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But as the Scriptures say, No eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard and it has never occurred to the human heart All the things God prepared for those who love Him.
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I am not telling you all this so that you’ll feel guilty or be ashamed of how you have acted. I am only trying to warn you, just as a father would warn his children.
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This is one of the reasons I sent Timothy to be with you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord. His mission is to remind you of the way I experience life in the Anointed. In all the churches everywhere I go, I teach the same lessons the same way, and I live out those lessons.
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So tell me what you want. Should I visit you, rod in hand ready to discipline a crew of self-important people; or should I embrace you, love you, and gently teach you as we celebrate the blessings of God together?
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Because of my deep love for you, I must express my concern about the report brought to me regarding the lewd and immoral behavior exhibited in your community. This scandal has come to my attention because this kind of thing is unheard of even among the outsiders around us: I understand a man is having sexual relations with his father’s wife.
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In the letter I wrote to you previously, I made it clear that you are not to band together with those who have embraced immoral lives.
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Remember that anything is possible, so the life you lead and the love you show under this strain may be what finally liberates your partner.
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As to the concern of eating food dedicated to idols: we know that all of us have knowledge, but knowledge can be risky. Knowledge promotes overconfidence and worse arrogance, but charity of the heart (love, that is) looks to build up others.
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But if someone loves God, it is certain that God has already known that one.
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Am I not truly free? Am I not an emissary of the Liberating King? Have I not personally encountered Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work, my mission in the Lord?
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Any temptation you face will be nothing new. But God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle. But He always provides a way of escape so that you will be able to endure and keep moving forward.
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So if some unbelievers invite you to dinner and you want to go, feel free to eat whatever they offer you without raising questions about conscience.
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Every time you taste this bread and every time you place the cup to your mouths and drink, you are declaring the Lord’s death, which is the ultimate expression of His faithfulness and love, until He comes again.
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Pursue the greater gifts, and let me tell you of a more excellent way—love.
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What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal.
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What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing.
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I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts.
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Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love;
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it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs
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or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight!
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Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what.
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Love will never become obsolete. Now as for the prophetic gifts, they will not last; unknown languages will become silent, and the gift of knowledge will no longer be needed.
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But now faith, hope, and love remain; these three virtues must characterize our lives. The greatest of these is love.
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So in everything strive to love. Passionately seek the gifts of the Spirit, especially the gift of prophecy.
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Let love prevail in your life, words, and actions.
