# verses

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I say this because, for many years, someone has read God’s <i>Law</i> in the <i>synagogues</i>. On every <i>Sabbath</i> day, in every town, someone teaches the people the message from Moses.’ <n>We can read about all this in Leviticus 18:6-23 and 17:10-12. <n>The <i>believers</i> in Jerusalem write a letter to the <i>Gentiles</i></n>


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So then the <i>apostles</i>, the whole <i>church</i> and their leaders decided to choose some men. They chose them from their group. These men would go to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Silas and Judas, who was also called Barsabbas. Everyone thought good things about both these men. 


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They sent this letter to Antioch with Judas, Silas, Barnabas and Paul. <n>‘We, the <i>apostles</i>, all the other <i>believers</i> and their leaders say hello to you. We say hello to all of you who live in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We have written this letter to all our <i>Gentile</i> friends there who believe God’s message about Jesus.’ <n>Antioch was a city, but Syria and Cilicia were large parts of the country. 


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‘We have heard that some men from our group have confused your thoughts. The things that they said were not right. So you were not happy about it. But they did not have our authority to say those things to you. 


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So we all met together and we agreed about these things. We have chosen some men to bring this message to you. And they will travel with our good friends Barnabas and Paul. 


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These two men, Barnabas and Paul, have worked for the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. Because of that, other people have nearly killed them. 


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So we are sending Judas and Silas to you. And they will tell you the same things that we have written in this letter. 


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We have agreed with the <i>Holy Spirit</i> about these rules. We do not want to cause problems for you. So these are the only things that we want you to do. 


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You should not eat any of the meat from animals that people killed as gifts to their gods. And you should not eat any blood. People sometimes tie a <i>rope</i> round the neck of an animal to kill it. You should not eat the meat from an animal like that. And you must not have sex with anyone that you are not married to. If you do not do any of these things, you will do well. Goodbye.’


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So the <i>apostles</i> and other <i>believers</i> sent these 4 men to Antioch. When they arrived there, they said to the <i>believers</i>, ‘Please come and meet together with us.’ And when they all met together, Silas and Judas gave them the letter. 


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The <i>believers</i> in Antioch were very happy when they read the letter. They said, ‘This message helps us to obey God.’ 


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Judas and Silas were both <i>prophets</i>. They spoke a message from God to the <i>believers</i> in Antioch. They spoke to them for a long time. Their words helped them to obey God and not to be afraid. 


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They remained in Antioch for some time. Then the whole group of <i>believers</i> in Antioch sent Judas and Silas back to Jerusalem. The <i>believers</i> spoke kind words to them as they left. 


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Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch for a longer time. And, together with many other <i>believers</i>, they told people the message about Jesus. They also taught the people more about Jesus.


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After some time, Paul spoke to Barnabas. ‘Let us go back and visit the <i>believers</i> in all those different cities. We can go to all the places where we taught people about Jesus. We can see how they are.’ 


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But Paul said to Barnabas, ‘John Mark did not remain with us until we had finished our work. So it is not a good thing to take him with us now.’ John Mark had turned back and he had left Paul and Barnabas in Pamphylia. 


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Paul and Barnabas argued about whether they should take John Mark with them. They could not agree, so they went in different directions. Barnabas took John Mark with him and he sailed to Cyprus. 


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And Paul chose Silas to go with him. The <i>believers</i> in Antioch asked God to keep Paul and Silas safe. 


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They travelled together through Syria and Cilicia. And Paul taught the <i>believers</i> in those parts of the country. Then they would be strong in what they believed about Jesus.


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So Paul travelled on to Derbe and Lystra. A man called Timothy lived in Lystra. He was a <i>believer</i> and Timothy’s mother was also a <i>believer</i>. She was a <i>Jew</i>, but Timothy’s father was a Greek. 


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Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him. All the <i>Jews</i> in Lystra and Iconium knew that Timothy’s father was a Greek. So Paul <i>circumcised</i> Timothy. <n>Timothy’s father was not a <i>Jew</i>. So nobody had <i>circumcised</i> Timothy when he was a baby. Paul wanted Timothy to go with him to help him with his work. Paul wanted to tell <i>Jews</i> the good news about Jesus. These <i>Jews</i> knew Timothy. They knew that his father was not a <i>Jew</i>. This is why Paul <i>circumcised</i> Timothy. If he had not done this, the <i>Jews</i> would not have accepted him. A person from the country called Greece is called a Greek. 


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Paul, Silas and Timothy travelled through many towns. And they read to the <i>believers</i> the letter from the <i>apostles</i> and other <i>believers</i> in Jesus in Jerusalem. They said, ‘This letter tells you what you must not do. The <i>apostles</i> and leaders of the <i>believers</i> in Jerusalem agreed about these rules. You should obey these rules.’ 


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So Paul helped the groups of <i>believers</i> in these towns to believe and to obey Jesus. More and more people began to believe in Jesus every day. <n>Paul has a dream</n>


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The <i>Holy Spirit</i> did not let Paul and his friends teach the people in <i>Asia</i>. So Paul, Silas and Timothy travelled through the country between the <i>regions</i> called Phrygia and Galatia. 


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They arrived at the <i>region</i> called Mysia. Then they wanted to go into the <i>region</i> called Bithynia. But the <i>Holy Spirit</i> did not let them go there. 


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So they did not stop travelling and they went through Mysia. They went down to the city called Troas. 


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Paul had a dream during the night when they arrived in Troas. In the dream, he saw a man from the country called Macedonia. The man was standing next to him. This man said, ‘Please, please come across to Macedonia and help us.’ 


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After Paul had dreamed this we prepared ourselves for the journey. We decided that God wanted us to go to Macedonia. He wanted us to tell the people there the good news about Jesus. <n>Luke met Paul, Silas and Timothy in Troas. <n>Lydia becomes a <i>believer</i></n>


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We sailed from Troas. The boat took us across the sea to a town called Samothrace. And then, the next day, we went to a port called Neapolis. 


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We then walked away from the coast to Philippi. This city is the most important city in the country called Macedonia. The <i>Romans</i> ruled the people who lived in Philippi. And we stayed a few days in that city. <n>Macedonia was in 4 parts. Philippi was in one of these parts. 


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On the <i>Sabbath</i> day, we went out of the city gate and we walked at the side of the river. We thought that the <i>Jews</i> would have a special place there. We thought that they would meet there to pray. We did see a group of women. So we sat down and we talked to them. <n>Not many <i>Jews</i> were living in Philippi, so they did not have a <i>synagogue</i>. Instead, they met at the side of the river to pray together. 


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One of the women was called Lydia and she listened to us. She was from the city called Thyatira. And she sold expensive dark red cloth. Lydia knew that God was very powerful and important. The <i>Lord</i> helped her to understand Paul’s message. So she believed the things that he said. <n>Lydia’s parents were not <i>Jews</i>. 


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Then Paul and his friends <i>baptised</i> Lydia and all the people who lived in her house. After this, Lydia spoke to us. ‘If you think’, she said, ‘that I really believe in the <i>Lord</i>, then please stay in my house.’ And so we went and we stayed there with her. <n>The <i>Roman</i> rulers put Paul and Silas in prison in Philippi</n>


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One day, we were going to the place where the <i>Jews</i> prayed to God. On the way there, a slave girl saw us. A bad <i>spirit</i> was living inside her. This bad <i>spirit</i> told her what would happen soon. People gave her masters a lot of money when she told them these future things. 


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She followed Paul and us, and she was shouting, ‘These men are servants of the most important God! They are telling you how God can save you!’ 


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The slave girl followed us and she shouted this for many days. But Paul was not happy about it. So he turned round and he spoke to the bad <i>spirit</i>. ‘I am using the authority of Jesus to <i>order</i> you. Leave this woman.’ The <i>spirit</i> left her immediately.


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Her masters understood that the girl could not get money for them now. So they took hold of Paul and Silas and they pulled them to the centre of the city. They brought them in front of the men with authority in the city. 


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The masters brought them so that the <i>Roman</i> rulers would <i>judge</i> them. They said, ‘These men are <i>Jews</i> and they are causing problems in our city. 


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They are teaching us to do wrong things. These things are against the rules of our city. We are <i>Romans</i> and so we cannot do them. And we cannot agree that these things are right.’


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A crowd there also said bad things about Paul and Silas. So the men with authority said to their soldiers, ‘Tear the clothes off Paul and Silas. Then hit them with sticks!’ 


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The soldiers hit them many times and then they pushed them into the prison. The men with authority <i>ordered</i> the prison <i>guard</i>. ‘Lock the door carefully’, they said, ‘so that these men cannot leave.’ <n>The prison <i>guard</i> should not let those in the prison run away. If they did run away, the leader of the soldiers would kill the <i>guard</i>. 


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The prison <i>guard</i> heard this. So he put Paul and Silas in a room deep inside the prison. And he put their feet between big heavy pieces of wood so that they could not move their legs.


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In the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were praying and they were singing songs to God. The other people in the prison were listening to them. 


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The ground <i>suddenly</i> moved under them. The ground moved about under the prison. Immediately, all the prison doors opened and the <i>chains</i> fell off all the people in the prison. 


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The prison <i>guard</i> woke up. He saw that the prison doors were open. So he thought that all the people from the prison had gone outside. He decided that he should kill himself. So he pulled out his long sharp knife. <n>The <i>guard</i> thought that the people in the prison had run away. He knew that this would be a very bad thing for him. If this had happened, the men with authority would kill him. So he decided to kill himself. 


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The <i>guard</i> said, ‘Bring me a light.’ Then he ran into the room where Paul and Silas were. He was very frightened and he went down on his knees in front of them. 


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Then the <i>guard</i> led Paul and Silas out of the room. He said to them, ‘What must I do so that God will save me?’


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Paul and Silas said, ‘Believe in the <i>Lord</i> Jesus and then God will save you. He will save you and your <i>family</i>.’ 


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Then Paul and Silas spoke to the man and to all the people in his house. They told them all the good news about Jesus. 


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So that same hour of the night, the man took them. He led them into another room and he was kind to them. He washed the parts of their bodies that the soldiers had hurt. Then immediately after this, Paul and Silas <i>baptised</i> the man and his <i>family</i>. 


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The man took Paul and Silas into his house. Then he gave them some food. The man and his <i>family</i> were very happy because now they all believed in God.


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The next morning, the men with authority sent their officers to the prison with a message. These officers said to the prison <i>guard</i>, ‘Let those men go.’ 


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The <i>guard</i> told Paul, ‘The men with authority sent a message to me. They said, “Let Paul and Silas go out of the prison.” So now you can leave the prison. Nobody will hurt you any more.’


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But Paul spoke to the officers who had brought the message. He said, ‘The men with authority did not say that we had done anything wrong. But they <i>ordered</i> their soldiers to hit us with sticks. All the people were watching them when they did that to us. We are special people of Rome but they pushed us into prison. Now they want us to leave the prison. They want this to be a secret. But we will not let that happen. The <i>Roman</i> officers have authority. They must come here to the prison themselves and they must let us out.’


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So the officers returned to their masters with the message from Paul and Silas. The <i>Roman</i> officers heard that Paul and Silas were special people of Rome. And then they were afraid. 


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So they went to see Paul and Silas in the prison. ‘We are sorry about what we did to you’, they said to them. Then they led Paul and Silas out of the prison. The men with authority then said to them, ‘Please leave the city now.’ 


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Paul and Silas walked away from the prison and they went to Lydia’s house. There they met many <i>believers</i>. Paul and Silas said good words to them. Then Paul and Silas left the city. <n>Luke did not go with Paul and Silas when they left Philippi. 


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Paul, Silas and Timothy continued their journey. They went through the two cities called Amphipolis and Apollonia in the country called Greece. Then they arrived in a city called Thessalonica. There was a <i>synagogue</i> for the <i>Jews</i> in that city. 


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Paul went to this <i>synagogue</i>, as he usually did. On three <i>Sabbath</i> days, he talked to the people in the <i>synagogue</i>. He talked with them about all the things that the <i>prophets</i> had written down. 


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He explained to the people about all these things. ‘I can show you that all these things are true’, he said. ‘God decided to send the <i>Christ</i> to you. And the <i>prophets</i> wrote that he would die. After that, God would cause him to live again. I have now told you all about Jesus Christ. He is the man whom God sent to you.’ 


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Some people believed the message and they joined with Paul and Silas. A large number of Greeks also joined this group. These Greeks were not <i>Jews</i>. But they already knew that God was powerful and important. Many important women in the city also joined the group. <n>A person was called Greek if he or his <i>family</i> had been born in Greece. Or perhaps they came from Greece. 


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The <i>Jews</i> in the city were angry because many people joined the group with Paul and Silas. So the <i>Jews</i> found some people who often caused trouble in the city. They asked these bad people to come together in an angry crowd. The <i>Jews</i> and the crowd made a lot of noise in the streets of the city. They broke down the door of Jason’s house because they wanted to find Paul and Silas. They wanted to bring them outside to the crowd. 


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But the <i>Jews</i> and the crowd did not find Paul and Silas. So they pulled Jason and some other <i>believers</i> to the men with authority in the city. The <i>Jews</i> shouted, ‘These men have caused troubles everywhere. And now they have come to our city. 


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Jason has let them stay in his house. They speak against the <i>laws</i> that <i>Caesar</i> has given to us. And they say that there is another king. This other king is called Jesus.’ <n>At that time, <i>Caesar</i> was called Claudius. Claudius ruled the <i>Roman</i> world from <i>AD</i> 41 to AD 54. <n>Most of the people that lived in Thessalonica were Greek. They were not <i>Jews</i>. But some of them had heard about the God of the <i>Jews</i> and they believed in him. Greek means someone who comes from Greece. 


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When the <i>Jews</i> shouted all this, the crowd shouted loudly. The men with authority in the city also became very angry. 


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The men with authority in the city said that Jason and the other <i>believers</i> must give them some money. And then they could all go. The men with authority let them go after they had paid the money. <n>Many people in Berea believe Paul’s message</n>


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As soon as it was dark, the <i>believers</i> in Thessalonica sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived in that town, they went to the <i>synagogue</i> of the <i>Jews</i>. 


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The people at the <i>synagogue</i> were better people than those in Thessalonica. They were quick to listen to Paul’s message. They wanted to understand the message more than the people in Thessalonica. They wanted to hear the message very much. Every day the people read the words in God’s book. They wanted to see if Paul’s message was really true. 


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Many of the people in the <i>synagogue</i> believed the good news about Jesus. Many <i>Greek</i> men and important <i>Greek</i> women also believed the message.


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But then the <i>Jews</i> in Thessalonica heard that Paul was in Berea. And they heard that he was teaching the people about Jesus. So they came to Berea. They talked to some of the people there and they caused the people to become an angry crowd. 


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Immediately, the <i>believers</i> in Berea sent Paul with some other men to the coast. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. 


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When Paul left Berea, some men went by boat with him. They went with him as far as the city called Athens. Before these men returned to Berea, Paul gave them a message for Silas and Timothy. He said, ‘Please come quickly and meet me here in Athens.’ <n>Paul visits Athens</n>


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While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he was sad and angry. He saw that the people in the city had many gods. 


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So Paul went to the <i>synagogue</i> every day and he talked together with the <i>Jews</i> there. And he also talked with those <i>Gentiles</i> who prayed to God. He also went to the market place in the city and he talked with the people there. 


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There were also some Epicurean and Stoic teachers in Athens who talked with Paul. ‘Who is this man? He knows nothing’, some of these teachers said. ‘He thinks that he knows everything.’ But some of these teachers said, ‘We think that he is talking about the gods of foreign people.’ They said this because Paul was talking about Jesus. He had also talked about the time when God will cause dead people to live again. <n>The Epicureans were <i>disciples</i> of Epicurus. He taught that there were no gods. Or that the gods were not near to the people. <n>The Stoics were <i>disciples</i> of Zeno. He taught that everyone should be good to themselves. They should also do the right things for other people. He taught that God was the <i>soul</i> of the world. 


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So these men asked Paul to go with them. They asked him to stand in front of the city’s important men on the hill called Areopagus. <n>These important men were the rulers of Athens and they met together on the Areopagus hill. They decided what should happen in the city. 


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The important men said, ‘We have never heard until now about the things that you are teaching us. Please explain them to us. Then we will understand them.’ 


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(People who lived in Athens talked about many different things. They talked with people who visited the city. They were all telling and listening to the new ideas. They seemed to have time for nothing else.)


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So Paul stood up in front of the important men of Athens. He said to them, ‘I see that you have many gods. 


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I have walked through your city. And I have seen that you have built many special places out of stone for your gods. I saw one place where you had cut some words into the stone. These words were, “To the god that we do not know.” So you already know that there is another god. You know that he is powerful and important. He is the true God, but you did not know this. So I am now teaching you about him.


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The true God made the earth and all the plants and animals on it. He rules the earth and the sky. He does not live in the houses that men have built for him. 


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Men make things for God. But God does not need anything that men have made. God himself causes everything to live. He gives to living things everything that they need. 


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He made everybody in the world from one man. Then he caused people to live in different places on the earth. He decided all these things before he made the people. He decided where the people should live. And he also decided how long they should live. 


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God did all this so that people would look for him. They would try very hard to find him and then they would find him. God is close to all of us.’ <n>People who cannot see use their hands to find things. They find things that are close to them. Paul said that we should also look for God. Then we will find him because he is close to us. 


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‘Someone said, “Because God is powerful, we are alive. We can move about. And we can be what we are.” One of your writers has also said, “All of us are God’s children.”


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And because we are God’s children, we should also know this. Men are clever and they can cut stones. They can make valuable metals into different shapes. But God is not like these shapes. 


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At one time, men thought that God was in these stones and valuable metals. But God has decided to forget what men thought in the past. At that time people did not know the true things about God. But now, God says to people everywhere, “Stop doing bad things!” 


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God has decided on which day he will be the <i>judge</i> for everyone on the earth. He will <i>judge</i> so that nobody can say, “God is wrong.” He will do this by a certain man that he has chosen. He has shown clearly to everyone that all this is true. He showed it like this: People killed that man. But God caused him to live again.’


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Paul had said, ‘God caused that man to live again.’ When the people heard this, some of them <i>laughed</i> at him. But other people said to Paul, ‘We want you to tell us more about this on another day.’ 


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And some people joined his group when he left. They believed the good news and they became <i>believers</i>. One of these people was a man called Dionysius. He was one of the important men of Athens. A woman called Damaris also became a <i>believer</i>. And some other people also believed Paul’s message about Jesus.


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After Paul had spoken to the important men in Athens, he left the city. And from there, he then travelled to the city called Corinth. <n>Corinth is a city in Greece, about 75 kilometres (50 miles) from Athens. 


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In Corinth, he met a man called Aquila. Aquila was a <i>Jew</i>. And he had been born in the <i>region</i> called Pontus. He had just arrived in Corinth with his wife Priscilla. They had travelled from Italy to live in Corinth. At that time, <i>Caesar</i> Claudius had said that all <i>Jews</i> must leave Rome. Paul went to visit Aquila and Priscilla. 


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They knew how to make tents. They sold them so that they could use the money to buy food. Paul could do the same work. So he stayed with them and he worked with them. <n>A tent was a house that people used when they travelled. People made it out of cloth or animal skins. 


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Every <i>Sabbath</i> day, Paul taught both <i>Jews</i> and <i>Greeks</i> in the <i>synagogue</i>. He wanted them all to believe the good news about Jesus.


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Then Silas and Timothy arrived from the country called Macedonia. After that, the only work that Paul did was to teach the people. He told the <i>Jews</i> the message about Jesus and he explained everything carefully to them. He said, ‘God sent Jesus to be the <i>Christ</i>.’ 


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The <i>Jews</i> did not agree with Paul and they said bad things about him. So he cleaned the dirt off his clothes and he said to them, ‘If you are lost from God then it will not be because of me. It will be because of you. So I will now go to those who are not <i>Jews</i>.’ <n>Paul cleaned the dirt off his clothes. This meant that Paul did not want to speak to those <i>Jews</i> again. Paul continued to teach in Corinth. But now he usually taught those who were not <i>Jews</i>. Most people who lived in Corinth were Greek. Greek means the language that people spoke in Greece. Or it means someone who comes from that country. 


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So Paul left the <i>Jews</i> and he went to stay in the house of Justus. He was not a <i>Jew</i>. But he was a man who prayed to the God of the <i>Jews</i>. His house was next to the <i>synagogue</i>. 


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A man called Crispus was the leader of the <i>synagogue</i>. He, and everyone else who lived in his house, believed in Jesus. Many other people heard Paul’s message about Jesus. They also believed the message and someone <i>baptised</i> them.


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One night, when Paul was staying in Corinth, the <i>Lord</i> appeared to him in a dream. ‘Do not be afraid’, he said. ‘Continue to speak to the people here. Do not stop speaking to them. 


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I am here with you, so nobody will hurt you. There are many people in this city who will believe in me.’


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When Gallio became the leader of the government in Greece, the <i>Jews</i> met together. They held Paul and they brought him in front of Gallio. He would <i>judge</i> Paul. <n>The men with authority in Rome caused Gallio to rule Greece in <i>AD</i> 51. 


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The <i>Jews</i> said to Gallio, ‘This man is teaching people things that are against our <i>law</i>. He is asking us to believe some different things about God. But if we did these things we would go against our <i>law</i>.’


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Paul was ready to speak, but Gallio spoke first to the <i>Jews</i>. ‘If this man had done a very bad thing’, he said, ‘then I would do something about it. 


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But you are arguing about words and names in your own <i>Law</i>. So you yourselves must decide what to do about it. I will not be a <i>judge</i> for these things.’ 


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Sosthenes was the leader of the <i>synagogue</i>. The <i>Jews</i> held him and they hit him with sticks in front of Gallio. But Gallio did nothing to stop them. <n>Paul travels from Corinth to Antioch</n>


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Paul remained in Corinth with the <i>believers</i> for many days. Then he said goodbye to them. And he sailed by boat to the country called Syria. Priscilla and Aquila also went with him. Before Paul sailed, he promised something to God. Because of this promise, he asked someone to cut off all the hair from his head. <n>God had helped Paul to do many things in Corinth. Maybe he was saying thank you because God had helped him. 


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Paul, Priscilla and Aquila arrived in the city called Ephesus. Paul left them there, and he went into the <i>synagogue</i>. And he talked with the <i>Jews</i>. 


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Some of them asked Paul to remain in Ephesus with them for a long time. But he did not agree to stay. 


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Paul said to them, ‘If God wants me to come back, I will return to you.’ So then Paul sailed from Ephesus to <i>Caesarea</i>. 


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When Paul arrived in <i>Caesarea</i>, he went on to Jerusalem. He said hello to all the <i>believers</i> there and then he travelled to Antioch in Syria.


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He stayed in Antioch for some time. Then, after that, he left Antioch and he travelled through Galatia and Phrygia. He said to all the <i>believers</i> in these places, ‘Continue to love and to obey God more strongly.’ <n>These are some of the things that Apollos did</n>


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In Ephesus, there was a <i>Jew</i> called Apollos. He was born in Alexandria in Egypt. Now he had travelled from Alexandria to live in Ephesus. He could speak well. He knew all the words very well that were written in God’s book. <n>Alexandria was an important city in <i>Egypt</i> and in the world. And people went there to learn many different things. 


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Someone had taught him very well the message of the good news about Jesus. He was happy when he was speaking to people about Jesus. Everything that he said was true. But he only knew part of the message. He knew what John said. And he knew about how John <i>baptised</i> people. 


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Apollos was not afraid, so he began to teach the people in the <i>synagogue</i>. Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos teach the people. So they said to him, ‘Please come with us to our home. We can explain to you everything about Jesus. We can tell you all about how God wants us to live.’ And so they did that.


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After that, Apollos decided to go to Greece. So the <i>believers</i> in Ephesus helped him. They wrote a letter for him to give to the <i>believers</i> in Greece. They wrote, ‘When Apollos arrives, please accept him.’ When he did arrive in Greece, he helped the <i>believers</i> there very much. They had started to believe in Jesus because God helped them. 


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Apollos argued strongly with the <i>Jews</i> in front of the people. And he showed them from God’s word that the <i>Jews</i> were wrong. He explained clearly. And he used the words of the <i>prophets</i>, to show that Jesus is the <i>Christ</i>.


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While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul travelled through Phrygia and Galatia. He then arrived in Ephesus and he found some <i>believers</i> there. 


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Paul asked them, ‘When you believed the message about Jesus, did God give you his <i>Holy Spirit</i>?’ <n>‘We did not even know that there is a <i>Holy Spirit</i>’, the <i>believers</i> answered.


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So Paul asked them, ‘When someone <i>baptised</i> you, what did you understand?’ <n>‘We received the <i>baptism</i> that John spoke about’, they answered.


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Then Paul said, ‘John <i>baptised</i> people who listened to his message. These people knew that they had done wrong things. They wanted to stop doing these things and they wanted to obey God. John also said to the people of <i>Israel</i>, “You must believe in the person who will come soon.” This person is Jesus.’ 


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When these <i>believers</i> in Ephesus heard this, they said to Paul, ‘Please <i>baptise</i> us, and use the name of the <i>Lord</i> Jesus.’ 


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Then Paul touched each person with his hand. Then God gave them his <i>Holy Spirit</i> and they spoke in different languages. They also spoke messages from God. 


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For three months, Paul often went to the <i>synagogue</i> in Ephesus. He was not afraid to speak to the people there. He argued with them. He wanted them to believe the true things about the <i>Kingdom</i> of God. 


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But some of them did not want to understand what Paul said. They would not believe in Jesus. Some of them said bad things about the way of the <i>Lord</i> in front of the whole group. So Paul stopped speaking to these people. He took the other <i>believers</i> away from that group. And every day he talked with people in another place. It was in a large room, where a man with the name Tyrannus usually taught the people. 


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Paul taught the people in Ephesus for two years. In that time, all the people who lived in <i>Asia</i> heard the message about Jesus. Paul was teaching <i>Jews</i> and those who were not <i>Jews</i>. <n>The sons of Sceva <i>order</i> bad <i>spirits</i> to leave people</n>


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God was working by Paul and God was doing many powerful things. These were things that nobody had done before. 


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People took pieces of cloth and clothes that Paul gave to them. Paul had used these things. People took the cloths to those who were ill. After they received them, the sick people became well again. And bad <i>spirits</i> also left them.


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There were some <i>Jews</i> who travelled about. They also caused bad <i>spirits</i> to leave people. Now they wanted to use the name of the <i>Lord</i> Jesus when they did this. These <i>Jews</i> said to the bad <i>spirits</i>, ‘Paul has taught people about Jesus. So, we use the authority of Jesus to say to you, “Bad <i>spirits</i>, come out of these people.” ’ 


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Sceva was a most important <i>Jewish priest</i> in Ephesus. He had 7 sons who were <i>ordering</i> the bad <i>spirit</i> to come out of someone in this way. 


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But the bad <i>spirit</i> said to Sceva’s sons, ‘I know who Jesus is. And I also know about Paul. But I do not know who you are.’ 


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A man had the bad <i>spirit</i> and it was living inside him. He fought strongly with the 7 sons and he won the fight. He had hurt the sons and he had torn their clothes off. So the sons ran away from the man’s house.


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All the <i>Jews</i> and <i>Gentiles</i> who lived in Ephesus heard about this. They were afraid and they said, ‘This person called the <i>Lord</i> Jesus is very powerful. He is very much more powerful than we thought. He is a very important person.’ 


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Those who had used powerful bad <i>spirits</i> brought all their books about <i>magic</i>. Then they burned the books so that everyone could see. They counted that these books had cost 50 000 valuable metal coins. 


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When these powerful things happened, more and more people heard the good news about Jesus. And they believed strongly everything about him. <n>Bad troubles happen in Ephesus.</n>


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After these things happened, Paul decided to travel through Macedonia and Greece. From there, he decided to travel to Jerusalem. He said, ‘After I go there, I must go to see Rome.’ 


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Timothy and Erastus were helping Paul with his work. Paul sent them to Macedonia while he stayed longer in the towns in <i>Asia</i>.


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It was at this time that there were bad troubles in Ephesus. These troubles happened because of the things that Paul taught the people. He taught them how to follow Jesus. 


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In Ephesus there was a man called Demetrius. He made very small things. Those things looked like the house of the female god called Artemis. He made them out of valuable metal and he paid a lot of money to his workers. 


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So he asked all his workers to meet with him. And he also asked other men to come. These men all did the same kind of work that Demetrius did. He said to all these men, ‘You know that our work has caused us to become rich. 


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And you can see what this man Paul is doing. You yourselves can also hear what he is saying. Paul says, “Gods that men have made are not really gods.” Here in Ephesus, and in all <i>Asia</i>, many people believe what he says. 


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It might happen that people will say bad things about our work. It might also happen that the house of Artemis will not continue to be important to people. And people will think that Artemis herself is not important. At this time, everyone in <i>Asia</i> and the <i>Roman</i> world thinks that Artemis is very great and important.’


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When the crowd heard Demetrius, they became very angry. ‘Artemis of Ephesus is really very great’, they shouted. 


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More and more people through the whole city began to shout. Gaius and Aristarchus were from Macedonia and they were travelling with Paul. Some people from the crowd held these two men. They took the men quickly to the open place in the middle of the city where everyone met together. <n>In this place, the <i>Roman</i> people met together to watch many different things. It was called a theatre. 


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Paul himself wanted to stand in front of the crowd. But the other <i>believers</i> would not let him. 


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Some important <i>Roman</i> men in Ephesus were Paul’s friends and they sent a message to him. ‘Do not stand in front of the crowd’, they said.


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The crowd was making even more noise. Some people were shouting one thing and other people were shouting something else. Not many of the people knew why they had all met together. 


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There was a man called Alexander in the crowd. The <i>Jews</i> caused him to stand in front of the crowd. Some of the people thought that he was the reason for all the noise. He raised his hands in front of him so that they would be quiet. He wanted to explain to the crowd that he and his friends had not caused this trouble. 


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But the crowd knew that Alexander was a <i>Jew</i>. So they continued to shout the same words for two hours. ‘Artemis of Ephesus is really very great!’ they shouted.


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At the end of the two hours, an important man from the city caused the crowd to listen to him. ‘People of Ephesus!’ he said. ‘The house of Artemis is here in Ephesus. The special stone that fell from the sky is also here in Ephesus. The people know about both these things and they keep them safely. 


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Nobody can say that this is not true. So you must not do anything without first thinking about it carefully. 


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Gaius and Aristarchus did not take anything from the house of Artemis. They did not say anything bad about Artemis. But still you brought them here. 


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Perhaps Demetrius and his workers think that someone did a wrong thing. If they do, let them speak to a man with authority. The court is open on certain days for this. A <i>Roman</i> ruler will <i>judge</i> what he says. The ruler will say if it is correct or not correct. Demetrius and his workers can argue in front of him about what Paul is saying.’ <n>A court is a place where a <i>judge</i> says what is right or wrong. 


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‘If you want to argue these problems more, go to the meeting of the important people of the city. These people rule in our city. 


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Today, the people here are shouting and fighting. Maybe the <i>Roman</i> rulers will hear about this. They will say that we have done wrong things. The people should not shout and fight each other. We could not explain it to them. There is no good reason for all this noise.’ 


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After that, the crowd went home. Then Paul asked all the <i>believers</i> to meet together with him. He said to them, ‘Be strong! Continue to believe in Jesus. I am going away now.’ Then Paul travelled on to Macedonia. 


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He travelled through Macedonia and he talked to the people in different places again. He talked to them about Jesus. Then he came to Greece. <n>We think that Paul visited Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea among other places. 


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When Paul arrived in Greece, he stayed there for three months. One day, he was preparing to travel on to Syria. But then he heard news that the <i>Jews</i> wanted to kill him. So he decided to return to Jerusalem through Macedonia. <n>Many <i>Jews</i> travelled by boat from cities in Macedonia to Jerusalem for the <i>Passover</i> meal. Paul decided not to sail because of the <i>Jews</i>. Instead, he travelled to Jerusalem by land and some other people went with him. 


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Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea, went with Paul. Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica also went with him. Gaius from Derbe and Timothy, Tychicus and Trophimus from <i>Asia</i> also all went with him. 


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They all travelled in front of us and they waited for us in Troas. <n>We know that Luke was with Paul and the other <i>believers</i> on this journey. 


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We sailed by boat from Philippi after the special meal of bread without <i>yeast</i>. <n>This was the week before the <i>Passover</i> meal. During the week of <i>Passover Jews</i> did not eat any food that contained <i>yeast</i>. We think that they stayed in Philippi for the <i>Passover</i>. At this time they remembered the time when God caused Jesus to live again. We call it Easter. <n>Five days after that, we met them all in Troas, where we stayed together for 7 days. <n>Paul visits the <i>believers</i> in Troas for the last time</n>


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On the Saturday evening, we all met to break bread together. Paul was teaching the people. He was leaving Troas the next day and so he taught them until midnight.


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A young man called Eutychus was at the meeting. He was sitting next to the window. Paul talked for a long time and Eutychus wanted to sleep. Then Eutychus really went to sleep. He fell out of the window past three rooms to the ground. The other <i>believers</i> lifted him up off the ground, but he was dead. 


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So Paul went down the stairs to them all. He lay on top of the young man and held him for a moment. Then Paul said, ‘Do not be afraid. He is still alive.’ 


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Then Paul went back upstairs and he ate with the <i>believers</i>. Paul talked to them until the sun rose. Then he left Troas.


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The other <i>believers</i> led Eutychus to his home. He was alive and they were happy. <n>Paul travels from Troas to Miletus</n>


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We went on in front of Paul to the boat. And we sailed on it to Assos. Paul decided to meet us on the boat at Assos. He was travelling to Assos across the land. He had told us that we should wait for him there. 


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We sailed from there and we arrived the next day at the coast near Chios. The day after that, we came to Samos and, the next day, we arrived at Miletus. 


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Paul had decided to sail from there past Ephesus. He did not want to remain in <i>Asia</i> any longer. He wanted to travel to Jerusalem quickly, because he wanted to arrive there before the day called <i>Pentecost</i>. <n>Paul sends a message to the leaders of the <i>believers</i> in Ephesus</n>


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When Paul was in Miletus, he sent someone to Ephesus with a message. This message was for the leaders of the <i>believers</i> in Ephesus. Paul wrote, ‘Please come to Miletus and meet together with me.’ 


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Paul spoke to the <i>believers</i> from Ephesus when they arrived in Miletus. ‘You know about everything that I did in <i>Asia</i>’, he said. ‘You saw me from the first day that I arrived in Asia. I was with you for the whole time. You knew all that I did. And you knew all that I said. 


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I did not say to people that I was an important man. I worked as a servant of God. And I often cried. My life was difficult because the <i>Jews</i> wanted to kill me. 


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I taught you in the streets and in your homes. You know that I told you all the important things. I told you everything that would help you. 


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I taught the same things both to the <i>Jews</i> and to the <i>Gentiles</i>. I was serious when I taught everybody. I said to them all, “You must stop doing wrong things. You must also say sorry to God because you have done those wrong things. Then you must obey God and you must believe in our <i>Lord</i> Jesus.”


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Now I am going to Jerusalem because the <i>Holy Spirit</i> is taking me there. I do not know what people will do to me there. 


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The <i>Holy Spirit</i> told me in every city about the dangers. He said to me, “People will put you in prison and they will cause many troubles for you.” 


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I may live or I may die. But this is not important to me. The <i>Lord</i> Jesus gave me some work to do. So it is important that I finish this work. I must tell people the good news about how kind and good God is to them.


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I have lived among you all and I have taught you all about the <i>Kingdom</i> of God. Now I know that none of you will see me again. 


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So I am being serious with you today. I say this to you. If any of you are lost to God, then it is not because of me. 


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You should be careful about yourselves, and about what you are doing. Keep safe the people that the <i>Holy Spirit</i> has asked you to help. Lead all the groups of <i>believers</i>. Some men have their own sheep. They feed the sheep and they keep them safe. Be like that kind of man. All the <i>believers</i> belong to God because Jesus died for them. He gave his life blood for them. 


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I know what will happen. After I leave you, other people will come among you. They will be like dangerous wild animals that attack sheep. These men will cause trouble for the <i>believers</i>. 


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Men from your own group of <i>believers</i> will also teach you things that are not true. These men will want other <i>believers</i> to follow them. So the <i>believers</i> will no longer follow Jesus. So they will say things that are not true. 


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Be very careful! I often cried about my work when I stayed with you. I want you to remember this. I taught all of you for three years, in the day and in the night.


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And now I ask God to keep you safe. He has been kind to us. I brought the message about this to you. You will be safe if you remember this message. God will cause your <i>spirits</i> to be strong. And at the end, he will give to you all the good things that he has for his special people. 


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You yourselves know that I worked a lot. Then my friends and I could have everything that we needed. 


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I have shown you how to live. And I have shown you how to work. Now you know how to be kind to sick or weak people. You should remember what Jesus himself said: “It may make you happy when you receive things. But it makes you more happy when you give things to someone.” ’


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Then Paul finished speaking. He went down on his knees together with all the leaders of the <i>believers</i> from Ephesus. And they all prayed. 


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Paul had said, ‘I will never see you again.’ And this made them sadder than anything else did. So then they walked with Paul to the ship.


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We said goodbye to the leaders of the <i>believers</i> from Ephesus. Then we sailed straight across the sea, and we arrived at Cos. The next day, we arrived at Rhodes, and from there we went on to Patara. <n>Cos, Rhodes and Patara are small islands. 


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At Patara, we found a boat that was going to Phoenicia. So we climbed on to the boat and we sailed on it.


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We arrived at a place on the sea from where we could see Cyprus. We sailed south of Cyprus, and we arrived in Syria. We left the boat at Tyre and we went on to the land. The boat was carrying many things and, at Tyre, people took all these things off the ship. 


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We found some <i>believers</i> at Tyre and we stayed with them for a week. The <i>Holy Spirit</i> said by these <i>believers</i>, ‘Paul, you should not to go to Jerusalem.’ 


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We had stayed with them for a week. And then it was time for us to leave them. All the <i>believers</i>, together with their wives and children, went with us out of the city. At the beach, we all went down on our knees and we prayed together. 


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Then we said goodbye to each other and we went back on the boat. The <i>believers</i> and their families returned to their homes.


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We continued our journey on the ship. We sailed from Tyre to Ptolemais. Here, we met some <i>believers</i> and we stayed with them for one day. 


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The next day, we left Ptolemais and we sailed to <i>Caesarea</i>. We visited Philip in <i>Caesarea</i> and we stayed with him. Philip taught people in <i>Caesarea</i> the good news about Jesus. Philip was one of the 7 men that the <i>believers</i> had chosen in Jerusalem. <n>We can read about this in Acts 6:1-6. 


