M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Grain Offering
2 “‘When anyone offers a grain offering to the Lord, it must be made from fine flour. The person must pour oil on it, put incense on it, 2 and then take it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. The priest must take a handful of the fine flour and oil and all the incense, and burn it on the altar as a memorial portion. It is an offering made by fire, and its smell is pleasing to the Lord. 3 The rest of the grain offering will belong to Aaron and the priests; it is a most holy part of the offerings made by fire to the Lord.
4 “‘If you bring a grain offering that was baked in the oven, it must be made from fine flour. It may be loaves made without yeast and mixed with oil, or it may be wafers made without yeast that have oil poured over them. 5 If your grain offering is cooked on a griddle, it must be made, without yeast, of fine flour mixed with oil. 6 Crumble it and pour oil over it; it is a grain offering. 7 If your grain offering is cooked in a pan, it must be made from fine flour and oil. 8 Bring the grain offering made of these things to the Lord. Give it to the priest, and he will take it to the altar. 9 He will take out the memorial portion from the grain offering and burn it on the altar, as an offering made by fire. Its smell is pleasing to the Lord. 10 The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and the priests. It is a most holy part of the offerings made to the Lord by fire.
11 “‘Every grain offering you bring to the Lord must be made without yeast, because you must not burn any yeast or honey in an offering made by fire to the Lord. 12 You may bring yeast and honey to the Lord as an offering from the first harvest, but they must not be burned on the altar as a pleasing smell. 13 You must also put salt on all your grain offerings. Salt stands for your agreement with God that will last forever; do not leave it out of your grain offering. You must add salt to all your offerings.
14 “‘If you bring a grain offering from the first harvest to the Lord, bring crushed heads of new grain roasted in the fire. 15 Put oil and incense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 The priest will burn the memorial portion of the crushed grain and oil, with the incense on it. It is an offering by fire to the Lord.
The Fellowship Offering
3 “‘If a person’s fellowship offering to the Lord is from the herd, it may be a male or female, but it must have nothing wrong with it. 2 The person must put his hand on the animal’s head and kill it at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. Then Aaron’s sons, the priests, must sprinkle the blood on all sides of the altar. 3 From the fellowship offering he must make a sacrifice by fire to the Lord. He must offer the fat of the animal’s inner organs (both the fat that is in them and that covers them), 4 both kidneys with the fat that is on them near the lower back muscle, and the best part of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys. 5 Then the priests will burn these parts on the altar, on the whole burnt offering that is on the wood of the fire. It is an offering made by fire, and its smell is pleasing to the Lord.
6 “‘If a person’s fellowship offering to the Lord is a lamb or a goat, it may be a male or female, but it must have nothing wrong with it. 7 If he offers a lamb, he must bring it before the Lord 8 and put his hand on its head. Then he must kill the animal in front of the Meeting Tent, and the priests must sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. 9 From the fellowship offering the person must make a sacrifice by fire to the Lord. He must bring the fat, the whole fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the fat of the inner organs (both the fat that is in them and that covers them), 10 both kidneys with the fat that is on them, near the lower back muscle, and the best part of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys. 11 Then the priest will burn these parts on the altar as food; it will be an offering made by fire to the Lord.
12 “‘If a person’s offering is a goat, he must offer it before the Lord 13 and put his hand on its head. Then he must kill it in front of the Meeting Tent, and the priests must sprinkle its blood on all sides of the altar. 14 From this offering the person must make a sacrifice by fire to the Lord. He must offer all the fat of the goat’s inner organs (both the fat that is in them and that covers them), 15 both kidneys with the fat that is on them near the lower back muscle, and the best part of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys. 16 The priest will burn these parts on the altar as food. It is an offering made by fire, and its smell is pleasing to the Lord. All the fat belongs to the Lord.
17 “‘This law will continue for people from now on, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or blood.’”
Jesus Appears to Seven Followers
21 Later, Jesus showed himself to his followers again—this time at Lake Galilee.[a] This is how he showed himself: 2 Some of the followers were together: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the two sons of Zebedee, and two other followers. 3 Simon Peter said, “I am going out to fish.”
The others said, “We will go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat. They fished that night but caught nothing.
4 Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the followers did not know it was Jesus. 5 Then he said to them, “Friends, did you catch any fish?”
They answered, “No.”
6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they did, and they caught so many fish they could not pull the net back into the boat.
7 The follower whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Peter heard him say this, he wrapped his coat around himself. (Peter had taken his clothes off.) Then he jumped into the water. 8 The other followers went to shore in the boat, dragging the net full of fish. They were not very far from shore, only about a hundred yards. 9 When the followers stepped out of the boat and onto the shore, they saw a fire of hot coals. There were fish on the fire, and there was bread.
10 Then Jesus said, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”
11 Simon Peter went into the boat and pulled the net to the shore. It was full of big fish, one hundred fifty-three in all, but even though there were so many, the net did not tear. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and eat.” None of the followers dared ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, along with the fish.
14 This was now the third time Jesus showed himself to his followers after he was raised from the dead.
Jesus Talks to Peter
15 When they finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 A third time he said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” Peter said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!”
