For if you practice loving only those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax-collectors practice that?

And then I will say to them openly, 'I never knew you at all. Go away from me, you who practiced doing wrong.'

"Listen! I am sending you out as sheep surrounded by wolves. So you must be sensible like serpents and guileless like doves.

But when they turn you over to the courts, you must not worry at all about how or what you ought to speak, for it will be given you at that hour what you ought to speak.

"Then it goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there, and so the end of that man is worse than the beginning. This is the way it will be with the wicked leaders of this age."

It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the largest of plants; yea, it grows into a tree, so that the wild birds come and roost in its branches."

"And if your own hand or your own foot makes you do wrong, cut it off and put it out of your way. It is better for you to get into life maimed or crippled than to have both hands or both feet to be thrown into everlasting torture.

And if your own eye makes you do wrong, pluck it out and put it out of your way. It is better for you to go into life with a single eye than to have both eyes to be thrown into the pit of torture.

Jesus said to His disciples, "I solemnly say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven."

Then Peter answered Him, "We have left everything we had and followed you. What then are we to get?"

So he said to them, 'You too go out to my vineyard, and I will pay you what is right.' And they went.

Jesus answered them, "Let me too ask you just one question, and if you answer it, I will tell you what sort of authority I have for doing as I do.

So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." He also answered them, "Nor am I going to tell you what sort of authority I have for doing as I do.

How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, for they say this is the way it must be?"

And if news of it gets to the governor's ears, we will make it all right with him, and keep you out of trouble."

and had suffered much at the hands of many doctors, and had spent all she had, and yet was not a whit benefited but rather grew worse,

There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

Jesus said to them, "Let me ask you just one question, and if you answer me, I will tell you what sort of authority I have for doing as I do.

So they said to Jesus, "We do not know." Jesus also said to them, "Nor am I going to tell you what sort of authority I have for doing as I do."

men who eat up widows' houses and to cover it up make long prayers. They will get a much heavier sentence!"

Now when they take you to court for trial, do not be worrying beforehand about what you should say, but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you that will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

"If anyone says to you at that time, 'Look! Here is the Christ,' or, 'Look! There He is,' do not believe it.

Then Peter said to Him, "Although all the rest of them stumble over you, yet I will never do so myself."

And when they went into the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting at the right; and they were utterly astounded.

She was very old; from girlhood she had lived seven years with a husband, and now had been a widow eighty years. She never left the temple, but continued to worship all day and all night with fastings and prayers.

and yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

Now if you practice loving only those who love you, what credit do you get for that? Why, even notorious sinners practice loving those who love them.

And if you practice doing good only to those who do good to you, what credit do you get for that? Even notorious sinners practice the same.

As He approached the gate of the town, look, there was being carried out a dead man, his mother's only son, and she was a widow! A considerable crowd of townspeople were with her.

Go on. Listen! I am sending you out as lambs surrounded by wolves.

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against the men of this age.

for at that very moment the Holy Spirit will teach you what you ought to say."

Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.'

but will not rather say to him, 'Get my supper ready, and dress yourself and wait on me until I eat and drink, and you yourself can eat and drink afterward'?

And in that city there was a widow who continued to come to him and say, 'Give me justice and protection from my opponent.'

Then Jesus said to them, "Nor am I going to tell you what sort of authority I have for doing as I do."

men who eat up widows' houses and to cover it up make long prayers! They will receive a much heavier sentence."

Then He said to them, "When I sent you out without purse or bag or shoes, you did not need anything, did you?" They answered, "Nothing at all."

For I tell you, what has been written about me must be fulfilled: 'He was classed with the outlaws.' Yes, that saying about me has its fulfillment."

and after blindfolding Him they asked Him, "Play the prophet and tell us who it is that struck you!"

And I will send down upon you what my Father has promised. But you, on your part, must stay right here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. That is just the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Jesus answered her, "If you just knew what God has to give and who it is that said to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have been the one to ask Him, and He would have given you living water."

Jesus answered them, "I most solemnly say to you, you are looking for me, not because of the wonder-works you saw, but because you ate the loaves and had plenty.

So they asked Him, "What wonder-work then are you going to perform for us to see and so believe in you? What work are you going to do?

Then Jesus said to them, "I most solemnly say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the real bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the real bread out of heaven,

Then Jesus said to them, "I most solemnly say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in you.

But there are some of you who do not trust in me." For Jesus knew from the start who they were that did not trust in Him, and who it was that was going to betray Him.

It is impossible for the world to hate you; it is I whom it hates, because I continue to testify that its works are wicked.

Then they asked Him, "Who are you anyway?" Jesus answered them, "Why do I even talk to you at all?

I am telling you what I have seen in my Father's presence, and you are practicing what you have learned from your father."

At this the Jews took up stones to stone Him, but Jesus made His way out of the temple unperceived.

