risen, he received Him as his Savior and wrote the book Who Moved the Stone? The first chapter is titled The Book that Refused to be Written.||The Bible is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is its own best proof. Those who attack and ridicule it should face the possibility of one day believing it and becoming its devoted champions.",
"Dec 04","I have filled him with the Spirit of God...in all manner of workmanship.||Today's text refers to Bezaleel, who was equipped by the Holy Spirit to superintend the building of the Tabernacle. He was skilled to work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones and to carve timber. The Spirit of God made him a craftsman to do these practical types of work.||The Choice Gleanings calendar quotes E. Tramp as saying, 'We generally overlook this phase of the Spirit's ministry. Whether in the field or the factory, the office or the home, the believer can claim the Spirit's assistance in daily labor. A man I know has made an altar out of his factory bench. A Martha in our midst has made her kitchen table into a communion table. Another still has changed his office desk into a pulpit, from which to speak and write, transforming commonplace affairs into the business of the King.'||In Nazareth, Israel, there is a Christian hospital that ministers primarily to Arabs. On the grounds of the hospital is a chapel. But when a preacher gets up to speak, he does not stand behind a pulpit. Instead he stands behind a polished carpenter's bench with a wooden vise at one end. This is a beautiful and needed reminder that our Lord worked as a carpenter in Nazareth, and that a workbench was His pulpit.||A doctor in the Midwest sought to treat men's souls as well as their bodies. Sometimes after he had talked with a person in the clinic and given a thorough examination, he would suspect that the problem was spiritual rather than physical. That night he would go to the patient's house and ring the bell. At first the patient would be startled to see the doctor. But then the kindly physician would say something like this: 'I am not coming to see you as a doctor but to visit you as a friend. There's something I'd like to talk to you about. Do you mind if I come in?' Of course, the person didn't mind, so the doctor would go in and talk to him about his spiritual need. Then he would explain how the Lord Jesus was the answer to that need. Many of the patients committed their lives to the Lord and went on to serve Him well. Many will be forever thankful for the ministry of the beloved doctor who cared for their souls as well as their bodies.||The Lord has many unconventional pulpits in the world today. As Tramp said, many have learned how to transform ordinary affairs into the business of the King.",
"Dec 05","When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. (b)||There are desperate crisis times in life when Satan launches all his heaviest artillery against the Lord's people. The sky is dark, the earth trembles and there does not seem to be a single ray of hope. But God has promised to send reinforcements to His people in the moment of extremity. The Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against the Devil in the nick of time.||Enslaved by the Egyptian tyrant, the outlook for the people of Israel was bleak. They were cringing under the lashes of the taskmaster. But God was not indifferent to their groans. He raised up Moses to confront the Pharaoh and finally to lead His people out to freedom.||In the time of the Judges, foreign invaders held the tribes of Israel in servitude. Yet in the darkest hour the Lord raised up military deliverers to drive back the enemy and usher in a period of tranquility.||When Sennacherib led the Assyrian army against Jerusalem, the captivity of Judah seemed certain. Humanly speaking, there was no way of stopping the invading juggernaut. However, the angel of the Lord went throughout the camp of the Assyrians at night and slew 185,000 men.||When Esther was queen in Persia, the enemy came in like a flood, passing an unchangeable decree that all the Jews in the kingdom should be executed. Was God checkmated by this decree of the Medes and the Persians? No, He so arranged matters that another decree was passed, permitting the Jews to defend themselves on the fateful day. The Jews, of course, were overwhelmingly victorious.||When Savonarola saw poverty, oppression and injustice in Florence, he became a standard in the hands of the Spirit to bring reform.||When Martin Luther began to thunder out against the sale of indulgences and other sins of the church, it was as if a light went on in an age of darkness.||Queen Mary was making havoc of the true Christian faith in England and Scotland. But God raised up a man named John Knox in that time of desperate need. 'Throwing himself on his face in the dust before God, Knox pled with God through the night to avenge His elect and give him Scotland or he would die. The Lord gave him Scotland and removed the Queen from her throne.'||It may be that you are facing one of the gravest crises of your life at the present time. Never fear. The Spirit of the Lord will send timely reinforcements and lead you out into a broad place. Only trust Him!",
"Dec 06","When Ephraim spoke, men trembled; he was exalted in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship and died. (NIV)||There is tremendous forcefulness and authority in the words of a righteous man. When he speaks, he has impact on the lives of others. His words carry weight. Men look up to him as one who deserves respect and obedience.||But if that same man falls into sin, he loses all that positive influence on Others. The authoritative tone with which he spoke is dissipated. People no longer look to him for counsel. If he attempts to give it, they are apt to look at him with a jaundiced eye and say, 'Physician, heal thyself' or 'First take the beam out of your own eye; then you'll be able to remove the mote from mine.' His lips are sealed.||This emphasizes the importance of maintaining a consistent testimony right to the end. It is important to begin.well but that is not enough. If we let down our guards in the closing stretch, the glory of earlier days will be obscured in the mists of dishonor.||'When Ephraim spoke men trembled.' Williams comments, 'When Ephraim walked with God, as in the days of Joshua, he spoke with authority and people trembled, and so he had a position of dignity and power. But he turned to idolatry and died spiritually... The Christian has moral power and dignity so long as his heart is wholly governed by Christ and free from idolatry.'||Gideon is another case in point. The Lord was with this mighty man of valor. With an army of 300 men he defeated the Midianites, 135,000 strong. When the men of Israel wanted to make him king, he wisely refused, because he realized that Jehovah was the rightful King.||But having gained illustrious victories and having successfully resisted great temptations, he caved in on what we might think was a minor matter. He asked his soldiers to give him the gold earrings they had taken as prey from the Ishmaelites. With these earrings, he made an ephod, which became an idol to the people of Israel, and a snare to Gideon and his family.||Of course, we know that when we fail, we can go to God in confession and find forgiveness. We know that He can even restore the years that the locusts have eaten, that is, He can enable us to make up for wasted time. But no one will deny that it is better to avoid a fall altogether than to recover from it, better not to smash our testimony than to try to glue the pieces back together again. Andrew Sonar's father used to say to him, 'Andrew, pray that we both may wear well to the end!' So let us pray that we might finish our course with joy!",
"Dec 07","The greatest of these is love.||Love is the conquering power in a world of hatred, strife and selfishness. It can do what no other virtue can do, and, in that sense, is the queen of the graces. Love repays abuse with kindness. It prays for mercy for its executioners. It acts unselfishly when all around are clamoring for their rights. It gives until it can give no more.||An Indian was driving his elephant along the street, goading it continually to increase its speed. Suddenly the steel goad slipped from his hand, tumbling with loud clanging on the pavement. The elephant swung around, picked up the goad with its trunk, and held it out to the master. Love is like that.||In one of Aesop's fables, there was a contest between the sun and the wind over who could make a man remove his coat. The wind blew furiously, but the more it blew, the more he pulled the coat tightly around him. Then the sun shone down on him and he took off his coat. It changed him through warmth. Love is like that.||Sir Walter Scott once threw a stone at a stray dog with such power and accuracy that it broke the dog's leg. As Scott stood there remorsefully, the dog limped up to him and licked the hand that had thrown the rock. Love is like that.||Stanton hurled bitter invective at Lincoln, calling him a 'low cunning clown' and 'the original gorilla.' He said that anyone would be foolish to go to Africa for a gorilla when there was one in Springfield. Lincoln turned the other cheek. In fact, he later appointed Stanton as War Minister, insisting he was the most qualified man for the job. When Lincoln was shot, Stanton stood by his lifeless body, wept openly and said, 'There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.' Lincoln had conquered by turning the other cheek. Love is like that.||E. Stanley Jones wrote, 'By turning the other cheek you disarm your enemy. He hits you on the cheek and you, by your moral audacity, hit him on the heart by turning the other cheek. His enmity is dissolved. Your enemy is gone. You get rid of your enemy by getting rid of your enmity...The world is at the feet of the Man who had power to strike back but who had power not to strike back. That is power--the ultimate power.'||Sometimes it may seem that more can be accomplished by speaking the harsh word, by repaying tit for tat and by standing up for one's rights. These methods do have a certain amount of power. But the balance of power is on the side of love, because, instead of deepening hostility, love changes enemies into friends.",
"Dec 08","Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.||As I write this, there is a great wave of public indignation over the mounting crime rate in our country. People are calling for law and order. It seems that our laws and courts favor the criminal, while the victims of crime receive little or no redress. Court cases drag on endlessly and often a criminal lawyer can win his case through silly loopholes in the law.||Contributing to the general disorder are the pontifical utterances of liberal sociologists, psychiatrists and other 'experts.' They insist that capital punishment is unreasonable and inhumane. They testify that the fear of punishment does not serve as a deterrent to criminals. They suggest that the solution lies in rehabilitating criminals, not in punishing them.||But they are wrong. The more a man is confident that he can 'get away with it,' the more readily he will resort to crime. Or if he feels that the sentence will be light, he will be emboldened to take the risk of being caught. Or if he thinks that the trial will have countless continuations, he will be encouraged. And in spite of what they say, the death sentence does act as a deterrent.||In analyzing the increasing crime rate, a popular news magazine said mat 'one of the reasons is the lack of a strong deterrent from America's clanking criminal justice system. All authorities agree that if the threat of punishment is to be credible, it must be sure and quick. Because of the overload, the U.S. system is neither.'||'An expert on criminology recently declared that for every man who is virtuous because of the love of virtue, 10,000 are good because they are afraid of punishment. And Isaac Ehrlich of the University of Chicago said statistics show that the news about the execution of one murderer prevents 17 other murders.' Reform and rehabilitation are not the answer. They have consistently failed to change men. We know that only the new birth by the Spirit of God will transform a sinner into a saint. But unfortunately few of the authorities, relatively speaking, will agree to that, either for themselves or for their prisoners.||That being the case, the best thing they can do is take today's verse seriously. 'Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.' Not until punishment is meted out swiftly and fairly will we see a decline in the crime statistics. The solution is right there in the Bible--if men would only accept it.",
"Dec 09","But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.||No created mind can ever comprehend the dimensions of the victory which the Lord Jesus won at the Cross of Calvary. He overcame the world. He doomed Satan, the prince of this world. He triumphed over principalities and powers. He so conquered death that it is now swallowed up in victory (1Co 15:57).||And His victory is ours. Just as David's victory over Goliath brought deliverance to all of Israel, so Christ's glorious triumph is passed on to all who belong to Him. Therefore, we can sing with Horatius Bonar:||The victory is ours!||For us in might came forth the mighty One;||For us He fought the fight, the triumph won:||The victory is ours.||We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us because 'neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord'.||Guy King told of a young lad who was at the station when a train pulled in, bringing the local soccer team home after an important game. The boy ran up to the first person who stepped off the train and asked breathlessly, 'Who won?' Then he ran along the station platform, shouting ecstatically, 'We won! We won!' As Mr. King watched, he thought to himself, 'Now really, how much had he done to gain the victory? What did he have to do with the struggle on the football field?' The answer, of course, is 'Nothing at all.' But because he belonged to the same city, he identified himself with the city's team, and claimed their victory as his own.||I heard once of a Frenchman who passed from a position of defeat to one of victory by changing his citizenship. It was when Wellington, the so-called Iron Duke of England, won his illustrious victory over Napolean at Waterloo. At first the Frenchman was associated with the defeat, but the day he became a British citizen, he could claim Wellington's victory as his own.||By birth we are all subjects of Satan's kingdom, and therefore we are on the losing side. But the moment we choose Christ as Lord and Savior, we pass from defeat to victory.",
"Dec 10","...they...expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.' (b)||In explaining the way of salvation to others, it is tremendously important to make the message clear and plain,' avoiding anything that might confuse them. They are usually confused enough already because Satan has 'blinded the minds of them which believe not.'||Let me give an example of how we can say things that are real earstoppers to the unconverted. We begin witnessing to a young man whom we have just met for the first time. Before we get very far, he interrupts us, saying, 'I don't believe in religion. I tried religion and it didn't do anything for me.' To which we are apt to reply, 'I don't believe in religion either, and I don't preach religion.'||Just stop there! Can you imagine how confusing this is to our prospect? Here we are, talking to him about matters that are obviously religious, and yet we are telling him that we don't believe in religion. It's enough to blow his mind!||Of course I know what we mean. We mean that we are not asking him to join a church or denomination but to enter into a relationship with the Lord Jesus. We are not pushing a creed but a Person. We are not advocating reformation but regeneration, not a new suit on the man but a new man in the suit.||But when he thinks about religion, he thinks of anything that deals with the worship and service of God. The word 'religion' to most people signifies a system of beliefs and a distinctive lifestyle that are connected with man's relationship to Deity. So when we tell him that we don't believe in religion, the thought immediately races through his mind that we must be pagans or atheists. Before we have a chance to explain what we mean, he has already tagged us as irreligious.||Actually it isn't true to say that we don't believe in religion. We do believe in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. We do believe that those who profess faith in Christ should show it by their lives. We believe that pure and undefiled religion is found in caring for orphans and widows and keeping ourselves unspotted from the world.||What we don't believe is that religion is the savior. Only the living Christ can save. We don't believe in the watered-down versions of Christianity that are abroad today. We don't believe in any system that encourages people to think that they can get to heaven by their own works or merit. But we ought to be able to explain this to people without stunning them with such bombshells as 'I don't believe in religion either.' Let us not play games with words when souls are at stake.",
"Dec 11","Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets before your eyes.||Today's verse is incomplete without the three verses that follow, and so we quote them here: 'And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.'||Here we have a no-nonsense account of the important place that the Word of God should have in the lives of His people. When these conditions are met, believers will experience days of heaven upon earth.||First we should memorize the Word, or as the text says, lay it up in our hearts and souls. The man who learns vast portions of the Scriptures by heart enriches his own life and increases his potential for blessing others.||Next the Word should be bound to our hands and to our foreheads. This does not mean using phylacteries, as some think, but rather that our actions (hands) and desires (eyes) should be under the Lordship of Christ.||God's Word should be the central topic of conversation in the home. In addition, every home should have the family altar, when the Scriptures are read daily and the household prays together. No one can gauge the sanctifying influence of the Bible on such a home.||This same Word should occupy us when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we get up. In other words, the Scriptures should become so much a part of our lives that they mold our conversation wherever we are and whatever we are doing. We should talk in the language of the Bible.||Should we write verses on our doorposts and gates? A very good idea! Many Christian homes have on the front door: 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.' And many more homes have Scripture texts hanging on the walls inside.||When we give the Holy Scriptures their proper place in our lives, we not only save ourselves from wasted hours of small talk, but we occupy ourselves with the subjects that really matter, the subjects that are of eternal consequence, and we maintain a Christian atmosphere in our homes.",
"Dec 12","Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God||What does it mean to tempt the Lord? Is it something of which we can be guilty?||The children of Israel tempted the Lord when they complained about the lack of water in the wilderness. In saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?' they doubted not only His divine presence but His providential care for them as well.||Satan tempted the Lord when he challenged Him to jump down from the peak of the Temple (Luk 4:9-12). Jesus would have tempted God the Father if He had done so, because He would have been performing a stunt, something that was outside the Father's will.||The Pharisees tempted the Lord when they asked Him if it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. They thought that no matter how He answered, He would alienate either the Romans or those Jews who were violently anti-Roman.||Sapphira tempted the Spirit of the Lord by pretending to give the total proceeds from a sale of property to the Lord, when actually she held back some for herself.||Peter told the council at Jerusalem that it would be tempting God to put Gentile believers under the law, a yoke that the Jewish people themselves had not been able to bear.||To tempt God is 'to see how much one can get away with before He judges; it means to presume on Him, to see if He will perform His Word, or to stretch Him to the limits of judgment (cf.;)' (Toussaint). We tempt God when we murmur or complain, because we are, in effect, doubting His presence, power or goodness. We are saying that He doesn't know our circumstances, He doesn't care, or He isn't able to deliver us.||We tempt God when we needlessly expose ourselves to danger and expect Him to rescue us. Every so often we read of misguided believers who handle poisonous snakes and die as a result. Their reasoning was that God had promised safety in; 'They shall take up serpents.' But this was intended to justify our performing miracles only when they are necessary in carrying out His will in and through us.||We tempt God when we lie to Him, and we do this when we profess greater dedication, sacrifice and commitment than we actually intend to deliver. Just as the Pharisees tempted Christ by their hypocrisy, so we tempt Him by ours.||Finally, we tempt the Lord whenever we remove ourselves from the sphere of His will for us and act in self-will.||It is an astounding thing that a creature should ever desire or dare to tempt his Creator, or that a sinner should thus insult his Savior!",
"Dec 13","Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.||It is possible to be so busy that our souls become barren. Too much activity causes us to be occupied too much with our work and too little with our God. Preachers who do not spend much time alone in meditation and communion with the Lord soon give out second-hand messages that have little or no spiritual power. We should all pray, 'Lord, deliver me from the barrenness of a busy life.' Many believers are afraid to be alone. They must be with others, talking, working or traveling. No time is spent in quiet contemplation. The pressures of modern life encourage us to be hyperactive, to be overachievers. We build up a momentum of activity and it is difficult to slow down. Life seems to be a continual push, push, push, go, go, go. The result is that we do not develop deep spiritual roots. We still spout the same pious truisms that we shared with people twenty years ago. No progress in twenty years!||And yet there are those who discipline themselves to break away from the rat race, who refuse invitations, who put aside secondary activities so that they can spend time alone with the Lord. They resolutely make time for prayerful meditation. They have a hideaway where they can tune out the noise of the world in order to be alone with the Lord Jesus.||These people have an inside track with the Lord. 'The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.' God reveals secrets to them that we, in our frenzied lives, know nothing about. There is a communication of divine intelligence concerning guidance, concerning events transpiring in the spiritual realm, concerning the future. Those who dwell in the sanctuary often have visions of God that those who live in the suburbs know nothing about. It was the one who leaned on the Savior's bosom who was given the Revelation of Jesus Christ.||I often think of these words of Cecil: 'I say everywhere and to all, you must hold intercourse with God or your soul will die. You must walk with God or Satan will walk with you. You must grow in grace or you will lose it; and you cannot do this but by appropriating to this object a due portion of your time, and diligently employing suitable means. I know not how it is that some Christians can make so little of recollection and retirement. I find the spirit of the age a strong assimilating principle. I find it hurrying my mind away in its vortex, and sinking me among the dregs and filth of a carnal nature...! am obliged to withdraw myself regularly and to say to my heart, 'What are you doing? Where are you now?''",
"Dec 14","I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.||One of the great tragedies of our existence is to see men and women living wasted lives. Man, after all, was made in the image and likeness of God. He was destined for a throne, not for a bar stool. He was created to be a representative of God, not a slave of sin. In answer to the question, 'What is the chief end of man?,' the Shorter Catechism reminds us that 'The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.' If we miss that, we miss everything.||J. H. Jowett weeps as he realizes that the course of many people through the years is 'not so much the transit of a man as the passage of an amoeba.' He grieves to see men who have drivelled down to be nothing more than 'minor officials in transient enterprises.' He notes with pathos the epitaph of one who was 'born a man and died a grocer.'||F. W. H. Myers gazes out over humanity and writes:||Only like souls I see the folk there under,||Bound who should conquer, slaves who should be kings,||Hearing their one hope with an empty wonder,||Sadly contented in a show of things.||When Watchman Nee was a young man, he was moved to see 'human creative gift squandered for an avaricious employer... In one of the shops of the old city's lacquer street an anonymous craftsman had already spent six years on three hardwood leaves of a four-leaf screen, carving reliefs of flowers in the natural wood, white against the black lacquered surface. For this he was paid eighty cents a day, 'rain, shine, holidays, or revolution,' as the shop owner put it, plus his rice and vegetables and a plank to sleep on. Having once acquired skill for this work, he might make only two such screens before eyes and nerves failed and he was flung out with the beggars.'||The tragedy of life today is that men fail to appreciate their high calling. They go through life hugging the subordinate. They creep instead of fly. As someone has said, they rake around in a muck heap, not noticing the angel above them who is offering them a crown. Their time is spent making a living instead of making a life.||Many today are concerned over the spoiling of natural resources but they never think of the greater loss of human resources. Many campaign to save endangered species of birds, animals and fishes, but they can look on people wasting their lives and not be moved. One human life is worth more than the whole world. To fritter away that life is the unutterable tragedy. One woman said, 'I am seventy, and I have done nothing with my life.' What could be more tragic?",
"Dec 15","They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.||In the children of Israel are reminiscing about their return to the land after their captivity in Babylon. It had been as if they were in a dream world, filled with laughter and singing. Even their pagan neighbors had commented on the great things the Lord had done for His people.||Now that they were back in their own land, they had to start planting crops. But this posed a problem. They had brought back only a limited amount of grain with them. They could use it as food now; after all, there were no crops in the field for them to harvest. Or they could use it as seed, sowing it in the ground with the hope of an abundant harvest in days to come. If they decided to use most of it as seed, that meant that they would have to live frugally and sacrificially until harvest time. They decided on the latter course.||As the farmer went out into his fields, dipped his hand into the seed, and scattered it broadcast on the plowed land, he would shed tears at the thought of the privations he and his family would have to endure until the time of harvest.||But later when the fields teemed with golden grain, his tears would be turned to joy as he brought the ripened sheaves back to the barn. All the sacrifices his household had made would be richly rewarded.||We can think of this in connection with our own stewardship of material things. The Lord entrusts each of us with a limited amount of money. We can spend it in self-indulgence, buying up whatever our hearts desire. Or by living sacrificially we can invest it in the work of the Lord--in foreign missions, in Christian literature, in Gospel radio broadcasts, in the local church and in many other forms of evangelistic activity. In that case it will mean choosing a modest standard of living so that everything above essentials will go into the work of the Lord. It will mean living on a restricted budget so that souls will not perish for want of the Gospel.||But any such sacrifices will not be worth mentioning when the time of harvest comes, when we will see men and women in heaven as a result of our sacrificial living. One person saved from hell to become a worshiper of the Lamb of God for all eternity is worth any sacrifice we can make now.",
"Dec 16","Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:...who healeth all thy diseases. (b)||One of the compound names of God is Jehovah-Rapha, meaning 'I am the Lord that healeth thee' (b). It is God who heals us. He heals us of all kinds of diseases, and will ultimately deliver us permanently from every form of sickness.||Sometimes He heals us through the tremendous recuperative powers which He has placed in our bodies. This is why doctors often say, 'Most things are better by morning.' Sometimes He heals through medicines and surgery. Dubois, the famous French physician, said, 'The surgeon dresses the wound; God heals it.' Sometimes He heals miraculously. We know this from the Gospels and from personal experience.||However, it is not always God's will to heal. If it were, some would never grow old and die. But everyone dies sooner or later -until the Lord comes. God did not remove Paul's physical affliction but gave Him grace to bear it.||In a general sense, all sickness is a result of sin. In other words, if there never had been any sin, there wouldn't be any sickness. Sometimes illness is a direct result of sin in a person's life. For example, alcoholism sometimes causes liver disease, smoking sometimes causes cancer, sexual immorality sometimes causes venereal disease, and worry sometimes causes ulcers. But not all sickness is a direct result of a person's own sin. Satan caused Job's serious illness, and yet Job was the most righteous man on earth (Job 2:3). He caused an unknown woman to be afflicted with curvature of the spine (Luk 13:11-17). And he caused Paul's thorn in the flesh. In, it could not have been the man's own sin that caused him to be born blind. Epaphroditus was critically ill, not because of sin, but because of his untiring service for the Lord. Gaius was spiritually healthy but physically unwell.||Finally, failure to be healed does not necessarily indicate a lack of faith. Only when God has given a specific promise that He will heal can faith claim healing. Otherwise we commit ourselves to our living, loving Lord and pray that His will be done.",
"Dec 17","Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out...||Two men are quarreling. One delivers an angry blast and the other answers with a sharp retort. One charges heatedly and the other countercharges with equal vehemence. Neither is willing to stop lest his silence be counted as weakness or defeat. And so the fire increases in intensity and billows of hate roll back and forth.||But change the picture. One man levels a verbal barrage at his opponent, but receives no fire in return. He tries to aggravate, to irritate, to slander and to shame. But the other man refuses to join the fray. Finally the antagonist realizes he is wasting his time so he slinks off, mumbling and cursing. The fire went out because the defendant refused to add fuel to it.||Dr. H. A. Ironside often encountered people at the end of a meeting who wanted to argue with him over something he had said. Usually they were picking nits, not discussing some fundamental doctrine. Dr. Ironside would listen patiently, then when the contentious one came up for air, he would say, 'Well, brother, when we get to heaven, one of us will be wrong, and perhaps it will be me.' That answer invariably freed the good Doctor to speak to somebody else.||How do we take criticism? Do we defend ourselves, return tit for tat, release all the critical thoughts we have ever entertained about the other person? Or do we say calmly, 'Brother, I'm glad you don't know me better, because if you did, you'd have a lot more to criticize.' A reply like this has put out many a fire.||I suppose that most of us have received a letter at some time fairly blasting us off the face of the earth. The natural reaction for us at such a time is to dip our pen in acid and deliver a stinging reply. This fuels the fire and pretty soon poison-pen letters are racing back and forth. How much better to write back one simple reply, 'Dear brother, if you want to fight someone, please fight the devil.'||Life is too short to be spent in self-defense, in quarreling, or in heated words- These things divert us from what is of first importance, they lower our spiritual tone, and they impair our testimony. Others may carry the torch with which to deliberately start a fire, but we control the fuel. When we refuse to add fuel to the fire, the fire goes out.",
"Dec 18","Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.||God pronounces a woe on those who reverse moral standards, making sin respectable and suggesting that purity is something less than desirable. Herbert Vander Lugt cited three contemporary illustrations of how men tamper with moral distinctions. 'First, I read an article which treated lightly the bad results of pornography, but deplored the 'puritanical attitude of religionists.' Second, I came across a newspaper account that told about a group of concerned parents who were trying to get an unmarried pregnant teacher removed from her job. The writer portrayed her as a beautiful person, while the moms and dads were made out to be villains. And third, I watched as a guest on a television program defended the hard rock, the drunkenness, and the use of drugs connected with a concert in which several young people were killed. He blamed our social problems on individuals who don't like these kinds of gatherings.'||I would suggest two reasons why we are witnessing an increasing wave of moral reversals. First of all, people have abandoned the standards of absolutes that are found in the Bible. Now morality is a matter of one's own interpretation. Secondly, the more that people indulge in sin, the more they feel that they must rationalize the sin as justifiable behavior and thus vindicate themselves.||Some who find it hard to justify sin resort instead to ad hominem arguments, that is, they attack the opponent's character rather than answer his contentions. Thus, in the illustrations cited above, the libertarians attacked the 'puritanical attitude of religionists,' they made out moms and dads as villains, and they blamed social problems on people who speak out against drunkenness, drugs and a rock concert in which several young people were killed.||In addition to those who reverse moral distinctions, there are those who satisfy themselves with blurring them. Unfortunately a large number of these are religious leaders. Instead of coming out squarely on the side of the Bible and calling sins by their right names, they pussyfoot around, implying that they're really not that bad after all. Drunkenness is a sickness. Perversion is an alternate life style. Sex outside of marriage is allowable if it is culturally acceptable. Abortions, public nudity and prostitution are personal rights that should not be abridged.||Such confused thinking betrays a serious lack of moral intelligence. These perverse arguments are lies of the devil that eventually drown men in perdition.",
"Dec 19","Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away. (Luk 21:33)||The Word of God is not only eternal; it is absolutely sure of fulfillment. In Jesus said that not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until all be fulfilled. A jot is a letter of the Hebrew alphabet that resembles a comma or an apostrophe. A tittle is a stroke of a Hebrew letter; we might compare it to the bottom stroke of a capital E that distinguishes the E from the F. In other words, Jesus was saying that God's word will be fulfilled down to the minutest details.||Julian the Apostate, a Roman emperor who lived A.D. 331-36, decided that he would disprove the Bible and discredit Christianity. The particular passage he chose to disprove was : 'And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.' He began by encouraging the Jews to rebuild the temple. According to Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, they went to work eagerly, using even silver shovels in their extravagance, and carrying the dirt in purple veils. But while they were working, they were interrupted by an earthquake and by balls of fire coming from the ground. They had to abandon the project.||Almost 600 years before Christ, Ezekiel predicted that the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem would be shut and that it would remain shut until 'the prince' would come. Many Bible students understand 'the prince' to be the Messiah. The gate, subsequently called the Golden Gate, was closed up by Sultan Seuleman in A.D. 1543. In Kaiser Wilhelm's plan to capture Jerusalem, he hoped to enter by this gate, but his hope was dashed. The gate remains closed.||Voltaire boasted that the Bible would be a dead book in 100 years. When the hundred years had passed, Voltaire was dead and his house had become headquarters for the Geneva Bible Society. Ingersoll made a similar boast. He said that he would have the Bible in the morgue in 15 years. It was he, not the Bible, who went to the morgue. The Bible outlives all its critics.||You would think that men would wake up to the fact that the Bible is God's eternal Word and that it will never pass away. But then, as Jonathan Swift said, 'There's none so blind as they that won't see.'",
"Dec 20","I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.||We are often told that it isn't the circumstances of life that are important; it's how we react to those circumstances that really matters. This is true. Rather than always trying to change our circumstances, we should think more about changing ourselves.||There are several ways in which people respond to adverse happenings. The first is stoically. This means that they are completely impassive, gritting their teeth, and showing no emotion. Their policy is to 'cooperate with the inevitable.'||Others respond hysterically. They go to pieces emotionally with loud crying, tears and spectacular physical displays. Some react defeatedly. They give up in abject despondency. In extreme cases, this can end in suicide.||The normal Christian way is to respond submissively. The believer reasons, 'This did not happen by accident. God controls everything that comes into my life. He has not made a mistake. He has allowed this in order to bring glory to Himself, blessing to others, and good to me. I can't see the full outworking of His program, but I will trust Him nevertheless. So I bow to His will, and pray that He will glorify Himself and teach me whatever He wants me to learn.'||There is another way that some choice saints react, that is, super-triumphantly. I dare not count myself among the number, even though I aspire to their company. These are the ones who use adversity as a stepping stone to victory. They transmute the bitter into the sweet and ashes into beauty. They do not let circumstances rule them, rather they make the circumstances serve them. In this sense, they are 'more than conquerors.' Let me give a few illustrations.||There was a Christian woman whose life seemed to be filled with disappointment and frustration. Yet her biographer wrote, 'She made magnificent bouquets out of the refusals of God.'||Believers in an oriental country had been attacked with stones by an angry mob. When these same believers returned, they built a chapel with the stones that had been hurled at them.||After buying a home, a man found a huge boulder in the middle of the garden. He decided to make a rock garden.||E. Stanley Jones said, 'Use your denials and turn them into doors.' Or, as someone else said, 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.'||I especially like the story of the man who was told by his doctor that he would lose an eye and would have to have a glass eye. His immediate response was, 'Be sure to put in one with a twinkle.' That's what I call living above the circumstances.",
"Dec 21","Christ... loved the church and gave himself for it.||The church occupies a place of tremendous importance in the mind of Christ, and it should be extremely important in our estimation as well.||We sense its importance by the prominent space it occupies in the New Testament. Also it claimed a significant place in the ministry of the apostles. Paul, for instance, spoke of his twofold ministry--to preach the Gospel and to declare the truth of the church. The apostles spoke of the church with an enthusiasm that is strangely missing today. Everywhere they went they planted churches, whereas the tendency today is to start Christian organizations.||The truth of the church formed the capstone of scriptural revelation. It was the last major doctrine to be revealed.||The church is an object lesson to angelic beings. They learn lessons from it about the multifaceted wisdom of God.||The church is the unit on earth through which God has chosen to propagate and defend the faith. He speaks of it as the pillar and ground of the truth. We are thankful for para-church organizations that are devoted to the spread of the Gospel and the instruction of believers, but it is a mistake when they take the place of the local church in their members' lives. God promised that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the church, but He never gave that promise to Christian organizations.||Paul speaks of the church as the fullness of Him who fills all in all. In marvelous grace, the Head does not consider Himself complete without His members.||The church is not only the body of Christ; it is His bride as well (Eph 5:31-32). As the body it is the vehicle through which He chooses to express Himself to the world in this era. As the bride, it is the special object of His affection which He is preparing to share His reign and His glory.||From all the above, we are forced to conclude that the weakest assembly of believers means more to Christ than the greatest empire in the world. He speaks of the church in terms of tender endearment and unique dignity. We also conclude that an elder in a local assembly means more to God than a president or a king. Few instructions are found in the New Testament on how to be a good ruler, but considerable space is devoted to the work of an elder.||If we once see the church as the Lord sees it, it will revolutionize our life and ministry.",
"Dec 22","For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.||This is one of several verses in the New Testament which proves extremely unsettling to many earnest, conscientious Christians. They reason this way: I am faced with a temptation to sin. I know it is wrong. I know I shouldn't do it, and yet I go ahead and do it anyway. I deliberately disobey. It seems to me that I am sinning willfully. Therefore, it sounds from this verse as though I have lost my salvation.||The problem arises because they take the verse out of its context and make it say something it was never intended to say. The context has to do with the sin of apostasy--the sin of one who professes to be a believer for a while, but who subsequently repudiates the Christian faith and usually identifies himself with some system that opposes Christ. The apostate is described in verse 29: he has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace. He shows by his bitter turning against Christ that he was never born again.||Suppose that a man hears the Gospel and develops warm feelings toward the Christian faith. He leaves his ancestral religion and adopts the Christian label without being genuinely converted. But then persecution begins, and he has second thoughts about being known as a Christian. Finally he decides to go back to his old religion. But it isn't that easy. Suppose 'that before the leaders are willing to take the turncoat back, they have a little ceremony that he must go through. They take the blood of a pig and sprinkle it on the floor. Then they say, 'That blood represents the blood of Christ. If you want to return to your parents' religion, you must walk over it.' And so he does. In effect, he is trampling under foot the Son of God and counting His blood as an unholy thing. That man is an apostate. He has committed the willful sin.||A true believer cannot commit this willful sin. He may commit other acts of sin when he knows it is wrong. He may deliberately violate his conscience. This is serious in God's eyes, and we must not say anything that would excuse it. But still he can find forgiveness by confessing and forsaking his sin. Not so with the apostate. For him the verdict is that there remains no more sacrifice for sins (verse 26b), and it is impossible to renew him again to repentance.",
"Dec 23","Whosoever abideih in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.||Yesterday we considered a passage that often proves distressing to sincere Christians. Today we will look at three verses in John's first epistle that also disturb believers who are all too aware of their sinfulness. There is the verse already quoted at the top of the page. Then there is : 'Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.' And : 'We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.' Taken as is, these verses might very well make any one of us question whether he is a true believer.||And yet other verses in this same letter recognize that the believer does sin, for example 1:8-10; 2:1b.||The problem is largely one of translation. In the original language of the New Testament, there is a difference between committing occasional acts of sin and practicing sin as a way of life. The Christian does commit acts of sin, but sin is not what characterizes his life. He has been freed from sin as his master.||The New International Version shows that the verbs in these verses are in what we might call the present continuous tense, as follows: 'No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.'(3:6). 'No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God' (3:9). 'We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one does not touch him' (5:18).||Any Christian who says he does not sin has imperfect views of what sin is. He apparently doesn't realize that anything that falls short of God's perfect standard is sin. The fact is that we do commit acts of sin every day in thought, word and deed.||But John makes a distinction between what is exceptional and what is habitual. With the true saint, sin is alien and righteousness is characteristic.||When we see this, there is no need to torture ourselves with these verses that make us doubt our salvation. The simple facts are these: God's will is that we should not sin. Unfortunately we do sin. But sin is no longer the dominating power in our lives. We no longer practice sin as we did before we were saved. If we do sin, we find forgiveness through confessing and forsaking our sin.",
"Dec 24","The rich, man thinks of his wealth as an impregnable defense, a high wall of safety. What a dreamer! (Living Bible)||The rich fool in Luke's gospel had so much wealth he didn't know what to do with it. So he decided to tear down his barns and silos and build bigger ones. Then he thought he would feel satisfied, not knowing that he would die as soon as his building project was completed. His wealth wouldn't save him from death and the grave.||Sider says, 'The rich fool is the epitome of the covetous person. He has a greedy compulsion to acquire more and more possessions, even though he does not need them. And his phenomenal success at piling up more and more property leads to the blasphemous conclusion that material possessions can satisfy all his needs. From the divine perspective, however, this attitude is sheer madness. He is a raving fool.'||There is a legend about a man who wanted to become rich in the stock market. When someone told him he could have anything he wanted, he said he would like to see the newspaper one year from that day. His idea, of course, was that he could make a fortune by buying the stocks that would rise the most during the ensuing year. When he got the paper, he gloated about how rich he would become. But then he looked at the death notices and his name was there.||The psalmist pours scorn on the rich people whose 'inner thought is, that their houses are forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they have called their lands after their own names'. But they die and leave their wealth to others. 'Man in his pomp will not endure; he is like the beasts that perish'.||It is a true saying that money is the universal passport for everywhere except heaven, and the universal provider for everything but happiness.||No rich person ever has a dollar sign inscribed on his tombstone, even though money has been the obsession of his life. If he used the symbol of what has been paramount to him, it would be the $. But in death he chooses a religious symbol, such as a cross. It is a final gesture of hypocrisy. The righteous look on and say, 'Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness'. And God writes his epitaph, 'So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God' (Luk 12:21).",
"Dec 25","And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.||The mystery is great, not because it is very mysterious but because it is so astounding. The mystery is the amazing truth that God was manifest in the flesh.||It means, for instance, that the Eternal One was born into a world of time. He, the Timeless One, lived in a sphere of calendars and timepieces.||The One who is omnipresent, existing in all places at one and the same time, confined Himself to a single place--like Bethlehem, or Nazareth, Capernaum or Jerusalem.||It is wonderful to think that the Great God, who fills heaven and earth, should compress Himself into a human body. As men looked at Him, they could say accurately, 'In Him dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily.'||The mystery reminds us that the Creator visited this insignificant planet called Earth. It is only a speck of cosmic dust, relative to the rest of the universe, yet He bypassed all the rest to come here. From the palace of heaven to a cattle shed, a stable, a manger!||The omnipotent One became a helpless Baby. It is no exaggeration to say that He whom Mary held in her arms held Mary, for He is the Sustainer as well as the Maker.||The omniscient One is the fountain of all wisdom and knowledge, and yet we read of Him that, as a Child, He increased in wisdom and knowledge. It is almost incredible to think of the Owner of all arriving unwelcome on His own premises. There was no room for Him in the inn. The world knew Him not. His own received Him not.||The Master came into the world as a Servant. The Lord of glory veiled that glory in a body of flesh. The Lord of life came into the world to die. The Holy One came to a jungle of sin. The One who is infinitely high became intimately nigh. The Object of the Father's delight and of angelic worship hungered and thirsted, was weary at Jacob's well, slept in a boat on Galilee, wandered 'as a homeless stranger in the world His hands had made.' He came from luxury to poverty, with no place to lay His head. He worked as a carpenter. Never slept on a mattress. Never had hot and cold running water, or the other conveniences that we take for granted.||And it was all for you and for me!||O, come, let us adore Him!",
"Dec 26","And the King of Sodom said unto Abram, give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.||Invading armies had come to Sodom and had captured Lot, his family and great quantities of spoil. As soon as Abram heard about it, he armed his servants and pursued the invaders, finally catching up with them near Damascus and rescuing the captives and their belongings. The King of Sodom went out to meet Abram as he returned and said, 'Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.' Abram answered that he wouldn't take even a shoe lace from the king lest the latter would say he had made Abram rich.||There is a sense in which the King of Sodom represents Satan, trying to get believers to be occupied with material things and to neglect the people around them. Abram resisted the temptation, but many since that time have not been so successful. They have given priority to the accumulation of possessions and have paid little attention to neighbors and friends who are facing eternity without God, without Christ and without hope.||People are important; things are not. A young Christian walked into the living room where his mother was sewing and said, 'Mother, I'm glad that God has given me a greater love for people than for things.' That particular mother was glad too.||It seems incongruous to weep when someone breaks your English bone china teacup, yet never to shed a tear over perishing millions. It says something when we have a phenomenal memory for baseball scores, yet whine that we have an awful time remembering people's names. I betray my distorted sense of values when I am more upset over the damage done to my car than the injured person in the other car. It is easy to resent interruptions when we are working on some pet project, and yet the interruption may be far more important than the project.||We are often more interested in gold and silver than in men and women. A. T. Pierson said, 'There is buried in gold and silver and useless ornaments in Christian homes enough to build a fleet of 50,000 vessels, ballast them with Bibles and crowd them with missionaries: build a church in every destitute hamlet and supply every living soul with the Gospel within a score of years.' Another prophet of God, J. A. Stewart, wrote, 'We have used our wealth to indulge in luxuries that we do not need. We have 'caviar tastes,' while millions in other parts of our world are dying in the starvation of sin. We have sold our spiritual birthright-heritage for a mess of pottage.'||My heart often wonders when we Christians will abandon the mad scramble for material possessions and concentrate on the spiritual welfare of people. One human soul is worth more than all the wealth in the world. Things don't matter. People do.",
"Dec 27","My body, which is broken for you.||Amy Carmichael lists four broken things in the Bible and the results achieved by them.||Broken pitchers --and the light shone out.||Broken flask --and the ointment was poured forth.||Broken bread --and the hungry were fed.||A broken Body --and the world was redeemed.||Now it is our privilege to add a fifth to the list - a broken will, and the result will be a life flooded with peace and fulfillment.||Many who have been to the Cross for salvation have never been there for the breaking of their will. They may have a gentle, mild disposition; they may never speak above a whisper; they may have an outward appearance of spirituality; yet they may have a will of iron that keeps them from God's best in life.||It sometimes happens with young people who are in love and are contemplating marriage. Parents and friends with mature, wise judgment can see that it will never work. Yet the headstrong couple rejects any counsel that they do not want to hear. The same intractable wills that led them to the marriage altar soon lead them to the divorce court.||We've seen it with Christians who are determined to go into a certain business when they clearly have no experience or the necessary know-how. Against the advice of knowledgeable associates, they sink their own money and often money borrowed from loving friends. The inevitable happens. The business fails, and the creditors move in to pick up the pieces.||It is not uncommon to see the shattering effects of an unbroken will in Christian service. It takes a man and his family to the mission field, only to be repatriated within a year at great cost to the sending church. It drains funds from gullible Christians to finance a project that was man's idea, not God's--a project that proves to be counterproductive. It creates strife and unhappiness because one person refuses to work cooperatively with others; he must have his own way.||We all need to be broken, to take all our obstinacy, all our stubbornness, all our self-will and leave them at the foot of the Cross. That will of iron must be laid upon the altar of sacrifice. We must all say with Amy Carmichael:||Thou wast broken, O my Lord, for me,||Let me be broken, Lord, for love of Thee.",
"Dec 28","Like one who takes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him.||We should realize first of all that the dog mentioned in this verse is not the friendly, gentle, Irish setter that probably wouldn't mind at all if you held him by his ears. This is the wild, snarling, alley dog with a mean disposition and bared fangs. It would be improbable that you can get close enough to him to grab him by the ears in the first place. But if you could, you'd face a desperate dilemma; you'd be afraid to Hold on and afraid to let go.||Well, it's a graphic illustration of the person who gets involved in a fight that doesn't concern him. Soon he has incurred the anger of both the adversaries.||Each one feels that the meddler is interfering with any chance of victory, so they forget their own differences and unite in fighting him.||We smile at the Irishman who went up to two men engaged in a fist fight and asked, 'Is this a private fight or can anyone get in?' Yet there is a meddlesome streak in every one of us that tempts us to interfere in squabbles that are none of our business.||Police officers have to be extra careful when they are called to a scene where a husband and wife are quarreling. If that is so, how much more cautious should the average citizen be in intruding in the domestic strife of others!||Perhaps one of the best illustrations of today's proverb is trouble in the church. It usually starts between two persons. Then others take sides. What started as a spark soon becomes a conflagration. People who have no connection with the problem insist on adding their own wise pronouncements, as if they were the oracle of Delphi. Tempers flare, friendships are shattered, and hearts are broken. As the battle increases in intensity the congregation hears announcements of coronaries, strokes, ulcers and other physical problems. What started as a root of bitterness has spread until many are defiled.||The warning not to meddle in strife belonging to others might seem to conflict with the Savior's words, 'Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God'. But there is no contradiction. There is a place for a peacemaker when contending parties are willing to have their dispute arbitrated. Otherwise the one who interferes succeeds only in getting himself into a situation from which there is no easy, painless escape.",
"Dec 29","Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. (1Ch 12:18)||This noble expression of loyalty to David should be borrowed by all believers as an expression of their devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no room for halfhearted loyalty or divided allegiance to the King of kings. He must have all our hearts.||I have always been impressed with the story of a French soldier who was seriously wounded in one of the Napoleonic wars. The doctors decided that surgery was necessary to save his life. It was in the days before anaesthesia. As the surgeon was probing in the soldier's chest, the patient said, 'Probe a little deeper, Doctor, and you will find the Emperor.' There was a sense in which the Emperor was enthroned in his heart.||When Elizabeth was crowned as Queen while she was still quite young, her grandmother, Queen Mary, wrote her a letter of loyalty and signed it, 'Your loving grandmother and devoted subject.' She thus expressed her allegiance to the Crown and to the one who wore it.||But what about us? How does all this apply in our case? Matthew Henry reminds us that 'From these expressions of Amasai, we may take instruction how to testify our affection and allegiance to the Lord Jesus: his we may be without reservation or power of revocation; on his side we must be forward to appear and act; to his interest we must be hearty well-wishers; Hosanna, prosperity to his gospel and kingdom; for his God helpeth him, and will, till he have put down all rule, principality, and power.'||In the words of Spurgeon our lives should say, ' Thine are we, Jesus. Neither count we anything that we possess to be our own; but all is dedicated to Thy royal use. And on Thy side, thou Son of God. For, if we belong to Christ, of course we are on Christ's side, whatever that side may be, in religion, morals and politics. Peace be unto thee. Our heart salutes Him and invokes peace upon Him. And peace be to thy helpers. We desire all good for all good men. We pray for the peace of the peaceful. For thy God helpeth thee. All the powers of the God of nature are working to aid the Lord of grace. Risen Christ, we look upward as the heavens receive Thee, and we adore. Ascended Christ, we fall at Thy dear feet, and say, 'Thine are we, O Son of David, anointed to be a Prince and a Savior.' Coming Christ, we wait and watch for Thine appearing. Come quickly to Thine own! Amen and amen.'",
"Dec 30","And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?||Mephibosheth was a grandson of King Saul, who had repeatedly tried to take David's life. He therefore came from a rebel family that might have expected to be wiped out when David came to the throne. In addition to that, Mephibosheth was a helpless cripple, having been dropped by his nurse when he was young. The fact that he lived in someone else's home in Lo-debar, meaning 'no pasture,' suggests that he was impoverished. Lo-debar was on the east side of the Jordan and therefore 'afar off' from Jerusalem, God's dwelling. There was no merit in Mephibosheth as far as David's favor was concerned.||In spite of all that, David inquired concerning him, sent messengers after him, brought him to the royal palace, assured him that there was nothing to fear, enriched him with all Saul's land, provided him with a retinue of servants to wait on him and honored him with a permanent place at the king's table as one of the king's sons.||Why did David show such mercy, grace and compassion to one who was so unworthy? The answer is 'for Jonathan's sake.' David had made a covenant with Jonathan, the father of Mephibosheth, that he would never cease to show kindness to Jonathan's family. It was an unconditional covenant of grace.||Mephibosheth realized this, for when he was first ushered into the king's presence, he prostrated himself and said that 'a dead dog' like he did not deserve such kindness.||It should not be difficult for us to find ourselves in this picture. We were born of a rebel, sinful race under the condemnation of death. We were morally deformed and paralyzed by sin. We too dwelt in a land of 'no pasture,' spiritually starved. Not only were we doomed, helpless and impoverished, we were 'afar off' from God, without Christ and without hope. There was nothing in us to draw forth God's love and kindness.||Yet God sought us, found us, delivered us from the fear of death, blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, brought us to His banqueting table, and raised the banner of His love over us.||Why did He do it? It was for Jesus' sake. And it was because of His covenant of grace under which He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.||The fitting response for us is to prostrate ourselves in His presence and say, 'What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?'",
"Dec 31","Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me||Here we are at the close of another year, and still the patient Savior stands at man's door, seeking admission. He has been kept outside a long time. Anyone else would have given up long ago and gone home. But not the Savior. He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish. He waits with the hope that one day the door will be flung open and He will be welcomed inside.||It is amazing that anyone would fail to answer the knock of the Lord Jesus. If it were a neighbor, the door would be opened promptly. If it were a salesman, someone would at least give him the courtesy of opening the door and saying, We don't need any!' Certainly if it were the President or the Governor, the family would compete for the privilege of welcoming him. Strange then that when the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer stands at the door, He is given the cold, silent treatment.||Man's refusal is all the more irrational when we realize that the Lord Jesus does not come to rob but rather to give. He comes to give life more abundant.||A Christian radio preacher once got a late night call from a listener who wanted to stop by for a brief visit. The preacher tried every excuse to dissuade him from coming, but finally relented. As it turned out, the visitor came with a large gift of money to help with the radio expenses. After he left, the preacher said, 'I'm so glad I let him in.'||Joe Blinco used to describe a scene where an animated conversation was going on in the living room of a home. Suddenly there was a knock at the front door. One of the family said, 'There's someone at the door.'||Another jumped up, went to the door and opened it. Then someone in the living room asked, 'Who is it?' Back from the door came the answer. Finally the head of the house shouted, 'Tell him to come in.'||That is the Gospel in brief. Listen! There's Someone at the door. Who is it? It's none other than the Lord of life and glory, the One who died as a Substitute for us and rose again the third day--the One who is now enthroned in glory and coming soon to take His people home to be with Himself. Tell Him to come in!",
)
)
(set: $todaysDevo to $thisDay of $stuff)
(str-replaced: "|","\n",$todaysDevo)}<hr>[[Navigator]]{(set: $thisDay to (substring: (current-date:), 5,10))
###Reading for (print: $thisDay):
''(260 day plan - Jan 1st thru Sep 16th)''
<hr>
(set: $stuff to (dm:
"Jan 01","Mat 1",
"Jan 02","Mat 2",
"Jan 03","Mat 3",
"Jan 04","Mat 4",
"Jan 05","Mat 5",
"Jan 06","Mat 6",
"Jan 07","Mat 7",
"Jan 08","Mat 8",
"Jan 09","Mat 9",
"Jan 10","Mat 10",
"Jan 11","Mat 11",
"Jan 12","Mat 12",
"Jan 13","Mat 13",
"Jan 14","Mat 14",
"Jan 15","Mat 15",
"Jan 16","Mat 16",
"Jan 17","Mat 17",
"Jan 18","Mat 18",
"Jan 19","Mat 19",
"Jan 20","Mat 20",
"Jan 21","Mat 21",
"Jan 22","Mat 22",
"Jan 23","Mat 23",
"Jan 24","Mat 24",
"Jan 25","Mat 25",
"Jan 26","Mat 26",
"Jan 27","Mat 27",
"Jan 28","Mat 28",
"Jan 29","Mar 1",
"Jan 30","Mar 2",
"Jan 31","Mar 3",
"Feb 01","Mar 4",
"Feb 02","Mar 5",
"Feb 03","Mar 6",
"Feb 04","Mar 7",
"Feb 05","Mar 8",
"Feb 06","Mar 9",
"Feb 07","Mar 10",
"Feb 08","Mar 11",
"Feb 09","Mar 12",
"Feb 10","Mar 13",
"Feb 11","Mar 14",
"Feb 12","Mar 15",
"Feb 13","Mar 16",
"Feb 14","Luk 1",
"Feb 15","Luk 2",
"Feb 16","Luk 3",
"Feb 17","Luk 4",
"Feb 18","Luk 5",
"Feb 19","Luk 6",
"Feb 20","Luk 7",
"Feb 21","Luk 8",
"Feb 22","Luk 9",
"Feb 23","Luk 10",
"Feb 24","Luk 11",
"Feb 25","Luk 12",
"Feb 26","Luk 13",
"Feb 27","Luk 14",
"Feb 28","Luk 15",
"Feb 29","Luk 16",
"Mar 01","Luk 17",
"Mar 02","Luk 18",
"Mar 03","Luk 19",
"Mar 04","Luk 20",
"Mar 05","Luk 21",
"Mar 06","Luk 22",
"Mar 07","Luk 23",
"Mar 08","Luk 24",
"Mar 09","John 1",
"Mar 10","John 2",
"Mar 11","John 3",
"Mar 12","John 4",
"Mar 13","John 5",
"Mar 14","John 6",
"Mar 15","John 7",
"Mar 16","John 8",
"Mar 17","John 9",
"Mar 18","John 10",
"Mar 19","John 11",
"Mar 20","John 12",
"Mar 21","John 13",
"Mar 22","John 14",
"Mar 23","John 15",
"Mar 24","John 16",
"Mar 25","John 17",
"Mar 26","John 18",
"Mar 27","John 19",
"Mar 28","John 20",
"Mar 29","John 21",
"Mar 30","Act 1",
"Mar 31","Act 2",
"Apr 01","Act 3",
"Apr 02","Act 4",
"Apr 03","Act 5",
"Apr 04","Act 6",
"Apr 05","Act 7",
"Apr 06","Act 8",
"Apr 07","Act 9",
"Apr 08","Act 10",
"Apr 09","Act 11",
"Apr 10","Act 12",
"Apr 11","Act 13",
"Apr 12","Act 14",
"Apr 13","Act 15",
"Apr 14","Act 16",
"Apr 15","Act 17",
"Apr 16","Act 18",
"Apr 17","Act 19",
"Apr 18","Act 20",
"Apr 19","Act 21",
"Apr 20","Act 22",
"Apr 21","Act 23",
"Apr 22","Act 24",
"Apr 23","Act 25",
"Apr 24","Act 26",
"Apr 25","Act 27",
"Apr 26","Act 28",
"Apr 27","Rom 1",
"Apr 28","Rom 2",
"Apr 29","Rom 3",
"Apr 30","Rom 4",
"May 01","Rom 5",
"May 02","Rom 6",
"May 03","Rom 7",
"May 04","Rom 8",
"May 05","Rom 9",
"May 06","Rom 10",
"May 07","Rom 11",
"May 08","Rom 12",
"May 09","Rom 13",
"May 10","Rom 14",
"May 11","Rom 15",
"May 12","Rom 16",
"May 13","1Co 1",
"May 14","1Co 2",
"May 15","1Co 3",
"May 16","1Co 4",
"May 17","1Co 5",
"May 18","1Co 6",
"May 19","1Co 7",
"May 20","1Co 8",
"May 21","1Co 9",
"May 22","1Co 10",
"May 23","1Co 11",
"May 24","1Co 12",
"May 25","1Co 13",
"May 26","1Co 14",
"May 27","1Co 15",
"May 28","1Co 16",
"May 29","2Co 1",
"May 30","2Co 2",
"May 31","2Co 3",
"Jun 01","2Co 4",
"Jun 02","2Co 5",
"Jun 03","2Co 6",
"Jun 04","2Co 7",
"Jun 05","2Co 8",
"Jun 06","2Co 9",
"Jun 07","2Co 10",
"Jun 08","2Co 11",
"Jun 09","2Co 12",
"Jun 10","2Co 13",
"Jun 11","Gal 1",
"Jun 12","Gal 2",
"Jun 13","Gal 3",
"Jun 14","Gal 4",
"Jun 15","Gal 5",
"Jun 16","Gal 6",
"Jun 17","Eph 1",
"Jun 18","Eph 2",
"Jun 19","Eph 3",
"Jun 20","Eph 4",
"Jun 21","Eph 5",
"Jun 22","Eph 6",
"Jun 23","Phi 1",
"Jun 24","Phi 2",
"Jun 25","Phi 3",
"Jun 26","Phi 4",
"Jun 27","Col 1",
"Jun 28","Col 2",
"Jun 29","Col 3",
"Jun 30","Col 4",
"Jul 01","1Th 1",
"Jul 02","1Th 2",
"Jul 03","1Th 3",
"Jul 04","1Th 4",
"Jul 05","1Th 5",
"Jul 06","2Th 1",
"Jul 07","2Th 2",
"Jul 08","2Th 3",
"Jul 09","1Ti 1",
"Jul 10","1Ti 2",
"Jul 11","1Ti 3",
"Jul 12","1Ti 4",
"Jul 13","1Ti 5",
"Jul 14","1Ti 6",
"Jul 15","2Ti 1",
"Jul 16","2Ti 2",
"Jul 17","2Ti 3",
"Jul 18","2Ti 4",
"Jul 19","Tit 1",
"Jul 20","Tit 2",
"Jul 21","Tit 3",
"Jul 22","Phm 1",
"Jul 23","Heb 1",
"Jul 24","Heb 2",
"Jul 25","Heb 3",
"Jul 26","Heb 4",
"Jul 27","Heb 5",
"Jul 28","Heb 6",
"Jul 29","Heb 7",
"Jul 30","Heb 8",
"Jul 31","Heb 9",
"Aug 01","Heb 10",
"Aug 02","Heb 11",
"Aug 03","Heb 12",
"Aug 04","Heb 13",
"Aug 05","Jam 1",
"Aug 06","Jam 2",
"Aug 07","Jam 3",
"Aug 08","Jam 4",
"Aug 09","Jam 5",
"Aug 10","1Pe 1",
"Aug 11","1Pe 2",
"Aug 12","1Pe 3",
"Aug 13","1Pe 4",
"Aug 14","1Pe 5",
"Aug 15","2Pe 1",
"Aug 16","2Pe 2",
"Aug 17","2Pe 3",
"Aug 18","1Jo 1",
"Aug 19","1Jo 2",
"Aug 20","1Jo 3",
"Aug 21","1Jo 4",
"Aug 22","1Jo 5",
"Aug 23","2Jo",
"Aug 24","3Jo",
"Aug 25","Jud 1",
"Aug 26","Rev 1",
"Aug 27","Rev 2",
"Aug 28","Rev 3",
"Aug 29","Rev 4",
"Aug 30","Rev 5",
"Aug 31","Rev 6",
"Sep 01","Rev 7",
"Sep 02","Rev 8",
"Sep 03","Rev 9",
"Sep 04","Rev 10",
"Sep 05","Rev 11",
"Sep 06","Rev 12",
"Sep 07","Rev 13",
"Sep 08","Rev 14",
"Sep 09","Rev 15",
"Sep 10","Rev 16",
"Sep 11","Rev 17",
"Sep 12","Rev 18",
"Sep 13","Rev 19",
"Sep 14","Rev 20",
"Sep 15","Rev 21",
"Sep 16","Rev 22"
))
(if: $thisDay is in $stuff)[
(set: $test to $thisDay of $stuff )(display: $test)]
(else:)[
There is no Reading for today -- [[Navigator]]]
}1. 2 Timothy 1:12
...I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
2. Psalms 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
3. Acts 2:38
...Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
4. John 13:34
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
5. Job 12:9
Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
6. 2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
7. Genesis 8:22
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
8. John 1:3
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
9. Proverbs 13:11
Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.
10. Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
11. Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
12. Revelation 21:4
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
13. Psalms 62:1
Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.
14. 2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
15. Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
16. Matthew 28:18
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
17. Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
18. Galatians 6:9
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
19. Psalms 119:90
Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
20. 1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
21. Psalms 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
22. Matthew 18:3
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
23. Isaiah 26:3
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
24. Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
25. Ephesians 5:2
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
26. Psalms 118:24
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
27. Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
28. Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
29. Colossians 3:23
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
30. Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
31. Proverbs 18:10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
32. Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
33. Psalms 23:1
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
34. 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
35. Psalms 7:8
The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
36. Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
37. Nahum 1:7
The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
38. Romans 12:14
Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
39. James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
40. Psalms 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
41. 1 Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
42. Psalms 83:18
That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
43. John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
44. Isaiah 53:4
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
45. Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
46. Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
47. Matthew 5:44
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
48. Matthew 6:20
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
49. Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
50. Psalms 104:24
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
51. Romans 7:6
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
52. Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
53. 1 Peter 3:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
54. Psalms 10:17
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
55. Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
56. Psalms 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
57. 2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
58. Lamentations 3:22
It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
59. Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
60. Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
61. 2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
62. Proverbs 3:6
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
63. Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
64. 2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
65. Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
66. Psalms 89:1
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
67. John 13:35
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
68. Psalms 108:3
I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
69. Psalms 16:8
I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
70. 1 Corinthians 13:4
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
71. Galatians 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
72. Micah 6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
73. Matthew 11:28
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
74. Joshua 1:9
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
75. James 5:16
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
76. Psalms 61:2
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
77. Luke 12:27
Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
78. Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
79. Luke 12:24
Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
80. Psalms 5:12
For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
81. Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
82. Psalms 125:3
For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.
83. Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
84. Psalms 11:7
For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
85. Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
86. Psalms 12:5
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
87. Colossians 1:16
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
88. Psalms 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
89. 2 Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
90. Isaiah 55:8
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
91. Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
92. Isaiah 44:3
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
93. John 3:17
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
94. Job 19:25
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latterday upon the earth:
95. John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
96. Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
97. 2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
98. Psalms 30:5
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
99. Romans 8:38
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
100. Psalms 91:11
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
101. Psalms 84:10
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
102. Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
103. Matthew 11:30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
104. Psalms 37:4
Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
105. 1 Thessalonians 1:5
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
106. Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
107. Romans 1:20
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
108. Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
109. 1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
110. Psalms 5:11
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
111. Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
112. Psalms 13:5
But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
113. Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
114. Isaiah 53:5
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
115. Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
116. Malachi 3:10
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
117. Hebrews 3:14
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
118. Psalms 1:1
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
119. Psalms 119:2
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
120. 2 Corinthians 5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight
121. Psalms 133:1
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
122. Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
123. Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
124. Matthew 16:26
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
125. Psalms 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God...
126. 1 John 5:4
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
127. Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
128. Psalms 9:10
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
129. Galatians 5:13
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
130. Exodus 33:22
And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
131. Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
132. Joshua 24:15
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
133. John 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
134. Psalms 1:3
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
135. John 9:25
He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
136. Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
137. 1 John 3:16
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
138. Genesis 1:3
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
139. 2 Timothy 1:13
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
140. Matthew 19:19
Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
141. Isaiah 32:2
And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
142. 1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
143. Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
144. Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
145. Proverbs 17:22
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
146. Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
147. Psalms 9:1
...I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
148. Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
149. Nehemiah 8:10
...for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
150. Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
151. 2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
152. Acts 20:35
I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
153. Philippians 1:3
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you...
154. 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
155. John 14:2
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
156. John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
157. John 11:25
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
158. Mark 9:23
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
159. Matthew 22:37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
160. John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
161. Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
162. Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
163. Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
164. Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
165. Hebrews 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
166. Acts 4:12
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
167. 2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
168. Matthew 6:24
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
169. 1 John 4:12
No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
170. Hebrews 10:25
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
171. Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
172. 2 Corinthians 2:14
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
173. Romans 15:13
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
174. Ephesians 3:20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
175. Romans 11:33
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
176. John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
177. Ephesians 6:11
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
178. Colossians 3:12
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
179. John 15:20
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
180. Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
181. 2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
182. James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
183. Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
184. Matthew 28:20
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
185. Romans 10:9
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
186. John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
187. Acts 18:9
Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
188. 1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
189. 1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
190. Matthew 7:12
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
191. Romans 5:1
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
192. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
193. John 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
194. John 5:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
195. Mark 14:38
Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
196. 1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
197. 2 Peter 1:4
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
198. Hebrews 12:28
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
199. 1 Peter 1:8
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
200. John 15:16
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
201. Psalms 27:1
...The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
202. Matthew 18:18
Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
203. Matthew 18:11
For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
204. 1 John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
205. Acts 17:28
For in him we live, and move, and have our being...
206. James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
207. Romans 8:39
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
208. Matthew 17:20
...If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
209. 1 John 5:12
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
210. Psalms 55:22
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
211. 1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
212. Deuteronomy 6:7
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
213. Ephesians 5:20
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
214. 1 Peter 2:24
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
215. Matthew 25:23
...Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things...
216. 1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
217. Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
218. Psalms 100:4
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
219. Psalms 56:3
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
220. Mark 10:27
...With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
221. Genesis 28:15
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
222. Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth...
223. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray without ceasing.
224. Psalms 100:5
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
225. 1 John 4:16
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
226. Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
227. 1 Corinthians 1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
228. Isaiah 41:13
For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
229. Psalms 119:105
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
230. 1 John 5:14
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
231. Revelation 4:11
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
232. 1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
233. Proverbs 6:6
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
234. Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
235. Jeremiah 32:17
Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
236. Job 36:27
For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:
237. Psalms 24:1
...The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
238. Ecclesiastes 12:13
...Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
239. 1 Corinthians 15:58
...be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
240. Proverbs 29:11
A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
241. Acts 16:31
...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...
242. Proverbs 16:9
A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
243. Romans 8:31
...If God be for us, who can be against us?
244. Ezekiel 36:26
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
245. Matthew 21:22
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
246. Job 22:21
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
247. Ephesians 4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
248. Psalms 50:15
And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
249. Genesis 1:31
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good...
250. Exodus 33:14
And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
251. Mark 16:15
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
252. Deuteronomy 6:5
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
253. Luke 18:27
And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
254. Psalms 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
255. Matthew 4:19
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
256. Psalms 31:24
Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.
257. Luke 11:9
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
258. 2 Chronicles 15:7
Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
259. John 14:16
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
260. Psalms 63:3
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.
261. John 14:3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
262. Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
263. Acts 2:21
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
264. Jeremiah 32:27
Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
265. John 6:35
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
266. Jeremiah 17:7
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
267. Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
268. Psalms 37:11
But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
269. Matthew 3:17
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
270. Psalms 3:3
But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
271. Matthew 1:21
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
272. Jeremiah 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
273. Luke 1:35
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
274. Psalms 51:11
Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
275. John 1:5
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
276. Psalms 37:5
Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
277. John 17:3
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
278. Proverbs 16:3
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
279. John 11:26
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
280. Psalms 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
281. John 8:32
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
282. Psalms 55:17
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
283. Revelation 22:12
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
284. Proverbs 30:5
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
285. Luke 2:9
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
286. Psalms 26:2
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
287. Ephesians 6:4
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
288. Proverbs 31:30
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
289. Luke 12:6
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
290. Psalms 33:4
For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.
291. 1 Peter 2:2
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
292. Psalms 31:3
For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.
293. John 15:9
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
294. Psalms 18:28
For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
295. Colossians 2:6
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
296. Psalms 36:9
For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
297. John 14:20
At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
298. Psalms 61:2
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
299. Hebrews 13:2
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
300. Psalms 113:3
From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.
301. Ephesians 4:26
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
302. 2 Samuel 22:33
God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.
303. Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
304. Psalms 23:3
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
305. Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
306. Psalms 91:4
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
307. Matthew 7:15
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
308. Psalms 91:1
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
309. Luke 6:28
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
310. Proverbs 13:20
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
311. Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
312. Exodus 20:12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
313. Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
314. Psalms 34:4
I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
315. Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
316. Psalms 4:8
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
317. Matthew 5:11
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
318. Psalms 18:3
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
319. Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
320. Psalms 139:14
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
321. Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
322. Psalms 91:2
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
323. Luke 11:28
But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
324. Psalms 56:11
In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
325. 1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
326. Psalms 56:4
In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust...
327. James 1:6
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
328. Psalms 71:1
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
329. Matthew 24:36
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
330. Psalms 25:5
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation...
331. 1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
332. Psalms 150:6
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
333. Matthew 10:30
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
334. Psalms 95:2
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
335. Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
336. Psalms 98:4
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
337. James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
338. Psalms 34:19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
339. Ephesians 6:10
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
340. Psalms 62:5
My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
341. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
342. Psalms 95:1
O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
343. 1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
344. Psalms 95:6
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
345. John 6:38
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
346. Psalms 107:1
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
347. Romans 8:18
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
348. Psalms 118:1
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.
349. Romans 5:17
For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
350. Psalms 136:1
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
351. Romans 6:14
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
352. Psalms 8:9
O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
353. Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
354. Psalms 25:2
O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
355. John 1:17
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
356. Psalms 96:1
O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.
357. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
358. Psalms 34:8
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
359. Luke 19:10
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
360. Psalms 106:1
Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
361. 1 John 5:7
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
362. Psalms 51:12
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
363. 1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
364. Proverbs 14:34
Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
365. Romans 1:17
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
366. Psalms 139:23
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
367. Luke 2:11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
368. 1 Chronicles 16:11
Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.
369. Mark 8:36
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
370. Isaiah 55:6
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
371. Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
372. Psalms 100:2
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
373. Romans 10:10
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
374. Psalms 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
375. Galatians 3:26
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
376. Psalms 27:11
Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
377. 1 Corinthians 6:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
378. Psalms 86:11
Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
379. Matthew 7:6
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
380. Proverbs 10:22
The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
381. Luke 2:14
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
382. Psalms 34:15
The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
383. 1 Corinthians 1:9
God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
384. Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
385. Matthew 10:39
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
386. Proverbs 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
387. Revelation 21:7
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
388. Isaiah 40:8
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
389. Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
390. Psalms 9:9
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
391. Revelation 1:8
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
392. Habakkuk 3:19
The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places...
393. Revelation 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore...
394. Psalms 103:8
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
395. John 10:9
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
396. Psalms 18:2
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
397. John 10:11
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
398. Psalms 28:7
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped...
399. Philippians 3:14
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
400. Psalms 118:6
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
401. James 1:5
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
402. Psalms 121:5
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
403. 1 John 1:8
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
404. Psalms 34:17
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
405. John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
406. Psalms 37:23
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
407. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
408. Psalms 12:6
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
409. John 3:5
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
410. 1 Samuel 2:2
There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
411. Luke 6:37
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
412. Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
413. James 1:3
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
414. Psalms 118:28
Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
415. Ephesians 4:29
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
416. Psalms 23:5
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
417. John 14:1
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
418. Exodus 20:3
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
419. John 5:28
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
420. Psalms 119:11
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
421. Romans 8:37
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
422. Ecclesiastes 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
423. Philippians 4:11
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
424. Isaiah 26:4
Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
425. Ephesians 4:6
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
426. Psalms 25:1
Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.
427. Romans 12:12
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
428. Psalms 27:14
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
429. Matthew 20:16
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
430. Psalms 51:2
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
431. Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
432. Proverbs 16:7
When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
433. Philippians 3:10
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
434. Psalms 27:8
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
435. John 3:15
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
436. Proverbs 21:23
Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
437. Matthew 9:37
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
438. Proverbs 4:7
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
439. John 8:12
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
440. Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
441. Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
442. Matthew 24:44
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
443. John 15:12
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
444. 2 Timothy 2:3
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
445. 2 Timothy 2:1
Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
446. Matthew 26:41
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
447. Matthew 24:42
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
448. 1 Corinthians 6:19
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you...
449. Ephesians 6:13
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
450. James 1:19
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
451. 1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
452. Romans 8:35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
453. 1 John 4:15
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
454. Matthew 5:14
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
455. Psalms 119:103
How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
456. 1 Corinthians 15:55
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
457. Luke 6:45
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good?
458. Mark 10:45
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
459. Proverbs 3:35
The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
460. Luke 12:32
Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
461. Matthew 12:30
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
462. John 3:27
...A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
463. Luke 6:27
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
464. Mark 11:26
But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
465. James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
466. Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
467. Jude 1:25
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
468. 1 Corinthians 9:24
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
469. Proverbs 4:23
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
470. Matthew 10:22
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
471. Proverbs 12:22
Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
472. Luke 14:27
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
473. Habakkuk 2:20
But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
474. Colossians 3:20
Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
475. 1 John 3:20
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
476. Psalms 107:20
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
477. John 15:18
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
478. Proverbs 16:18
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
479. Psalms 118:17
I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
480. 1 Corinthians 2:16
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
481. Psalms 89:15
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
482. 2 Thessalonians 2:15
Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
483. Hebrews 12:14
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
484. Psalms 36:7
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
485. Romans 8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
486. Colossians 1:14
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
487. 1 Corinthians 3:16
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
488. Jeremiah 29:13
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
489. Proverbs 3:13
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
490. 1 John 5:13
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life?
491. Psalms 92:13
Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
492. Romans 14:11
For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
493. Matthew 5:10
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
494. Psalms 85:10
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
495. Ecclesiastes 7:9
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
496. 1 John 5:11
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
497. Psalms 40:8
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
498. 1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
499. Psalms 96:9
O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
500. Psalms 25:9
The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
501. Ecclesiastes 3:8
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
502. 1 John 4:11
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
503. Psalms 17:8
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
504. Proverbs 10:8
The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.
505. Galatians 6:7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
506. Psalms 27:7
Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
507. Romans 4:7
Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
508. Psalms 121:7
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
509. Micah 7:7
Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
510. Proverbs 2:6
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
511. Matthew 24:5
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
512. Psalms 4:5
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
513. Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
514. Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
515. Psalms 29:2
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
516. 2 Peter 1:2
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
517. Ephesians 1:2
Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
518. Proverbs 2:2
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
519. Psalms 103:1
Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
520. Proverbs 27:1
Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
521. Colossians 3:1
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
522. Psalms 150:1
Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
523. Proverbs 28:1
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.0. The earth free-floats in space (Job 26:7), affected only by gravity. While other sources declared the earth sat on the back of an elephant or turtle, or was held up by Atlas, the Bible alone states what we now know to be true - "He hangs the earth on nothing."
0. Creation is made of particles, indiscernible to our eyes (Hebrews 11:3). Not until the 19th century was it discovered that all visible matter consists of invisible elements.
0. The Bible specifies the perfect dimensions for a stable water vessel (Genesis 6:15). Ship builders today are well aware that the ideal dimension for ship stability is a length six times that of the width. Keep in mind, God told Noah the ideal dimensions for the ark 4,500 years ago.
0. When dealing with disease, clothes and body should be washed under running water (Leviticus 15:13). For centuries people naively washed in standing water. Today we recognize the need to wash away germs with fresh water.
0. Sanitation industry birthed (Deuteronomy 23:12-13). Some 3,500 years ago God commanded His people to have a place outside the camp where they could relieve themselves. They were to each carry a shovel so that they could dig a hole (latrine) and cover their waste. Up until World War I, more soldiers died from disease than war because they did not isolate human waste.
0. Oceans contain springs (Job 38:16). The ocean is very deep. Almost all the ocean floor is in total darkness and the pressure there is enormous. It would have been impossible for Job to have explored the "springs of the sea." Until recently, it was thought that oceans were fed only by rivers and rain. Yet in the 1970s, with the help of deep diving research submarines that were constructed to withstand 6,000 pounds-per-square-inch pressure, oceanographers discovered springs on the ocean floors!
0. There are mountains on the bottom of the ocean floor (Jonah 2:5-6). Only in the last century have we discovered that there are towering mountains and deep trenches in the depths of the sea.
0. Joy and gladness understood (Acts 14:17). Evolution cannot explain emotions. Matter and energy do not feel. Scripture explains that God places gladness in our hearts (Psalm 4:7), and ultimate joy is found only in our Creator's presence - "in Your presence is fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11).
0. Blood is the source of life and health (Leviticus 17:11; 14). Up until 120 years ago, sick people were "bled" and many died as a result (e.g. George Washington). Today we know that healthy blood is necessary to bring life-giving nutrients to every cell in the body. God declared that "the life of the flesh is in the blood" long before science understood its function.
0. The Bible states that God created life according to kinds (Genesis 1:24). The fact that God distinguishes kinds, agrees with what scientists observe - namely that there are horizontal genetic boundaries beyond which life cannot vary. Life produces after its own kind. Dogs produce dogs, cats produce cats, roses produce roses. Never have we witnessed one kind changing into another kind as evolution supposes. There are truly natural limits to biological change.
0. Noble behavior understood (John 15:13; Romans 5:7-8). The Bible and history reveal that countless people have endangered or even sacrificed their lives for another. This reality is completely at odds with Darwin's theory of the survival of the fittest.
0. Chicken or egg dilemma solved (Genesis 1:20-22). Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This question has plagued philosophers for centuries. The Bible states that God created birds with the ability to reproduce after their kind. Therefore the chicken was created first with the ability to make eggs! Yet, evolution has no solution for this dilemma.
0. Which came first, proteins or DNA (Revelation 4:11)? For evolutionists, the chicken or egg dilemma goes even deeper. Chickens consist of proteins. The code for each protein is contained in the DNA/RNA system. However, proteins are required in order to manufacture DNA. So which came first: proteins or DNA? The ONLY explanation is that they were created together.
0. Our bodies are made from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7; 3:19). Scientists have discovered that the human body is comprised of some 28 base and trace elements - all of which are found in the earth.
0. The First Law of Thermodynamics established (Genesis 2:1-2). The First Law states that the total quantity of energy and matter in the universe is a constant. One form of energy or matter may be converted into another, but the total quantity always remains the same. Therefore the creation is finished, exactly as God said way back in Genesis.
0. The first three verses of Genesis accurately express all known aspects of the creation (Genesis 1:1-3). Science expresses the universe in terms of: time, space, matter, and energy. In Genesis chapter one we read: "In the beginning (time) God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter)...Then God said, "Let there be light (energy)." No other creation account agrees with the observable evidence.
0. The universe had a beginning (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 1:10-12). Starting with the studies of Albert Einstein in the early 1900s and continuing today, science has confirmed the biblical view that the universe had a beginning. When the Bible was written most people believed the universe was eternal. Science has proven them wrong, but the Bible correct.
0. The earth is a sphere (Isaiah 40:22). At a time when many thought the earth was flat, the Bible told us that the earth is spherical.
0. Scripture assumes a revolving (spherical) earth (Luke 17:34-36). Jesus said that at His return some would be asleep at night while others would be working at day time activities in the field. This is a clear indication of a revolving earth, with day and night occurring simultaneously.
0. Origin of the rainbow explained (Genesis 9:13-16). Prior to the Flood there was a different environment on the earth (Genesis 2:5-6). After the Flood, God set His rainbow "in the cloud" as a sign that He would never again judge the earth by water. Meteorologists now understand that a rainbow is formed when the sun shines through water droplets - which act as a prism - separating white light into its color spectrum.
0. Light can be divided (Job 38:24). Sir Isaac Newton studied light and discovered that white light is made of seven colors, which can be "parted" and then recombined. Science confirmed this four centuries ago - God declared this four millennia ago!
0. Ocean currents anticipated (Psalm 8:8). Three thousand years ago the Bible described the "paths of the seas." In the 19th century Matthew Maury - the father of oceanography - after reading Psalm 8, researched and discovered ocean currents that follow specific paths through the seas! Utilizing Maury's data, marine navigators have since reduced by many days the time required to traverse the seas.
0. Sexual promiscuity is dangerous to your health (1 Corinthians 6:18; Romans 1:27). The Bible warns that "he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body," and that those who commit homosexual sin would "receive in themselves" the penalty of their error. Much data now confirms that any sexual relationship outside of holy matrimony is unsafe.
0. Reproduction explained (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:24; Mark 10:6-8). While evolution has no mechanism to explain how male and female reproductive organs evolved at the same time, the Bible says that from the beginning God made them male and female in order to propagate the human race and animal kinds.
0. Incalculable number of stars (Jeremiah 33:22). At a time when less than 5,000 stars were visible to the human eye, God stated that the stars of heaven were innumerable. Not until the 17th century did Galileo glimpse the immensity of our universe with his new telescope. Today, astronomers estimate that there are ten thousand billion trillion stars - that's a 1 followed by 25 zeros! Yet, as the Bible states, scientists admit this number may be woefully inadequate.
0. The number of stars, though vast, are finite (Isaiah 40:26). Although man is unable to calculate the exact number of stars, we now know their number is finite. Of course God knew this all along - "He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name" (Psalm 147:4). What an awesome God!
0. The Bible compares the number of stars with the number of grains of sand on the seashore (Genesis 22:17; Hebrews 11:12). Amazingly, gross estimates of the number of sand grains are comparable to the estimated number of stars in the universe.
0. Rejecting the Creator results in moral depravity (Romans 1:20-32). The Bible warns that when mankind rejects the overwhelming evidence for a Creator, lawlessness will result. Since the theory of evolution has swept the globe, abortion, pornography, genocide, etc., have all risen sharply.
0. The fact that God once flooded the earth (the Noahic Flood) would be denied (2 Peter 3:5-6). There is a mass of fossil evidence to prove this fact, yet it is flatly ignored by most of the scientific world because it was God's judgment on man's wickedness.
0. Vast fossil deposits anticipated (Genesis 7). When plants and animals die they decompose rapidly. Yet billions of life forms around the globe have been preserved as fossils. Geologists now know that fossils only form if there is rapid deposition of life buried away from scavengers and bacteria. This agrees exactly with what the Bible says occurred during the global Flood.
0. The continents were created as one large land mass (Genesis 1:9-10). Many geologists agree there is strong evidence that the earth was originally one super continent - just as the Bible said way back in Genesis.
0. Continental drift inferred (Genesis 7:11). Today the study of the ocean floor indicates that the landmasses have been ripped apart. Scripture states that during the global Flood the "fountains of the great deep were broken up." This cataclysmic event apparently resulted in the continental plates breaking and shifting.
0. Ice Age inferred (Job 38:29-30). Prior to the global Flood the earth was apparently subtropical. However shortly after the Flood, the Bible mentions ice often - "By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen" (Job 37:10). Evidently the Ice Age occurred in the centuries following the Flood.
0. Life begins at fertilization (Jeremiah 1:5). God declares that He knew us before we were born. The biblical penalty for murdering an unborn child was death (Exodus 21:22-23). Today, it is an irrefutable biological fact that the fertilized egg is truly an entire human being. Nothing will be added to the first cell except nutrition and oxygen.
0. God fashions and knits us together in the womb (Job 10:8-12; 31:15). Science was ignorant concerning embryonic development until recently. Yet many centuries ago, the Bible accurately described God making us an "intricate unity" in the womb.
0. DNA anticipated (Psalm 139:13-16). During the 1950s, Watson and Crick discovered the genetic blueprint for life. Three thousand years ago the Bible seems to reference this written digital code in Psalm 139:16. "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect [unformed; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."
0. God has created all mankind from one blood (Acts 17:26; Genesis 5). Today researchers have discovered that we have all descended from one gene pool. For example, a 1995 study of a section of Y chromosomes from 38 men from different ethnic groups around the world was consistent with the biblical teaching that we all come from one man (Adam)
0. Origin of the major language groups explained (Genesis 11). After the rebellion at Babel, God scattered the people by confounding the one language into many languages. Evolution teaches that we all evolved from a common ancestor, yet offers no mechanism to explain the origin of the thousands of diverse languages in existence today.
0. Origin of the different "races" explained (Genesis 11). As Noah's descendants migrated around the world after Babel, each language group developed distinct features based on environment and genetic variation. Those with a genetic makeup suitable to their new environment survived to reproduce. Over time, certain traits (such as dark skin color for those closer to the equator) dominated. Genesis alone offers a reasonable answer to the origin of the races and languages.
0. God has given us the leaves of the trees as medicine (Ezekiel 47:12; Revelation 22:2). Ancient cultures utilized many herbal remedies. Today, modern medicine has rediscovered what the Bible has said all along - there are healing compounds found in plants.
0. Healthy dietary laws (Leviticus 11:9-12). Scripture states that we should avoid those sea creatures which do not have fins or scales. We now know that bottom-feeders (those with no scales or fins) tend to consume waste and are likely to carry disease.
0. The Bible warns against eating birds of prey (Leviticus 11:13-19). Scientists now recognize that those birds which eat carrion (putrefying flesh), often spread disease.
0. Avoid swine (Deuteronomy 14:8). Not so long ago, science learned that eating undercooked pork causes an infection of parasites called trichinosis. Now consider this: the Bible forbid the eating of swine more than 3,000 years before we learned how to cook pork safely.
0. Radical environmentalism foreseen (Romans 1:25). Two thousand years ago, God's Word stated that many would worship and serve creation rather than the Creator. Today, nature is revered as "Mother" and naturalism is enshrined.
0. Black holes and dark matter anticipated (Matthew 25:30; Jude 1:13; Isaiah 50:3). Cosmologists now speculate that over 98% of the known universe is comprised of dark matter, with dark energy and black holes. A black hole's gravitational field is so strong that nothing, not even light, escapes. Beyond the expanding universe there is no measured radiation and therefore only outer darkness exists. These theories paint a seemingly accurate description of what the Bible calls "outer darkness" or "the blackness of darkness forever."
0. The Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy) explained (Psalm 102:25-26). This law states that everything in the universe is running down, deteriorating, constantly becoming less and less orderly. Entropy (disorder) entered when mankind rebelled against God - resulting in the curse (Genesis 3:17; Romans 8:20-22). Historically most people believed the universe was unchangeable. Yet modern science verifies that the universe is "grow(ing) old like a garment" (Hebrews 1:11). Evolution directly contradicts this law.
0. Cain's wife discovered (Genesis 5:4). Skeptics point out that Cain had no one to marry - therefore the Bible must be false. However, the Bible states plainly that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. Cain married his sister.
0. Incest laws established (Leviticus 18:6). To marry near of kin in the ancient world was common. Yet, beginning about 1500 B.C., God forbid this practice. The reason is simple - the genetic mutations (resulting from the curse) had a cumulative effect. Though Cain could safely marry his sister because the genetic pool was still relatively pure at that time, by Moses' day the genetic errors had swelled. Today, geneticists confirm that the risk of passing on a genetic abnormality to your child is much greater if you marry a close relative because relatives are more likely to carry the same defective gene. If they procreate, their offspring are more apt to have this defect expressed.
0. Genetic mixing of different seeds forbidden (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:9). The Bible warns against mixing seeds - as this will result in an inferior or dangerous crop. There is now growing evidence that unnatural, genetically engineered crops may be harmful.
0. Hydrological cycle described (Ecclesiastes 1:7; Jeremiah 10:13; Amos 9:6). Four thousand years ago the Bible declared that God "draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man" (Job 36:27-28). The ancients observed mighty rivers flowing into the ocean, but they could not conceive why the sea level never rose. Though they observed rainfall, they had only quaint theories as to its origin. Meteorologists now understand that the hydrological cycle consists of evaporation, atmospheric transportation, distillation, and precipitation.
0. The sun goes in a circuit (Psalm 19:6). Some scientists scoffed at this verse thinking that it taught geocentricity - the theory that the sun revolves around the earth. They insisted the sun was stationary. However, we now know that the sun is traveling through space at approximately 600,000 miles per hour. It is literally moving through space in a huge circuit - just as the Bible stated 3,000 years ago!
0. Circumcision on the eighth day is ideal (Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3; Luke 1:59). Medical science has discovered that the blood clotting chemical prothrombin peaks in a newborn on the eighth day. This is therefore the safest day to circumcise a baby. How did Moses know?!
0. God has given us just the right amount of water to sustain life (Isaiah 40:12). We now recognize that if there was significantly more or less water, the earth would not support life as we know it.
0. The earth was designed for biological life (Isaiah 45:18). Scientists have discovered that the most fundamental characteristics of our earth and cosmos are so finely tuned that if just one of them were even slightly different, life as we know it couldn't exist. This is called the Anthropic Principle and it agrees with the Bible which states that God formed the earth to be inhabited.
0. The universe is expanding (Job 9:8; Isaiah 42:5; Jeremiah 51:15; Zechariah 12:1). Repeatedly God declares that He stretches out the heavens. During the early 20th century, most scientists (including Einstein) believed the universe was static. Others believed it should have collapsed due to gravity. Then in 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble showed that distant galaxies were receding from the earth, and the further away they were, the faster they were moving. This discovery revolutionized the field of astronomy. Eisntein admitted his mistake, and today most astronomers agree with what the Creator told us millennia ago - the universe is expanding!
0. Law of Biogenesis explained (Genesis 1). Scientists observe that life only comes from existing life. This law has never been violated under observation or experimentation (as evolution imagines). Therefore life, God's life, created all life.
0. Animal and plant extinction explained (Jeremiah 12:4; Hosea 4:3). According to evolution, occasionally we should witness a new kind springing into existence. Yet, this has never been observed. On the contrary, as Scripture explains, since the curse on all creation, we observe death and extinction (Romans 8:20-22).
0. Light travels in a path (Job 38:19). Light is said to have a "way" [Hebrew: derek, literally a traveled path or road. Until the 17th century it was believed that light was transmitted instantaneously. We now know that light is a form of energy that travels at ~186,000 miles per second in a straight line. Indeed, there is a "way" of light.
0. Air has weight (Job 28:25). It was once thought that air was weightless. Yet 4,000 years ago Job declared that God established "a weight for the wind." In recent years, meteorologists have calculated that the average thunderstorm holds thousands of tons of rain. To carry this load, air must have mass.
0. Jet stream anticipated (Ecclesiates 1:6). At a time when it was thought that winds blew straight, the Bible declares "The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, and comes again on its circuit." King Solomon wrote this 3,000 years ago. Now consider this: it was not until World War II that airmen discovered the jet stream circuit.
0. Medical quarantine instituted (Leviticus 13:45-46; Numbers 5:1-4). Long before man understood the principles of quarantine, God commanded the Israelites to isolate those with a contagious disease until cured.
0. Each star is unique (1 Corinthians 15:41). Centuries before the advent of the telescope, the Bible declared what only God and the angels knew - each star varies in size and intensity!
0. The Bible says that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech (Job 38:35). We now know that radio waves and light waves are two forms of the same thing - electromagnetic waves. Therefore, radio waves are a form of light. Today, using radio transmitters, we can send "lightnings" which indeed speak when they arrive.
0. Laughter promotes physical healing (Proverbs 17:22). Recent studies confirm what King Solomon was inspired to write 3,000 years ago, "A merry heart does good, like medicine." For instance, laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones. This brings balance to the immune system, which helps your body fight off disease.
0. Intense sorrow or stress is harmful to your health (Proverbs 18:14; Mark 14:34). Researchers have studied individuals with no prior medical problems who showed symptoms of stress cardiomyopathy including chest pain, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, and even heart failure - following a stressful incident.
0. Microorganisms anticipated (Exodus 22:31). The Bible warns "Whatever dies naturally or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself with it: I am the LORD" (Leviticus 22:8). Today we understand that a decaying carcass is full of disease causing germs.
0. The Bible cautions against consuming fat (Leviticus 7:23). Only in recent decades has the medical community determined that fat clogs arteries and contributes to heart disease.
0. Do not consume blood (Leviticus 17:12). A common ritual in many religions in the ancient world was to drink blood. However, the Creator repeatedly told His people to abstain from blood (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 3:17; Acts 15:20; 21:25). Of course, modern science reveals that consuming raw blood is dangerous.
0. The Bible describes dinosaurs (Job 40:15-24). In 1842, Sir Richard Owen coined the word dinosaur, meaning "terrible lizard," after discovering large reptilian-like fossils. However in the Book of Job, written 4,000 years earlier, God describes the behemoth as: the largest of all land creatures, plant eating (herbivore), with great strength in its hips and legs, powerful stomach muscles, a tail like a cedar tree, and bones like bars of iron. This is an accurate description of sauropods - the largest known dinosaur family.
0. Pleasure explained (Psalm 36:8). Evolution cannot explain pleasure - even the most complex chemicals do not experience bliss. However, the Bible states that God "gives us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17). Pleasure is a gift from God.
0. Life is more than matter and energy (Genesis 2:7; Job 12:7-10). We know that if a creature is denied air it dies. Even though its body may be perfectly intact, and air and energy are reintroduced to spark life, the body remains dead. Scripture agrees with the observable evidence when it states that only God can give the breath of life. Life cannot be explained by raw materials, time, and chance alone - as evolutionists would lead us to believe.
0. Origin of music explained (Psalm 40:3). Evolution cannot explain the origin of music. The Bible says that every good gift comes from God (James 1:17). This includes joyful melodies. God has given both man and angels the gift of music-making (Genesis 4:21; Ezekiel 28:13). Singing is intended to express rejoicing in and worship of the Lord (Job 38:7; Psalm 95:1-2).
0. Our ancestors were not primitive (Genesis 4:20-22; Job 8:8-10; 12:12). Archeologists have discovered that our ancestors mined, had metallurgical factories, created air-conditioned buildings, designed musical instruments, studied the stars, and much more. This evidence directly contradicts the theory of evolution, but agrees completely with God's Word.
0. Cavemen described in the Bible (Job 30:1-8). Four thousand years ago, Job describes certain "vile men" who were driven from society to forage "among the bushes" for survival and who "live in the clefts of the valleys, (and) in caves of the earth and the rocks." Therefore "cavemen" were simply outcasts and vagabounds - not our primitive ancestors as evolutionists speculate.
0. Environmental devastation of the planet foreseen (Revelation 11:18). Though evolution imagines that things should be getting better, the Bible foresaw what is really occurring today: pollution, destruction and corrupt dominion.
0. The seed of a plant contains its life (Genesis 1:11; 29). As stated in the Book of Genesis, we now recognize that inside the humble seed is life itself. Within the seed is a tiny factory of amazing complexity. No scientist can build a synthetic seed and no seed is simple!
