Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world.

"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."

You are great and powerful, glorious, splendid, and majestic. Everything in heaven and earth is yours, and you are king, supreme ruler over all.

Fling wide the gates, open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in.

Who is this great king? The triumphant LORD ---he is the great king!

The voice of the LORD is heard on the seas; the glorious God thunders, and his voice echoes over the ocean.

No other nation has ever changed its gods, even though they were not real. But my people have exchanged me, the God who has brought them honor, for gods that can do nothing for them.

Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.'

"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!"

Stephen answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia

None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

My friends, as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, you must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance.

saying, "Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might belong to our God forever and ever! Amen!"

and he said to them, "We will never find a better man than Joseph, a man who has God's spirit in him."

The king said to Joseph, "God has shown you all this, so it is obvious that you have greater wisdom and insight than anyone else.

The spirit of the LORD will give him wisdom and the knowledge and skill to rule his people. He will know the LORD's will and honor him,

There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. When your father was king, this man showed good sense, knowledge, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, made him chief of the fortunetellers, magicians, wizards, and astrologers.

For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."

because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say.

He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive him, because it cannot see him or know him. But you know him, because he remains with you and is in you.

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.

But the Spirit gave Stephen such wisdom that when he spoke, they could not refute him.

The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge.

So when I come to you, my friends, what use will I be to you if I speak in strange tongues? Not a bit, unless I bring you some revelation from God or some knowledge or some inspired message or some teaching.

For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives.

He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge.

But the wisdom from above is pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle, and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy.

And goodness is the harvest that is produced from the seeds the peacemakers plant in peace.

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.

But there is a God in heaven, who reveals mysteries. He has informed Your Majesty what will happen in the future. Now I will tell you the dream, the vision you had while you were asleep.

Now, this mystery was revealed to me, not because I am wiser than anyone else, but so that Your Majesty may learn the meaning of your dream and understand the thoughts that have come to you.

In the third year that Cyrus was emperor of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who is also called Belteshazzar. The message was true but extremely hard to understand. It was explained to him in a vision.

At that time Jesus said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth! I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned.

"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.

But it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes.

I have to boast, even though it doesn't do any good. But I will now talk about visions and revelations given me by the Lord.

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.

If you do, you will know what it means to fear the LORD and you will succeed in learning about God.

If any want to boast, they should boast that they know and understand me, because my love is constant, and I do what is just and right. These are the things that please me. I, the LORD, have spoken."

I will give them the desire to know that I am the LORD. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with all their heart.

None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know the LORD, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the LORD, have spoken."

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Jesus answered, "If I were to honor myself, that honor would be worth nothing. The one who honors me is my Father---the very one you say is your God.

You have never known him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his word.

People will do these things to you because they have not known either the Father or me.

And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

Righteous Father! The world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you sent me.

I made you known to them, and I will continue to do so, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and so that I also may be in them."

Because those people refuse to keep in mind the true knowledge about God, he has given them over to corrupted minds, so that they do the things that they should not do.

Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.

I do this in order that they may be filled with courage and may be drawn together in love, and so have the full wealth of assurance which true understanding brings. In this way they will know God's secret, which is Christ himself.

who is gentle as you correct your opponents, for it may be that God will give them the opportunity to repent and come to know the truth.

From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I was chosen and sent to help the faith of God's chosen people and to lead them to the truth taught by our religion,

God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in his own glory and goodness.

But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen.

If we obey God's commands, then we are sure that we know him.

If we say that we know him, but do not obey his commands, we are liars and there is no truth in us.