times of spiritual strength will come from the Lord, and he will send Jesus, who is the Messiah he has already chosen for you.

And every day in the Temple and in people's homes they continued to teach and preach the Good News about Jesus the Messiah.

Philip went to the principal city in Samaria and preached the Messiah to the people there.

Then Philip began to speak; starting from this passage of scripture, he told him the Good News about Jesus.

He went straight to the synagogues and began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God.

You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, proclaiming the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

But other believers, who were from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and proclaimed the message to Gentiles also, telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus.

All of you, my fellow Israelites, are to know for sure that it is through Jesus that the message about forgiveness of sins is preached to you; you are to know that everyone who believes in him is set free from all the sins from which the Law of Moses could not set you free.

and explaining the Scriptures, and proving from them that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from death. "This Jesus whom I announce to you," Paul said, "is the Messiah."

Certain Epicurean and Stoic teachers also debated with him. Some of them asked, "What is this ignorant show-off trying to say?" Others answered, "He seems to be talking about foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.

Let us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past.

As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles;

Now, since our message is that Christ has been raised from death, how can some of you say that the dead will not be raised to life?

For it is not ourselves that we preach; we preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

And since you are within those limits, we were not going beyond them when we came to you, bringing the Good News about Christ.

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,

Of course some of them preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome, but others from genuine good will.

The others do not proclaim Christ sincerely, but from a spirit of selfish ambition; they think that they will make more trouble for me while I am in prison.

No one can deny how great is the secret of our religion: He appeared in human form, was shown to be right by the Spirit, and was seen by angels. He was preached among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, and was taken up to heaven.

I answered, "Who would listen to me if I spoke to them and warned them? They are stubborn and refuse to listen to your message; they laugh at what you tell me to say.

"Mortal man," he said, "I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You will pass on to them the warnings I give you.

If you do warn an evil man and he doesn't stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.

If you do warn a good man not to sin and he listens to you and doesn't sin, he will stay alive, and your life will also be spared."

If someone hears it but pays no attention and the enemy comes and kills him, then he is to blame for his own death.

If, however, the lookout sees the enemy coming and does not sound the alarm, the enemy will come and kill those sinners, but I will hold the lookout responsible for their death.

If I announce that an evil person is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, then he will die, still a sinner, and I will hold you responsible for his death.

When John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he said to them, "You snakes---who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send?

For I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God.

So keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock which the Holy Spirit has placed in your care. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he made his own through the blood of his Son.

Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children.

In this matter, then, none of you should do wrong to other Christians or take advantage of them. We have told you this before, and we strongly warned you that the Lord will punish those who do that.

We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life.

We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

"I have taught you all the laws, as the LORD my God told me to do. Obey them in the land that you are about to invade and occupy.

The day of disaster is coming. Violence is flourishing. Pride is at its height.

But because the Philosopher was wise, he kept on teaching the people what he knew. He studied proverbs and honestly tested their truth.

and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age."

When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw this large crowd, and his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things.

It was he who "gave gifts to people"; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.

A church leader must be without fault; he must have only one wife, be sober, self-controlled, and orderly; he must welcome strangers in his home; he must be able to teach;

As the Lord's servant, you must not quarrel. You must be kind toward all, a good and patient teacher,

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.

Are you immature? Learn to be mature. Are you foolish? Learn to have sense.

I will give you rulers who obey me, and they will rule you with wisdom and understanding.

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

Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world or to the powers that rule this world---powers that are losing their power.

Whoever has the Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything, but no one is able to judge him.

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

Look on our Lord's patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved, just as our dear friend Paul wrote to you, using the wisdom that God gave him.

But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.

I am jealous for you, just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, Christ himself.

in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty---pure and faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection.

and you have been given full life in union with him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.

But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are set free.

He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.

And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.

With one sacrifice, then, he has made perfect forever those who are purified from sin.

(SEE 13:20)