0. A seed must die to produce new life (1 Corinthians 15:36-38). Jesus said, "unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." (John 12:24). In this verse is remarkable confirmation of two of the fundamental concepts in biology: 1) Cells arise only from existing cells. 2) A grain must die to produce more grain. The fallen seed is surrounded by supporting cells from the old body. These supporting cells "give their lives" to provide nourishment to the inner kernel. Once planted, this inner kernel germinates resulting in much grain.
0. The order of creation agrees with true science (Genesis 1). Plants require sunlight, water, and minerals in order to survive. In the first chapter of Genesis we read that God created light first (v.3), then water (v. 6), then soil (v. 9), and then He created plant life (v. 11).
0. God created "lights" in the heavens "for signs and seasons, and for days and years" (Genesis 1:14-16). We now know that a year is the time required for the earth to travel once around the sun. The seasons are caused by the changing position of the earth in relation to the sun. The moon's phases follow one another in clock-like precision - constituting the lunar calendar Evolution teaches that the cosmos evolved by random chance, yet the Bible agrees with the observable evidence.
0. The Bible speaks of "heaven and the highest heavens" (Deuteronomy 10:14). Long before the Hubble Space Telescope, Scripture spoke of the "heaven of heavens" and the "third heaven" (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Corinthians 12:2). We now know that the heavens consist of our immediate atmosphere and the vast reaches of outer space - as well as God's wonderful abode.
0. Olive oil and wine useful on wounds (Luke 10:34). Jesus told of a Samaritan man, who when he came upon a wounded traveler, he bandaged him - pouring upon his wounds olive oil and wine. Today we know that wine contains ethyl alcohol and traces of methyl alcohol. Both are good disinfectants. Olive oil is also a good disinfectant, as well as a skin moisturizer, protector, and soothing lotion. This is common knowledge to us today. However, did you know that during the Middle Ages and right up till the early 20th century, millions died because they did not know to treat and protect open wounds?
0. Man is "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). We are only beginning to probe the complexity of the DNA molecule, the eye, the brain, and all the intricate components of life. No human invention compares to the marvelous wonders of God's creation.
0. Beauty understood (Genesis 1:31; 2:9; Job 40:10; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Matthew 6:28-30). Beauty surrounds us: radiant sunsets, majestic mountains, brightly colored flowers, glowing gems, soothing foliage, brilliantly adorned birds, etc. Beauty is a mystery to the evolutionist. However, Scripture reveals that God creates beautiful things for our benefit and His glory.
0. Strong and weak nuclear force explained (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). Physicists do not understand what binds the atom's nucleus together. Yet, the Bible states that "all things consist" - or are held together by the Creator - Jesus Christ.
0. Atomic fission anticipated (2 Peter 3:10-12). Scripture states that "the elements will melt with fervent heat" when the earth and the heavens are "dissolved" by fire. Today we understand that if the elements of the atom are loosed, there would be an enormous release of heat and energy (radiation).
0. The Pleiades and Orion star clusters described (Job 38:31). The Pleiades star cluster is gravitationally bound, while the Orion star cluster is loose and disintegrating because the gravity of the cluster is not enough to bind the group together. 4,000 years ago God asked Job, "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion?" Yet, it is only recently that we realized that the Pleiades is gravitationally bound, but Orion's stars are flying apart.
0. Safe drinking water (Leviticus 11:33-36). God forbade drinking from vessels or stagnant water that had been contaminated by coming into contact with a dead animal. It is only in the last 100 years that medical science has learned that contaminated water can cause typhoid and cholera.
0. Pest control (Leviticus 25:1-24). Farmers are plagued today with insects. Yet God gave a sure-fire remedy to control pests centuries ago. Moses commanded Israel to set aside one year in seven when no crops were raised. Insects winter in the stalks of last year's harvest, hatch in the spring, and are perpetuated by laying eggs in the new crop. If the crop is denied one year in seven, the pests have nothing to subsist upon, and are thereby controlled.
0. Soil conservation (Leviticus 23:22). Not only was the land to lay fallow every seventh year, but God also instructed farmers to leave the gleanings when reaping their fields, and not to reap the corners (sides) of their fields. This served several purposes: 1) Vital soil minerals would be maintained. 2) The hedge row would limit wind erosion. 3) The poor could eat the gleanings. Today, approximately four billion metric tons of soil are lost from U.S. crop lands each year. Much of this soil depletion could be avoided if God's commands were followed.
0. Animal instincts understood (Job 39; Proverbs 30:24-28; Jeremiah 8:7). A newly hatched spider weaves an intricate web without being taught. A recently emerged butterfly somehow knows to navigate a 2,500-mile migration route without a guide. God explains that He has endowed each creature with specific knowledge. Scripture, not evolution, explains animal instincts.
0. Animals do not have a conscience (Psalm 32:9). A parrot can be taught to swear and blaspheme, yet never feel conviction. Many animals steal, but they do not experience guilt. If man evolved from animals, where did our conscience come from? The Bible explains that man alone was created as a moral being in God's image.
0. Pseudo-science anticipated (1 Timothy 6:20). The theory of evolution contradicts the observable evidence. The Bible warned us in advance that there would be those who would profess: "profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge (science)." True science agrees with the Creator's Word.
0. Science confirms the Bible (Colossians 2:3). These insights place the Bible far above every manmade theory and all other so-called inspired books. In contrast, the Koran states that the sun sets in a muddy pond (Surah 18:86). The Hadith contains many myths. The Book of Mormon declares that Native Americans descended from Jews - which has been disproven by DNA research. The Eastern writings also contradict true science.
0. Human conscience understood (Romans 2:14-15). The Bible reveals that God has impressed His moral law onto every human heart. Con means with and science means knowledge. We know it is wrong to murder, lie, steal, etc. Only the Bible explains that each human has a God-given knowledge of right and wrong.
0. Love explained (Matthew 22:37-40; 1 John 4:7-12). Evolution cannot explain love. Yet, God's Word reveals that the very purpose of our existence is to know and love God and our fellow man. God is love, and we were created in His image to reflect His love.
0. The real you is spirit (Numbers 16:22; Zechariah 12:1). Personality is non-physical. For example, after a heart transplant the recipient does not receive the donor's character. An amputee is not half the person he was before loosing his limbs. Our eternal nature is spirit, heart, soul, mind. The Bible tells us that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
0. The cause of suffering revealed (Genesis 3; Isaiah 24:5-6). The earth is subject to misery, which appears at odds with our wonderfully designed universe. However, the Bible, not evolution, explains the origin of suffering. When mankind rebelled against God, the curse resulted - introducing affliction, pain and death into the world.
0. Death explained (Romans 6:23). All eventually die. The Bible alone explains why we die - "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20). Sin is transgression of God's Law. To see if you will die, please review God's Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). Have you ever lied? (White lies and fibs count.) Ever stolen? (Cheating on a test or taxes is stealing.) Jesus said that "whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28). Have you ever looked with lust? Then you're an adulterer at heart. Have you ever hated someone or called someone a fool? If so, the Bible says you are guilty of murder (Matthew 5:21-22; 1 John 3:15). Have you ever used your Creator's name (Lord, God, Jesus, or Christ) in vain? This is called blasphemy - and God hates it. If you have broken these commandments at any time, then by your own admission, you are a blasphemer, a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, and a liar at heart. And we have only looked at five of the Ten Commandments. This is why we die.
0. Justice understood (Acts 17:30-31). Our God-given conscience reveals that all sin will be judged. Down deep we know that He who created the eyes sees every secret sin (Romans 2:16). He who formed our mind remembers our past offense as if it just occurred. God has declared that the penalty for sin is death. Physical death comes first, then the second death - which is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). God cannot lie. Every sin will be judged. His justice demands it. But God is also rich in mercy to all who call upon His name. He has made a way for justice to be served and mercy to be shown.
0. Eternal life revealed (John 3:16). Scientists search in vain for the cure for aging and death. Yet, the good news is that God, who is the source of all life, has made a way to freely forgive us so that we may live forever with Him in heaven. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). God desires a loving, eternal relationship with each person - free from sin, fear, and pain. Therefore, He sent His Son to die as our substitute on the cross. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Jesus never sinned, therefore He alone qualified to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross. He died in our place. He then rose from the grave defeating death. All who turn from their sins and trust Him will be saved. To repent and place your trust in Jesus Christ, make Psalm 51 your prayer. Then read your Bible daily, obeying what you read. God will never let you down.
0. The solution to suffering (Revelation 21). Neither evolution nor religion offers a solution to suffering. But God offers heaven as a gift to all who trust in His Son. In heaven, "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:4).0. The longest sentence in the Bible (KJV) is the genealogy of Jesus found in (Lk 3:23-38) (467 words!). The 2nd longest is found in (Eph 1:3-14) (268 words). (I counted Smile)
0. The Bible was written over a period of 1500 years by approximately 40 different authors.
0. Nine out of every ten people own a Bible.
0. The complete Bible has been translated into over 500 languages (according to Wycliffe - 2014).
0. Have you ever taken the time to read your Bible cover to cover? Assuming your Bible is 1000 pages long (not counting study notes), and you read a page every 5 minutes, it should take you 84 hours or just under 3 and a half days to read it all. You have read many other books cover to cover, but have you read the most important book of all time?
0. Methuselah was the oldest man at 969 yrs old (Gen 5:27).
0. Six other people also lived to be over 900 yrs old: (Adam 930 yrs old: Gen 5:5) (Seth 912 yrs old: Gen 5:8)(Enos |Enosh| 905 yrs old: Gen 5:11) (Cainan |Kenan| 910 yrs old: Gen 5:14) (Jared 962 yrs old: Gen 5:20) (Noah 950 yrs old: Gen 9:29) ** Note: After the flood, longevity of life greatly decreased.
0. Seven people committed suicide in the Bible: (Zimri - 1 Kin 16:18) (Judas - Mat 27:3-5) (Abimelech - Judg 9:53-54)(Ahithophel - 2 Sam 17:23) (Samson - Judg 16:25-30) (Saul - 1 Sam 31:4-5, 1 Chr 10:4-5) (Saul's armorbearer - 1 Sam 31:5, 1 Chr 10:5).
0. There are 10 places where people were raised from the dead in the Bible: Elijah raised the widow's son (1 Kin 17:17-24). Elisha raised the Shunammites son (2 Kin 4:18-37). A dead man came to life when his body was set on the dead bones of Elisha (2 Kin 13:20-21). Jesus raised a widow's son (Lk 7:11-15). Jesus raised the daughter of Jarius (Lk 8:41-42,49-56). Jesus raised Lazarus (Jn 11:1-46). Jesus was resurrected (Mt 28)(Mk 16)(Lk 24)(Jn 20-21). Many dead saints came out of their graves after Jesus' resurrection (Mt 27:51-53) Peter raised Tabitha (Dorcas) (Acts 9:36-51). Paul raised Eutychus (Acts 20:9-12).
0. The 10 commandments had writing on both sides (Ex 32:15).
0. Ehud was the 1st left handed man in the Bible (Judg 3:15).
0. Dogs are mentioned 41 times in the Bible, cats are never mentioned.
0. Ostriches are mentioned only twice in the Bible: (Job 39:13-18)(Lam 4:3). They are described as cruel and harsh towards their young, having no wisdom or understanding, but faster than a horse.
0. Jubal invented the harp and flute (Gen 4:21).
0. Delilah did not cut Samson's hair (Judg 16:19).
0. Everyone spoke the same language until the incident at the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9).
0. There was a lady named Noah (Josh 17:3).
0. Samson used the jawbone of an ass to kill 1000 men (Judg 15:15).
0. The only boat mentioned by name in the Bible is the Castor and Pollux (Acts 28:11).
0. Manasseh was the longest reigning king at 55 years (2 Kin 21:1).
0. Zimri was the shortest reigning king at 7 days (1 Kin 16:15).
0. Joash was the youngest king at 7 years old (2 Chr 24:1).
0. Genesis never says Adam and Eve ate an apple, only that they ate fruit.
0. The only place an apple tree is mentioned in the Bible is (Song 2:3).
0. Er was the 1st person God killed for being wicked (Gen 38:7).
0. Lamech was the first person recorded in the Bible to commit polygamy (Gen 4:19).
0. Noah's Ark was 450' long, 75' wide, and 45' high, and had 3 stories (Gen 6:15).
0. God shut the door of the Ark (Gen 7:16).
0. There were 4 creatures sent as part of the 10 plagues against Egypt: frogs, lice, flies, and locusts.
0. Goliath's armor weighed 125 pounds (1 Sam 17:5).
0. David kept Goliath's armor in his tent after defeating him (1 Sam 17:54).
0. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kin 11:3).
0. Stephen was the 1st Christian martyr (Acts 6:7-8:2).
0. James was the first apostle martyred (Acts 12:1-2).
0. Othniel was the 1st judge of Israel (Judg 3:9-10).
0. Green is the 1st color mentioned in the Bible (Gen 1:30).
0. Joshua captured 31 kings (Josh 12:9-24).
0. David is mentioned 1139 times in the Bible, second only to Jesus.
0. Sarah is the most mentioned woman (59 times), Rachel is 2nd (47 times).
0. Miriam is the 1st woman recorded singing in the Bible (Ex 15:21).
0. Gamaliel was Paul's teacher (Acts 22:3). He was also an important member of the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:34).
0. There are 7 Mary's in the New Testament.
0. There was a man with 6 fingers and 6 toes (2 Sam 21:20).
0. Two men never died in the Bible: Enoch (Gen 5:22-24) and Elijah (2 Kin 2:11).
0. The book of Job dates before Exodus.
0. God is not mentioned in the book of Esther.
0. The longest word in the Bible is Maher-shalal-hash-baz.
0. Every quote Jesus used against Satan was from the book of Deuteronomy.
0. Jesus (Mt 4:2)(Mk 1:13)(Lk 4:2), Moses (twice)(Ex 34:28)(Deut 9:9,18)(Deut 10:10), and Elijah (1 Kin 19:8) fasted for 40 days. (Moses also went without water.)
0. Word for word, Luke wrote more of the New Testament than Paul.
0. The books Paul wrote in the NT were named for the people they were written to.
0. In the Bible, Jesus never told a disciple "I love you." However, He showed them with His actions.
0. Bethlehem means "house of bread."
0. Amen means basically "so be it."
0. Hosanna means "save now."
0. Manna means "what is it."
0. When the king of Nineveh called the people to repent, even the animals were to fast and be covered in sackcloth (Jonah 3:7-8).
0. Job at one time had 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 oxen, and 500 female donkeys (Job 1:3).
0. There are approximately 125 animals mentioned in the Bible.
0. Job said his wife thought he had bad breath (Job 19:17).
0. Solomon wrote 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs (1 Kin 4:32).
0. Silver was of little value in Solomon's day (1 Kin 10:21).
0. Egyptians despised shepherds (Gen 46:34).
0. Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born (Gen 5:3).
0. Jacob had 12 sons, but also had a daughter named Dinah (Gen 34:1).
0. The Levites could not serve in the Tabernacle until 25 years old and had to retire at age 50 (Num 8:24-25).
0. God Himself buried Moses and no one knows where (Deut 34:5-6).
0. Jerusalem at one time was called Jebus (Judg 19:10). It was also called Salem (Ps 76:2)(Gen 14:18)(Heb 7:1-2).
0. Og, the king of Bashan, had a bed made of iron that was 13' long and 6' wide (Deut 3:11).
0. Eglon was a very fat man (Judg 3:17).
0. During a severe famine in Samaria, a donkey's head was being sold for 80 pieces of silver and 16 oz of a dove's dung was being sold for 5 pieces of silver (ewwww) (2 Kin 6:25).
0. When Nehemiah saw that the men of Judah had married foreign wives, he rebuked them, beat some of them, and pulled out their hair (Neh 13:25).
0. There are 12 books of the Bible that start with J.
0. The disciples were called Christians for the 1st time at Antioch (Acts 11:26).
0. Jesus was about 30 when He began His ministry (Lk 3:23).
0. Jesus performed over 30 miracles in the Gospels.
0. The last place we see the Ark of the Covenant in the Bible is in (2 Chr 35:3) when God told the Levites to place it in the Temple that Solomon built.
0. There is nothing in the Bible stating men and women danced with one another.
0. The new Earth won't have any seas (Rev 21:1).
0. The law was given 430 years after God's covenant was established with Abraham (Gal 3:16-17).
0. The Sea of Galilee was also known as the Sea of Tiberias (Jn 21:1).
0. Joseph was the only person in Genesis to live less than 120 years. He died at 110 years old (Gen 50:22).
0. Isaiah (Greek word Esaias) is quoted by name 21 times in the New Testament.
0. There are 613 articles in the law.
0. There is only one place in the Bible that shows Jesus sleeping; it is in the midst of a storm (Mt 8:23-27)(Mk 4:35-41)(Lk 8:22-25).
0. Unlike today, people who died during Bible times were almost always buried the same day they died.
0. Jesus used the term, "Verily I say unto you (or thee)" 77 times in the Gospels. (Each time in John an extra "verily" is added.) Nowhere else in the Bible is this term used.
0. The time period of the book of Genesis spans more time than all of the rest of the Bible combined.
0. The walls surrounding Babylon were 87 ft thick and 387 ft high.
0. King Ahasuerus made a feast that went for 180 days (Est 1:3-4).
0. The only woman the Bible tells us to remember is Lot's wife (Lk 17:32).
0. Enoch was the first man to prophesy in the Bible (Jude 1:14).
0. Paul was guarded by 470 soldiers when He was taken to Governor Felix (Acts 23:23).
0. Speaking of Felix, He is one of only 3 people in the Bible who's name begins with an F: Felix, Fortunatus (1 Cor 16:17), and Festus (Acts 24-26).
0. A ball is mentioned only once in the Bible (Isa 22:18).
0. Joseph is the first man mentioned as shaving (Gen 41:14).
0. Cheese is mentioned 3 times in the Bible (1 Sam 17:18)(2 Sam 17:29)(Job 10:10).
0. There was a king named So (2 Kin 17:4), an altar named Ed (Josh 22:34), and a man named Hen (Zech 6:14).
0. Sarah is the only woman mentioned as laughing in the Bible (Gen 18:12-13).
0. Paul had a sister (Acts 23:16).
0. Boys didn't officially get their names until they were circumcised on the 8th day after being born.
0. Abraham was circumcised when he was 99 years old (Gen 17:24).
0. Can you find a place in the Bible where it says angels sing?
0. Abraham got remarried after Sarah died, to Keturah. He had 6 children with her (Gen 25:1-2).
0. There are approximately 34 false gods mentioned in the Bible.
0. Approximately 6 of the false gods were women: (Annammelech - 2 Kin 7:31), (Asherah - Judg 6:25,26,28,30), (Ashtoreth - 1 Kin 11:5,33), (Diana/Artemis - Acts 19:24,27-28,34-35), (Queen of Heaven/Ishtar - Jer 7:18, Jer 44:17-19,25), (Succoth Benoth - 2 Kin 17:30)
0. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego are the only people mentioned in the Bible as wearing hats (Dan 3:21).
0. Only those who breathed through their nostrils were killed in the flood (Gen 7:22).
0. Three of Benjamin's sons were named Muppim, Huppim, and Ard (Gen 46:21).
0. Jacob was buried with Leah and not Rachel when he died (Gen 49:29-33).
0. Embalming in early Bible times took 40 days (Gen 50:3).
0. Anything that walked on four paws was a forbidden food under the law (Lev 11:27).
0. The six "cities of refuge" were a part of the land given to the Levites (Num 35:6).
0. In the book of Deuteronomy, God was still taking care of the descendants of Esau (Deut 2:4-5).
0. The Israelites left Egypt in the evening at sunset (Deut 16:6).
0. There was a city called Adam (Josh 3:16).
0. God also dried up the Jordan River so His people could pass through (Josh 3:14-17).
0. God parted the Jordan River for both Elijah and Elisha (2 Kin 2:7-9,14).
0. God rained down large stones from Heaven on some of Israel's enemies (Josh 10:11).
0. Samson wanting to marry a Philistine girl (who was not of his own people) was the Lord's will (Judg 14:1-4).
0. The Gileadites tested people to see if they were their enemies the Ephraimites by making them say "Shibboleth." The Ephraimites couldn't pronounce it right, saying "Sibboleth," and when they mispronounced it, they were captured and killed (Judg 12:4-6).
0. Saul was so afraid when they tried to make him king, he hid in some luggage so they couldn't find him (1 Sam 10:21-22).
0. Saul gave David's wife Michal to a man named Palti (1 Sam 25:44). David later got her back (2 Sam 3:13-16).
0. The prophet Nathan gave Solomon the name "Jedidiah," meaning "beloved of the Lord" (2 Sam 12:25).
0. Absalom made a monument to himself (2 Sam 18:18).
0. A man named Ben-hur was a deputy over Israel (1 Kin 4:7-8).
0. The pillars in front of the Temple had names: Jachin and Boaz (1 Kin 7:21)(2 Chr 3:17).
0. Samaria was named after a man called Shemer, and bought for two talents of silver (1 Kin 16:24).
0. King Ahab built an ivory house (1 Kin 22:39).
0. Elijah was a hairy man (2 Kin 1:8).
0. Jehu was a crazy chariot driver (2 Kin 9:20).
0. Elisha died from an illness (2 Kin 13:14).
0. David had a son named Daniel (1 Chr 3:1).
0. Joab became David's commander and chief because he killed the first person when David took over Jerusalem (1 Chr 11:6).
0. The Gadites had faces like lions (1 Chr 12:8).
0. Esther was also called Hadessah (Est 2:7).
0. Job had worms in his skin during his trial (Job 7:5).
0. Solomon had black, wavy hair (Song 5:11).
0. There were cities named Michmash (Isa 10:28), Hanes (Isa 30:4), and Sin (Ezek 30:15).
0. Kings Zedekiah and Ahab were burned to death (Jer 29:22).
0. Herod had a brother named Philip (Mk 6:17).
0. When Jesus was walking on water, He intended to pass by the disciples boat (Mk 6:48).
0. The prodigal son had spent part of his inheritance on prostitutes (Lk 15:30).
0. Andrew was a disciple of John The Baptist before becoming Jesus' disciple (Jn 1:35-37,40).
0. In the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden (Jn 19:41).
0. Paul spoke both Greek and Hebrew (Acts 21:37,40).
0. The Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection from the dead, angels, or spirits (Acts 23:8).
0. Paul was unskilled in speech (2 Cor 11:6).
0. Mark was a cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10).
0. Elijah prayed, and it didn't rain on the Earth for three and a half years (Jas 5:17).
0. Jacob took the idols of everyone who was traveling with him and hid them under a terebinth tree (Gen 35:2-4).
0. God told the Israelites no animal of the sea should be eaten unless it had fins and scales (Lev 11:9).
0. There were 6 steps to Solomon's throne (1 Kin 10:19).
0. Goliath had a brother named Lahmi (1 Chr 20:5).
0. Who wrote the book of Deuteronomy? Did you say Moses? Well he wrote MOST of it, but not ALL of it. He could not have written the last chapter (34), because he was dead. Most believe Joshua finished it.
0. Joshua also could not have written Joshua 24:29-33, because he had died.
0. Jesus called Himself the "Son of man" 79 times in the Gospels.
0. Jesus was born during the reign of Caesar Augustus (Lk 2:1).
0. Elephants are never mentioned in the Bible. However, ivory, which comes from elephants' tusks, is mentioned 13 times.
0. Psalm 111 is an example of an acrostic psalm. Each line begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet from beginning to end (22 letters). Other examples of acrostics can be found in Psalms 9,10,25,34,37,112,119,145.
0. Why does the Bible say that people were always "going up" to Jerusalem? Because Jerusalem sits upon a hill, and no matter what direction you approach from, you will always be going up to it.
0. Absalom cut his hair once a year, and when he did what was cut off weighed just about 5 pounds (2 Sam 14:26)!
0. Rachel was a shepherdess (Gen 29:9).
0. Even though Leah and Rachel were both married to Jacob, Leah had to buy a night with her husband from Rachel for some mandrakes her son had brought her (Gen 30:14-16).
0. The golden calf which Aaron made for the Israelites was made ONLY from earrings (Ex 32:2-4).
0. John The Baptist never performed any miracles (Jn 10:41).
0. Abraham had sons with some of his concubines too (Gen 25:6).
0. Only two people died by hanging in the Bible, and both were suicides (Ahithophel 2 Sam 17:23)(Judas Mt 27:5).
0. Four squads of soldiers (16 soldiers) were assigned to guard Peter in prison (Acts 12:4). He was also chained between two soldiers (Acts 12:6).
0. Peter obviously knew he would never be a part of a rapture because Jesus told him how he would die (Jn 21:18-19).
0. David's tomb was still visible in Jerusalem at the time of Pentecost (Acts 2:29).
0. There was a place near Gilgal called the "Hill of the Foreskins" (Josh 5:3). (see footnotes in versions other than KJV)
0. The Valley of Hinnom was a place just south of Jerusalem where the garbage of the city was taken and burned. It was burning continually. The Greek word for this place was Gehenna, which was used in the New Testament 12 times, and it was translated as Hell.
0. There was a man named Salmon (Ruth 4:20-21)(Mt 1:4-5)(Lk 3:32).
0. A man named Judas lived on "Straight Street" (Acts 9:11).
0. Speaking of Barnabas, keep in mind that the only vowel in his name is "a." It is not Barnabus as many often spell it.
0. Elizabeth, the mother of John The Baptist was a descendant of Aaron (Lk 1:5).
0. John The Baptist was Jesus' cousin (Lk 1:36).
0. Timothy was mentioned by Paul 17 times in his letters.
0. Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Gentile father (Acts 16:1).
0. In (Ezek 24:23), the KJV Bible says the house of Israel wore "tires" on their heads. Modern translations make this a "turban."
0. A few Pharisees were converted (i.e. Paul, Nicodemus), but there is no record of any Sadducees being converted.
0. Noah and his family were on the Ark for just over a year (Gen 7:11, 8:13-14).
0. The Earth has been completely covered with water twice: at the beginning of creation (Gen 1) and during the flood (Gen 7).
0. Nehemiah, along with some other men, returned to Jerusalem after the exile and rebuilt it's walls in 52 days (Neh 6:15)!
0. The Bible never says that there were only 3 wise men, however, tradition says that their names were Gaspar, Balthazar, and Melchior.
0. There was an unnamed river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden which parted into 4 more rivers: Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel (Tigris) and Euphrates (Gen 2:10-14).
0. Eden means "delight" in Hebrew.
0. The first question God asked in the Bible was "Where art thou?" to Adam (Gen 3:9).
0. Twenty different birds were forbidden food (Lev 11:13-19).
0. An ostrich was the largest unclean bird (Lev 11:16).
0. The first person to be called a Hebrew in the Bible was Abram (Gen 14:13).
0. Only two nuts are mentioned by name in the Bible: almonds and pistachios.
0. Salt is mentioned 41 times in the Bible, but pepper is never mentioned.
0. The word "hate" is used 87 times in the Bible, but the word "love" is used 310 times.
0. The only angels mentioned by name in the Bible are: Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer.
0. After his conversion, Paul went to Arabia for 3 years (Gal 1:17-18).
0. The phrase "It is written" (referring to the Old Testament) is found 63 times in the New Testament.
0. Babylon in the Bible was located approximately where modern day Baghdad, Iraq is today.
0. Psalm 110:1 is quoted or referred to more in the New Testament than any other Old Testament verse.
0. The word "Psalm" comes from the Hebrew word "mizmowr" meaning "instrumental music."
0. Nathanael, one of Jesus' 12 disciples, was from Cana (Jn 21:2), the same place where Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding (Jn 2:1-10).
0. Judas "Iscariot" (Gr. Iskariotes) meant "Judas of Kerioth."
0. There will be no marriages in Heaven (Lk 20:34-35)(Mt 22:30)(Mk 12:25).
0. Jesus had at least 4 brothers named: James, Joses, Juda (Jude), and Simon as well as sisters (Mk 6:3)(Mt 13:55-56). (James and Jude wrote books of the Bible.)
0. If an unclean animal fell into a container, the container was to be broken (Lev 11:33).
0. Under Old Testament purification laws, anyone stepping on a grave was unclean for 7 days (Num 19:16).
0. The prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah)(Zech 1:1), who wrote the book of Zechariah, was martyred between the Temple and the altar (Mt 23:35)(Lk 11:51).
0. Moses is credited as the author of Psalm 90.
0. In the genealogy of Jesus (Mt 1:1-16: the "royal line" through Joseph) are 4 women. Tamar posed as a prostitute, Rahab was a prostitute, and Bathsheba was an adulteress. Ruth, as well as the other 3, were also Gentiles.
0. The phrase "under the sun" is used 29 times in Ecclesiastes.
0. Lawyers are mentioned 8 times in the Bible. Only Zenas (Titus 3:13) is mentioned by name.
0. Only Joseph is said to have been placed in a "coffin" (Gen 50:26).
0. Adoni-bezek cut off the thumbs and big toes of 70 kings. He was later captured and had his cut off (Judg 1:5-7).
0. God told Gideon to pick his men for war by how they drank water (Judg 7:4-7).
0. The camels of kings Zebah and Zalmunna had crescent ornaments on their necks (Judg 8:21).
0. Those same kings (Zebah and Zalmunna) had killed Gideon's brothers. When Gideon captured them in battle, he asked his firstborn (likely teenage) son to kill them, but he was afraid to do so, therefore, Gideon killed them (Judg 8:18-21).
0. Gideon had 71 sons (Judg 8:30-31). One of his sons, Abimelech, later killed 69 of them (Judg 9:5-6).
0. Samson caught 300 foxes, tied them tail to tail, put a lighted torch between their two tails, and set them loose to destroy the fields of the Philistines (Judg 15:4-5).
0. Samson had 7 locks of hair (Judg 16:19).
0. David had a praise team of 4000 men (1 Chr 23:5).
0. (Ezra 7:21) contains every letter of the alphabet but "J."
0. About 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes were placed on the body of Jesus (Jn 19:39). (Some versions say 100 pounds, but a Roman pound |Gr word: "litra"| was 12 oz, not 16 oz.)
0. Noah lived for 350 years after the flood (Gen 9:28).
0. Noah's Ark contained only 1 window (Gen 6:16).
0. Noah built the Ark with gopher wood (Gen 6:14).
0. The Ark of the Covenant was made with acacia (shittim) wood (Ex 25:10).
0. Daniel prayed on his knees 3 times a day (Dan 6:10).
0. Job said the white of an egg has no taste (Job 6:6).
0. A "Sabbath Day's Journey" (Acts 1:12) was about a half-mile. (This was a man-made tradition that determined how far the Jews could walk on the Sabbath.)
0. Paul was a tentmaker (Acts 18:1-3).
0. Israel (Jacob) gave Joseph his coat of many colors when he was 17 (Gen 37:2-3).
0. Mary Magdalene had been possessed with 7 demons (Lk 8:2).
0. The Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits (Gen 14:10).
0. Jericho` was also known as the "city of palm trees" (Deut 34:3).
0. There were 3 men named "Dodo" in the Bible: Grandfather of Tola (Judg 10:1), Father of Eleazar (2 Sam 23:9)(1 Chr 11:12), Father of Elhanan (2 Sam 23:24)(1 Chr 11:26).
0. Horses are mentioned 156 times in the Bible.
0. There were 30,000 Israelites who helped build God's Temple. They worked in shifts, 10,000 worked for one month, then they had 2 months off (1 Kin 5:13-14).
0. 150,000 laborers cut and carried the stone used to build the Temple (2 Chr 2:18)(1 Kin 5:15).
0. The Aramaic word "Raca" used by Jesus in (Mt 5:22) was a word that was used as a sign of great disrespect towards someone. It basically meant the person was "empty-headed."
0. There are approximately 33 different birds listed in the Bible.
0. Approximately 20 precious stones are mentioned in the Bible.
0. Lions killed people 4 times in the Bible (1 Kin 13:23-24)(1 Kin 20:35-36)(2 Kin 17:25-26)(Dan 6:24).
0. Three people also killed lions in the Bible: (Samson - Judg 14:5-9) (David - 1 Sam 17:34-36)(Benaiah - 2 Sam 23:20, 1 Chr 11:22).
0. Speaking of Benaiah, when he "killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day " (2 Sam 23:20)(1 Chr 11:22), it is the only time that the Bible talks about it snowing.
0. Amos was a herdsman and grower of sycamore figs (Amos 7:14).
0. The daily provisions for Solomon's palace were: 150 bushels of flour, 300 bushels of meal, 10 stall fed cattle, 20 pasture fed cattle, 100 sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and choice fowl (1 Kin 4:22-23).
0. When David ordered Joab and the army commanders to count all of the fighting men of Israel, it took them 9 months and 20 days. There were 1,300,000 men (2 Sam 24:1-9).
0. When the Angel of the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, he was actually visible in the sky with a sword in his hand (2 Sam 24:15-17)(1 Chr 21:14-17).
0. David paid 600 shekels of gold (about 15 pounds) for the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. This was where God's Temple was later built (1 Chr 21:21-25) (2 Chr 3:1).
0. The plans for how God's Temple was to be built were put in David's mind by the Holy Spirit (1 Chr 28:12).
0. Jehiel the Gershonite was the first person put in charge of the Temple treasury (1 Chr 29:8).
0. Joab's house was located in the wilderness (1 Kin 2:33-34).
0. The construction of God's Temple began 480 years after the Israelites had come out of Egypt (in the 4th year of Solomon's reign)(1 Kin 6:1).
0. Some of the side chambers of God's Temple were 3 stories high (1 Kin 6:5-8).
0. The walls of God's Temple were made with cedar wood and the floor with cypress wood (1 Kin 6:15).
0. When God's Temple was dedicated, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep were sacrificed by Solomon (1 Kin 8:62-63).
0. Solomon had even more wisdom than Ethan the Ezrahite, and the sons of Mahol (Heman, Calcol, and Darda)(1 Kin 4:29-31)!
0. Solomon had 12 officers (district governors) over all of Israel. Two of these, were married to his daughters: Ben-Abinadab to his daughter Taphath and Ahimaaz to his daughter Basemath (1 Kin 4:7,11,15).
0. Nobody ever offered more spices as a present than the Queen of Sheba gave to Solomon (1 Kin 10:10)(2 Chr 9:9).
0. (Prov 30:24-28) says four animals are exceedingly wise: ants, coneys, locusts, and lizards.
0. God appeared to Solomon 3 times (1 Kin 11:9-13).
0. Rehoboam, Solomon's son, had 18 wives and 60 concubines. With them, he fathered 28 sons and 60 daughters (2 Chr 11:21).
0. Zimri was king for only 7 days when he killed himself (1 Kin 16:15-18).
0. When a group of soldiers was lead into Samaria, the king asked Elisha if he should kill them. Elisha replied no, but instead feed them. The king threw a great feast and then sent them on their way. They never bothered Israel again (2 Kin 6:20-23).
0. There was such a bad famine in Samaria that 2 ladies agreed to kill their sons and eat them to have food... The first day, they ate one ladies son, then on the 2nd day, when they were to eat the other ladies son, she hid him (2 Kin 6:25-29).
0. No one was sorry when King Jehoram died (2 Chr 21:18-20).
0. After the temple of Baal was destroyed, the Israelites used it as a latrine (2 Kin 10:26-27).
0. Hazael, the king's servant, killed his master and king Ben-Hadad, and became king in his place (2 Kin 8:14-15). Oddly though, he named his son after him (2 Kin 13:3), who later became king himself (2 Kin 13:24).
0. A city in Egypt was named Memphis (Hos 9:6).
0. King Uzziah loved the soil (2 Chr 26:10).
0. During the simultaneous reigns of Uzziah in Judah and Jeroboam II in Israel, there was a very destructive earthquake (Amos 1:1). (Also see: Zech 14:5) Modern geologists have also confirmed this.
0. Isaiah was married to a woman referred to only as "the prophetess" (Isa 8:3). He had at least 2 sons with her named Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (Isa 8:3) and Shear-Jashub (Isa 7:3).
0. The men of Lud (Lydians) were famous as archers (Isa 66:19).
0. King Sennacherib was assassinated by 2 of his sons, who then ran away, leaving a third son to reign in his place (2 Kin 19:36-37)(2 Chr 32:21).
0. King Manasseh was buried in his garden (2 Kin 21:18).
0. Jeremiah is the only man in the Bible God would not allow to get married (Jer 16:1-2).
0. Sadly, in the later years of his life, Solomon had places built to worship the heathen gods Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. These places were still present over 300 years later when Josiah was king. Josiah destroyed them (2 Kin 23:13-14).
0. King Josiah was only about 13-14 years old when he became a father (connect these verses to figure this out: 2 Kin 22:1, 2 Kin 23:31, 2 Kin 23:34-36).
0. Also, Jehoiachin, who would have been Josiah's grandson, was 18 years old when he became king, and he already had "wives" (2 Kin 24:8,15).
0. God said He has 4 dreadful judgments: sword (war), famine, wild beasts, and plague (Ezek 14:21). (How many of these are we seeing today?)
0. In approximately 588 B.C., King Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Jerusalem (2 Kin 25:1)(Jer 39:1-2)(Jer 52:4). The moment it began, God told Ezekiel, who was 100's of miles away, about it (Ezek 24:1-2).
0. Ezekiel wore a turban (Ezek 24:16-17).
0. Papers placed in an earthen jar lasted for a long time (Jer 32:14). (This is how the Dead Sea Scrolls were stored when we found them 1000's of years after they were written.)
0. Jonathan the scribe had his house turned into a prison (Jer 37:15,20).
0. When 70 men were brutally killed at Mizpah, their bodies were thrown into a cistern that King Asa had made about 300 years earlier (Jer 41:4-9)(1 Kin 15:16-22).
0. King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden image (some believe of himself) that was 90' high and 9' wide (Dan 3:1).
0. Nehemiah had a brother named Hanani (Neh 7:2).
0. Both Joab and Amasa were commanders of David's army. They were also his nephews (1 Chr 2:15-17).
0. David's best friend Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth. He was also known as Merib-Baal (1 Chr 8:34)(1 Chr 9:40). He became crippled in both feet when he fell at 5 years old while fleeing with his nurse (2 Sam 4:4).
0. When Elizabeth became pregnant with the baby John The Baptist, she went into seclusion for 5 months (Lk 1:24).
0. John The Baptist wore clothes made from camel hair (Mt 3:4).
0. Nazareth was built on a hill (Lk 4:16,29).
0. One of the women who followed Jesus was Joanna. Her husband was the manager of the evil King Herod's household (Lk 8:2-3).
0. There was a tower in Siloam (located in the southern part of Jerusalem) that fell and killed 18 people (Lk 13:4).
0. There was also a "pool" in Siloam that is mentioned in (Jn 9:7). It was built hundreds of years earlier by King Hezekiah (2 Kin 20:20)(2 Chr 32:30).
0. Jesus taught from a boat 2 times: (Mt 13:1-3)(Mk 4:1-2) and (Lk 5:1-3).
0. Do you remember where Jesus and the disciples were in their boat crossing the Sea of Galilee in rough weather and Jesus calmed the sea? Did you know that other boats were with them? (Mt 8:23-27)(Mk 4:35-41)(Lk 8:22-25)(See - Mk 4:36)
0. When Jesus cast the demons out of a demon possessed man into a herd of pigs, they went into about 2000 pigs (Mk 5:13).
0. Mark recorded Jesus as saying that 2 sparrows sold for a copper coin (Mt 10:29). However, Luke tells us in recording Jesus' words that you could get a bargain deal if you bought 5 sparrows. They only cost 2 copper coins (Lk 12:6-7)!
0. When Jesus approached the disciples' boat while walking on water, they had been rowing for about 3 or 4 miles (Jn 6:19).
0. The disciple Thomas was also called Didymus (Greek meaning the "twin") (Jn 11:16)(Jn 20:24)(Jn 21:2).
0. Bethany, home to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (close friends of Jesus), was only about 2 miles from Jerusalem (Jn 11:18).
0. Jesus' disciples carried 2 swords (Lk 22:38).
0. King Herod and Pontus Pilate, who had been enemies, became friends during their persecution of Jesus (Lk 23:12).
0. Pilates' judgment seat was located at a place called "The Pavement" or "Gaatha" in Hebrew (Jn 19:13).
0. Standing near the cross as Jesus was dying were 4 women; 3 of them were named Mary (Jn 19:25).
0. When the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples fishing on the Sea of Galilee, and told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat, they hauled in 153 fish (Jn 21:1-11).
0. The field where Judas Iscariot committed suicide was named Aceldama or "The Field of Blood" (Acts 1:19).
0. The Holy Spirit was given at 9 a.m. on the Day Of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4,15).
0. The east gate to the Temple was called "Beautiful" (Acts 3:2,10).
0. Barnabas, whose name meant "Son of Encouragement" was also called Joseph (Acts 4:36).
0. Have you ever put your fingers in your ears and made some loud noise (like "na,na,na,na,na") when you didn't want to hear what someone had to say? The Jewish leaders did this when Stephen was speaking. They were so upset, they killed him (Acts 7:57-58)!
0. When the apostle Philip found the Ethiopian eunuch, he was reading out loud from the book of Isaiah (Acts 8:30). He was converted a short time later (Acts 8:34-39).
0. In (Acts 19:23-41), it speaks about a great riot that occurred in Ephesus. Apparently, it started slow, but "soon the whole city was in an uproar" (Acts 19:29). What I find funny is that verse 32 says that most of the crowd didn't even know why they were there or shouting.
0. Epenetus was the first convert to Christ from Asia (Rom 16:5).
0. There were 276 people aboard the boat that was shipwrecked while taking Paul to Rome (Acts 27:37). (However, none of the people aboard died in that shipwreck as Paul prophesied.)
0. After being shipwrecked, Paul and the rest of his shipmates swam to an island called Malta, where Publius was the chief official (Acts 28:1,7).
0. After being shipwrecked and swimming to the island of Malta, Paul, his shipmates, and the islanders decided to start a fire. As Paul was getting ready to lay sticks on the fire that he had gathered, he was bitten by a poisonous snake that was in the sticks. All around thought he would die, but when he did not, they decided he was a god (Acts 28:1-6).
0. The 5th commandment says to "honor your father and mother" (Ex 20:12). But, did you know that the next sentence says if you do, God promises to prolong your days?
0. "Bayith" is the Hebrew word for "house." When combined with another Hebrew word, it is used to describe over 50 places in the Bible (i.e. Beyth Aven = "house of vanity."
0. Timothy's mother was named Eunice and his grandmother was named Lois (2 Tim 1:2-5).
0. Naomi's husband (Elimelech) and 2 sons (Mahlon and Chilion) all died within a period of about 10 years (Ruth 1:1-5).
0. The name of Ruth's first husband was Mahlon (Ruth 1:4-5, 4:10). After he died, she later married Boaz (Ruth 4:13).
0. King David was Ruth's (the book of Ruth) great-grandson (Ruth 4:21-22)(Matt 1:5-6).
0. When the pregnant Mary (mother of Jesus) went to see her pregnant cousin Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist) (Lk 1:39-56), she had to travel approximately 70 miles on winding and hilly roads. The journey probably took 3 or 4 days!
0. Sarah died when she was 127 years old (Gen 23:1), 37 years after she had given birth to Isaac (Gen 17:17).
0. Isaac was 75 years old and Ishmael 89 years old when they buried their father Abraham (Gen 21:5)(Gen 16:15)(Gen 25:7).
0. In the Bible, Cain spoke directly to God, however, Abel never did (Gen 4:6-15).
0. At one time, Zechariah carried 2 staffs. He named them "Favor" and "Union" (Zech 11:7)(The KJV uses "Beauty" and "Bands.")
0. Approximately 29 musical instruments are mentioned in the Bible.
0. The king of Babylon looked at an animals liver to determine the future (Ezek 21:21).
0. As Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane hours before His crucifixion, He was under such extreme stress that His sweat became like "giant drops of blood falling to the ground" (Lk 22:44). The medical term for this is "hematidrosis." (Only Luke, the physician, mentions this happening to Jesus.)
0. There were 8 weapons used in the Bible to fight with: Ax, Bow & Arrow, Club, Dagger, Mace, Sling, Spear, Sword.
0. Three types of Arks are mentioned in the Bible: Noah's Ark (Gen 6:14-16), Moses Ark (a small type of basket that the infant Moses was placed in)(Ex 2:3-6), the Ark of the Covenant (Ex 25:10-22).
0. Jesus was on the cross for 6 hours (Mk 15:25,34-37).
0. The only time the word "grease" is used in the Bible is in (Ps 119:70).
0. The Bible says to "wait on God" over 40 times.
0. Men first began to "call upon the name of the Lord" in (Gen 4:26).
0. How many times have you been asked, "If you could have one wish, what would it be?". God basically offered this to Solomon, and Solomon asked for "an understanding heart to judge thy people." This pleased God and Solomon was given more wisdom than any man in history (1 Kin 3:5-14).
0. Isn't it interesting that Pharaoh ordered every newborn Israelite boy to be drowned in the Nile (Ex 1:22), then many years later Pharaoh's Egyptian army was drowned when the Red Sea swept over them (Ex 14:26-28)?
0. When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, they did so at night, with a "pillar of cloud" providing light for them to see (Ex 14:19-22).
0. God brought the plague of locusts upon Egypt, and also parted the Red Sea with a strong east wind (Ex 10:13)(Ex 14:21).
0. The first time the word "love" is used in the Bible is when Isaac spoke about loving food (Gen 27:4).
0. The Psalms mention the heart 122 times.
0. Jairus' daughter was 12 years old when Jesus brought her back to life (Lk 8:41-42,49-56).
0. You know that scene we often see where Joseph and the pregnant Mary are going to Bethlehem, and Joseph is walking while leading a donkey on which Mary is riding? The Bible never says Mary was riding a donkey (she may have walked).
0. Have you ever noticed that dogs are always spoken of unfavorably in the Bible? They are compared to prostitutes (Deut 23:18), greedy men (Isa 56:10), and evil men (Phil 3:2)(Rev 22:15). Did you know that in Bible times, dogs were despised?
