I don't call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn't know what his master is doing. But I've called you friends, because I've made known to you everything that I've heard from my Father.

If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

Remember what I told you: "A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

You'll be thrown out of the synagogues. Yes, a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he's serving God.

He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said, "He will take what is mine and declare it to you.'

At this point, some of his disciples asked each other, "What does he mean by telling us, "In a little while you will no longer see me, then in a little while you will see me again,' and, "because I am going to the Father'?"

They kept saying, "What is this "in a little while' that he keeps talking about? We don't know what he means."

When a woman is in labor she has pain, because her time has come. Yet when she has given birth to her child, she doesn't remember the agony anymore because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.

"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.

Listen, the time is coming, indeed it has already come, when you will be scattered, each of you to his own home, and you will leave me all by myself. Yet I'm not alone, because the Father is with me.

And this is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent Jesus the Messiah.

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

I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by your Name, the Name that you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

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.

They don't belong to the world, just as I don't belong to the world.

"Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth.

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

It is for their sakes that I sanctify myself, so that they, too, may be sanctified by the truth.

so that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.

"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.

When he said this, one of the officers standing nearby slapped Jesus on the face and demanded, "Is that any way to answer the high priest?"

Then one of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "I saw you in the garden with Jesus, didn't I?"

The Jewish leaders told him, "It is not legal for us to put anyone to death." This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.

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?"

Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But for now my kingdom is not from here."

Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. I was born for this, and I came into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is committed to the truth listens to my voice."

Pilate asked him, "What is "truth'?" and then he went out to the Jewish leaders again and told them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.

Then Jesus came outside, wearing the victor's crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate told them, "Here is the man!"

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."

From then on, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, "If you release this fellow, you're not a friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king is defying Caesar!"

When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat in a place called The Pavement, which in Hebrew is called Gabbatha.

Now it was the Preparation Day for the Passover, about noon. He told the Jewish leaders, "Here is your king!"

Carrying the cross all by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier, and took his cloak as well. The cloak was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down.

So they told each other, "Let's not tear it. Instead, let's throw dice to see who gets it." This was to fulfill the Scripture that says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they threw dice." So that is what the soldiers did.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he kept loving standing there, he told his mother, "Dear lady, here is your son."

Then he told the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

After Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.

The one who saw this has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows he is telling the truth so that you, too, may believe,

Meanwhile, Mary stood crying outside the tomb. As she cried, she bent over and looked into the tomb.

Jesus told them again, "Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."

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.

Later on, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. This is what happened:

Just as dawn was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore. The disciples didn't realize it was Jesus.

Peter turned around and noticed the disciple whom Jesus kept loving following them. He was the one who had put his head on Jesus' chest at the supper and had asked, "Lord, who is the one who is going to betray you?"

This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them down. We know that his testimony is true.

Now those who had gathered together began to ask Jesus, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.

This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that this field is called in their language Hakeldama, that is, "The Field of Blood".)

"For in the Book of Psalms it is written, "Let his estate be desolate, and let no one live on it,' and, "Let someone else take over his office,'

who was one of the men associated with us all the time the Lord Jesus came and went among us,

beginning when he was baptized by John until the day he was taken up from us. Therefore, someone like this must become a witness with us to his resurrection."

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

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign languages as the Spirit gave them that ability.

So how is it that each one of us hears them speaking in his own native language:

Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,

"Men of Judea and everyone living in Jerusalem! You must understand something, so pay close attention to my words. These men are not drunk as you suppose, for it's only nine o'clock in the morning.

Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

"Fellow Israelis, listen to these words: Jesus from Nazareth was a man authenticated to you by God through miracles, wonders, and signs that God performed through him among you, as you yourselves know.

since David says about him, "I always keep my eyes on the Lord, for he is at my right hand so that I cannot be shaken.

That is why my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices, yes, even my body still rests securely in hope.

"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and that his tomb is among us to this day.

Peter answered them, "Every one of you must repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift.

For this promise belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those who are distant, whom the Lord our God may call to himself."

Peter, along with John, looked him straight in the eye and said, "Look at us!"

When Peter saw this, he told the people: "Fellow Israelis, why are you wondering about this, and why are you staring at us as if by our own power or godliness we made him walk?

It is his name that is, by faith in his name that has healed this man whom you see and know. Yes, the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

This is how God fulfilled what he had predicted through the voice of all the prophets that his Messiah would suffer.

He is "the stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.'

There is no salvation by anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved."

But to keep it from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them never again to speak to anyone in this name."

But Peter and John answered them, "You must decide whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God,

as you stretch out your hand to heal and to perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

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."

As a result, people kept carrying their sick into the streets and placing them on stretchers and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he went by.

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!"

God has exalted to his right hand this very man as our Leader and Savior in order to extend repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who keep on obeying him."

"I'm telling you to keep away from these men for now. Leave them alone, because if this plan or movement is of human origin, it will fail.

Every day in the Temple and from house to house they kept teaching and proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah.

In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

So the Twelve called the whole group of disciples together and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect messages from God in order to wait on tables.

But some men who belonged to the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), as well as some Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and began to debate with Stephen.

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."

Then the high priest asked, "Is this true?"

God gave him no property here, not even a foot of land, yet he promised to give it to him and to his descendants after him as a permanent possession, even though he had no child.

"This is what God promised: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and its people would enslave them and oppress them for 400 years.

"Joseph's brothers became jealous of him and sold Joseph as a slave in Egypt. However, God was with him

"Now as the time approached for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people's population increased a great deal in Egypt.

When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

"But the man who was harming his neighbor pushed Moses away and said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us?

Because of this, Moses fled and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.

Then the Lord told him, "Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.

It was this Moses who told the Israelis, "God will raise up a prophet for you from among your own brothers, just as he did me.'

This Moses is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and to our ancestors. He received living truths to give to us,