Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand,

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.

Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my compatriots.

My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive.

So then, my brothers and sisters, dear friends whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand in the Lord in this way, my dear friends!

The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from my God), and my new name as well.

He told them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give. Rather, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’”

But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.

So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence,

To the one who had said this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?”

And pointing toward his disciples he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

He proclaimed, “One more powerful than I am is coming after me; I am not worthy to bend down and untie the strap of his sandals.

And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

For the instant the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.