Hold firmly to the true words that I taught you, as the example for you to follow, and remain in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus.

But you have followed my teaching, my conduct, and my purpose in life; you have observed my faith, my patience, my love, my endurance,

But as for you, continue in the truths that you were taught and firmly believe. You know who your teachers were,

Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you, which was given to you when the prophets spoke and the elders laid their hands on you.

Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself; for it was to this life that God called you when you firmly professed your faith before many witnesses.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, keep the good things that have been entrusted to you.

Timothy, my child, I entrust to you this command, which is in accordance with the words of prophecy spoken in the past about you. Use those words as weapons in order to fight well,

Be in no hurry to lay hands on people to dedicate them to the Lord's service. Take no part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.

It is different when I speak with my servant Moses; I have put him in charge of all my people Israel.

I will choose a priest who will be faithful to me and do everything I want him to. I will give him descendants, who will always serve in the presence of my chosen king.

I put two men in charge of governing the city of Jerusalem: my brother Hanani and Hananiah, commanding officer of the fortress. Hananiah was a reliable and God-fearing man without equal.

I will approve of those who are faithful to God and will let them live in my palace. Those who are completely honest will be allowed to serve me.

Unreliable messengers cause trouble, but those who can be trusted bring peace.

The prophet who has had a dream should say it is only a dream, but the prophet who has heard my message should proclaim that message faithfully. What good is straw compared with wheat?

Listen! I have told you this ahead of time.

The Lord answered, "Who, then, is the faithful and wise servant? He is the one that his master will put in charge, to run the household and give the other servants their share of the food at the proper time.

Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.

And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?

The one thing required of such servants is that they be faithful to their master.

You learned of God's grace from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is Christ's faithful worker on our behalf.

I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength for my work. I thank him for considering me worthy and appointing me to serve him,

This means that he had to become like his people in every way, in order to be their faithful and merciful High Priest in his service to God, so that the people's sins would be forgiven.

He was faithful to God, who chose him to do this work, just as Moses was faithful in his work in God's house.

A man who builds a house receives more honor than the house itself. In the same way Jesus is worthy of much greater honor than Moses.

Don't be afraid of anything you are about to suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the test by having some of you thrown into prison, and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory.

"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: "This is the message from the one who has the sharp two-edged sword.

As the Lord's servant, you must not quarrel. You must be kind toward all, a good and patient teacher,

who is gentle as you correct your opponents, for it may be that God will give them the opportunity to repent and come to know the truth.

Ezra had devoted his life to studying the Law of the LORD, to practicing it, and to teaching all its laws and regulations to the people of Israel.

"You, Ezra, using the wisdom which your God has given you, are to appoint administrators and judges to govern all the people in West-of-Euphrates who live by the Law of your God. You must teach that Law to anyone who does not know it.

It is the duty of priests to teach the true knowledge of God. People should go to them to learn my will, because they are the messengers of the LORD Almighty.

So he replied, "This means, then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who takes new and old things out of his storage room."

A church leader must be without fault; he must have only one wife, be sober, self-controlled, and orderly; he must welcome strangers in his home; he must be able to teach;

he must be able to manage his own family well and make his children obey him with all respect.

He must be mature in the faith, so that he will not swell up with pride and be condemned, as the Devil was.

Church helpers must also have a good character and be sincere; they must not drink too much wine or be greedy for money;

If you give these instructions to the believers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, as you feed yourself spiritually on the words of faith and of the true teaching which you have followed.

I left you in Crete, so that you could put in order the things that still needed doing and appoint church elders in every town. Remember my instructions:

For since a church leader is in charge of God's work, he should be without fault. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard or violent or greedy for money.

He must hold firmly to the message which can be trusted and which agrees with the doctrine. In this way he will be able to encourage others with the true teaching and also to show the error of those who are opposed to it.