John 1:11-13. He came to his own and his own people did not accept him. 12. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believed in his name 13. who were born not from human stock or human desire or human will but from God himself.
John 6:27. Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal. 28. Then they said to him, "What must we do if we are to carry out God's work?" 29. Jesus gave them this answer, "This is carrying out God's work: you must believe in the one he has sent." 30. So they said, "What sign will you yourself do, the sight of which will make us believe in you? What work will you do? 31. Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat."
Acts 13:44-49. The next Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of God. 45. When they saw the crowds, the Jews, filled with jealousy, used blasphemies to contradict everything Paul said. 46. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out fearlessly. "We had to proclaim the word of God to you first, but since you have rejected it, since you do not think yourselves worthy of eternal life, here and now we turn to the gentiles. 47. For this is what the Lord commanded us to do when he said: I have made you a light to the nations, so that my salvation may reach the remotest parts of the earth." 48. It made the gentiles very happy to hear this and they gave thanks to the Lord for his message; all who were destined for eternal life became believers. 49. Thus the word of the Lord spread through the whole countryside.
Acts 18:24. An Alexandrian Jew named Apollos now arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, with a sound knowledge of the scriptures, and yet, 25. though he had been given instruction in the Way of the Lord and preached with great spiritual fervour and was accurate in all the details he taught about Jesus, he had experienced only the baptism of John. 26. He began to teach fearlessly in the synagogue and, when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they attached themselves to him and gave him more detailed instruction about the Way. 27. When Apollos thought of crossing over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote asking the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived there he was able by God's grace to help the believers considerably 28. by the energetic way he refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Romans 3:21. God's saving justice was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, but now it has been revealed altogether apart from law: 22. God's saving justice given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 23. No distinction is made: all have sinned and lack God's glory, 24. and all are justified by the free gift of his grace through being set free in Christ Jesus. 25. God appointed him as a sacrifice for reconciliation, through faith, by the shedding of his blood, and so showed his justness; first for the past, when sins went unpunished because he held his hand; 26. and now again for the present age, to show how he is just and justifies everyone who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 9:14-24. What should we say, then? That God is unjust? Out of the question! 15. For speaking to Moses, he said: I am gracious to those to whom I am gracious and I take pity on those on whom I take pity. 16. So it is not a matter of what any person wants or what any person does, but only of God having mercy. 17. Scripture says to Pharaoh: I raised you up for this reason, to display my power in you and to have my name talked of throughout the world. 18. In other words, if God wants to show mercy on someone, he does so, and if he wants to harden someone's heart, he does so. 19. Then you will ask me, "How then can he ever blame anyone, since no one can oppose his will?" 20. But you, who do you think you, a human being, are, to answer back to God? Something that was made, can it say to its maker: why did you make me this shape? 21. A potter surely has the right over his clay to make out of the same lump either a pot for special use or one for ordinary use. 22. But suppose that God, although all the time he wanted to reveal his retribution and demonstrate his power, has with great patience gone on putting up with those who are the instruments of his retribution and designed to be destroyed; 23. so that he may make known the glorious riches ready for the people who are the instruments of his faithful love and were long ago prepared for that glory. 24. We are that people, called by him not only out of the Jews but out of the gentiles too.
Romans 10:14. How then are they to call on him if they have not come to believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard of him? And how will they hear of him unless there is a preacher for them? 15. And how will there be preachers if they are not sent? As scripture says: How beautiful are the feet of the messenger of good news. 16. But in fact they have not all responded to the good news. As Isaiah says: Lord, who has given credence to what they have heard from us? 17. But it is in that way faith comes, from hearing, and that means hearing the word of Christ. 18. Well then, I say, is it possible that they have not heard? Indeed they have: in the entire earth their voice stands out, their message reaches the whole world. 19. Well, another question, then: is it possible that Israel did not understand? In the first place Moses said: I shall rouse you to jealousy with a non-people, I shall exasperate you with a stupid nation. 20. And Isaiah is even bold enough to say: I have let myself be found by those who did not seek me; I have let myself be seen by those who did not consult me; 21. and referring to Israel, he says: All day long I have been stretching out my hands to a disobedient and rebellious people.
