Book of Common Prayer

¹¹ I tell you the truth. We know what we are talking about. We talk about the things we have seen. But you will not believe what we tell you.

¹² You do not believe what I have told you about things on earth. So how will you believe if I tell you about things in heaven?

¹³ No one has ever gone up to heaven - only the One who came down from heaven. That One is the Son of Man who is in heaven.

¹⁴ Moses lifted up a snake on a piece of wood in the desert. So the Son of Man must be lifted up.

¹⁵ Then everyone who believes in him will not die, but will live for ever.

¹⁶ `God loved the world so very, very much that he gave his only Son. Because he did that, everyone who believes in him will not lose his life, but will live for ever.

¹⁷ God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world. He sent him to save the world.

¹⁷ It is better to have trouble for doing right, if God allows it, than to have trouble for doing wrong.

¹⁸ For Christ died that once because of our wrong ways. He was good and he died for those who were bad. He did this to bring us to God. His body died, but his spirit had new life.

¹⁹ His spirit went and gave his message to people's spirits who were in prison.

²⁰ In the days long ago, they did not obey God. God waited for them to do so while Noah was building the big house on the boat. A few people, only eight, were saved by going through the water.

²¹ The water of baptism is like that. It saves you. It does not save you because it washes dirt from your bodies. But it saves you because you bring yourselves to God with a clean heart. It saves you because Jesus Christ has been raised from death.

²² He has gone up into heaven. He is now at the right side of God. Angels, rulers, and governments obey him.