"When you come to a city or village, look for someone who is willing to welcome you and stay with him until you leave that place. And as you enter the house, greet the members of the family as friends; and if the home is deserving, give it your blessing.  

"I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as serpents and harmless as doves. But be careful of men. For you will be arrested and tried and whipped in the synagogues. And you must stand trial before governors and kings for my sake. This will give you the opportunity to tell them about me. But when they arrest you, don’t worry about what you are to do or say for you will be given the right words at the proper time. For the words you will speak will not be your own; they will come from the Spirit of your Father Who will be speaking through you.  

"Men will hand over their own brothers to be put to death and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one city, flee to the next. I will return before you have reached them all.  

"There is nothing covered that will not be revealed and every secret will be made known. What I tell you in the dark, you must repeat in broad daylight; and what you have heard in private, you must announce from the rooftops.  

"If anyone publicly acknowledges me, I will openly acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But if anyone publicly rejects me, so will I reject him. Don’t think that I have come to bring peace to the world. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law; a man’s worst enemies shall be the members of his own household.  

"Whoever loves his father or mother, son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up his cross and follow in my footsteps is not fit to be my disciple. If you cling to life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for my sake, you will save it.  

"Those who welcome you are welcoming me. And when they welcome me, they are welcoming God Who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet because he is a man of God will share in his reward. And whoever welcomes good and godly men because of their godliness will share in their reward. And you can be sure that whoever gives even a drink of water to the least of my followers, because he is my follower, will certainly receive a reward."