"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.

If I hadn't done among them the actions that no one else did, they wouldn't have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

You will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning.

"I have told you this to keep you from falling away.

They'll do this because they haven't known the Father or me.

But because I have told you this, sorrow has filled your hearts.

"I still have a lot to say to you, but you cannot bear it now.

So far you haven't asked for anything in my name. Keep asking and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete."

"I have said these things to you in figurative language. The time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

At that time, you will make your requests in my name, so that I will have no need to ask the Father on your behalf,

because the Father himself loves you, and because you have loved me and believed that I came from God.

Now we know that you know everything and don't need to have anyone ask you any questions. Because of this, we believe that you have come from God."

I have told you this so that through me you may have peace. In the world you'll have trouble, but be courageous I've overcome the world!"

For you have given him authority over all humanity so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him.

I have made your name known to these men whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

because the words that you gave me I passed on to them. They have received them and know for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine, and I have been glorified through them.

"And now I am coming to you, and I say these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I don't belong to the world.

Just as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

"I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one, just as we are one.

I am in them, and you are in me. May they be completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me and that you have loved them as you loved me.

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

"Righteous Father, the world has never known you. Yet I have known you, and these men have known that you sent me.

I made your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have for me may be in them and I myself may be in them."

Caiaphas was the person who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one man die for the people.

Jesus answered him, "I have spoken publicly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogue or in the Temple, where all Jews meet together, and I have said nothing in secret.

Jesus answered him, "If I have said anything wrong, tell me what it was. But if I have told the truth, why do you hit me?"

They answered him, "If he weren't a criminal, we wouldn't have handed him over to you."

Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? It is your own nation and high priests who have handed you over to me. What have you done?"

But you have a custom that I release one person for you at Passover. Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?"

The Jewish leaders answered Pilate, "We have a law, and according to that Law he must die because he made himself out to be the Son of God."

So Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to speak to me? You realize, don't you, that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?"

Jesus answered him, "You have no authority over me at all, except what was given to you from above. That's why the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

The high priests responded, "We have no king but Caesar!" Then Pilate handed him over to be crucified, and they took Jesus away.

Pilate replied, "What I have written I have written."

Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jewish leaders did not want to leave the bodies on the crosses during the Sabbath, because that was a particularly important Sabbath. So they asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken and the bodies removed.

So she ran off and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus kept loving. She told them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

They asked her, "Lady, why are you crying?" She told them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have put him."

Jesus asked her, "Dear lady, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she told him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away."

Jesus told her, "Don't hold on to me, because I haven't yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, "I'm ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

Jesus told him, "Is it because you've seen me that you have believed? How blessed are those who have never seen me and yet have believed!"

But these have been recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so that through believing you may have life in his name.

Jesus asked them, "Children, you don't have any fish, do you?" They answered him, "No."

Then Jesus told them, "Come, have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?", because they knew it was the Lord.

Then they prayed, "Lord, you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two men you have chosen

You have made the ways of life known to me, and you will fill me with gladness in your presence.'

However, Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but I'll give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus the Messiah from Nazareth, walk!"

You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer released to you,

Therefore, repent and turn to him to have your sins blotted out,

"Indeed, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who followed him, also announced these days.

As long as it remained unsold, wasn't it your own? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn't lie only to men, but also to God!"

"How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?" Peter asked her. "Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well."

"Go, stand in the Temple, and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life they can have."

After the apostles heard this, they went into the Temple at daybreak and began to teach. The high priest and those who were with him arrived, called the Council and all the elders of Israel together, and sent word to the prison to have the men brought in.

When the commander of the Temple guards and the high priests heard these words, they were utterly at a loss as to what could have happened to them.

He said, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name, didn't we? Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to bring this man's blood on us!"

They left the Council, rejoicing to have been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.

Therefore, brothers, appoint seven men among you who have a good reputation, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we'll put them in charge of this work.

So they secretly got some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."

For we have heard him say that this Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us."

I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, I've heard their groans, and I've come down to rescue them. Now come, I'll send you to Egypt.'

Which of the prophets did your ancestors fail to persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.

You received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet you haven't obeyed it!"

You have no part or share in what we're saying, because your heart isn't right with God.

Simon answered, "Both of you pray to the Lord for me that none of the things you have said will happen to me."

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell how much evil this man has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

The angel answered him, "Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have arisen as a reminder to God. Send men now to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter.

But Peter said, "Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!"

Get up, go downstairs, and don't hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."

The men replied, "Cornelius, a centurion and an upright and God-fearing man who is respected by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his home to hear what you have to say."

"No one can stop us from using water to baptize these people who have received the Holy Spirit in the same way that we did, can they?"

After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders asked them, "Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you may speak."

Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, "I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.'

Although they found no reason to sentence him to death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.

he has fulfilled for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, "You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.'

For that is what the Lord ordered us to do: "I have made you a light to the gentiles to be the means of salvation to the very ends of the earth.'"

When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us!"

that have been known from long ago.'

"Therefore, I have decided that we should not trouble these gentiles who are turning to God.

Greetings. We have heard that some men, coming from us without instructions from us, have said things to trouble you and have unsettled you.

So we have unanimously decided to choose men and send them to you with our dear Barnabas and Paul,

who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas to tell you the same things by word of mouth.

The jailer reported these words to Paul, and added, "The magistrates have sent word to release you. So come out now and go in peace."

But Paul told the guards, "The magistrates have had us beaten publicly without a trial and have thrown us into jail, even though we are Roman citizens. Now are they going to throw us out secretly? Certainly not! Have them come and escort us out."

When they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials and shouted, "These fellows who have turned the world upside down have come here, too,

The men who escorted Paul took him all the way to Athens and, after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left.

For we live, move, and exist because of him, as some of your own poets have said: ""Since we are his children, too.'

For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you or harm you, because I have many people in this city."

But since it is a question about words, names, and your own Law, you will have to take care of that yourselves. I refuse to be a judge in these matters."

and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "No, we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

Moreover, many people who had practiced occult arts gathered their books and burned them in front of everybody. They estimated their value and found them to have been worth 50,000 silver coins.

After these things had happened, Paul decided to go through Macedonia and Achaia and then to go on to Jerusalem. "After I have gone there," he told them, "I must also see Rome."

For you have brought these men here, although they neither rob temples nor blaspheme our goddess.

So if Demetrius and his workers have a charge against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They should accuse one another there.

But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.

What is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come.

So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow.

Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay their expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you are carefully observing and keeping the Law.