Giving Thanks in Every Season

Advent Guide: You Belong

Our Father

Embracing Wonder: A 5-Week Advent Devotional From Matthew West

Thankful Through the Struggle

Vote With Vision: Praying God’s Will Over Elections

5 Spiritual Practices for Healing and Transformation

Daily Reading Plan With Christian Mael (December)

Moving Toward Each Other in the Middle of a Divisive World

El-Roi the God Who Sees Me

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">
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 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="LUK.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">John the Baptist Prepares the Way</div><div class="p"> 1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar&#8212;when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene&#8212; 2during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;A voice of one calling in the wilderness,</div><div class="q1">&#8216;Prepare the way for the Lord,</div><div class="q2">make straight paths for him.</div><div class="q1"> 5Every valley shall be filled in,</div><div class="q2">every mountain and hill made low.</div><div class="q1">The crooked roads shall become straight,</div><div class="q2">the rough ways smooth.</div><div class="q1"> 6And all people will see God&#8217;s salvation.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#3:6 Isaiah 40:3-5</div><div class="p"> 7John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, &#8220;You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, &#8216;We have Abraham as our father.&#8217; For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;What should we do then?&#8221; the crowd asked.</div><div class="p"> 11John answered, &#8220;Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Even tax collectors came to be baptized. &#8220;Teacher,&#8221; they asked, &#8220;what should we do?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;Don&#8217;t collect any more than you are required to,&#8221; he told them.</div><div class="p"> 14Then some soldiers asked him, &#8220;And what should we do?&#8221;</div><div class="p">He replied, &#8220;Don&#8217;t extort money and don&#8217;t accuse people falsely&#8212;be content with your pay.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16John answered them all, &#8220;I baptize you with#3:16 Or in water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with#3:16 Or in the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.&#8221; 18And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.</div><div class="p"> 19But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother&#8217;s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.</div><div class="s1">The Baptism and Genealogy of Jesus</div><div class="p"> 21When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: &#8220;You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="li1">the son of Heli, 24the son of Matthat,</div><div class="li1">the son of Levi, the son of Melki,</div><div class="li1">the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,</div><div class="li1"> 25the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos,</div><div class="li1">the son of Nahum, the son of Esli,</div><div class="li1">the son of Naggai, 26the son of Maath,</div><div class="li1">the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein,</div><div class="li1">the son of Josek, the son of Joda,</div><div class="li1"> 27the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa,</div><div class="li1">the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,</div><div class="li1">the son of Neri, 28the son of Melki,</div><div class="li1">the son of Addi, the son of Cosam,</div><div class="li1">the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,</div><div class="li1"> 29the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer,</div><div class="li1">the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat,</div><div class="li1">the son of Levi, 30the son of Simeon,</div><div class="li1">the son of Judah, the son of Joseph,</div><div class="li1">the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,</div><div class="li1"> 31the son of Melea, the son of Menna,</div><div class="li1">the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan,</div><div class="li1">the son of David, 32the son of Jesse,</div><div class="li1">the son of Obed, the son of Boaz,</div><div class="li1">the son of Salmon,#3:32 Some early manuscripts Sala the son of Nahshon,</div><div class="li1"> 33the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram,#3:33 Some manuscripts Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni; other manuscripts vary widely.</div><div class="li1">the son of Hezron, the son of Perez,</div><div class="li1">the son of Judah, 34the son of Jacob,</div><div class="li1">the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham,</div><div class="li1">the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,</div><div class="li1"> 35the son of Serug, the son of Reu,</div><div class="li1">the son of Peleg, the son of Eber,</div><div class="li1">the son of Shelah, 36the son of Cainan,</div><div class="li1">the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem,</div><div class="li1">the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,</div><div class="li1"> 37the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch,</div><div class="li1">the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel,</div><div class="li1">the son of Kenan, 38the son of Enosh,</div><div class="li1">the son of Seth, the son of Adam,</div><div class="li1">the son of God.</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">
 <div class="book bkEPH">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="EPH.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ</div><div class="p"> 1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.</div><div class="p"> 7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it#4:8 Or God says:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;When he ascended on high,</div><div class="q2">he took many captives</div><div class="q2">and gave gifts to his people.&#8221;#4:8 Psalm 68:18</div><div class="m"> 9(What does &#8220;he ascended&#8221; mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions#4:9 Or the depths of the earth? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.</div><div class="p"> 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.</div><div class="s1">Instructions for Christian Living</div><div class="p"> 17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.</div><div class="p"> 20That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.</div><div class="p"> 25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26&#8220;In your anger do not sin&#8221;#4:26 Psalm 4:4 (see Septuagint): Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.</div><div class="p"> 29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.</div>
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