Study Desk

The Scriptures say, "God commanded light to shine in the dark." Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ.

We face death every day because of Jesus. Our bodies show what his death was like, so that his life can also be seen in us.

because we know that God raised the Lord Jesus to life. And just as God raised Jesus, he will also raise us to life. Then he will bring us into his presence together with you.

God is the one who makes all of this possible. He has given us his Spirit to make us certain that he will do it.

What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace.

You know that our Lord Jesus Christ was kind enough to give up all his riches and become poor, so that you could become rich.

The Scriptures say, "God freely gives his gifts to the poor, and always does right."

Thank God for his gift that is too wonderful for words!

I know about one of Christ's followers who was taken up into the third heaven fourteen years ago. I don't know if the man was still in his body when it happened, but God certainly knows.

As I said, only God really knows if this man was in his body at the time.

But he replied, "My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak." So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am.

I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will bless you and be kind to you! May God bless you with his love, and may the Holy Spirit join all your hearts together.

Final Warnings and Greetings I am on my way to visit you for the third time. And as the Scriptures say, "Any charges must be proved true by at least two or three witnesses." During my second visit I warned you that I would punish you and anyone else who doesn't stop sinning. I am far away from you now, but I give you the same warning. This should prove to you that I am speaking for Christ. When he corrects you, he won't be weak. He will be powerful! Although he was weak when he was nailed to the cross, he now lives by the power of God. We are weak, just as Christ was. But you will see that we will live by the power of God, just as Christ does. Test yourselves and find out if you really are true to your faith. If you pass the test, you will discover that Christ is living in you. But if Christ isn't living in you, you have failed. I hope you will discover that we have not failed. We pray that you will stop doing evil things. We don't pray like this to make ourselves look good, but to get you to do right, even if we are failures. All we can do is to follow the truth and not fight against it. Even though we are weak, we are glad that you are strong, and we pray that you will do even better. I am writing these things to you before I arrive. This way I won't have to be hard on you when I use the authority that the Lord has given me. I was given this authority, so that I could help you and not destroy you. Good-by, my friends. Do better and pay attention to what I have said. Try to get along and live peacefully with each other. Now I pray that God, who gives love and peace, will be with you. Give each other a warm greeting. All of God's people send their greetings. I pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will bless you and be kind to you! May God bless you with his love, and may the Holy Spirit join all your hearts together.

I am shocked that you have so quickly turned from God, who chose you because of his wonderful kindness. You have believed another message,

to show me his Son, so that I would announce his message to the Gentiles. I didn't talk this over with anyone.

James, Peter, and John realized that God had given me the message about his undeserved kindness. And these men are supposed to be the backbone of the church. They even gave Barnabas and me a friendly handshake. This was to show that we would work with Gentiles and that they would work with Jews.

I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.

God gives you his Spirit and works miracles in you. But does he do this because you obey the Law of Moses or because you have heard about Christ and have faith in him?

This means that everyone who has faith will share in the blessings that were given to Abraham because of his faith.

That is how it is with the promises God made to Abraham and his descendant. The promises were not made to many descendants, but only to one, and that one is Christ.