Ephesians 4:15–16; 1 John 1; 1 Corinthians 1; John 21; Acts 15:36–41; 2 Timothy 4:11

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Ephesians 4:15–16

15 Rather, yspeaking the truth in love, we are to zgrow up in every way into him who is athe head, into Christ, 16 bfrom whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, cwhen each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.


1 John 1

The Word of Life

aThat which was bfrom the beginning, cwhich we have heard, dwhich we have seen with our eyes, ewhich we looked upon and fhave touched with our hands, concerning the word1 of life gthe life hwas made manifest, and we have seen it, and itestify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, awhich was with the Father and hwas made manifest to us cthat which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed jour fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so kthat our2 joy may be complete.

Walking in the Light

lThis is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that mGod is light, and in him is no darkness at all. nIf we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and odo not practice the truth. But pif we walk in the light, qas he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and rthe blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. sIf we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and tthe truth is not in us. uIf we confess our sins, he is vfaithful and just to forgive us our sins and rto cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, wwe make him a liar, and xhis word is not in us.


1 Corinthians 1

Greeting

Paul, acalled bby the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those csanctified in Christ Jesus, dcalled to be saints together with all those who in every place ecall upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

dGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

I fgive thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way gyou were enriched in him in all hspeech and all knowledge even as ithe testimony about Christ was confirmed among you so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you jwait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, kwho will sustain you to the end, lguiltless min the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. nGod is faithful, by whom you were called into the ofellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

10 I appeal to you, brothers,1 by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no pdivisions among you, but that you be united qin the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is rquarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that seach one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow tApollos, or I follow uCephas, or I follow Christ. 13 vIs Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you wbaptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except xCrispus and yGaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also zthe household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and anot with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

18 For the word of the cross is bfolly to cthose who are perishing, but to us dwho are being saved it is ethe power of God. 19 For it is written,

fI will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

20 gWhere is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? hHas not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach2 to save those who believe. 22 For iJews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ jcrucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ kthe power of God and lthe wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: mnot many of you were wise according to worldly standards,3 not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But nGod chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; oGod chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even pthings that are not, to qbring to nothing things that are, 29 so rthat no human being4 might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him5 you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us swisdom from God, trighteousness and usanctification and vredemption, 31 so that, as it is written, wLet the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.


John 21

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

After this Jesus brevealed himself cagain to the disciples by dthe Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, eThomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of fCana in Galilee, gthe sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, We will go with you. They went out and got into the boat, but hthat night they caught nothing.

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples idid not know that it was Jesus. jJesus said to them, Children, do you have any fish? They answered him, No. kHe said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple lwhom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, It is the Lord! When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, mhe put on his outer garment, for he was nstripped for work, and othrew himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards1 off.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have just caught. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, pCome and qhave breakfast. Now rnone of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and stook the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 tThis was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had ufinished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, vSimon, wson of John, xdo you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed ymy lambs. 16 He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, zTend ymy sheep. 17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him athe third time, Do you love me? and he said to him, Lord, byou know everything; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed cmy sheep. 18 dTruly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, eyou used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. 19 (This he said to show fby what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, gFollow me.

Jesus and the Beloved Apostle

20 Peter turned and saw hthe disciple whom Jesus loved following them, ithe one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray you? 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? 22 Jesus said to him, If it is my will that he remain juntil kI come, what is that to you? lYou follow me! 23 So the saying spread abroad among mthe brothers2 that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?

24 This is the disciple nwho is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and owe know pthat his testimony is true.

25 Now qthere are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that rthe world itself could not contain the books that would be written.


Acts 15:36–41

Paul and Barnabas Separate

36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, Let us return and visit nthe brothers qin every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are. 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them rJohn called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one swho had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose ta sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. uBarnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, vhaving been commended by wthe brothers to xthe grace of the Lord. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, ystrengthening the churches.


2 Timothy 4:11

11 hLuke alone is with me. Get jMark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.