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I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the LORD's house."
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And now we are here, standing inside the gates of Jerusalem!
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Jerusalem is a city restored in beautiful order and harmony.
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This is where the tribes come, the tribes of Israel, to give thanks to the LORD according to his command.
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Here the kings of Israel sat to judge their people.
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Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you prosper.
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May there be peace inside your walls and safety in your palaces."
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For the sake of my relatives and friends I say to Jerusalem, "Peace be with you!"
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For the sake of the house of the LORD our God I pray for your prosperity.
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Am I not a free man? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus our Lord? And aren't you the result of my work for the Lord?
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Even if others do not accept me as an apostle, surely you do! Because of your life in union with the Lord you yourselves are proof of the fact that I am an apostle.
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When people criticize me, this is how I defend myself:
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Don't I have the right to be given food and drink for my work?
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Don't I have the right to follow the example of the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter, by taking a Christian wife with me on my trips?
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Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have to work for our living?
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What soldiers ever have to pay their own expenses in the army? What farmers do not eat the grapes from their own vineyard? What shepherds do not use the milk from their own sheep?
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I don't have to limit myself to these everyday examples, because the Law says the same thing.
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We read in the Law of Moses, "Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh grain." Now, is God concerned about oxen?
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Didn't he really mean us when he said that? Of course that was written for us. Anyone who plows and anyone who reaps should do their work in the hope of getting a share of the crop.
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We have sown spiritual seed among you. Is it too much if we reap material benefits from you?
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If others have the right to expect this from you, don't we have an even greater right? But we haven't made use of this right. Instead, we have endured everything in order not to put any obstacle in the way of the Good News about Christ.
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Surely you know that the men who work in the Temple get their food from the Temple and that those who offer the sacrifices on the altar get a share of the sacrifices.
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In the same way, the Lord has ordered that those who preach the gospel should get their living from it.
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But I haven't made use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this now in order to claim such rights for myself. I would rather die first! Nobody is going to turn my rightful boast into empty words!
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I have no right to boast just because I preach the gospel. After all, I am under orders to do so. And how terrible it would be for me if I did not preach the gospel!
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If I did my work as a matter of free choice, then I could expect to be paid; but I do it as a matter of duty, because God has entrusted me with this task.
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What pay do I get, then? It is the privilege of preaching the Good News without charging for it, without claiming my rights in my work for the gospel.
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I am a free man, nobody's slave; but I make myself everybody's slave in order to win as many people as possible.
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While working with the Jews, I live like a Jew in order to win them; and even though I myself am not subject to the Law of Moses, I live as though I were when working with those who are, in order to win them.
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In the same way, when working with Gentiles, I live like a Gentile, outside the Jewish Law, in order to win Gentiles. This does not mean that I don't obey God's law; I am really under Christ's law.
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Among the weak in faith I become weak like one of them, in order to win them. So I become all things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever means are possible.
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All this I do for the gospel's sake, in order to share in its blessings.
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Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize.
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Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever.
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That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches.
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I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.
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I want you to remember, my friends, what happened to our ancestors who followed Moses. They were all under the protection of the cloud, and all passed safely through the Red Sea.
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In the cloud and in the sea they were all baptized as followers of Moses.
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All ate the same spiritual bread
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and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them; and that rock was Christ himself.
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But even then God was not pleased with most of them, and so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.
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Now, all of this is an example for us, to warn us not to desire evil things, as they did,
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nor to worship idols, as some of them did. As the scripture says, "The people sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy of drinking and sex."
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We must not be guilty of sexual immorality, as some of them were---and in one day twenty-three thousand of them fell dead.
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We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did---and they were killed by snakes.
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We must not complain, as some of them did---and they were destroyed by the Angel of Death.
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All these things happened to them as examples for others, and they were written down as a warning for us. For we live at a time when the end is about to come.
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If you think you are standing firm you had better be careful that you do not fall.
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Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.
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So then, my dear friends, keep away from the worship of idols.
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I speak to you as sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
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The cup we use in the Lord's Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ.
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Because there is the one loaf of bread, all of us, though many, are one body, for we all share the same loaf.
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Consider the people of Israel; those who eat what is offered in sacrifice share in the altar's service to God.
