Matthew 4; Luke 4; Luke 5; John 1:15-51

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Matthew 4

1 Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

2 Jesus did not eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights. At the end of that time, he was hungry.

3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread."

4 Jesus answered, "Scripture says, 'A person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that God speaks.'"

5 Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand on the highest part of the temple.

6 He said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, jump! Scripture says, 'He will put his angels in charge of you. They will carry you in their hands so that you never hit your foot against a rock.'"

7 Jesus said to him, "Again, Scripture says, 'Never tempt the Lord your God.'"

8 Once more the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms in the world and their glory.

9 The devil said to him, "I will give you all this if you will bow down and worship me."

10 Jesus said to him, "Go away, Satan! Scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'"

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came to take care of him.

12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he went back to Galilee.

13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This was in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

14 So what the prophet Isaiah had said came true:

15 "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, on the way to the sea, across the Jordan River, Galilee, where foreigners live!

16 The people who lived in darkness have seen a bright light. A light has risen for those who live in a land overshadowed by death."

17 From then on, Jesus began to tell people, "Turn to God and change the way you think and act, because the kingdom of heaven is near!"

18 As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew. They were throwing a net into the sea because they were fishermen.

19 Jesus said to them, "Come, follow me! I will teach you how to catch people instead of fish."

20 They immediately left their nets and followed him.

21 As Jesus went on, he saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee preparing their nets to go fishing. He called them,

22 and they immediately left the boat and their father and followed Jesus.

23 Jesus went all over Galilee. He taught in the synagogues and spread the Good News of the kingdom. He also cured every disease and sickness among the people.

24 The news about Jesus spread throughout Syria. People brought him everyone who was sick, those who suffered from any kind of disease or pain. They also brought epileptics, those who were paralyzed, and people possessed by demons, and he cured them all.

25 Large crowds followed him. They came from Galilee, the Ten Cities, Jerusalem, Judea, and from across the Jordan River.

Luke 4

1 Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit as he left the Jordan River. The Spirit led him while he was in the desert,

2 where he was tempted by the devil for 40 days. During those days Jesus ate nothing, so when they were over, he was hungry.

3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread."

4 Jesus answered him, "Scripture says, 'A person cannot live on bread alone.'"

5 The devil took him to a high place and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant.

6 The devil said to him, "I will give you all the power and glory of these kingdoms. All of it has been given to me, and I give it to anyone I please.

7 So if you will worship me, all this will be yours."

8 Jesus answered him, "Scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.'"

9 Then the devil took him into Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest part of the temple. He said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, jump from here!

10 Scripture says, 'He will put his angels in charge of you to watch over you carefully.

11 They will carry you in their hands so that you never hit your foot against a rock.'"

12 Jesus answered him, "It has been said, 'Never tempt the Lord your God.'"

13 After the devil had finished tempting Jesus in every possible way, the devil left him until another time.

14 Jesus returned to Galilee. The power of the Spirit was with him, and the news about him spread throughout the surrounding country.

15 He taught in the synagogues, and everyone praised him.

16 Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual he went into the synagogue on the day of worship. He stood up to read the lesson.

17 The attendant gave him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened it and found the place where it read:

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is with me. He has anointed me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to announce forgiveness to the prisoners of sin and the restoring of sight to the blind, to forgive those who have been shattered by sin,

19 to announce the year of the Lord's favor."

20 Jesus closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue watched him closely.

21 Then he said to them, "This passage came true today when you heard me read it."

22 All the people spoke well of him. They were amazed to hear the gracious words flowing from his lips. They said, "Isn't this Joseph's son?"

23 So he said to them, "You'll probably quote this proverb to me, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' and then say to me, 'Do all the things in your hometown that we've heard you've done in Capernaum.'"

24 Then Jesus added, "I can guarantee this truth: A prophet isn't accepted in his hometown.

25 "I can guarantee this truth: There were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time. It had not rained for three-and-a-half years, and the famine was severe everywhere in the country.

26 But God didn't send Elijah to anyone except a widow at Zarephath in the territory of Sidon.

27 There were also many people with skin diseases in Israel in the prophet Elisha's time. But God cured no one except Naaman from Syria."

28 Everyone in the synagogue became furious when they heard this.

29 Their city was built on a hill with a cliff. So they got up, forced Jesus out of the city, and led him to the cliff. They intended to throw him off of it.

30 But Jesus walked right by them and went away.

31 Jesus went to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and taught them on a day of worship.

32 The people were amazed at his teachings because he spoke with authority.

33 In the synagogue was a man possessed by a spirit, an evil demon. He shouted very loudly,

34 "Oh, no! What do you want with us, Jesus from Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"

35 Jesus ordered the spirit, "Keep quiet, and come out of him!" The demon threw the man down in the middle of the synagogue and came out without hurting him.

36 Everyone was stunned. They said to one another, "What kind of command is this? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits, and they come out."

37 So news about him spread to every place throughout the surrounding region.

38 Jesus left the synagogue and went to Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was sick with a high fever. They asked Jesus to help her.

39 He bent over her, ordered the fever to leave, and it went away. She got up immediately and prepared a meal for them.

40 When the sun was setting, everyone who had friends suffering from various diseases brought them to him. He placed his hands on each of them and cured them.

41 Demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But Jesus ordered them not to speak. After all, they knew he was the Messiah.

42 In the morning he went to a place where he could be alone. The crowds searched for him. When they came to him, they tried to keep him from leaving.

43 But he said to them, "I have to tell the Good News about the kingdom of God in other cities also. That's what I was sent to do."

44 So he spread his message in the synagogues of Judea.

Luke 5

1 One day Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee. The people crowded around him as they listened to God's word.

