M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

9 Jesus said to them, `I tell you the truth. Some people are standing here who will not die before they see the kingdom of God come with power.'

² Six days after this, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him. He led them up a hill by themselves. Jesus was changed in front of them.

³ His clothes were white like light. No person on earth could make them so white.

⁴ Then they saw Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus.

⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus, `Master, this is a good place for us. We will make three places, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.'

⁶ Peter did not know what to say because they were very much afraid.

⁷ Then a cloud came over them. A voice in the cloud said, `This is my dear Son. Listen to him.'

⁸ They quickly looked around but they saw no one except Jesus there with them.

⁹ When they came down the hill, Jesus said to them, `Do not tell anyone what you saw. Do not tell it until after the Son of Man has been raised from death.'

¹⁰ So they kept these things to themselves, asking each other what he meant about rising from death.

¹¹ Then they asked Jesus, `Why do the scribes [who know all about the holy writings] say that first Elijah must come?'

¹² He said, `Elijah does come first. He will get everything ready. But why do the holy writings say that the Son of Man must have much trouble? They say, "He will have much trouble and the people will not respect him."

¹³ I tell you that Elijah has come. The people did to him just what they wanted to do. They did just as it is written about him.'

¹⁴ When they came to the disciples, they saw many people around them. Some scribes were talking with the disciples.

¹⁵ The people were all very much surprised when they saw Jesus. They ran to him and greeted him.

¹⁶ Jesus asked his disciples, `What are you talking about with them?'

¹⁷ One of the people said, `Teacher, I brought my son to you. A bad spirit is in him so he cannot talk.

¹⁸ Wherever it takes hold of him, it throws him around. It makes him foam at his mouth. It makes him make noises with his teeth. He is getting weak and thin. I asked your disciples to drive the bad spirit out, but they could not do it.'

¹⁹ Jesus said, `You people today do not believe. How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.'

²⁰ So they brought the boy to him. As soon as the bad spirit saw him, he threw the boy around. The boy fell on the ground and rolled around. Foam was coming from his mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the father, `How long has he had this spirit?' He answered, `Since he was a child.

²² Often it has thrown him in the fire and in the water. It has tried to kill him. If you can do anything for him, show us that you share our suffering by helping us.'

²³ Jesus said to him, `You say, "If you can." Anything can be done for the person who believes.'

²⁴ Right away the father of the child, with tears in his eyes, said loudly, `I do believe! Help me to believe more!'

²⁵ Jesus saw many people come running together. He talked to the bad spirit: `You bad spirit who stops the boy from hearing and talking! I tell you, come out of him and do not go into him again!'

²⁶ The bad spirit screamed and threw the boy around. Then it came out of him and left him like a dead person. Many of the people even said, `The boy is dead.'

²⁷ But Jesus took his hand and helped him to get up. The boy stood up.

²⁸ Jesus went into the house. His disciples were alone with him. They asked him, `Why could we not drive out the bad spirit?'

²⁹ Jesus said to them, `This kind of bad spirit does not come out unless people talk to God and fast.'

³⁰ Then they left that place and went through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know it.

³¹ He taught his disciples. He said to them, `The Son of Man will be given over to men. They will kill him. When he is killed, he will rise after three days.'

³² The disciples did not understand what he said and they were afraid to ask him.

³³ They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked the disciples, `What were you talking about on the way coming?'

³⁴ But they said nothing, because on the road they had been talking among themselves about who was the greatest person.

³⁵ He sat down and called the twelve disciples to him. He said, `The way to be first is to put yourself last and be a servant to the others.'

³⁶ Jesus took a child and had him stand in front of them. Then he took the child in his arms and said,

³⁷ `If anyone takes in a child like this for my sake, he takes in me. If anyone takes in me, he takes in the One who sent me.'

³⁸ John said to him, `Master, we saw a man driving bad spirits out of people. He was using your name, but he is not one of us. So we told him to stop because he is not one of us.'

³⁹ Jesus said, `Do not stop him. Anyone who can do a great work in my name will not be quick to say wrong things about me.

⁴⁰ He that is not against us is on our side.

⁴¹ `I tell you the truth. If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, he will not lose his reward'

⁴² `These little children believe in me. If anyone makes one of them do wrong, he will be punished. He will have worse trouble than if a big stone were tied to his neck and he were thrown into the deep sea.

⁴³ If your hand makes you do wrong, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life with one hand than to have two hands and go into hell. Hell fire never dies.

