Friday, May 31, 2013

Trust In God (Jesus continued)

Luke 12:24-26 (GNT) (Jesus continued) "Look at the crows: they don't plant seeds or gather a harvest; they don't have storage rooms or barns; God feeds them!  You are worth so much more than birds! Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it? If you can't imagine even such a small thing, why worry about the other things?"

A short segment from the "Jesus" film (1979), entirely from the Gospel of Luke, that portrays this section of the scripture:

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Trust In God

Luke 12:22- (GNT) Then Jesus said to the disciples, "And so I tell you not to worry about the food you need to stay alive or about the clothes you need for your body.  Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes."

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Be Rich In God's Sight

Luke 12:16-21 (GNT) Then Jesus told them this parable: "There was once a rich man who had land which bore good crops.  He began to think to himself, 'I don't have a place to keep all my crops.  What can I do? This is what I will do,' he told himself; 'I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I will store the grain and all my other goods.  Then I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years.  Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself?' "  And Jesus concluded, "This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God's sight."

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A Person's True Life Is Not Made Up of the Things He Owns, No Matter How Rich

Luke 12:13-15 (GNT) A man in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the property our father left us."  Jesus answered him, "Man, who gave Me the right to judge or to divide the property between you two?"  And He went on to say to them all, "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because a person's true life is not made up of the things he owns, no matter how rich he may be."

Monday, May 27, 2013

Do Not Be Worried About How You Will Defend Yourself

Luke 12:11-12 (GNT) (Jesus continued) "When they bring you to be tried in the synagogues or before governors or rulers, do not be worried about how you will defend yourself or what you will say.  For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Confessing and Rejecting Christ (continued)

Luke 12:10 (GNT) (Jesus continued) "Anyone who says a word against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven."

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Confessing and Rejecting Christ

Luke 12:8-9 (GNT) (Jesus said) "I assure you that whoever declares publicly that he belongs to Me, the Son of Man will do the same for him before the angels of God.  But whoever rejects Me publicly, the Son of Man will also reject him before the angels of God."

Friday, May 24, 2013

Do Not Be Afraid; You Are Worth Much More

Luke 12:6-7 (GNT) (Jesus continued) "Aren't five sparrows sold for two pennies?  Yet not one sparrow is forgotten by God.  Even the hairs of your head have all been counted.  So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!"

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Whom To Fear - God (The One Who Loves You Most)

Luke 12:4-5 (GNT) (Jesus said) "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot afterward do anything worse.  I will show you whom to fear: fear God, who, after killing, has the authority to throw into hell.  Believe me, He is the One you must fear!"

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

A Warning Against Hypocrisy

Luke 12:1-3 (GNT) As thousands of people crowded together, so that they were stepping on each other, Jesus said first to His disciples, "Be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees - I mean their hypocrisy. Whatever is covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known.  So then, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in broad daylight, and whatever you have whispered in private in a closed room will be shouted from the housetops."

Monday, May 20, 2013

Jesus Accuses the Pharisees & Teachers of the Law (continued)

Luke 11:52-54 (GNT) (Jesus continued) 52 “How terrible for you teachers of the Law! You have kept the key that opens the door to the house of knowledge; you yourselves will not go in, and you stop those who are trying to go in!”
53 When Jesus left that place, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to criticize Him bitterly and ask Him questions about many things, 54 trying to lay traps for Him and catch Him saying something wrong.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Jesus Accuses the Pharisees (continued)

Luke 11:47-51 (GNT) (Jesus continued) "How terrible for you!  You make fine tombs for the prophets-the very prophets your ancestors murdered.  You yourselves admit, then, that you approve of what your ancestors did; they murdered the prophets, and you build their tombs.  For this reason the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and messengers; they will kill some of them and persecute others.'  So the people of this time will be punished for the murder of all the prophets killed since the creation of the world, from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the Holy Place.  Yes, I tell you, the people of this time will be punished for them all!"

