Our friends, the same things happened to you that happened to the churches of God in Judea, to the people there who belong to Christ Jesus. You suffered the same persecutions from your own people that they suffered from the Jews,

I beg you, then, to follow my example.

Imitate me, then, just as I imitate Christ.

It was more than we could have hoped for! First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God's will they gave themselves to us as well.

Keep on imitating me, my friends. Pay attention to those who follow the right example that we have set for you.

We did this, not because we do not have the right to demand our support; we did it to be an example for you to follow.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.

Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. "I am the light of the world," he said. "Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness."

"You call me Teacher and Lord, and it is right that you do so, because that is what I am.

I have set an example for you, so that you will do just what I have done for you.

Since you are God's dear children, you must try to be like him.

Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?

My dear friend, do not imitate what is bad, but imitate what is good. Whoever does good belongs to God; whoever does what is bad has not seen God.

And there is another reason why we always give thanks to God. When we brought you God's message, you heard it and accepted it, not as a message from human beings but as God's message, which indeed it is. For God is at work in you who believe.

Our friends, the same things happened to you that happened to the churches of God in Judea, to the people there who belong to Christ Jesus. You suffered the same persecutions from your own people that they suffered from the Jews,

while we sent Timothy, our brother who works with us for God in preaching the Good News about Christ. We sent him to strengthen you and help your faith,

For while we were still with you, we told you ahead of time that we were going to be persecuted; and as you well know, that is exactly what happened.

So I am going to take her into the desert again; there I will win her back with words of love.

"Yes," Jesus said to them, "and I tell you that those who leave home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel,

But some Jews were jealous and gathered worthless loafers from the streets and formed a mob. They set the whole city in an uproar and attacked the home of a man named Jason, in an attempt to find Paul and Silas and bring them out to the people.

Our friends, we want you to know what God's grace has accomplished in the churches in Macedonia.

They have been severely tested by the troubles they went through; but their joy was so great that they were extremely generous in their giving, even though they are very poor.

That is why we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God. We boast about the way you continue to endure and believe through all the persecutions and sufferings you are experiencing.

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever.

"When I go, you will not be left all alone; I will come back to you.

As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus.

And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord.

The believers in Antioch were full of joy and the Holy Spirit.

We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance,

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.

God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.

I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

You shared the sufferings of prisoners, and when all your belongings were seized, you endured your loss gladly, because you knew that you still possessed something much better, which would last forever.

Be glad about this, even though it may now be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer.

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,