Matthew 5:13-20 Acts 7:1-38 Psalms 11 Genesis 27-28

Matthew 5:13-20
Mat 5:13 "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
Mat 5:14 "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.
Mat 5:15 If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand.
Mat 5:16 Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand--shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Mat 5:17 "Don't suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures--either God's Law or the Prophets. I'm not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama.
Mat 5:18 God's Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God's Law will be alive and working.
Mat 5:19 "Trivialize even the smallest item in God's Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom.
Mat 5:20 Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won't know the first thing about entering the kingdom.

Acts 7:1-38
Act 7:1 Then the Chief Priest said, "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Act 7:2 Stephen replied, "Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran,
Act 7:3 and told him, 'Leave your country and family and go to the land I'll show you.'
Act 7:4 "So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live,
Act 7:5 but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time.
Act 7:6 God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years.
Act 7:7 'But,' God said, 'I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.'
Act 7:8 "Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham's flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve 'fathers,' each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.
Act 7:9 "But then those 'fathers,' burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though--
Act 7:10 he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs.
Act 7:11 "Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare.
Act 7:12 Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out.
Act 7:13 Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh.
Act 7:14 Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all.
Act 7:15 That's how the Jacob family got to Egypt. "Jacob died, and our fathers after him.
Act 7:16 They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor.
Act 7:17 "When the four hundred years were nearly up, the time God promised Abraham for deliverance, the population of our people in Egypt had become very large.
Act 7:18 And there was now a king over Egypt who had never heard of Joseph.
Act 7:19 He exploited our race mercilessly. He went so far as forcing us to abandon our newborn infants, exposing them to the elements to die a cruel death.
Act 7:20 "In just such a time Moses was born, a most beautiful baby. He was hidden at home for three months.
Act 7:21 When he could be hidden no longer, he was put outside--and immediately rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who mothered him as her own son.
Act 7:22 Moses was educated in the best schools in Egypt. He was equally impressive as a thinker and an athlete.
Act 7:23 "When he was forty years old, he wondered how everything was going with his Hebrew kin and went out to look things over.
Act 7:24 He saw an Egyptian abusing one of them and stepped in, avenging his underdog brother by knocking the Egyptian flat.
Act 7:25 He thought his brothers would be glad that he was on their side, and even see him as an instrument of God to deliver them. But they didn't see it that way.
Act 7:26 The next day two of them were fighting and he tried to break it up, told them to shake hands and get along with each other: 'Friends, you are brothers, why are you beating up on each other?'
Act 7:27 "The one who had started the fight said, 'Who put you in charge of us?
Act 7:28 Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'
Act 7:29 When Moses heard that, realizing that the word was out, he ran for his life and lived in exile over in Midian. During the years of exile, two sons were born to him.
Act 7:30 "Forty years later, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the guise of flames of a burning bush.
Act 7:31 Moses, not believing his eyes, went up to take a closer look. He heard God's voice:
Act 7:32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Frightened nearly out of his skin, Moses shut his eyes and turned away.
Act 7:33 "God said, 'Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground.
Act 7:34 I've seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I've heard their groans. I've come to help them. So get yourself ready; I'm sending you back to Egypt.'
Act 7:35 "This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, 'Who put you in charge of us?' This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer.
Act 7:36 He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years.
Act 7:37 This is the Moses who said to his congregation, 'God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.'
Act 7:38 This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us,

Psalms 11
Psa 11:1 A David psalm. I've already run for dear life straight to the arms of GOD. So why would I run away now when you say, "Run to the mountains;
Psa 11:2 the evil bows are bent, the wicked arrows Aimed to shoot under cover of darkness at every heart open to God.
Psa 11:3 The bottom's dropped out of the country; good people don't have a chance"?
Psa 11:4 But GOD hasn't moved to the mountains; his holy address hasn't changed. He's in charge, as always, his eyes taking everything in, his eyelids Unblinking, examining Adam's unruly brood inside and out, not missing a thing.
Psa 11:5 He tests the good and the bad alike; if anyone cheats, God's outraged.
