Matthew 18:7-17

7 Doom to the world for giving these God-believing children a hard time! Hard times are inevitable, but you don't have to make it worse - and it's doomsday to you if you do.

8 "If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You're better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire.

9 And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You're better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.

10 "Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?

12 "Look at it this way. If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine and go after the one?

13 And if he finds it, doesn't he make far more over it than over the ninety-nine who stay put?

14 Your Father in heaven feels the same way. He doesn't want to lose even one of these simple believers.

15 "If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him - work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend.

16 If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again.

17 If he still won't listen, tell the church. If he won't listen to the church, you'll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God's forgiving love.