commitment to church

²⁵not deserting our assembly, as some are accustomed to do, but consoling one another, and even more so as you see that the day is approaching.

²⁸Take care of yourselves and of the entire flock, over which the Holy Spirit has stationed you as Bishops to rule the Church of God, which he has purchased by his own blood.

¹⁰And so, I beg you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that every one of you speak in the same way, and that there be no schisms among you. So may you become perfect, with the same mind and with the same judgment.

¹And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind. ²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

⁴²Now they were persevering in the doctrine of the Apostles, and in the communion of the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers.

⁴For just as, within one body, we have many parts, though all the parts do not have the same role, ⁵so also we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one is a part, the one of the other. ⁶And we each have different gifts, according to the grace that has been given to us: whether prophecy, in agreement with the reasonableness of faith; ⁷or ministry, in ministering; or he who teaches, in doctrine; ⁸he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, in simplicity; he who governs, in solicitude; he who shows mercy, in cheerfulness.

¹⁷Therefore, faith is from hearing, and hearing is through the Word of Christ.

¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be saved. For the unremitting prayer of a just person prevails over many things.

³¹Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you may do, do everything for the glory of God.

¹Act now, you who are wealthy! Weep and wail in your miseries, which will soon come upon you! ²Your riches have been corrupted, and your garments have been eaten by moths. ³Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be a testimony against you, and it will eat away at your flesh like fire. You have stored up wrath for yourselves unto the last days. ⁴Consider the pay of the workers who reaped your fields: it has been misappropriated by you; it cries out. And their cry has entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵You have feasted upon the earth, and you have nourished your hearts with luxuries, unto the day of slaughter. ⁶You led away and killed the Just One, and he did not resist you.

⁴⁴And then all who believed were together, and they held all things in common. ⁴⁵They were selling their possessions and belongings, and dividing them to all, just as any of them had need. ⁴⁶Also, they continued, daily, to be of one accord in the temple and to break bread among the houses; and they took their meals with exultation and simplicity of heart,

⁵Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will accomplish it.

¹⁰so that the manifold wisdom of God may become well-known to the principalities and powers in the heavens, through the Church,

³Open your works to the Lord, and your intentions will be set in order.

¹¹And the same one granted that some would be Apostles, and some Prophets, yet truly others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers,