I preached the gospel to you first, and Apollos followed, but we are both serving God equally.

1 Corinthians 3:5-9a

5 So what you really ought to think about Apollos and me [RHQ] is that we(dl) are merely men who serve God. As a result of our telling you the message about Christ, you trusted in him. Both of us (dl) are merely doing the work that the Lord appointed us to do. 6 I was the first one who preached God’s message to you. I was like [MET] someone who plants seeds. Later, Apollos taught you more of God’s message. That was like [MET] someone who waters plants after they start to grow. But it is God who enables people to grow spiritually, just like he is the one who causes plants to grow. 7 So the person who first preaches God’s message to people is not important, and the person who later teaches people more of God’s message is not important, just like [MET] it is not the person who plants the seeds or the person who waters the plants who is important. Instead, it is God, who causes plants to grow and who causes people to grow spiritually, who is important. 8 The person who first preaches God’s message to people and the one who later teaches them more of God’s message [MET] both ◄are trying to reach the same goal/have the same purpose►. And God will reward each of them according to how they served him. 9 Remember that Apollos and I are both working together for God. You do not belong to us. Just like a field belongs to its owner, not to those who work in it, you belong to God, not to us who work for him.