Since the time John the Baptizer came until now, the kingdom of heaven has been going forward strongly. {\cf2\super [138]} People using force have been trying to get the kingdom.
1 Corinthians 9:26 - Easy To Read Version So I run like a person that has a goal. I fight like a boxer that is hitting something—not just the air. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: Amplified Bible - Classic Edition Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary. American Standard Version (1901) I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air: Common English Bible So now this is how I run—not without a clear goal in sight. I fight like a boxer in the ring, not like someone who is shadowboxing. Catholic Public Domain Version And so I run, but not with uncertainty. And so I fight, but not by flailing in the air. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I so fight, not as one beating the air: |
Since the time John the Baptizer came until now, the kingdom of heaven has been going forward strongly. {\cf2\super [138]} People using force have been trying to get the kingdom.
“Try hard to enter through the narrow door \{that opens the way to heaven\}! Many people will try to enter there, but they will not be able to enter.
It is the same with you. The words you speak with your tongue must be clear. If you don’t speak clearly, then no person can understand what you are saying. You will be talking to the air!
We know that \{our body\}—the tent we live in here on earth—will be destroyed. But when that happens, God will have a home for us to live in. It will not be a home made by men. It will be a home in heaven that will continue forever.
So I say that we have confidence. And we really want to be away from this body and be at home with the Lord.
I went because God showed me that I should go. I went to those men who were considered to be the leaders \{of the believers\}. When we were alone, I told these men the Good News {\cf2\super [10]} I tell to the non-Jewish people. \{I wanted these men to understand my work,\} so that my past work and the work I do now would not be wasted.
Our fight is not against people on earth. We are fighting against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly places.
I mean that to me the only important thing about living is Christ. And even death would be profit for me. {\cf2\super [10]}
And I suffer now because I tell that Good News. But I am not ashamed. I know the One (Jesus) that I have believed. I am sure that he is able to protect the things that he has trusted me with until that Day. {\cf2\super [8]}
I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.
We have those many people \{of faith\} around us. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we should be like them. We too should run the race that is before us and never stop trying. We should take away \{from our lives\} anything that would stop us. And we should take away the sin that so easily catches us.
And we still have that promise God gave those people. That promise is that we can enter and have God’s rest. {\cf2\super [22]} So we should be very careful, so that none of you fail to get that promise.
Now I have something to say to the elders {\cf2\super [30]} in your group. I am also an elder. I myself have seen Christ’s sufferings. And I will share in the glory that will be shown to us. I beg you to
My brothers and sisters, God called you and chose you to be his. Do your best to live in a way that shows you really are God’s called and chosen people. If you do all those things, you will never fall.