Study Desk

because in connection with him were created all things — in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities — they have all been created through him and for him.

For it pleased God to have his full being live in his Son

I became a servant of the Good News because God gave me this work to do for your benefit. The work is to make fully known the message from God,

the secret hidden for generations, for ages, but now made clear to the people he has set apart for himself.

We, for our part, proclaim him; we warn, confront and teach everyone in all wisdom; so that we may present everyone as having reached the goal, united with the Messiah.

It is for this that I toil, striving with all the energy that he stirs up in me so mightily.

For I want you to know how hard I work for you, for those in Laodicea, and for the rest of those who have not met me personally.

For although I am away from you physically, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing as I see the disciplined and resolute firmness of your trust in the Messiah.

For in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.

for it is because of these things that God's anger is coming on those who disobey him.

The new self allows no room for discriminating between Gentile and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, savage, slave, free man; on the contrary, in all, the Messiah is everything.

and let the shalom which comes from the Messiah be your heart's decision-maker, for this is why you were called to be part of a single Body. And be thankful —

Children, obey your parents in everything; for this pleases the Lord.

Remember that as your reward, you will receive the inheritance from the Lord. You are slaving for the Lord, for the Messiah.

Don't worry — whoever is doing wrong will be paid in kind for his wrong, and there is no favoritism shown.

Include prayer for us, too, that God may open a door for us to proclaim the message about the secret of the Messiah — for that is why I am in prison.

I have sent him to you for this very reason — so that you might know how we are, and so that he might encourage you.

Yeshua, the one called Justus, also sends greetings. These three are among the Circumcised; and among my fellow workers for the Kingdom of God, only they have turned out to be a comfort to me.

For I can testify to him that he works hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.