0. When Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born again (Jn 3:1-3), it was at night.
0. Mary, the mother of Jesus, speaks in 15 verses in the Bible (193 words - KJV). Her last words are significant, "Whatsoever He (Jesus) saith unto to you, do it." (Jn 2:5)
0. The word "Christian" is used 3 times in the Bible (Acts 11:26)(Acts 26:28)(1 Pet 4:16).
0. Angels are mentioned in 34 books of the Bible.
0. God had the first spoken words in the Bible, "let there be light" (Gen 1:3).
0. Jesus stayed up all night praying before choosing His 12 disciples (Lk 6:12-13).
0. The 1st animal sacrifice in the Bible was a sheep (Gen 4:2-4).
0. The first war took place at the Valley of Siddim (or Salt Sea) (Gen 14:2-3).
0. The word "faith" is used 245 times in the New Testament, but only 2 times in the Old Testament.
0. There are 14 Jonathan's mentioned in the Bible.
0. God's first prophecy in the Bible was to the serpent who deceived Adam and Eve (Gen 3:14-15).
0. Paul uses the word "joy" more in Philippians than any other Epistle. It was written while he was in prison.
0. Peter's father was named "John" (or Jonas in Aramaic)(Jn 1:42)(Jn 21:15-17).
0. The law that Moses wrote was to be read every 7 years during the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut 31:9-13).
0. The Ethiopian eunuch that Philip witnessed to was the Secretary Of The Treasury for Ethiopia (Acts 8:27).
0. Acts, the longest book in the New Testament never uses the word "love." (Acts and 2 Peter are the only New Testament books that don't.)
0. The hyssop plant was used to sprinkle lamb's blood on the top and sides of the doorframe during the Passover (Ex 12:22). The hyssop plant was also used when giving Jesus a drink while He was on the cross (Jn 19:29).
0. Have you ever felt like you are the only person left who is standing for the truth? There is a term for this: "An Elijah Complex." Elijah felt this way and God told him, "... I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him." (see - 1 Kin 19:14-18, Rom 11:4-5)
0. Three kings reigned for 40 years: David (1 Kin 2:11)(2 Sam 5:4-5), Solomon (1 Kin 11:42), and Joash (2 Chr 24:1)(2 Kin 12:1).
0. (Saul may also be a part of this group Acts 13:21 , but this is controversial 1 Sam 13:1 .)
0. The covering for the tabernacle was made out of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above that (Ex 26:14)(Ex 36:19).
0. Deborah, the only female judge of Israel, used to hold court under what was known as "the palm tree of Deborah" (Judg 4:4-5). Also, her husband was named Lapidoth.
0. The commander of the army of Caanan was killed by a woman named Jael who drove a tent peg through his head (Judg 4:1-2,17-21).
0. How many of you, like me, have always heard that when Noah sent the dove from the Ark to see if the water had receded from the Earth, it returned with an olive branch in it's beak? It wasn't actually an olive branch, but an olive leaf (Gen 8:11).
0. I always thought that leprosy in the Bible must have been very contagious since it appeared to be everywhere, but research tells us that about 95% of all humans are naturally immune to it when exposed.
0. Most of us know that Eden was the first city mentioned in the Bible (Gen 2:10). However, the 2nd city mentioned is Havilah, and it had gold, bdellium, and onyx. "The gold of that land is (was) good" (Gen 2:11-12).
0. When the two witnesses are slain in the Tribulation, the people on Earth will give gifts to each other (Rev 11:10).
0. Supposedly, there are over 4000 words that appear only once in the KJV Bible. The last four of these are: Zoreah, Zorites, Zuriel, and Zuzims.
0. There are no "x" words in the KJV Bible.
0. The spies that Moses sent into Canaan returned with grapes, figs, and pomegranates (Num 13:23).
0. Solomon spent 7 years building God's Temple (1 Kin 6:38), but took almost twice as long (13 years) to build his own palace (1 Kin 7:1).
0. Nineveh was founded by Nimrod (Gen 10:8-11)(Noah's great-grandson: Gen 10:1-8) in app. 2200 B.C.. About 1440 years later (app. 760 B.C.), Jonah preached there. About 150 years after that, it was destroyed forever in 612 B.C..
0. Based on (Gen 5:21-22), it appears that Enoch may not have believed in God for the first 65 years of his life, until after his son Methuselah was born.
0. It appears that Methuselah, who lived longer than anyone in history (969 years: Gen 5:27), died in the year of the flood (maybe in the flood?)(add up the numbers of Gen 5:26-28 & Gen 7:6). Interestingly, he outlived his son, Lamech who died 5 years prior to the flood at age 595 (see - Gen 5:28,30 & Gen 7:6).
0. Demas, Paul's friend and fellow worker in Christ (Col 4:14)(Phile 1:24), abandoned him right before he was martyred, having "loved this present world." He left for Thessalonica (2 Tim 4:10).
0. Aaron was 3 years older than his brother Moses (Ex 7:7).
0. It was Aaron, not Moses, who threw down his rod before Pharaoh and it turned into a snake (Ex 7:8-12).
0. It appears that Moses and Aaron died in the same year. When they left Egypt, Moses was 80 and Aaron was 83 (Ex 7:7). Aaron died at the age of 123, 40 years after leaving Egypt (Num 33:38-39). Moses died at the age of 120 (Deut 34:7). Scholars who have studied the dates say the deaths were about 7 months apart.
0. After Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, all of his disciples "forsook Him and fled" (Mt 26:56)(Mk 14:50). John and Peter returned (Jn 18:15-16), but Peter denied Him (Mt 26:69-75)(Mk 14:66-72). Only John was there at Jesus' crucifixion (Jn 19:26-27).
0. Sheep are mentioned more than any other animal in the Bible: 187 times.
0. The flask of oil that Mary poured upon Jesus (Mt 26:6-13)(Mk 14:3-9)(Jn 12:1-6) was worth 300 denarii (Mk 14:5). One denarius was equal to a day's wages, so 300 was equal to a year's wages (no money earned on the Sabbath).
0. Satan is mentioned 18 times in the Old Testament, but he is never called the devil until the New Testament.
0. Paul performed the last recorded miracles in the Bible (Acts 28:7-9).
0. The Father spoke to Jesus audibly 3 times while He was on Earth: at His baptism (Mt 3:17)(Lk 3:22), at the Transfiguration (Mt 17:5)(Mk 9:7)(Lk 9:35), and just before Jesus went to the cross (Jn 12:28).
0. Jesus healed 10 men who had leprosy, but only one returned to thank Him (Lk 17:12-19).
0. It is often said that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, but nowhere does the Bible say this. (Some believe this idea may have come from the Jewish Talmud, which said the city of Magdala had a reputation for prostitution.)
0. Of the 55 verses in Malachi, 47 are God speaking. This is the highest percentage of any Old Testament prophetic book.
0. Moses had 2 sons: Gershom (Ex 2:21-22) and Eliezer (Ex 18:3-4).
0. At least one idol was kept in David and Michal's house (1 Sam 19:11-13,16).
0. According to Jewish tradition, Isaiah was killed during the reign of the evil Manasseh, when he was put into a hollow log and sawn in half. (see - Heb 11:37)
0. Under Roman law, a Roman citizen could not be flogged or crucified. Paul was a Roman citizen, so he could not legally be flogged (Acts 16:37-38)(Acts 22:24-29). Tradition says he was martyred by beheading in 67 A.D. on the Ostian Way.
0. Our word "excruciating" comes from the Latin word "cruciare" meaning "to crucify."
0. Only two people were embalmed in the Bible: Jacob (Gen 50:1-2) and Joseph (Gen 50:26).
0. The time between when Joseph was sold into slavery and he saw his brothers again was just over 20 years (Gen 37:2)(Gen 41:46,53-54)(Gen 42:3).
0. When we use the word "but," it is usually in a negative sense. However, when the Bible uses "but," it is often in a positive way. See: (Gen 50:20)(Mt 6:33) (Ps 73:26)(Rom 5:8)(Rom 6:23). (Several studies have been written on this called "Great But's In The Bible.") Smile
0. 2nd Kings 19 and Isaiah 37 are almost identical.
0. The sign above Jesus on the cross was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin (Lk 23:38)(Jn 19:20).
0. Joseph wept 7 times (Gen 42:24)(Gen 43:30)(Gen 45:2,14-15)(Gen 46:29)(Gen 50:1,17).
0. The time period between Jesus' resurrection and ascension was 40 days (Acts 1:3).
0. Paul uses the word "grace" within the first 5 verses of each book he wrote.
0. Paul also gives "thanks" in the 1st chapter of 11 of his 13 books.
0. Judah gave his first son (Er) to marry Tamar. God killed him for being wicked. Then Judah gave his second son (Onan) to marry Tamar. God killed him too for being wicked. Judah would not give his third son to marry Tamar, but later unknowingly had sex with her, thinking she was a prostitute. She bore him twins. (Gen 38:6-26).
0. God miraculously caused the sun to stand still in the sky, providing light for 24 hours straight (Josh 10:12-14).
0. As a sign to Hezekiah, God caused the sun's shadow on a sundial to go back ten degrees (Isa 38:7-8).
0. In response to King Belshazzar's contempt for the holy things of God, God sent a "hand" which wrote a message on the wall. The King was terrified. Daniel told him the message said he would die. He was killed that night. (Daniel 5)
0. Moses was not allowed into the Promised Land because he disobeyed God (Num 20:2-13)(Deut 34:4), but many scholars believe that when he appeared with Jesus on the Mount Of Transfiguration (Mt 17:1-9)(Mk 9:2-8), that the mountain was in the Promised Land.
0. As far as I can find, there are 8 people in the Bible with 2 letter names: Ir - (1 Chr 7:12), Og - (Num 21:33), On - (Num 16:1), So - (2 Kin 17:4), and four men named Uz - (Gen 10:23)(Gen 22:21)(Gen 36:28)(1 Chr 1:17).
0. There are also 7 cities with 2 letter names: Ai - (2 cities named Ai) (Gen 12:8) (Jer 49:3), Ar - (Num 21:15), No - (Ezek 30:15), On - (Gen 41:45,50), Ur - (Gen 11:28,31), Uz - (Job 1:1).
0. In (Ps 72:6) it mentions grass that has been mowed.
0. The well called "Jacob's Well" (Jn 4:6), where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:1-26) was, according to tradition, built by Jacob centuries earlier (possibly after he bought that land in Gen 33:18-19). That well can still be seen today in the Palestinian village of Tell Balata!
0. In (2 Sam 12:1-14), the prophet Nathan confronted David about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband by telling him a parable. After hearing the parable, David became angry and said the man in it should die, and make restitution "fourfold." It turned out David was the man in the parable, and the "fourfold" restitution he "prophesied" about himself sadly came true. For the one man he had killed (Bathsheba's husband), he later had 4 sons die: (2 Sam 12:15-19)(2 Sam 13:28-33)(2 Sam 18:14-15)(1 Kin 2:23-25).
0. Jesus used "fish" to perform a miracle 4 times in His earthly ministry: 1. Feeding 5000: (Mt 14:15-21)(Mk 6:35-44)(Lk 9:12-17)(Jn 6:1-13), 2. When a coin appeared in the mouth of a fish to pay taxes: (Mt 17:27), 3. When Jesus told Simon Peter to let down his nets again, then they were filled with fish: (Lk 5:4-11), 4. When Jesus told the disciples who were fishing to cast their net on the right side of the boat, and it was filled with fish: (Jn 21:4-11)
0. First promise in the Bible: (Gen 2:17) "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
0. Last promise in the Bible: (Rev 22:20) "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
0. The book of John contains no parables.
0. The only time in the synoptic Gospels (Mt, Mk, Lk) where John the disciple spoke is in (Mk 9:38) "And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us." (Also see: Lk 9:49)
0. 42 youth were mauled by 2 female bears because they made fun of Elisha's bald head (2 Kin 2:23-24).
0. Remember to show hospitality to strangers because you might be helping an angel (Heb 13:2).
0. While the Israelites were in the desert for 40 years, God kept their clothes and sandals from wearing out (Deut 29:5).
0. King Saul was very tall (1 Sam 9:2)(1 Sam 10:23).
0. God told Isaiah to walk around naked for 3 years (Isa 20:1-4).
0. Here is something to think about: the same Greek word "martus" is used for a "martyr" or a "witness."
0. Noah built the first altar in the Bible (Gen 8:20).
0. Abraham built more altars than anyone in the Bible (Gen 12:7)(Gen 12:8)(Gen 13:18)(Gen 22:9-14).
0. God caused Aaron's rod to bud and produce almonds (Num 17:8).
0. A man who was a newlywed was exempt from military service for a year (Deut 24:5).
0. You could hire a professional mourner (Jer 9:17-18)(Amos 5:16).
0. Jesus was crucified at a place called "Golgotha" which meant "Place Of A Skull" (Mt 27:33)(Mk 15:22)(Jn 19:17).
0. Lydia was the first Christian convert in Europe (Acts 16:14-15).
0. Goliath was about 9'9" tall (1 Sam 17:4).
0. The Hebrew Bible actually has 24 books, not 39. 1&2 Samuel, Kings, Chronicles are each counted as one book, not two. Ezra and Nehemiah are combined. The 12 books of the minor prophets are all one book called "The Book Of The Twelve."
0. Jabal was the father of those who lived in tents and raised livestock (Gen 4:20).
0. Most of us know that Cain was the first to kill a person in the Bible when he killed his brother (Gen 4:9), but did you know that Lamech is the 2nd person said to have killed someone (Gen 4:23)?
0. The Philistines, who we hear about constantly in the Old Testament, started with a man named Casluhim (Gen 10:14).
0. There was a well known terebinth tree in Moreh at Shechem (Gen 12:6).
0. It was detestable for an Egyptian to eat with a Hebrew (Gen 43:32).
0. As Joseph sent his brothers out of Egypt back to their father, he said to them, "Do not quarrel on the journey" (Gen 45:24).
0. Psalm 136 says of God, "For His mercy endureth for ever" 26 times (in every verse)!
0. The Israelites brought so many offerings to construct the Tabernacle that Moses had to tell them to stop giving (Ex 36:2-7).
0. The weight of the offerings used to construct the Tabernacle were: just over one ton of gold, about three and three quarter tons of silver, and about two and a half tons of bronze (Ex 38:24-25,29).
0. As part of purifying themselves, the Levites had to shave their whole body (Num 8:6-7).
0. When moving the Ark Of The Covenant, it was to be covered with 3 coverings (Num 4:5-6).
0. Moses was the most meek (humble) man on the face of the Earth (Num 12:3).
0. Moses changed Hoshea's name to Joshua (Num 13:16).
0. The Levites had to tithe on the tithes that were given to them (Num 18:25-26).
0. Nobah captured a city and then named it after himself (Num 32:42).
0. God commanded Moses to record the stages of the Israelites journey after leaving Egypt (Num 33:1-2).
0. Elim had 12 springs and 70 palm trees (Num 33:9)(Ex 15:27).
0. The Israelites could not light a fire on the Sabbath (Ex 35:3).
0. Any grain offering made to the Lord had to have salt on it (Lev 2:13).
0. When the Israelites entered the Promised Land and planted a fruit tree, they were forbidden to eat its fruit for 4 years (Lev 19:23-25).
0. A mother and its offspring were not to be sacrificed on the same day (Lev 22:28).
0. God said that when a new house was built, it must have a parapet for the roof to prevent anyone from falling off, and bringing bloodguilt on the house (Deut 22:8).
0. Each time (but one) the word "bad" is used in the Bible, it is contrasted with the word "good" in the same sentence.
0. Technically, the word "Sabbath" means "STOP" in both Hebrew and Greek.
0. When Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he took the body ("bones") of Joseph with him (Ex 13:19). (Joseph had made this request about 360 years earlier when he prophesied that God would lead the Israelites out of Egypt Gen 50:24-26.) They later buried his bones in Shechem (Josh 24:32).
0. Many scholars believe that the average life expectancy during Jesus' time on Earth was about 30-40 years. (Low in part because so many infants and children died.)
0. Did you ever notice that Adam and Cain both received the same punishment for their sin: banishment (Gen 3:23-24)(Gen 4:11-16).
0. When David defeated Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, he cut off his head and put his armor in his tent (1 Sam 17:51,54). Later, when the Philistines defeated Israel and their king (champion) Saul, they cut off his head and put his armor in their temple (1 Sam 31:9-10).
0. The Hebrew words used for Tabernacle, "ohel" and "mishkan," simply mean "tent."
0. Before Jeroboam became the king of Israel, he was King Solomon's servant (1 Kin 11:26).
0. From my count, there is a command "to sing" in 37 verses in the Bible.
0. (Zeph 3:17) says God sings.
0. Jesus "sat down" before preaching His "Sermon On The Mount" (Mt 5:1-2).
0. For a brief moment, Moses had leprosy (Ex 4:6-7).
0. Two men in the Old Testament were known for their hair: Samson and Absalom. Interestingly, their hair later lead to their downfall (Judg 16)(2 Sam 18:9-15).
0. (Isa 53:9) prophesied that Jesus would be buried in a rich man's tomb. This was fulfilled hundreds of years later (Mt 27:57-60)(Mk 15:42-46).
0. In the synoptic Gospels, Jesus only called His disciples "disciples" one time: when He gave them directions for preparing for the Last Supper (Mt 26:18)(Mk 14:14)(Lk 22:11).
0. Eli, the High Priest, died when he fell backwards off his chair and broke his neck after hearing bad news (1 Sam 4:17-18).
0. After the Philistines defeated the Israelites in battle, they took the Ark of God. Because of this, God struck the Philistines with "tumors." Putting together several verses, it appears this was a disease (possibly bubonic plague) caused by God sending swarms of rats (1 Sam 5:6-12)(1 Sam 6:4-5,11).
0. Laban was Rebekah's brother (Gen 24:29). Rebekah became Issac's wife (Gen 24:67). Issac and Rebekah's son Jacob later married Laban's two daughters Leah and Rachel (Gen 29:15-30).
0. In all of the Bible, there is not one place that shows a conversation between Adam and Eve.
0. God formed Adam from "the dust of the ground" (Gen 2:7), but He created Eve from Adam's rib (Gen 2:21-22).
0. "Jesus" means "the Lord is salvation" and "Christ" means "the anointed one."
0. (1 Sam 16:10-11) and (1 Sam 17:12-14) say David was the youngest of 8 sons. (1 Chr 2:13-16) says David was the youngest of 7 sons. How do we explain this? Most scholars believe one son died between the events of 1st Samuel and 1st Chronicles.
0. David had 2 sisters: Zeruiah and Abigail (1 Chr 2:13-16).
0. When David went to battle with Goliath, he had his staff, sling, and 5 smooth stones (1 Sam 17:40). Goliath had a shield, sword, spear, and javelin (1 Sam 17:41,45).
0. The first time Jeremiah calls himself a "prophet" in the book of Jeremiah is in (Jer 20:2).
0. Sarah is the only woman in the Bible that we know the age at which she died: 127 years old. (Gen 23:1)
0. The phrase "Am I my brother's keeper?" comes from (Gen 4:9).
0. The Canaanites were descended from Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah (Gen 9:18).
0. There were 3 brothers: Abram (Abraham), Nahor, and Haran (Gen 11:27). After Haran died (Gen 11:28), Nahor married Haran's daughter (Gen 11:29).
0. The first spoken words of Jesus in the New Testament are: "Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?" (Lk 2:49)
0. The Book Of John never mentions the Sadducees.
0. Two women died as a result of childbirth in the Bible: Rachel, after giving birth to Benjamin (Gen 35:16-19) and Phinehas' wife, after giving birth to Ichabod (1 Sam 4:19-22).
0. Ishmael was an archer (Gen 21:20).
0. The name "Malachi" means "my messenger" or "His (The Lord's) messenger." Because of this, some believe the Book of Malachi was not written by a man named Malachi, but rather, by an anonymous author. (I believe he was the author.)
0. Angels do eat sometimes (Gen 18:1-8,22 with Gen 19:1). (Also see: Ps 78:23-25)
0. Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary and the baby Jesus to Egypt so that Jesus would not be killed when King Herod issued his decree that all male children 2 years old or younger must be put to death (Mt 2:13-16)(Hos 11:1).
0. Neither leaven nor honey could be used for a burnt offering (Lev 2:11).
0. If a woman gave birth to a male child, she was unclean for a week. If she gave birth to a female child, she was unclean for two weeks (Lev 12:2,5).
0. During the Feast Of Tabernacles, the Israelites were to build "booths" (little structures made of shrubs and branches: Neh 8:14-17) and live in them for 7 days (Lev 23:42-43).
0. When besieging a city, the Israelites were not to cut down fruit trees to use in the siege (Deut 20:19-20).
0. God pronounced a "curse" on a hitman (Deut 27:25).
0. During their time in the wilderness, after their exodus from Egypt, the Israelites did not circumcise their sons (Josh 5:2-7).
0. God had a special recipe for making both anointing oil and incense for the Tabernacle that no one was allowed to use for themselves (Ex 30:22-38).
0. If a man built an altar, he was not to use a tool to shape the stones (Ex 20:25)(Deut 27:5-6)(Josh 8:30-31).
0. Rahab was a prostitute (Josh 2:1). She was the great-great grandmother of David (Mt 1:5-6).
0. God's command in (Lev 19:18) to "love your neighbor as yourself" is quoted 9 times in the New Testament (Mt 5:43)(Mt 19:19)(Mt 22:39)(Mk 12:31,33)(Lk 10:27)(Rom 13:9) (Gal 5:14)(James 2:8). This is the most of any Old Testament verse.
0. By God's supernatural power, Elijah ran ahead of King Ahab's horse drawn chariot for about 15-20 miles to get to Jezreel (1 Kin 18:46).
0. When Samuel worked in the Tabernacle as a child, his mother would bring him a new little robe every year (1 Sam 2:18-19).
0. Members of Caesar's household were Christians (Phil 4:22).
0. Shamgar killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox goad (Judg 3:31).
0. Jabin, the king of Canaan, had 900 iron chariots (Judg 4:2-3,13).
0. When Israel went to war with the Philistines, no one had a sword or spear except King Saul and his son Jonathan. The Philistines had a monopoly on iron weapons, and had removed all of the blacksmiths from Israel (1 Sam 13:19-22).
0. Samuel had 3 brothers and 2 sisters (1 Sam 2:21).
0. Solomon gave his friend Hiram 20 cities in Galilee. He hated them, and named the land "Cabul" meaning "unproductive or sterile" (1 Kin 9:10-13). He later gave them back to Solomon (2 Chr 8:2).
0. An unnamed prophet said to a man "strike me please," and the man refused. The prophet said that because he refused, a lion would kill him when he left. It did (1 Kin 20:35-36).
0. Absalom called for Joab, but he would not come. He sent for him a second time, and he would not come. He then set Joab's barley field on fire and he came (2 Sam 14:29-31).
0. The only miracle of Jesus that is mentioned in all 4 Gospels is when He fed the 5000 (Mt 14:13-21)(Mk 6:32-44)(Lk 9:12-17)(Jn 6:1-14).
0. The English word "revelation" comes from the Greek "apokalupsis." It is also where we get the word "apocalypse."
0. The Sidonians were experts at cutting timber (1 Kin 5:6).
0. David created the plans for the Temple under the inspiration of God (1 Chr 29:19).
0. When Ezra read God's Word, all the Israelites stood up (Neh 8:5). (Some churches still do this today.)
0. Our word "angel" comes from the Greek word "aggelos" meaning "a messenger."
0. Apparently, two prominent women in the Philippian church, Euodia and Syntyche, did not get along very well. Paul pleaded with them to "live in harmony" (Phil 4:2-3).
0. Paul and Barnabas went to Lystra, and Paul healed a man who had been crippled from birth. The people believed they were gods, and called Paul "Hermes" and Barnabas "Zeus." Shortly after this, they stoned Paul until they thought he was dead (Acts 14:8-20).
0. A "shophar" (translated as "trumpet" 68 times and "cornet" 4 times in the KJV), which was a curved ram's horn, is the most often mentioned instrument in the Bible.
0. There is one place in the Bible that talks about putting money in the bank so it can earn interest (Lk 19:23).
0. Jesus did not speak to Herod the whole time He was with Him (Lk 23:9).
0. Paul sent Tychicus, who he called "a beloved brother and faithful minister," out on missions 5 different times (Acts 20:4)(Eph 6:21)(Col 4:7)(2 Tim 4:12)(Titus 3:12).
0. The only lawyer mentioned by name in the Bible: Zenas (Titus 3:13).
0. If a man, or even an animal, touched God's mountain (Mt Sinai), they were to be stoned or shot with arrows (Ex 19:12-13)(Heb 12:20).
0. Pontius Pilate had some Galileans killed while they were in the Temple making sacrifices (Lk 13:1).
0. (Ezek 16:4) talks about babies being "salted." Tradition says that after a baby was born, it was rubbed with salt. It is unclear exactly why this was done, but guesses run from sanitary, to symbolic, to firming up the skin.
0. In Bible times, important documents were often stored in earthen/clay jars for long term preservation (Jer 32:14). (The Dead Sea Scrolls, when found in 1947, had been preserved for over 2000 years in earthen/clay jars.)
0. In Samson's final act, he pushed over two supporting pillars, and collapsed the Temple of Dagon. In doing so, he killed more people (himself included) than he had in his whole life (Judg 16:30).
0. The word "school" is used only once in the Bible in (Acts 19:9). The Greek word for "school" is "schole," which primarily means "leisure."
0. The name "Deborah" is used only twice in the Bible. The well known "Deborah" is the only female judge in the Bible (Judg 4 & 5), however, Jacob's wife Rebekah also had a nurse named "Deborah" (Gen 35:8).
0. The "God of peace" is mentioned 5 times in the Bible (Rom 15:33)(Rom 16:20)(Phil 4:9)(1 Th 5:23)(Heb 13:20).
0. Philip is the only person in the Bible called an evangelist (Acts 21:8).
0. Goliath taunted the Israelites every morning and evening for 40 days (1 Sam 17:16).
0. There were 3 primary ways that God revealed His will in the Old Testament: 1. By dreams or visions 2. By the Urim and Thummim 3. By the prophets (1 Sam 28:6).
0. David and his men attacked the Amalekites and killed them all, except for 400 young men who escaped on camels (1 Sam 30:17).
0. Solomon married the daughter of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh captured the city of Gezer, burned it with fire, killed all the Canaanites in the city, and then gave it to his daughter as a wedding present (1 Kin 9:16).
0. I find 7 wells in the Bible that were given names: Beerlahairoi (Gen 16:14)(Gen 25:11), Beersheba (Gen 21:30-33)(Gen 26:32-33), Esek (Gen 26:20), Sitnah (Gen 26:21), Rehoboth (Gen 26:22), Beer (Num 21:16-18), and Jacob's Well (Jn 4:6). ("Beer" is the Hebrew word for "well.")
0. Wives for Isaac (Gen 24:11-67), Jacob (Gen 29:1-29), and Moses (Ex 2:15-21) were found at wells.
0. All books of the New Testament contain the word "amen" except for Acts, James, and 3rd John.
0. (Judg 5:10) speaks of people riding on "white donkeys."
0. The phrase "Be of good courage" is used 16 times in the Old Testament.
0. The Pharisees had disciples too (Mt 22:15-16).
0. Reuben, the firstborn son of Jacob/Israel (Gen 29:31-32) slept with his father's concubine Bilhah (Gen 35:22)(Gen 49:3-4), who was the mother of his two brothers Dan and Naphtali (Gen 30:3-8)(Gen 35:25). Because of this, he lost his birthright as the firstborn, with his father Israel giving it instead to the two sons of Joseph (1 Chr 5:1-2).
0. Samson was from the tribe of Dan (Judg 13:2,24-25).
0. During Paul's voyage to Rome, the ship he was on encountered bad weather for 14 days (Acts 27:27,33).
0. Remember when the "multitude" of people came to arrest Jesus, and Peter pulled out a sword and cut off the right ear of the High Priest's servant? That servant was named Malchus (Jn 18:10).
0. The period of time between the events of the Old and New Testament is called the "Intertestamental Period." It is generally considered to be a little over 400 years, and therefore called the "400 silent years" because there was no prophetic word from God during this time. (Some apocryphal books were written.)
0. The name "Dead Sea" is not used in the Bible. The Dead Sea was called a number of different names: i.e. "the Salt Sea" (Gen 14:3)(Josh 3:16), the "Sea of the Arabah" (Deut 4:49)(Josh 3:16), the east sea (Ezek 47:18)(Joel 2:20), and more. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth.
0. The city of Damascus, mentioned 60 times in the Bible (first in Gen 14:15), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.
0. History records that Rome was called "Urbs Septicollis," meaning "the seven-hilled city" because it was built on seven hills. Some believe (Rev 17:9) prophetically points to this.
0. Every book of the New Testament uses the word "grace" except for Matthew, Mark, 1 & 3 John.
0. Every chapter of Ecclesiastes uses the word "verily" except for chapter 10.
0. Jesus used the word "church" 3 times (Mt 16:18)(Mt 18:17: twice).
0. Samson married a Philistine woman (Judg 14). Shortly afterwards, he angrily stormed off. The father of Samson's wife thought he wasn't coming back, so he gave his daughter to Samson's best man (Judg 14:20-15:2). (Samson returned, and was not happy... see: Judg 15:3-6).
0. Elisha raised two people from the dead: one when he was alive (2 Kin 4:18-37), and one after he died (2 Kin 13:20-21).
0. Jacob gave the city of Bethel it's name. It had previously been called Luz (Gen 28:19).
0. The word "faith" is used in every book of the New Testament except John, 2nd John, and 3rd John.
0. Cain is mentioned by name more in the Bible than Abel (19 times vs 12 times).
0. Hagar, who gave birth to Abraham's son Ishmael, was an Egyptian (Gen 16:1).
0. King Jehoiachin of Judah spent 37 years in King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon's prison until he was finally released by Nebuchadnezzar's successor King Evil-Merodach (2 Kin 25:27-30).
0. The 39 Psalms we don't know the authors of are called "orphan" Psalms.
0. Tradition says James was called "Old Camel Knees" because he spent so much time on his knees in prayer.
0. The Jordan River flows into the Sea of Galilee which flows into the Dead Sea. It should be noted that the Dead Sea is the lowest place on the surface of the Earth. Because of its high content of salt, it has no fish, and it is impossible to sink in it.
0. Dalmatia (2 Tim 4:10) was a city that was part of the Roman Empire located near Macedonia. Some logically believe this is where Dalmatian dogs originated.
0. "Goodbye" is actually a contraction of the phrase "God be with ye."0. Before an individual can be saved, he must first learn that he cannot save himself. ~M. R. DeHaan, M.D. (1891-1965)
0. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car ~Laurence J. Peter
0. Christ is a substitute for everything, but nothing is a substitute for Christ. ~Dr. H. A. Ironside (1876-1951)
0. All self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our salvation.~Dr. H. A. Ironside
0. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Faith ends where worry begins, and worry ends where faith begins. ~George Mueller
0. A faith that hasn't been tested can't be trusted. ~Adrian Rogers
0. God's work done God's way will never lack God's supply. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you. ~Corrie ten Boom
0. The true follower of Christ will not ask, "If I embrace this truth, what will it cost me?" Rather he will say, "This is truth. God help me to walk in it, let come what may!" ~A.W. Tozer
0. Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, "shake well before using." That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable. ~Vance Havner
0. God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. ~Dwight L. Moody
0. You might as well try to hear without ears or breathe without lungs, as to try to live a Christian life without the Spirit of God in your heart. ~D.L. Moody
0. When boiled down to its essence, unforgiveness is hatred. ~John R. Rice
0. And Satan trembles when he sees, The weakest saint upon his knees. ~William Cowper (1731-1800)
0. If lips and life do not agree, the testimony will not amount to much. ~H. A. Ironside (1876-1951)
0. People who are crucified with Christ have three distinct marks: 1. they are facing only one direction, 2. they can never turn back, and 3. they no longer have plans of their own. ~A.W. Tozer
0. No one who really wants to count for God can afford to play at Christianity. ~H. A. Ironside
0. The acid test of our love for God is obedience to His Word. ~Bob Jones, Sr.
0. To be like Christ is to be a Christian. ~Daniel Webster
0. I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do his work through me. ~James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905)
0. We are not only to renounce evil, but to manifest the truth. We tell people the world is vain; let our lives manifest that it is so. We tell them that our home is above and that all these things are transitory. Does our dwelling look like it? O to live consistent lives! ~James Hudson Taylor
0. Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose from the grave today, and is coming back tomorrow. ~Theodore Epp
0. How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in? ~Oscar Wilde
0. Let us never forget that what we are is more important than what we do. ~James Hudson Taylor
0. Salvation is a work of God for man, rather than a work of man for God. ~Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952)
0. The Law and the Gospel are two keys. The Law is the key that shutteth up all men under condemnation, and the Gospel is the key which opens the door and lets them out.~William Tyndale
0. Those who go to Heaven ride on a pass and enter into blessings that they never earned, but all who go to hell pay their own way. ~John R. Rice
0. We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results. ~R.A. Torrey
0. Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender. ~A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
0. Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Our religious activities should be ordered in such a way as to have plenty of time for the cultivation of the fruits of solitude and silence. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Do you need help today? Lift up your hands to the Lord in supplication and in expectation, and soon you will lift up your hands in jubilation and celebration. ~Warren W. Wiersbe
0. Spare the rod and spoil the child - that is true. But, beside the rod, keep an apple to give him when he has done well. ~Reformer Martin Luther
0. I would sooner read five lines of the Bible than hear five masses in the "Church". ~(Anne Askew - Martyred in 1545)
0. It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible! ~President George Washington
0. We have staked the future of American civilization upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God. ~President James Madison
0. I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book. ~President Abraham Lincoln
0. The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts. ~John Jay - 1st Chief-Justice
0. Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America's basic text book in all fields. God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct. ~Noah Webster (1758-1843)
0. We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God. ~President Harry S. Truman
0. A friend is one who has the same enemies you have. ~Abraham Lincoln
0. If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him. Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants. ~William Penn (1644-1718), founder of Pennsylvania
0. "The Bible is the Only Book That Can Make Us Wise unto Salvation. The Bible is not a book to be studied as we study geology and astronomy, merely to find out about the earth's formation and the structure of the universe; but it is a book revealing truth, designed to bring us into living union with God." ~George F. Pentecost
0. "It is well for the evangelist to bear in mind, on every fresh occasion of rising to preach, that his unconverted hearers are totally ignorant of the gospel, and hence he should preach as though it were the first time they had ever heard the message, and the first time he had ever delivered it...It is the presentation of the atoning death and glorious resurrection of the Son of God - and all this in the present energy, glow, and freshness of the Holy Ghost, from the exhaustless mine of Holy Scripture. Moreover, the one absorbing object of the preacher is to win souls for Christ, to the glory of God...Let it never be forgotten, the preacher's object is to bring the Savior and the sinner together - to win souls for Christ. ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "Every revival worthy of the name begins in the restoration of the Word of God to the pulpit, and its fearless proclamation by those anointed of God to preach the Gospel. The revival under Josiah took place when 'Hilkiah found the Book of the Law of the Lord'." ~Wilbur M. Smith.
0. Satan is not fighting churches; he is joining them. He does more harm by sowing tares than by pulling up wheat. He accomplishes more by imitation than by outright opposition. ~Vance Havner
0. "To glorify Christ is to manifest Him as supremely excellent; to blind the eyes of men to that glory is the purpose of the god of this world; therefore, which spirit is at work in a man or in a church can easily be told." ~W. J. Erdman
0. Satan has no difficulty in making sin look innocent. ~John Blanchard
0. Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honour and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure and pays with pain; he promises profit and pays with loss; he promises life and pays with death. ~Thomas Brooks
0. "All Satan's Apples Have Worms. I do not deny that the Devil has some pretty apples; I just say that all of them are fakes and that after you bite into them, you will find they have worms. All Satan's apples have worms." ~John R. Rice
0. When Adam sinned, he fled from God; when a sinner believes, he comes back! ~William R. Newell
0. "Christ stands in two relationships with God, His Father. He is a perfect man before His God and He is a Son with His Father. We are to share both these relationships. This He announced to His disciples ere He went back to heaven: it is unfolded in all its extent by the words He spoke, 'I go to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' This precious -- this inappreciable truth is the foundation of the apostle's teaching in this place. He considered God in this double aspect, as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and our blessings are in connection with these two titles." ~John Nelson Darby
0. "The spot where God's triumph is achieved, God's victory over sin, over lawlessness, is the cross of Calvary - the cross on which the Son of God died. In that cross and through the cross the works of the devil were destroyed, and the One who conquered him is yet to bruise the serpent's head in the final triumph when He comes again, as recorded in prophecy." ~AC Gaebelein
0. "Nobody ever outgrows Scriptures; the Book widens and deepens with our years" ~Charles Haddon Spurgeon
0. The Bible is a Perfect Map and Chart to the Christian on Pilgrimage Through the World. ~George F. Pentecost
0. "There is only one book in the world that bears the impress of the hand of God and that vibrates with His breath. That Book is the Bible." ~Erling C. Olsen
0. "The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the bible in our life and thoughts."~George Mueller
0. "The bible fits man for life and prepares him for death" ~Daniel Webster
0. "THE Bible differs from all other books in that it never wears out. Other books are read and laid aside, but the Bible is a constant companion. No matter how often we read it or how familiar we become with it, some new truth is likely to spring out at us from its pages whenever we open it, or some old truth will impress us as it never did before. Every Christian can give illustrations of this." ~William Jennings Bryan
0. "The will of God - nothing less, nothing more, nothing else." ~F. E. Marsh
0. "You cannot starve a man who is feeding on God's promises." ~E.C. Olsen
0. "When the eyes of the heart see the risen and glorified Christ and faith lays hold of the wonderful meaning for us who believe, then we learn to walk in that separation into which God has called His people. What the Christian therefore needs is an ever increasing realization in faith of his position in Christ, and then to be energized by the indwelling Spirit to seek those things which are above and not the things on earth. Such a life means joy and peace. It is a life of obedience and quietness, victorious over all earthly circumstances. And because it is a life which is hid with Christ in God, it is hidden from the world." ~A.C. Gaebelein
0. "God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are; nor yet at the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers; but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are." ~Thomas Brookes
0. "The normal Christian life is a life of regular, daily answer to prayer. In the model prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray daily for bread, and expect to get it, and to ask daily for forgiveness, for deliverance from the evil one, and for other needs, and daily to get the answers they sought." ~John R. Rice
0. "Christendom is full of solemn warnings as to the tendency of our hearts to drop into a routine of religious forms. It is a very great loss to the soul to get into the habit of repeating substantially the same words in prayer every day. It is not real prayer at all. Today is not like yesterday, and tomorrow will not be like today. If you are really with God you will be sensitive to the fresh needs of every day. God delights to have our confidence as to every need and care. Then let us cultivate a child's confidence, and a child's simplicity as we come to Him in prayer. Bring the trying circumstances of today, and the expected difficulties and perplexities of tomorrow. Be merciful unto me, O Lord; for I cry unto thee daily (Ps. 86:3)."~C.A. Coates
0. "I asked Him to give me the prayers He wants me to pray and to give or withhold anything according to his plan for me. Nothing is too big to ask of Him, not even an ocean lot. It is God's business to decide if it is good for me. It is my business to obey Him." ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. "God knows when to withhold or grant visible signs of encouragement. It's good when He sends confirmation, but we grow faster when we've trusted Him without it." ~Charles Trumbull
0. "The Law was given by Moses; the moral law, to discover the extent and abounding sin; the ceremonial law, to point out, by typical sacrifices and ablutions, the way in which forgiveness was to be sought and obtained. But grace, to relieve us from the condemnation of the one, and truth answerable to the types and shadows of the other, came by Jesus Christ." ~John Newton
0. "We have no inherent holiness. We are holy as we are possessed by the Holy Presence. We are holy in His holiness, loving in His love, strong in His strength, tender in His tenderness, patient in His patience, calm in His peace, and consecrated in His consecration." ~F.E. Marsh
0. "The world is the world still. 'There is nothing new under the sun.' Christ and the world are not one. The world has covered itself with the cloak of Christianity; but it is only in order that its hatred to Christ may work itself up into more deadly forms underneath. Let us not deceive ourselves. If we will walk with a rejected Christ, we must be a rejected people. If our Master 'suffered without the gate,' we cannot expect to reign within the gate. If we walk in His footsteps, whither will they lead us? Surely, not to the high places of this godless, Christless world. 'His path, uncheered by earthly smiles, Led only to the cross.'" ~CH Mackintosh
0. "Every mark of the world is a reproach to him who is heavenly. It is only the heavenly man who has died with Christ that disentangles himself from all that is of Egypt. The life of the flesh always cleaves to Egypt; but the principle of worldliness is uprooted in him who is dead and risen with Christ and living a heavenly life. The life of a risen man is not of this world; it has no connection with it (Col. 2:11,12). He who possesses this life may pass through the world, and do many things that others do. He eats, works, suffers; but, as to his life and his objects, he is not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world. Christ, risen and ascended up on high, is his life (Col. 3:1-3)." ~John Nelson Darby
0. "Just as there can be no normal, healthy life without the proper kind of food, so there can be no normal, spiritual growth without the food that God has ordained as the nourishment of the new life. 'As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby' (1 Pet. 2:2). If the Bible is not the center of the home, the home cannot be called a true Christian home, even though all the members of the household are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. There is no spiritual life apart from the Bible, and the tragedy of the American home today is that so many people have abandoned the Book as the source of life and as the center of living." ~Donald Grey Barnhouse
0. "What is it to 'walk in the Spirit'? It is not self-occupation, nor even occupation with the Spirit. Walking according to the Spirit is occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. If the believer ever looks to the Lord Jesus, depends upon Him, draws all his needs from Him - if He is his All in all - then the believer walks according to the Spirit of Christ." ~Arno C. Gaebelein
0. "If we have Christ with us, we can do all things. Let us not be thinking how weak we are. Let us lift up our eyes to Him and think of Him as our Elder Brother who has all power given to Him in Heaven and on earth. He says, 'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.'" ~D.L. Moody
0. "A true evangelist is almost as great a rarity as a true pastor. Alas! Alas! How rare are both! The two are closely connected. The evangelist gathers the sheep; the pastor feeds and cares for them. The work of each lies very near the heart of Christ [Who Is] The Divine Evangelist and Pastor..." ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "If a preacher is cultured, gentle, earnest, intellectual, and broadly tolerant, the sheep of God run after him. He, of course, speaks beautifully about Christ, and uses the old words redemption, the cross, even sacrifice and atonement-but what is his Gospel? That is the crucial question. Is salvation, perfect, entire, eternal, justification, sanctification, glory, the alone work of Christ, and the free gift of God to faith alone?" ~C.I. Scofield
0. "God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him." ~Hudson Taylor
0. "The preacher's task is to cry, as did John the Baptist, 'Behold the Lamb of God;' not to attract attention to himself or to gather a clique around himself." ~Erling C. Olsen
0. "The man who will present Christ to others must be occupied with Christ for Himself." ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "Be assured, if you walk with Him, and look to Him, and expect help from Him, He will never fail you"~George Mueller
0. "Men do not fall from grace by sinning, but by putting the Law in place of grace- Galatians 5:4" ~Williams Evans
0. "Prayer is the highest of all our privileges as followers of Jesus. Of that privilege no human power can deprive us. Let us prize it highly and prove it thoroughly in these serious days through which we are passing." ~Dr. R. G. Lee
0. "Christian , our obligation in a world faced with chaos caused by a breakup of morals, is to come out of our stupor and live virtuous lives by the power of God's Spirit." ~Erling C. Olsen
0. "The injunction 'be not conformed to this world,' and kindred passages of Scripture imply that something more is required of God's children, in their walk and conversation than simply to lead what is called a correct moral life; and a Christian professor who in any way encourages gay and fashionable amusements of the world, especially dancing and attendance upon theatrical performances, furnishes sad evidence that he has not yet 'put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts,' nor 'put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,' and that to him, at least, the promises and hopes of the gospel are a very unsatisfying portion. He thus brings dishonour and reproach upon his religious profession, throws a stumbling-block in the way of sinners, offends them that are weak, and grievously wounds the Savior in the house of his friends." ~James H. Brookes
0. "The greatest menace in this country is not the bootlegger, but the college professor who rejects the Bible and undermines the faith of the young." ~Arno C. Gaebelein
0. "No one ever said at the end of his days; 'I have read my bible too much, I have thought of God too much, I have prayed too much, I have been too careful with my soul'" ~J.C. Ryle
0. "This is our message: The Scriptures are still reliable. These Scriptures promised that Jesus would be born of a virgin -and He was. The Scriptures promised that Jesus would die on the cross of Calvary and pay for our sins - and He did. The Scriptures promised that Jesus would intercede for us on the right hand of the Father-and He does. And the Scriptures promise that Jesus would come again and receive us unto Himself-and He will." ~Dr. Tom Wallace
0. "Multitudes of people who expect to go to Heaven will go to a Hell of torment. Thousands of "good" people, "moral" people, church members, even church workers - yes, and, alas, even prophets, priests and preachers - will find themselves lost when they expected to be saved, condemned when they expected approval, cast out of Heaven when they expected to be received into eternal bliss. That is the explicit meaning of the words of our Lord...[spoken in Matthew 7:21-23.]" ~John R. Rice
0. "Salvation by grace is appropriated by faith. Grace is the fountain, but faith is the channel. Grace is the life-line, but faith is the hand that clutches it. And, thoroughly and finally to exclude all boasting, it is declared that the salvation and the faith are both the gift Of God. 'And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.' That salvation is God's gift is evident. 'The gift of God is eternal life through Christ.' The free gift, The gift of grace, The gift of righteousness- these phrases determine the fact that salvation is itself a Divine present to man. 'Salvation,' cried C. H. Spurgeon in the great congregation, 'is everything for nothing! Christ free!-Pardon free!-Heaven free!' Thanks be to God for a gratuitous salvation!" ~Rev. Thomas Spurgeon
0. "It was never intended that we should receive assurance by believing ourselves to be Christians, but by believing that Christ is our all-sufficient Saviour." ~James H. Brookes
0. "One of the commonest causes of failure in Christian life is found in the attempt to follow some good man whom we greatly admire. No man and no woman, no matter how good, can be safely followed. If we follow any man or woman, we are bound to go astray. There has been but one absolutely perfect Man on this earth - the Man Christ Jesus. If we try to follow any other man we are surer to imitate his faults than his excellencies. Look to Jesus and Jesus only as your Guide." ~R.A. Torrey
0. "If we ask what is the very essence and heart of Christianity and the Christian life, the answer is that God has summed up and centred all things in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. This means that Christianity is not a number of things as in themselves, such as beliefs, doctrines, dogmas, practices, forms, rites, orders, or virtues. It is not salvation, regeneration, sanctification, power, life, joy, peace, etc., as things. It is just Himself, and Himself as resident within those who have received Him as Who and What He is. He is the total of all that is necessary for God’s glory and satisfaction, for which we were created. Nothing can be had or known as an "it" apart from the Person. If we have Him and live by Him, we have all." ~T. Austin-Sparks
0. "Following Him is walking in the light and not in darkness. Man on account of sin is in moral and spiritual darkness. Believing on Christ and following Him delivers from both. In His fellowship the believer is delivered from the power of darkness, from the power of sin and from ignorance as to spiritual things." ~Arno C. Gaebelein
0. "How dark and gloomy this world would be if we had no hope in the resurrection. But when we Christians lay our little children down in the grave, it is not without hope. We have seen them in the terrible struggle with death; but there has been one star to illumine the darkness and gloom--"the thought that though the happy circle has been broken on earth, it shall be completed again in yon world of heavenly light." ~D.L. Moody
0. "No doubt all expositors and Christians agree that the ten virgins represent the professed followers of Christ; and hence it is important to notice that while the Bridegroom tarried they all nodded and slept. It is only when the midnight cry is heard, 'Behold the Bridegroom comes,' they awake. The end, therefore, will not find the professing church watching and working." ~James Hall Brookes
0. "When you reject the genuine, you are wide open for the spurious. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that when someone rejects the love of the truth that they might be saved, they will believe the big lie." ~J. Vernon McGee
0. "Christ did not come to civilize. He came to save. Civilization is not the solution; it does not destroy the works of the devil. All civilization aims at world improvement, at the gradual elimination of the curse; it is a process of evolution. It is like a man who is suffering from a terrible disease, and the physician who comes to help him gives him a salve to apply. He treats the skin symptoms but the source of the disease he never considers and never touches. Such is a boasted and progressive civilization. It is a delusion." ~Arno C. Gaebelein
0. "Salvation is a personal matter. It can never be enjoyed or experienced by proxy." ~Erling C. Olsen
0. "My own definition of the grace of God is this: the unlimited and unmerited favor given to the utterly undeserving." ~R.G. Lee
0. "It was for those who could by no means save or help to save themselves, that Christ died; it was for ungodly sinners that He gave His life; and if you are not such an one, you have neither part nor lot in the blessings which flow from His death. A lifeboat is for the drowning, a physician is for the sick, and a Saviour is for lost sinners." ~CA Coates
0. "Take Him not only as your Savior from the guilt of sin but also as your Savior from the power of sin. He not only died to make atonement for your sins, He also rose again, and He lives today to set you free from the power of sin and to make intercession for you (Hebrews 7:25). Will you take Him now as your Deliverer from the power of sin? Will you come to this risen and mighty Lord Jesus with all your weakness and sins and trust Him to set you free? That is the right thing to do with Jesus Christ: Just take Him as your Savior, your crucified Savior, from the guilt of sin and your risen Savior from the power of sin." ~R.A. Torrey
0. "We should remember that people can go to Heaven without knowing much of the Word of God, but they cannot go to Heaven without knowing Jesus Christ as Savior." ~Lee Roberson
0. "God is the God of the impossible, as well as the God of the possible." ~Lester Roloff
0. "We must learn what God is to us, not by our own thoughts, but by what He has revealed Himself to be, and that is, 'The God of all grace.' The moment I understand that I am a sinful man, and yet that it was because the Lord knew the full extent of my sin, and what its hatefulness was, that He came to me, I understand what grace is. Faith makes me see that God is greater than my sin, and not that my sin is greater than God. The Lord that I have known as laying down His life for me, is the same Lord I have to do with everyday of my life, and all His dealings with me are on the same principles of grace. The great secret of growth is, the looking up to the Lord as gracious. How precious, how strengthening it is to know that Jesus is at this moment feeling and exercising the same love towards me as when He died on the cross for me. This is a truth that should be used by us in the most common everyday circumstances of life." ~John Nelson Darby
0. "What we have in Christ Jesus - Redemption through His blood is the beginning and foundation of everything." ~CH Mackintosh
0. "The Christian life is not slightly better, but completely different." ~Clarence Sexton
0. "If sound doctrine is given up, the real Gospel of redemption by the blood of the Son of God is denied, worldliness follows." ~A.C. Gaebelein
0. "Neither when we have chosen our way can we keep company with those who go the other way. There must come with the decision for truth a corresponding protest against error." ~Charles Haddon Spurgeon
0. "There can be no united Christian church except it be founded upon a solid rock." ~Erling C. Olsen
0. "In a fallen world like ours unity is no treasure to be purchased at the price of compromise. Loyalty to God, faithfulness to truth and the preservation of a good conscience are jewels more precious than gold of Ophir or diamonds from the mine. For these jewels men have suffered the loss of property, imprisonment and even death; for them, even in recent times, behind the various curtains, followers of Christ have paid the last full measure of devotion and quietly died, unknown to and unsung by the great world, but known to God and dear to His Father's heart. In the day that shall declare the secrets of all souls these shall come forth to receive the deeds done in the body. Surely such as these are wiser philosophers than the religious camp followers of meaningless unity who have not the courage to stand against current vogues and who bleat for brotherhood because it happens to be for the time popular... When confused sheep start over a cliff the individual sheep can save himself only by separating from the flock. Perfect unity at such a time can only mean total destruction for all. The wise sheep to save his own hide disaffiliates. Power lies in the union of things similar and the division of things dissimilar. Maybe what we need in religious circles today is not more union but some wise and courageous division." ~A.W. Tozer
0. "Dr. Bonar once said that he could tell when a Christian was growing. In proportion to his growth in grace he would elevate his Master, talk less of what he himself was doing, and become smaller and smaller in his own esteem, until, like the morning star, he faded away before the rising sun." ~D.L. Moody
0. "Be assured that God does more in us than we for Him; and that what we do is only for Him in proportion as it is He Himself who works it in us." ~JN Darby
0. "There is no failure in God's will, and no success outside of God's will." ~George Washington Truett
0. "Whoever reads the New Testament seriously, or gives thought to the impact which the apostles made upon their generation, must acknowledge that one outstanding historic event alone spurred that small band of 11 ordinary men to an amazing task of evangelization in their generation. Defying every obstacle, loss of home, persecution, even death itself, they evidenced the supreme relevance in their ministry of the resurrection of Jesus Christ." ~Erling C. Olsen
0. "God is not looking for brilliant men, is not depending upon eloquent men, is not shut up to the use of talented men in sending His Gospel out in the world. God is looking for broken men, for men who have judged themselves in the light of the Cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to an end of themselves, and whose trust and confidence is not in themselves but in God." ~H.A. Ironside
0. "There are some promises in the Bible which I have never yet used; but I am well assured that there will come times of trial and trouble when I shall find that poor despised promise, which I thought was never meant for me, will be the only one on which I can float. I know that the time is coming when every believer shall know the worth of every promise in the covenant." ~C.H. Spurgeon
0. "Faith does the impossible because it brings God to undertake for us, and nothing is impossible with God." ~E.M. Bounds
0. "God is never surprised." ~Ralph Sexton Sr.
