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Revelation 2:8-11
/RSS FeedRevelation 2:8-11
8 To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the First and the Last, who died and returned to life.
9 I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.
10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death. -
Revelation 2:1-7
/RSS FeedRevelation 2:1-7
1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
2 I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles.
3 Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.
4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.
5 Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
6 But you have this to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God. -
Revelation 1:9-20
/RSS FeedRevelation 1:9-20
9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus.
10 On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
11 saying, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash around His chest.
14 The hair of His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a blazing fire.
15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.
16 He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
18 the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
19 Therefore write down the things you have seen, and the things that are, and the things that will happen after this.
20 This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. -
John 16:1-16
/RSS FeedJohn 16:1-16
1 “I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.
2 They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.
4 But I have told you these things so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
5 Now, however, I am going to Him who sent Me; yet none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’
6 Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow because I have told you these things.
7 But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8 And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
9 in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see Me;
11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.
12 I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it.
13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.
15 Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.
16 In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me.” -
John 15:18-27
/RSS FeedJohn 15:18-27
18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
21 But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.
24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.
25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.
27 And you also must testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning. -
John 14:15-31
/RSS FeedJohn 14:15-31
15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.
20 On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.
21 Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, why are You going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
24 Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.
25 All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.
28 You heard Me say, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe.
30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming, and he has no claim on Me.
31 But I do exactly what the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Get up! Let us go on from here. -
John 7:37-53
/RSS FeedJohn 7:37-53
37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”
39 He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40 On hearing these words, some of the people said, “This is truly the Prophet.”
41 Others declared, “This is the Christ.” But still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee?
42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
43 So there was division in the crowd because of Jesus.
44 Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.
45 Then the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him in?”
46 “Never has anyone spoken like this man!” the officers answered.
47 “Have you also been deceived?” replied the Pharisees.
48 “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?
49 But this crowd that does not know the law, they are under a curse.”
50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who himself was one of them, asked,
51 “Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”
52 “Aren’t you also from Galilee?” they replied. “Look into it, and you will see that no prophet comes out of Galilee.”
53 Then each went to his own home.
