"Good for you, Simon son of John!" answered Jesus. "For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.

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.

So then, we do not speak in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit.

The God who said, "Out of darkness the light shall shine!" is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ.

and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him.

I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people,

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.

I was made a servant of the gospel by God's special gift, which he gave me through the working of his power.

and of making all people see how God's secret plan is to be put into effect. God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages,

On the contrary, they saw that God had given me the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the task of preaching the gospel to the Jews.

James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be the leaders, recognized that God had given me this special task; so they shook hands with Barnabas and me, as a sign that we were all partners. We agreed that Barnabas and I would work among the Gentiles and they among the Jews.

The Lord said to him, "Go, because I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel.

'Go,' the Lord said to me, 'for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "

I will rescue you from the people of Israel and from the Gentiles to whom I will send you.

You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God's chosen people.'

You must remember, my friends, that many times I have planned to visit you, but something has always kept me from doing so. I want to win converts among you also, as I have among other Gentiles.

For I have an obligation to all peoples, to the civilized and to the savage, to the educated and to the ignorant.

I am speaking now to you Gentiles: As long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I will take pride in my work.

of being a servant of Christ Jesus to work for the Gentiles. I serve like a priest in preaching the Good News from God, in order that the Gentiles may be an offering acceptable to God, dedicated to him by the Holy Spirit.

I will be bold and speak only about what Christ has done through me to lead the Gentiles to obey God. He has done this by means of words and deeds,

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God.

I am less than the least of all God's people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ,

And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message,

God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God.

They even tried to stop us from preaching to the Gentiles the message that would bring them salvation. In this way they have brought to completion all the sins they have always committed. And now God's anger has at last come down on them!

and that is why I was sent as an apostle and teacher of the Gentiles, to proclaim the message of faith and truth. I am not lying; I am telling the truth!

God has appointed me as an apostle and teacher to proclaim the Good News,

Let me tell you, my friends, that the gospel I preach is not of human origin.

I did not receive it from any human being, nor did anyone teach it to me. It was Jesus Christ himself who revealed it to me.

Fourteen years later I went back to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.

But those who seemed to be the leaders---I say this because it makes no difference to me what they were; God does not judge by outward appearances---those leaders, I say, made no new suggestions to me.

They showed greater loyalty to you Than to parents, brothers, or children. They obeyed your commands And were faithful to your covenant.

And he said to them all, "If you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, take up your cross every day, and follow me.

Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but are yourself lost or defeated? Of course not!

He said to another man, "Follow me." But that man said, "Sir, first let me go back and bury my father."

Someone else said, "I will follow you, sir; but first let me go and say good-bye to my family."

"And so, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision I had from heaven.

First in Damascus and in Jerusalem and then in the whole country of Israel and among the Gentiles, I preached that they must repent of their sins and turn to God and do the things that would show they had repented.

No longer, then, do we judge anyone by human standards. Even if at one time we judged Christ according to human standards, we no longer do so.

"Good for you, Simon son of John!" answered Jesus. "For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.

Keep watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

What I mean, friends, is that what is made of flesh and blood cannot share in God's Kingdom, and what is mortal cannot possess immortality.

For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.

Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself became like them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through his death he might destroy the Devil, who has the power over death,