The Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and sensible manager his master will put in charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the proper time?
Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his foreman, “Call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the last and ending with the first.”
The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are instructed to know how to sustain the weary with a word. He awakens me each morning; he awakens my ear to listen like those being instructed.
But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
‘Therefore,’ he said to them, ‘every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom treasures new and old.’
I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them. They will no longer be afraid or discouraged, nor will any be missing.’ This is the Lord’s declaration.