Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Give me courage, dear Father, to follow Jesus as my Lord no matter the cost. Please use me to influence those I love to come to know Jesus as their Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

At that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to the place where John was. John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. While Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the sky open. The Holy Spirit came down to Jesus like a dove. A voice came from heaven and said: "You are my Son and I love you. I am very pleased with you." Then the Spirit sent Jesus into the desert alone. Jesus was in the desert 40 days. He was there with the wild animals. While Jesus was in the desert, he was tempted by Satan {(the devil).} Then angels came and helped Jesus. After this, John was put into prison. Jesus went into Galilee and told people the Good News from God. Jesus said, "The right time is now here. The kingdom of God is near. Change your hearts and lives and believe the Good News!" Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee. Jesus saw Simon and Simon's brother, Andrew. These two men were fishermen, and they were throwing a net into the lake to catch fish. Jesus said to them, "Come and follow me. I will make you {a different kind of} fishermen. You will work to gather people, {not fish}." So Simon and Andrew left their nets and followed Jesus. Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee. He saw two more brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in their boat, preparing their nets to catch fish. Their father Zebedee and the men that worked for him were in the boat with the brothers. When Jesus saw the brothers he told them to come. They left their father and followed Jesus.

Related Scripture Readings

Jesus continued to say to all of them, "If any person wants to follow me, he must say 'No' to the things he wants. That person must accept the cross (suffering) that is given to him every day, and he must follow me. The person that wants to save his life will lose it. And every person that gives his life for me will save it. It is worth nothing for a person to have the whole world, if he himself is destroyed or lost. If any person is ashamed of me and my teaching, then I will be ashamed of that person. I will be ashamed of that person at the time I come with my glory and with the glory of the Father and the holy angels. Jesus said, "If any person begins to plow a field, but looks back, he is not prepared for the kingdom of God."

In the same way you wives should be willing to serve your husbands. Then, if some of your husbands have not obeyed {God's} teaching, they will be persuaded to believe. You will not need to say anything. They will be persuaded by the way their wives live. Your husbands will see the pure lives that you live with your respect {for God}.

In the past you wasted too much time doing the things that the non-believers like to do. You were doing sexual sins. You were doing the evil things you wanted. You were becoming drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, having drunken parties, and doing wrong by worshiping idols (false gods). Those non-believers think that it is strange that you don't do the many wild and wasteful things that they do. And so they say bad things about you.