0. "Someday, when in the presence of our Savior, we will thank Him for every burden, every trial, and every heartache." ~J. Vernon McGee
0. "The person of Christ is the object of faith. It is Christ in the promises that faith deals with. The promise is but the shell, Christ is the kernel; the promise is but the casket, Christ is the jewel in it; the promise is but the field, Christ is the treasure that is hid in that field; the promise is a ring of gold, Christ is the pearl in that ring; and upon this sparkling, shining pearl, faith delights most to look Faith hath two hands, and with both she lays earnest and fast hold on King Jesus. Christ's beauty and glory is very taking and drawing; faith cannot see it, but it will lay hold on it. Christ is the principle object about which faith is exercised, for the obtaining of righteousness and everlasting happiness." ~Thomas Brookes
0. "The great guardian principle of all conduct in the church of God is personal responsibility to the Lord." ~JN Darby
0. "Today, when people say they cannot believe, it is not a mental problem; it is a matter of the will of the heart - they do not want to believe. Some say they have certain 'mental reservations,' mental hurdles which they cannot get over. My friend, your mind is not big enough to take even one little hurdle. The problem is never in the mind but in the will. There is sin in the life, and a man does not want to turn to God; he does not want to believe Him." ~J. Vernon McGee
0. "When the Word is stored in the heart, the individual finds it a wonderful power in preserving him from outbreaking sin." ~E.C. Olsen
0. "Every one ought to study the Bible with two ends in view: his own growth in knowledge and grace, and passing it on to others. We ought to have four ears,- two for ourselves, and two for other people. My Bible is worth a good deal to me because I have so many passages marked that, if I am called upon to speak at any time, I am ready. We ought to be prepared to pass around heavenly thoughts and truths, just as we do the coin of the realm." ~D.L. Moody
0. "No power of earth, or hell, men or devils, can possibly stand against the word of God; and hence it is the very height of folly and wild madness for any one to set up his thoughts or reasonings in opposition to the plain statements of Holy Scripture; and, on the other hand, it is the beginning and end of all true wisdom to submit in all things to the absolute authority of that Word which is settled forever in Heaven." ~CH Mackintosh
0. "The scriptures are the only external guide in matters of religion; they are the way-posts we should look up unto, and take our direction from, and should steer our course accordingly: To the law and to the testimony: if men speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa. 8:20)" ~John Gill
0. "No Scripture is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God's garden bloom not only double, but sevenfold; they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance." ~C.H. Spurgeon
0. "It is a good deal better to have life in Christ and God than any where else. I would rather have my life hid with Christ in God than be in Eden as Adam was. Adam might have remained in Paradise for 16,000 years, and then fallen, but if ours is hid in Christ, how safe!" ~D.L. Moody
0. "A blameless life, a brilliant reputation, will not do. No, nor a Christian training either. "Ye must be born again." There must be a positive, actual, bona fide passage from death unto life...." ~CH Mackintosh
0. "We are not saved by feelings of sorrow over Jesus' death. We are saved when the Word of God 'pierces' our hearts (Hebrews 4:12), when we are convicted of our sins and trust Christ by faith." ~R. L. Hymers, Jr.
0. "It is better to think of what God is than of what we are. This looking at ourselves, at the bottom is really pride, a want of the thorough consciousness that we are good for nothing. Till we see this we never look quite away from self to God. In looking to Christ, it is our privilege to forget ourselves. True humility does not so much consist in thinking badly of ourselves, as in not thinking of ourselves at all. I am too bad to be worth thinking about. What I want is to forget myself and look to God, who is indeed worth all my thoughts. Is there need of being humbled about ourselves? We may be quite sure that will do it." ~J.N. Darby
0. "We serve God because of, not in order to." ~Clarence Sexton
0. "Take care you are not imposed upon, under the notion and pretense of an apostolical tradition; unwritten traditions are not the rule, only the word of God is the rule of our faith and practice." ~John Gill
0. "How frightful a thing it is for the preacher when he becomes accustomed to his work, when his sense of wonder departs, when he gets used to the unusual, when he loses his solemn fear in the presence of the High and Holy One; when, to put it bluntly, he gets a little bored with God and heavenly things." ~A.W Tozer
0. "If there is no deep yearning for a life that is well pleasing to Him, if there is no stimulating desire to know Him and His Word, church membership is just like a young man falling in love with a furnished apartment and marrying an electric stove, a refrigerator, a vacuum cleaner, a garbage disposal, and a wet mop! That is just about all it amounts to. Let's stop playing church today and start loving Christ and living for Him!" ~J. Vernon McGee
0. "While the literary value of the Bible cannot be minimized, the Book was given not to be admired but to be received as the Word of God; that we might come to know Him of whom the Scriptures witness." ~Erling C. Olsen
0. "We have the Bible in our hands; but how little we know of its teaching! And how little are we governed by it! We go on, from week to week, year to year, with things which have no foundation whatever in its pages - yea, with things utterly opposed to its teaching; and, all the while, we boast of having the Scriptures, just like the Jews of old, who made their boast of having the oracles of God, while those very oracles condemned themselves and their ways, and left them without a single plea." ~CH Mackintosh
0. "The Word of God is a lamp by night, a light by day, and a delight at all times." ~C.H. Spurgeon
0. "Let the Word be preached, the truth taught, and error will be uncovered and souls delivered." ~A.C. Gaebelein
0. "Probably the greatest need in the Church today is a body of men who are absolutely devoted, every selfish purpose and plan given up, to the one great end of magnifying the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of the nation." ~Wilbur M. Smith
0. "There never has been a culture since this world began in which a New Testament Christian could feel at home." ~Vance Havner
0. "There is no kind of experience in which a Christian has a right to refuse to praise God, for 'all things work together for good to them that love God.'" ~A. C. Dixon
0. "The Lord is seldom early, but never late." ~John K. Hutcheson, Sr.
0. "As a Christian, my business is not to clean up this world; my business is something infinitely beyond that. I do not believe in reformation: I believe in regeneration by the Holy Spirit; not in changing lives, but in an imparting of a new life which is in Christ." ~Erling C. Olsen
0. "If it be the duty of all men to believe the Gospel . . . then it be the duty of those who are entrusted with the Gospel to endeavor to make it known among all nations." ~William Carey
0. "According to the Scriptures, salvation is never conditioned on human faithfulness, or on the promise of human faithfulness. There is no payment required, past, present, or future. God saves unmeriting sinners in unrelated, unrecompensed, unconditioned, sovereign grace. Good works should follow; but with no thought of compensation. Christians are "created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Eph 2:10); they are to be a "special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14); and "those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works" (Titus 3:8). Thus, and only thus, are "good works" related to the gracious salvation from God through Christ Jesus. Grace is out of question when recompense is in question." ~Lewis Sperry Chafer
0. "To believe God's testimony is the first of duties, and Christ is the object of that testimony. So, when the trembling jailer at Philippi fell down before Paul and Silas he said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' The answer was, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.' The way is simple, the warrant sure, the salvation rich and full. The call of God is to believe on His Son, the Lord Jesus, the result is salvation for all that believe, the house no less than its head. Hence it is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ: loving one another follows, as He gave us commandment. But it is in vain to urge love, holiness, or anything else till we believe on Him." ~William Kelly
0. "If the heart be delighting in the Christ which Scripture unfolds, it will, assuredly, shrink from the false Christs which Satan would introduce. If we are feeding upon God's reality, we shall unhesitatingly reject Satan's counterfeit. This is the best possible way in which to escape the entanglements of error, in every shape and character. "The sheep hear His voice, and . . . follow him: for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the voice of strangers" (John 10: 4,5) It is not, by any means, needful to be acquainted with the voice of a stranger, in order to turn away from it; all we require is to know the 'voice of the good Shepherd.' This will secure us against the ensnaring influence of every strange sound." ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "False teachers have some true doctrine. There is not a cult that I know of which does not have some truth in it. That is the one thing that makes them ten thousand times more dangerous than if they were 100 percent in error. These teachers generally believe some things that are true. Our Lord said, 'Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.'" (Matthew 7:15). ~J. Vernon McGee
0. Heresy is not so much rejecting as selecting. The heretic simply selects the parts of the Scripture he wants to emphasize and lets the rest go. This is shown by the etymology of the word heresy and by the practice of the heretic. "Beware," an editorial scribe of the fourteenth century warned his readers in the preface to a book. "Beware thou take not one thing after thy affection and liking, and leave another: for that is the condition of an heretique. But take everything with other." The old scribe knew well how prone we are to take to ourselves those parts of the truth that please us and ignore the other parts. And that is heresy. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Here lay Cain's fatal mistake: "He was rejected, not because he was a sinner, but because, being a sinner, he had dared to approach a holy God without blood." ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "What a compelling motive we have for prayer, for preaching, for soul-winning when we learn that every responsible human being who leaves this world without a definite change in heart, immediately lifts his eyes in Hell, tormented in flame!" ~John R. Rice
0. Speaking of John 10:27, "it becomes a question, not of our ability to hold onto Him, but of His ability to have secure hold on us. My friend, He said with the infinite wisdom and full authority of the Godhead that He can hold us and that they who trust in Him shall never perish." ~J. Vernon McGee
0. "Man is the same today that he has always been. He is a rebel against God. He may, in some generations, hide his rebellion a little more carefully than at other times, but there is no change in his heart. The men who builded the city against God back in the days of Babylon had the same hatred as that which possessed the men who nailed the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross." ~Donald Grey Barnhouse
0. "The Church is the gospel express train, stopping at a few stations to pick up a few passengers, the train "Israel" being side-tracked to let the express go by. When Christ comes, the train "Israel" will be switched back up on the main line, stop at all stations, and take on the world." ~John Wilkerson
0. "The first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God's law and to show the nature of sin." ~Martin Luther
0. "Practically every false doctrine comes from getting things out of order. God's divine order is salvation, then change; not change and then salvation! If one has to be changed to be saved, that's salvation by works. It is also salvation by the flesh. The truth is, one is cleansed from the sins of the flesh just as he is saved; by yielding to the Holy Spirit and letting Him do His work." ~Jack Hyles
0. "Let's quit fiddling with religion and do something to bring the world to Christ." ~Billy Sunday
0. "The Jesus that men want to see is not the Jesus they really need to see." ~G. Campbell Morgan
0. "It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher" ~George Whitefield
0. "It is a sad and shocking fact that many religious people are in Hell."~John R. Rice
0. [The Judgment of Revelation 20] "Includes all the wicked dead from the days of Cain down to the last apostate from millennial glory. There will not be one there who has not passed through the article of death - not one there whose name has been set down in life's fair Book - not one there that shall not be judged according to his own very deeds - not one there who shall not pass from the dread of realities of the Great White Throne into everlasting horrors and inneffable torments of the Lake of Fire that burneth with fire and brimstone. How awful! How terrible! How perfectly dreadful!" ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "It ill becomes the servant to seek to be rich, and great, and honoured in that world where his Lord was poor, and mean, and despised." ~George Muller
0. "The preaching that this world needs most is the sermons in shoes that are walking with Jesus Christ." ~D.L. Moody
0. "The only reason some of us are not exiled or thrown into prison is simply because we do not preach as fervently and as sternly as did Paul, John, Peter and others. This modern "santa claus" religion that is sweeping country today is not the religion Jesus taught and John practiced." ~Oliver B. Greene
0. "We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results." ~R.A. Torrey
0. "We are profoundly convinced that...the primary need of the hour is a return to New Testament first principles and standards. Christian missions are no human undertaking, but a supernatural and divine enterprise for which God has provided supernatural power and leadership." ~Robert H. Glover
0. "If you have no joy, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere." ~Billy Sunday
0. "Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him." ~Hudson Taylor
0. "I prayed for Faith, and thought that some day Faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But Faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, 'Now Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God'. I had closed my Bible, and prayed for Faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and Faith has been growing ever since. " ~D.L. Moody
0. "We have a God who delights in impossibilities." ~Billy Sunday
0. "The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor" ~Charles Stanley
0. "The great reservoir of the power that belongs to God is His own Word," the Bible. If we wish to make it ours, we must go to that Book. Yet people abound in the Church who are praying for power and neglecting the Bible. Men are longing to have power for bearing fruit in their own lives and yet forget that Jesus has said: "The seed is the Word of God" (Luke 8:11). ~R.A. Torrey
0. "The scriptures are given not to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives." ~Dwight L. Moody
0. "If the Holy Spirit guides us, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them." ~George Muller
0. "Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all." ~Hudson Taylor
0. "Great truths that are stumbling blocks to the natural man are nevertheless the very foundations upon which the confidence of the spiritual man is built." ~H. A. Ironside
0. "The Church is the dwelling place of God in the Person of the Holy Ghost. Where the Church thrives, people are blessed and progress is evident. Where there is no Church, people feed their babies to crocodiles and roam naked in the jungles." ~Oliver B. Greene
0. "A poor believer [monetarily] certainly is looked down upon in certain churches, and yet he may be the richest man spiritually in that church." ~J. Vernon McGee
0. "...you cannot live by sight and by faith, neither can you live by fear and by faith. It either has to be by faith or by fear, by faith or by sight. Which way are you living? Faith takes out the anxiety It takes out the fear. Faith leans heavy on the Lord. It knows that the Bible is so and can be trusted and that we can live by it and all of our needs will be supplied." ~Lester Roloff
0. "What a lowering of the life of faith it is to confine it to the question of temporal supplies! No doubt it is a very blessed and a very real thing to trust God for everything; but the life of faith has a far higher and wider range than mere bodily wants. It embraces all that in any wise concerns us, in body, soul, and spirit. To live by faith is to walk with God; to cling to Him; to lean on Him; to draw from His exhaustless springs; to find ad our resources in Him; and to have Him as a perfect covering for our eyes and a satisfying object for our hearts - to know Him as our only resource in all difficulties, and in all our trials. It is to be absolutely, completely, and continually shut up to Him; to be undividedly dependent upon Him, apart from and above every creature confidence, every human hope, and every earthly expectation. Such is the life of faith." ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "When kingdoms have crumbled for the last time, His mercy endureth forever. When dictators have waged their wicked battles for the last time, His mercy endureth forever. When the stars have fallen like untimely figs from a tree shaken by the wind, His mercy endureth forever. When the sun refuses to shine and the moon has turned as black as sackcloth of hair, His mercy endureth forever. When people shall die no more and cemeteries shall not dot the horizon, His mercy endureth forever. When shoulders shall never stoop, nor brows wrinkle, nor faces become furrowed, His mercy endureth forever. When all of us awake in His likeness to live forever around His throne, His mercy endureth forever. Blessed be God! His mercy endureth forever!" ~Jack Hyles
0. "Godliness has 'promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.' But the only way one can enter into godliness is by turning to God as a repentant sinner and receiving the Saviour He has provided in the Gospel. Therefore the crying need of our degenerate times is for a revival of true old-fashioned, Christ-centered, Bible preaching that will call upon all men everywhere to repent in view of that coming day when God will judge the world in righteousness by His Risen Son." ~Harry A. Ironside
0. "The world's greatest need is preaching preachers. The Gospel is our emancipation proclamation: let's take it to the slaves of sin." ~Lester Roloff
0. "Nothing is more needed among preachers today than that we should have the courage to shake ourselves free from the thousand and one trivialities in which we are asked to waste our time and strength, and resolutely return to the apostolic ideal which made necessary the office of the diaconate. We must resolve that we will continue steadfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the Word." ~G. Campbell Morgan
0. "The heart makes the preacher. Men of great hearts are great preachers. . . We have emphasized sermon-preparation until we have lost sight of the important thing to be prepared - the heart. A prepared heart is much better than a prepared sermon. A prepared heart will make a prepared sermon...It would not do to say that preachers study too much. Some of them do not study at all; others do not study enough. Numbers do not study the right way to show themselves workmen approved of God. But our great lack is not in head culture, but in heart culture; not lack of knowledge but lack of holiness is our sad and telling defect - not that we know too much, but that we do not meditate on God and his word and watch and fast and pray enough. The heart is the great hindrance to our preaching. . . " ~E.M. Bounds
0. "God is looking for broken men who have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to the end of themselves, whose confidence is not in themselves, but in God." ~H.A. Ironside
0. "It is not enough to do God's work; it must be done in His way and for His credit." ~Erwin Lutzer
0. "We must face the fact that many today are notoriously careless in their living. This attitude finds its way into the church. We have liberty, we have money, we live in comparative luxury. As a result, discipline has disappeared. What would a violin solo sound like if the strings on the musician's instrument were all hanging loose, not stretched tight, not disciplined?" ~A.W. Tozer
0. "We must all have the spirit of martyrdom, though we may not all die martyrs." ~George Whitefield
0. "When I was young I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me." ~John Wesley
0. "To the lover of the Lord Jesus Christ there can be nothing legal about baptism. It is simply the glad expression of a grateful heart recognizing its identity with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. Many of us look back to the moment when we were thus baptized as one of the most precious experiences we have ever known." ~Harry A. Ironside
0. "Out of one hundred men, one will read the Bible, the other ninety-nine will read the Christian." ~D. L. Moody
0. "The greatest privilege of earthly life is to give some fellow creature the blessed word of God, and then try by loving speech and example, to bring home to the heart and conscience...the truths it contains." ~J. A. Broadus
0. "May we all be in such a condition of soul, such an attitude of heart as will fit us for any little work in which our gracious Lord may be pleased to use us - not seeking a place for ourselves, but lovingly serving all. The Lord, in His great mercy, grant that thus it may be, with all His beloved people!" ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. Prayer is the highest intelligence, the profoundest wisdom, the most vital, the most joyous, the most efficacious, the most powerful of all vocations. ~Edward M. Bounds
0. "In our prayers, we talk to God, in our Bible study, God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking." ~D.L. Moody
0. [Regaarding Hearing From God]..."Retire from the world each day to some private spot. Stay in the secret place till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart and a sense of God's presence envelops you. Deliberately tune out the unpleasant sounds and come out of your closet determined not to hear them. Listen for the inward voice till you learn to recognize it." ~A.W. Tozer
0. "Ah, I have kept Him waiting when I ought not, but He has waited even then. Always waiting - so patient with my foolishness, my weakness, my fear. Our fellowship is with God, and fellowship is friendship, and friendship means that partnership which, on His part, is the accommodating of His strength to my weakness." ~G. Campbell Morgan
0. "Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement." ~Charles H. Spurgeon
0. "When you have been saved, regenerated, born again, then join a church-a live church. Join where the preacher loves the Word of God and the souls of men. Keep out of these ecclesiastical deep freezers. A deep freeze is all right for a dead chicken or a chunk of cheese or a leg of lamb, but it is no place for a live baby. A baby must be fed and nourished and given a chance to exercise, vocalize and grow. It couldn't do that in a refrigerator." ~Walter Hughes
0. "People are so prone to lean upon gifted men. And if they cannot have such, they get discouraged and scattered, instead of getting lovingly together and helping one another by their mutual faith." ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "I desire to have both heaven and hell ever in my eye, while I stand on this isthmus of life, between two boundless oceans." ~John Wesley
0. "A test of a Christian's character is what he does after he comes to the blockade in the road and what his attitude is after everything has left him except Jesus. You will never know down here that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have left. You will never be able to tell the world for sure that He will do in a crisis unless you learn how to live in a crisis." ~Lester Roloff
0. "Prayer is no little thing, no selfish and small matter. It does not concern the petty interests of one person. The littlest prayer broadens out by the will of God till it touches all words, conserves all interests, and enhances man's greatest wealth, and God's greatest good. God is so concerned that men pray that He has promised to answer prayer. He has not promised to do something general if we pray, but He has promised to do the very thing for which we pray." ~Edward M. Bounds
0. "To the individual believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit there is granted the direct impression of the Spirit of God on the spirit of man, imparting the knowledge of His will in matters of the smallest and greatest importance. This has to be sought and waited for." ~G. Campbell Morgan
0. "I would rather win souls than be the greatest king or emperor on earth; I would rather win souls than be the greatest general that ever commanded an army; I would rather win souls than be the greatest poet, or novelist, or literary man who ever walked the earth. My one ambition in life is to win as many as possible." ~R. A. Torrey
0. "Beware you be not swallowed up in [worldly] books." ~John Wesley
0. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God. Its sixty six books are not a collection of religious writings, advancing certain theories, but they constitute one body, breathing with life and power. From the first verse in Genesis to the last verse in Revelation there is a wonderful continuity of thought, without any clash of opinion; all is a harmonious whole. This fact necessitates one great Author, One who guided the thoughts of each writer and who is instructed them to write as they did. This guiding and supervising Author is the Spirit of God."... 2Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21 ~Arno C. Gaebelein
0. "Faith is to rest, not in the best of God's servants, but in His unchanging Word." ~H. A. Ironside
0. "Nothing can touch the Word of God. Not all the powers of earth and hell, men and devils combined, can ever move the Word of God. There it stands, in its own moral glory, spite of all the assaults of the enemy, from age to age. 'For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven.'" ~C.H. Mackintosh
0. "People are stumbling over the simplest things. Take, for instance, that word believeth. You would think that was plain enough for anybody, but all my life I have heard people say, 'I have always believed, and yet I am not saved.' It does not say, 'Whosoever believeth the Bible, or creeds, or even the gospel story,' but it does say, 'Whosoever believeth in him.' What is it to believe in Him? It means to put your soul's confidence in Him, to trust in Him, God's blessed Son." ~H.A. Ironside
0. [Jesus] ..."He was born a King. The wise men came from the East and asked, 'Where is He that is born King of the Jews?' (Matthew 2:2). He died a King. In Greek, in Latin, and in Hebrew the description was written above His cross, 'This is Jesus, The King' (Matthew 27:37)" ~W.A. Criswell
0. "I find no fault in Him."...You can find fault in anyone else, but you can find no fault in Jesus. Holy, harmless, undefiled, sinless: there He is! Christ is God's way to man; Christ is man's way to God. Christ is the true Jacob's ladder. By Him the penitent sinner, the believing soul, the redeemed child of God may come unto the Father and enter into the house of many mansions." ~George W. Truett
0. "When the Lord Jesus Christ became my surety . . . He went to Calvary's cross, and all my guilt was charged against Him. He settled for everything, and then He cried, 'It is finished.' And on the basis of that finished work, God can freely forgive, and justify completely, every poor sinner who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ." ~Dr. Harry A. Ironside
0. A man of God in the will of God is immortal until His work is done. ~David Jeremiah
0. God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us that way. ~Leighton Ford
0. God never says, "OOPS." ~Author Unknown
0. Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born. ~Ronald Reagan
0. I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress. ~Ronald Reagan
0. A godly man is only as strong as his allegiance to the Lord. ~Today In The Word
0. Divorce Myths: 1. When love has gone out of a marriage, it is better to get divorced. 2. It is better for the children for the unhappy couple to divorce than to raise their children in the atmosphere of an unhappy marriage. 3. Divorce is the lesser of two evils. 4. You owe it to yourself. 5. Everyone's entitled to one mistake. 6. God led me to this divorce. ~R.C. Sproul
0. Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you. ~Cal Thomas quoting John Ashcroft
0. A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. ~Max Lucado
0. Hurting people hurt people. ~Author Unknown
0. You cannot have a testimony without a test. Will you pass the test or have the monies? ~Joyce Meyer
0. A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. The bumps are what you climb on. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. The carnal person fears man, not God. The strong Christian fears God, not man. The weak Christian fears man too much, and God too little. ~John Flavel
0. Want to make God laugh? Tell Him you have a plan. ~Author Unknown
0. God has never, in the history of mankind, allowed His name to go long offended. ~David Wilkerson
0. Before any great achievement, some measure of depression is very usual. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. No two Christians will ever meet for the last time. ~Author Unknown
0. Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Don't tell God how big your storm is, tell your storm how big God is. ~Author Unknown
0. Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. I could take everything I have built up over 35 years in my ministry and destroy it all if I went out tomorrow and committed one act of rebellion. ~David Jeremiah (paraphrase)
0. Right now counts forever. ~R.C. Sproul
0. If you are not as close to God as you used to be, who moved? ~Author Unknown
0. Let God have your life; He can do more with it than you can. ~D.L. Moody
0. Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Jesus Christ did not come into this world to make bad people good; He came into this world to make dead people live. ~Lee Strobel
0. I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teresa
0. When the will of God crosses the will of man, somebody has to die. ~Addison Leitch
0. The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid. ~Martin Luther
0. We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first. ~Oswald J. Smith
0. Any place you can take Jesus Christ with you is ok to go. ~J. Vernon Mcgee
0. A revival is the church falling in love with Jesus Christ all over again. ~Vance Hafner
0. A prophet weeps while others are laughing. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. If say 90% of Christian marriages were intact, people would be writing about it. ~Randy Carlson
0. You will find more saints are interested in antichrist than Christ.~ Frank Gaebelin to J. Vernon Mcgee
0. No one is going to be powerful in their ministry if they are hiding something that they are afraid people will find out at any moment. ~David Jeremiah (paraphrase)
0. Paul, we are going to kill you. That is cool, then I will go to Christ. Ok Paul, we are going to let you live. That is great, then I can witness Christ. Ok, then we will torture you. That is fine, then I will receive a reward in Heaven one day. ~Tony Evans (paraphrase)
0. The devil tempts us to bring out the worst in us, but the Father tests us to bring out the best in us. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. He who rejects the Bible has nothing to live by. Neither does he have anything to die by. ~ Greg Laurie
0. God doesn't have any grandchildren. ~Author Unknown
0. The greatest judgment God can send on His people is letting them have their own way. ~Warren Wiersbe (Ps 106:15)
0. In the beginning God made man in His own image, and since the fall, man has been seeking to return the compliment. ~Author Unknown
0. Just because something doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it doesn't make sense. ~Adrian Rogers
0. The greatest sin today in the church is the man in the pew who is ignorant of the Bible. ~J. Vernon Mcgee
0. If lips and life do not agree, the testimony will not amount to much. ~Harry Ironside
0. I have a great need for Christ, I have a great Christ for my need. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Another century and there will not be a Bible on earth! Voltaire expected that within fifty years of his lifetime there would not be one Bible in the world. His house is now a distribution center for Bibles in many languages. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one. ~C.S. Lewis
0. A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent. ~John Calvin
0. Never make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer. ~Oswald Chambers
0. I have concentrated all my prayers into one, and that prayer is this, that I may die to self, and live wholly to Him. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. If it suddenly became impossible for us to cover up all the junk we normally hide from the rest of humanity, I have a feeling we would all get real motivated to deal with the source of what ails us. ~Andy Stanley
0. God examineth with trials, the devil examineth with temptations, the world examineth with persecutions. ~Henry Smith
0. They gave our Master a crown of thorns, why do we hope for a crown of roses? ~Martin Luther
0. This book (the Bible) will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book. ~John Bunyan
0. I have so much to do, that I must spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it. ~John Wesley
0. Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand. ~Mark Twain
0. If you have only the Word, you dry up. If you have only the Spirit, you blow up. But if you have both, you grow up. ~Author Unknown
0. Immorality is just as bad now as it was in the past. The difference is that now we flaunt it. It used to be done in secret, but now it is done in the open. ~J. Vernon Mcgee (paraphrase)
0. Every inch of ground we refuse to take with God, we surrender to the enemy. ~Beth Moore
0. If you are going to live by faith, then expect your faith to be tested. A faith that can't be tested can't be trusted. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. Stop praying that God will change others, and ask God to change you. ~Rodney Gage
0. We rarely get an answer to the question, "Why?" Instead of demanding definitive answers from God, it's more productive to ask for humility and trust in His goodness. ~Rodney Gage
0. Indeed, your scars may be your greatest ministry. Just as the scars of Jesus convinced Thomas, perhaps your scars will convince someone today. ~Adrian Rogers
0. Life is what comes along after you have planned something else. ~Joyce Meyer
0. Worshippers aren't made when they see the enemy on the run, put to flight. The truth is, worshippers of God are made during dark, stormy nights. And how we respond to our storms determines just what kind of worshippers we are. ~David Wilkerson
0. You can be too big for God to use, but you can never be too small for God to use. ~Adrian Rogers
0. If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. The best we can hope for in this life is a knothole peek at the shining realities ahead. Yet a glimpse is enough. It's enough to convince our hearts that whatever sufferings and sorrow currently assail us aren't worthy of comparison to that which waits over the horizon. ~Joni Eareckson Tada
0. If there were no God, there would be no atheists. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. If you take care of yourself and walk with integrity, you may be confident that God will deal with those who sin against you. Above all, don't give birth to sin yourself, rather, pray for those who persecute you. God will one day turn your persecution into praise. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. Christians are like teabags, you don't really know what they're like until you put them in hot water. ~Chip Ingram
0. Discernment is not a matter of telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place. ~C.S. Lewis
0. If we ever forget that we are one Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under. ~Ronald Reagan
0. Maybe the atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman. ~Author Unknown
0. Poverty and affliction take away the fuel that feeds pride. ~Richard Sibbes
0. The first lesson in Christ's school is self-denial. ~Matthew Henry
0. I had rather be in hell with Christ, than be in heaven without him. ~Martin Luther
0. Make sure the thing you're living for is worth dying for. ~Charles Mayes
0. Knowing that we are fulfilling God's purpose is the only thing that gives rest to the restless human heart. ~Chuck Colson
0. Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the Kingdom of God on earth. ~John Wesley
0. Don't say that a loving God is going to send you to hell- He's not. The thing that's going to send you to hell is that you're a sinner and you don't want to admit it. ~J. Vernon Mcgee
0. If a sinner comes into your assembly or you otherwise come into contact with him, remember that he is a human being for whom Christ died. He stands at the foot of the cross, just as you stand at the foot of the cross. ~J. Vernon Mcgee
0. If Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy. ~Adrian Rogers
0. There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. Persistence in prayer for someone whom we don't like, however much it goes against the grain to begin with, brings about a remarkable change in attitude. ~F.F. Bruce
0. As we pour out our bitterness, God pours in His peace. ~F.B. Meyer
0. If the church marries herself to the spirit of the times, she will find herself a widow in the next generation. ~Charles Stanley
0. Those who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Atheists express their rage against God although in their view He does not exist. ~C.S. Lewis
0. I know, perhaps as well as anyone, what depression means, and what it is to feel myself sinking lower and lower. Yet at the worst, when I reach the lowest depths, I have an inward peace which no pain or depression can in the least disturb. Trusting in Jesus Christ my Savior, there is a blessed quietness in the deep caverns of my soul, through upon the surface, a rough tempest may be raging, and there may be little apparent calm. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home. ~J.C. Ryle
0. The family that prays together stays together. ~Author Unknown
0. Love is unselfishly choosing for another's good. ~C.S. Lewis
0. If you are not concerned about your neighbor's salvation, then I am concerned for yours. ~Ray Comfort
0. The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home. ~Augustine
0. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile. ~Billy Sunday
0. Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Not only do we not know God except through Jesus Christ; we do not even know ourselves except through Jesus Christ. ~Blaise Pascal
0. We are either in the process of resisting God's truth or in the process of being shaped and molded by His truth. ~Charles Stanley
0. Let your mess be your message. ~Author Unknown
0. Those who have failed miserably are often the first to see God's formula for success. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. You say, "If I if I had a little more, I should be very satisfied." You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Is there any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a fire? ~C.S. Lewis
0. Nothing sets a person so much out of the devil's reach as humility. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway. ~Mary C. Crowley
0. The really great man is the who makes every man feel great. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. A hypocrite is a person who acts differently on Sunday morning. ~Author Unknown
0. It is not by telling people about ourselves that we demonstrate our Christianity. Words are cheap. It is by costly, self-denying Christian practice that we show the reality of our faith. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. Hope: A trusting expectation that God is going to keep His word. ~Author Unknown
0. Salvation is a movement from being God's enemies to being His friends, from a state of war to a state of peace. God loved us even when we were still His enemies (cf. 1 John 4:7-19), and it is through this love, shown especially in the gift of His Son, that we can now be reconciled to Him. ~Today In The Word
0. You can't really live until you are no longer afraid to die. ~Adrian Rogers
0. Hold material goods and wealth on a flat palm and not in a clinched fist. ~Alistair Begg
0. The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer. ~F.B. Meyer
0. You play the hand you're dealt. I think the game's worthwhile. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Are you weak? Weary? Confused? Pressured? How is your relationship with God? Is it held in it's place of priority? I believe the greater the pressure, the greater the need for time alone with Him. ~Kay Arthur
0. We are never defeated unless we give up on God. ~Ronald Reagan
0. When we look at the ungodly, we are not to hate them, but to pity them, mourn over them, and pray for them. Nor have we any right to boast over them; for, by nature, and of ourselves, we are no better than they. ~John Newton
0. Envy is a spirit of dissatisfaction or opposition to the prosperity or happiness of other people. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. The good man has his enemies. He would not be like His Lord if he had not. If we were without enemies we might fear that we were not the friends of God, for friendship of the world is enmity to God. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Remember, a small light will do a great deal when it is in a very dark place. Put one little tallow in the middle of a large hall, and it will give a good deal of light. ~D.L. Moody
0. The Bible is a compass, pointing you in the right direction. ~Author Unknown
0. Men call their sons Paul and their dogs Nero today. ~J. Vernon Mcgee
0. Christ is more concerned about what we do with Him than for Him. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. Any part of the human body can only be explained in reference to the whole body. And any part of the Bible can only be properly explained in reference to the whole Bible. ~F.F. Bruce
0. Train up a child in the way he should go- but be sure you go that way yourself. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, They will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way." ~C.S. Lewis
0. Isn't it amazing that almost everyone has an opinion to offer about the Bible, and yet so few have studied it? ~R.C. Sproul
0. No Jesus, no peace. Know Jesus, know peace. ~Author Unknown
0. I am one of those who would rather sink with faith than swim without it. ~Stanley Baldwin
0. One would think that [persecution] would be an obstacle to church growth when joining the church meant a death sentence. And yet, the age of persecution was the greatest period of church growth in history. ~Gene Edward Veith
0. Until you have given up yourself to Him, you will not have a real self. ~C.S. Lewis
0. The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. The safest place to be is within the will of God. ~Author Unknown
0. What the majority calls "blessing" may actually be a judgment from God. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. I have not suffered a lot for Christ, but I want to tell you that those times that I have suffered and I knew it was for Jesus, have been some of the happiest times of my entire life. ~Adrian Rogers
0. God is interested in developing your character. At times He lets you proceed, but He will never let you go too far without discipline to bring you back. In your relationship with God, He may let you make a wrong decision. Then the Spirit of God causes you to recognize that it is not God's will. He guides you back to the right path. ~Henry Blackaby
0. We never test the resources of God until we attempt the impossible. ~F.B. Meyer
0. Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Resolved to live with all my might while I do live, and as I shall wish I had done ten thousand years hence. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. He who kneels before God can stand before anyone. ~Author Unknown
0. Only half the patients who go into an abortion clinic come out alive. ~Author Unknown
0. Those who are in the best of circumstances but without God can never find peace, but those in the worst of circumstances but with God need never lack peace. ~John McArthur
0. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. ~C.S. Lewis
0. When we change the message of God, we change the God of the message. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. There are so many people who want to get together to have a great prayer meeting or other great gatherings. Friend, have you ever tried being alone? That is where God will meet with you. Take the Word of God and go off alone with Him. It will do you a lot of good. ~J. Vernon Mcgee
0. When it seems as if God is far away, remind yourself that He is near. Nearness is not a matter of geography. God is everywhere. Nearness is likeness. The more we become like the Lord, the nearer He is to us. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. Not until we take God seriously will we ever take sin seriously. ~R.C. Sproul
0. Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. ~Author Unknown
0. Sin kept in the dark has power. Confide in someone. ~Author Unknown
0. I can fill a church speaking on Revelation and empty it speaking on Romans. ~J. Vernon Mcgee
0. We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine. ~D.L. Moody
0. Someone has said that the marks of a strong church are wet eyes, bent knees, and a broken heart. We'll never be powerful until we let God be God and jealously guard His honor. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. Before God could bring me to this place He has broken me a thousand times. ~Smith Wigglesworth
0. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. ~Amy Carmichael
0. It is a very solemn delusion when ministers think they are prospering, and yet do not hear of conversions. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face. ~Ronald Reagan
0. Deny your weakness, and you will never realize God's strength in you. ~Joni Eareckson Tada
0. The way to Heaven is ascending; we must be content to travel uphill, though it may be hard and tiresome, and contrary to the natural bias of our flesh. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. Want to snatch a day from the manacles of boredom? Do overgenerous deeds, acts beyond reimbursement. Kindness without compensation. Do a deed for which you cannot be repaid. ~Max Lucado
0. We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Triumphant prayer is almost impossible where there is neglect of the study of the Word of God. ~R.A. Torrey
0. In thirty-five years of medicine I have never seen one case where abortion was necessary to save a mother's life. ~C. Everett Koop
0. We are nowhere forbidden to laugh. ~John Calvin
0. It is the mark of a hypocrite to be a Christian everywhere but home. ~Robert M'Cheyne
0. Resolved, never henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but entirely and altogether God's. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. I would go to the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit. It is good for me to have been afflicted, that I might know how to speak a word in season to one that is weary. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Kids today learn a lot about getting to the moon, but very little about getting to heaven. ~David Jeremiah
0. The Bible is the greatest of all books; to study it the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals. ~Charles C. Ryrie
0. We are challenged these days, but not changed; convicted, but not converted. We hear, but do not; and thereby we deceive ourselves. ~Vance Havner
0. I discovered an astonishing truth: God is attracted to weakness. He cannot resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. ~Jim Cymbala
0. The best style of prayer is that which cannot be called anything else but a cry. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. He (God) is not looking for smart people, because He is the smart one. All he wants are people simple enough to trust him. ~Jim Cymbala
0. Your future and mine are determined by this one thing: seeking after the Lord. ~Jim Cymbala
0. Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. ~Oswald Sanders
0. People who walk by faith don't see obstacles, they see opportunities. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. The New (Testament) is in the Old (Testament) concealed, the Old is in the New revealed. ~Augustine
0. If I never run into the devil, it's because we are both headed in the same direction. ~Andrew Wommack
0. Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure. ~D.L. Moody
0. The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you. ~Author Unknown
0. Holiness is not the way to Christ. Christ is the way to holiness. ~Adrian Rogers
0. One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching. ~Author Unknown
0. When you have a problem, do you run to the phone or to the throne. ~Joyce Meyer
0. God said it, that settles it. ~Author Unknown
0. When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God. ~Billy Graham
0. God uses us in spite of who we are, not because of it. ~Andrew Wommack
0. Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous. ~Author Unknown
0. God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called. ~Author Unknown
0. Where will you be sitting in eternity, smoking or non-smoking? ~Author Unknown
0. Harboring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping your enemy will die. ~Joyce Meyer
0. Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset. Eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise. ~Thomas Watson
0. He who angers you controls you. ~Elizabeth Kenny
0. Be ye fishers of men. You catch them, He'll clean them. ~Author Unknown
0. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. ~Oswald Chambers
0. I am sorry for the men who do not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the strength and of the pleasure. ~Woodrow Wilson
0. Everybody's not going to understand where God has called you to go, but that is not an excuse for you not to go there. Then, when He puts you in certain places, it's a spiritual warfare to stay there. ~CeCe Winans
0. A bruised heart that chooses to beat with a passion for God amid pulsing pain and confusion may just be the most expensive offering placed on the divine altar. ~Beth Moore
0. The more the Gospel progresses and the closer we come to the end of the age, the more aggressive the enemy becomes. Sadly, many Christians are unaware that a battle is raging all around them, and they have not reported for duty. ~David Jeremiah
0. In today's America He (Jesus) has moved from the central figure of world history to source material for late-night comics and pundits who would not dare treat other religious leaders with such disrespect. ~David Jeremiah
0. Marriage is a partnership between one man and one woman... Nothing could be clearer in the Bible as to what constitutes a marriage in God's sight. ~David Jeremiah
0. Many Christians seem to get their notions of love from the Love Boat instead of the Love Book... Make the Bible your guide. ~Jim Binney
0. The Christian is bred by the Word, and he must be fed by it. ~William Gurnall
0. Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself but because it contradicts them. ~Author Unknown
0. It is, perhaps, one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn this sentence--- "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be glory." ~Charles Spurgeon
0. God has many ways that He might use to achieve His ends, but His wisdom determined the best way to accomplish them. ~Samuel Willard
0. Every Christian would agree that a man's spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God. ~C.S. Lewis
0. The noblest revenge is to forgive. ~Thomas Fuller
0. If the church would only be the church-- if Christians would only be Christians-- nothing could halt our onward march. ~Vance Havner
0. If you can't pray a door open, don't pry it open. ~Lyell Rader
0. New level, New devil. ~Joyce Meyer
0. Holding a grudge is letting someone live rent-free in your head. ~Author Unknown
0. If for no other reason than to keep him humble, every minister needs a wife. ~T.S. Mooney
0. (On being single) I would rather live wanting what I don't have than having what I don't want. ~T.S. Mooney
0. The grace of God reveals One who loves us so much as to have made Calvary possible, but who hates sin so much as to make Calvary necessary. ~T.S. Mooney
0. Consistency is the key to victory. ~Author Unknown
0. If you put someone down, you must think you are better. ~Author Unknown
0. If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? ~Author Unknown
0. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. ~C.S. Lewis
0. We'd like to be humble...but what if no one notices? ~John Ortberg
0. The labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed... The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest... ~A.W. Tozer
0. Just because God is working through us does not mean that we are right with God. ~Author Unknown
0. Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak well of yourself. ~Blaise Pascal
0. A candle loses nothing of its light by lighting another candle. ~Fr. James Keller
0. Greatness lies not in trying to be somebody but in trying to help somebody. ~Author Unknown
0. Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this: That you are dreadfully like other people. ~James Russell Lowell
0. How do we know if we have a servant's heart? By how we act when we are treated like one! ~Author Unknown
0. A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility. ~D.L. Moody
0. Religion is man's attempt to reach God, Christianity is God's way to reach man. ~Author Unknown
0. Some people pray just to pray, and some people pray to know God. ~Andrew Murray
0. Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ~John Bunyan
0. A good leader knows the way, shows the way, and goes the way. ~John Maxwell
0. The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness. ~William Blake
0. To love at all is to be vulnerable. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Anything, and I mean anything, becomes a blessing if it drives us to prayer. ~Jim Cymbala
0. You can do more than pray after you've prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed. ~John Bunyan
0. Would anyone choose Hell over Heaven? YES! Why? Pride. They don't want to go in the only way you can go in, on your knees. They don't want to admit they are a failure, that their life is a mess. ~Alistair Begg (paraphrase
0. Sin will take you farther than you ever expected to go; it will keep you longer than you ever intended to stay, and it will cost you more than you ever expected to pay. ~Kay Arthur.
