1 Corinthians 4:14-21

¹⁴I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I admonish you. ¹⁵For though ye 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 are 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 that 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 gentleness?