Let's Talk About...How to Use Your Talents

Encounters With People

The Strength of Weakness

Dear Mama: God’s Not Done With Your Story

Spiritual Virtues for the Modern Man

Raise!

Attributes of God on F.I.R.E.

The Hope of Easter: Finding Clarity in Confusing Times

Experience Fasting in a New Way

Fan the Flame - A Journey Through Acts

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

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Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch26" data-usfm="DEU.26">
 <div class="label">26</div><div class="s1">Firstfruits and Tithes</div><div class="p"> 1When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name 3and say to the priest in office at the time, &#8220;I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.&#8221; 4The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. 5Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: &#8220;My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 6But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. 7Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 10and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.&#8221; Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. 11Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.</div><div class="p"> 12When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 13Then say to the Lord your God: &#8220;I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them. 14I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me. 15Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Follow the Lord&#8217;s Commands</div><div class="p"> 16The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws&#8212;that you will listen to him. 18And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkDEU">
 <div class="chapter ch27" data-usfm="DEU.27">
 <div class="label">27</div><div class="s1">The Altar on Mount Ebal</div><div class="p"> 1Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: &#8220;Keep all these commands that I give you today. 2When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. 3Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. 5Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. 6Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. 8And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Curses From Mount Ebal</div><div class="p"> 9Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, &#8220;Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God. 10Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11On the same day Moses commanded the people:</div><div class="p"> 12When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. 13And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.</div><div class="p"> 14The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:</div><div class="pm"> 15&#8220;Cursed is anyone who makes an idol&#8212;a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands&#8212;and sets it up in secret.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 16&#8220;Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 17&#8220;Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbor&#8217;s boundary stone.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 18&#8220;Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 19&#8220;Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 20&#8220;Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father&#8217;s wife, for he dishonors his father&#8217;s bed.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 21&#8220;Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 22&#8220;Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 23&#8220;Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 24&#8220;Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 25&#8220;Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div><div class="pm"> 26&#8220;Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.&#8221;</div><div class="pmr">Then all the people shall say, &#8220;Amen!&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkMRK">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="MRK.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">The Parable of the Tenants</div><div class="p"> 1Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: &#8220;A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.</div><div class="p"> 6 &#8220;He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, &#8216;They will respect my son.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 7 &#8220;But the tenants said to one another, &#8216;This is the heir. Come, let&#8217;s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.&#8217; 8So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.</div><div class="p"> 9 &#8220;What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10Haven&#8217;t you read this passage of Scripture:</div><div class="q1"> &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;The stone the builders rejected</div><div class="q2"> has become the cornerstone;</div><div class="q1"> 11 the Lord has done this,</div><div class="q2"> and it is marvelous in our eyes&#8217; # 12:11 
 Psalm 118:22,23 ?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.</div><div class="s1">Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar</div><div class="p"> 13Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14They came to him and said, &#8220;Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren&#8217;t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax#12:14 A special tax levied on subject peoples, not on Roman citizens to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay or shouldn&#8217;t we?&#8221;</div><div class="p">But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. &#8220;Why are you trying to trap me?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.&#8221; 16They brought the coin, and he asked them, &#8220;Whose image is this? And whose inscription?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Caesar&#8217;s,&#8221; they replied.</div><div class="p"> 17Then Jesus said to them, &#8220;Give back to Caesar what is Caesar&#8217;s and to God what is God&#8217;s.&#8221;</div><div class="p">And they were amazed at him.</div><div class="s1">Marriage at the Resurrection</div><div class="p"> 18Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19&#8220;Teacher,&#8221; they said, &#8220;Moses wrote for us that if a man&#8217;s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23At the resurrection#12:23 Some manuscripts resurrection, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 24Jesus replied, &#8220;Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising&#8212;have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, &#8216;I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob&#8217;#12:26 Exodus 3:6? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Greatest Commandment</div><div class="p"> 28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, &#8220;Of all the commandments, which is the most important?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29 &#8220;The most important one,&#8221; answered Jesus, &#8220;is this: &#8216;Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.#12:29 Or The Lord our God is one Lord 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.&#8217;#12:30 Deut. 6:4,5 31The second is this: &#8216;Love your neighbor as yourself.&#8217;#12:31 Lev. 19:18 There is no commandment greater than these.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 32&#8220;Well said, teacher,&#8221; the man replied. &#8220;You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, &#8220;You are not far from the kingdom of God.&#8221; And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.</div><div class="s1">Whose Son Is the Messiah?</div><div class="p"> 35While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, &#8220;Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:</div><div class="q1"> &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;The Lord said to my Lord:</div><div class="q2"> &#8220;Sit at my right hand</div><div class="q1"> until I put your enemies</div><div class="q2"> under your feet.&#8221;&#8198;&#8217; # 12:36 
 Psalm 110:1
 </div><div class="m"> 37 David himself calls him &#8216;Lord.&#8217; How then can he be his son?&#8221;</div><div class="p">The large crowd listened to him with delight.</div><div class="s1">Warning Against the Teachers of the Law</div><div class="p"> 38As he taught, Jesus said, &#8220;Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40They devour widows&#8217; houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Widow&#8217;s Offering</div><div class="p"> 41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.</div><div class="p"> 43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, &#8220;Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything&#8212;all she had to live on.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkMRK">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="MRK.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times</div><div class="p"> 1As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, &#8220;Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2 &#8220;Do you see all these great buildings?&#8221; replied Jesus. &#8220;Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4&#8220;Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Jesus said to them: &#8220;Watch out that no one deceives you. 6Many will come in my name, claiming, &#8216;I am he,&#8217; and will deceive many. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.</div><div class="p"> 9 &#8220;You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="p"> 12 &#8220;Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.</div><div class="p"> 14 &#8220;When you see &#8216;the abomination that causes desolation&#8217; # 13:14 
 Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11 standing where it#13:14 Or he does not belong&#8212;let the reader understand&#8212;then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 17How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now&#8212;and never to be equaled again.</div><div class="p"> 20 &#8220;If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21At that time if anyone says to you, &#8216;Look, here is the Messiah!&#8217; or, &#8216;Look, there he is!&#8217; do not believe it. 22For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.</div><div class="p"> 24 &#8220;But in those days, following that distress,</div><div class="q1"> &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;the sun will be darkened,</div><div class="q2"> and the moon will not give its light;</div><div class="q1"> 25 the stars will fall from the sky,</div><div class="q2"> and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.&#8217; # 13:25 
 Isaiah 13:10; 34:4 </div><div class="p"> 26 &#8220;At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.</div><div class="p"> 28 &#8220;Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it#13:29 Or he is near, right at the door. 30Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.</div><div class="s1">The Day and Hour Unknown</div><div class="p"> 32 &#8220;But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Be on guard! Be alert#13:33 Some manuscripts alert and pray! You do not know when that time will come. 34It&#8217;s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.</div><div class="p"> 35 &#8220;Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back&#8212;whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37What I say to you, I say to everyone: &#8216;Watch!&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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