Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
1:15 In those days Peter
stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred
twenty persons) and said,
1:16 "Friends, the scripture had to be
fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who
became a guide for those who arrested Jesus --
1:17 for he was numbered
among us and was allotted his share in this ministry."
1:21 So one of the
men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and
out among us,
1:22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when
he was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us to his
resurrection."
1:23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who
was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
1:24 Then they prayed and said,
"Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have
chosen
1:25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which
Judas turned aside to go to his own place."
1:26 And they cast lots for
them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
John 17:6-19
17:6 "I have made your name known to
those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
17:7 Now they know that everything you have
given me is from you;
17:8 for the words that you gave to me I have given
to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and
they have believed that you sent me.
17:9 I am asking on their behalf; I
am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me,
because they are yours.
17:10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and
I have been glorified in them.
17:11 And now I am no longer in the world,
but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in
your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are
one.
17:12 While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you
have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one
destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
17:13 But
now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may
have my joy made complete in themselves.
17:14 I have given them your
word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just
as I do not belong to the world.
17:15 I am not asking you to take them
out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.
17:16
They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the
world.
17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
17:18
As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the
world.
17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may
be sanctified in truth.