Romans 12:3. And through the grace that I have been given, I say this to every one of you: never pride yourself on being better than you really are, but think of yourself dispassionately, recognising that God has given to each one his measure of faith. 4. Just as each of us has various parts in one body, and the parts do not all have the same function: 5. in the same way, all of us, though there are so many of us, make up one body in Christ, and as different parts we are all joined to one another. 6. Then since the gifts that we have differ according to the grace that was given to each of us: if it is a gift of prophecy, we should prophesy as much as our faith tells us; 7. if it is a gift of practical service, let us devote ourselves to serving; if it is teaching, to teaching; 8. if it is encouraging, to encouraging. When you give, you should give generously from the heart; if you are put in charge, you must be conscientious; if you do works of mercy, let it be because you enjoy doing them. 9. Let love be without any pretence. Avoid what is evil; stick to what is good. 10. In brotherly love let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression and regard others as more important than yourself. 11. In the service of the Lord, work not halfheartedly but with conscientiousness and an eager spirit. 12. Be joyful in hope, persevere in hardship; keep praying regularly; 13. share with any of God's holy people who are in need; look for opportunities to be hospitable.
Gal 2:15. We who were born Jews and not gentile sinners 16. have nevertheless learnt that someone is reckoned as upright not by practising the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ; and we too came to believe in Christ Jesus so as to be reckoned as upright by faith in Christ and not by practising the Law: since no human being can be found upright by keeping the Law. 17. Now if we too are found to be sinners on the grounds that we seek our justification in Christ, it would surely follow that Christ was at the service of sin. Out of the question! 18. If I now rebuild everything I once demolished, I prove that I was wrong before. 19. In fact, through the Law I am dead to the Law so that I can be alive to God. I have been crucified with Christ 20. and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. The life that I am now living, subject to the limitation of human nature, I am living in faith, faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 21. I am not setting aside God's grace as of no value; it is merely that if saving justice comes through the Law, Christ died needlessly.
Gal 5:16. Instead, I tell you, be guided by the Spirit, and you will no longer yield to self-indulgence. 17. The desires of self-indulgence are always in opposition to the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are in opposition to self-indulgence: they are opposites, one against the other; that is how you are prevented from doing the things that you want to. 18. But when you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19. When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: sexual vice, impurity, and sensuality, 20. the worship of false gods and sorcery; antagonisms and rivalry, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels, disagreements, 21. factions and malice, drunkenness, orgies and all such things. And about these, I tell you now as I have told you in the past, that people who behave in these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22. On the other hand the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, 23. gentleness and self-control; no law can touch such things as these. 24. All who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified self with all its passions and its desires.
25. Since we are living by the Spirit, let our behaviour be guided by the Spirit 26. and let us not be conceited or provocative and envious of one another.
Eph 1:15. That is why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all God's holy people, 16. have never failed to thank God for you and to remember you in my prayers. 17. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. 18. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, how rich is the glory of the heritage he offers among his holy people, 19. and how extraordinarily great is the power that he has exercised for us believers; this accords with the strength of his power 20. at work in Christ, the power which he exercised in raising him from the dead and enthroning him at his right hand, in heaven, 21. far above every principality, ruling force, power or sovereignty, or any other name that can be named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22. He has put all things under his feet, and made him, as he is above all things, the head of the Church; 23. which is his Body, the fullness of him who is filled, all in all.
Eph 2:7. This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how extraordinarily rich he is in grace. 8. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; 9. not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. 10. We are God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life. Phil 1:27. But you must always behave in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come to you and see for myself or whether I only hear all about you from a distance, I shall find that you are standing firm and united in spirit, battling, as a team with a single aim, for the faith of the gospel, 28. undismayed by any of your opponents. This will be a clear sign, for them that they are to be lost, and for you that you are to be saved. 29. This comes from God, for you have been granted the privilege for Christ's sake not only of believing in him but of suffering for him as well; 30. you are fighting the same battle which you saw me fighting for him and which you hear I am fighting still.
Heb 2:1. With so many witnesses in a great cloud all around us, we too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us. 2. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him, he endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it, and has taken his seat at the right of God's throne. 3. Think of the way he persevered against such opposition from sinners and then you will not lose heart and come to grief. 4. In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of bloodshed.
Titus 3:4. But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour for humanity were revealed, 5. it was not because of any upright actions we had done ourselves; it was for no reason except his own faithful love that he saved us, by means of the cleansing water of rebirth and renewal in the Holy Spirit 6. which he has so generously poured over us through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7. so that, justified by his grace, we should become heirs in hope of eternal life. 8. This is doctrine that you can rely on.