Thursday, May 16, 2013

You Put Onto People's Backs Loads Which Are Hard To Carry

Luke 11:43-46 (GNT) (Jesus continued) "How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the reserved seats in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces.  How terrible for you!  You are like unmarked graves which people walk on without knowing it."  One of the teachers of the Law said to Him, "Teacher, when you say this, you insult us too!"  Jesus answered, "How terrible also for you teachers of the Law!  You put onto people's backs loads which are hard to carry, but you yourselves will not stretch out a finger to help them carry those loads."

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

But You Neglect Justice and Love For God

Luke 11:42 (GNT) (Jesus said) "How terrible for you Pharisees! You give to God one tenth of the seasoning herbs,  such as mint and rue and all the other herbs, but you neglect justice and love for God. These you should practice, without neglecting the others."

Monday, May 13, 2013

Jesus Accuses the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law

Luke 11:37-41 (GNT) When Jesus finished speaking, a Pharisee invited Him to eat with him; so He went in and sat down to eat.  The Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus had not washed before eating.  So the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of your cup and plate, but inside you are full of violence and evil. Fools! Did not God, who made the outside, also make the inside?  But give what is in your cups and plates to the poor, and everything will be ritually clean for you."

Saturday, May 11, 2013

The Light Of The Body

Luke 11:33-36 (GNT) (Jesus said) "No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a bowl; instead, he puts it on the lampstand, so that people may see the light as they come in.  Your eyes are like a lamp for the body.  When your eyes are sound, your whole body is full of light; but when your eyes are no good, your whole body will be in darkness.  Make certain, then, that the light in you is not darkness.  If your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be bright all over, as when a lamp shines on you with its brightness.

Friday, May 10, 2013

The Demand for a Miracle

 Luke 11: 29-32 (GNT) As the people crowded around Jesus, He went on to say, “How evil are the people of this day! They ask for a miracle, but none will be given them except the miracle of Jonah. 30 In the same way that the prophet Jonah was a sign for the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign for the people of this day. 31 On the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse the people of today, because she traveled all the way from her country to listen to King Solomon's wise teaching; and there is something here, I tell you, greater than Solomon. 32 On the Judgment Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Jonah!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

True Happiness

Luke 11:27-28 (GNT) When Jesus had said this, a woman spoke up from the crowd and said to Him, “How happy is the woman who bore You and nursed You!” 28 But Jesus answered, “Rather, how happy are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The Return Of The Evil Spirit

Luke 11:24-26 (GNT) (Jesus said)  "When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one, it says to itself, 'I will go back to my house.'  So it goes back and finds the house clean and all fixed up.  Then it goes out and brings seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there.  So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than he was at the beginning."

Monday, May 6, 2013

Anyone Who Does Not Help Me Gather Is Really Scattering

Luke 11:21-21  (GNT) (Jesus continued) "When a strong man, with all his weapons ready, guards his own house, all his belongings are safe.  But when a stronger man attacks him and defeats him, he carries away all the weapons the owner was depending on and divides up what he stole.  Anyone who is not for Me is really against Me; anyone who does not help Me gather is really scattering."

Saturday, May 4, 2013

By Means of God's Power...The Kingdom Of God Has Already Come To You

Luke 11:14-20 (GNT) Jesus was driving out a demon that could not talk; and when the demon went out, the man began to talk.  The crowds were amazed, but some of the people said, "It is Beelzebul, the chief of the demons, who gives Him the power to drive them out."  Others wanted to trap Jesus, so they asked Him to perform a miracle to show that God approved of Him.  But Jesus knew what they were thinking, so He said to them, "Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long; a family divided against itself falls apart. So if Satan's kingdom has groups fighting each other, how can it last?  You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so.  If this is how I drive them out, how do your followers drive them out?  Your own followers prove that you are wrong!  No, it is rather by means of God's power that I drive out demons, and this proves that the Kingdom of God has already come to you."

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

How Much More, Then, Will the Father In Heaven Give the Holy Spirit To Those Who Ask Him!

Luke 11:10-13 (GNT) (Jesus said) "For everyone who asks will receive, and he who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks.  Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish?  Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?  As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children.  How much more, then, will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"