# verses

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Christian friends, I say strongly to you that I die every day! That is as true as the fact that I am very happy because of you. It is a great thing that all of us are united with Christ Jesus our <i>Lord</i>. 


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At Ephesus city, I fought as a man fights wild animals. But that would be worth nothing if dead people do not live again. If dead people do not live again, then we could say: <n>‘Tomorrow we will die. <n>So let us eat and drink.’ <n>[Isaiah 22:13] <n>Verse 32 Ephesus was a city in the country that we call Turkey now. 


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Do not believe false words. But these words are true: <n>‘Do not have friends who are bad. They will make you do the bad things that they do.’


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Start thinking properly! Do what is right! Stop doing wrong things! Some of you do not really know God. So, I am saying all this to make you feel ashamed about that. <n>New bodies</n>


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One of you may ask: ‘How does God raise dead people, to make them alive again? What kind of body will they have?’ 


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You are a fool to ask those questions! When you plant a seed in the ground, it has to die first. It does not become alive again, unless it dies first. Then it can become alive again and grow into a new plant. 


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You put just a seed into the ground. It might be wheat or it might be another kind of seed. But you do not put into the ground the body of the plant that the seed will become. 


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But God makes that seed become a plant. He gives to it the special body that he has chosen for it. To each kind of seed, God gives its own body.


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All things that are alive are not the same. They have different kinds of bodies. People have one kind of body. Animals have another, different kind of body. Birds have another kind of body and fish have another kind. 


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Also, there are bodies in the sky and there are bodies here on the earth. The bodies in the sky are beautiful. But they are beautiful in a different way from the bodies on the earth. 


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The sun is beautiful. The moon is beautiful also, but it is different from the sun. The stars are beautiful too, but again they are different from the sun and the moon. Also, among the stars, one star is brighter than another star. <n>Verse 37 Wheat is a kind of plant that people grow on farms. They use the seeds to make flour for bread. 


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So, when God makes a dead person alive again, it will be like this. The dead person’s human body, which we bury in the ground, had to die. But when God makes it alive again, it will never die. 


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At the time that we bury a body, it is not beautiful any longer. It is weak. When God makes it alive again, that body will be beautiful and strong. 


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What we bury in the ground is only a human body. What God makes alive again is a <i>spiritual</i> body. There is a human body, so there has to be a <i>spiritual</i> body also.


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘The first man, Adam, became a human person who was alive.’ <n>[Genesis 2:7] <n>But the last Adam (Christ) is the spirit who makes people live.


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The <i>spiritual</i> body does not come first. No, what is human comes first. Then, after that, what is <i>spiritual</i> comes. 


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People who belong to the earth are like the first man. They are like the man who came from the ground. But people who belong to <i>heaven</i> are different. They are like the man who came from <i>heaven</i>. 


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Our human bodies are like the first man, that God made out of the ground. But our <i>spiritual</i> bodies will be like the man who came from <i>heaven</i>. 


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I tell you this, Christian friends: Our human bodies cannot live always with God, in the place where he rules. The human body has to die. It cannot receive something that will continue always.


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It will happen when the last trumpet makes a sound. He will change us in a moment of time. There will not even be enough time to close our eyes, while he is changing us. When that trumpet makes its sound, God will make the dead people alive again. He will give them bodies that will never die. And he will change all of us. <n>Verse 52 A trumpet is something that people make music with. They blow into it and it makes a loud sound. 


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All things that become old and weak must change. They must change into things that cannot become old and weak. Our bodies, that have to die, must change. They must become bodies that cannot die. 


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Our human bodies have to die. But they will become bodies that cannot die. And before this happens, God has told us about it in the <i>Old Testament</i>. It says: <n>‘I have destroyed death. I have won completely!’ <n>[Isaiah 25:8] <n>When he changes us, we will know this. We will know that it is true.


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God says to believers: <n>‘When you believers die, that is not the end. <n>There is nothing to hurt you at that time.’ <n>[Hosea 13:14] 


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All of us have been wrong because we have not obeyed God’s rules. So, without Jesus, we would be afraid to die, because then God would have to <i>punish</i> us. 


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But God causes us to win by our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. So, we thank God! And we are not afraid to die.


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So, my friends, that I love, continue to be strong. Continue holding on to God. Do not let anything move you from your place. Continue always to work on the <i>Lord</i>’s behalf. Work very much for him. Everything that you do for him will have good results. It will not be a waste of time. You know that this is true.


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Now, I want to speak about the money that you will give to God’s people at Jerusalem. I told the churches (groups of Christians) in Galatia what they must do about that. You should do the same. 


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On the first day of every week, each of you should put some of your money in a special place. You should keep this money separate and safe. Then, when I come to you, your gift of money will be ready. Some of you have more money than other people, so you can give more. 


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Then you should choose people from your group who will take your gift to Jerusalem. I will visit you. And then, I will send those people to Jerusalem with letters from me. Those letters will tell the Christians at Jerusalem who is bringing your gift. 


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But I must go to Macedonia first. After I have travelled through Macedonia, then I will come to you. 


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Perhaps I could remain with you for some time then. I may even stay for the whole winter. Then you can help me to continue my journey to the next place. I am not sure yet where that may be. 


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I want to stay with you for more than a short time, so I will not come immediately. If the <i>Lord</i> says ‘Yes’ to this idea, then I hope to remain with you for many days. 


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God has given me the chance to do a great and powerful work for him here. But there are many enemies here too. <n>Verse 1 Galatia was part of the country that is called Turkey now. <n>Verse 5 Macedonia was north from the country called Greece now. <n>Verse 8 Ephesus was a city in the country that we call Turkey now. Pentecost was the special time each year when Israel’s people thanked God for their food. <n>Paul finishes his letter</n>


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If Timothy comes to you, then make him feel completely happy there with you. He is doing the <i>Lord</i>’s work, the same as I am doing the <i>Lord</i>’s work. 


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So, nobody should think that Timothy is not important. You must help him to be free from trouble. Then, send him on his way, so that he can return to me. I am waiting for him, with the other Christian friends, to return here.


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Now I want to talk about our friend Apollos. I asked him very seriously to go, with the other Christians, so that he could visit you. But he does not think that this is the right time. He will go when he gets the chance.


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You know about Stephanas and his family. They were the first people in Achaia to become Christians. And they have given themselves to be servants of God’s people always. So, my friends, I ask you this strongly. 


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I ask you to let people like these be your leaders. Also, be ready to obey everyone else who helps with the same work. 


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I was very happy when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived here. You could not help me because you were far away. But they have given to me what you could not give. 


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They have made my <i>spirit</i> strong and happy, the same as they made you strong and happy. People who are like that are very valuable. You ought to show them that you know that.


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The churches (groups of Christians) here in Asia say ‘Hello’ to you. Aquila and Priscilla, and the group that meets in their house, want very much to say ‘Hello’ to you. They love you because you are also the <i>Lord</i>’s people. 


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All the Christians here say ‘Hello’ to you. When you meet each other, kiss each other like brothers and sisters.


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If any of you do not really love the <i>Lord</i>, he will <i>punish</i> you. Come, <i>Lord</i>, we are waiting for you! 


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I love all of you, because Christ Jesus makes us join together. <n>Verse 15 Achaia was the south part of the country that we call Greece. <n>Verse 19 Asia was the south and west part of the country that we call Turkey now.


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This letter is from me, Paul, and from our friend Timothy, who is like a brother to us. God chose me to be a special worker and teacher on behalf of Christ Jesus. He sent me to tell people about Christ. I am sending this letter to you believers, who are God’s church in Corinth city. I am sending it also to all of God’s people who are in Achaia. 


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I pray that God, our Father, and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. I pray that they will cause you to be without trouble deep inside yourselves. <n>God himself <i>comforts</i> us</n>


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We thank God, the Father of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ, because he is so good to us. He is such a very, very kind Father, and only he himself can really <i>comfort</i> us. 


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He <i>comforts</i> us during all things that cause trouble and pain for us. So then, as a result, we ourselves can <i>comfort</i> other people who have any kind of trouble or pain. We can <i>comfort</i> them because God himself has <i>comforted</i> us. 


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We have very much trouble and pain, as Christ did. We have very much trouble and pain because we are his. But, in the same way, we know also how very much Christ <i>comforts</i> us.


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If we are sad because of troubles and pain, that helps you. It helps to <i>comfort</i> you, and it helps to save you. Or, if God <i>comforts</i> us, that helps to <i>comfort</i> you also. It helps you to be patient and strong during the same kind of troubles and pain as we have. 


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So, we continue to be completely sure about you. You have the same troubles and pain as we have. And, in the same way also, God will <i>comfort</i> you as he <i>comforts</i> us. We know this.


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Friends, we want you to know about the great trouble that we had in Asia. It was very, very difficult, like a heavy weight that was much too heavy for us to carry. We ourselves were not strong enough to carry it. We thought that we were going to die.


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Deep inside ourselves, we thought that we would certainly die. But these things happened so that we would learn not to believe in ourselves. No, but instead, we would learn to believe God, who causes dead people to live again. We would learn to believe that God would certainly help us. 


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And God did save us from such great danger that would have killed us. And he will save us. We believe strongly that he will continue to save us at future times. 


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Also, you help us because you join together to pray for us. Many people pray for us. And God will answer what they pray. He will be good to us. And so, many people will thank him on our behalf. <n>Paul explains why he did not visit Corinth earlier</n>


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We have lived in this world as God’s people should live. We have been careful to be honest and good with everyone. And we have been like that very much with you. We ourselves are sure that this is true. And we are very happy about it. We have not tried to be clever as human people can be clever. But instead, we have done only what God has made us able to do. 


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We are writing to you only things that you yourselves can read and understand. And I hope that you will understand completely. 


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You do not understand us completely yet. But I hope that you will understand. On the day when our <i>Lord</i> Jesus will return, you will be very happy because of us. You will be as happy because of us as we will be happy because of you. I hope that you will understand this completely. <n>


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And because I was so sure about you, I decided to visit you first. I decided to visit you on my way to Macedonia. And then I would visit you again on my way back from Macedonia. So then you would see me twice and I could help you twice. And then you could help to send me on my journey to Judea. 


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When I decided this, I was serious about it. I do not decide to do things only because I myself want to do them. I am not ready to say ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ at the same time, like someone who does not know God. <n>Verses 15-16 Macedonia was north from the country that is called Greece now. Judea was the south part of Israel. 


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Silas, Timothy and I told you about Jesus Christ, who is God’s Son. He is not someone who is ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Instead, by him God was and is saying ‘Yes’ to us. 


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Everything that God has promised becomes ‘Yes’ because of Christ. That is why, by Christ, we can thank God. By him, we can agree that all God’s promises are true. And we can say how very great and good God is.


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God causes both us and you to be sure and strong because we are united with Christ. It is God himself who does this. And he has chosen us to be his own special servants. 


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God has also put his mark on us, to show that we are his. He has given his Spirit to us, to live deep inside us. And his Spirit causes us to be sure about what we will receive from God.


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I decided not to come to Corinth at that time, for this reason. It was because I wanted to be kind to you. I did not want to be angry with you. God knows that this is true! 


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We are not trying to be like masters. Masters would tell you what to believe about everything. We are not trying to have authority over you like that. We know that you believe the right things. And you are strong because you believe those things. But instead, we are working with you so that you will be happy.


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So, I thought about what would be the best thing to do. And I decided not to visit you again at that time, because I did not want to make you sad. 


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If I make you sad, there will be nobody to make me happy. Only you, the people that I had made sad, could make me happy. 


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That is why I wrote that letter to you. I did not want you to make me sad when I visited you. But instead, you ought to make me happy. I felt sure about all of you. If I was happy, then all of you would be happy too. I was sure about that.


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When I wrote that letter, I was very, very sad. I had very much trouble and pain deep inside myself, and I cried very much. I did not want to make you sad. Instead, I wanted you to know how very, very much I love you. <n><i>Forgive</i> the person who did wrong things</n>


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Someone has done things that have made other people sad. And that person has made not only me sad. No, but really he has made all of you sad too. I do not want to say too much about the wrong things that he did. 


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Now, instead, you ought to <i>forgive</i> him and you ought to <i>comfort</i> him. So then, as a result, he will not become so very sad that he stops hoping to get better. 


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It was for this reason that I wrote to you. I wanted to know what you would do. I wanted to know whether you would obey me always. 


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When you <i>forgive</i> somebody for anything, I <i>forgive</i> that person also. Anything that I have <i>forgiven</i>, I have <i>forgiven</i> because of you, with Christ present. 


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I have done that so that <i>Satan</i> has no chance to be cleverer than us. We know very well the ways by which he tries to beat us. <n>God makes us winners in Christ</n>


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When I arrived at Troas city to tell the good news about Christ, the way was open for me. I discovered that the <i>Lord</i> had opened the way for my work there. 


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But in my <i>spirit</i> I could not rest, because I could not find my friend Titus. So, I said goodbye to the people there and I travelled on to Macedonia. <n>Verse 13 Troas was a city on the west coast of the country called Turkey now. 


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But I thank God, who leads us always as winners. He makes us winners because we are united with Christ. And by us, God shows people everywhere about Christ. In every place, like a lovely smell that comes to them, people come to know Christ. 


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Because, to God, we ourselves are the lovely smell that brings Christ. We are like that among those people that God is saving. And we are like it among those people who are dying. They are dying because they are far from God. 


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To the people that God is saving, we are like a lovely smell. We are like a lovely smell that causes them to live. To the people who are dying, far from God, we are like a bad smell from a dead thing. That bad smell leads them to death. <n>No person could think that he himself was able enough to do this work! 


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But we are not like so many other people, who sell God’s message for money. No, God himself has sent us. And God sees what we are doing. So, we speak honestly because we really want people to know God’s message. We speak as those who are united with Christ.


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We are not trying again to make you think good things about us. We do not need letters, either to you or from you, that say good things about us. Some other people need letters like that, but we do not need them. 


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You yourselves are our letter, that God has written deep inside us. Everybody can know and can read this letter. 


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It is clear that you are a letter from Christ. And he has given this letter to us to deliver. Nobody wrote this letter with a pen. Instead, the Spirit of God, who is alive, wrote it deep inside us. He did not write it on flat pieces of stone. Instead, he wrote it deep inside us. <n>Verse 3 Moses wrote God’s rules for Israel’s people on flat pieces of stone. See Exodus 34:27-28. 


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We say these things only because, by Christ, we are sure about our work. We are sure that God makes us able to do it. 


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We are not able by ourselves even to think that we could do this work. No, but it is God who makes us able to do it. 


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God has made us able to be his servants, who tell people about his new <i>agreement</i>. This new <i>agreement</i> is not only rules. Rules tell people what to do. But this new <i>agreement</i> is not like that. No, instead it is something that happens by God’s Spirit. Rules like that kill. But the Spirit causes us to live. <n>Verse 6 This does not mean that God’s rules themselves caused Israel’s people to die. The rules caused the people to see what they themselves were really like. They were not good enough to obey those rules completely. The people could not, by themselves, really make God happy. They needed God to save them. 


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Moses wrote down on stones the words of the old <i>agreement</i>, that caused people to die. But that <i>agreement</i> was still great and good, because it came from God. And Moses’ face shone so brightly with God’s light that Israel’s people could not continue to look at it. The light on his face was becoming less bright, but still Israel’s people could not look at it. That old <i>agreement</i> came by words that someone wrote on stones. 


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So certainly, the new <i>agreement</i>, which comes by God’s Spirit, will be even greater and better. 


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As a result of the old <i>agreement</i>, God had to <i>punish</i> people. But still, that <i>agreement</i> was great and good. So, how very much greater and better must the new <i>agreement</i> be, that makes people right with God!


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The old <i>agreement</i> was great and good once. But the new <i>agreement</i> is so very, very much greater and better than the old one. So, as a result, the old <i>agreement</i> does not seem to be anything now. 


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The old <i>agreement</i>, that had to come to an end, was great and good. So, how much greater and better must the new <i>agreement</i> be, that will continue always!


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We are not like Moses. He covered his face with a cloth because the light from God was becoming less bright. So then Israel’s people could not see that the light was coming to an end. 


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But those people could not understand anyway. Even until this day, they cannot understand the old <i>agreement</i> when they read it. They are like people who have a cloth over their minds. The cloth is still there because only Christ can remove it. He removes it when a person is united with him. 


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But all of us are like people who have no cloth over our faces. Like mirrors, we shine with God’s bright light. And he is changing us so that we become more and more like him. We become brighter and brighter as the <i>Lord</i>’s Spirit changes us. <n>Verses 7-18 See Exodus 34:29-35. 


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God has given this work to us because he is so very kind. So, we do not let ourselves become sad about it. 


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We have turned away completely from secret things that people should be ashamed to do. We refuse to do anything that is not honest. We refuse to say anything that is not true. We do not change God’s message, to include things that are not really true. God is watching us. And we tell clearly only what is true. So, everyone should know that we are honest and good. 


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Not everyone can understand the good news that we tell. People who are dying because they are far from God cannot understand it. 


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Those people do not believe it, because the god of this world has kept their minds in the dark. He stops them from seeing the light. Christ is completely like God. And that light shines from the good news about how great Christ is.


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We tell people about Christ Jesus because we want them to know him as <i>Lord</i>. We do not want anyone to think that we ourselves are <i>Lord</i>. We say only that we ourselves are your servants because of Jesus. 


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God said: ‘Let light shine in the dark.’ And the same God has caused his light to shine deep inside us. He has given light to us because he has caused us to know him. He has caused us to know how great and good he is. And this light is in Christ’s face. In Christ, we see how great and good God is. <n>Verse 6 See Genesis 1:3. <n>We are like weak pots that contain something very valuable and powerful from God</n>


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But we, who have this very valuable gift in us, are quite like weak <i>clay</i> pots. And, as a result, it is clear that this very great <i>power</i> is from God, and not from ourselves. 


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We have every kind of bad trouble and pain, but those things do not beat us. Sometimes we do not understand what to do, but we never stop believing God. 


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We have many enemies, but we are never completely alone. People hurt us badly, but they never destroy us. 


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We carry Jesus’ death in our bodies always. And so, we can show also in our bodies that Jesus is alive. 


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Yes, God is always sending us, who are alive, to death because of Jesus. So then, as a result, people can see in our weak, human bodies that Jesus is alive. 


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So, death is working in us but you are becoming more and more alive. <n>Verse 7 Clay is sticky material from the ground that people use to make pots. 


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘I believed, and so I spoke.’ [Psalm 116:10] And we believe by the same Spirit. So, we also speak because we believe. 


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God, who raised the <i>Lord</i> Jesus, to become alive again after his death, will also raise us with Jesus. God will bring us, together with you, to the place where he is. We know that. 


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All this is helping you. God is showing to more and more people how very, very kind he is. And so, people will thank God more and more. They will show how very great and good God is.


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That is why we do not let ourselves become sad about our work. The person that we are on the outside is getting older and less able. But the person that we are on the inside is becoming newer day by day. 


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We have these little troubles that continue only during this time now. But these troubles are preparing something much, much greater for us, which will continue always. As a result of them, we will enjoy something much better always with God, who is so great and so good. 


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So, we do not look at the things that we can see. But instead, we look at the things that we cannot see. The things that we can see are there for only a short time. But the things that we cannot see continue always.


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Our body that we live in here on earth is like a <i>tent</i>. It is like a tent that God will tear down one day. But we have a building that God has made for us to live in. No human person made that house. It will always be there, in <i>heaven</i>. We know that. 


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Now, while we are in our body here, we cry inside ourselves. We want to put our house from <i>heaven</i> over us, like someone puts on new clothes. We want that very much. 


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While we still live in our body here on earth, as in a tent, we cry inside ourselves. We do not really want to take off our old body. But instead, we want to put our new body over us, like new clothes. So then our new body, that will live always, will completely take the place of our old body. It will take the place of our old body, which had to die. 


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God is the one who has prepared us for this change. He has prepared us because he has given his Spirit to us. And his Spirit causes us to know that this change will certainly happen. <n>Verse 1-4 A tent is a house that people have made out of cloth or animals’ skins. They put the cloth or the skins over long pieces of wood or metal to hold them up. People can move a tent to different places. 


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So, we are happy and brave because we are always sure. While we are at home in this body, we are away from the <i>Lord</i>. We know that. 


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We know it because we believe God. We believe him, and so we obey him. We do not live by the things that we can see. 


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I say again that we are always sure. It would be better if we could leave our home in this body. That is what we think. So then, we could be at home with the <i>Lord</i>. 


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But, more than anything else, we want to make God happy. We want to do that, whether we are at home in our body here or away from it. 


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Because all of us must stand in front of Christ when he decides about us. He will decide about the things that we have done during our lives. So then, each person will receive from God as a result of the things that they have done. What each person has done while they lived in the body here may be either good or bad. And each person will receive from God what they ought to have as a result of those things. <n>God makes us new people in Christ</n>


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We know what it means to be afraid of the <i>Lord</i>. And so, because of this, we try to tell other people, so that they turn to him. But God himself knows what we really are. And I hope that, deep inside yourselves, you know us clearly also. 


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We are not trying again to make you think great things about us. No, but instead we want to give you the chance to show that you are happy about us. So then you will be able to answer those people who look at the outside of a person. To those people, the important thing is what somebody is like on the outside. But they do not think about what a person is like on the inside. 


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If we seem crazy, that is because we are God’s. Or, if we are serious, and not crazy, that is to help you.


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We want to obey only Christ, because he loves us so very much. And we are completely sure that one man died on behalf of all people. This means that all people died with him. 


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He died on behalf of all people, so that they should not live for themselves any more. But instead, all those people who live should live for him. They should live for him, who died on their behalf. He died and then he rose, to live again.


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So, from now on, we do not know anyone only because they are human like us. We have even known Christ as a human person, but we do not know him like that any more. 


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When anyone is united with Christ, they become a new person. God makes them new. Old things have gone. See, they have become new! 


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All this is the work of God, who, because of Christ, has stopped being angry with us. By Christ, we have become God’s friends instead of his enemies. And he wants us to bring other people to be his friends also. This is the job that he has given to us. 


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God wants us to tell people that, by Christ, he was bringing the world to himself. He was bringing all people in the world back to himself, to be his friends. God was not continuing to remember all the wrong things that people do. This is the message that God has given to us. He wants us to tell people that he has brought them back to himself.


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So, we are speaking on behalf of Christ. It is quite as if God himself is asking you strongly by us. On behalf of Christ, we are asking you very strongly to become God’s friends. 


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Christ never thought or did any wrong things. But God <i>punished</i> Christ as if, like us, he was wrong. God <i>punished</i> him on our behalf. So then, as a result, we become right with God when we are united with Christ.


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So we, who work together with God, ask you strongly to be careful. God is very good to us because he is so very kind. But be careful not to waste the good things that God has done for you. 


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In the <i>Old Testament</i> God says: <n>‘I listened to you at the time when I was ready to be kind. <n>I helped you on the day when I was ready to save you.’ <n>[Isaiah 49:8] <n>Listen! Now is the time when God is ready to be kind! Now is the day when he is ready to save you!


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We do nothing that might cause anyone to be angry or sad because of us. We do not want anyone to think bad things about our work. 


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Instead, we want to show, by everything, that we are God’s servants. We show that because we are very patient and brave during bad troubles and pain. Sometimes we have many difficulties and so we are very sad. 


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Sometimes people hit us. Sometimes they put us in prison. Sometimes people attack us. Sometimes we work very, very much. Sometimes we stay awake at night to watch. Sometimes we have no food. 


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But still we show that we are God’s servants. We are good and clean inside ourselves and we have no bad purposes. We know what is true. We are patient and kind. We have God’s Spirit, who is completely good. And we really love God and other people.


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We speak only words that are true. We have God’s <i>power</i> in us. We are right with God, and that makes us strong to fight on his behalf. It makes us strong, like people who fight with both their right hand and their left hand. 


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Sometimes people think that we are great and important. And sometimes they think that we are worth nothing. Sometimes people say bad things about us and sometimes they say good things. Sometimes people think that we are not honest about ourselves. But we are always honest and we say only true things. 


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People say that they do not know us. But really, everybody knows what we are. People think that we are dying. But see, we are still alive! People <i>punish</i> us but they do not kill us. 


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We seem sad, but we are always happy really. We seem poor, but we make many people rich. We seem to have nothing, but really we have everything.


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Our friends at Corinth, we have spoken to you very honestly. We have hidden nothing from you. You know everything that we feel. 


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We have done nothing to stop you from being our friends that we know well. No, but you yourselves have not been completely honest with us. It is you yourselves who have not told us everything. 


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I am speaking to you as I would speak to my own children. Be fair to us! Be completely honest with us also. Tell us everything that you feel. <n>God’s people are separate from people who do not believe God</n>


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Do not try to be united with people who do not believe Christ. God has made you right with himself. So, you cannot work together with people who are not right with him. Light and dark are completely different. 


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Christ and the <i>Devil</i> cannot agree. People who believe Christ have nothing in common with other people. Christ’s people have nothing in common with people who do not believe Christ. 


