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

Daily Reading Plan With Christian Mael (December)

Moving Toward Each Other in the Middle of a Divisive World

Giving Thanks in Every Season

Thankful Through the Struggle

Vote With Vision: Praying God’s Will Over Elections

Advent Guide: You Belong

Our Father

El-Roi the God Who Sees Me

5 Spiritual Practices for Healing and Transformation

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 bkACT">
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 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost</div><div class="p"> 1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues#2:4 Or languages; also in verse 11 as the Spirit enabled them.</div><div class="p"> 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: &#8220;Aren&#8217;t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,#2:9 That is, the Roman province by that name 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs&#8212;we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!&#8221; 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, &#8220;What does this mean?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Some, however, made fun of them and said, &#8220;They have had too much wine.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Peter Addresses the Crowd</div><div class="p"> 14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: &#8220;Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It&#8217;s only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:</div><div class="q1"> 17&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;In the last days, God says,</div><div class="q2">I will pour out my Spirit on all people.</div><div class="q1">Your sons and daughters will prophesy,</div><div class="q2">your young men will see visions,</div><div class="q2">your old men will dream dreams.</div><div class="q1"> 18Even on my servants, both men and women,</div><div class="q2">I will pour out my Spirit in those days,</div><div class="q2">and they will prophesy.</div><div class="q1"> 19I will show wonders in the heavens above</div><div class="q2">and signs on the earth below,</div><div class="q2">blood and fire and billows of smoke.</div><div class="q1"> 20The sun will be turned to darkness</div><div class="q2">and the moon to blood</div><div class="q2">before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.</div><div class="q1"> 21And everyone who calls</div><div class="q2">on the name of the Lord will be saved.&#8217;#2:21 Joel 2:28-32</div><div class="p"> 22&#8220;Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God&#8217;s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,#2:23 Or of those not having the law (that is, Gentiles) put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25David said about him:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;I saw the Lord always before me.</div><div class="q2">Because he is at my right hand,</div><div class="q2">I will not be shaken.</div><div class="q1"> 26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;</div><div class="q2">my body also will rest in hope,</div><div class="q1"> 27because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,</div><div class="q2">you will not let your holy one see decay.</div><div class="q1"> 28You have made known to me the paths of life;</div><div class="q2">you will fill me with joy in your presence.&#8217;#2:28 Psalm 16:8-11 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="p"> 29&#8220;Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. 33Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;The Lord said to my Lord:</div><div class="q2">&#8220;Sit at my right hand</div><div class="q1"> 35until I make your enemies</div><div class="q2">a footstool for your feet.&#8221;&#8198;&#8217;#2:35 Psalm 110:1</div><div class="p"> 36&#8220;Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, &#8220;Brothers, what shall we do?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 38Peter replied, &#8220;Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off&#8212;for all whom the Lord our God will call.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, &#8220;Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.&#8221; 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.</div><div class="s1">The Fellowship of the Believers</div><div class="p"> 42They devoted themselves to the apostles&#8217; teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEXO">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="EXO.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="s1">The Israelites Oppressed</div><div class="p"> 1These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy#1:5 Masoretic Text (see also Gen. 46:27); Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint (see also Acts 7:14 and note at Gen. 46:27) seventy-five in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.</div><div class="p"> 6Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.</div><div class="p"> 8Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9&#8220;Look,&#8221; he said to his people, &#8220;the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13and worked them ruthlessly. 14They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.</div><div class="p"> 15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16&#8220;When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.&#8221; 17The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, &#8220;Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19The midwives answered Pharaoh, &#8220;Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.</div><div class="p"> 22Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: &#8220;Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEXO">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="EXO.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="s1">The Birth of Moses</div><div class="p"> 1Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket#2:3 The Hebrew can also mean ark, as in Gen. 6:14. for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.</div><div class="p"> 5Then Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. &#8220;This is one of the Hebrew babies,&#8221; she said.</div><div class="p"> 7Then his sister asked Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter, &#8220;Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;Yes, go,&#8221; she answered. So the girl went and got the baby&#8217;s mother. 9Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter said to her, &#8220;Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.&#8221; So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses,#2:10 Moses sounds like the Hebrew for draw out. saying, &#8220;I drew him out of the water.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Moses Flees to Midian</div><div class="p"> 11One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, &#8220;Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14The man said, &#8220;Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?&#8221; Then Moses was afraid and thought, &#8220;What I did must have become known.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father&#8217;s flock. 17Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.</div><div class="p"> 18When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, &#8220;Why have you returned so early today?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19They answered, &#8220;An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;And where is he?&#8221; Reuel asked his daughters. &#8220;Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 21Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom,#2:22 Gershom sounds like the Hebrew for a foreigner there. saying, &#8220;I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 23During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.</div>
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