But to all who did receive him he gave power to become Children of God--to those who believe in his Name.

If I bear testimony to myself, my testimony is not trustworthy;

And, though it is those very Scriptures that bear testimony to me, you refuse to come to me to have life.

On hearing it, many of his disciples said: "This is harsh doctrine! Who can bear to listen to it?"

"Even if I bear testimony to myself," answered Jesus, "my testimony is trustworthy; for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from, nor where I am going.

I, who bear testimony to myself, am one, and the Father who sent me also bears testimony to me."

How is it that you do not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my Message.

"Why was not this perfume sold for thirty pounds, and the money given to poor people?"

He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and, being in charge of the purse, used to take what was put in it.

The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have me."

Some thought that, as Judas kept the purse, Jesus meant that he was to buy some things needed for the Festival, or to give something to the poor.

Any unfruitful branch in me he takes away, and he cleanses every fruitful branch, that it may bear more fruit.

Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains united to the vine; no more can you, unless you remain united to me.

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that should remain, so that the Father might grant you whatever you ask in my Name.

But, when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father--the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father--he will bear testimony to me;

Yes, and you also are to bear testimony, because you have been with me from the first.

I have still much to say to you, but you cannot bear it now.

Even as thou gavest him power over all mankind, that he should give Immortal Life to all those whom thou has given him.

"Take him yourselves," said Pilate, "and try him by your own Law." "We have no power to put any one to death," the Jews replied- -

"My kingly power," replied Jesus, "is not due to this world. If it had been so, my servants would be doing their utmost to prevent my being given up to the Jews; but my kingly power is not from the world."

"So you are a King after all!" exclaimed Pilate. "Yes, it is true I am a King," answered Jesus. "I was born for this, I have come into the world for this--to bear testimony to the Truth. Every one who is on the side of Truth listens to my voice."

But Jesus made no reply. So Pilate said to him: "Do you refuse to speak to me? Do not you know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?"

"You would have no power over me at all," answered Jesus, "if it had not been given you from above; and, therefore, the man who betrayed me to you is guilty of the greater sin."

But you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit shall have descended upon you, and shall be witnesses for me not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

'It shall come about in the last days,' God says, 'That I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind; your sons and your daughters shall become Prophets, your young men shall see visions, and your old men dream dreams;

Yes, even on the slaves--for they are mine--both men and women, I will in those days pour out my Spirit,

And now that he has been exalted to the right hand of God, and has received from the Father the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, he has begun to pour out that gift, as you yourselves now see and hear.

On seeing this, Peter said to the people: "Men of Israel, why are you surprised at this? and why do you stare at us, as though we, by any power or piety of our own, had enabled this man to walk?

They had Peter and John brought before them, and questioned them. "By what power," they asked, "Or in whose name have men like you done this thing?"

Yet only to do what thou, by thy power and of thy own will, didst long ago destine to be done.

The Apostles continued with great power to bear their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's blessing rested upon them all abundantly.

Every one, high and low, paid attention to him. 'This man,' they used to say, 'must be that Power of God which men call "The Great Power."'

"Give me also this power of yours, so that, if I place my hands upon any one, he may receive the Holy Spirit."

Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, that, if possible, you may be forgiven for such a thought;

"Pray to the Lord for me, all of you," Simon answered, "so that none of the things you have spoken of may befall me."

On the next day, while these men were on their way, just as they were nearing the town, Peter went up on the housetop about mid-day to pray.

The story, I mean, of Jesus of Nazareth, and how God consecrated him his Christ by enduing him with the Holy Spirit and with power; and how he went about doing good and curing all who were under the power of the Devil, because God was with him.

To him it is that all the Prophets bear witness, when they say that every one who believes in him receives through his Name forgiveness of sins."

The power of the Lord was with them, so that a great number who had learned to believe came over to the Lord's side.

For about forty years 'he bore with them in the Desert';

After removing him, he raised David to the throne, and bore this testimony to him--'In David, the son of Jesse, I have found a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my purposes.'

In the streets of Lystra there used to sit a man who had no power in his feet; he had been lame from his birth, and had never walked.

Why, then, do you now provoke God, by putting on the necks of these disciples a yoke which neither our ancestors nor we were able to bear?

Simon has described the manner in which God first visited the Gentiles, in order to take from among them a people to bear his Name.

That very night the Brethren sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea; and on reaching that place, they went to the Jewish Synagogue.

These Jews of Beroea were better disposed than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the Message with great readiness, and daily examined the Scriptures to see if what was said was true.

But, when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that God's Message had been delivered by Paul at Beroea, they came there too, exciting and disturbing the minds of the people.

Immediately upon that, the Brethren sent Paul off on his way to the sea coast, but both Silas and Timothy stayed behind in Beroea.

He was accompanied by Sopater the son of Pyrrhus, of Beroea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus of Roman Asia.

And now I commend you to the Lord and to the Message of his Love--a Message which has the power to build up your characters, and to give you your place among all those who have become Christ's People.

Join these men, share their purification, and bear their expenses, so that they may shave their heads; and then all will see that there is no truth in what they have been told about you, but that, on the contrary, you yourself rule your life in obedience to the Jewish Law.

That night the Lord came and stood by Paul, and said: "Courage! You have borne witness for me in Jerusalem and you must bear witness in Rome also."

The Jews also joined in the attack and bore out his statements.

"No," replied Paul, "I am standing at the Emperor's Bar, where I ought to be tried. I have not wronged the Jews, as you yourself are well aware.

