Each of you has received a gift that you can use to serve others. You should use it as something that God has trusted you with. These gifts come in many forms.
He has given us the power to serve under a new covenant. It’s not based on the written Law of Moses; it comes from the Holy Spirit. The written Law kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Are they serving Christ? I’m serving him even more. (I’m out of my mind to talk like this!) I’ve worked much harder. I’ve been in prison more often. I’ve suffered terrible beatings. Again and again I’ve almost died.
But we’re like clay jars that hold a valuable treasure. We carry the good news around in these earthly bodies of ours to show that its mighty power comes from God and not from us.
It’s clear that you’re a letter from Christ, the result of our work for God, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. You’re a letter not written on tablets of stone but on human hearts.
God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, guiding, and speaking in different kinds of languages.
to serve Christ Jesus among the Gentiles. I’m like a priest of the good news, and I want the Gentiles to be an offering that pleases God because it has been made holy by the Holy Spirit.
As for our brother Apollos, I tried my best to get him to come to you with the others, but he really didn’t want to. He’ll come when it’s a better time.
All this is from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ and gave us the task of bringing others back to him. God wants us to let them know that
But you must keep your faith steady and firm and not move away from the hope that the good news is offering you. This is the good news that you heard. It has been preached to every creature under heaven and I, Paul, am its servant.