People who promise things that they never give are like clouds and wind that bring no rain.

As for us, however, our boasting will not go beyond certain limits; it will stay within the limits of the work which God has set for us, and this includes our work among you.

So we do not boast about the work that others have done beyond the limits God set for us. Instead, we hope that your faith may grow and that we may be able to do a much greater work among you, always within the limits that God has set.

But as the scripture says, "Whoever wants to boast must boast about what the Lord has done."

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus---blessed be his name forever!---knows that I am not lying.

If I wanted to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will not boast, because I do not want any of you to have a higher opinion of me than you have as a result of what you have seen me do and heard me say.

Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

The disciples went and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and proved that their preaching was true by the miracles that were performed.]

When they arrived in Antioch, they gathered the people of the church together and told them about all that God had done with them and how he had opened the way for the Gentiles to believe.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, to whom they told all that God had done through them.

The whole group was silent as they heard Barnabas and Paul report all the miracles and wonders that God had performed through them among the Gentiles.

Paul greeted them and gave a complete report of everything that God had done among the Gentiles through his work.

For by God's power I was made an apostle to the Gentiles, just as Peter was made an apostle to the Jews.

I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow.

There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done.

Does this sound as if we were again boasting about ourselves? Could it be that, like some other people, we need letters of recommendation to you or from you?

It is clear that Christ himself wrote this letter and sent it by us. It is written, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, and not on stone tablets but on human hearts.

In our work together with God, then, we beg you who have received God's grace not to let it be wasted.

Through him God gave me the privilege of being an apostle for the sake of Christ, in order to lead people of all nations to believe and obey.

But thanks be to God! For though at one time you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed with all your heart the truths found in the teaching you received.

Now, however, that truth has been brought out into the open through the writings of the prophets; and by the command of the eternal God it is made known to all nations, so that all may believe and obey.

Jesus drew near and said to them, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age."

First in Damascus and in Jerusalem and then in the whole country of Israel and among the Gentiles, I preached that they must repent of their sins and turn to God and do the things that would show they had repented.

The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments;

we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.

When he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him,

It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him. He left his own country without knowing where he was going.

Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father.

encourage you and strengthen you to always do and say what is good.

Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice.

My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action.