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God’s house has nothing in common with false gods. And we are the house of the God who is alive. As God has said: <n>‘I will live with them and I will be among them. <n>I will be their God and they will be my people.’ <n>[Leviticus 26:12] [Jeremiah 32:38] [Ezekiel 37:27] 


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And so, the <i>Lord</i> says: <n>‘Come out from among them and be separate. <n>Touch nothing that is not good and clean. <n>And I will accept you.’ <n>[Isaiah 52:11] [Ezekiel 20:34] [Ezekiel 20:41] 


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‘I will be a Father to you, <n>and you will be my sons and my daughters. <n>This is what the <i>Lord</i> with all authority says.’ <n>[2 Samuel 7:14] [2 Samuel 7:8] 


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So, my friends, that I love, God has promised these things to us. And so we must keep ourselves clean from everything that makes our bodies or our <i>spirits</i> dirty. We must remember always how very great and powerful God is. And, as a result, we should become more and more completely as God wants his own people to be.


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Make room deep inside yourselves to love us. We have done nothing wrong to anyone. We have not hurt anyone. We have not used anyone for any wrong purposes of our own. 


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I am not saying this to show that you have done anything wrong. As I have told you before, you are very special to us. We love you so very much that, deep inside ourselves, you are always with us. And so, we live or die with you. 


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I am very sure about you. I am very happy because of you. God has <i>comforted</i> me very much. Even in all our troubles, I am still very, very happy.


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When we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies did not rest at all. We had troubles everywhere. On the outside, other people were quarrelling with us. On the inside, we were afraid. 


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But God <i>comforts</i> people who are feeling sad and weak. And God <i>comforted</i> us because Titus arrived to be with us. 


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God <i>comforted</i> us not only because Titus came to us. He <i>comforted</i> us even more by what Titus told us about you. Titus said that you had <i>comforted</i> him. He told us how very much you want to see me. He told us how very sorry you are. He told us also how ready you are to help me. And so, I am even happier now. <n>Verse 5 Macedonia was north from the country called Greece today. 


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But even if I made you sad by my letter, I am not sorry about that. I was sorry about it before. I saw that my letter made you sad for a short time. 


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But now I am happy, not because my letter made you sad. No, instead I am happy because it made you sad enough to turn away from wrong things. You became sad as God wanted you to be sad. So, as a result, we did not really hurt you or cause you loss in any way by our letter. 


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People need to become sad in the way that God wants. When they are sad like that, it causes them to turn away from wrong things. It causes them to turn to God, who saves them. And they will never be sorry that they did that! But this world makes people sad only because they have troubles or pain. It does not make them sad in a way that leads them to God. When the world makes people sad like that, it only causes them to die.


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You became sad as God wanted you to be sad. And see what good results that has brought! It has made you think so seriously and so carefully. It has made you want so much to show that you have turned away from wrong things. It has made you so angry, so afraid, and so ready to change. It has made you want so very much to do better things. It has made you want to <i>punish</i> someone who was doing wrong things. You have shown that you yourselves have done everything possible to make things right.


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I did not write that letter to you because of the person who had done something wrong. I did not write it to help that person. Neither did I write it to help the person that somebody had done something wrong to. Instead, I wrote the letter so that you could understand something. I wanted you to understand clearly how very much you yourselves love us. And God knows how much you love us. 


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That is what has <i>comforted</i> us. <n>Yes, that <i>comforted</i> us. And Titus made us even happier, because he himself was so happy. Titus was happy because all of you had helped him to feel stronger and braver. 


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I did say good things about you to Titus, and you have not disappointed me. We have always spoken only true things to you. And, in the same way, when we said good things about you to Titus, those things were true also. It has become clear that those things are true. 


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And Titus loves you even more when he thinks about you. He remembers how ready all of you were to obey. You were happy that he had come to visit you. But you were also very afraid. 


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I am happy because I am sure about you. I am completely sure that you will do only what is good and right.


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They have had very bad troubles. But those troubles caused them to show how much they really believed God. They were so very, very happy, and so they gave a lot of money to help other people. They themselves were very poor, but still they gave so much money. 


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I tell you this, which is certainly true. They gave as much money as they were able to give. They even gave more than they could. They themselves wanted to give that much money. 


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They asked us very strongly to receive their gift of money. They wanted very much to do something that would help God’s people. 


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They did more than we had even hoped for! They gave themselves first to the <i>Lord</i>, and then they gave themselves to us also. They did that because God wanted them to do it.


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So, because of this, we asked Titus if he would continue to help you. He is the person who started this good work. So, he will help you to finish it. He will help you to be kind in this way. 


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You have so very much of everything. You believe God very much. You speak well and you understand a lot. You want very much to help, and you love us. So, be ready also to give plenty so that you can be good and kind in this way.


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I am not telling you that you must do this. But I have told you how very much other groups of believers want to help. And this is a way to show how much you really love other people. 


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You know how very, very kind our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ is. He was rich, but he made himself poor to help you. So then, because he became poor, as a result you could become rich.


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Last year, you were the first people who wanted to give. And you were the first to begin that work. So, the best thing for you to do is to finish that work. That is what I think. 


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Now finish the work. When you started, you wanted very much to do it. Now be as ready to finish it. Give what you can give. 


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If you really want to give, then God will accept your gift. He will not want you to give more than you are able to give. But he will be happy because you have given. You have given as much as you can give.


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You will make other people’s lives easier because of your gift. But my purpose is not that your lives should become more difficult as a result. No, instead I want things to be equal. 


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At this time now, you yourselves have plenty. So, you should give to those people who do not have enough. Then, at a future time when they have plenty, they will be able to give to you. They will be able to help you when you do not have enough. So then, they will help you in the same way as you helped them. 


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As it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘The person who brought back a lot did not have too much. <n>And the person who brought back a small amount still had enough.’ <n>[Exodus 16:18] <n>Paul is sending Titus and other Christian men to Corinth</n>


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God has caused Titus to love you so much that he really wants to help you. So, we thank God because of this. Titus wants to help you as much as we ourselves want to help you. 


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He was so happy when we asked him to help you. He already wanted so much to help you that he himself had decided to visit you. 


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We are sending another man, who is a believer like us, with Titus. All the groups of believers say very good things about this other man. He is famous among them because he tells the good news about Christ so very well. 


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And that is not everything. Also, the groups of believers have chosen this man to travel with us. They wanted him to help us when we take your gifts. They wanted him to help with this work that we do for God. We are doing it to show how great and good God is. We are doing it also because we want to help people.


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We are being very careful about this large gift of money that we will take to people. We do not want anyone to say that we have done anything wrong. We want everyone to see that we are honest. 


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We want to do only what is right. We want the <i>Lord</i> to see that we are doing the right thing. Also, we want people to see that we are doing the right thing.


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We are sending another man also, with these men. Many times, in many ways, this man has shown certainly that he wants very much to help. And now that he is so very sure about you, he wants to help even more. 


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If anyone asks about Titus, he works with me. He works together with me, to help you. If anyone asks about the other men, they are coming on behalf of the groups of believers. And those men are good servants of Christ. They show how great and good Christ is. 


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So, show these men certainly that you love them. Then all the groups of believers will be sure about you. They will be sure that we are right to say good things about you.


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I know how much you want to help. I say good things about you to the people in Macedonia. I tell them that you people in Achaia have been ready to help since last year. And because you are so ready to help, most of them now want very much to help also. 


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But still, I am sending these men, who are believers like us. I am sending them to you so that you will really be ready to give your money. I have told people that you were ready. And now everyone will know that I spoke true words.


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Perhaps some people from Macedonia might come with me. And I would not want them to find that you are not ready to help. Then I would be ashamed that I had been sure about you. And I am saying nothing about how ashamed you yourselves would be! 


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So, I thought that I must ask these men to visit you first. They will visit you before I myself come. They will help you to prepare the gift that you promised. Then it will be ready when I arrive. So, everyone will know that you really want to give this gift. You are not giving it because anyone is making you give it. Everyone will know that. <n>It is good to give plenty</n>


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Remember this: A farmer who plants only a few seeds will not get much as a result. But a farmer who plants plenty of seeds will bring plenty from his field as a result. 


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Each person should give as much as he himself has decided to give. He should not give because he has to give. He should not give if he does not really want to give. God loves a giver who is really happy to give. 


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And God is able to give you more than you need of every good thing. You will always have everything that you need for yourselves. Also, you will have enough so that you can give plenty to every good work. 


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The <i>Old Testament</i> says this (about a person who lives for God): <n>‘He has given very much to the poor people. <n>God will always remember how good and kind that person has been.’ <n>[Psalm 112:9] 


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It is God who supplies seeds for the farmer to plant. It is God who supplies bread for food. And God will make you like a farmer who plants good seeds. He will supply your seeds, and he will give more and more seeds to you. Also, he will cause those seeds to grow, to give more and more good results. You will have good results from all the good seeds that you plant. 


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God will make you rich always, so that you will always be able to give plenty to other people. Many people will thank God because of your gifts that they have received by us.


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This good work that you are doing is helping God’s people. It is helping to supply what God’s people need. And it is not only doing that. It is also causing many people to thank God very, very much. 


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Your gift will show people what you are really like. You say that you believe the good news about Christ. And your gift will show how much you really want to obey God. You are happy to give so much to these people, and to everyone else. So, as a result, many people will say how good and great God is. 


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And they will pray on your behalf because they really love you very much. They will love you because God has caused you to be so very, very kind. 


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We should thank God because of the very great gift that he has given to us. His gift is so great that no words could ever describe it!


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I, Paul, myself am asking you something strongly. Some people say that, when I am present there with you, I am weak. They say that I am afraid to speak strong, angry words to you. But when I am away from you, I am brave enough to speak very strongly to you. That is what they say about me. But still, it is I who am asking you this. And I am asking it because Christ himself is so patient and so kind. 


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This is what I am asking. When I come to visit you, do not make me have to say angry words to you. Do not make me angry, as some people make me angry. Some people think that we live by our own human <i>power</i>. So, I am sure that I will have to speak angry words to them.


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It is true that we are human. We live in human bodies. But we do not fight by our own human <i>power</i>. 


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We do not use human <i>weapons</i> to fight God’s war. Instead, we use the weapons that come from God. These weapons are powerful enough to destroy the enemy’s strong places. With these weapons, we destroy wrong ideas that people think. 


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We pull down every high thing that tries to stop people from knowing God. With these weapons, we take hold of every thought and we bring it to obey Christ. 


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You must obey completely everything that we have explained to you. And then we will be ready to <i>punish</i> anyone who will not obey God. <n>Verses 4-6 Weapons are things that people use to fight with. 


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You are looking at things only as they seem to be on the outside. Anyone who is sure that he is Christ’s should think again about himself. In the same way that he is Christ’s, so we are Christ’s. He should remember that we are Christ’s also. 


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Maybe I say too many great things about the authority that the <i>Lord</i> has given to us. But I am not ashamed to say those things. He gave that authority to us so that we could help you to become stronger. He did not give it so that we could destroy you.


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Some people say: ‘Paul’s letters are very serious and strong, and his words are powerful. But when he is here with us, he is weak. And it is not worth listening to the words that he speaks.’ 


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Anyone who says things like that should understand this. He should understand that there is no difference. We write certain things in our letters when we are away from you. And we will do certain things when we are present there with you. And those things are the same. There is no difference between them.


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Some people say how very good and clever they themselves are. But we are not brave enough to include ourselves with them. We would not even want anyone to think that we were like those people. Those people are fools. They see what each other is like. Then, as a result, they decide how good they themselves are. They decide that only among themselves. So, they are fools. 


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But we will not say any good things about ourselves that are not proper. We will say good things only about the work that God has chosen to give to us. And that includes our work among you. 


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We are not trying to do anything more than what God has given to us to do. If we had not visited you, then we would be trying to do more. But we did come as far as where you are to tell the good news about Christ.


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We do not say good things about ourselves as a result of other people’s work. That would not be proper. Instead, we hope that you will continue to believe more and more strongly. Then, as a result, our proper work among you will become much greater. 


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We hope to tell the good news to people in places beyond where you are. But we will not say good things about ourselves as a result of work that other people have done already. That is their proper work; it is not ours. 


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But, as it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘If a person says good and great things about anyone, <n>they should speak only about the <i>Lord</i>. <n>That person should say how good and great the <i>Lord</i> is.’ <n>[Jeremiah 9:24] 


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If someone says good things about himself, that does not really matter. But if the <i>Lord</i> says good things about a person, that does really matter. That means that the person has really done well.


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I want you very much to continue being Christ’s, as God himself wants that, too. I have brought you to one husband, who is Christ. And I want you to be only Christ’s, like a good woman who has never had sex with any man. 


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But I am afraid that you might become like Eve. The snake told her things that were not true. And, because he was so clever, she believed him. And I am afraid that you might start to believe wrong ideas too. So then, as a result, you might stop believing and loving only Christ. 


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You are happy to listen to any other teachers who come to you. They might tell you about a different Jesus from the Jesus that we told you about. And you are happy to listen to them. You are happy to receive a different <i>spirit</i> from the one that you received by us. You are happy to believe a different ‘good news’ from the one that you first believed. <n>Verse 3 See Genesis, chapter 3. 


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But I think that I am quite as good as those special teachers. I am not less able than those teachers that you enjoy listening to so much. 


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Perhaps I do not speak as well as they speak. But certainly, I do know what I am speaking about. We have made this very clear to you in every way and in all things.


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When I told you the good news from God, I never asked you to pay me anything. I made myself less important so that you could be more important. I do not think that I was wrong to do that. 


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Other groups of believers gave money to me so that I could work among you. Perhaps I could say that I was robbing them. I was robbing them so that I could help you. 


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When I was present with you, I never asked anyone to give anything to me. Even when I needed something, I still did not ask you to give anything to me. Instead, the believers who came from Macedonia helped me. They supplied everything that I needed. I was very careful never to ask you for anything that I needed. And I will continue to be careful like that, so that I will never be any trouble to you. 


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As certainly as Christ’s true message is in me, nothing will stop me saying these true things about myself. Nothing anywhere, in all of Achaia, will stop me. 


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I will continue to do the things that I am doing now. Then there will be no chance for those other teachers to say great things about themselves. They want a chance to say that they do the same work as us. They want everyone to think that they themselves are quite like us. 


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But those people are false teachers. They say things about their work that are not true. They want people to believe that they are really Christ’s special workers and teachers. 


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And that should not surprise you! Even <i>Satan</i> can make himself seem like an <i>angel</i> who belongs to the light. 


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So, it should not surprise you if <i>Satan</i>’s servants make themselves seem good also. They can make themselves seem to be good and right, like God’s servants. But God will <i>punish</i> them in the end as a result of the bad things that they do. <n>Paul describes all the troubles and pain that he has had as Christ’s servant</n>


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I say again: nobody should think that I am a fool. But even if you do think that, still listen to me. Listen to me as you would listen to a fool. So then I may say a few good things about myself. 


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I am not saying what the <i>Lord</i> has told me to say. Instead, I am talking like a fool when I say these good things certainly about myself. 


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There are so many people who say good things about themselves. They speak about the reasons why they themselves are so important as human people. So, I will say things like that about myself too.


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You think that you yourselves are so very clever! You think that you understand so very much! So, you are happy to listen to fools. 


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You listen to anyone who wants to make you like slaves. You listen to anyone who uses you for his own wrong purposes. You listen to anyone who makes you believe wrong things. You listen to anyone who makes himself seem much more important than you. You listen to anyone who hits you in your face. 


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I am ashamed to say that I was too weak to do things like that to you. <n>But if anyone else is brave enough to say good things about himself, I will be brave enough also. But now I am talking like a fool! 


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Those other teachers may say that they are <i>Jews</i>. And I am a <i>Jew</i> also. They may say that they belong to Israel’s people. And I belong to Israel’s people also. They may say that they belong to Abraham’s family. And I belong to Abraham’s family also. 


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They may say that they are Christ’s servants. (I speak like a fool.) But I am a better servant than they are. I have worked much more than they have worked. I have been in prisons more often than they have been in prisons. I could not begin to count how many times people have hit me. I have nearly died many times.


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Other people hit me with sticks three times. People threw stones at me to kill me once. Three times I have been on ships that broke in the sea. Once I was in the sea for a night and a day. 


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I have travelled very much. I have been in danger from rivers and from people who rob. I have been in danger from my own people and from other people, who do not know God. I have been in danger in cities and in country places. I have been in danger on the sea. And I have been in danger from people who said that they were Christ’s. But those people were not really Christ’s.


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I have worked very much, so that I have been very, very tired. Many times I have not slept. Many times I have been hungry and I have had nothing to drink. Many times I have had no food and I have been cold and without clothes. 


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All these troubles have happened to me. But also, every day I think about all the groups of believers, because they matter so much to me. 


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When one of these believers is weak, then I feel weak too. When something causes one of them to do something wrong, then I am very sad and angry about it.


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If I must say good things about myself, I will speak only about my own weakness. I will speak only about things that show my weakness. 


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I am saying only true things. And the God and Father of the <i>Lord</i> Jesus, whom everyone should thank always, knows that. 


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When I was in Damascus, the ruler of that city sent soldiers to look for me. The soldiers were round the city and they were trying to catch me. The ruler of the city was under the authority of Aretas, who was king. 


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But I got away from the ruler of the city. I got away in a basket. Some friends put the basket through a window and they let it go down the wall to the ground. <n>Verses 32-33 See Acts 9:23-25. 


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I must say more things about myself, even if I am a fool to say them. But I will tell you about some of the special, secret things that the <i>Lord</i> has shown to me. 


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I know a man who is united with Christ. Fourteen (14) years ago, God took this man up to the highest <i>heaven</i>. I do not know whether this man was still in his body. I do not know whether he was out of his body. Only God knows. 


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I know that God took this man up to <i>heaven</i>. I do not know whether this man was still in his body or not. Only God knows. And when this man was in <i>heaven</i>, he heard special, secret things. He heard things that no words could ever describe. God will not let any human person speak about those things. <n>Verses 2-4 Paul is speaking about himself in these verses. 


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I will say good things about a man like that. But I will not say good things about myself. I will speak only about the things that show my own weakness. 


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If I did want to say good things about myself, I would not be a fool. No, because I would be saying true things. But I will not say good things about myself, because I want everyone to think properly about me. I do not want anyone to think better things about me than what they themselves see or hear. <n>God himself makes us strong when we are weak</n>


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God showed me so many things that were very great and special. But he did not want me to start thinking, as a result, that I myself was too great or special. So, he let me have something sharp and painful in my body, to stop me from thinking like that. This painful thing is an <i>angel</i> from <i>Satan</i>, that he sent to hurt me. 


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But he said to me: ‘I myself will help you and I will make you strong. I am everything that you need. When you are weak, then I will be powerful in you. Then I will show more completely how powerful I myself am.’ <n>So, I am very happy to speak about how weak I am. When I am weak, then Christ’s <i>power</i> stays over me. 


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That is why I am very happy to be weak. I am happy when people say bad things about me. Sometimes I do not have things that I need. But I am happy then too. I am happy when people cause trouble and pain for me. I am happy when I am in difficulties. I am happy about these things because of Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am strong. <n>Paul is afraid about what the believers at Corinth might do</n>


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I am speaking like a fool but you have made me do it. You yourselves ought to be saying good things about me. You enjoy listening to those other special teachers. But even if I am nothing, I am quite as good as those teachers. 


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When I was there with you, I was very patient. I did many things to show certainly that God had sent me to be a special worker and teacher. I did powerful things that surprised you. You knew that only God could make me do things like that. 


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You were never less important to me than all the other groups of believers. I myself never asked you to give anything to me. That was because I did not want to be any trouble to you. But you should not feel less important because of that. You should not think that I did something wrong to you!


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This is the third time now that I am ready to visit you. I will not ask you to give anything to me. I do not want the things that are yours. Instead, I want you yourselves. Children should not have to supply what their parents need. No, but instead, parents should supply what their children need. 


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I will be very happy to give everything that I have to you. I will be happy to give myself also, because I want so very much to help you. Perhaps I love you much more than I should love you. But I hope that you will not love me less because of that.


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You must agree that I did not ask you for anything. But some of you say that I was not honest with you. I was clever and, like fools, you believed me. That is what some of you say. 


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I asked Titus to visit you, because I wanted him very much to do that. And I sent another friend, who is also a believer, with him. But certainly, you could not say that Titus used you to get anything for himself. And I had the same good purpose as Titus. We both wanted the same good things for you. The same Spirit led both of us.


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Perhaps you think like this about us. All the time, we have been trying to show you how right we ourselves are. Perhaps this is what you think. But we are not doing that. We have been speaking as people who are united with Christ. And we know that God sees us always. Our friends that we love, we want only to help you. Everything that we do is to help you. That is so that you become stronger. 


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I am hoping to see good things when I come there to visit you. I know what kind of people I want you to be. But I am afraid that you might be different from that. You might not be as I wanted you to be. Also, I might be different from what you wanted me to be. <n>I am afraid that you might be quarrelling. Some of you might not be happy about what other people have got. You might be angry with each other. Some of you might be enemies because you want to be better than each other. You might be saying bad things about each other. Some of you might be thinking that you are more important than other people. You might not be agreeing, nor doing things properly. I am afraid that I might discover all these things about you.


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I am afraid about something else also. The next time that I come to visit you, perhaps my God will cause me to feel ashamed about you. And so, I will be sad and I will weep. Many people among you did wrong things before. But still, those people are not sorry about those wrong things. So, I will be sad because of those people. Many people among you have done bad, dirty things with their bodies. They have had sex with people who were not their own wife or husband. They have wanted very much to do wrong things like that. But they have not turned away from those things.


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This is the third time that I will be coming to visit you. Remember this: ‘There must be two or three people to say certainly that another person has done something wrong. Two or three people must agree about the facts.’ [Deuteronomy 19:15] 


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I am speaking now to you people who did wrong things before. I am speaking also to all the other people. I said this before, when I visited you the second time. And I say it again now, while I am away from you. When I visit you again, I will make you feel sorry. I will make everyone who has done wrong things feel sorry. I will not try to be kind to anyone who has done wrong things.


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You are demanding to know certainly that Christ speaks by me. So, I will cause you to know that certainly. When Christ works in you, he is not weak. No, but he does powerful things among you. 


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Certainly, Christ was weak when people killed him on the cross. But he lives by God’s <i>power</i>. And, because we are united with him, we are weak too. But, by God’s <i>power</i>, we will live with him so that we are strong to work among you.


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Think carefully about how you yourselves are living. Ask yourselves whether you are really believing Christ. Decide certainly about yourselves. You ought to know that Jesus Christ is in you. You ought to know this, unless you do not really belong to him. 


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I hope that you will be sure about us. We do really belong to Jesus Christ. I hope that you will know that.


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Now we pray to God that you will do nothing wrong. We do not pray this to show good things about ourselves. We only want you to do what is right. We want that, even if we seem to have failed. 


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We are happy when we are weak. If our weakness helps you to be strong, then we are happy. We want you to become completely as God wants you to be. We pray for that also.


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I am writing these things to you while I am away from you. So then, when I arrive, I will not need to be angry with you. I will not have to use my authority to <i>punish</i> you. The <i>Lord</i> gave this authority to me so that I could help you to become stronger. He did not give it to me so that I could destroy you.


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And now I say ‘goodbye’ to you, my friends. Try to do only good things. Listen to the things that I am asking you to do. Agree with each other. Do not quarrel, but instead try to be friends with everyone. Then the God who loves will be with you. The God who causes us to be without trouble inside ourselves will be with you. 


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I pray that the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. I pray that you will love God and each other as God loves you. And I pray that God’s Spirit will cause you to be united.


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This letter is from me, Paul. Jesus Christ and God the Father, who caused Jesus to become alive again after his death, have sent me. They have given authority to me to be a special worker and teacher on Christ’s behalf. No human person sent me or gave that authority to me. 


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I pray that God, our Father, and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. I pray that they will cause you to be without trouble deep inside yourselves. 


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Jesus gave himself because of all the wrong things that we have done. He did that to save us from this bad world in which we live now. This is what our God and Father wanted him to do. 


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Everyone should say always how very good and great God is! This is true. <n>The believers in Galatia are listening to wrong ideas</n>


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I am very surprised about you! You are turning away so soon from God, who caused you to come to him by Christ. He caused you to live by Christ, because he is so very kind. But instead, you are listening now to a different ‘good news’. 


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But really, there is no other ‘good news’. Clearly, some people are confusing you. They are trying to change the good news about Christ. 


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Nobody should ever teach a different ‘good news’ from the one that we taught you. Neither we, nor even an <i>angel</i> from the sky, should ever teach a different message. I pray that God will <i>punish</i> always anyone who does that. 


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I will say again what I have just said. Someone may teach a different ‘good news’ from the one that you have believed. But God will <i>punish</i> always anyone who does that.


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Certainly, I am not trying to make people happy by what I am saying. No, but I am trying to do what God wants. If I were still trying to make people happy, I would not be Christ’s servant. <n>Paul’s message is from God</n>


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The good news that I taught you did not come from any human person. I want you to know this, my friends. 


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No human person gave it to me or taught it to me. No, it was Jesus Christ himself who showed it to me.


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You know about the things that I did before, as a <i>Jew</i>. At that time, I strongly believed the things that the <i>Jews</i> believe. And I caused very much trouble and pain for God’s church (the Christians). I did my best to destroy it. 


