Remember what I told you: 'Slaves are not greater than their master.' If people persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too.

Whoever wants to serve me must follow me, so that my servant will be with me where I am. And my Father will honor anyone who serves me.

I am telling you the truth: no slaves are greater than their master, and no messengers are greater than the one who sent them.

"Do not hold on to me," Jesus told her, "because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God."

To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Father, my Father."

And now he is not just a slave, but much more than a slave: he is a dear brother in Christ. How much he means to me! And how much more he will mean to you, both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord!

From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: Greetings to all God's people scattered over the whole world.

From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ--- To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have been given a faith as precious as ours:

From Jude, servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James--- To those who have been called by God, who live in the love of God the Father and the protection of Jesus Christ:

This book is the record of the events that Jesus Christ revealed. God gave him this revelation in order to show to his servants what must happen very soon. Christ made these things known to his servant John by sending his angel to him,

And the scripture came true that said, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous." And so Abraham was called God's friend.

"I see you are a prophet, sir," the woman said.

"I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word,

I gave them the message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

And the LORD said to himself, "I will not hide from Abraham what I am going to do.

I have chosen him in order that he may command his sons and his descendants to obey me and to do what is right and just. If they do, I will do everything for him that I have promised."

The king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his officers and chose a place to set up his camp.

So the king of Israel warned the people who lived in that place, and they were on guard. This happened several times.

One of them answered, "No one is, Your Majesty. The prophet Elisha tells the king of Israel what you say even in the privacy of your own room."

The LORD is the friend of those who obey him and he affirms his covenant with them.

The Sovereign LORD never does anything without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets.

Jesus answered, "The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

Then Jesus turned to the disciples and said to them privately, "How fortunate you are to see the things you see!

For I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God.

Let us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past.

Now, however, that truth has been brought out into the open through the writings of the prophets; and by the command of the eternal God it is made known to all nations, so that all may believe and obey.

However, as the scripture says, "What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him."

It is only our own spirit within us that knows all about us; in the same way, only God's Spirit knows all about God.

God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ.

In past times human beings were not told this secret, but God has revealed it now by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.

which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people.

They tried to find out when the time would be and how it would come. This was the time to which Christ's Spirit in them was pointing, in predicting the sufferings that Christ would have to endure and the glory that would follow.