stagnation

⁶“The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying: ‘You have remained long enough on this mountain. ⁷Turn back and go to the mountain of the Amorites, and to the other places which are near it: the plains as well as the mountainous regions, and the low-lying places opposite the south and along the shore of the sea, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river Euphrates.’ ⁸‘Lo,’ he said, ‘I have delivered it to you. Enter and possess that which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them, and to their offspring after them.’

²⁵And I will repay you for the years which the locust, and the beetle, and the mildew, and the caterpillar consumed: my great strength which I sent upon you. ²⁶And you will eat with enjoyment, and you will be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked miracles with you, and my people will not be confounded forever. ²⁷And you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, and there is no other, and my people will not be confounded forever.

⁴and patience brings a work to perfection, so that you may be perfect and whole, deficient in nothing.

¹And know this: that in the last days perilous times will press near. ²Men will be lovers of themselves, greedy, self-exalting, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, ³without affection, without peace, false accusers, unchaste, cruel, without kindness, ⁴traitorous, reckless, self-important, loving pleasure more than God, ⁵even having the appearance of piety while rejecting its virtue. And so, avoid them. ⁶For among these are ones who penetrate houses and lead away, like captives, foolish women burdened with sins, who are led away by means of various desires,

⁶Because of this, I admonish you to revive the grace of God, which is in you by the imposition of my hands.

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.

²Like newborn infants, desire the milk of reasonableness without guile, so that by this you may increase unto salvation,

¹In that day, Jesus, departing from the house, sat down beside the sea. ²And such great crowds were gathered to him that he climbed into a boat and he sat down. And the entire multitude stood on the shore. ³And he spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow seed. ⁴And while he was sowing, some fell beside the road, and the birds of the air came and ate it. ⁵Then others fell in a rocky place, where they did not have much soil. And they sprung up promptly, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun rose up, they were scorched, and because they had no roots, they withered.

¹“And to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write: Thus says the One who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: ²I know your works, and your hardship and patient endurance, and that you cannot stand those who are evil. And so, you have tested those who declare themselves to be Apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. ³And you have patient endurance for the sake of my name, and you have not fallen away. ⁴But I have this against you: that you have relinquished your first charity. ⁵And so, call to mind the place from which you have fallen, and do penance, and do the first works. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ⁶But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

¹⁶All Scripture, having been divinely inspired, is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in justice,

¹Now the Spirit has clearly said that, in the end times, some persons will depart from the faith, paying attention to spirits of error and the doctrines of devils,

¹⁵Do not choose to love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.

²⁹Let no evil words proceed from your mouth, but only what is good, toward the edification of faith, so as to bestow grace upon those who listen.