Wednesday 6 November 2024

12So then, my beloved,even as you have always obeyed,not only in my presence,but now much more in my absence,work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.13For it is God who works in you both to willand to work for his good pleasure.

14Do all things without complaining and arguing,15that you may become blameless and harmless,children of God without defect in the middle of a crookedand perverse generation,among whom you are seen as lights in the world,16holding up the word of life,that I may have something to boast in the day of Christthat I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.17Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrificeand service of your faith,I am glad and rejoice with you all.18In the same way, you also should be gladand rejoice with me.

1The Lord is my light and my salvation.Whom shall I fear?The Lord is the strength of my life.Of whom shall I be afraid?

4One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I will seek after:that I may dwell in the Lord’s house all the days of my life,to see the Lord’s beauty,and to inquire in his temple.

13I am still confident of this:I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.14Wait for the Lord.Be strong, and let your heart take courage.Yes, wait for the Lord.

25Now great multitudes were going with him.He turned and said to them,26“If anyone comes to me,and doesn’t disregard his own father,mother, wife, children,brothers, and sisters,yes, and his own life also,he can’t be my disciple.27Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me,can’t be my disciple.28For which of you, desiring to build a tower,doesn’t first sit down and count the cost,to see if he has enough to complete it?29Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundationand isn’t able to finish,everyone who sees begins to mock him,30saying, ‘This man began to buildand wasn’t able to finish.’31Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war,will not sit down firstand consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet himwho comes against him with twenty thousand?32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off,he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace.33So therefore, whoever of youwho doesn’t renounce all that he has,he can’t be my disciple.