ARKCODEX
Acts
Ch. 26
Paul Defends Himself before Agrippa
1Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak on your own behalf.” Paul stretched out his hand and defended himself as follows:
2“King Agrippa! I consider myself fortunate that today I am to defend myself before you from all the things these Jews accuse me of,
3particularly since you know so well all the Jewish customs and disputes. I ask you, then, to listen to me with patience.
4“All the Jews know how I have lived ever since I was young. They know how I have spent my whole life, at first in my own country and then in Jerusalem.
5They have always known, if they are willing to testify, that from the very first I have lived as a member of the strictest party of our religion, the Pharisees.
6And now I stand here to be tried because of the hope I have in the promise that God made to our ancestors—
7the very thing that the twelve tribes of our people hope to receive, as they worship God day and night. And it is because of this hope, Your Majesty, that I am being accused by these Jews!
8Why do you who are here find it impossible to believe that God raises the dead?
9“I myself thought that I should do everything I could against the cause of Jesus of Nazareth.
10That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the chief priests and put many of God's people in prison; and when they were sentenced to death, I also voted against them.
11Many times I had them punished in the synagogues and tried to make them deny their faith. I was so furious with them that I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
Paul Tells of His Conversion
12“It was for this purpose that I went to Damascus with authority and orders from the chief priests.
13It was on the road at midday, Your Majesty, that I saw a light much brighter than the sun, coming from the sky and shining around me and the men traveling with me.
14All of us fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by hitting back, like an ox kicking against its owner's stick.’
15‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. And the Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus, whom you persecute.
16But get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant. You are to tell others what you have seen of me today and what I will show you in the future.
17I will rescue you from the people of Israel and from the Gentiles to whom I will send you.
18You are to open their eyes and turn them from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, so that through their faith in me they will have their sins forgiven and receive their place among God's chosen people.’
Paul Tells of His Work
19“And so, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the vision I had from heaven.
20First in Damascus and in Jerusalem and then in the whole country of Israel and among the Gentiles, I preached that they must repent of their sins and turn to God and do the things that would show they had repented.
21It was for this reason that these Jews seized me while I was in the Temple, and they tried to kill me.
22But to this very day I have been helped by God, and so I stand here giving my witness to all, to small and great alike. What I say is the very same thing which the prophets and Moses said was going to happen:
23that the Messiah must suffer and be the first one to rise from death, to announce the light of salvation to the Jews and to the Gentiles.”
24As Paul defended himself in this way, Festus shouted at him, “You are mad, Paul! Your great learning is driving you mad!”
25Paul answered, “I am not mad, Your Excellency! I am speaking the sober truth.
26King Agrippa! I can speak to you with all boldness, because you know about these things. I am sure that you have taken notice of every one of them, for this thing has not happened hidden away in a corner.
27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do!”
28Agrippa said to Paul, “In this short time do you think you will make me a Christian?”
29“Whether a short time or a long time,” Paul answered, “my prayer to God is that you and all the rest of you who are listening to me today might become what I am—except, of course, for these chains!”
30Then the king, the governor, Bernice, and all the others got up,
31and after leaving they said to each other, “This man has not done anything for which he should die or be put in prison.”
32And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to the Emperor.”
Ephesians
Ch. 1–3
1From Paul, who by God's will is an apostle of Christ Jesus— To God's people in Ephesus, who are faithful in their life in union with Christ Jesus:
2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world.
4Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be his through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before him. Because of his love
5God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.
6Let us praise God for his glorious grace, for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son!
7For by the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven. How great is the grace of God,
8which he gave to us in such large measure! In all his wisdom and insight
9God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ.
10This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.
11All things are done according to God's plan and decision; and God chose us to be his own people in union with Christ because of his own purpose, based on what he had decided from the very beginning.
12Let us, then, who were the first to hope in Christ, praise God's glory!
13And you also became God's people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised.
14The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory!
Paul's Prayer
15For this reason, ever since I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people,
16I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I remember you in my prayers
17and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you, so that you will know him.
18I ask that your minds may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people,
19and how very great is his power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength
20which he used when he raised Christ from death and seated him at his right side in the heavenly world.
21Christ rules there above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next.
22God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things.
23The church is Christ's body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere.
Ephesians 2
From Death to Life
1In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins.
2At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God.
3Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.
4But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great,
5that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved.
6In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world.
7He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus.
8-9For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.
10God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.
One in Christ
11You Gentiles by birth—called “the uncircumcised” by the Jews, who call themselves the circumcised (which refers to what men do to their bodies)—remember what you were in the past.
12At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God.
13But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies.
15He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace.
16By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.
17So Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all—to you Gentiles, who were far away from God, and to the Jews, who were near to him.
18It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father.
19So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer; you are now citizens together with God's people and members of the family of God.
20You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself.
21He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord.
22In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.
Ephesians 3
Paul's Work for the Gentiles
1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, pray to God.
2Surely you have heard that God in his grace has given me this work to do for your good.
3God revealed his secret plan and made it known to me. (I have written briefly about this,
4and if you will read what I have written, you can learn about my understanding of the secret of Christ.)
5In past times human beings were not told this secret, but God has revealed it now by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.
6The secret is that by means of the gospel the Gentiles have a part with the Jews in God's blessings; they are members of the same body and share in the promise that God made through Christ Jesus.
7I was made a servant of the gospel by God's special gift, which he gave me through the working of his power.
8I am less than the least of all God's people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ,
9and of making all people see how God's secret plan is to be put into effect. God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages,
10in order that at the present time, by means of the church, the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms.
11God did this according to his eternal purpose, which he achieved through Christ Jesus our Lord.
12In union with Christ and through our faith in him we have the boldness to go into God's presence with all confidence.
13I beg you, then, not to be discouraged because I am suffering for you; it is all for your benefit.
The Love of Christ
14For this reason I fall on my knees before the Father,
15from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its true name.
16I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves,
17and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love,
18so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love.
19Yes, may you come to know his love—although it can never be fully known—and so be completely filled with the very nature of God.
20To him who by means of his power working in us is able to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of:
21to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever! Amen.
Proverbs
Ch. 29
18A nation without God's guidance is a nation without order. Happy are those who keep God's law!
19You cannot correct servants just by talking to them. They may understand you, but they will pay no attention.
20There is more hope for a stupid fool than for someone who speaks without thinking.
21If you give your servants everything they want from childhood on, some day they will take over everything you own.