Paul continues to share with the church in Philippi and is so real and direct on how the Gospel is to be active in each of our lives...
"In your encounters in daily life, make this a practice and develop this attitude among you...what I call the "Deadly Dont's":
1. Don't grumble about how life may be treating you at the moment.
2. Don't go out and point out the faults of others.
3. Don't complain.
4. Don't question and as a result raise doubts about one another.
Instead, live the clean life...one that is both innocent and pure, acting as true sons and daughters of the Living God.
Remember, there are people all around you who only know wrong ways to react to the daily situations they may face in life, choosing to be deceitful and embracing evil motives in order to get to where they want to go in this life.
You need to hold on to the "Creed of our Faith", instilling the Word of God into your own personal and daily lives. For when the day arrives for Christ's Return, I can say with a "fatherly pride" how far you have come in following Him and how His love permeates your lives. It also reassures me that all this work we do in committing to your growth has not been done in vain.
Believe me when I say this, if I were to lose my own life to further the Gospel of Christ into your lives, I am more than perfectly Ok with that!
Here is the reason: your faithful service is like a sacrifice to Him, and together when we see Him face to face, the fruit of all our lives will be a sweet offering to Christ, a service of love..to Christ Himself..that is genuine, having birthed in our hearts.
Above all, I hope to have encouraging news on your faith and trust in Christ Jesus, and that by God's help be made possible by sending Timothy to you for a visit and to enjoy the richness of fellowship with all of you. Then, when Timothy returns, what joy it will be to hear the news of how well each of you are doing in serving our Lord Jesus!
And as for Timothy, may I say this; he genuinely cares for you and for your welfare. there are so many out there even among us who really have no interests for others...it's simply all about them. Timothy, on the other hand, is full of compassion and has been truly a son to me in sharing the Gospel with others.
As soon as I know what is going on with me here, I will send Timothy directly to...you!
I also have confidence the Lord will allow me to come and see you as well...soon!
In the meantime, I'm sending Epaphroditus back to you. This guy has simply been awesome! He is truly a brother, a fellow worker, and a soldier in service to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you so much for sending him to look after me, but now he is really wanting to see you.
Actually, he is concerned because you heard he was sick, and let me say, yes, he was really sick! In fact, Epaphroditus almost died. But God, showed us once again His marvelous mercy, restoring his health and keeping me from going into deep sorrow of losing such a beloved brother.
Now, when he gets to you, give him a "hero's welcome", one that comes from your very hearts, along with honor for the service he has done.
For I will tell you this, he was doing the work of Christ when he came so close to death, risking his life for me while all of you were not able because of the distance between us."
"In your encounters in daily life, make this a practice and develop this attitude among you...what I call the "Deadly Dont's":
1. Don't grumble about how life may be treating you at the moment.
2. Don't go out and point out the faults of others.
3. Don't complain.
4. Don't question and as a result raise doubts about one another.
Instead, live the clean life...one that is both innocent and pure, acting as true sons and daughters of the Living God.
Remember, there are people all around you who only know wrong ways to react to the daily situations they may face in life, choosing to be deceitful and embracing evil motives in order to get to where they want to go in this life.
You need to hold on to the "Creed of our Faith", instilling the Word of God into your own personal and daily lives. For when the day arrives for Christ's Return, I can say with a "fatherly pride" how far you have come in following Him and how His love permeates your lives. It also reassures me that all this work we do in committing to your growth has not been done in vain.
Believe me when I say this, if I were to lose my own life to further the Gospel of Christ into your lives, I am more than perfectly Ok with that!
Here is the reason: your faithful service is like a sacrifice to Him, and together when we see Him face to face, the fruit of all our lives will be a sweet offering to Christ, a service of love..to Christ Himself..that is genuine, having birthed in our hearts.
Above all, I hope to have encouraging news on your faith and trust in Christ Jesus, and that by God's help be made possible by sending Timothy to you for a visit and to enjoy the richness of fellowship with all of you. Then, when Timothy returns, what joy it will be to hear the news of how well each of you are doing in serving our Lord Jesus!
And as for Timothy, may I say this; he genuinely cares for you and for your welfare. there are so many out there even among us who really have no interests for others...it's simply all about them. Timothy, on the other hand, is full of compassion and has been truly a son to me in sharing the Gospel with others.
As soon as I know what is going on with me here, I will send Timothy directly to...you!
I also have confidence the Lord will allow me to come and see you as well...soon!
In the meantime, I'm sending Epaphroditus back to you. This guy has simply been awesome! He is truly a brother, a fellow worker, and a soldier in service to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you so much for sending him to look after me, but now he is really wanting to see you.
Actually, he is concerned because you heard he was sick, and let me say, yes, he was really sick! In fact, Epaphroditus almost died. But God, showed us once again His marvelous mercy, restoring his health and keeping me from going into deep sorrow of losing such a beloved brother.
Now, when he gets to you, give him a "hero's welcome", one that comes from your very hearts, along with honor for the service he has done.
For I will tell you this, he was doing the work of Christ when he came so close to death, risking his life for me while all of you were not able because of the distance between us."
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