When they had finished their prayer, the place where they were gathered together shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the word of God fearlessly.
Those who place their hope in the Lord will regain their strength. They will soar as with eagles’ wings, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not become faint.
Come now and let us discuss this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow. Though they are as red as crimson, they shall become as white as wool.
For the carved images of the nations are powerless; they are nothing more than wood cut from a forest, fashioned with a knife by craftsmen and embellished with silver and gold. Then they are fastened with hammers and nails to prevent them from toppling. Like scarecrows in a cucumber field they are unable to speak, and they must be carried from place to place since they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they can do no harm, nor do they have any power to do good.
But when the disciples saw him walking on the water they thought it was a ghost and they cried out, for they all had seen him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them, saying, “Have courage! It is I! Do not be afraid!”
They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they placed it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. Then, bending the knee before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Gaze upon the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or store in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of far greater value than they?
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Whenever you fast, do not assume a gloomy expression like the hypocrites who contort their faces so that others may realize that they are fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
Oh, that they would have fear of me in their hearts and they would observe all of my commandments always. Then things would go well with them and their children forever.
You did not choose me. Rather, I chose you. And I appointed you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will remain, so that the Father may give you whatever you ask him in my name.