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The Way to True Happiness

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Is God Really Trustworthy?

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What Is the Fear of the Lord?

Spiritual Training: The Discipline of Fasting and Solitude

Strength for Singles - Lessons From Sampson

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch31" data-usfm="GEN.31">
 <div class="label">31</div><div class="s1">Jacob Flees From Laban</div><div class="p"> 1Jacob heard that Laban&#8217;s sons were saying, &#8220;Jacob has taken everything our father owned and has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.&#8221; 2And Jacob noticed that Laban&#8217;s attitude toward him was not what it had been.</div><div class="p"> 3Then the Lord said to Jacob, &#8220;Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 4So Jacob sent word to Rachel and Leah to come out to the fields where his flocks were. 5He said to them, &#8220;I see that your father&#8217;s attitude toward me is not what it was before, but the God of my father has been with me. 6You know that I&#8217;ve worked for your father with all my strength, 7yet your father has cheated me by changing my wages ten times. However, God has not allowed him to harm me. 8If he said, &#8216;The speckled ones will be your wages,&#8217; then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young; and if he said, &#8216;The streaked ones will be your wages,&#8217; then all the flocks bore streaked young. 9So God has taken away your father&#8217;s livestock and has given them to me.</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;In breeding season I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats mating with the flock were streaked, speckled or spotted. 11The angel of God said to me in the dream, &#8216;Jacob.&#8217; I answered, &#8216;Here I am.&#8217; 12And he said, &#8216;Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. 13I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Then Rachel and Leah replied, &#8220;Do we still have any share in the inheritance of our father&#8217;s estate? 15Does he not regard us as foreigners? Not only has he sold us, but he has used up what was paid for us. 16Surely all the wealth that God took away from our father belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17Then Jacob put his children and his wives on camels, 18and he drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all the goods he had accumulated in Paddan Aram,#31:18 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.</div><div class="p"> 19When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father&#8217;s household gods. 20Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. 21So he fled with all he had, crossed the Euphrates River, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.</div><div class="s1">Laban Pursues Jacob</div><div class="p"> 22On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. 24Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, &#8220;Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 25Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead when Laban overtook him, and Laban and his relatives camped there too. 26Then Laban said to Jacob, &#8220;What have you done? You&#8217;ve deceived me, and you&#8217;ve carried off my daughters like captives in war. 27Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn&#8217;t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps? 28You didn&#8217;t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing. 29I have the power to harm you; but last night the God of your father said to me, &#8216;Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.&#8217; 30Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father&#8217;s household. But why did you steal my gods?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31Jacob answered Laban, &#8220;I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. 32But if you find anyone who has your gods, that person shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, see for yourself whether there is anything of yours here with me; and if so, take it.&#8221; Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods.</div><div class="p"> 33So Laban went into Jacob&#8217;s tent and into Leah&#8217;s tent and into the tent of the two female servants, but he found nothing. After he came out of Leah&#8217;s tent, he entered Rachel&#8217;s tent. 34Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel&#8217;s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.</div><div class="p"> 35Rachel said to her father, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I&#8217;m having my period.&#8221; So he searched but could not find the household gods.</div><div class="p"> 36Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. &#8220;What is my crime?&#8221; he asked Laban. &#8220;How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? 37Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.</div><div class="p"> 38&#8220;I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 40This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 42If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 43Laban answered Jacob, &#8220;The women are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. All you see is mine. Yet what can I do today about these daughters of mine, or about the children they have borne? 44Come now, let&#8217;s make a covenant, you and I, and let it serve as a witness between us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 45So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46He said to his relatives, &#8220;Gather some stones.&#8221; So they took stones and piled them in a heap, and they ate there by the heap. 47Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.#31:47 The Aramaic Jegar Sahadutha and the Hebrew Galeed both mean witness heap.</div><div class="p"> 48Laban said, &#8220;This heap is a witness between you and me today.&#8221; That is why it was called Galeed. 49It was also called Mizpah,#31:49 Mizpah means watchtower. because he said, &#8220;May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other. 50If you mistreat my daughters or if you take any wives besides my daughters, even though no one is with us, remember that God is a witness between you and me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 51Laban also said to Jacob, &#8220;Here is this heap, and here is this pillar I have set up between you and me. 52This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not go past this heap to your side to harm you and that you will not go past this heap and pillar to my side to harm me. 53May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.&#8221;</div><div class="p">So Jacob took an oath in the name of the Fear of his father Isaac. 54He offered a sacrifice there in the hill country and invited his relatives to a meal. After they had eaten, they spent the night there.</div><div class="p"> 55Early the next morning Laban kissed his grandchildren and his daughters and blessed them. Then he left and returned home.#31:55 In Hebrew texts this verse (31:55) is numbered 32:1.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkGEN">
