Monday, July 13

¹⁵“Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. ¹⁶You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? ¹⁷In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.

²¹“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. ²²On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ ²³Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’

²⁴“Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. ²⁵The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation had been laid on rock. ²⁶Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed—it was utterly destroyed!”

²⁸When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed by his teaching, ²⁹because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law.

¹After he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. ²And a leper approached and bowed low before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” ³He stretched out his hand and touched him saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴Then Jesus said to him, “See that you do not speak to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and bring the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

⁵When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help: ⁶“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.” ⁷Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” ⁸But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof! Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. ⁹For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ¹⁰When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! ¹¹I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ¹²but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” And the servant was healed at that hour.