Study Desk

I keep working over my body. I make it obey me. I do this because I am afraid that after I have preached the Good News to others, I myself might be put aside.

I am speaking to you who are able to understand. See if what I am saying is true.

What do I mean? Am I saying that a false god or the food brought to it in worship is worth anything?

No, not at all! I am saying that the people who do not know God bring gifts of animals in worship. But they have given them to demons, not to God. You do not want to have any share with demons.

If I can give thanks to God for my food, why should anyone say that I am wrong about eating food I can give thanks for?

I want to please everyone in all that I do. I am not thinking of myself. I want to do what is best for them so they may be saved from the punishment of sin.

You have your own homes to eat and drink in. Or do you hate the church of God and shame those who are poor? What am I to say to you? Am I to say you are right? No! I cannot say you are right in this.

If the foot should say, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that would not stop it from being a part of the body.

If the ear should say, "I am not a part of the body because I am not an eye," that would not stop it from being a part of the body.

If I have the gift of speaking God's Word and if I understand all secrets, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I know all things and if I have the gift of faith so I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I understood like a child. Now I am a man. I do not act like a child anymore.

But if I do not understand the language someone uses to speak to me, the man who speaks is a stranger to me. I am a stranger to him.

What am I saying, Christian brothers? When you meet together for worship, some of you have a song to sing. Some of you want to teach and some have special words from God. Some of you speak in special sounds and some of you tell what they mean. Everything should be done to help those who are meeting together to grow strong as Christians.

Some of you may think you have the gift of speaking God's Word or some other gift from the Holy Spirit. If you do, you should know that what I am writing to you is what God has told us we must obey.

For I am the least important of all the missionaries. I should not be called a missionary because I made it so hard for God's church.

I am different now. It is all because of what God did for me by His loving-favor. His loving-favor was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other missionaries. But it was not I who worked. It was God's loving-favor working through me.

For sure, I am telling you a secret. We will not all die, but we will all be changed.

I want to visit you after I have gone through the country of Macedonia for I am going through there.

If Timothy comes, receive him and help him so he will not be afraid. He is working for the Lord as I am.

I am happy that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus came here. They have helped me and you would have also if you had been here.