Key Thought

God is not nearly as concerned about polite words and appearances as he is about genuine, heartfelt repentance. To repent means to change both our hearts and our lives. One without the other is incomplete. John the Baptist came preaching repentance. Jesus came preaching repentance. The early disciples came preaching repentance. The Gospel is about change. But the Gospel is about more than change, it is about transformation, about being changed to be something more like God. That kind of change requires the power of the Holy Spirit!

Today's Prayer

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Almighty and loving God, please be patient with me and help me be more impatient with myself as your Spirit seeks to do his work of transformation in my life. I do want to live to honor you and more closely reflect the character and grace of Jesus. Please give me wisdom to know your will, courage to stay away from sin, and a willing heart to seek after you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

"Tell me what you think about this: There was a man that had two sons. The man went to the first son and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' "The son answered, 'I will not go.' But later the son decided he should go, and the son went. "Then the father went to the other son and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' The son answered, 'Yes, sir, I will go and work.' But the son did not go. "Which of the two sons obeyed his father?" The Jewish leaders answered, "The first son." Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth. {You think} the tax collectors and the prostitutes {are bad people. But they} will enter the kingdom of God before you enter. John came showing you the right way to live. And you did not believe John. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed John. And you saw that the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. But you still refused to change and believe him. "Listen to this story: There was a man that owned a vineyard. He put a wall around the field and dug a hole for a wine press. Then the man built a tower. He leased the land to some farmers. Then he left for a trip. Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent his servants to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. "But the farmers grabbed the servants and beat one. They killed another one and then killed a third servant with rocks. So the man sent some other servants to the farmers. The man sent more servants than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to the servants that they did the first time. So the man decided to send his son to the farmers. The man said, 'The farmers will respect my son.' "But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the owner's son. This vineyard will be his. If we kill him, then it will be ours!' So the farmers took the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. "So what will the owner of the vineyard do to these farmers when he comes?" The Jewish priests and leaderssaid, "He will surely kill those evil men. Then he will lease the land to some other farmers. He will lease it to farmers that will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." Jesus said to them, "Surely you have read this in the Scriptures : 'The stone that the builders did not want became the cornerstone. The Lord did this, and it is wonderful to us.' "So I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you. God's kingdom will be given to people that do the things God wants in his kingdom. The person that falls on this stone will be broken. And if the stone falls on a person, then it will crush that person." The leading priests and the Pharisees heard these stories that Jesus told. They knew that Jesus was talking about them. They wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus. But they were afraid of the people, because the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.

— Matthew 21:28-46 (ERV)

Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.