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I was a better <i>Jew</i> than many other <i>Jews</i> who were about the same age as me. I wanted very, very much to obey and to teach the things that my grandfathers taught. 


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But God had chosen me even before I was born. He chose me to be his servant because he is so very kind. He decided 


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to show his Son in me, so that I could tell the <i>Gentiles</i> about him. When God did that in me, I did not talk to any human person about it. 


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Nor did I go to Jerusalem to see Christ’s special workers and teachers. Those men were Christ’s special workers and teachers before I was. But I did not go to see them. No, instead, I went immediately to the place called Arabia, and later I went back to Damascus city.


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I did not see any of Christ’s other special workers and teachers, except James, the <i>Lord</i>’s brother. 


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They had only heard people say things about me. People said: ‘This man caused bad trouble and pain for us before. He wanted to stop people believing Christ. He tried to destroy us. But now he himself is telling people to believe Christ.’ 


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And so, the believers in Judea thanked God because of me. And they said how good and how great God is. <n>Verse 17 Arabia was a place south and east from Israel. Damascus city was not very far outside the north border of Israel. <n>Verse 21 Syria and Cilicia were places north from Israel, and south and east from Galatia, by the Mediterranean Sea. <n>Verse 22 Judea was the south part of Israel. Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, was in Judea. 


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Then, 14 years later, I went to Jerusalem again. This time I went with Barnabas, and I took Titus with me also. 


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I went because God had shown me that I should go. I explained to the Christian leaders there the good news that I teach to the <i>Gentiles</i>. But I explained it only to those men who seemed to be the leaders. I wanted them to understand the message that I was teaching. I wanted them to agree that it was right. I was afraid that perhaps they might not agree. I was afraid that my work, both in past times and now, was not really worth anything. 


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Titus was with me then, and he is a Greek man (from the country called Greece). But the leaders at Jerusalem did not even say to me that anyone should <i>circumcise</i> Titus. 


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Some men, who had come into our meeting secretly, did want to <i>circumcise</i> Titus. Those men said that they were believers. But they were not really believers. They had come only to find out what we believe. They wanted to know how free we are from the <i>Jews</i>’ rules because we are united to Christ. They wanted to make us slaves to those rules. 


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But we did not agree with what those men were saying, not even for a moment. We wanted you to continue believing the true good news. <n>Verse 3 To ‘<i>circumcise</i>’ means to cut the skin from the end of a boy’s or man’s sex part. God had told Abraham to do this. (See Genesis 17:9-14.) They <i>circumcised</i> men and boys like this to show that Israel’s people belonged to God. It was like a picture, to show that they were separate from bad things. Titus was not a <i>Jew</i>, and nobody had ever <i>circumcised</i> him. 


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Those people who seemed to be the leaders did not argue with me. It does not matter to me whether they were really important people or not. God does not look at what people seem to be on the outside. Those leaders did not say that I should teach anything more in my message. 


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No, instead they saw that God had given a special job to me, as he had to Peter. God wanted me to tell the good news about Christ to the <i>Gentiles</i>. And he had told Peter to tell the good news to the <i>Jews</i>. 


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God worked in Peter to make him a special teacher to the <i>Jews</i>. And God worked also in me to make me a special teacher to the <i>Gentiles</i>.


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James, Peter and John, the important leaders in Jerusalem, understood that God had given this special job to me. So, they were happy to be friends with Barnabas and me, because all of us were Christ’s special workers. They agreed that we should go to the <i>Gentiles</i>. And they themselves would go to the <i>Jews</i>. 


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The only thing that they asked us to remember was this: They wanted us to remember to help the poor people. And that was the same thing that I myself wanted very much to do. <n>Paul is angry with Peter at Antioch</n>


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But when Peter came to Antioch, I was angry with him. I stood in front of him. ‘You are doing something that is wrong’, I said to him. 


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Before certain men had arrived at Antioch, Peter had been eating meals with the <i>Gentile</i> believers there. Then James sent some men (<i>Jews</i>) from Jerusalem to Antioch. And after those men had arrived, Peter started to keep himself separate from the <i>Gentiles</i>. He stopped eating meals with them, because he was afraid. He was afraid of those <i>Jews</i>, who wanted to <i>circumcise</i> all the <i>Gentiles</i>. 


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All the other <i>Jews</i> at Antioch who were believers were afraid also. So, they did the same as Peter had done. And, as a result, even Barnabas copied their example.


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But they were not doing what is really right. And I saw that it was not right. They were not obeying the true message that is the good news. Then I spoke to Peter in front of all of them. ‘You are a <i>Jew</i>, but you have been living like a <i>Gentile</i>, and not like a <i>Jew</i>’, I said. ‘So you should not try to make <i>Gentiles</i> obey the same rules as the <i>Jews</i>.’


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We were born <i>Jews</i>. We are not <i>Gentiles</i>, who are without the Law (the rules that God gave to the <i>Jews</i>). 


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But we know that those rules cannot make anyone right with God. A person only becomes right with God when that person really believes Jesus Christ. So we, too, have become believers in Christ Jesus so that we could be right with God. God accepts us as right with himself because we believe Christ. He does not accept us because we obey the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. Nobody becomes right with God only because they obey the <i>Jews</i>’ rules.


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So then, we believe that we become right with God by Christ. But, at the same time, other people may see that we ourselves are doing some wrong things. But that does not mean that Christ causes people to do wrong things. Certainly, it does not mean that! 


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I could start to build again the things (the <i>Jews</i>’ rules) that I tore down. But that would only show that I myself could not obey all those rules. 


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But, as a result of those rules, I have died to those rules. I died to them, so that now I can live for God. 


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Christ died on the cross, and I have died with him. I do not live any more, but Christ lives in me. The life that I live now, in my body, I live by the Son of God. I live because the Son of God causes me to believe him. He loves me and he gave himself on my behalf. 


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God has done so very much on our behalf because he is so very, very kind. And I refuse to say that God has done less than he has really done. If the <i>Jews</i>’ rules could have made me right with God, then Christ died for no reason! <n>Verse 19 God gave his rules to the <i>Jews</i> to help them to live as his own special people. But the <i>Jews</i> could never completely obey all those rules. Those rules could never make them completely right with God. As a result of those rules, it became clear that people needed another way to become right with God. That other way is Christ. So, we could say that Christ died on our behalf as a result of the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. 


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You Christians in Galatia are fools! Someone has taught you to believe crazy ideas! I showed to you so very clearly how and why Jesus Christ died on the cross. 


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I want you to think about the reason why you received God’s Spirit. You did not receive him because you were trying to obey the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. No, instead you received him because you believed the good news. You heard the good news, and you believed it. 


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You have begun by God’s Spirit. So, you should not try to continue by your own human <i>power</i>. You should not be such fools! You can never become completely as God wants you to be by human <i>power</i>. 


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You have had so many difficulties and troubles that have taught you so very much. You should not throw away what you have learned as a result of all these troubles. 


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God gives his Spirit to you. And he does special things among you that surprise people. But he does not do these things because you obey the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. No, he does them because you believe the good news. You believe the good news that you have heard.


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Think about Abraham. ‘Abraham believed God and, as a result, God accepted Abraham as right with himself’ [Genesis 15:6] . 


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In the <i>Old Testament</i> it says that, at a future time, God would make the <i>Gentiles</i> right with himself. He would make them right with himself if they believed him. And so, the <i>Old Testament</i> told this future good news to Abraham. ‘I will be good to people from all countries because of you’, God said [Genesis 12:3] . 


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But God will <i>punish</i> all those people who believe only in the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. Those people think that, by those rules, they can become right with God. But those people will have to be separate from God. It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘God will <i>punish</i> everyone who does not always obey all the rules completely. Everyone must be careful always to do everything that is in the book of the <i>Jews</i>’ rules’ [Deuteronomy 27:26] . 


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It is clear that nobody can become right with God by the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. It is clear because it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘The person that I have accepted will live. Those people will live because they believe me.’ [Habakkuk 2:4] <n>Verse 11 These words from Habakkuk are also in Romans 1:17 and Hebrews 10:38. It is very important to believe God. See also Hebrews 11:6. 


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But the <i>Jews</i>’ rules do not make it important to believe God. Those rules are not about that. No, instead it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘The person who obeys all these rules completely will live by them’ [Leviticus 18:5] . 


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As a result of the <i>Jews</i>’ rules, God would have had to <i>punish</i> us. God would have had to make us separate from himself. But Christ bought us, to make us free, because God <i>punished</i> him on our behalf. It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘When people hang someone on a tree to kill him, that person must be separate from God.’ [Deuteronomy 21:23] 


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Christ did this so that the <i>Gentiles</i> could receive good things from God. They could receive, by Jesus Christ, what God had promised to Abraham. So then, if we believe Christ, we can receive God’s Spirit. We can receive the Spirit that God promised. <n>The difference between the <i>Jews</i>’ rules and what God promised</n>


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My friends, I will use an example from what people do. When two people make a proper <i>agreement</i> in the correct way, nobody else can change that <i>agreement</i>. Nobody can take away the power of that <i>agreement</i>, nor can anyone include any extra words in it. 


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In the same way, God promised things to Abraham and to Abraham’s grandson. It does not say in the <i>Old Testament</i> ‘to your grandsons’. That is, it does not mean ‘to many people’. No, instead it says ‘to your grandson’. That is, it means ‘to one person only’. God promised those things to one person, and that person is Christ. 


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What I mean is this. God had made an <i>agreement</i>. He had promised to do what he had said. Then, 430 years later, God gave his rules to Israel’s people. But those rules could not finish the power of God’s <i>agreement</i>. Those rules could not stop what God had already promised. 


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We can receive what God gives to his children. But it is not as a result of the <i>Jews</i>’ rules that we receive it. If that were true, then we would not receive it as a result of God’s promise. But God gave it to Abraham because he had promised to give it. <n>Verse 16 See Genesis 13:15 and Genesis 24:7. 


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So we could ask: Why did God give his rules to his people? He gave those rules to them to show them which things were wrong. God gave those rules until Abraham’s one special grandson came. That was the grandson to whom God had given his promise. God used <i>angels</i> to give his rules to a man (Moses), who was there on behalf of all the people. That man was between God and the people. 


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But sometimes only one person is doing something by himself. And then it is not necessary to have a man in between like that. And God gave his promise by himself alone. <n>Verse 19 The <i>Jews</i> believed that God sent <i>angels</i> to Moses at <i>Mount</i> Sinai. (See Exodus chapters 19 and 20, and Acts 7:38, 53.) <n>The purpose of the rules that God gave to Israel’s people</n>


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So, perhaps someone could say that the <i>Jews</i>’ rules are working against God’s promises. No, certainly that is not true! If any rules could have made people alive to God, then God would have given those rules to people. Then those rules would really have made people right with God. 


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But it says in the <i>Old Testament</i> that all the people in the world are like people in prison. <i>Sin</i> keeps all people in prison. So then, we can only receive what God has promised by Jesus Christ. God gives what he has promised to every believer in Christ.


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But before we believed Christ, the <i>Jews</i>’ rules kept us safe. Those rules kept us safe, like people that someone had locked into a safe place. Those rules kept us safe until God showed Christ to us. God showed us that we must believe Christ. 


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So, the <i>Jews</i>’ rules were like our teacher, who kept us safe. Those rules led us to Christ. So then we could become right with God because we believed Christ. 


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But now that we do believe Christ, the <i>Jews</i>’ rules do not have authority as our teacher any more. <n>Sons of God</n>


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All of you that God <i>baptised</i> into Christ have put on Christ. You have put on Christ, as someone puts on new clothes. 


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You are not different from each other any more, because you are all united together in Christ Jesus. Whether you are <i>Jews</i> or <i>Gentiles</i>, men or women, slaves or free people, all of you are united in him. 


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And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s grandchildren. So, you will receive everything that God promised to Abraham. <n>Verse 27 To ‘baptise’ means ‘to put a person or a thing completely into something else (for example, into water)’. When God ‘<i>baptises</i>’ us into Christ, he ‘puts us into’ Christ. He makes us completely united with Christ in our <i>spirits</i>. So, in our <i>spirits</i>, we die with Christ and then we rise again, to live with him. So we have a new nature, a new life, because of Christ. (See also Romans 6:1-4 and Colossians 2:12.) 


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I will try to explain it like this. The oldest son in a family will receive what is his father’s at the right age. But while he is a child, he is completely like a slave. One day he will be the master of all his father’s things. But still he is completely like a slave now. 


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He has to obey teachers, and other people who have authority over him, until the right time. He must wait for the time that his father has chosen. 


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In the same way, we were like children also. We were slaves to the bad <i>spirits</i> that rule this world. 


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But when the time was completely right, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother. He was born a <i>Jew</i>, under the authority of the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. 


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We were like slaves under the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. But God’s Son bought us, to make us free. So then we could become proper sons of God. 


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And because you are sons, God has sent his Son’s Spirit to live deep inside us. His Spirit in us shouts to God: ‘Father, my Father’. 


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So, you are not a slave any more, but you are a son. And because of that, you will receive everything that God gives to his sons. <n>Paul is afraid that the Christians in Galatia may stop believing Christ</n>


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Before, when you did not know God, you were slaves to other <i>spirits</i>. You were slaves to <i>spirits</i> that are not really gods. 


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But now you know God. Or really, I should say that God knows you. So, you should not turn back to those weak and poor <i>spirits</i> that rule this world. You should not want to become their slaves again! 


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I am afraid about you. I worked so very much among you to help you. And I am afraid that I may have wasted my time.


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My friends, I ask you very strongly to become like me, because I became like you. You have not done anything wrong to me. 


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I caused trouble for you because I was ill. But still you were kind to me, and you did not say bad things to me. Instead, you said: ‘Welcome!’ You were as happy as if I were an <i>angel</i> from God, or even Christ Jesus himself. 


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But now I do not understand why you are not happy like that any more. I can say certainly that you would have torn out your own eyes for me. If it had been possible, you would have given your own eyes to me. 


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And now I seem to have become your enemy because of what I am telling you! But I am telling you only what is true.


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Those false teachers want very much to make you believe them. But they do not really want what is good for you. What they do want is to make you separate from me. They want you to think that they themselves are very clever and important. 


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It is good to want other people to believe certain things, if it is for a good purpose. It is always good to be like that, not only when I am there with you. 


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My children, I feel really like a mother who is giving birth to you again. I feel pain on your behalf until you become more completely like Christ. 


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I want very much to be present with you now. Then I could know better what I should say to you. Because I do not really know what to say. <n>Hagar and Sarah</n>


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So, you want the <i>Jews</i>’ rules to have authority over you! Then you must know what those rules mean. 


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i> that Abraham had two sons. He had one son by a woman, Hagar, who was a slave. And he had another son by Sarah, who was a free woman. 


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One woman was a slave. And her son was born as a result of what Abraham himself decided. But his son by the free woman was born as a result of what God had promised. <n>Verses 22-23 See Genesis chapter 16 and Genesis 21:1-9. 


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These two women are like pictures of the two <i>agreements</i> that God made with his people. Hagar is like the <i>agreement</i> that God made on Sinai mountain. That <i>agreement</i> causes people to become slaves. 


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Hagar is like a picture of Sinai mountain in Arabia. Also, she is like Jerusalem city here on earth now, because that city and its people are slaves. 


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It says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘Be happy, you woman who never had any children! <n>You are the woman who has never known the pain from a child’s birth. <n>Shout loudly because you are so happy! <n>Because the sad and lonely woman has many more children <n>than the woman who has a husband.’ <n>[Isaiah 54:1] 


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You, my friends, are children like Isaac. Like him, you were born as a result of what God promised. 


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At that time, the son who was born as a result of what Abraham decided was not kind to Isaac. That first son, Ishmael, caused trouble and pain for Isaac, the son who was born because of God’s Spirit. And it is the same now. 


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But it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: ‘Send away the woman who is a slave and her son. Because that woman’s son will never receive what God has promised to the free woman’s son.’ [Genesis 21:10] 


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So then, my friends, we are not children of the woman who is a slave. No, we are children of the free woman. <n>Verse 25 Arabia was south and east from Israel. 


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Christ has made us free because he wants us to be free! So, be strong and continue to be free. Do not let yourselves become slaves again.


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Listen carefully! I, Paul, tell you this. If you let someone <i>circumcise</i> you, then Christ will be worth nothing to you. 


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I say it again. Every man who lets someone <i>circumcise</i> him must then obey all of the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. 


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You people who try to become right with God by the <i>Jews</i>’ rules will make yourselves separate from Christ. You have stopped believing that only Christ can make you right with God. You have stopped believing how very kind God is to us. 


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But God’s Spirit causes us to hope certainly that we will become right with God. We will be right with him because we believe him. We are waiting for this and we want it to happen very much. 


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We are united with Christ Jesus. And so, it does not matter whether anyone has <i>circumcised</i> us or not. The only thing that matters is that we believe God. And those who believe him must love God and other people. And then they will show that they believe him.


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Like good runners, you were doing so well! You should not have let anyone stop you. You should not have stopped obeying what is true. 


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But I still feel sure about you, because we are united in the <i>Lord</i>. I feel sure that you will not think differently from me. But God will <i>punish</i> the man who is confusing you. Whoever that man may be, God will <i>punish</i> him.


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My friends, I do not still tell people that someone should <i>circumcise</i> them. If I did tell people that, then nobody would still cause trouble and pain for me. Then what I taught about Christ’s cross would not cause anyone to become angry. 


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The people who are confusing you should cut their own bodies. That is what I want them to do! <n>Verse 9 <i>Yeast</i> is something that people use to make bread. It causes the bread to rise. In the Bible, <i>yeast</i> is often like a picture of something bad that grows to cause many more bad things. <n>Live by God’s Spirit</n>


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My friends, God has asked you to come to him so that you can be free. But you must be free in the right way. You are not free to do everything that, as a human person, you may sometimes want to do. Instead, you must be like servants to each other because you love each other. 


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One rule brings together all the rules that God gave to the <i>Jews</i>. This one rule says: ‘Love every other person the same as you love yourself.’ 


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But do not be like wild animals. Wild animals fight and eat each other. If you are like that, be careful. Be careful that you do not destroy each other completely.


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So, this is what I am saying to you. Live by the <i>power</i> that God’s Spirit gives. And let him lead you. Then you will not do any wrong things that, as a human person, you may sometimes want to do. 


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Your own human <i>power</i> wants completely opposite things to what God’s Spirit wants. It fights against what God’s Spirit wants. And so, you cannot do the things that you really want to do. 


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Everyone knows the kinds of bad things that people can do by their own human <i>power</i>. They have sex with people who are not their own wife or husband. They think and they do dirty things. They do things that people ought to be very ashamed to do. 


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They <i>worship</i> false gods. They ask bad <i>spirits</i> to help them. They become enemies and they fight. They <i>hate</i> other people because they themselves want to be like those people. They become very angry without any good reason. They want to be more important than other people. They refuse to agree, and so they belong to separate groups. 


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They want things that are other people’s. They are drunks. They have parties where they do all kinds of bad things. I have told you before how dangerous it is to do these things. And now I am telling you again. People who do things like this will not be God’s people. They will not belong to God’s people that he rules over. Nor will they receive the things that God has prepared for his people.


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But God’s Spirit in us causes us to love God and other people. He causes us to be happy and without trouble deep inside ourselves. He causes us to be patient, kind and good. He causes us to believe that God will continue to help us. 


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He causes us not to think that we are better than other people. He causes us to rule ourselves properly. And there are no rules against these things that God’s Spirit causes us to do. 


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Those people who belong to Christ Jesus have killed their own human <i>power</i> on his cross. They have killed it, so that it does not make them feel things any more. Nor does it make them want to do things any more. 


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We must not want people to think that we are better than anyone else. We must not make each other angry. We must not want each other’s things so that, as a result, we <i>hate</i> each other.


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My friends, if anyone among you cannot stop doing a certain wrong thing, you must tell him to stop. Those people in your group who understand things by God’s Spirit should tell him to stop. You should tell him what is the right thing to do. But you must be careful to be kind when you tell him. Remember that you yourself might not always be able to stop yourself doing something wrong. 


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Like people who help to carry heavy things, you should help each other to be strong during troubles and problems. This is how you will obey Christ’s rules. 


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None of you should think that you yourself are too important. If you are not that important really, then you would be believing something false. 


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Each person should think about the things that he himself has done. And he himself must decide whether those things are good. If they are good, then he can be happy. He can be happy because of what he himself has done. He does not need to think about whether he is better or worse than anyone else. 


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Everyone who is learning God’s message from a teacher should give good things to that teacher. Every learner should give some of all the good things that he has to his teacher.


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Nobody can ever make God a fool. Do not let yourself think that anyone can ever do that! If someone puts a seed from a certain kind of plant into the ground, that seed will grow. And the result will be the same kind of plant. 


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A person may do the things that, as a human person, he himself wants to do. And the result will be that he will die. Or instead, a person may do the things that God’s Spirit wants. And the result will be that God’s Spirit will cause him to live always. 


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So, we should not stop doing what is good. We should not get tired of it. If we do not get tired, then we shall receive a good result at the proper time. 


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So then, every time that we have the chance, we must do good things for everyone. Certainly, we must do good things for those people who, like us, believe Christ. Those people belong to the same family as us because all of us believe Christ. <n>Paul finishes his letter</n>


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You can see what big letters I am making now! It is because I am writing to you now with my own hand!


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Those people who want to seem clever and important are trying to confuse you. They are telling you that you should let someone <i>circumcise</i> you. They are doing that only for this reason. They do not want anyone to cause trouble and pain for them because of Christ’s cross. 


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Even those men that someone has <i>circumcised</i> do not obey the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. They want to <i>circumcise</i> you only to make themselves seem great. They want to say that they have authority over your bodies. 


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But I do not want to say any great things about myself. The only thing that makes me great is our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ’s cross. By his cross, the world has become dead to me and I have become dead to the world. 


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It does not matter whether anyone has <i>circumcised</i> you or not. What matters is that God has made you a new person. 


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I pray that God will be kind to all those people who live by this rule. I pray that he will cause them to be without trouble deep inside themselves. I pray this for all those people who are really God’s.


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My friends, I pray that our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. I pray that he will be with your <i>spirits</i>. This is what I pray.


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This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be a special worker and teacher on behalf of Christ Jesus. I am writing to you, God’s people at Ephesus, who are continuing to believe and to obey Christ Jesus. 


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I pray that God, our Father, and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. I pray that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. <n>God has given so very much to us in Christ</n>


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We should thank the God and Father of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ very, very much! He has been so very good to us! He has given to us every good <i>spiritual</i> thing in <i>heaven</i> because we are united with Christ! 


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This is true because he chose us to belong to Christ. God chose us in Christ before he made the world. He chose us in Christ to be completely good. So now, God thinks that there is nothing wrong with us. God loved us. 


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So he had already decided to bring us to himself to be his sons by Jesus Christ. He decided to do this because it made him very happy. 


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We should thank him so very much because he is so great and kind to us. God has been so kind to us by his son, whom he loves so much. 


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Christ bought us, by his blood, to make us free. In Christ, God has <i>forgiven</i> all the wrong things that we do. God has done these great things because he is so very kind to us.


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He has done so very much on our behalf because he knew everything about us. He understood what we really needed. 


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God has shown to us the secret things that he himself wanted to do. He has shown his own secret purpose that makes him very happy. 


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God will finish his purpose when the time is completely right. Then he will bring everything together, the things in <i>heaven</i>, and the things on earth. God will bring everything together in Christ, with Christ as the head (the leader).


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In Christ also, God chose us to be his own people. God had already decided that this was his purpose. And he does all things as a result of what he himself has decided to do. 


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God wanted us to show how very great and good he is. We show this after we have first hoped certainly because of Christ. 


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And you also became united with Christ after you heard the true message. You heard the good news about how God saves you. Then, when you believed, God gave his Spirit to you. He gave his own Spirit, as he had promised to do. He gave his Spirit to you to show certainly that you belong to him. 


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God’s Spirit is the first part of what God will give to us. God has bought us to be his own people. God gives his Spirit to us until he makes us completely free. And then we will thank God. We will show how very great and good he is. <n>Christ is the head of his body</n>


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People have told me about how you continue to believe the <i>Lord</i> Jesus. They have told me that you love all God’s people. So, since I have heard these things about you, 


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I pray to the very great and good Father, who is the God of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. I pray that he will cause you to understand things by his Spirit. I ask God to show things to you by his Spirit, so that you can really know him. 


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I pray that God will open your minds. So then you will understand what he has chosen to give to you. You will know the good things that he has caused you to hope for certainly. You will know what very rich and great things he has prepared for his people. 


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And you will know how very, very powerful God is to us. <n>He is more powerful than anyone or anything else in us who believe him. God works in us by the same strong <i>power</i> 


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as he did in Christ. He worked powerfully to raise Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. God worked powerfully so that he caused Christ to sit at his right side in <i>heaven</i>. 


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There, Christ rules over every other ruler and over everything else that has any authority. Christ is much, much greater than any other <i>power</i> or any other master. He rules over every name that any person or <i>spirit</i> uses to have authority. Christ rules over them now, in this world. And he will rule over them in the world that will come. 


