Matthew 10:32-39

32“Therefore, the one who confesses and acknowledges Me before men [as Lord and Savior, affirming a state of oneness with Me], that one I will also confess and acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven.

33But the one who denies and rejects Me before men, that one I will also deny and reject before My Father who is in heaven.

34“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword [of division between belief and unbelief].

35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

36and a man’s enemies will be the members of his [own] household [when one believes and another does not].

37“ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

38And he who does not take his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] is not worthy of Me.

39Whoever finds his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], and whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity].