Luke 13:31-35
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.†32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ †(ESV)
Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?†15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.†Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.†(ESV)
Luke 4:1-13
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.†4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ †5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.†8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
     “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’ â€
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11Â and
“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ â€
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ †13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. (ESV)
Joel 2:12-19
12   “Yet even now,†declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
     with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     and rend your hearts and not your garments.â€
     Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
     slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
14Â Â Â Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
     a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
15Â Â Â Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
     call a solemn assembly;
16Â Â Â Â Â gather the people.
     Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
     gather the children,
even nursing infants.
     Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
17Â Â Â Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
     and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.
     Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ â€
18Â Â Â Then the Lord became jealous for his land
and had pity on his people.
19Â Â Â The Lord answered and said to his people,
     “Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
     and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations. (ESV)
1 Corinthians 15:21-42
21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.†But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,†it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.†33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.†34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?†36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. (ESV)
1 Corinthians 15:1-20
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3Â For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4Â that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5Â and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Â Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Â Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Â Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9Â For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10Â But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11Â Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
12Â Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13Â But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14Â And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15Â We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16Â For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17Â And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Â Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19Â If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20Â But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (ESV)
Luke 5:1-11
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, 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 sat down 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 let down the nets.†6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.†9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.†11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (ESV)
1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13
31b And I will show you a still more excellent way.
13:1Â If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2Â And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3Â If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Â Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5Â or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6Â it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Â Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Â Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9Â For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10Â but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11Â When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12Â For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13Â So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (ESV)
Luke 4:16-30
16Â And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17Â And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.â€
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.†22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?†23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘ “Physician, heal yourself.†What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ †24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.†28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away. (ESV)
John 2:1-11
1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.†4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.†5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.â€
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.†And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.†So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.†11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (ESV)
Romans 6:1-11
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2Â By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3Â Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Â We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5Â For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6Â We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7Â For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8Â Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9Â We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10Â For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11Â So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (ESV)
Matthew 2:1-12
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.†3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’ â€
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.†9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. (ESV)
