Read the Gospels in 40 Days
Sin and Forgiveness
17 Jesus said to his followers, “Things will surely happen that cause people to sin. But how terrible for the one who causes them to happen. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large stone around his neck than to cause one of these weak people to sin. 3 So be careful!
“If your brother sins, tell him he is wrong. But if he is sorry and stops sinning, forgive him. 4 If your brother sins against you seven times in one day, but he says that he is sorry each time, then forgive him.”
How Big Is Your Faith?
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us more faith!”
6 The Lord said, “If your faith is as big as a mustard seed,[a] then you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Dig yourself up and plant yourself in the sea!’ And the tree will obey you.
Be Good Servants
7 “Suppose one of you has a servant who has been plowing the ground or caring for the sheep. When the servant comes in from working in the field, would you say, ‘Come in and sit down to eat’? 8 No, you would say to your servant, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Then get yourself ready and serve me. When I finish eating and drinking, then you can eat and drink.’ 9 The servant does not get any special thanks for doing what his master told him to do. 10 It is the same with you. When you do everything you are told to do, you should say, ‘We don’t deserve any special thanks. We have only done the work we should do.’”
Be Thankful
11 Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Traveling from Galilee to Samaria, 12 he came into a small town. Ten men met him there. These men did not come close to Jesus, because they all had a harmful skin disease. 13 But they called to him, “Jesus! Master! Please help us!”
14 When Jesus saw the men, he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”[b]
While the ten men were going, they were healed. 15 When one of them saw that he was healed, he went back to Jesus. He praised God in a loud voice. 16 Then he bowed down at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (This man was a Samaritan.) 17 Jesus asked, “Ten men were healed; where are the other nine? 18 Is this Samaritan the only one who came back to thank God?” 19 Then Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go on your way. You were healed because you believed.”
God’s Kingdom Is Within You
20 Some of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the kingdom of God come?”
Jesus answered, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. 21 People will not say, ‘Look, God’s kingdom is here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ No, God’s kingdom is within you.”
22 Then Jesus said to his followers, “The time will come when you will want very much to see one of the days of the Son of Man. But you will not be able to see it. 23 People will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or, ‘Look, here he is!’ Stay where you are; don’t go away and search.
When Jesus Comes Again
24 “The Son of Man will come again. On the day he comes he will shine like lightning, which flashes across the sky and lights it up from one side to the other. 25 But first, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the people of this time. 26 When the Son of Man comes again, it will be as it was when Noah lived. 27 In the time of Noah, people were eating, drinking, and getting married even on the day when Noah entered the boat. Then the flood came and killed all the people. 28 It will be the same as during the time of Lot. Those people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. 29 They were doing these things even on the day Lot left Sodom.[c] Then fire and sulfur rained down from the sky and killed them all. 30 This is exactly how it will be when the Son of Man comes again.
31 “On that day, if a man is on his roof, he will not have time to go inside and get his things. If a man is in the field, he cannot go back home. 32 Remember what happened to Lot’s wife?[d] 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will give up true life. But whoever gives up his life will have true life. 34 At the time when I come again, there may be two people sleeping in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. 35 There may be two women grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left. 36 [Two men will be in the same field. One man will be taken, but the other man will be left behind.]”[e]
37 The followers asked Jesus, “Where will this be, Lord?”
Jesus answered, “People can always find a dead body by looking for the vultures.”
God Will Answer His People
18 Then Jesus used this story to teach his followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. 2 “Once there was a judge in a town. He did not care about God. He also did not care what people thought about him. 3 In that same town there was a widow who kept coming to this judge. She said, ‘There is a man who is not being fair to me. Give me my rights!’ 4 But the judge did not want to help the widow. After a long time, he thought to himself, ‘I don’t care about God. And I don’t care about what people think. 5 But this widow is bothering me. I will see that she gets her rights, or she will bother me until I am worn out!’”
6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the bad judge said. 7 God’s people cry to him night and day. God will always give them what is right, and he will not be slow to answer them. 8 I tell you, God will help his people quickly! But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find those on earth who believe in him?”
Being Right with God
9 There were some people who thought that they were very good and looked down on everyone else. Jesus used this story to teach them: 10 “One day there was a Pharisee and a tax collector. Both went to the Temple to pray. 11 The Pharisee stood alone, away from the tax collector. When the Pharisee prayed, he said, ‘God, I thank you that I am not as bad as other people. I am not like men who steal, cheat, or take part in adultery. I thank you that I am better than this tax collector. 12 I give up eating[f] twice a week, and I give one-tenth of everything I earn!’
13 “The tax collector stood at a distance. When he prayed, he would not even look up to heaven. He beat on his chest because he was so sad. He said, ‘God, have mercy on me. I am a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, when this man went home, he was right with God. But the Pharisee was not right with God. Everyone who makes himself great will be made humble. But everyone who makes himself humble will be made great.”
Who Will Enter God’s Kingdom
15 Some people brought their small children to Jesus so that he could touch them. When the followers saw this, they told the people not to do this. 16 But Jesus called the little children to him and said to his followers, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these little children. 17 I tell you the truth. You must accept God’s kingdom like a little child, or you will never enter it!”
A Rich Man’s Question
18 A Jewish leader asked Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get the life that continues forever?”
19 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good. 20 You know the commands: ‘You must not be guilty of adultery. You must not murder anyone. You must not steal. You must not tell lies about your neighbor in court. Honor your father and mother.’”[g]
21 But the leader said, “I have obeyed all these commands since I was a boy!”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “But there is still one more thing you need to do. Sell everything you have and give the money to the poor. You will have a reward in heaven. Then come and follow me!” 23 But when the man heard this, he became very sad because he was very rich.
24 When Jesus saw that the man was sad, he said, “It will be very hard for rich people to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God!”
Who Can Be Saved?
26 When the people heard this, they asked, “Then who can be saved?”
27 Jesus answered, “The things impossible for men are possible for God.”
28 Peter said, “Look, we left everything we had and followed you!”
29 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. Everyone who has left his house, wife, brothers, parents, or children for God’s kingdom 30 will get much more than he left. He will receive many times more in this life. And after he dies, he will live with God forever.”
Jesus Will Rise from Death
31 Then Jesus talked to the 12 apostles alone. He said to them, “Listen! We are going to Jerusalem. Everything that God told the prophets to write about the Son of Man will happen! 32 He will be turned over to the non-Jewish people. They will laugh at him, insult him, and spit on him. 33 They will beat him with whips and then kill him. But on the third day after his death, he will rise to life again.” 34 The apostles tried to understand this, but they could not; the meaning was hidden from them.
Jesus Heals a Blind Man
35 Jesus was coming near the city of Jericho. There was a blind man sitting beside the road, begging for money. 36 When he heard the people coming down the road, he asked, “What is happening?”
37 They told him, “Jesus, the one from Nazareth, is coming here.”
38 The blind man cried out, “Jesus, Son of David! Please help me!”
39 The people who were in front, leading the group, told the blind man to be quiet. But the blind man shouted more and more, “Son of David, please help me!”
40 Jesus stopped and said, “Bring the blind man to me!” When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
He said, “Lord, I want to see again.”
42 Jesus said to him, “Then see! You are healed because you believed.”
43 At once the man was able to see, and he followed Jesus, thanking God. All the people who saw this praised God.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.