Close Enough to Change: Experiencing the Transformative Power of Jesus

Christian Foundations 10 - Beliefs Part 2

Hebrews Part 1: Shallow Christianity

Seeds of Justice: Devotions From a Legacy of Faith and Justice

Called Out: Living the Mission

Acts 21:1-16 | Preparing for Death

Parties - Empowered to Go!

God's Waiting Room

I'm Just a Guy: Who's Angry

The Art of Being Still

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJHN">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="JHN.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">Jesus Anointed at Bethany</div><div class="p"> 1Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2Here a dinner was given in Jesus&#8217; honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3Then Mary took about a pint#12:3 Or about 0.5 liter of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus&#8217; feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.</div><div class="p"> 4But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5&#8220;Why wasn&#8217;t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year&#8217;s wages.#12:5 Greek three hundred denarii&#8221; 6He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.</div><div class="p"> 7 &#8220;Leave her alone,&#8221; Jesus replied. &#8220;It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8You will always have the poor among you,#12:8 See Deut. 15:11. but you will not always have me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.</div><div class="s1">Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King</div><div class="p"> 12The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Hosanna!#12:13 A Hebrew expression meaning &#8220;Save!&#8221; which became an exclamation of praise&#8221;</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!&#8221;#12:13 Psalm 118:25,26</div><div class="b"></div><div class="q1">&#8220;Blessed is the king of Israel!&#8221;</div><div class="m"> 14Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:</div><div class="q1"> 15&#8220;Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;</div><div class="q2">see, your king is coming,</div><div class="q2">seated on a donkey&#8217;s colt.&#8221;#12:15 Zech. 9:9</div><div class="p"> 16At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.</div><div class="p"> 17Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, &#8220;See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jesus Predicts His Death</div><div class="p"> 20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. &#8220;Sir,&#8221; they said, &#8220;we would like to see Jesus.&#8221; 22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.</div><div class="p"> 23Jesus replied, &#8220;The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.</div><div class="p"> 27 &#8220;Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? &#8216;Father, save me from this hour&#8217;? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!&#8221;</div><div class="p">Then a voice came from heaven, &#8220;I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.&#8221; 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.</div><div class="p"> 30Jesus said, &#8220;This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up#12:32 The Greek for lifted up also means exalted. from the earth, will draw all people to myself.&#8221; 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.</div><div class="p"> 34The crowd spoke up, &#8220;We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, &#8216;The Son of Man must be lifted up&#8217;? Who is this &#8216;Son of Man&#8217;?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 35Then Jesus told them, &#8220;You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.&#8221; When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.</div><div class="s1">Belief and Unbelief Among the Jews</div><div class="p"> 37Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Lord, who has believed our message</div><div class="q2">and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?&#8221;#12:38 Isaiah 53:1</div><div class="p"> 39For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:</div><div class="q1"> 40&#8220;He has blinded their eyes</div><div class="q2">and hardened their hearts,</div><div class="q1">so they can neither see with their eyes,</div><div class="q2">nor understand with their hearts,</div><div class="q2">nor turn&#8212;and I would heal them.&#8221;#12:40 Isaiah 6:10</div><div class="m"> 41Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus&#8217; glory and spoke about him.</div><div class="p"> 42Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43for they loved human praise more than praise from God.</div><div class="p"> 44Then Jesus cried out, &#8220;Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.</div><div class="p"> 47 &#8220;If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJHN">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="JHN.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">Jesus Washes His Disciples&#8217; Feet</div><div class="p"> 1It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.</div><div class="p"> 2The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples&#8217; feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.</div><div class="p"> 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, &#8220;Lord, are you going to wash my feet?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Jesus replied, &#8220;You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;No,&#8221; said Peter, &#8220;you shall never wash my feet.&#8221;</div><div class="p">Jesus answered, &#8220;Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Then, Lord,&#8221; Simon Peter replied, &#8220;not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10Jesus answered, &#8220;Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.&#8221; 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.</div><div class="p"> 12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. &#8220;Do you understand what I have done for you?&#8221; he asked them. 13&#8220;You call me &#8216;Teacher&#8217; and &#8216;Lord,&#8217; and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another&#8217;s feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.</div><div class="s1">Jesus Predicts His Betrayal</div><div class="p"> 18 &#8220;I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: &#8216;He who shared my bread has turned # 13:18 Greek has lifted up his heel against me.