Daily Text and Bible Reading: Monday, December 2 [Press play below]

12.1 Therefore, I appeal to you by the compassions of God, brothers, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason.
12.2 And stop being molded by this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, so that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
12.3 For through the undeserved kindness given to me, I tell everyone there among you not to think more of himself than it is necessary to think, but to think so as to have a sound mind, each one as God has given to him a measure of faith.
12.4 For just as we have in one body many members, but the members do not all have the same function,
12.5 so we, although many, are one body in union with Christ, but individually we are members belonging to one another.
12.6 Since, then, we have gifts that differ according to the undeserved kindness given to us, if it is of prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
12.7 or if it is a ministry, let us be at this ministry; or the one who teaches, let him be at his teaching;
12.8 or the one who encourages, let him give encouragement; the one who distributes, let him do it liberally; the one who presides, let him do it diligently; the one who shows mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
12.9 Let your love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is wicked; cling to what is good.
12.10 In brotherly love have tender affection for one another. In showing honor to one another, take the lead.
12.11 Be industrious, not lazy. Be aglow with the spirit. Slave for Jehovah.
12.12 Rejoice in the hope. Endure under tribulation. Persevere in prayer.
12.13 Share with the holy ones according to their needs. Follow the course of hospitality.
12.14 Keep on blessing those who persecute; bless and do not curse.
12.15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
12.16 Have the same attitude toward others as toward yourselves; do not set your mind on lofty things, but be led along with the lowly things. Do not become wise in your own eyes.
12.17 Return evil for evil to no one. Take into consideration what is fine from the viewpoint of all men.
12.18 If possible, as far as it depends on you, be peaceable with all men.
12.19 Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: “‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ says Jehovah.”
12.20 But “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap fiery coals on his head.”
12.21 Do not let yourself be conquered by the evil, but keep conquering the evil with the good.
13.1 Let every person be in subjection to the superior authorities, for there is no authority except by God; the existing authorities stand placed in their relative positions by God.
13.2 Therefore, whoever opposes the authority has taken a stand against the arrangement of God; those who have taken a stand against it will bring judgment against themselves.
13.3 For those rulers are an object of fear, not to the good deed, but to the bad. Do you want to be free of fear of the authority? Keep doing good, and you will have praise from it;
13.4 for it is God’s minister to you for your good. But if you are doing what is bad, be in fear, for it is not without purpose that it bears the sword. It is God’s minister, an avenger to express wrath against the one practicing what is bad.
13.5 There is therefore compelling reason for you to be in subjection, not only on account of that wrath but also on account of your conscience.
13.6 That is why you are also paying taxes; for they are God’s public servants constantly serving this very purpose.
13.7 Render to all their dues: to the one who calls for the tax, the tax; to the one who calls for the tribute, the tribute; to the one who calls for fear, such fear; to the one who calls for honor, such honor.
13.8 Do not owe anything to anyone except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.
13.9 For the law code, “You must not commit adultery, you must not murder, you must not steal, you must not covet,” and whatever other commandment there is, is summed up in this saying: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”
13.10 Love does not work evil to one’s neighbor; therefore, love is the law’s fulfillment.
13.11 And do this because you know the season, that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than at the time when we became believers.
13.12 The night is well along; the day has drawn near. Let us therefore throw off the works belonging to darkness and let us put on the weapons of the light.
13.13 Let us walk decently as in the daytime, not in wild parties and drunkenness, not in immoral intercourse and brazen conduct, not in strife and jealousy.
13.14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not be planning ahead for the desires of the flesh.
14.1 Welcome the man having weaknesses in his faith, but do not pass judgment on differing opinions.
14.2 One man has faith to eat everything, but the man who is weak eats only vegetables.
14.3 Let the one eating not look down on the one not eating, and let the one not eating not judge the one eating, for God has welcomed him.
14.4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for Jehovah can make him stand.
14.5 One man judges one day as above another; another judges one day the same as all others; let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.
14.6 The one who observes the day observes it to Jehovah. Also, the one who eats, eats to Jehovah, for he gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat does not eat to Jehovah, and yet gives thanks to God.
14.7 Not one of us, in fact, lives with regard to himself only, and no one dies with regard to himself only.
14.8 For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah.
14.9 For to this end Christ died and came to life again, so that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living.
14.10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you also look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
14.11 For it is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says Jehovah, ‘to me every knee will bend, and every tongue will make open acknowledgment to God.’”
14.12 So, then, each of us will render an account for himself to God.
14.13 Therefore, let us not judge one another any longer but, rather, be determined not to put a stumbling block or an obstacle before a brother.
14.14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; only where a man considers something to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
14.15 For if your brother is being offended because of food, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not by your food ruin that one for whom Christ died.
14.16 Therefore, do not let the good you do be spoken of as bad.
14.17 For the Kingdom of God does not mean eating and drinking, but means righteousness and peace and joy with holy spirit.
14.18 For whoever slaves for Christ in this way is acceptable to God and has approval with men.
14.19 So, then, let us pursue the things making for peace and the things that build one another up.
14.20 Stop tearing down the work of God just for the sake of food. True, all things are clean, but it is detrimental for a man to eat when it will cause stumbling.
