M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

8 Again at that time many, many people came together. They had nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples. He said,

² `I share the suffering of the people. They have been with me for three days and they have nothing to eat.

³ If I send them home hungry, they will get weak and fall on the way. Some of them have come a long way.'

⁴ His disciples answered, `Where can anyone get enough food in this lonely place to feed so many people?'

⁵ Jesus asked them, `How many loaves of bread have you?' They said, `Seven.'

⁶ He told the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves of bread and thanked God for them. Then he broke the bread and gave it to the disciples. They gave it to the people.

⁷ They had a few small fish. Jesus told the disciples to divide the fish among the people also.

⁸ The people ate and had enough. They gathered seven baskets full of pieces that were left.

⁹ The number of men who ate was about four thousand.

¹⁰ Jesus sent them away. Then right away he got in the boat with his disciples and went to the country around Dalmanutha.

¹¹ The Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus. They wanted to test him. So they asked him to show them a sign from the sky.

¹² He sighed deeply in his spirit and said, `Why do people today want a sign? I tell you the truth. No sign will be given to them.'

¹³ He left them and went to the other side in a boat.

¹⁴ The disciples forgot to take food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat.

¹⁵ Jesus said, `Watch! Take care. Do not let the bread yeast of the Pharisees and Herod spoil you.'

¹⁶ The disciples talked to one another about the matter. They said, `He says that because we have no bread.'

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were saying. He asked, `Why are you saying, "We have no bread"? Do you not yet understand? Are your minds so slow?

¹⁸ Can you not see with your eyes or hear with your ears? Do you not remember?

¹⁹ When I broke five loaves for five thousand people, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you gather?' They said, `Twelve.'

²⁰ He said, `When I broke seven loaves for four thousand people, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you gather?' They said, `Seven.'

²¹ He said to them, `How is it that you do not yet understand?'

²² Then they came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to Jesus. They begged him to touch the man.

²³ Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. He spat on his eyes and put his hands on him. Then he asked, `Do you see anything?'

²⁴ The man looked up and said, `I see men, but they look like trees that are walking.'

²⁵ Jesus put his hands on him again. He made him look up. Then he was healed and could see everybody clearly.

²⁶ Jesus sent the man away to his home. `Do not go into the village and do not tell it to anyone,' he said.

²⁷ Jesus went with his disciples to the villages in Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, `Who do people say that I am?'

²⁸ They answered, `People say that you are John the Baptizer. Others say that you are Elijah. And others say that you are one of the prophets from long ago.'

²⁹ Then he asked them, `But who do you say I am?' Peter answered, `You are the Christ.'

³⁰ Jesus said to them, `Do not tell anyone about me.'

³¹ Then he began to teach them. He said, `The Son of Man will have much trouble. The leaders, the chief priests, and the scribes will not believe him. He will be killed. After three days he will rise.'

³² Jesus said this very plainly. Peter took him to one side and began to tell him not to say such things.

³³ Jesus turned around and saw the disciples. Then he talked to Peter. He said, `Get away from me, Satan! You are not thinking the way God thinks, but the way people think.'

³⁴ Jesus called the people and the disciples to him. He said, `If anyone wants to come with me he must leave what he himself wants to do. He must be ready to carry his own cross and come with me.

³⁵ Anyone who tries to keep his life will lose it. And anyone who gives up his life for my sake and for the sake of the good news will find it.

³⁶ What good will it do a man if he gets the whole world for himself but loses his soul?

^37-38 hat can a person give to get back his soul? People have gone away from God and are full of wrong ways. If anyone in this time is ashamed of me and the things I say, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of that person when he comes. The Son of Man will come with his holy angels, and be great like his Father.'

8 So now those who belong to Christ Jesus will not be judged.

² The Spirit gives life in Christ Jesus. And the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of wrong things, and the law of death.

³ God has done what the law could not do. The things people did made the law weak. God sent his own Son in a body of man. His body was like the bodies which others use to do wrong things. He sent him because people have done wrong things. And he judged the wrong things people have done in their bodies.