&#8217;#13:18 Psalm 41:9</div><div class="p"> 19 &#8220;I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, &#8220;Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, &#8220;Ask him which one he means.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, &#8220;Lord, who is it?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26Jesus answered, &#8220;It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.&#8221; Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.</div><div class="p">So Jesus told him, &#8220;What you are about to do, do quickly.&#8221; 28But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.</div><div class="s1">Jesus Predicts Peter&#8217;s Denial</div><div class="p"> 31When he was gone, Jesus said, &#8220;Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. 32If God is glorified in him,#13:32 Many early manuscripts do not have If God is glorified in him. God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.</div><div class="p"> 33 &#8220;My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.</div><div class="p"> 34 &#8220;A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 36Simon Peter asked him, &#8220;Lord, where are you going?&#8221;</div><div class="p">Jesus replied, &#8220;Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37Peter asked, &#8220;Lord, why can&#8217;t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Then Jesus answered, &#8220;Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJHN">
 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="JHN.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Jesus Comforts His Disciples</div><div class="p"> 1 &#8220;Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God # 14:1 Or Believe in God ; believe also in me. 2My Father&#8217;s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jesus the Way to the Father</div><div class="p"> 5Thomas said to him, &#8220;Lord, we don&#8217;t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6Jesus answered, &#8220;I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really know me, you will know#14:7 Some manuscripts If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8Philip said, &#8220;Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Jesus answered: &#8220;Don&#8217;t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, &#8216;Show us the Father&#8217;? 10Don&#8217;t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.</div><div class="s1">Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit</div><div class="p"> 15 &#8220;If you love me, keep my commands. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever&#8212; 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be#14:17 Some early manuscripts and is in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, &#8220;But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23Jesus replied, &#8220;Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.</div><div class="p"> 25 &#8220;All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.</div><div class="p"> 28 &#8220;You heard me say, &#8216;I am going away and I am coming back to you.&#8217; If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.</div><div class="p"> &#8220;Come now; let us leave.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkJHN">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="JHN.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">The Vine and the Branches</div><div class="p"> 1 &#8220;I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes#15:2 The Greek for he prunes also means he cleans. so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.</div><div class="p"> 5 &#8220;I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to my Father&#8217;s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.</div><div class="p"> 9 &#8220;As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father&#8217;s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one&#8217;s life for one&#8217;s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master&#8217;s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit&#8212;fruit that will last&#8212;and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17This is my command: Love each other.</div><div class="s1">The World Hates the Disciples</div><div class="p"> 18 &#8220;If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember what I told you: &#8216;A servant is not greater than his master.&#8217;#15:20 John 13:16 If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: &#8216;They hated me without reason.&#8217;#15:25 Psalms 35:19; 69:4</div><div class="s1">The Work of the Holy Spirit</div><div class="p"> 26 &#8220;When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father&#8212;the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father&#8212;he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="JHN.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="p"> 1 &#8220;All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, &#8216;Where are you going?&#8217; 6Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.</div><div class="p"> 12 &#8220;I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Disciples&#8217; Grief Will Turn to Joy</div><div class="p"> 16Jesus went on to say, &#8220;In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17At this, some of his disciples said to one another, &#8220;What does he mean by saying, &#8216;In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,&#8217; and &#8216;Because I am going to the Father&#8217;?&#8221; 18They kept asking, &#8220;What does he mean by &#8216;a little while&#8217;? We don&#8217;t understand what he is saying.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, &#8220;Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, &#8216;In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me&#8217;? 20Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.</div><div class="p"> 25 &#8220;Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. 26In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29Then Jesus&#8217; disciples said, &#8220;Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. 30Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31 &#8220;Do you now believe?&#8221; Jesus replied. 32&#8220;A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.</div><div class="p"> 33 &#8220;I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.&#8221;</div>
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