¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ^(A)“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ^19 (B)Go ^[a]therefore and ^(C)make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ^20 (D)teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am ^(E)with you always, even to the end of the age.” ^[b]Amen.

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ^(A)

^18 (B)And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

¹⁹ So they answered and said, ^(C)“John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”

²⁰ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

^(D)Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection^(E)

^21 (F)And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, ²² saying, ^(G)“The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”

Take Up the Cross and Follow Him^(H)

^23 (I)Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross ^[a]daily, and follow Me. ^24 (J)For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. ^25 (K)For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? ^26 (L)For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ^(M)ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.

Leaving All to Follow Christ^(A)

²⁵ Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ^26 (B)“If anyone comes to Me ^(C)and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, ^(D)yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ And ^(E)whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For ^(F)which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— ²⁹ lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? ³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whoever of you ^(G)does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Tasteless Salt Is Worthless^(H)

^34 (I)“Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is neither fit for the land nor for the ^[a]dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

²⁶ And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

¹³ Yet ^(A)none of the rest dared join them, ^(B)but the people esteemed them highly. ¹⁴ And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

¹¹ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, ^(A)for the ^[a]edifying of ^(B)the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith ^(C)and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to ^(D)a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴ that we should no longer be ^(E)children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of ^(F)deceitful plotting, ¹⁵ but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the ^(G)head—Christ— ^16 (H)from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

²⁰ But you have not so learned Christ, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you ^(A)put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and ^(B)be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you ^(C)put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another ^(A)in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.