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God has put all things under Christ’s feet (authority). God has made Christ the leader, the head over all things to his people, the church, 


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You were doing the same kinds of wrong things as other people in this world do. You were like all the other people in the world who do not obey God. You were obeying the <i>spirit</i> who rules the <i>spiritual powers</i> in the air. That <i>spirit</i> is working now in everyone who refuses to obey God. 


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In past times, all of us were like those other people. We did whatever things our own bodies and minds caused us to want. God was angry with us, as he was angry with everyone else. And, as a result, he would have had to <i>punish</i> us. <n>


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But God is so very good and kind! Our <i>spirits</i> were dead and we were doing wrong things. But still God loved us so very much that he made us alive with Christ. God has saved you only because he himself is so very kind. 


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Also, God raised us up with Christ and he caused us to sit with Christ in <i>heaven</i>. God has done these things because he has joined us with Christ Jesus. 


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God did these things to show, for all future time, how very good he is to us. He wanted to show how very great and kind he is to us by Christ Jesus. 


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God has saved you only because he himself is so very kind. He has saved you because you believe him. You could not save yourselves, but it is God’s gift to you. 


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He has not saved you as a result of any good thing that you yourselves have done. So, nobody has any reason to say how good they themselves are! 


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It is God who has worked in us. He himself has made us what we are. He had already prepared good things for us to do. And he has joined us with Christ Jesus so that we can do those good things. <n>Christ has brought <i>Jews</i> and <i>Gentiles</i> together</n>


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So, remember what you were before. You were born <i>Gentiles</i>, whom the <i>Jews</i> call ‘those people that nobody has circumcised’. But the <i>Jews</i> call themselves ‘we whom somebody has circumcised’. They say that because of what men themselves do to their bodies. 


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Remember that, at that time, you were separate from Christ. You did not belong to Israel’s people. You did not belong to the people that God had chosen. You were strangers. God had made no agreements with you, by which he promised certain things to you. You were living in this world with nothing good to hope for. You were living without God. 


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You were far away from God. But now, because you are united with Christ Jesus, God has brought you near to himself by Christ’s blood. <n>Verse 11 To ‘circumcise’ means to cut the skin from the end of a boy’s or man’s sex part. God told Abraham to do this. (See Genesis 17:9-14.) They circumcised men and boys like this to show that Israel’s people belonged to God. It was like a picture, to show that they were separate from bad things. <n>Verse 12 An agreement is when two or more people, or God and people, agree about something. 


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It is Christ himself who has stopped us from being enemies. He himself has brought the two separate groups of people, the <i>Jews</i> and the <i>Gentiles</i>, to be one group. In his own body, he has broken down the wall between them that made them separate. He has taken away the thing that made them enemies. 


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He has brought to an end the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. Those rules told them what they ought to do. In this way, he stopped the two groups of people from being enemies. 


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By his death on the cross, Christ stopped the <i>Jews</i> and the <i>Gentiles</i> from being enemies to each other. In one body, he brought both groups of people back to God, to be God’s friends. 


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Christ came and he told people God’s message. He told them about how they could be friends with God and with each other. He told it to you <i>Gentiles</i>, who were far away from God. He told it also to the <i>Jews</i>, who were near to God. 


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By Christ, all of us, both <i>Jews</i> and <i>Gentiles</i>, can come to the Father by the same Spirit.


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So now, you <i>Gentiles</i> are not strangers any more. You are not foreign any more. But now, instead, you belong with God’s people. You belong to God’s family. 


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You belong to the building that is God’s house. God’s special workers, and the people who spoke his messages, are like strong stones under this building. They are like strong stones that hold the building up. And Jesus Christ himself is like the most important stone in the building. 


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He holds the whole building together. And he makes it grow into a house that belongs only to the <i>Lord</i>. 


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Certainly, you must have heard that God has chosen me to help you. He has chosen me to work on your behalf because he is so very kind. 


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God has caused me to know his secret because he has shown it to me. I have written a few words about this already. 


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God never showed this secret to the people who lived before this time. But now God’s Spirit has shown it to the special workers and teachers that God has chosen. He has shown this secret also to the people who speak God’s messages. 


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This secret is that the <i>Gentiles</i>, together with the <i>Jews</i>, will receive good things from God. The <i>Gentiles</i> can belong to the same body as the <i>Jews</i>. By the good news, the <i>Gentiles</i> can receive what God promised in Christ Jesus.


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I became a servant, to tell the good news, because God gave that special work to me. God himself worked powerfully in me because he is so kind. 


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I am the least important of all God’s people. But still, God has given this special work to me because he is so kind. He has sent me to tell the <i>Gentiles</i> about the great things that are ours because of Christ. God gives such good things to us in Christ because Christ is so very rich. These things are more valuable than anyone could ever know.


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God sent me also to make clear to everyone how he would cause his secret thing to happen. God, who made all things, hid this secret during past times. 


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His purpose was to show now, at this time, how completely he understands everything. He wanted the <i>spiritual</i> rulers, that have authority in the <i>heavens</i>, to know this. They would know it by the church (God’s people). 


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Because we are united with Christ, we are sure enough to come near to God. We do not need to be afraid, but instead we can be sure. We can come to God because Christ himself has caused us to believe. 


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I have troubles and pain on your behalf. But I ask you not to let yourselves become afraid or weak because of that. No, but instead be happy, because my troubles and pain will help you. <n>Paul prays for the Christians at Ephesus to be strong</n>


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from whom every family gets its name. Every family, in <i>heaven</i> and on earth, receives its true name from him. 


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I pray that he will work powerfully by his Spirit to make you strong inside yourselves. I ask him to do this because he is so very great and rich. 


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I pray that Christ will live inside you, because you believe him. I pray that your roots will go down deep into God’s love. So then you will be strong. 


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You will be strong to understand, with all God’s people, how very much God loves. You will be able to understand how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is. 


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You will know how very, very much Christ loves. He loves us more than anyone can ever really know. And then, because you know this, God will fill you completely with himself. <n>Verse 17 Roots are the parts of a plant that grow under the ground. They help to hold the plant up. Also, they supply water and other good things from the ground that help the plant to grow well. 


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God is able to do so much more than we could ever ask. He is able to do so very much more than we could even think. He does such great things because he works so powerfully in us. 


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So certainly, the church (God’s people) should show always how very great and good God is. The church should show this, by Christ Jesus. They will never stop showing it.


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So I, who am in prison for the <i>Lord</i>, ask you something strongly. God has chosen you to be his own people. So, I ask you to live as God’s own people should live. 


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Do not think that you are better or more important than other people. Always be kind and patient. Love each other, and do not become angry with each other quickly. 


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There is one body and there is one Spirit. God has chosen you to be his own people, and all of us wait certainly for the same good things. 


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There is one God, who is the Father of all of us. He is over all. He works by all, and he is in all. <n>Verse 5 Christian baptism is when they put a believer into water (or sometimes they put water on a believer). Baptism by water is very important. It is like a picture of what God does in our <i>spirits</i>. Baptism means ‘to put a person or a thing completely into something else (for example, into water)’. When God ‘baptises’ us into Christ, he ‘puts us into’ Christ. He makes us completely united with Christ in our <i>spirits</i>. 


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Christ has given special gifts to each one of us, as he has chosen. He has made each one of us able to do certain things well. 


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This is why it says in the <i>Old Testament</i>: <n>‘When he went up to the highest place, <n>he led many prisoners with him. <n>And he gave gifts to men.’ <n>[Psalm 68:18] <n>Verse 8 A prisoner is a person (or a <i>spirit</i>) who is not free. 


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It says: ‘He went up.’ So, it must mean that first Christ came down, to the lower parts of the earth. 


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So, the man who came down also went up. The same man went up, high above all the <i>heavens</i>, so that he would be able to fill all things.


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It was Christ who gave some of his people the gift to be special workers and leaders on his behalf. He gave to some people the gift to speak messages from him. He gave to some people the gift to bring other people to himself. He gave to some people the gift to be pastors (leaders who help Christ’s people to follow him) and teachers. 


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He gave all these gifts to prepare God’s people, so that they could work together as his servants. So then, as a result, Christ’s body would grow and it would become stronger. 


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In this way, all of us will become completely united by what we believe. All of us will become united because we really know God’s Son. So, we will be like a man who has grown up properly and completely. We will be like a man who is as tall as Christ himself. We will be completely as God wants us to be.


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So then we will not be children any more. Clever people may try to make us believe things that are not true. They may teach different kinds of ideas, to confuse us. But we will not be like children, who are easy to confuse. We will not let those different ideas change what we believe. 


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Instead, we must speak the true message because we love people. And, as a result, we will grow up in all things into Christ, who is the head. 


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He holds the whole body together. He joins every part together to make the body strong. So then each separate part can work as it should work. And, as a result, the whole body grows and makes itself stronger by love. <n>Live a new life in Christ</n>


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So, I say this to you. I am sure that the <i>Lord</i> wants me to say it. You must not live any longer like the people who do not know God. They do whatever their own silly thoughts cause them to do. 


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They cannot understand because their minds are in the dark. They are strangers to the life that God gives. They do not know him because, deep inside themselves, they are hard. So, they refuse God. 


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They have stopped knowing the difference between what is right or wrong. They have given themselves to do all kinds of bad and dirty things. And they want very much to do those things more and more.


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And I am sure that you have heard about him. I am sure that people taught you the true message. They taught you the true message that is in Jesus. 


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So, you must put away the person that you were. That old person belongs to the way that you lived before. It wants to do things that are not really good. And those things are destroying it. 


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You must put on the new person, that God has made to be like him. That person only does what is right. That person is really and completely good, like God.


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So, you must stop saying things that are not true. Everyone must speak only true things to every other person. This is because all of us are parts of the same body. 


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Even if you are angry, you must not let that cause you to do anything wrong. Do not let yourself continue to be angry after sunset. 


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Any person who robbed people before must stop robbing. Instead, he should start to do honest work with his own hands. So then he will have something to give to anyone who needs anything.


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Be careful not to say anything that is bad. Say only good things that will help people. Then you will help to make them strong. You will help to give them what they need. And so, your words will be good for those who hear them. 


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Do not make God’s own, completely good Spirit sad. He is like a mark to show certainly that you belong to God. He shows that God will make you completely free, one day. 


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Do not become angry with people easily. Do not become so angry that you cannot be kind to them. Do not quarrel or fight. Do not shout at anyone or say bad things about them. Stop thinking bad things about anyone. 


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Instead, be kind to each other and try to understand each other. <i>Forgive</i> each other, quite as God has <i>forgiven</i> you. He has <i>forgiven</i> you because you are united with Christ.


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Continue always to love other people, as Christ loved you. He loved us so much that he gave himself on our behalf. He offered himself as a sacrifice to God. His sacrifice had a lovely smell that made God very happy. <n>Verse 2 A sacrifice is a gift to God. The person who gives the sacrifice must pay the cost of it. 


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So, you must never have sex with someone who is not your own wife or husband. You should not even want to do anything like that. Neither should you want too much of anything for yourselves. God’s own people should never even want to think about anything that is bad or dirty. That is not how God’s people should live. 


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Nor should you talk about bad or dirty or silly things, as fools do. It is not right or proper for God’s people to talk like that. Instead, you should be thanking God. 


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Nobody who has sex with someone other than their own wife or husband can belong with God’s people. Nobody who does bad, dirty things can belong with God’s people. Nobody who wants too much of anything for themselves can belong with God’s people. That person is really worshipping something else more than they are worshipping God. None of these kinds of people will ever receive what God has prepared for his own people. These kinds of people cannot belong with those people who accept Christ and God as their king. You can be sure about this. <n>Verse 5 To worship means to love and thank someone (God) more than anyone else. 


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Do not let anyone make you believe wrong ideas as a result of the false words that they speak. God will certainly be angry with people who do these bad things. He will <i>punish</i> people who do not obey him. 


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Once you were dark. But now that you are the <i>Lord</i>’s, you are light. So, live as people who belong to the light. 


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The light causes people to be good. It causes people to do what is right. And it causes them to say what is true. 


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People who belong to the dark do wrong things. Never join in with wrong things like that. Those things have no good purpose. But instead, show how wrong those things really are. 


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Anything that God’s light shines on becomes light. That is why it says: <n>‘Wake up, you who sleep. <n>Get up from among the dead people, <n>and Christ will shine on you.’ <n>Verse 14 We think that these words may come from an old Christian song. 


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So, you must be very careful how you live. Live like people who understand what is right and good. Do not live like people who do not understand anything. 


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Do not drink too much wine, because that will cause bad things. It will stop you ruling yourself properly. But instead, let God’s Spirit fill you. 


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Speak to each other with all kinds of <i>spiritual</i> songs. Sing and make music to the <i>Lord</i> from inside yourselves. 


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Thank God, the Father, always for everything, by our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ’s name. <n>Verse 18 Wine is a drink that has alcohol in it. People make it from small, sweet fruits called grapes. <n>Wives and husbands</n>


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Because a husband is the head of his wife, quite as Christ is the head of the church (his people). The church is Christ’s body and he saves her. 


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Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church (his people). Christ gave himself on behalf of the church, 


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So then he could bring it to himself as a beautiful church, without any bad or dirty mark on it. He could bring it to himself as a completely good church, with nothing wrong.


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In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives quite as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. 


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No man ever hates his own body. No, instead he feeds it and he cares for it. He cares for it as Christ cares for the church (his people). 


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As the <i>Old Testament</i> says: ‘For this reason, a man will leave his father and his mother and he will become united with his wife. Then those two people will become one body.’ [Genesis 2:24] 


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These words show us about important things that are difficult to understand. I am saying that they show us about Christ and the church. 


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But they are also important for you. Each one of you husbands should love your own wife as you love yourself. And each wife must be ready to obey her husband. <n>Verses 29-30 To hate means to strongly or completely not like something or someone. To hate is the opposite of when you love something or someone. <n>To care for something or someone means to be kind and to supply what it or they need. 


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The first rule that God gave with a promise says: ‘Always remember how important your father and your mother are. 


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Then, as a result, you will be happy and you will live for a long time on the earth.’ [Exodus 20:12] [Deuteronomy 5:16] 


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Fathers, do not make your children angry. But instead, teach them as they grow up. Teach them about the right way in which the <i>Lord</i> wants them to live their lives. <n>Slaves and masters</n>


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Slaves, obey your human masters. Remember how important they are. And be afraid of them. Work well for them because you really want to make them happy. Work for them as if you were working for Christ. 


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Do not work well only when they can see you. Do not work well only to make people happy. But instead, always work well, as Christ’s slaves. Work because you really want to obey God. 


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Be happy to work as well as you can for your human masters. Work as if you were working for the <i>Lord</i>, and not only for people. 


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Remember this: anyone who does any good thing will also receive something good from the <i>Lord</i> as a result. This will happen whether that person is a slave or a free person.


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Masters, be good to your slaves in the same way. Do not say things that will frighten them. Do not say that you will <i>punish</i> them for no good reason. Remember that both you and your slaves have the same Master in <i>heaven</i>. And everyone is important to him. He is never kinder to one person than he is to another person. <n>God’s soldiers</n>


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The last thing that I want to say to you is this. Be strong by the <i>Lord</i>’s great <i>power</i>, because you are united with him. 


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Put on the whole armour that God gives to us. So then you will continue to be strong against all the clever ways by which the <i>Devil</i> attacks us. 


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You need to be strong because we are not fighting against human enemies. No, but instead we are fighting against the rulers and the powerful <i>spirits</i> that have authority over this dark world. We are fighting against powerful bad <i>spirits</i> who live in the <i>heavens</i>. 


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So, take the whole armour that God gives. Then you will be able to stand against the enemy when he attacks. And he will not be able to move you from your place. Then, after you have done everything, you will still be standing strongly in your place. <n>Verses 11 and 13 Armour is special clothes that keep soldiers safe. 


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So stand. Always remember and obey God’s true message. That will be like a belt round you. Always be right with God. That will be like a strong metal plate that you put over the front of your body. 


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Remember God’s good news that makes you friends with God and with each other. That will be like shoes on your feet, to make you ready to fight. 


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Always continue to believe God. That will be like a shield that you hold in front of you. It will put out all the burning arrows that the <i>Devil</i> throws at you. 


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Remember that God has saved you. That will be like a strong metal hat on your head, to keep you safe. Also, remember what God has said. That will be like a strong knife that you can use, by God’s Spirit, to fight. <n>Verse 14 People used belts to hold their long clothes up so that they were ready to fight. <n>Verse 16 A shield is like a big, strong plate that a soldier holds in front of himself. The shield keeps him safe when an enemy is attacking him. Arrows are sharp sticks. Enemies send them to hurt people that they are fighting against. 


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To do all of this, pray all the time as God’s Spirit leads you to pray. Pray about everything. Ask God for what you need. For this purpose, be careful to continue praying always for all God’s people. 


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Pray for me, too. Pray that God will give me the right words to speak. Pray that I will not be afraid to tell people about the secret of the good news. 


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God sent me to tell the good news to people. And that is why I am in prison. So, pray that I will not be afraid to speak. I want to speak the good news bravely, as I ought to speak it. <n>Paul finishes his letter</n>


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Tychicus, a Christian friend that I love, will tell you all the news about me. He is the <i>Lord</i>’s good servant, who continues to work well on the <i>Lord</i>’s behalf. He will tell you what I am doing. So then you will know how I am. 


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This is the reason why I am sending him to you. I want him to tell you how we are. And I want him to help you so that you feel stronger and braver.


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I pray that God, the Father, and our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will be good to you believers. I pray that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. I pray that they will cause you to love God and other people, as you continue to believe. 


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I pray that God will be very kind to everyone who continues to love our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. <n>Word List</n><dl><dt id="tad">AD</dt><dd>AD 50 means the year that was 50 years after Jesus came, and so on.</dd><dt id="tangel">angel</dt><dd><i>spiritual</i> being (a being is a person or animal that is alive). Good angels come from God’s home beyond the earth. They are God’s servants and they bring messages from God to people.</dd><dt id="tdevil">Devil</dt><dd>the bad <i>spirit</i> who is God’s enemy.</dd><dt id="tforgive">forgive</dt><dd>when God (or another person) chooses to forget completely the wrong things that we do.</dd><dt id="tgentile">Gentile</dt><dd>a person who does not belong to Israel’s people.</dd><dt id="theaven-heavens">heaven/heavens</dt><dd>the place beyond the earth where God lives; the <i>spiritual</i> places; places beyond the earth where <i>spirits</i> live.</dd><dt id="tjew">Jew</dt><dd>a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children (Israel’s people).</dd><dt id="tlord">Lord</dt><dd>master; another name for God. It means that he is greater than everyone else.</dd><dt id="told-testament">Old Testament</dt><dd>the first part of the Bible, that describes events before Jesus’ life on earth.</dd><dt id="tpower">power</dt><dd>what someone is able to do or has authority to do.</dd><dt id="tpunish">punish</dt><dd>to hurt someone, or to cause trouble for them, because they have done wrong things.</dd><dt id="tspirit">spirit</dt><dd>a being (person) that is always alive, even without a body. A person’s spirit is the part of them that will always be alive. It will be alive even after their body is dead. Our spirit is the part of us that receives God’s Spirit. There are good spirits, like God’s Spirit and his <i>angels</i>. And there are bad spirits, like the Devil (God’s enemy) and his <i>angels</i>.</dd><dt id="tspiritual">spiritual</dt><dd>about the <i>spirit</i>.</dd></dl> <n>Book List</n> <n>A. Marshall ~ The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament <n>John Stott ~ The Message of Ephesians ~ IVP <n>Charles Hodge ~ The Classic New Testament Commentary, Ephesians ~ Marshall Pickering <n>Various Bible versions


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Paul and Timothy, who are servants of Christ Jesus, are writing this letter. We are writing to you, God’s people at Philippi, who are united to Christ Jesus. We are writing to all of you. This includes your leaders and those who help them. <n>Paul prays for the <i>believers</i> at Philippi</n>


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We pray that God our Father and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. We pray also that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves.


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I am happy because you are helping people to know the good news about Christ. You have helped me with that work since the first day that someone told you about the good news. And you are still helping with that work. 


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I know that God has begun to do good things in you. And he will continue to work in you until the day when Jesus Christ returns. Then God will finish this work in you. I am sure about that.


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It is right for me to feel like this about you, because I love you so much. You are very special friends to me. And, like me, all of you continue to know how very kind God is to us. You know it now, while I am in this prison. And you knew it before I was in a prison. Then I was free and I could teach the good news. I explained to people why the good news is certainly true. And all of that is the reason that I love you. 


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God himself knows that I very much want to be with all of you. I love you in the same way that Christ Jesus himself loves you.


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This is what I pray for you. I pray that you will continue to love each other more and more. I pray that you will continue to know God more and more. If you do that, you will understand things more completely. You will understand why things are right or wrong. 


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So then, you can choose to do what is best. So you can keep yourselves clean inside until the day when Christ returns. So, on that day, you will not have done anything wrong. 


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Jesus Christ will make you completely good and right with God. Jesus will help you also to do many good things. Then you will show everyone the great things that God has done in you. So people will say that God is very great. <n>God has done good things as a result of Paul’s time in a prison</n>


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Friends, I want you to know this. The things that have happened to me have helped more people to know about God’s good news. 


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I am in a prison because I am Christ’s servant. All the soldiers in the king’s house know that. And everyone else knows that too. 


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Also, because I am in a prison, almost all of the other Christians here are <i>trusting</i> in the <i>Lord</i>. So they have become much braver. The <i>Lord</i> has made them brave so that they are not afraid to speak God’s message to people.


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It is true that some of these Christians do not like me. So, they are telling people about Christ because they want to make me angry. These Christians want people to think great things about them. They want to be better than I am. But other Christians are friendly to me. They speak about Christ because they want to help me. 


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They speak about him because they love me. They know that God has put me here in this prison. And he wants me to explain to people why the good news is true. 


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Those other Christians, who do not like me, speak about Christ because of wrong reasons. They speak about him because they want to seem important. They do not really want people to know Christ. They want to cause trouble for me while I am here in this prison. 


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But it does not matter! All of them are telling people about Christ. That is the most important thing. Whether they speak because of wrong reasons or because of right reasons, they are speaking about Christ! So, because of that, I am happy. <n>Yes, and I will continue to be happy. 


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You are praying for me and Jesus Christ’s Spirit is helping me. So, what has happened to me will have good results for me. God will save me. I know that, so I will continue to be happy. 


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I never want to do anything that will cause me to be ashamed. I hope very much that I will never do that. I hope that now, as always, I will be brave. In my body, I want to show that Christ is very great. I want to do that if I live. And I want to do that if I die.


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But if I continue to live in this body, I will be able to do more good work. That work will have good results. So perhaps I should continue to live. I do not know whether to live or to die. I do not know which to choose. 


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I want to do both those things. I want to leave this world so that I can be with Christ. That is a much better thing. 


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I am sure that you need me. So I know that I will continue to live. I will continue to help all of you. I will help you to believe Christ more and more. So, you will become happier and happier. 


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And, when I am with you again, you will have an even better reason to thank Christ Jesus. You will say that he is very great. You will say that because of what he has done for me. <n>Verses 19-26 Paul is in a prison while he is writing this letter. He is waiting to talk to the people who put him in the prison. He is waiting for them to decide what they will do to him. They might decide to kill him. Or they might decide to let him live. If they decide that, he can be free to leave the prison. 


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You have believed the good news about Christ. So, whatever things may happen, you must continue to live for Christ. You must do everything that Christ’s people should do. So, whether I come to visit you or not, people will tell me good things about you. I will know that you are continuing to believe Christ strongly. You will be like one person with one <i>spirit</i> and one mind, because all of you have the same purpose. You will work together so that more people will believe the good news. 


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You will not be afraid of your <i>enemies</i>, but instead you will be brave. This will show your <i>enemies</i> that God will certainly destroy them. But it will show also that God will certainly save you from the results of <i>sin</i>. 


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God has given you special work to do as Christ’s servants. He wants you to believe Christ. But also, he has chosen that you must have troubles and pain on behalf of Christ. 


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You are fighting the same fight that I am fighting. When I was with you, I was fighting that fight. You saw that. And now people are telling you that I am still fighting that fight. <n>Verse 30 Paul does not mean that he is really fighting anyone with his body. He means the ‘fight’ against <i>enemies</i> of the good news. The <i>believers</i> at Philippi were in trouble because they were Christ’s people. Paul was also in trouble for the same reason. So they were in the same ‘fight’. 


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You are united with Christ, so he can make you strong and brave. He can help you not to be sad. You can know that he loves you very much. All of you can know his Spirit. So you can be kind to each other. You can love each other as Christ loves you. 


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So, make me completely happy because all of you agree. All of you should love each other in the same way. All of you should be like one person, because you have the same purpose. 


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You must not do only the things that you want. You should not do anything only for the reason that it makes you seem more important than other people. Instead, always think about what other people need. Do not think that you are better than other people. But think about other people as better than you. 


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Do not think only about the things that are important to you yourself. But each of you should think also about the things that are important to other people. 


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Christ had completely the same nature as God. <n>He was as important as God. <n>But Christ did not demand that he should continue to be important like that.


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Instead, he made himself much, much less important. <n>He took for himself a servant’s nature. <n>He became like men.