 <div class="chapter ch32" data-usfm="GEN.32">
 <div class="label">32</div><div class="s1">Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau</div><div class="p"> # In Hebrew texts 32:1-32 is numbered 32:2-33. 1Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2When Jacob saw them, he said, &#8220;This is the camp of God!&#8221; So he named that place Mahanaim.#32:2 Mahanaim means two camps.</div><div class="p"> 3Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4He instructed them: &#8220;This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: &#8216;Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. 5I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 6When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, &#8220;We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,#32:7 Or camps and the flocks and herds and camels as well. 8He thought, &#8220;If Esau comes and attacks one group,#32:8 Or camp the group#32:8 Or camp that is left may escape.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9Then Jacob prayed, &#8220;O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, &#8216;Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,&#8217; 10I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12But you have said, &#8216;I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, &#8220;Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17He instructed the one in the lead: &#8220;When my brother Esau meets you and asks, &#8216;Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?&#8217; 18then you are to say, &#8216;They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 19He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: &#8220;You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20And be sure to say, &#8216;Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; For he thought, &#8220;I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.&#8221; 21So Jacob&#8217;s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.</div><div class="s1">Jacob Wrestles With God</div><div class="p"> 22That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob&#8217;s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26Then the man said, &#8220;Let me go, for it is daybreak.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But Jacob replied, &#8220;I will not let you go unless you bless me.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 27The man asked him, &#8220;What is your name?&#8221;</div><div class="p">&#8220;Jacob,&#8221; he answered.</div><div class="p"> 28Then the man said, &#8220;Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,#32:28 Israel probably means he struggles with God. because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 29Jacob said, &#8220;Please tell me your name.&#8221;</div><div class="p">But he replied, &#8220;Why do you ask my name?&#8221; Then he blessed him there.</div><div class="p"> 30So Jacob called the place Peniel,#32:30 Peniel means face of God. saying, &#8220;It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 31The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,#32:31 Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel and he was limping because of his hip. 32Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob&#8217;s hip was touched near the tendon.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkLUK">
 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="LUK.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">The Parable of the Shrewd Manager</div><div class="p"> 1Jesus told his disciples: &#8220;There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2So he called him in and asked him, &#8216;What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 3 &#8220;The manager said to himself, &#8216;What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I&#8217;m not strong enough to dig, and I&#8217;m ashamed to beg&#8212; 4I know what I&#8217;ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 5 &#8220;So he called in each one of his master&#8217;s debtors. He asked the first, &#8216;How much do you owe my master?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 6 &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Nine hundred gallons # 16:6 Or about 3,000 liters of olive oil,&#8217; he replied.</div><div class="p"> &#8220;The manager told him, &#8216;Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 7 &#8220;Then he asked the second, &#8216;And how much do you owe?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;A thousand bushels # 16:7 Or about 30 tons of wheat,&#8217; he replied.</div><div class="p"> &#8220;He told him, &#8216;Take your bill and make it eight hundred.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 8 &#8220;The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.</div><div class="p"> 10 &#8220;Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else&#8217;s property, who will give you property of your own?</div><div class="p"> 13 &#8220;No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15He said to them, &#8220;You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God&#8217;s sight.</div><div class="s1">Additional Teachings</div><div class="p"> 16 &#8220;The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. 17It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.</div><div class="p"> 18 &#8220;Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.</div><div class="s1">The Rich Man and Lazarus</div><div class="p"> 19 &#8220;There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man&#8217;s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.</div><div class="p"> 22 &#8220;The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham&#8217;s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, &#8216;Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 25 &#8220;But Abraham replied, &#8216;Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 27 &#8220;He answered, &#8216;Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 29 &#8220;Abraham replied, &#8216;They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 30 &#8220;&#8198;&#8216;No, father Abraham,&#8217; he said, &#8216;but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 31 &#8220;He said to him, &#8216;If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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