Psalm 71^(A)

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.^(A) And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.^{(B) 17} If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,^(C) how can the love of God be in that person?^{(D) 18} Dear children,^(E) let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.^(F)

⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves,^(A) but Jesus Christ as Lord,^(B) and ourselves as your servants^(C) for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^[a](D) made his light shine in our hearts^(E) to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.^(F)

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay^(G) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God^(H) and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side,^(I) but not crushed; perplexed,^(J) but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted,^(K) but not abandoned;^(L) struck down, but not destroyed.^(M)

Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount

5 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ² and he began to teach them.

The Beatitudes^(A)

He said:

The Wise and Foolish Builders^(A)

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice^(B) is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things,^(C) the crowds were amazed at his teaching,^{(D) 29} because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Jesus Prays for All Believers