1 Corinthians 4:9-21

9For, I think, God hath set forth us the apostles last of all, as men doomed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 10We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye have glory, but we have dishonour. 11Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; 12and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; 13being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things, even until now. 14I write not these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15For though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel. 16I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me. 17For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church. 18Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will; and I will know, not the word of them which are puffed up, but the power. 20For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 21What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of meekness?