0. Stop staring at your problems and glancing at God. Start glancing at your problems and staring at God. ~Author Unknown
0. End of Construction -- Thank you for your patience. ~Ruth Graham's tombstone
0. The Lord blesses people who bless others, and He gives grace to those who focus on the things that please Him. ~Billy Graham
0. The greatest resource a worship leader has is his relationship with his wife. ~Cliff Barrows
0. Christ understands loneliness; He's been through it. ~Paul S. Rees
0. A person's character is accurately measured by his reaction to life's iniquities. ~Author Unknown
0. There are no disappointments to those whose wills are buried in the will of God. ~F.W. Faber
0. The faintest whisper of support or encouragement uttered by a Christian in the ears of his fellow believer is heard in heaven. ~John J. Murray
0. Outside Christ, I am empty; in Christ, I am full. ~Watchman Nee
0. Snuggle in God's arms. When you are hurting, when you feel lonely, left out... let Him cradle you, comfort you, reassure you of His all-sufficient power and love. ~Kay Arthur
0. When God seems absent from us, He is often doing His most important work in us. ~Author Unknown
0. Loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named not good. ~John Milton
0. At the end of the day, God's love for me, for you, and for the world is settled at the cross. ~Andy Stanley
0. Live simply so that others may simply live. ~Gandhi (not a Christian)
0. Christianity is not about being bad or good, it is about being dead or alive. ~Author Unknown
0. Forget about what hurt you in the past, but never forget what it taught you. ~Author Unknown
0. I'm not where I need to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be. ~Joyce Meyer
0. God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves. ~A.W. Tozer
0. You will find, as you look back upon your life, that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love. ~Henry Drummond
0. God cannot give us happiness apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Problems almost always create opportunities ~to learn, grow and improve. ~John Maxwell
0. I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God. ~Helen Keller
0. To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved. ~George MacDonald
0. I have had but one passion, and I have lived for it ~the absorbingly arduous yet glorious work of proclaiming the grace and love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ~John Henry Jewett
0. We get no deeper into Christ than we allow Him to get into us. ~John Henry Jewett
0. I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. ~Author Unknown
0. Be patient enough to live one day at a time as Jesus taught us, letting yesterday go, leaving tomorrow until it arrives. ~Author Unknown
0. God is patient with the process! Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. ~Oswald Chambers
0. God has given us two hands ~one for receiving and one for giving. ~Billy Graham
0. If God took time to create beauty, how can we be too busy to appreciate it? ~Randall B. Corbin
0. It is easier to leave angry words unspoken, than to mend a heart those words have broken. ~Author Unknown
0. Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. ~Mother Teresa
0. The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible, "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." ~George Washington Carver
0. Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am. ~David Brainerd
0. Never, never, never, never, give up. ~Winston Churchill
0. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. ~Mother Teresa
0. A dollar spent for God is an investment for eternity. ~Author Unknown
0. Visit God's house this week. He's expecting you. ~Author Unknown
0. What's in a name? With Jesus, everything! ~Author Unknown
0. When the going gets tough, look for the Lord's hand at work. ~Author Unknown
0. Rest becomes easy for those who rest in God's bosom. ~Author Unknown
0. I am never so strong as when I have nothing left but Christ. ~Author Unknown
0. Like oil and water, Christian living and wickedness do not mix. ~Author Unknown
0. When you cannot make it, God's Spirit goes to work. ~Author Unknown
0. God's love is a safety net on life's slippery slope. ~Author Unknown
0. Think of Christ before you speak. ~Author Unknown
0. The door to God's throne is always open, and the light is on. ~Author Unknown
0. Who can stand before God? You can in Christ! ~Author Unknown
0. Let no unfair act go unchallenged. ~Author Unknown
0. Give more of what you want and get more of what you need. ~Author Unknown
0. One person can bring favor to many during the storm. ~Beth Moore (paraphrase)
0. Those who give much without sacrifice are reckoned as having given little. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing. ~John Henry Jowett
0. God doesn't look at just what we give. He also looks at what we keep. ~Randy Alcorn
0. As we search the Scriptures, we must allow them to search us, to sit in judgment upon our character and conduct. ~Jerry Bridges
0. Under every condition, in every circumstance for every burden, in every need, through every sorrow, Christ, the source and sustainer of life, is more than sufficient. ~A.L. Faust
0. We are traveling on with our staff in hand... We are pilgrims bound for the heavenly land. ~Fanny Crosby
0. No word He hath spoken was ever yet broken: The Lord will provide! ~Martha A. Cook
0. The fundamental truth in the matter of stewardship is that everything we touch belongs to God. ~John Blanchard
0. Anyone can count the seeds in one apple, but only God can count the apples in one seed. ~Author Unknown
0. All true theology has an evangelistic thrust, and all true evangelism is theology in action. ~J.I. Packer
0. The future is as bright as the promises of God. ~Adoniram Judson
0. Stewardship is what I do after I say I believe. ~Author Unknown
0. Walking by faith means being prepared to trust where we are not permitted to see. ~John Blanchard
0. The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more intensely missionary we become. ~Henry Martyn
0. Are you afraid? Remember the "fear nots" of the Bible. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. There is unspeakable joy... for the person who knows release from guilt and the relief of forgiveness. ~Stuart Briscoe
0. If one will not, two cannot quarrel. ~Thomas Fuller
0. Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain. ~Author Unknown
0. Our needs will never exhaust God's supply. ~Author Unknown
0. Empty me of the selfishness inside, every vain ambition and the poison of my pride, and any foolish thing my heart holds to, Lord empty me of me so I can be filled with you. ~Chris Sligh (Empty Me)
0. Make me aware, make me see, that everything I am is not all about me, so take my world and turn it around, so that the obvious can finally be found. ~Salvador (Aware)
0. This is my prayer in the desert, when all that's within me feels dry, this is my prayer in the hunger in me, my God is a God who provides. ~Hillsong United (Desert Song)
0. This is my prayer in the fire, in weakness or trial or pain, there is a faith proved of more worth than gold, so refine me Lord through the flames. ~Hillsong United (Desert Song)
0. I will bring praise I will bring praise, no weapon forged against me shall remain, I will rejoice I will declare God is my victory and He is here. ~Hillsong United (Desert Song)
0. By His stripes He's paid our ransom, from His wounds we drink salvation He is the Lord, He is the Lord. ~Tenth Avenue North (Love Is Here)
0. Lead me to the cross where Your love poured out, bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down, rid me of myself I belong to You. ~Hillsong United (Lead Me To The Cross)
0. More love, more power, more of You in my life. I will worship You with all of my heart, I will worship You with all of my mind, I will worship You with all of my strength, for You are my Lord. ~Michael W. Smith (More Love More Power)
0. O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast unmeasured, boundless, free. Rolling as a mighty ocean, in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love, leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above. ~Selah (O The Deep Deep Love Of Jesus)
0. I come on my knees to lay down before you, bringing all that I am, longing only to know you. Seeking your face, and not only your hand, I find you embracing me, just as I am. ~Big Daddy Weave (Audience Of One)
0. Jesus, all for Jesus, all I am and have and ever hope to be. All of my ambitions, hopes and plans, I surrender these into Your hands... For it's only in Your will that I am free. ~Robin Mark (Jesus All For Jesus)
0. I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind. Still, you hear me when I'm calling, Lord you catch me when I'm falling, and you told me who I am, I am yours. ~Casting Crowns (Who Am I)
0. I'll praise You in this storm, and I will lift my hands For You are who You are. No matter where I am, and every tear I've cried, You hold in Your hand You never left my side, and though my heart is torn I will praise You in this storm. ~Casting Crowns (Praise You In This Storm)
0. He's been waiting all our lives to hear us say, I am yours Lord, take my hand and lead the way. When you believe He's all you need, that will be your defining moment, as you live your life walking in His light, trusting Him completely... that will be your defining moment. ~Newsong (Defining Moment)
0. There is hope for the helpless, rest for the weary, love for the broken heart. There is grace and forgiveness, mercy and healing, He'll meet you wherever you are, cry out to Jesus. ~Third Day (Cry Out To Jesus)
0. I can't live by what I feel, but by the truth Your Word reveals. I'm not holding on to You, but You're holding on to me. ~Casting Crowns (East To West)
0. In my heart, there's a fire burning, a passion deep within my soul, not slowing down, not growing cold. An unquenchable flame that keeps burning brighter, a love that's blazing like the sun, for who You are and what You've done. ~Starfield (Filled With Your Glory)
0. When mountains fall, I'll stand, By the power of Your hand. ~Darlene Zschech (My Soul Knows Very Well)
0. Father I am waiting, I need to hear from You, to know that You're approving, of what I say and do, cause nothing really satisfies, like when You speak my name, so tell me that You'll never leave and everything will be okay. In Your presence, all fear is gone... in Your presence, is where I belong... ~Jason Upton (In Your Presence)
0. God, I've fallen to my knees, I'm bowing at your feet, I give you all of me, in you I am complete. ~Kutless (Complete)
0. Everybody falls sometimes, gotta find the strength to rise, from the ashes and make a new beginning. Anyone can feel the ache, you think it's more than you can take, but you're stronger, stronger than you know. Don't you give up now, the sun will soon be shining, you gotta face the clouds, to find the silver lining. ~Kutless (What Faith Can Do)
0. Life is so much more, than what your eyes are seeing. You will find your way, if you keep believing. ~Kutless (What Faith Can Do)
0. Broken I run to you for your arms are open wide. I am weary but I know your touch restores my life. ~Kathryn Scott (Hungry)
0. I surrender all to you, I surrender all to you, I am nothing without you, Jesus Christ, take my life it's all for you. ~Planetshakers (Surrender)
0. Give me grace to see beyond this moment here, to believe that there is nothing left to fear, and that you alone are high above it all, for You, my God, are greater still. ~Hillsong (The Greatness Of Our God)
0. There is nothing that can ever separate us, there is nothing that can ever separate us from Your love, no life, no death, of this I am convinced, You, my God, are greater still. ~Hillsong (The Greatness Of Our God)
0. Jesus Your name is a shelter for the hurting, Your name is a refuge for the weak, only Your name can redeem the undeserving, Jesus Your name holds everything I need. ~Lincoln Brewster (The Power Of Your Name)
0. Heal my heart and make it clean, open up my eyes to the things unseen, show me how to love like You have loved me. ~Hillsong (Hosanna)
0. Break my heart for what breaks Yours, everything I am for Your kingdom's cause, as I walk from earth into eternity. ~Hillsong (Hosanna)
0. Jesus Messiah, name above all names, blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, the rescue for sinners, the ransom from Heaven, Jesus Messiah, Lord of all. ~Chris Tomlin (Jesus Messiah)
0. The humble live in continuous peace, while in the hearts of the proud are envy and frequent anger. ~Thomas 'a Kempis
0. The definition of disappointment in life is expectations minus reality equals disappointment. The only two solutions you have to get over disappointment is to either alter your reality or alter your expectations. ~Randy Carlson
0. Remember, the very time for faith to work is when our sight begins to fail. And the greater the difficulties, the easier it is for faith to work, for as long as we can see certain natural solutions to our problems, we will not have faith. Faith never works as easily as when our natural prospects fail. ~George Mueller.
0. The only way out is through. ~Robert Frost
0. Most of us have a "Do Not Disturb" sign around our necks. ~Joyce Meyer
0. Light works most effectively in darkness. ~Christine Caine
0. Jesus may ask you to put down your net in an impossible, unreasonable place. ~Steve Douglass
0. All of us have areas of weakness. God wants these character flaws to show us how totally dependent we are upon Him. When we handle them properly, they drive us into a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Lord. But uncontrolled weakness wreaks havoc in a person's life. ~Charles Stanley
0. You may go days without thinking of God, but there's never a moment when He's not thinking of you. ~Max Lucado
0. People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. ~Mother Teresa
0. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. ~C.S. Lewis
0. If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people He gave it to. ~Dorothy Parker
0. Sometimes God allows what He hates, to accomplish what He loves. ~Joni Eareckson Tada
0. God doesn't require us to succeed, He only requires that you try. ~Mother Teresa
0. Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. The great thing to remember is that though our feelings come and go God's love for us does not. ~C.S. Lewis
0. The point of your life is to point to Him. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church... so long as it doesn't impinge on their standard of living. Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right. Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want to be saved from the penalty of their sin. Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. Lukewarm people are thankful for their luxuries and comforts, and rarely consider trying to give as much as possible to the poor. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. People who are obsessed with Jesus give freely and openly without censure. Obsessed people love those who hate them and who can never love them back. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. People who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another. Obsessed people believe that Jesus talked about money and the poor so often because it was really important to Him. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. Obsessed people are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or fulfilling the status quo. A person who is obsessed with Jesus will do things that don't always make sense in terms of success or wealth on this earth. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the sin of pride is always a battle. Obsessed people know that you can never be "humble enough," and so they seek to make themselves less known and Christ more known (Mt 5:16). ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. People who are obsessed with Jesus do not consider service a burden. Obsessed people take joy in loving God by loving His people (Mt 13:44)(Jn 15:8). ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. People who are obsessed with God are known as givers, not takers. Obsessed people genuinely think that others matter as much as they do, and they are particularly aware of those who are poor around the world (James 2:14-26). ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. A person who is obsessed thinks about heaven frequently. Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. A person who is obsessed is characterized by committed, settled, passionate love for God, above and before every other thing and every other being. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. People who are obsessed are raw with God; they do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their sins or their failures. Obsessed people don't put it on for God; He is their safe place, where they can be at peace. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. People who are obsessed with God have an intimate relationship with Him. They are nourished by God's Word throughout the day because they know that forty minutes on Sunday is not enough to sustain them for a whole week, especially when they will encounter so many distractions and alternative messages. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort. Obsessed people know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God (James 1:2-4). ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the best thing he can do is be faithful to his Savior in every aspect of his life, continually saying "Thank You!" to God. An obsessed person knows there can never be intimacy if he is always trying to pay God back or work hard enough to be worthy. He revels in his role as a child and friend of God. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. Christians like to play it safe. We want to put ourselves in situations where we are safe 'even if there is no God.' But if we truly desire to please God, we cannot live that way. We have to do things that cost us during our life on earth but will be more than worth it in eternity. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people he has made? ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can't contain Him. Isn't it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate? ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers. ~Francis Chan (Crazy Love)
0. Never forget that God is your friend. And like all friends, He longs to hear what's been happening in your life. Good or bad, whether it's been full of sorrow or anger, or even when you're questioning why terrible things have to happen. ~Nicholas Sparks
0. Your arms are too short to box with God. ~James Weldon Johnson
0. What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. ~A.W. Tozer
0. When your will is God's will, you will have your will. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Anything under God's control is never out of control. ~Charles Swindoll
0. I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Spending time with God is the key to our strength and success in all areas of life. Be sure that you never try to work God into your schedule, but always work your schedule around Him. ~Joyce Meyer
0. We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something of what God is. ~A.W. Tozer
0. For years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone? ~Anne Graham
0. I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put Him. We have kept Him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on Him in prayer, we wonder where He is. He is exactly where we left him. ~Ravi Zacharias
0. God doesn't bless us just to make us happy; He blesses us to make us a blessing. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God. ~John Ortberg Jr.
0. All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them. ~James Hudson Taylor
0. A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in little things is a great thing. ~Hudson Taylor
0. An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Consider six or eight hours a day sacred to the Lord and His work, and let nothing hinder your giving this time (to language study and practice) till you can preach fluently and intelligibly. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Devotion to God is still a voluntary thing; hence the differences of attainment among Christians. ~Hudson Taylor
0. God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies. ~Hudson Taylor
0. I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Not infrequently our GOD brings His people into difficulties on purpose that they may come to know Him as they could not otherwise do. ~Hudson Taylor
0. One difficulty follows another very fast ~but God reigns, not chance. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Satan may build a hedge about us and fence us in and hinder our movements, but he cannot roof us in and prevent our looking up. ~Hudson Taylor
0. There are three great truths, 1st, That there is a God; 2nd, That He has spoken to us in the Bible; 3rd, That He means what He says. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Wave after wave of trial rolled over us; but at the end of the year some of us were constrained to confess, that we had learned more of the loving-kindness of the Lord than in any previous year of our lives. ~Hudson Taylor
0. When the heart submits, then Jesus reigns. When Jesus reigns, there is rest. ~Hudson Taylor
0. While unbelief sees the difficulties, faith sees God between itself and them. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to trouble about, or to make trouble about. ~Hudson Taylor
0. If you are a Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to heaven; you are a citizen of heaven making your way through this world. ~Vance Havner
0. Not all dreamers are winners, but all winners are dreamers. Your dream is the key to your future. The Bible says that, "without a vision (dream), a people perish." You need a dream, if you're going to succeed in anything you do. ~Mark Gorman
0. God leads us. God will do the right thing at the right time. And what a difference that makes. ~Max Lucado
0. If you understood him, it would not be God. ~Augustine
0. Following the crowd is not a winning approach to life. In the end it's a loser's game, because we never become who God created us to be by trying to be like everybody else. ~Tim Tebow
0. I should have died when I was sixteen, when I planned to commit suicide. And I was an atheist until then. I was an atheist, and what the heck, if life sucks what do you have to live for? If you're an atheist, it's just about living, you know? So at the time, I didn't want to wake up anymore and then seriously, God chased me down and proved that he was real and that he loved me. ~Lacey Mosley
0. The born-again Christian sees life not as a blurred , confused, meaningless mass, but as something planned and purposeful. ~Billy Graham
0. We must focus on prayer as the main thrust to accomplish God's will and purpose on earth. The forces against us have never been greater, and this is the only way we can release God's power to become victorious. ~John Maxwell
0. When God is involved, anything can happen. Be open and stay that way. God has a beautiful way of bring good vibrations out of broken chords. ~Charles Swindoll
0. Have I today done anything to fulfill the purpose for which Thou didst cause me to be born? ~John Baillie
0. Oh Lord, let me not live to be useless. ~John Wesley
0. Life is short and we have scarcely begun to live when we are called to die. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day. ~Matthew Henry
0. We honor God by asking for great things when they are a part of His promise. We dishonor Him and cheat ourselves when we ask for molehills where He has offered mountains. ~Vance Havner
0. Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life such as yours, this earth would be God's paradise. ~Phillips Brooks
0. The life of faith is a daily exploration of the constant and countless ways in which God's grace and love are experienced. ~Eugene Peterson
0. True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Leadership requires vision, and whence will vision come except from hours spent in the presence of God in humble and fervent prayer? ~A.W. Tozer
0. Every work of God can be traced to some kneeling form. ~D.L. Moody
0. If you lack knowledge, go to school. If you lack wisdom, get on your knees. ~Vance Havner
0. Prayer shouldn't be casual or sporadic, dictated only by the needs of the moment. Prayer should be as much a part of our lives as breathing. ~Billy Graham
0. Life is fragile ~handle with prayer. ~Author Unknown
0. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Don't wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly. ~Francis de Sales
0. Fear lurks in the shadows of every area of life. The future may look very threatening. Jesus says, "Stop being afraid. Trust me! ~Charles Swindoll
0. The great paralysis of our heart is unbelief. ~Oswald Chambers
0. When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible man, and he crushes him. ~Alan Redpath
0. The Christian life doesn't get easier as one gets older. ~Alan Redpath
0. Faith is two empty hands held open to receive all of the Lord Jesus. ~Alan Redpath
0. Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer can move God. ~E.M. Bounds
0. We are either the masters or victims of our attitudes. It is a matter of personal choice. Who we are today is the result of choices we made yesterday. Tomorrow, we will become what we choose today. To change means to choose change. ~John Maxwell
0. We know so little about the future that to worry about it would be the height of foolishness. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. ~E. Stanley Jones
0. The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. ~George Mueller
0. Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work. ~Peter Marshall
0. Be patient. God is using today's difficulties to strengthen you for tomorrow. He is equipping you. The God who makes things grow will help you bear fruit. ~Max Lucado
0. It is impossible to worship God and remain unchanged. ~Henry Blackaby
0. Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things. ~Andrew Murray
0. The fact that we were created to enjoy God and to worship him forever is etched upon our souls. ~Jim Cymbala
0. Don't ever come to church without coming as though it were the first time, as though it could be the best time, and as though it could be the last time. ~Vance Havner
0. Life is too short and the world too compassion-starved for you to keep subsisting in situations that drag you down and curtail your potential to help advance the Kingdom. There's just too much at stake. ~Bill Hybels
0. More often than not, when something looks like it's the absolute end, it is really the beginning. ~Charles Swindoll
0. God doesn't always change the circumstances, but He can change us to meet the circumstances. That's what it means to live by faith. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. After all, a crisis doesn't make a person; it reveals what a person is made of. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. Sometimes your medicine bottle says, "shake well before using." That is what God has to do with some of his people. He has to shake them well before they are usable. ~Vance Havner
0. My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world. ~Billy Graham
0. Many books in my library are now behind and beneath me. They were good in their way once, and so were the clothes I wore when I was ten years old; but I have outgrown them. Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. God looketh upon any thing we say, or any thing we do, and if He seeth Christ in it, He accepteth it; but if there be no Christ, He putteth it away as a foul thing. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in money and you may have it taken from you, but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity. ~D.L. Moody
0. Confidence in the natural world is self-reliance; in the spiritual world, it is God-reliance. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Walk by faith! Stop the plague of worry. Relax! Learn to say, "Lord, this is Your battle." ~Charles Swindoll
0. Christ alone can bring lasting peace ~peace with God ~peace among men and nations ~and peace within our hearts. ~Billy Graham
0. The peace that Jesus gives is never engineered by circumstances on the outside. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God. ~Jim Elliot
0. Don't expect wisdom to come into your life like great chunks of rock on a conveyor belt. Wisdom comes privately from God as a byproduct of right decisions, godly reactions, and the application of spiritual principles to daily circumstances. ~Charles Swindoll
0. It may not seem obvious at first glance, but the way we make decisions in life tells a lot about the kind of faith we have in Jesus Christ. ~Jim Cymbala
0. I have since learned that the most mature believer is the one who is bent over, leaning most heavily on the Lord, and admitting his total inability to do anything without Christ. ~Jim Cymbala
0. It's not that your most important work is meaningless; it's that your most trivial movements are also significant. ~David Jeremiah
0. If you have put your faith in Christ and have spent significant time in the Word of God, the tough times can be like a magnet that draws you to the Lord Jesus. Nothing is going to happen ~ever ~that will catch Jesus Christ by surprise. He is able to help His children work through anything, and not a single thing is going to happen in the future that can change that fact. ~David Jeremiah
0. You asked the Holy Spirit for a miracle, and now that you've got one you're trying to argue it away. People who don't believe in miracles shouldn't pray for them. ~David Wilkerson
0. The day you learn to be publically specific in your prayer, that is the day you will discover power. ~David Wilkerson
0. Drugs, what a devil-inspired poison! It's death on the installment plan. ~David Wilkerson
0. The backslider likes the preaching that wouldn't hit the side of a house, while the real disciple is delighted when the truth brings him to his knees. ~Billy Sunday
0. The Bible will always be full of things you cannot understand, as long as you will not live according to those you can understand. ~Billy Sunday
0. We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right. ~Ravi Zacharias
0. These days its not just that the line between right and wrong has been made unclear, today Christians are being asked by our culture today to erase the lines and move the fences, and if that were not bad enough, we are being asked to join in the celebration cry by those who have thrown off the restraints religion had imposed upon them. It is not just that they ask we accept, but they now demand of us to celebrate it too. ~Ravi Zacharias
0. How quickly we forget God's great deliverances in our lives. How easily we take for granted the miracles he performed in our past. ~David Wilkerson
0. If we rationalize our problems when He points them out, we will spend less and less time meditating because we won't want to face God in that area of our lives. ~Charles Stanley
0. Temptation can be defined as an inducement to do evil. Three powerful forces work together to ruin a believer's character and witness: Satan, the world system, and our own lustful "flesh" tendencies. ~Charles Stanley
0. When friends abandoned him, Paul asked God not to count their actions against them. He followed the example of Jesus, who prayed for the Father to forgive His persecutors. What's your response when friends let you down? Forgiveness is the choice that pleases God every time. ~Charles Stanley
0. When you become consumed by God's call on your life, everything will take on new meaning and significance. You will begin to see every facet of your life ~including your pain ~as a means through which God can work to bring others to Himself. ~Charles Stanley
0. Concentrate on counting your blessings and you'll have little time to count anything else. ~Woodrow Kroll
0. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. ~Phillips Brooks
0. Satan never wastes a fiery dart on an area covered in armor. ~Beth Moore
0. True intimacy with God always brings humility. ~Beth Moore
0. Some things don't need to be cut back, they need to be cut off. ~Beth Moore
0. Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. If there is one single reason why good people turn evil, it is because they fail to recognize God's ownership over their kingdom, their vocation, their resources, their abilities, and above all their lives. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. The work that God does in us when we wait is usually more important than the thing for which we wait! ~Erwin Lutzer
0. There's no such thing as a bitter person who keeps the bitterness to himself. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. Success is not what you have done compared to what others have done. Success is what you have done compared to what you were supposed to do. ~Tony Evans
0. One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time. ~John Piper
0. Death is like my car. It takes me where I want to go. ~John Piper
0. There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Run toward your trials. ~Andrew Murray
0. God not only sees where you are, He sees where you can be. ~Joyce Meyer
0. If you want big faith, look for a big fight. ~Author Unknown
0. Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things 'above all that we ask or think.' ~Andrew Murray
0. Don't lose in the dark what you gained in the light. ~Author Unknown
0. The abuse of a harmless thing is the essence of sin. ~A.W. Tozer
0. I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Most of the world's great souls have been lonely. Loneliness seems to be one price the saint must pay for his saintliness... Always remember: you cannot carry a cross in company. Though a man were surrounded by a vast crowd, his cross is his alone and his carrying of it marks him as a man apart. Society has turned against him; otherwise he would have no cross. No one is a friend to the man with a cross. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask. ~Billy Graham
0. Sin remains, but no longer reigns. ~Author Unknown
0. Christ is not valued at all unless He is valued above all. ~Augustine
0. He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself. ~George Herbert
0. Trials are not enemies of faith but opportunities to prove God's faithfulness. ~Author Unknown
0. God never asks from us what he doesn't give us first. ~Author Unknown
0. God always gives the best to those who leave the choice with him. ~Jim Elliot
0. Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and His will. ~Billy Graham
0. If you find a path in life with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. ~Frank A. Clark
0. There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child. ~Frank A. Clark
0. God not only orders our steps, He orders our stops. ~George Muller
0. We would be more grateful if we knew how much of what we take for granted is planned by God. ~Author Unknown
0. Lord, help me to put aside the things that are breaking my heart, to pray about things that break Yours. ~Author Unknown
0. Caleb and Joshua proved that the majority are not always right. ~Author Unknown
0. Remember the God you knew in the wilderness, and allow those memories to enable you to stand in the future. ~Author Unknown
0. We have to walk with God or we will not get to the place he has prepared for us. ~Author Unknown
0. And for all these people alike, the key to healing turned out to be the same. Each had a hurt he had to forgive. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. The Lord has shown me that I can do anything, but that He has said, apart from Me ye can do nothing. So it comes to this, that everything I have done, and can still do apart from Him is nothing! ~Watchman Nee
0. The real question today is not when human life begins, but, what is the value of human life? The abortionist who reassembles the arms and legs of a tiny baby to make sure all its parts have been torn from its mother's body can hardly doubt whether it is a human being. The real question for him and for all of us is whether that tiny human life has a God-given right to be protected by the law -- the same right we have. ~Ronald Reagan
0. Many people treat the Bible like a drunk treats a lightpost; for support, not illumination. ~Author Unknown
0. The Word of God is like a lion. You don't have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. True boldness for Christ transcends all, it is indifference to the displeasure of either friends or foes. Boldness enables Christians to forsake all rather than Christ, and to prefer to offend all rather than to offend Him. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. Nothing paralyzes our lives like the attitude that things can never change. We need to remind ourselves that God can change things...outlook determines outcome. If we see only the problems, we will be defeated; but if we see the possibilities in the problems, we can have victory. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. It is a mindless philosophy that assumes that one's private beliefs have nothing to do with public office. Does it make sense to entrust those who are immoral in private with the power to determine the nation's moral issues and, indeed, its destiny? One of the most dangerous and terrifying trends in America today is the disregard for character as a central necessity in a leader's credentials. The duplicitous soul of a leader can only make a nation more sophisticated in evil. ~Ravi Zacharias
0. I go out to preach with two propositions in mind. First, every person ought to give his life to Christ. Second, whether or not anyone else gives him his life, I will give him mine. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. I'm tired of hearing about 'anointing.' I'm tired of hearing about how 'inspired' a new preacher is, or what new spiritual manifestation is coming down from heaven. Instead I want to see character. I want to see men who have made the hard moral decisions and thus have embodied the excellence of the Christian faith. I want to hear about people who have made every effort to add to their faith goodness... ~Gary Thomas
0. We may not be responsible for all the things that happen to us, but we are responsible for the ways we react when they do happen. ~Author Unknown
0. Most people would not want to live where there are no churches but many people live as though there were no churches. ~Vance Havner
0. In other days people chose a church on the basis of their doctrinal convictions. Now, lacking doctrinal convictions, they choose for social reasons. ~Vance Havner
0. To a large extent, the American church has become merged with the world. It has adopted so many of the world's ideals and standards that it has lost its ability to stem the tide of crime, deception and immorality that is sweeping the nation. For millions of church members there is no deep commitment to the cause of Christ, no regularity of attendance at public worship, no sacrificial giving, no personal religious discipline. ~Billy Graham
0. Most churches love their traditions more than they love the lost. ~Author Unknown
0. Courage is contagious. When a brave person takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened. ~Billy Graham
0. Our greatest value is to reproduce ourselves in the lives of others. When you leave behind a vibrant Christian who knows his calling and his commission, you can be buried, but you will live on through all those in whom you have been reproduced. ~Jerry Falwell
0. In three decades of pastoring and counseling couples, there's only one thing we've found truly makes for a lasting marriage, both people must want to be married to each other more than they want to divorce. ~Author Unknown
0. When a person does not know the doctrines of the Christian faith, he can easily be captured by false religions. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. I believe in the eternal security of the believer and in the insecurity of the make-believer. ~J. Vernon McGee
0. We have now moved from the burden of raising money to the adventure of trusting God. ~Author Unknown
0. Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man's power ends. ~George Mueller
0. It is not faith and works; it is not faith or works; it is faith that works. ~Author Unknown
0. The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. ~Oswald Chambers
0. God buries our sins in the depths of the sea and then puts up a sign that reads, "No fishing." ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. ~Winston Churchill
0. If God be your partner, make your plans large. ~D.L. Moody
0. If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. ~Lewis Carroll
0. If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time. ~Zig Ziglar
0. Our evangelical culture tends to take the awesome reality of a transcendent god who is worthy to be feared and downsize Him so He could fit into our "buddy system." The way we talk about Him, the way we pray, and, more strikingly, the way we live shows that we have somehow lost our sense of being appropriately awestruck in the presence of a holy and all-powerful God. It's been a long time since we've heard a good sermon on the "fear of God." If God were to show up visibly, many of us think we'd run up to Him and high-five Him for the good things He has done. ~Joseph M. Stowell
0. If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get. ~Frank A. Clark
0. If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference. ~A.W. Tozer
0. The word "hope" I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith. ~John Calvin
0. I am walking toward a bright light and the nearer I get the brighter it is. ~D.L. Moody
0. Only those who see themselves as utterly destitute can fully appreciate the grace of God. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. I've met some people who were very proud of their humility. ~Michael Catt
0. For the Christian, humility is absolutely indispensable. Without it there can be no self-knowledge, no repentance, no faith and no salvation. ~A. W. Tozer
0. Humility is a strange thing: the moment you think you have it, you have lost it. ~Author Unknown
0. Breakthrough happened around me when breakup happened within me. ~Jack Hayford
0. How difficult it is to avoid having a special standard for oneself. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Most of the world around you doesn't read the Bible. So... God gives the world a living epistle-- you. ~Kay Arthur
0. In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up that makes us rich. ~Henry Ward Beecher
0. Scars are the price which every believer pays for his loyalty to Christ. ~William Hendrickson
0. Culture changes. Churches change. Life changes. God doesn't. ~James L. Wilson
0. Worry is an old man with bended head, carrying a load of feathers which he thinks are lead. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Nothing is a surprise to God; nothing is a setback to His plans; nothing can thwart His purposes; and nothing is beyond His control. ~Joni Eareckson Tada
0. Only he who can say, "The Lord is the strength of my life" can say, "Of whom shall I be afraid?" ~Alexander MacLaren
0. In the battle of faith, money is usually the last stronghold to fall. ~Ronald Dunn
0. Order my footsteps by Thy Word and make my heart sincere; let sin have no dominion, Lord, but keep my conscience clear. ~Isaac Watts
0. The use of our possessions shows us up for what we actually are. ~Charles C. Ryrie
0. Jesus came to comfort the afflicted, and to trouble the comfortable. ~Author Unknown
0. If a single living cell was found on a distant planet, scientists would exclaim that we have found life elsewhere in the universe. So why is a single living cell found in the womb of a pregnant woman not considered life? ~Author Unknown
0. Nothing that God has ever said about Himself will be modified; nothing the inspired prophets and apostles have said about Him will be rescinded. His immutability guarantees this. ~A.W Tozer
0. God answers our prayers not because we are good, but because He is good. ~A.W. Tozer
0. When men no longer fear God, they transgress His laws without hesitation. The fear of consequences is no deterrent when the fear of God is gone. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Faith is not about how much you believe in what you believe. Faith is about believing that the One you believe in is believable. ~Tony Evans
0. Insisting on living in your past will kill your future. Let it go. ~Tony Evans
0. Sometimes God lets you hit rock bottom so that you will discover He is the Rock at the bottom. ~Tony Evans
0. Every experience God gives us, every person He puts into our lives, is the perfect preparation for a future only He can see. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. You know all of my fears. There's nothing your eyes can't see. When I tried to give up Lord, you never gave up on me. ~Peter Furler
0. For one who has made thanksgiving the habit of his life, the morning prayer will be, 'Lord, what will you give me today to offer back to you?' ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. The gravest question any of us face is whether we do or do not love the Lord. ~A.W. Tozer
0. A man who loves his wife will love her letters and her photographs because they speak to him of her. So if we love the Lord Jesus, we shall love the Bible because it speaks to us of him. ~John Stott
0. Love is not only something you feel, it's something you do. ~David Wilkerson
0. Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
0. The true mark of a Christian leader is trying to build up other people. Raise up other leaders! ~Chuck Colson
0. Let God's promises shine on your problems. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. You can tell the size of your God by looking at the size of your worry list. The longer your list, the smaller your God. ~Author Unknown
0. I believe that you measure the health or strength of a church by its sending capacity rather than its seating capacity. ~Rick Warren
0. Money is emphasized in Scripture simply because our temptation to love it is inexplicably powerful. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. When fathers are tongue tied religiously with their offspring, need they wonder if their children's hearts remain sin tied? ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Our children are messengers we send to a time we will not see. ~Author Unknown
0. The problem with Christians today is that no one wants to kill them anymore. ~Jamie Buckingham
0. If we don't discipline ourselves, God will make certain we are disciplined by others. ~Jamie Buckingham
0. He is the best preacher, not that tickles the ear, but that breaks the heart. ~Thomas Brooks
0. No man ever yet thought whether he was preaching well without weakening his sermon. ~Phillips Brooks
0. There will be no peace as long as God remains unseated at the conference table. ~William M. Peck
0. Jesus Christ came to send a sword through every peace that is not based on a personal relationship to Himself. ~Oswald Chambers
0. A great many people are trying to make peace, but that has already been done. God has not left it for us to do; all we have to do is to enter into it. ~D.L. Moody
0. Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. ~Walter Elliott
0. It is not great talents or great learning or great preachers that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God... ~E.M. Bounds
0. What can God have that gives him greater satisfaction than that a thousand times a day all his creatures should thus pause to withdraw and worship him in the heart. ~Brother Lawrence
0. I am often, I believe, praying for others when I should be doing things for them. It's so much easier to pray for a bore than to go and see him. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly. Others give but an occasional pluck at the rope. But he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. The devil is in constant conspiracy against a preacher who really prays, for it has been said that what a minister is in his prayer closet is what he is, no more, no less. ~Vance Havner
0. Satan is not fighting churches; he is joining them. He does more harm by sowing tares than by pulling up wheat. He accomplishes more by imitation than by outright opposition. ~Vance Havner
0. The purpose of prayer is not to inform God of our needs, but to invite Him to rule our lives. ~Clarence Bauman
0. I am reminded that one old saint was asked, "Which is the more important: reading God's Word or praying?" To which he replied, "Which is more important to a bird: the right wing or the left? ~A.W. Tozer
0. The preacher who jests and jokes with his people all week will soon find that he cannot stand in his pulpit on Sunday with power to reprove, rebuke and exhort. He may be the life of the party but it will be the death of the prophet. ~Vance Havner
0. The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not "What a lovely sermon!" but "I will do something." ~Francis de Sales
0. If God were not my friend, Satan would not be so much my enemy. ~Thomas Brooks
0. Satan hates God for His own sake, and everything that is dear to God he hates for the very reason that God loves it. ~A.W. Tozer
0. I believe Satan exists for two reasons: first, the Bible says so, and second, I've done business with him. ~D.L. Moody
0. You can tell whether you are becoming a servant by how you act when people treat you like one. ~Gordon MacDonald
0. God will open up places of service for you as He sees you are ready. Meanwhile, study the Bible and give yourself a chance to grow. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. It is futile for us to try to serve God without the power of the Holy Spirit. Talent, training, and experience cannot take the place of the power of the Spirit. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. The Lord doesn't ask about your ability, only your availability; and, if you prove your dependability, the Lord will increase your capability. ~Author Unknown
0. The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Reading Christians are growing Christians. When Christians cease to read, they cease to grow. ~John Wesley
0. Missionaries: People who leave their families for a short time so others can be with their families for eternity. ~Author Unknown
0. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. ~Benjamin Franklin
0. Those whom God will employ are first struck with a sense of their unworthiness to be employed. ~Matthew Henry
0. The world's idea of greatness is to rule, but Christian greatness consists in serving. ~J.C. Ryle
0. To be entirely safe from the devil's snares the man of God must be completely obedient to the Word of the Lord. The driver on the highway is safe, not when he reads the signs but when he obeys them. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Be thankful if your job is a little harder than you like. A razor can't be sharpened on a piece of velvet. ~Author Unknown
0. What Matthew Henry prayed after he was robbed: "I thank Thee first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not take my life; third, although the took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed and not I who robbed." ~Matthew Henry
0. If you can't be thankful for what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped. ~Author Unknown
0. Jesus came to pay a debt He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay. ~Author Unknown
0. The man who does things makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all ~doing nothing. ~Benjamin Franklin
0. Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe. Nothing else can cost so much. ~Charles Finney
0. Sin keeps us from knowing the true nature of sin. ~Author Unknown
0. The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin's womb and an empty tomb. ~Peter Larson
0. It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor. ~Martin Luther
0. You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes running when there's a fire. Likewise, if your church is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The community will already know it. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. In our prayers, we talk to God, in our Bible study, God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking. ~D.L. Moody
0. Nobody ever outgrows Scriptures; the Book widens and deepens with our years. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. The Bible differs from all other books in that it never wears out. Other books are read and laid aside, but the Bible is a constant companion. No matter how often we read it or how familiar we become with it, some new truth is likely to spring out at us from its pages whenever we open it, or some old truth will impress us as it never did before. Every Christian can give illustrations of this. ~William Jennings Bryan
0. No one ever said at the end of his days; 'I have read my bible too much, I have thought of God too much, I have prayed too much, I have been too careful with my soul' ~J.C. Ryle
0. Multitudes of people who expect to go to Heaven will go to a Hell of torment. Thousands of "good" people, "moral" people, church members, even church workers ~yes, and, alas, even prophets, priests and preachers ~will find themselves lost when they expected to be saved, condemned when they expected approval, cast out of Heaven when they expected to be received into eternal bliss. That is the explicit meaning of the words of our Lord... (see Matt 7:21-23.] ~John R. Rice
0. Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell. ~Billy Sunday
0. The test of real character is what a man does when he is tired. ~Winston Churchill
0. If I had my ministry over again, I would devote far more time to the ministry of comfort and encouragement. ~F.B. Meyer
0. Arent you glad your mother was pro-life? ~Author Unknown
0. The higher a man is in grace, the lower he will be in his own esteem. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. I want to feel my own nothingness, I want to give myself up in absolute resignation to God, to lie prostrate and passive at His feet, with no other disposition in my heart than that of merging my will into His will, and no other language in my mouth than that of prayer for the perfecting of His strength in my weakness. ~Thomas Chalmers
0. They that know God will be humble. They that know themselves cannot be proud. ~John Flavel
0. He who stays not in his littleness, loses his greatness. ~Francis de Sales
0. I lay it down as a fact that if all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world. ~Blaise Pascal
0. The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies -- probably because they are generally the same people. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. It is much easier to repent of sins that we have already committed than to repent of those we intend to commit. ~Josh Billings
0. Tolerance gets a lot of credit that belongs to apathy. ~Douglas Jacoby
0. It seems that Satan first makes friends with the parents to make it easier to get their boys and girls. ~Author Unknown
0. An empty tomb proves Christianity; an empty church denies it. ~Author Unknown
0. There is one thing for which you should be abundantly thankful: Only you and God have all the facts about yourself. ~Author Unknown
0. There are two authentic marks of a Christian: giving and forgiving. ~Author Unknown
0. A cold church is like cold butter -- it never spreads very well. ~Author Unknown
0. Sooner or later we must learn that God makes no deals. ~Author Unknown
0. Do unto others as though you were the others. ~Author Unknown
0. The devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Temptation usually comes in through a door that has deliberately been left open. ~Arnold Glasow
0. How many observe Christ's birth-day! How few, His precepts! ~Benjamin Franklin
0. Many who plan to seek the Lord at the eleventh hour die at 10:30. ~Author Unknown
0. I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet. ~Author Unknown
0. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. ~C.S. Lewis
0. We may note in passing that He (Jesus) was never regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the people who actually met Him. He produced mainly three effects ~Hatred ~Terror ~Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild admiration. ~C.S. Lewis
0. I will not believe that thou hast tasted of the honey of the gospel if thou canst eat it all thyself. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. ~John Wesley (unverified)
0. No man ever repented of being a Christian on his death bed. ~Hannah More
0. If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned? ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. Our prayers lay the track down on which God's power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails. ~Watchman Nee
0. People use duct tape to fix everything; God used nails. ~Author Unknown
0. Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand. ~S.D. Gordon
0. My main ambition in life is to be on the Devil's most wanted list. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. When there's something in the Bible that churches don't like, they call it 'legalism.' ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don't even have the strength to turn off your TV? ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. Many pastors criticize me for taking the Gospel so seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment Day, Christ will chastise me, saying, 'Leonard, you took Me too seriously'? ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. The worst possible moment for an atheist is when he feels grateful and has no one to thank. ~Author Unknown
0. Many churches are plagued with a lot of 'retired' Christians. ~Author Unknown
0. The Christian on his knees sees more than the philosopher on tiptoe. God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves. ~D.L. Moody
0. If a man gets drunk and goes out and breaks his leg so that it must be amputated, God will forgive him if he asks it, but he will have to hop around on one leg all his life. ~D.L. Moody
0. Today Christians spend more money on dog food than missions. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. The Bible, which ranges over a period of four thousand years, records but one instance of a death-bed conversion (the thief on the cross) ~one that none may despair, and but one that none may presume. ~Thomas Guthrie
0. If a frog turns into a prince instantly with the kiss of a fair maiden, we call it a fairy tale; if it takes him 400 million years, they call it 'Evolution.' ~Author Unknown
0. Get right or get left! ~Author Unknown
0. You have one new friend request! Jesus Accept/Decline. ~Author Unknown
0. Anyone who takes his faith seriously and speaks in behalf of Christ and His kingdom will be accused of fanaticism at some point. ~R.C. Sproul
0. Through ages, through eternity, what you have done for Christ, that, and only that, you are. ~F.W. Robertson
0. You can do what I cannot do. I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things. ~Mother Teresa
0. What, at Peace with the Father, and at War with the (His) Children! It cannot be. ~John Flavel
0. Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together. ~Vesta Kelly.
