Wednesday, July 26

15But the righteous live forever, And their reward is with the Lord; And their care is by the Most High.

16Therefore they shall receive a kingly dwelling of dignity And a crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord, Because He will shelter them with His right hand And protect them with His arm.

17He will take His zeal as His full armor And will turn His creation into weapons against His enemies.

18He will wear righteousness as a breastplate And put on impartial judgment as a helmet.

19He will take holiness as an unconquerable shield

20And sharpen His relentless wrath for a sword; And creation will fight with Him against the senseless.

21Well-aimed flashes of lightning will strike And leap to their object as from a well-drawn bow of clouds;

22And hailstones full of anger will be hurled As from an engine of war. The water of the sea will be vexed with them, And the rivers will wash over them severely.

23A powerful wind will oppose them, And like a storm it will winnow them away. Lawlessness will lay waste all the earth, And wrongdoing will overturn the thrones of rulers.

1Listen therefore, O kings, and understand; Learn, O judges of the ends of the earth.

2Give ear, you that rule over multitudes, And take pride in yourself over a multitude of nations.

3For power was given to you from the Lord, And your lordship from the Most High, Who will make a careful search of your works And examine closely your plans.

1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

3and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

5They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.

6We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

20If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

21And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

1Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.

2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.

3For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

5Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

9I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

10The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

11'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

12But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

13The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

14I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

15As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

16And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

12Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

13No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

14Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

15I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.

16The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

17For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

18Observe Israel after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

19What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?

20Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

21You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons.

22Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

7But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

11if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

12Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

20Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

21From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

22Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!'

23But He turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.'

24Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

29So Jesus answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's,

30who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.'

32Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him:

33'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;

34and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.'

35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, 'Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.'

36And He said to them, 'What do you want Me to do for you?'

37They said to Him, 'Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.'

38But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?'

39They said to Him, 'We are able.'

40So Jesus said to them, 'You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.'

41And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.

42But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

43Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

44And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.

45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.'