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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!
Samantha: Welcome to Immerse
Luke and Acts, Day six, Week two
.
Then Jesus returned to Galilee,
filled with the Holy Spirit's power.
Reports about him spread quickly
through the whole region.
He taught regularly in their
synagogues and was praised by everyone.
When he came to the village of Nazareth,
his boyhood home, he went as usual
to the synagogue on the Sabbath and
stood up to read the scriptures.
The scroll of Isaiah the
prophet was handed to him.
He unrolled the scroll and found
the place where this was written.
The spirit of the Lord is upon
me, for he has anointed me to
bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that
captives will be released, that the
blind will see, that the oppressed
will be set free, and that the
time of the Lord's favor has come.
He rolled up the scroll, handed it
back to the attendant, and sat down.
All eyes in the synagogue
looked at him intently, and
then he began to speak to them.
The scripture you've just heard
has been fulfilled this very day.
Everyone spoke well of him
and was amazed by the gracious
words that came from his lips.
How can this be?
they asked.
Isn't this Joseph's son?
Then he said, You will undoubtedly quote
me this proverb, Physician, heal yourself.
Meaning, do miracles here in your
hometown, like those you did in Capernaum.
But I tell you the truth, no prophet
is accepted in his own hometown.
Certainly, there were many needy widows in
Israel in Elijah's time, when the heavens
were closed for three and a half years,
and a severe famine devastated the land.
Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them.
He was sent instead to a foreigner.
A widow of Zarephath in the land of
Sidon, and many in Israel had leprosy in
the time of the prophet Elisha, but the
only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.
When they heard this, the people
in the synagogue were furious.
Jumping up, they mobbed him and
forced him to the edge of the
hill on which the town was built.
They intended to push him over the cliff,
but he passed right through the crowd.
And went on his way.
Then Jesus went to Capernaum, a
town in Galilee, and taught there
in the synagogue every Sabbath day.
There, too, the people were amazed at his
teaching, for he spoke with authority.
Once when he was in the synagogue,
a man possessed by a demon, an evil
spirit, cried out, shouting, Go away!
Why are you interfering
with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are, the Holy One of God.
But Jesus reprimanded him, Be quiet,
come out of the man, he ordered.
At that, the demon threw the man
to the floor as the crowd watched.
Then it came out of him
without hurting him further.
Amazed, the people exclaimed,
What authority and power
this man's words possess!
Even evil spirits obey him,
and they flee at his command.
The news about Jesus spread through
every village in the entire region.
After leaving the synagogue that
day, Jesus went to Simon's home
where he found Simon's mother in
law very sick with a high fever.
Please heal her, everyone begged.
Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the
fever and had left her, and she got up
at once and prepared a meal for them.
As the sun went down that evening,
people throughout the village
brought sick family members to Jesus.
No matter what their diseases were,
the touch of his hand healed everyone.
Many were possessed by demons, and
the demons came out at his command,
shouting, You are the son of God!
But because they knew he was
the Messiah, he rebuked them
and refused to let them speak.
Early the next morning, Jesus
went out to an isolated place.
The crowd searched everywhere for
him, and when they finally found him,
they begged him not to leave them.
But he replied, I must preach the good
news of the kingdom of God in other towns
too, because that is why I was sent.
So he continued to travel
around, preaching Judea.
One day as Jesus was preaching on
the shore of the Sea of Galilee,
great crowds pressed in on him
to listen to the word of God.
He noticed two empty boats at the
water's edge, for the fishermen had
left them and were washing their nets.
Stepping into one of the boats,
Jesus asked Simon, its owner,
to push it out into the water.
So he sat in the boat and
taught the crowds from there.
When he had finished speaking, he said to
Simon, Now go out where it is deeper and
let down your nets to catch some fish.
Master, Simon replied, we worked hard
all last night and didn't catch a thing.
But if you say so, I'll
let the nets down again.
And this time their nets were so
full of fish they began to tear.
A shout for help brought their
partners in the other boat.
And soon both boats were filled with
fish and on the verge of sinking.
When Simon Peter realized what had
happened, he fell to his knees before
Jesus and said, Oh Lord, please lead me.
I'm such a sinful man.
For he was awestruck by the
number of fish they had caught,
as were the others with him.
His partners, James and John, the
sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.
Jesus replied to Simon, Don't be afraid.
From now on you'll be fishing for people.
And as soon as they landed, they
left everything and followed Jesus.
In one of the villages, Jesus met a
man with an advanced case of leprosy.