If, however, I am breaking the law and have committed any offence deserving death, I do not ask to escape the penalty; but, if there is nothing in the accusations of these people, no one has the power to give me up to them. I appeal to the Emperor."

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; so that they may receive pardon for their sins, and a place among those who have become God's People, by faith in me.'

However I have received help from God to this very day, and so stand here, and bear my testimony to high and low alike--without adding a word to what the Prophets, as well as Moses, declared should happen--

They then fixed a day with him, and came to the place where he was staying, in even larger numbers, when Paul proceeded to lay the subject before them. He bore his testimony to the Kingdom of God, and tried to convince them about Jesus, by arguments drawn from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets--speaking from morning till evening.

God, to whom I offer the worship of my soul as I tell the Goodness of his Son, is my witness how constantly I mention you when I pray,

For I am not ashamed of the Good News; it is the power of God which brings Salvation to every one who believes in Christ, to the Jew first, but also to the Greek.

For ever since the creation of the universe God's invisible attributes-his everlasting power and divinity-are to be seen and studied in his works, so that men have no excuse;

But, perhaps, you bear the name of 'Jew,' and are relying upon Law, and boast of belonging to God, and understand his will,

But now, quite apart from Law, the Divine Righteousness stands revealed, and to it the Law and the Prophets bear witness--

Consequently, through sharing his death in our baptism, we were buried with him; that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by a manifestation of the Father's power, so we also may live a new Life.

We know, indeed, that Christ, having once risen from the dead, will not die again. Death has power over him no longer.

Surely, Brothers, you know (for I am speaking to men who know what Law means) that Law has power over a man only as long as he lives.

And so with you, my Brothers; as far as the Law was concerned, you underwent death in the crucified body of the Christ, so that you might be united to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that our lives might bear fruit for God.

When we were living merely earthly lives, our sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were active in every part of our bodies, with the result that our lives bore fruit for Death.

If you live in obedience to your earthly nature, you will inevitably die; but if, by the power of the Spirit, you put an end to the evil habits of the body, you will live.

So, also, the Spirit supports us in our weakness. We do not even know how to pray as we should; but the Spirit himself pleads for us in sighs that can find no utterance.

Nor is that all. There is also the case of Rebecca, when she was about to bear children to our ancestor Isaac.

In Scripture, again, it is said to Pharaoh-'It was for this very purpose that I raised thee to the throne, to show my power by my dealings with thee, and to make my name known throughout the world.'

Has not the potter absolute power over his clay, so that out of the same lump he makes one thing for better, and another for common, use?

And what if God, intending to reveal his displeasure and make his power known, bore most patiently with the objects of his displeasure, though they were fit only to be destroyed,

And they, too, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God has it in his power to graft them in again.

I would ask the one man 'Why do you judge your Brother?' And I would ask the other 'Why do you despise your Brother?' For we shall all stand before the Bar of God.

May God, who inspires our hope, grant you perfect happiness and peace in your faith, till you are filled with this hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

By my words and actions, through the power displayed in signs and marvels, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so, starting from Jerusalem and its neighborhood, and going as far as Illyria, I have told in full the Good News of the Christ;

For Macedonia and Greece have been glad to make a collection for the poor among Christ's People at Jerusalem.

When I have settled this matter, and have secured to the poor at Jerusalem the enjoyment of these benefits, I shall go, by way of you, to Spain.

Pray that I may be rescued from those in Judea who reject the Faith, and that the help which I am taking to Jerusalem may prove acceptable to Christ's People;

For through union with him you were enriched in every way-in your power to preach, and in your knowledge of the Truth;

The Message of the Cross is indeed mere folly to those who are in the path to Ruin, but to us who are in the path of Salvation it is the very power of God.

But to those who have received the Call, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God!

And God chose what the world counts poor and insignificant-- things that to it are unreal-to bring its 'realities' to nothing,

My Message and my Proclamation were not delivered in the persuasive language of philosophy, but were accompanied by the manifestation of spiritual power,

So that your faith should be based, not on the philosophy of man, but on the power of God.

But come to you I will, and that soon, if it please the Lord; and then I shall find out, not what words these men use who are so puffed up, but what power they possess;

For the Kingdom of God is based, not on words, but on power.

I have decided-having been present in spirit at your meetings, when the power of the Lord Jesus was with us-

And, as God has raised the Lord, so he will raise up us also by the exercise of his power.

It is not the wife, but the husband, who exercises power over her body; and so, too, it is not the husband, but the wife, who exercises power over his body.

still, if you should marry, that is not wrong; nor, if a young woman marries, is that wrong. But those who marry will have much trouble to bear, and my wish is to spare you.

And so his interests are divided. Again, the unmarried woman, whether she is old or young, is anxious about the Master's Cause, striving to be pure both in body and in spirit, while the married woman is anxious about worldly matters, desiring to please her husband.

I want you to bear in mind, Brothers, that all our ancestors were beneath the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

While any woman, who prays or preaches in public bare-headed, dishonors him who is her Head; for that is to make herself like one of the shameless women who shave their heads.

Judge for yourselves. Is it fitting that a woman should pray to God in public with her head uncovered?

Have you no houses in which you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show your contempt for the Church of God, and to humiliate the poor? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I cannot praise you.

To one is given the power to speak with wisdom through the Spirit; to another the power to speak with knowledge, due to the same Spirit;

To another faith by the same Spirit; to another power to cure diseases by the one Spirit; to another supernatural powers;