To: ALL WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR
From; GOD THE FATHER, THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST HIS SON and Ministered through the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD,
The Helper, that He may be with you forever. [John 14:16 ]
Subject: MY WORD
So get rid of your feelings of hatred.
Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with dishonesty and jealousy and talking
about others behind their backs. 2-3 Now that you realize how kind
the Lord has been to you, put away all evil, deception, envy, and fraud. Long
to grow up into the fullness of your salvation; cry for this as a baby cries
for his milk.
4Come to Christ, who is the living Foundation of Rock upon
which God builds; though men have spurned him, he is very precious to God who
has chosen him above all others.
5And now you have become living building-stones for God’s use
in building his house. What’s more, you
are his holy priests; so come to him—you who are acceptable to him because
of Jesus Christ—and offer to God those things that please him. 6As
the Scriptures express it, “See, I am sending Christ to be the carefully
chosen, precious Cornerstone of my church, and I will never disappoint those
who trust in him.”
5Now if you will obey me and keep your part
of my contract with you, you shall be my own little flock from among all the
nations of the earth; for all the earth is mine. 6And you shall be a
kingdom of priests to God, a holy
nation.’ ”
7Yes, he is very precious to you who believe; and to those
who reject him, well—“The same Stone that was rejected by the builders has
become the Cornerstone, the most honored and important part of the building.” 8And
the Scriptures also say, “He is the Stone that some will stumble over, and the
Rock that will make them fall.” They will stumble because they will not listen
to God’s Word nor obey it, and so this punishment must follow—that they will
fall.
9But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King,
you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may show
to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once
you were less than nothing; now you are God’s own. Once you knew very little of
God’s kindness; now your very lives have been changed by it.
9They were singing him a new song with these words: “You are worthy
to take the scroll and break its seals and open it; for you were slain, and
your blood has bought people from every nation as gifts for God. 10And
you have gathered them into a kingdom and made them priests of our God; they shall reign upon the earth.”
6You shall be called priests
of the Lord, ministers of our God. You shall be fed with the treasures of
the nations and shall glory in their riches.