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And when he was a man, <n>he made himself even less important. <n>He obeyed God so completely that he died. <n>He even died on a <i>cross</i>!


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That is why God raised Jesus Christ to the most important place. <n>God gave him the name that is greater than every other name.


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So that, when they hear Jesus’ name, everyone must bend down. <n>Everything that is alive in <i>heaven</i> must bend down. <n>Everything that is alive on earth, or under the earth, must bend down. <n>They must bend their knees to show that he is very great.


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And everything that is alive must say aloud: <n>‘Jesus Christ is <i>Lord</i>.’ <n>That will show that God the Father is very great and very good. <n>Verses 6-11 These verses may have been part or all of a song that Paul knew. <n>Christians must be like lights in the world</n>


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So, my friends that I love, you too must obey God. When I was with you, you always obeyed. Now that I am not with you, that is even more important. You are people that God has worked to save from the results of <i>sin</i>. And you must live as people like that should live. You must be very careful to obey God always. You should be afraid not to do that. You must remember that he is very great and very powerful. 


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Obey God, because he is working in you. He is changing you so that you want to obey him. And he is making you able to do the things that make him happy.


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Then you will be clean inside yourselves. You will be without anything wrong in you, as God’s children should be. And nobody will be able to say that you have done anything wrong. In this world, you are living with bad people all round you. They have become very bad. And they want to do wrong things. But you must be like lights among them, like the bright stars that shine in the dark sky at night. 


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You will be like lights to these people while you tell Christ’s message to them. That message can cause them to become really alive. If you are like this, I can be happy because of you. I will be happy on the day when Christ will return. Then I will know that all my work among you had good results. I will know that I did not waste my time.


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You believe Christ, so you are his servants. You offer yourselves to God, like a <i>sacrifice</i>, to work for him. Perhaps I will have to die. Perhaps I must become like part of your <i>sacrifice</i>. Perhaps I must become like the drink that people pour on to their <i>sacrifice</i>. But if I die, I will be happy. And I want you to be happy also. 


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It is right that you should be happy too. You should be happy, as I will be happy. <n>Paul will send Timothy and Epaphroditus to Philippi</n>


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But I hope that the <i>Lord</i> Jesus will let me send Timothy to you soon. Then, when he returns to me, he can tell me news about you. And that will make me happy. 


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Everyone else thinks about the things that are important to themselves. They have no interest in the things that are important to Jesus Christ. 


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But you know that Timothy is a good man. He has worked with me like a son works with his father. You know that. He has helped me to tell people the good news. 


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That is why I hope to send him to you. I am waiting to discover what will happen to me. Then, when I know, I will send him. 


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Epaphroditus is my Christian <i>brother</i>, who works with me. We are both like soldiers in Christ’s army. When I needed help, you sent him to me. And he brought your message to me. But now I think that I must send him back to you. 


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He wants very much to meet all of you again. You knew that he was ill. So he has not been happy that you knew. He does not want you to be sad about him. 


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Certainly, he was very ill, and he almost died. But God was kind to him. God was also kind to me, so that I was not even more sad. 


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So I want even more to send him to you. When you see him, you can be happy. And I will not feel so sad. 


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Like you, he belongs to the <i>Lord</i>’s people. So you must say ‘welcome’ to him. You should be very happy when he comes to visit you. People like Epaphroditus have done great things. So you should remember how important they are. 


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Epaphroditus nearly died because he worked for Christ. He would have died so that he could help me. He helped me because you could not help me yourselves. <n>Verses 25-30 Epaphroditus belonged to the group of Christians at Philippi. The Christians at Philippi had sent him to Rome. He had brought gifts from them to Paul. (See chapter 4:18.) Epaphroditus had been very ill while he was at Rome. But God had made him well again. <n>Verse 30 Epaphroditus could help Paul because he was at Rome with Paul. He was helping on behalf of all the Christians at Philippi. 


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Now, friends, I want to say this to you. Be happy because you are united to the <i>Lord</i>. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again. And it will be safer for you. 


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Some people are teaching wrong things. They say that you must cut your bodies. They are like dangerous dogs. Be very careful that you do not believe them. 


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They are not really God’s people. But we are God’s people, because God himself has <i>circumcised</i> us. We are really his people, because we <i>worship</i> him by his Spirit. We thank God because of what Christ Jesus has done for us. We do not need to have marks on our bodies. We are sure that we cannot save ourselves from the results of <i>sin</i>. <n>Verse 3 To ‘circumcise’ means to cut the skin from the end of a boy’s or a man’s sex part. God had told Abraham that he must do this. (See Genesis 17:9-14.) The <i>Jews circumcise</i> men and boys to show that the <i>Jews</i> are God’s people. But if we believe Christ, God ‘circumcises’ us in our <i>spirits</i>. Our <i>spirits</i> are God’s. We are God’s people because Christ died for us. So we have something much better than a mark on our bodies. Some false teachers were saying that Christians had to cut themselves. They were saying, ‘Unless you cut yourselves, like the <i>Jews</i>, you cannot really be God’s people.’ That is what they were teaching. So Paul is telling the Christians at Philippi that they must not believe these bad teachers. 


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I could think that I was good. I could think that I could save myself from the results of <i>sin</i> because of that. I have good reasons to think like that. I have better reasons to think like that than anyone else could have. 


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I belong to <i>Israel</i>’s people, to Benjamin’s family group. I am a <i>Jew</i> completely. They <i>circumcised</i> me when I was 8 days old. God’s rules, that he gave to <i>Israel</i>’s people, were very important to me. I was a <i>Pharisee</i>. 


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I wanted very much to be a good <i>Jew</i>. So I caused a lot of trouble and pain for the Christians. I obeyed all God’s rules very carefully. I did everything right, as the rules said.


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But all the things that were very important to me before are worth nothing to me now, because of Christ. 


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And it is not only those things that are worth nothing to me. Now I think that all things are worth nothing, because of Christ. The only thing that is really important to me is to know Christ Jesus, my <i>Lord</i>. That is the most important thing. I have lost everything for him. But all the things that I have lost are only like dirt to me. I think about them like that, so that I can have Christ. 


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I can be united to him, so that I am completely right with God. If I obeyed all God’s rules completely, I could never become right with God. Only God can make me right with himself, because I believe Christ.


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The only thing that I want is to know Christ. He rose, to become alive again, after he had died. And I want to know in myself how powerful his new life is. Also, I want to have troubles and pain, as he did. I want to become like him in his death. 


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That is how I hope to rise from death myself. I hope to become alive again after death, so that I will live with God always. <n>Christians do not belong to this world</n>


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I am not saying that I have already got all those things. I have not yet become completely as God wants me to be. I am not saying that I have become like that already. But Christ Jesus has made me his own. And it is my whole purpose to become completely what he wants me to be. I am like someone who is running strongly to reach a certain point. 


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My friends, I do not think that I have reached that point yet. But this one thing is what I do. I forget past things, which are behind me. And I try very much to reach the things that are in front of me. 


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I run straight towards that point, so that I can win God’s gift. God has chosen that I should live in <i>heaven</i>. Then I will be united to Christ Jesus. That is his gift to me.


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So all of us who have learned to live properly for Christ should think like this. And if you think differently about anything, God will make it clear to you. 


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But we should continue to live as we have lived until now. I mean that we must continue to obey God. We must continue to do what God wants. As far as we understand it, we must do that.


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My friends, all of you should try to do what I do. Also, watch everyone else who, like me, obeys God. And try to do what they do. Try to be like us. 


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Many people live like <i>enemies</i> of Christ’s death on the <i>cross</i>. I have told you about these people many times before. And I am crying when I tell you about them now. 


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God must destroy them. Their god is their stomach. They do bad things that should make them ashamed. But they are not ashamed. Instead, they are happy because they do those bad things. They do bad things like that. And they think that they are clever because of it. They think only about the things that belong to this world. 


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But we belong to <i>heaven</i>. Our home is not really in this world. We are waiting for the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ, who saves us from the results of <i>sin</i>, to come from <i>heaven</i>. We very much want him to come. 


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He will change these poor bodies that we have now on this earth. He will make our bodies like his own beautiful body in <i>heaven</i>. Christ can do this because he is so powerful. He is so powerful that he can rule over everything.


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My friends, I love you very much. And I want very much to meet you again. You make me very happy. You show that my work among you had good results. So I am very happy because of you. My good friends, please remember what I have told you. If you do remember it, you will continue to believe Christ strongly. You will continue to live for the <i>Lord</i>, because you are united to him. <n>Agree with each other</n>


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I say this to Euodia and I say it to Syntyche: ‘You are like sisters because you are united to the <i>Lord</i>. So I ask very strongly that you agree with each other.’ 


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I ask you too, my good friend, to help these women. You have worked with me to tell people the good news. And these women have worked with me too. They have worked very much so that people would believe the good news. They worked with Clement, and they worked with all my other workers. All those workers’ names are in God’s book. This book says who will live with him always. <n>Verse 3 Paul is speaking to someone who is his special friend. He does not say what his friend’s name is. Perhaps it is someone who had travelled with Paul to tell people the good news. Then that person had stayed at Philippi. Some people think that it might be Luke. Luke wrote the book in the Bible called Acts. <n>Be happy and think good thoughts</n>


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Always be kind and patient. So everyone will see that you are very kind and good. Remember that the <i>Lord</i> is near. 


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Do not be afraid about anything. Do not let anything cause you trouble inside yourselves. Instead, tell everything to God. Pray to him. Ask him for everything that you need. And when you pray, always thank him. 


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If you do that, God will rule you. He will rule your minds by Christ Jesus. He will rule what you feel like. He will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. God is so great that he can do that for us. But we cannot understand how he does it.


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Now friends, I want to say this to you. Think about the things that are true and honest. Think about the things that are right and good and lovely. Everyone can see that some things are completely good. Think about these things. 


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Do those things that you learned from me. Remember the things that I said. Remember the things that I did. You must do those things too. And so the God who causes us to be without trouble inside ourselves will be with you. <n>Paul thanks the <i>believers</i> at Philippi for their gifts to him</n>


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I am very happy that now you want to help me again. I thank the <i>Lord</i> that you want to help me. I know that you helped me before. But it is a long time since you had a chance to help me. 


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I am not saying this because I need anything. I have learned to be happy, whatever things may be happening to me. 


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I know what it is like to need things. I know what it is like to have plenty. I have learned to be happy at any time and during all things. I have learned this secret. I can be happy whether I have enough food or not. I can be happy whether I have plenty of things or nothing. 


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But certainly, you have been very kind to me. You have helped me at this time, when I am in trouble. 


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You helped me also earlier, when I was starting to tell people the good news. When I left Macedonia, you helped me. You were the only group of Christians who helped me then. You people who live at Philippi know that yourselves. No other group of Christians gave gifts to me as you did. 


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Even when I was at Thessalonica, you helped me. More than once, you sent gifts to me because I needed things. <n>Verse 15 Macedonia was the north part of the country called Greece now. Philippi was a city in Macedonia. <n>Verse 16 Thessalonica was also a city in Macedonia. Paul had taught the good news at Thessalonica also. 


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It is not your gifts themselves that I want. But instead, I want you to do good things so that God will be happy about you. So he will be good to you even more, because you have helped me. 


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Epaphroditus has brought the gifts that you sent to me. I have received those gifts, and now I do not need anything. You have sent me plenty. It is more than enough. Your gifts are like a <i>sacrifice</i> with a nice smell, that people offer to God. God accepts a <i>sacrifice</i> like that, because it makes him happy. 


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My God, who has plenty of very good things for us because of Christ Jesus, will supply everything for you. By Christ, God will give to you everything that you need.


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Everyone should always say that our God, our Father, is very great! They should never stop saying that! This is true.


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On behalf of me, say ‘hello’ to everyone who belongs to Christ Jesus’ people. The Christians who are here with me say ‘hello’ to you. 


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All God’s people here say ‘hello’ to you. And those Christians who live in the king’s house say a special ‘hello’ to you.


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We, Paul and our Christian friend, Timothy, are writing this letter. God has chosen me, Paul, to be a special worker and teacher on behalf of Christ Jesus. 


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We are writing to you, God’s people who live at Colossae. You are like brothers and sisters to us because you are united to Christ. And you are continuing to believe Christ. We pray that God, our Father, will continue to be very kind to you. We pray also that he will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. <n>Paul thanks God for the <i>believers</i> at Colossae</n>


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We thank God because people have told us good things about you. You are continuing to believe Christ Jesus and you are loving all God’s people. 


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You are doing these things because you are hoping certainly for good things from God. God is keeping safe the things that you are hoping for. He is storing them in <i>heaven</i> for you. You learned about those things before, when people first told you the true message, the good news. <n>Verse 5 In the Bible, to ‘hope’ means to wait for the good things that God has promised us. We will live with Christ always. We will be like him and we will be happy. We can be completely sure that these things will happen to us. They will happen if we continue to believe Christ and to obey him. 


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This good news has caused good results among you since the time when you heard it first. At that time, you understood clearly how very kind and good God really is. Also, people all over the world are hearing this good news. And it is causing more and more good results among them too. 


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You heard about this good news from Epaphras. Like us, he is Christ’s servant. And we love Epaphras very much. He continues to work well for Christ on our behalf. 


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Epaphras has told us how God’s Spirit has caused you to love other people. <n>Paul prays that they will know God more and more</n>


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It is because of these things that we have not stopped praying for you. We have prayed ever since the day that Epaphras told us news about you. We ask God that his Spirit will cause you to understand things properly. So you will know completely and clearly what God wants you to do. 


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So then you will be able to do those things that the <i>Lord</i>’s people should do. And you will always do the things that make the <i>Lord</i> happy. As a result, you will do many kinds of good things during your lives. And you will know God more and more. 


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God will make you strong inside yourselves because he is so very great and powerful. So, whatever things may happen, you can be patient, brave and happy. 


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And you can thank the Father, who has made it possible for you to join his people. With them, you will receive what he has prepared for his people in the light. 


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God, our Father, has saved us from the authority of bad, dark powers. He loves his Son. And he has caused us to be his Son’s people. And so now, his Son rules over us. 


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God’s Son has made us free, so that God will not <i>punish</i> us. Because of his Son, God has <i>forgiven</i> us for the wrong things that we have done. <n>Verse 13 God’s Son in this verse is Jesus Christ. That is why we have written ‘Son’ with a capital S. <n>Verse 14 Jesus made <i>believers</i> free when he died on the <i>cross</i>. God has forgiven them because Jesus died. <n>Who Christ is and what he has done for us</n>


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We cannot see God. But Jesus Christ is completely what God is. Even before God made anything, Jesus was already the Son of the Father. 


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God made everything that is on earth and in <i>heaven</i> by his Son. He made all the things that we can see. And he made those things that we cannot see. He made rulers; and he made leaders. He made them powerful; and he gave authority to them. God made them all by his Son. God made everything by his Son and for his Son. 


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Think about Christ’s people as his body. Christ is the head of that body. It is called the <i>church</i>. He is the beginning. And he is the Son of the Father. So he is the leader of everyone who will win the fight against death. As a result, Christ is first and most important in all things.


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Also, it really gave God pleasure to bring all things back to himself. He did that by the <i>cross</i>. There Christ bled and died. His death brought God and all things together, whether things on earth or things in <i>heaven</i>. They are not still enemies.


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At one time, you were far away from God. You were his enemies because you thought bad things. You were his enemies because you did bad things. 


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But now everything has changed. This happened because Christ died a human death. So God has decided to bring you back to himself. He has decided to make you completely good and clean inside. And nobody will ever be able to say that you have done anything wrong. 


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But you must continue to believe Christ strongly. You must not let anything cause you to stop. You must continue to hope strongly for everything that you have learned from the good news. People have told this good news to everyone in the world. And God has made me, Paul, a servant who tells people this good news. <n>Paul’s work for Christ’s people</n>


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At this time, I am having trouble and pain on your behalf, but I am happy. Christ had trouble and pain on behalf of his own people. And, while I live in my body, I am having trouble and pain also. I am helping to finish the full quantity of troubles and pain that Christ must still have. He must still have troubles and pain because of his body, which is his people. <n>Verse 24 Christ gives his Spirit to those who are his people. He lives in his people because his Spirit is in them. They are united to him. They are like his body on earth (verse 18). The Bible says that Christians must have troubles and pain. (See, for example, Acts 14:22 and 1 Thessalonians 3:3-4.) So, when his people have troubles and pain, Christ continues to have troubles and pain too. Christians, like Paul, sometimes have troubles and pain on behalf of other Christians. <n>Christ’s death saves us completely, if we believe him. Paul does not mean that we need anything else to save us. Christ had trouble and pain on our behalf. We have troubles and pain because we are his people. 


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This message is the secret that God hid from everyone before. He hid it from all the people who lived in past times. But now he is showing this secret to his people. 


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God wanted his people to know how very great this secret is. It is very, very good and it will help people from all countries very, very much. This secret is Christ in you. And because he is in you, you hope certainly for good things. You are sure that you will live with God always. You will be with him in the beautiful place where he lives.


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That is why we tell everyone about Christ. We teach them everything that we know. We tell them what God wants them to do. We tell them what he does not want. Our purpose, for every person who is united to Christ, is this. We want every person to become completely what he or she should be. We want to bring each person to God like that. 


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That is why I work so very much. Christ makes me very strong for this difficult work. He works powerfully in me to make me strong.


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I want you to know how very much I am working for you and for the people at Laodicea. I am also working for all those people who have never met me. 


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I am working like this because I want all of you to become strong inside yourselves for Christ. I want you to be united because you love Christ and each other. So then you will really be rich, because you will really understand God’s secret. You will be completely sure about it. You will know that secret, which is Christ. 


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Christ knows and understands everything. Only Christ can cause us to understand things properly. He can cause us to understand the really valuable things that we need to know.


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I am telling you these things so that you will not listen to false teachers. Those teachers will try to teach you false things that may seem good. 


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My body is not there with you, but my <i>spirit</i> is with you. And I am happy about you. You are doing the things that Christ’s people should do. Also, I am happy that you are continuing to believe Christ so strongly. <n>What Christ’s people, who are united to Christ, should do</n>


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You have agreed that Christ Jesus should be your <i>Lord</i>. And you have become united to him. So, you must continue to do the things that Christ’s people ought to do. 


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You must be like trees that have their <i>roots</i> deep in Christ. Continue to obey Christ, so that you become stronger and stronger as Christians. You must believe more and more strongly the things that we taught you. And you should always thank God very much for everything. <n>Verse 7 Roots are the parts of a plant that grow under the ground. They help to hold the plant up. They also supply water and other good things from under the ground that help the plant to grow well. When Christians are really united to Christ, he will supply everything for them. He will supply everything that they need. So, like trees that have their roots deep under good ground, they will become stronger and stronger. 


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Some people may try to teach you false ideas. Be careful that you do not believe them. Those ideas may seem clever, but they will take you away from God. Those ideas are the result of things that people have taught for many years. But those ideas belong to this world. They do not come from Christ. 


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And because you are united to Christ, God has filled you. He has given you everything that you need in Christ. And Christ rules over all <i>spirits</i> that have authority.


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Also, because you are united to Christ, God has <i>circumcised</i> you. No human person used his hands to <i>circumcise</i> you. But God has <i>circumcised</i> you, in the way that Christ has made possible. He has made you free from the power of your old nature (the kind of people that you were before you became Christians). He has taken away your old nature, which could never make God happy. 


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By <i>baptism</i>, God has buried you with Christ. And then he has raised you with Christ, so that you have become alive again with him. God raised you because you believe him. You believe that he is very powerful. And you believe that he raised Christ. He made him alive again after he had died. <n>Verse 11 To ‘circumcise’ means to cut off the skin that covers the end of a boy’s or a man’s sex part. God had told Abraham that he must do this. (See Genesis 17:9-14.) They circumcised men and boys like this to show that Israel’s people were God’s people. It was like a picture, to show that they were separate from bad things. But Paul says that Christians have something better than a mark on their bodies. They are God’s people because Christ died for them (on their behalf). God has <i>circumcised</i> them in their <i>spirits</i>, not in their bodies. He has ‘cut off’ their old nature. Their <i>spirits</i> are God’s. Because of Christ, we can really be separate from everything that is bad. <n>Verse 12 Christian baptism is when they put a <i>believer</i> into water. (Or sometimes they put water on a believer.) Baptism by water is very important. It is like a picture of what God does in our <i>spirits</i>. Baptism means ‘to put a person or a thing completely into something else (for example, into water)’. When God ‘baptises’ us into Christ, he ‘puts us into’ Christ. He makes us completely united with Christ in our <i>spirits</i>. So, in our <i>spirits</i>, we die with Christ and then we rise again, to live with him. So we have a new nature, a new life, because of Christ. (See also Romans 6:1-4.) 


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At one time, you were like dead people because of all the wrong things that you did. Nobody had <i>circumcised</i> you in your bodies. And God had not <i>circumcised</i> you in your <i>spirits</i>. But now God has caused you to become alive with Christ. God has <i>forgiven</i> us for all the wrong things that we have done. 


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He has chosen to forget that we have not obeyed all his rules. He has taken away the list of all the wrong things that we have done. He should have <i>punished</i> us because of that list. But instead, it is like he fixed that list to Christ’s <i>cross</i>. So, he destroyed that list. 


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On the <i>cross</i>, Christ won the fight against all the bad <i>spirits</i> that have authority. He beat them completely. He took all their <i>weapons</i> away from them. He showed everyone that he is the ruler over all these other powerful <i>spirits</i>. <n>Christ’s people should not obey men’s ideas</n>


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So do not let anybody else say what is right for you to eat or to drink. Do not let anybody make rules about special days, new moons or sabbaths (the <i>Jews</i>’ seventh day of the week). 


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Rules like that are only like shadows. In past times, they showed people about the good things that would happen. But those good things really have happened now because of Christ.


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Some people may say that God has shown them special things. They may tell you that you should do certain things to your bodies to become better people. They may tell you that you should <i>worship angels</i>. But you must not believe those false things. If you listen to them, you may lose something really important. People like that may think that they know a lot of things. But they are only thinking men’s ideas. They do not understand how God thinks. 


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False teachers like that do not agree to be united to Christ. They do not obey Christ, who is the head of his body. His people are like a body. Christ holds the whole body together. Through the parts that join the body together, Christ supplies the body. He supplies what the body needs. And so, the body grows, because God causes it to grow.


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You have died with Christ. So you do not have to obey the rules that belong to this world. You do not belong to this world now. So you should not still obey its rules! You do not need to obey rules like this: 


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Rules like that are only about things that will finish. Those things are like things that people use. But they are destroying those things while they are using them. Rules like that are only rules that people teach. 


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Rules like that may seem to be clever people’s rules. They try to cause people to <i>worship</i> in certain ways. They cause people to hurt themselves, so that they can rule their bodies. So those people seem to be obeying God. But really, they are not obeying him. Those rules cannot really help people to rule what their bodies want. Those rules are not really worth anything. By those rules people can still do all the bad things that they want to do.


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God has raised you from death, so that you are alive with Christ. So, you should continue to look up. You should want more and more the things that are in <i>heaven</i>, with Christ. Christ is sitting next to God, at his right side. 


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Think like that, because you have died. And now you are alive with Christ, who is united to God. God is keeping your life safe with Christ. 


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It is Christ who causes us to be alive. And when Christ shows himself clearly to everyone, then everyone will see you also with him. You will be like him and you will shine with him.


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So you must refuse to do bad things that belong to this earth. So then those things will stop being part of your life. You must not have sex with someone who is not your husband or your wife. You must not think bad, dirty thoughts. You must not want to have sex with other people. You must not want to do bad things. You must not want to have more and more things for yourselves. People who want things strongly like that are making those things more important than God. So they are really <i>worshipping</i> those things. 


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But now you must refuse to do these kinds of things. You must not become angry easily. You must not continue to be angry with people. You must not want to do bad things to people. You must not say bad things that are not true about people. You must not speak bad and dirty words. 


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Stop saying things that are not true to each other. You should be like someone who has taken off old clothes. You have taken off the old nature. And, with that old nature, you have taken off all the bad things that you did before. That is why you should stop doing those things.


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Instead, you have put on the new nature, which God has made. And God is continuing to make you more and more like him. So then you will know him more and more completely. 


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When people have this new nature, they are not different from each other. <i>Jews</i> are not different from people who are not <i>Jews</i>. It does not matter whether someone has <i>circumcised</i> you or not. It does not matter which country you come from. It does not matter whether you are a slave or a free person. But Christ is what matters. He is everything, and he is in everything.


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God has chosen you to be his own special people. He loves you very much. So, you should choose to do good things, as God’s people should do. You should be good and kind to other people. You should want to help them. You should not think that you are better or more important than other people. But you should be patient with them. 


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Do not get angry with each other, but be patient. You may not be happy about something that someone else has done. But you should <i>forgive</i> that person. <i>Forgive</i> them as the <i>Lord forgave</i> you. 


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And you should love each other. That is the most important thing that you should do. Love is like clothes that go over all your other clothes. Love holds everything and everybody together. Love makes everything completely as it should be.


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Let Christ rule what you think. Let him rule what you feel. If you do that, you will have no trouble inside yourselves or with other Christians. God wants you to be united like this, because all of you belong to one body really. And always thank God for everything. 