⁴ He did this so that we might be good people as the law said we should be. We are good people if we live the way the Spirit wants us to live, not the way our bodies want to live.

⁵ Some people live the way their bodies want to live. They think only about the things their bodies want to do. Other people live the way the Spirit wants them to live. They think about the things the Spirit wants them to do.

⁶ If you keep your mind on the things your bodies want to do, you will die. But if you keep your mind on the things the Spirit wants, you will live and have peace.

⁷ People who think about the things of this life are God's enemies. They do not obey God's law. They cannot obey it.

⁸ People who do what their bodies want cannot please God.

⁹ Does God's Spirit live in you? If he does, then you are not living the way the body wants, but you are living the way the Spirit wants. If anyone does not have Christ's Spirit, he does not belong to Christ.

¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your bodies are dead because of the wrong things you have done. But your spirits live because you have been made right with God.

¹¹ God raised Christ Jesus from death. Does God's Spirit live in you? Then God will also give life to your bodies which die. He does this through his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² So, my brothers, we must not live the way our bodies want us to live. We must not be ruled by our wrong ways.

¹³ If you live the way your bodies wants to live, you will die. But if, by the help of the Spirit, you stop doing the wrong things your bodies want to do, you will live.

¹⁴ All who do what God's Spirit leads them to do are God's sons.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit you have received does not make you a slave again so that you are afraid. But the Spirit you have received makes you sons of God.

¹⁶ So we say, `Father! Father!' The Spirit himself also, along with our own spirits, tells us that we are God's children.

¹⁷ If we are his children, God will give us the good things that children receive. He will give us these blessings along with Christ. He will give it to us if we suffer with Christ. If we suffer with Christ, we will also be made great with him.

¹⁸ I think that the troubles we have in this life are nothing when we think of the great things that we shall have.

¹⁹ The whole world is waiting for the time when the sons of God will be seen.

²⁰ The world was spoiled. It did not want to be spoiled, but God allowed it.

²¹ And it hoped to be free like God's children when they are made great.

²² We know that the whole world has been crying. It has had much pain until now.

²³ And not the world only, but we ourselves also cry out. We have the first blessing God gives of his Spirit. But we cry out in our hearts. We are waiting for God to finish making us his sons. Then our bodies will be set free.

²⁴ That is what we hoped for when we were saved. When the thing hoped for is seen, there is no more hoping. When a person sees a thing, how can he hope for it?

²⁵ But if we hope for something we do not see, we keep on waiting for it.

²⁶ Also the Spirit helps us because we are weak. We do not know how we should talk to God. But the Spirit himself talks to God for us, while we cry and cannot say any words.

²⁷ God looks to see what is in people's hearts. And he knows what the Spirit is going to do. The Spirit talks to God for God's people. And he asks for them what God wants them to have.

²⁸ We know that God works out everything for the good of those who love him. They are the people who are part of his plan.

²⁹ He knew all along that he would choose them. He chose them to be made like his Son. Then his Son would be the first one of many brothers.

³⁰ He chose them and he also called them. He called them to himself as if they had never been bad people. He made them right with himself and he also made them great in heaven.

³¹ So what shall we say about this? If God is on our side, who can be against us?

³² He did not keep his own Son, but gave him up for us all. Because he has given him to us, will he not also give us all other things?

³³ Who will say anything against God's chosen people? For it is God himself who says they have been put right with him.

³⁴ Who will say they are not right? Jesus Christ died. Yes, he was raised from death. He is at the right side of God. And he talks to God for us.

³⁵ Who can take us away from Christ's love? We may have trouble. We may have hard times. People may make us suffer because we believe. We may have no food to eat and no clothes to wear. We may be in danger. We may be killed with big knives. Can any of these things take us away from Christ's love?

³⁶ The holy writings say, `For your sake we are killed all day. We are like sheep ready to be killed.'

³⁷ But Christ loved us. He has helped us to win great victory in all these things.

³⁹ I know this. Death, life, angels, rulers, things happening now, things that will happen, high things, low things; nothing else in all the world can come between us and God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.