⁴⁴ In hell their worm will not die and the fire will not stop burning.

⁴⁵ If your foot makes you do wrong, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life with one foot than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. Hell fire never dies.

⁴⁶ In hell their worm will not die and the fire will not stop burning.

⁴⁷ If your eye makes you do wrong, take it out. It is better for you to go into God's kingdom with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.

⁴⁸ In hell their worm will not die and the fire will not stop burning.

⁴⁹ Everyone must be tested by fire. Every sacrifice must have salt on it.

⁵⁰ Salt is good. But if the salt has lost its taste, how can it be made salty again? You must have salt in yourselves and live in peace with one another.'

9 What I say is true and Christ knows it is. I do not tell a lie. My heart tells me it is true. And the Holy Spirit knows this.

² I am very sad. I am always troubled. 3I could almost wish I were taken away from Christ for the sake of my brothers, the people of my own nation.

³ They are Jews. God gave them the right to be his sons. He showed them how great he is. He made agreements with them. He gave them the law. He told them how to worship him. He gave them the promises.

⁴ The great men were their fathers. Christ was born a Jew. He is God over all. Praise him for ever! Yes, he is!

⁵ God will do what he said he would do. Not all who are Jews belong to the real Israel.

⁶ Not all the people in Abraham's family are his children. But the holy writings say, `It is Isaac's family who will be called your family.'

⁷ This means that not all who were born in Abraham's family are God's children. God promised Abraham a son [Isaac]. His children [the Jews] are the ones that God called Abraham's true family.

⁸ For this is what God promised, `About this time next year I will come and Sarah shall have a son.'

⁹ And that is not all. Rebecca also had children. Their father was Isaac, our father.

¹¹ When the children were not yet born, they had done nothing good or bad. God chooses the people he wants. He does not choose people because of what they have done. He chooses people who will answer his call. So he said to Rebecca, `The older one will be a slave of the younger one.'

¹² The holy writings also say, `I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.'

¹³ So what shall we say? Does God do what is not right? No, never!

¹⁴ He says to Moses, `I will be kind to a person if I choose to be kind to him. I will share in the suffering of others if I choose to be sorry for them.'

¹⁵ God is not kind to a person because the person wants God to be kind to him. God is not kind to him because the person runs to him to ask him for help. God is kind because he chooses to be kind.

¹⁶ In the holy writings it says to Pharaoh, `That is why I made you live. I wanted to show my power through you. I wanted people to know about me all over the earth.'

¹⁷ So God is kind to any person if he wants to be kind to him. And God makes a man's heart hard if he wants to do that.

¹⁸ So you will ask me, `Why does God still blame us? Who can fight against what God has planned?'

¹⁹ But you are only a man. Will you tell God what to do? Can the pot say to the man who made it, `Why did you make me like this?'

²⁰ The person who makes pots has power over the mud. He can make two different pots out of one pile of mud. One pot will be fine and another will not be fine. Can the potter not make them so?

²¹ God has a right to be very angry if he wants to be. He has the right to show his power. God was very angry with some people who deserved to die. And yet he waited a long time before he did anything to them.

²² He did it to show how very great he is. He was kind to some people. He planned for them to be made great.

²³ That means he also called us. He called not only those who are Jews, but also those who are not Jews.

²⁴ In the book written long ago by the prophet Hosea, God says `They were not my people. But I will call them "my people". I did not love her, but I will call her "the one I love."

²⁵ And in the very place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," they will be called "sons of the living God." '

²⁶ Isaiah the prophet of God said long ago about Israel, `Even if the people of Israel are as many as the sand by the sea, only some of them will be saved.

²⁷ The Lord will do what he said he will do on the earth. He will do it all and do it soon.'

²⁸ And Isaiah also said, `The Lord who has power, left some of our children. If he had not, we would have been like Sodom. We would have been destroyed like Gomorrah.'

²⁹ So what shall we say? The people who are not Jews have been put right with God. They did nothing to make themselves right with God. But they were put right because they believed God.

³⁰ But the Jews tried to obey the law that could make them good people. But they did not obey it all.

³¹ Why was that? They did not trust in God. They only trusted in doing the things of the law. They therefore hit their feet on the stone on which men hit their feet.

³² That is what the holy writings say, `I put in Zion a stone on which people will hit their feet. It is a rock that will make them fall down. Anyone who believes in him will not be ashamed.'