F.L.O.W: Getting Unstuck Through the Power of Surrender  a 5-Day Devotional by Dr. Avril Occilien-Similien

Dripping in Favor: Living in God’s Overflow

Last Words: A Lenten Meditation on the Final Sayings of Christ, Week 3

5 Prayers to Stop Thinking Negatively About Your Spouse

Man vs. Feelings

DND: Dating and Discernment

Lift Your Eyes: 10 Days of Beholding Christ in Motherhood

Little Missionary

Loss: Encouragement After Losing a Loved One to Addiction

The Blacksmith’s Discipline: Honing Godly Men

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkROM">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="ROM.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">Submission to Governing Authorities</div><div class="p">1Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4For the one in authority is God&#8217;s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God&#8217;s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.</div><div class="p">6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God&#8217;s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.</div><div class="s1">Love Fulfills the Law</div><div class="p">8Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, &#8220;You shall not commit adultery,&#8221; &#8220;You shall not murder,&#8221; &#8220;You shall not steal,&#8221; &#8220;You shall not covet,&#8221;#13:9 Exodus 20:13-15,17; Deut. 5:17-19,21 and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: &#8220;Love your neighbor as yourself.&#8221;#13:9 Lev. 19:18 10Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.</div><div class="s1">The Day Is Near</div><div class="p">11And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.#13:14 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkROM">
 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="ROM.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">The Weak and the Strong</div><div class="p">1Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2One person&#8217;s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4Who are you to judge someone else&#8217;s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.</div><div class="p">5One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.</div><div class="p">10You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister#14:10 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in verses 13, 15 and 21.? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God&#8217;s judgment seat. 11It is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;As surely as I live,&#8217; says the Lord,</div><div class="q1">&#8216;every knee will bow before me;</div><div class="q2">every tongue will acknowledge God.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;#14:11 Isaiah 45:23</div><div class="m">12So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.</div><div class="p">13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.</div><div class="p">19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.</div><div class="p">22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.#14:23 Some manuscripts place 16:25-27 here; others after 15:33.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkROM">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="ROM.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="p">1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. 3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: &#8220;The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.&#8221;#15:3 Psalm 69:9 4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.</div><div class="p">5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="p">7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews#15:8 Greek circumcision on behalf of God&#8217;s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles;</div><div class="q2">I will sing the praises of your name.&#8221;#15:9 2 Samuel 22:50; Psalm 18:49</div><div class="m">10Again, it says,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.&#8221;#15:10 Deut. 32:43</div><div class="m">11And again,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;</div><div class="q2">let all the peoples extol him.&#8221;#15:11 Psalm 117:1</div><div class="m">12And again, Isaiah says,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;The Root of Jesse will spring up,</div><div class="q2">one who will arise to rule over the nations;</div><div class="q2">in him the Gentiles will hope.&#8221;#15:12 Isaiah 11:10 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="p">13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="s1">Paul the Minister to the Gentiles</div><div class="p">14I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.</div><div class="p">17Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done&#8212; 19by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else&#8217;s foundation. 21Rather, as it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Those who were not told about him will see,</div><div class="q2">and those who have not heard will understand.&#8221;#15:21 Isaiah 52:15 (see Septuagint)</div><div class="m">22This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Plan to Visit Rome</div><div class="p">23But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, 24I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord&#8217;s people there. 26For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord&#8217;s people in Jerusalem. 27They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews&#8217; spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. 29I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.</div><div class="p">30I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord&#8217;s people there, 32so that I may come to you with joy, by God&#8217;s will, and in your company be refreshed. 33The God of peace be with you all. Amen.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkROM">
 <div class="chapter ch16" data-usfm="ROM.16">
 <div class="label">16</div><div class="s1">Personal Greetings</div><div class="p">1I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon#16:1 Or servant#16:1 The word deacon refers here to a Christian designated to serve with the overseers/elders of the church in a variety of ways; similarly in Phil. 1:1 and 1 Tim. 3:8,12. of the church in Cenchreae. 2I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="li1">3Greet Priscilla#16:3 Greek Prisca, a variant of Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. 4They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.</div><div class="li1">5Greet also the church that meets at their house.</div><div class="li1">Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.</div><div class="li1">6Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.</div><div class="li1">7Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among#16:7 Or are esteemed by the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.</div><div class="li1">8Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord.</div><div class="li1">9Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys.</div><div class="li1">10Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test.</div><div class="li1">Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.</div><div class="li1">11Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.</div><div class="li1">Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.</div><div class="li1">12Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.</div><div class="li1">Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord.</div><div class="li1">13Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.</div><div class="li1">14Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them.</div><div class="li1">15Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord&#8217;s people who are with them.</div><div class="li1">16Greet one another with a holy kiss.</div><div class="li1">All the churches of Christ send greetings.</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">17I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. 19Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.</div><div class="p">20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.</div><div class="p">The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.</div><div class="p">21Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews.</div><div class="p">22I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord.</div><div class="p">23Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.</div><div class="p">Erastus, who is the city&#8217;s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. [24]#16:24 Some manuscripts include here May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you. Amen.</div><div class="p">25Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from#16:26 Or that is faith&#8212; 27to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch1" data-usfm="1CO.1">
 <div class="label">1</div><div class="p">1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">2To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ&#8212;their Lord and ours:</div><div class="b"></div><div class="p">3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.</div><div class="s1">Thanksgiving</div><div class="p">4I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5For in him you have been enriched in every way&#8212;with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge&#8212; 6God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.</div><div class="s1">A Church Divided Over Leaders</div><div class="p">10I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,#1:10 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God&#8217;s family; also in verses 11 and 26; and in 2:1; 3:1; 4:6; 6:8; 7:24, 29; 10:1; 11:33; 12:1; 14:6, 20, 26, 39; 15:1, 6, 50, 58; 16:15, 20. in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe&#8217;s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, &#8220;I follow Paul&#8221;; another, &#8220;I follow Apollos&#8221;; another, &#8220;I follow Cephas#1:12 That is, Peter&#8221;; still another, &#8220;I follow Christ.&#8221;</div><div class="p">13Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don&#8217;t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel&#8212;not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.</div><div class="s1">Christ Crucified Is God&#8217;s Power and Wisdom</div><div class="p">18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;</div><div class="q2">the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.&#8221;#1:19 Isaiah 29:14</div><div class="p">20Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.</div><div class="p">26Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things&#8212;and the things that are not&#8212;to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God&#8212;that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: &#8220;Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.&#8221;#1:31 Jer. 9:24</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="1CO.2">
 <div class="label">2</div><div class="p">1And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.#2:1 Some manuscripts proclaimed to you God&#8217;s mystery 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit&#8217;s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God&#8217;s power.</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit</div><div class="p">6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we declare God&#8217;s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;What no eye has seen,</div><div class="q2">what no ear has heard,</div><div class="q1">and what no human mind has conceived&#8221;#2:9 Isaiah 64:4&#8212;</div><div class="q2">the things God has prepared for those who love him&#8212;</div><div class="m">10these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.</div><div class="p">The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who knows a person&#8217;s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.#2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual 14The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16for,</div><div class="q1">&#8220;Who has known the mind of the Lord</div><div class="q2">so as to instruct him?&#8221;#2:16 Isaiah 40:13</div><div class="m">But we have the mind of Christ.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch3" data-usfm="1CO.3">
 <div class="label">3</div><div class="s1">The Church and Its Leaders</div><div class="p">1Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly&#8212;mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4For when one says, &#8220;I follow Paul,&#8221; and another, &#8220;I follow Apollos,&#8221; are you not mere human beings?</div><div class="p">5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe&#8212;as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9For we are co-workers in God&#8217;s service; you are God&#8217;s field, God&#8217;s building.</div><div class="p">10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person&#8217;s work. 14If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved&#8212;even though only as one escaping through the flames.</div><div class="p">16Don&#8217;t you know that you yourselves are God&#8217;s temple and that God&#8217;s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17If anyone destroys God&#8217;s temple, God will destroy that person; for God&#8217;s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.</div><div class="p">18Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become &#8220;fools&#8221; so that you may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God&#8217;s sight. As it is written: &#8220;He catches the wise in their craftiness&#8221;#3:19 Job 5:13; 20and again, &#8220;The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.&#8221;#3:20 Psalm 94:11 21So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas#3:22 That is, Peter or the world or life or death or the present or the future&#8212;all are yours, 23and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bk1CO">
 <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="1CO.4">
 <div class="label">4</div><div class="s1">The Nature of True Apostleship</div><div class="p">1This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.</div><div class="p">6Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, &#8220;Do not go beyond what is written.&#8221; Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. 7For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?</div><div class="p">8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign&#8212;and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! 9For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. 12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world&#8212;right up to this moment.</div><div class="s1">Paul&#8217;s Appeal and Warning</div><div class="p">14I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. 15Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.</div><div class="p">18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?</div>
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