2 Jesus saw two boats on the shore. The fishermen had stepped out of them and were washing their nets.

3 So Jesus got into the boat that belonged to Simon and asked him to push off a little from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowd from the boat.

4 When he finished speaking, he told Simon, "Take the boat into deep water, and lower your nets to catch some fish."

5 Simon answered, "Teacher, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I'll lower the nets."

6 After the men had done this, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear.

7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. Their partners came and filled both boats until the boats nearly sank.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he knelt in front of Jesus and said, "Leave me, Lord! I'm a sinful person!"

9 Simon and everyone who was with him was amazed to see the large number of fish they had caught.

10 James and John, who were Zebedee's sons and Simon's partners, were also amazed. Jesus told Simon, "Don't be afraid. From now on you will catch people instead of fish."

11 Simon and his partners brought the boats to shore, left everything, and followed Jesus.

12 One day Jesus was in a city where there was a man covered with a serious skin disease. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground. He begged Jesus, "Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean."

13 Jesus reached out, touched him, and said, "I want to. So be clean!" Immediately, his skin disease went away.

14 Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone. Instead, show yourself to the priest. Then offer the sacrifice as Moses commanded as proof to people that you are clean."

15 The news about Jesus spread even more. Large crowds gathered to hear him and have their diseases cured.

16 But he would go away to places where he could be alone for prayer.

17 One day when Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and experts in Moses' Teachings were present. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. Jesus had the power of the Lord to heal.

18 Some men brought a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They tried to take him into the house and put him in front of Jesus.

19 But they could not find a way to get him into the house because of the crowd. So they went up on the roof. They made an opening in the tiles and let the man down on his stretcher among the people. (They lowered him in front of Jesus.)

20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Sir, your sins are forgiven."

21 The scribes and the Pharisees thought, "Who is this man? He's dishonoring God! Who besides God can forgive sins?"

22 Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to them, "What are you thinking?

23 Is it easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?

24 I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." Then he said to the paralyzed man, "Get up, pick up your stretcher, and go home."

25 The man immediately stood up in front of them and picked up the stretcher he had been lying on. Praising God, he went home.

26 Everyone was amazed and praised God. They were filled with awe and said, "We've seen things today we can hardly believe!"

27 After that, Jesus left. He saw a tax collector named Levi sitting in a tax office. Jesus said to him, "Follow me!"

28 So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

29 Levi held a large reception at his home for Jesus. A huge crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.

30 The Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus' disciples. They asked, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

31 Jesus answered them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor; those who are sick do.

32 I've come to call sinners to change the way they think and act, not to call people who think they have God's approval."

33 They said to him, "John's disciples frequently fast and say prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. But your disciples eat and drink."

34 Jesus asked them, "Can you force wedding guests to fast while the groom is still with them?

35 The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. At that time they will fast."

36 He also used these illustrations: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new coat to patch an old coat. Otherwise, the new cloth will tear the old. Besides, the patch from the new will not match the old.

37 People don't pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the new wine will make the skins burst. The wine will run out, and the skins will be ruined.

38 Rather, new wine is to be poured into fresh skins.

39 "No one who has been drinking old wine wants new wine. He says, 'The old wine is better!'"

John 1:15-51

15 (John declared the truth about him when he said loudly, "This is the person about whom I said, 'The one who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.'")

16 Each of us has received one gift after another because of all that the Word is.

17 The Teachings were given through Moses, but kindness and truth came into existence through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever seen God. God's only Son, the one who is closest to the Father's heart, has made him known.

19 This was John's answer when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

20 John didn't refuse to answer. He told them clearly, "I'm not the Messiah."

21 They asked him, "Well, are you Elijah?" John answered, "No, I'm not." Then they asked, "Are you the prophet?" John replied, "No."

22 So they asked him, "Who are you? Tell us so that we can take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

23 John said, "I'm a voice crying out in the desert, 'Make the way for the Lord straight,' as the prophet Isaiah said."

24 Some of those who had been sent were Pharisees.

25 They asked John, "Why do you baptize if you're not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?"

26 John answered them, "I baptize with water. Someone you don't know is standing among you.

27 He's the one who comes after me. I am not worthy to untie his sandal strap."

28 This happened in Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.

29 John saw Jesus coming toward him the next day and said, "Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

30 He is the one I spoke about when I said, 'A man who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.'

31 I didn't know who he was. However, I came to baptize with water to show him to the people of Israel."

32 John said, "I saw the Spirit come down as a dove from heaven and stay on him.

33 I didn't know who he was. But God, who sent me to baptize with water, had told me, 'When you see the Spirit come down and stay on someone, you'll know that person is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

34 I have seen this and have declared that this is the Son of God."

35 The next day John was standing with two of his disciples.

36 John saw Jesus walk by. John said, "Look! This is the Lamb of God."

37 When the two disciples heard John say this, they followed Jesus.

38 Jesus turned around and saw them following him. He asked them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which means "teacher"), "where are you staying?"

39 Jesus told them, "Come, and you will see." So they went to see where he was staying and spent the rest of that day with him. It was about ten o'clock in the morning.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two disciples who heard John and followed Jesus.

41 Andrew at once found his brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means "Christ").

42 Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and said, "You are Simon, son of John. Your name will be Cephas" (which means "Peter").

43 The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, "Follow me!"

44 (Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.)

45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the man whom Moses wrote about in his teachings and whom the prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, son of Joseph, from the city of Nazareth."

46 Nathanael said to Philip, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip told him, "Come and see!"

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and remarked, "Here is a true Israelite who is sincere."

48 Nathanael asked Jesus, "How do you know anything about me?" Jesus answered him, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49 Nathanael said to Jesus, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!"

50 Jesus replied, "You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that."

51 Jesus said to Nathanael, "I can guarantee this truth: You will see the sky open and God's angels going up and coming down to the Son of Man."