“Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.
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Compare All Versions: Matthew 23:16-23
3 Days
This generation is longing for authenticity. God’s perfect will for you is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us to not be hypocrites like the Pharisees, but to live a life that backs up what we preach. God desires for us to stay on a path of purity.
5 Days
If we want to share Jesus with others, we’ve got to live like Him, love like Him, and listen like Him. In this 5-day Plan, we’ll take a closer look at the life of Jesus to discover how we should live our lives.
In a defensive and divided era, how can followers of Jesus reveal a better way of living, one that loves others as God loves us? How can Christians be the kind of people who are known, as Proverbs puts it, to "turn away wrath"?
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves…be as shrewd as snakes…innocent as doves” Matthew 10:16. Culture is ever-changing, meaningful conversations can become more difficult as hostility increases. This plan will encourage you to learn from Jesus example as he engaged with the interested, only sought to intrigue the disinterested, and deflected the hostile. He both thrived and achieved his purpose on earth despite hostility, and so can we!
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