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Let Christ’s message live in you. Let it work in you. It will do many good things in you. It will help you to teach each other. It will help you to understand things correctly. God’s Spirit will cause you to sing different kinds of songs to each other, while you <i>worship</i> God. You will sing like this to thank him for everything that he has done. 


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Everything that you do should make the <i>Lord</i> Jesus happy. Everything that you say should make him happy. And whatever things you do, you should thank God the Father by the <i>Lord</i> Jesus’ name. <n>Do what is right, at home and at work</n>


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Children, you must obey your parents about everything. That is how you can make the <i>Lord</i> happy.


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Fathers, do not make your children angry with you. They might think that they can never do anything to make you happy with them.


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Slaves, always obey your human masters in everything. Do not work well only when they can see you. So then they will be happy with you. Instead, always do your work well, because you really love the <i>Lord</i>. So you want to make him happy. 


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Whatever things you do, do them for the <i>Lord</i>. Do them as well as you can for him. Do not work only for people. 


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So then the <i>Lord</i> will give to you all the good things that he has promised you. You know that. You are the <i>Lord</i> Christ’s servants. 


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But the <i>Lord</i> will <i>punish</i> anyone who does wrong things. That is what ought to happen to people like that. God uses the same rules to decide what should happen to each person. It does not matter who that person is.


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Masters, give your servants what is right and fair. Remember that you have a Master also, in <i>heaven</i>. <n>Paul tells the <i>believers</i> that they should pray</n>


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Continue to pray. Do not let anything cause you to stop praying. Be like people who watch carefully. They watch carefully to see what is happening. And thank God when you pray. 


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Pray for us, too. Ask God to make it possible for us to tell people his message. We want to tell people the secret things about Christ that God has caused us to know. I am in a prison because I told people those things. 


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Sometimes you are with people who do not believe Christ. Be careful when you are with those people. Be careful about what you say. Be careful about what you do. Use your time with them as well as you can. Do everything that you can to help them to believe Christ. 


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Always speak words that are kind and proper. Speak words that will be good for those who hear you. When someone asks you a question, you should know what to say. You should know how you ought to answer each person. <n>Paul finishes his letter</n>


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Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a Christian <i>brother</i> that we love. He continues to work well for the <i>Lord</i>. Like me, he is the <i>Lord</i>’s servant. 


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I am sending him to you for this purpose. He will tell you all the news about us. And he will help you to be braver and stronger for Christ. 


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Onesimus, who belongs to your group, is travelling with him. Onesimus is another Christian <i>brother</i> that we love. He continues to believe and to obey Christ. These men will tell you everything that is happening here.


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Aristarchus, who is with me in the prison, says ‘hello’ to you. Mark also says ‘hello’ to you. He is Barnabas’s cousin. Mark may come to visit you. You should say ‘welcome’ to him if he comes. I have told you this already. I have told you that you should be kind to him. 


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Jesus, who is called Justus, also says ‘hello’ to you. These three men are the only <i>Jews</i> who are working with me. We work so that more people will believe Christ. So then they will belong to God’s people, the people that he rules over. These men have helped me very much. And they have caused me to feel better.


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Epaphras says ‘hello’ to you. He also belongs to your group, and he is Christ Jesus’ servant. He is always praying strongly for you. He prays like someone who fights on behalf of you. He prays that you will continue to obey God. So you will always do everything that God wants. He asks God to make you completely as God wants you to be. 


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I tell you this about Epaphras, which is true. He is working very much for you, and for the people at Laodicea and at Hierapolis.


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Say ‘hello’ for me to all the <i>believers</i> at Laodicea. Also say ‘hello’ for me to Nympha and to the Christians who meet in her house.


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After someone has read this letter to all of you, send it to the <i>church</i> at Laodicea. Tell them that they must read it aloud too. And you must also read the letter that the Christians at Laodicea will send to you. 


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Say to Archippus, ‘Remember the work that the <i>Lord</i> gave you to do. You must be careful to finish it completely.’


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I, Paul, am writing these words here with my own hand. Remember that I am in a prison. I pray that God will continue to be very kind to you.


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This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy to the Christians at Thessalonica. You are united to God the Father and to the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. We pray that God will continue to be very kind to you. We pray also that he will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves.


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We speak about you to God, who is our Father. We remember the good things that you do. You do those things because you believe Christ. You work very much because you love Christ and other people. We remember also how you continue to hope strongly because of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. <n>Verse 3 The <i>believers</i> at Thessalonica were sure that Jesus would save them completely. They were sure that he would return to the earth one day. They were sure that they would live with him always. They ‘hoped strongly’ for these things. 


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You are like brothers and sisters to us, and God loves you. We know that God has chosen you to be his own. 


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We know that, because our good news came to you not only with words. When we told it to you, the power of God’s Spirit was there too. Also, we felt completely brave and strong when we spoke. You know how we lived among you. You know what kind of people we were. We were like good guides for you. 


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And you learned to live as we lived. So you learned also to live like the <i>Lord</i>. People caused you a lot of trouble and pain because you believed the message about Christ. But you did believe it, and God’s Spirit caused you to be very happy. 


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And so you became like a guide to all the <i>believers</i> in Macedonia and in Achaia. <n>Verse 7 Macedonia included the north part of the country that we call Greece. It included also the south part of the country that we call Yugoslavia. Achaia was the south part of Greece. 


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Because of you, people in many places have listened to the message about the <i>Lord</i>. It was not only the people in Macedonia and in Achaia who listened to these things. But people everywhere know how you believe God. So, we do not need to say anything. 


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Those people themselves speak about how you believed our message. They tell how you turned to God. They tell us how you stopped <i>worshipping</i> false gods. They themselves say that you are now God’s servants. God is alive, and only he is really God. 


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Also, you are waiting for God’s Son to come from <i>heaven</i>. God caused his Son, Jesus, to become alive again after he had died. And Jesus saves us so that God will not be angry with us at that future time. <n>Verse 10 ‘That future time’ means: the time when God will show what he has decided about each person. He will decide where they go after death. He will be angry with people who have not obeyed him. (See, for example, Ephesians 5:6; John 3:36 and Colossians 3:6.) 


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Before we came to you, the people at Philippi had done bad things to hurt us. And they had spoken very bad words to us. You know that. But our God caused us to be brave so that we could tell you his good news. Many people tried to stop us, but we did tell you God’s message. <n>Verse 2 Philippi was another city in Macedonia. It was about 115 kilometres (75 miles) east from Thessalonica. Paul and his friends had been at Philippi before they came to Thessalonica. Some people at Philippi had hurt Paul and Silas very much. Then they put Paul and Silas into a prison. (See Acts 16:12-40.) 


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We were telling you the good news so that you could believe God. We told you only true things. We had no wrong purpose. We did not want you to believe things that are not true. 


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Instead, we say what God wants us to say. He has chosen us to tell his good news. We do not speak so that we can make people happy. But we do want to make God happy. And God discovers what our purposes really are, deep inside ourselves. 


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We never tried to say nice things about you so that you would like us. You know that. We never demanded money or other things from you. We never had a secret purpose like that. God knows this. 


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We did not want people to say great things about us. We did not want you to do that. And we did not want anyone else to do that. We are Christ’s special workers and teachers. So, we could have used our authority over you. We could have caused you to do things for us. We could have caused you to supply things for us. <n>Verses 3-6 We think that some people at Thessalonica may have said bad things about Paul and his friends. They may have told the Christians there that Paul did not really love them. They may have said that really Paul only wanted power and money for himself. So, in this chapter, Paul is explaining that he never had any wrong purpose like that. He only wanted to do what was best for the <i>believers</i> at Thessalonica. 


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But instead, we were kind when we were with you. We were kind like a mother who <i>looks after</i> her little children. 


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We were very fond of you. So, we wanted very much to tell you the good news from God. Also, we wanted to give ourselves completely to help you. We wanted to do these things because we loved you very much. 


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Our friends, you should certainly remember how we worked so very much. We worked during the day and at night. We worked so that we did not need to ask any of you for anything. So then, we did not cost you anything while we taught you God’s good news. <n>Verse 9 While Paul, Silas and Timothy were at Thessalonica, they worked, to get some money. We do not know the kind of work that they did. But we know that Paul could make tents. (See Acts 18:3.) (Tents are houses that people make from cloth or animals’ skins. They use long pieces of wood to hold up the cloth or skins.) 


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When we were with you <i>believers</i>, we did nothing wrong. We did only what is completely good and right. You know that, and God knows it too. 


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You know that we helped each of you. We were like a father who helps his own children. We taught you and we helped you to be brave and strong as <i>believers</i>. And we told you very strongly what you must do. You must do what makes God happy. God has chosen you to belong to his own people, the people that he rules over. He wants you to be with him always, in the beautiful place where he lives.


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There is also another reason why we continue to thank God always. When we told God’s message to you, you believed it as words from God. You knew that it was not only a human message. You believed it as God’s message, which it certainly is. And God’s words do powerful things in you who believe him.


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And now, my friends, you have become like the Christians who belong to God’s people in Judea. People in your own country have caused trouble and pain for you. And that is what happened in Judea too to the <i>believers</i> in Christ Jesus there. People in their own country caused trouble and pain for them. <n>Verse 14 Judea was the south part of Israel. The people who lived there were sometimes called Jews. 


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The people who caused that trouble even killed the <i>Lord</i> Jesus and the <i>prophets</i>. And they caused trouble for us so that they caused us to leave their country. God is not happy with those people. He is very angry with them. They are very much against people everywhere 


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because they do not want us to speak to people from other <i>nations</i>. They do not want God to save anyone from another <i>nation</i>. Those people always continue until they have done their last <i>sin</i>. But in the end, God has <i>punished</i> them. <n>Verse 15 Prophets are people who speak God’s messages. <n>Paul wants to visit the <i>believers</i> at Thessalonica again</n>


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But you are like brothers and sisters to us. We have had to go away from you for a short time. But it was only our bodies that left you. We did not stop thinking about you. We wanted very, very much to see your faces. And we tried very much to visit you again. 


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We wanted to return to you. Certainly, I, Paul, tried again and again to return, but <i>Satan</i> made it impossible. 


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We wanted so much to visit you because you cause us to hope so strongly! You make us sure that God will continue to work in you. You cause us to be very happy! To us, you are like a <i>crown</i> that a winner receives. The <i>crown</i> shows that the winner has done well. You show that our work among you had good results. So, you are our <i>crown</i> that makes us very happy. We will be very happy when we stand in front of our <i>Lord</i> Jesus. That will be when he comes again. 


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Yes, it is because of you that we are so happy. We are happy about the results of our work. <n>Verse 19 A crown is a special kind of hat that people gave to winners then. 


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When we could not wait any longer to know news about you, we decided to stay in Athens city alone. We thought that it was the best thing to do. 


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And we sent Timothy to visit you. He is like our brother. He works with us for God, to tell people the good news about Christ. We sent Timothy so that he could help you to believe Christ strongly and to be brave. 


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So then none of you will stop believing because of the troubles and pain that people cause you. You yourselves know that there must be troubles and pain for us. That is part of God’s purpose for us.


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Even when we were with you, we told you to be ready for future trouble. We told you that people would certainly cause you a lot of trouble and pain. And that did happen. You know that. 


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That is why I had to send Timothy. I could not wait any longer, so I sent him to you. I wanted to know whether you were continuing to believe Christ. I was afraid that <i>Satan</i> had caused you to turn away from Christ. So all our work among you would have no results.


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But now Timothy has come back to us from you. And he has told us good news about you. He has told us how you are continuing to believe Christ. You are continuing, also, to love God and each other. And you are always happy when you think about us. You want very much to meet us again, as we want to meet you. Timothy has told us these things. 


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So, we have become stronger and braver because of you, who are like brothers and sisters to us. People have caused us very much trouble and pain. But we were very happy to know that you were continuing to believe Christ.


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Now, because of you, we are like people who have become alive again. You are united to the <i>Lord</i>. And if you continue to believe him strongly, that makes us very happy. 


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Now we can thank God very much for you! We are very, very happy when we talk to God about you. And so we thank him for that. 


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We continue to ask God that we might visit you. We pray like that every day and every night. We want very, very much to visit you. We want to teach things to you that you still need to know. So then you can really believe Christ as you should believe him.


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We pray this to God himself, who is our Father, and to our <i>Lord</i> Jesus. We pray that they will prepare the way for us to visit you. 


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We pray also that the <i>Lord</i> will cause you to love each other more and more. We love you. And we want you to go on loving all people more and more in the same way. 


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So, the <i>Lord</i> will cause you to become strong inside yourselves. You will be completely good and clean for God, who is our Father. So then nobody can ever say that you have done anything wrong. And you will stand in front of God when our <i>Lord</i> Jesus comes. Jesus will return to this earth, with all those who are his own.


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Now, friends, we want to say this to you. We taught you how to live so that you make God happy. And certainly, you are living like that. Now we ask you very strongly to continue to live like that more and more. On behalf of the <i>Lord</i> Jesus, we ask you to do this. 


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You know what we told you. We told you what you must do. The <i>Lord</i> Jesus gave us authority to tell you those things.


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What God wants is this: He wants you to be completely good, and separate from everything that is bad. So you must not have wrong sex. You must not have sex with anyone who is not your own wife or husband. 


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Each of you must learn how to rule his own body. So then you will always do what is right and proper. 


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You should not be like the people who do not know God. They are always wanting very much to have sex. They cannot stop themselves, because they want it so much. But you should not be like those people. 


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No man among you should ever have sex with a woman who is not his own wife. He would be taking something that is another man’s. So, he would be doing a wrong thing to that man, who is like his brother. The <i>Lord</i> will <i>punish</i> everyone who does things like that. We have told you this very seriously before. 


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God did not choose us to do bad and dirty things. He chose us to be completely separate from everything that is bad. 


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So anyone who does not obey this rule is not refusing to obey a human person. Instead, he is refusing to do what God says. And God gives you his Spirit, who is completely good.


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But I do not need to write to you about how you should love other <i>believers</i>. God himself has taught you to love each other. 


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Certainly, you do love all the <i>believers</i> in all Macedonia. But we ask you strongly, friends, to love each other more and more. 


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Try very much not to cause trouble for anyone. Be busy only with your own things, not with other people’s things. And work with your hands. We told you before that you must do these things. 


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Then, if you do these things, other people will think good things about you. People who do not believe Christ will think good things about you. They will know that you are honest and good. Also, if you do these things, you will not need anyone else to supply anything for you. <n>Jesus’ return and the <i>believers</i> who have died</n>


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Friends, we want you to understand properly about the people who have died. So you will not be sad about them, as other people are sad about their dead friends. Those other people are sad because they have nothing to hope for, after death. 


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But we believe that Jesus died. We believe that he became alive again after death. So, we also believe this about the people who have died united to Christ. We believe that God will bring those people back with Jesus.


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We are now telling you something that the <i>Lord</i> has said. We tell you this about the day when the <i>Lord</i> will come. Those of us who are still alive on that day will not go to meet the <i>Lord</i> first. We will certainly not go before those people who have already died. 


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On that day, God will shout with authority. Also, people will hear the voice of an important <i>angel</i>. They will hear the sound of God’s <i>trumpet</i>. And the <i>Lord</i> himself will come down from <i>heaven</i>. Then those people who have died united to Christ will become alive again. And they will rise first. 


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After that, those of us who are still alive at that time will go up. God will take us up to be together with them in the clouds. He will take us to meet the <i>Lord</i> in the air. And so we will be with the <i>Lord</i> always. 


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So tell these things to each other. So you will not need to continue being sad. <n>Verses 13-18 Timothy may have told Paul that the Christians at Thessalonica were confused. They may have been sad about their Christian friends who had died already. They did not know what to believe about those people. So, Paul wanted them to know that they would all live with Christ always. 


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You know very well about how the day of the <i>Lord</i>’s return will happen. That day will surprise people very much, as when someone comes to rob people at night. 


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At that time, people will say, ‘We are safe and there is no trouble for us.’ But then, when they are not ready for it, a lot of trouble and pain will happen to them. That trouble will happen to them like the pains of a woman who is giving birth to a baby. And it will be impossible for anyone to get free from that trouble.


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But you people, who are like brothers and sisters to us, you know about these things. So, you are not like people who live in the dark. And so the day when the <i>Lord</i> returns should not surprise you. That day will not surprise you as when someone comes to rob people. 


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All of you are people who are the <i>Lord</i>’s people. So, you belong to the light and to the day. We are not people who belong to the night or to the dark. 


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So, we should not be like other people. We should not be like people who are sleeping. Instead, we should be like people who continue to be awake. We should think clearly about what is happening.


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But we belong to the day. So we should watch and we should think clearly. We must continue to believe God and to love him. So we will be like soldiers who put on <i>breastplates</i>. Also, we must continue to hope strongly that God will save us. So we will be like soldiers who put on metal hats to keep their heads safe. <n>Verse 8 A breastplate is a big metal plate that a soldier wore over the front of his body. The breastplate made it impossible for anything to hurt the soldier during a war. 


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God did not make us his people so that he could be angry with us. He has not chosen us so that he can <i>punish</i> us. Instead, he has chosen us so that he can save us. He saves us because of what our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ has done. 


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Jesus died for us so that we can live together with him. When he comes, we will live with him. Whether we are alive or dead at that time, there will not be any difference. We will all live with him. 


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So, tell these things to each other so that you do not feel sad or weak. Help each other to become stronger as <i>believers</i>, as you are doing already. <n>Paul’s last words in this letter</n>


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Now we ask you, our friends, to remember how valuable your leaders are. They work among you and they <i>look after</i> you. They teach you how you should live as the <i>Lord</i>’s people. They tell you when you do wrong things. 


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Show them how valuable they are to you. And love them very much because of the work that they do. Do not quarrel with each other.


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Tell lazy people that they should work. Speak to those people who are afraid. Help them to be brave. Help those people who are weak. Be patient with everyone. Friends, we ask you strongly to do these things. 


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If a person has done something wrong to you, do not do something wrong back to them. Be careful that none of you does things like that. But always try to do good things to each other and to everyone else. <n>Verse 14 All the Christians at Thessalonica were waiting for Jesus to return. They thought that he would come soon. Some of them may have thought that they did not have to continue to work. But nobody knows when the <i>Lord</i> will return. So Paul is teaching them about that. They must continue to work. They must go on living in a way that makes God happy. 


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Whatever things may happen to you, continue to thank God. God wants you to do this, because you are united to Christ Jesus. 


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Listen carefully when people speak messages on God’s behalf. Remember that those messages are important. 


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But think carefully about everything, to see if it really is from God. Then be careful to remember and to obey everything that is good. 


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God causes us to be without trouble inside ourselves. And I pray that God himself will make you completely good and clean. I pray that God will <i>look after</i> your <i>spirits</i>, your <i>souls</i> and your bodies. I pray that he will <i>look after</i> you completely. Then you will be completely good and clean when our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ returns. 


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God has chosen you to be his people. And he always does what he has promised to do. So, he will do this for you.


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I tell you very seriously, on behalf of the <i>Lord</i>, that you should read this letter to all the <i>believers</i>. 


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This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy to God’s people who live at Thessalonica. You are united to God our Father, and to the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. 


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We pray that God the Father, and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. We pray also that they will cause you to be without trouble in your minds. <n>Paul thanks God because of the <i>believers</i> at Thessalonica</n>


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You are like brothers and sisters to us, and we ought to thank God because of you always. We should thank him, because you are learning to believe Christ more and more. And each of you is loving each of the other Christians more and more. 


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As a result, we speak about you to God’s other groups of <i>believers</i>. We are so happy to tell them about you. You are showing how God’s people should live. People often cause you bad trouble and pain because you are Christians. But you are continuing to believe Christ. You are continuing to be patient and brave.


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All this shows us something clearly, about how God decides about people. God decides about people who die. He decides what should happen to those people. And he will always decide what is right for them. People are causing great trouble for you now because God is your king. So it is right that, as a result, you should live always with God and his people. And God will cause this to happen to you.


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God will do what is right. So he will <i>punish</i> those people who are causing trouble for you. He will cause trouble for them. 


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God will also do what is right for you. You have troubles now. But God will cause you to rest and to be without trouble. You will rest, together with us, when the <i>Lord</i> Jesus will come down from <i>heaven</i>. He will come with his powerful <i>angels</i>. 


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He will come with a very hot fire. And he will <i>punish</i> those people who refuse to know God. He will <i>punish</i> those people who do not obey the good news about our <i>Lord</i> Jesus. 


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To <i>punish</i> them, he will go on destroying them always. He will shut them out from where the <i>Lord</i> is present. So, they will never see how very powerful, great and beautiful he is. 


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All this will happen on that special day when Jesus will come. On that day, Jesus’ own people will show what great things he has done for them. All those people who believe him will say great things about him. And you will be among them, because you believed our message. You believed what we told you. <n>Paul prays for the <i>believers</i> at Thessalonica</n>


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So we always pray for you. Our God has chosen you to be his own people. And you must continue to be the kind of people that he wants. So, we pray that he will be happy about you. We pray also that God will work powerfully in you. So then he will make it possible for you to do every good thing that you want to do. You want to do those good things because you believe Christ. 


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We pray this so that other people will say good things about our <i>Lord</i> Jesus because of you. They will see the great things that he has done for you. Also, Jesus will cause people to say good things about you. This will happen because our God and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ are so very kind to you.


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Our friends, we must explain something now about the time when our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will return. You know that, at that time, he will bring us all together to be with him. But we ask you something very strongly. 


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You must not let yourselves become confused or afraid easily because of false messages about the <i>Lord</i>’s return. Those messages say that the <i>day of the Lord</i> has already happened. Perhaps somebody might say that God’s Spirit has shown him a message like that. Or somebody might report that we said it. Or they might say that we wrote it in a letter.


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Do not let anyone cause you to believe something false in any way. That day will not happen until certain other things have happened first. Before that day, there will be a time when many people will turn against God completely. Also, before that day, people will see the man who completely refuses to obey God. He is the man that God will certainly kill. 


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This man will be God’s <i>enemy</i>. He will be the <i>enemy</i> of everything that people call God. He will be the <i>enemy</i> of everything that people <i>worship</i>. He will think that he is much greater than any god. As a result, this man will even go into God’s special house and he will sit down there. And he will tell people that he himself is God. <n>Verses 1-3 When he was with them, Paul had taught the Christians at Thessalonica about Jesus’ return. (See verse 5.) He had said more about it in his first letter to them. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and 5:1-10.) But other people had taught that it had already happened. So, Paul is explaining that certain things must happen first. <n>The ‘day of the Lord’ is not a 24-hour day but a longer time. It includes many events. It will be a time when God will beat all his enemies (Zephaniah 1:14-18). He will be angry with them and so he will kill them all (Isaiah 13:9). This will cause trouble on the earth (Isaiah 13:11; Amos 5:18-20). But it will be a very good time for those who love God. It is a way to talk about the time when God will make Israel’s people free (Jeremiah 30:7-9; Joel 3:16). It also is a way to speak about the time when Jesus will return. And then he will start to rule on the earth. <n>Verses 3-4 The ‘man who completely refuses to obey God’ is the opposite of Jesus Christ. Another name for him is ‘<i>Antichrist</i>’ (see 1 John 2:18, 22 and 4:3). The book in the Bible called Daniel tells about a very bad ruler like this. (See Daniel 7:25-26; 9:26-27; 11:31-39.) And the Bible also describes a strange animal that may also be like a picture of this person. (See Revelation 13:1-8.) 


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This man will come at the time that God has chosen. But something makes it impossible for him to come yet. And you know what it is. 


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Already <i>Satan</i> is working secretly to turn people against God and against God’s rules. But there is someone who is making it impossible for <i>Satan</i> to work like that freely. And that someone will continue to make it impossible, until God takes that someone away. 


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Then people will see the man who completely refuses to obey God. But when the <i>Lord</i> Jesus will come, he will kill that man. Jesus will kill him with the words that Jesus speaks. Jesus will kill him with the very bright, powerful light that shines from Jesus himself. <n>Verses 6-7 Something (verse 6) and/or someone (verse 7) is making it impossible for <i>Antichrist</i> to come yet. Paul had taught the Christians at Thessalonica about this. So, they knew what it and/or he was. But we do not know certainly what Paul means here. He may mean the government or governments that rule people in this world. God chooses to let governments rule people. And good governments make good rules. Those rules help people do what is right. 


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<i>Satan</i> will cause this very bad man to come. Also, <i>Satan</i> will cause this man to be very powerful. So, this very bad man will do all kinds of things that people cannot usually do. Those things will surprise people very much. Those things will cause people to believe this very bad man. They will cause people to believe things that are not true. 


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This very bad man will also do all kinds of bad things. He will cause bad people to believe what is not true. So, God will certainly kill those bad people. Those bad people will believe false things because they refused to love the true message. They refused to love the true message so that God could save them. 


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For this reason, God causes them to believe wrong things very easily and very strongly. So then they will believe what is not true. 


