27. I tell you all this secretly, but I want you to tell it publicly. Whatever I tell you privately, you should shout for everyone to hear.
28. “Don’t be afraid of people. They can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul. The only one you should fear is God, the one who can send the body and the soul to be destroyed in hell.
29. When birds are sold, two small birds cost only a penny. But not even one of those little birds can die without your Father knowing it.
30. God even knows how many hairs are on your head.
31. So don’t be afraid. You are worth more than a whole flock of birds.
32. “If you stand before others and are willing to say you believe in me, then I will tell my Father in heaven that you belong to me.
33. But if you stand before others and say you do not believe in me, then I will tell my Father in heaven that you do not belong to me.
34. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace. I came to bring trouble.
35. I have come to make this happen: ‘A son will turn against his father. A daughter will turn against her mother. A daughter-in-law will turn against her mother-in-law.
36. Even members of your own family will be your enemies.’ Micah 7:6
37. “Those who love their father or mother more than they love me are not worthy of me. And those who love their son or daughter more than they love me are not worthy of me.
38. Those who will not accept the cross that is given to them when they follow me are not worthy of me.
39. Those who try to keep the life they have will lose it. But those who give up their life for me will find true life.
40. “Whoever accepts you also accepts me. And whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.