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“a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
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And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
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“Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!”
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Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
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Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning:
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Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
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Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
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He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
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But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.
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Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot
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If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
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If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
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And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
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In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.
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Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.
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Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
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Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;
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A Lamp on a Stand
He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?
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All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.
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Jesus Calms the Storm
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”
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Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
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He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
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He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
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For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
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Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
