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Read (and listen!) through the amazing story of Luke and Acts!
Immerse: Luke and Acts is part of Immerse: The Reading Bible, which takes you on a new and unique journey through the books of Luke and Acts in the New Testament. This fresh arrangement of the books highlights the depth of the New Testament’s fourfold witness to Jesus the Messiah. The Son of God, who fulfills all the longings and promises of the collected Scriptures. The goal of Bible reading is to understand the sacred writings in depth so we can learn to live with them. Using the text of the New Living Translation (NLT) from Tyndale Publishing, now you can experience Luke and Acts the same way the original readers did and be fully immersed in the most amazing story of all time!
Alan: Welcome to Immerse Luke
and Acts, Day eleven, Week three
.
As the time drew near for him
to ascend to heaven, Jesus
resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
He sent messengers ahead to a Samaritan
village to prepare for his arrival.
But the people of the village
did not welcome Jesus, because
he was on his way to Jerusalem.
When James and John saw this, they
said to Jesus, Lord, should we call
down fire from heaven to burn them up?
But Jesus turned and rebuked them,
so they went on to another village.
As they were walking along,
someone said to Jesus, I will
follow you wherever you go.
But Jesus replied, Foxes have dens to live
in, and birds have nests, but the Son of
Man has no place even to lay his head.
He said to another
person, Come, follow me.
The man agreed, but he said, Lord, first
let me return home and bury my father.
But Jesus told him, Let the
spiritually dead bury their own dead.
Your duty is to go and preach
about the kingdom of God.
Another said, Yes, Lord, I
will follow you, but first let
me say goodbye to my family.
But Jesus told him, Anyone who puts a
hand to the plow and then looks back
is not fit for the kingdom of God.
The Lord now chose seventy two
other disciples and sent them
ahead in pairs to all the towns
and places He planned to visit.
These were His instructions to them.
The harvest is great,
but the workers are few.
So pray to the Lord, who is
in charge of the harvest.
Ask Him to send more
workers into His fields.
Now go, and remember that I am
sending you out as lambs among wolves.
Don't take any money with
you, nor a traveler's bag.
Nor an extra pair of sandals, and
don't stop to greet anyone on the road.
Whenever you enter someone's home first,
say, may God's peace beyond this house.
If those who live there are
peaceful, the blessing will stand.
If they are not, the
blessing will return to you.
Don't move around from home to home.
Stay in one place eating and
drinking what they provide.
Don't hesitate to accept hospitality
because those who work deserve their pay.
If you enter a town and it welcomes
you, eat whatever is set before
you, heal the sick and tell them,
The kingdom of God is near you now.
But if a town refuses to welcome
you, go out into its streets and
say, We wipe even the dust of your
town from our feet, to show that
we have abandoned you to your fate.
And know this, the kingdom of God is near.
I assure you, even wicked
Sodom will be better off than
such a town on Judgment Day.
What sorrow awaits you, Chorazin and
Bethsaida, for if the miracles I did
and you had been done in wicked Tyre
and Sidon, their people would have
repented of their sins long ago, clothing
themselves in burlap and throwing ashes
on their heads to show their remorse.
Yes, Tyre and Sidon will be better
off on Judgment Day than you.
And you people of Capernaum,
will you be honored in heaven?
No, you will go down to
the place of the dead.
Then he said to the disciples, Anyone
who accepts your message is also
accepting me, and anyone who rejects
you is rejecting me, and anyone who
rejects me is rejecting God who sent me.
When the Seventy Two Disciples returned,
they joyfully reported to him, Lord, even
the demons obey us when we use your name.
Yes, he told them, I saw Satan
fall from heaven like lightning.
Look, I have given you authority over all
the power of the enemy, and you can walk
among snakes and scorpions and crush them.
Nothing will injure you, but don't
rejoice because evil spirits obey you.
Rejoice because your names
are registered in heaven.
At that same time, Jesus was filled with
the joy of the Holy Spirit, and he said,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank
you for hiding these things from those
who think themselves wise and clever,
and for revealing them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, it pleased
you to do it this way.
My father has entrusted everything to me.
No one truly knows the
son except the father.
And no one truly knows the father
except the son, and those to whom
the son chooses to reveal him.
Then when they were alone, he turned
to the disciples and said, Blessed are
the eyes that see what you have seen.
I tell you, many prophets and
kings longed to see what you
see, but they didn't see it.
And they longed to hear what you
hear, but they didn't hear it.
One day, an expert in religious
law stood up to test Jesus
by asking him this question.
Teacher, what should I do
to inherit eternal life?
Jesus replied, What does
the law of Moses say?
How do you read it?
The man answered, You must love the Lord
your God with all your heart, all your
soul, all your strength, and all your
mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Right, Jesus told him.
Do this and you will live.
The man wanted to justify his actions, so
he asked Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
Jesus replied with a story.
A Jewish man was traveling from
Jerusalem down to Jericho, and
he was attacked by bandits.
They stripped him of his
clothes, beat him up, and left
him half dead beside the road.
By chance, a priest came along,
but when he saw the man lying
there, he crossed to the other
side of the road and passed him by.
