Following Yeshua/Jesus and obeying him

23 Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) said, “If anyone wants to become my follower, then that person needs to renounce their own desires and follow me, even in suffering and death,[ref] 24 because anyone who wants to save their own life will lose it, but anyone who is prepared to lose their life on account of me, they’ll be saving their life.[ref] 25 How would it benefit a person if they gained the wealth of the whole world, but then ended up lost or destroyed? 26 Because anyone who’s ashamed of me and my teachings, the son of humanity will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his splendour and with the splendour of the father and of God’s messengers.

25 Large crowds were following Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) when he turned and spoke to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me but doesn’t love me more than they love their parents and their siblings, and their spouse and children, and even their own life, then that person is unable to become my apprentice.[ref] 27 Anyone who doesn’t give up everything in this life and come after me is unable to become my apprentice,[ref] 28 because none of you would want to build a tower without first counting the cost and figuring out if you’ll have enough to complete it. 29 Otherwise you might lay the foundation and not be able to finish it. Then everyone watching might begin to mock 30 and say, ‘This person started a building project but wasn’t able to finish it.’ 31 Or what king would go off to war against another king, if he hadn’t previously sat down with his generals to figure out if their ten thousand soldiers are powerful enough to battle the other king bringing twenty thousand against him? 32 If they can’t, then while the other army is still far away, the king will send ahead a delegation to try to make peace. 33 So too for every one of you who doesn’t leave behind everything they own, you won’t be able to become an apprentice of mine.

21 “Not everyone who goes around calling me ‘master’ will enter the heavenly kingdoms—only those who actually do what my father who lives in the heavens wants. 22 Many people will complain on judgement day saying, ‘Master, master, didn’t we prophesy using your name, and exorcise demons using your name, and do many miracles using your name?’ 23 Then I’ll have to tell them, ‘I don’t even know you. Go away from me, all of you whose behaviour is against God’s laws.’[ref]

24 “Therefore anyone who hears these messages of mine and puts them into practice, they can be likened to a sensible person who built their house on the rock. 25 When the rains started and the floods came and the winds blew and battered that house, it was stable because its foundation was the rock.

26 “But anyone who hears these messages of mine and doesn’t put them into practice, they can be likened to a stupid person who built their house on the sand. 27 When the rains started and the floods came and the winds blew and battered that house, it collapsed with a loud crash.”

15 “If you all love me, you will obey my commands. 16 Then I will ask the father, and he will give you a different assistant to be with you all for this age— 17 the spirit of truth. The world can’t accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him.

18 “And I won’t leave you all here as orphans, but I’ll come back to you. 19 It won’t be long now and the world won’t see me any more, but you will see me because I’ll be alive and you all will be alive also. 20 At that time you will know that I am in my father, and you all are in me, and I am in you all.

21 “Anyone who takes my commands and obeys them, that’s the person who loves me, and anyone who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will be loving them and will be revealing myself to them.”

22 Yehudah (Judas; Grk. Yudas) (not Yehudah Iskariot) asked, “Master, what’s going on? Why would you reveal yourself to us and not to the whole world?”

23 Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) answered, “If anyone loves me, they’ll obey my teaching, and my father will love them and we will go to that person and live with them. 24 But anyone who doesn’t love me, won’t obey my teaching. The words that you hear from me are not my own, but come from the father who sent me.

15 “I am the true vine and my father is the farmer. 2 He removes every one of my branches that doesn’t bear fruit, but those that do bear fruit, he prunes them so they’ll produce even more. 3 You are all clean already because of the teaching that I’ve given you. 4 Stay in me, and I will stay in you all, because just as a branch can’t bear fruit in isolation when it’s not connected to the vine, neither can you if you don’t stay in me.

5 “I am the vine and you all are the branches. Anyone who stays in me will produce a lot of fruit—apart from me you can’t do anything. 6 Anyone who doesn’t stay in me will be thrown away like a branch, and will wither and be gathered together with others, and thrown into the fire to be burnt. 7 If you stay in me and my teaching stays in you, then you can request whatever you all want and it will be done for you. 8 My father will be honoured and praised when you produce a lot of fruit, and you all become my followers. 9 I loved you all just as the father loved me, so stay in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you all will be staying in my love, just like I’ve obeyed my father’s commands and I am staying in his love.

11 “I’ve told you these things so that I’ll be happy with you all, and so that your happiness will be genuine and long-lasting. 12 So here’s my request: keep loving each other just like I loved you all.[ref] 13 No one has greater love than the one who gives up their own life for their friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I am telling you. 15 I’m not calling you slaves, because a slave doesn’t know his master’s plans, but I’m calling you friends because I’ve told you everything that I heard from my father. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you all, and I assigned you to go and produce fruit and for your fruit to be permanent so that whatever you request from the father in my name and authority, he will give it to you. 17 I am telling you all this so that you can all love each other.

35 Then Zavday’s (Grk. Zebedaios) two sons, Ya’akov (James; Grk. Yakobos) and Yohan (John; Grk. Yoannes), approached Yeshua (Jesus; Grk. Yesus) and asked, “Teacher, we’d like to ask a favour from you—please don’t disappoint us.”

36 “What do you want from me?” Yeshua asked.

37 They answered, “Allow us two to sit beside you in heaven—one of us on each side of you.”

38 “You don’t even understand what you’re asking for,” Yeshua replied. “Do you think you could endure the suffering that I have to go through? Or to be enveloped in the darkness that I have to go down into?”[ref]

39 “Sure we can,” they replied.

“And indeed you all will suffer like me and be enveloped in darkness like I will be,” responded Yeshua, 40 “but as for deciding who will sit next to me, that’s not my decision to make because it’s already been decided.”

41 When the ten other apprentices heard what those two had asked for, they were upset at Ya’akov (Jacob) and Yohan (John; Grk. Yoannes). 42 But Yeshua called them over, “Listen, in most countries their rulers boss the people around and their leaders exert their authority over them.[ref] 43 But it doesn’t work like that with you—anyone of you who wants to be honoured must serve the others,[ref] 44 and anyone who wants to become the most respected has to work like a slave does. 45 Even the son of humanity didn’t come to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom to set many people free.”

12 So then, brothers and sisters, with compassion from God I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice—holy and pleasing to God—your logical and sacred service. 2 Don’t conform to the norms of this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, then you’ll be able to accept and approve God’s good, pleasing, and perfect intentions.