Tuesday, November 16, 2027

^1:1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, ⁵who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, ⁷that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ— ⁸whom, not having known, you love. In him, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory, ⁹receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you, ¹¹searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed to when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow them. ¹²To them it was revealed that they served not themselves, but you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into. ¹³Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ— ¹⁴as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, ¹⁵but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior, ¹⁶because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear, ¹⁸knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, ¹⁹but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ, ²⁰who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake, ²¹who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God. ²²Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently, ²³having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever. ²⁴For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls; ²⁵but the Lord’s word endures forever.” This is the word of Good News which was preached to you. ^2:1Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, ²as newborn babies, long for the pure spiritual milk, that with it you may grow, ³if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. ⁴Come to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious. ⁵You also as living stones are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious. He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”

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^2:21For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps, ²²who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.” ²³When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. ²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds. ²⁵For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. ^3:1In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word, ²seeing your pure behavior in fear. ³Let your beauty come not from the outward adorning of braiding your hair, and of wearing gold ornaments or of putting on fine clothing, ⁴but from the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God’s sight. ⁵For this is how in the past the holy women who hoped in God also adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands. ⁶So Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you now are if you do well and are not put in fear by any terror. ⁷You husbands, in the same way, live with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman as to the weaker vessel, as also being joint heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. ⁸Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous, ⁹not rendering evil for evil or insult for insult; but instead blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

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^4:1Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ²that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. ³For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries. ⁴They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. ⁵They will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit. ⁷But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer. ⁸And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. ¹¹If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

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^21:15So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” ¹⁷He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you don’t want to go.” ¹⁹Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁰Then Peter, turning around, saw a disciple following. This was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who had also leaned on Jesus’ chest at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” ²¹Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” ²²Jesus said to him, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” ²³This saying therefore went out among the brothers that this disciple wouldn’t die. Yet Jesus didn’t say to him that he wouldn’t die, but, “If I desire that he stay until I come, what is that to you?” ²⁴This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true. ²⁵There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.

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^2:20If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances, ²¹“Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch” ²²(all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men? ²³These things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, humility, and severity to the body, but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh. ^3:1If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. ²Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. ³For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

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^4:9For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. ¹¹Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. ¹²We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. ¹³Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now. ¹⁴I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News. ¹⁶I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.

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^14:25Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them, ²⁶“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, ³⁰saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace. ³³So therefore, whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple. ³⁴“Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

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^9:9As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him. ¹⁰As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹²When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. ¹³But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

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^2:20If you died with Christ from the elemental spirits of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances, ²¹“Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch” ²²(all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men? ²³These things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, humility, and severity to the body, but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh. ^3:1If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. ²Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. ³For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

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^11:34The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn’t darkness. ³⁶If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.” ³⁷Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in and sat at the table. ³⁸When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner. ³⁹The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness. ⁴⁰You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.

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