He said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you tied your own belt and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will put out your hands and someone else will tie you and take you where you don’t want to go.” 19 (Jesus said this to show how Peter would die to give glory to God.) Then Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me!”
20 Peter turned and saw that the follower Jesus loved was walking behind them. (This was the follower who had leaned against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who will turn against you?”) 21 When Peter saw him behind them, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business. You follow me.”
23 So a story spread among the followers that this one would not die. But Jesus did not say he would not die. He only said, “If I want him to live until I come back, that is not your business.”
24 That follower is the one who is telling these things and who has now written them down. We know that what he says is true.
25 There are many other things Jesus did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not be big enough for all the books that would be written.
18 Unfriendly people are selfish
and hate all good sense.
2 Fools do not want to understand anything.
They only want to tell others what they think.
3 Do something evil, and people won’t like you.
Do something shameful, and they will make fun of you.
4 Spoken words can be like deep water,
but wisdom is like a flowing stream.
5 It is not good to honor the wicked
or to be unfair to the innocent.
6 The words of fools start quarrels.
They make people want to beat them.
7 The words of fools will ruin them;
their own words will trap them.
8 The words of a gossip are like tasty bits of food.
People like to gobble them up.
9 A person who doesn’t work hard
is just like someone who destroys things.
10 The Lord is like a strong tower;
those who do right can run to him for safety.
11 Rich people trust their wealth to protect them.
They think it is like the high walls of a city.
12 Proud people will be ruined,
but the humble will be honored.
13 Anyone who answers without listening
is foolish and confused.
14 The will to live can get you through sickness,
but no one can live with a broken spirit.
15 The mind of a person with understanding gets knowledge;
the wise person listens to learn more.
16 Taking gifts to important people
will help get you in to see them.
17 The person who tells one side of a story seems right,
until someone else comes and asks questions.
18 Throwing lots can settle arguments
and keep the two sides from fighting.
19 A brother who has been insulted is harder to win back than a walled city,
and arguments separate people like the barred gates of a palace.
20 People will be rewarded for what they say;
they will be rewarded by how they speak.
21 What you say can mean life or death.
Those who speak with care will be rewarded.
22 When a man finds a wife, he finds something good.
It shows that the Lord is pleased with him.
23 The poor beg for mercy,
but the rich give rude answers.
24 Some friends may ruin you,
but a real friend will be more loyal than a brother.
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Also from Timothy, our brother.
2 To the holy and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ that live in Colossae:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.[a]
3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 because we have heard about the faith you have in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all of God’s people. 5 You have this faith and love because of your hope, and what you hope for is kept safe for you in heaven. You learned about this hope when you heard the message about the truth, the Good News 6 that was told to you. Everywhere in the world that Good News is bringing blessings and is growing. This has happened with you, too, since you heard the Good News and understood the truth about the grace of God. 7 You learned about God’s grace from Epaphras, whom we love. He works together with us and is a faithful servant of Christ for us.[b] 8 He also told us about the love you have from the Holy Spirit.
9 Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we have continued praying for you, asking God that you will know fully what he wants. We pray that you will also have great wisdom and understanding in spiritual things 10 so that you will live the kind of life that honors and pleases the Lord in every way. You will produce fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God. 11 God will strengthen you with his own great power so that you will not give up when troubles come, but you will be patient. 12 And you will joyfully give thanks to the Father who has made you[c] able to have a share in all that he has prepared for his people in the kingdom of light. 13 God has freed us from the power of darkness, and he brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son. 14 The Son paid for our sins,[d] and in him we have forgiveness.
The Importance of Christ
15 No one can see God, but Jesus Christ is exactly like him. He ranks higher than everything that has been made. 16 Through his power all things were made—things in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, all powers, authorities, lords, and rulers. All things were made through Christ and for Christ. 17 He was there before anything was made, and all things continue because of him. 18 He is the head of the body, which is the church. Everything comes from him. He is the first one who was raised from the dead. So in all things Jesus has first place. 19 God was pleased for all of himself to live in Christ. 20 And through Christ, God has brought all things back to himself again—things on earth and things in heaven. God made peace through the blood of Christ’s death on the cross.
21 At one time you were separated from God. You were his enemies in your minds, and the evil things you did were against God. 22 But now God has made you his friends again. He did this through Christ’s death in the body so that he might bring you into God’s presence as people who are holy, with no wrong, and with nothing of which God can judge you guilty. 23 This will happen if you continue strong and sure in your faith. You must not be moved away from the hope brought to you by the Good News that you heard. That same Good News has been told to everyone in the world, and I, Paul, help in preaching that Good News.
Paul’s Work for the Church
24 I am happy in my sufferings for you. There are things that Christ must still suffer through his body, the church. I am accepting, in my body, my part of these things that must be suffered. 25 I became a servant of the church because God gave me a special work to do that helps you, and that work is to tell fully the message of God. 26 This message is the secret that was hidden from everyone since the beginning of time, but now it is made known to God’s holy people. 27 God decided to let his people know this rich and glorious secret which he has for all people. This secret is Christ himself, who is in you. He is our only hope for glory. 28 So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God’s presence as a mature person in Christ. 29 To do this, I work and struggle, using Christ’s great strength that works so powerfully in me.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.