Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶ You received Christ Jesus the Lord. So live in him.

⁷ Let your heart be planted in him. Grow up in him. Believe with all your heart what you were taught. And be very thankful to God.

⁸ Do not let anyone fool you by his wise words. They are not true. They are what men say. They are the teachings of this world and not what Christ says.

⁹ Christ has everything that God has.

¹⁰ And you, too, have everything when you are in him. He rules over every power and ruler.

¹¹ In Christ you were not circumcised by men's hands. But you were circumcised in Christ's way when all the wrong things you did in your bodies were taken away.

¹² You were buried with Christ when you were baptised. You were also raised with him to a new life when you were baptised. You were raised because you believed in the power of God who raised Christ from death.

¹³ You were dead because of the wrong things you had done, and because your lives had not been made clean. But God gave you life with Christ. He forgave you for all the wrong things you did.

¹⁴ He wiped out all the things that were written against us in the laws. He took the writing away and nailed it to a cross.

¹⁵ He won the victory over powers and rulers. He showed that they had no power at all. He showed the world his victory through the cross.

¹⁶ So do not let anyone say you are wrong about what you eat or drink, or about a feast, or a special holy day or a Sabbath day.

¹⁷ They are like a shadow of what is to come. But Christ is the body that makes the shadow.

¹⁸ Do not let anyone tell you that you are wrong and that to be humble you must worship angels. He talks about things he has not seen. He is very proud, but he has nothing to be proud of, because his thoughts come from his own mind.

¹⁹ He is not joined to the real head which is Christ. It is from him that the whole body receives strength and is held together by its joints and muscles. It is from him that the body grows as God makes it grow.

11 One day Jesus was in a place talking with God. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, `Lord, teach us to talk with God as John taught his disciples.'

² Jesus said, `When you talk with God, say, "Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come.

³ Give us our food day by day.

⁴ Forgive us for the wrong things we have done. We forgive everyone who has done wrong to us. Do not lead us to be tested." '

⁵ Jesus said to them, `Maybe one of you has a friend. You go to him in the middle of the night and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves of bread.

⁶ A friend has come to my house. He has been on the road. I have no food to give him to eat."

⁷ `Maybe the friend in the house answers you and says, "Do not trouble me. The door is locked. And my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything."

⁸ I tell you this. Maybe he will not give him anything because he is his friend. But he will get up and give him what he needs because he keeps on asking for it.

⁹ `And I tell you, ask and you will get what you ask for. Look and you will find what you look for. Knock and the door will be opened for you.

¹⁰ Everyone who asks will get. The one who looks will find. And the one who knocks will have the door opened for him.

¹¹ Which of you fathers will give your son a snake if he asks for a fish?

¹² Will you give him a scorpion [an insect with a sting] if he asks for an egg?

¹³ You are wrong and yet you know how to give good things to your children. Much more, the Father in heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.'