Text: John 8:42-59 (EHV)

Jesus replied, “If God were yourFather, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. Indeed, Ihave not come on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand mymessage? It is because you are not able to listen to my word. 44 You belong toyour father, the Devil, and you want to do your father’s desires. He was amurderer from the beginning and did not remain standing in the truth, becausethere is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks from what is his, becausehe is a liar and the father of lying. 45 But because I tell the truth, you donot believe me. 46 Who of you can convict me ofsin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs toGod listens to what God says. The reason you do not listen is that you do notbelong to God.” 48 The Jews responded, “Are we not right in saying that you area Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon. Onthe contrary, I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 I do not seek my ownglory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Amen, Amen, I tellyou: If anyone holds on to my word, he will certainly never see death.” 52 Sothe Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and sodid the prophets. Yet you say, ‘If anyone holds on to my word, he willcertainly never taste death.’ 53 You are not greater than our father, Abraham,are you? He died. And the prophets died. Who do you think you are?” 54 Jesusanswered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father whoglorifies me, about whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55 Yet you do not reallyknow him, but I do know him. If I said, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liarlike you. But I do know him, and I hold on to his word. 56 Your father Abrahamwas glad that he would see my day. He saw it and rejoiced.”57 The Jews replied,“You aren’t even fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?”58 Jesus said tothem, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Before Abraham was born, I am.” 59 Then theypicked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and left the templearea.

Text: John 6:1-15 (EHV)

John 6:1-15 After this, Jesus crossed over tothe other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Sea of Tiberias). 2A largecrowd followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he was performing onthose who were sick. 3Jesus went up on the hillside and sat downthere with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover festival was near. 5When Jesus looked upand saw a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buybread for these people to eat?” 6But Jesus was saying this to testhim, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answeredhim, “Two hundred denarii worth of breadwould not be enough for each of them to have just a little.” 8One ofhis disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9“There’sa boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what is that for somany people?” 10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There wasplenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. There were about five thousandmen. 11ThenJesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, he distributed pieces to thosewho were seated. He also did the same with the fish—as much asthey wanted. 12When the people were full,he told his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over so thatnothing is wasted.” 13So they gathered them and filled twelvebaskets with pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who hadeaten.

14Whenthe people saw the miraculous sign Jesus did, they said, “This really is theProphet who is coming into the world.” 15WhenJesus realized that they intended to come and take him by force to make himking, he withdrew again to the mountain byhimself.

Text: Luke 11:14-26 (EHV)

Jesus drove out a demon, which was mute.After the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowdswere amazed. 15But some of them said, “He drives out demons byBeelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” 16Otherswere testing him by demanding of him a sign from heaven. 17But heknew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself isdestroyed. And a house divided against itself falls. 18If Satan isdivided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? You say that I drive outdemons by Beelzebul. 19But if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, bywhom do your sons drive them out? So theywill be your judges. 20Yet if I drive out demons by the finger ofGod, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

21“Whena strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22Butwhen someone stronger attacks him and defeats him, he takes away that man’sfull armor, in which he had trusted, and divides up his plunder.

23“The one who is not with me is against me.The one who does not gather with me scatters. 24Whenan unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places,seeking rest, but does not find any. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house,the one I left.’ 25When it returns, it finds the house swept and putin order. 26Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evilthan itself, and they go in and dwell there. The last condition of that manbecomes worse than the first.”

Text: Matthew 15:21-28 (EHV)

Jesus left that place and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22There a Canaanite woman from that territory came and kept cryingout, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! A demon is severely tormenting mydaughter! 23But he did notanswer her a word. His disciples came and pleaded, “Send her away, because shekeeps crying out after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to thelost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25Butshe came and knelt in front of him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26Heanswered her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it totheir little dogs.” 27“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet theirlittle dogs also eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28ThenJesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Itwill be done for you, just as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at thatvery hour.

Text: Matthew 4:1-11 (EHV)Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. 2After he hadfasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The Tempter came and said to him, “If you arethe Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” 4But Jesus answered, “It is written: Manshall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” 5Then theDevil took him into the holy city. He placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6and he said to him,“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angelsconcerning you. And they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot againsta stone.” 7Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written: You shall not test the Lord your God.” 8Again theDevil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and theirglory. 9He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will bow down and worship me.”10Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and servehim only.’” 11Then the Devil left him, and just then angels came and served him.

Mark 9:2-10 (EHV)

2 After six days Jesus tookPeter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain where they werealone by themselves. There he was transfigured in front of them. 3 His clothes becameradiant, dazzling white, whiter than anyone on earth could bleach them. 4 And Elijah appeared tothem together with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 Petersaid to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tents:one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what tosay because they were terrified. 7 Acloud appeared and overshadowed them, and a voice came from the cloud, saying,“This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.” 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer sawanyone with them except Jesus alone. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesuscommanded them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man hadrisen from the dead. 10 Theykept the matter to themselves, discussing with one another what this “risingfrom the dead” meant.

Text: Luke 6:35-49 NKJ

"But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and yourreward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind tothe unthankful and evil. 36"Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. 37 "Judge not, and you shall not bejudged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will beforgiven. 38 "Give, and it will begiven to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running overwill be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will bemeasured back to you." 39 And Hespoke a parable to them: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not bothfall into the ditch? 40 "A discipleis not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be likehis teacher. 41 "And why do youlook at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in yourown eye? 42 "Or how can you say toyour brother,`Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when youyourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove theplank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck thatis in your brother's eye. 43 "For agood tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 "For every tree is known by its ownfruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from abramble bush. 45 "A good man out ofthe good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of theevil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of theheart his mouth speaks. 46 "But whydo you call Me`Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say? 47 "Whoever comes to Me, and hears Mysayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 "He is like a man building a house,who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, thestream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it wasfounded on the rock. 49 "But he whoheard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without afoundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell.And the ruin of that house was great.""

Text: Luke 5:1-11 ESV

" On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing inon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by thelake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats,which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he satdown and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,"Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." 5 And Simon answered,"Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will letdown the nets." 6 Andwhen they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their netswere breaking. 7 Theysignaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And theycame and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, hefell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,O Lord." 9 For he andall who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they hadtaken, 10 and so also wereJames and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus saidto Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catchingmen." 11 And when theyhad brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him."