Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.

For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it.

Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right.

Avoid evil and walk straight ahead. Don't go one step off the right way.

I walk the way of righteousness; I follow the paths of justice,

If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, "Here is the road. Follow it."

There will be a highway there, called "The Road of Holiness." No sinner will ever travel that road; no fools will mislead those who follow it.

The LORD says, "Let my people return to me. Remove every obstacle from their path! Build the road and make it ready!

The LORD said to his people, "Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths and where the best road is. Walk in it, and you will live in peace." But they said, "No, we will not!"

Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. "If any of you want to come with me," he told them, "you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.

"If the world hates you, just remember that it has hated me first.

Remember what I told you: 'Slaves are not greater than their master.' If people persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too.

You will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time will come when those who kill you will think that by doing this they are serving God.

I have told you this so that you will have peace by being united to me. The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world!"

They strengthened the believers and encouraged them to remain true to the faith. "We must pass through many troubles to enter the Kingdom of God," they taught.

while we sent Timothy, our brother who works with us for God in preaching the Good News about Christ. We sent him to strengthen you and help your faith,

For while we were still with you, we told you ahead of time that we were going to be persecuted; and as you well know, that is exactly what happened.

And Jesus concluded, "So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last."

And Jesus concluded, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."

"At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there were ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any extra oil with them,

The bridegroom was late in coming, so they began to nod and fall asleep.

The ten young women woke up and trimmed their lamps.

'No, indeed,' the wise ones answered, 'there is not enough for you and for us. Go to the store and buy some for yourselves.'

"Later the others arrived. 'Sir, sir! Let us in!' they cried out.

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom.

Someone asked him, "Sir, will just a few people be saved?" Jesus answered them,

The master of the house will get up and close the door; then when you stand outside and begin to knock on the door and say, 'Open the door for us, sir!' he will answer you, 'I don't know where you come from!'

But he will say again, 'I don't know where you come from. Get away from me, all you wicked people!'

People will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God.

And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: "Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved;

It is as Isaiah had said before, "If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."

It is the same way now: there is a small number left of those whom God has chosen because of his grace.

His choice is based on his grace, not on what they have done. For if God's choice were based on what people do, then his grace would not be real grace.

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God---what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

At 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.

Actually 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.

These were the spirits of those who had not obeyed God when he waited patiently during the days that Noah was building his boat. The few people in the boat---eight in all---were saved by the water,

which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,