[19] I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

[20] Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.

[21] I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.

[22] So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.

[23] I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

[24] Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you):

[25] Only hold on to what you have until I come.

[26] To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations —

[27] ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’ — just as I have received authority from my Father.

[28] I will also give him the morning star.

[29] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 3

[1] “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

[2] Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.

[3] Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

[4] Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.

[5] He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

[6] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

[2] Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

[3] Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

[4] For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

[5] Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

[6] And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

[7] In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

[8] In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.

[9] But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

[10] Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals—these are the very things that destroy them.

[11] Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

[12] These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted —twice dead.

[2] Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

[3] His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

[4] Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

[5] For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;

[6] and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;

[7] and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

[8] For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[9] But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

[10] Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,

[11] and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

[9] Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

[10] For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.

[11] He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.

[12] For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

[13] Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?

[14] But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”

[15] But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

[16] keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

[17] It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

[18] For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

[19] through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison

[20] who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

[21] and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

[22] who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand —with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

[11] trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

[12] It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

[13] Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

[14] As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

[15] But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;

[16] for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

[17] Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

[18] For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,

[19] but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

[20] He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

[21] Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

[22] Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

[23] For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

[24] For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

[25] but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.

[2] who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise to God for a Living Hope

[3] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

[4] and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you,

[5] who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

[6] In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

[7] These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

[8] Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

[9] for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.