ARKCODEX
Acts
Ch. 11
Peter's Report to the Church at Jerusalem
1The apostles and the other believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
2When Peter went to Jerusalem, those who were in favor of circumcising Gentiles criticized him, saying,
3“You were a guest in the home of uncircumcised Gentiles, and you even ate with them!”
4So Peter gave them a complete account of what had happened from the very beginning:
5“While I was praying in the city of Joppa, I had a vision. I saw something coming down that looked like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it stopped next to me.
6I looked closely inside and saw domesticated and wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds.
7Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat!’
8But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord! No ritually unclean or defiled food has ever entered my mouth.’
9The voice spoke again from heaven, ‘Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean.’
10This happened three times, and finally the whole thing was drawn back up into heaven.
11At that very moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying.
12The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. These six fellow believers from Joppa accompanied me to Caesarea, and we all went into the house of Cornelius.
13He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house, who said to him, ‘Send someone to Joppa for a man whose full name is Simon Peter.
14He will speak words to you by which you and all your family will be saved.’
15And when I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them just as on us at the beginning.
16Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
17It is clear that God gave those Gentiles the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; who was I, then, to try to stop God!”
18When they heard this, they stopped their criticism and praised God, saying, “Then God has given to the Gentiles also the opportunity to repent and live!”
The Church at Antioch
19Some of the believers who were scattered by the persecution which took place when Stephen was killed went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, telling the message to Jews only.
20But other believers, who were from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and proclaimed the message to Gentiles also, telling them the Good News about the Lord Jesus.
21The Lord's power was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
22The news about this reached the church in Jerusalem, so they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
23When he arrived and saw how God had blessed the people, he was glad and urged them all to be faithful and true to the Lord with all their hearts.
24Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and many people were brought to the Lord.
25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.
26When he found him, he took him to Antioch, and for a whole year the two met with the people of the church and taught a large group. It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.
27About that time some prophets went from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28One of them, named Agabus, stood up and by the power of the Spirit predicted that a severe famine was about to come over all the earth. (It came when Claudius was emperor.)
29The disciples decided that they each would send as much as they could to help their fellow believers who lived in Judea.
30They did this, then, and sent the money to the church elders by Barnabas and Saul.
1 Corinthians
Ch. 3–4
Servants of God
1As a matter of fact, my friends, I could not talk to you as I talk to people who have the Spirit; I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world, as children in the Christian faith.
2I had to feed you milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for it,
3because you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn't this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards?
4When one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos”—aren't you acting like worldly people?
5After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God's servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do:
6I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow.
7The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow.
8There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done.
9For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field. You are also God's building.
10Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each of you must be careful how you build.
11For God has already placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid.
12Some will use gold or silver or precious stones in building on the foundation; others will use wood or grass or straw.
13And the quality of each person's work will be seen when the Day of Christ exposes it. For on that Day fire will reveal everyone's work; the fire will test it and show its real quality.
14If what was built on the foundation survives the fire, the builder will receive a reward.
15But if your work is burnt up, then you will lose it; but you yourself will be saved, as if you had escaped through the fire.
16Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you!
17God will destroy anyone who destroys God's temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple.
18You should not fool yourself. If any of you think that you are wise by this world's standards, you should become a fool, in order to be really wise.
19For what this world considers to be wisdom is nonsense in God's sight. As the scripture says, “God traps the wise in their cleverness”;
20and another scripture says, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.”
21No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you:
22Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future—all these are yours,
23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
1 Corinthians 4
Apostles of Christ
1You should think of us as Christ's servants, who have been put in charge of God's secret truths.
2The one thing required of such servants is that they be faithful to their master.
3Now, I am not at all concerned about being judged by you or by any human standard; I don't even pass judgment on myself.
4My conscience is clear, but that does not prove that I am really innocent. The Lord is the one who passes judgment on me.
5So you should not pass judgment on anyone before the right time comes. Final judgment must wait until the Lord comes; he will bring to light the dark secrets and expose the hidden purposes of people's minds. And then all will receive from God the praise they deserve.
6For your sake, my friends, I have applied all this to Apollos and me, using the two of us as an example, so that you may learn what the saying means, “Observe the proper rules.” None of you should be proud of one person and despise another.
7Who made you superior to others? Didn't God give you everything you have? Well, then, how can you boast, as if what you have were not a gift?
8Do you already have everything you need? Are you already rich? Have you become kings, even though we are not? Well, I wish you really were kings, so that we could be kings together with you.
9For it seems to me that God has given the very last place to us apostles, like people condemned to die in public as a spectacle for the whole world of angels and of human beings.
10For Christ's sake we are fools; but you are wise in union with Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! We are despised, but you are honored!
11To this very moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are clothed in rags; we are beaten; we wander from place to place;
12we wear ourselves out with hard work. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
13when we are insulted, we answer back with kind words. We are no more than this world's garbage; we are the scum of the earth to this very moment!
14I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children.
15For even if you have ten thousand guardians in your Christian life, you have only one father. For in your life in union with Christ Jesus I have become your father by bringing the Good News to you.
16I beg you, then, to follow my example.
17For this purpose I am sending to you Timothy, who is my own dear and faithful son in the Christian life. He will remind you of the principles which I follow in the new life in union with Christ Jesus and which I teach in all the churches everywhere.
18Some of you have become proud because you have thought that I would not be coming to visit you.
19If the Lord is willing, however, I will come to you soon, and then I will find out for myself the power which these proud people have, and not just what they say.
20For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of words but of power.
21Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in a spirit of love and gentleness?
Proverbs
Ch. 27
23Look after your sheep and cattle as carefully as you can,
24because wealth is not permanent. Not even nations last forever.
25You cut the hay and then cut the grass on the hillsides while the next crop of hay is growing.
26You can make clothes from the wool of your sheep and buy land with the money you get from selling some of your goats.
27The rest of the goats will provide milk for you and your family, and for your servant women as well.