Book of Common Prayer

1 I am Paul. I am called by God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. My Christian brother Timothy and I send greetings to the church of God in the city of Corinth. We also send greetings to all of God's people in the country of Greece.

² May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you with their loving kindness and peace. Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is a very, very kind Father to us. He is a God who always comforts and helps people.

³ He helps us every time we have trouble. Then we are able to be strong and help other people every time they have trouble. We can do this with the same comfort that God gives us.

⁴ We have plenty of the same troubles that Christ had. But we also have plenty of comfort and help from him.

⁵ When we have trouble, it is for your sake so that you will be helped and saved. When we are comforted, this helps you. Then you will stand strong when you have the same troubles we have.

⁶ Our hope for you is strong. If you have the same trouble we have had, then you will also have the same comfort and help we have. This we know.

⁷ Brothers, we want you to know about the trouble we had in the country of Asia Minor. We were not strong enough to carry such a load of trouble. It was so heavy we thought we would die.

⁸ Yes, we really felt our time had come to die. This was to make us trust, not in ourselves, but in God. He brings people back to life.

⁹ He saved us from the death that was so near, and he still saves us. We believe that God will keep on saving us.

¹⁰ But you must help us also. You must talk to God about us. When many people ask God to help us, then many people will thank God for the way he has blessed us. ourselves. Our hearts tell us that we have lived the right way in the world, and even more so toward you. We have lived a clean and true life as God wants us to. We have not trusted in the wise things of men, but in the blessing of God.

¹¹ We write you nothing but what you have been reading out to the people, and what you all know. I hope that you will really know what is right even to the end.

²⁶ Many people were going with Jesus. He turned to them and said, `If any man comes to me, he must hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sister. Yes, he must hate himself too. If he does not, he cannot be my disciple.

²⁷ If anyone does not carry his cross [is not ready to die] and come with me, he cannot be my disciple.

²⁸ `When any of you wants to build a high house, you sit down first and see how much it will cost. You want to see if you have enough money to finish it.

²⁹ If you do not have enough money, you will not be able to finish it after you have made the foundation. Then all the people who see it will laugh at you.

³⁰ They will say, "This man started to build a house and could not finish it."

³¹ `When a king goes to fight against another king, he sits down first and thinks about the matter. He will ask himself, "Can I fight him with ten thousand soldiers? He has twenty thousand soldiers."

³² If he cannot fight him, he will send some men to meet the other king while he is still far away. He will try to make peace with him.

³³ `In the same way, any one of you who does not give up all he has cannot be my disciple.'

³⁴ `Salt is good. But if the salt has lost its taste, how can it be made salty again?

³⁵ It is not good for the land or the dirt pile. People throw it away. `Everyone who has ears to hear, listen!"