Study Desk

I love you all through Christ Jesus. Let it be so.

But if we are in trouble, it is for your good. And it is so you will be saved from the punishment of sin. If God comforts us, it is for your good also. You too will be given strength not to give up when you have the same kind of trouble we have.

Our hope for you is the same all the time. We know you are sharing our troubles. And so you will share the comfort we receive.

We want you to know, Christian brothers, of the trouble we had in the countries of Asia. The load was so heavy we did not have the strength to keep going. At times we did not think we could live.

We thought we would die. This happened so we would not put our trust in ourselves, but in God Who raises the dead.

Jesus says yes to all of God's many promises. It is through Jesus that we say, "Let it be so," when we give thanks to God.

If someone among you has brought sorrow, he has not made me as sad as he has all of you. I say this so I may not make it hard for you.

Now you should forgive him and comfort him. If you do not, he will be so sad that he will want to give up.

We forgive so that Satan will not win. We know how he works!

Are we making it sound as if we think we are so important? Other people write letters about themselves. Do we need to write such a letter to you?

The Law of Moses came with shining-greatness long ago. But that light is no longer bright. The shining-greatness of the New Way of Worship that brings us life is so much brighter.

We are not like Moses. He put a covering over his face so the Jews would not see that the bright light was passing away.

Through God's loving-kindness, He has given us this job to do. So we do not give up.

The Holy Writings say, "I believed, so I spoke." We have the same kind of faith as David had. We also believe, so we speak.

So if we stay here on earth or go home to Him, we always want to please Him.

Because of this, we know the fear of God. So we try to get men to put their trust in Christ. God knows us. I hope that your hearts know me well also.

We do not want to sound as if we think we are so important. Instead, we are making it easy for you to be proud of us. In that way, you will be able to tell them about us. They always talk about the way people look, but do not care about their hearts.

For the love of Christ puts us into action. We are sure that Christ died for everyone. So, because of that, everyone has a part in His death.

Christ died for everyone so that they would live for Him. They should not live to please themselves but for Christ Who died on a cross and was raised from the dead for them.

So from now on, we do not think about what people are like by looking at them. We even thought about Christ that way one time. But we do not think of Him that way anymore.