to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. I serve the gospel of God like a priest, so that the Gentiles may become an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

for you are still influenced by the flesh. For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people?

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds.

those with tears like those not weeping, those who rejoice like those not rejoicing, those who buy like those without possessions,

Do we not have the right to the company of a believing wife, like the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?

To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) to gain those under the law.

To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God's law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law.

So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.

It is similar for lifeless things that make a sound, like a flute or harp. Unless they make a distinction in the notes, how can what is played on the flute or harp be understood?

Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly.

also to submit to people like this, and to everyone who cooperates in the work and labors hard.

For they refreshed my spirit and yours. So then, recognize people like this.

For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God.

and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective.

Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times.

But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, "If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

I beg you, brothers and sisters, become like me, because I have become like you. You have done me no wrong!

But you, brothers and sisters, are children of the promise like Isaac.

But you did not learn about Christ like this,

not like those who do their work only when someone is watching -- as people-pleasers -- but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.

but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.

But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you.

For there is no one here like him who will readily demonstrate his deep concern for you.

But you know his qualifications, that like a son working with his father, he served with me in advancing the gospel.

So welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him,

My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death,

Slaves, obey your earthly masters in every respect, not only when they are watching -- like those who are strictly people-pleasers -- but with a sincere heart, fearing the Lord.

although we could have imposed our weight as apostles of Christ; instead we became little children among you. Like a nursing mother caring for her own children,

not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.

Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

Now when they are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would.

and their message will spread its infection like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are in this group.

They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated its power. So avoid people like these.

But they will not go much further, for their foolishness will be obvious to everyone, just like it was with Jannes and Jambres.

They will perish, but you continue. And they will all grow old like a garment,

and like a robe you will fold them up and like a garment they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will never run out."

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

But in your case, dear friends, even though we speak like this, we are convinced of better things relating to salvation.

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time.

"It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.

So with these things prepared like this, the priests enter continually into the outer tent as they perform their duties.

So in fact children were fathered by one man -- and this one as good as dead -- like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand on the seashore.

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled.

And see to it that no one becomes an immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind.

But the rich person's pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow.

For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror.

But would you like evidence, you empty fellow, that faith without works is useless?

You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure!

Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months!

Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance,

but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct,

You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed -- not by perishable things like silver or gold,

but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ.

For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass; the grass withers and the flower falls off,

And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation,

For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

like Sarah who obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You become her children when you do what is good and have no fear in doing so.

Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.

But these men, like irrational animals -- creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed -- do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed,

Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare.

Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

not like Cain who was of the evil one and brutally murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother's were righteous.

But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend.

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest.

His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame.

His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength.

"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following: "This is the solemn pronouncement of the Son of God, the one who has eyes like a fiery flame and whose feet are like polished bronze:

he will rule them with an iron rod and like clay jars he will break them to pieces,

Therefore, remember what you received and heard, and obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come against you.

The one who conquers will be dressed like them in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will declare his name before my Father and before his angels.

After these things I looked, and there was a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said: "Come up here so that I can show you what must happen after these things."

And the one seated on it was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald encircled the throne.

and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man's, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying.

Then I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat will cost a day's pay and three quarts of barley will cost a day's pay. But do not damage the olive oil and the wine!"

and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when shaken by a fierce wind.

The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain of burning fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood,

Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star burning like a torch fell from the sky; it landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft.

Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.

The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torture them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person.

Now the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men's faces.

They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.

They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle.

They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails.

Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths.

For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes, having heads that inflict injuries.

Then I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun and his legs were like pillars of fire.

Then he shouted in a loud voice like a lion roaring, and when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded their voices.

Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me, and I was told, "Get up and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and the ones who worship there.

Then the serpent spouted water like a river out of his mouth after the woman in an attempt to sweep her away by a flood,

Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority to rule.