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Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. ⁴⁵The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, ⁴⁶for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, ⁴⁷‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ ⁴⁸So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

¹¹ Thus says the Lord,
   the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Will you question me^* about my children,
   or command me concerning the work of my hands?
¹² I made the earth,
   and created humankind upon it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
   and I commanded all their host.
¹³ I have aroused Cyrus^* in righteousness,
   and I will make all his paths straight;
he shall build my city
   and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,
   says the Lord of hosts.
¹⁸ For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
   (he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
   (he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
   he formed it to be inhabited!):
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
¹⁹ I did not speak in secret,
   in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
   ‘Seek me in chaos.’
I the Lord speak the truth,
   I declare what is right.

Psalm 98

1  Sing to the Lord a new song, ♦︎
   for he has done marvellous things.
2  His own right hand and his holy arm ♦︎
   have won for him the victory.
3  The Lord has made known his salvation; ♦︎
   his deliverance has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.
4  He has remembered his mercy and faithfulness
      towards the house of Israel, ♦︎
   and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
5  Sound praises to the Lord, all the earth; ♦︎
   break into singing and make music.
6  Make music to the Lord with the lyre, ♦︎
   with the lyre and the voice of melody.
7  With trumpets and the sound of the horn ♦︎
   sound praises before the Lord, the King.
8  Let the sea thunder and all that fills it, ♦︎
   the world and all that dwell upon it.
9  Let the rivers clap their hands ♦︎
   and let the hills ring out together before the Lord,
      for he comes to judge the earth.
10  In righteousness shall he judge the world ♦︎
   and the peoples with equity.

Faith Conquers the World

5Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ^* has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, ⁴for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. ⁵Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Testimony concerning the Son of God

6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

⁹As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants^* any longer, because the servant^* does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.