When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his
face to the ground, begging to be healed.
Lord, he said, if you are willing,
You can heal me and make me clean.
Jesus reached out and touched him.
I am willing, he said.
Be healed.
And instantly the leprosy disappeared.
Then Jesus instructed him not to
tell anyone what had happened.
He said, Go to the priest
and let him examine you.
Take along the offering required
in the law of Moses for those
who have been healed of leprosy.
This will be a public testimony
that you have been cleansed.
But despite Jesus instructions, the
report of His power spread even faster,
and vast crowds came to hear Him preach
and to be healed of their diseases.
But Jesus often withdrew to
the wilderness for prayer.
One day, while Jesus was teaching,
some Pharisees and teachers of
religious law were sitting nearby.
It seemed that these men showed up
from every village in all Galilee
and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.
And the Lord's healing power
was strongly with Jesus.
Some men came carrying a
paralyzed man on a sleeping mat.
They tried to take him inside
to Jesus, but they couldn't
reach him because of the crowd.
So they went up to the roof
and took off some tiles.
Then they lowered the sick
man on his mat down into the
crowd, right in front of Jesus.
Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the
man, Young man, your sins are forgiven.
But the Pharisees and teachers of
religious law said to themselves,
Who does he think he is?
That's blasphemy.
Only God can forgive sins.
Jesus knew what they were thinking.
So he asked them, Why do you
question this in your hearts?
Is it easier to say, Your sins are
forgiven, or stand up and walk?
So I will prove to you that the
Son of Man has the authority
on earth to forgive sins.
Then Jesus turned to the
paralyzed man and said, Stand up,
pick up your mat, and go home.
And immediately as everyone watched,
the man jumped up, picked up his
mat, and went home praising God.
Everyone was gripped with great wonder
and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming,
We have seen amazing things today.
Later as Jesus left the town, he
saw a tax collector named Levi
sitting at his tax collector's booth.
Follow me and be my
disciple, Jesus said to him.
So Levi got up, left
everything, and followed him.
Later, Levi held a banquet in his
home with Jesus as a guest of honor.
Many of Levi's fellow tax collectors
and other guests also ate with
them, but the Pharisees and their
teachers of religious law complained
bitterly to Jesus disciples, Why do
you eat and drink with such scum?
Jesus answered them, Healthy people
don't need a doctor, sick people do.
I have come to call not those
who think they are righteous.
But those who know they are
sinners and need to repent.
One day some people said to Jesus,
John the Baptist's disciples
fast and pray regularly and so do
the disciples of the Pharisees.
Why are your disciples
always eating and drinking?
Jesus responded, Do wedding guests
fast while celebrating with the groom?
Of course not.
But someday the groom will be taken
away from them and then they will fast.
Then Jesus gave them this illustration.
No one tears a piece of cloth
from a new garment and uses
it to patch an old garment.
For then the new garment would be
ruined and the new patch wouldn't
even match the old garment.
And no one puts new wine into old
wine skins for the new wine would
burst the wine skins spilling
the wine and ruining the skins.
New wine must be stored in new wineskins.
But no one who drinks the old
wine seems to want the new wine.
The old is just fine, they say.
One Sabbath day, as Jesus was walking
through some grain fields, His disciples
broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the
husks in their hands, and ate the grain.
But some Pharisees said, Why
are you breaking the law by
harvesting grain on the Sabbath?
Jesus replied, Haven't you read in
the Scriptures what David did when
he and his companions were hungry?
He went into the house of God and broke
the law by eating the sacred loaves of
bread that only the priests can eat.
He also gave some to his companions,
and Jesus added, The Son of Man
is Lord even over the Sabbath.
On another Sabbath day, a man with
a deformed right hand was in the
synagogue while Jesus was teaching.
The teachers of religious law and
the Pharisees watched Jesus closely.
If he healed the man's hand, they planned
to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.
But Jesus knew their thoughts.
He said to the man with the deformed
hand, Come and stand in front of everyone.
So the man came forward.
Then Jesus said to his critics,
I have a question for you.
Does the law permit good
deeds on the Sabbath?
Or is it a day for doing evil?
Is this a day to save
life or to destroy it?
He looked around at them one by one, and
then said to the man, Hold out your hand.
So the man held out his
hand, and it was restored.
At this, the enemies of
Jesus were wild with rage.
And began to discuss what to do with him.
Oliver: This concludes today's
Immerse Reading Experience.
Thank you for joining us.