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We stayed with Philip for a few days. Then a man called Agabus came to the city from Judea. He was a <i>prophet</i> and he spoke messages from God. 


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Agabus visited us. He took Paul’s belt and he tied it round his own feet and hands. He said, ‘Listen to this message from the <i>Holy Spirit</i>. “The <i>Jews</i> in Jerusalem will tie the man who has this belt. They will tie him in the same way. And then they will give this man to those who are not <i>Jews</i>.” ’


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But Paul answered, ‘Stop crying like this! You are making me very sad! I am ready for men in Jerusalem to tie me up. And I am also ready to die there. I am ready to do all this because I believe in the <i>Lord</i> Jesus.’ 


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But we could not cause Paul to think in a different way. So we stopped saying to him, ‘You should not go to Jerusalem.’ And we said to him instead, ‘We want what God wants to happen.’


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We stayed in <i>Caesarea</i> for some time. Then we prepared ourselves and we travelled to Jerusalem. 


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Some of the <i>believers</i> from <i>Caesarea</i> also went with us. They took us to the house of a man called Mnason. We had decided to stay with him. His home town was on the island called Cyprus. He had been a <i>believer</i> for a long time. <n>Paul visits James in Jerusalem</n>


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Paul said hello to them and then he told them everything about his work. God had worked by him and God had done many good things for the <i>Gentiles</i>.


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After they had heard Paul speak, they said, ‘God is very good and powerful.’ Then the leaders said, ‘<i>Brother</i> Paul, you can see what has happened. There are now many thousands of <i>Jews</i> who have believed in Jesus. But they also really want to obey the <i>Law</i> of Moses.’ <n>Brother is a name that a Christian may call another Christian. 


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‘These <i>Jews</i> have told us what you have taught people in other countries. They said that you teach the <i>Jews</i>, “You do not need to obey the <i>Law</i> of Moses any longer. You do not need to <i>circumcise</i> your children. <i>Jews</i> usually do certain things. But now you do not need to do all those things.” 


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Now they will go. And they will wash to make themselves clean in front of God. Go with them. And join with them when they do that. You pay the <i>priest</i> the money for them. Then the men can cut all the hair off their heads. When you do that, everyone will understand about you. People have said that you do not obey the <i>Law</i> of Moses. But they will see you do this. And then, they will know that it is not true. They will know that you yourself obey the <i>Law</i> of Moses. 


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But it is different for the <i>Gentiles</i> who believe in Jesus. We have sent a letter to them. We wrote, “You must not eat meat from animals that people have killed as a gift to their own gods. People tie a <i>rope</i> round the neck of some animals to kill them. You must not eat the meat from those animals because the blood did not run out of them. Also, you must not eat blood. And you must not have sex with someone who is not your husband or wife.” ’


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So Paul went with the 4 men. He joined with them when they washed. They washed to make themselves clean in front of God. Then he went into the Great House of God. He told the <i>priest</i> for how long the 4 men must wait. And after that, each man would kill an animal as a gift for God. <n>These men had promised something to God. It was time now to cut their hair. This showed that they had finished the time. They had finished what they had said to God. The men had to wait for 7 days, before they went to the Great House of God. The <i>priests</i> there killed the animal that each man brought as a gift to God. 


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After 7 days, some <i>Jews</i> from <i>Asia</i> saw Paul in the Great House of God. They said some things against Paul to the crowd. So the people became angry and they caught hold of Paul. 


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‘People of <i>Israel</i>, come and help us!’ the <i>Jews</i> from <i>Asia</i> shouted. ‘This is the man who travels everywhere. He teaches everyone against the people of <i>Israel</i>. He also speaks against the <i>Law</i> of Moses and this Great House of God. Now he has even led some men who are not <i>Jews</i> into this Great House of God. So now this Great House of God is not clean in front of God any longer.’ 


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(The men said this because they had seen Paul with a man in the city. This man was called Trophimus and he came from Ephesus. He was not a <i>Jew</i>. And they thought that Paul had led Trophimus into the Great House of God.) <n>Trophimus was a not a <i>Jew</i> so he could not go into the Great House of God. 


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Many other people in the city heard what had happened. They also began to shout about these things. They all ran together and they held Paul. Then they pulled him out of the Great House of God and they closed the doors immediately. <n>The crowd wanted to kill Paul, but they could not kill him in the Great House of God. That also would have caused the House of God not to be clean in front of God. 


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The angry crowd was trying to kill Paul. Then someone sent a message to the leader of the <i>Roman</i> soldiers. The message was, ‘People are fighting in the streets all over the city.’


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Immediately, the leader of these soldiers went with an officer and some soldiers. And they ran down to the angry crowd. The people saw the leader with his soldiers. So then they stopped hitting Paul.


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The leader of the <i>Roman</i> soldiers went to Paul and held him. Then the leader of the soldiers said, ‘Tie two <i>chains</i> round the arms of this man.’ Then he asked the people in the crowd, ‘Who is this man and what has he done?’


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Some people in the crowd shouted one thing and other people shouted something different. There was so much noise that the leader of the soldiers was not sure about the facts. He did not understand what had happened. So he said to his soldiers, ‘Take this man up into the strong building!’ 


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The soldiers then led Paul as far as the steps of the strong building. Then they carried him because the crowd was so angry. 


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While the soldiers were leading Paul into the strong building, he spoke to their leader. ‘Please can I say something to you?’ he said. <n>The leader of the soldiers answered, ‘I understand now that you speak the <i>Greek</i> language. 


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Are you not the man who came from <i>Egypt</i> some time ago? This man caused the people to fight against the government. He led 4000 of his own soldiers, with arms, out into the <i>desert</i>. They wanted to kill the <i>Roman</i> soldiers.’


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Paul answered, ‘I am a <i>Jew</i> and I was born in Tarsus in Cilicia. I am a man from an important city. Please let me speak to this crowd.’


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The leader of the soldiers said to Paul, ‘Yes, you can speak to the people.’ So Paul stood still on the steps of the strong building. He raised his hands so that the people became quiet. When the people were quiet, he spoke to them. He spoke in the language that the <i>Jews</i> used.


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‘Listen to me, you men who are also <i>Jews</i>. You, our leaders, listen to me! I want to explain to you all that I have done. I have not done anything wrong.’


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The crowd heard Paul speaking to them in the <i>Hebrew</i> language. So they became even quieter. <n>Paul continued to speak. He said, 


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‘I am a <i>Jew</i>. I was born in Tarsus in Cilicia. I lived here in Jerusalem when I was a boy. Gamaliel was my teacher. I learned how to obey the <i>Laws</i> of our <i>ancestors</i>. I tried as carefully as you do to obey God. I was like you who are here today.’ <n>Gamaliel was a <i>Pharisee</i>. He taught boys and young men in the <i>synagogue</i>. 


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‘I caused great trouble to the <i>disciples</i> of Jesus. I caused the death of some of them. And I held men and women and I put them in prison. 


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The most important <i>priest</i> and all the men in the <i>Sanhedrin</i> can tell you that this is true. The men in the <i>Sanhedrin</i> gave me letters for the <i>Jews</i> in Damascus. So I started my journey to Damascus to catch the <i>believers</i> in that city. I wanted to put <i>chains</i> on them and I wanted to bring them back to Jerusalem. The officers here in the city wanted to <i>punish</i> them.’ <n>Paul tells the crowd how he began to believe in Jesus</n>


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‘But as I was travelling along the road, I came near to Damascus. About midday, a bright light from the sky <i>suddenly</i> appeared round me. 


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I fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice that spoke to me. “Saul, Saul, why are you hurting me?” he said.


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“<i>Lord</i>, who are you?” I asked. <n>“I am Jesus from Nazareth”, he said to me. “You are hurting me.” 


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The men with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice. They did not hear what it said to me.


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“<i>Lord</i>, what must I do?” I asked. He said to me, “Now you should get up and you should go into Damascus. When you arrive in the city, someone will come to you. He will tell you what God wants you to do.” 


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The bright light hurt my eyes so that I could not see. So the men who were with me held my hand. Then they led me into Damascus.


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In Damascus, there was a man called Ananias. He knew God and he obeyed God and our <i>Law</i>. All the <i>Jews</i> in Damascus said good things about him. 


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Ananias came to see me. He stood close to me and he said, “See again, Saul my friend!” And immediately I could see again, so I looked at him.


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Then Ananias said to me, “The God that our <i>ancestors</i> obeyed has chosen you. He will tell you what he wants you to do. He wanted you to see God’s special servant, who is completely good. And God wanted you to hear this servant’s own voice. 


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And now you do not need to wait any longer. Stand up and I will <i>baptise</i> you. Believe in Jesus. Ask God. And he will remove from you the bad things that you have done.” ’ <n>The people in the crowd become very angry with Paul</n>


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‘So, after I returned to Jerusalem, I went into the Great House of God. I was praying. I was awake but I had a dream. 


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In the dream, I saw the <i>Lord</i> and he spoke to me. He said, “Hurry. Leave Jerusalem quickly. The people here will not believe what you say to them about me.”


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“<i>Lord</i>”, I said, “The people here know me very well. They know that I went to the <i>synagogues</i>. And I caught people there who believed in you. I also hit them. 


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Stephen told people about you. I myself was there when the people killed him. I told the people that they were doing a good thing. And I held the coats of the people while they killed him.”


text:
The people listened to Paul until he spoke about the <i>Gentiles</i>. But then they began to shout loudly, ‘Take him away! Kill him! It is not right that he should live any longer!’


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They were shouting. They were taking off their coats and they were throwing them about. They also threw dirt from the ground into the air. <n>The <i>Jews</i> did this when someone had said bad things about God. They thought that Paul had done that. 


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The leader of the soldiers said to his men, ‘Take this man into the strong building. Then hit him with a whip. We will then know what he has done. He will tell us why the <i>Jews</i> are shouting so loudly about him.’ <n>The soldiers would hit a person so that he would give them a true answer. A whip was stick with long pieces of strong material fastened at one end. 


text:
So the soldiers tied <i>ropes</i> round Paul and they were ready to hit him. But Paul spoke to the officer who stood close to him. ‘You will not be obeying your <i>laws</i> if you hit me’, he said. ‘I am a <i>citizen</i> of Rome. I have not yet stood in front of a <i>judge</i>. So no <i>judge</i> has said that I have done anything wrong.’


text:
The officer heard what Paul said. So he went to the leader of the soldiers and he said, ‘Do not do what you want to do! That man is a <i>citizen</i> of Rome!’


text:
So the leader of the soldiers went to speak to Paul. ‘Is this true that you are a <i>citizen</i> of Rome?’ he asked Paul. ‘Yes’, he answered.


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The leader of the soldiers said, ‘I paid a lot of money to the government so that I could become a <i>citizen</i> of Rome.’ <n>‘But I am a <i>citizen</i> of Rome because my parents were’, answered Paul.


text:
Immediately, the men who would have asked Paul questions moved away from him. The leader of the soldiers was afraid because he had put <i>chains</i> on Paul’s arms and legs. And he knew that he should not do that to a <i>citizen</i> of Rome. <n>The leader of the soldiers could hold a <i>citizen</i> of Rome in prison. But he should not put <i>chains</i> on the arms and legs of the <i>citizen</i>. 


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The leader of the soldiers wanted to find the reason why the <i>Jews</i> had said bad things about Paul. He wanted to be sure about it. So the next day, he asked his soldiers to remove the <i>chains</i> from Paul. And he sent a message to the most important <i>priest</i> and to all the men of the <i>Sanhedrin</i>. ‘Please come and meet together with me today’, he said. Then he took Paul to them and he caused Paul to stand in front of them.


text:
Paul looked at the men of the <i>Sanhedrin</i> and he spoke to them. ‘My friends, who are also <i>Israelites</i>’, he said. ‘Today I have nothing to be ashamed about before God. I have always lived in a way that makes God happy with me.’ 


text:
The most important <i>priest</i> was called Ananias. He said to the men who were near Paul, ‘Hit that man on his mouth!’ 


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Paul said to Ananias, ‘It is certain that God will hit you. You are like a wall that someone has painted white.’ <n>Paul said this to Ananias, because Ananias was doing one thing. But he was saying something else. Ananias wanted people to think that he was good. White paint would have covered dirt. <n>‘You are sitting there and you are <i>judging</i> me. You are asking if I obey the <i>Law</i> of God. But you yourself are not obeying the <i>Law</i> because you said, “Hit that man!” ’ 


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The men who were standing close to Paul answered him. ‘You are saying bad things to the most important <i>priest</i>.’


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‘My <i>brothers</i>, I did not know that he was the most important <i>priest</i>.’ Paul continued. ‘I know that the <i>prophets</i> wrote, “Do not say bad things about the man who is ruling your people.” ’ <n>Brother is a name that a <i>Jew</i> sometimes called another <i>Jew</i>. 


text:
Then Paul saw that there were some <i>Sadducees</i> and some <i>Pharisees</i> in the group. So he shouted out to all the men of the <i>Sanhedrin</i>, ‘Men, I am a <i>Pharisee</i> and my father was a <i>Pharisee</i>. I believe that dead people will live again. God will cause this to happen. And you are <i>judging</i> me today because I believe that.’ 


text:
As soon as Paul said that, the <i>Pharisees</i> and <i>Sadducees</i> began to argue with each other. 


text:
(The <i>Sadducees</i> do not believe that dead people will live again. They do not believe that there are <i>angels</i> or <i>spirits</i>. But the <i>Pharisees</i> believe in all these things.)


text:
The <i>Sadducees</i> and the <i>Pharisees</i> began to shout louder and louder. There were some teachers of the <i>Law</i> who were in the group of <i>Pharisees</i>. These teachers of the <i>Law</i> stood up. They were very angry about what was happening. ‘We do not believe that this man has done anything wrong’, they said. ‘What he says may be true. A <i>spirit</i> or an <i>angel</i> may have spoken to him.’ 


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The two groups argued more and more strongly. And the leader of the soldiers thought that someone might hurt Paul. They were pulling him in different directions. So he said to his soldiers, ‘Go down into the group and take Paul away from them. Take him back into the strong building.’


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That night, the <i>Lord</i> came and he stood close to Paul. He said to Paul, ‘Continue to be brave! You have told people here in Jerusalem the true things about me. You must do the same thing in Rome.’ <n>The <i>Jews</i> in Jerusalem decide to kill Paul</n>


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The next morning, some <i>Jews</i> talked together in a group about what they should do. And they decided to promise something to God. They would not eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul. 


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Then this group went to the leaders of the <i>priests</i> and the leaders of the <i>Jews</i>. They said, ‘We have decided together to say a serious promise to God. We will not eat anything until after we have killed Paul. 


text:
Now we want you to send this message to the leader of the soldiers. “Please bring Paul down to the men of the <i>Sanhedrin</i>. We want to know more about what he has done.” That is the message. We do not really want to ask him questions. We will wait for Paul and we will be ready to kill him. We will do this before he arrives in front of the <i>Sanhedrin</i>.’


text:
But the son of Paul’s sister heard what the <i>Jews</i> wanted to do. So he went into the strong building and he told Paul about it.


text:
So Paul spoke to one of the officers who came to him. ‘Please take this young man to the leader of the soldiers. He has something to tell him.’ 


text:
Then the officer led the young man to the leader of the soldiers and said to him, ‘Paul, who is in the prison, spoke to me. He asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.’


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The leader of the soldiers held the young man’s hand. Then he led the young man to a room where there were no other people. Then he said to the young man, ‘What do you want to tell me?’


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The young man said, ‘All the <i>Jews</i> with authority have agreed together to ask you to do something. They want you to take Paul down to the men of the <i>Sanhedrin</i>. They will say that they want to ask him more questions. But that is not true. 


text:
So do not listen to them. There are more than 40 men who will be hiding somewhere. They are waiting for Paul. They have said a serious promise to God. And they will not eat or drink anything until they have killed Paul. They are now ready to do this. And they are waiting to hear your answer.’


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The leader of the soldiers said, ‘Do not tell anybody that you told me about this.’ Then he sent the young man away. <n>The leader of the soldiers sends Paul to Felix, the ruler</n>


text:
Then the leader of the soldiers asked two of his officers to come to him. He said to them, ‘I want 200 soldiers to prepare themselves. I want them to go to <i>Caesarea</i>. I also want 70 men to ride on horses. Send with them 200 men. They should each carry a long piece of wood with a sharp point at the end. They should all be ready to leave at 9 o’clock tonight.


text:
‘This letter is to Felix, our very important ruler. I, Claudius Lysias, am sending you this letter. Hello.


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The <i>Jews</i> caught this man and they wanted to kill him. I learned that he is a <i>citizen</i> of Rome. So I went, together with my soldiers, and I saved him from them. 


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The <i>Jews</i> said that he had done some wrong things. I wanted to know more about him, so I took him to stand in front of their <i>Sanhedrin</i>. 


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I found out what he had done. But we could not put him in prison or kill him because of these things. The <i>Jews</i> said that he had not obeyed their own <i>Law</i>. 


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A group of <i>Jews</i> then decided to kill him. Someone told me about this, so I decided to send him to you. I have said to the <i>Jews</i> who say bad things about him, “You say that Paul has done something wrong. So, go and tell Felix the ruler about this.” ’


text:
Then the soldiers did what their leader had asked them to do. They took Paul from the prison. That night, they took him as far as Antipatris. 


text:
The next day, the 200 soldiers who had walked with Paul returned to the strong building in Jerusalem. But the soldiers who rode horses travelled on with Paul. <n>Antipatris was 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Jerusalem. This was a long way for the soldiers to walk in one night. Not many <i>Jews</i> lived between Antipatris and <i>Caesarea</i>. So, after that night, the 200 soldiers could return to Jerusalem. They did not need many soldiers to keep Paul safe after this. 


text:
They took Paul to <i>Caesarea</i> and they gave the letter to Felix, the ruler. Then they gave Paul to him. 


text:
Felix the ruler read the letter and he asked Paul, ‘Which country are you from?’ ‘I am from Cilicia’, Paul answered. 


text:
Felix said, ‘When the <i>Jews</i> arrive, they will tell me everything about you. Then I will also listen to you and I will <i>judge</i> you.’ Felix then said to his soldiers, ‘Put this man in Herod’s house and <i>guard</i> him carefully!’


text:
Five days after that, Ananias, the most important <i>priest</i>, went to <i>Caesarea</i>. Some leaders of the <i>Jews</i> went with him. A man called Tertullus also went with them. Tertullus knew all about the <i>law</i>. All these people went to see Felix the ruler. Felix would <i>judge</i> Paul. So they told Felix what Paul had done. 


text:
Felix asked a soldier to fetch Paul. So Tertullus began first to speak against Paul. He said, ‘Most important ruler, we know that you are a good leader. Because of you, our country has had no wars for a long time. You have also made new <i>laws</i> for us. These are all good for our country. 


text:
Everywhere, the people are happy about what you have done. And all the time they want to thank you very much for these things. 


text:
I do not want you to sit here for a long time. Please be kind to us and listen to me. I will speak for a short time, for all of us.


text:
We know that this man is dangerous to the government. He causes bad problems among people everywhere. He causes <i>Jews</i> in every part of the world to fight each other. He is the leader of a group called the Nazarenes.’ <n>Tertullus wanted Felix to think that Paul was a problem to the <i>Roman</i> authorities. 


text:
‘He also did things in the Great House of God that are against our <i>Law</i>. So we held him. We wanted to <i>judge</i> him by what is in our own <i>Law</i>. 


text:
Then Lysias said to us, “Go to Felix. Some people think that this man has done wrong things. They should speak to Felix about it.” You, Felix, can ask this man some questions. Then you will learn from him what wrong things he has done. And he will tell you about all the things that we are talking about.’ 


text:
The <i>Jews</i> that were with Tertullus then said together, ‘All these things that Tertullus has said are true.’ <n>Paul tells Felix his own story</n>


text:
Then Felix the ruler raised his hands towards Paul. This showed Paul that he should speak. So he said to Felix, ‘I know that you have <i>judged</i> the people in this country for many years. So now I am happy to tell you everything. 


text:
I went to Jerusalem about 12 days ago. You can check that that is true. I went there to thank God because he has helped me with my work. 


text:
And when the <i>Jews</i> saw me, I was not arguing with anybody in the Great House of God. I was not causing problems among the people in the <i>synagogues</i>. Nor did I cause problems in other places in the city. 


text:
I do agree that the next thing about me is true. I do obey the God of our <i>ancestors</i>, but I live in a different way. But these men say that this is not the right way. I also believe in all the <i>Law</i> of Moses. And I believe also in all the words in the books that the <i>prophets</i> wrote. 


text:
I also believe this. God will cause all men, both good and bad, to become alive again after they have died. These men here also believe this. 


text:
I had not been to Jerusalem for several years. And I went there this time to take some money as a gift for my own people. I also wanted to give some animals to the <i>priest</i> to kill. These were gifts to God. 


text:
I was giving these gifts to God in his house when these men found me. I had finished making myself clean in front of God. There was no crowd with me. Nobody was arguing or fighting. 


text:
But there were some <i>Jews</i> there who had come from <i>Asia</i>. They themselves should come here. They thought that I had done wrong things. So they should come and speak to you about it. 


text:
Or these men here should tell you what I have done wrong. Because of them, I stood in front of the men of the <i>Sanhedrin</i>. 


text:
But when I stood there, I did one thing. I shouted, “I believe this. God will cause people to become alive again after they have died.” Because of that, you are <i>judging</i> me today.’


text:
Felix knew all about God’s new way that people should live. He told everyone that the meeting had finished. Then he said to Paul, ‘Soon Lysias, the leader of the soldiers, will arrive here. And then I will decide what to do with you.’ 


text:
Felix said to the officer who was <i>guarding</i> Paul, ‘Put this man back into the prison, but continue to <i>guard</i> him. His friends can come and see him. They can help him and they can bring things for him.’ <n>Felix and Drusilla listen to Paul</n>


text:
After some days, Felix came with Drusilla, his <i>Jewish</i> wife. He asked his soldiers to bring Paul to them. Paul talked to them. And they listened to everything that he said. Paul spoke about how people believed in Jesus Christ. 


text:
Paul continued to speak. He talked about how people could be right with God. He also talked about people who did not stop themselves doing wrong things. And, he said, ‘One day, God will <i>judge</i> all the good and bad things that people have done.’ While Paul talked about these things, Felix became afraid. He said to Paul, ‘You can leave us now. I will perhaps have some more time to listen to you. Then I will ask you to come here again.’ 


text:
At the same time, Felix also hoped that Paul would give him some money. That was the reason that he met with Paul again. They often talked together. <n>Some rulers wanted people in prison to give them money. Then the rulers would let them go. If the rulers did this, they would not be obeying the <i>law</i>. So Felix often listened to Paul. 


text:
This happened for two years. Then Porcius Festus became the ruler and Felix did not rule any longer. Felix wanted the <i>Jews</i> to say, ‘Felix was a good ruler.’ So he left Paul in the prison.


text:
In Jerusalem, the leaders of the <i>priests</i> and the leaders of the <i>Jews</i> told him what Paul had done. 


text:
They said to Festus, ‘Please hear us. We really want you to bring Paul to Jerusalem. Then we would be very happy.’ They wanted to kill Paul while he was travelling to Jerusalem. 


text:
‘Paul will remain in prison in <i>Caesarea</i>’, Festus answered. ‘I myself will return there soon. 


text:
Your leaders should go to <i>Caesarea</i> with me. Then if this man has done anything wrong, they can say that to him in front of me.’


text:
Festus stayed for another 8 or 10 days with the leaders of the <i>priests</i> and the leaders of the <i>Jews</i>. Then he returned to <i>Caesarea</i>. On the next day, he sat down in the large room to <i>judge</i> people. He said to his soldiers, ‘Bring Paul in here!’ 


text:
When Paul arrived in the room, all the <i>Jews</i> from Jerusalem stood close to him. And they began to speak against Paul. They said that he had done very many bad things. But they could not show Festus that this was true.


text:
Then Paul spoke about himself. ‘I have obeyed the <i>Law</i> of the <i>Jews</i>’, he said. ‘I have not caused trouble in the Great House of God and I have not said anything bad about <i>Caesar</i>.’


text:
Festus wanted the <i>Jews</i> to say, ‘Festus is a good ruler.’ So he asked Paul, ‘The <i>Jews</i> here say that you have done bad things. Would you be happy to go to Jerusalem? I can decide there if this is true.’


text:
‘I am in the place where the officers of <i>Caesar judge</i> people’, Paul answered. ‘This is the correct place to decide if these things about me are true. I have never done any wrong thing against the <i>Jews</i>. And you yourself know that. 


text:
If I have not obeyed the <i>Roman law</i>, then I do not refuse to die. Have I done something bad that you can kill me for? If that is true, then I also agree to it. I should die. But the <i>Jews</i> are not speaking true words against me. You should not give me to them. So I ask you to send me to <i>Caesar</i>. I want him to listen to our words.’


text:
Then Festus talked to his friends in the government about what Paul had said. And after that, Festus answered Paul. ‘You have asked to go and talk to <i>Caesar</i> about yourself’, he said. ‘And it is right for you to go.’ <n>King Agrippa and Bernice visit Festus</n>


text:
Several weeks after this, King Agrippa and Bernice came to <i>Caesarea</i> to visit Festus. They wanted to give him a welcome now that he had become the ruler. <n>This king was Agrippa the second. He was the son of Agrippa the first. He ruled over a part of Galilee, but he did have some authority over the <i>Jews</i>. He could decide who would be their most important <i>priest</i>. Bernice was the oldest daughter of Agrippa the first and she was the younger sister of Agrippa the second. 


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After they had been in <i>Caesarea</i> for many days, Festus explained to Agrippa the problem about Paul. Festus said, ‘There is a man here that Felix left in prison. 


text:
When I went to Jerusalem, the <i>Jewish</i> leaders and the leaders of their <i>priests</i> talked to me about him. “That man”, they said, “has done some very bad things and you should kill him.”


text:
So I said to them, “<i>Roman</i> rulers do not usually give a man from prison to other people. Some of you are saying that this man has done wrong things. So he must first stand in front of the people who are speaking against him. Then he can answer them himself.” 


text:
So the <i>Jewish</i> leaders and the leaders of their <i>priests</i> came here. I did not wait. On the next day I sat in the room to <i>judge</i> people. And I asked my soldiers to bring this man to me. 


text:
The men who had said bad things about him stood up. But they did not say what I had thought. They did not talk about any very bad things that he had done. 


text:
They were arguing with this man about what they believe about God. They were also arguing about a man called Jesus. They said that Jesus was dead. But Paul says that he is alive. 


text:
I could not decide how I could learn more about all these things. So I asked Paul, “Can I take you to Jerusalem? There you can answer these men before me. You can explain what they are saying against you.” 


text:
But Paul did not want to go to Jerusalem. He said to me, “Please keep me here. I want the soldiers to continue to <i>guard</i> me. I want to go to <i>Caesar</i>. He can decide what to do with me.” So I said to my soldiers, “<i>Guard</i> Paul until I send him to <i>Caesar</i>!” ’


text:
Agrippa said to Festus, ‘I would like to hear this man myself.’ <n>‘You will hear him tomorrow’, Festus answered.


text:
The next day, Agrippa and Bernice came to the large room where Festus talked to people. They wore beautiful clothes and they had many servants with them. <i>Roman</i> officers and the important men in the city also went into the room with them. Festus said to his soldiers, ‘Bring Paul here to us!’ So they brought Paul into the room. 


text:
Festus said, ‘King Agrippa, and everyone here now, listen. You see the man who is standing in front of you. Many <i>Jews</i> here have spoken to me about him. Also the <i>Jews</i> who are in Jerusalem have told me about him. They shout loudly, “This man has done wrong things. This man should not continue to live!” 


text:
But I could not find a reason to kill him. He has not done anything against our <i>law</i>. He himself has asked to speak to <i>Caesar</i>. So I have decided to send him to <i>Caesar</i>. 


text:
But I do not know what to write to <i>Caesar</i> about him. So I have brought him here to stand in front of you. King Agrippa, it is really for this reason that I have brought him here. Listen to what Paul says. Then I can write something about him for <i>Caesar</i>. 


text:
I can send a person from the prison to <i>Caesar</i>. But I must tell him what wrong things that person has done.’


text:
‘King Agrippa, please listen to me’, he said. ‘I am happy because I can speak to you today. The <i>Jews</i> say that I have done some wrong things. So I will explain to you all about the things that they say against me. 


text:
I can do this because you know all about the <i>Jews</i>. You know how we live. You also know very well what we argue about with each other. So please be patient and listen to me.


text:
I have lived among the <i>Jews</i> and at Jerusalem since I was young. So all the <i>Jews</i> know how I have lived.


text:
They have known me for a long time. And so they know that I was a <i>Pharisee</i>. I lived as a <i>Pharisee</i>. I was very careful to obey God’s <i>Law</i>, in the same way that they do. They could tell you that this is true. They could, if they wanted to tell you. 


text:
Now I stand here for men to <i>judge</i> me. I do this because I believe in God’s promise to our <i>ancestors</i>. 


text:
He promised it to the 12 families of <i>Israel</i>. They speak to God by day and by night. And they say that he is very powerful and important. And so they hope to receive what he promised. I also hope to receive it. Powerful king, this is the reason that the <i>Jews</i> themselves say all these things about me. 


text:
God causes people to become alive again after they have died. You who hear me think that this is not possible. But I do not see why you should think that.


text:
So that is what I did in Jerusalem. The leaders of the <i>priests</i> gave me authority to put many of God’s people in prison. And I agreed with our leaders when they said, “These people must die.” 


text:
Often, I said that my men should <i>punish</i> these people in the <i>synagogues</i>. I tried to cause them to say bad things about God. Because I was very angry with them, I travelled to other cities in other countries. Then I could also hurt those who believed in Jesus there.’ <n>Paul tells Agrippa and Bernice about when he first believed in Jesus</n>


text:
‘For that reason, I was travelling to Damascus. The leaders of the <i>priests</i> had given me a letter. They had written, “There are people in Damascus who believe in Jesus. And we have given Paul authority to catch them.” 


text:
Powerful king, I was travelling along the road at midday. And I saw a light that was much brighter than the light from the sun. This very bright light shone all round me and round all the men who were with me. 


text:
All of us fell down to the ground. I heard a voice that spoke to me in the Hebrew language. “Saul, Saul, you are hurting me”, he said. “You are like an ox that kicks against a sharp stick. And so you are hurting yourself.” ’ <n>Hebrew was the language of the <i>Jews</i>. <n>Jesus used a picture to show Saul what was happening. An ox is a large animal like a cow. A farmer made his ox pull a <i>cart</i> for him. He used a sharp stick. It made the ox walk where he wanted it to go. The sharp stick hurt the ox if it went the wrong way. The stick also hurt the ox if it tried to kick it. 


text:
Now you should get up. Stand on your feet. I have appeared to you because I have chosen you. I want you to work for me. You have seen me today. I want you to tell other people about this. After that, I will show you other things about me that you should tell people. 


text:
I will send you to speak to <i>Jews</i> and to those who are not <i>Jews</i>. Some of them will want to hurt you. But I will save you from them. 


text:
You will help them to understand who I am. They are like people who live in the dark. And so they cannot see. Teach them about me. Then they will be like people who live in the light. Now they are in <i>Satan</i>’s <i>kingdom</i> and he has power over them. Take them out and put them in God’s <i>kingdom</i>. Because they believe in me, I will <i>forgive</i> them. I will <i>forgive</i> them for all the wrong things that they have done. I will give them a place among all the people that God has chosen.” ’ <n>Paul tells Agrippa and Bernice about his work for God</n>


text:
First, I taught the people in Damascus and in Jerusalem what they should do. I said to them, “You have done wrong things. You must tell God that you are sorry. And then you must obey God. You must show God that you are obeying him.” I also taught this to both <i>Jews</i> and <i>Gentiles</i> in many different countries. 


text:
This is the reason that the <i>Jews</i> held me in the Great House of God. This is also the reason that they wanted to kill me. 


text:
But God has helped me every day. So now I can stand here. I can tell you what is true. I can speak to people who are very important. And I can also speak to people who are not important. Moses and God’s other <i>prophets</i> told us that all these things would happen. And I am telling you these same things. 


text:
People would kill the <i>Christ</i> that God chose. The <i>Christ</i> would then first become alive again after death. In that way, he would show everyone that God saves <i>Jews</i> and <i>Gentiles</i> from death. That is what the <i>prophets</i> and Moses said.’


text:
While Paul was telling Agrippa all these things, Festus shouted at Paul, ‘Your mind is confused. You have learned many things. But all these things have caused your mind to be confused.’


text:
‘Important ruler, my mind is not confused’, said Paul. ‘Everything that I have said is true. And I am completely clear in my mind. 


text:
King Agrippa, I am not afraid to speak to you. I am sure that you already know about these things. I am sure that you have already heard everything. Nobody has hidden these things. 


text:
Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘What do you think? Can you cause me to become a Christian in this short time?’


text:
‘It is not important if it takes a long time or a short time’, Paul answered. ‘I pray to God about you and about everyone who is listening to me today. I pray that you will all become like me. But I would not want you to wear these same <i>chains</i>!’


text:
After they left the room, they said to each other, ‘This man has not done anything wrong. We should not kill him, or put him in prison.’


text:
Agrippa said to Festus, ‘We could let this man leave the prison. But he has asked to go to <i>Caesar</i>. So we cannot let him leave the prison.’


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Festus decided that we should sail to Italy. So he <i>ordered</i> a soldier called Julius to <i>guard</i> Paul. He also gave Julius authority over some other men who had been in the prison. Julius was an officer in the <i>Roman</i> army. He ruled a large group of soldiers that belonged to <i>Caesar</i>. <n>Luke was with Paul on this journey. 


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We went on to a boat that had come from Adramyttium. This ship was ready to leave. It would sail to the towns on the coast of <i>Asia</i>. We all sailed on this ship and Aristarchus also sailed with us. He was a man from Macedonia who had lived in Thessalonica.


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The next day we arrived at Sidon. Julius was kind to Paul. He said, ‘Paul, you can go and visit your friends here. They can give you anything that you need.’ 


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Then we all sailed again from there. But the wind was blowing against the front of our ship. So we sailed round the island called Cyprus. We stayed on the side of the island where the wind was not strong. 


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When we were near to Cilicia and Pamphylia, we then sailed straight across the sea. We arrived at Myra, in the part of the country called Lycia. 


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The <i>Roman</i> officer found another ship there that had sailed from Alexandria. It would sail to Italy. So the officer took us off one ship and he put us on the other ship. 


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The ship sailed slowly for several days. It was difficult to sail. But in the end we arrived near the town called Cnidus. Because of the strong wind, we could not continue to sail in that direction. So we sailed down the side of the island called Crete. And the wind there was not strong. We passed the point of land called Salmone. 


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It was difficult to sail, so we stayed close to the coast. Then we came to another place called ‘Safe Port’. Ships could stop here and be safe. This port was not far from the town called Lasea.


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We remained there for many days. So then it had become dangerous to continue the journey. By then it was already after the Day of Atonement. <n>If all this happened in the year <i>AD</i> 59, the Day of Atonement was on 5 October that year. It was dangerous to go by boat after the beginning of October. The winds were very strong. The Day of Atonement was a special day when the <i>Jews</i> asked God to <i>forgive</i> them. <n>So Paul spoke to the army officer and to the men who sailed the boat. 


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‘I understand that now our journey will be dangerous. The ship may break in pieces and you will lose the things in it. And all the people may also die in the water.’ 


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But the army officer did not believe what Paul said. Instead, he believed what the owner of the ship and the captain said. <n>The owner was the man who bought the ship. The captain had authority on the ship to sail it and to <i>order</i> the sailors. 


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This port was not a good place for a ship to remain during the winter. Most of the men on the ship wanted to continue the journey. They wanted to sail as far as Phoenix, if they could get there. Phoenix was a better port to stay in for the winter. Phoenix was in Crete and it was open to the sea both to the southwest and to the northwest. <n>Southwest means in a direction between south and west. Northwest means in a direction between north and west. <n>The ship is in a storm</n>


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The wind began to blow from the south, but it was not strong. So the men thought, ‘We can do what we wanted to do. We can sail to Phoenix.’ So they pulled up the anchor. Then they sailed as close as they could to the coast. They went along the coast of Crete. <n>An anchor is a heavy, metal weight. People used it to stop a ship moving in the water. 


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But soon a very strong wind began to blow. This wind was from the northeast (between north and east) and it blew down strongly across the island. 


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The wind blew against the ship. It was not possible for the men to sail the ship straight into the wind. So they did not try any longer. They let the wind blow the ship along. 


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We passed the south end of a small island called Cauda. Here we found a place where the strong wind did not blow as much. It was difficult, but we kept the ship’s little boat safe. 


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They lifted it out of the water. Then they put it on the ship and they tied it there with <i>ropes</i>. Then they tied some more <i>ropes</i> under and round the ship so that it would not break. The men were afraid of what could happen. There were some places along the coast of Libya where the water was not very deep. The ship might sail on to one of these places and then it might break. So they took the ship’s <i>sails</i> down. And they let the wind blow the ship along. 


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The big strong storm continued. The ship was carrying many things. So the next day, the men threw some of these things off the ship into the sea. 


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The day after that, the men themselves threw some of the <i>sails</i> and <i>ropes</i> off the ship into the sea. 


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For many days, we could not see the sun or the stars. The strong wind continued to blow. So then we thought, ‘It is not possible for us to remain alive.’ <n>At that time, sailors looked at the sun and the stars. Then they knew where they were. 


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The men had not eaten any food for a long time. Then Paul stood in front of them. ‘Men, you should have listened to me!’ he said. ‘You should not have sailed from Crete. If we had not sailed, we would not have lost all these things from the ship. 


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Now I ask you, please be brave. The storm will completely destroy the ship, but not one of you will die. 


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I know this because last night one of God’s <i>angels</i> came to me. He came from my God who is very great and powerful. 


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The <i>angel</i> said, “Paul, do not be afraid. You will stand in front of <i>Caesar</i>. God will be kind to you because he is good. So none of the men in the ship with you will die.” 


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And so I say to you, “Men, be brave!” I believe in God. So everything will happen in the way that the <i>angel</i> told me. 


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The storm had continued for 14 days and nights. The strong wind was blowing the ship across the Mediterranean Sea. About midnight, the sailors thought that we were close to the land. 


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So they tied a piece of metal to a thin <i>rope</i>. They held one end and they let the metal drop into the sea. They saw from the <i>rope</i> that the water was nearly 40 metres (120 feet) deep. A short time later they did this again. This time it was only 30 metres (90 feet) deep. 


