Key Thought

Today's Prayer

LORD God, the Almighty of Israel, please come live in my heart through faith and help me believe in you more passionately. Please abide in me, O God, for without your presence I would surely fail. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

At that time Jesus' followers came back from town. They were surprised because they saw Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?" Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told the people in town, "A man told me everything I have ever done. Come see him. Maybe he is the Christ. " So the people left the town and went to see Jesus. While the woman was in town, Jesus' followers were begging him, "Teacher, eat something!" But Jesus answered, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." So the followers asked themselves, "Did somebody already bring Jesus some food?" Jesus said, "My food is to do what the One (God) who sent me wants me to do. My food is to finish the work that he gave me to do. {When you plant} you always say, 'Four more months to wait before we gather the grain.' But I tell you, open your eyes. Look at the {people. They are like} fields ready for harvesting now. Even now, the person that harvests the crop is being paid. He is gathering crops for eternal life. So now the person that plants can be happy together with the person that harvests. It is true when we say, 'One person plants, but another person harvests the crop.' I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work for. Other people did the work, and you get the profit from their work." Many of the Samaritan people in that town believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman had told them about Jesus. She had told them, "He (Jesus) told me everything I have ever done." The Samaritans went to Jesus. They begged Jesus to stay with them. So Jesus stayed there two days. Many more people believed because of the things Jesus said. The people said to the woman, "First we believed in Jesus because of what you told us. But now we believe because we heard him ourselves. We know now that he really is the one that will save the world." Two days later Jesus left and went to Galilee. (Jesus had said before that aprophet is not respected in his own country.)

Related Scripture Readings

Then Jesus asked the man, "What is your name?" The man answered, "My name is Legion, because there are many spirits inside me." The spirits inside the man begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of that area. A large herd of pigs was eating on a hill near there. The evil spirits begged Jesus, "Send us to the pigs. Let us go into them." So Jesus allowed them to do this. The evil spirits left the man and went into the pigs. Then the herd of pigs ran down the hill and into the lake. All the pigs were drowned. There were about 2,000 pigs in that herd. The men that had the work of caring for the pigs ran away. The men ran to the town and to the farms. They told all the people what happened. The people went out to see what happened. The people came to Jesus. They saw the man that had the many evil spirits. The man was sitting and was wearing clothes. He was in his right mind again. The people were afraid. Some people were there and saw what Jesus did. These people told the other people what happened to the man that had the demons living in him. And they also told about the pigs. Then the people began to beg Jesus to leave their area.

"When you enter a city or town, find some worthy person there and stay in his home until you leave. When you enter that home say, 'Peace be with you.' If the people in that home welcome you, then they are worthy of your peace. May they have the peace you wished them. But if the people don't welcome you, then they are not worthy of your peace. Take back the peace you wished for them. And if a home or town refuses to welcome you or listen to you, then leave that place. Shake their dust off your feet. I tell you the truth. On the judgment day it will be worse for that town than for the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The believers were scattered everywhere. Every place the believers went they told people the Good News. Philip went to the city of Samaria. He told people about the Christ. The people there heard Philip and saw the miracles he was doing. They all listened carefully to the things Philip said. Many of these people had evil spirits {from the devil} inside them. But Philip made the evil spirits leave them. The spirits made a loud noise when they came out. There were also many weak and crippled people there. Philip made these people well, too. The people in that city were very happy because of this. The apostles were still in Jerusalem. They heard that the people of Samaria had accepted the word of God. So the apostles sent Peter and John to the people in Samaria. When Peter and John arrived, they prayed for the Samaritan believers to receive the Holy Spirit. These people had been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. But the Holy Spirit had not yet come down on any of them. This is why Peter and John prayed. The two apostles put their hands on the people. Then the people received the Holy Spirit. Then the two apostles told the people the things they had seen {Jesus do}. The apostles told the people the message of the Lord. Then they went back to Jerusalem. On the way they went through many Samaritan towns and told people the Good News.