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Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
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But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
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“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
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As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
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Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
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Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
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“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
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When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
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Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
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for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
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Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?
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I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.
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“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
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But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
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And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
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Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
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“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.
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Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
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The Temple Tax
After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”
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Jesus at the Temple
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
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The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
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But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
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The Authority of Jesus Questioned
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
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He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
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“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