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The sailors were afraid that the ship would hit some rocks. So from the back of the ship, they put 4 anchors on <i>ropes</i> into the sea. <n>An anchor is a heavy, metal weight that stops a ship moving in the water. They did this to keep the ship in one place. <n>After that, they wanted the morning to come soon. 


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Then the sailors tried to leave the ship. They put the little boat into the sea. ‘We are going to the front of the ship’, they said. ‘We will put some more <i>anchors</i> on <i>ropes</i> down into the sea.’ But that was not true. 


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Paul said to the army officer and soldiers, ‘These sailors must stay on the ship. If they do not stay, you will not be safe.’ 


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So the soldiers cut the <i>ropes</i> that held the small boat to the ship. The little boat fell into the water and the wind blew it away without the sailors.


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Now it was almost morning and Paul said to everyone, ‘Please come and eat some food. You have now waited for 14 days for the storm to stop. And you have not eaten anything during all that time. 


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You must eat some food. Then you will be strong enough to get to the shore. You will be safe. You will not even lose one hair from your head.’ 


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After Paul said this, he took some bread. He prayed in front of them all and he thanked God for the bread. Then he broke the bread into small pieces and he began to eat it. 


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After everyone had eaten enough, the sailors threw the wheat into the sea. Then the ship was not so heavy. <n>Wheat is a plant. People use wheat to make bread. But this wheat was not food for the sailors. The ship was carrying the wheat to Rome. <n>The sea completely destroys the ship</n>


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In the morning, the ship was close to some land. But the sailors did not know which island it was. But they saw a place on the shore with some sand on it. They wanted to put the ship on the sand. 


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So the sailors cut all the <i>ropes</i> with anchors on them. The anchors went down through the water to the ground. They also removed the <i>ropes</i> from the oars. Then they raised the <i>sail</i> at the front of the ship so that the wind would blow the ship along. Then the ship sailed straight towards the shore. <n>An anchor is a heavy, metal weight that stops a ship moving. Oars were long pieces of wood. The sailors used them to make the boat go where they wanted. 


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But there was a place where the water was not very deep. The ship sailed on to the sand and it stayed there. The front of the ship stayed on the sand and it could not move. The sea was very strong and it broke the back of the ship.


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The soldiers wanted to kill the men who had been in the prison. They did not want these men to swim to the land and then to run away. 


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But the army officer wanted to save Paul. So he <i>ordered</i> the soldiers not to kill the men. Instead he said, ‘Everyone who can swim, jump into the water first. Then swim to the shore. 


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You men, who cannot swim, follow them. Hold on to pieces of wood, or pieces of the ship.’ This was the way that all of us arrived safely on the shore.


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Then we were on the shore and we were all safe. The people there told us that the island was called Malta. 


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The people who lived on the island were very kind to us. Rain was falling and the weather was now cold. So the people who lived on the island lit a fire for us. And they welcomed us to their island. 


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Paul picked up some sticks to put on the fire. A dangerous snake came out from among the sticks. It had felt the heat from the fire. The snake bit Paul’s hand and it remained fixed to his hand. 


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The people who lived on the island saw the snake. It was hanging from Paul’s hand. So they said to each other, ‘We know now that this man killed someone. He did not die in the sea but it is not right for him to live. The snake will kill him.’ 


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The people watched Paul carefully. They waited for his hand to become bigger. They thought that perhaps he would die immediately. They waited for a long time. But they did not see anything bad happen to Paul. So then they thought about this in a different way. They said, ‘This man is a god.’


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The leader of the people who lived on the island was called Publius. There were some of his fields not far from the shore. Publius said hello to us and he was kind to us. We stayed in his house for three days. 


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Publius’s father was lying in bed because he was ill. He was sick and his body was hot. Paul went into his room and prayed for him. He put his hands on the head of Publius’s father and he caused him to become well again. 


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After Paul did this, all the other sick people on the island came to him. And he caused them to become well again. 


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The people gave us many gifts. Later, they put everything that we needed on another ship for us. And then we left the island.


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We had remained on Malta for three months. We then left the island on another ship. This ship was called ‘The Twin Gods’ and it had come from Alexandria. It had stayed in Malta during the winter. <n>The ‘Twin Gods’ were two <i>Greek</i> gods called Castor and Pollux. Twins are two children with the same mother who are born at about the same time. The people from Greece thought that these gods were very powerful. 


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We arrived at the port of the city called Syracuse. We stayed there for three days. <n>Syracuse was a port on the south east coast of the island called Sicily. 


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From Syracuse we sailed on. And we arrived at the city called Rhegium. The next day, the wind began to blow from the south. Two days after that, we arrived at the town called Puteoli. This was another port. <n>Puteoli was a port near Naples in Italy. People who wanted to go to Rome sailed here on ships. 


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We found some people there who believed in Jesus. They asked us to stay with them for one week. After this we travelled on to Rome. 


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The <i>believers</i> in Rome had heard about us. So they came as far as the market of Appius and the Three Hotels to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God for them. Paul was very happy that they had come to meet him. <n>The market of Appius was 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Rome. The Three Hotels was 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Rome. 


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When we arrived in Rome, the authorities said to Paul, ‘You can live by yourself in your own house. But a soldier will <i>guard</i> you so that you cannot run away.’


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After three days, Paul asked the leaders of the <i>Jews</i> in Rome to meet with him. When they met together, Paul said to them, ‘Friends, you are <i>Jews</i> like I am. I want you to know that I have never done anything bad to our people. Our <i>ancestors</i> told us many things about how we should live. I always obeyed these rules. But the <i>Jews</i> put me in the prison in Jerusalem and then they gave me to the <i>Roman</i> rulers. 


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The <i>Roman</i> rulers asked me questions about what I had done. They found that I had not done anything wrong. There was no reason for which they could say, “He must die.” So they did not want to keep me any longer. 


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But the <i>Jews</i> did not agree with the <i>Roman</i> rulers. So then I asked the <i>Roman</i> rulers if I could speak to <i>Caesar</i>. I had nothing bad to say about my own people. 


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Because of all that happened, I wanted to talk with you. I believe in the same promise that all the <i>Jews</i> believe in. And that is why I am in prison here.’


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The leaders of the <i>Jews</i> in Rome said, ‘We have not received any letters about you from Judea. No <i>Jews</i> have come here from Judea and told us news. And no <i>Jews</i> have said anything bad about you. 


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We do know that people everywhere say bad things about your group. So we would like you to tell us your ideas.’


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So the <i>Jews</i> decided on a day on which they would meet again with Paul. And on that day, a large number of <i>Jews</i> arrived. They came to the house where Paul was staying. Paul talked to them about the <i>Kingdom</i> of God. He spoke from the morning until night and he explained his message to them. He spoke about everything written in the <i>Law</i> of Moses and the books of the <i>prophets</i>. And he showed the <i>Jews</i> that his message about Jesus was true. 


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Some of them believed that his message was true. But other <i>Jews</i> who were there would not believe him. 


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At the end of the day, all the <i>Jews</i> left his house. But they did not agree with each other about Paul’s words. Before they left the house, Paul had said, ‘The <i>Holy Spirit</i> spoke correctly by the <i>prophet</i> Isaiah. He spoke to your <i>ancestors</i>. The <i>Holy Spirit</i> said to Isaiah,


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“Go and say to this people, <n>‘You will listen and listen. But you will never understand anything. <n>You will look and look. But you will never see anything.’


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This people do not want to understand anything with their minds. <n>They still do not want to listen to anybody. <n>If they wanted to look, they could see. <n>If they wanted to listen, they could hear. <n>Then they would also understand. <n>And then they would obey me. <n>And I would <i>forgive</i> them and I would make them well.” ’


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Paul then said, ‘I want you to know that God has sent his message about Jesus to the <i>Gentiles</i>. And they will listen!’ 


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After Paul had said these things, the <i>Jews</i> left. They were arguing with each other. <n>Many Bibles leave out Acts 28:29. 


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Paul lived for two years in Rome in his own house. He paid money to live in the house. Many people came to visit him and he was kind to them all. 


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He taught people about the <i>Kingdom</i> of God and about the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. Paul spoke his message strongly. He could speak to everyone who visited him. Nobody tried to stop him.


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This letter is from James, who is a servant of God and of the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. I say ‘hello’ to the 12 <i>tribes</i> of the <i>Jews</i>, who live in many parts of the world.


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You are continuing to fight these troubles. And you know that your <i>faith</i> will become stronger then. 


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Continue to be strong for the fight. So you will become completely <i>mature</i> and you will not need anything. 


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If any of you need <i>wisdom</i>, ask God for it. He is ready to give to everyone. And he never says that it is wrong to ask. God will give that <i>wisdom</i> to you. 


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But when you ask, you must believe. You must believe that God will give it to you. Some people are not sure whether God will give it to them. That kind of person is like the water that is in the sea. The wind blows it this way and that way. 


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A person who is like that never knows what to do. He is confused. He does not know what to think. He should not think that he will get anything from the <i>Lord</i>. <n>James is the brother of Jesus, but he describes himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. Christians should be servants too. In those days, servants were not free. They were like their master’s things. They had to do everything that their master wanted. Some masters were bad and some were good. Christians are servants of God. And he is the best master that anyone could have. <n>In the Greek language, the words in verse 1 mean ‘the 12 <i>tribes</i> who are not in their own country’. 


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And the rich Christian should be happy that God will make him small. He should remember that he will die like a wild flower. 


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The sun rises and hot winds dry the wild flowers. They fall and die. And they are no longer beautiful. In the same way, while the rich man is busy, he will die like a wild flower.


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Some people do not stop believing even when troubles happen. God will <i>bless</i> a person who is like that. After he has won the fight, God will give a gift to him. That is the gift that God promised. This gift is <i>eternal life</i>. God will give this gift to all people who love him. 


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Trouble will happen to <i>tempt</i> us. But do not say that God is causing it to <i>tempt</i> you. Nothing bad can <i>tempt</i> God and God does not <i>tempt</i> anyone. 


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It is our own thoughts that <i>tempt</i> us sometimes. And then we want to do wrong things. We want what is bad. And that causes us to do wrong things. 


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Sometimes we do the bad things that we wanted to do. When we do that, we <i>sin</i>. In the end, the result of <i>sin</i> is death.


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Every good gift and every <i>perfect</i> gift comes to us from God. He is the best Father. He is like a strong light that sends away all shadows. He does not change. 


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He chose to make us his children. He made us his children by his true word. The result is that we will be like the first part of his <i>harvest</i>. <n>It is not always easy to be a Christian. It is not easy to make God happy in all the things that we do. Life is sometimes very difficult. Sometimes we are sick or we feel pain. Or trouble happens to us. Sometimes other people hurt us because we are Christians. God does not cause these troubles to happen to us. But God loves us very much. He can use these troubles to help us to grow. Even pain can cause us to be more like God. If we ask him for help, he will hear us. He will help us to understand more. Sometimes life is difficult. But then we must not think that God has made it difficult. We must <i>trust</i> him to use difficult things. He can use them to make us stronger. <n>Verse 18 Christians are like God’s <i>harvest</i>. 


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Understand this, my <i>dear</i> Christian brothers. We must all be careful to listen. We should not be too quick to speak. We should not get angry easily. 


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So, stop doing and stop saying <i>evil</i> things. God has put his word in your minds, and it can save your <i>souls</i>. So, believe what it says.


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But do not only listen to the word of God. Do what it says too. If you do not, you will be making a mistake. 


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But the person who continues to look into the good <i>law</i> of God will be free. That is, if he obeys it. That person will not forget what he hears. He will do what it says. And so God will <i>bless</i> that person in what he does.


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We may want to do the things that make God happy. We may think that we are doing those things. But if we speak bad words, we are wrong. We are not making God happy. And what we think is not helping us. 


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Things that really make God our Father happy are good. For example, we should help children that have no parents. We should help women whose husbands have died. And we must keep away from all that is wrong in the world. <n>All God’s servants must hear and remember his words. We must do what he wants. And we must obey his words. If we do those things, we will be happy. This is how we work for God. We may say that we are his servants. But we might not do what he wants. And so we are not saying what is true. To do good things cannot buy us a place that is near to God. We must not think that it can. But we should do the good things that God wants us to do. That will show our love for God. And so we will be good servants, and we will be God’s good children. 


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My Christian brothers, you <i>trust</i> the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ, who is full of <i>glory</i>. So, do not think that one person is more valuable than another person. 


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Two men may come into the place where you have your meetings. One of them is wearing good clothes and he has gold rings. The other man is poor, and he is wearing old clothes. 


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You look at the man who is wearing good clothes. You say to him, ‘Please sit here in a good place.’ But you say to the poor man, ‘Stand there’, or ‘Sit at my feet.’ 


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If you do that, you are not doing the right thing. You are thinking that each of them has a different value. You must not think that one of them is better than the other man. This is wrong and your thoughts are not correct.


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My <i>dear</i> Christian brothers, listen to me. This is what God has done. He has chosen those that people of this world call poor. But those poor people believe in God, so he calls them rich. He will give to them a place in his <i>kingdom</i>. God has promised this to those who love him. 


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But you have done wrong things to the poor man. And so, you have caused him to feel ashamed. It is the rich people who cause trouble to happen to you. They ask <i>judges</i> to say without a good reason that you have done wrong things. 


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It is rich men who speak badly about the good name (Christ). But you are called his people (Christians). <n>Every Christian is important to God. Each Christian is valuable to him. Our money and good clothes are not important. God has chosen poor people to show us that his love is better than money or good clothes. We should be good to poor people and to rich people. God wants us to be good to people who are from every family and from every country. We may have more money than other people have. But that does not make us better than they are. God wants us to love other people. And he wants us to love him more than we love anyone else. 


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But God, who is king, has said in his word, ‘Love other people as you love yourself.’ If you really do that, you do well. 


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But perhaps you think that one man is better than another man. If you think that, you are <i>sinning</i>. God’s <i>law</i> says that you are wrong. 


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That is because we must obey all of God’s rules. We must obey every rule that the <i>law</i> tells us. If we fail to obey one small rule, we have failed to obey the whole <i>law</i>. 


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For example, God has said in his <i>law</i>, ‘You must not have sex with another person who is not your husband or your wife.’ But he has also said, ‘Do not kill another person.’ Perhaps you do not have wrong sex but you do murder. If you do that, you have not obeyed the <i>law</i> of God. 


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Speak as those whom God will <i>judge</i> by his <i>law</i>. And remember that, whatever you are doing. This <i>law</i> makes us free. By this <i>law</i>, God will say soon if our lives are good or bad. 


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God will not be kind to those who have not been kind. He will be kind to those who have been kind. And that is better than when he says, ‘You are wrong.’


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My Christian brothers, you say that you believe in God. But you show this when you do good things. But some people among you may not do any good things. What those people say is not worth anything. If your <i>faith</i> is like that, it cannot save you. 


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If a Christian brother or sister does not have enough clothes or enough food, he or she needs help. 


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It does not help them if you say to them, ‘Go and be well. Keep yourself warm and eat well.’ But you do not give to them what they need. That does not help them at all. 


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Perhaps you say that you believe. But you do not do good things. That is not worth anything. Christians must do good things. In that way, they show that they really believe in God.


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Someone will say, ‘You believe in God but I help people.’ Show me that you believe in God. You cannot show me that if you are not doing any good things. But I will show you that I believe in God. I will show it to you when I help people. 


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You believe that there is one God. Good! The <i>demons</i> believe that, and it makes them very afraid. 


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You silly person, you should not need me to show you these facts. You may say that you believe. But, if you do not do good things, that is not worth anything. 


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Think about our father Abraham, who offered his son Isaac on an <i>altar</i>. God called him a good man because he did that. 


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Abraham did what God asked him to do. So you can see that he believed God. He obeyed God. So he showed that he really believed in God. 


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The <i>Scriptures</i> said that this would happen. They say, ‘Abraham believed God, so God called him a good man.’ God also called him his friend. 


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A person may say that he believes in God. But God does not call a person good only because he says that. God calls a person good when that person does good things too.


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It was the same with Rahab. She was a person that men paid to have sex with her. But some <i>Jews</i> came to her. And then she did something that made God happy. They were enemies of her people and they had come to look at her city. To make God happy, she let them stay in her house. She kept them safe. Then she sent them back by a different way. So, because she did that, God called her good. 


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The body with no <i>spirit</i> is dead. In the same way, you may say that you believe in God. But perhaps you do not do good things. So, what you say is not worth anything. <n>If we do only one small wrong thing, God will be angry with us. Any wrong thing that we do makes God sad. He will <i>punish</i> us one day if we do bad things to other people. If we are kind to other people, God will be kind to us. But we must obey all his rules. We must do the things that make God happy. That is how we show our love to God. Words mean nothing if we do not do any good things. We must show that we are God’s people. We must help other people. And we must do the things that make them happy. We show that we are God’s people in that way. We should <i>trust</i> God as Abraham and Rahab <i>trusted</i> him. Rahab was a bad woman. But God <i>forgave</i> the bad things that she had done. She <i>trusted</i> God and he saved her whole family. (See Joshua 2:1-20; 6:22-23; James 2:25.) She became one of God’s people, and she became an <i>ancestor</i> of his kings (Matthew 1:5, 6). She even became an <i>ancestor</i> of Jesus Christ. 


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My Christian brothers, not many of you should be teachers. God will <i>judge</i> everybody. But at that time, he will demand more from teachers than he will demand from other people. 


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That is because we all make many mistakes. Perhaps one person never says anything that is wrong. That person is good in all that he does. He can cause his whole body to do what is right. 


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For example, think about what we do with a horse. We can cause it to obey us. We put a bit of iron in its mouth. After we have done that, we can turn it. And then we can cause its whole body to go where we want it to go. 


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Think about ships that sail on the sea. They are large, and strong winds push them over the water. But we fix a very small piece of wood under the back of the ship. With this piece of wood, a man can cause the ship to turn anywhere that he wants it to go. 


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The <i>tongue</i> is like that too. It is a very small part of the body but it talks about big things. A very small fire can cause a big forest to burn. 


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And the <i>tongue</i> is like a fire. It is like a whole world of <i>evil</i> things. The <i>tongue</i> is a small part of the body but it makes the whole person bad. It destroys all of his life. That fire is the fire that comes from <i>hell</i>. And that is what makes the <i>tongue</i> so dangerous.


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Remember this: People can cause all kinds of animals, birds, snakes and fishes to do what they want them to do. 


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But no person can rule his <i>tongue</i>. No person can stop it from saying bad things. It is like a bad poison and it can cause death. 


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We use the <i>tongue</i> to <i>praise</i> our <i>Lord</i> and Father. We also use it to speak bad things against people. But God made people to be like himself. 


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So we use the same mouth to <i>praise</i> and to speak bad things. My Christian brothers, we should not do this. 


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My Christian brothers, a <i>fig</i> tree cannot make <i>olives</i>. A plant that makes <i>grapes</i> cannot also make <i>figs</i>. And a well cannot have salt water and have sweet water too. In the same way, we should not use the <i>tongue</i> to <i>praise</i> God, and then to speak bad things. <n>If we choose to say only one wrong word, it can cause us to go away from God. One small wrong word can turn our minds away from God’s way. Then we do or say more wrong things. This could take us a long way from God. We should let God help us with our minds and our words all the time. <n>Teachers must be careful to teach God’s word correctly. They must teach all the words of the Bible. They must ask God to help them. And he will help them to understand the Bible. God wants teachers to teach by what they do. They should not only say the words. Teachers must show other Christians what they should do. The teachers should show them because the teachers do the right things themselves. <n>We must all be careful to speak only good words. The <i>devil</i> wants us to say bad things. We must not let him cause us to do that. God’s people must not say things that are not true. And they should not say things that are not kind. God’s people should say and do only good things. 


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Some of you may be <i>wise</i>. You will understand these things. So show that you are <i>wise</i>. Show it by what you do. Do things that are good and <i>wise</i>. 


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Perhaps you think bad things about other people. Some people may have what you want. And perhaps you feel bad because of that. Perhaps you want to make yourselves important and you do not think about anyone else. You may think these bad things. If you do, do not think, ‘We are better than other people.’ Do not say that you are <i>wise</i>. 


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Perhaps you think bad things about other people. But that is not how God would want you to think. People who do not know God may think like that. The bad parts of human nature cause you to think like that. It is like the way that <i>demons</i> think. 


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You may think bad things about other people. And you may think that you are better than those people. That will cause trouble among people and lots of bad things will happen. 


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If God makes you <i>wise</i>, you will first be clean and true. Then you will love to have <i>peace</i> with other people. You will be quiet. And you will not want to argue with people. You will be loving and kind. And you will do good things to all people. You will be honest. And you will be like that all the time.


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Those who bring <i>peace</i> to other people help them to have <i>peace</i> with everyone. God will call those people good.


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You very often fight and quarrel among yourselves. You must know why that is. It is because you want to make yourselves happy. You have wrong thoughts. That is why you are doing this to each other. 


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You want something but you do not get it. You kill other people. And you try to take things that are not yours. But you cannot get them. You fight and you quarrel. But you do not get what you want. You do not get it because you do not ask God. 


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When you do ask, you do not receive anything. That is because you ask for the wrong reason. This is why you ask: You want to spend what you get to make yourselves happy. 


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You are like a wife who has sex with other men. Some people do not love God. Those people do the things that he does not like. If you want to do those things, you are against God. Some people choose to be friends of those who do wrong things. People who choose to do that are enemies of God. You should know that! 


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With good reason, the <i>Scripture</i> says to us: ‘God has caused his Spirit to live in us. He wants very much to keep us for himself.’ 


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But God gives more loving help to us. That is why the <i>Scripture</i> says, ‘Some people think that they are very important. God is against those people. But some people know that they need God. He gives his loving help to those people.’ 


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Come near to God and he will come near to you. Do not try to love <i>sin</i> and to love God at the same time. You cannot do that. So, start to love God only. Make your hearts and your minds clean. I am writing to those who want to go both ways. You cannot love <i>sin</i> and love God at the same time. 


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My Christian brothers, do not say bad things against each other. Perhaps you speak against another Christian. If you do that, you are speaking against the <i>law</i>. If you make yourself another Christian’s <i>judge</i>, you are speaking against the <i>law</i> too. When you say these things, you are not obeying the <i>law</i>. You are making yourself a <i>judge</i> instead. 


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God says what we should do. And he will be the <i>judge</i>. Only he can save us or kill us. So you must not try to be another person’s <i>judge</i>. <n>Some people fight and argue. They are being like the <i>devil</i>. If we say bad things about God’s word or about his people, we are being like the <i>devil</i>. If we only want to make ourselves happy, God will not hear us. We must listen to God. We must be sorry about the wrong things that we have done. We must do good things. So God will give to us all that we need. As a result, we will be able to do the things that make him happy. Then we will be happy. We should fight the <i>devil</i>, and not fight other Christians. God will make us strong to fight. We must be strong against the <i>devil</i>. If we do that, he will run away. When we really <i>trust</i> God, the <i>devil</i> may attack us. But he cannot hurt us. 


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Listen to me, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this city or to that city. We will stay there for a year. We will buy and sell. And we will get rich.’ 


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You do not know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like smoke. Smoke appears for a little while and then it is there no longer. 


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What you ought to say is, ‘If the <i>Lord</i> wants it, we will live here or there. If he wants it, we will do this or that.’ 


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But now you talk about what you will do. You speak as if you can cause it to happen. It is wrong to speak like that. 


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So, we all know the good things that we ought to do. If we do not do them, we <i>sin</i>. <n>We do not know what God will do tomorrow or the next day. We do know that he wants to do only the best things for his people. Troubles may happen to us sometimes. But we know that we can <i>trust</i> God, even at those times. We should obey what he teaches us every part of every day. If we do that, our lives will make him happy. 


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Your money does not really have any value. Your beautiful clothes are as if <i>moths</i> had eaten them. 


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You have kept a lot of money for yourselves in these last days. Your money has <i>mould</i> on it. That <i>mould</i> will show how bad you are. And it will become like fire that is burning your bodies. 


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You have not paid the <i>wages</i> of those who worked in your fields. Listen! The <i>Lord</i> of all the <i>angels</i> heard the workers when they shouted for his help. The money that you have kept for yourselves shows God something. It shows him that you have done wrong things. 


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You have had all that you wanted. You have lived to make yourselves happy on this earth. You have made yourselves fat. Now you are like animals that are ready for men to kill. 


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You have said about the good man, ‘He is bad. We should kill him.’ He does not try to fight against you. <n>God and his word should be more important to us than anything else is. Our money and our good clothes do not make him happy. The good things that we do are important to him. And the kind words that we speak are important to him too. He wants us to be good to our workers. It makes God happy when rich people give money to help poor people. 


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So be patient my Christian brothers until the <i>Lord</i> comes. Think about this: The farmer is patient while he waits for the land to give food for him. He continues to wait for the rain to come in the autumn and in the spring. 


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Do not say bad things about each other, my Christian brothers. If you do, God will <i>judge</i> you. He will come very soon to <i>judge</i> people.


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Think about the <i>prophets</i> who brought messages from the <i>Lord</i>. They showed us how to be patient, my Christian brothers. They were patient even when much pain happened to them. 


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God <i>blessed</i> people who were like that. We know that he did. They were in trouble. But they continued to do what God wanted. For example, you have heard about Job. He continued to wait for God to help him. You have heard how, in the end, the <i>Lord blessed</i> him. The <i>Lord</i> was kind and the Lord did very many good things for him.


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When you say a promise, never say, ‘as sure as <i>heaven</i> is there’ or ‘as sure as earth is there’ or anything like that. Your ‘yes’ should mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ should mean ‘no’. If you say more than that, God may <i>punish</i> you.


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If one of you is in trouble, talk to God about it. If one of you is happy, sing. And <i>praise</i> God. 


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If one of you is sick, he should ask the leaders of your <i>church</i> to come. They will put a little oil on him and they will say, ‘In the name of the <i>Lord</i> Jesus we do this.’ They will ask God to make him well. 


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Believe that God will answer. If you do, God will make the sick person well. He will become well again. And God will <i>forgive</i> any wrong things that he has done. 


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So, tell each other about any wrong things that you have done. God makes sick people well, so speak to him on behalf of each other. God really listens to a person who obeys God. God does powerful things when someone like that asks him to. 


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For example, Elijah was a man who was like us. He <i>prayed</i> that it would not rain. And he believed that God would answer him. And so it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 


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After that, he asked God to send rain again. Rain came from the sky. And the seeds that were under the ground began to grow.


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My Christian brothers, one of you may start to do or to think bad things. If he does, try to bring him back to God. 


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Whoever turns a person from <i>sin</i> will save that person’s <i>soul</i> from death. You should know that. Then God will <i>forgive</i> that person for the many wrong things that he has done. <n>God always does everything that he has promised to do. He cannot say things that are not true. He can do more than we can understand. He will help us to be happy if we ask him. If we are ill, we should ask for his help. He can make us well again. We may have done something wrong. If another Christian <i>prays</i> for us, God will answer his <i>prayer</i>. We may turn away from what God wants us to do. If another Christian helps us to turn back to God, he will be saving us from death. God always listens to the <i>prayers</i> of people who are really obeying him.


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This letter is from me, Peter. Jesus Christ sent me to be a special worker and teacher on his behalf. I am writing to you, God’s people, who are living in many different places. You are living in places in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. You are living there as strangers because you are away from your true home. God has chosen you to be his people. 


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A long, long time ago, God, the Father, had already decided that you should be his people. By his Spirit, God has made you his own, separate people so that you would obey Jesus Christ. He made you his people so that Jesus Christ’s blood could make you really clean inside yourselves. <n>I want you to know more and more how very kind God is to you. And I pray that he will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves more and more. <n>Verse 1 Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia were all parts of the country that we call Turkey now. ‘Your true home’ really means heaven (God’s home beyond the earth). All Christians are strangers in this world, because really they belong in heaven. 


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We should thank God, who is the Father of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ! We should say how very great he is! God is so very kind that he has caused us to be born again. He has given us a new life. This is possible because God raised Jesus Christ. God raised Jesus so that he became alive again after his death. And because of this new life, we continue to hope certainly for good things. We are sure that we will live with God always. 


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Also, we wait to receive all the good things that God has prepared for his children. Nobody can ever destroy those things. They will never become dirty. They will never become old or less beautiful. God is keeping those good things in <i>heaven</i> for you. 


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God is powerful and he is keeping you safe. He is keeping you safe because you believe him. He will keep you safe until the last day, when Christ will return. Then everyone will see that God has prepared to save you completely.


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These things which God has done make you very happy. But now, for a short time, different kinds of troubles and difficulties may make you sad. 


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The purpose of these troubles is to show certainly whether you really believe God. It is very, very important that you continue to believe him. People put gold into a fire to make it completely clean. The fire burns everything that is not gold. So the fire shows certainly what is gold. But gold belongs only to this world, so it will come to an end. When you believe God, that is worth much more even than gold. If you continue to believe God, he will be very happy because of you. As a result, he will say very good things about you on the day when Jesus Christ comes again. And you will show everyone how very great God is.


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You have never seen Jesus, but still you love him. You do not see him now, but you believe him. And so, you are very, very happy. There are no words to describe how happy you are. 


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You are happy now because you are sure. You are believing God. And God will give to you that which you hope for. He will save you from all the troubles and pain that you have now. You are sure about that.


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Many years ago, the prophets (people who told God’s messages) spoke about this. They spoke about how God would be so very kind to you. They wanted to know about how God would save people. They studied carefully. And they asked many questions because they wanted to understand about it. 


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Christ’s Spirit was in those prophets and he was showing them about future events. The Spirit was showing them that Christ must have much trouble and pain. Then, after that trouble, great and good things would happen to him. The prophets were trying to discover when and how all these things would happen. 


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God showed the prophets that his messages about these things were not for themselves, but for you. Now you know the good news about Jesus Christ. God’s Spirit, that he has sent from <i>heaven</i>, has helped people to tell the good news to you. Even the <i>angels</i> want very much to understand about these things. <n>Christians should do what is good</n>


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So, because of everything that God has done on your behalf, you must be ready to obey him. Get your mind ready to obey. Think seriously and clearly. Always continue to hope completely for the good things that you will receive from God. You will receive those things when Jesus Christ comes again. 


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Always obey God, like good children who obey their father. Before you knew Christ, you wanted to do bad things. Do not let yourselves do those bad things any more. Do not let them rule you. 


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God, who has chosen you to be his people, is completely good. So, whatever things you do, you must be completely good also. 


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The Bible says: ‘Be completely good, because I (God) am completely good.’ <n>Verse 16 In the book of Leviticus, God says 5 times that we should be completely good, like him. (See Leviticus 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7, 26.) 


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When you pray to God, you call him Father. God decides about every person because of what that person has done. God decides what should happen to every person. And God is always fair when he decides about people. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person. So always obey God, your Father, while you live as strangers here on earth. Always remember how great and powerful God is. 


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Your parents and the people who lived before you taught you to do certain things. Those things were worth nothing to God. But now God has saved you from doing things like that. You know that he has bought you for himself. He did not buy you with things like silver (a valuable metal) or gold, which will come to an end. 


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Instead, he bought you with Christ’s own blood, which is worth very, very much to God. Christ was like a lamb (young sheep) that had nothing wrong with it. <n>Verse 19 Many years ago, God told Israel’s people to kill lambs (and other animals) and offer them to him as gifts. The animals had to have nothing wrong with them. Those gifts to God showed that the people were sorry. They were sorry because of the wrong things that they had done. They offered animals to God so that he would choose not to remember those wrong things. So then he would not <i>punish</i> them. <n>‘Christ’s blood’ means his death on the cross. Christ was completely good. He never did anything wrong. He died on our behalf. And he did much, much more than any dead animal could ever do. He took away all the wrong things that anyone has ever done. 


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Before God made the world, he had chosen Christ already. God had decided already that Christ would save us. But now, during these last days, God has shown Christ to the world so that he could help you. 


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It is because of Christ that you believe God. God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. Then, God showed how very great and powerful Christ is. That is why you believe God. You are sure about him. He will do what he has promised. You are sure about that.


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You have made yourselves really good and clean because you have obeyed God’s true message. As a result, now you can really love other Christians, who are like brothers and sisters to you. So, continue to love each other very much. Love each other as much as you can. 


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God’s message causes people to become alive. It will continue always and it will never change. You have been born again, into a new life, because of that message. It is not your human parents who caused you to be born into this new life. They must die. But it is God himself who has caused you to be born again. And he can never die. 


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The Bible says: <n>‘All people are like grass. <n>Everything that is good or beautiful about people is only like the flowers in the fields. <n>The grass becomes dry and it dies. <n>Flowers fall off after a short time.


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But the message that the <i>Lord</i> has spoken will continue always.’ <n>[Isaiah 40:6-8] <n>That message is the good news, which people have taught you.


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So, you must refuse to do bad things. Always say only things that are true and right. Do not say one thing when really you mean something else. Do not want other people’s things so much that you stop being kind to those people. Do not say bad things about people. 


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Instead, you should want always to know God more and more. New babies always want their mothers’ milk, which makes them grow strong. Like them, you should want the true milk, which comes from God. Always want very much to know more about God’s message. That message is like good food that will make you strong in your <i>spirits</i>. It will make you stronger and stronger, so that God will save you completely. 


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Already, you have begun to know how good the <i>Lord</i> is. So, you should want to know him more and more. <n>Jesus is like the most important stone in God’s house</n>


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So come to the <i>Lord</i> Jesus. He is like a big stone that a builder uses to build a house. He is ‘the stone that is alive’. People decided that he was worth nothing to them. So they refused him. But God chose him. To God, Jesus is like a stone that is worth very, very much. 


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You yourselves also are like stones that are alive, because of Jesus Christ. God is using you, like stones, to build his <i>spiritual</i> house. He has chosen you to work there as his priests (special servants who offer <i>sacrifices</i>). As priests you will offer <i>spiritual sacrifices</i> to God. And God will be happy with what you offer him, because of Jesus Christ.


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In the Bible, God says this: <n>‘Look, I have chosen a stone that is worth very, very much. <n>I have chosen this valuable stone as the most important stone, <n>for the corner of my house. <n>And I am putting that stone in <i>Zion</i>. <n>Any person who believes him will never be ashamed. <n>That person will never be sorry that they believed him.’ <n>[Isaiah 28:16] 


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This stone is worth very, very much to you who believe. But the Bible says this about the people who do not believe him: <n>‘The stone that the builders refused has become the most important stone. <n>It has become the stone at the corner of the house.’ <n>[Psalm 118:22] 


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The Bible says this also: <n>‘This is a stone that will cause people to knock their feet against it so that they fall. <n>It is a rock that will make them fall down.’ <n>[Isaiah 8:14] <n>The reason why it causes people to fall is this. They fall because they refuse to obey God’s message. A long, long time ago, God decided that this would happen to them. <n>Verses 4-8 In verses 6-8, Peter includes words from the Old Testament. (That is the first part of the Bible, which describes events before Jesus’ life on earth.) Peter shows that these words are speaking about Jesus. <n>Many years before Jesus lived on the earth, Israel’s people built a special house for God. (See 1 Kings chapters 6-8.) The stone at the corner of the house was the most important stone. It made the whole building strong and safe. It was the first stone that the builders put into its place. Then they put other stones next to it and above it, to build the walls. It was a big, square stone with very straight sides. So it made all the walls of the house straight and strong. Jesus is like the stone at the corner of God’s house. God’s true house is a <i>spiritual</i> house. God builds his true house with people who belong to Jesus Christ. <n>Verse 5 In God’s house in Jerusalem, Israel’s priests (God’s special servants) offered <i>sacrifices</i> to God on behalf of the people. The <i>sacrifices</i> were special gifts to thank God, or to show that the people were sorry. They were sorry about the wrong things that they had done. We offer ‘<i>spiritual sacrifices</i>’ to God when we obey him completely. We choose always to believe God. We thank him. We do good things, to help other people. These are the kind of ‘<i>spiritual sacrifices</i>’ that we offer. <n>Verse 6 <i>Zion</i> is another name for Jerusalem city, either on earth or in <i>heaven</i>. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, was the place where Israel’s people built God’s house. 


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But you are the people that God has chosen. You are a group of priests who are servants of God, the King. You are God’s own special people, who obey only him. You belong to God. He has taken you out of the dark and he has brought you into his great light. He has chosen you so that you can tell people how great he is. 


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In past times, you were not God’s people. But now you are God’s people. In past times, you did not know how very kind God is. But now you know how very kind he is.


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My friends, that I love, you live as strangers in this world. You are like visitors, who are staying in this world only for a short time. So I ask you strongly not to do those bad things that your bodies may want to do. Keep away from things like that, because they are like enemies to you. They fight against what is good for you. They stop you from doing good things. 


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You are living among people who do not know God. So be careful that you do good and right things always. Sometimes these people may say that you do bad things. But you should continue to do good things. And then they will see that you are good. So, on the day when God visits us, they may thank God because of you. And they will say how great God is. <n>Obey people who have authority over you</n>


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Obey all people who have authority in this world. Obey them, because that will make the <i>Lord</i> happy. Obey the king, who rules everyone. 


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Also obey those officers of the government that the king has chosen to rule you. They <i>punish</i> people who do wrong things. And they say good words about people who do right things. 


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God wants you to do what is right. Then you will stop silly people, who do not know anything, from saying bad things about you. 


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You are people who are free. But do not think, because of that, that you have the chance to do bad things. Do not think that God will excuse you for bad things. Instead, do those things that God’s servants should do. 


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Always do what is right and proper to all people. Love all those people who are like brothers and sisters to you. They are like your brothers and sisters because, like you, they believe Christ. Always remember how great and powerful God is. Always remember to obey the king.


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You servants must obey your masters. You must always remember that they are important. You must obey not only masters who are good and kind. You must obey also masters who are cruel and not fair. 


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Sometimes a person may have trouble and pain when he has done nothing wrong. But if that person really wants to obey God, he should continue to be patient and brave. That is a good thing and it will make God happy. 


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If you do something wrong, then people ought to <i>punish</i> you. They might hit you. And you might be patient when they hit you. But that is no reason why anyone should say good things about you. But you may have trouble and pain because you have done good things. If you are patient during that trouble, then God will be happy about you. 


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God has chosen that you should be patient like this. Christ had trouble and pain on your behalf. And he is the person that you should copy. So you should do the same kind of things as Christ did. 


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The Bible says this: <n>‘He never did anything that was wrong. <n>He never said anything that was not true.’ <n>[Isaiah 53:9] 


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People said bad things about Christ, but he did not say bad things back to them. People did bad things to him and they caused him trouble and pain. But he never said that he would do bad things to them. Instead, Christ continued to believe that God would help him. God always decides only what is right and fair. 


