God Overcomes All Obstacles

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Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.

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She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.

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And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

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After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.

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And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

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Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

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And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

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He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

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And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

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they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

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So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

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And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

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Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,

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who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

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Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth.

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Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.

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But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow.

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For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?

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And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

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For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.

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And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:

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The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son,

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and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.

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Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ‘

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But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.

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And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.

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But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

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Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

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‘Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’

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So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

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But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.

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So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.

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Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

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For many are called, but few are chosen.

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knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

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But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!

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For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

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For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.

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I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

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When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

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For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

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For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

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Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

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For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

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And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”