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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!
Oliver: Welcome to Immerse Luke
and Acts, Day seven, Week two
.
Jesus went through the towns and
villages, teaching as He went,
always pressing on toward Jerusalem.
Someone asked Him, Lord,
will only a few be saved?
He replied, work hard to enter the
narrow door to God's kingdom, for
many will try to enter, but will fail.
When the master of the house has
locked the door, it will be too late.
You will stand outside knocking and
pleading, Lord, open the door for us.
But he will reply, I don't know
you or where you come from.
Then he will say, But we ate and drank
with you, and you taught in our streets.
And he will reply, I tell you, I
don't know you or where you come from.
Get away from me, all you who do evil.
There will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth, for you will see Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom
of God, but you will be thrown out.
And people will come from all over
the world, from east and west,
north and south, to take their
places in the kingdom of God.
And note this, some who seem least
important now will be the greatest
then, and some who are the greatest
now will be least important then.
At that time some Pharisees said to him,
Get away from here if you want to live.
Herod Antipas wants to kill you.
Jesus replied, Go tell that fox that
I will keep on casting out demons and
healing people today and tomorrow.
And the third day I will
accomplish my purpose.
Yes, today, tomorrow, and the
next day I must proceed on my way.
For it wouldn't do for a prophet of
God to be killed except in Jerusalem.
Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the
city that kills the prophets
and stones God's messengers.
How often I have wanted to gather
your children together as a hen
protects her chicks beneath her wings.
But you wouldn't let me.
And now, look, your house is abandoned,
and you will never see me again
until you say, Blessings on the one
who comes in the name of the Lord.
One Sabbath day, Jesus went
to eat dinner in the home of
the leader of the Pharisees.
And the people were watching him closely.
There was a man there whose
arms and legs were swollen.
Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in
religious law, Is it permitted in the law
to heal people on the Sabbath day or not?
When they refused to answer,
Jesus touched the sick man and
healed him and sent him away.
Then he turned to them and said, Which
of you doesn't work on the Sabbath?
If your son or your cow falls into a
pit, don't you rush to get him out?
Again, they could not answer.
When Jesus noticed that all who had
come to the dinner were trying to sit
in their seats of honor near the head
of the table, He gave them this advice.
When you are invited to a wedding
feast, don't sit in the seat of honor.
What if someone who is more distinguished
than you has also been invited?
The host will come and say,
Give this person your seat.
Then you will be embarrassed, and
you will have to take whatever seat
is left at the foot of the table.
Instead, take the lowest place
at the foot of the table.
Then when your host sees you,
he will come and say, Friend,
we have a better place for you.
Then you will be honored in
front of all the other guests.
For those who exalt themselves
will be humbled, and those who
humble themselves will be exalted.
Then he turned to his host.
When you put on a luncheon or a
banquet, he said, don't invite your
friends, brothers, relatives, and rich
neighbors, for they will invite you
back, and that will be your only reward.
Instead, invite the poor, the
crippled, the lame, and the blind.
Then, at the resurrection of the
righteous, God will reward you for
inviting those who could not repay you.
Hearing this, a man sitting at the
table with Jesus exclaimed, What
a blessing it will be to attend
a banquet in the kingdom of God.
Jesus replied with this story.
A man prepared a great feast
and sent out many invitations.
When the banquet was ready, he
sent his servant to tell the
guests, Come, the banquet is ready.
But they all began making excuses.
One said, I have just bought
a field and must inspect it.
Please excuse me.
Another said, I have just bought five
pairs of oxen and I want to try them out.
Please excuse me.
Another said, I just got
married, so I can't come.
The servant returned and told
his master what they had said.
His master was furious and said, Go
quickly into the streets and alleys
of the town and invite the poor, the
crippled, the blind, and the lame.
After the servant had done this, he
reported, There is still room for more.
So his master said, Go out into the
country lanes and behind the hedges
and urge anyone you find to come,
so that the house will be full.
For none of those I first invited will
get even the smallest taste of my banquet.
A large crowd was following Jesus.
He turned around and said to them,
If you want to be my disciple, you
must, by comparison, hate everyone
else, your father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and
sisters, yes, even your own life.
Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.
And if you do not carry your own cross
and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
But don't begin until you count
the cost, for who would begin
construction of a building without
first calculating the cost to see if
there is enough money to finish it?
Otherwise, you might complete only the
foundation before running out of money,
and then everyone would laugh at you.
They would say, there's the person
who started that building and
couldn't afford to finish it.