0. Martin Luther was asked one time how he overcame the devil. He replied: "Well, when he comes knocking upon the door of my heart, and asks, 'Who lives here?' The dear Lord Jesus goes to the door and says, 'Martin Luther used to live here but he has moved out. Now I live here.' The devil, seeing the nail-pierced hands, and the nail-pierced side, takes flight immediately. ~Martin Luther
0. If you are not willing to be used by God, ask God to make you willing to be willing. ~F.B. Meyer
0. There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence. ~John Calvin
0. It is not the being seen of men that is wrong, but doing these things for the purpose of being seen of men. The problem with the hypocrite is his motivation. ~Augustine
0. The great thing is to be found at one's post as a child of God, living each day as though it were our last, but planning as though the world might last a hundred years. ~C.S. Lewis
0. The way to grow strong in Christ is to become weak in yourself. ~Oswald Chambers
0. God promises to keep His people, and He will keep His promises. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Worship seals all prayers at the front and at the back. Always pray with praise beginning and praise ending. ~David Jeremiah
0. God does not believe in atheists, therefore atheists do not exist. ~Author Unknown
0. Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and realizing you were the prisoner. ~Max Lucado
0. A man who loves you the most is the man who tells you the most truth about yourself. ~Robert Murray M'Cheyne
0. It's not my business to try and make God think like me... but to try, in prayer and penitence, to think like God. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Pray; and as you pray, surrender; and as you surrender, believe. ~A.W. Tozer
0. All complaining comes from pride. ~Joyce Meyer
0. I don't think it bothers the world so much that we Christians sin. It bothers the world that we act like we don't. ~Casting Crowns (on Facebook)
0. If you want to make enemies, try to change something. ~Woodrow Wilson
0. If you make a great deal of Christ, He will make a great deal of you; but if you make but a little of Christ, Christ will make but a little of you. ~R.A. Torrey
0. The reason most people don't go to church is because they've already been. ~Mark Twain
0. If America is to survive, we must elect more God-centered men and women to public office; individuals who will seek Divine guidance in the affairs of state. ~Billy Graham
0. Henry Varley said, "The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him." After hearing those words, D.L. Moody decided, "I will try my uttermost to be that man." ~Misc.
0. The first thing a man must do if he desires to be used in the Lord's work, is to make an unconditional surrender of himself to God. ~D.L. Moody
0. Dedication is writing your name on the bottom of a blank sheet of paper and handing it to the Lord for Him to fill in. ~Rick Renner
0. We find comfort among those who agree with us ~growth among those who don't. ~Frank A. Clark
0. I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me. ~Dudley Field Malone
0. Many blush to confess their faults, who never blush to commit them. ~William Secker
0. The most important part of doctrine is the first two letters. ~David C. Egner
0. Every man needs a blind eye and a deaf ear, so when people applaud, you'll only hear half of it, and when people salute, you'll only see part of it. Believe only half the praise and half the criticism. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals. ~Benjamin Franklin
0. A big man is one who makes us feel bigger when we are with him. ~John Maxwell
0. There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come through encouragement from someone else. I don't care how great, how famous or how successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause. ~George M. Adams
0. One compliment can keep me going for a whole month. ~Mark Twain
0. I would rather win souls than be the greatest king or emperor on earth; I would rather win souls than be the greatest general that ever commanded an army; I would rather win souls than be the greatest poet, or novelist, or literary man who ever walked the earth. My one ambition in life is to win as many as possible. ~R.A. Torrey
0. No one is useless. They can always serve as a bad example. ~Author Unknown
0. Out of one hundred men, one will read the Bible, the other ninety-nine will read the Christian. ~D.L. Moody
0. Excuses are the cradle ... that Satan rocks men off to sleep in. ~D.L. Moody
0. Let us expect that God is going to use us. Let us have courage and go forward, looking to God to do great things. ~D.L. Moody
0. Faith is only as valid as its object. You could have tremendous faith in very thin ice and drown. . . . You could have very little faith in very thick ice and be perfectly secure. ~Stuart Briscoe
0. Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials. ~Smith Wigglesworth
0. Satan does some of his worst work on exhausted Christians when nerves are frayed and the mind is faint. ~Vance Havner
0. The Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique. The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished with his torch still lit. I want to run all the way with the flame of my torch still lit for Him. ~Joseph Stowell
0. A friend is a person who goes around saying nice things about you behind your back. ~Author Unknown
0. All generalizations are false, including this one. ~Mark Twain
0. I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. ~Mother Teresa
0. Two-thirds of all the strifes, quarrels, and lawsuits in the world arise from one simple cause ~money. ~J.C. Ryle
0. One hour in heaven, and we shall be ashamed that we ever grumbled. ~Vance Havner
0. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. ~C.S. Lewis
0. God is preparing his heroes; and when the opportunity comes, he can fit them into their places in a moment, and the world will wonder where they came from. ~A.B. Simpson
0. The greatest miracle that God can do today is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world, and make that man holy and put him back into that unholy world and keep him holy in it. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. Whatever call a man may pretend to have, if he has not been called to holiness, he certainly has not been called to the ministry. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. I believe many a man is praying to God to fill him, when he is full already with something else. Before we pray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray Him to empty us. ~D.L. Moody
0. Hell is the place where one has ceased to hope. ~A.J. Cronin
0. There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud. ~Carl Sandburg (a good analogy for Christians)
0. True humility is more like self-forgetfulness than false modesty. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change. And when we are right, make us easy to live with. ~Peter Marshall
0. Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others. ~Author Unknown
0. Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; forty years learning he was nobody; and forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody. ~D.L. Moody
0. Often the only thing a child can remember about an adult in later years, when he or she is grown, is whether or not that person was kind. ~Billy Graham
0. Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't say it mean. ~Author Unknown
0. Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much. ~Blaise Pascal
0. The word 'listen' contains the same letters as the word 'silent.' ~Alfred Brendel
0. If you can really make a man believe you love him, you have won him; and if I could only make people really believe that God loves them, what a rush we would see for the kingdom of God! ~D.L. Moody
0. Nothing is more sweet than harmony in marriage, and nothing more distressing than dissension. ~Martin Luther
0. I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus. ~Mother Teresa
0. Modern man has not only thrown away Christian theology, he has thrown away the possibility of what our forefathers had as a basis for morality and law. ~Francis A. Schaeffer
0. We are faced with great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. ~Chuck Swindoll
0. So long as there is a human being who does not know Jesus Christ, I am his debtor to serve him until he does. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they found Him, the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. ~A.W. Tozer
0. You do not move ahead by constantly looking in a rear view mirror. The past is a rudder to guide you, not an anchor to drag you. We must learn from the past but not live in the past. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. If God be our God, He will give us peace in trouble. When there is a storm without, He will make music within. The world can create trouble in peace, but God can create peace in trouble. ~Thomas Watson
0. I remember when the Titanic sank in 1912, it was the ship that was supposed to be unsinkable. The only thing it ever did was sink. When it took off from England, all kinds of passengers were aboard ~millionaires, celebrities, people of moderate means, and poor folks down in the steerage. But a few hours later when they put the list in the Cunard office in New York, it carried only two categories ~lost and saved. Grim tragedy had leveled all distinctions. ~Vance Havner
0. A pessimist is one who feels bad when he feels good for fear he'll feel worse when he feels better. ~Author Unknown
0. The pessimist's epitaph: 'Just what I expected'. ~Author Unknown
0. You are coming to a King, Large petitions with thee bring, For his grace and power are such, None can ever ask too much. ~John Newton
0. Prayer is an investment. The time you dedicate to prayer isn't lost; it will return dividends far greater than what a few moments spent on a task ever could. If we fail to cultivate this discipline, prayer winds up being our last resort rather than our first response. ~Charles Swindoll
0. The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history. ~Andrew Murray
0. Prayer as a relationship is probably your best indicator about the health of your love relationship with God. If your prayer life has been slack, your love relationship has grown cold. ~John Piper
0. The gospel is for lifeboats, not showboats, and a man must make up his mind which boat he is going to operate. ~Vance Havner
0. A picture of Christ was hung in the back of a pulpit. When the minister rose to speak one Sunday morning, a little boy asked his mother, 'Mother, who is that man who stands so we can't see Jesus?' ~Vance Havner
0. The pattern of the prodigal is: rebellion, ruin, repentance, reconciliation, restoration. ~Edwin Louis Cole
0. Every disciple needs three types of relationships in his life. He needs a 'Paul' who can mentor him and challenge him. He needs a 'Barnabas' who can come along side and encourage him. And he needs a 'Timothy,' someone that he can pour his life into. ~Howard Hendricks
0. If you have sinned, do not lie down without repentance; for the want of repentance after one has sinned makes the heart yet harder and harder. ~John Bunyan
0. O God of Second Chances and new Beginnings, here I am again. ~Nancy Spiegelberg
0. A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was. ~Joseph Hall
0. As I go into a cemetery I like to think of the time when the dead shall rise from their graves. ... Thank God, our friends are not buried; they are only sown! ~D.L. Moody
0. People used to blush when they were ashamed. Now they are ashamed if they blush. Modesty has disappeared and a brazen generation with no fear of God before its eyes mocks at sin. We are so fond of being called tolerant and broadminded that we wink at sin when we ought to weep. ~Vance Havner
0. There are two sins of men that are bred in the bone and that continually come out in the flesh. One is self-dependence and the other is self-exultation. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Our first problem is that our attitude towards sin is more self-centered than God-centered. We are more concerned about our own "Victory" over sin than we are about the fact that our sin grieves the heart of God. We cannot tolerate failure in our struggle with sin chiefly because we are success oriented, not because we know it is offensive to God. ~Jerry Bridges
0. Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with God. ~John Piper
0. Sin will take you farther then you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. ~Author Unknown
0. We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. ~Mother Teresa
0. Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. ~C.T. Studd
0. If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees... and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher ~George Whitefield
0. It is a sad and shocking fact that many religious people are in Hell. ~John R. Rice
0. God is looking for broken men who have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to the end of themselves, whose confidence is not in themselves, but in God. ~Harry Ironside
0. If you have no joy in your religion, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere. ~Billy Sunday
0. It is better to be a little too strict than too liberal. ~D.L. Moody
0. I thought when I became a Christian I had nothing to do but just to lay my oars in the bottom of the boat and float along. But I soon found that I would have to go against the current. ~D.L. Moody
0. It is not our business to make the message acceptable, but to make it available. We are not to see that they like it, but that they get it. ~Vance Havner
0. More Bibles are bought and fewer read than any other book. ~Vance Havner
0. If you see a Bible that is falling apart, it probably belongs to someone who isn't! ~Vance Havner
0. Too many Christians live their Christian lives inside their heads; it never gets out through hands and feet and lips. ~Vance Havner
0. To some Christianity is an argument. To many it is a performance. To a few, it is experience. ~Vance Havner
0. If you are what you've always been, you are not a Christian. A Christian is a new creation. ~Vance Havner
0. "I'll give her a piece of my mind!" Have you ever said this? I wouldn't be so generous! Besides, you don't have any mind to spare. We might have more peace of mind if we didn't give away pieces of our mind! ~Vance Havner
0. Someone else is happy with less than what you have. ~Author Unknown
0. God has to work in a man before He can work through a man. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery; to humble man's heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul from earth to heaven... ~Adam Clarke
0. Prayer is not a means by which I seek to control God; it is a means of putting myself in a position where God can control me. ~Charles L. Allen
0. The detour is always rougher than the main road ~Vance Havner
0. A true preacher is best measured not by how many bouquets have been pinned on him but by how many brickbats have been pitched at him. Prophets have been on the receiving end of mud more than medals. ~Vance Havner
0. The tragedy of today is that the situation is desperate but the saints are not. ~Vance Havner
0. We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God. ~Vance Havner
0. People get so used to the dark that they think it's growing brighter. It's possible to fraternize with unbelievers until false doctrine becomes less and less objectionable. ~Vance Havner
0. God judges what we tolerate as well as what we practice. Too often we put up with things we ought to put out. ~Vance Havner
0. When God's people are removed from this earth, you might as well try to dam up Niagara Falls with toothpicks as to stem the flood of lawlessness that will engulf mankind. Thank God for the restraining Spirit today! ~Vance Havner
0. Real revival does not begin with joyous singing. It begins with conviction and repentance on the part of Christians. ~Vance Havner
0. We need a dedicated minority who, like the apostles of old, are willing to be called the scum of the earth and a spectacle to the world for the scandal of the cross. ~Vance Havner
0. We justify ourselves when we should judge ourselves. If we learned humility, it might spare us the humiliation. ~Vance Havner
0. When the Lord's white sheep become dirty gray, all black sheep feel more comfortable. ~Vance Havner
0. We are fighting the greatest battle of all time with the most untrained army on earth. If strict discipline is necessary in art and athletics, how can we expect to be advanced Christians and stay in kindergarten? ~Vance Havner
0. At the rate America is decaying morally, we shall have to change our national symbol from an eagle to a vulture. ~Vance Havner
0. God's deepest secrets often miss the wise and prudent and are revealed unto babes. We say, "Children, be like your parents." Jesus said, "Parents, be like your children." ~Vance Havner
0. Not everyone who has made peace with God has realized the peace of God. ~Vance Havner
0. Most of the notable turn out to be the not-able. God's greatest truths still belong to babes. ~Vance Havner
0. Adam tried to hide behind the trees in the garden. There is only one tree that can hide us from Him and that is the tree of the cross. ~Vance Havner
0. I can conceive of no greater, more romantic and interesting adventure than to undertake to live like Jesus in this complicated day. ~Vance Havner
0. Men seek fame and high places only to learn that they were happier in obscurity ~Vance Havner
0. The man who sets out to live the life worthwhile ~to follow his vision and speak his heart ~need not look for position, honors, prosperity. ~Vance Havner
0. Christ is most concerned with the direction in which you habitually are going and not with a spasmodic eruption either good or bad. ~Vance Havner
0. It's hard to be optimistic when you have a misty optic. ~Vance Havner
0. When Christ possesses the will He keeps it fixed. The trouble comes when we take matters out of His hand and try to handle them ourselves. ~Vance Havner
0. No nation can last long when it stops praying and takes up playing. ~Vance Havner
0. When you are going through difficulty and wonder where God is, remember the teacher is always quiet during the test. ~Author Unknown
0. People often ask me how I keep my priorities straight in life and I tell them that it is done by constantly straightening them out! ~Joyce Meyer
0. If a man is known by the company he keeps, so also his character is reflected in the books he reads. ~J. Oswald Sanders
0. If you're gonna be free, you gotta stop caring what everyone thinks. ~Joyce Meyer
0. Our life is like a tapestry. We see the underside, all the colors, threads, and knots. God sees the top, the beautiful completed work. ~Author Unknown
0. Perhaps our question to God should be, "Father, is there anything filling my hours and days that is spiritually unhealthy?" ~Author Unknown
0. Keep a short account of sin with God. What God convicts us of we must deal with on a daily, even moment-by-moment, basis. To do otherwise is to risk hardening our hearts to the Holy Spirit's work in our lives and distancing ourselves from God. ~Author Unknown
0. Heaven never gets any worse, only better. Hell never gets any better, only worse. ~Author Unknown
0. You entrust your money to banks, God entrusts His money to you. How would you feel if the bank took your money and used it to play the lottery or gamble with it? So, how does God feel? ~Tony Evans (paraphrase)
0. I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess. ~Martin Luther
0. Most of us throw broken things away, but God usually breaks something before He uses it. ~Author Unknown
0. Instead of putting others in their place, put yourself in their place. ~Amish proverb
0. The happiest people I know are those who have an obsession to the obedience of God. ~David Jeremiah
0. Before I can preach love, mercy, and grace, I must preach sin, Law, and judgment. Preach 90% Law and 10% grace. ~John Wesley
0. It is not the bigness of the words you utter, but the force with which you deliver them. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. The Bible is the voice of God in print. ~Tony Evans
0. We are reflectors, and as reflectors we have one duty and that is to stay clean or we won't reflect Jesus. ~David Jeremiah
0. When we are weakest and most despondent, Jesus is most considerate. When there is a break in our progress or we have a spell of depression, he sees the whole of our lives and in the light of that He is longsuffering with discordant details. ~Vance Havner
0. Don't waste your sufferings. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. A mortician can make a dead man look better than he ever did when he was alive. So churches like Sardis may appear very much alive when they are dead in the sight of the Lord. God knows the difference. ~Vance Havner
0. Are we not all immortal till our work is done? ~Robert Murray M'Cheyne
0. Flexible people never get bent out of shape. ~Author Unknown
0. Some people come into your life as blessings, others come into your life as lessons. ~Author Unknown
0. Gratitude is the fuel of worship. ~Author Unknown
0. God gives us people to love and things to use, not things to love and people to use. ~Max Lucado
0. No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. ~C.S. Lewis
0. God can take your pain and turn it into a passion. ~Author Unknown
0. When we work, we work. When we pray, God works. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil ~it has no point. ~Author Unknown
0. When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. ~E.W. Hove
0. We must remember that Satan has his miracles too. ~John Calvin
0. God's grace justifies sinners, but it never justifies sin! ~Joyce Meyer
0. False self is an identity based on what you have, what you do, and what others think about you. In stark contrast to this is the true self in Christ, which is who we are before God and in God ~Christ living in us, as Paul put it to the churches in Galatia (Gal. 2:20). ~Basil Pennington
0. If we don't find something greater than ourselves to serve, we will end up serving ourselves. ~Author Unknown
0. Athanasius was told, "The whole world is against you." To which he replied, "Then I am against the whole world." ~Athanasius
0. Spot the first risings of your besetting sin and kill it, till it is no more. ~John Piper
0. The one who spends the most time with Christ is the one who becomes most like Him. ~Author Unknown
0. In a sense, we are better prepared to praise God than the angels are, for angels have never known the joy of redemption. ~David Jeremiah
0. What a world this would be if God sat on a throne of justice only, and if no mercy were ever to be shown to men! ~Albert Barnes
0. The purpose of God's discipline is not to punish us but to transform us. ~Jerry Bridges
0. Boldness enables Christians to forsake all rather than Christ, and to prefer to offend all rather than to offend Him. ~Jonathan Edwards
0. In opposition... to all the suggestions of the devil, the sole, simple, and sufficient answer is the word of God. This puts to flight all the powers of darkness. ~Charles Hodge
0. The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Faith that is not evidenced by a life of integrity is not biblical faith at all. ~David Jeremiah
0. No trials are wasted in God's economy. ~Derek Prime and Alistair Begg
0. If we only spent more of our time in looking at Him we should soon forget ourselves. ~Martyn Lloyd Jones
0. Revival precedes evangelism. The church must first repent. This is the blind spot in our eye today. ~Vance Havner
0. When we sin, we are often upset, not because we have grieved the Spirit but because our pride has been injured. ~Vance Havner
0. To the average professed Christian today, living so far below normal, New Testament Christianity would be a shock. ~Vance Havner
0. God doesn't help those who help themselves; He helps those who can't help themselves! ~Joyce Meyer
0. There are many who say they want to be victorious Christians, but few are willing to endure the discipline necessary to make one a good solider of Jesus Christ. There is a prize to possess, but before we possess it there is a price to be paid, and few will pay it. ~Vance Havner
0. The Church of Christ has been founded by shedding its own blood, not that of others; by enduring outrage, not by inflicting it. Persecutions have made it grow; martyrdoms have crowned it. ~St. Jerome
0. Faith does not replace fear; it puts fear in its proper place. No one goes through life without experiencing fear, but people who fear God (and trust in Him) handle the threats and challenges of life much differently than those crippled by fear or filled with false confidence. ~Today In The Word
0. Your mind is like a bowling ball, if you aren't careful, it will go into the gutter. ~Author Unknown
0. When you squeeze a lemon, you get what is inside. When you squeeze a Christian, you get what is inside. ~Author Unknown
0. Lord, help me today not to add to anyone's burdens. ~Prayer Of A Friend of Warren Wiersbe
0. When you are born, you cry and people rejoice. When you die, people cry, and, if you are saved, you rejoice. ~Author Unknown
0. There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus. ~Blaise Pascal
0. I am prepared to meet my maker. Whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. ~Winston Churchill
0. A man's concept of God creates his attitude towards the hour in which he lives. ~G. Campbell Morgan
0. If you want to make a man happy, don't give him more possessions. Take away his desires. ~Author Unknown
0. A holy man is a mighty weapon in the hands of God. ~Robert Murray McCheyne
0. Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ. ~William VanderHaven
0. Now since I have been converted, I am happier when I am unhappy than I was happy before I was converted. ~John McNeil
0. Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. ~Mother Teresa
0. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. ~C.S. Lewis
0. We are so busy giving our children what we never had that we forget to give them what we did have. ~James Dobson
0. To make ends meet, put the Lord between them. ~T.J. Bach
0. If you hug to yourself any resentment against anybody else, you destroy the bridge by which God would come to you. ~Peter Marshall
0. God does not ask about our ability or inability, but our availability. ~Author Unknown
0. Men fall in private long before they fall in public. ~J.C. Ryle
0. The best way never to fall is ever to fear. ~William Jenkyn
0. You have to be little to belittle. ~Author Unknown
0. Nobody can take away from you those texts from the Bible which you have learned by heart. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. The hardest part of a missionary career is to maintain regular, prayerful Bible study. Satan will always find you something to do, when you ought to be occupied about that ~if it is only arranging a window blind! ~Hudson Taylor
0. There are four things that we ought to do with the Word of God ~admit it as the Word of God, commit it to our hearts and minds, submit to it, and transmit it to the world. ~William Wilberforce
0. Bible study is like eating peanuts. The more you eat, the more you want to eat. ~Paul Little
0. Lay hold of the Bible until the Bible lays hold on you. ~William Houghton
0. God is the God of promise. He keeps his word, even when that seems impossible; even when the circumstances seem to point to the opposite. ~Colin Urquhart
0. We hurt people by being too busy. Too busy to notice their needs. Too busy to drop that note of comfort or encouragement or assurance of love. Too busy to listen when someone needs to talk. Too busy to care. ~Billy Graham
0. If you are going through difficult times today, hold steady. It will change soon. If you are experiencing smooth sailing and easy times now, brace yourself. It will change soon. The only thing you can be certain of is change. ~James Dobson
0. Lots of people think they are charitable if they give away their old clothes and things they don't want. ~Myrtle Reed
0. The activities we do for God are secondary. God is looking for people who long for communication with Him. ~Erwin Lutzer
0. Conceit is a weird disease ~it makes everybody sick except the guy who has it. ~James Dobson
0. Pride is the ground in which all the other sins grow, and the parent from which all the other sins come. ~William Barclay
0. You can have no greater sign of confirmed pride than when you think you are humble enough. ~William Law
0. If the Lord is coming soon, is this not a very practical motive for greater missionary effort? I know of no other motive that has been so stimulating to myself. ~Hudson Taylor
0. What our Lord said about cross-bearing and obedience is not in fine type. It is in bold print on the face of the contract. ~Vance Havner
0. Set a strong guard about thy outward senses: these are Satan's landing places, especially the eye and the ear. ~William Gurnall
0. Trials are medicines which our gracious and wise Physician prescribes because we need them; and he proportions the frequency and weight of them to what the case requires. Let us trust His skill and thank Him for His prescription. ~John Newton
0. No man, without trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of the Holy Scriptures. ~John Bunyan
0. Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate. ~Rick Warren
0. To build character of purpose and integrity is our high mark, and that cannot be done in a world where there are no adverse elements. ~Vance Havner
0. One cannot help the evil thoughts that come, but it is the thoughts we cultivate that make the difference between good or evil. We don't have to open the door to the devil and say, "Make yourself at home." ~Vance Havner
0. We can often do more by doing less. God is not particularly interested in quantity production. That is an American standard, not a Bible standard. ~Vance Havner
0. Jesus Christ demands more complete allegiance than any dictator who ever lived. The difference is, He has a right to it. ~Vance Havner
0. You always enter God's hospital as a charity patient. You can't pay your way. ~Vance Havner
0. Revival precedes evangelism. The church must first repent. This is the blind spot in our eye today. ~Vance Havner
0. There are two hundred and fifty-six names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I suppose this was because He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express. ~Billy Sunday
0. God's ways are behind the scenes, but He moves all the scenes which He is behind. ~John Nelson Darby
0. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes and makes nothing of the highest ~Thomas a' Kempis
0. He (Jesus) became what we are that He might make us what He is. ~Athanasius
0. If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him. ~C.T. Studd
0. The Bible is meant to be bread for daily use, not just cake for special occasions. ~Author Unknown
0. God's Word is the instrument by which God's Spirit transforms the Christian. ~Robert M. Horn
0. Even when a storm is raging around us and all things seem to be against us, we shall find that we have much for which to be thankful. ~James Snowden
0. Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there. ~Author Unknown
0. Our efficiency without God's sufficiency is only a deficiency. ~Vance Havner
0. All other men, even the greatest, the wisest, the best, have been marked by imperfection and sin, but in Christ we have a great High Priest of absolute sinlessness, and in Him we may safely and fully trust. ~J.S. Exell
0. Spiritual maturity cannot come in a day. We cannot expect it. It takes growth, until the whole beauty of the image of Christ is formed in (us). ~Andrew Murray
0. Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross. ~George Duffield
0. The truly wise man is he who always believes the Bible against the opinions of any man. ~R.A. Torrey
0. God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him. ~Andrew Murray
0. Except a man be born again, he will wish one day he had never been born at all. ~J.C. Ryle
0. Take my heart and mold it; take my mind, transform it; take my will, conform it -- to Yours, to Yours, to Yours. ~Micah Stampley (Take My Life)
0. Your words can permanently influence a life. ~Jerry Falwell
0. When it comes to helping others, some people stop at nothing. ~Author Unknown
0. If I walk with the world, I can't walk with God. ~Dwight Moody
0. His is a joy which consequences cannot quench. His is a peace which circumstances cannot steal. ~Max Lucado
0. Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Faith as [Jesus] characterized it is nothing less than a complete exchange of all that we are for all that He is. ~John MacArthur
0. Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading. ~Oswald Chambers
0. If the Lord is your shepherd, He is sufficient for all your needs. ~Tony Evans
0. I was like a stone that lies in deep mud, and He who is mighty came and in His compassion raised me up and exalted me very high and placed me on the top of the wall. ~St. Patrick
0. If you and I are to be used in our sphere as D.L. Moody was used in his, we must put all that we have and all that we are in the hands of God, for Him to use as He will. ~R.A. Torrey
0. A man may hide God from himself, and yet he cannot hide himself from God. ~William Secker
0. Having a child means a piece of your heart is walking around in the world. ~Author Unknown
0. The world does not hate its own. It does hate our Lord. It hates His followers. Where do you belong in this lineup? ~Vance Havner
0. It has been estimated that most people speak enough words in one week to fill a large 500 page book. In the average lifetime, this would amount to 3,000 volumes or 1,500,000 pages. Let me ask you a question. What kind of book did you write today for your children ~your spouse ~your friends and co-workers? Did you use words to encourage someone today? ~Mary Southerland
0. Paul was not ignorant of Satan's devices, but we are not so wise. Among his most successful devices today are these: exalting tolerance above truth; emphasizing the head more than the heart; making size more important than sort; stressing the positive to the neglect of the negative; putting happiness above holiness; majoring on this world instead of the next. ~Vance Havner
0. Our love grows soft if it is not strengthened by truth, and our truth grows hard if it is not softened by love. ~John Stott
0. We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. ~C.S. Lewis
0. The commands of God are all designed to make us more happy than we can possibly be without them. ~Thomas Wilson
0. To Christ we are to be always coming; upon Him always relying; to His precious blood always looking. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. The true measure of God's love is that He loves without measure. ~Author Unknown
0. I thought I could have leaped from earth to heaven at one spring when I first saw my sins drowned in the Redeemer's blood. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. He (God) may sometimes chasten us, it is true, but even this He does with a smile, the proud, tender smile of a Father who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is. ~A.W. Tozer
0. He (God) loved us not because we are lovable, but because He is love. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Eternal life does not begin with death; it begins with faith. ~Samuel Shoemaker
0. O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. ~Joseph Scriven
0. Prayer and praise are the oars by which a man may row his boat into the deep waters of the knowledge of Christ. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Abiding fully means praying much. ~Andrew Murray
0. To see a man humble under prosperity is one of the greatest rarities in the world. ~John Flavel
0. We reverence God and we hallow God's name when our life is such that it brings honor to God and attracts others to Him. ~William Barclay
0. There is a living God. He has spoken in the Bible. He means what He says and will do all He has promised. ~Hudson Taylor
0. Two great tests of character are wealth and poverty. ~Author Unknown
0. It is a great thing to be a really good forgiver. ~F.W. Boreham
0. When the problem is worry, the prescription is prayer. ~David Jeremiah
0. Gratitude develops faith. The surest path out of a slump is marked by the road sign "thank you, God." ~Max Lucado
0. The door is closed to prayer unless it is opened with the key of trust. ~John Calvin
0. Wisdom is the capacity to see things from God's viewpoint. ~Charles Stanley
0. To some, Christianity is an argument. To many, it is a performance. To a few, it is an experience. ~Vance Havner
0. God is not committed to our comfort, but He is committed to our character. ~Author Unknown
0. I have often been reminded of the wild duck that came down on migration into a barnyard and liked it so well that he stayed there. In the fall his erstwhile companions passed overhead and his first impulse was to rise and join them, but he had fed too well and could rise no higher than the eaves of the barn. The day came when his old fellow travelers could pass overhead without his even hearing their call. I have seen men and women who once mounted up with wings like eagles but are now content to live in the barnyard of this world. ~Vance Havner
0. Trials are to see if you believe what you say you believe. ~Tony Evans
0. There is no panic in Heaven! God has no problems, only plans. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. You need to be moving if you want God to show you which way to go. ~Joyce Meyer
0. We should stop just taking "a moment of silence." Its time to cry out on our knees for God to intervene in our evil world. It's ok to pray silently, but during days like these we should pray together with our families, our classmates, co-workers and our friends as a nation. Just stop what we are doing and actually PRAY. CRY OUT to Him for healing in our country. ~My Daughter (After 26 children and teachers were murdered in a school shooting on 12-14-12)
0. Christ is worth all, or he is worth nothing. ~George Whitefield
0. In light of God's promises, believers who refuse to give obediently don't have a money problem ~they have a trust problem. ~Rod Rogers
0. He who has the Holy Spirit in His heart and the Scripture in his hands has all he needs. ~Alexander MacLaren
0. Men are free to decide their own moral choices, but they are also under the necessity to account to God for those choices. ~A.W. Tozer
0. The world asks, "What does a man own?" Christ asks, "How does he use it? ~Andrew Murray
0. Everything in life is a test of character. ~John Blanchard
0. Generosity is a lovely attribute, and we only practice it when relationships are more important to us than our possessions. ~Michael Wright
0. Wouldn't it be a tragedy to get to the top of the ladder and find you placed it against the wrong wall? ~Henry Blackaby
0. The highest honor in the church is not government but service. ~John Calvin
0. With eternal investments there is never a loss of principle or principal. ~David Jeremiah
0. I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity. ~John Wesley
0. Mine eyes look toward the mountains, help cometh from on high, from God who never slumbers, whose care is ever nigh. ~Author Unknown
0. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity. ~C.S. Lewis
0. We must surrender ourselves so utterly that we can never own ourselves again. We must hand over self and all its rights in an eternal covenant, and give God the absolute right to own us, control us and possess us forever. ~A.B. Simpson
0. If in Jesus Christ you trust, speak for Him you surely must. ~Author Unknown
0. Too much preaching nowadays pats the back and tickles the ear, but does not get under the skin. There is no conviction and therefore no conversion. I am thinking not only of the ministry of reproof and rebuke but also of the message of inspiration, of encouragement, of comfort. People go out of church at noon with the depths unstirred, the heart untouched, the conscience unpricked. ~Vance Havner
0. Faith is believing that God is present when all we hear is silence. ~Daily Bread
0. The same God who brought you here is the same God that will take you there! Stop worrying about how and trust Him. He who promised is faithful! ~Christine Caine
0. Recently I prayed, "Lord, I want to know your peace at all costs. I won't listen to the devil's lies any longer. I know my salvation is not in my performance. No, Jesus, you alone plead my case. I rest in what you've done for me." Can you say the same by faith? ~David Wilkerson
0. We must never promise ourselves any more than God has promised us. ~Matthew Henry
0. Daniel gave all the glory to God; he took none of it for himself. There is no limit to what God will do for the believer who will let God have all the glory. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. There is a certain kind of maturity that can be attained only through the discipline of suffering. ~D.A. Carson
0. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and they that lack the beginning have neither middle nor end ~John Bunyan
0. Legalistic remorse says, "I broke God's rules," while real repentance says, "I broke God's heart." ~Tim Keller
0. Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. ~Helen Keller
0. No life is great that does not point to Christ. ~Vance Havner
0. Satan's lie is still the same today: "You can be free. Do whatever you want. It is your life. There are no divine laws; no absolute authority; and above all, no judgment. You will surely not die." ~John MacArthur
0. We need to take down our "Do not disturb" signs... snap out of our stupor and come out of our coma and awake from our apathy. ~Vance Havner
0. Nobody can call himself a Christian who does not worship Jesus. ~John Stott
0. Do not let your peace depend on what people say of you... True peace and joy is to be found in [Jesus] alone. ~Thomas a' Kempis
0. Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. ~Augustine
0. One filled with joy, preaches without preaching. ~Mother Teresa
0. Ask God to fill your mouth with the words you need to say today. No issue is so small that it doesn't require God's wisdom. ~Joyce Meyer
0. Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
0. If the devil cannot keep you from being saved, if next he fails to make you backslide, then he undertakes to keep you just an average Christian. Here he succeeds with most believers. ~Vance Havner
0. Stealing = robbing God of a chance to work through our weakness. ~Jack Pladdys (including things we don't think about like time, tithes, service)
0. Fixing our thoughts on Jesus requires time, for true reflection cannot happen with a glance. No one can see the beauty of the country if he hurries through it on the interstate. ~R. Kent Hughes
0. Tolerance once meant that we could use our reason to discern good and evil in open debate. Today tolerance has been used to call good evil and evil good. ~Chuck Colson
0. The Bible without the Holy Spirit is a sundial by moonlight. ~D.L. Moody
0. The Bible is a living book... not only a written word, but a spiritually living word. ~Erich Sauer
0. You will never understand why God does what He does, but if you believe Him, that is all that is necessary. Let us learn to trust Him for who He is. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. Renewal and revival often begin when young people take a stand for God. ~Jim Burns
0. There is nothing worse than a life filled with adversity from which nothing good ever comes. ~Charles Stanley
0. We simply can't trust God's power fully until we experience it in the midst of our crisis. ~David Wilkerson
0. If our lives are easy, and if all we ever attempt for God is what we know we can handle, how will we ever experience His omnipotence in our lives? ~Anne Graham Lotz
0. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New. ~Francis Bacon
0. We tend to become what the most important person in our life thinks we will become. Think the best, believe the best, and express the best in others. Your affirmation will not only make you more attractive to them, but you will help play an important part in their personal development. ~John Maxwell
0. The dark moments of our life will last only as long as is necessary for God to accomplish His purpose in us. ~Charles Stanley
0. -- But then I realize there is never going to be a day when I stand before God and He looks at me and says, 'I wish you would have kept more for yourself.' I'm confident that God will take care of me. ~From "Radical" by David Platt
0. Do you believe that Jesus is worth abandoning everything for? Do you believe him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture ~maybe even our churches ~turn the other way? ~David Platt
0. I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me every time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God, it changes me. ~C.S. Lewis
0. God is using your present circumstances to make you more useful for later roles in His unfolding story. ~Louis Giglio
0. I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. ~C.S. Lewis
0. The key that unlocks the treasure chest of God's peace is faith in the promises of God. ~John Piper
0. Worry is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong. ~Tim Keller
0. The early Church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. God, in the end, gives people what they most want, including freedom from himself. What could be more fair? ~C.S. Lewis
0. Hell is not filled with people who are deeply sorry for their sins. It is filled with people who for all eternity still shake their puny fist in the face of God Almighty. ~D.A. Carson
0. How much larger your life would be if you were smaller in it... ~G.K. Chesterton
0. There are many of us willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us willing to do little things. ~D.L. Moody
0. If we esteem them too highly, good works can become the greatest idolatry. ~Martin Luther
0. Limit your thinking and expectation today to only the things God can do. ~Louie Giglio
0. Brokenness is the bow from which God launches the arrow of healing. ~Louis Giglio
0. God's purposes and plans will not fail. Before you spend all your prayer time telling Him about yours, ask about His. ~Louie Giglio
0. There is a direct correlation between your appreciation of what Christ has done for you and the expression of worship ~Louie Giglio
0. No big shocker that following Jesus is costly. The best things in life always are. ~Louie Giglio
0. Be outrageous enough to trust God. Don't be adjusting your vision downward. Keep believing for radical things in Christ. ~Brian C. Houston
0. If you argue with a madman, it is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it; for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not being delayed by the things that go with good judgment. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction, and it's not so bad. ~C.S. Lewis
0. We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves. ~David Platt
0. In the midst of your battles, never forget that God loves you and He has a plan for you. ~Joyce Meyer
0. All the world's thrones are occupied by rulers under God's authority. ~John Blanchard
0. God is not always a God of immediate justice, but He is a God of ultimate justice. ~John Blanchard
0. Perish each thought of human pride, let God alone be magnified. ~Philip Doddridge
0. It is only the life that is lost for Him that is found in Him. ~Vance Havner
0. Blessed is that Christian who can accept at the start by simple faith that which others reach only through years of questioning and reach it only then because they give up trying to analyze it and decide to accept it. ~Vance Havner
0. You can be sure that your deepest desires reveal important truths about your spiritual condition. ~Tullian Tchividjian
0. If you want to stop an argument, close your mouth. ~Charles Swindoll
0. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. ~C.S. Lewis
0. The primary limitation in life is our low expectations for ourselves and others. When we expect minimum results, that's usually what we get. ~John Maxwell
0. When we receive Christ as our Savior, we receive absolute assurance that we will spend eternity with God. That assurance gives us the hope and the courage to endure sorrow, disappointment, and dangerous, difficult times. ~Joel Rosenberg
0. The pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; the optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. ~Winston Churchill
0. For every look at self, take 10 looks at Christ. ~Robert Murray McCheyne
0. A high regard for the things of this world always signals a lowering regard for God. ~Beth Moore
0. You never know how much you really believe anything until it's truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. ~C.S. Lewis
0. His enemies had counted on the lions taking care of Daniel. What they hadn't counted on was his God taking care of Daniel. ~Tony Evans
0. What repeatedly enters your mind and occupies your mind, eventually shapes your mind, and will ultimately express itself in what you do and who you become. ~John Ortberg
0. The fundamental deception of Satan is the lie that obedience can never bring happiness. ~R.C. Sproul
0. No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. We must never settle for harmony at the expense of holiness, nor for peace at the expense of principle. ~John Bradford
0. Pray = Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield ~Author Unknown
0. God loves you more in a moment than anyone could in a lifetime. ~Author Unknown
0. If you are God's child, you are no longer bound to your past or to what you were. You're a new creature in Jesus Christ. ~Kay Arthur
0. I need the spiritual revival that comes from spending quiet time alone with Jesus in prayer and in thoughtful meditation on His Word. ~Anne Graham Lotz
0. One of the best ways to encourage someone who's hurting is with your ears ~by listening. ~Barbara Johnson
0. Bad habits are easier to make than they are to break. ~Author Unknown
0. Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer. ~R.A. Torrey
0. The essence of sin is arrogance; the essence of salvation is submission. ~Alan Redpath
0. Suffering times are a Christian's harvest time. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. The Christian faith is ultimately not only a matter of doctrine or understanding or of intellect, it is a condition of the heart. ~D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
0. Most of us are far too busy for our own spiritual good. ~Bill Hybels
0. In Him (God), history and prophecy are one and the same. ~A.W. Tozer
0. In reading our newspapers today, we can see how God is setting the table, getting everything in order, preparing the way for Christ to return. ~David Jeremiah
0. Bible prophecy helps us to better understand the future and realize the urgent need to spread the Gospel. It motivates us to personal purity and gives us hope in a hopeless age. ~Tim LaHaye
0. Stress makes you believe that everything has to happen right now. Faith reassures that everything will happen in God's timing. ~Author Unknown
0. I do not judge a man by the friends that he has. I judge him by the enemies that he makes. And, if he has the right enemies, he's the right kind of man. ~Author Unknown
0. Stop focusing on what's wrong with everyone else and start focusing on how blessed you are. ~Joyce Meyer
0. What grows us up is what puts us down. ~Charles Stanley
0. I suspect that much of our praying to be used is selfish, and underneath it is the sneaking desire to make our mark and be recognized. ~Vance Havner
0. God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him. ~Hudson Taylor
0. The problem of the church today is not that the Gospel has lost its power, but that the church has lost its audience. ~Paul Little
0. There is no wisdom but that which is focused on the fear of God. ~John Calvin
0. Nothing causes us to so nearly resemble God as the forgiveness of injuries. ~John Chrysostom
0. Nothing in all the world is so good as the knowledge and love of Christ, and no pleasure that can be enjoyed equal to the joy of serving Him with all one's heart. ~Susan Warner
0. God has a time for everything, a perfect schedule. He is never too soon, never too late. The when of His will is as important as the what and the how. ~Richard C. Halverson
0. We have to believe it enough that it changes how we live. ~Francis Chan
0. The Christian must recognize that there are no degrees in right or wrong. ~Donald Grey Barnhouse
0. Marriage is a perpetual test of character. ~Author Unknown
0. If you would train your children rightly, train them in the way they should go and not in the way they would. ~J.C. Ryle
0. As long as you want anything very much, especially more than you want God, it is an idol. ~A.B. Simpson
0. This generation must get deadly serious about the problem of Biblical illiteracy. ~Albert Mohler
0. Before we can strengthen believers or win the lost, we must be converted from the self-life to the Christ-life. . . "Not I, but Christ." ~Vance Havner
0. God has a place and purpose for you, somewhere for you to be and something for you to do. You never will be happy elsewhere, nor can you please God anywhere but there. ~Vance Havner
0. What gives the Word of God authority is simply the fact that it is the word of God! ~Vance Havner
0. Jesus has enough, is enough, and will be enough. ~Louis Giglio
0. Jesus died for you in public, so don't live for Him in private. ~Author Unknown
0. Nothing, therefore, happens unless the Omnipotent wills it to happen. He either permits it to happen, or He brings it about Himself. ~Augustine
0. Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence. ~Augustine
0. Happiness comes from holiness. You can't truly be happy unless you're hungry for Jesus Christ. ~David Jeremiah
0. Nothing is needed so much as a holy indignation against sin. It is true that there is not enough love for God, and one sign of it is that there is not enough hatred for sin. ~Vance Havner
0. The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer. ~R.A. Torrey
0. Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step. ~Joni Eareckson Tada
0. What higher approval could a person enjoy than to know that what he or she has done is pleasing to God? ~R.C. Sproul
0. Take courage. We walk in the wilderness today and in the Promised Land tomorrow. ~D.L. Moody
0. Suffering prepares you by training you to trust God and know that He is always at work in your life. ~Charles Stanley
0. Thou who hast given so much to me, give one more thing: a grateful heart. ~George Herbert
0. Let's keep our chins up and our knees down ~we're on the victory side. ~Alan Redpath
0. Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice... It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which I can choose gratitude instead of a complaint. ~Henry Nouwen
0. If worship does not change us it has not been worship. ~Richard J. Foster
0. Remember that God is more interested in "heart" than "art" in your singing ~or in whatever ministry you possess. ~Turning Points Magazine
0. The person who fears God seeks to live all of life to the glory of God... All the activities of life should be pursued with the aim of glorifying God. ~Jerry Bridges
0. Do all things without grumbling. Why? You have a sovereign God who is on your side, who works everything together for your good. ~John Piper
0. Most men are notable for one conspicuous virtue or grace ~Moses for meekness, Job for patience, John for love. But, in Jesus you find everything. ~J. Oswald Sanders
0. We should be always wearing the garment of praise, not just waving a palm branch now and then. ~Andrew Bonar
0. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless. ~Billy Graham
0. God does not delight in our sufferings. He brings only that which is necessary, but He does not shrink from that which will help us grow. ~Jerry Bridges
0. You will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for you on the inside. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Christians are in the world to be witnesses, and they must concentrate on their calling. ~Paul B. Smith
0. God... Please keep my eyes focused on the only target worth hitting -- Christlikeness! ~Johnny Hunt
0. Never ruin an apology with an excuse. ~Benjamin Franklin
0. If we want to be thoroughly hot with zeal, we must go near to the furnace of the Saviour's love. ~Lady Powerscourt
0. Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers. ~J. Sidlow Baxter
0. To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees. ~Billy Graham
0. Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue. ~Adam Clarke
0. A person without prayer is like a tree without roots. ~Augustine
0. Worship is an endeavor to bring to God that which costs you something. ~David Jeremiah
0. Who knows who's waiting right now for one of us to invite them into God's family? ~Louie Giglio
0. Heaven's riches are moth-proof, rustproof, and burglar proof. ~John Blanchard
0. If we put off our repentance to another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent. ~John Mason
0. But isn't it wrong to be motivated by reward? No, it isn't. If it were wrong, Christ wouldn't offer it to us a motivation. ~Randy Alcorn
0. When Christ returns, and only then, will the angel's message to the shepherds be totally fulfilled: Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. ~David Jeremiah
0. When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you're slamming the door in the face of God. ~Charles L. Allen
0. Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter. ~Francis Chan
0. We are so prone to expect to become good Christians by some sudden experience that lifts us all at once to higher ground without the gradual climb. We forget that we are to "grow in grace" and that normal growth is not a matter of fits and starts. ~Vance Havner
0. The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. ~Brennan Manning
0. A little lie is like a little pregnancy it doesn't take long before everyone knows. ~C.S. Lewis
0. Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers that cannot be refused. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Integrity is keeping my commitments even if the circumstances when I made those commitments have changed. ~David Jeremiah
0. I will therefore be prepared at all times for that which may come at any time. ~Author Unknown
0. All around you are people whose lives are filled with trouble and sorrow, and they need your compassion and encouragement. ~Billy Graham
0. There is no one so far lost that Jesus cannot find him and cannot save him. ~Andrew Murray
0. Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth. ~Book Of Common Prayer
0. Pride of gifts robs us of God's blessing in the use of them. ~William Gurnall
0. When it comes to leaving earth for heaven, there's nothing to worry about. God wants you home so much that He'll send His own angel to meet you. And don't be surprised if the angel is wearing a big smile. ~Larry Libby
0. Let thy hope of heaven master thy fear of death. ~William Gurnall
0. To throw the Christian into the furnace is to put him into Christ's parlor; for lo! Jesus Christ is walking with him. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. You must go forward on your knees. ~Hudson Taylor
0. We must meet the uncertainties of this world with the certainty of the world to come. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Before we can pray, "Thy kingdom come," we must be willing to pray, My kingdom go. ~Alan Redpath
0. We break our promises to one another. We break our promises to God. But God never breaks His promises to us. ~R.C. Sproul
0. When a man makes alliance with the Almighty, giants look like grasshoppers. ~Vance Havner
0. From Genesis to Revelation, here's the central message: God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God, the Triune God is in control of all things, period. ~Charles Stanley
0. If we want to be comforted, we must make up our minds to believe every single solitary word of comfort God has ever spoken. ~Hannah Whitall Smith
0. He is preeminent in creation because He is the Creator. He is preeminent in redemption for He is the Redeemer. He is preeminent in the church because He is the One who gave Himself for the church. ~J. Vernon McGee
0. God's way is still the best way. ~Zig Ziglar
0. We dare not limit God in our asking, nor in His answering. ~John Blanchard
0. None of us can come to the highest maturity without enduring the summer heat of trials. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Read the Bible with reverence. Think, every line you read, God is speaking to you. ~Thomas Watson
0. Not everyone is your brother or sister in the faith, but everyone is your neighbor, and you must love your neighbor. ~Timothy Keller
0. He stated His message boldly and forcefully, without compromise, whether He was speaking to the lowest outcast of society or a member of the Pharisee elite. Jesus was no respecter of persons. ~Michael Youssef
0. We must come to good works by faith, and not to faith by good works. ~William Gurnall
0. It is not necessary to blow out your neighbor's light to let your own light shine. ~M.R. De Haan
0. Satan must be defeated in the arena he dominates, this world. So Christ was sent into this world to destroy Satan's works. ~Charles Ryrie
0. Faith tells me that no matter what lies ahead of me, God is already there. ~Author Unknown
0. Whatever is your greatest joy and treasure, that is your god. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Every Christian who keeps looking up stretches his heart's capacity for Heaven. ~Joni Eareckson Tada
0. Fellowship with God means warfare with the world. ~Charles E. Fuller
0. If we understood what happens when we use the Word of God, we would use it oftener. ~Oswald Chambers