But we do not know how it is that he now can see, or who it was that made his eyes to see. Ask him; he is of age; he can speak for himself."

If you belonged to the world, the world would love what is its own. But it is because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, that the world hates you.

Men will turn you out of their synagogues. Yes, indeed, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think that he is rendering a religious service to God.

Listen! A time is coming, yea, it is right here, when you will all be scattered to your homes and will leave me alone. And yet, I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

Peter turned and saw following them the disciple whom Jesus specially loved, who at the supper leaned back upon Jesus' breast and asked, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?"

Peter said to her, "How could both of you agree in such a way to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door; they will carry you out, too."

But get up and go into the city, and there it will be told you what you ought to do."

not by all the people but by witnesses whom God had beforehand appointed, namely, by us who ate and drank with Him after His resurrection from the dead.

Then I asked, 'What am I to do, Lord?' And the Lord answered, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there it will be told you what you are destined to do.'

Then He said to me, 'Go, because I am to send you out and far away among the heathen.'"

Then Paul said to him, "You white-washed wall, God will strike you! Do you sit as a judge to try me in accordance with the law and yet in violation of the law you order them to strike me?"

Because a plot against the man has been reported to me as brewing, I at once am sending him on to you and have directed his accusers to present their charge against him before you."

So, as far as I can, I am eager to preach the good news to you at Rome, too.

Not only that but this too, we ourselves who enjoy the Spirit as a foretaste of the future, even we ourselves, keep up our inner groanings while we wait to enter upon our adoption as God's sons at the redemption of our bodies.

For if your brother is hurt because of the food you eat, you are not living by the standard of love. Stop ruining, by what you eat, the man for whom Christ died.

For the kingdom of God does not consist in what we eat and drink, but in doing right, in peace and joy through the Holy Spirit;

Christ has been parceled out by you! It was not Paul who was crucified for you, was it? You were not baptized in Paul's name, were you?

what the world calls of low degree, yea, what it counts as nothing and what it thinks does not exist, God chose to put a stop to what it thinks exists,

So you owe it all to Him through union with Christ Jesus, whom God has made our wisdom, our means of right standing, our consecration, and our redemption,

Were you called while a slave? Stop letting that annoy you. Yet, if you can win your freedom, take advantage of such an opportunity.

No temptation has taken hold of you but what is common to human nature. And God is to be trusted not to let you be tempted beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to make a way out of it, so that you can bear up under it.

Look at the Israelites in their practices. Are not those who eat the sacrifices in spiritual fellowship with the altar?

So if you eat or drink or do anything else, do everything to honor God.

For every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes again.

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised with bodies not subject to decay, and we shall be changed.

So, although I did write to you, it was not for the offender's sake, nor for the offended party's sake, but in the sight of God for the sake of having your enthusiasm for me made perfectly clear to you. This is why I am so comforted.

Now this is the way it is: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly too, but whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully too.

Are you thinking all this time that I am defending myself to you? It is in the very presence of God and as one who is in union with Christ that I am speaking. And it is all for building you up, beloved, for I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, when I come I shall find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me.

I mean this: As long as the heir is under age he is not a whit better off than a slave, although he is heir of all the property,

By our union with the Lord I have confidence in you that you will take no other view of the matter. The man who is unsettling you will certainly pay the penalty for it, no matter who it turns out to be.

in this way it has become well known throughout the Imperial Guard and to all the rest here that I am a prisoner in the service of Christ,

for in this way it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in the treatment of their own families, and to pay the debt they owe their parents or grandparents, for this is acceptable to God.

But a woman who is really a widow and lives alone has fixed her hope on God, and night and day devotes herself to prayers and entreaties,

while a widow who gives herself up to luxury is really dead though still alive.

No widow under sixty years of age should be put on this roll. A widow must have had but one husband,

For we know who it was that said, "Vengeance belongs to me, I will pay back!" and again, "The Lord will be His people's judge."

perfectly fit you to do His will, He Himself, through Jesus Christ, accomplishing through you what is pleasing to Him. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

who are always guarded by the power of God through faith, in order that you may receive that final salvation which will be ready to be uncovered for you at the last time.

Therefore, as a means of spiritual preparation, tighten up the belt about your minds, keep perfectly calm, keep your hope on the spiritual blessing to be conferred upon you at the unveiling of Jesus Christ.

But you are the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the consecrated nation, the people to be His very own, to proclaim the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

If all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what men you ought to be! What holy and pious lives you ought to lead,

Yet it is a new command that I am writing you; it is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

I turned to see who it was that was speaking to me, and as I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,

Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give to him who conquers some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it which no one knows except the man who receives it."'"

But to the rest of you at Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching and have not learned the 'deep things' of Satan -- as they speak of them -- to you I say, I have no extra burden to lay on you,

As it is, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.