that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.
You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.
Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
A soldier refrains from entangling himself in civilian affairs, in order to please the one who enlisted him.
Likewise, a competitor does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules.
. . .
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
. . .
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm.
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve.
. . .
“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
. . .
Once we were safely ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta.
The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold.
Paul gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he laid them on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand.
When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
. . .
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest
and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”
“Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.
. . .
This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.
Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
. . .
I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying, heaven was opened,
and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Jesus invited a little child to stand among them.
“Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.
. . .
Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.
Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are different ministries, but the same Lord.
. . .
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face,
that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I say this so that no one will deceive you by smooth rhetoric.
For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ.
. . .
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
. . .