Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

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.

13 That day Jesus left the house and sat down by the sea side.

² Many people came to where he was. So he got into a boat and sat down. All the people stood on the land by the water.

³ He taught the people many things by telling them stories. He said, `Listen, a man went out to sow some seed.

⁴ As he sowed it, some of the seed fell on the road. Birds came and ate the seed.

⁵ Some seed fell on the stony ground. Not much earth covered the stones. The seed started to grow right away because it was not deep in the ground.

⁶ When the sun began to shine, it was too hot for the new plants. They died because they had no roots.

⁷ Some seed fell among the weeds. The weeds grew up and made the new plants die.

⁸ But some seed fell on good ground. The seed grew and the plants gave more seed. Some plants gave thirty seeds. Some gave sixty. And some gave a hundred.

⁹ Everyone who has ears, listen!'

¹⁸ `So listen to hear what the story means, about the man who sowed the seed.'

¹⁹ `People listen to the message about the kingdom of heaven. If anyone does not understand it, the devil comes along and takes the message out of his heart. That person is like the seed which fell on the road.

²⁰ Some seed fell on the stony ground. That is like a person who hears the message and right away he is glad to hear it.

²¹ But it does not go down deep in his heart. He believes it for a short time. When trouble or a hard time comes because of the message, he stops believing.

²² Some seed fell among the weeds. That is like the person who hears the message. But he thinks about the things of this world. He wants to get money to be happy. These things push the message out of his heart. No good comes from it.

²³ Some seed fell on good ground. That is like a person who hears the message and understands it. Much good comes from it. Some people are like the seed that gave a hundred more seeds. Some people are like the seed that gave sixty. Some people are like the seed that gave thirty.'