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The result is that God will decide to <i>punish</i> them. They refused to believe what is true. And instead, they enjoyed doing wrong things. So God will <i>punish</i> all of them. <n>The Christians at Thessalonica must continue to believe what Paul taught them</n>


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But you are like brothers and sisters to us, and the <i>Lord</i> loves you. We must thank God always because of you, because God has chosen you. God chose you to be among the first people that he would save. He saves you because his Spirit makes you God’s special people. God’s Spirit makes you separate from everything that is bad. God saves you because you believe him. You believe what is true. 


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God asked you strongly to become his special people. You heard him when we told you the good news. He wanted you to become special people who would live always with our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ. You will live in the beautiful place with Christ, who is so very great. 


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So, our friends, you must continue to believe Christ strongly. Continue to believe the true things that we taught you. God first taught those things to us. And we taught them to you when we spoke to you. We also taught them to you when we wrote our letter to you.


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We pray about you to our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ himself, and to God, our Father. They have shown how much they love you and us. And they have promised to give good things to us all. So, we can continue to be brave and strong for all time. We can hope strongly for these good things. They will give these things to us because they are so very kind. 


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We pray that our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ and God, our Father, will make you brave. We pray that they will continue to make you strong in your minds. So you will always do what is good. And you will always say what is good.


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Now, friends, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that, because of us, more and more people will hear the <i>Lord</i>’s message with pleasure soon. Pray that they will believe his message. So then they will thank God for it. That is what happened among you. 


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Pray also that God will not let very bad people cause bad trouble for us. Pray like that, because not everyone believes the message about our <i>Lord</i>. 


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But the <i>Lord</i> always does what he has promised. So, he will help you, so that you continue to believe him strongly. And he will keep you safe from <i>Satan</i>.


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Also the <i>Lord</i> makes us sure about you. We told you things that you must do. You are doing those things. And you will continue to do those things. We are sure about that. 


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We pray that the <i>Lord</i> will help you to know him more and more. So then you will continue to understand more about how much God loves you. And he will cause you to be patient and strong, like Christ. <n>The Christians must not refuse to work</n>


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Our friends, we tell you this with the authority that the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ gives to us. You must stay away from every <i>believer</i> who is living in a lazy way. People like that are refusing to obey the things that we taught you. 


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You yourselves know that you ought to be like us. You ought to do the things that we did. We were not lazy when we were with you. 


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We always paid for all the food that we received from anyone. We worked very much, during the day and at night. We worked so that we did not need to ask any of you for anything. So, you did not have to supply anything for us. 


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We could have told you that you must supply things for us. We have authority to do that. But we wanted to show you ourselves what you should do. So then you could be like us. 


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Even when we were with you, we told you this rule. ‘If anyone refuses to work, you should not let him eat’, we said.


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We say this because someone has told us news about you. They have told us that some people among you are living in a lazy way. Those people do not work themselves. But they talk very much about other people. They are busy with things that should not matter to them. 


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We speak strongly to those people who are lazy like that. We speak with the authority that the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ gives to us. We tell them strongly that it is their duty to work. They should work properly so that they may get their own food to eat. <n>Verses 6-12 In his first letter to them, Paul told the Christians at Thessalonica that they must work. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12.) But some of them were still refusing to work. They thought that Jesus would return to the earth very soon. So, they may have thought that they did not need to work. In this letter, Paul has already explained that Jesus will not return so very soon. Certain things must happen first. (See chapter 2:1-12.) So now, Paul tells them again that it is right for them to work. <n>Verses 7-10 See also 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12. 


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We have written things in this letter to tell you what you should do. If anyone refuses to obey these things, tell everyone about him. And stay away from him, so that he may be ashamed. 


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But do not think about him or speak to him as your <i>enemy</i>. Instead, tell him seriously, like a brother, that he should obey our message. <n>Paul finishes his letter</n>


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The <i>Lord</i> causes us to be without trouble in our minds. And I pray that the <i>Lord</i> himself will do that for you at all times and in every way. I pray that the <i>Lord</i> will be with all of you.


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I, Paul, am writing these words myself to say ‘hello’ to you. I write my name like this at the end of all my letters. This is how I write. 


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This letter is from me, Paul. God, who saves us, has sent me to be a special worker and teacher on Christ Jesus’ behalf. Christ Jesus, who causes us to hope certainly for great things, has also sent me. 


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I am writing to you, Timothy. You are like my own child because, like me, you believe Christ. I pray that God the Father and Christ Jesus our <i>Lord</i> will be very kind and very good to you. I pray that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourself. <n>Paul tells Timothy to stop the wrong teachers</n>


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When I was going to Macedonia, I asked you very strongly to stay in Ephesus. You must continue to stay there, because certain people there are teaching wrong things about God. You must tell them to stop doing that. 


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Neither should they listen to false stories. Nor should they always be studying long lists of their families’ names from years ago. They should not believe that to study lists like that can help them. Those things only cause people to argue. Those things do not help God’s work. To do God’s work, people must believe him.


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Here is the reason why I am telling you to do this. I want people really to love each other. Only people who are good and clean inside themselves can love like that. Those people know the difference between what is right and wrong. And they try to do only what is right. People love properly only when they really believe God. 


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But certain people have failed to do these things and they have turned away from them. They would rather talk about things that mean nothing. 


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They want to be teachers of God’s rules. They seem very sure when they talk about things. They speak very strongly. But they do not understand what they are talking about. <n>The purpose of God’s rules</n>


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We also know this. God did not make those rules for people who do right things. He made them for people who refuse to do right things. Those people refuse to obey good rules. God made his rules for people who like to do bad things. He made his rules for people who do not <i>worship</i> him. Those people do not want to obey God. God’s rules are also for these people: <br/>· People who kill their fathers or their mothers <br/>· People who choose to kill other people


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People who have sex with someone who is not their wife or their husband <br/>· Men who have sex with other men <br/>· People who catch other people and take them away to be slaves <br/>· People who say things that are not true <br/>· People who promise seriously to speak true things, but then they speak false things <br/>· People who do any other wrong things. Things like that are the opposite of the right things that God teaches us.


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Those right things are part of the good news. This good news comes from God, who is so great and so good. God has chosen me to tell this good news to people. <n>Paul thanks Christ Jesus</n>


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I thank Christ Jesus our <i>Lord</i>, who chose me to work on his behalf. He believed that I would continue to obey him. And he has made me strong. 


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Before he chose me, I spoke bad things about him. I hurt his people and I caused great trouble for them. I said and did very bad things against Christ. But he was very kind and he chose not to remember those things. He chose not to <i>punish</i> me. He was kind because I did not believe him then. So, I did not know what I was doing. 


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Our <i>Lord</i> continued to be very, very good to me. He caused me to believe him. And he caused me to love other people as Christ Jesus loves them. These things happen to us when we are united to Christ Jesus.


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Here are some words that everyone should believe. Everyone should agree that these words are true. ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save people who do wrong things.’ And I am the worst of those people. 


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But, because I was the worst, God was kind to me. He wanted Christ Jesus to make me an example. Christ showed, by me, how completely patient he is. Christ made me an example to those people who would later believe him. Then, because they believed him, those people would live with God always. 


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God is the King who will rule always. He can never die. We cannot see him. He is the only God. Everyone should say always how very great he is! Everyone should do that always. This is true. <n>Verses 12-17 Before Paul (Saul) became a Christian, he caused a lot of trouble for Christians. He did not agree with what Christians believed. He did bad things to Christians. He thought that he was working for God. (See Acts 8:1-3; 9:1-2.) But later he became a Christian. And so he thought that God was very, very kind to save him. <n>Timothy must fight against wrong things in the <i>church</i></n>


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Timothy, you are like my own child. This is what I am telling you to do. People spoke words from God about you before, and you should remember those words. They will help you to fight well for what is true. You must be like someone who fights in a good war. 


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You must continue to believe God. And you must always do what you know to be right. Some people have known what is right. But they have refused to do it. As a result, they have completely stopped believing Christ. Their lives as believers are like ships that have sailed on to the rocks. 


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Hymenaeus and Alexander are like that. I have given them to <i>Satan</i> so that he has power over them. So then they can learn not to say bad things about God. <n>Verse 18 Some Christian leaders had prayed for Timothy at some time before Paul wrote this letter. (See 1 Timothy 4:14.) They had spoken words from God to Timothy. Perhaps God had said that he would make Timothy strong. Timothy needed to be strong so that he could be a Christian leader. <n>Timothy did not have to fight anyone and hurt them. Paul did not mean that. He meant that Timothy had to be strong for Christ. He had to live completely for Christ. He had to teach the true Christian message. That was how he could ‘fight’ against wrong things. (A very important way that Christians can fight against wrong things is to pray.) <n>Verses 19-20 Paul had told Hymenaeus and Alexander to leave the <i>church</i>. He wanted them to become ashamed of themselves. Outside the <i>church</i>, <i>Satan</i> has more power over people. Paul knew that <i>Satan</i> would not be kind to these men. He hoped that then they would learn to obey God. 


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So then, these are the most important things that I must ask you to do. Each of you should ask God to supply what others need. You must pray for everyone. You must ask God to help them. And you must thank God for what he has done for everyone. I strongly ask you to do these things. 


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You should pray for rulers and for everyone who has authority. You should pray for them, so that we may live our lives without trouble or danger. Then we can live for God. And we can always do what is right and proper in every way. 


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There is only one God. And there is one person who brings God and people together. That person is the man Christ Jesus. 


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He gave himself on behalf of all people, to make them free. Jesus died at the time that God thought was best. As a result of Jesus’ death, God showed that he wanted to save all people. 


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For this purpose, God chose me to be a special worker. He sent me to tell the message about Christ to those who do not belong to Israel’s people. I must teach them the true things about Jesus. I must teach them what they should believe. (I am telling you only what is true!)


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In every place where you meet together, then, I want the men to pray. They should live right lives for God and they should lift up their hands to pray. When they pray, they must not be angry. Nor must they quarrel with other people. <n>Paul teaches about Christian women</n>


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Also, I want the women to wear proper clothes. Women should wear clothes that do not show their bodies too much. A woman should not wear clothes that cause other people to be ashamed about her. Women should not do their hair in an expensive way that takes a lot of time. Nor should they wear gold or beautiful stones or expensive clothes. 


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Instead, women should do good things. Christian women say that they live for God. So, it is right for them to do good things. This is what makes them beautiful.


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A woman should learn quietly when you meet together. She should obey the men who teach in the <i>church</i>. 


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I do not let a woman teach men. And I do not let a woman take authority over a man. Instead, she should be quiet when the men are teaching. 


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It was Eve, not Adam, who believed <i>Satan</i>. She believed the false things that <i>Satan</i> said. And so she was the first to do what was wrong. <n>Verses 13-14 See Genesis 2:7, 21-23 and 3:1-6. 


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But God will save women who give birth to children. He will do that if the women continue to believe him. Also, they must continue to love people. They must continue to live right lives because they are God’s. And they must always do what is proper.


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These words are true: ‘It is good work to lead a <i>church</i>. So, it is good if someone wants to become a leader of the <i>church</i>.’ 


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A leader must live a good life. Then nobody can say anything bad about him. He must be the husband of one wife. He must think seriously and he must rule himself well. He must always do what is proper. He must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must be a good teacher. 


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He should not want to drink too much <i>wine</i>. He must not get angry quickly and fight people. But he should be kind. He should not be quick to quarrel with people. He must not want lots of money. 


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He must rule his own family well. He must cause his children to obey him. They should always <i>respect</i> people. 


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A man must know how to rule his own family. If he cannot do that, he certainly cannot <i>look after</i> God’s <i>church</i>.


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A leader should not be someone who has believed Christ for only a short time. Someone like that might think that he himself was more important than everyone else. Then God would have to <i>punish</i> him, as he had to <i>punish</i> the <i>Devil</i>. 


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Also, people outside the <i>church</i> should agree that the man is a good man. Then nobody can say anything to make him ashamed. And so, he will not come under the <i>Devil</i>’s power. <n>Verse 7 The <i>Devil</i> wants to stop people who are good Christian leaders. So, he is happy when other people say bad things about them. <n>Helpers in the <i>church</i></n>


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<i>Deacons</i> (other special helpers in the <i>church</i>) must also be careful to live good lives. People must <i>respect</i> them. They must always speak what is true. They must not drink too much <i>wine</i>. They must not want money so much that they do wrong things to get it. 


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They must really believe the things that God has shown to us about Christ. Also, while they believe, they must always be careful to do nothing wrong. 


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<i>Deacons</i> must first show the people in the <i>church</i> that they could do their work well. They must show everyone that they are good people. Then let them work as <i>deacons</i>. 


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<i>Deacons</i>’ wives must also be careful to live good lives. They must not say bad things about people. They must think seriously and they must rule themselves well. Everyone should know that they are honest and good in every way. <n>Verse 11 ‘Deacons’ wives’ could mean ‘women helpers’ instead. 


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A <i>deacon</i> must be the husband of one wife. He must rule his children well. He must also rule other people in his house well. 


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Those <i>deacons</i> who do their work well will cause everyone to think good things about them. And <i>deacons</i> like that will believe Christ Jesus more strongly. So, they will become braver. They will speak more strongly about what they believe.


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So even if I cannot come soon, you will know about God’s family. You will know how people in God’s family should live. That family is the <i>church</i> of God, who is alive. God’s <i>church</i> teaches people what is true. The <i>church</i> keeps those true things safe, just like strong parts of a building make that building strong and safe.


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The things that God has shown us about Jesus Christ are very great. Nobody can argue about that. <n>Christ lived in a human body. <n>God’s Spirit showed that he always did completely right things. <n><i>Angels</i> saw him. <n>People taught about him in countries where the people do not know God. <n>People in the world believed him. <n>God took him up to be with himself. <n>Verse 16 The second part of this verse may come from a Christian song that Paul knew. 


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But God’s Spirit tells us clearly that, in later times, some people will stop believing Jesus Christ. Instead, they will listen to bad <i>spirits</i> who want them to believe wrong things. Those people will obey what these bad <i>spirits</i> teach. 


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The bad <i>spirits</i> teach through bad men. Those men seem to be good, but really, they are bad. They say things that are not true. Those teachers have stopped knowing the difference between what is good or bad. 


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Those bad teachers say that it is wrong to marry. They tell people not to eat certain kinds of food. But God made those foods for people who believe Christ. Those people know what is true. Believers should eat those foods, and they should thank God for them. 


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Everything that God has made is good. And we should refuse nothing that God has made. But we should thank God for everything when we receive it. 


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Then those things become good and clean for us to use. They become clean because we have prayed. And God’s word also makes them good and clean. <n>Verse 5 The Christians may have included words from the Bible when they prayed to thank God for food. ‘God’s word’ in this verse may mean that. The Bible says that everything that God has made is good. (See Genesis 1:31.) <n>How Timothy can be a good servant of Christ</n>


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You must teach the believers to remember these things that I have just said. Then you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. You must continue to study the words of the Christian message. Continue to understand more of the true things about Christ that you have obeyed. Then you will become stronger for Christ. 


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But you must refuse to listen to silly stories that are not true. Stories like that are not from God. Continue to prepare yourself so that you live for God more and more completely. 


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A person may do sport to prepare his body to be strong and healthy. And that will help him a little. But if a person prepares himself to live for God more completely, that is even better. That will help him in everything. That person will live the kind of life that God has promised. This kind of life is not only for now, but also for always. 


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These words are true. Everyone should agree that these words are true. Everyone should believe them. 


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We work for God very much. We continue to work, through many difficulties, because we believe completely in God. We know that God is alive. And it is he who can save all people. Certainly, he saves everyone who believes him.


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You are still young. But let nobody think that they know better than you because of that. Be an example to the people who believe Christ. Be an example because of: <br/>· What you say <br/>· What you do <br/>· How you love people <br/>· How you believe God <br/>· How you always do only what is right.


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Until I come, be careful to continue doing these things. Read the Bible aloud to the people. Teach them to understand and to obey the message about Christ. 


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Do not stop using the gift that you have. God gave you that gift when people spoke messages from God about you. And the leaders of the <i>church</i> put their hands on you and they prayed for you. <n>Verse 14 God must have caused Timothy to be strong as a leader in a special way. That was the ‘gift’ that God gave to Timothy. <n>The Bible tells us that the Christians often put their hands on people. They did that when they prayed for people. (See, for example, Acts 8:17 and 13:3.) 


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Never stop doing these things. Do them all the time. So then, everyone will see that you are becoming better and stronger for Christ. 


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Think carefully about how you live. And think carefully about what you teach. You must continue to do all these things that I have said to you. Then God will save you yourself. And he will save those people who listen to you.


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Do not tell an older man strongly what he should do. But tell him kindly what you think. Tell him as you would tell your father. And speak to younger men like they were your brothers. 


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Speak to older women as you would speak to your mother. And speak to younger women like they were your sisters. Always be completely right and proper when you are with these women. <n><i>Widows</i> </n>


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If a <i>widow</i> has children or grandchildren, then they should help that <i>widow</i>. Those children or grandchildren should learn, before anything else, to do their duty to their own family. They should do this for God. In this way, they can give something back to their parents and their grandparents. That is what makes God happy. 


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A <i>widow</i> who is really alone has nobody to help her. So, she believes that God will be good to her. She continues to ask God to help her. She continues to pray, at night and during the day. 


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But a <i>widow</i> who lives only to enjoy herself is dead to God. Even while she lives, her <i>spirit</i> is dead. 


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A believer should supply what people in his own family need. Certainly, he should do that for the people who live with him. If anyone does not do that, then he has stopped really being a believer. That person is worse than someone who does not believe Christ.


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Do not include a <i>widow</i>’s name in the list of <i>widows</i> unless she is more than 60 years old. She must have been the wife of one husband. 


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People should know that she has done good things. She must have been a good mother to her children. She should have been happy to have visitors in her home. She should have helped God’s people. She should have been like a servant who washes their feet. She should have helped people who had trouble. She must have continued to do all kinds of good things. <n>Verse 9 There was a list of <i>widows</i> who needed the <i>church</i> to help them (for example, with food or money). <n>Verse 10 At that time, when people travelled somewhere, they usually walked. The roads were dirty and it was often hot. So, when they arrived at someone’s house, the travellers’ feet would be dirty. A servant or a slave in that house would usually wash the visitors’ feet. 


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Refuse to include younger <i>widows</i>’ names in the list, for this reason: When they want to have sex, they will want to marry again. They will want to marry more than they want to be Christ’s servants. Then they will stop being Christ’s servants. 


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So, they will not do what they had promised earlier to do for Christ. They will be wrong not to do that. And God will know that they are wrong. <n>Verse 12 The <i>church</i> helped <i>widows</i> if their names were on its list. But we think that those <i>widows</i> had to promise something. They had to promise to be Christ’s servant as a <i>widow</i>. So, they promised not to marry again. 


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They will also learn to be lazy. They will go about from house to house. And not only will they become lazy. They will also learn to talk too much. They will become busy talking wrongly about other people. And they will say things that they ought not to say. 


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So, I think that younger <i>widows</i> should marry. They should have children. And they should <i>look after</i> their homes. Then they will not give an enemy any chance to say bad things about them. 


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Some of the younger <i>widows</i> have already turned away from Christ, so that they can obey <i>Satan</i>.


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A woman who believes Christ should help any <i>widows</i> in her own family. Then the <i>church</i> will not have to do that work. So then the <i>church</i> can help those <i>widows</i> who are really alone. <n>Leaders called elders </n>


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Leaders called elders who do their job well are very important to the <i>church</i>. So, the <i>church</i> should <i>respect</i> them and it should pay them properly. Certainly, the <i>church</i> must do these things for elders who speak God’s message to you. The <i>church</i> should also do these things for elders who teach you. 


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The Bible says: ‘You must not put anything over a cow’s mouth when that cow is walking on the grain. You must not stop it eating some grain’ (Deuteronomy 25:4). The Bible also says: ‘You ought to pay a worker what he is worth’ (Luke 10:7). <n>Verse 17 Some people think that there was a difference between ‘elders’ and the other leaders. But they do not know what the difference was between ‘elders’ and the other leaders. Paul describes those other leaders in chapter 3 (see 3:1-7). They might be the same. Or elders may have been less important than those other leaders. <n>Verse 18 Grain is seeds that people use to make flour. People used cows to walk on the seeds. This made the seeds separate from the other parts of the plants, the parts that people cannot eat. While the cow worked, it could eat some of the seeds. Paul is saying that, like that cow, a good leader should receive something good for his work. 


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Somebody may say to you that an elder has done something wrong. But you must refuse to listen unless two or three people say the same thing. 


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If elders continue to do wrong things, you must tell them not to do those things. You must tell them when everyone in the <i>church</i> is present. So then, all the other people will be afraid to do things like that.


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I tell you that it is your duty to obey these rules and to teach them. God and Christ Jesus agree with what I am saying. The <i>angels</i> that God has chosen also agree. You must not decide what to do about anyone before you know the facts about them. You must never be kinder to one person than to another. 


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Do not hurry to put your hands on any man to make him a leader of the <i>church</i>. Perhaps that man has done something wrong. Then people might think that you agree with him. But have nothing to do with wrong things. Always do what is right and good. 


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Do not continue to drink only water, but drink a little <i>wine</i>. Do this to make your stomach well, because you are ill so often. <n>Verse 22 ‘Put your hands on’ someone means to pray for that person. 


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Some people do wrong things that everyone can see clearly. So everybody already knows that it is right to <i>punish</i> those people. But other people do wrong things secretly. Nobody knows about those wrong things until they discover about them later. 


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It is the same when people do good things. Many good things are clear for everyone to see. But even when people do good things secretly, nobody can continue to hide those things always.


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All slaves should always <i>respect</i> their own masters properly. So then, other people will not say bad things about God’s name. Neither will they say bad things about what believers teach. 


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Some slaves have masters who believe Christ. So, as believers, their masters are like their brothers. But those slaves must not refuse to obey their masters properly because of that. Instead, those slaves should work even better for them because their masters believe Christ. And the slaves should work better because they love their masters. Those slaves can help their masters if they work well for them. <n>Teach these things and ask the believers very strongly to obey them. <n>Paul writes again about wrong teachers</n>


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Some people may teach things that are wrong. Those people do not agree with the true words that our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ taught. They do not agree with what believers teach about how to live for God. 


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A person like that who teaches wrong things thinks wrongly. He thinks that he knows a lot more than anyone else. But he knows nothing. His mind is sick, so that he always wants to argue. He wants to quarrel about words. And so, people begin to want what other people have. People become angry with each other and they do not agree. They say and believe bad things about each other. 


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People go on arguing with each other. They do these things because their minds have become confused and bad. They can no longer understand what is true. They want to believe God so that they can get lots of money. That is how they think. <n>How we can become really rich</n>


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But God’s people should be happy with what they have. And they should really live for God. Then they are really rich. 


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When we were born, we brought nothing into this world. And when we die, we cannot take anything out of it. <n>Verse 6 ‘Really rich’ does not mean that Christians will have lots of money. It means that they will receive very good things from God, inside themselves. God will make their <i>spirits</i> strong and happy. He will always be there to help them. And they will live with him always. 


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But if people want lots of money, <i>Satan</i> easily gets power over them. And he causes them to want all kinds of bad things. Those bad things are things that only fools want. Those bad things will hurt them. Those things completely destroy people. 


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When people really want money, that causes all kinds of bad things to happen. Some people have stopped believing Christ because they want to get more and more money. But they have caused themselves to be sad because they have very many troubles. <n>Paul tells Timothy that he must continue to live for God</n>


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But you are a man who lives for God. So, you must have nothing to do with these bad things. Always try to do what is right. Live for God and believe him. Love other people. Continue to be brave and strong for Christ. And be kind to people. 


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You must be like someone who fights a good fight. You must fight against everything that could stop you living for Christ. Then you will certainly live with God always. God chose you to live with him. And you said that you believe the true things about Christ. You said that when many other people were present. Those people heard what you said.


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God knows that I am telling you this. And it is God who causes all things to be alive. Christ Jesus also knows what I am telling you. Jesus spoke about these true things when Pontius Pilate was present. 


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So, I tell you this. It is your duty to obey what I have told you to do. Obey carefully and completely. Then nobody can say that you have done anything wrong. Continue to obey those things until our <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ appears. 


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God will cause Christ to appear at the proper time. God is good, and he is the only ruler with all authority. He is the Greatest King and the Most Powerful <i>Lord</i>. 


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God is the only person who can never die. He lives in light that is very, very bright. It is so bright that people cannot go near it. No human person has ever seen God, and nobody can ever see him. Everyone should say always how great he is! He must rule always! This is true. <n>Verse 13 Pontius Pilate was a <i>Roman</i> officer. He ruled the part of Israel called Judea at the time when Jesus died. Jerusalem city, where Jesus died, was in Judea. Pilate had to decide whether Jesus should die. Jesus told Pilate that he (Jesus) was the King of the Jews (Israel’s people). But Pilate let Jesus die. (See Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:1-5; Luke 23:1-3 and John 18:33-37.) <n>Rich people must be careful how they live</n>


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Say this strongly to people who are rich now, in this world. Tell them not to think that they are more important than other people. They must not believe that they will be safe because of all their money and their valuable things. They could easily lose all those things. Instead, they should believe God. He gives us so many things so that we can enjoy them. 


