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Bless the Lord!Bless the Lord who is worthy to be praised

for all eternity!

Shema

Shema Israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai

Echad.Baruch shem k’vod

malchuto l’olam va’ed.

Shema

Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the

LORD is One!Blessed be the name

of His glorious kingdom, forever and

ever. Amein.

Genesis 12:1-13:18

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17 But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Joshua 24:1-28

1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.

3 Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac. 4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward I brought you out.

6 “‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 And when they cried to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time.

8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand.

11 And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. 12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow.

13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

14 “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods, 17 for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed.

18 And the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

24 And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Galatians 1

From Paul, an apostle (appointed not by people, not by their efforts, but by Jesus the Anointed One and God the Father who raised him from among the dead), and from all the fellow believers who are with me.

To: The assemblies in Galatia

NT text from The Source

Favor and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus the Anointed One! He offered himself in the place of our sins, just as our God and Father planned, so that he could carry us out of this present evil age! May God be honored forever and ever, amen!

I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who showed you favor by inviting you, and turning to a fake Good News! There isn’t another Good News, but instead some people are getting you all mixed up. They want to throw the Anointed One’s Good News into disorder! Now if ever we or a Messenger from heaven should preach a so-called

Good News which we have preached, they will be cursed! As we have already said, we will now repeat: if anyone preaches a Good News to you other than the one you received, they will be cursed!

Am I trying to win over people or God? Do you imagine I am trying to please people? If I cared about what people think, I wouldn’t be a slave servant of the Anointed One!

Now, fellow believers, I want you to realize that the Good News which I preached isn’t a human one, nor did I receive it by way of human instruction. I received it through revelation from Jesus the Anointed One!

You have heard about my way of life when I was a practicing Jew, how I went to the extreme in persecuting God’s assembly

And tried to destroy it. And I progressed further in Judaism than many of my own people in my age group. In fact, right from the start I was most zealous about the traditional teachings of our ancestors. But it seemed good to God (who, due to his favor upon me, selected me from my mother’s womb and invited me) to reveal his Son to me and through me, so that

I would preach about him among the non-Jews. When this happened I did not consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who had been apostles before me. Instead, I immediately went to Arabia, and then I went back to Damascus.

Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to see Cephas (Peter) and

Stayed with him for fifteen days. But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. Now about these things I’m writing to you, let me tell you this: Before God, I’m not lying! Afterwards I went to the Syrian and Cilician territories. My face was unknown to the Judean assembles, followers of the Anointed One. They knew me only by

Ch 2

Reputation: “The one who persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy!” And they kept praising God because of me.

Then fourteen years later I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas: I took Titus along too. Now I went up as a result of revelation. And I imparted the Good News which I preach among the non-Jews in private to those who were held in high regard, so that my future efforts, as

Well as my past efforts, would not be in vain. By the way, they did not even pressure Titus who was with me, and a Greek, to be circumcised!

I had to speak to them in private because of the undercover fake fellow believers who were inserted to spy on the freedom that we have in Jesus’ Anointing. Their intention was to reduce us to bondage. We did not give them any support even

For a moment, so that the truth of the Good News would hold its ground with you. As for those who were held in high regard—and I couldn’t care less, it makes no difference to me! God doesn’t show personal favoritism to anyone!—the did not impose any conditions upon me.

On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the

Uncircumcised (non-Jews), just as Peter had been entrusted with the Good News for the circumcised (Jews). God had assisted Peter in his mission to the circumcised (Jews) just as he also assisted me with the non-Jews. When James, Cephas (Peter) and John, who seemed to be the main supporters, recognized the favor that had been given

To me, they shook hands with me and Barnabas in token of our partnership. As a result, we were to go to the non-Jews and they to the circumcised (Jews). All they said was that we must give funds to the people who were financially destitute, the very thing that I was most eager to do too.

Now when Cephas (Peter) arrived in Antioch, I opposed him to his face as he

Was at fault. Before the arrival of certain people sent by James, he would eat with the non-Jews, but when they arrived, he made a move to get away from them and keep away from them, as he was afraid of the group who were circumcised (Jews). And the rest of the Jews joined in his legalistic type of behavior, to the point that even Barnabas was actually carried away with it too!

But when I saw that they weren’t on the right road to the truth about the Good News, I said to Peter in front of all of them, “Since you, a Jew, live like the non-Jews and not like the Jews, how can you put pressure on non-Jews to live like Jews?” We are Jews by birth and not non-Jewish sinners! We know that a person does not become right with God by acts of law but rather through faith in Jesus the

Anointed One. And we know that we believed the Anointed One Jesus. This means that we are made right with God on the basis of faith in the Anointed One rather than on the basis of doing what the Laws says. Nothing of the natural realm will be made right with God on the basis of doing what the Law says.

But if we seek to be made right with God by the Anointed One, and thus are discovered to be sinners against the Law, would you say the Anointed One is a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I reconstruct the legalism I have demolished, I show myself up as a sinner. Through the Law I was led to have nothing more to do with legalism and instead to live for God. I have been

Crucified with the Anointed One and died to legalism: that is to say, it is no longer I that live, but the Anointed One who lives in me. The life I now live in the natural realm, I live by means of faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

I do not invalidate God’s favor. If being made right with God comes b way of legalism, then the Anointed One was crucified for nothing!

Ch 3

You senseless Galatians, who has cast a spell on you by using the evil eye! Before your very eyes Jesus the Anointed One was publicly announced as crucified! This is the only thing I want to learn from you: did you take hold of the Spirit by legalistic acts or by hearing and believing? Why are you so senseless? You started with the spiritual; do you intend to finish with the natural? Have you experienced so much for nothing? What is really for nothing?

God fully supplies every single necessity, plus more, to supply the Spirit for you, and is active doing miracles and powerful things among you. Does this happen by legalistic acts or by hearing and believing? In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God calculated that by doing this Abraham was made right with God.”

You must realize that everyone who has faith is a child of Abraham. God was to make the non-Jews right with him through faith. The Scriptures made provision for this, with God announcing the news to Abraham beforehand: “All the non-Jews will be happy because of you!” As a result, everyone who has faith is in a blessed state, in company with Abraham who had faith.

And in conclusion: