Persecutions Are Coming^(A)

^16 (B)“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. ^(C)Therefore be wise as serpents and ^(D)harmless^[a] as doves.

Striving for a Crown

²⁴ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? ^(A)Run in such a way that you may ^[a]obtain it. ²⁵ And everyone who competes for the prize ^[b]is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for ^(B)an imperishable crown. ²⁶ Therefore I run thus: ^(C)not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. ^27 (D)But I discipline my body and ^(E)bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become ^(F)disqualified.

^5 (A)Walk in ^(B)wisdom toward those who are outside, ^(C)redeeming the time.

Love Your Neighbor^(A)

⁸ Owe no one anything except to love one another, for ^(B)he who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, ^(C)“You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” ^[a]“You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ^(D)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore ^(E)love is the fulfillment of the law.

Put on Christ

¹¹ And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time ^(F)to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. ¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand. ^(G)Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and ^(H)let us put on the armor of light. ^13 (I)Let us walk ^[b]properly, as in the day, ^(J)not in revelry and drunkenness, ^(K)not in lewdness and lust, ^(L)not in strife and envy. ¹⁴ But ^(M)put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and ^(N)make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Everything Has Its Time

The God-Given Task

^9 (H)What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? ^10 (I)I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that ^(J)no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

¹² I know that nothing is ^(K)better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, ¹³ and also that ^(L)every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, ^(A)not to do My own will, ^(B)but the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ This is the will of the Father who sent Me, ^(C)that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. ⁴⁰ And this is the will of Him who sent Me, ^(D)that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, ^(A)not to do My own will, ^(B)but the will of Him who sent Me.

²⁹ For whom ^(A)He foreknew, ^(B)He also predestined ^(C)to be conformed to the image of His Son, ^(D)that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.