Jesus answered, “You people that live now have no faith. Your lives are all wrong. How long must I be with you and be patient with you?” Then Jesus said to the man, “Bring your son here.”
Elisha, the man of God, [43] heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes {to show that he was upset}. So Elisha sent this message to the king: “Why did you tear your clothes? Let Naaman come to me. Then he will know there is a prophet in Israel!”
If the people teach their God’s commands\par to their children,\par then the children will not be like\par their ancestors. {\cf2\super [444]} \par Their ancestors turned against God.\par They refused to obey him.\par Those people were stubborn.\par They were not loyal to God’s Spirit.\par
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They told him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrew people, says, ‘How long will you refuse to obey me? Let my people go to worship me!
The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “How long will these people continue to turn against me? They show that they don’t trust me. They show that they don’t believe in my power. They refuse to believe me, even after I have shown them many powerful signs. I have done many great things among them.
Jesus answered, “Evil and sinful people are the ones that want to see a miracle for a sign (proof). But no miracle will be given as a sign to those people. The only sign will be the miracle that happened to the prophet {\cf2\super [178]} Jonah.
Then the evil spirit goes out and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself. Then all the spirits go into that person and live there. And that person has even more trouble than he had before. It is the same way with the evil people that live today.”
Evil and sinful people are the kind of people that want a miracle {\cf2\super [217]} for a sign (proof). But those people will have no sign—only the sign of Jonah. {\cf2\super [218]} ” Then Jesus left that place and went away.
Jesus answered, “You people have no faith. Your lives are all wrong. How long must I stay with you? How long must I continue to be patient with you? Bring the boy here.”
Many Pharisees {\cf2\super [37]} and Sadducees {\cf2\super [38]} came to the place where John was baptizing people. When John saw them he said to them: “You are all snakes! Who warned you to run away from God’s anger that is coming?
Jesus saw what happened. He did not like his followers telling the children not to come. Jesus said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to people that are like these little children.
While the boy was coming, the demon {\cf2\super [173]} threw the boy to the ground. The boy lost control of himself. But Jesus gave a strong command to the evil spirit. Then the boy was healed. And Jesus gave the boy back to his father.
Jesus answered, “Philip, I have been with you for a long time. So you should know me. The person that has seen me has seen the Father too. So why do you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
God has been very kind to you. And he has been patient with you. God has been waiting for you to change. But you think nothing of his kindness. Maybe you don’t understand that God is kind to you so that you will change your hearts and lives.
So let us try as hard as we can to enter God’s rest. We must try hard so that none of us will be lost by following the example of those people who refused to obey God.
The way to be saved {\cf2\super [23]} was told to us the same as to those people. But the teaching those people heard did not help them. They heard that teaching but did not accept it with faith.
So Christ can save those people who come to God through him. Christ can do this forever, because he always lives, ready to help people when they come before God.