Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.
But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.
If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
in which you used to live when you followed the ways
of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,
the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest,
we were by nature objects of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions
—it is by grace you have been saved.
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me:
a prayer to the God of my life.
Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon
all who were listening to the message.
The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the
gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too.
Better a little with the fear of the LORD
than great wealth with turmoil.
But, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved,
but the one whom the Lord commends.
I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit,
and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so
they will produce even more.
Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith
Christ was revealed in a human body
and vindicated by the Spirit.
He was seen by angels
and announced to the nations.
He was believed in throughout the world
and taken to heaven in glory.
They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin
and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
And when people escape from the wickedness of the world
by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again,
they are worse off than before.
If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by
living an honorable life, doing good works
with the humility that comes from wisdom.
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