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Christ himself took away all the wrong things that we have done. He took them in his own body to the cross. He did this so that we should not continue to do wrong things. So we can be like people who are dead to wrong things. We are dead to them because those things do not rule us any more. Instead, now we can do the right things that God wants us to do. People hurt Christ’s body, but, because of that, you have become well. 


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Before, you were like sheep that were going the wrong way. But now you have returned to Christ, your <i>Shepherd</i>, who keeps all of you safe. <n>Verse 24 ‘Well’ means ‘well in our <i>spirits</i>’. We were dead in our <i>spirits</i>, because of our old nature. But Christ took away everything that made us dead. He took it away when he died on the cross. So now we can really be alive and we can know God. 


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You wives, each of you also should obey your own husband. There may be some husbands who do not believe God’s message. But if their wives obey them, those husbands may turn to God. They may decide to believe God, even if their wives have said nothing to them about God’s message. 


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Do not be trying always to make your bodies beautiful. You do not need to prepare your hair in an expensive way. You do not need to wear gold or expensive clothes. 


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Instead, be beautiful because of what you are really like inside yourselves, in your <i>spirits</i>. Be patient and quiet, and do not become angry easily. Do not want to show everyone how important you are. Then you will never stop being beautiful. If you are beautiful in your <i>spirits</i> like this, it is worth very much to God. 


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This was how, many years ago, good women made themselves beautiful. They believed God. God would do what he had promised. They believed that. And so, because they were God’s servants, they obeyed their own husbands. 


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They did the same as Sarah. She obeyed her husband, Abraham, and she called him, ‘My master’. You wives also should do what is right. You should not let anything make you afraid. Then you will be like true daughters of Sarah. <n>Verse 6 Abraham was the grandfather of Israel’s people. Sarah was his wife. (See Genesis 11:27-23:20.) 


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Also, each of you husbands must live properly with your own wife. You should understand properly what she needs. She is not as strong as you are. So, you should remember that and you should be kind to her. Remember that God has promised the same thing to both her and you together. He has promised that you will live with him always. So, you must be kind to your wife. And then nothing will stop God from answering what you pray. <n>Christians must be ready to have trouble, even when they do good things</n>


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Now I want to say this to you. All of you should agree with each other so that you do not argue. You should try to understand how other people are feeling. Love each other as brothers and sisters, because all of you belong to Christ. Be kind to each other. Do not want to be more important than anyone else. 


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If people do bad things to you, you must not do anything bad to them. If people say bad things against you, you must not say bad things back to them. Instead, you should pray that God will be good to those people. This is what God wants you to do. He has chosen you yourselves because he wants to be good to you. 


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The Bible says this: <n>‘If a person wants to enjoy his life and to have good days, <n>he must be careful not to say bad things. <n>And he must stop saying things that are not true.


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He must stop doing what is bad. <n>Instead, he must do what is good. <n>He must try very much always to be friendly with people. <n>He must try always not to argue with them or to cause trouble.


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Because the <i>Lord</i> is watching over those people who obey him. <n>All the time, he is listening to what those people pray. <n>But the <i>Lord</i> turns away from people who do bad things.’ <n><n>[Psalm 34:12-16] 


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People may cause you trouble and pain, even when you do right things. But God will be good to you. So, do not let anyone make you afraid. 


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Instead, always remember that only Christ is your <i>Lord</i>. And always let him rule you, deep inside yourselves. People may ask you to explain why you hope certainly for good things because of Christ. Always be ready to answer anyone who asks you that. 


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Be kind and polite when you answer them. You know the difference between what is right or wrong. So, always do what is right. Then the people who say bad things about you Christians will be ashamed. They will see that you do good things. You do the good things that Christ’s people should do. So, they will be ashamed.


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Sometimes God may let you have trouble and pain even when you have done good things. But that is better than to have trouble and pain because you have done bad things. 


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Even Christ himself, who never did anything wrong, died on our behalf. He died to take away all the wrong things that we have done. He died once, for all time. He died to bring you to God. People killed his body, but God’s Spirit made him alive again.


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Then, as a <i>spirit</i>, he went to the <i>spirits</i> who were in prison. And he told his great news to them. 


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A long time ago, those <i>spirits</i> had refused to obey God. God waited patiently for them at that time when Noah was building that big boat. But only a few people, only 8 people, went into that boat so that God could save them. God saved them when they went through the water. 


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That water is like a picture of <i>baptism</i>, which now saves you also. <i>Baptism</i> does not mean that the water washes dirt off a person’s body. It means that a person has decided always to obey God. God has made that person really good and clean inside. And so that person is choosing always to do what is right. <i>Baptism</i> saves you because Jesus Christ rose, to become alive again after his death. 


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Jesus has gone into <i>heaven</i> now and he is sitting at God’s right side. He rules over <i>angels</i> and over all other <i>spirits</i> that have authority or power. <n>Verses 19-20 The story about Noah and the big boat is in Genesis 6:1-9:17. The ‘<i>spirits</i> who were in prison’ may mean all the people who drowned in the water. Or it may mean <i>angels</i> who did not obey God. (See Genesis 6:2.) <n>Verse 21 Baptism is when they put a believer into water. (Or sometimes they put water on the believer.) That shows everyone that the person believes Christ. <n>Verse 22 Jesus ‘sits at God’s right side’. The right side or right hand means the most important place. It shows that Jesus has the same authority as his Father. 


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Christ had trouble and pain while he lived in his body. So, you should think like he thought. You should be ready to have trouble and pain while you live in your bodies too. If you think like that, you will make yourselves strong. Anyone who has had trouble and pain in his body has stopped wanting to do wrong things. 


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As a result, that person will obey God during all the time that he continues to live in his body. He will not want to do the bad things that people often want to do. He will not let those bad things rule him. Instead, that person will do what God wants him to do.


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The people who do not know God want to do bad things. And, in past times, you did those bad things too. But now you have wasted enough time doing those bad things. You did wrong things that people should not do. The things that your bodies wanted to do ruled you. You had sex with people who were not your wife or your husband. You were drunks. You went to many bad parties and you drank too much alcohol. Also, you <i>worshipped</i> false gods, which is something that God hates. <n>Verse 3 To worship means to be a servant to someone or something, and to love them or it. To hate means not to like something strongly or completely. When you hate, it is the opposite of when you love something or someone. God hates it when people worship false gods. He hates it because only he himself is really God. Only he can really help those people and be good to them. 


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The people who do not know God continue to do many, very wrong things. But now, you do not want to do wrong things any more as they do. So, those people are very surprised because of you, and they say bad things about you. 


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But those people will have to explain to God what they have done. He is ready to decide what should happen to every person. He will decide about all people, whether they are alive or dead. 


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This is why even the dead people heard the good news about Christ. Their bodies had to die, as all people must die. But they heard the good news so that their <i>spirits</i> could live. Their <i>spirits</i> could live as God wants them to live. <n>Verse 6 The ‘dead people’ may mean all the believers who had died during the time that the New Testament describes. (The New Testament is the second part of the Bible, which describes Jesus’ life on earth and his work.) Or, the ‘dead people’ may mean all the people who died before Christ. Many people had died before Christ came to live on earth. They had no chance to hear the good news about Christ while they lived on earth. So, this may mean that Christ went to the dead people. He went to tell them about what he had done on their behalf. Then they had the chance to believe him, as we do. <n>We must use God’s gifts properly</n>


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The end of all things is near. So, think seriously and clearly. And rule yourselves properly so that you can pray. 


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Continue to love each other very much. This is more important than anything else. If you love people, then you will always want to be kind to them. You will always be ready to forgive (choose to forget) any wrong things that they have done. 


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God has been good to each of you in different ways. He has given a gift to each of you, so that you are able to do certain things well. So, each of you should use your gift so that you can help other people. Then you will be God’s good servants because you will be using his gifts properly. 


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If you have a gift as a speaker, speak only God’s messages. If you have a gift to help other people, let God make you strong to help them. Do everything so that people will thank God. They should say how great and good God is because of Jesus Christ. He will have all authority and power always. And everyone should always say how great he is! This is true! <n>Christians must be ready to have trouble and pain</n>


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My friends, that I love, do not be surprised by trouble and pain. People are causing you bad trouble and pain. But these things are happening to show whether you really believe God. So, do not think that something strange is happening to you. 


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Instead, be happy that you have trouble and pain, like Christ. So then, you will also be very, very happy when Christ comes again. You will be happy when he comes to show everyone how very great and powerful he is. 


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People may say bad things about you because you are Christ’s. But God will be good to you when that happens. It means that God’s Spirit is with you. God’s Spirit, who is so great and powerful, remains upon you.


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But if you do wrong things, then people ought to <i>punish</i> you. They ought to cause you trouble and pain. So, be careful that none of you receives trouble and pain because of wrong things. You must not kill anyone. You must not rob anyone. You must not want to know more than you should know about other people’s lives. None of you should ever have to receive trouble and pain because you have done those things. 


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But if you have trouble and pain because you are a Christian, do not be ashamed. Instead, thank God that people call you by Christ’s name.<b><br clear="all"> </b>


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The time has come that God should begin to decide about people. He will decide what should happen to them. And he will decide first about the people who belong to him. God will decide even about us, who are his own people. Then he will decide about the people who do not obey his good news. So, very bad things must happen to those people in the end. 


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The Bible says: <n>‘Even good people have many difficulties <n>before God finishes saving them. <n>So, think about the bad people who do not obey God. <n>Very bad things must happen to those people!’ <n>[Proverbs 11:31] 


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So then, people may cause you trouble and pain because God chooses that. But you should continue to believe God, who made you. God always does what he has promised. So, continue to believe that he will be good to you. And continue to do what is good.


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Now I want to say something strongly to the elders (leaders) who belong to your group. I say this because I am an elder also. I saw the trouble and pain that people caused Christ. And, like you, I will live always with Christ, who is so very great and powerful. When he comes again, everyone will see how great he is. I say this strongly to you. 


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Watch over the group of God’s people that God has given to you. Be like a <i>shepherd</i> to them. Do this work because you want to do it. That is how God wants you to be. Do not do it just because you have to do it. Do not do this work because you want to receive money. Instead, do it because you want to help people.


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Do not try to rule over those people that God has given to you. Instead, do good things yourselves, so that they can copy you. Show them the right things that they should do. 


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As a result, Christ, who is the <i>Shepherd</i> of all of us, will give a gift to you. He will give that gift to you when he comes again. He will give you a beautiful crown that will never become old or less beautiful. <n>Verse 4 A crown is a special hat that a winner gets. It shows that the winner has done well. This crown is like a picture of what God will give to each of us. He will cause us to live with him always. 


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You younger men also must obey the elders (leaders). And all of you people must be ready to be like servants to each other. Because the Bible says: <n>‘Some people think that they are better and more important than other people. <n>They think that they are always right. <n>God is an enemy to people who think like that. <n>But he is good to people who do not want to be very important. <n>He is good to people who are ready to be like servants to other people.’ <n>[Proverbs 3:34] 


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God is very powerful and strong to help you. So, be his servants, and let him rule you. Then he will cause you to be great and important at the right time. 


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Tell God about all the things that make you sad or afraid or angry. Give your thoughts about those things to him and let them remain with him. Do this, because you matter to him.


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Think seriously and watch carefully. Be ready, because your enemy, the <i>Devil</i>, walks about like a lion (a big wild animal). He is like a lion that makes loud noises. He is looking for someone that he can eat. 


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Refuse to obey the <i>Devil</i>. Instead, be strong against him because you choose to believe God strongly. Remember that, all over the world, Christians like you are having the same kind of troubles and pain.


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You will have trouble and pain for a short time. But after that, God, who is so completely kind, will make everything right. God has caused you to be united to Christ, so that you will live with him always. You will live with him in the beautiful place where he lives. And God will make you completely as you should be. He will make you strong, so that nothing can ever stop you believing him. 


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Silas, who is like our brother, has helped me to write this short letter to you. I know that he continues to believe Christ. And he continues to be Christ’s good servant. I have written because I want you to be brave and strong. And I want you to know certainly that God has really been good to us. So, always remember how good God is. And then you will continue to be strong. 


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God has chosen the Christians who are in Babylon city, as he has chosen you. They say ‘hello’ to you. Mark, who is like my son, says ‘hello’ also. 


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When you meet, kiss each other as Christian friends. <n>I pray on behalf of all of you who are united to Christ. I pray that God will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. <n>Verse 12 Silas was a leader, with Peter, of the Christians who were at Jerusalem (the capital of Israel). See Acts 15:22. <n>Verse 13 We think that ‘Babylon’ means Rome city (the capital of Italy). At that time, the king of Rome ruled many countries. His soldiers were causing a lot of trouble for Christians. Many, many years earlier, people from Babylon had caused a lot of trouble for Israel’s people. So, the Christians used Babylon as a secret name for Rome.


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This letter is from me, Simon Peter. I am Jesus Christ’s servant. He sent me to be a special worker and teacher on his behalf. I am writing this letter to you people who, like us, believe Christ. He has given the same valuable gift to all of us. He has caused us to believe him. He has done this because he is always completely right and fair. Jesus Christ is God. And he is the person who saves us.


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I pray that God will be good to you more and more. I pray that he will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves more and more. These things will happen because you know God and Jesus, our <i>Lord</i>.


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God is very powerful because he is God. So he has given to us everything that we need to live always. We can do good things that make God happy. This is possible because we know him. God has chosen us to be his people because he is so very great and so very good. 


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Also, because of this, God has promised that he will do very great and valuable things on our behalf. As a result, you can become good like God. So, you can be free from wanting bad things that will destroy you. The people who belong to this world want to do bad things. And those bad things are destroying them.


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God has done all this on your behalf. So you should not only believe Christ. You must also try very much to do always what is good. And you must try very much to know God more and more. 


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You must not only know God, but you must rule yourselves properly also. You must not only rule yourselves, but you must continue to be patient and brave also. And you must not only be patient and brave, but you must always make God happy. You must do what God wants. 


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You must not only make God happy, but you must be kind to each other also. You must love other Christians, as you would love your own brothers and sisters. And you must not only love other Christians, but you must love all people also.


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You should do all of these things. You should continue to do them more and more. These things will show that you really know our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. And, because you know him, you will work well on his behalf. And your work will have good results. 


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But some people do not do these things. They do not think that these things are important. They are like people who cannot see clearly. They cannot really see anything. They have forgotten that God made them clean inside themselves. God made them free from all the wrong things that they did before. But they have forgotten that.


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So, my friends, try even more to do all these good things. Do them, because God has chosen you to be his own people. And these good things will show that you really are God’s people. If you do these things, you will never turn away from God. 


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Also, God will be very happy. He will bring you into that place where Jesus Christ will rule always. You will live always with our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ, who saves us.


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So, I will continue to tell you about these things again and again. You already know these things. And you are continuing to believe strongly that these things are true. But still, I will continue to tell you about them. 


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I will tell you about them while I am still alive on earth. I think that it is right to continue telling you. You should think about these things. So then you will not forget them. 


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I know that I will die soon. I know that because our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ has shown that to me. 


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So I will do everything that I can to tell you about these things now. So then, after I have died, you will be able to remember them always. <n>Peter himself saw how great Christ is</n>


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We told you that our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ is powerful. We told you that he will come to earth again. We were not telling you false stories that came from people’s clever ideas. Instead, we were telling you what we ourselves had seen. We ourselves saw how very great Christ is. 


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We were with Jesus on the mountain that God visited. God, the Father, showed us how very great and powerful Jesus is. God, who is greater than everything, spoke about Jesus. God said: ‘This is my son. I love him. He makes me very happy.’ And we ourselves heard God’s voice when he spoke from <i>heaven</i>. <n>Verses 16-18 Peter, James and John saw Jesus when he shone brightly. And they heard God speak to them. See Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8 and Luke 9:28-36. <n>God’s messages in the Bible are very important</n>


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Also, we have the <i>prophets</i>’ messages. They show us even more certainly that these things are true. It is good that you should remember those messages carefully. The <i>prophets</i>’ words are like a light that shines in a dark place. That light continues to shine in the dark until the dawn comes. Then the morning star will rise and it will bring light deep inside you. 


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None of the <i>prophets</i>’ messages in the Bible came just from the <i>prophets</i>’ own ideas. It is most important that you should understand this. 


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None of the <i>prophets</i>’ messages came from what a human person wanted to say. Instead, God’s Spirit caused people to speak words that came from God. <n>Verses 19-21 Prophets are people who speak messages from God. Peter was talking about the prophets’ messages that are in the Old Testament. That is the first part of the Bible. It describes events before Jesus came to live on earth. <n>Verse 19 The morning star appears in the sky just before the sunrise. It is very bright. It shows us that the day is coming. In Revelation 22:16, Jesus says that he is the morning star. 


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Many years ago, there were false <i>prophets</i> (people who did not speak God’s true messages) among God’s people. In the same way, there will also be false teachers among you. They will teach wrong ideas that will destroy people. But they will say that those wrong ideas are true. Those false teachers will even refuse the Master, who bought them. And so they will cause God to destroy them quickly. 


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Many people will believe and copy the false teachers. So, those people will do very wrong things, like the false teachers. And, as a result, other people will say bad things about the true way that God wants us to live.


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The false teachers only want your money. So, they will tell things to you that are not true. They will tell those false things to you so that you will give money to them. A long time ago, God decided that he must <i>punish</i> them. And he is ready to do that. Certainly, he will destroy them. <n>God <i>punishes</i> bad people but he helps good people</n>


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Remember that God did not let the bad <i>angels</i> go free. A long, long time ago, some <i>angels</i> refused to obey God. And God <i>punished</i> them because of what they had done. He threw them down into the deep hole where he sends all bad persons. And he will keep them in that dark prison until the day when he will decide about them. He will decide what should happen to them in the end. <n>Verse 4 Many, many years ago, some of the <i>angels</i> who lived in <i>heaven</i> with God did not obey him. So God sent them far away from him. See Genesis 6:1-4 and Jude 6. 


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Also, a long, long time ago, God <i>punished</i> all the bad people who lived in the world. God sent water over all the earth. So all those people who refused to obey him drowned in the water. But Noah was telling the people that they should do right things. He was telling them that they should obey God. So God saved Noah, and 7 other people.


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Also, God <i>punished</i> the people who lived in the cities called Sodom and Gomorrah. God saw that the people there were doing very bad things. So, he decided that he must <i>punish</i> them. And he burned those cities completely, so that only ashes remained. And so God showed what will happen to all bad people. He will <i>punish</i> people who refuse to obey him. 


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Also, God saved Lot, who was a good man. Lot was very sad because the people in Sodom did not obey God’s rules. They did many, very wrong things. 


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Lot lived among those bad people. Every day, he saw the bad things that they did. Every day, he heard the bad things that they said. As a result of all these bad things, Lot became very sad, because he was a good man. <n>Verse 5 The story about Noah is in Genesis 6:5-7:24. <n>Verses 6-8 The stories about Sodom and Gomorrah, and about Lot, are in Genesis 18:16-19:29. Peter is showing that God will destroy bad people. But God will help people who obey him. 


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We know that the <i>Lord</i> has done all these things in past times. And these things show us certainly that he knows how to save his people. He will help those people who obey him. He will save them from troubles and difficulties. But he will <i>punish</i> the bad people, who refuse to obey him. He will continue to <i>punish</i> them. And he will keep them until that day when he will decide about all people. He will decide what should happen to them. 


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God will <i>punish</i> very much those people who continue to have wrong sex. They do the wrong things that their bodies want to do. And those wrong things make those people even worse. Those bad people think that they do not have to obey anyone’s authority. <n>The false teachers are like animals</n> <n>These false teachers are not afraid to do what they want to do. They think that they themselves are very clever and important. They do not listen to what anyone else says. They are not afraid to say bad things about the beautiful <i>beings</i>. 


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The <i>angels</i> are stronger and more powerful than the false teachers are. But even <i>angels</i> will not say bad things against them when the <i>Lord</i> is present. 


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But these false teachers say bad things against anything that they do not understand. They are like wild animals, that cannot think. They do what their nature causes them to do. Wild animals are born so that people can catch them and kill them. And, as people kill wild animals, God will destroy the false teachers. <n>Verse 10 The word for ‘beautiful <i>beings</i>’ could mean <i>angels</i>. Or, instead, the word could mean very important people, who have great authority. 


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The false teachers have done bad things to other people. So God will do bad things to them. They enjoy eating and drinking too much, even during the day. They enjoy doing the wrong things that they want to do. They enjoy those things while they are eating meals with you. So, like dirty marks on something that is clean, they cause people to be ashamed about you. 


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All the time, they are looking for women who will have sex with them. They never stop wanting to do bad things. They lead away people who do not believe Christ strongly. They cause those people to believe wrong things and to do wrong things. They have learned to want more and more money and other things for themselves. Certainly, God will <i>punish</i> these people, because they are so bad.


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These false teachers have left the right way and they have gone the wrong way. They have done the same kind of wrong things that Balaam, Beor’s son, did. Balaam wanted money so much that he did wrong things to get it. 


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But a <i>donkey</i> told Balaam that he was not obeying God. <i>Donkeys</i> cannot talk. But that <i>donkey</i> spoke as a human person speaks. So, the <i>donkey</i> stopped that <i>prophet</i>, Balaam, from doing any more crazy things. <n>Verses 15-16 A donkey is an animal like a small horse. People use donkeys to carry heavy things. We can read about Balaam and the donkey in the book called Numbers. Balaam caused Israel’s people to do bad things. (See Numbers chapters 22-25, Deuteronomy 23:4-5 and Revelation 2:14.) <n>God will <i>punish</i> the false teachers</n>


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These false teachers are like places in the ground where water should come up. But there is no water. They are like clouds in a storm. The strong wind blows those clouds away quickly so that they bring no rain. God has kept a completely black, dark place where these false teachers will have to stay.


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The words that these teachers speak seem very important. But their words mean nothing. They tell people that it is not wrong to do bad things. People may do the bad things that their bodies strongly want to do. The false teachers say that it does not matter. So they lead people away from God. They lead away people who have only just stopped doing wrong things. Those people have just begun to be free from the wrong things that other people do. 


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The false teachers promise that these people will be free. But the false teachers themselves are not free. Instead, they are like slaves. They cannot stop doing the bad things that will destroy them. If anything has power over a person, then that person is its slave.


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These false teachers knew our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ, who saves us. So they had become free from the power of the bad things that belong to this world. They had stopped doing those bad things, which make people even worse. But now they have started to do those bad things again, and those things have power over them. So, these false teachers are worse at the end than they were at the beginning. They are worse than before they knew the <i>Lord</i>.


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It would have been better for them if they had never known God’s right way. But they have known the right things that God wants us to do. So it is worse that they have stopped doing those things. They have stopped obeying God’s rules, that people taught them. 


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People often say these true words: ‘After a dog has been sick, it returns to that same place, to eat that food again.’ And: ‘A pig that someone has washed returns, to roll on the dirty, wet ground.’ These words describe what has happened to these false teachers. <n>Verse 22 The words about the dog come from Proverbs 26:11. 


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My friends, this is the second letter that I have written to you. I have written both these letters so that I can help you to remember certain things. I want you to think correctly and honestly about these things. 


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I want you to remember the words that God’s own <i>prophets</i> spoke a long time ago. Also, I want you to remember what our <i>Lord</i> told you to do. Our <i>Lord</i>, who saves us, taught you by his special workers. His special workers, that he sent to you, told you about these things.


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The first thing that you should understand is this. In the last days, some people will think that God and God’s rules are not important. They will say that you are silly. They will call you fools because you believe God. These people will do whatever bad things they want to do. 


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They will say: ‘Christ promised that he would return! But he has not returned! Our early Christian leaders have died, but still all things continue. Since God made the world, all things continue in the same way.’


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These people choose to forget the facts that they know. They forget that God made the sky and the earth a long, long time ago. God spoke his word, and so he made the sky. Also, by his word, God made the land separate from the water. He brought the land out through the water. 


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But, by God’s same word, the sky and the earth that we see now are continuing. They will continue until that time when fire will burn them. God is keeping them until that time when he will decide about all people. He will decide what should happen to all people. And he will destroy the bad people who have not obeyed him. <n>Verse 3 The ‘last days’ is the time before Jesus will return to the earth. <n>Verse 5 See Genesis 1:1-10. <n>Verse 6 See Genesis 6:9-7:24. 


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But, my friends, there is one thing that you must not forget. The <i>Lord</i> thinks that one day is like 1000 years. And he thinks that 1000 years are like one day. 


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The <i>Lord</i> is not being slow to do what he has promised to do. Some people think that he is being slow to do it. But instead, he is being patient with you people. He does not want to destroy anyone. He wants all people to turn away from wrong things because they have decided to obey him.


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But the day when the <i>Lord</i> will come back will surprise people. It will surprise people as when someone comes to rob them. The sky will go away with a very loud noise and it will not be there any more. Fire will burn the sun, the moon and the stars and it will destroy them. The earth and everything that is on it will not be there any more. <n>Verse 10 ‘The earth and everything that is on it will not be there any more’ could also mean something else. It could mean this: ‘God will show everything that people have done on the earth. And God will decide what should happen to the people. He will decide about them because of what they have done.’ 


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Certainly, God will destroy everything in this way. So, you ought to be the kind of people that God is happy about. You should give yourselves to God completely and you should obey him always. 


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You should obey God while you are waiting for Christ to return. God has chosen that day when he will return. You should be wanting that day to come very much. On that day, fire will burn the sky and the fire will destroy it. The heat will destroy the sun, the moon and the stars also. 


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But we are waiting for what God has promised. He has promised that there will be a new sky and a new earth. There, everything will always be good. And everyone will do only what is right. <n>Verse 13 We can be sure that God will make a new earth and a new sky. The Bible tells us about them. See, for example, Revelation chapters 21 and 22. 


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So, my friends, because you are waiting for these things to happen, try very much to do only good things. Then God will see that you have done nothing wrong. He will see that there is no trouble between you yourselves, or between you and him. 


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Remember why our <i>Lord</i> is waiting before he will return. He is being patient because he wants to save people. Paul, whom we love like a brother, has written to you also about these things. He wrote about them because God caused him to understand them. 


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Paul writes like this about these things in all his letters. But some of the things that Paul has written in his letters are difficult to understand. And people who do not know much about God explain these things wrongly. Those people are not sure about what they believe. And they explain other things in the Bible wrongly also. As a result, those people themselves cause God to destroy them.


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But you, my friends, know these things already. So, be very careful that you do not believe false teachers. They do not obey God’s rules and they teach wrong things. Do not let those people lead you away from God. If you listen to them, you could stop being sure about the true things. So you will be like people who have moved away from a safe, strong place. 


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Instead, continue to do what is good. So then our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ, who saves us, will be good to you more and more. Also, continue to know him better and better. Everyone should say how very great and good he is! Everyone should say that, both now and always!


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We want to tell you about the person who is God’s message to people. He is the person who gives people proper life. He was before the beginning of the world. We heard him speak. We saw him with our own eyes. We watched him and we touched him.


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He showed himself on this earth. We saw him and we are telling you about it. We are telling you that he is the person who gives <i>eternal life</i>. From long ago he was together with God the Father, and he has shown himself to us. 


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We ourselves are <i>united</i> with God the Father, and Jesus Christ his Son. And we want you to be of the same mind as us, as you <i>trust</i> him. That is why we are telling you about the person whom we have seen and heard.


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We are writing so that together we may be completely happy. <n>John is writing with authority. He is saying that he was with Jesus, the Word of God (God’s message). He knows Jesus. And he knows what Jesus taught. 


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Jesus Christ gave us a message and this is the message: God is good and <i>clean</i> like light. There is nothing dark about him. 


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Now, someone may say that he is <i>united</i> to God. But he may still do things that do not <i>please</i> God. Then what he says is not true. He is living as if he were in the dark. What he does shows that he does not want to obey God’s rules. 


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But when we do right things, it is like living in the light. God is always in the light. (He always does what is good and right.) When we live like this we are really <i>united</i> together. The death of Jesus, the Son of God makes us <i>clean</i>. He removes <i>sin</i> from us and he makes us <i>clean</i> in front of God. 


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We may say that we never do wrong things. But then, we are making a mistake. We may really believe that we never <i>sin</i>. Then we do not understand that God’s words are true. 


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But if we tell God about our <i>sins</i> then he will <i>forgive</i> us. He will take away from us all our <i>sins</i>. God is true and fair. So, he will do what he promised. And he will do what is right. 


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God says that all people have <i>sinned</i>. But we may say that we have never <i>sinned</i>. Then we are saying that God is not telling the <i>truth</i>. We have not accepted his word at all.


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I am writing to you who are like <i>dear children</i> to me. I am writing this because I do not want you to <i>sin</i>. But if you do <i>sin</i>, tell him. Then God will <i>forgive</i> you. God our Father <i>forgives</i> us. He does this because a completely good person asks him to do it. That person is Jesus Christ. 


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He died to take the <i>punishment</i> for our <i>sin</i>. He not only died to take the <i>punishment</i> for our <i>sins</i>. He died to take the <i>punishment</i> for the <i>sins</i> of all people everywhere.


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We can be sure that we have become people who know Christ. And I want to tell you how we can be sure. It is when we obey his rules. 


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Someone may say, ‘I know Christ.’ If he does not obey Christ’s rules, that person is <i>lying</i>. He does not know him. He has not obeyed the <i>truth</i> which he tells us in his rules. 


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But we should do the things that Christ said. Then we will show that we love God. By this we know that we <i>live</i> in him. 


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<i>Dear</i> Christian <i>brothers</i>, love each other. When I say this, I am not giving you a new rule. It is the old rule that you had for a long time. We gave it to you when you began to obey Christ. You have already heard this message. 


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But there is something new about it. The life of Christ shows us that this rule is new. Your lives also show that it is new. The life of Christ shows us the <i>truth</i> about God. And this <i>truth</i> is already shining in your lives. It is like a light that people can see. You did bad things before. They are like the dark, which is becoming less and less. 


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A person may say that he is in the light. He says that he obeys God. But, he may <i>hate</i> another Christian. Then he is still living as if he were in the dark. 


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Whoever loves other Christians is living in the light. He never causes other Christians to <i>sin</i>. 


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But a person may not love other Christians. He is like someone who is living in the dark. He does wrong things and he does not know God’s rules. Because he does not know God’s rules, he is like a <i>blind</i> person. He cannot see where he is going.


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<i>Dear children</i>, I am writing to you because God has <i>forgiven</i> all your <i>sins</i>. God did this because of Christ. 


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I am writing to you who are like <i>fathers</i>. I am writing to you because you have known Christ for a long time. He was before the world began. I am writing to you who are like young men because you have beaten <i>Satan</i>. I write to you, my <i>children</i>. I am writing to you because you have become people who know God, our Father. 


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I write to you, <i>fathers</i>, because you know Jesus Christ. He was before the world began. I write to you young men because you are <i>trusting</i> Christ well. God’s word is always in your minds and you have beaten <i>Satan</i>.


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Whoever loves the wrong <i>values</i> of this <i>world</i> cannot also love God our Father. So I tell all of you, do not love the wrong <i>values</i> of this <i>world</i>. 


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When people only want to <i>please</i> themselves, this is wrong. Sometimes people want to have all the things that they see. This is wrong. Sometimes people want to tell other people what great things they have done. Sometimes they want to tell them how rich they are. This is also wrong. None of these ideas comes from the Father. They come from loving the wrong things in this world. 


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God has begun to destroy the wrong things in this world. Those who want bad things will die. But those who do what God wants will live for ever.


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<i>Dear children</i>, the world will soon end. You have heard that the <i>enemy of Christ</i> will appear. You now see that many <i>enemies of Christ</i> have already appeared. This shows us that the world really will soon end. 


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These <i>enemies of Christ</i> who used to be in our group no longer meet with us. They never really were Christians. If they had really been Christians, they would have remained with us. But they left. And so they showed that they were never really Christians. 


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You do know that it is true. That is why I am writing this letter to you. Yes, you can be sure that the <i>truth</i> does not include anything false.


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I will tell you who is the worst <i>liar</i>. It is the person who says that Jesus is not the <i>Christ</i>. When a person says that, he is refusing to believe in the Father of Jesus. He also refuses to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Anyone who talks like this is the <i>enemy of Christ</i>. 


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Whoever believes that Jesus is the Son of God is <i>united</i> to God the Father. Whoever refuses to believe this is not <i>united</i> to the Father. 


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Always remember what you first heard about Christ. If you always remember that message you will remain <i>united</i> to God the Son and his Father. 


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Some people are trying to lead you away from what is true. I am writing these things to you about those people. 


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But the <i>Holy Spirit</i>, whom Christ gave, is still in you. So, you do not need anyone else to teach you what is true. The same <i>Holy Spirit</i> shows you all the things that are true. There is nothing false in what he shows you. So, I say to you, remain <i>united</i> to Christ. Remain <i>united</i> to Christ as the <i>Holy Spirit</i> has told you to do.


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<i>Dear children</i>, remain <i>united</i> to Christ. Then, when he comes back to this world, we will be brave. We will not be afraid to meet him. 


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Christ does what <i>pleases</i> God. You know that. So you should know that everyone who <i>pleases</i> God is his child. <n>John tells Christians that they must live “in the light”. He means that they should do everything that God wants. They must love each other. If they live like this, they will be like Jesus. People will see Jesus shining through them, like a light. The <i>Devil</i> (Satan) is trying to make them do bad things. Then they would be like a person who is living in the dark. But believers in Jesus can do what God wants. God’s word shows them how to live. Then they can win the fight with Satan. The light of Jesus beats the dark of Satan. Satan rules “the <i>world</i>” (the world of people who do not know God. They do not obey what Jesus Christ taught). People who are <i>united</i> with Christ are God’s children. They do not believe what the false teachers say. <n>Some people say that they are Christians. But they do not believe in Jesus. They do not believe that he is the <i>Christ</i>, the Son of God. They do not know God. They do not know what is true. They do not have the life of Jesus in them. They do not have <i>eternal life</i>. 


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Think about how much God the Father loves us. He calls us his children. And we really have become children of God. The people of this world do not know God as Father. So they do not understand that we are his children. 


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<i>Dear</i> friends, we are already children of God. We do not know yet what we will become in the future. We do know that Christ will return to this world. Then we will see what he really is. And then we will become like him. 


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Christ does not <i>sin</i>. So everyone of you who hopes to become like Christ ought to keep himself clean from <i>sin</i>.


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If a person continues to <i>sin</i>, he is choosing not to obey God’s rules. <i>Sin</i> is when we choose not to obey God. 


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You know that Jesus came into the world so that he might take away our <i>sins</i>. You know that he has never <i>sinned</i>. 


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A person who is <i>united</i> to Christ does not go on <i>sinning</i>. But if a person goes on <i>sinning</i>, he really does not know Christ at all. He does not understand who Christ is.


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<i>Dear children</i>, be careful not to make this mistake. Do not let anyone lead you away from the <i>truth</i>. God sees as good only those people who do good things. People like that <i>please</i> God as Jesus Christ <i>pleases</i> God. 


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But some people go on doing what is wrong. Those people belong to the <i>Devil</i>. The <i>Devil</i> has been doing wrong things from the start. This is why the Son of God came. He came to destroy everything that the <i>Devil</i> had done.


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No person who is a child of God should continue to <i>sin</i>. This is because God has given him a new life. He cannot continue to <i>sin</i>, because he is a child of God. 


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This is how we know who are the children of God. And this is how we know who are the children of the <i>Devil</i>. Some people do not do what is right. They are not his children. And people who do not love other Christians are not God’s children.


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Since you began to obey Christ, you have heard God’s message. He says that we should love each other. 


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We should not be like Cain. He belonged to the <i>Devil</i>. He did things that were wrong. He even killed his brother. His brother did things that <i>pleased</i> God. That is why Cain killed him.


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We know that we are no longer like dead people. We have become people who have life from God. We know this because we are now loving our Christian <i>brothers</i>. If someone does not love other Christians, he is still like a dead person. 


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Some people <i>hate</i> other people. Anyone like that is like someone who kills people. You know that a person like that does not have the <i>eternal life</i>.


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This is how we know what love is. Christ gave his own life and he died for us. This shows us how we should really love other people. We ought to give our lives for other Christians. 


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Think about someone who has enough to buy all that he needs. That person knows another Christian. The other Christian does not have enough to buy all that he needs. He may refuse to help that poor Christian. Then he cannot say that he has God’s love for that other Christian. 


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<i>Dear children</i>, let us not only show love for each other by what we say. Let us show love by really helping each other.


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Then we will know that we really belong to God. We will be doing what is true. This will make us not afraid to come to God. 


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Our thoughts may say that we are bad. But God knows much more than we know in our thoughts. God knows everything.


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<i>Dear</i> friends, our thoughts may not say that we are bad. Then we are not afraid to come to God. 


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And God gives us everything that we ask. He does this because we obey his rules. And we do what <i>pleases</i> him. 


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He said that we must do this. We must believe that Jesus Christ is his Son. And we should love each other, as he said. 


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Anyone who obeys God’s rules is <i>united</i> to God. And God is <i>united</i> to him. God sent his Spirit to live in us. So we know that God is <i>united</i> to us. <n>Christians should love their Christian <i>brothers</i> and <i>sisters</i>. They should even be ready to die to save them. Their love will show the <i>world</i> that God lives in them. They have his Spirit. His Spirit helps us to do what God wants us to do. This <i>pleases</i> God. 


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<i>Dear</i> friends, many people are travelling about who say that they have the <i>Holy Spirit</i>. But they are saying what is false. The messages that they give do not come from God. So, find out if the <i>Holy Spirit</i> gave them the message. If not, do not believe their message.


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You can know that a person has the <i>Spirit of God</i> in him. This is how you can know it. Ask him if Jesus Christ came into the world as a human baby. If he says ‘Yes’, he has the <i>Spirit of God</i>. He belongs to God. 


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But some people say that Jesus did not come as a human baby. And anyone who says that does not have the <i>Spirit of God</i>. That person has a false <i>spirit</i> from the <i>enemy of Christ</i>. You have heard that this false <i>spirit</i> was coming to this world. And it is already in the world.


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But, <i>dear children</i>, God has sent you. You have shown that these people are wrong. You have been able to do this because the <i>Holy Spirit</i> in you is powerful. He is more powerful than the <i>spirit</i> who rules the <i>world</i>. 


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Those wrong people do not know God. They are people of this <i>world</i>. So, they teach like other people who do not know God. So the people of this <i>world</i> believe what they teach. 


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But God has sent us. Everyone who knows God believes our message. But anyone whom God has not sent will not believe it. By this, we know if a person has the <i>Spirit of God</i>. A person may teach the <i>truth</i> that the <i>Holy Spirit</i> teaches. Then he believes our message. There is a different <i>spirit</i>, which teaches false things. Anyone with that <i>spirit</i> does not believe our message.


