Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
18 “Keep these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. Tie them as something special to see upon your hand and on your forehead between your eyes. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them beside the door of your house and on your gates. 21 And your days and the days of your children will become many in the land the Lord promised to give to your fathers, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
26 “See, I am putting in front of you today good and a curse. 27 Good will come to you if you listen to the Laws of the Lord your God, which I am telling you today. 28 But a curse will come to you if you do not listen to the Laws of the Lord your God and turn aside from the way I am telling you today, by following other gods you have not known.
Prayer of Trust in God
31 O Lord, in You I have found a safe place. Let me never be ashamed. Set me free, because You do what is right and good. 2 Turn Your ear to me, and be quick to save me. Be my rock of strength, a strong place to keep me safe. 3 For You are my rock and my safe place. For the honor of Your name, lead me and show me the way. 4 You will free me from the net that they have hidden for me. For You are my strength. 5 I give my spirit into Your hands. You have made me free, O Lord, God of truth.
19 How great is Your loving-kindness! You have stored it up for those who fear You. You show it to those who trust in You in front of the sons of men. 20 You will hide them with You in secret from the sinful plans of men. You keep them in Your tent in secret from those who fight with tongues. 21 Honor and thanks be to the Lord. For He has shown His great loving-favor to me when I was in a city with armies all around. 22 In my fear I said, “You have closed Your eyes to me!” But You heard my cry for loving-kindness when I called to You.
23 Love the Lord, all you who belong to Him! The Lord keeps the faithful safe. But He gives the proud their pay in full. 24 Be strong. Be strong in heart, all you who hope in the Lord.
16 I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is the power of God. It is the way He saves men from the punishment of their sins if they put their trust in Him. It is for the Jew first and for all other people also. 17 The Good News tells us we are made right with God by faith in Him. Then, by faith we live that new life through Him. The Holy Writings say, “A man right with God lives by faith.” (A)
22 Men become right with God by putting their trust in Jesus Christ. God will accept men if they come this way. All men are the same to God. 23 For all men have sinned and have missed the shining-greatness of God. 24 Anyone can be made right with God by the free gift of His loving-favor. It is Jesus Christ Who bought them with His blood and made them free from their sins. 25 God gave Jesus Christ to the world. Men’s sins can be forgiven through the blood of Christ when they put their trust in Him. God gave His Son Jesus Christ to show how right He is. Before this, God did not look on the sins that were done. 26 But now God proves that He is right in saving men from sin. He shows that He is the One Who has no sin. God makes anyone right with Himself who puts his trust in Jesus.
27 What then do we have to be proud of? Nothing at all! Why? Is it because men obey the Law? No! It is because men put their trust in Christ. 28 This is what we have come to know. A man is made right with God by putting his trust in Christ. It is not by his doing what the Law says.
29 Is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the people who are not Jews also? He is for sure. 30 He is one God. He will make Jews and the people who are not Jews right with Himself if they put their trust in Christ. 31 Does this mean that we do away with the Law when we put our trust in Christ? No, not at all. It means we know the Law is important.
21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will go into the holy nation of heaven. The one who does the things My Father in heaven wants him to do will go into the holy nation of heaven. 22 Many people will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not preach in Your Name? Did we not put out demons in Your Name? Did we not do many powerful works in Your Name?’ 23 Then I will say to them in plain words, ‘I never knew you. Go away from Me, you who do wrong!’
Jesus Teaches about Houses Built on Rock or Sand
24 “Whoever hears these words of Mine and does them, will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain came down. The water came up. The wind blew and hit the house. The house did not fall because it was built on rock. 26 Whoever hears these words of Mine and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down. The water came up. The wind blew and hit the house. The house fell and broke apart.” 28 Then Jesus finished talking. The people were surprised and wondered about His teaching. 29 He was teaching them as One Who has the right and the power to teach. He did not teach as the teachers of the Law.
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