Jesus said to them, "Take care; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

"Take care," Jesus warned them, "and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."

Make certain, then, that the light in you is not darkness.

As thousands of people crowded together, so that they were stepping on each other, Jesus said first to his disciples, "Be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees---I mean their hypocrisy.

And he went on to say to them all, "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be."

That is why we must hold on all the more firmly to the truths we have heard, so that we will not be carried away.

return it to him each evening, so that he can have it to sleep in. Then he will be grateful, and the LORD your God will be pleased with you.

He gives generously to the needy, and his kindness never fails; he will be powerful and respected.

So then, Your Majesty, follow my advice. Stop sinning, do what is right, and be merciful to the poor. Then you will continue to be prosperous."

As the scripture says, "He gives generously to the needy; his kindness lasts forever."

And God, who supplies seed for the sower and bread to eat, will also supply you with all the seed you need and will make it grow and produce a rich harvest from your generosity.

"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.

"And when you fast, do not put on a sad face as the hypocrites do. They neglect their appearance so that everyone will see that they are fasting. I assure you, they have already been paid in full.

In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

They do everything so that people will see them. Look at the straps with scripture verses on them which they wear on their foreheads and arms, and notice how large they are! Notice also how long are the tassels on their cloaks!

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In the same way, on the outside you appear good to everybody, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sins.

and you claim that if you had lived during the time of your ancestors, you would not have done what they did and killed the prophets.

saying, "Come with me and see for yourself how devoted I am to the LORD." And they rode on together to Samaria.

But Jehu did not obey with all his heart the Law of the LORD, the God of Israel; instead, he followed the example of Jeroboam, who led Israel into sin.

So my people crowd in to hear what you have to say, but they don't do what you tell them to do. Loving words are on their lips, but they continue their greedy ways.

He said, "Tell the people of the land and the priests that when they fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during these seventy years, it was not in honor of me.

When that time comes, no prophet will be proud of his visions or act like a prophet or wear a prophet's coarse garment in order to deceive people.

Jesus said to them, "You are the ones who make yourselves look right in other people's sight, but God knows your hearts. For the things that are considered of great value by people are worth nothing in God's sight.

You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me?

They loved human approval rather than the approval of God.

The people who are trying to force you to be circumcised are the ones who want to show off and boast about external matters. They do it, however, only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.

Then it will be a private matter. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.

But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you.

Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that!

Whoever welcomes God's messenger because he is God's messenger, will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes a good man because he is good, will share in his reward.

You can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of cold water to one of the least of these my followers because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward."

For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his deeds.

The King will reply, 'I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!'

If I did my work as a matter of free choice, then I could expect to be paid; but I do it as a matter of duty, because God has entrusted me with this task.

What pay do I get, then? It is the privilege of preaching the Good News without charging for it, without claiming my rights in my work for the gospel.

God is not unfair. He will not forget the work you did or the love you showed for him in the help you gave and are still giving to other Christians.

He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes on the future reward.

Be on your guard, then, so that you will not lose what we have worked for, but will receive your reward in full.

This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored;

You must be perfect---just as your Father in heaven is perfect.