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<i>Dear</i> friends, we should all continue to love each other. God makes us able to love other people. So, everyone who loves other people is a child of God. And he knows God. 


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Anyone who does not love other people does not know God. We know this because God shows his love in everything that he does. 


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This is how God showed his love for us. He sent his only Son into the world, so that we could have <i>eternal life</i> because of him. 


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We did not love God first. Rather, he loved us first. He sent his Son to die, to take away our <i>sins</i>. 


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Nobody has ever seen God. But, if we love each other, he really lives in us. And he can love people completely in us. 


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God has given us his <i>Holy Spirit</i>. Because of this, we know that we are <i>united</i> to God. And we know that he is <i>united</i> to us. 


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We have seen that God the Father sent his Son to this world. Jesus saves the people of the world. We tell everybody that this is true. 


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Anyone who tells people that Jesus is the Son of God is <i>united</i> to God. God is also <i>united</i> to that person. 


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And we know well that God loves us. We also <i>trust</i> him to love us all the time. God always shows love. If a person continues to love God and people, he is <i>united</i> to God. And God is <i>united</i> to him.


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This is how God loves people completely in us. Then, we will be safe on the day when God will <i>judge</i> all people. We can be sure about this. We have remained <i>united</i> to God, as Jesus did. So, we will not be afraid on that day. 


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Any person who knows that God loves him will not be afraid of God. This love causes us not to be afraid. Some people are afraid of God. They think that he will <i>punish</i> them. So, if someone is afraid of God, he is not completely <i>trusting</i> God. He is not completely <i>trusting</i> that God loves him.


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Think about someone who <i>hates</i> other Christians. That person may say that he loves God. If he says that, he is telling a <i>lie</i>. He does not love the Christian that he can see. So, he cannot love God that he has not seen. 


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So this is what God has told us to do. He has told us that anyone who loves God should also love other Christians. <n>It is very important to know the difference between true <i>spirits</i> and false <i>spirits</i>. Some teachers say that Jesus was not really a man. They do not have God’s Spirit. What they teach is false. The love of God is not in them. God gives us his love, so that we can love him. He gives us love for other Christians, too. 


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Whoever believes that Jesus is the <i>Christ</i> is a child of God. We may love someone who is a father. If we do, we will also love the child of that person. 


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This is how we know that we really love the children of God. We know it when we love God and obey his words. 


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Because, if we really love God, we will obey his words. And, it is not difficult for us to obey his words. 


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This is how we can refuse to live like people of this <i>world</i>. It is by believing in Jesus Christ. 


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Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God can refuse to live like the people of this <i>world</i>. Nobody else can.


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Jesus Christ is the person who came to this world from God's home. John <i>baptised</i> him in water. When Jesus died, his blood flowed out. He showed that he was human not only by his <i>baptism</i> in water. He showed it also when his blood flowed out. The <i>Holy Spirit</i> shows us that these things are true. He always says what is true. 


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These <i>signs</i> are the <i>Holy Spirit</i>, the water and the blood. These <i>signs</i> all show us the same thing. 


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People tell us about things that they know. And we believe them. God is more important than man. And he has told us about things that he knows. He has told us about his Son. So we should believe his word.


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Someone will believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Then he really will know that these things are true. But someone may not believe what God has said. So he is saying that God does not tell the <i>truth</i>. God is telling us about his own Son. But, this man still does not believe God. 


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So if anyone is <i>united</i> to the Son of God, he has this <i>eternal life</i>. But anyone who is not <i>united</i> to the Son of God does not have <i>eternal life</i>.


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I have written these things to you who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I wanted you to know that you have <i>eternal life</i>. 


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Also, we can be sure of this. We may ask God for something. Then we can be sure that he hears us. Yes, if we ask for something that he wants us to have, he will never refuse us. We can be sure about this. 


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We know that he hears us when we ask him. So, he will give us whatever we ask. We can be sure about that.


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One Christian may know that another Christian is <i>sinning</i>. So he should <i>pray</i> to God about it. That person may not be doing something wrong that would cause him to die. Then God will answer your <i>prayer</i>. God will cause that person to live. I am only talking about a person who has done something that will not cause him to die. There is a <i>sin</i> that will cause a person to die. I am not saying that you should <i>pray</i> about that. 


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Any wrong thing that a person does is <i>sin</i> against God. But there are <i>sins</i> which do not cause people to die.


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We know that no child of God continues to <i>sin</i>. Instead, the Son of God keeps him safe. The <i>Devil</i> cannot do something bad to a child of God. 


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We know that we are God’s children. And we know that the <i>Devil</i> rules all those of this <i>world</i>. 


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We also know that the Son of God has come into the world. He gives us understanding so that we know the only true God. We are <i>united</i> to this true God, and to his Son, Jesus Christ. There is no other true God. He is the only person who can give people <i>eternal life</i>. 


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<i>Dear children</i>, be careful not to have anything to do with false gods. <n>John is writing this letter to help Christians to know God better. John wants them to be sure that they have <i>eternal life</i>. God will give them the good things that he chooses for them. They can ask him, and he will listen. God will save them from the <i>Devil</i>. God will help them to do what is good.


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I, the Church leader, am writing this letter to you, <i>dear lady</i>. God has chosen you and your children. I really love all of you. I am not the only person who really loves you. Everyone else who knows the true message about God also really loves you. 


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I love all of you because we know this true message. We will always know it. It remains with us for ever. 


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As we know this <i>truth</i> and love each other, God will do good things for us. God our Father and his Son Jesus Christ will give us <i>grace</i>. God will be kind to us and he will help us to live in <i>peace</i>.


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I was very happy to hear about some of your children. They are doing what God wants us to do. They really are doing what God our Father told us to do. 


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And now, <i>dear lady</i>, I will ask you to do something. It is that we should love one another. This is not a new rule. This is a rule that we had from the beginning. 


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We show our love for God when we obey his rules. So, love each other, as he told us from the beginning.


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I say this because many false teachers are travelling about. They say many wrong things. They say that Jesus Christ did not come to this world as a human baby. If a person says that, he is a <i>liar</i> and an <i>enemy of Christ</i>. 


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So, watch and be careful. Then you will not believe what they teach. If you do, you will lose what you have worked for. Instead, make sure that you receive all that God has promised you. 


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Remember this. Perhaps a person is not happy with what Christ taught. And if he includes his own ideas, he does not have God. Other people continue to believe what Christ taught. Those people are <i>united</i> to both God the Father and his Son. 


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Someone may come to your house who does not teach the same things. Do not receive that person into your house. Do not receive him as a Christian. 


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If you receive a person like that as a Christian, you are helping him to do wrong. You also are doing wrong.


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I would like to tell you many more things, but I do not want to write them in a letter. Instead, I hope to come and visit you. I want us to be together so that we can talk. Then we will be completely happy. 


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The children of your <i>dear sister</i> whom God has chosen send their love. <n>Some people think that the words ‘lady’ &amp; ‘sister’ in verse 1 and verse 13 mean the churches in two places.


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My <i>dear</i> friend, I ask God to give you good health. Your <i>spirit</i> is well. I hope that you may do as well in everything. 


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I was very happy when I heard news about you. Some Christians arrived. And they told me that you are living as you should live. I know that you will continue to live like that. 


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It makes me really happy when I hear news like that about my <i>children</i>. I am happy when they are really living properly.


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My <i>dear</i> friend, you have done many things to help other Christians. You help those who travel about and teach about Jesus Christ. You do this even when they are strangers to you. This shows that you really <i>trust</i> Christ. 


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These people that you helped have told the Christians here about your love. I say to you, ‘Continue to help people who are like that.’ Give them what they need to travel. This <i>pleases</i> God. 


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Because these people are travelling about to tell about Jesus Christ. They do not take help from those that are not Christians. 


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So, we Christians ought to receive them. And we should give them what they need. So we will work together with them as they tell people the true message about Christ.


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I wrote to the Christians in your town. But Diotrephes refuses to read to them what I wrote. He wants to be the only important person among them. 


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So, when I come, I will speak to the Christians there about this. Diotrephes is saying false and bad things about me to other people. He is doing something worse than that. He refuses to receive Christians from other places when you meet together. He will not let them teach the Christians in your town. And, if someone wants to receive those travelling Christians, he does not let them. He even sends away those who want to receive them.


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My <i>dear</i> friend, do not copy bad people. Instead, you should copy what good people do. The person who does good things is a child of God. But the person who does bad things does not know God.


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All Christians say that Demetrius is a good person. He really lives as God wants. And this shows that he is a good person. I also tell you that he is a good person. And whatever things I say about anyone are true. You know that.


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Instead, I hope to come and visit you soon. Then we can talk together. <n>I <i>pray</i> that God will give you <i>peace</i>. All your Christian friends here say hello to you. Say hello for me to each of my friends there.


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This letter is from me, Jude. I am Jesus Christ’s servant and I am James’s brother. I am writing to you people that God, the Father, loves. God has chosen you to be his own people, and he is keeping you safe for Jesus Christ. <n>Verse 1 Most people think that Jude (also called Judas) was Jesus’ brother. James and Jude were two of Jesus’ four brothers (see Mark 6:3). James became a leader of the Christians at Jerusalem (see Galatians 1:19; 2:9 and Acts 15:13). <n>But, in his letter, Jude does not say that he was Jesus’ brother. He thought about himself as Jesus’ servant. Jesus became his Master. Jude wanted people to obey Jesus. He did not want people to think that he himself was very important. 


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I want you to know more and more how very kind God is to you. I pray that he will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves more and more. And I want you to know more and more how much God loves you.


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My friends that I love, I was wanting very much to write to you. I was wanting to write about how God has saved all of us. But instead, now I must write to you about something else. I must ask you very strongly to be like people who fight to keep God’s true message safe. You must not let anyone stop you believing it. You must not let anyone stop you obeying it. God has given this true message to his people, and his message will never change.


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I say this because certain bad men have come among you secretly. Those men do not want to obey God. Instead, they do whatever bad things they want to do. ‘God lets us do these things because he is so very kind’, they say. So they are trying to change God’s true message. And, because they do these things, they are turning away from our only Master and <i>Lord</i>, Jesus Christ. Many years ago, people wrote that God would <i>punish</i> this kind of bad people. <n>Verse 4 The false teachers may have travelled from place to place. They said that they believed Christ. But the things that they did were not right. <n>Examples from the <i>Old Testament</i> to show that God <i>punishes</i> bad people</n>


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I want to tell you again about certain things. You know these facts already, but I want you to remember them. Remember how the <i>Lord</i> brought Israel’s people out of the country called Egypt. At that time, he saved them. But later he destroyed all those people who did not believe him. 


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Also, remember the <i>angels</i> who refused to obey God. They took authority that God had not given to them. They left their own proper place in <i>heaven</i>. So God has tied them up for always. He has put them in the dark place below. He will keep them there until that great day when he will decide about everyone. He will decide what should happen to everyone in the world.


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Also, remember the cities called Sodom and Gomorrah, and the other cities that were near them. The people who lived in those cities were doing bad things also, like those bad <i>angels</i>. They were having sex with people who were not their husbands or their wives. They were wanting very much to have sex in ways that are not right. God is <i>punishing</i> those people. He has put them into the fire that never stops burning. And that shows us what will happen to bad people like them. <n>Verse 5 Israel’s people were slaves in Egypt. God saved them when Moses led them out. But most of them did not believe God. So they did not go into the land that God had promised them. Instead, they died before they arrived there. (See Numbers 14:1-37 and 26:64-65.) <n>Verse 6 Some of the <i>angels</i> in <i>heaven</i> thought that they were very important. So they stopped obeying God and they left <i>heaven</i>. (See Genesis 6:1-4; Luke 10:18 and Revelation 12:7–9.) <n>Verse 7 Jude uses Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of places where people did bad things. (See Genesis 18:20 and 19:1-29.) 


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These people who have come among you are doing the same kind of bad things. Because of their dreams, they do wrong things with their bodies. They refuse God’s authority. And they say bad things about the beautiful, good <i>angels</i>. 


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Even Michael, who was one of the most important <i>angels</i>, did not speak bad words like that about the <i>Devil</i>. Many, many years ago, Michael was arguing with the <i>Devil</i> about who should have Moses’ body. But Michael did not think that he himself was important enough to speak bad words to the <i>Devil</i>. Instead, Michael said only this: ‘The <i>Lord</i> must tell you that you are wrong.’ 


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But these men speak bad words against anything that they do not understand. They are like animals that cannot think. They do the things that their nature causes them to do. And those are the things that destroy them. <n>Verse 9 Deuteronomy 34:5–6 tells us about when Moses died. <n>Three more examples from the <i>Old Testament</i></n>


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Very bad things will happen to these false teachers. They have done the same kind of things as Cain did. Also, like Balaam, they wanted money so much that they have rushed to do wrong things. And, like Korah, they have refused to obey God, so God will destroy them. <n>Verse 11 Cain killed his brother Abel. (See Genesis 4:1-16; Hebrews 11:4 and 1 John 3:12.) <n>Balaam caused Israel’s people to do bad things. (See Numbers chapters 22-25; Deuteronomy 23:4-5 and Revelation 2:14.) <n>Korah thought that he himself was very important. He thought that he knew better than Moses. He refused to obey what God had told Moses. (See Numbers 16:1-35.) <n>The false teachers are very dangerous</n>


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When you Christians meet as friends to eat special meals together, these false teachers meet with you. But they come only because they want to eat and to drink. They do not think about God or about other people. They think about themselves only, and they are not ashamed about that. They are like dangerous rocks in the sea that a ship must stay away from. They are like clouds that bring no rain. The wind just carries those clouds along. They are like trees that have no fruit, even at the right season for fruit. People pull trees like that out of the ground. So it is like those trees have died twice. <n>Verse 12 It is not completely clear what the word for ‘dangerous rocks’ in this verse means. Instead of ‘rocks’, the word could mean ‘dirty marks’. So the false teachers are like dirty marks among the good, clean Christians at their special meals together. 


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Those false teachers are like the water in the sea that moves very much during a storm. That water brings up a lot of dirt to the top of the sea. That dirt is like a picture of all the bad, dirty things that those people do. Those false teachers are like stars that have moved away from their proper places in the sky. So God has prepared a completely black, dark place for them, where they will have to stay always.


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Enoch belonged to the seventh (number 7) family that was born after Adam. Enoch spoke about people like these false teachers also. He said: ‘Look, the <i>Lord</i> will come with thousands and thousands of his completely good <i>angels</i>. 


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He will decide what should happen to all people. He will decide to <i>punish</i> all the bad people who have refused to obey him. He will <i>punish</i> them because of all the bad things that they have done against him. He will <i>punish</i> them because of all the bad words that they have spoken against him.’ <n>Verse 14 Enoch was a man who lived many, many years ago. He made God happy. (See Genesis 5:3-18, 24.) These words that Enoch wrote are not in the Bible. Enoch wrote them in a book called ‘The Book of Enoch’. 


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These people are always saying that they themselves are not happy about things. They are always saying that other people have done things wrong. But they do whatever bad things they want to do. They speak great things about themselves, to show how important they are. But they say good things about other people only when they want something from those people. <n>Jude tells the Christians what they must do</n>


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But remember, my friends, what the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ’s special teachers said before. They spoke about what would happen in future times. 


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They said this to you: ‘In the last times, some people will think that God and God’s rules are not important. They will say that it is silly to obey God. They will not want to obey him. Instead, they will do whatever bad things they want to do.’ 


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It is these people who cause you Christians not to agree with each other. They cause you to belong to separate groups. These people let the things that belong to this world rule them. They do what they want to do. They do not have God’s Spirit in them. <n>Verse 18 The ‘last times’ is the time before Jesus returns to the earth. 


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But you, my friends, have believed the message that comes from God himself. And you must do everything that you can to believe it more and more strongly. You must help each other to believe it. Let God’s Spirit lead you when you pray. 


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Always remember that God loves you. So you should love and obey him always. And you should love other people. Love like this while you wait for our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ to come. He will cause you to live with him always, because he is so very kind.


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Some people are not completely sure whether God’s message is really true. You must be kind to those people and you must try to help them. 


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Some people are turning away from God and they are doing bad things. If they turn away completely, God will <i>punish</i> them in the fire. So you must try to stop those people. Then you will save them, because you will pull them out of the fire. <n>Verse 23 See also verse 7. This describes how God <i>punishes</i> bad people like this in the fire. <n>There are other people that you must try to help also. They are like people with very dirty clothes, because of all the bad, dirty things that they do. But you must be very careful, so that they do not lead you away from God. You must be careful like someone who will not even touch those people’s dirty clothes. <n>Jude says how great and powerful God is</n>


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God is able to keep you safe so that you do not go the wrong way. He is able to make you completely good and clean inside yourselves. And so he can bring you near to himself. You will come near to the beautiful light that shines from him. You will stand in front of God, who is so very great and good. And you will be very, very happy. 


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He is the only God. He saves us by our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. So everyone should thank him always! Everyone should say how very great he is always! He has had all power and authority and he has ruled since time began, until now. And he will have all power and authority always! This is true.


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This letter is from me, Paul. I am a servant of Christ Jesus. God chose me to be a special worker and teacher on his behalf. He sent me to tell his good news to people. 


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God promised this good news before by his <i>prophets</i>. They wrote about it in the <i>Old Testament</i>. 


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This good news is about God’s Son, who is Jesus Christ, our <i>Lord</i>. He was born in the human way from David’s family. But God showed clearly, by his completely good Spirit, that Jesus was his powerful Son. God showed that when he raised Jesus. God raised him, so that Jesus became alive again after his death. 


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It is because of Jesus Christ that God so kindly chose me to be a special worker on his behalf. God sent me so that people from all countries would believe and obey Christ. And I do this work to show how great Christ is. 


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And you people also are among those people that God has chosen to belong to Jesus Christ. <n>Verse 3 David was a great king of Israel, about 1000 years before Jesus lived on earth. 


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I am writing to all you Christians who are at Rome. God loves you and he has chosen you to be his own people. I pray that God, our Father, and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. I pray that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. <n>Paul wants to visit Rome</n>


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First, I thank my God, by Jesus Christ, because of all of you. Everywhere in the world, people are talking about how you believe Christ. 


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I obey God with my <i>spirit</i> while I tell people the good news about his Son. And God himself knows that I never stop praying on your behalf. 


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Every time that I pray, I remember you. I ask God that, after all this time, he will make it possible for me to visit you soon. That will happen if God wants it.


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I want very much to visit you so that I can give some gift from God’s Spirit to you. That will help you to believe Christ more strongly. 


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I mean that I want both you and I to help each other. You believe Christ, and I believe Christ. So we can help each other to believe Christ more strongly. 


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I want you to know, my friends, that I have tried often to visit you. But until now, something has always stopped me. I want to do good work among you that will have good results. I want to work like that, as I have done among other <i>Gentiles</i>.


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I must tell the good news about Christ to people, whether they speak the Greek language or not. I must tell it to people, whether they have studied much or not. 


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So then, I want very much to tell the good news also to you people who live at Rome. <n>Verse 14 At that time, many people who worked in businesses spoke the Greek language. Everyone thought that those people were clever and important. And they thought that other, foreign, people were not so clever or important. So, Paul is saying that he must tell the good news to all kinds of people. <n>The good news is powerful</n>


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I am not ashamed about the good news, because it is powerful. By the good news, God powerfully saves everyone who believes it. First, God saves the <i>Jews</i> who believe it. Then he saves the <i>Gentiles</i> who believe it. 


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The good news explains how God makes people right with himself. God accepts people as right with himself only when they believe Christ. It is as the <i>Old Testament</i> says: <n>‘The person that I have accepted will live. <n>Those people will live because they believe me.’ <n>[Habakkuk 2:4] <n>Verse 17 These words from Habakkuk are also in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. It is very important to believe God. See also Hebrews 11:6. <n>God is angry with all people because they have not obeyed him</n>


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God is showing clearly, from <i>heaven</i>, that he is angry with people. He is angry with people who do not obey him. He is angry against all the wrong things that those people do. The wrong things that those people do stop other people from knowing the true things about God. 


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Ever since God made the world, he has been showing people clearly about himself. We cannot see God. But the things that he has made show us what he is like. They show us that he will always be completely powerful. And they show us that only he is God. So nobody can say: ‘We never knew about God.’


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People knew what God is like. But they did not remember how great he is. They did not think that it was important to obey him. Nor did they thank him. Instead, they began to think silly thoughts. And they became unable to understand the things that God wanted them to know. 


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They said that they themselves were clever. They said that they understood many things. But really, they became fools. 


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They refused to <i>worship</i> the great and good God who can never die. Instead, they made and <i>worshipped</i> false gods. Their false gods were like human people, who must die. Also, their false gods were like birds, animals and snakes.


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So God let those people become like slaves to bad, dirty things. They became unable to stop doing the dirty things that they wanted so much to do. And, as a result, they do bad, dirty things with each other’s bodies. They do things that people should be ashamed to do. 


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They refused to believe the true things about God. Instead, they chose to believe something that is not true. They <i>worshipped</i> things that God has made. They became servants of those things. But they refused to <i>worship</i> God, who made all things. He is the God that everyone ought to <i>worship</i>. Everyone should say how very great he is always! This is true.


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So, God let those people become like slaves to the bad things that they wanted very much to do. But people should be ashamed about those things. Even their women stopped having sex with their husbands, which is proper. And instead, they began to have sex with other women, which is not proper. 


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Also, the men stopped having sex with women. Instead, they wanted very, very much to have sex with other men. Men did very wrong things with other men. They did things that people should be ashamed about. As a result, God has <i>punished</i> those men themselves, as he ought to <i>punish</i> them. He ought to <i>punish</i> them because of the wrong things that they have done.


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Those people decided that God was not worth anything to them. They thought that it was not important to know God. So God let them become unable to think right and proper thoughts. And, as a result, they do things that people ought not to do. 


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They are always wanting very much to do all kinds of wrong and bad things. They want things that belong to other people. They want to do bad things to other people. They <i>hate</i> people because they themselves want to be like those people. They kill people. They quarrel and fight with people. They are not honest or kind. They talk about people when they should not talk about them. 


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They say bad things against people. They <i>hate</i> God. They are not polite to other people. They think that they themselves are very important. They say how important and clever they themselves are. They think of new ways to do bad things. They do not obey their parents.


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They do not understand the difference between what is right or wrong. They do not do what they have promised to do. They do not even want to be kind to anyone. They do not want to help anyone. 


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These people know what God has said. People who do bad things like this ought to die. God has said that clearly. But still these people continue to do these kinds of bad things. Also, they are even happy when other people do these bad things.


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So each one of you who decides about other people must be careful. You say that other people have done wrong things. You say that God should <i>punish</i> those people. But God will not excuse you yourself, because you do the same things too. So really you are saying that God should <i>punish</i> you also. 


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God is right and fair when he decides to <i>punish</i> people. We know that. He is right to <i>punish</i> people who do those kind of things.


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You say that God should <i>punish</i> other people because of wrong things. But you yourself do the same things. So certainly, you should not think that you will get away from God. Certainly, he will <i>punish</i> you also. 


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God is very, very kind and patient with us. He waits a very long time before he <i>punishes</i> us. You should not forget how very kind he is. You should understand why he is being so kind to you. He is giving you a chance to change, so that you turn away from wrong things.


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But you refuse to change. You refuse to be sorry about the wrong things that you have done. So, you are causing God to become even angrier with you. And he will <i>punish</i> you even more on that great day. On that day, he will show how angry he is. He will show what he has decided about each person. He decides fairly about all people. He decides what should happen to them. 


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God will give to each person what they ought to have. That will be because of the things that they have done.


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Some people continue patiently to do good things, because they are thinking about God. They are wanting to live always with God, who is so great and so good. And God will cause those people to live with him always. 


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But other people think only about themselves. They refuse to obey the things that are true. Instead, they do things that are wrong. So, God will be very angry with those people and he will <i>punish</i> them. 


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God will cause very much trouble and pain for every person who does bad things. He will do that first to the <i>Jews</i>, and he will do it also to the <i>Gentiles</i>. 


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But God will be very good to every person who does good things. He will cause those people to live with him and he will make them great. He will do that first to the <i>Jews</i>, and he will do it also to the <i>Gentiles</i>. 


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God is always fair when he decides about people. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person.


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The <i>Gentiles</i> do not know Moses’ rules (the rules that God gave to the <i>Jews</i> by Moses). If <i>Gentiles</i> do wrong things, they must be separate from God for always. But God will not use Moses’ rules when he decides about the <i>Gentiles</i>. The <i>Jews</i> do know Moses’ rules. So, if <i>Jews</i> do wrong things, God will use those rules to decide about them. 


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God does not accept people as right with himself because they know Moses’ rules. No! God accepts only those people who obey those rules. <n>Verse 12 Exodus chapters 19-31 and 34 describe the time when God gave his rules to Moses. 


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The <i>Gentiles</i> do not know Moses’ rules. But they can still do the right things that those rules say. They do right things because of what they themselves think. So, they are showing that they themselves know certain rules. They do not know Moses’ rules, but they do know some good rules in themselves. 


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The <i>Gentiles</i> know deep inside themselves the things that are right. The things that they do show this. And those are the same things that Moses’ rules say. Also, each person is able to know the difference between what is right or wrong. Sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did what is wrong.’ And sometimes their thoughts say: ‘You did what is right.’


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This is what will happen on that day. On that day, God will show what he has decided about people. He decides what should happen to them. And he will decide, by Christ Jesus, as a result of what people think secretly. This is part of the good news that I tell people. <n>The <i>Jews</i> and God’s rules</n>


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Now I want to say this to each of you <i>Jews</i>. You say about yourself: ‘I am a <i>Jew</i>.’ You know the rules that God gave by Moses. And, as a result, you believe that God will be good to you. You say that you belong to God’s own, special people. So you think that you are very important. 


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You know what God wants people to do. You are able to know which things are good. You know that because you have learned Moses’ rules. 


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You are sure that you yourself can show the true things about God to other people. You can show the right way to people who cannot see. You can be like a light to people who are in the dark. 


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You are sure that you can teach fools. You can teach people who still need to learn very much. You are sure that, because of Moses’ rules, you know everything completely. You know everything that is true. That is what you think.


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You teach other people, but you ought also to teach yourself. You tell other people: ‘Do not rob anyone.’ So, you yourself should never rob anyone. 


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You say: ‘People should not have sex with anyone who is not their own wife or husband.’ So, you yourself should never have sex with anyone who is not your wife or husband. You say: ‘I <i>hate</i> false gods. People should not <i>worship</i> false gods.’ So, you yourself should never rob places where people <i>worship</i> false gods. 


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You know the rules that God gave by Moses. So, you say that you are very important. But you do not obey those rules. And, as a result, you cause other people to speak against God. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘Because of you <i>Jews</i>, the <i>Gentiles</i> say bad things about God.’ [Isaiah 52:5] [Ezekiel 36:22] <n>God does not accept people only because of a mark on their bodies</n>


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You, who are a <i>Jew</i>, should obey Moses’ rules. Then it is good that someone has <i>circumcised</i> you. But if you do not obey those rules, then it is worth nothing. Then it is worth nothing that someone has <i>circumcised</i> you. To God, you become like someone that nobody has ever <i>circumcised</i>. 


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But a <i>Gentile</i>, that nobody has ever <i>circumcised</i>, may obey what Moses’ rules say. So then, to God, that <i>Gentile</i> will become like a person that someone has <i>circumcised</i>. <n>Verses 25-29 To ‘<i>circumcise</i>’ means to cut off the skin that covers the end of a boy’s or man’s sex part. God told Abraham to do this. (See Genesis 17:9-14.) Israel’s people (the <i>Jews</i>) <i>circumcised</i> men and boys like this to show that they belonged to God. It was like a picture, to show that they were separate from bad things. 


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Nobody has <i>circumcised</i> the <i>Gentiles</i>. But if they obey God’s rules, the <i>Gentiles</i> are showing something clearly about you <i>Jews</i>. They are showing that you are wrong. You <i>Jews</i> know Moses’ rules because your people have written them down. Also, someone has <i>circumcised</i> you. But if you do not obey Moses’ rules, God is still right to <i>punish</i> you. 


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Not everyone who seems to be a <i>Jew</i> is really a <i>Jew</i>. God does not accept a man because someone has <i>circumcised</i> that man’s body. 


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No! A true <i>Jew</i> is someone who is a <i>Jew</i> inside himself. A true <i>Jew</i> is a person that God has <i>circumcised</i> deep inside, in their <i>spirit</i>. God’s Spirit does that work in a person. Rules that people have written down cannot do that work in a person. Other people may not think that this kind of person is great or special. But God is very happy about a person that his Spirit has <i>circumcised</i>.


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So someone may ask: ‘Does it help a person if they are a <i>Jew</i> rather than a <i>Gentile</i>?’ Or: ‘Does it help a person if someone has <i>circumcised</i> them?’ 


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Yes, certainly it helps very much. The most important reason is that God chose to give his messages to the <i>Jews</i>. He wanted the <i>Jews</i> to believe and to obey his messages. 


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Some of the <i>Jews</i> did not believe or obey God’s messages. They did not do what they had promised to do. That is true. So, you may ask: ‘Will that stop God from doing what he promised to do?’ 


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No, certainly it will not stop God! God always says what is true. Every person in this world may say things that are not true. But God will always do what he has promised to do. As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Everything that you (God) say will show people about you. <n>Certainly, your words will show everyone that you are right. <n>People may say that you are wrong. <n>nbsp; But you will win against what they say. <n>It will be clear that you are right.’ <n>[Psalm 51:4] 


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Maybe some people will say this: ‘The wrong things that we do help to show something about God. They help to show more clearly to people how good and right God is. So, perhaps we could say that God is wrong to <i>punish</i> us.’ 


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No, certainly he is not wrong! God always decides what is right and fair. That is why he will decide about all the people in the world. He will decide what should happen to them.


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Someone might say: ‘I do not always do the things that I have promised to do. But because I am like that, it shows something about God. God always does what he has promised to do. It shows that more clearly to people. And, as a result, people will say even more how great and good God is. So, God should not still decide to <i>punish</i> me. He should not <i>punish</i> me because of the wrong things that I do.’ 


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It would be the same to say: ‘We should do bad things so that they may cause this kind of good result.’ Some people say that I teach this. So, they are saying things about me that are not true. And it is right that God should <i>punish</i> those people. <n>Nobody is right with God</n>


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So then, we cannot say that we <i>Jews</i> are any better than other people. No, certainly we cannot say that! I have said already that nobody, neither <i>Jews</i> nor <i>Gentiles</i>, can stop themselves being <i>sinful</i>. All of them are completely unable to stop being <i>sinful</i>. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘There is nobody who is right with God. <n>There is not even one person who is like that.


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All people have turned away from God. <n>All people have become completely bad. <n>Nobody does what is good. <n>There is not even one person who is like that. <n><n>[Psalm 14:1-3] <n>[Psalm 53:1-3] [Ecclesiastes 7:20] 


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They say very bad things, that cause death. <n>They say things that are not true. <n>And they cause other people to believe those things. <n>[Psalm 5:9] <n>The things that they say are like snakes’ poison. <n>[Psalm 140:3] 


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They are always saying bad things <n>because they want to cause trouble for people. <n>They say bad things against people because they <i>hate</i> people. <n>[Psalm 10:7] 


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They are never afraid because of how great and powerful God is. <n>They never think that it is important to obey God.’ <n>[Psalm 36:1] 


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God told the <i>Jews</i> to obey everything that his rules said. We know that. So nobody, neither <i>Jew</i> nor <i>Gentile</i>, can say: ‘There is a good reason why God should not <i>punish</i> me.’ God has decided that he ought to <i>punish</i> everyone in the world. 


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Nobody can become completely right with God because they have obeyed Moses’ rules. Those rules only cause people to know clearly how <i>sinful</i> they themselves are. <n>How God accepts people as right with himself</n>


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But now God has shown the way that he will accept people as right with himself. This way does not need Moses’ rules. But Moses’ rules, and the <i>prophets</i>’ messages, told us about this new way. 


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God accepts people as right with himself because they believe Jesus Christ. God does this for every person who believes Christ. There is no difference between people. 


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All people are the same because all of them are <i>sinful</i>. They are not good and great, as God wanted them to be.


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But because God is so very kind, he accepts people as right with himself. That is God’s gift, which people do not have to pay for. God accepts us as right with himself by Christ Jesus, who bought us, to make us free. 


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God chose to offer Christ as a <i>sacrifice</i> so that he could <i>forgive sinful</i> people. God sent Christ to bleed and to die. And, as a result, God <i>forgives</i> people who believe Christ. God did this to show clearly that he is always completely right and fair. In past times, God did not <i>punish</i> people who were doing wrong things. 


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He did not <i>punish</i> them because he is so patient. But now God has given Christ, to show, at this time, that he is completely right and fair. God did this to show that he accepts people as right with himself. If any person believes Jesus, God accepts that person as right.


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So then, nobody has any reason to say that they themselves are good enough to make God happy. Nobody becomes right with God because they have obeyed rules. No! God accepts a person only if that person believes Christ. 


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So, this is what we are saying. A person becomes right with God if that person believes Christ. God does not accept anyone because they obey Moses’ rules.


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There is only one God. He will accept Jews as right with himself if they believe Christ. And he will accept other people as right with himself if they believe Christ.


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So, people can only become right with God if they believe Christ. But we do not mean that Moses’ rules have no purpose. No, we do not mean that! Instead, we are showing the true purpose of those rules.


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God did not accept Abraham because Abraham had done good things. If God had done that, then Abraham would have been able to say great things about himself. He would have been able to say how good he himself was. But Abraham had no reason to say that to God. 


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Remember what the <i>Old Testament</i> says. It says: ‘Abraham believed God and, as a result, God accepted Abraham as right with himself.’ [Genesis 15:6] <n>Verses 1-3 Genesis chapters 12-22 tell us about how Abraham believed God. 


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When a person works to get money, he ought to receive his money. Nobody thinks that the money is a gift. It is what that person ought to receive as a result of his work. 


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But nobody can do any work that will make himself right with God. Instead, he must believe God, who accepts bad people as right with himself. And because a person believes God, then God will accept that person as right. 


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David also wrote about the same thing. He described how happy God can cause people to be. God will accept people as right with himself even when they have not done good things. 


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David says: <n>‘Those people that God has <i>forgiven</i> are really happy. <n>They have not always obeyed God, but he has <i>forgiven</i> them. <n>God has taken away the wrong things that those people have done.


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A person is really happy when the <i>Lord</i> accepts him. <n>Because the <i>Lord</i> will not continue to remember the wrong things that the person has done. <n><n>[Psalm 32:1-2] 


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All people can be really happy like this, whether they are <i>Jews</i> or not. God told only the <i>Jews</i> to <i>circumcise</i> each other. He did not tell the people who are not <i>Jews</i> to <i>circumcise</i> each other. But God will accept any person. God accepted Abraham as right with him because Abraham believed God. That is what we have been saying.


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Think about the time when God accepted Abraham as right with him. It did not happen after someone had <i>circumcised</i> Abraham. No! God accepted Abraham before anyone had <i>circumcised</i> him. 


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At the time when nobody had <i>circumcised</i> Abraham, God accepted Abraham as right with him. God accepted Abraham because Abraham believed him. Then later, God told Abraham that someone should <i>circumcise</i> him. That was a mark, to show certainly that God had accepted Abraham as right with him. As a result, Abraham became the father of all people who believe God. God accepts all those people as right with him, even when nobody has <i>circumcised</i> them. 


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Also, Abraham is the father of all <i>Jews</i> who, like Abraham, believe God. Someone has <i>circumcised</i> those <i>Jews</i>, but they are also copying Abraham’s example. They are believing God, as Abraham believed before anyone had <i>circumcised</i> him. <n>Verses 10-11 See Genesis 17:1-14. 


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God promised to Abraham, and to all his children and grandchildren, that the world would be theirs. God did not promise that because Abraham obeyed rules. Instead, God promised it because Abraham believed him. And so, God accepted Abraham. <n>Verse 13 Genesis 22:17-18 shows us what God promised to Abraham. 


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People cannot get what God promised because they obey rules. If they could get it like that, then it would be worth nothing to believe God. And what God promised would be worth nothing. 


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Moses’ rules say that God will <i>punish</i> people. He will <i>punish</i> people who do not obey those rules. But without any rules, there is nothing to say which things are wrong.


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So, people must believe God. Then they can receive what God has promised. God gives us what he has promised as a gift. He gives it because he is so very kind. He gives that gift to all of Abraham’s people. God does not give it only to people who obey Moses’ rules. Instead, God gives it to all people who believe him, as Abraham believed. Abraham is the father of all of us who believe God. 


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The <i>Old Testament</i> says that God spoke to Abraham. ‘I have chosen that you will become the father of people from many countries’, God said. [Genesis 17:5] God himself promised this to Abraham, who believed him. Abraham believed God, who causes dead people to become alive again. God speaks, and he causes things to be. He causes things to be that were not there before.


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Abraham continued to believe God. He continued to hope for what God had promised. He continued to hope even when he had no good reason to hope. That is why he became the father of people from many countries. It happened as God had said. ‘You will have many, many grandchildren,’ God had said. [Genesis 15:5] 


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Abraham was about 100 years old. His body was already so old that it was nearly dead. Abraham knew that. Also, he knew that Sarah could not have children. But still Abraham did not stop believing God. 


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Abraham never stopped believing what God had promised. Instead, he believed God strongly. And he thanked God because of what God would do. 


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Abraham was completely sure about what God had promised. God is able to do what he has promised to do. Abraham was sure about that. 


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So, because Abraham believed God like this, ‘God accepted Abraham as right with him.’ [Genesis 15:6] 


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These words in the <i>Old Testament</i>, ‘God accepted him as right’ are not only speaking about Abraham. 


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They are speaking also about us. If we believe God, he will accept us as right with him. We must believe that God raised our <i>Lord</i> Jesus. God raised Jesus, so that he became alive again after his death. 


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God sent Jesus to die because of the wrong things that we have done. And God raised Jesus so that we could become right with God.


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So now God has accepted us as right because we believe him. And, as a result, we are friends with God because of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. 


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Also, Jesus Christ has caused us to know how very good and kind God is. He has done that because we believe him. And we know that God is continuing to be very kind to us. Also, we are hoping certainly to live always with God, who is so very great and good. We are sure that we will live with him always. So, we are very happy.


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Also, we are happy even when we have troubles and pain. Because we know that troubles and pain help us to become patient and brave. 


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And when we are patient and brave, we become stronger inside ourselves. We learn to know better what is the right thing to do. And so, God is happy about us. When we make God happy like this, it causes us to hope certainly. We hope for what God has promised. 


