Book of Common Prayer

4 I am a prisoner who belongs to the Lord. I beg you, live the way people should live who have been called by God.

² Do not be proud at all. Be very humble. Love one another and be patient with each other.

³ The Spirit has made you all one. Try to stay like that. May you be at peace with one another.

⁴ There is one body of Christ and one Spirit. When God called you, there was one hope before you in your calling.

⁵ There is one Lord, one way to believe, and one baptism.

⁶ There is one God and Father of us all. He is over all. He works through all. And he is living in us all.

⁷ But each one of us has received a blessing, whatever amount Christ has given to each one.

⁸ So then, the holy writings say, `When Christ went up to heaven he took those he had won with him. And he gave gifts to men.'

⁹ Now, what does `he went up' mean? Does it not mean that he also came down to the earth below?

¹⁰ The one who came down is the same one who went up higher than all the heavens. He did this so that he would be everywhere.

¹¹ The gifts he gave are these: some are to be apostles; some prophets; some evangelists; some pastors and teachers.

¹² These gifts are to make God's people better able to do their work for him and to make the body of Christ become stronger.

¹³ The gifts are given so that we will all believe the one way and all know the Son of God. They are given so that we will be really grown-up Christians, like Christ himself.

¹⁴ The body of Christ must grow so that we will no longer be like children. We are like children when we are pushed this way and that way. We change our minds every time people bring a different teaching. Some teachers teach the lies of men and fool people so that they believe wrong things.

¹⁵ We must say what is true and say it with love. In that way we will grow up in all things to be like Christ, who is the head of this body.

¹⁶ The whole body is joined and held together by every joint that it has. It is from Christ that the whole body grows as each different part does its work. It grows so that it becomes stronger in love.

⁸ Jesus and his disciples went away to the sea of Galilee. Many people went with Jesus. They came from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and from the other side of the Jordan River. And many more people came also, a great many from around the cities of Tyre and Sidon. They also had heard about the great works that Jesus had done.

⁹ Jesus saw that the crowd was very big. He told the disciples to have a small boat ready for him so that he would have more room.

¹⁰ He did this because he healed many people. All who were sick tried to touch him.

¹¹ When the bad spirits saw Jesus, they bowed down before him. They shouted, `You are God's Son!'

¹² He told them they must not tell anyone who he was.

¹³ Then Jesus went up on the hill. He wanted some of the people to come with him. So he called them and they came.

¹⁴ He chose twelve disciples to stay with him. He wanted to send them out to other places to tell people God's word.

¹⁵ He gave them power to heal people and to drive bad spirits out of people.

¹⁶ One of the twelve was Simon, whom Jesus called Peter.

¹⁷ He also chose James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, whom he named Boanerges, which means "Men of Thunder."

¹⁹ He also chose Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon of Canan, and Judas Iscariot, the one who gave Jesus over to people who hated him. Then Jesus and his disciples went home.