Psalm 31:1-5 9-15

Good News Translation

A Prayer of Trust in God[a]

31 I come to you, Lord, for protection;    never let me be defeated.You are a righteous God;    save me, I pray!2 Hear me! Save me now!Be my refuge to protect me;    my defense to save me.

3 You are my refuge and defense;    guide me and lead me as you have promised.4 Keep me safe from the trap that has been set for me;    shelter me from danger.5 I place myself in your care.You will save me, Lord;    you are a faithful God.

9 Be merciful to me, Lord,    for I am in trouble;my eyes are tired from so much crying;    I am completely worn out.10 I am exhausted by sorrow,    and weeping has shortened my life.I am weak from all my troubles;[a]    even my bones are wasting away.

11 All my enemies, and especially my neighbors,    treat me with contempt.Those who know me are afraid of me;    when they see me in the street, they run away.12 Everyone has forgotten me, as though I were dead;    I am like something thrown away.13 I hear many enemies whispering;    terror is all around me.They are making plans against me,    plotting to kill me.

14 But my trust is in you, O Lord;    you are my God.15 I am always in your care;    save me from my enemies,    from those who persecute me.

The Message

1-2 I run to you, God; I run for dear life.    Don’t let me down!    Take me seriously this time!Get down on my level and listen,    and please—no procrastination!Your granite cave a hiding place,    your high cliff nest a place of safety.

3-5 You’re my cave to hide in,    my cliff to climb.Be my safe leader,    be my true mountain guide.Free me from hidden traps;    I want to hide in you.I’ve put my life in your hands.    You won’t drop me,    you’ll never let me down.

6-13 I hate all this silly religion,    but you, God, I trust.I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love;    you saw my pain,    you disarmed my tormentors,You didn’t leave me in their clutches    but gave me room to breathe.Be kind to me, God—    I’m in deep, deep trouble again.I’ve cried my eyes out;    I feel hollow inside.My life leaks away, groan by groan;    my years fade out in sighs.My troubles have worn me out,    turned my bones to powder.To my enemies I’m a monster;    I’m ridiculed by the neighbors.My friends are horrified;    they cross the street to avoid me.They want to blot me from memory,    forget me like a corpse in a grave,    discard me like a broken dish in the trash.The street-talk gossip has me    “criminally insane”!Behind locked doors they plot    how to ruin me for good.

14-18 Desperate, I throw myself on you:    you are my God!

Genesis 23:10-22

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it[a] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.[b] 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

18 Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 He called that place Bethel,[c] though the city used to be called Luz.

20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord[d] will be my God 22 and[e] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11

11 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

Acts 9:26-28

26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! 27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

Acts 11:22-23

22 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.

Acts 15:36-40

Paul and Barnabas Separate

36 After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.” 37 Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. 38 But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work. 39 Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. 40 Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care.

John 19:38-40

The Burial of Jesus

38 Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds[k] of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth.

John 20:1-8

The Resurrection

20 Early on Sunday morning,[a] while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 

John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Galatians 3:13

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”[h]

2 Corinthians 5:21

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Story of the Last Supper

Philippians 2:1-11

Have the Attitude of Christ

2 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though he was God,[a]    he did not think of equality with God    as something to cling to.7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges[b];    he took the humble position of a slave[c]    and was born as a human being.When he appeared in human form,[d]8     he humbled himself in obedience to God    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor    and gave him the name above all other names,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,    to the glory of God the Father.

John 19:19-22

19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

Luke 23:42

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[d]”

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NKJV)

18 “Do not remember the former things,Nor consider the things of old.19 Behold, I will do a new thing,Now it shall spring forth;Shall you not know it?I will even make a road in the wildernessAnd rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:18-19 (Mess)

“Forget about what’s happened;    don’t keep going over old history.Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,    rivers in the badlands.

Matthew 4:1-4

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”

The Judean Wilderness, North of Jericho

Deuteronomy 8:2

 2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.