Remember your former leaders, who spoke God's message to you. Think back on how they lived and died, and imitate their faith.

He made my words as sharp as a sword. With his own hand he protected me. He made me like an arrow, sharp and ready for use.

"This is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God.

When they finished praying, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim God's message with boldness.

We are not like so many others, who handle God's message as if it were cheap merchandise; but because God has sent us, we speak with sincerity in his presence, as servants of Christ.

We put aside all secret and shameful deeds; we do not act with deceit, nor do we falsify the word of God. In the full light of truth we live in God's sight and try to commend ourselves to everyone's good conscience.

Then I saw thrones, and those who sat on them were given the power to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been executed because they had proclaimed the truth that Jesus revealed and the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image, nor had they received the mark of the beast on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and ruled as kings with Christ for a thousand years.

From Zion the LORD will extend your royal power. "Rule over your enemies," he says.

The explanation of your teachings gives light and brings wisdom to the ignorant.

The sayings of the wise are like the sharp sticks that shepherds use to guide sheep, and collected proverbs are as lasting as firmly driven nails. They have been given by God, the one Shepherd of us all.

So also will be the word that I speak--- it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.

My message is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces.

I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God's power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles.

but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments;

we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

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.

By his own will he brought us into being through the word of truth, so that we should have first place among all his creatures.

For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread, you will live forever. The bread that I will give you is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live."

Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable.

Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

Buckle on your sword, mighty king; you are glorious and majestic.

Let them shout aloud as they praise God, with their sharp swords in their hands

but when it is all over, she leaves you nothing but bitterness and pain.

he will judge the poor fairly and defend the rights of the helpless. At his command the people will be punished, and evil persons will die.

He made my words as sharp as a sword. With his own hand he protected me. He made me like an arrow, sharp and ready for use.

When the people heard this, they were deeply troubled and said to Peter and the other apostles, "What shall we do, brothers?"

When the members of the Council heard this, they were so furious that they wanted to have the apostles put to death.

And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you.

He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth. His face was as bright as the midday sun.

Now turn from your sins! If you don't, I will come to you soon and fight against those people with the sword that comes out of my mouth.

Out of his mouth came a sharp sword, with which he will defeat the nations. He will rule over them with a rod of iron, and he will trample out the wine in the wine press of the furious anger of the Almighty God.

Their armies were killed by the sword that comes out of the mouth of the one who was riding the horse; and all the birds ate all they could of their flesh.

You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts.

I, the LORD, search the minds and test the hearts of people. I treat each of them according to the way they live, according to what they do."

But if everyone is proclaiming God's message when some unbelievers or ordinary people come in, they will be convinced of their sin by what they hear. They will be judged by all they hear,

their secret thoughts will be brought into the open, and they will bow down and worship God, confessing, "Truly God is here among you!"

And when all things are brought out to the light, then their true nature is clearly revealed;

I will also kill her followers, and then all the churches will know that I am the one who knows everyone's thoughts and wishes. I will repay each of you according to what you have done.