M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
3 My dear brothers, this is my second letter to you. In both of my letters I have tried to bring some things to your good minds.
2 I want you to remember what God's prophets said would happen. And I want you to remember what we apostles told you that our Lord and Saviour said.
3 Here is the first thing. In the last days, men will come who will make fun of holy things. They will do what they themselves want to do.
4 They will say, `He promised to come. Where is he? Our fathers have died. And since then everything is just the same as it has been since the world was made.'
5 They do not want to remember that long ago God spoke and made the sky. He made the land come up from the water.
6 But later on these same waters covered the world in a flood and the people died.
7 The sky and the earth that are here now are being kept because God spoke. They are kept to be burned up. This will happen on the day when God judges people and they will die.
8 My dear brothers, do not forget this one thing. One day is like a thousand years to the Lord. And a thousand years are like one day.
9 God will do what he promised. He is not slow though, as some people think he is. But he is waiting a long time for you. He does not want anyone to die, but he wants all people to stop their wrong ways.
10 The day of the Lord will come like a man who wants to steal. There will be a loud noise and the sky will go away. The elements will melt with fire and they will be gone. The earth and everything on it will be burned up.
11 That is the way the whole world will go. So think what kind of people you should be! Think how holy and true to God your lives should be!
12 You should look for the day of God and do everything you can to make it come quickly. On that day the sky will be on fire and go away. The elements will burn and melt away.
13 But we are looking for a new sky and a new earth which God has promised. Only good things will be in them.
14 My dear brothers, you are looking for these things. So do all you can so that the Lord will find you without any bad or wrong thing in your lives. Let him find you at peace with one another.
15 Think of this. He is waiting a long time so that people will be saved. Our dear brother Paul also wrote these things to you, because God has made him wise.
16 He also tells about them in all his letters. Some things in his letters are hard to understand. Some people do not know about these things and they are not strong in their faith. They change the meaning of the things Paul wrote. They do this to other things in the holy writings also. Because they do this, they will die.
17 My dear brothers, you know about these things before they happen. Take care that you do not do the same things that bad people do. Take care that you do not stop believing the right way.
18 Have more and more of God's blessing and kindness. Learn more and more about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He is great now, and he will be great for ever! Amen! Yes he will!
15 The tax collectors and bad people all came close to Jesus to hear him.
2 The Pharisees and scribes did not like it. And they said to each other, `This man is glad to have bad people come. He eats with them.'
3 So Jesus told them this story.
4 He said, `Which one of you will not do this? A man has a hundred sheep. He loses one of them. He leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and he goes to look for the one that is lost. He looks until he finds it.
5 And when he has found it, he is very glad. He carries it on his back.
6 When he comes home, he calls his friends and neighbours to come. He says, "Be glad with me! I have found my lost sheep."
7 `I tell you, the angels in heaven will be glad like that when one bad person stops doing wrong things. The angels will be more glad about that one person than about ninety-nine good people who do not need to change their ways.'
8 `What woman will not do this? She has ten pieces of silver money. If she loses one of them, she lights a lamp and sweeps the house. She looks for the money until she finds it.
9 When she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbours to come. She says, "Be glad with me! I have found the piece of money I lost."
10 I tell you, the angels of God will be glad like that when one bad person stops doing wrong things.'
11 Jesus also said, `A man had two sons.
12 The younger son said to his father, "Father, give me my part of what will belong to me." So his father divided all he had between the two sons.
13 After a few days, the younger son packed up his things. He left home and went to a country far away. There he spent his money in foolish and wrong ways.
14 He spent everything he had. `There was no food in that country for a long time. He began to be in trouble.
15 So he went to stay with a man in the country who had a farm. The man sent him out to his farm to feed the pigs.
16 He would have been glad to eat the food the pigs ate. But no one gave him anything.
17 `Then he started to get sense. He said, "My father has many men who work for him. They have plenty of food. But here I am dying because I have nothing to eat!
18 I will get up and go to my father. I will say to him, "Father I have been a bad son. I have done wrong to God in heaven and to you.
19 I am not good enough now to be called your son. Let me be like one of these men who work for you."
20 `So he got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him. He loved him and wanted to share in his troubles. He ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
21 The son said to him, "Father, I have been a bad son. I have done wrong to God in heaven and to you. I am not good enough now to be called your son. Let me be like one of these men who work for you."
22 `But his father said to his servants, "Go quickly and bring the best clothes. Dress him. Put a ring on his hand. Put shoes on his feet.
23 Bring the fat calf and kill it. Let us have a feast and a good time.
24 This is my son. He was dead and now he is alive again. He was lost and is found." And they began to have a good time.
25 `The older son was out on the farm. When he came home and was near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 He called one of the servants and said, "What is going on?"
27 The servant said, "Your brother has come home. Your father has killed the fat young cow because your brother is home and he is well."
28 `But the older son was angry. He would not go into the house. His father came out and begged him to come in.
29 But the son said to his father, "Look. I have worked hard for you for many years. I have always done everything you told me to do. And yet you never even gave me a young goat to make a feast with my friends.
30 But now this son of yours has come back. He has spent all your money and was with bad women. And yet you kill the fat calf for him!"
31 `The father said, "Son you have always been with me. And all that I have is yours.
32 But now we should have a good time and be happy. Your brother was dead and now he is alive again. He was lost and is found." '
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