Study Desk

"Who has first given God anything, so as to receive payment in return?"

I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the compassionsof God, to present all your faculties to Him as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act of reasonable worship.

For through the authority graciously given to me I warn every individual among you not to value himself unduly, but to cultivate sobriety of judgement in accordance with the amount of faith which God has allotted to each one.

Why, this is really the reason you pay taxes; for tax-gatherers are ministers of God, devoting their energies to this very work.

Let not him who eats certain food look down upon him who abstains from it, nor him who abstains from it find fault with him who eats it; for God has received both of them.

He who regards the day as sacred, so regards it for the Master's sake; and he who eats certain food eats it for the Master's sake, for he gives thanks to God; and he who refrains from eating it refrains for the Master's sake, and he also gives thanks to God.

But you, why do you find fault with your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon your brother? We shall all stand before God to be judged;

for it is written, "`As I live,' says the Lord, `to Me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall make confession to God.'"

So we see that every one of us will give account of himself to God.

For the Kingdom of God does not consist of eating and drinking, but of right conduct, peace and joy, through the Holy Spirit;

and whoever in this way devotedly serves Christ, God takes pleasure in him, and men highly commend him.

As for you and your faith, keep your faith to yourself in the presence of God. The man is to be congratulated who does not pronounce judgement on himself in what his actions sanction.

And may God, the giver of power of endurance and of that encouragement, grant you to be in full sympathy with one another in accordance with the example of Christ Jesus,

so that with oneness both of heart and voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Habitually therefore give one another a friendly reception, just as Christ also has received you, and thus promote the glory of God.

and that the Gentiles also have glorified God in acknowledgment of His mercy. So it is written, "For this reason I will praise Thee among the Gentiles, and sing psalms in honour of Thy name."

May God, the giver of hope, fill you with continual joy and peace because you trust in Him--so that you may have abundant hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But I write to you the more boldly--partly as reminding you of what you already know--because of the authority graciously entrusted to me by God,

I can therefore glory in Christ Jesus concerning the work for God in which I am engaged.

But I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love which His Spirit inspires, to help me by wrestling in prayer to God on my behalf,