Study Desk

Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness.

He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death— his death on the cross.

because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.

And you yourselves know how he has proved his worth, how he and I, like a son and his father, have worked together for the sake of the gospel.

because he risked his life and nearly died for the sake of the work of Christ, in order to give me the help that you yourselves could not give.

It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external ceremonies.

Not only those things; I reckon everything as complete loss for the sake of what is so much more valuable, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have thrown everything away; I consider it all as mere garbage, so that I may gain Christ

All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death,

He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule.

And with all his abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs.

For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives.

May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from his glorious power, so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for his people in the kingdom of light.

He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son,

He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things.

Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son's blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.

At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought.

But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence.

And now I am happy about my sufferings for you, for by means of my physical sufferings I am helping to complete what still remains of Christ's sufferings on behalf of his body, the church.

And I have been made a servant of the church by God, who gave me this task to perform for your good. It is the task of fully proclaiming his message,

which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people.