The Living Bible (300 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
So Jesus climbed into a boat and went across the lake to Capernaum, his hometown.
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Soon some men brought him a paralyzed man on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the sick man,
“Cheer up, son! For I have forgiven your sins!”
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“Blasphemy! This man is saying he is God!” exclaimed some of the religious leaders to themselves.
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Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked them,
“Why are you thinking such evil thoughts?
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I, the Messiah,
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have the authority on earth to forgive sins. But talk is cheap—anybody could say that. So I’ll prove it to you by healing this man.”
Then, turning to the paralyzed man, he commanded,
“Pick up your stretcher and go on home, for you are healed.”
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And the man jumped up and left!
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A chill of fear swept through the crowd as they saw this happen right before their eyes. How they praised God for giving such authority to a man!
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As Jesus was going on down the road, he saw a tax collector, Matthew,
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sitting at a tax collection booth.
“Come and be my disciple,”
Jesus said to him, and Matthew jumped up and went along with him.
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Later, as Jesus and his disciples were eating dinner at Matthew’s house,
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there were many notorious swindlers there as guests!
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The Pharisees were indignant. “Why does your teacher associate with men like that?”
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“Because people who are well don’t need a doctor! It’s the sick people who do!”
was Jesus’ reply.
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Then he added,
“Now go away and learn the meaning of this verse of Scripture,
‘It isn’t your sacrifices and your gifts I want—I want you to be merciful.’
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For I have come to urge sinners, not the self-righteous, back to God.”
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One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast as we do and as the Pharisees do?”
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“Should the bridegroom’s friends mourn and go without food while he is with them?”
Jesus asked.
“But the time is coming when I
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will be taken from them. Time enough then for them to refuse to eat.
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“And who would patch an old garment with unshrunk cloth? For the patch would tear away and make the hole worse.
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And who would use old wineskins
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to store new wine? For the old skins would burst with the pressure, and the wine would be spilled and skins ruined. Only new wineskins are used to store new wine. That way both are preserved.”
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As he was saying this, the rabbi of the local synagogue came and worshiped him. “My little daughter has just died,” he said, “but you can bring her back to life again if you will only come and touch her.”
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As Jesus and the disciples were going to the rabbi’s home,
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a woman who had been sick for twelve years with internal bleeding came up behind him and touched a tassel of his robe,
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for she thought, “If I only touch him, I will be healed.”
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Jesus turned around and spoke to her.
“Daughter,”
he said,
“all is well! Your faith has healed you.”
And the woman was well from that moment.
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When Jesus arrived at the rabbi’s home and saw the noisy crowds and heard the funeral music,
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he said,
“Get them out, for the little girl isn’t dead; she is only sleeping!”
Then how they all scoffed and sneered at him!
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When the crowd was finally outside, Jesus went in where the little girl was lying and took her by the hand, and she jumped up and was all right again!
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The report of this wonderful miracle swept the entire countryside.
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As Jesus was leaving her home, two blind men followed along behind, shouting, “O Son of King David, have mercy on us.”
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They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them,
“Do you believe I can make you see?”
“Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”
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Then he touched their eyes and said,
“Because of your faith it will happen.”
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And suddenly they could see! Jesus sternly warned them not to tell anyone about it,
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but instead they spread his fame all over the town.
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Leaving that place, Jesus met a man who couldn’t speak because a demon was inside him.
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So Jesus cast out the demon, and instantly the man could talk. How the crowds marveled! “Never in all our lives have we seen anything like this,” they exclaimed.
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But the Pharisees said, “The reason he can cast out demons is that he is demon-possessed himself—possessed by Satan, the demon king!”
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Jesus traveled around through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the Jewish synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went he healed people of every sort of illness.
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And what pity he felt for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd.
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“The harvest is so great, and the workers are so few,”
he told his disciples.
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“So pray to the one in charge of the harvesting, and ask him to recruit more workers for his harvest fields.”
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of sickness and disease.
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Here are the names of his twelve disciples: Simon (also called Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James (Zebedee’s son), John (James’s brother), Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (the tax collector), James (Alphaeus’s son), Thaddaeus, Simon (a member of “The Zealots,” a subversive political party), Judas Iscariot (the one who betrayed him).
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Jesus sent them out with these instructions: “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans,
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but only to the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep.
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Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
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Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure the lepers, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!
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“Don’t take any money with you;
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don’t even carry a duffle bag with extra clothes and shoes, or even a walking stick; for those you help should feed and care for you.
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Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a godly man and stay in his home until you leave for the next town.
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When you ask permission to stay, be friendly,
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and if it turns out to be a godly home, give it your blessing; if not, keep the blessing.
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Any city or home that doesn’t welcome you—shake off the dust of that place from your feet as you leave.
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Truly, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off at Judgment Day than they.
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“I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as serpents and harmless as doves.
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But beware! For you will be arrested and tried, and whipped in the synagogues.
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Yes, and you must stand trial before governors and kings for my sake. This will give you the opportunity to tell them about me, yes, to witness to the world.
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“When you are arrested, don’t worry about what to say at your trial, for you will be given the right words at the right time.
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For it won’t be you doing the talking—it will be the Spirit of your heavenly Father speaking through you!
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“Brother shall betray brother to death, and fathers shall betray their own children. And children shall rise against their parents and cause their deaths.
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Everyone shall hate you because you belong to me. But all of you who endure to the end shall be saved.
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“When you are persecuted in one city, flee to the next! I
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will return before you have reached them all!
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A student is not greater than his teacher. A servant is not above his master.
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The student shares his teacher’s fate. The servant shares his master’s! And since I, the master of the household, have been called ‘Satan,’
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how much more will you!
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But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when the truth will be revealed: their secret plots will become public information.
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“What I tell you now in the gloom, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ears, proclaim from the housetops!
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“Don’t be afraid of those who can kill only your bodies—but can’t touch your souls! Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
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Not one sparrow (What do they cost? Two for a penny?) can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.
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And the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
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So don’t worry! You are more valuable to him than many sparrows.
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“If anyone publicly acknowledges me as his friend, I will openly acknowledge him as my friend before my Father in heaven.
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But if anyone publicly denies me, I will openly deny him before my Father in heaven.
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“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! No, rather, a sword.
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I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
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a man’s worst enemies will be right in his own home!
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If you love your father and mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
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If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.
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“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will save it.
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“Those who welcome you are welcoming me. And when they welcome me they are welcoming God who sent me.
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If you welcome a prophet because he is a man of God, you will be given the same reward a prophet gets. And if you welcome good and godly men because of their godliness, you will be given a reward like theirs.
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“And if, as my representatives, you give even a cup of cold water to a little child, you will surely be rewarded.”