The repentant criminal that hung beside Jesus before he died was likely a Jew. The Jews worshipped one God, but people from the nations believed in many gods. (Ex. 20:2, 3; 1 Cor. 8:5, 6) Had that criminal been a man of the nations, the question asked in today’s text might have been, “Do you not fear the gods at all?” Furthermore, Jesus was sent, not to people of the nations, but to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 15:24) God had revealed to the Israelites that he would raise the dead. The repentant criminal may have known about this, and as his words suggest, he assumed that Jehovah would resurrect Jesus to rule in God’s Kingdom. The man apparently hoped that God would also resurrect him. As a Jew, the repentant criminal would have known about Adam and Eve. So the criminal could well have realized that the Paradise that Jesus mentioned at Luke 23:43 would be a beautiful garden here on earth.​—Gen. 2:15. w22.12 50:2-3

We can carry out the preaching work only with the help of God’s spirit. Why? Because Satan wages war against us in order to stop our preaching activities. (Rev. 12:17) From a human standpoint, we seem totally outmatched by Satan. But by means of our witnessing work, we are conquering him! (Rev. 12:9-11) In what way? When we share in the ministry, we show that we are not intimidated by Satan’s threats. Each time we preach, Satan suffers a defeat. So we can conclude that we are empowered by holy spirit and that we have Jehovah’s approval. (Matt. 5:10-12; 1 Pet. 4:14) God’s spirit can make us equal to any challenge we might encounter in our ministry. (2 Cor. 4:7-9) What, then, can we do to make sure that we keep receiving God’s spirit? We need to pray for it persistently, confident that Jehovah will hear our prayers. w22.11 45:10-11

We show love for our brothers and sisters by working hard to keep peace with them. We strive to imitate Jehovah’s example of forgiveness. If Jehovah was willing to let his Son die for our sins, should we not readily forgive our brothers and sisters when they sin against us? We would not want to be like the wicked slave referred to in one of Jesus’ parables. Even after his master had canceled his enormous debt, that slave failed to forgive a fellow slave’s relatively small debt. (Matt. 18:23-35) If you have had a misunderstanding with someone in the congregation, could you take the first step to make peace before attending the Memorial? (Matt. 5:23, 24) Doing so would reflect your deep love for Jehovah and Jesus. w23.01 5:8-9