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And if we hope like this, we will never be sorry. God has given his Spirit to us. And God’s Spirit has caused us to know, deep inside ourselves, how very much God loves us. So, we will never be sorry about what we hoped for.


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While we were unable to help ourselves, Christ died on behalf of us. At the right time, Christ died on behalf of people who did not know God. 


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It is not often that someone will die on behalf of another person. Even if that other person always did right things, very few people would die on behalf of that person. Maybe someone might be brave enough to die on behalf of a person who is very good and kind. 


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But Christ died on behalf of us while we were still <i>sinful</i>. In that way, God has shown us how much he loves us.


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So now, because Christ died, God accepts us as right with himself. And even more certainly, Christ will save us so that God will not <i>punish</i> us for always. 


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While we were still God’s enemies, God’s Son died. He died so that we could become God’s friends. So, even more certainly, now that we are God’s friends, his Son will save us. Christ will save us because he is alive. 


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But that is not everything! Also, we are very happy because of what God has done on our behalf by our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. It is because of Christ that we have now become God’s friends. <n>Adam and Christ</n>


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It was because of one man, Adam, that <i>sin</i> came into the world. And because Adam did not obey God, he died. So, as a result, all people died, because all of them failed to obey God. 


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Before God gave his rules to Moses, the people in the world were <i>sinful</i>. But at that time, there were no rules from God to say that certain things were right or wrong. So, God did not continue to remember the wrong things that people did during that time. 


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But still, from the time when Adam lived until the time when Moses lived, all people were dead to God. Adam died because he chose not to obey God’s rule. Other people may have failed to obey God in different ways from Adam, but even those people died. <n>Verses 12-14 ‘Die’ here means that Adam, and all people, died in their <i>spirits</i>. They became dead to God. They could not really know God. They could not be God’s friends. <n>Adam was like a picture of that person who would come at a future time. Adam shows us something like the person who would come. 


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But God’s free gift is not like the wrong thing that Adam did. Many people died because that one man did not obey God. But what God has done is much greater and more powerful than that! God has caused many people to know how very, very good and kind he is to them. Many people have received God’s gift because of one man, Jesus Christ, who is so very kind.


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Also, the result of God’s gift is different from the result of the wrong thing that Adam did. Adam chose not to obey God once and, as a result, all people became <i>sinful</i>. So, God decided that he ought to <i>punish</i> all people. But the result of God’s gift is that he accepts people as right with him. People have done many wrong things, not only one wrong thing, but still God accepts them as right with him. 


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One man did not obey God. And so, all people died because of that one man. But what that other man, Jesus Christ, did is much, much greater! Because of him, people can become right with God. They receive that great gift from God because he is so very, very good and kind. And, as a result, those people will live always and they will rule with Christ.


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So, that wrong thing that one man, Adam, did caused all people to become <i>sinful</i>. And, as a result, God decided that he ought to <i>punish</i> all people. But that right thing that one man, Christ, did makes people free. It makes all those people who believe him free. People can become right with God, and so those people can really live. 


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One man did not obey God and, as a result, many people became <i>sinful</i>. But, because one man obeyed God, many people will become right with God.


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As a result of Moses’ rules, people saw that they were doing wrong things. But while people did more and more wrong things, God continued to be even kinder. 


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So then, all people became <i>sinful</i> and, as a result, they died. But all people can become right with God because he is so very kind. And, as a result, they will live always with God, because of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ.


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Someone might say: ‘Perhaps we should continue to do wrong things. So then, God can continue to be even kinder to us.’ 


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No! Certainly we should not do that! We have died to our old, <i>sinful</i> lives. So it is not right that we continue to do wrong things. 


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When God baptised us, to make us united with Christ Jesus, he baptised us into Christ’s death. Certainly, you should know this. 


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So, because God baptised us into Christ’s death, he buried us with Christ. And God, the Father, will also raise us, as he raised Christ. The Father is so great and powerful that he raised Christ, to make him alive again after his death. And he raises us too, so that we can live a new life. <n>Verses 3-4 To baptise means ‘to put a person or a thing completely into something else (for example, into water)’. When God ‘baptises’ us into Christ, he ‘puts us into’ Christ. He makes us completely united with Christ in our <i>spirits</i>. So, in our <i>spirits</i>, we die with Christ and then we rise again, to live with him. So, we have a new nature, a new life, because of Christ. (See also, for example, Colossians 2:12.) <n>Christian baptism is like a picture of this. They put a believer into water or they put water on a Christian. It is like a picture of what God does in our <i>spirits</i>. 


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We have become united with Christ in his death. So certainly, we will also become united with him in his new life. We will rise, to become alive again, as Christ rose. 


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We know that God has caused our old lives to die with Christ on the cross. This happened so that God could destroy our <i>sinful</i> nature, that caused us not to obey him. So, as a result, we are not like slaves, who cannot stop doing wrong things, any more. 


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God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. And he will never die again. We know that. Death has no authority over him any more. 


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When he died, he became dead to <i>sin</i> for always. And now that he is alive again, he lives only to make God happy. 


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So, you also should think about yourselves as people who are dead. You are dead to <i>sin</i>. And you live now to make God happy, because you are united with Christ Jesus.


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So, do not let yourselves do wrong things. Do not let those things rule your bodies, which must certainly die. Do not obey the wrong things that your bodies may want to do. 


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Do not let any part of yourselves do wrong things. Do not use any part of yourselves for bad purposes. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, because you are alive to him. You were dead, but now you are alive. Give every part of yourselves to God, so that you can do right things. 


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<i>Sin</i> has no authority over you any more. You are not trying any more to obey rules so that God will accept you. Instead, God has made you free to live for him, because he is so very good and kind. <n>God’s people should be slaves to good things</n>


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But someone might say: ‘We do not have to obey Moses’ rules any more. Instead, God is saving us because he is so very kind. So, perhaps it does not matter if we do wrong things.’ No! Certainly, that is not true! 


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When you give yourselves completely to someone as slaves, to obey him, then you will really become that person’s slaves. You should know that. You are either slaves to <i>sin</i>, and, as a result, you will die. Or you are God’s slaves, who obey him. And, as a result, God will accept you as right with him. 


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Before, you were slaves to <i>sin</i>. But then you really obeyed the true things about Christ that people taught you. So, we should thank God because of that! 


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It is difficult for people to understand these things. So, I am speaking about slaves to help you to understand. Before, you gave every part of yourselves completely to do wrong and dirty things. You were like slaves, who continued to do more and more wrong things. So now, you should give every part of yourselves to do right things. Then you will live only for God, as his own special people.


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You did things that you are ashamed about now. But those things did not help you. The result of those things will be that you must die. 


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But now God has made you free from <i>sin</i>. You have become God’s slaves. That is helping you because God is making you completely good and clean. And the result will be that you will live with him always.


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People who work receive money as a result of their work. In the same way, people who do not obey God have to die as a result. But those people who are united with Christ Jesus, our <i>Lord</i> have God’s gift. God’s gift to them is that he causes them to live with him always. <n>Verse 21 Again, ‘you must die’ means that you must be separate from God for always. (See 5:12-14.) 


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My friends, you are people who know about governments’ rules. So certainly, you should understand what I am going to say. Rules have authority over a person only while that person is alive. 


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For example, a woman who has married a husband must obey certain rules. That woman must continue to be her husband’s wife while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she becomes free from that rule about her husband. 


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So, that woman must not give herself to another man while her husband is still alive. She must not have sex with a man who is not her husband. If she does that, then people will call her a bad woman. But if her husband dies, she becomes free from that rule. So, as a result, if she marries another man then, she will not be doing anything wrong.


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My friends, it is like that for you also. Moses’ rules do not have authority over you any more, because you have become dead to them. You have died with Christ’s body. Now you are free to belong to someone else. You belong to Christ, whom God raised, to make him alive again after his death. And so, as a result, we can do good things that will make God happy. 


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When our <i>sinful</i> human nature was ruling us, we were wanting very much to do wrong things. Moses’ rules said that certain things were wrong. But, in our bodies, we wanted to do those wrong things. And, as a result, we did bad things that lead to death. 


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But now we have become free from the rules that God gave to Moses. We have died to those rules, which were making us like people in prison. So now we are not still trying to obey rules that someone has written down. We are not trying to be God’s servants in the old way like that. Instead, we are God’s servants in a new way, because we obey his Spirit. <n>Moses’ rules show us that we are <i>sinful</i></n>


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Maybe someone might say: ‘The rules that God gave to Moses are themselves bad.’ No! Certainly, they are not bad! Without those rules, I would not have known which things were wrong. Moses’ rules say: ‘You must not want things that are other people’s.’ Without that rule, I would not have known that it is wrong to want other people’s things. 


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But, because I was <i>sinful</i>, that rule gave me the chance to start wanting all kinds of wrong things. Rules tell us which things are wrong. So, without any rules, nobody can do anything wrong. <n>Verse 7 See Exodus 20:14–17 and Deuteronomy 5:18–21. 


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There was a time when I did not know Moses’ rules. During that time, I was living without any rules. But later, I learned what Moses’ rules said. And, as a result, I began to want wrong things. 


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And so I died. God gave his rules so that people could live. But instead, those rules caused me to die. 


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Because I was <i>sinful</i>, Moses’ rules gave me the chance to do something wrong. I died as a result of Moses’ rules because I was <i>sinful</i>.


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So then, the rules that God gave to Moses are completely good. Every rule that God gave is completely good and right. He gave every rule to help people. 


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So, maybe someone will say: ‘This means that something good caused you to die.’ No! Certainly, it did not do that! I died as a result of Moses’ rules because I was <i>sinful</i>. I did not die because of those rules themselves. God’s rules are good. They only showed what it is really like to be <i>sinful</i>. God’s rules help to show clearly how very, very bad it is to be <i>sinful</i>. <n>We cannot obey God’s rules</n>


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The rules that God gave to Moses are <i>spiritual</i>. We know that. But I am human. I am like a slave because <i>sin</i> has authority over me. 


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I do not understand what I do. I do not do the things that I want to do. Instead, I do the things that I <i>hate</i>. 


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I do not want to do the wrong things that I do. So, this shows something about me. I am agreeing that God’s rules are good. It shows that. 


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So, it is not really I myself who am doing these wrong things. Instead, it is <i>sin</i> that lives in me. <i>Sin</i> makes me do wrong things.


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There is nothing good in me, in the human person that I am. I know that. I want to do what is good. But I am unable to do it. 


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I do not do the good things that I want to do. Instead, I continue to do the bad things that I do not want to do. 


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I do not want to do the things that I do. So this shows something about me. It is not really I myself who am doing these bad things. Instead, it is <i>sin</i> that lives in me. <i>Sin</i> makes me do bad things.


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So, it is clear that what always happens is this. When I want to do good things, I am able only to do bad things. 


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So, my mind tells me to obey God’s rules. But I know also that something else always happens in me. Something in every part of me fights against what my mind tells me. It rules what my body does. It makes me like a slave, because I cannot stop being <i>sinful</i>. 


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This makes me so very sad! I need someone to make me free from this body, which is causing me to die. 


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I thank God that, because of Jesus Christ, our <i>Lord</i>, I can be free! <n>So then, with my mind I myself want to obey God’s rules. But, at the same time, the human person that I am cannot stop being <i>sinful</i>.


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So now God will never decide that Christ’s people are not good enough. God will never say that about people who are united with Christ Jesus. He will never decide that he should <i>punish</i> them for always. 


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The reason is that God’s Spirit has made me free. God’s Spirit, who causes us to live because of Christ Jesus, has made me free. God’s Spirit makes me free so that I can stop being <i>sinful</i>. He makes me free from the power of death.


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The rules that God gave to Moses could not make us free like this. Those rules could not make us free because we human people were too weak to obey them. But God has done what those rules could not do. God sent his own Son as a human person like us. God sent his Son to be a <i>sacrifice</i> on behalf of us <i>sinful</i> people. God <i>punished</i> his Son instead of us, so that we do not have to be <i>sinful</i> any more. 


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God did this so that we could be right with him. The purpose of Moses’ rules was that we should be right with God. And now we can be right, if we obey God’s Spirit. We must live by the <i>power</i> that God’s Spirit gives to us. We must not live by our own human <i>power</i>.


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People who live by their own human <i>power</i> are always thinking about human things. They are always thinking about what they themselves understand. But people who obey God’s Spirit are always thinking about God. They want to do the things that God’s Spirit wants. 


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People who let their human thoughts rule them will die. But people who think about what God’s Spirit wants will live. They will live because they are God’s friends. And they will be without trouble inside themselves. 


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A person who always lets his own human thoughts rule him will be God’s enemy. A person like that does not obey what God has said. A person who thinks like that is not even able to obey God. 


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But you are not living by your own human <i>power</i>. Instead, you are obeying God’s Spirit, if his Spirit is really living in you. If anyone does not have Christ’s Spirit in them, that person does not belong to Christ. 


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But, if Christ is in you, your <i>spirit</i> is alive. Your <i>spirit</i> is alive because Christ has made you right with God. But your body must still die because you have been <i>sinful</i>. 


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The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus, to make him alive again after his death, lives in you. So God, who raised Christ from death, will also cause your human bodies to live. God will cause your bodies to live by his Spirit, who lives in you.


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So, my friends, there is something that we have to do. We must be careful not to live by our own human <i>power</i>. 


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If you live by your own human <i>power</i>, you will die. Instead, you should live by the <i>power</i> of God’s Spirit. Then you will continue to stop doing the wrong things that your bodies want to do. And, as a result, you will live.


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Because the Spirit that God has given to you does not make you like slaves again. He does not make you slaves who cannot stop being afraid. Instead, the Spirit that God has given to you causes you to become God’s children. He makes us able to shout to God: ‘You are my Father.’ 


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God’s Spirit himself causes us to know certainly what we know by our own <i>spirits</i>. We know that we are God’s children. 


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And because we are God’s children, we will also receive good things from him. We will receive the things that God has prepared for his children. Also, together with Christ, we will receive the things that God has kept for him. We will receive these things if we agree to have troubles and pain, as Christ did. So then, as a result, we will also live always with God, who is so great and so good. <n>God has prepared great things for his people</n>


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During this time now, we have troubles and pain. But I am sure that these troubles are not really very important. They are not really important because God has prepared much, much better things for us. He is keeping these great and good things for us. And when we think about these great things, our troubles now do not seem important. 


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All things that God has made are waiting for a future time. They want that time to come very much. At that time, God will show them who his sons really are.


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God has caused the things that he made to become without real purpose. Those things are unable really to have any purpose. They did not choose to become like that. It was God who caused them to become like that. God did that because he was thinking about that future, better time. 


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At that time, God will also cause the things that he has made to become free. They will be free from the power that causes them to become old and to finish. They will be free to enjoy great things from God, as God’s children are free.


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All the things that God has made have been waiting until now. We know that. They have been waiting like a woman who is ready to have a baby. She cries because of her pain before she has her baby. 


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And it is not only those other things in the world that are waiting like that. But we ourselves, who have received God’s Spirit as the first of his gifts to us, are also crying. We are crying deep inside ourselves, while we wait for God to finish making us his own children. We are waiting for God to make our bodies free.


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Ever since God saved us, we have continued to hope certainly for this. One day, we will see what we have hoped for. And then we will not need to hope for it any more. Nobody continues to hope for something that he has already. 


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God’s Spirit also helps us, because we are weak. We do not know how we ought to pray. But God’s Spirit himself prays on our behalf. He cries to God on our behalf in a way that nobody could say with words. 


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And God, who sees deep inside us, understands the Spirit. God sees completely what we are really like. And he understands what his Spirit is thinking. The Spirit prays on behalf of God’s people as God wants him to pray.


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God has good purposes for those people who love him. We know that. He uses everything that happens to them to bring good results on their behalf. He does this for those people that he has chosen. He has chosen his people to be what he wants them to be. 


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God had already chosen those people from the beginning. And he had decided that they should become like his Son. So then, as a result, his Son would be the first among many brothers. 


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God decided that those people would be like his Son. Also, he asked them to come to him. And after he had asked them to come to him, he made them right with himself. And when he had made them right with himself, he also caused them to become great. He made them great and good, in the same way that he himself is great and good. <n>Nothing can stop God and Christ from loving us</n>


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So, because of all these things, we can say this. If God is working on our behalf, nobody can really do anything against us, to beat us. 


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God did not even refuse to send his own Son. Instead, he gave his Son to die on behalf of all of us. So certainly, God will also be happy to give all things to us with his Son. 


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We are the people that God has chosen. Nobody can say that God’s people have done anything wrong. God himself has said that we are right with him. 


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So, nobody can say that God should still <i>punish</i> us. Nobody can say that, because Christ Jesus himself died on our behalf. Also, God raised Christ so that he became alive again after his death. And now Christ is sitting at God’s right side, and he himself is praying to God on our behalf. <n>Verse 34 Jesus sits ‘at the right side of God’. The right side (or right hand) is like a picture of the most important place. This means that Jesus rules with the same power and authority as God himself. 


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Nothing can make us separate from Christ, who loves us. We may have troubles. Things may happen to us that cause us to be very sad or afraid. Enemies may do bad things to us and hurt us. We may have no food or no clothes. There may be danger, or people may try to kill us. But none of these things can stop Christ from loving us. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Because we are your people, (God), <n>other people try to kill us all the time. <n>They think that we are worth no more than sheep. <n>Sheep that should go to the butcher so that he can kill them.’ <n>[Psalm 44:22] 


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But even if these troubles happen to us, we will always beat them completely. Christ has shown how much he loves us. And he makes us winners over every kind of trouble or problem. 


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Nothing can make us separate from God, who loves us. I am completely sure about that. Whether we are alive or dead, it does not matter. Neither <i>angels</i> nor bad <i>spirits</i> nor any other powerful <i>spirits</i> can stop God from loving us. Neither things that are now, nor future things, can stop him loving us. 


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Neither anything that is above the world, nor anything below the world, can stop him. There is nothing else in the whole world that can stop God from loving us. Christ Jesus, our <i>Lord</i>, causes us to know how much God loves us.


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What I am telling you now is true. I speak as someone who belongs to Christ. I am saying only what is true. I know the difference between what is right or wrong. And what I am saying is true. I know that. Also, God’s Spirit is agreeing that these things are true. 


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I tell you that I am very, very sad deep inside myself. I am like someone who has a lot of pain all the time. 


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I am sad because of all those people who, like me, belong to Israel’s people. They are my own people. They belong to the same big human family as I do. If it would help them, I would ask God to make me myself separate from Christ.


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They are Israel’s people, that God chose. He chose them to be his own children. He wanted to make them great, as his people should be. He made his <i>agreements</i> with them and he gave his rules to them. He showed them how they should <i>worship</i> him. He promised many good things to them. 


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It was their grandfathers that God chose to make great many years ago. And Christ himself, as a human person, belonged to Israel’s people. Christ is God over all things. Everyone should say always how very great he is! This is true! <n>Verse 5 The grandfathers of Israel’s people were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. See Genesis chapters 12-49. 


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God promised good things to Israel’s people. But I am not saying that God has not done those things. No, because it is clear that not all of Israel’s people are really God’s people. 


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Neither are all of Abraham’s children the people that God calls Abraham’s children. No, because God told Abraham: ‘Only Isaac’s children and grandchildren will be the people that I call your children.’ [Genesis 21:12] 


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This means that not all of Abraham’s human children are really God’s children. Instead, it is only those children who were born as a result of God’s promise. Only they are the people that God calls Abraham’s children. 


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God promised this to Abraham: ‘At the right time I will come back, and Sarah, your wife, will have a son.’ <n>Verse 9 See Genesis 17:21 and Genesis 18:10, 14. 


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And that is not everything. Later, Rebecca gave birth to two sons at the same time. Those children had the same father, who was our grandfather, Isaac. 


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And God spoke to Rebecca before her sons were born. God spoke before the boys had done anything either good or bad. God did this to show that he himself was choosing one child. He was choosing whoever he wanted to choose. God was not choosing someone because of what that person had done. God said to Rebecca: ‘The older son will be a servant of the younger son.’ [Genesis 25:23] 


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God said to Moses: ‘I will be kind to whoever I choose to be kind to. I will feel sorry for whoever I choose to feel sorry for.’ [Exodus 33:19] 


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So then, God does not choose people because they want him to choose them. Nor does God choose people because they try very much to make him happy. Instead, God chooses people only because he himself wants to be kind.


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The <i>Old Testament</i> says that God told Pharaoh (the king of Egypt): ‘This is why I caused you to be king. It was so that I might use you to show how powerful I am. It was so that all people everywhere might know about me.’ [Exodus 9:16] 


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So then, God is kind to whoever he chooses to be kind to. But he causes some people to refuse to listen to him. And he does that also to whoever he chooses. <n>God himself decides when he will be angry or kind</n>


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One of you may say to me: ‘God always does what he wants to do. Nobody can change that. Nobody can refuse to do what God has caused them to do. So, God should not still say that people have done wrong things.’ 


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But you are only a human person. You have no authority to say things like that about what God does. God has made you. And when somebody has made something, that thing has no authority over its maker. It has no authority to ask: ‘Why did you make me like this?’ 


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Somebody who makes pots has authority to make any kind of pots. He can make whatever kind of pots he chooses to make. He can use the same piece of clay to make different pots. He can make one pot for special, important purposes. And he can make another pot to use every day. <n>Verse 21 Clay is sticky material from the ground. 


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What God has done is like this also. God wants to show how angry he can be with people. And he wants people to know how powerful he is. But he was very, very patient, for a long time, with those people who caused him to be angry. Those are the people that God was ready to destroy. 


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God waited patiently so that he could show how very, very great and good he is. He wanted to show that to those people that he has chosen to be kind to. God has already prepared those people to live with him in that beautiful place where he lives. 


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We are the people that God has chosen to be his people. It is not only <i>Jews</i> that he has chosen. He has also chosen people who are not <i>Jews</i>. 


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As God says in the book of Hosea: <n>‘I will say to the people who were not mine: <n>“You are my people.” <n>I will say to the people that I did not love: <n>“I love you.” ’ <n>[Hosea 2:23] 


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And: <n>‘In the same place where I said to them: <n>“You are not my people”, it will happen like this. <n>In that same place, people will say: <n>“You are sons of God, who is alive.” ’ <n>[Hosea 1:10] 


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Also, Isaiah shouted this about Israel’s people: <n>‘There are so many of Israel’s people, <n>that they are like the bits of sand at the edge of the sea. <n>But God will save only a few of them.


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The <i>Lord</i> will not waste time <n>when he decides about the people on the earth. <n>He will finish that work quickly. <n>And he will <i>punish</i> people completely.’ <n>[Isaiah 10:22-23] 


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It is as Isaiah said before: <n>‘The <i>Lord</i>, who has authority over everything, <n>has let some of our children live. <n>If he had not done that, <n>then we would have become like the people in Sodom and Gomorrah.’ <n>[Isaiah 1:9] <n>Verse 29 See Genesis 19:1-29. Sodom and Gomorrah were small towns. The people who lived there completely refused to obey God. So, in the end, God destroyed those towns. 


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So, we must think about what all this means. The <i>Gentiles</i> were not trying to become right with God. But they have become right with God. God has accepted them as right with himself, because they have believed Christ. 


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But Israel’s people were trying to become right with God. They were trying to obey God’s rules. But they failed to become right with God. 


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They failed because they refused to believe Christ. Instead, they were trying to do certain things so that God would accept them. They fell down because of that ‘stone which causes people to fall’. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Look, I am putting a stone in Zion. <n>This stone will cause people to knock their feet against it, <n>so that they fall. <n>It is a rock that will make them fall down. <n>But any person who believes him will never be ashamed. <n>That person will never be sorry that they believed him.’ <n>[Isaiah 8:14] [Isaiah 28:16] <n>Verse 33 See also 1 Peter 2:6-8. ‘Rock’ is one of God’s names for Jesus. God knew that some people would love Jesus. He knew that other people would be against Jesus. <n>Zion is another name for Jerusalem city, either on earth or in <i>heaven</i>. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, was the place where Israel’s people built God’s house. 


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My Christian friends, I want God to save Israel’s people, who are my own people. I want that very, very much. I pray to God that he will save them. 


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I can say this about them, which is true. They really want to be God’s servants. But they do not understand the correct way to make him happy. 


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They did not want to know the way that God accepts people as right with himself. But instead, they tried to make their own way to become right with God. And so they refused to obey God’s way that would have made them right with him. 


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God gave his rules to Israel’s people for a purpose. But Christ has finished that purpose. He has caused those rules to come to an end. So now, every person who believes Christ becomes right with God. <n>God wants to save everyone</n>


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Moses wrote about how God’s rules could help people to be right with God. ‘If a person obeys all those rules then, as a result, he will live’, Moses said. [Leviticus 18:5] 


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But the <i>Old Testament</i> speaks also about how to become right with God because you believe him. It says: ‘Do not say to yourself, “Someone will have to go up into <i>heaven</i>.” ’ [Deuteronomy 30:12] (That means: “Someone will have to bring Christ down.”) 


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‘Do not say to yourself either, “Someone will have to go down into the world below.” [Deuteronomy 30:13] (That means: “Someone will have to bring Christ up from the place where dead people are.”) 


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But instead, the <i>Old Testament</i> says: ‘God’s message is near you. You can speak about it. You can think about it and you can believe it.’ [Deuteronomy 30:14] The message is this – that people must believe Christ. And it is this message that we are teaching to people.


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This message explains how God will save you. It explains what you must do. You yourself must say very seriously to people: ‘Jesus is <i>Lord</i>.’ Also, you must believe deep inside yourself that God raised him, to make him alive again after his death. 


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We must believe this deep inside ourselves, and as a result, God will accept us as right with himself. We must tell people: ‘Jesus is <i>Lord</i>’, and as a result, God will save us. 


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Any person who believes him will never be ashamed. <n>That person will never be sorry that they believed him.’ <n>[Isaiah 28:16] 


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These words include everyone. There is no difference between <i>Jews</i> and people who are not <i>Jews</i>. The same <i>Lord</i> is the <i>Lord</i> of all of them. And he is very, very good to all people who ask him to help them. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘The <i>Lord</i> will save everyone who asks him to help them.’ <r [Joel 2:32] 


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But certainly, people cannot ask Christ to help them if they have not believed him. Certainly, they cannot believe him if they have not known about him. Certainly, they cannot know about him unless somebody goes to tell the message to them. 


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And certainly, nobody can go to tell the message to people unless God sends them. As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘When people arrive to tell good news, it is beautiful.’ [Isaiah 52:7] 


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But not every person who hears the good news obeys it. As Isaiah said: ‘<i>Lord</i>, it seems that nobody has believed our message.’ [Isaiah 53:1] 


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So then, people must hear the message before they can believe it. And someone must tell the message about Christ to people before they can hear it.


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But I say this: ‘Certainly, Israel’s people have heard that message.’ As the <i>Old Testament</i> says: <n>‘Their sound has reached to all the earth. <n>People have heard their message in every part of the world.’ <n>[Psalm 19:4] 


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Also, I say this: ‘Certainly, Israel’s people did understand the message.’ First, Moses wrote that God said this to them: <n>‘I will be good to people who are nothing, <n>so that you want very much to be like them. <n>I will make you angry because of people who know nothing.’ <n>[Deuteronomy 32:21] 


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Also, Isaiah is braver when he says: <n>‘God says: Those people who were not looking for me have found me. <n>I showed myself to people who were not asking, “Where is God?” ’ <n>[Isaiah 65:1] <n>Verse 20 Isaiah is speaking about the <i>Gentiles</i>. They were not waiting for Christ, nor did they know anything about him. But God, because he is kind, sent his good news to them. 


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But Isaiah says this about Israel’s people: <n>‘God says: For a very long time, <n>I have been asking my people to return to me. <n>But they refused to obey me. <n>They continued to do the things that I had told them not to do.’ <n>[Isaiah 65:2] <n>Verse 21 The <i>Jews</i> were waiting for Christ. The <i>Old Testament</i> told them that he would come. But when he came, they did not know him. See, for example, John 1:11. 


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So, I ask this: ‘Has God turned away completely from his people? Has he stopped wanting them to be his people?’ No, certainly, he has not done that! I myself belong to Israel’s people. I am a grandchild of Abraham and I belong to Benjamin’s family group. 


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God has not stopped wanting his people, that he chose from the beginning. Remember what the <i>Old Testament</i> says about Elijah. He was telling God how bad Israel’s people were. Elijah said: 


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‘<i>Lord</i>, they have killed your <i>prophets</i>. They have destroyed the places where people offered <i>sacrifices</i> to you. I am the only person alive who still believes you. And they are trying to kill me.’ [1 Kings 19:10] [1 Kings 19:14] 


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Remember that God answered him like this: ‘I have kept 7000 men for myself. Those men have not <i>worshipped</i> the false god Baal.’ [1 Kings 19:18] 


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It is the same at this time also. There is a small number of Israel’s people that God has chosen. He has chosen them because he is so very kind. 


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He has chosen them only because he himself is so very kind. He has not chosen them because of any good things that they have done. God does not choose people because of good things that they do. If he did, then the reason would not really be only because God is so very kind.


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So, we can say this: Israel’s people did not get what they were looking for. Instead, only those few people that God had chosen got it. And God caused all the other people of Israel to become unable to understand what he was saying. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘God caused them to be like people who are sleeping. <n>Even until this day, their eyes cannot really see, <n>and their ears cannot really hear.’ <n>[Deuteronomy 29:4] [Isaiah 29:10] 


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And David says: <n>‘I pray to God that he may catch those people at their meals together. <n>I pray that they will be like people who fall down. <n>I want God to <i>punish</i> them because of what they have done.


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I want their eyes to become dark so that they cannot see. <n>I want them to have many bad troubles always. <n>So then they will be like slaves who carry heavy things on their backs always.’ <n><n>[Psalm 69:22-23] 


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So, I ask this: ‘When Israel’s people failed to believe Christ, did they make themselves separate from God for always? No, certainly that did not happen! Instead, because they failed to believe, God is saving <i>Gentiles</i>. God began to save <i>Gentiles</i> so that Israel’s people would want him to save them too. 


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Israel’s people failed to believe Christ. So, as a result, God began to do very, very good things for the other people who live in the world. Israel’s people failed to receive what God wanted to give them. So, as a result, the <i>Gentiles</i> received good things from God and they became rich. That was the result when Israel’s people failed to obey God. And so, when enough of Israel’s people do obey God completely, how much better the result will be! <n>Verse 12 ‘Rich’ in this verse, does not mean rich with money or valuable things. It means to know God and to be friends with him. <n>Paul speaks to the <i>Gentiles</i></n>


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Now I am speaking to you <i>Gentiles</i>. God has sent me to be a special worker and teacher on Christ’s behalf. He has sent me to teach the good news about Christ to you <i>Gentiles</i>. And I thank him that he has given this important work to me. 


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I hope that maybe my work among you <i>Gentiles</i> will have good results also among my own people. Perhaps it will cause my own people to want God to save them too. So then, as a result, God will save some of them. 


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When God turned away from Israel’s people, then he brought other people in the world back to himself. He caused those other people to become friends with him. So, when God does accept Israel’s people, the result will be even better! It will be like he is causing dead people to become alive again!


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If someone offers the first piece of bread to God, then, as a result, all the bread will be God’s. If the <i>roots</i> of a tree belong to God, then, as a result, the branches are his also. 


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Israel’s people are like a farmer’s good olive tree. But God has broken off some of that tree’s branches. Instead, he has taken a branch from a wild olive tree. And he has put that wild branch into the good tree, to become part of that tree. You <i>Gentiles</i> are like that wild branch. And now you receive good things from the good tree’s <i>root</i>, to make you well and strong. 


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Israel’s people are like the branches that God broke off. But you must not think that you are better than those proper branches. If you do begin to think like that, then you should remember something. Remember that you are only a branch. You do not hold the <i>root</i> up and you do not make it strong. No, instead the <i>root</i> holds you up and it makes you strong. <n>Verses 17-18 Olives are small fruits. People make oil from them, which they use to cook food. <n>Roots are the parts of a tree that grow under the ground. 


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That is true. God broke them off because they did not believe Christ. And you continue to be part of the good tree because you do believe Christ. So, do not think that you yourself are more important than anyone else. Instead, be afraid. 


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God was not sorry for the proper branches and he did not let them stay in the tree. So, do not think that he will let you stay either. He will not be sorry for you if you stop believing him.


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So, you should understand this about God. He can be kind, but he can be quick to <i>punish</i> people also. He has <i>punished</i> Israel’s people, who failed to believe Christ. But he is kind to you, if you continue to believe him. If you do not continue to believe him, then he will cut you off from his tree. 


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And if Israel’s people will believe Christ, then God will accept them back again. God will put them back into the tree, because he is able to do that. 


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God cut you <i>Gentiles</i> from an olive tree that was wild. And he put you into the good olive tree, even when you did not belong to that tree before. So certainly, God will be even more ready to accept Israel’s people back. He will put them back into that tree, where they did belong before. <n>Verses 17-24 God put the ‘<i>root</i>’ there when he told Abraham to believe and obey him. From Abraham there came people who loved God and people who did not love God. Some <i>Jews</i> really loved God. They are the good ‘olive tree’ that Paul is talking about. The wild olive tree is like the <i>Gentiles</i>. <n>God will save Israel’s people</n>


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My Christian friends, I do not want you to think that you yourselves know everything. Instead, I want you to understand this secret that God has shown to us. Many of Israel’s people have refused to believe Christ. And they will continue to refuse him until God has finished saving <i>Gentiles</i>. God will save the whole number of <i>Gentiles</i> who will believe him. 


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Then God will save all Israel’s people. He will save them as it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘The one who makes his people free will come from Zion. <n>He will cause Jacob’s people to obey God.


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And I will make this <i>agreement</i> with them. <n>I will take away all the wrong things that they have done.’ <n>[Isaiah 59:20-21] [Isaiah 27:9] <n>Verse 26 Zion is another name for Jerusalem, God’s city, on earth or in <i>heaven</i>. (See, for example, Revelation 21:2.) ‘Jacob’s people’ means Israel’s people (the <i>Jews</i>). Jacob was Abraham’s grandson. 


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Israel’s people have become God’s enemies because they have refused to believe the good news about Christ. But, as a result, this has helped you <i>Gentiles</i>. It has given you the chance for God to save you. But God did choose Israel’s people. And he still loves them because of what he promised to their grandfathers. 


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God chose to give good things to Israel’s people. He chose them to be his own people. And when God chooses people, that fact will not change. The fact that he has chosen them will never change.


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In past times, you <i>Gentiles</i> did not obey God. But now, because Israel’s people refused to obey him, God has been very kind to you. 


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Israel’s people are not obeying God now, because God wanted to be very kind to you. But God will be very kind to them also. 


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God has caused all people to be like those who are in prison. They are in prison because they are not free to obey God. And, as a result, God will be very kind to all people.


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How very great and rich God is! He knows and understands all things! The things that God decides are very great. They are greater than anyone can explain. No human person can understand how God does things. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Nobody knows what the <i>Lord</i> thinks. <n>Nobody is able to tell him what he should do.’ <n>[Isaiah 40:13] 


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‘Nobody has ever given anything to him first, <n>so that he had a debt to pay to them.’ <n>[Job 41:11] 


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It is God who made all things. It is God who causes all things to continue. And the purpose of all things is to show how great God is. Everyone should say how very great God is always! This is true!


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My Christian friends, God has been so very good and kind to us. That is the reason why I am asking you very strongly to offer your bodies to him. Bring your bodies to him, as a <i>sacrifice</i> that is still alive. Give yourselves to him completely, so that he may be happy because of you. That is how you can really <i>worship</i> God. 


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Do not let yourselves be like the people who belong to this world. But instead, let God change how you think. Then you will become new people. You will be able to understand what God wants you to do. You will understand what is good. You will understand what makes God happy. And you will understand how to live completely as God wants you to live.


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God has given authority to me because he is so very kind. So, as a result, I say this to every one of you. Do not think that you yourself are better or more important than you really are. But instead, think about yourself properly, as you ought to think. Remember that God has caused each of you to believe him. And he has made each of you able to do certain things well, because you believe him. 


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Each of us has one body, but that body has many different parts. And all those parts do different things to help the body. 


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In the same way, we are many people but we are united to Christ like one body. And we belong to each other, like the different parts of one body belong to each other.


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God has given different gifts to each of us because he is so very kind to us. God gives a gift to some people so that they are able to speak his messages. So, those people should believe God when they speak his messages. And they should speak the messages that God has told to them. 


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God makes some people able to be like servants, who work for other people. So, those people should do that work. God makes another person able to teach. So, that person should teach.


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Another person may be able to help other people to be brave and strong. So, that person should help people like that. Another person may be able to give gifts to people. So, that person should be happy to give what he is able to give. God may have given authority to another person so that he can be a leader. So, that leader should be careful to do his work well. Another person may be able to be kind to people who need help. So, that person should be happy to be kind to people. <n>Really love people and help them</n>


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You must not only seem to love people, but instead you should really love them. <i>Hate</i> anything that is bad. Continue to do only the things that are good. 


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Love each other like brothers and sisters who belong to the same family. Each of you should think about the other Christians as more important than you yourself are. 


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Do not be lazy, but instead want very much to work on the <i>Lord</i>’s behalf. Continue to work on his behalf, as his servants, because you want very much to make him happy. 


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Be happy, because you can hope certainly for good things from God. Be patient when you have troubles. Whatever things may happen, always continue to pray. 


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If any of God’s people need anything, then help them. Give to them what you can give. Be ready to say ‘welcome’ to visitors and be happy to let them stay in your home.


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Ask God to be kind to people who cause trouble and pain for you. Yes, ask him to be kind; do not ask God to do bad things to those people. 


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Be kind to each other, and try always to agree and to be friends with each other. Do not think that you yourselves are better or more important than other people. Instead, be happy to be friends with people who are not great or important. Do not think that you yourselves know everything.


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If someone has done bad things to you, do not do bad things back to them. Try to do always what is good. So then all people will know that you do good things. 


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If it is possible, try always to be friends with other people. Try very much not to quarrel with other people. 


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My friends, if someone has done bad things to you, do not try to <i>punish</i> them yourselves. Instead, let God <i>punish</i> them, because it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘ “I am the one who will <i>punish</i> people. I will <i>punish</i> people who do bad things to you”, the <i>Lord</i> says.’ [Deuteronomy 32:35] 


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But you should do this: <n>‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him. <n>If he needs to drink, give him something to drink. <n>If you do these things, your enemy will become ashamed. <n>He will become sorry because of what he did to you.’ <n>[Proverbs 25:21-22] 


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Other people may do bad things, but do not let those bad things beat you. Instead, do good things. So then, as a result, you will be the winner over those bad things.


