1My friends, do you remember the story about my mob, the Israel people, a long time ago? They all followed Moses and walked out into the hot dry country, and God covered them all with a big cloud, and this cloud showed them where to go. Then they came to the Red Sea and God pushed the water back so that they all walked through the Red Sea on dry ground.
2It was like God baptised everyone that followed Moses, at first in the cloud, and then in the sea.
3They all ate the food that God gave them,
4and they all drank the water that God gave them. That water came from the rock that God put there for them, and that rock followed them all the time in that dry country. That rock was really Jesus Christ. He went along with them.
5God helped the people like that, but later most of them went wrong, and he was not happy with them, so he killed them, and their bodies lay everywhere in that dry country.
6All these things happened to the Israel people to show us that God will not be happy with us if we want to do bad, like they did.
7Don’t do what some of them did. They showed respect to statues that they thought were gods. We read this in God’s book, The people sat down to eat and to drink, to show respect to those statues, then they stood up to play.
8And some of them slept with people who were not their own husband or wife, but they did what married people do together. So God killed 23,000 of them in one day. This story tells us, “If somebody is not your wife or husband, don’t sleep with them like that.”
9And some of them tried to push God to do what they wanted, and snakes came and killed them. This story tells us we can’t try to push Jesus Christ.
10And some of them complained about God and said he was not fair, and one of God’s angel messengers came and killed them. This story tells us we can’t complain about God and say he is not fair.
11All these things happened to that mob a long time ago, and God got somebody to write down what happened, and it’s in his book to show us that those things are wrong. We have to think about those stories and learn from them. You see, we’re living in the end time now, and soon Jesus will come back.
12So be careful. If you think you are standing strong for Jesus, look out. You might fall down and go wrong.
13You see, the devil will always try to get you to go wrong, like he always tries to get everyone to go wrong. Other people have the same problems that you have. But remember this. God doesn’t want you to do anything bad. He wants to help you, so he will not let the devil push you too far. God will show you a way to stop yourself from going wrong, and he will help you to go the right way. You can stop yourself from doing bad things.
14Listen, my dear friends, I’m telling you this. Keep away from those statues that people think are gods. Don’t respect them at all.
15I know you people can think properly, so you yourselves work out what is right.
16Think about when we get together to remember the body and blood of Jesus. We all drink from that cup, and we remember that Jesus Christ died for us and his blood came out, and we thank God for him. This joins us together with him and with each other. And when we break the bread and eat it, we all remember that Jesus Christ’s body got broken for us, and this also joins us together with him and with each other.
17You see, we are a lot of people, but all of us eat from one loaf of bread, so all of us are like one body when we eat from that same loaf.
18Think about the Israel people. They give animals to God and cook their meat on that special table, and they show respect to God as they eat some of that meat, and this joins them together with God and with each other.
19You see, this is what I’m saying. Those statues that people think are gods are really nothing. And if people give food to those statues, that food doesn’t get any power at all.
20Really, those people are showing respect to devils, not God, and they are joining themselves to devils. Don’t do that. I don’t want you to join up with devils.
21You can’t go 2 ways at the same time. You can’t drink from the cup of our leader, Jesus, and then drink from the cup of devils. You can’t eat the bread from the table of Jesus, and then eat food from the table of devils.
22If you do, you will make God jealous, and he will get angry with you. And he is a lot stronger than you.
23Some of you might say this, “We are free from that Jewish law. We can do anything we like. We can eat that food that they give to those statues and it will not hurt us.” All right, but I’m telling you, not everything is good for us Christians to do. And you might reckon, “We are free, so we can do anything.” But I’m telling you, “No.” Not everything helps us be better Christians.
24Don’t just think about yourself, and what is good for you, but think about what is good for other people.
25So, all right, you can buy food from anyone that sells it, but don’t ask them if they first gave it to one of those statues. And don’t think to yourself, “Is it all right for me to eat this food, or not?”
26We read this in God’s book, “The earth, and everything in it, belongs to God.” You see, all food is from God, so it is all right for us to eat that food.
27Maybe there are some people there that don’t believe in Jesus, and they ask you to eat a meal with them. If you say, “Yes” and go to their place, then eat whatever food they give to you there. Don’t ask yourself, “Is this food all right or not?” Don’t think about it. Don’t ask them any questions about that food.
28But then if somebody there says to you, “Hey, they gave this food to those statues that they think are gods.” Then stop. Don’t eat that food. Think about the person that told you about it. That person might not know if it is all right to eat that food or not, and you don’t want to give that person a problem.
29It will not matter to you. You know it is all right to eat that food. But that other person doesn’t know, and he might think you are doing wrong. Maybe you ask me, “Why can another person say what I can do and what I can’t do?
30I thank God for my food. So, if I eat that food, nobody can blame me when I eat it.”
31Don’t think like that. You have to think like this. We have to live in a way that shows everyone that God is great and God is good, so whatever you do, even if you eat or drink, do it the way God wants.
32Don’t do anything that might give other people problems. Don’t make problems for Jewish people, or for people that are not Jewish. And don’t make problems for God’s people.
33Be like me. I always try to do what makes everyone happy. I try to help other people. I don’t just do things to help myself. You see, I want God to save those other people.
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