For I want very much to see you, in order to share a spiritual blessing with you to make you strong.

For in union with Christ you have become rich in all things, including all speech and all knowledge.

that you have not failed to receive a single blessing, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

For your sake, my friends, I have applied all this to Apollos and me, using the two of us as an example, so that you may learn what the saying means, "Observe the proper rules." None of you should be proud of one person and despise another.

Who made you superior to others? Didn't God give you everything you have? Well, then, how can you boast, as if what you have were not a gift?

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.

There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service.

The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge.

The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said.

In the church God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets, and in the third place teachers; then those who perform miracles, followed by those who are given the power to heal or to help others or to direct them or to speak in strange tongues.

or to heal diseases or to speak in strange tongues or to explain what is said.

I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains---but if I have no love, I am nothing.

Each one, as a good manager of God's different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God.

Those who preach must preach God's messages; those who serve must serve with the strength that God gives them, so that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

And so I tell you that I will send you prophets and wise men and teachers; you will kill some of them, crucify others, and whip others in the synagogues and chase them from town to town.

For this reason the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and messengers; they will kill some of them and persecute others.'

'This is what I will do in the last days, God says: I will pour out my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will proclaim my message; your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams.

About that time some prophets went from Jerusalem to Antioch.

One of them, named Agabus, stood up and by the power of the Spirit predicted that a severe famine was about to come over all the earth. (It came when Claudius was emperor.)

In the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (called the Black), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (who had been brought up with Governor Herod ), and Saul.

Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, spoke a long time with them, giving them courage and strength.

He had four unmarried daughters who proclaimed God's message.

The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said.

In the church God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets, and in the third place teachers; then those who perform miracles, followed by those who are given the power to heal or to help others or to direct them or to speak in strange tongues.

I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains---but if I have no love, I am nothing.

It is love, then, that you should strive for. Set your hearts on spiritual gifts, especially the gift of proclaiming God's message.

But those who proclaim God's message speak to people and give them help, encouragement, and comfort.

I would like for all of you to speak in strange tongues; but I would rather that you had the gift of proclaiming God's message. For the person who proclaims God's message is of greater value than the one who speaks in strange tongues---unless there is someone present who can explain what is said, so that the whole church may be helped.

In past times human beings were not told this secret, but God has revealed it now by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.

It was he who "gave gifts to people"; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.

do not despise inspired messages.

And because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you.

At that time a Jew named Apollos, who had been born in Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home with them and explained to him more correctly the Way of God.

For with his strong arguments he defeated the Jews in public debates by proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.

If you are eager to give, God will accept your gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you don't have.

All of us who are spiritually mature should have this same attitude. But if some of you have a different attitude, God will make this clear to you.