save me from those who in this life have all they want. Punish them with the sufferings you have stored up for them; may there be enough for their children and some left over for their children's children!

The longer you argue, the more useless it is, and you are no better off.

Enjoy life with the one you love, as long as you live the useless life that God has given you in this world. Enjoy every useless day of it, because that is all you will get for all your trouble.

The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear; but the worries and riches and pleasures of this life crowd in and choke them, and their fruit never ripens.

"Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you

Do you not know that we shall judge the angels? How much more, then, the things of this life!

If such matters come up, are you going to take them to be settled by people who have no standing in the church?

A soldier on active duty wants to please his commanding officer and so does not get mixed up in the affairs of civilian life.

Let us, then, who were the first to hope in Christ, praise God's glory!

And 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.

For we remember before our God and Father how you put your faith into practice, how your love made you work so hard, and how your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ is firm.

and it is for this reason that I suffer these things. But I am still full of confidence, because I know whom I have trusted, and I am sure that he is able to keep safe until that Day what he has entrusted to me.

Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God.

For 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.

To this very moment we go hungry and thirsty; we are clothed in rags; we are beaten; we wander from place to place;

when 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!

"People will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death.

When they persecute you in one town, run away to another one. I assure you that you will not finish your work in all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!

"Then you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and be put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me.

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.

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted;

Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Happy are those who from now on die in the service of the Lord!" "Yes indeed!" answers the Spirit. "They will enjoy rest from their hard work, because the results of their service go with them."