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Paul's Ministry

¹ For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our ^(F1)(C1)reception among you ^(C2)was not in vain,² but after we had already suffered and been ^(C1)treated abusively in ^(C2)Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God ^(C3)to speak to you the ^(C4)gospel of God ^(F1)amid much ^(F2)(C5)opposition.³ For our ^(C1)exhortation does not come from ^(C2)error or ^(C3)impurity or ^(F1)by way of ^(C4)deceit;^4 (C1)but just as we have been approved by God to be ^(C2)entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, ^(C3)not intending to please people, but to please God, who ^(F1)(C4)examines our hearts.⁵ For we never came ^(F1)with flattering speech, as you know, nor with ^(C1)a pretext ^(F2)for greed—^(C2)God is our witness—⁶ nor did we ^(C1)seek honor from people, either from you or from others, though ^(F1)we could have ^(F2)asserted our authority as ^(C2)apostles of Christ.⁷ But we ^(F1)proved to be ^(F2)(C1)gentle ^(F3)among you. ^(C2)As a nursing mother ^(F4)tenderly cares for her own children,⁸ in the same way we had a fond affection for you and were delighted to ^(C1)share with you not only the ^(C2)gospel of God, but also our own ^(F1)lives, because you had become ^(F2)very dear to us.

⁹ For you recall, brothers and sisters, our ^(C1)labor and hardship: it was by ^(C2)working night and day so as not to be a ^(C3)burden to any of you, that we proclaimed to you the ^(C4)gospel of God.¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is ^(C1)God, of ^(C2)how devoutly and rightly and blamelessly we ^(F1)behaved toward you ^(F2)believers;¹¹ just as you know how we were ^(C1)exhorting and encouraging and ^(C2)imploring each one of you as ^(C3)a father would his own children,¹² so that you would ^(C1)walk in a manner worthy of the God who ^(C2)calls you into His own kingdom and ^(C3)glory.

¹³ For this reason we also constantly ^(C1)thank God that when you received the ^(C2)word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it ^(C3)not as the word of mere men, but as what it really is, the word of God, ^(C4)which also is at work in you who believe.¹⁴ For you, brothers and sisters, became ^(C1)imitators of ^(C2)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are ^(C3)in Judea, for ^(C4)you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, ^(C5)even as they did from the Jews,^15 (C1)who both killed the Lord Jesus and ^(C2)the prophets, and ^(F1)drove us out. ^(F2)They are not pleasing to God, ^(F2)but hostile to all people,^16 (C1)hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles ^(C2)so that they may be saved; with the result that they always ^(F1)(C3)reach the limit of their sins. But ^(C4)wrath has come upon them ^(F2)fully.

¹⁷ But we, brothers and sisters, having been orphaned from you by absence for a ^(F1)short while—^(C1)in ^(F2)person, not in ^(F3)spirit—were all the more eager with great desire ^(C2)to see your face.^18 (F1)For ^(C1)we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, ^(F2)(C2)more than once—and ^(C3)Satan ^(C4)hindered us.¹⁹ For who is our hope, or ^(C1)joy or crown of pride, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His ^(F1)(C2)coming? Or is it not indeed you?²⁰ For you are ^(C1)our glory and joy.