How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power?

Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant something!

However that may be, let us go forward according to the same rules we have followed until now.

Be on your guard, then, so that you will not lose what we have worked for, but will receive your reward in full.

Think how far you have fallen! Turn from your sins and do what you did at first. If you don't turn from your sins, I will come to you and take your lampstand from its place.

Remember, then, what you were taught and what you heard; obey it and turn from your sins. If you do not wake up, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not even know the time when I will come.

For how can those who abandon their faith be brought back to repent again? They were once in God's light; they tasted heaven's gift and received their share of the Holy Spirit;

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.'

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.

For in your struggle against sin you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed.

And Saul approved of his murder. That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria.

But Saul tried to destroy the church; going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women, and threw them into jail.

In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest

and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.

For you have been given the privilege of serving Christ, not only by believing in him, but also by suffering for him.

Now you can take part with me in the battle. It is the same battle you saw me fighting in the past, and as you hear, the one I am fighting still.

Let me tell you how hard I have worked for you and for the people in Laodicea and for all others who do not know me personally.

Take your part in suffering, as a loyal soldier of Christ Jesus.

An athlete who runs in a race cannot win the prize unless he obeys the rules.

Think about what I am saying, because the Lord will enable you to understand it all.

Because I preach the Good News, I suffer and I am even chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not in chains,

This is a true saying: "If we have died with him, we shall also live with him.

If we are not faithful, he remains faithful, because he cannot be false to himself."

I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance, and I have kept the faith.

And now there is waiting for me the victory prize of being put right with God, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day---and not only to me, but to all those who wait with love for him to appear.