Psa 11:6 Fail the test and you're out, out in a hail of firestones, Drinking from a canteen filled with hot desert wind.
Psa 11:7 GOD's business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, Setting us straight. Once we're standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye.

Genesis 27-28
Gen 27:1 When Isaac had become an old man and was nearly blind, he called his eldest son, Esau, and said, "My son." "Yes, Father?"
Gen 27:2 "I'm an old man," he said; "I might die any day now.
Gen 27:3 Do me a favor: Get your quiver of arrows and your bow and go out in the country and hunt me some game.
Gen 27:4 Then fix me a hearty meal, the kind that you know I like, and bring it to me to eat so that I can give you my personal blessing before I die."
Gen 27:5 Rebekah was eavesdropping as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. As soon as Esau had gone off to the country to hunt game for his father,
Gen 27:6 Rebekah spoke to her son Jacob. "I just overheard your father talking with your brother, Esau. He said,
Gen 27:7 'Bring me some game and fix me a hearty meal so that I can eat and bless you with GOD's blessing before I die.'
Gen 27:8 "Now, my son, listen to me. Do what I tell you.
Gen 27:9 Go to the flock and get me two young goats. Pick the best; I'll prepare them into a hearty meal, the kind that your father loves.
Gen 27:10 Then you'll take it to your father, he'll eat and bless you before he dies."
Gen 27:11 "But Mother," Jacob said, "my brother Esau is a hairy man and I have smooth skin.
Gen 27:12 What happens if my father touches me? He'll think I'm playing games with him. I'll bring down a curse on myself instead of a blessing."
Gen 27:13 "If it comes to that," said his mother, "I'll take the curse on myself. Now, just do what I say. Go and get the goats."
Gen 27:14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother and she cooked a hearty meal, the kind his father loved so much.
Gen 27:15 Rebekah took the dress-up clothes of her older son Esau and put them on her younger son Jacob.
Gen 27:16 She took the goatskins and covered his hands and the smooth nape of his neck.
Gen 27:17 Then she placed the hearty meal she had fixed and fresh bread she'd baked into the hands of her son Jacob.
Gen 27:18 He went to his father and said, "My father!" "Yes?" he said. "Which son are you?"
Gen 27:19 Jacob answered his father, "I'm your firstborn son Esau. I did what you told me. Come now; sit up and eat of my game so you can give me your personal blessing."
Gen 27:20 Isaac said, "So soon? How did you get it so quickly?" "Because your GOD cleared the way for me."
Gen 27:21 Isaac said, "Come close, son; let me touch you--are you really my son Esau?"
Gen 27:22 So Jacob moved close to his father Isaac. Isaac felt him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice but the hands are the hands of Esau."
Gen 27:23 He didn't recognize him because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's. But as he was about to bless him
Gen 27:24 he pressed him, "You're sure? You are my son Esau?" "Yes. I am."
Gen 27:25 Isaac said, "Bring the food so I can eat of my son's game and give you my personal blessing." Jacob brought it to him and he ate. He also brought him wine and he drank.
Gen 27:26 Then Isaac said, "Come close, son, and kiss me."
Gen 27:27 He came close and kissed him and Isaac smelled the smell of his clothes. Finally, he blessed him, Ahhh. The smell of my son is like the smell of the open country blessed by GOD.
Gen 27:28 May God give you of Heaven's dew and Earth's bounty of grain and wine.
Gen 27:29 May peoples serve you and nations honor you. You will master your brothers, and your mother's sons will honor you. Those who curse you will be cursed, those who bless you will be blessed.
Gen 27:30 And then right after Isaac had blessed Jacob and Jacob had left, Esau showed up from the hunt.
Gen 27:31 He also had prepared a hearty meal. He came to his father and said, "Let my father get up and eat of his son's game, that he may give me his personal blessing."
Gen 27:32 His father Isaac said, "And who are you?" "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."
Gen 27:33 Isaac started to tremble, shaking violently. He said, "Then who hunted game and brought it to me? I finished the meal just now, before you walked in. And I blessed him--he's blessed for good!"
