Remain at that same house, and eat and drink whatever they offer you; for the worker is worth his wages. Do not keep changing from one house to another.
Be watchful over yourselves, and over the whole flock, of which the Holy Spirit has placed you in charge, to shepherd the Church of God, which he won for himself at the cost of his life.
I left nothing undone to show you that, laboring as I labored, you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said himself--'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
In the Church God has appointed, first, Apostles, secondly Preachers, thirdly Teachers; then he has given supernatural powers, then power to cure diseases, aptness for helping others, capacity to govern, varieties of the gift of 'tongues.'
But it is through the love of God that I am what I am, and the love that he showed me has not been wasted. No, I have toiled harder than any of them, and yet it was not I, but the love of God working with me.
Are they 'Servants of Christ'? Though it is madness to talk like this, I am more so than they! I have had more of toil, more of imprisonment! I have been flogged times without number. I have been often at death's door.
Offering to men the Message of Life; and then I shall be able at the Day of Christ to boast that I did not run my course for nothing, or toil for nothing.
You will not have forgotten, Brothers, our labor and toil. Night and day we used to work at our trades, so as not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you God's Good News.
Further, Brothers, we beg and exhort you in the name of our Lord Jesus to carry out more fully than ever--as indeed you are already doing--all that you have heard from us as to what your daily life must be, if it is to please God.
My reason for leaving you in Crete was that you might put in order what had been left unsettled, and appoint Officers of the Church in the various towns, as I myself directed you.
Obey your Leaders, and submit to their control, for they are watching over your souls, as men who will have to render an account, so that they may do it with joy, and not in sorrow. That would not be to your advantage.
the mystic meaning of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamps. The seven stars are the Angels of the seven Churches, and the seven lamps are the seven Churches.
To the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write:-- "These are the words of the Son of God, 'whose eyes are like flaming fire, and whose feet are like brass':--
To the Angel of the Church in Sardis write:-- "These are the words of him who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars;--I know your life, and that men say of you that you are living, though you are dead.
To the Angel of the Church in Laodicaea write:-- "These are the words of the Unchanging One, 'the Witness faithful and true, the Beginning of the Creation of God':--
To the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write:-- "These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds 'the Key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one opens':--