The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.
He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come,
and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies.
To all who mourn ... he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair.
You must live in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ, as citizens of heaven.
Don't be intimidated by your enemies.
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ?
Any comfort from his love?
Any fellowship together in the Spirit?
Agree wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose.
Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others.
Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.
Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.
Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God.
He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.
And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross.
Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
For God is working in you,
giving you the desire to obey him
and the power to do what pleases him.
In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing so that no one can speak a word of blame against you.
You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people.
Let your lives shine brightly before them.
Hold tightly to the word of life.