1. "Beware of practicing your righteousness before others so that you will be noticed. If you are righteous for the notice of others, then your reward is from others, and you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2. "So, when you give to the poor, do not publicize it as the hypocrites do, so they will receive the honor of people; for I tell you in truth, they have their full reward.
3. "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Then your giving which is done in secret will be seen by your Father who sees all things kept in secret, and your reward will be with Him.
4. "When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray in public where people see them. In truth, I tell you, the notice of others is their only reward.
5. "But when you pray, go into your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is in there with you, and your Father who sees what is done in secret places will reward you.
6. "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions like the heathens use. For they think they will be heard through their repetitions and many words. For your Father knows what you need, even before you ask for it.
7. "Therefore, when you pray, do so in this manner:
8. 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come; Your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil; for Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.'
9. "For the one who has ears to hear, hear this: If you forgive others, you will be forgiven. If you will not forgive, you stand unforgiven.
10. "When you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they love to show their sufferings to find favor among men--truly they have their reward.
11. "But when you fast, keep up your appearance, and do not let your suffering show, then your Father who is in secret, and sees all things in secret, will reward you.
12. "And do not store up riches on this earth where moths and rust destroy them, and thieves break in to steal them. Rather, store up treasures in heaven that endure and fail not, where nothing can destroy them, and no one can ever take them away.
13. "For wherever your treasure is stored, there also is your heart.
14. "For this reason, I tell you, do not worry about your life regarding what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about your body regarding what clothes you will wear. Is life not more than food? Is it not more than clothes?
15. "Look at your Father's world: Do the birds of the air plant and harvest and store up in barns for the future? No. Yet your Father takes care of them their entire lives. Are not you worth more than a bird?
16. "And why worry about clothing? Look at your Father's world; does not everything have the clothes it needs? See how even the flowers are adorned? And yet they do not toil or spin wool, and yet they are taken care of. Not even kings are dressed so finely.
17. "Are you not worth more than a flower that is alive today and tomorrow is plucked up and thrown into the fire?
18. "And who of you by worrying can add a single hour to their life?
19. "Oh, you of little faith! Do not chase after what you will eat or what you will wear--let the world follow these things. Your Father already knows that you need them.
20. "But seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness that comes from dwelling therein, and all these things will be added unto you."
21. "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is clear, your whole mind will be clear, but if your sight is dim, your whole mind will be full of darkness. If the only light you have is darkness, how great is that darkness?"
22. Then His disciples asked Him, "Where is the kingdom of God that we might find it?"
23. And He said to them, "Those who seek the kingdom should not stop until they find it. When they find it, they will be disturbed by what they find, but that will turn to marvel, and when they marvel, they will reign over all things.
24. "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer, and the outer like the inner, and when you make the upper like the lower, and the male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female a female. When you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter the kingdom of God.
25. "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the kingdom is in the sky, then the birds will make it in before you do, or if they say it is in the sea, then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom of God is within you.
26. "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to that friend at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me some food from your stores because a companion of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.'
27. "And from inside, the friend answers and says, 'Do not bother me. The door is locked for the night, and the children and I are in bed. I cannot get up now and give you anything.'
28. "I say to you, even though she will not get up and give him anything just because he is a friend, she will get up and give him something if he persists in asking her.
29. "So then ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and everyone who seeks, finds; and to everyone who knocks, the door is opened.
30. "Or who among you when your child asks for a loaf of bread will give her a stone, or if she asks for fish will give her a snake?
31. "If you being evil will give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the kingdom to those who ask Him?
32. "But the gate to the kingdom is narrow, and few are those who ever enter it. Wide is the gate that leads to destruction, and many are they who pass through it.
33. "Strive, therefore, to enter through the narrow gate, for many will try to enter the kingdom of God but will be unable to.
34. "Beware of the false teachers who come in my name. They are like wolves in sheep's clothing. You will know them by the fruit they bear; for grapes are not gathered from thorns nor are figs gathered from thistles.
35. "Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.
36. "All trees that do not produce good fruit are cut down and thrown into the fire.
37. "Know that not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of our Father in heaven will enter--for that is the good fruit.
38. "Many will say to Me on their last day, when they see the Son of Man in His glory, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
39. "And then I will say to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, to the place prepared for the devil and his angels.'
40. "So why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what I say?
41. "Yet everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice may be compared to a wise person who built their house on a rock. When the rain came, and the winds blew, and the floodwaters rose, the house did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
42. "And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice will be like a foolish person who built their house on the sand. When the rain came, and the winds blew, and the floodwaters rose, the house fell, for it had a weak foundation--and great was the fall of it."
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