Philippians 2:1-13
New Living Translation
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Have the Attitude of Christ
2 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though he was God,
    he did not think of equality with God
    as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
    he took the humble position of a slave
    and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8     he humbled himself in obedience to God
    and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
    and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Shine Brightly for Christ
12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Psalm 78:1-4
New Living Translation
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Psalm 78
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O my people, listen to my instructions.
    Open your ears to what I am saying,
2     for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past--
3     stories we have heard and known,
    stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
    we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
    about his power and his mighty wonders.

Psalm 78:12-16
New Living Translation

12 the miracles he did for their ancestors
    on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
13 For he divided the sea and led them through,
    making the water stand up like walls!
14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud,
    and all night by a pillar of fire.
15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness
    to give them water, as from a gushing spring.
16 He made streams pour from the rock,
    making the waters flow down like a river!

Exodus 17:1-7
New Living Translation
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Water from the Rock
17 At the Lord’s command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin and moved from place to place. Eventually they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. 2 So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded.

“Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?”

3 But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me!”

5 The Lord said to Moses, “Walk out in front of the people. Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. 6 I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.

7 Moses named the place Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”) because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not?”

Philippians 1:21-30
New Living Translation
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21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. 22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better. 23 I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me. 24 But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live.

25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. 26 And when I come to you again, you will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is doing through me.

Live as Citizens of Heaven
27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News. 28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. 29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. 30 We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it.

Psalm 78
New Living Translation
​
Psalm 78
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O my people, listen to my instructions.
    Open your ears to what I am saying,
2     for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past--
3     stories we have heard and known,
    stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
    we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
    about his power and his mighty wonders.
5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
    he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
    to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them--
    even the children not yet born--
    and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
    not forgetting his glorious miracles
    and obeying his commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors--
    stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
    refusing to give their hearts to God.

9 The warriors of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
    turned their backs and fled on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant
    and refused to live by his instructions.
11 They forgot what he had done--
    the great wonders he had shown them,
12 the miracles he did for their ancestors
    on the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
13 For he divided the sea and led them through,
    making the water stand up like walls!
14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud,
    and all night by a pillar of fire.
15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness
    to give them water, as from a gushing spring.
16 He made streams pour from the rock,
    making the waters flow down like a river!

17 Yet they kept on sinning against him,
    rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They stubbornly tested God in their hearts,
    demanding the foods they craved.
19 They even spoke against God himself, saying,
    “God can’t give us food in the wilderness.
20 Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,
    but he can’t give his people bread and meat.”
21 When the Lord heard them, he was furious.
    The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.
    Yes, his anger rose against Israel,
22 for they did not believe God
    or trust him to care for them.
23 But he commanded the skies to open;
    he opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down manna for them to eat;
    he gave them bread from heaven.
25 They ate the food of angels!
    God gave them all they could hold.
26 He released the east wind in the heavens
    and guided the south wind by his mighty power.
27 He rained down meat as thick as dust--
    birds as plentiful as the sand on the seashore!
28 He caused the birds to fall within their camp
    and all around their tents.
29 The people ate their fill.
    He gave them what they craved.
30 But before they satisfied their craving,
    while the meat was yet in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
    and he killed their strongest men.
    He struck down the finest of Israel’s young men.

32 But in spite of this, the people kept sinning.
    Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.
33 So he ended their lives in failure,
    their years in terror.
34 When God began killing them,
    they finally sought him.
    They repented and took God seriously.
35 Then they remembered that God was their rock,
    that God Most High was their redeemer.
36 But all they gave him was lip service;
    they lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their hearts were not loyal to him.
    They did not keep his covenant.
38 Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins
    and did not destroy them all.
Many times he held back his anger
    and did not unleash his fury!
39 For he remembered that they were merely mortal,
    gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

40 Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.
41 Again and again they tested God’s patience
    and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power
    and how he rescued them from their enemies.
43 They did not remember his miraculous signs in Egypt,
    his wonders on the plain of Zoan.
44 For he turned their rivers into blood,
    so no one could drink from the streams.
45 He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them
    and hordes of frogs to ruin them.
46 He gave their crops to caterpillars;
    their harvest was consumed by locusts.
47 He destroyed their grapevines with hail
    and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet.
48 He abandoned their cattle to the hail,
    their livestock to bolts of lightning.
49 He loosed on them his fierce anger--
    all his fury, rage, and hostility.
He dispatched against them
    a band of destroying angels.
50 He turned his anger against them;
    he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives
    but ravaged them with the plague.
51 He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family,
    the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.
52 But he led his own people like a flock of sheep,
    guiding them safely through the wilderness.
53 He kept them safe so they were not afraid;
    but the sea covered their enemies.
54 He brought them to the border of his holy land,
    to this land of hills he had won for them.
55 He drove out the nations before them;
    he gave them their inheritance by lot.
    He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.

56 But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High.
    They did not obey his laws.
57 They turned back and were as faithless as their parents.
    They were as undependable as a crooked bow.
58 They angered God by building shrines to other gods;
    they made him jealous with their idols.
59 When God heard them, he was very angry,
    and he completely rejected Israel.
60 Then he abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
    the Tabernacle where he had lived among the people.
61 He allowed the Ark of his might to be captured;
    he surrendered his glory into enemy hands.
62 He gave his people over to be butchered by the sword,
    because he was so angry with his own people—his special possession.
63 Their young men were killed by fire;
    their young women died before singing their wedding songs.
64 Their priests were slaughtered,
    and their widows could not mourn their deaths.

65 Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep,
    like a warrior aroused from a drunken stupor.
66 He routed his enemies
    and sent them to eternal shame.
67 But he rejected Joseph’s descendants;
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah,
    and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 There he built his sanctuary as high as the heavens,
    as solid and enduring as the earth.
70 He chose his servant David,
    calling him from the sheep pens.
71 He took David from tending the ewes and lambs
    and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants--
    God’s own people, Israel.
72 He cared for them with a true heart
    and led them with skillful hands.

Exodus 16:2-15
New Living Translation
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2 There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.

3 “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will realize it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7 In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” 8 Then Moses added, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the Lord, not against us.”

9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’” 10 And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel, they looked out toward the wilderness. There they could see the awesome glory of the Lord in the cloud.

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 That evening vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. And the next morning the area around the camp was wet with dew. 14 When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground. 15 The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. “What is it?” they asked each other. They had no idea what it was.

And Moses told them, “It is the food the Lord has given you to eat.