Roles in Worship

¹You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.

²Now I commend you for remembering me in everything and for maintaining the traditions, just as I passed them on to you.

³But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

⁴Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.

⁵And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for it is just as if her head were shaved.

⁶If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off. And if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.

⁷A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

⁸For man did not come from woman, but woman from man.

⁹Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

¹⁰For this reason a woman ought to have a sign of authority onher head, because of the angels.

¹¹In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

¹²For just as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

¹⁴Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,

¹⁵but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.

¹⁶If anyone is inclined to dispute this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.

Sharing in the Lord’s Supper

¹⁷In the following instructions I have no praise to offer, because your gatherings do more harm than good.

¹⁸First of all, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.

¹⁹And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.

²⁰Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.

²¹For as you eat, each of you goes ahead without sharing his meal.While one remains hungry, another gets drunk.

²²Don’t you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? No, I will not!

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread,

²⁴and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you;do this in remembrance of Me.”

²⁵In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

²⁷Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against thebody and blood of the Lord.

²⁸Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

²⁹For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the bodyeats and drinks judgment on himself.

³⁰That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

³¹Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment.

³²But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

³³So, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

³⁴If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you come together it will not result in judgment. And when I come, I will give instructions about the remaining matters.

Jesus the True Vine

¹“I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.

²He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.

³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

⁴Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.

⁵I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.

⁶If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.

⁷If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

⁸This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.

No Greater Love

⁹As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love.

¹⁰If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

¹¹I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

¹²This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

¹⁴You are My friends if you do what I command you.

¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.

¹⁶You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

¹⁷This is My command to you: Love one another.

The Hatred of the World

¹⁸If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.

¹⁹If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

²⁰Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.

²¹But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.

²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.

²³Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.

²⁴If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.

²⁵But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’

²⁶When the Advocatecomes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.

²⁷And you also must testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

The Holy Spirit at Pentecost

¹When the day of Pentecostcame, they were all together in one place.

²Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

³They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

⁴And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

⁵Now there were dwellingin Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

⁶And when this sound rang out, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking his own language.

⁷Astounded and amazed, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸How is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language?

⁹Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome,

¹¹both Jews and converts to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”

¹²Astounded and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³But others mocked them and said, “They are drunk on new wine!”

Peter Addresses the Crowd

¹⁴Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, lifted up his voice, and addressed the crowd: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen carefully to my words.

¹⁵These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only the third hour of the day!

¹⁶No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘In the last days, God says,I will pour out My Spirit on all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy,your young men will see visions,your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸Even on My menservants and maidservantsI will pour out My Spirit in those days,and they will prophesy.

¹⁹I will show wonders in the heavens aboveand signs on the earth below,blood and fire and billows of smoke.

²⁰The sun will be turned to darkness,and the moon to blood,before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.

²¹And everyone who calls on the name of the Lordwill be saved.’

²²Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.

²³He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.

²⁴But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep Him in its grip.

²⁵David says about Him:‘I sawthe Lord always before me;because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

²⁶Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;my body also will dwell in hope,

²⁷because You will not abandon my soul to Hades,nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.

²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life;You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’

²⁹Brothers, I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

³⁰But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants on his throne.

³¹Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay.

³²God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses.

³³Exalted, then, to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.

³⁴For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says:‘The Lord said to my Lord,“Sit at My right hand

³⁵until I make Your enemiesa footstool for Your feet.”’

³⁶Therefore let all Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!”

Three Thousand Believe

³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

⁴⁰With many other words he testified, and he urged them, “Be saved from this corrupt generation.”

⁴¹Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.

The Fellowship of Believers

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

⁴³A sense of awecame over everyone, and the apostles performed many wonders and signs.

⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common.

⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need.

⁴⁶With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courtsand to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,

⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The Presence of the LORD

¹Preserve me, O God,for in You I take refuge.

²I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord;apart from You I have no good thing.”

³As for the saints in the land,they are the excellencein whom all my delight resides.

⁴Sorrows will multiplyto those who chase other gods.I will not pour out their libations of blood,or speak their names with my lips.

⁵The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;You have made my lot secure.

⁶The lines of my boundary have fallen in pleasant places;surely my inheritance is delightful.

⁷I will bless the LORD who counsels me;even at night my conscience instructs me.

⁸I have setthe LORD always before me.Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;my body also will dwell securely.

¹⁰For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol,nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.

¹¹You have made known to me the path of life;You will fill me with joy in Your presence,with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.