1 Corinthians 9:15

For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.

Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

this Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to Yahweh his God’s hand on him.

having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let’s prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”

and has extended loving kindness to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. I was strengthened according to Yahweh my God’s hand on me, and I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go up with me.

If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.

Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so.

not rendering evil for evil, or insult for insult; but instead blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them. Then Yahweh’s anger will be kindled against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.”

Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.”

You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.

For Yahweh’s eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.”

For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God on him.

Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.

“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.

Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.

For he was counted with us, and received his portion in this ministry.

But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus.

I also did this in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

I say this to move you to shame. Isn’t there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers?

What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.

Open your hearts to us. We wronged no one. We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one.

But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from those who desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found even as we.

in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.

For what is there in which you were made inferior to the rest of the assemblies, unless it is that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong.

Paul, an apostle—not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—

For you have heard of my way of living in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the assembly of God and ravaged it.

concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ

For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need.

For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),

As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children,

although I used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior;

But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.

“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?

But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he did to your saints at Jerusalem.

All who heard him were amazed, and said, “Isn’t this he who in Jerusalem made havoc of those who called on this name? And he had come here intending to bring them bound before the chief priests!”

As John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

Now, brothers, I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build up, and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I coveted no one’s silver, gold, or clothing.

I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you.

Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.

But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.

We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed,

For if in anything I have boasted to him on your behalf, I was not disappointed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, so our glorying also which I made before Titus was found to be truth.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.

Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”

and because he practiced the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers.

“He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’”

If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? Nevertheless we didn’t use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ.

Moses was very angry, and said to Yahweh, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them.”

“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd. My shepherds didn’t search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed my sheep.”

Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”

but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck, and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea.

But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison.

But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.

You yourselves know that these hands served my necessities, and those who were with me.

We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.

I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind.

For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God.

neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you,

For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is on all those who seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those who forsake him.”

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.