Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day five.
As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus
resolutely sat 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 rebuke 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 72 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 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, Zen and Beth Sayta for?
If the Miracles I did and you had been done in Wicked Tire and sa, their
people would've repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves
in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse.
Yes, tire and Siden 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 72 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,
oh, 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 child like, yes,
father, it pleased you to do it this way.
My father Hasn 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 long 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.
Write, 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 that 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 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 in an 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.
We're filling you with light.
This concludes today's Immer reading experience.
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