Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day eight.
As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border
between Galilee and Samaria.
As he entered a village there, 10 men with leprosy stood at a distance, crying
out Jesus master have mercy on us.
He looked at them and said, go show yourselves to the priests.
And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.
One of them when he saw that he was healed, came back to
Jesus shouting, praise God.
He fell to the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him for what he had done.
This man was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, didn't I heal 10 men where the other nine has no one returned to
give glory to God except this foreigner?
And Jesus said to the man, stand up and go.
Your faith has healed you.
One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, when will the kingdom of God come?
Jesus replied, the kingdom of God can't be detected by visible signs.
You won't be able to say, here it is, or It's over there for the
kingdom of God is already among you.
Then he said it was disciples.
The time is coming when you belong to see the day when the Son of
man returns, but you won't see it.
People will tell you, look, there is the son of man, or Here he is, but
don't go out and follow them for as the lightning flashes and lights up
the sky from one end to the other.
So it'll be on the day when the son of man comes.
But first, the son of man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this
generation when the son of man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's day.
In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings.
Right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed
them all, and the world will be as it was in the days of lot people went
about their daily business, eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming
and building until the morning lot left Sodom then fire and burning sulfur, rained
down from heaven and destroyed them all.
Yes, it will be business as usual right up to the day when
the son of man is revealed.
On that day, a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down
into the house to pack a person out in the field must not return home.
Remember what happened to Lott's wife.
If you clinging to your life, you will lose it, and if you let
your life go, you will save it.
That night, two people will be asleep in one bed, one will be taken.
The other left, two women will be grinding flour together at the mill,
one will be taken the other left.
Where will this happen?
Lord?
The disciples asked, Jesus replied, just as the gathering of vultures
shows there was a carcass nearby.
So these signs indicate that the end is near.
One day, Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should
always pray and never give up.
There was a judge in a certain city, he said, who neither feared
God nor cared about people.
A widow of that city came to him repeatedly saying, give me justice
in this dispute with my enemy.
The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, I
don't fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy.
I'm going to see that she gets justice because she's wearing me
out with her constant requests.
Then the Lord said, learn a lesson from this unjust judge.
Even he rendered a just decision in the end.
So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people
who cry out to him day and night?
Will he keep putting them off?
I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly.
But when the son of man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?
Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own
righteousness and scorned everyone else.
Two men went to the temple to pray.
One was a Pharisee and the other was a despised tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer.
I thank you, God, that I am not like other people, cheaters, sinners, adulterers.
I'm certainly not like that tax collector.
I fast twice a week and I give you a 10th of my income, but the tax collector
stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed.
Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow saying, oh God, be
merciful to me for I am a sinner.
I tell you this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God.
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who
humble themselves will be exalted.
One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could
touch and bless them, but when the disciples saw this, they scolded
the parents for bothering him.
Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples,
Let the children come to me.
Don't stop them.
For the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.
I tell you the truth.
Anyone who doesn't receive the kingdom of God, like a child will never enter it.
Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question, good teacher, what
should I do to inherit eternal life?
Why do you call me good?
Jesus asked him.
Only.
God is truly good.
But to answer your question, you know the commandments.
You must not commit adultery.
You must not murder.
You must not steal, you must not testify falsely honor your father and mother.
The man replied.
I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young.
When Jesus heard his answer, he said, there is still one thing you haven't done.
Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor and
you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come follow me.
But when the man heard this, he became very sad for, he was
very rich when Jesus saw this.
He said how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a
rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
Those who heard this said, then who in the world can be saved?
He replied, what is impossible for people?
It's possible with God.
Peter said, we've left our homes to follow you.
Yes, Jesus replied, and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or
brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God will be repaid
many times over in this life and will have eternal life in the world to come.
Taking the 12 disciples aside, Jesus said, listen, we're going up to Jerusalem
where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the son of man will come true.
He will be handed over to the Romans and he will be mocked,
treated, shamefully, and spit upon.
They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the
third day he will rise again.
But they didn't understand any of this.
The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed
to grasp what he was talking about.
As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road when
he heard the noise of a crowd going past.
He asked what was happening.
They told him that Jesus, the Nazarene was going by, so he began shouting.
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
Be quiet.
The people in front yelled at him, but he only shouted louder.
Son of David have mercy on me.
When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him.
As the man came near, Jesus asked him, what do you want me to do for you, Lord?
He said, I want to see you.
And Jesus said, all right, receive your sight.
Your faith has healed you.
Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God
and all who saw it praised God too.
Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.
There was a man there named Zacchaeus.
He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.
He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road
for Jesus was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called
him by name, Zacchaeus.
He said, quick, come down.
I must be a guest in your home today.
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement
and joy, but the people were displeased.
He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner.
They grumbled.
Meanwhile, Zakiya stood before the Lord and said, I will give
half my wealth to the poor Lord.
And if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back
four times as much Jesus responded.
Salvation has come to this home today for this man has shown
himself to be a true son of Abraham.
For the son of man came to seek and save those who were lost.
The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said, and because he was nearing
Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the
kingdom of God would begin right away.
He said a nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be
crowned king and then return.
Before he left, he called together 10 of his servants and divided among
them 10 pounds of silver saying, invest this for me while I am gone.
But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, we
do not want him to be our king.
After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants
to whom he had given the money.
He wanted to find out what their profits were.
The first servant reported master.
I invested your money and made 10 times the original amount.
Well done the king exclaimed.
You are a good servant.
You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you'll be
governor of 10 cities as your reward.
The next servant reported master, I invested your money and made
five times the original amount.
Well done.
The king said you will be governor over five cities.
But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said,
master, I hid your money and kept it safe.
I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with taking what isn't
yours and harvesting crops You didn't plant you wicked servant, the king
roared your own word, condemn you.
If you knew that I'm a hard man who takes what mine and
harvests crops I didn't plant.
Why didn't you deposit my money in the bank?
At least I could have gotten some interest on it.
Then turning to the other standing nearby, the king ordered, take the
money from this servant and give it to the one who has 10 pounds.
But master, they said he already has 10 pounds.
Yes, the king replied.
And to those who use, well, what they are given even more will be given.
But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
And as for these enemies of mine who didn't want me to be their
king, bring them in and execute them right here in front of me.
This concludes today's Immer Reading Experience.
Thank you for joining us.