📖 Matthew 17:14–23 AKJV
18Â And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? 19Â They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. 20Â He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. 21Â And he straitly charged them, and commanded them to tell no man that thing; 22Â saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.
📖 Mark 9:14–32 AKJV
14Â And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. 15Â And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. 16Â And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? 17Â And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; 18Â and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. 19Â He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. 20Â And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 21Â And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. 22Â And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. 23Â Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. 24Â And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. 25Â When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. 26Â And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead. 27Â But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose. 28Â And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? 29Â And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
30Â And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it. 31Â For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. 32Â But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
📖 Luke 9:37–45 NKJV
37 Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him. 38 Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. 39 And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. 40 So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all amazed at the majesty of God. But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, 44 “Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.
How does this reading plan work?
Through one year we will read through the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), The Desire of Ages, and Christ’s Object Lessons.
As you start on this reading plan I want to remind you that the purpose of doing this is not merely to read through the gospels and the other two books, it is not to merely learn facts but instead our main desire should be to know Jesus. Notice how we are to read:
“It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones.” Desire of Ages p83.4
The temptation will be to read through the pages quickly. Resist this urge. Read slowly, think about what each point means. Think from your perspective, those people who are mentioned, and of course that of Jesus.
Not that I need to tell you, but we must approach this with prayer. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible writers is willing to guide us today, if we but ask for Him.
There is also a question each day that is there to encourage you to think deeply on the reading.
If you need accountability in your reading please feel free to contact us and we would be happy for you to join our reading group.
Scripture marked NKJV taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Scriptures quoted with NET are from the NET Bible® https://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Scriptures marked WEB from the World English Bible by Public Domain. The name “World English Bible” is trademarked.