Revelation 13

Revelation 13 (New International Version, ©2010)

Revelation 13

The Beast out of the Sea

1 The dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?"
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]

9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.

10 "If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword, with the sword they will be killed."[d] This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God's people.

The Beast out of the Earth

11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e] That number is 666.

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Psalm 81

Psalm 81 (New International Version)

Psalm 81

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of Asaph. [a]

1 Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
2 Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre.

3 Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast;

4 this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5 He established it as a statute for Joseph when he went out against Egypt, where we heard a language we did not understand. [b]

6 He says, "I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket.

7 In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

8 "Hear, O my people, and I will warn you— if you would but listen to me, O Israel!

9 You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god.

10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

11 "But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me.

12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

13 "If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways,

14 how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!

15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever.

16 But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

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John 4 ~ Jesus and the Samaritans (4:1-42) and Healing of the Official's Son (4:43-54)

John 4:

1 Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard that he was baptizing and making more disciples than John 

2 (though Jesus himself didn’t baptize them—his disciples did). 

3 So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 

4 He had to go through Samaria on the way. 

5 Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 

6 Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 

7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” 

8 He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food. 

9 The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?” 

10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” 

11 “But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? 

12 And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?” 

13Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.

14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” 

15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.” 

16 “Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her. 

17 “I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied. Jesus said, “You’re right! You don’t have a husband— 

18 for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now. You certainly spoke the truth!” 

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. 

20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” 

21 Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 

22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 

23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 

24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” 

25 The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 

26 Then Jesus told her, “I AM the Messiah!” 

27Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked to find him talking to a woman, but none of them had the nerve to ask, “What do you want with her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” 

28 The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, 

29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 

30 So the people came streaming from the village to see him. 

31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.” 

32 But Jesus replied, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.” 

33 “Did someone bring him food while we were gone?” the disciples asked each other. 

34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 

35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. 

36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 

37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 

38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” 

39 Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” 

40 When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days,

41 long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. 

42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world.” 

43 At the end of the two days, Jesus went on to Galilee. 

44 He himself had said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown. 

45 Yet the Galileans welcomed him, for they had been in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration and had seen everything he did there.

46 As he traveled through Galilee, he came to Cana, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick. 

47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was about to die. 

48 Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?” 

49 The official pleaded, “Lord, please come now before my little boy dies.” 

50 Then Jesus told him, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home. 

51 While the man was on his way, some of his servants met him with the news that his son was alive and well. 

52 He asked them when the boy had begun to get better, and they replied, “Yesterday afternoon at one o’clock his fever suddenly disappeared!” 

53 Then the father realized that that was the very time Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and his entire household believed in Jesus. 

54 This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did in Galilee after coming from Judea.

We a r e having computer problems so the blog will be down for a few days while we locate t h e problem and get it fixed. 

Feb 27: Azerbaijan | Operation World

Feb 27: Azerbaijan | Operation World

Feb 25: Austria | Operation World

Feb 25: Austria | Operation World

John 3 ~ Jesus Teaches Nicodemus (3:1-21) and John the Baptist's Final Testimony about Jesus (3:22-36)

John 3:

1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 

2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” 

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 

4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 

5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 

6Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 

7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 

8The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” 

9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked. 

10Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 

11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 

12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 

13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 

14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 

15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 

17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 

18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 

19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 

20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 

21But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. ” 

22 Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them there, baptizing people. 

23 At this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to him for baptism. 

24 (This was before John was thrown into prison.)

25 A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing. 

26 So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.” 

27 John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. 

28 You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ 

29 It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. 

30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. 

31 “He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. 

32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! 

33 Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. 

34 For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. 

35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. 

36 And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”

Psalm 80

Psalm 80 (New International Version)

Psalm 80

For the director of music. To the tune of "The Lilies of the Covenant." Of Asaph. A psalm.

1 Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock; you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth
2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us.

3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

4 O LORD God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

6 You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.

7 Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.

11 It sent out its boughs to the Sea, [a] its shoots as far as the River. [b]

12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?

13 Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it.

14 Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine,

15 the root your right hand has planted, the son [c] you have raised up for yourself.

16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish.

17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

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Revelation 12

Revelation 12 (New International Version, ©2010)

Revelation 12

The Woman and the Dragon

1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who "will rule all the nations with an iron scepter."[a] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."

13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God's commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

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Feb 24: Australia, Norfolk Island | Operation World

Feb 24: Australia, Norfolk Island | Operation World

John 2 NLT ~ Changing Water into Wine (2:1-11) and Cleansing the Temple (2:12-25)

John 2 NLT

1 The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 

2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 

3 The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no more wine.” 

4 “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” 

5 But his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 

6 Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. 

7 Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, 

8 he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. 

9 When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. 

10 “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!” 

11 This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

12 After the wedding he went to Capernaum for a few days with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples. 

13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 

14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. 

15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. 

16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” 

18 But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.” 

19 “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 

20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” 

21 But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. 

22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said. 

23 Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. 

24 But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. 

25 No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.