Month: October 2024

Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on human reasoning. I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Christ Jesus.

You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion – how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.

But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by His marvelous grace. Then it pleased Him to reveal His Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.

When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. Nor did I go tup to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later returned to the city of Damascus. (vv. 11-17, NLT)

I will give you all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me. Christ is not weak when He deals with you; He is powerful among you. Although He was crucified in weakness, He now lives by the power of God. We, too, are weak, just as Christ was, but when we deal with you we will be alive with Him and will have God’s power. (vv. 3-4, NLT)

Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

Greet each other with Christian love. All of God’s people here send you their greetings.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (vv. 11-14, NLT)

If it seems crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that we have all died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human part of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone and a new life has begun! (vv. 13-17, NLT)

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we ie and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to pt on our heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and git rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God Himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee He has given us His Holy Spirit. (vv. 1-5, NLT)

So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please Him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evel we have done in this earthy body. (vv. 9-10, NLT)

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and wont last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs then and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather we fixed our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but things we cannot see will last forever. (vv. 16-28, NLT)

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. (vv. 16-18, NLT)

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with His comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. (vv. 3-7, NLT)

But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed in to bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O, death, where is your sting?’

For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law give sing its power. But thank God! He give us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (vv. 51-58, NLT)

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit give the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit give great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit give the gift of healing. He give one person the power to perform miracles, and an other the gift to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. (vv. 7-11, NLT)

So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful. As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgement on tis point. My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord Himself who will examine me and decide.

So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time – before the Lord returns. For He will bring our our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due. (vv. 1-5, NLT)