M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Temptation in the wilderness
4 Then Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the spirit to be tested by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and at the end of it was famished. 3 Then the tempter approached him.
“If you really are God’s son,” he said, “tell these stones to become bread!”
4 “The Bible says,” replied Jesus, “that it takes more than bread to keep you alive. You actually live on every word that comes out of God’s mouth.”
5 Then the devil took him off to the holy city, and stood him on a pinnacle of the Temple.
6 “If you really are God’s son,” he said, “throw yourself down. The Bible does say, after all, that ‘God will give his angels a command about you’; and ‘they will carry you in their hands, so that you won’t hurt your foot against a stone.’ ”
7 “But the Bible also says,” replied Jesus, “that you mustn’t put the Lord your God to the test!”
8 Then the devil took him off again, this time to a very high mountain. There he showed him all the magnificent kingdoms of the world.
9 “I’ll give the whole lot to you,” he said, “if you will fall down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of it, satan!” replied Jesus. “The Bible says, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone!’ ”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and looked after him.
Announcing the kingdom
12 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he went off to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth, and went to live at Capernaum, a small town by the sea in the region of Zebulon and Naphtali. 14 This happened so that the word spoken through Isaiah the prophet might come true:
15 The land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali,
the road by the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee, land of the nations:
16 the people who sat in the dark saw a great light;
light dawned on those who sat in the shadowy land of death.
17 From that time on Jesus began to make his proclamation.
“Repent!” he would say. “The kingdom of heaven is arriving!”
Jesus calls the disciples
18 As Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (also called Peter) and Andrew his brother. They were fishermen, and were casting nets into the sea.
19 “Follow me!” said Jesus. “I’ll make you fish for people!”
20 Straight away they abandoned their nets and followed him.
21 He went on further, and saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother. They were in the boat, mending their nets, with Zebedee their father. He called them. 22 At once they left the boat, and their father, and followed him.
23 He went on through the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, healing every disease and every illness among the people.
24 Word about him went out around the whole of Syria. They brought to him all the people tormented with various kinds of diseases and ailments, demon-possessed people, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, Judaea and beyond the Jordan.
Resurrection plus the name of Jesus equals trouble
4 As they were speaking to the people, along came the priests, the chief of the Temple police, and the Sadducees. 2 They were thoroughly annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming that “the resurrection of the dead” had begun to happen in Jesus. 3 They seized them and put them under guard until the next day, since it was already evening. 4 But a large number of the people who had heard the message believed it, and the number of men grew to five thousand.
5 On the next day their rulers, the elders and the scribes gathered in Jerusalem, 6 along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander and all the members of the high-priestly family. 7 They stood them in the midst.
“How did you do this?” they asked them. “What power did you use? What name did you invoke?”
8 Peter was filled with the holy spirit. “Rulers of the people and elders,” he said, 9 “if the question we’re being asked today is about a good deed done for a sick man, and whose power it was that rescued him, 10 let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man stands before you fit and well because of the name of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead. 11 He is the stone which you builders rejected, but which has become the head cornerstone. 12 Rescue won’t come from anybody else! There is no other name given under heaven and among humans by which we must be rescued.”
The clash of loyalties
13 When they saw how boldly Peter and John were speaking, and realized that they were untrained, ordinary men, they were astonished, and they recognized them as people who had been with Jesus. 14 And when they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. 15 They ordered them to be put out of the assembly while they conferred among themselves.
16 “What can we do to these men?” they said. “This is a spectacular sign that has happened through them. All Jerusalem knows it, and we can’t deny it! 17 But we certainly don’t want it to spread any further among the people. So let’s threaten them with awful consequences if they speak any more in this name to anybody.”
18 So they called them in and gave them orders not to speak at all, or to teach, in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John gave them this reply.
“You judge,” they said, “whether it’s right before God to listen to you rather than to God! 20 As far as we’re concerned, we can’t stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
21 Then they threatened them some more, and let them go. They couldn’t find any way to punish them because of the people, since everyone was glorifying God for what had happened. 22 After all, the man to whom this sign of healing had happened was over forty years old.
Look upon their threats
23 When they had been released, they went back to their own people, and told them everything that the chief priests and the elders had said. 24 When they heard it, they all together lifted up their voices to God.
“Sovereign Master,” they said, “you made heaven and earth, and the sea, and everything in them. 25 And you said through the holy spirit, by the mouth of our ancestor David, your servant,
Why did the nations fly into a rage,
and why did the peoples think empty thoughts?
26 The kings of the earth arose
and the rulers gathered themselves together
against the Lord and against his anointed Messiah.
27 “It’s true: Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the nations and the peoples of Israel, gathered themselves together in this very city against your holy child Jesus, the one you anointed, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had foreordained to take place. 29 So now, Master, look on their threats; and grant that we, your servants, may speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand for healing, so that signs and wonders may come about through the name of your holy child Jesus.”
31 When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the holy spirit, and they boldly spoke the word of God.
Signs of the new covenant
32 The company of those who believed had one heart and soul. Nobody said that they owned their property; instead, they had everything in common. 33 The apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and great grace was upon all of them. 34 For there was no needy person among them, since any who possessed lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sale, 35 and placed it at the feet of the apostles, who then gave to each according to their need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, to whom the apostles gave the surname “Barnabas” (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold some land which belonged to him, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.