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Don’t tell other people they are bad
1 Jesus said to the people, “Don’t say to anybody, ‘You are bad,’ and then God will not say to you, ‘You are bad.’
2 God will judge you the same way as you judge other people. If you are easy on other people, God will be easy on you. But if you are hard on other people, God will be hard on you.
3-5 You shouldn’t always try to tell other people they are doing bad things. First, you have to think about all the bad things that you do, and you have to stop doing those bad things. Then maybe you can help other people to stop doing bad things too. Maybe you are doing lots of bad things, and your friend is just doing one little bad thing. If you are still doing lots of bad things, you can’t help them stop doing that little bad thing. It’s like this. All those bad things you do are making you blind, like you have a big bit of wood in your eye. And maybe your friend is just doing one little thing wrong, like they just have a little splinter of wood in their eye. You have to take that big bit of wood out of your eye, so that you can see properly, then maybe you can help your friend get that little splinter out of their eye.”
6 Jesus kept on talking to them. He said, “There are some things that belong to God. Don’t give those things to people that don’t like God. Those people are like dogs. If you give them God’s things, they will rubbish them, and then they will turn around and bite you, just like dogs. And some of God’s things are really special. Don’t give them to people that don’t know that those things are special. They will rubbish those things. They will be just like pigs that don’t know good things. They will walk on them and push them into the mud.”
Keep asking God, and he will give you what you need
7 Jesus kept on teaching the people. He said, “Whenever you need something, you have to keep asking God for it, and he will give it to you. Keep looking for whatever you need, and God will let you find it. Maybe something will block you, so you can’t get what you need, like there is a door that is shut and you can’t get through it. Well, then keep on knocking at that door, and God will open it for you.
8 Everyone that asks God for something will get it. Everyone that looks for something will find it. God will open the door for everyone that knocks on it.
9 It’s like this. If your son asks you for some bread, will you give him a stone? No way.
10 Or if your son asks you for a fish, will you give him a cheeky snake? No way.
11 You see, you might be bad, but you give good things to your kids. Well, your father in heaven is a lot better than you. He is always good, so he will always give good things to people that ask him.”
This is what God’s law is all about
12 Jesus said, “You know the way you want other people to treat you. Well, you have to treat other people that same way. You have to live like that all the time. That is a short way of saying the message that is in God’s book. It is what God’s law is all about, and it is what God got his men to write about in his book. You have to always treat other people the same way that you want people to treat you.”
You have to follow the right track
13-14 Then Jesus told them this picture story about how to live. He said, “It is like there are 2 tracks in life, and each track has its own gate. One gate is big and wide, but the other gate is a narrow little gate. It is hard to get through that little gate, and only a few people get through it. Listen, you have to go through that little gate. If you want to live with God for ever, you have to pick that little gate and go through it, and you have to follow its track. Its track is a narrow little track, and it is hard to walk on. But if you go that way, you will live with God for ever. The other gate is wide and easy to go through, and its track is wide and easy to walk on. A lot of people go that way. They go through that wide gate and walk along that easy track. But that track goes to the wrong place, and God will finish up those people.”
Be careful of people that say they have a message from God
15 Then Jesus told them, “Always be careful. Don’t believe everybody. There are some people that reckon they are telling you a message from God, but they are liars. They try to get you to think they are like sheep, like they are soft and will not give you any trouble. But really, they are like wild dingoes. They will give you trouble, like dingoes hurt sheep. If you believe their words, then you will get lots of trouble.
16 If you look at the things these people do, you can find out if they are talking true words, or if they are liars.”
Then Jesus told a picture story. He said, “Think about the trees that give us fruit to eat. We can’t get good fruit from rubbish trees. We can’t get grapes from rubbish plants.
17 Good fruit grows on a good tree. Rubbish fruit grows on a rubbish tree.
18 A good tree can’t make bad fruit. A bad tree can’t make good fruit.
19 If a farmer has a tree that only makes rubbish fruit, he will cut down that tree and burn it in a fire.
20 So, to find out if a person is good or bad, look at what they do. A good person does good things. And a bad person does bad things.”
God will only have the people that do what he wants
21 And Jesus said, “Lots of people call me, ‘My leader and my boss,’ but some of them will never be in God’s family. God will only have people that do what he wants them to do. God will have those people in his family, but not the other people. God is my father in heaven.
22 One day, God will get me to judge everybody, and some people will say to me, ‘You are my leader and my boss. We used your power to tell people your messages, and to force bad spirits out of people, and to do a lot of other great things.’
23 Then I will tell them, ‘I don’t know you mob. You are bad. You don’t do what God wants. So get away from me.’ ”
Be wise and do what Jesus says
24 Then Jesus told them 2 more picture stories. He said, “If you listen to my message, and if you do what I say, you are like a wise man that built his house on hard rock.
25 Then a lot of rain came and made big flood waters that flowed along really fast, and that water hit that house, and strong winds blew hard against that house. But that house didn’t fall down. He built it on hard rock, so it stayed strong. You see, if you do what I say, you will be like the wise man in that picture story.
26 But if you hear my message and you don’t do what I say, you are like a stupid man that built his house on soft sand.
27 Then a lot of rain came and made big flood waters that flowed along really fast, and that water hit that house, and strong winds blew hard against that house. Then that house fell down, and it broke up into little bits. You see, if you don’t do what I say, you will be like the stupid man in that picture story.”
28 Then Jesus finished talking to that big mob of people. They were really surprised as they listened to what he told them.
29 You see, they knew he told them God’s word properly. He knew what he was talking about. Their law teachers never talked like that.