14.21 It is best not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything over which your brother stumbles.
14.22 The faith that you have, keep it to yourself before God. Happy is the man who does not judge himself by what he approves.
14.23 But if he has doubts, he is already condemned if he eats, because he does not eat based on faith. Indeed, everything that is not based on faith is sin.
15.1 We, though, who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those not strong, and not to be pleasing ourselves.
15.2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
15.3 For even the Christ did not please himself, but just as it is written: “The reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen upon me.”
15.4 For all the things that were written beforehand were written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.
15.5 Now may the God who supplies endurance and comfort grant you to have among yourselves the same mental attitude that Christ Jesus had,
15.6 so that unitedly you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15.7 So welcome one another, just as the Christ also welcomed you, with glory to God in view.
15.8 For I tell you that Christ became a minister of those who are circumcised in behalf of God’s truthfulness, so as to verify the promises He made to their forefathers,
15.9 and that the nations might glorify God for his mercy. Just as it is written: “That is why I will openly acknowledge you among the nations, and to your name I will sing praises.”
15.10 And again he says: “Be glad, you nations, with his people.”
15.11 And again: “Praise Jehovah, all you nations, and let all the peoples praise him.”
15.12 And again Isaiah says: “There will be the root of Jesse, the one arising to rule nations; on him nations will rest their hope.”
15.13 May the God who gives hope fill you with all joy and peace by your trusting in him, so that you may abound in hope with power of holy spirit.
15.14 Now I myself am convinced about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are also full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and that you are able to admonish one another.
15.15 However, I have written to you more outspokenly on some points, so as to give you another reminder, because of the undeserved kindness given to me from God
15.16 for me to be a public servant of Christ Jesus to the nations. I am engaging in the holy work of the good news of God, so that these nations might be an acceptable offering, sanctified with holy spirit.
15.17 So I have reason to exult in Christ Jesus over the things pertaining to God.
15.18 For I will not presume to speak about anything except what Christ has done through me in order for the nations to be obedient, by my word and deed,
15.19 with the power of signs and wonders, with the power of God’s spirit, so that from Jerusalem and in a circuit as far as Illyricum I have thoroughly preached the good news about the Christ.
15.20 In this way, indeed, I made it my aim not to declare the good news where the name of Christ had already been made known, so as not to build on another man’s foundation;
15.21 but just as it is written: “Those who received no report about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”
15.22 This is also why I was many times hindered from coming to you.
15.23 But now I no longer have untouched territory in these regions, and for many years I have longed to come to you.
15.24 Therefore, when I journey to Spain, I hope that I will see you and be accompanied partway there by you after I have first enjoyed your company for a time.
15.25 But now I am about to travel to Jerusalem to minister to the holy ones.
15.26 For those in Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to share their things by a contribution to the poor among the holy ones in Jerusalem.
15.27 True, they have been pleased to do so, and indeed they were debtors to them; for if the nations have shared in their spiritual things, they also owe it to minister to them with their material things.
15.28 So after I have finished with this and have delivered this contribution securely to them, I will depart by way of you for Spain.
15.29 Moreover, I know that when I do come to you, I will come with a full measure of blessing from Christ.
15.30 Now I urge you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the spirit, that you exert yourselves with me in prayers to God for me,
15.31 that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my ministry in behalf of Jerusalem may prove to be acceptable to the holy ones,
15.32 so that by God’s will I will come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you.
15.33 May the God who gives peace be with all of you. Amen.
16.1 I am introducing to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a minister of the congregation that is in Cenchreae,
16.2 so that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the holy ones and give her whatever help she may need, for she herself also proved to be a defender of many, including me.
16.3 Give my greetings to Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
16.4 who have risked their own necks for me and to whom not only I but also all the congregations of the nations give thanks.
16.5 Also greet the congregation that is in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is a firstfruits of Asia for Christ.
16.6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.
16.7 Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives and fellow prisoners, who are men well-known to the apostles and who have been in union with Christ longer than I have.
16.8 Give my greetings to Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
16.9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.
16.10 Greet Apelles, the approved one in Christ. Greet those from the household of Aristobulus.
16.11 Greet Herodion, my relative. Greet those from the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.
16.12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, women who are working hard in the Lord. Greet Persis, our beloved one, for she has worked hard in the Lord.
16.13 Greet Rufus, the chosen one in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
16.14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers with them.
16.15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the holy ones with them.
16.16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the congregations of the Christ greet you.
16.17 Now I urge you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who create divisions and causes for stumbling contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and avoid them.
16.18 For men of that sort are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattering speech they seduce the hearts of unsuspecting ones.
16.19 Your obedience has come to the notice of all, and so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise as to what is good, but innocent as to what is evil.
16.20 For his part, the God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. May the undeserved kindness of our Lord Jesus be with you.
16.21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, and so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives.
16.22 I, Tertius, who have done the writing of this letter, greet you in the Lord.
16.23 Gaius, host to me and to all the congregation, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, greets you, and so does Quartus, his brother.
16.24 ——
16.25 Now to Him who can make you firm according to the good news I declare and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the sacred secret that has been kept in silence for long-lasting times
16.26 but has now been made manifest and has been made known through the prophetic Scriptures among all the nations according to the command of the everlasting God to promote obedience by faith;
16.27 to God, who alone is wise, be the glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.