1 Peter 5:1

For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all.

He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation.

in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News of Christ;

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

We are his witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Stephen, full of faith and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly, “Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”

Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I will come out like gold.

The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh tests the hearts.

For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.”

Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,

But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.

He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.

and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.

For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.

to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.

Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

Yahweh has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.

But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.

I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’ ”

They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.” He went in to stay with them.

strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom.

for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the assembly of God;

if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard, which is being proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a servant.

to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,

even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,

The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.

You are witnesses of these things.

We are witnesses of everything he did both in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they also killed, hanging him on a tree.

not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not I only, but also all those who know the truth,

I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt.

Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.

When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.

In all places in which I have walked with all the children of Israel, did I say a word to any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ ” ’

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.

and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.

When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported everything that God had done with them.

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.

Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers with many words and strengthened them.

From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly.

Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.

The day following, Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present.

for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,

If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.

Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.

For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;

We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

It is even right for me to think this way on behalf of all of you, because I have you in my heart, because both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Good News, you all are partakers with me of grace.

For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,

Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father; the younger men as brothers;

Don’t receive an accusation against an elder, except at the word of two or three witnesses.

Those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but rather let them serve them, because those who partake of the benefit are believing and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you,

yet for love’s sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus,

For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end,

that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—

To them it was revealed, that they served not to themselves, but to you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us);

that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.