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Paul's Ministry

¹ For you know, brothers and sisters, that our ^(C1)coming to you ^(C2)has not been ineffective (fruitless, in vain),² but after we had already suffered and been ^(C1)outrageously treated in ^(C2)Philippi, as you know, yet in the strength of our God we summoned the courage ^(C3)to proclaim boldly to you the ^(C4)good news of God regarding salvation amid great ^(C5)opposition.³ For our ^(C1)appeal does not come from ^(C2)delusion or ^(C3)impure motives, nor is it motivated by ^(C4)deceit our message is complete, accurate, and based on the truth—it does not change.^4 (C1)But just as we have been approved by God to be ^(C2)entrusted with the gospel that tells the good news of salvation through faith in Christ, so we speak, ^(C3)not as if we were trying to please people to gain power and popularity, but to please God who ^(C4)examines our hearts expecting our best.⁵ For as you well know, we never came with words of flattery nor with ^(C1)a pretext for greed—^(C2)God is our witness—⁶ nor did we ^(C1)seek glory and honor from people, neither from you nor from anyone else, though as ^(C2)apostles of Christ we had the power to assert our authority.⁷ But we behaved ^(C1)gently when we were among you, ^(C2)like a devoted mother tenderly caring for her own children.⁸ Having such a deep affection for you, we ^(F1)were delighted to ^(C1)share with you not only God's ^(C2)good news but also our own lives, because you had become so very dear to us.

⁹ For you remember, ^(F1)believers, our ^(C1)labor and hardship. We ^(C2)worked night and day practicing our trade in order not to be a financial ^(C3)burden to any of you while we proclaimed the ^(C4)gospel of God to you.¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is ^(C1)God, ^(C2)how unworldly and just and blameless was our behavior toward you who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.¹¹ For you know how we were ^(C1)exhorting and encouraging and ^(C2)imploring each one of you just as ^(C3)a father does in dealing with his own children, guiding you¹² to ^(C1)live lives of honor, moral courage, and personal integrity worthy of the God who saves you and ^(C2)calls you into His own kingdom and ^(C3)glory.

¹³ And we also ^(C1)thank God continually for this, that when you received the ^(C2)word of God concerning salvation which you heard from us, you welcomed it ^(C3)not as the word of mere men, but as it truly is, the word of God, ^(C4)which is effectually at work in you who believe exercising its inherent, supernatural power in those of faith.¹⁴ For you, ^(F1)brothers and sisters, became ^(C1)imitators of ^(C2)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are ^(C3)in Judea, because ^(C4)you too suffered the same kind of persecution from your own countrymen, ^(C5)as they did from the Jews,^15 (C1)who ^(F1)killed both the Lord Jesus and ^(C2)the prophets, and harassed and drove us out; and they continue to be highly displeasing to God and to show themselves hostile to all people,^16 (C1)forbidding us from speaking to the Gentiles (non-Jews) ^(C2)so that they may be saved. So, as always, they ^(C3)fill up to the brim the measure of their sins allotted to them by God. But God's ^(C4)wrath has come upon them at last completely and forever. ^(VR1)

¹⁷ But since we were taken away from you, believers, for a little while—^(C1)in person, but not in heart—we endeavored, with great longing ^(C2)to see you face to face.¹⁸ For ^(C1)we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, ^(C2)again and again wanted to come, but ^(C3)Satan ^(C4)hindered us.¹⁹ For who is the object of our hope or ^(C1)joy or our victor's wreath of triumphant celebration when we stand in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His ^(C2)coming? Is it not you?²⁰ For you are indeed ^(C1)our glory and our joy!