Study Desk

Every time we pray to God our Father, we thank him for all that you have done because of your faith. And we thank him for the work you have done because of your love. And we thank him that you continue to be strong because of your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And you began waiting for God's Son to come from heaven—the Son God raised from death. He is Jesus, who saves us from God's angry judgment that is coming.

Before we came to you, people in Philippi abused us with insults and made us suffer. You know all about that. And then, when we came to you, many people there caused trouble for us. But our God gave us the courage we needed to tell you his Good News.

We were not looking for praise from people—not from you or anyone else.

When we were with you, as apostles of Christ we could have used our authority to make you help us. But we were very gentle with you. We were like a mother caring for her little children.

We encouraged you, we comforted you, and we told you to live good lives for God. He calls you to be part of his glorious kingdom.

And they are trying to stop us from teaching those who are not Jews. They don't want them to be saved. But they are just adding more and more sins to the ones they already have. Now the time has come for them to suffer God's anger.

Brothers and sisters, we were separated from you for a short time. But even though we were not there, our thoughts were still with you. We wanted very much to see you, and we tried very hard to do this.

We could not come to you, but it was very hard to wait any longer. So we decided to send Timothy to you and stay in Athens alone. Timothy is our brother. He works with us for God to tell people the Good News about Christ. We sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage you in your faith.

We have so much joy before our God because of you! So we thank God for you. But we cannot thank him enough for all the joy we feel.

We pray that our God and Father and our Lord Jesus will prepare the way for us to come to you.

We pray that the Lord will make your love grow. We pray that he will give you more and more love for each other and for all people. We pray that you will love everyone in the same way we love you.

We don't need to write to you about having love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. God has already taught you to love each other.

If you do these things, then those who are not believers will respect the way you live. And you will not have to depend on others for what you need.

Jesus died for us so that we can live together with him. It is not important if we are alive or dead when Jesus comes.

Now brothers and sisters, we ask you to recognize the value of those who work hard among you—those who, as followers of the Lord, care for you and tell you how to live.

Be sure that no one pays back wrong for wrong. But always try to do what is good for each other and for all people.

The one who chose you will do that for you. You can trust him.

Brothers and sisters, please pray for us.

We thank God for you always. And that's what we should do, because you give us good reason to be thankful: Your faith is growing more and more. And the love that every one of you has for each other is also growing.