0. I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk about, when I lie down and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming. ~George Muller
0. The moment someone chooses to trust in Jesus Christ, his sins are wiped away, and he is adopted into God's family. That individual is set apart as a child of God, with a sacred purpose. ~Charles Stanley
0. Happiness doesn't result from what we get, but from what we give. ~Ben Carson
0. Faith is like the hand of the beggar that takes the gift while adding nothing to it. ~Thomas Chalmers
0. How then can we deal with our tendency toward worldliness? It is not by determining that we will not be worldly, but by committing ourselves to becoming more godly. ~Jerry Bridges
0. A deep and sober concern to please God is the rarest of rarities. ~Vance Havner
0. I know of nothing which I would choose to have as the subject of my ambition for life than to be kept faithful to my God till death. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. When faithfulness is most difficult, it is most necessary. ~Author Unknown
0. Be encouraged to be an encourager. It's a spiritual art that everyone can learn. And mostly you learn by practicing it. ~Jill Briscoe
0. The promises of God are His guarantees amid life's uncertainties. They're the basis of all our life of faith. ~David Jeremiah
0. Too often we concentrate only on the things we can see now; but our focus should be on that place we can only envision, but will enjoy for all eternity. ~David Jeremiah
0. Love me when I least deserve it because that is when I really need it. ~Swedish Proverb
0. If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshipping an idealized version of yourself. ~Timothy Keller
0. We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God. ~John Stott
0. A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone. ~Billy Graham
0. We have always needed old people to keep things from going too fast and young people to keep them from going too slow. Youth has fire and age has light and we need both. ~Vance Havner
0. You'll never be a perfect parent, but you can be a praying parent. ~Mark Batterson
0. Walking by faith will cause all of us to recognize that as children of God we are just pilgrims and strangers down here on this earth. ~J. Vernon McGee
0. God's mercy and grace give me hope ~for myself, and for our world. ~Billy Graham
0. Blessedness does not lie in externals. ~Thomas Watson
0. God made life, and God alone can tell us its meaning. ~J.I. Packer
0. Thank God, He does not measure grace out in teaspoons. ~Amy Carmichael
0. I do not know if there is a more dreadful word in the English language than that word "lost." ~Charles Spurgeon
0. If your prayers haven't been answered, it doesn't mean they won't be answered. In fact, they may have already been answered, but just not in the way you wanted or expected them to be. ~Stormie Omartian
0. Because the Lord loves us He chastens and rebukes us. Modern sentimentality has reduced God to a tolerant indulgent grandfatherly being who winks at our transgressions. ~Vance Havner
0. One of the greatest errors in the church today is the artificial distinction we have created between accepting Christ as Savior and confessing Him as Lord. We have made two experiences of it, but the New Testament makes them one. ~Vance Havner
0. Just as the roots of trees take firmer hold when they are contending with the wind; so faith takes firmer hold when it struggles with adverse appearances. ~Robert Murray McChayne
0. As you study your Bible with the help of the Holy Spirit, and live out the truths that God reveals to you, you will discover new stability, strength, and confidence. ~Kay Arthur
0. Jesus is coming back, it could even be today. ~David Jeremiah
0. The world today may have big problems, but what would it have been like had not hundreds of thousands of Christians given their lives sacrificially... to meet its physical and spiritual needs? ~Patrick Johnstone
0. Persecution, in short, is like the goldsmith's stamp on real silver and gold ~it is one of the marks of a converted man. ~J.C. Ryle
0. Yes, Satan is real, but so is Christ, and someday Satan will be defeated and Christ will rule forever. Don't be deceived, but open your heart and mind to Jesus Christ, and put your life into His hands. ~Billy Graham
0. Popularity has killed more prophets than persecution. ~Vance Havner
0. Every believer is a witness whether he wants to be or not. ~Donald G. Barnhouse
0. God's plan will continue on God's schedule. ~A.W. Tozer
0. What will finally destroy us is not communism or fascism, but man acting like God. ~Malcolm Muggeridge
0. There are powers that can counterfeit almost everything in the Christian life. ~D. Martin Lloyd ~Jones
0. The middle of the road is a poor place to walk. It is a poor place to drive. It is a poor place to live. ~Vance Havner
0. God uses the tension, complexity, and challenge of doing His kingdom work to transform us into champions. ~Christine Caine
0. In Christian marriage, love is not an option. It is a duty. ~R.C. Sproul
0. How much would our churches be transformed if each of us made it a practice to thank God for others and then to tell those others what it is about them that we thank God for? ~D.A. Carson
0. Don't be too quick to judge inconvenient circumstances in your life. God may be at work to protect you from something more serious. ~Turning Points Devotional
0. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Problems patiently endured will work for our spiritual perfecting. ~A.W.Tozer
0. To know that nothing happens in God's world apart from God's will may frighten the godless, but it stabilizes the saints. ~J.I. Packer
0. The path to blessing and honor always goes through the land of testing and obedience. Stay on that path and trust God for where it leads. Be faithful in the little and difficult things on the way. ~Turning Points Devotional
0. God's plans reach from an eternity past to an eternity to come. Let Him take His own time. ~William S. Plumer
0. Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see. ~William Newton Clarke
0. There's not a single fear, thought, feeling or need that's too big or too small for Jesus. He wants you to tell Him what's on your heart. ~Jeremy Camp
0. Avail yourself of the greatest privilege this side of heaven. Jesus Christ died to make this communion and communication with the Father possible. ~Billy Graham (on prayer)
0. Prayer is the key for the day; the lock of the night. ~Thomas Fuller
0. Prayer is the answer to every problem there is. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Trouble is one of God's great servants because it reminds us how much we continually need the Lord. ~Jim Cymbala
0. Passion is the degree of difficulty we are willing to endure to accomplish the goal. ~Louis Giglio
0. Greater is He that is in you than anything that surrounds you. ~Christine Caine
0. When you're trying to achieve a goal, negative people will just bring you down. Surround yourself with the positive. ~Dave Ramsey
0. When you follow God's will for your life, you can see how yesterday's events prepared you for today's challenges and tomorrow's opportunities. ~David Jeremiah
0. In the darkest times of your life, your praise to God should be the loudest. Let the enemy know you're not afraid of the dark. ~Stormie Omartian
0. We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
0. Every miracle in the Bible first started as a problem. ~Author Unknown
0. Make this a matter of prayer. Ask God to give you a burden for souls. ~Lee Roberson
0. When we surrender to His timing, He does mighty things in and for us, according to His will and His timing. God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. ~Charles Stanley
0. Real true faith is man's weakness leaning on God's strength. ~D.L. Moody
0. Christians have more in Jesus than just a great spiritual leader; we have a practical and effective leadership model for all organizations, for all people, for all situations. ~Ken Blanchard
0. If you stand on the Word, you do not stand with the world. ~Vance Havner
0. There's never been a better time to live for Christ. ~David Jeremiah
0. If your life is jammed with activities, there's a good chance you're doing some things God really hasn't assigned. ~David Jeremiah
0. We all have skills and abilities that God wants to use in ways we haven't imagined. ~David Jeremiah
0. The greatest surprise in life to me is the brevity of life. ~Billy Graham
0. Heaven is more than your destination; it's a motivation. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. God has given us many truths in the Bible, but His final word to all of us is Jesus! Every answer to every problem is found in Jesus. ~Jim Cymbala
0. When was the last time you heard a testimony of someone in your church who was dramatically changed by the power of the Gospel? For some of you, it was last Sunday. But for too many people, the answer requires a long memory, and such testimonies are increasingly rare. ~Jim Cymbala
0. Would you like to know who is the greatest saint in the world? It isn't he who prays most or fasts most. It isn't he who gives most. But it is he who is always thankful to God, who receives everything as an instrument of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it. ~William Law
0. Where there is a reason for gratitude, there can always be found a reason for bitterness. It is here that we're faced with the freedom to make a decision. We can decide to be bitter or grateful. ~Henry Nouwen
0. Unquestionably, the best evidence of a Spirit-filled life is giving thanks in everything! Spirit-filled men and women simply do not fall into the category of "grumblers, "whiners," or "complainers." ~David Jeremiah
0. No matter how dark the clouds of our spiritual battle get, we serve a mighty and victorious King. ~David Jeremiah
0. True love isn't based on the appeal of the recipient but on the grace of the giver. ~David Jeremiah
0. We're never certain of courage until we're tested with a crisis. ~David Jeremiah
0. Today is the day to be a light shining in a dark world, fueled by the joy of the Lord. ~David Jeremiah
0. If God could change, He wouldn't be perfect, for change implies development or decline, one or the other. God does neither. ~David Jeremiah
0. To insist on our own way betrays a lack of faith in our Lord's omniscience. ~David Jeremiah
0. Jesus has chosen to leave His handprints on the world through our hands. ~David Jeremiah
0. We couldn't get to where God intends us to go without adversity. ~David Jeremiah
0. We never face a situation for which God has not supplied specific promises that provide mercy and grace to help in time of need. ~David Jeremiah
0. We're here because today God wants us to shape the future. ~David Jeremiah
0. When our own biographies are finished and our stories are told, may those who knew us say: That was a person who rejoiced always, prayed without ceasing, and gave thanks in all things; that was a person who carried out the will of God in Christ Jesus. ~David Jeremiah
0. Those of us who know the biblical story know that God is in control. ~David Jeremiah
0. We get into danger when we are tempted to elevate the approval of other people over the approval of God. ~David Jeremiah
0. Our wise God knows how to say "No" too. His "No's" are always in our best interest, but sometimes it doesn't feel that way. ~David Jeremiah
0. Nothing changes the fact that our King and Priest rules, reigns, and intercedes; and He administers the ages according to an overriding plan. ~David Jeremiah
0. Our constraining love and compelling message must be reinforced with personal holiness. ~David Jeremiah
0. We should not live our Christian life as if we are unaware of the victory that is ours. ~David Jeremiah
0. A Christian who appreciates God's creation has a greater experience in a canoe that an unsaved man on a yacht. ~David Jeremiah
0. The Bible tells us to come out from among them and be separate. Is any habit in your life hindering your witness today? ~David Jeremiah
0. Although I have shared Christ personally with many thousands of people through the years, I am rather a reserved person and I do not always find it easy to witness. But I have made this my practice, and I urge you to do the same: Assume that whenever you are alone with another person for more than a few moments, you are there by divine appointment to explain to that person the love and forgiveness he can know through faith in Jesus Christ. ~Bill Bright
0. I look upon this world as a wrecked vessel. Its ruin is getting nearer and nearer. God said to me, "Moody, here's a lifeboat. Go out and rescue as many as you can before the ship sinks." ~D.L. Moody
0. Attempt something so great for God, it's doomed to failure unless God is in it. ~Dr. John Haggai
0. I have found that people everywhere, all over the world, will respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ if we present it simply, with Christian compassion. ~Billy Graham
0. For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong. ~Charles Kettering
0. Mountaintops inspire leaders, but valleys mature them. ~Lecrae
0. Never let success get to your head. Never let failure get to your heart. ~Lecrae
0. Satan loves nothing better than to capitalize on our fears and blow them way out of proportion. ~David Jeremiah
0. Satan's goal in spiritual warfare is not to hurt you. His goal is to hurt your perception of God. ~David Jeremiah
0. God has promised to work all things together for our good; but He has not promised to explain all the machinery behind that promise. ~David Jeremiah
0. The child of God has only one dread ~to offend his Father; only one desire ~to please and delight in Him. ~Charles Bridges
0. No man is qualified to be a disciple of Christ, until he has been divested of self. ~John Calvin
0. The more reverence we have for the Word of God, the more joy we shall find in it. ~Matthew Henry
0. How can you know when you are trusting in man rather than in God? If you fall apart when someone else lets you down, or if the actions of others affect your walk with God, then you know you are leaning on the arm of flesh! ~David Wilkerson
0. Do not trust in someone or something other than God to bring you happiness and hope. What you think will solve your problem might only make you feel worse. ~David Wilkerson
0. Our Lord is searching for people who will make a difference. Christians dare not be mediocre. We dare not dissolve into the background or blend into the neutral scenery of the world. ~Charles Swindoll
0. Next time you're disappointed, don't panic. Don't give up. Don't run away. Be patient and let God remind you he's still in control. ~Max Lucado
0. Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Life will be made or broken at the place where we meet and deal with obstacles. ~E Stanley Jones
0. One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak. ~G.K. Chesterton
0. Submit each day to God, knowing that He is God over all your tomorrows. ~Kay Arthur
0. How many people have you made homesick for God? ~Oswald Chambers
0. There is nothing more appealing or convincing to a watching world than to hear the testimony of someone who has just been with Jesus. ~Henry Blackaby
0. The greatest test of a man's character is his tongue. ~Oswald Chambers
0. You will never be called upon to give anyone more grace than God has already given you. ~Max Lucado
0. Often, in the midst of great problems, we stop short of the real blessing God has for us, which is a fresh blessing of who He is. ~Anne Graham Lotz
0. A disciple is a follower of Christ. That means you take on His priorities as your own. His agenda becomes your agenda. His mission becomes your mission. ~Charles Stanley
0. When feeling becomes the dominant force in a relationship, the relationship is bound for trouble because feelings change. ~Ed Young
0. A healthy fear of God will do much to deter us from sin. ~Charles Swindoll
0. Comparison is the root of all feelings of inferiority. ~James Dobson
0. When God is silent, you have only one reasonable option: trust Him. Hang in there, and wait on Him. He may be quiet, but He has not quit on you. ~Charles Stanley
0. Life is a series of choices between the bad, the good, and the best. Everything depends on how we choose. ~Vance Havner
0. You were born with a tremendous potential. When you were born again through faith in Jesus Christ, God added spiritual gifts to your natural talents. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. When I met Christ, I felt that I had swallowed sunshine. ~E. Stanley Jones
0. Set goals so big that unless God helps you, you will be a miserable failure. ~Bill Bright
0. Be so preoccupied with God's will that you haven't room for ill will. ~E. Stanley Jones
0. Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. There is nothing anybody else can do that can stop God from using us. We can turn everything into a testimony. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Weave the unveiling fabric of God's Word through your heart and mind. It will hold strong, even if the rest of life unravels. ~Gigi Graham Tchividjian
0. There are four words I wish we would never forget, and they are, "God keeps His word." ~Charles Swindoll
0. When you persevere through a trial, God gives you a special measure of insight. ~Charles Swindoll
0. We will never be happy until we make God the source of our fulfillment and the answer to our longings. ~Stormie Omartian
0. Self is the root, the branches, and the tree of all the evil of our fallen state. ~Andrew Murray
0. Bitterness only makes suffering worse and closes the spiritual channels through which God can pour His grace. ~Warren Wiersbe
0. It's not my ability, but my response to God's ability that counts. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. The Christian faith is not a way to explain, enjoy or endure this world, but to overcome it. ~Vance Havner
0. Repentance is one of the most positive words in any language. It tells us we can change direction. It assures us God will help us improve. ~Robert J. Morgan
0. The Christian message is for those who have done their best ~and failed! ~Author Unknown
0. God is jealous for the good of His redeemed people ~but He can never be jealous of anything or anyone. ~John Blanchard
0. Personal ambition and empire building are hindering the spread of the gospel. ~John Stott
0. Waiting for an answer to prayer is often part of the answer. ~John Blanchard
0. Because God knows all things perfectly, He knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well. He never discovers anything, He is never surprised, never amazed. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Spiritual growth consists most in the growth of the root, which is out of sight. ~Matthew Henry
0. Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay the foundation of humility. ~Augustine
0. God created us in His image, He created us and loves us so that we may live in harmony and fellowship with Him. We are not here by chance. God put us here for a purpose, and our lives are never fulfilled and complete until His purpose becomes the foundation and center of our lives. ~Billy Graham
0. In God's economy, a person must go down into the valley of grief before he can scale the heights of spiritual glory.... One must come to the end of "self" before one can really begin to live. ~Billy Graham
0. Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength. ~Billy Graham
0. The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying not, "What a lovely sermon!" but, "I will do something." ~Billy Graham
0. I believe in the sovereignty of God. God chooses His servants. I believe that God chose me for this particular task at this particular moment, but whether it is more successful than the work of others whom you have never heard of, I doubt. I think the most successful people are probably individuals whom we will never hear about until we get to Heaven. ~Billy Graham
0. Human nature is the same the world over, and when the gospel of Christ is preached in simplicity and power, there is a response in the human soul. ~Billy Graham
0. God can be trusted, even when life seems at its darkest. From the cross, God declares, "I love you. I know the heartaches and the sorrows and the pains you feel, but I love You." ~Billy Graham
0. When it comes to the gospel, you be faithful and the Holy Spirit will do the communicating in a way you could never do. ~Billy Graham
0. My wife and I read from the Psalms every day five Psalms and one chapter of Proverbs. The Psalms teach you how to get along with God; Proverbs teaches you how to get along with people. ~Billy Graham
0. God's love has seen me through sickness, discouragement, and frustration. His love has sustained me during times of disappointment and bewilderment. ~Billy Graham
0. The Lord has always arranged my life that I have had to keep dependent on Him. Over and over again, I went to my knees and asked the Spirit Of Wisdom for guidance and direction. There were times I was tempted to flee from problems and pressures and my inability to cope with them; but somehow, even in moments of confusion and indecision, it seemed I could trace the steady hand of God's sovereignty leading me on. ~Billy Graham
0. I have learned, I believe, to "pray without ceasing." I find myself constantly in prayer and fellowship with God, even while I am talking to other people or doing other things. ~Billy Graham
0. Every time my mother prayed with one of us, and every time my parents prayed for their sons and daughters, they were declaring their dependence on God for the wisdom and strength and courage to stay in control of life, no matter what circumstances might bring. ~Billy Graham
0. Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys. ~Billy Graham
0. There is no scriptural basis for segregation. The ground at the foot of the cross is level, and it touches my heart when I see whites standing shoulder to shoulder with blacks at the cross. ~Billy Graham
0. I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right. ~Billy Graham
0. Mohammed is dead and buried in Medinah. Jesus Christ is alive and He is sitting at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven. Who do you want to follow, the dead or the living? ~Franklin Graham
0. Following Jesus doesn't mean everyone will like you, but it guarantees that some will hate you. ~Lecrae
0. Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last. ~C.T. Studd
0. Even in your deepest despair, God still has people praying for you. ~Victor Marx
0. I used to think you had to be special for God to use you, but now I know you simply need to say yes. ~Bob Goff
0. Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God. ~Bob Pierce
0. Men and women, what you need.... more than anything else is a few men like Paul, and a few women with the same spirit, men and women who will stand for Christ and stand for God's Kingdom without compromise, no matter whom it hurts or what people say. ~R.A. Torrey
0. No matter what happens to you, no matter the depth of tragedy or pain you face, no matter how death stalks you and your loved ones, the Resurrection promises you a future of immeasurable good. ~Josh McDowell
0. God can listen to no prayers without the intercession of Christ. ~John Calvin
0. Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man's will done in heaven, but for getting God's will done in earth. ~Robert Law
0. Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God. ~John Stott
0. Witnessing is not just something a Christian says, but what a Christian is. ~Richard C. Halverson
0. Of all the names on earth today, one name is more powerful than any other. Christians know it has the power to change lives, save lost souls, heal sick bodies, and secure eternity. It is the name of our beloved Savior, Jesus. ~E.V. Hill
0. Some of your best traits and some of your finest works will grow out of the incredibly painful periods of your life. ~Charles Swindoll
0. If you want to be a wise person, you need a Bible. ~Alistair Begg
0. One of the most amazing miracles of all history is that Jesus predicted what would happen to Him and it happened to Him exactly as He said. ~David Jeremiah
0. What you look at the longest will become strongest in your life. Fix your eyes on Jesus. ~Christine Caine
0. The more you see your own flaws and sins the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God's grace appears to you. ~Tim Keller
0. Only as we truly delight in God is it safe to give us our desires, for then they are not likely to become idols. ~John Eldredge
0. The Christian is called upon to live a supernatural life, and he has been given the power to live that life. ~Donald Grey Barnhouse
0. The surest mark of true conversion is humility ~J.C. Ryle
0. Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. The challenge of Christians is to help people fall in love with Jesus and to demonstrate that love by consistently spending time in His Word and faithfully being obedient to it. ~Janet Parshall
0. Worship is God's way of giving us an opportunity to shift our focus from our own concerns, problems, and circumstances to the way things are in heaven. ~David Jeremiah
0. Worry and worship are mutually exclusive. ~John Blanchard
0. The way to cover our sin is to uncover it by confession. ~Richard Sibbes
0. Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man's will done in heaven, but for getting God's will done in earth. ~Robert Law
0. Our heavenly Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear, and doubt. He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He's sufficient for all of our needs. When I accepted this as an absolute truth in my life, I found that my worrying stopped. ~Charles Stanley
0. At the end of the day, faith means letting God be God. ~John Blanchard
0. Sometimes when you're in a dark place you think you've been buried, but actually you've been planted. ~Christine Caine
0. Saved people serve people. ~Christine Caine
0. We never graduate from a life of faith. Jesus keeps calling us out of the boat and onto the water. ~Chris Tomlin
0. The sin that is most destructive in your life right now is the one you are most defensive about. ~Tim Keller
0. The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances. ~Elisabeth Elliot.
0. The most difficult time in your life may be the border to your promised land. ~Christine Caine
0. If you fail to forgive, you and God are not on the same page. ~Tony Evans
0. You are closest to your victory when life looks the darkest. Hang in there ~God has a breakthrough up ahead. ~Tony Evans
0. Untested faith is fragile. ~Christine Caine
0. If you are tied to a rope called yesterday, you can only go so far. ~Tony Evans
0. Obedience is less painful than regret. ~Christine Caine
0. Stand too close to the fire, and you'll surely be burned. The same is true when dealing with temptation. ~David Jeremiah
0. On some few occasions I have had troubles which I could not tell to any but my God, and I thank God that I have, for I have learned more of my Lord then than at any other time. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Life is full of things that break down, fall apart, and go wrong. Given that reality, the more things we have, the more problems we will have. ~David Jeremiah
0. We aren't responsible for what life and others do, but we are responsible for how we respond to the problems they cause. ~David Jeremiah
0. A problem shared is a problem halved. ~Author Unknown
0. Prayer can never be in excess. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. How do you handle a crisis? Transfer the problem from yourself to God. ~Tony Evans
0. A willingness to die for our faith is one thing. But a willingness to live for Him means dying to ourselves a thousand times daily so that His will might be done in us. ~Turning Points Magazine
0. The completion of the Great Commission will include great suffering, but eternity will prove it is worth the price. ~David Platt
0. There is no devil in the first two chapters of the Bible and no devil in the last two chapters. Thank God for a book that disposes of the devil! ~Vance Havner
0. To Christ the devil was one of the most real persons. He recognized his person, felt and acknowledged his power, abhorred his character, and warred against his person and kingdom. ~E.M. Bounds
0. Life is short; death is sure; sin the cause; Christ the cure. ~Author Unknown
0. Whatever has happened in your past, remember that you are the loser if you do not deal with an unforgiving spirit. ~Charles Stanley
0. I have one desire now ~to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. God never withholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful ~'severe mercies' at times, but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts' desire except to give us something better. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. You can never lose what you have offered to Christ. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. God has promised to supply our needs. What we don't have now we don't need now. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. The work of God is done on God's timetable. His answers to our prayers come always in time ~his time. His thoughts are far higher than ours, his wisdom past understanding. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. If Satan can convince you that God doesn't love you, forgive you, or care for you, he will have neutralized your faith. ~David Jeremiah
0. ^^When a man has no strength, if he leans on God, he becomes powerful. ~D.L. Moody
0. We should respect the power of the Devil and his demons, but never fear them. ~Albert Mohler
0. To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. ~Martin Luther
0. When you invest yourself in the Bible, you're the richest person on earth. ~Turning Points Magazine
0. If your world today seems confusing, be comforted by the words of the prophets of God who have told you what the future holds for you as a child of God. ~David Jeremiah
0. Science is the chance to discover something that no man has known before, but God has known all along. ~Francis Collins
0. Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you. ~Mother Teresa
0. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within. ~J.B. Phillips
0. What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace. ~John Wesley
0. Investments in the kingdom of God are permanently protected ~David Jeremiah
0. God's "no" is not a rejection, it's a redirection. ~Author Unknown
0. Don't dig up in doubt what you planted in faith. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. Measure your growth in grace by your sensitivity to sin. ~Oswald Chambers
0. Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. ~Charles Dickens
0. You cannot bring a burden too heavy for God to lift or a problem too hard for Him to solve or a request too big for Him to answer. God does things no one else can. ~Michael Guido
0. Christ hath crossed out the black lines of our sin with the red lines of His own blood. ~Thomas Brooks
0. It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man. ~John Witherspoon
0. Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it. ~C.S. Lewis
0. If your dream doesn't seem impossible, chances are it's not from God. ~Christine Caine
0. He who kneels the most stands the best. ~D.L. Moody
0. Contentment is not the absence of storms but in the presence of Jesus. ~Christine Caine
0. God could be using you right now to achieve His will, but you might not know it until much later in hindsight. ~David Jeremiah
0. Opportunities are always lost when we let fear overrule our faith. ~Charles Stanley
0. Don't shine so others can see you. Shine so that through you, others can see Him. ~C.S. Lewis
0. If it were possible to lose my salvation, I would lose it. ~John MacArthur
0. To worry about tomorrow is to forfeit your peace today. ~Tony Evans
0. If you can't feed one hundred people, then feed just one. ~Mother Teresa
0. I'm not a Christian because I'm strong and have it all together. I'm a Christian because I'm weak and admit I need a Savior. ~Lecrae
0. Because God is present everywhere, we can respond by practicing His presence, by talking to Him in silent prayer during many moments of the day, especially during times of duress or fear. ~Bill Bright
0. It is better to die for a conviction than to live with a compromise. ~Vance Havner
0. Of all the things that will surprise us in the resurrection morning, this, I believe, will surprise us most: that we did not love Christ more before we died. ~J.C. Ryle
0. I'm on earth temporarily, so the worst the world can do is shun me, punish me, or kill me. In 100 years, it won't matter. What will matter is if I was faithful to God's Word. ~Mike Huckabee (May 2014 ~Decision Magazine)
0. Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. ~Ronald Reagan
0. Integrity, the choice between what's convenient and what's right. ~Tony Dungy
0. Joy runs deeper than despair. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. If I'm wrong about God then I wasted my life. If you're wrong about God then you wasted your eternity. ~Lecrae
0. Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone ~except God. ~Billy Graham
0. You don't leave church because of what people have done. You go to church because of what God has done. ~Richard Blackaby
0. Faith enables us so to rejoice in the Lord that our infirmities become platforms for the display of His grace. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Whatever a person may be like, we must still love them because we love God. ~John Calvin
0. The unchangeable Christ is the revelation of the unchangeable God. ~Thomas Carlyle
0. What a wonderful feeling to realize God is using us rather than our using God. So long as we keep that spiritual dimension in our leadership, people will see God in us. ~Fred Smith
0. As God is exalted to the right place in our lives, a thousand problems are solved all at once. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Gods delays are often tied to our development. ~Tony Evans
0. If we knew God, we would set the world on fire. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. Of all things, guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer. ~William Wilberforce
0. God's plans for your life far exceed the circumstances of your day. ~Louis Giglio
0. No man says, 'There is no God' but he whose interest it is there should be none. ~Augustine
0. Anger is just one letter short of danger. ~Author Unknown
0. God's word is its own best argument. ~Vance Havner
0. The shortest road to an understanding of the Bible is the acceptance of the fact that God is speaking in every line. ~Donald Grey Barnhouse
0. The Bible is a letter God has sent to us; prayer is a letter we send to Him. ~Matthew Henry
0. The Bible is a remarkable fountain; the more one draws and drinks of it, the more it stimulates thirst. ~Martin Luther
0. Our heavenly Father never takes anything from his children unless he means to give them something better. ~George Muller
0. The church upon its knees would bring heaven upon the earth. ~E.M. Bounds
0. The man who would know God must give time to him. ~A.W. Tozer
0. The new Christian is like a man who has learned to drive in a country where the traffic moves on the left side of the highway and suddenly finds himself in another country and forced to drive on the right. He must unlearn his old habit and learn a new one and, more serious than all, he must learn in heavy traffic. ~A.W. Tozer
0. Envy of another man's calling can work havoc in our own. ~Watchman Nee
0. There is comfort in the fact that God can never be taken by surprise. ~Frank Gabelein
0. Hell is truth seen too late. ~H.G. Adams
0. God thinks most of the man who thinks himself least. ~John Blanchard
0. The most holy men are always the most humble men. ~Thomas Brooks
0. True joy glows in the dark. ~John Blanchard
0. Never be yoked to one who refuses the yoke of Christ. ~Author Unknown
0. The more godly any man is, the more merciful that man will be. ~Thomas Brooks
0. Our murmuring is the devil's music. ~Thomas Watson
0. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Author Unknown
0. Poverty is a friend to prayer. ~George Swinnock
0. We have no power from God unless we live in the persuasion that we have none of our own. ~John Owen
0. Many people pray for things that can only come by work and work for things that can only come by prayer. ~W.E. Sangster
0. Some people treat God as they do a lawyer; they go to him only when they are in trouble. ~Author Unknown
0. The little estimate we put on prayer is evident from the little time we give to it. ~E.M. Bounds
0. Prayer meetings are the throbbing machinery of the church. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. Nothing lies outside the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God. ~John Blanchard
0. Those who think too much of themselves don't think enough. ~Amy Carmichael
0. Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. ~William Penn
0. Satan never sets a dish before men that they do not love. ~Thomas Watson
0. I know that some are always studying the meaning of the fourth toe of the right foot of some beast in prophecy and have never used either foot to go and bring men to Christ. ~Vance Havner
0. We turn to God when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them. ~Charles C. West
0. Waiting for general revival is no excuse for not enjoying personal revival. ~Stephen Olford
0. If the best man's faults were written in his forehead, it would make him pull his hat over his eyes. ~John Trapp
0. Make this simple rule the guide of your life: to have no will but God's. ~Francois Fenelon
0. Satan, like a fisher, baits his hook according to the appetite of the fish. ~Thomas Adams
0. Temptation is the tempter looking through the keyhole into the room where you are living; sin is your drawing back the bolt and making it possible for him to enter. ~J. Wilbur Chapman
0. Life is too short for us to do everything we want to do; but it is long enough for us to do everything God wants us to do. ~Author Unknown
0. There can be no victory where there is no combat. ~Richard Sibbes
0. Someone has paid for me with blood. How that knowledge lifts my sights beyond the moment's hot desire. ~Elisabeth Elliot
0. If every Christian would tithe, the church would begin to make an impact on the world that would change it. ~R.T. Kendall
0. The propagation of the Gospel and the founding of the church hinged entirely on twelve men whose most outstanding characteristic was their ordinariness. ~John MacArthur
0. Don't think of Satan as a harmless cartoon character with a red suit and a pitchfork. He is very clever and powerful, and his unchanging purpose is to defeat God's plans at every turn ~including His plans for your life. ~Billy Graham
0. You're a soul made by God, made for God, and made to need God, which means you were not made to be self-sufficient. ~Dallas Willard
0. Despair is the masterpiece of Satan. ~John Trapp
0. God takes highly unlikely people, takes them into highly unlikely places, gives them a highly unlikely strategy, and gives them a highly unlikely outcome. ~Christine Caine
0. God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them. ~John Piper
0. Depression is not a sign of lack of spirituality. The most renown spiritual leaders walked through deep depression. Including King David and Elijah. ~Lecrae
0. Change begins at the end of your comfort zone. ~Lecrae
0. To live according to the will of God is to know the life that wins. ~G. Christian Weiss
0. In every generation there are those whose hearts are warmed as they hear the Scriptures opened up and the Christ of those Scriptures exalted. ~L. Nelson Bell
0. Imagine your life wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats. ~Max Lucado
0. If we would see the seed that we sow bring an abundant harvest, we must water it with our tears. ~R.A. Torrey
0. The chief danger of the church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of trying to turn the world upside down. ~A.B. Simpson
0. Love talked about can be easily turned aside, but love demonstrated is irresistible. ~W. Stanley Mooneyham
0. We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
0. The belief that saves is that conviction which produces the abandonment of the whole life to the King. ~G. Campbell Morgan
0. When two people are right with Him (God), they will be right with each other. ~Francis Chan
0. Run from churches where you're comfortable in your sins. If you come into the house of God and you've got sin in your life, and you're not convicted of it, you're at a table of devils. ~Carter Conlon
0. A part-time Christian cannot defeat a full-time devil. ~Author Unknown
0. You never so touch the ocean of God's love as when you forgive and love your enemies. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. True love for Christ will mean hatred of sin. ~John Benton
0. The truth of Scripture demolishes speculation. ~R.C. Sproul
0. The Bible says every good deed will be rewarded, no matter how insignificant and regardless of whether anybody else on earth sees it. ~Rick Warren
0. A word of encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life. A word of encouragement from a spouse can save a marriage. ~John Maxwell
0. The spiritual battle, the loss of victory, is always in the thought-world. ~Francis A. Schaeffer
0. Chastening is not God getting even, it is preparing that person for something better, more valuable, and worthwhile. ~R.T. Kendall
0. The family altar would alter many a family. ~Author Unknown
0. The Gospel is light but only the Spirit can give sight. ~A.W. Tozer
0. There is only one way of victory over the bitterness and rage that comes naturally to us to will what God wills brings peace. ~Amy Carmichael
0. Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children. ~Charles Swindoll
0. Don't pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. Don't bother to give God instructions, just report for duty. ~Corrie Ten Boom
0. If you only pray when you're in trouble, you're in trouble. ~Author Unknown
0. Prayer is profoundly simple and simply profound. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. The two prerequisites for successful Christian living are vision and passion, both of which are born in and maintained by prayer. ~Leonard Ravenhill
0. You can't be mad at people and reach them at the same time. ~Dr. Ed Stetzer
0. No matter what happens to you, no matter the depth of tragedy or pain you face, no matter how death stalks you and your loved ones, the Resurrection promises you a future of immeasurable good. ~Josh McDowell
0. To the child of God, there is no such thing as an accident. He travels an appointed way. ~A.W. Tozer
0. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals. ~Eric Liddell
0. We live by demands when we should live by priorities. ~J.A. Motyer
0. We have only to be yielded, that is, willing, surrendered, and He will do the rest. He will make us according to the pattern for which, in His love, He designed us. ~Peter Marshall
0. The weak Christians is as much a child of God as the strong one. ~Charles Spurgeon
0. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. ~Tertullian0. Luk 4:8, And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
0. Joh 2:16, And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
0. Joh 4:24, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
0. Joh 4:34, Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
0. Joh 4:36, And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
0. Mat 4:17, From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
0. Mar 1:17, And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
0. Mar 2:5, When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
0. Luk 5:28, And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
0. Mat 9:13, But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
0. Luk 5:32, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
0. Mat 12:7, But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
0. Mar 3:5, And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
0. Mat 12:18, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
0. Mat 5:6, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
0. Mat 5:7, Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
0. Mat 5:9, Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
0. Mat 5:12, Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
0. Mat 5:16, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
0. Mat 5:24, Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
0. Mat 5:25, Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
0. Mat 5:30, And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
0. Mat 5:39, But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
0. Mat 5:41, And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
0. Mat 5:42, Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
0. Mat 5:44, But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
0. Luk 6:35, But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
0. Mat 5:48, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
0. Mat 6:2, Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
0. Mat 6:5, And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
0. Mat 6:9, After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
0. Mat 6:14, For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
0. Mat 6:16, Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
0. Mat 6:26, Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
0. Mat 6:28, And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
0. Luk 6:37, Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
0. Luk 6:38, Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
0. Mat 7:5, Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
0. Mat 7:7, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
0. Mat 7:12, Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
0. Mat 7:13, Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
0. Mat 7:21, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
0. Mat 7:24, Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
0. Mar 7:16, If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
0. Luk 7:47, Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
0. Mat 12:29, Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
0. Mat 12:30, He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
0. Luk 8:21, And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
0. Luk 8:8, And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
0. Mat 4:12, Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
0. Mat 13:18, Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
0. Mat 13:23, But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
0. Mat 4:24, And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
0. Mat 13:43, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
0. Mar 5:19, Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
0. Mat 9:22, But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
0. Joh 5:40, And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
0. Mat 9:38, Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
0. Mat 10:6, But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
0. Mat 10:7, And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
0. Mat 10:8, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
0. Mat 10:11, And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.
0. Mar 6:10, And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
0. Mat 10:12, And when ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
0. Mat 10:16, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
0. Mat 10:26, Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
0. Mat 10:32, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
0. Joh 6:27, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
0. Joh 6:29, Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
0. Joh 6:35, And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
0. Joh 6:40, And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
0. Joh 6:47, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
0. Joh 6:37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
0. Joh 6:53, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
0. Mar 8:15, And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
0. Joh 7:24, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
0. Joh 7:37, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
0. Joh 8:8, And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
0. Joh 8:11, She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
0. Joh 8:24, I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
0. Joh 8:31, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
0. Mat 16:24, Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
0. Joh 8:51, Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
0. Joh 9:35, Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
0. Joh 10:38, But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
0. Mat 17:17, Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
0. Mat 17:21, Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
0. Mat 17:27, Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
0. Mat 17:20, And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
0. Mar 9:35, And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
0. Mat 18:2, And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
0. Mat 18:4, Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
0. Luk 9:44, Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.
0. Luk 9:48, And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.
0. Mar 9:36, And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
0. Mar 9:43, And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
0. Mar 9:50, Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
0. Mat 18:15, Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
0. Mat 18:18, Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
0. Mat 18:19, Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
0. Mat 18:22, Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
0. Mat 18:35, So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
0. Luk 9:59, And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
0. Luk 9:60, Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
0. Luk 10:2, Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
0. Luk 10:6, And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
0. Luk 10:9, And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
0. Luk 10:20, Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
0. Mat 11:25, At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
0. Mat 11:28, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
0. Luk 10:37, And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
0. Luk 11:2, And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
0. Luk 11:9, And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
0. Luk 11:28, But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
0. Luk 11:36, If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
0. Luk 11:41, But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
0. Luk 12:5, But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
0. Luk 12:8, Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
0. Luk 12:15, And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
0. Luk 12:21, So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
0. Luk 12:33, Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
0. Luk 12:35, Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
0. Mat 24:44, Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
0. Luk 12:37, Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
0. Mat 24:45, Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
0. Luk 12:48, But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
0. Luk 12:58, When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.
0. Luk 13:24, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
0. Luk 13:15, The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
0. Luk 14:9, And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
0. Luk 14:11, For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
0. Luk 14:12, Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
0. Luk 14:21, So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
0. Luk 14:23, And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
0. Luk 14:26, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
0. Luk 14:27, And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
0. Luk 14:33, So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
0. Luk 15:4, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
0. Luk 15:8, Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
0. Luk 15:18, I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,
0. Luk 15:22, But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
0. Luk 16:9, And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
0. Luk 16:10, He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
0. Luk 16:31, And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
0. Luk 17:4, And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
0. Luk 17:6, And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
0. Luk 17:10, So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
0. Luk 17:18, There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
0. Luk 18:7, And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
0. Luk 18:13, And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
0. Luk 18:14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
0. Mat 19:9, And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
0. Mat 19:12, For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
0. Mar 10:14, But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
0. Joh 11:25, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
0. Joh 11:40, Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
0. Joh 11:42, And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
0. Mat 19:21, Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
0. Mat 19:29, And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
0. Mat 20:16, So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
0. Mat 20:4, And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
0. Mat 20:7, They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
0. Mat 20:14, Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
0. Mat 20:23, And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
0. Mat 20:27, And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
0. Mat 20:28, Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
0. Luk 19:14, But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
0. Luk 19:17, And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
0. Mar 10:47, And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
0. Mat 26:11, For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
0. Mat 26:23, And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.
0. Luk 19:46, Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.
0. Mat 21:16, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
0. Mat 21:21, Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
0. Mat 21:32, For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
0. Mat 21:33, Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
0. Mat 21:38, But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
0. Mat 21:43, Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
0. Mat 21:42, Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
0. Mat 22:4, Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
0. Mat 22:9, Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
0. Mar 12:17, And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.
0. Mat 22:29, Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
0. Mat 22:37, Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
0. Mat 22:39, And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
0. Mat 23:23, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
0. Mat 23:26, Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
0. Mat 23:29, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
0. Joh 12:26, If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
0. Joh 12:25, He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
0. Joh 12:40, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
0. Joh 12:44, Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
0. Joh 12:46, I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
0. Luk 21:8, And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
0. Mat 24:6, And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
0. Mat 10:18, And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
0. Luk 12:11, And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
0. Luk 21:14, Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
0. Mat 10:22, And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
0. Mat 24:13, But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
0. Mat 24:14, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
0. Luk 21:28, And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
0. Mat 24:32, Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
0. Luk 21:34, And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
0. Luk 21:36, Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
0. Mat 25:13, Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
0. Mat 25:34, Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
0. Mat 25:35, For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
0. Mat 25:40, And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
0. Luk 22:17, And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
0. Joh 13:13, Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
0. Joh 13:15, For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
0. Joh 13:17, If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
0. Joh 13:19, Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
0. Joh 13:20, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
0. Joh 14:10, Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
0. Joh 14:11, Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
0. Joh 14:12, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
0. Joh 14:15, If ye love me, keep my commandments.
0. Joh 14:21, He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
0. Joh 14:23, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
0. Joh 15:4, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
0. Joh 15:5, I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
0. Joh 15:7, If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
0. Joh 15:9, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
0. Joh 15:10, If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
0. Joh 15:14, Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
0. Joh 15:17, These things I command you, that ye love one another.
0. Joh 16:24, Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
0. Joh 16:26, At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
0. Joh 16:27, For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
0. Joh 16:33, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
0. Joh 17:17, Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
0. Joh 7:38, He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
0. Joh 8:12, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
0. Joh 8:52, Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
0. Joh 10:4, And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
0. Luk 22:36, Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
0. Mar 14:38, Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
0. Luk 22:46, And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
0. Luk 24:25, Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
0. Joh 20:22, And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
0. Joh 20:23, Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
0. Joh 20:27, Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
0. Joh 20:29, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
0. Joh 21:15, So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
0. Joh 21:18, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
0. Joh 21:19, This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
0. Joh 21:22, Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
0. Mat 28:18, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
0. Mar 16:15, And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
0. Mar 16:17, And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
0. Luk 24:47, And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
0. Luk 24:49, And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
0. Act 1:8, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
0. Act 9:6, And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
0. Act 22:10, And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
0. Act 26:18, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
0. 1Co 6:10, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
0. 1Co 6:11, And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.### Daily Dose
{
#### Popular Verses
(set: _text to (passage: "Popular Verses")'s source)
(set: _text to (split:newline, _text))
(set: _item to (random: 1,522))
(set: _T1 to _text's (_item * 2))
(set: _T2 to _text's (_item * 2 -1))
(set: _T3 to (trimmed: (p-start: ...digit,"."), _T2))
(print: _T3) (print: _T1)
<br>
#### Jesus Sayings
(set: _text to (passage: "Jesus Verses")'s source)
(set: _text to (split:newline, _text))
(set: _item to (random: 1,260))
(print: (str-replaced: "0. ","",_text's (_item)))
<br>
#### Famous Quotes
(set: _text to (passage: "Famous Quotes")'s source)
(set: _text to (split:newline, _text))
(set: _item to (random: 1,1750))
(print: (str-replaced: "0. ","",_text's (_item)))
<br>
#### Bible Trivia
(set: _text to (passage: "Bible Trivia")'s source)
(set: _text to (split:newline, _text))
(set: _item to (random: 1,572))
(print: (str-replaced: "0. ","",_text's (_item)))
<br>
#### Bible Science Facts
(set: _text to (passage: "Bible Science Facts")'s source)
(set: _text to (split:newline, _text))
(set: _item to (random: 1,101))
(print: (str-replaced: "0. ","",_text's (_item)))
}
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