A temple assistant walked over and
looked at him lying there, but he
also passed by on the other side.
Then a despised Samaritan came
along, and when he saw the man,
he felt compassion for him.
Going over to him, the Samaritan
soothed his wounds with olive
oil and wine and bandaged them.
Then he put the man on his own
donkey and took him to an inn,
where he took care of him.
The next day he handed the
innkeeper two silver coins,
telling him, Take care of this man.
If his bill runs higher than this,
I'll pay you the next time I'm here.
Now which of these three would
you say was a neighbor to the
man who was attacked by bandits?
Jesus asked.
The man replied, The one
who showed him mercy.
Then Jesus said, Yes.
Now go and do the same.
As Jesus and the disciples continued
on their way to Jerusalem, They came to
a certain village where a woman named
Martha welcomed him into her home.
Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's
feet, listening to what he taught.
But Martha was distracted by the
big dinner she was preparing.
She came to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't
it seem unfair to you that my sister
just sits here while I do all the work?
Tell her to come and help me.
But the Lord said to her, My dear Martha.
You are worried and upset
over all these details.
There is only one thing
worth being concerned about.
Mary has discovered it, and it
will not be taken away from her.
Once Jesus was in a
certain place, praying.
As he finished, one of his disciples
came to him and said, Lord, teach us to
pray, just as John taught his disciples.
Jesus said, This is how you should pray.
Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your kingdom come soon.
Give us each day the food we need,
and forgive us our sins, as we
forgive those who sin against us.
And don't let us yield to temptation.
Then teaching them more about
prayer, he used this story.
Suppose you went to a friend's
house at midnight, wanting to
borrow three loaves of bread.
You say to him, A friend of mine
has just arrived for a visit, and
I have nothing for him to eat.
And suppose he calls out from
his bedroom, Don't bother me.
The door is locked for the night,
and my family and I are all in bed.
I can't help you.
But I tell you this, Though he won't
do it for friendship's sake, If you
keep knocking long enough, he will
get up and give you whatever you need,
Because of your shameless persistence.
And so I tell you, keep on asking,
and you will receive what you ask for.
Keep on seeking, and you will find.
Keep on knocking, and the
door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives.
Everyone who seeks, finds.
And to everyone who knocks,
the door will be opened.
You fathers, if your children ask for a
fish, do you give them a snake instead?
Or if they ask for an egg,
do you give them a scorpion?
Of course not.
So if you sinful people know how to
give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?
One day, Jesus cast out a demon from
a man who couldn't speak, and when the
demon was gone, the man began to speak.
The crowds were amazed, but some of them
said, No wonder he can cast out demons.
He gets his power from
Satan, the prince of demons.
Others, trying to test Jesus, demanded
that he show them a miraculous sign
from heaven to prove his authority.
He knew their thoughts, so he said, Any
kingdom divided by civil war is doomed.
A family splintered by
feuding will fall apart.
You say, I am empowered by Satan, but
if Satan is divided and fighting against
himself, how can his kingdom survive?
And if I am empowered by Satan,
what about your own exorcists?
They cast out demons too, so they will
condemn you for what you have said.
But if I am casting out demons by
the power of God, then the kingdom
of God has arrived among you.
For when a strong man is fully
armed and guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
Until someone even stronger
attacks and overpowers him.
Strips him of his weapons and
carries off his belongings.
Anyone who isn't with me, opposes me.
And anyone who isn't working with
me, is actually working against me.
When an evil spirit leaves a person, it
goes into the desert, searching for rest.
But when it finds none, it says, I
will return to the person I came from.
So it returns, and finds that its
former home is all swept and in order.
Then the spirit finds seven other
spirits more evil than itself, and they
all enter the person and live there.
And so that person is
worse off than before.
As he was speaking, a woman in the
crowd called out, God bless your mother,
the womb from which you came, and the
breasts that nursed you, Jesus replied.
But even more blessed are all who hear
the word of God and put it into practice.
As the crowd pressed in on Jesus,
he said, This evil generation keeps
asking me to show them a miraculous
sign, but the only sign I will
give them is the sign of Jonah.
What happened to him was a sign to the
people of Nineveh that God had sent him.
What happens to the Son of
Man will be a sign to these
people that he was sent by God.
The Queen of Sheba will stand
up against this generation on
Judgment Day and condemn it.
For she came from a distant land
to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
Now someone greater than Solomon
is here, but you refuse to listen.
The people of Nineveh will also stand
up against this generation on Judgment
Day and condemn it, for they repented
of their sins at the preaching of Jonah.
Now someone greater than Jonah is
here, but he refused to repent.
No one lights a lamp and then
hides it or puts it under a basket.
Instead, a lamp is placed on
a stand where its light can be
seen by all who enter the house.
Your eye is like a lamp that
provides light for your body.
When your eye is healthy, your
whole body is filled with light,
but when it is unhealthy, your
body is filled with darkness.
Make sure that the light you think
you have is not actually darkness.
If you are filled with light, with
no dark corners, then your whole
life will be radiant, as though a
floodlight were filling you with light.
Oliver: This concludes today's
Immerse Reading Experience.
Thank you for joining us.