M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Pharisees seek a sign. Jesus warns his disciples of the Pharisees’ doctrine. Peter’s confession. The keys of heaven. The faithful must bear their cross after Christ.
16 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tempted Jesus, asking him to show them some sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, At evening you say the weather will be fair, and that because the sky is red; 3 and in the morning you say it will be bad weather today, and that because the sky is cloudy and red. O ye hypocrites, you can discern the aspect of the sky, and can you not discern the signs of the times? 4 The froward and adulterous nation seeks a sign, but no other sign shall be given to them than the sign of the prophet Jonah.
So he left them, and departed.
5 And when his disciples had come to the other side of the water, they had forgotten to take bread with them. 6 Then Jesus said to them, Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 7 And they thought in themselves, saying, It is because we have brought no bread with us.
8 When Jesus understood this, he said to them, O ye of little faith, why are your minds cumbered because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Nor remember those five loaves when there were 5,000 men, and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves when there were 4,000, and how many baskets you took up? 11 Why do you not perceive then that I was not speaking to you about bread when I said to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
13 When Jesus arrived in the vicinity of the city which is called Caesarea Phillippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am? 14 They said, Some say you are John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 15 He said to them, But who do you say that I am? 16 Simon Peter answered and said, You are Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed that to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I say also to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my congregation. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
20 Then he charged his disciples to tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
21 From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, and from the high priests and from the scribes, and must be killed, and rise up again the third day. 22 But Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Master, spare yourself! This should not happen to you. 23 Then Jesus turned about and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You offend me, because you savour not the things of God, but things of the world.
24 Jesus then said to his disciples, If any person would follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whosoever would save his life, will lose it. And whosoever loses his life for my sake, will find it. 26 What will it profit a man, though he should win all the whole world, if he loses his own soul? Or, what can a man give to redeem his soul? 27 For the Son of man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then shall he reward every person according to his deeds.
28 Truly I say to you, some there are among them that stand here who shall not taste of death till they have seen the Son of man come in his kingdom.
Timothy is circumcised. Paul preaches at Phillipi, and there he is put in prison.
16 Then Paul went to Derbe and to Lystra. And a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a woman who was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek. 2 The brethren of Lystra and of Iconium spoke well of Timothy. 3 Paul wanted him to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those quarters, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they went through the towns, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, as resolved by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem. 5 And so the congregations were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
6 When they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia, 7 they came to the region of Mysia, and sought to go into Bithynia. But the Spirit would not permit them. 8 Then they went over Mysia and down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: there stood a man from Macedonia who appealed to him, saying, Come into Macedonia and help us! 10 After he had seen the vision, immediately we prepared to go into Macedonia, persuaded that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. 11 Then we set sail from Troas, and with a straight course went to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the chief city in the parts of Macedonia, and a Roman colony.
We were in that city for several days. 13 And on the Sabbath days we went out of the city, beside a river where people were accustomed to pray. And we sat down and spoke to the women who gathered there. 14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart so that she attended to the things that Paul said. 15 When she was baptized, and her household, she invited us, saying, If you think that I believe on the Lord, come into my house and stay there. And she constrained us.
16 And it happened as we went to prayer that a certain girl possessed with a spirit that prophesied met us, who brought her masters much income by prophesying. 17 She followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, who show to us the way of salvation! 18 And she did this many days. But Paul, not pleased, turned about and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! And it came out the same hour.
19 And when her master and mistress saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace to the authorities, 20 and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men are troubling our city. They are Jews, and preach customs 21 that are not lawful for us to receive nor to observe, seeing we are Romans.
22 And the people ran on them, and the magistrates tore their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when they had beaten them sore, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Which jailer, when he had received such direction, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 At midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and lauding God, and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the prison was shaken. And immediately all the doors opened, and every man’s bonds were loosed. 27 When the keeper of the prison awoke out of his sleep and saw the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!
29 Then he called for a light and rushed in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, and your household. 32 And they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and was baptized with all who belonged to him straightaway. 34 When he had brought Paul and Silas into his house, he set food before them, and rejoiced that he with all his household believed on God.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent their officers, saying, Let those men go. 36 The keeper of the prison told this to Paul, saying, The magistrates have sent word to release you; now therefore take your leave, and go in peace.
37 Then Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly, without a trial, for all that we are Romans, and have cast us into prison. And now would they send us away quietly? No, not so, but let them come themselves and get us out.
38 When the officers told these words to the magistrates, they feared, hearing that Paul and Silas were Romans, 39 and came and entreated them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city. 40 And they went out of the prison and entered into the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them and departed.
Copyright © 2016 by Ruth Magnusson (Davis). Includes emendations to February 2022. All rights reserved.