But I have told you this, so that when the time comes for them to do these things, you will remember what I told you. "I did not tell you these things at the beginning, for I was with you.

"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

How happy are those who have no doubts about me!"

But it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.

And so they rejected him. Jesus said to them, "A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family."

Many will give up their faith at that time; they will betray one another and hate one another.

Then Jesus said to them, "This very night all of you will run away and leave me, for the scripture says, 'God will kill the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "I will never leave you, even though all the rest do!"

The right thing to do is to keep from eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that will make other believers fall.

so that you will be able to choose what is best. Then you will be free from all impurity and blame on the Day of Christ.

And another scripture says, "This is the stone that will make people stumble, the rock that will make them fall." They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God's will for them.