ARKCODEX
Acts
Ch. 5
Ananias and Sapphira
1But there was a man named Ananias, who with his wife Sapphira sold some property that belonged to them.
2But with his wife's agreement he kept part of the money for himself and turned the rest over to the apostles.
3Peter said to him, “Ananias, why did you let Satan take control of you and make you lie to the Holy Spirit by keeping part of the money you received for the property?
4Before you sold the property, it belonged to you; and after you sold it, the money was yours. Why, then, did you decide to do such a thing? You have not lied to people—you have lied to God!”
5As soon as Ananias heard this, he fell down dead; and all who heard about it were terrified.
6The young men came in, wrapped up his body, carried him out, and buried him.
7About three hours later his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in.
8Peter asked her, “Tell me, was this the full amount you and your husband received for your property?” “Yes,” she answered, “the full amount.”
9So Peter said to her, “Why did you and your husband decide to put the Lord's Spirit to the test? The men who buried your husband are at the door right now, and they will carry you out too!”
10At once she fell down at his feet and died. The young men came in and saw that she was dead, so they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
11The whole church and all the others who heard of this were terrified.
Miracles and Wonders
12Many miracles and wonders were being performed among the people by the apostles. All the believers met together in Solomon's Porch.
13Nobody outside the group dared join them, even though the people spoke highly of them.
14But more and more people were added to the group—a crowd of men and women who believed in the Lord.
15As a result of what the apostles were doing, sick people were carried out into the streets and placed on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.
16And crowds of people came in from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing those who were sick or who had evil spirits in them; and they were all healed.
The Apostles Are Persecuted
17Then the High Priest and all his companions, members of the local party of the Sadducees, became extremely jealous of the apostles; so they decided to take action.
18They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
19But that night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, led the apostles out, and said to them,
20“Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new life.”
21The apostles obeyed, and at dawn they entered the Temple and started teaching. The High Priest and his companions called together all the Jewish elders for a full meeting of the Council; then they sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them.
22But when the officials arrived, they did not find the apostles in prison, so they returned to the Council and reported,
23“When we arrived at the jail, we found it locked up tight and all the guards on watch at the gates; but when we opened the gates, we found no one inside!”
24When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the Temple guards heard this, they wondered what had happened to the apostles.
25Then a man came in and said to them, “Listen! The men you put in prison are in the Temple teaching the people!”
26So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.
27They brought the apostles in, made them stand before the Council, and the High Priest questioned them.
28“We gave you strict orders not to teach in the name of this man,” he said; “but see what you have done! You have spread your teaching all over Jerusalem, and you want to make us responsible for his death!”
29Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God, not men.
30The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from death, after you had killed him by nailing him to a cross.
31God raised him to his right side as Leader and Savior, to give the people of Israel the opportunity to repent and have their sins forgiven.
32We are witnesses to these things—we and the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to those who obey him.”
33When the members of the Council heard this, they were so furious that they wanted to have the apostles put to death.
34But one of them, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was a teacher of the Law and was highly respected by all the people, stood up in the Council. He ordered the apostles to be taken out for a while,
35and then he said to the Council, “Fellow Israelites, be careful what you do to these men.
36You remember that Theudas appeared some time ago, claiming to be somebody great, and about four hundred men joined him. But he was killed, all his followers were scattered, and his movement died out.
37After that, Judas the Galilean appeared during the time of the census; he drew a crowd after him, but he also was killed, and all his followers were scattered.
38And so in this case, I tell you, do not take any action against these men. Leave them alone! If what they have planned and done is of human origin, it will disappear,
39but if it comes from God, you cannot possibly defeat them. You could find yourselves fighting against God!” The Council followed Gamaliel's advice.
40They called the apostles in, had them whipped, and ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus; and then they set them free.
41As the apostles left the Council, they were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer disgrace for the sake of Jesus.
42And every day in the Temple and in people's homes they continued to teach and preach the Good News about Jesus the Messiah.
Romans
Ch. 8
Life in the Spirit
1There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus.
2For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death.
3What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin.
4God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature.
5Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants.
6To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace.
7And so people become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it.
8Those who obey their human nature cannot please God.
9But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin.
11If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.
12So then, my friends, we have an obligation, but it is not to live as our human nature wants us to.
13For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live.
14Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's children.
15For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father!”
16God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.
17Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory.
The Future Glory
18I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
19All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children.
20For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope
21that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth.
23But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free.
24For it was by hope that we were saved; but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see?
25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express.
27And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will.
28We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
29Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.
30And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.
God's Love in Christ Jesus
31In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32Certainly not God, who did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son—will he not also freely give us all things?
33Who will accuse God's chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty!
34Who, then, will condemn them? Not Christ Jesus, who died, or rather, who was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us!
35Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?
36As the scripture says, “For your sake we are in danger of death at all times; we are treated like sheep that are going to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!
38For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future,
39neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Proverbs
Ch. 27
7When you are full, you will refuse honey, but when you are hungry, even bitter food tastes sweet.
8Anyone away from home is like a bird away from its nest.
9Perfume and fragrant oils make you feel happier, but trouble shatters your peace of mind.