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Do I imply, then, that an idol or the food offered to it really amounts to anything?
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No! What I am saying is that what is sacrificed on pagan altars is offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be partners with demons.
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You cannot drink from the Lord's cup and also from the cup of demons; you cannot eat at the Lord's table and also at the table of demons.
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Or do we want to make the Lord jealous? Do we think that we are stronger than he?
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"We are allowed to do anything," so they say. That is true, but not everything is good. "We are allowed to do anything"---but not everything is helpful.
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None of you should be looking out for your own interests, but for the interests of others.
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You are free to eat anything sold in the meat market, without asking any questions because of your conscience.
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For, as the scripture says, "The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord."
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If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you decide to go, eat what is set before you, without asking any questions because of your conscience.
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But if someone tells you, "This food was offered to idols," then do not eat that food, for the sake of the one who told you and for conscience' sake---
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that is, not your own conscience, but the other person's conscience. "Well, then," someone asks, "why should my freedom to act be limited by another person's conscience?
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If I thank God for my food, why should anyone criticize me about food for which I give thanks?"
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Well, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for God's glory.
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Live in such a way as to cause no trouble either to Jews or Gentiles or to the church of God.
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Just do as I do; I try to please everyone in all that I do, not thinking of my own good, but of the good of all, so that they might be saved.
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Imitate me, then, just as I imitate Christ.
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I praise you because you always remember me and follow the teachings that I have handed on to you.
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But I want you to understand that Christ is supreme over every man, the husband is supreme over his wife, and God is supreme over Christ.
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So a man who prays or proclaims God's message in public worship with his head covered disgraces Christ.
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And any woman who prays or proclaims God's message in public worship with nothing on her head disgraces her husband; there is no difference between her and a woman whose head has been shaved.
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If the woman does not cover her head, she might as well cut her hair. And since it is a shameful thing for a woman to shave her head or cut her hair, she should cover her head.
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A man has no need to cover his head, because he reflects the image and glory of God. But woman reflects the glory of man;
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for man was not created from woman, but woman from man.
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Nor was man created for woman's sake, but woman was created for man's sake.
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On account of the angels, then, a woman should have a covering over her head to show that she is under her husband's authority.
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In our life in the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
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For as woman was made from man, in the same way man is born of woman; and it is God who brings everything into existence.
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Judge for yourselves whether it is proper for a woman to pray to God in public worship with nothing on her head.
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Why, nature itself teaches you that long hair on a man is a disgrace,
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but on a woman it is a thing of beauty. Her long hair has been given her to serve as a covering.
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But if anyone wants to argue about it, all I have to say is that neither we nor the churches of God have any other custom in worship.
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In the following instructions, however, I do not praise you, because your meetings for worship actually do more harm than good.
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In the first place, I have been told that there are opposing groups in your meetings; and this I believe is partly true.
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(No doubt there must be divisions among you so that the ones who are in the right may be clearly seen.)
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When you meet together as a group, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat.
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For as you eat, you each go ahead with your own meal, so that some are hungry while others get drunk.
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Don't you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or would you rather despise the church of God and put to shame the people who are in need? What do you expect me to say to you about this? Shall I praise you? Of course I don't!
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For I received from the Lord the teaching that I passed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a piece of bread,
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gave thanks to God, broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in memory of me."
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In the same way, after the supper he took the cup and said, "This cup is God's new covenant, sealed with my blood. Whenever you drink it, do so in memory of me."
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This means that every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
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It follows that if one of you eats the Lord's bread or drinks from his cup in a way that dishonors him, you are guilty of sin against the Lord's body and blood.
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So then, you should each examine yourself first, and then eat the bread and drink from the cup.
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For if you do not recognize the meaning of the Lord's body when you eat the bread and drink from the cup, you bring judgment on yourself as you eat and drink.
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That is why many of you are sick and weak, and several have died.
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If we would examine ourselves first, we would not come under God's judgment.
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But we are judged and punished by the Lord, so that we shall not be condemned together with the world.
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So then, my friends, when you gather together to eat the Lord's Supper, wait for one another.
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And if any of you are hungry, you should eat at home, so that you will not come under God's judgment as you meet together. As for the other matters, I will settle them when I come.
