I am not laying down any rules. But by showing how eager others are to help, I am trying to find out how real your own love is.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as he was, he made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty.

Take me with you, and we'll run away; be my king and take me to your room. We will be happy together, drink deep, and lose ourselves in love. No wonder all women love you!

Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me. Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself. It bursts into flame and burns like a raging fire.

Water cannot put it out; no flood can drown it. But if any tried to buy love with their wealth, contempt is all they would get.

"Those who love their father or mother more than me are not fit to be my disciples; those who love their son or daughter more than me are not fit to be my disciples.

Those who do not take up their cross and follow in my steps are not fit to be my disciples.

Neither of them could pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Which one, then, will love him more?"

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your home, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.

You provided no olive oil for my head, but she has covered my feet with perfume.

"Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. My Father will love those who love me; I too will love them and reveal myself to them."

Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and my Father and I will come to them and live with them.

After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?" "Yes, Lord," he answered, "you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Take care of my lambs."

A third time Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter became sad because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" and so he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!" Jesus said to him, "Take care of my sheep.

Whoever does not love the Lord---a curse on him! Marana tha---Our Lord, come!

so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love.

Yes, may you come to know his love---although it can never be fully known---and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.

May God's grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.

God is not unfair. He will not forget the work you did or the love you showed for him in the help you gave and are still giving to other Christians.

You love him, although you have not seen him, and you believe in him, although you do not now see him. So you rejoice with a great and glorious joy which words cannot express,

I can hardly wait to speak. I can't hold back the words.

but they held him back, saying, "Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark." So he went in to stay with them.

But Peter and John answered them, "You yourselves judge which is right in God's sight---to obey you or to obey God.

For we cannot stop speaking of what we ourselves have seen and heard."

We know that God is right when he judges the people who do such things as these.

Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Such a person really does not understand them, and they seem to be nonsense, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis.

All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the LORD made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved.

like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."

The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Don't you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?"

and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.

who gave himself to redeem the whole human race. That was the proof at the right time that God wants everyone to be saved,

But we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, so that through God's grace he should die for everyone. We see him now crowned with glory and honor because of the death he suffered.

I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf---Jesus Christ, the righteous one.

And Christ himself is the means by which our sins are forgiven, and not our sins only, but also the sins of everyone.

The Law was carved in letters on stone tablets, and God's glory appeared when it was given. Even though the brightness on Moses' face was fading, it was so strong that the people of Israel could not keep their eyes fixed on him. If the Law, which brings death when it is in force, came with such glory,

The system which brings condemnation was glorious; how much more glorious is the activity which brings salvation!

For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.' And so the feasting began.

But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.' "

I am telling you the truth: the time is coming---the time has already come---when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will come to life.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die;

But the two are not the same, because God's free gift is not like Adam's sin. It is true that many people died because of the sin of that one man. But God's grace is much greater, and so is his free gift to so many people through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.

We do not live for ourselves only, and we do not die for ourselves only.

For Christ died and rose to life in order to be the Lord of the living and of the dead.

In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins.

Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.

that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved.

You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins;

But a widow who gives herself to pleasure has already died, even though she lives.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and wrong. We were slaves to passions and pleasures of all kinds. We spent our lives in malice and envy; others hated us and we hated them.

We know that we belong to God even though the whole world is under the rule of the Evil One.