From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and from Timothy our brother. To the members of God’s church in Corinth and to all of God’s holy people everywhere in southern Greece.
From Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. God sent me to help his chosen people deepen their faith and understand even better the truth that leads to godly living.
In the same way, deacons must be worthy of respect. They must be honest. they must not drink too much wine, and they must not try to get money by cheating other people.
From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. To you who have received a faith as precious as ours and who have been made right with our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Keep watch over yourselves and all the believers that the Holy Spirit has made you leaders over. Be shepherds of God’s church, which he bought with his own blood.
The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must happen soon. God made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.
Because a church leader takes care of God’s family, he must be blameless. He must not push people around, or get angry easily, or get drunk, or try to get money by cheating people.
All these things will happen when he comes to be glorified in his holy people. Everyone who has believed will be amazed when they see him. This includes you, because you have believed our testimony to you.
Earlier, in the city of Philippi, we suffered and the people treated us very badly, as you also know. But God still gave us the boldness to tell you his good news, even when people strongly opposed us.
When I heard this, I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I’m God’s servant, just like you and your brothers and sisters who hold firmly to what Jesus taught. Worship God! The Spirit of prophecy tells the truth about Jesus.”
It’s like a man who goes away and puts his servants in charge of his house. He gives each one a task to do, and the one he leaves at the door he tells to keep watch.
The seven stars you saw in my right hand have a hidden meaning, and so do the seven golden lampstands. The stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the lampstands you saw are the seven churches.
Peter continued, “Here’s what the Scriptures say in the Book of Psalms: “ ‘May his home be deserted, may no one live in it.’ The Psalms also say, “ ‘Let someone else take his place as leader.’
Now do I sound like somebody who wants people to think well of me? Or do I sound like somebody who wants God to think well of me? If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn’t be serving Christ.
We’re the ones who have truly been circumcised: We serve God by his Spirit, we boast in Christ Jesus, and we don’t put our trust in who we are or what we can do—although I myself could do that for many reasons.
In fact, I consider everything to be worthless compared with knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Knowing him is worth much more than anything else. Because of him I’ve lost everything, but I look at it all as garbage so that I can know Christ better.
I haven’t yet received these things or reached my goal. But Christ Jesus took hold of me so that I could reach it, and so I keep pushing myself forward to take hold of it.