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Everyone must obey the government. Nobody has authority to rule unless God has given it to them. It is God who has given authority to those people to rule now. 


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God has chosen to give authority to the government. So, if a person refuses to obey the government, he is also refusing to obey God. And anyone who does that will cause God to <i>punish</i> them.


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People who do good things do not need to be afraid of the rulers. Only people who do bad things are afraid of the rulers. So, if you do not want to be afraid of a ruler, you must do good things. And then, as a result, the ruler will say that you are good. 


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Rulers are God’s servants, who work to help you. But if you do bad things, then you should be afraid of them. You should be afraid because they really do have authority to <i>punish</i> people. They are God’s servants, who <i>punish</i> people on God’s behalf. They <i>punish</i> people who do bad things. 


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So, you must obey those people who rule. You must obey them not only so that they do not <i>punish</i> you. But you must obey them also because it is right to obey them. And you yourselves know that it is right.


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This is also the reason why you should pay money to the government. You should pay because the rulers are God’s servants. And they continue to do the duties that God has given to them. 


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So, you must pay to each person what you ought to pay. If you should pay money to the government for any reason, pay it. Always do what is proper to those people who have authority. Remember that they are important. <n>Christians have a duty always to love people</n>


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Always pay your debts to people. You should have one debt only, which is this. You must always love each other. Anyone who loves other people has obeyed all of God’s rules.


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God’s rules say this: ‘Do not have sex with anyone who is not your own wife or your own husband. Do not kill anyone. Do not rob anyone. Do not want things that are other people’s.’ [Exodus 20:13-15] [Exodus 20:17] [Deuteronomy 5:17-21] All these rules, and all the other rules, are really only one rule. That one rule is: ‘Love every other person the same as you love yourself.’ [Leviticus 19:18] 


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If you love other people, you will never do anything bad to them. So, anyone who loves other people has obeyed all God’s rules.


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Do these things that I have just told you. Do them, because you know about this time now. It is time now that you should stop being asleep. It is time to wake up. The time when God will finish saving us is near. That time is nearer than when we first believed him. 


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The night has nearly finished and the day is almost here. So, we must stop doing the things that belong to the dark. Instead, we must prepare ourselves like soldiers who are ready to fight in the light.


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We must do what is right and good and honest. People who belong to the light ought to do those things. We must not go to bad parties and we must not be drunks. We must not have sex with anyone who is not our own wife or husband. We must not do wrong things with our bodies. We must not quarrel. We must not want to be like other people so much that we <i>hate</i> them. 


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But instead, you should put on the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. And stop thinking about any wrong things that, as a human person, you may want to do sometimes. <n>Verse 14 Christians need to ‘put off’ wrong things, like a person takes off dirty clothes. They need to ‘put on’ Jesus Christ, as someone puts on clean clothes. See, for example, Galatians 3:27. 


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Some Christians may not be completely sure whether it is right for them to do certain things. You should still be happy to have people like that among you. But do not argue with them about what they ought to do. 


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Some people believe that they may eat all kinds of food. But other people, who are not so sure, may eat vegetables only. 


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People who eat all kinds of food must not think that they are better. They must not think bad things about people who do not eat all kinds of food. Also, people who do not eat all foods must not decide that other people are wrong. They must not decide like that about people who do eat all foods. Nobody should think bad things like that about other people, because God himself has accepted both kinds of people.


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Nobody has any authority to decide about someone else’s servants. Nobody should decide that someone else’s servants are wrong. Only those servants’ own master has authority to decide whether his servants are right or wrong. But the <i>Lord</i> will continue to accept his servants, because he is able to help them. The <i>Lord</i> can make them strong, so that they continue to believe him.


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Some people think that certain days are special and more important than other days. Other people think that all days are the same. Each person should be completely sure himself about what seems right to him. 


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A person who makes a certain day special does that as the <i>Lord</i>’s servant. That person chooses that day to show how great the <i>Lord</i> is. A person who eats all kinds of food also does that as the <i>Lord</i>’s servant. He is thanking God for that food. A person who refuses to eat certain foods does that as the <i>Lord</i>’s servant. And he is thanking God also.


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While we live, our purpose is to make the <i>Lord</i> happy. And when we die, our purpose is to make the <i>Lord</i> happy. So, if we live, we are the <i>Lord</i>’s. And if we die, we are the <i>Lord</i>’s. 


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Christ died and then he rose, to become alive again, for this purpose. He did it so that he could be the <i>Lord</i> of all people. Whether people are dead or alive, Christ is their <i>Lord</i>.


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So then, other Christians may not do the same things as you yourself do. But none of you should think that other Christians are wrong because of that. None of you should think that you are better than other Christians. No, because all of us will have to stand in front of God. And God will show what he has decided about us. God decides whether each of us has done what is right or wrong. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘ “As certainly as the fact that I am alive, <n>this will happen”, the <i>Lord</i> says. <n>“It will happen that every person will bend their knees in front of me. <n>And every person will say that I am God.” ’ <n>[Isaiah 49:18] [Isaiah 45:23] 


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So, each one of us will have to explain to God about the things that we have done. <n>Do not cause other Christians to do anything wrong</n>


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So, we should stop deciding that other Christians are wrong. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that might stop another Christian from obeying God. Never do anything that might cause someone else to do something wrong. 


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There is no kind of food that is itself wrong for a person to eat. I know that. I am completely sure about it, as someone who is united with the <i>Lord</i> Jesus. But a person may believe that it is wrong to eat certain food. And so, for that person, it would be wrong if he did eat that food.


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You should not cause another Christian to be sad because of what you eat. If you do make him sad, then you are not really loving him. Do not let your food be a problem for another Christian, so that as a result he stops believing Christ. Remember that Christ died on behalf of that person. 


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You may think that something is good. But still you should not do it if it will cause people to say bad things about you. 


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We belong to God’s people, the people that he rules over. But it does not really matter what we eat. Neither does it matter what we drink. Instead, these are the things that really matter to God’s people. We should do what is right. We should be friends with God and with other people, and we should not cause trouble for other people. And we should be happy. God’s Spirit makes us able to do these things. 


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Anyone who does these things is Christ’s servant. And God will be happy with that person. Also, other people will say good things about that person.


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So then, we should try always to do those things that will help people to agree and to be friends. We should try to help each other so that we become stronger as God’s people. 


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Do not destroy what God has done, only because of your food. God lets us eat all kinds of food. But it is wrong to eat anything that will cause a problem for someone else. Do not cause anyone to do something that they believe to be wrong. 


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It is good not to do anything that might cause another person to become weaker as a Christian. If it does, it is good that you do not eat meat. And it is good that you do not drink wine. <n>Verse 21 Wine is a drink that contains alcohol. People make it from small, sweet fruits called grapes. 


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What you believe about these things should be a secret between yourself and God. A person may know what is the right thing for him to do. Then, if he does it, he is happy as a result. He does not need to ask whether it is right. 


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But someone else may not be sure whether it is right to eat certain food. If that person does eat that food, then he is doing something wrong. He is not sure that it is right for him to eat it. Whatever things we do, we must be sure about them. We must be sure that they are right. If we are not sure about something, then it is wrong for us to do it.


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We who are sure and strong ought to help other people. We ought to help those people who are not strong. We ought to be patient with them, because they are not so sure. We should not do only those things that we ourselves would choose to do. 


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Instead, each of us should do the things that will help other Christians. We should try to help other Christians so that they believe God more strongly. 


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Even Christ did not do the things that he himself might have chosen to do. Instead, as it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘People were angry with you (God), and they said bad things about you. But it was like they were also saying angry, bad things about me too.’ [Psalm 69:9] 


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Everything that people wrote in the <i>Old Testament</i> in past times is there to teach us. Those words help us to continue being patient, brave and strong. So then, as a result, we can hope certainly for what God has promised to us.


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It is God himself who makes us able to be patient, brave and strong. And I pray that God will help you to agree with each other and to be friends. That is how Christ Jesus wants you to live. 


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So then, all of you together will be united. You will think and say the same things. You will say how very great and good God, the Father of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ, is. <n>Christ came to save both <i>Jews</i> and <i>Gentiles</i></n>


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Christ has accepted you, so you must accept each other. So then, as a result, people will say how great God is. 


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I say to you that Christ became a servant of Israel’s people. He came to show that God promises true things. God promised certain things to the grandfathers of Israel’s people. And Christ caused those things to happen. 


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Also, Christ came so that the <i>Gentiles</i> could thank God. They could say how great and good God is. They could thank God because he has been so very kind to them. As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘For this reason I will say to everyone that you are God. <n>I will say that when I am among the <i>Gentiles</i>. <n>And I will sing to you, to show how great you are.’ <n>[Psalm 18:49] 


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It says also in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Be happy, you <i>Gentiles</i>, together with God’s people.’ <n>[Deuteronomy 32:43] 


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Again, it says also in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Say how great the <i>Lord</i> is, all you <i>Gentiles</i>. <n>All people, from every country, should say how great he is.’ <n>[Psalm 117:1] 


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Again, Isaiah says this: <n>‘The <i>root</i> of Jesse will come. <n>He will come, to rule the <i>Gentiles</i>. <n>And the <i>Gentiles</i> will hope certainly because of him. <n>They will wait for him to do what he has promised to do.’ <n>[Isaiah 11:1] [Isaiah 11:10] <n>Verse 12 Jesse was King David’s father (see I Samuel 16:1). Jesus was born as a baby many years after Jesse and David lived on the earth. The ‘root of Jesse’ means that Jesus belonged to Jesse and David’s family. (See, for example, Matthew 1:1-16.) But it means also that Jesse and David come from Jesus. Jesus caused them to be alive, as a plant grows up from its root. The root is the part of the plant that is under the ground. Jesus is God. He has always been alive in God’s home beyond the earth. He made everything and everyone else. 


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God is the one who causes us to hope certainly for good things. I pray that God will fill you. I pray that he will cause you to be completely happy and without trouble deep inside yourselves. He will do this because you believe him. Then, as a result, God’s powerful Spirit will cause you to hope more and more certainly. <n>Paul speaks about the work that God has sent him to do</n>


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My Christian friends, I myself am quite sure that you are always good. You know completely all the things that God wants you to know. And you are able to teach each other when someone is wrong. I am quite sure about this. 


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But I have written to you strongly about certain things, so that you would remember those things. I have been brave enough to write like this because God has so kindly chosen me. 


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God has chosen me to work on behalf of Christ Jesus among the <i>Gentiles</i>. I tell God’s good news to them. I work like a priest so that God will accept the <i>Gentiles</i>. He will accept them like a <i>sacrifice</i>, because God’s Spirit has made them clean and ready for God. <n>Verse 16 A priest was a special servant of God, who offered <i>sacrifices</i> to him on behalf of Israel’s people. Only certain men, from Aaron’s family, could become priests. See, for example, Exodus 28:1 and 29:9. 


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So, because I am united with Christ Jesus, I can be happy about my work. I can be happy because of the things that I have done on God’s behalf. 


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I will be brave enough to speak only about the work that Christ has made me able to do. He has made me able to lead the <i>Gentiles</i> to obey God. They have obeyed God as a result of what I have said. They have obeyed him as a result also of what I have done. 


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God’s powerful Spirit caused many great and powerful things to happen, that surprised people very much. So, as a result, I have told the whole good news about Christ to people. I have told it while I travelled all the way from Jerusalem city to Illyricum. <n>Verse 19 Illyricum was a place by the Adriatic Sea, north and west from Greece. It was about where the north part of the country called Albania is now. 


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I always want very much to go to places where nobody has ever told the people about Christ before. I want to tell the good news to the people in those places. Then I will not be continuing someone else’s work for God, that they have started. I will not be continuing to build a house in a place where someone else has already begun to build. 


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Instead, I obey what it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘People that nobody ever told about Christ will see. <n>Those people who never heard the message about him will understand.’ <n>[Isaiah 52:15] <n>Paul hopes to visit Rome soon</n>


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But now I have finished my work in these places here. And for several years, I have been wanting to visit you. 


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I hope to visit you while I am travelling to Spain. I will stay with you for a short time and I will enjoy being with you. And I hope that you will help me on my journey.


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Some of God’s people at Jerusalem are poor. And the Christians in Macedonia and Achaia wanted to help those people. So, they got some money to send to those poor people. 


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The Christians in Macedonia and Achaia were happy to do this. But really, they have a duty to help Christians who belong to Israel’s people. It is because of Israel’s people that the <i>Gentiles</i> have received good things from God. The <i>Gentiles</i> have received the <i>spiritual</i> good things that God promised to Israel's people. So, the <i>Gentiles</i> ought to help Israel’s people with the things that they need in this world. <n>Verses 26-27 Macedonia included the north part of the country that we call Greece. It also included the south part of the country that we call Yugoslavia. Achaia was the south part of Greece. 


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So, I must finish this job at Jerusalem. The <i>Gentiles</i> have given all this money to help the poor Christians there. And I must certainly take this money safely to those people. After that, I will leave Jerusalem. And I will visit you before I continue travelling to Spain. 


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My Christian friends, I ask you very much to help me in my work. I ask you to pray to God on my behalf. Pray very strongly, together with me. I ask this because we belong to our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. I ask it because God’s Spirit causes us to love each other. 


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Pray that God will keep me safe. So then those people in Judea who refuse to believe Christ will not do anything to hurt me. Pray also that God’s people at Jerusalem will accept this money. I want them to be happy because of this gift that I will bring to them.


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After that, I will come to visit you, if God wants me to do that. I will be very happy when I come. And I will enjoy resting while I stay there with you. 


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God causes us to be without trouble inside ourselves. And I pray that he will be with all of you. This is what I pray. <n>Verse 31 Judea was the south part of Israel. Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, was in Judea. 


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I want to tell you that Phoebe is a good person. She is like our sister because she belongs to Christ. And she is a special helper among the group of Christians at Cenchrea. 


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I want you to be kind to her because she is the <i>Lord</i>’s. God’s people ought to be kind to each other like that. Give to her whatever things she needs. Please help her, because she has helped many people. She has helped me myself also. <n>Verse 1 We think that Phoebe took Paul’s letter to Rome. Cenchrea was a port in the south part of the country that we call Greece now. It was about 8 miles (13 kilometres) south and east from Corinth city. 


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Say ‘hello’ on my behalf to Priscilla and Aquila, who worked together with me on behalf of Christ Jesus. 


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They were ready to die so that I could continue living. It is not only I myself who thank them. No! All the groups of Christian <i>Gentiles</i> thank them also. 


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Say ‘hello’ also to the group of Christians who meet in Priscilla and Aquila’s house. <n>Say ‘hello’ to my friend Epaenetus, that I love. He was the first person in Asia who believed Christ. <n>Verse 5 Asia was the west part of the country called Turkey now. 


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Say ‘hello’ to Andronicus and Junias. Like me, they belong to Israel’s people. Also, they were in a prison together with me. God sent them to be special workers and teachers on Christ’s behalf, and they do that work very, very well. They became Christians before I did.


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Say ‘hello’ to Urbanus, who works with us on Christ’s behalf. And say ‘hello’ to my friend Stachys, that I love. 


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Say ‘hello’ to Apelles. He has shown certainly how he really does believe Christ. Say ‘hello’ to those people who belong to Aristobulus’s family. 


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Say ‘hello’ to Herodion, who, like me, belongs to Israel’s people. Say ‘hello’ to those people in Narcissus’ family who are the <i>Lord</i>’s.


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Say ‘hello’ to Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who work very much on the <i>Lord</i>’s behalf. Say ‘hello’ to my friend Persis, that I love. She has worked very much on the <i>Lord</i>’s behalf. 


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Say ‘hello’ to Rufus, who is clearly the <i>Lord</i>’s very good servant. Say ‘hello’ also to his mother, who has been like a mother to me, too.


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Say ‘hello’ to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas and Hermas. Say ‘hello’ also to all our Christian friends who are there with them. 


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Say ‘hello’ to Philologus and Julia, to Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas. Say ‘hello’ also to all God’s people who are there with them.


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When you meet each other, kiss each other as Christian brothers and sisters. All the groups of Christians here say ‘hello’ to you. <n>Paul tells the Christians at Rome to be careful about false teachers</n>


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My Christian friends, now I want to tell you something very strongly. Be very careful about those people who cause you to quarrel with each other. Be careful about people who cause other people to turn away from God. They teach things that are different from God’s true message. But you have learned the true message, and you must stay away from those people. 


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People who are like that are not servants of our <i>Lord</i> Christ. Instead, they are doing only the things that they themselves want to do. They say things that seem good and nice. But, as a result, they cause other people to believe false things. Those other people do not understand the difference between what is true or false.


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Christians everywhere know how you obey God. So, for this reason, I am very happy because of you. But I want you always to understand clearly what things are good. And I want you never to do what is bad. 


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Then God, who causes us to be without trouble inside ourselves, will make you winners over <i>Satan</i> soon. God will beat <i>Satan</i> so that he lies under your feet. I pray that our <i>Lord</i> Jesus will continue to be very kind to you. <n>Verse 20 ‘under your feet’ This is how Paul says that they will have <i>power</i> and authority over him. <n>Paul finishes his letter</n>


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Timothy, who is working together with me, says ‘hello’ to you. Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, who, like me, belong to Israel’s people, say ‘hello’ to you also.


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I am Tertius, and I have written down this letter. I say ‘hello’ to you as someone who, like you, is the <i>Lord</i>’s. <n>Verse 22 Tertius wrote this letter down on Paul’s behalf. Paul told him what to write. 


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Gaius says ‘hello’ to you also. He is letting me, Paul, stay in his house. The group of Christians here meet together in his house also. Erastus, who keeps this city’s money, says ‘hello’ to you. Our Christian friend Quartus says ‘hello’ to you too. <n>[


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I pray that our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to all of you. This is what I pray.] <n>Verse 24 We are not sure whether this verse is really part of Paul’s letter. Many Bibles do not include it. 


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We should say how very great God is! He is able to make you strong, as I have told you. I told you when I taught the good news about Jesus Christ to you. That good news is the true message that God kept secret for a long, long time. But now he has shown this message to us. 


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Now all people can know this true message. We have told people what the <i>prophets</i> wrote about Christ. God, who lives always, has told us to tell it to people. God wants people from all countries to know this message. So then, as a result, they can believe God and they can obey him.


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God is the only God. Only he himself knows and understands all things. Everyone should say always how very great he is! Everyone should say that always, because of Jesus Christ! This is true.


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This letter is from me, Paul, and from our Christian friend Sosthenes. God chose me to be a special worker and teacher on behalf of Christ Jesus. He sent me to tell the good news about Christ to people. God himself chose me for this purpose.


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I am sending this letter to you Christians (the church) in the city called Corinth. God chose you for himself. He wanted you to be his special people, who belong to him. He has made you good and clean inside because he has made you join to Christ Jesus. Also, he has made you join to everyone everywhere who <i>worships</i> our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. Jesus is their <i>Lord</i>, as he is our <i>Lord</i>.


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We pray that God, our Father, and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ, will continue to be very kind to you. We pray also that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. <n>Paul thanks God because of the Christians at Corinth</n>


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I thank God always because of you. I thank him because he has been so very kind to you. He has given such great things to you because he has made you join to Christ Jesus. 


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And, as a result, Christ has made you really like rich people in every way. You are like rich people because you can do many things. Christ has made you able to speak as he wants you to speak. And he has made you able to know everything that he wants you to know. 


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You are not without any of God’s gifts while you continue to wait for our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ’s return. You want him to return very much. 


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God will cause you to continue believing him until the end. Then, on the day when our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ returns, nobody will be able to say bad things about you. Nobody will be able to say that you have done anything wrong. 


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God always does what he has promised to do. And God has chosen you to know Christ. He has made you join to his Son, Jesus Christ, who is our <i>Lord</i>. <n>Paul tells the Christians that they must not quarrel about who is their leader</n>


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My Christian friends, I speak to you with the authority of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. I ask you to agree with each other in what you say. Then there will not be differences between you. All of you will have the same mind always. That is, you will think about things in the same way. 


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Some people from Chloe’s house have told me what is happening among you, my friends. They say that you are quarrelling among yourselves. 


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I will explain: One of you says, ‘Paul is my leader.’ Another person says, ‘Apollos is my leader.’ Another person says, ‘Peter is my leader.’ And another person says, ‘Christ is my leader.’


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When you speak like that, it is bad. It is as if you are breaking Christ into several parts. Certainly, I, Paul, did not die on a <i>cross</i> on your behalf. Someone baptised you. But certainly, they did not use my name, as if you belonged to me. 


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Christ did not send me to baptise people. But he did send me to tell the good news to people. He does not want me to tell it with the same kind of clever words that clever people might say. That would destroy the <i>power</i> of the message about Jesus. The message is about how he died on a <i>cross</i> to save us. <n>Verses 13-17 To baptise means to put a believer into water. (Or sometimes they put water on a believer.) This shows that the person believes Christ. It is like a picture of what God does in our <i>spirits</i>. He makes us join to Christ in our <i>spirits</i>. So, in our <i>spirits</i>, we die with Christ. And then we rise again, to live with him. <n>The message about Christ’s <i>cross</i> is powerful</n>


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People who are far from God cannot understand that message about Christ’s death on the <i>cross</i>. They think that it is silly. But that same message shows something to us whom God is saving. It shows us how powerful God is. 


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘I will destroy all the words and thoughts of clever people. <n>I will put on one side the ideas of people who seem to understand a lot.’ <n>[Isaiah 29:14] 


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So then, the clever people in this world are not great really. The clever students in this world are not great really. Some people know how to argue. But those people are not great really. No, because God has different ideas. He has shown that even the cleverest people in this world are fools. 


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God has his own great thoughts and ideas. And he has made it impossible for people to know him by their own thoughts and ideas. Instead, God uses that message about Jesus. He uses it to save everyone who believes it. And we tell that same message to everyone, even if it seems crazy.


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<i>Jews</i> want to see God do something powerful so that they will believe. And people who are not <i>Jews</i> want to believe other people’s clever ideas. 


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But as for us, we talk about how Christ died on a <i>cross</i> of wood. This is a message that the <i>Jews</i> refuse to believe. And the Gentiles (people who are not <i>Jews</i>) think that it is a silly message. 


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But all of us whom God has chosen, both <i>Jews</i> and the other people, we think different thoughts. To us, Christ is the <i>power</i> that comes from God. What Christ did is the result of God’s great thoughts and ideas. 


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It seems to be a crazy thing for God to do. But it is better than the cleverest human thoughts and ideas. What seems to be God’s weakness is stronger than any human <i>power</i>.


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Christian friends, remember when God spoke to you. Remember what you were like then. Most of you were not clever or powerful. Most of you did not come from rich or important families. 


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People think that you are not great or important. But God chose you. He did this so that clever people would be ashamed. Yes, God chose the weak people in the world so that the powerful people would be ashamed. 


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God chose people who do not seem important in this world. He chose people who seem silly in this world. He chose people who seem to be worth nothing in this world. The people who do not know God think differently from him. They think that different kinds of people are great and important. But God destroys their ideas when he chooses his people.


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It is God who has made you join to Christ Jesus. And, because of Christ, God causes us to know everything that he wants us to know. As a result of what Christ did, God makes us right with himself. Also he makes us his own special people. He makes us his free people, that he has bought. 


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So now, as it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Anyone who wants to speak about great or important things should speak about the <i>Lord</i>. <n>That person should not speak about himself, nor about the things that he himself has done. <n>Instead, he should speak only about the great things that the <i>Lord</i> has done on his behalf.’ <n>[Jeremiah 9:24] 


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Christian friends, I came to tell you God’s message, which is certainly true. I did not use clever words when I told it to you. I did not use great thoughts and ideas that were my own. 


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I decided to teach you only about Jesus Christ. I wanted to forget everything else while I was with you. So, I taught only about Jesus. I taught you about how he died on a <i>cross</i> of wood. 


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Neither clever words nor my own thoughts and ideas made you believe that my message was true. No, instead God’s Spirit showed by my words how powerful God is. 


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So, you believe because of God’s <i>power</i>. You do not believe because of human thoughts and ideas. <n>Verse 3 ‘Trembling’ means that Paul could not keep his body completely still, because he was so afraid. 


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But we do speak about great ideas to those of you who really know Christ. We do not speak about clever human thoughts and ideas that belong to this world. The rulers of this world think thoughts and ideas like that, but they will stop being powerful soon. 


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No, the great ideas that we speak about are secret. They belong to God. He hid them from the people who belong to this world. But he decided to show these secrets to us so that we could live with him always. He decided this before he made the world. 


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None of the rulers of this world understood these great ideas. If they had understood, they would not have killed the <i>Lord</i> on a <i>cross</i>. They would not have killed the <i>Lord</i>, who is so very great and good. 


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Nobody ever saw or heard anything about this. <n>Nobody ever thought that it could happen. <n>But this is the thing that God has prepared for his people. <n>He has prepared it for those people who love him.’ <n>[Isaiah 64:4] 


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But God has shown these secrets to us by his Spirit. God’s Spirit looks at everything. He looks even at the things that are deep in God. 


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Only a person’s own <i>spirit</i>, inside that person, can know everything about that person. And it is like that with God. Nobody can understand everything about God except God’s Spirit. 


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We have not received the <i>spirit</i> that belongs to this world. No! We have received the Spirit who is from God. So, as a result, we can understand all the things that God has done on our behalf. We can know what God has given to us. 


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These are the things that we speak about. We do not use human ideas that other people have taught us. Instead, we use ideas that God’s Spirit teaches us. That is why we can explain God’s ideas to people. But we can explain only to people in whom God’s Spirit is living.


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If God’s Spirit is not living inside people, they cannot receive anything from God. They cannot understand what God wants to teach them. They think that it is crazy. They think that it is worth nothing. 


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Only people with God’s Spirit inside them can really understand and decide about all things. But people without God’s Spirit cannot understand anything about God’s people. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Nobody can know what the <i>Lord</i> is thinking. <n>Nobody can teach him anything.’ <n>[Isaiah 40:13] <n>But we can think as Christ thinks.


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Christian friends, in past times, I could not talk to you as I wanted to talk. I should have been able to talk to you as people who understand things by God’s Spirit. But instead, I could only talk to you as people who understand things about this world. You were like babies because you did not understand very much about Christ. 


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I had to give milk to you, instead of proper food, because you were not ready to receive proper food. You are not ready for it even now! 


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You are still living like people who do not know God. You want things that other people have. And you quarrel with each other. This shows that you are not like God’s people. You are still like people who do not know God. 


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One of you says, ‘Paul is my leader.’ And another person says, ‘Apollos is my leader.’ With words like these, you are talking like people who do not know God.


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You should know that we, Apollos and Paul, are not important really. God used us as his servants, who could help you to believe Christ. The <i>Lord</i> has given a special job to each of us. 


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I was like a servant who planted seeds. Apollos was like the servant who gave water to the young plants. But it was God who caused the seeds and the plants to grow. 


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The servant who plants the seeds is not important really. The servant who gives water to the plants is not important really. The important person is God, because he causes the plants to grow. 


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The person who plants is doing God’s work. The person who gives water is doing God’s work also. We are equal servants. And God will give to each of us what is right because of our own work. 


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God has made me able to work for him like a very good builder. So, I built the foundation for God’s building. Now someone else is building on this foundation. But each person must be careful how he builds. 


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God has already put Jesus Christ as the only foundation of this building. So, nobody can put any other foundation there.


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People may build on this foundation with gold, silver (another valuable metal) or valuable stones. Or instead, they may build on it with wood, grass or leaves. 


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But God will show how good each person’s work is. He will show it on the day when Christ returns. There will be a fire on that day and God will put each person’s work into the fire. The fire will show whether the work is good or not. 


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If the fire does not destroy the work, then the work is good. So, the person who did it will receive something good from God. 


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But if the fire destroys the work, then the work is not good. The person who did that work will lose it. God will still save that person. But that person will be like someone who must run through the fire to a safe place. <n>Verses 10-12 A foundation is the strong part, in the ground under a building, that holds the building up. 


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You ought to know that you yourselves are God’s house. You ought to know that God’s Spirit lives in you. 


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God’s house belongs only to God. So, God will destroy anyone who destroys God’s house. And you yourselves are God’s house.


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Nobody should think things about himself that are not really true. The people in this world who do not know God think differently from God. Maybe one of you thinks like them, that you are a very clever person. But instead, you should be ready for other people to think that you are a fool. Then you will really be clever. 


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The people in this world think that their ideas are very clever. But God thinks that they are crazy. It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘People may try to show that they themselves are very clever. <n>But God causes those people to become confused.’ <n>[Job 5:13] 


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In another place the <i>Old Testament</i> says: <n>‘The <i>Lord</i> knows that clever people’s thoughts are worth nothing.’ <n>[Psalm 94:11] 


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So, nobody should think that clever or great people are important really. Do not think like that, because all things are yours. 


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Paul, Apollos and Peter, all of us are yours. All of this world is yours. While you live, all things are yours. And when you die, all things are yours. Both today and tomorrow are yours, because all things are yours. 


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You should think about us, who are special workers and teachers on Christ’s behalf, as Christ’s servants. God has given a special job to us. He has shown his secrets to us and now we must explain them to other people. 


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A servant must remember all the things that his master wants him to do every day. He must do all those things, because his master wants him to do them.


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But it is not important to me how you think about me. You may decide about how good I am. It does not matter to me what people decide about me. I do not even try to decide about myself. 


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I may think that I have not done any wrong things. But that does not make me right. Only the <i>Lord</i> can decide about me. 


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So, you should not decide about things before the right time comes. You must wait until the <i>Lord</i> comes again. He knows every secret. He knows everything that people are hiding in the dark. He will bring all those things out into the light. He will show to everyone the secret purposes that people have deep inside themselves. Then God will say good things about every person who has done good work.


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Now, my Christian friends, I want to help you to understand better everything that I have said. I have used Apollos and myself as examples. So then you can learn by us what this means: ‘Obey what it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>.’ None of you should say that one person is more valuable than any other person. 


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You yourselves are no better than other people. God gave everything that you have to you. You know that. What you have was a gift. So, you should not think that you are more important than anyone else. You have no reason to think that.


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You have plenty of everything already! You think that you are very rich already! So, you are ready to rule like kings, even while we are not rulers at all! I would really like you to be rulers, so that we could rule together with you! 


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God sent us, his special workers, to teach his message to people. But I think that he has given the least important place to us. We are like prisoners on our way to die in a place where everyone can see. Both people and <i>angels</i> are watching us. 


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People think that we are fools because of Christ. But you think that you yourselves understand so much! You think that, because you are united with Christ. You think that we are weak. And you think that you are strong! You think that we are not valuable. And you think that you yourselves are very valuable! <n>Verse 9 A prisoner is someone who is not free. 


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Until this day, we are often hungry, and we do not have any water to drink. Our clothes are very old. Sometimes people hit us, and we do not have a home. 


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We work very much, so that we are very tired. When people say bad things about us, we ask God to be good to them. When people are cruel to us, we are patient and brave. 


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When people say cruel words about us, we answer with kind words. Until this day, we are like the dirt of the whole world. We are like the dirty things that people throw away.


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I do not write these things to make you ashamed. You are like my own children that I love. And I want to explain to you why you are wrong. I want you to understand correctly. 


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I told the good news to you, so I became like a father to you. You belong to Christ now. And even if you have ten thousand guides to help you, you do not have many fathers. 


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For this reason, I am sending Timothy to visit you. He is like a son to me, and I love him very much. He continues always to believe the <i>Lord</i> and to obey him. He will cause you to remember how I live as a Christian, united with Christ. I teach the same things to all groups of Christians everywhere.


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Some of you think that I will never come to visit you. You think that you yourselves are very important and powerful. You think that you know everything. 


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But I will come to visit you soon, if the <i>Lord</i> sends me. Then I will discover more than only what you are saying about yourselves. I will discover what <i>power</i> you important people really have. 


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When people are really obeying God as their king, it shows. We can see it because God’s people live by his <i>power</i>. We will not know it only by what they say. 


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Certainly, I will come to visit you. So, you must choose what I come to do. I might come to be angry with you and to <i>punish</i> you. Or, instead, I might come to speak kind words to you. I might show you that I love you. You must choose.


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We have heard very bad news about what is happening in your group. One of you is having sex with someone who is not his own wife. We have heard that he is having sex with his own father’s wife! Even people who do not know God do not do things as bad as this! 


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But, you still think that you are important and good! Instead, you ought to be very ashamed and sad. You must put this man, who has done this bad thing, outside your meetings. You should not let him continue to belong to your group.


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Even if I am far away from you, my <i>spirit</i> is present with you. It is quite the same as when I am with you. So, I have decided already about the man who has done this very bad thing. I have decided what you should do to this bad man. 


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When you meet together with the authority of the <i>Lord</i> Jesus, my <i>spirit</i> is with you. The <i>power</i> of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus is with you too. 


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When you meet like this, you must give this man to <i>Satan</i>. And <i>Satan</i> will destroy the man’s body. So then God can save the man’s <i>spirit</i> on the day when the <i>Lord</i> Jesus returns.


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You should not think that you yourselves are so good and so important. You have no reason to think that. You should know about what yeast does in bread. A small amount of yeast makes the whole lot of dough become bigger. 


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This yeast in the dough is like one person among you who does wrong things. You must remove this old yeast from among you. Then you will be like new dough, with no yeast in it. You are like that really, because Christ died on our behalf. He is our lamb for the Passover. And that Passover is ready now, because he died. 


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So, we can have our Passover, but not with the old yeast. We must remove everything that is bad or wrong. Instead, we must be good and honest and true, so that we are like new bread, without any yeast. <n>Verses 6-8 Yeast is something that people put into bread (dough). They put it in to make the bread become bigger. Dough is the bread before anyone has baked it. Israel’s people ate a lamb (a young sheep) and bread without any yeast in it for the Passover. The Passover was a very special day for Israel’s people. They had to remember when God saved them from Egypt. So they ate a special meal every year. See Exodus 12. 


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I wrote a letter to you. In that letter, I told you that you must not be friends with bad people. You must stay away from people who have sex with anyone other than their own wife or husband. I told you that. 


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But I did not mean people who do not know God. I did not mean that you must stay away from all those people. Some of those people often have sex with people who are not their own wife or husband. Some of them want more things than they need. Some of them take things that belong to other people. And some of them <i>worship</i> false gods. To stay away from all those people, you would have to leave this world.


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What I meant was this: You should not be friends with any bad person among your group. That person may say that they are Christ’s. But if they have sex with people other than their own wife or husband, do not be friends with them. Some people want a lot more things than they need. Do not be friends with those people. If they <i>worship</i> false gods, do not be friends with them. If they say wrong things about other people, do not be friends with them. If they get drunk, do not be friends with them. If they take other people’s things, do not be friends with them. Do not even eat a meal with anyone who does things like that. 


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It is not right for me to decide about the people outside – the people who do not believe Christ. But you should decide about the people inside – the people who meet together with you as Christians. It is right for you to decide whether they are right or wrong. 


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But God will decide about the people outside, who are not Christians. As the <i>Old Testament</i> says: <n>‘You must send a bad person away from among yourselves.’ <n>[Deuteronomy 17:7] [Deuteronomy 19:19] [Deuteronomy 22:21] [Deuteronomy 22:24] [Deuteronomy 24:7] 


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Perhaps one of you does not agree with another Christian about something that matters. But you should not go for help to people who do not know God. No! Instead, you should go to God’s people. And you should ask them to decide about this thing. 


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You should know that God’s people will decide about all the people in the world one day. So, if you will decide about the world, certainly you should be able to decide about small things among yourselves. 


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You should know that we will even decide about the <i>angels</i> one day. So certainly, we should be able to decide about things that belong only to our lives here on earth.


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Sometimes you may not agree among yourselves about things that belong to our lives here on earth. But when that happens, do not go to people outside the church (group of Christians). Do not choose to go to people who are nothing to the church. Do not choose those people to decide about these things. 


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I say this so that you will feel ashamed. Certainly, there should be one person in your group who understands enough to decide about things like this between believers. 


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But instead, you have let believers go to people in the government to argue against other believers! You stand in front of people who do not believe Christ! Then you let them decide what is right!


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When you do this, you are completely wrong. You should not go to people in the government to argue with each other. It would be better to let other people do wrong things to you. Even if people rob you, that would be better. 


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Instead, you yourselves do wrong things, and you do those things to other believers! You even rob them.


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God has prepared good things for his own people that he rules over. But he will never let any bad person receive those good things. You ought to know this. You can be very sure that no kind of bad person will receive those good things. People who have sex with anyone other than their own wife or husband will not receive them. People who <i>worship</i> false gods will not receive them. Men who have sex with men will not receive them. And women who have sex with women will not receive those good things either. 


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People who rob will not receive them. Some people want more than they need. Those people will not receive them. Drunks will not receive them. People who say wrong things about other people will not receive them. People who are not honest about other people’s things will not receive those good things either. God has prepared things for his own people that he rules over. But no bad people will ever receive those things. 


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Some of you did bad things like this. But the Spirit of our God has washed you clean with the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ’s authority. He has made you God’s own people, who are separate from bad things. He has made you right with God, so that God can accept you now. <n>Use your bodies as God’s servants should use them</n>


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One of you may say: ‘I am free to do anything. I can do anything that I want to do.’ But not everything will help you. I myself could say: ‘I am free. I can do whatever things I want to do.’ Yes, but I will not let anything rule over me. 


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Someone else may say: ‘Food is there for the stomach. So the stomach is there for me to fill it with food.’ Yes, but God will destroy both the stomach and the food. The <i>Lord</i> gave our bodies to us. So, you should not have sex with anyone who is not your own wife or husband. You should not use your bodies like that. Instead, you should use your bodies as the <i>Lord</i> wants you to use them. 


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God raised the <i>Lord</i> Jesus. God made him alive again after he had died. And God will use his own <i>power</i> to make us alive again also. 


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You ought to know that your bodies are parts of Christ’s body. So, you must never take part of his body and make it part of a prostitute’s body. Never let that happen! 


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Anyone who makes his own body join to a prostitute becomes one body with that prostitute. You should know that. It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘The two people (the man and the woman) shall become one body.’ <n>[Genesis 2:24] <n>Verses 15-16 A prostitute is a woman who sells her body to men for sex. 


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So, do not have sex with anyone who is not your own wife or husband. Be careful never to do that. Any other bad thing that you do is outside your own body. But if you have sex with the wrong person, you do something wrong to your own body. 


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Your body is the home of God’s Spirit, who is completely good and separate from everything bad. You should know that. God gave his Spirit to you and he lives in you. You do not belong to yourselves any longer. But you belong to God, 


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because God bought you. He paid the price for you. So, show how great and how good God is. Use your body to show that.


