Study Desk

It is right for me to think this way about you all, because I have you on my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and establishing the Good News, you are all sharing with me in this privileged work.

It has become clear to the whole palace and to everyone else that it is because of the Messiah that I am in chains.

for I know that this will work out for my deliverance , because of your prayers and the support I get from the Spirit of Yeshua the Messiah.

but because of you, the greater need is to stay on in the body.

because for the Messiah's sake it has been granted to you not only to trust in him but also to suffer on his behalf,

since he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard he was ill.

But the things that used to be advantages for me, I have, because of the Messiah, come to consider a disadvantage.

Not only that, but I consider everything a disadvantage in comparison with the supreme value of knowing the Messiah Yeshua as my Lord. It was because of him that I gave up everything and regard it all as garbage, in order to gain the Messiah

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.

In other words, you, who at one time were separated from God and had a hostile attitude towards him because of your wicked deeds,

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,

You were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your "foreskin," your old nature. But God made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins.

He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake.

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

Never lie to one another; because you have stripped away the old self, with its ways,

We were so devoted to you that we were glad to share with you not only God's Good News but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

Because of this, brothers, in spite of all our trouble and distress, we were comforted over you — because of your trust;

Indeed, how can we thank God enough for you or express to our God all the joy we feel because of you?

No one should wrong his brother in this matter or take advantage of him, because the Lord punishes all who do such things — as we have explained to you before at length.

because you yourselves well know that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.