They are like trees planted in the house of the LORD, that flourish in the Temple of our God,

that still bear fruit in old age and are always green and strong.

But when you punish the wicked, punish also those who abandon your ways. Peace be with Israel!

When a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing evil and then dies, he dies because of the evil he has done.

Let us try to know the LORD. He will come to us as surely as the day dawns, as surely as the spring rains fall upon the earth."

But the LORD says, "Israel and Judah, what am I going to do with you? Your love for me disappears as quickly as morning mist; it is like dew, that vanishes early in the day.

I will destroy those who have turned back and no longer follow me, those who do not come to me or ask me to guide them."

But whoever holds out to the end will be saved.

The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who hear the message and receive it gladly. But it does not sink deep into them; they believe only for a while but when the time of testing comes, they fall away.

The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.

But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers."

Many who heard Jesus say these things believed in him.

you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love.

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

When he arrived and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad and urged them all to be faithful and true to the Lord with all their hearts.

They strengthened the believers and encouraged them to remain true to the faith. "We must pass through many troubles to enter the Kingdom of God," they taught.

Some people keep on doing good, and seek glory, honor, and immortal life; to them God will give eternal life.

I am worried about you! Can it be that all my work for you has been for nothing?

You were doing so well! Who made you stop obeying the truth? How did he persuade you?

So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.

That is why I had to send Timothy. I could not bear it any longer, so I sent him to find out about your faith. Surely it could not be that the Devil had tempted you and all our work had been for nothing!

But Christ is faithful as the Son in charge of God's house. We are his house if we keep up our courage and our confidence in what we hope for.

For we are all partners with Christ if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at the beginning.

Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God---Jesus, the Son of God.

My righteous people, however, will believe and live; but if any of them turns back, I will not be pleased with them."

They are for you, who through faith are kept safe by God's power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time.

They make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among people who live in error.

If people have escaped from the corrupting forces of the world through their knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then are again caught and conquered by them, such people are in worse condition at the end than they were at the beginning.

What happened to them shows that the proverbs are true: "A dog goes back to what it has vomited" and "A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud."

But as for you, Christ has poured out his Spirit on you. As long as his Spirit remains in you, you do not need anyone to teach you. For his Spirit teaches you about everything, and what he teaches is true, not false. Obey the Spirit's teaching, then, and remain in union with Christ.

Don't be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory.

Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving.

"So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.

The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock.

He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The river flooded over and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.

He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord.

and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love,

Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.

Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned.

But I reckon my own life to be worth nothing to me; I only want to complete my mission and finish the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to do, which is to declare the Good News about the grace of God.

So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless.

so that none of you should turn back because of these persecutions. You yourselves know that such persecutions are part of God's will for us.

When the true message, the Good News, first came to you, you heard about the hope it offers. So your faith and love are based on what you hope for, which is kept safe for you in heaven.

This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us.

As for us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait for by the power of God's Spirit working through our faith.

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,

But we belong to the day, and we should be sober. We must wear faith and love as a breastplate, and our hope of salvation as a helmet.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us unfailing courage and a firm hope,

so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for.

We have this hope as an anchor for our lives. It is safe and sure, and goes through the curtain of the heavenly temple into the inner sanctuary.

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope,

See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children---and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.

Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.

The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is.

And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all people; and then the end will come.

He said to them, "Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people.

But I ask: Is it true that they did not hear the message? Of course they did---for as the scripture says: "The sound of their voice went out to all the world; their words reached the ends of the earth."

From today on I will make people everywhere afraid of you. Everyone will tremble with fear at the mention of your name.'

Do not be tempted to worship and serve what you see in the sky---the sun, the moon, and the stars. The LORD your God has given these to all other peoples for them to worship.

Hunt them down and wipe them off the earth!"

There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious people who had come from every country in the world.

Salvation is to be found through him alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us."

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,

Judas was a member of our group, for he had been chosen to have a part in our work."

to serve as an apostle in the place of Judas, who left to go to the place where he belongs."

But get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant. You are to tell others what you have seen of me today and what I will show you in the future.

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.

You should think of us as Christ's servants, who have been put in charge of God's secret truths.

Now, I am not at all concerned about being judged by you or by any human standard; I don't even pass judgment on myself.

it is he who made us capable of serving the new covenant, which consists not of a written law but of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

God in his mercy has given us this work to do, and so we do not become discouraged.

All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also.

Here we are, then, speaking for Christ, as though God himself were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ's behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends!

In our work together with God, then, we beg you who have received God's grace not to let it be wasted.

Are they Christ's servants? I sound like a madman---but I am a better servant than they are! I have worked much harder, I have been in prison more times, I have been whipped much more, and I have been near death more often.

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

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,

I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength for my work. I thank him for considering me worthy and appointing me to serve him,

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,

and it is for this reason that I suffer these things. But I am still full of confidence, because I know whom I have trusted, and I am sure that he is able to keep safe until that Day what he has entrusted to me.

But you must keep control of yourself in all circumstances; endure suffering, do the work of a preacher of the Good News, and perform your whole duty as a servant of God.

As for me, the hour has come for me to be sacrificed; the time is here for me to leave this life.