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You wrote to ask me about certain things. And now I will answer your questions. Yes, it is a good thing when a man does not marry. 


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Many people have sex with other people who are not their own wife or husband. But you must be careful never to do that. So, every man should have his own wife and every woman should have her own husband.


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The husband should have sex with his wife to make her happy. He should do that because it is his duty. And the wife should do the same thing for her husband. 


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The wife does not rule over her own body, but her husband rules over it. In the same way, the husband does not rule over his own body, but his wife rules over it. 


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Do not refuse to have sex with each other, unless both of you agree to stop for a short time. So then you can use your time to pray. But you should come together again soon. You need each other so that <i>Satan</i> cannot cause you to have sex with other people. 


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I am not saying that you must do this. No, but I am saying that you can do it. You can stop like this for a short time if you want. 


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It would be good if all of you could be like me. But each person has his own gift from God. One person has a gift to do a certain thing. And another person has a different gift.


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Now I want to say something to those of you who have not married yet. Also, I am speaking to those of you whose husbands or wives have died. It is better for all of you to continue alone. That is what I do myself. 


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But if you cannot rule yourselves well, then you should marry. It is better for you to marry. That is better than to always want sex very much.


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I speak now to people who have married. I tell you a rule that comes from the <i>Lord</i> himself, not from me. A wife must not leave her husband. 


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But if she does leave, she must continue to be alone. Or she must go back to stay with her husband. And a husband must not send his wife away.


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To you other people, I myself say this. The <i>Lord</i> has not spoken about it. If a Christian man’s wife does not believe Christ, that man must not send his wife away. She may agree to continue living with him. Then he must not send her away. 


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If a Christian woman’s husband does not believe Christ, she must not send him away. He may agree to continue living with her. Then she must not send him away. 


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God accepts a husband who does not believe Christ. God accepts him because of his Christian wife. Also, God accepts a wife who does not believe Christ. God accepts her because of her Christian husband. If this was not true, God would not accept your children. But God does accept them, because to him they are clean.


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But the husband or wife who does not believe Christ may want to leave. If they want to do that, let them leave. Then the Christian man or woman does not have a duty to make them stay. God does not want us to fight with each other. 


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Perhaps, Christian wife, you will save your husband. Or perhaps, Christian husband, you will save your wife.


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Each one of you has what the <i>Lord</i> has given to you. So, each of you should continue to live as God has chosen for you to live. I teach this rule to the churches (groups of Christians) in every place. 


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Some of you are <i>Jews</i>, so people circumcised you. That happened before you came to Christ. So, do not try to change it. Some of you are not <i>Jews</i> and nobody has ever circumcised you. So, continue like that and do not ask anyone to circumcise you. 


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It is not important whether someone has circumcised you or not. The important thing is this. Obey what God says. <n>Verses 17-19 To circumcise means to cut the skin from the end of a boy’s or man’s sex part. God had told Abraham that he must do this. (See Genesis 17:9-14.) They circumcised men and boys like this. It showed that Israel’s people belonged to God. It was like a picture. It showed that they were separate from bad things. 


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At a certain time, God chose to speak to you so that you came to Christ. So, each of you should continue as you were then. 


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You may have been a slave when God spoke to you. That does not matter. But you may have the chance to become a free person. If you do, then use it. 


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Sometimes the <i>Lord</i> chooses a slave to belong to him. Then, that slave becomes the <i>Lord</i>’s free person. In the same way, when a free person comes to Christ, he becomes Christ’s slave. 


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God has bought you and he has paid the price for you. So, do not let anyone else make you their slave. 


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My friends, who are like brothers to me, each one of you should live for God. He put you where you were. Then he spoke to you. So, each of you should continue as you were then.


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Now I want to answer your question about people who have not married. The <i>Lord</i> has not given any special rule about this. But I will tell you what I myself think about it. You can believe me. I speak as someone to whom the <i>Lord</i> has been very kind. He has made me able to be honest and true. 


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It is very difficult to live in the world today. So, it is better that each man continues as he is. That is what I think. 


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But if you do marry, that is not wrong. And if a young woman marries, that is not wrong. But those people who marry will have many troubles during their life together in this world. And I want to save you from that kind of trouble.


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My friends, what I mean is this: The end of time will come soon. So, those men with wives should live as if they had none. 


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Some of you weep. But you should live as if you were not sad. Some of you laugh because you are happy. But you should live as if you were not happy. Some of you buy things. But you should live as if you did not have those things. 


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Some of you are busy with things in this world. But you should live as if these things were not important. This world, as it is now, will finish.


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I want all of you to be free so that you are not thinking about problems and troubles. A Christian man who has not married thinks a lot about the <i>Lord</i> and his work. He wants to do what makes the <i>Lord</i> happy. 


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But a Christian man who has married is different. He thinks also about the things that belong to this world. He thinks like that because he wants to make his wife happy too. 


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So, these things make him think in two opposite ways. Also, a Christian woman or young girl who has not married thinks a lot about the <i>Lord</i> and his work. She wants to belong to the <i>Lord</i> completely, both in her body and in her <i>spirit</i>. But a Christian woman who has married is different. She thinks also about the things that belong to this world. She thinks like that because she wants to make her husband happy too.


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I am saying this because I want to help you. I am not trying to make rules that you have to obey. Instead, I want you to live in a right and proper way. I want you to be the <i>Lord</i>’s servants, who listen to him. I do not want anything else to stop you thinking about the <i>Lord</i>.


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Perhaps a man and a woman among you love each other but they have decided not to marry. They have agreed to wait. But, as they grow older, the man may begin to think differently. He may think that he cannot wait any longer. He may think that he needs to marry her. Then, if they want to marry, it is not wrong. 


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But another man among you may decide that he will never marry his young woman. He may be sure that he does not need to marry. He may be able to rule himself strongly, with authority. So, he need not marry her. He is doing the right thing also. 


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If a woman has married a man, he is her husband. She is not free to marry anyone else all the time that her husband is alive. But if he dies, then she is free. Then she can marry again. But she must marry someone who is the <i>Lord</i>’s. 


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Even so, she would be happier if she continued without a husband. That is what I myself think. And I think that God’s Spirit is my guide in all this.


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Now I want to answer your question about food that people have offered to false gods. We know that all of us know about many things. And when we know something, that can make us think wrongly about ourselves and about other people. It can make us think that we are more important than other people. But when we love other people, it helps to make them strong. 


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Nobody should think that they really know about something. Some people might think that. But those people do not know anything yet as well as they should know it. 


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So, I will speak about the food that people have offered to false gods. I will speak about whether you should eat it. We know that a false god is not really a god at all. We know that there is only the one God. 


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Yes, people may have many false gods and many false <i>lords</i>. People do call other things gods, whether in <i>heaven</i> or on earth. 


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But for us there is only one God, who is the Father. All things come from him and we live for him. There is only one <i>Lord</i>, who is Jesus Christ. He made everything by his <i>power</i>. And he causes us to continue living by his <i>power</i>.


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But some people do not understand these facts. Some people have <i>worshipped</i> false gods for many years. So now they cannot eat food that people have offered to a false god. They think that the food really belongs to that false god. So, they are doing something wrong if they eat that food. That is what they think. It makes them feel as if they are not clean. They cannot easily decide what is right or wrong. 


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But food does not bring us near to God. If we do not eat the food, that will not make us worse. If we do eat the food, it will not make us better.


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But you must be very careful. You are free to do anything that is right. But some Christians are not so sure about what is right. So, you must not do anything that might cause them to do something wrong. 


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You may be eating food in a place where people <i>worship</i> false gods. Perhaps another Christian, who is not so sure about this, will see you. That Christian may think that you know more than they know. So then, they may think that they can eat that food too. They may think that it is right for them too. 


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Then you would destroy other Christians who are not so sure. What you know would be their guide. You must remember that Christ died on behalf of them too. 


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When other Christians do something wrong because of you, you do something wrong too. They are not sure what is right or wrong. So, when you hurt them like this, really you are hurting Christ. 


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I must not cause any other Christian, who is like a brother or a sister to me, to do anything wrong. So, I have decided this. I will never eat meat again, if my food causes another Christian to do anything wrong.


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You know that I am a free man. You know also that God has sent me to be a special worker and teacher on his behalf. You know that I have seen Jesus, our <i>Lord</i>. He chose me to work on his behalf. And you are the result of that work. You know that. 


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Other people may not accept me as a special worker whom the <i>Lord</i> has sent to them. But I am sure that you accept me like that. As a result of my work, you have become united with the <i>Lord</i>. And that fact shows that the <i>Lord</i> really sent me.


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It is right for each of us special workers to have a Christian wife. And it is right if we take our wives with us. We can take them with us to all the places where we go. The other men whom the <i>Lord</i> has sent take their wives with them. So do the <i>Lord</i>’s brothers and Peter. 


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Think about these examples, which are certainly true. A soldier never has to pay for his own food and clothes. A farmer will eat some of the fruit from the bushes that he has planted. A person who works with cows or sheep or goats will drink some of the milk from those animals.


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God told Moses that he should write down these rules. And they say this: <n>‘Your ox (strong male cow) works for you. It walks on your plants so that the seeds come out. Do not tie its mouth shut while it works. It is right for the ox to eat some of the seeds itself.’ <n>[Deuteronomy 25:4] <n>God is not telling us only about oxen (cows) that work. 


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No, certainly he is speaking about us. God told Moses that he should write these words down. That was because God wanted to help us. A man ploughs the fields so that he can plant seeds. He is like us. The man who threshes the plants from the fields is like us too. Both of them hope to enjoy some of the food that has grown in the fields. 


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We have planted <i>spiritual</i> things in you. So, you can give to us the food and clothes that we need. That is not wrong. And that should not be too much for you to do. <n>Verse 10 To thresh means to hit wheat (or other plants) on the ground to get the seeds out. (Wheat is a kind of plant that people grow on farms. They use the seeds to make flour for bread.) 


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Other people think that they should receive things like this from you. So, it is even more right for us to think like that. But we have not asked you to give anything to us. We do not want anyone to stop listening to the good news about Christ because of us. Instead, we would rather have any kind of trouble. So, we chose not to demand anything from you. 


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You know about the people who work in God’s special house (the temple). They get their food there from that place. Also, you know about the people who work at the special table in God’s house. On that table, they burn the gifts that other people bring to God. The people who work there at the table also get part of those gifts. 


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In the same way, the <i>Lord</i> has spoken about people who tell his good news. Those people need certain things so that they can live. Those people should receive those things as a result of their work. As a result of the good news, they should receive what they themselves need.


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So, as a result of my work, I should receive everything that I need. That would be right. But I have not asked for anything. And I do not demand anything from you now, while I write to you. I would die, rather than demand anything for myself. This is the true reason that I can boast. And I do not want anyone to take it away. 


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I tell the good news to people. But I have no reason to boast because of that. No, because God has told me that I must tell it. If I did not tell the good news, I would be very sad. I would not be obeying God. <n>Verses 15-16 To boast means to say something good about yourself. 


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I was not the person who decided to tell the good news to people. If I myself had decided to do it, then I could demand money for this work. But it was God who decided. He has given a duty to me to tell the good news. 


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I do get something as a result of my work, but it is not money. Instead, it is this. It makes me very happy that I can tell the good news to people without any cost to them. It would be right if they did pay me for my work. But I do not ask them to pay, and that makes me very happy.


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I am a free man. I am not anybody’s slave. But I have made myself everybody’s slave because I want to help as many people as possible. I want to bring them to Christ. 


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With <i>Jews</i>, I became like a <i>Jew</i>, because I wanted to bring <i>Jews</i> to Christ. The rules that God gave to Moses do not really have authority over me. But the <i>Jews</i> obey those rules. So, I chose to obey Moses’ rules too. I became like the <i>Jews</i>, because I really wanted them to know Christ. 


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With people who are without Moses’ rules, I became like someone without those rules too. (But this does not mean that I do not obey God’s rules. No, I let Christ rule me.) I became like the people without Moses’ rules because I really wanted them to know Christ. 


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With weak people, I became like someone who is weak too. I became weak like them because I really wanted them to know Christ. I have become all things to all people so that I could, by all possible ways, save some of them. 


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I do all these things because of the good news about Christ. I want other people, together with me, to enjoy the good things that the good news promises.


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You should know that, in a race, all the runners run. But only one of them wins the race, and he receives the reward. You must run like that, to win the reward. 


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All people who do athletics make their own bodies practise. They want to make their bodies do what they want them to do. So they rule themselves in all things. They do this so that they will win a reward. But that reward continues for a short time only. But we rule ourselves in all things so that we will win God’s reward. And that reward continues always. 


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So, I run in a straight line to the end of the race. Also, I fight like someone who hits well. I do not hit the air. 


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I rule my own body strongly and I make it my slave. I have taught other people about how to run this race. And I myself also want to win the reward from God. I do not want God to say to me: ‘You yourself do not do the things that you teach. So, I am removing you from the race.’ <n>Verses 24-27 A race is when people run together. They want to see who can run the fastest. A reward is what a person receives. He or she receives it as a result of what he or she has done. 


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My friends, I want you to remember something. Remember what happened to our grandfathers. They followed Moses many years ago. While they followed Moses, the cloud covered all of them. It covered them to keep them safe. And all of them walked through the Red Sea with dry feet. 


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God baptised all of them in the cloud and in the sea. He baptised them as those people who followed Moses. 


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All of them drank the same <i>spiritual</i> drink. They drank from the <i>spiritual</i> rock that went with them. And Christ was that rock. 


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But God was not happy with most of them. So, their dead bodies lay everywhere in that land, where there was no water. <n>Verses 1-2 See Exodus 14:19-22. We have used the word grandfathers. But Paul means people who lived a long time ago. <n>Verse 2 To baptise means to put someone completely into something – for example, into water. <n>Verse 3 See Exodus 16:4-30. <n>Verse 4 See Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:2-13. <n>Verse 5 See Numbers 14:22-23. 


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These things that happened to our grandfathers are examples to us. Our grandfathers wanted bad things very much. But we must not be like them. We must not want bad things. 


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Nor must we <i>worship</i> false gods, as some of them did. The <i>Old Testament</i> says: <n>‘The people sat down to eat and to drink. And they stood up to enjoy themselves. And they danced in front of their false god.’ <n>[Exodus 32:6] 


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Nor must we ever have sex with anyone who is not our own wife or husband. Some of our grandfathers did that, and so 23,000 of them died in one day. 


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Nor must we get angry with the <i>Lord</i>. We must not ask questions about what he is doing. Some of our grandfathers did that. And so God sent snakes to bite them. And then they died. 


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Nor must you say that God is doing bad things. Some of our grandfathers spoke like that. And so God sent an <i>angel</i> to kill them. <n>Verse 8 See Numbers 25:1-9. <n>Verse 9 See Numbers 21:4-7. <n>Verse 10 See Numbers 14:1-38 and 16:41. 


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All these things that happened to our grandfathers are examples to us. God caused people to write about these things so that we could learn from them. We ourselves must learn to be careful. We are alive today, but the end of all things will come soon. 


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Sometimes it will be difficult for you not to do something wrong. Or it will be difficult not to think something wrong. You will have difficulties like this. But they are the same kind of difficulties that every person has. God always does what he has promised to do. Remember this. He will not let any difficulty be too big for you. He does not want you to do anything wrong because of any difficulty. He will make you strong. He will show you a way out of the difficulty. So then you will be able to do what is right.


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I am saying this to you because you are clever people. You can think clearly about things. You yourselves can decide about what I am saying. You can decide whether it is true. 


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At the <i>Lord’s Supper</i>, we remember that Christ died on our behalf. We thank God when we drink the <i>wine</i> from the cup. We want to show that we belong to Christ by his blood. That is why we drink it. We break the bread and then we eat it. We want to show that we belong to Christ by his body. That is why we eat it. 


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We are many people, but all of us eat from one loaf of bread. All of us are one body because we eat from the same loaf.


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Think about Israel’s people. When they offer food to God in his special house, they are <i>worshipping</i> God. And all those people who eat any of that food are showing something about themselves. They are part of what is happening there in God’s house. They are <i>worshipping</i> God too. 


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But I was speaking about false gods. I do not want you to think that false gods are important. I do not mean that you should think like that. The food that people offer to false gods is not important either. 


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But the people who offer food to false gods are <i>worshipping</i> demons (bad <i>spirits</i>). They are not <i>worshipping</i> God when they offer food to demons. I do not want you to be part of anything with demons. 


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You cannot drink from the <i>Lord</i>’s cup and from the cup of demons. You cannot eat food from the <i>Lord</i>’s table and from the table of demons. 


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We will make the <i>Lord</i> angry if we do things like that. He will be angry because we should <i>worship</i> only him. And we are not stronger than the <i>Lord</i> is!


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Some of you may say: ‘We are free. We can do anything that we want to do!’ But not everything is good for us to do. You may say: ‘We are free to do anything!’ But not everything helps to make us stronger. 


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None of you should think only about the things that matter to you yourselves. Instead, each of you should think about what matters to other people.


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You can eat anything that people sell in the meat market. You do not need to ask questions about whether that is right or wrong. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘The earth, and everything in it, is the <i>Lord</i>’s.’ <n>[Psalm 24:1] 


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Perhaps people who do not believe Christ will ask you to eat a meal with them. And perhaps you will decide to go there. Then you should eat whatever food they give to you. You should not ask questions about the food. It does not matter where that food comes from. 


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But someone there may say to you: ‘They offered this food to false gods.’ If someone says that, do not eat the food. Do not eat it, because of the person who told you about it. He may not be sure that it is right to eat that food. And you would not want to cause a problem for that person. 


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It will not matter to you yourself. You are sure about what is right or wrong. But it will matter to a person who is not sure. Perhaps you will say: ‘Why should another person decide what I ought to do? 


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I thank God for my food. So, when I eat that food, nobody else should say bad things about me. Nobody should say that it is wrong for me to eat it.’ 


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But do everything to show how great and how good God is. Even when you eat and drink, do it like that. 


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Do not do anything that might cause difficulties for other people. Do not cause difficulties either for <i>Jews</i> or for people who are not <i>Jews</i>. Do not cause difficulties for God’s church (the people who belong to God). 


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Do what I do. All the time I try to do what everyone thinks is good. I am not doing that to help myself. No, but I am trying to help other people. I hope that God will save many people among them. That is why I live like this.


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Copy my example, because I copy Christ’s example. I copy the example of how Christ lived. <n>Paul talks about men and women in Christian meetings</n>


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You make me very happy, because you always remember me. You remember everything that I taught you. And you are careful about what I taught you to do. 


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Now I want you to understand that Christ is the head (the leader) of every man. Also, the man is the head of the woman and God is the head of Christ.


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So, when all of you meet together, you meet to <i>worship</i> God. When a man prays in your meeting, he should not cover his head. Or, when a man speaks a message from God in your meeting, he should not cover his head. If he covers his head, he is not showing the right thing about his leader. He is not showing that he respects Christ as his leader. 


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But when a woman prays in your meeting, she should cover her head. Or, when a woman speaks a message from God in your meeting, she should cover her head. If she does not cover her head, she is not showing the right thing about her leader. She is not showing that she respects the man as her leader. It looks very bad when someone cuts off all the hair from a woman’s head. And it is bad in the same way when a woman does not cover her head in your meetings. 


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So, if a woman does not cover her head, she should cut off all her hair. But, if it is bad for a woman to cut off her hair, then she should cover her head. <n>Verses 4-5 To respect means to show that someone or something is important. You do what is proper. You do that when you respect someone. 


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A man should not cover his head, because God made the man like himself. God wanted to show how great and how good God himself is. That is why God made the man. But a woman shows how good and how beautiful people can be. 


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God made a man first. After that, God made a woman from that first man. God did not make the man from the woman. 


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That is why a woman should cover her head. It shows that she has authority on her head. It shows that to the <i>angels</i>.


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But we must live as the <i>Lord</i>’s people. The women need the men. But the men need the women too. 


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It is true that God made the first woman from the first man. But it is also true that the mother of every man is a woman. But all things come from God.


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Answer this question for yourselves: Perhaps a woman prays to God but she has not covered her head. Is that proper? 


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Some people may want to argue about this. But I have told you what we do. And all the churches (groups of Christians) do the same when they <i>worship</i> God. <n>The <i>Lord’s Supper</i></n>


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Now I must speak about something else. I am not happy about what happens at your meetings. Your meetings are more bad than good. 


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First, some people have told me that there are different groups among you. And these groups do not agree with each other when you meet together as God’s people. I believe that some of this is true. 


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But perhaps these groups have some purpose. Perhaps you need to be in separate groups when you do not agree. Then, as a result, you can see clearly which people among you are right. You can see which people God is happy with.


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You meet together so that you can <i>worship</i> the <i>Lord</i>. But you do not eat the <i>Lord’s Supper</i> as you should eat it. 


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Each of you eats your own meal, and you do not wait for anyone else. So, as a result, one of you may be hungry, while another one drinks too much. 


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But certainly, you have your own homes where you can eat! You can drink there in your own homes too! You seem to think that God’s church (the meeting of God’s people) is not important. When you eat like this, you make the poor people feel ashamed. You cannot think that I will say good things about this. Certainly, I am not happy about these things that you do.


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The <i>Lord</i> himself gave me this message, which I taught to you: <n>On the night when Judas sold the <i>Lord</i> Jesus to Jesus’ enemies, Jesus had supper with his friends. Jesus took some bread at the supper. 


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He thanked God for the bread and then he broke it. He said: ‘This is my body, which is for you. Eat this bread, so that you remember me.’


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Then after supper, Jesus took a cup of <i>wine</i>. He said: ‘Drink from this cup, because it is the new agreement. God has made this new agreement with my blood. Every time that you drink from the cup, do it to remember me.’


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Every time that you eat bread together like this, you are telling about the <i>Lord</i>’s death. You eat bread and you drink <i>wine</i> together. You are showing that he died on your behalf. You should continue to do this until he returns. <n>Verse 25 An agreement is when two or more people, or God and people, agree about something. 


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We want to show how great and how good the <i>Lord</i> is. So, we eat this bread and we drink from this cup together. But perhaps someone among us does not do it for that reason. Perhaps they do it in a way that they ought to be ashamed about. Then that person is doing something wrong. He should not be eating the <i>Lord’s Supper</i> like that. He is doing something wrong against the <i>Lord</i>’s body and the <i>Lord</i>’s blood.


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So, each of us needs to think very carefully about our own life. Then we will know whether everything is right. We need to be sure that everything in our life is right with God. We should do this first. Then we can eat this bread and we can drink from this cup. 


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Nobody should ever eat and drink at the <i>Lord’s Supper</i> in a wrong way. Anyone who does that is not recognising the <i>Lord</i>’s body. That person will cause God to be angry with them because they are doing something wrong. So, God will <i>punish</i> them. 


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But if we really think carefully about our own lives, we ourselves can recognise the wrong things. Then God will not need to decide about us because we are doing wrong things. He will not need to <i>punish</i> us. 


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The <i>Lord</i> decides to <i>punish</i> us now so that we will learn not to do wrong things any longer. At the end, he will <i>punish</i> all those people who do not believe Christ. But he does not want to <i>punish</i> us for always, together with them.


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So, my Christian friends, you meet together to eat the <i>Lord’s Supper</i>. Wait for each other when you meet like that. 


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If any of you are hungry, you should eat at home. Eat before you come. Then there will be nothing wrong. So then, when you meet together, the <i>Lord</i> will not need to <i>punish</i> you. <n>I will come to visit you. Then I will talk to you about all the other things.


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You know how you lived in past times. You lived as people who do not know Christ. Things made you, in whatever way, <i>worship</i> false gods that cannot speak. 


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I want you to understand me now. If God’s Spirit is helping someone, they cannot say: ‘Jesus is bad.’ And, unless God’s Spirit is helping them, nobody can really say: ‘Jesus is <i>Lord</i>.’


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Different people can do different things. But the same God gives everything that we need to each of us. He makes us able to work for him as he wants us to do. 


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In each one of us, God shows in certain ways that his Spirit is present in us. He gives certain gifts to each of us so that we can help each other. <n>Verse 5 To serve means to work on somebody’s behalf, as their servant. 


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The Spirit gives to one person a message that causes people to understand something. And he gives to another person a message that causes people to know something. 


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The same Spirit causes another person to believe God strongly. And he gives to someone else gifts to make sick people well. 


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The same Spirit causes another person to do miracles. And he causes another person to speak messages from God. He causes someone else to recognise the differences between different <i>spirits</i>. He causes another person to speak in different kinds of languages. And the same Spirit causes someone else to explain what those languages mean. 


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It is the same Spirit who does all these things. He decides which gifts he will give to each person. <n>Verse 9 A miracle is a great thing that can only happen by God’s <i>power</i>. <n>One body with many parts</n>


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Each person has only one body, but that body has many parts. All those different parts make only one body. And it is like that with Christ too. 


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God baptised all of us by his one Spirit into one body. It made no difference whether we were <i>Jews</i> or not. It made no difference whether we were slaves or free people. God gave his one Spirit to all of us to drink. <n>Verse 13 To baptise means ‘to put a person or a thing completely into something else (for example, into water)’. When God ‘baptises’ us into Christ, he ‘puts us into’ Christ. He makes us completely united with Christ in our <i>spirits</i>. 


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If the foot could speak, it might say: ‘I am not a hand, so I do not belong to this body.’ But what it says makes no difference. It is still a part of the body. 


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If the ear could speak, it might say: ‘I am not an eye, so I do not belong to this body.’ But what it says makes no difference. It does still belong to the body. 


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If the whole body was an eye, it could not hear. Or if the whole body was an ear, it could not know about different smells. 


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That is why the eye cannot say to the hand: ‘I do not need you.’ And the head cannot say to the feet: ‘I do not need you.’ 


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And we are most careful about the parts of our bodies that seem not to be worth very much. And we cover carefully those parts that we do not want people to see. 


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But we do not need to cover the beautiful parts of our bodies. God has put all the parts together in one body and some parts seem not to be worth very much. But God has made those parts more important. 


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So, the parts of the body do not quarrel. All the parts work together so that they help each other. 


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Then if one part of the body hurts, every other part hurts with it. Or perhaps people say that one part is doing well. Then every part is happy.


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God has put different people in different places in his church (among his people). First, there are those people whom God sent to be special workers and leaders on his behalf. Second, there are those people whom God chose to speak his messages. Third, there are those people who are teachers. After that, there are people who do miracles. Then other people have gifts to make sick people well. There are those people who are able to help other people. There are those people who are guides to other people. And there are those people who can speak different kinds of languages.


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God did not send all of you to be his special workers and leaders. Not all of you can speak his messages. Not all of you are teachers. Not all of you do miracles. 


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Not all of you have gifts to make sick people well. Not all of you can speak in different kinds of languages. Nor can all of you explain what they say in those languages. 


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But it is good if you really want the more important gifts. <n>Now I will show you a way that is better than any other way. <n>Verses 28 and 29 A miracle is a great thing that can only happen by God’s <i>power</i>. 


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If I do not love, I am nothing. I may be able to speak different languages that people use. I may be able to speak languages that <i>angels</i> use. But that is worth nothing unless I love. It is only like someone who is making a loud noise. It is only like someone who is hitting a loud bell. 


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I may be able to speak messages from God. I may know all the facts and I may understand all the secret things. I may believe God enough so that I could move mountains. But I am nothing if I do not love. 


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I may give all the things that I have to poor people. I may even let other people burn my body so that I die. But that is worth nothing if I do not love.


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If I love, I will be very patient. I will be kind. I will not want to be like other people so much that I get angry with them. I will not tell people how good I am. I will not think that I am better than other people. 


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If I love, I will always be polite. I will think about what other people want. I will not think only about what I myself want. I will not get angry quickly. And I will not always be remembering the wrong things that other people have done to me. 


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If I love, I will not be happy about bad things. But instead, I will be happy about things that are right and true. 


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If I really love people, I will never stop loving them. It will not matter what happens. Whatever things may happen, I will still continue to love. If I love, then, during all things, I will still continue to believe. If I love, then, during all things, I will still continue to hope for good things. If I love then, during all things, I will still continue to be patient and strong.


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If I love, that will never come to an end. But it is different for all those gifts that God has given to us. The time will come when we do not need them any longer. People will stop telling messages from God. They will stop speaking in special languages. The many things that people know will finish. 


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Now, at this time, we know only a small part of everything that is true. And we can tell other people only a small part of the messages that come from God. 


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Now, we have only a part of what God wants to give to us. But the time will come when he will give everything to us completely. Then we will not have only a part any longer.


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When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child thinks. I understood only what a child understands. But now that I am a man, I have stopped being like a child. 


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Now we see things as if we were looking at them in a dark mirror. What we see is not clear. But the time will come when we will see everything clearly. Now we know some things, but then we will understand all things. God knows us and he understands us completely. And we will understand like that too, then.


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So, there are three things that continue. We continue to believe God. We continue to hope for good things. We continue to love. But the greatest of these things is love.


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So, want to love more than you want anything else. Also, want very much to have gifts from God’s Spirit. And want most to tell messages from God. Want that gift more than the other gifts. 


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Anyone who speaks in a special language speaks only to God. That person is not speaking to other people, because the other people do not understand him. The Spirit is causing him to speak about secret things, but other people do not understand. 


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But anyone who tells messages from God is speaking to other people. That person is helping other people to understand more, so that they become stronger. Also, he is helping people to be more sure and happier. He is helping them to be without trouble in their minds. 


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Anyone who speaks in a special language helps only himself. But a person who tells messages from God helps all the church (group of Christians) to be stronger.


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I want all of you to speak in special languages. But even more, I want you to tell God’s messages to people. Anyone who can tell messages from God is a very valuable person. That person is greater than someone who can speak in special languages. Anyone who speaks in special languages is less valuable to you. That person is less valuable unless they themselves can explain their special words. Then everyone can understand those words, and so they will help the church (group of Christians).


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My friends, if I come to visit you, perhaps I may speak in special languages to you. But that by itself will not help you. But I may tell you something that God has shown to me. Then, that will help you. I may tell you something that I know about God. Then, that will help you too. If I tell you a message from God, that will help you. Or if I teach you something, that will help you. 


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Think about music. The different kinds of instrument that we use to make music are not alive. We can use them to make clear, different sounds. If we do not use them like that, then nobody can recognise the music. 


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Soldiers will not prepare to fight the enemy unless they hear a clear sound from the trumpet. <n>Verse 7 An instrument is something that people use to make music. <n>Verse 8 A trumpet is a kind of instrument that someone blows into to make music. It makes a loud sound. Armies used trumpets. They told the soldiers when they should fight. 


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It is the same for you. You must speak words that people can understand. Only then will your message be clear. If people do not understand your words, then you will only be speaking those words into the air. 


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Perhaps a person will speak to me in a language that I do not know. But I will not understand what his words mean. So, I will be like a foreign person to him. And he will be like a foreign person to me also. 


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You yourselves really want the gifts that come from God’s Spirit. That is good. But the best gifts are those that will help the church (group of Christians) to become stronger. So, want those gifts more than any other gifts.


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So, anyone among you who speaks aloud in a special language should pray to God about it. Ask God to help you explain those words. 


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If I pray in a special language, only my <i>spirit</i> prays. But I do not use my mind while I pray like that. 


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So, the best way is this: I should pray both with my <i>spirit</i> and with my mind. Also, I should sing both with my <i>spirit</i> and with my mind. 


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If you thank God only with your <i>spirit</i>, other people cannot understand. They listen. But they do not understand what you are saying. So, they cannot agree with you and they cannot say ‘Amen’. 


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You may be really thanking God, but your words do not help anyone else there. <n>Verse 16 Amen means ‘Yes’ or ‘I agree’ or ‘That is true’. People say ‘Amen’ when they have finished praying something. 


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But when the church (group of Christians) meets together, I want you to understand my words. When we <i>worship</i> God together, I want you to learn more about him. So, I would rather say five words that you understand then. I would rather say five words like that than thousands of words in a special language.


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My friends, do not think like children think. Babies do not know very much about bad things. So, with bad things, be like babies. But do not think and understand things like children. No, instead, think and understand like proper men and women. 


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘I will cause foreign people to speak my messages to my people. These foreign people will speak to them in strange languages. <n>But my people will not listen to me, even if I speak to them by foreign people.’ That is what the <i>Lord</i> said. <n>[Isaiah 28:11-12] 


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So then, the gift from God that causes people to speak in special languages is a sign. It shows something to people who do not believe God. But it is not a sign for those people who do believe God. Also, the other gift from God that causes people to speak his messages is a sign. It shows something to those people who believe God. But it is not a sign for those people who do not believe.


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Think about when the whole church (group of Christians) meets together. Think about what might happen. All of you might be speaking in special languages, and then some strangers might come in. Those strangers might not know very much, or they might not believe God. Then certainly, they would say that you are crazy! 


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But if all of you are telling messages from God, it will be different. If a stranger comes in, then he will listen. He might not know very much, or he might not believe God. But still, he will understand that he is not right with God. The messages that all of you are telling will make him sure about that. 


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The messages from God will show every secret thought that the stranger thinks. And so, he will bend himself down and he will <i>worship</i> God. He will say with a loud voice: ‘Certainly, God is here among you.’ <n>How the church should <i>worship</i> properly</n>


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So, this is what you should do in your meetings, my friends. You meet together to <i>worship</i> God. And then, each person among you has something to bring. One of you can suggest a song that all of you can sing to God. Another person has something to teach you. Someone else has something that God has shown to him. Another person has words that he speaks aloud in a special language. So then someone else will explain what those words mean. Do all these things for one reason. Do them so that you help to make the church (group of Christians) stronger.


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No more than two or three people should speak aloud in special languages. They should speak one person at a time. Then someone must explain what each person said. 


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But perhaps there is nobody there who can explain the special languages. Then, those people who can speak aloud in special languages must be quiet. They must speak only to themselves and to God.


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Two or three people can tell messages from God. Then those of you who are listening must think carefully about each message. You should decide carefully whether each message is good. 


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Perhaps someone among you will receive a message from God during the meeting. Then, if another person is already telling a message at that time, that other person should stop. 


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Each person among you can tell a message from God, but you must speak one person at a time. Then everyone will learn something and it will help all of you to believe God more. 


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God does not want anyone to confuse his people. No, he wants us to do things properly. He wants us to be friends and to be without trouble among ourselves. <n>We think that verse 32 means, ‘You can decide when you should speak.’ <n>As in all the churches (groups) of God’s people everywhere, 


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the women should be quiet in the meetings. They should not speak, because they should be under authority. That is what the <i>Old Testament</i> rules say also. 


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If a woman wants to ask about something, she should ask her husband at home. Women should be ashamed if they speak in the church. 


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Remember that the word of God certainly did not start from you! You are not the only people who have heard it, either.


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Someone may think that he really tells messages from God well. He may think that he has received gifts from God’s Spirit. So, that person should understand about what I am writing to you. He should recognise that it comes from the <i>Lord</i> himself. The <i>Lord</i> is telling his people that they must do it. 


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If that person refuses to recognise this, you should not believe his messages. Do not believe what he says.


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So, my friends, you should really want to tell messages from God. And do not stop someone when they speak in a special language. 


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Now, my friends, I want you to remember the good news that I taught you. You were happy to believe that message. And you still believe strongly that it is true. 


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You must continue to believe strongly that same good news. If you do, then it has saved you. If you do not, you have believed it for nothing.


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I received the good news from Christ and then I told that same most important message to you. I told you that Christ died on our behalf. So then, as a result, God chooses not to remember all the wrong things that we have done. And the <i>Old Testament</i> told us that Christ would do this. 


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I told you that people buried Christ. Then God caused him to live again after three days. The <i>Old Testament</i> tells us about this too. 


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After that, Christ appeared to Peter. Then later he appeared to his 12 special workers that he sent to tell the good news. 


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And after that, he appeared to more than 500 believers at the same time. Most of those 500 people are still alive, but some of them have died. 


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Then Christ appeared to James. Later he appeared to all the special workers that he had sent to tell the good news.


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After all these people had seen him, Christ appeared to me also. I was like someone who was born at the wrong time. 


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Christ sent other people to tell his message. And all of those other people are greater than I am. People should not really call me one of them, because I caused so much trouble for God’s church (people). I hurt Christians and I killed them. 


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But God was very kind to me. He changed me. He has made me what I am today. And I have not wasted what he has done in me. No, because I have worked more than all the other people that Christ sent to tell his message. But it was not really I myself who did that work. No, it was God himself who made me able to do the work. 


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So then, all of us teach this same good news about Christ. I teach it. And all the other special workers that Christ sent teach it too. And this is the message that you have believed. <n>Dead people can live again in Christ</n>


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Our message is this: Christ died, but God raised him. God raised him, to make him alive again. So, some of you are wrong. You say that dead people do not live again. 


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But what you say cannot be true. It cannot be true, because then Christ would still be dead. You are saying, ‘God did not raise him, to make him alive again.’ 


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But if Christ is still dead, then our message to you is not true. There would be nothing for you to believe. 


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And even more important, we would have told you something false about God. We told you that God caused Christ to live again. But if dead people cannot live again, then that cannot be true. But it is true! 


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And if God did not make Christ alive again, then you have believed something false. There would be no reason for you to believe about Christ. God could not choose to forget all the wrong things that you have done. But he can! 


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Also, if God does not cause dead people to live again, then dead Christians would continue to be dead. They could not be alive with God. 


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And if Christ gives us a reason to hope during this life only, then we are the saddest people in the world! Then everybody should be more sorry for us than for any other people.


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But it is true that God raised Christ. And he did make him alive again. Yes, Christ died. But he has become the first of all dead people to live again. 


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It was because of one man, Adam, that people died. And it is because of another man, Christ, that people can rise. And people can live again. 


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All of us are in Adam’s family, so all of us must die. But all people who are in Christ will live again. 


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It is like this: Christ died and then he became alive again. So, he shows us the way. When he returns, his people will live again too. 


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Then the end will come and Christ will destroy every other ruler and power and authority. Then he will give everything to God, the Father, and God will rule. 


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘God has put all things under his feet (authority).’ <n>[Psalm 8:6] <n>But it is clear that the words ‘all things’ do not include God himself. No, because it is God who put all things under Christ’s authority. 


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When God has put all things under Christ’s authority, then Christ, the Son, will put himself under God’s authority. So then God will be everything to everyone.


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Some Christians have died before anyone could baptise them. Some of you have let people baptise you on their behalf. But if dead people do not live again, there is no reason to baptise anyone on their behalf. <n>Verse 29 To baptise means to put a believer into water. (Or sometimes they put water on a believer.) It shows that the person believes Jesus Christ. It is like a picture of what God does in our <i>spirits</i>. 