Gen 27:34 Esau, hearing his father's words, sobbed violently and most bitterly, and cried to his father, "My father! Can't you also bless me?"
Gen 27:35 "Your brother," he said, "came here falsely and took your blessing."
Gen 27:36 Esau said, "Not for nothing was he named Jacob, the Heel. Twice now he's tricked me: first he took my birthright and now he's taken my blessing." He begged, "Haven't you kept back any blessing for me?"
Gen 27:37 Isaac answered Esau, "I've made him your master, and all his brothers his servants, and lavished grain and wine on him. I've given it all away. What's left for you, my son?"
Gen 27:38 "But don't you have just one blessing for me, Father? Oh, bless me my father! Bless me!" Esau sobbed inconsolably.
Gen 27:39 Isaac said to him, You'll live far from Earth's bounty, remote from Heaven's dew.
Gen 27:40 You'll live by your sword, hand-to-mouth, and you'll serve your brother. But when you can't take it any more you'll break loose and run free.
Gen 27:41 Esau seethed in anger against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him; he brooded, "The time for mourning my father's death is close. And then I'll kill my brother Jacob."
Gen 27:42 When these words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she called her younger son Jacob and said, "Your brother Esau is plotting vengeance against you. He's going to kill you.
Gen 27:43 Son, listen to me. Get out of here. Run for your life to Haran, to my brother Laban.
Gen 27:44 Live with him for a while until your brother cools down,
Gen 27:45 until his anger subsides and he forgets what you did to him. I'll then send for you and bring you back. Why should I lose both of you the same day?"
Gen 27:46 Rebekah spoke to Isaac, "I'm sick to death of these Hittite women. If Jacob also marries a native Hittite woman, why live?"
Gen 28:1 So Isaac called in Jacob and blessed him. Then he ordered him, "Don't take a Caananite wife.
Gen 28:2 Leave at once. Go to Paddan Aram to the family of your mother's father, Bethuel. Get a wife for yourself from the daughters of your uncle Laban.
Gen 28:3 "And may The Strong God bless you and give you many, many children, a congregation of peoples;
Gen 28:4 and pass on the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants so that you will get this land in which you live, this land God gave Abraham."
Gen 28:5 So Isaac sent Jacob off. He went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah who was the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Gen 28:6 Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan Aram to get a wife there, and while blessing him commanded, "Don't marry a Canaanite woman,"
Gen 28:7 and that Jacob had obeyed his parents and gone to Paddan Aram.
Gen 28:8 When Esau realized how deeply his father Isaac disliked the Canaanite women,
Gen 28:9 he went to Ishmael and married Mahalath the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son. This was in addition to the wives he already had.
Gen 28:10 Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran.
Gen 28:11 He came to a certain place and camped for the night since the sun had set. He took one of the stones there, set it under his head and lay down to sleep.
Gen 28:12 And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it.
Gen 28:13 Then GOD was right before him, saying, "I am GOD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. I'm giving the ground on which you are sleeping to you and to your descendants.
Gen 28:14 Your descendants will be as the dust of the Earth; they'll stretch from west to east and from north to south. All the families of the Earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants.
Gen 28:15 Yes. I'll stay with you, I'll protect you wherever you go, and I'll bring you back to this very ground. I'll stick with you until I've done everything I promised you."
Gen 28:16 Jacob woke up from his sleep. He said, "GOD is in this place--truly. And I didn't even know it!"
Gen 28:17 He was terrified. He whispered in awe, "Incredible. Wonderful. Holy. This is God's House. This is the Gate of Heaven."
Gen 28:18 Jacob was up first thing in the morning. He took the stone he had used for his pillow and stood it up as a memorial pillar and poured oil over it.
Gen 28:19 He christened the place Bethel (God's House). The name of the town had been Luz until then.
Gen 28:20 Jacob vowed a vow: "If God stands by me and protects me on this journey on which I'm setting out, keeps me in food and clothing,
Gen 28:21 and brings me back in one piece to my father's house, this GOD will be my God.
Gen 28:22 This stone that I have set up as a memorial pillar will mark this as a place where God lives. And everything you give me, I'll return a tenth to you."