Or what king would go to war against
another king without first sitting down
with his counsellors to discuss whether
his army of 10, 000 could defeat the
20, 000 soldiers marching against him.
And if he can't, he will send a
delegation to discuss terms of peace
while the enemy is still far away.
So you cannot become my disciple
without giving up everything you own.
Salt is good for seasoning.
But if it loses its flavor,
how do you make it salty again?
Flavorless salt is good neither for
the soil nor for the manure pile.
It is thrown away.
Anyone with ears to hear
should listen and understand.
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners
often came to listen to Jesus teach.
This made the Pharisees and teachers
of religious law complain that he
was associating with such sinful
people, even eating with them.
So Jesus told them this story.
If a man has a hundred sheep and one
of them gets lost, what will he do?
Won't he leave the ninety nine others
in the wilderness and go to search for
the one that is lost until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he will
joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.
When he arrives, he will call
together his friends and neighbors,
saying, Rejoice with me, because
I have found my lost sheep.
In the same way, there is more joy
in heaven over one lost sinner who
repents and returns to God than
over ninety nine others who are
righteous and haven't strayed away.
Or suppose a woman has ten
silver coins and loses one.
Won't she light a lamp and sweep
the entire house and search
carefully until she finds it?
And when she finds it, she will
call in her friends and neighbors
and say, Rejoice with me, because
I have found my lost coin.
In the same way, there is joy
in the presence of God's angels,
when even one sinner repents.
To illustrate the point further,
Jesus told them this story.
A man had two sons.
The younger son told his father, I want my
share of your estate now, before you die.
So his father agreed to divide
his wealth between his sons.
A few days later, this younger
son packed all his belongings
and moved to a distant land.
And there he wasted all
his money in wild living.
About the time his money ran out,
a great famine swept over the
land, and he began to starve.
He persuaded a local farmer to
hire him, and the man sent him
into his fields to feed the pigs.
The young man became so hungry that even
the pods he was feeding the pigs looked
good to him, but no one gave him anything.
When he finally came to his senses,
he said to himself, At home, even the
hired servants have food enough to
spare, and here I am dying of hunger.
I will go home to my father and say,
Father, I have sinned against both
heaven and you, and I am no longer
worthy of being called your son.
Please take me on as a hired servant.
So he returned home to his father,
and while he was still a long way
off, his father saw him coming.
Filled with love and compassion, he ran
to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
His son said to him, Father, I have sinned
against both heaven and you, and I am no
longer worthy of being called your son.
But his father said to the servants,
Quick, bring the finest robe
in the house and put it on him.
Get a ring for his finger
and sandals for his feet.
And kill the calf we have been fattening.
We must celebrate with a feast,
for this son of mine was dead
and has now returned to life.
He was lost, but now he is found.
So the party began.
Meanwhile the older son
was in the fields working.
When he returned home, he heard music
and dancing in the house, and he asked
one of the servants what was going on.
Your brother is back, he was told, and
your father has killed the fattened calf.
We are celebrating because
of his safe return.
The older brother was
angry and wouldn't go in.
His father came out and begged him,
but he replied, All these years I've
slaved for you and never once refused
to do a single thing you told me to.
And in all that time, you never
gave me even one young goat
for a feast with my friends.
Yet when this son of yours comes
back after squandering your money
on prostitutes, you celebrate
by killing the fattened calf.
His father said to him, Look, dear
son, you have always stayed by me,
and everything I have is yours.
We had to celebrate this happy
day, for your brother was dead
and has come back to life.
He was lost, but now he is found.
One day Jesus said to his disciples,
There will always be temptations
to sin, but what sorrow awaits
the person who does the tempting.
It would be better to be thrown
into the sea with a millstone hung
around your neck than to cause one of
these little ones to fall into sin.
So watch yourselves.
If another believer
sins, rebuke that person.
Then if there is repentance, forgive.
Even if that person wrongs you seven
times a day, and each time turns again
and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.
The apostle said to the Lord,
Show us how to increase our faith.
The Lord answered, If you had faith even
as small as a mustard seed, you could
say to the smallberry tree, May you
be uprooted and be planted in the sea.
And it would obey you when a servant comes
in from plowing or taking care of sheep.
Does his master say,
come in and eat with me?
No, he says, prepare my meal, put on
your apron, and serve me while I eat.
Then you can eat later.
And does the master thank the servant
for doing what he was told to do?
Of course not.
In the same way, when you obey me you
should say, we are unworthy servants
who have simply done our duty.
Oliver: This concludes today's
Immerse Reading Experience.
Thank you for joining us.