The Spirit you received doesn’t make you slaves who live in fear again. Instead, the Spirit you received has made you God’s genuine child by adoption. And the Spirit leads us to call out to God, “Abba, Father.”
There is no fear in love. Instead, perfect love drives away fear, because fear has to do with being punished. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.
Peace I leave with you; I give my peace to you. I don’t give to you the way the world does. So don’t let your hearts be distressed, and don’t be afraid.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest point on earth.”
But I’m not going to try to save my own life. My only goal is to finish the race and complete the work that the Lord Jesus has given me, to tell others the good news about God’s grace.
You know how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were under the devil’s power, because God was with him.
The people came out to investigate. When they got to Jesus, they found the man from the town, now free of the demons, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was dressed and thinking clearly. All this made the people afraid.
I often went from one synagogue to another to find them and punish them. I even tried to force them to speak against Jesus. I wanted so badly to hurt them that I even made trips to foreign cities to look for them.