1Corinthians:9

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Seeker Overlay ON

* Am I not an apostle ? Am I not free ? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord ? Are you not my work in the Lord ? * If I am not an apostle to others , yet doubtless I am to you . For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord . * My defense to those who examine me is this : * Do we have no right to eat and drink ? * Do we have no right to take along a believing wife , as do also the other apostles , the brothers of the Lord , and Cephas ? * Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working ? * Who ever goes to war at his own expense ? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit ? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock ? * Do I say these things as a mere man ? Or does not the law say the same also ? * For it is written in the law of Moses , "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain ." Is it oxen God is concerned about ? * Or does He say it altogether for our sakes ? For our sakes , no doubt , this is written , that he who plows should plow in hope , and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope . * If we have sown spiritual things for you , is it a great thing if we reap your material things ? * If others are partakers of this right over you , are we not even more ? Nevertheless we have not used this right , but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ . * Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple , and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar ? * Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel . * But I have used none of these things , nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me ; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void . * For if I preach the gospel , I have nothing to boast of , for necessity is laid upon me ; yes , woe is me if I do not preach the gospel ! * For if I do this willingly , I have a reward ; but if against my will , I have been entrusted with a stewardship . * What is my reward then ? That when I preach the gospel , I may present the gospel of Christ without charge , that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel . * For though I am free from all men , I have made myself a servant to all , that I might win the more ; * and to the Jews I became as a Jew , that I might win Jews ; to those who are under the law , as under the law , that I might win those who are under the law ; * to those who are without law , as without law (not being without law toward God , but under law toward Christ ), that I might win those who are without law ; * to the weak I became as weak , that I might win the weak . I have become all things to all men , that I might by all means save some . * Now this I do for the gospel 's sake , that I may be partaker of it with you . * Do you not know that those who run in a race all run , but one receives the prize ? Run in such a way that you may obtain it . * And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things . Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown , but we for an imperishable crown . * Therefore I run thus : not with uncertainty . Thus I fight : not as one who beats the air . * But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection , lest , when I have preached to others , I myself should become disqualified .

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