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Tell the rich people to do good things. They should do many good things. That is how they should be rich. They should be ready to give things to other people. They should be happy to let other people have some of their own things. 


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Then they will be storing really valuable things for themselves in <i>heaven</i>. And those things will be important for the life to come. Then they will certainly live with God always. <n>Timothy must continue to teach the Christian message</n>


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Timothy, God has chosen to give you his message to tell people. You must be like someone who keeps that message safe. Stay away from people who say a lot of wrong things. Those things are not about God, and they mean nothing. Some people argue against what is true. They say that they know special, secret things. But they do not really know anything. 


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Some of the people who believe those secret things have stopped believing the true message about Christ. <n>I pray that God will continue to be very kind to you, Timothy, and to all those believers there with you.


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This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be a special worker for Christ Jesus. God sent me to tell people about the life that he has promised us because of Christ Jesus. We can live like this when we are united to Christ. 


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I am writing to you, Timothy. You are like my own child, and I love you. I pray that God the Father and Christ Jesus our <i>Lord</i> will be very kind and very good to you. I pray that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourself.


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When I pray, at night and during the day, I always remember to pray for you. And I thank God for you. My grandfathers <i>served</i> God in the right way. They knew what was right or wrong. And they always tried to do what was right. And I <i>serve</i> God like that too. 


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I remember how you really believe Christ. Your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, believed Christ before you did. And I am sure that you really believe him also. 


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For this reason, I want you to remember the gift that God gave you. He gave you that gift inside yourself when I put my hands on you. You must use that gift. You must make it grow stronger, like when a wind blows on a very small fire. The wind makes that small fire grow into a big fire. 


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Do this, because God has given us his Spirit. And his Spirit does not cause us to be afraid of things. Instead, he causes us to be powerful. He causes us to love God and other people. And he causes us to rule ourselves properly. <n>Verses 6-7 At some earlier time, the Christian leaders had put their hands on Timothy and they had prayed for him. (See 1 Timothy 4:14.) At that time, God had given Timothy a special gift. That gift must have been some special authority to be a leader and a teacher. That authority came from God’s Spirit. <n>Perhaps Timothy had been afraid to use that authority. So, Paul tells him that he must use it. He must be brave to teach the true Christian message. Then he will become stronger and stronger as a Christian teacher and leader. <n>Paul tells Timothy to be a brave teacher for Christ</n>


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So do not be ashamed of the message that we tell about our <i>Lord</i>. Neither be ashamed of me because I am in a prison. I am here because I <i>serve</i> Christ. Instead, be ready to have the same kind of trouble as I have. We have trouble because we tell people the good news about Christ. Let God make you strong when you have trouble. 


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God has saved us and he has chosen us to be his people. So, he wants us to be completely good and clean. He did not save us because of anything good that we have done. He did it because it was his own purpose. He did it because he is so very kind. He decided to be kind to us before time began. He decided to be kind by what Christ Jesus would do for us. 


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So now he has shown us how very kind he is. He has shown us because Christ Jesus has come. And it is Christ who saves us. He has destroyed death’s power over us. And he has shown that we can live with God always. We can have bodies that never die. He has shown that also. He has shown this by the good news that he brought.


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God has chosen me to tell this good news to people. He has sent me to be a special worker for Christ. He has chosen me to teach the Christian message to people. 


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That is why I have these troubles. But I am not ashamed, because I have believed Christ. I know him. He can keep safe what I have given him to keep safe. I am completely sure about that. He can keep it safe until that great day. <n>Verse 12 It is not completely clear what the second part of this verse means. It could mean ‘keep safe what I have given to him’. So Paul may be saying that he believes Christ to keep him (Paul) safe. Or it could mean ‘keep safe what he has given to me’. Christ had chosen Paul to teach his good news. So Paul may be saying that he believes Christ to keep that good news safe. <n>‘That great day’ means the day when Jesus will decide about everyone. He will decide what should happen to them after their death. He will decide that because of what they have done during their life on earth. 


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You have heard true words from me. Let those words be an example to you when you teach. And continue to believe God. Continue also to love God and other people. You can do these things because you are united to Christ. 


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God has given you a good thing (the true Christian message) to keep safe. You must not let anyone change it. God’s Spirit, who lives in us, will help you to keep it safe.


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You know that almost all the believers in Asia have turned against me. They include Phygelus and Hermogenes. <n>Verse 15 ‘Asia’ was in the west part of the country that we call Turkey. At that time, the <i>Romans</i> ruled Asia. Ephesus, where Timothy was the Christian leader, was the capital city of Asia. <n>Onesiphorus</n>


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I pray that the <i>Lord</i> will be kind to Onesiphorus’s family. He often helped me to be happier. He was not ashamed that I am in a prison. 


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I pray that the <i>Lord</i> will choose to be kind to Onesiphorus on that great day. You know very well how much he did for me in Ephesus. <n>Verse 18 Again, ‘that great day’ means the day when Jesus will decide about everyone. He will decide what should happen to them after their death. (See also verse 12.) 


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So you, who are like my own child, must continue to be strong. You must let God make you strong. He will be kind to you like this because you are united to Christ Jesus. 


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You have heard the things that I have taught. Many other people were with us when you heard those things. You must tell the same things to other men, who can teach well. You must be sure that these men are good and honest. Then they can teach those things to other people also.


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Be patient and brave through the troubles that we Christians have. Be like a good soldier for Christ Jesus. 


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A good soldier wants only to make his captain happy. So, that soldier does not let himself become busy with the things that other people do. He does only the things that soldiers do. 


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A farmer works very much to grow plants for food. So, he should be the first person to get some of that food. 


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Remember Jesus Christ. After Jesus had died, God caused him to become alive again. Jesus came from David’s family. These facts are part of the good news that I tell people. 


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And because I tell that good news, I have trouble. They have even tied me in a prison, like someone who has really done wrong things. But nobody can tie God’s message in a prison. Other people will still teach God’s message. <n>Verse 8 David was a great king of Israel’s people, about 1000 years before Christ came to this earth. (See, for example, 1 Samuel 16:1-13 and 2 Samuel 7:8-9; 8:15.) 


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So I continue to be patient and brave during all these troubles. I do this because of all the people that God has chosen. I do this so that they may believe Christ also. I do it so that God will save them by Christ Jesus. And they will live with God always, in the beautiful place where he lives. 


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Here are some words that everyone can believe: <n>‘If we have died with Christ, <n>we will also live with him.


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If we continue to be patient and brave during troubles, <n>we will also rule with him. <n>But we must not say that we do not know Christ. <n>Because then he will also say that he does not know us.


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If we turn away from him, <n>he will never turn away from us. <n>He cannot do anything that is against his own nature.’ <n>Verse 11 ‘If we have died with Christ’ does not mean that our bodies have died. Christ died on our behalf, for everything that we do wrong. So, we do not need to die because of those things. But we do need to believe that Christ died for us. And we must give ourselves completely to him, because he is our master. Then he causes us to become like new people, who have started new lives. Our old lives have finished. So, we are like people who have died. <n>Verses 11-13 These words may be part of a Christian song that Paul knew. <n>A good worker for God</n>


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Continue to tell these things to your people, so that they remember them. Tell them that they must not quarrel about words. Tell them seriously, because God hears you. To quarrel about words does not help anyone. But it destroys those people who listen.


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Always try to be the kind of person that God is happy about. Do everything that you can to be like that. Be a worker who has no reason to be ashamed of his work. Teach the true message correctly. 


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But stay away from people who talk about silly, wrong things. Those things do not help anyone and they do not come from God. Words like that cause people to do bad things. And those people will get worse all the time. 


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Words like that cause people who believe them to become like sick people. Those words cause people to get worse and worse. Hymenaeus and Philetus are people who talk like that. 


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They teach things that are different from the true message. They say that God has already caused all the dead people to become alive again. These men are confusing some Christians, so that those Christians do not know what to believe.


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But what God has done can never change. His work is strong, like the strong stones that people use under a big building. Those stones do not move, and they hold the whole building up. And God’s work has his mark on it. It is like a strong stone with these words on it: ‘The <i>Lord</i> knows who his own people are’ (Numbers 16:5). And: ‘Everyone who calls himself the <i>Lord</i>’s must stop doing wrong things’ (Isaiah 26:13).


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In a big house, there are different kinds of dishes. There are some dishes that people have made from gold or silver (another valuable metal). They use dishes like that only for special purposes. They do not let those dishes get dirty. There are also dishes that people have made from wood or clay (sticky material from the ground). They use those dishes for purposes that are not special. Those dishes may get very dirty. 


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It is like that with the <i>Lord</i>’s people. If they make themselves completely separate from bad, dirty things, then they will be like dishes for special, clean purposes. They will be ready for God to use them. He is like the master of the house. They will be ready for him to use them for any good work.


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Young people often want very much to do bad things. Have nothing to do with those bad things. Always try to do what is right. Continue to believe God. Love other people. And always try to be friendly to other people. Try not to argue with them. All those people who really love the <i>Lord</i> should do these things. Like you, those people pray to the <i>Lord</i> and they are really good inside themselves.


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Stay away from people who want to talk about silly questions. They are fools. You know that those questions cause people to quarrel. 


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And the <i>Lord</i>’s servant must not quarrel. Instead, he should be kind to everyone. He should be a good teacher. And he should be patient with people. 


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He should be kind to people who do not agree with him. He should teach them kindly what is correct. Maybe God will give them the chance to be sorry that they did not believe Christ. So then they may believe what is true. 


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And then they will start to think clearly. They will understand that <i>Satan</i> has been using them. He has caused them to do what he wanted. So then those people can get free from <i>Satan</i>’s power.


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Understand this! During the last days (before Christ returns to earth), there will be times of great trouble. 


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People will love only themselves. They will want lots of money. They will think that they are much more important than other people. And they will talk about how great they are. They will say bad things about other people. They will not obey their parents. They will not thank anyone. They will not think that other people, or God, are important. They will not do what is proper to other people. 


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People will not even love their own families. They will refuse to agree with other people. They will say wrong things about other people, things that are not true. They will be unable to rule themselves properly. They will be cruel like wild animals. They will be enemies of everything that is good. 


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People will turn against their friends. They will not think carefully before they do things. They will be completely sure that they are very, very important. They will not love God, but instead they will want very much to enjoy themselves. 


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Those people will seem to <i>worship</i> God. But really, they will refuse to let God work in them. You must stay away from people like that.


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Among those people, there are some men who get into people’s homes. They get power over silly women. These women have done many wrong things. They cannot stop themselves. They let themselves do wrong things because they want all kinds of things so much. 


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These women are always trying to learn new things. But they can never really understand God’s true message. 


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Jannes and Jambres tried to stop Moses because they were his enemies. In the same way, these men are enemies of God’s true message. Their minds have become confused and bad. They have failed to believe what is true. 


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But they will not continue to do many more bad things. Because everyone will see clearly that they are fools. That is just what happened to Jannes and Jambres. <n>Verses 8-9 The Bible does not include the names Jannes and Jambres. But Israel’s people believed that they were men from Egypt, many years ago. They did magic (things that people cannot usually do) for the king of Egypt. (See Exodus 7:11-12, 22; 8:7, 18-19; 9:11.) <n>Timothy must follow Paul’s example</n>


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But you know everything about what I have taught. You know how I have lived. You know my purpose. You know how I believe God. You know how patient I have been. You know that I love God and other people. I have continued to work for God, even during troubles. You know that. 


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You know how people caused all kinds of trouble for me in the cities called Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. They hurt me very much. I was brave when I had such bad troubles! But the <i>Lord</i> saved me from all these dangers. <n>Verse 11 See Acts 13:50; 14:1-6, 19-20. Timothy’s home was in Lystra (see Acts 16:1-5). 


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People who are united to Christ Jesus want to live for God. But certainly, other people will cause trouble for them. 


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Some bad people will cause other people to believe things that are not true. These bad people, and all other bad people, will become worse and worse. And they themselves will also believe things that are not true. <n>It is important for us to know the Bible</n>


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But you must continue to believe the things that you have learned. You know that those things are true. Remember who taught you those things. 


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You have known the Bible from when you were a child. The Bible can cause you to understand how God can save us. He can save us when we really believe Christ Jesus. 


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Everything that the Bible says comes from God’s Spirit. And we can use the Bible to teach what is true. We can use it to tell people when they are doing wrong things. It shows them what is right. Also, with the Bible, we can teach people how to live good lives. 


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As a result, a person who lives for God can know how to live properly. He will have everything that he needs to do every kind of good work. <n>Verse 15 At that time, people would have known only the first part of the Bible, called the Old Testament. That part describes what happened before Jesus came to the earth. 


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When Christ Jesus comes to rule as king, he will decide about all the people. He will decide about the people who are alive. He will decide also about the people who have died. He will decide what should happen to them. He will decide that because of what each person has done during their life. Because of this, I am speaking very seriously to you. God and Christ know that I am telling you this. So, I tell you to do this, which is your duty. 


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You must tell God’s message to people. Always be ready to tell it. Continue to tell it, whether people want to listen to you or not. Tell people when they are doing something wrong. Tell them that they must stop doing wrong things. Explain to them what they ought to do. Be very patient while you teach them.


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A time will come when people will not listen to the true message about Christ. Instead, they will want to hear all kinds of different messages. So they will find more and more teachers for themselves. And those teachers will tell the people what they want to hear. 


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People will refuse to listen to the things that are true. Instead, they will want to listen to false stories. 


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But you yourself must continue to think seriously and clearly. Be patient and brave during troubles. Continue to tell the good news about Christ to people. As God’s servant, do all the work that he has given you to do. <n>Paul says that he will die soon</n>


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Do this, because it is nearly time for me to die. It is time for me to be like an <i>offering</i> to God, like the drink <i>offering</i> that they pour out. Very soon, I will go to God. <n>Verse 6 Israel’s people <i>worshipped</i> God in a special house. They offered gifts to him there, and these gifts included <i>wine</i>. They poured out the <i>wine</i> when they offered it to God. (See, for example, Numbers 15:5, 7, 10 and 28:7.) Paul is saying that this drink is like a picture of himself. His life on earth will soon end. He has lived for God, and now he is ready to die for God. 


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I have <i>served</i> Christ properly, like someone who does athletics to win. I have finished everything that God wanted me to do. I have done everything, like a runner who has run to the end of the path. I have continued to believe God and I have obeyed him. 


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So now a gift is waiting for me, like the crown (a special hat) that a winner gets. The <i>Lord</i> will make me completely right and happy. This will be like a crown that the <i>Lord</i> will give me. The <i>Lord</i> is completely right when he decides about people. And he will give me the crown on that great day when he does decide. He will not give a crown to me only. He will give crowns also to all the people who want him to come very much. <n>Verse 8 At that time, people often gave a crown (a special hat) to somebody who had won in athletics. So Paul is using the crown as a picture of what God will give his people. God will give a gift to everyone who really belongs to Christ. That gift is that we will always be completely right and happy. And we will live with him always. <n>Paul’s last words to Timothy</n>


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Demas has left me. He wanted very much the things that he can enjoy now, in this world. And he has gone to Thessalonica city. Crescens has gone to Galatia. Titus has gone to Dalmatia. <n>Verse 10 Paul writes about a man called Demas in Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 24 also. We do not know if this Demas was the same person. Thessalonica was a city in the north part of the country that we call Greece. <n>We do not know who Crescens was. Galatia was the east part of the country that we call Turkey. <n>Titus was a man who had worked with Paul to teach the Christian message. (See, for example, Galatians 2:1; 2 Corinthians 2:13; 7:6; Titus 1:4-5.) Dalmatia was where the country called Albania is now (north and west from Greece). 


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Only Luke is with me. Fetch Mark and bring him with you. He can be a help to me with the work for God. 


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But I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus city. <n>Verse 11 Luke had travelled and worked with Paul. He wrote the books in the Bible called Luke and Acts. (See, for example, Acts 16:10-13; Colossians 4:14; Philemon 24.) <n>Mark (also called John) was perhaps the same person who had travelled with Paul earlier. (See Acts 13:5, 13.) <n>Paul may have sent the man called Tychicus to Ephesus city to continue Timothy’s work there. 


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I left my coat with Carpus at Troas city. Bring it when you come. Also bring the books. If you cannot bring all of them, then bring my special books only. <n>Verse 13 Troas was a city on the west coast of the country that we call Turkey. 


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Alexander, the man who makes things from metal, caused a lot of trouble for me. The <i>Lord</i> will <i>punish</i> him because of the wrong things that he did. 


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You must also be careful that he does not cause trouble for you. He argued very strongly against our message.


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I had to speak to the people with authority who put me in prison. I had to explain to them why I had done nothing wrong. And the first time that I had to speak to them, nobody came with me to help me. Everybody left me. I hope that God will not be angry with them because of that. 


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But the <i>Lord</i> stayed with me. He made me strong so that I could tell all his message. Then all the people from many countries could hear it. So the <i>Lord</i> saved me from great danger. 


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The <i>Lord</i> will save me from every bad thing. And he will bring me safely to his home above the earth, where he rules. Everyone should always say how very great he is! Everyone should do that always. This is true.


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Erastus remained at Corinth city. I left Trophimus at Miletus city because he was sick. <n>Verse 19 Priscilla and her husband, Aquila, had met Paul at Corinth city. (See Acts 18:1-3.) Then they went with Paul to Ephesus and they stayed there for some time. (See Acts 18:18-26 and 1 Corinthians 16:19.) Later they went to Rome (see Romans 16:3-4). They must have been in Ephesus again when Paul wrote this letter. <n>Paul writes about Onesiphorus in 1:16. <n>Verse 20 The Bible includes the name ‘Erastus’ in Acts 19:22 and Romans 16:23. We do not know whether this Erastus was the same person. Corinth was a city in the south part of the country that we call Greece. <n>Acts 20:4-5 and 21:29 include the name ‘Trophimus’. We do not know whether this Trophimus was the same person. Miletus was an important city on the coast, south from Ephesus (in Turkey). 


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Try very much to come before the winter. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia say ‘hello’ to you. All the other believers here also say ‘hello’.


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I pray that the <i>Lord</i> will continue to make you strong in your <i>spirit</i>. I pray that he will be kind to all of you.


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This letter is from me, Paul. I am God’s servant and I have to obey him completely. And I am a special worker and teacher on behalf of Jesus Christ. God has sent me to help the people that he has chosen. I help those people to believe God more completely. I help them so that they will understand the true message about Christ completely. So then they will know the things that they should do to make God happy. 


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As a result of this true message, those people will hope certainly that they will live with God always. God has promised that his people will live with him always. He promised that before the world began. And God always says only things that are true. 


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Then, at the proper time, God caused people to know what he had promised. God’s servants started to tell his message to people. And God, our <i>Saviour</i>, has given this work to me also. He has said that I must tell his message to people.


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I am writing to you, Titus. You are like my own child because we both believe the same things about Christ. I pray that God, the Father, and Christ Jesus, our <i>Saviour</i>, will be very kind to you. I pray that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourself. <n>Titus’s work on the island called Crete</n>


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I asked you to stay on Crete so that you could do certain things. Some things there are not as they should be. You must cause those things to become as they should be. Also, you must choose elders (leaders) for the Christians in every town, as I told you.


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A leader must do what is good. So then, nobody can say anything bad about him. He must be the husband of only one wife. His children must be <i>believers</i>. They must always do what is right and proper. Everyone should know that a leader’s children always obey him. 


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A leader has authority for God’s work on God’s behalf. So, nobody should ever be able to say anything bad about him. A leader must not think that he himself is very important. He must not always be causing other people to do what he wants. He must not become angry easily. He must not be a drunk. He must not be a person who likes to fight. He must not want money so much that he does wrong things to get it. 


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Instead, he must be happy to have visitors in his home. He must really want to do good things. He must rule himself well. He must do what is right. He must want always to make God happy. He must always do what is proper.


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A leader must continue to believe strongly the true Christian message, as we taught it. So he will be able to teach true and right things to people. So then, he will help people to believe Christ more strongly. A leader like that will also be able to speak to people who argue against the Christian message. So, those people will know certainly that they are wrong. <n>Titus must not let the Christians on Crete believe false teachers</n>


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There are many people who refuse to obey anyone. They teach false things that are worth nothing. They want people to believe those false things. They certainly include the teachers who want to <i>circumcise</i> all Christian men. <n>Verse 10 Some <i>Jewish</i> Christians may have taught that the Christians on Crete must obey the <i>Jews</i>’ rules. They may have taught that people should circumcise all the Christians. To ‘circumcise’ means to cut off the skin that covers the end of the sex part of a boy or of a man. God had told Abraham that he must do this. (See Genesis 17:9-14.) <n>The <i>Jews</i> circumcised men and boys to show that Israel’s people were God’s people. But the Bible does not say that Christians need to do that. We are God’s people because Christ died for us. The Bible does not say that all Christian men should cut their bodies. 


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You must not let those people teach those false things. They are teaching things that they should not teach. So, they are causing whole families to stop believing the true message. Those false teachers’ purpose is bad. They are teaching only because they want people to give them money. 


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Many years ago, one great teacher who lived on Crete spoke like this about his own people. ‘People who live on Crete are always doing bad things. They are always saying things that are not true. They are like dangerous wild animals. They are lazy and they eat too much food.’


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What that man said is true. So, you must speak to those people who believe false things. Tell them very strongly that they are wrong. Tell them, so that they may believe the true Christian message. 


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They must stop listening to those <i>Jewish</i> stories that are not true. They must stop listening to people who have refused to believe the true message. They must stop obeying the human ideas that those people tell them. 


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For people who have clean <i>spirits</i> and minds, everything is clean and good. But for people who have dirty <i>spirits</i> and minds, nothing is clean or good. The same thing is true about people who refuse to believe God’s true message. Those people cannot think good thoughts. Even their <i>consciences</i> have become like something dirty. 


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Those bad people say that they know God. But they do bad things that God <i>hates</i>. So, everyone can see that those people do not really know God. They refuse to obey God and they are unable to do anything good.


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Tell the older men that they must rule themselves well. They must think seriously. They must always do what is proper. They must continue to believe Christ strongly. They must love other people and they must continue to be patient and brave.


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Also, tell the older women what they must do. They must always do right and proper things, as God’s people should do. They must never say bad things about people. They must not be drunks. They must teach what is good. 


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So then, they can teach the young women what they must do. The young women must love their own husbands and their own children. 


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The young women must always do what is proper. They must think clean thoughts and they must do good things. They must be good housewives. They must be kind and they must obey their own husbands. So then, nobody will be able to say bad things about God’s message because of what the young women do.


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You yourself must always do good things. So you will show the young men what they should do. When you teach, be honest and serious. 


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Teach things that are correct. So, nobody will be able to say that you are wrong. And so our <i>enemies</i> will be ashamed, because they cannot say anything bad about us.


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Tell the slaves that they must obey their masters always. They must make their masters happy. They must not argue with their masters. 


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Slaves must not rob their masters. Instead, slaves must always do properly what their masters have asked them to do. So people will see that those slaves are always good. So, as a result, everyone will like the message that we teach. They will like it because it has changed those servants. That message about God, our <i>Saviour</i>, is very good. And people will know that it is good. <n>We must do right things because Christ died to make us God’s own people</n>


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God has shown us how very kind he is. He has shown us that, because he came to <i>save</i> all people. 


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And because God is so kind, he teaches us to do right things. We should stop doing bad things that do not make God happy. We should stop wanting strongly the things that belong to this world. Instead, God teaches us to rule ourselves properly. He teaches us to do what is right. He teaches us to do the things that make him happy. We should do these good things while we live in this world.


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We should do these good things while we wait for Jesus to return. This is our hope that makes us happy. On that good day, Jesus will certainly show everyone how very great he is. Jesus Christ is our great God and <i>Saviour</i>. 


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He gave himself for us. So he made us free from every bad thing, so that we could be completely good and clean inside ourselves. So then, we could become his own special people, who really want to do good things.


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You should teach these things, with all authority. Tell the Christians strongly the things that they must do. Tell them the things that they must not do. Do not let anyone think that they know better than you.


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Your people must obey the rulers and the government. Tell them that they must remember that. They must obey everyone who has authority over them. They must be ready always to do what is good. 


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They should never say bad things about anyone. They should not quarrel with people, but instead they should be patient and friendly. They should always be polite and kind to everyone.


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Before we believed Christ, we ourselves were fools too. We did not obey God or anyone. We believed things that are not true. We wanted to do many kinds of bad things. We could not stop ourselves. We were always bad. We were always angry about other people because we wanted to be like them. Other people <i>hated</i> us, and we <i>hated</i> each other. 


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But then God, our <i>Saviour</i>, did something to help us. He showed us how much he loves all people.


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God did not <i>save</i> us because of any good things that we ourselves had done. Instead, he <i>saved</i> us because he himself is very kind. God has washed us so that we are completely clean in our <i>spirits</i>. His Spirit has caused us to be born again, so that we have become new people. 


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God did that because he is very kind. He did it so that he could make us right with him. So then, we could hope certainly that we will live with God always. That is what God has promised to his people. 


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These words are certainly true. <n>I want you to teach these things strongly. I want you to be sure that the people understand these things. So then, the people who have believed God will be careful to do good things. They should think always about good things that they can do. Those good things will help everyone.


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But stay away from people who argue about silly questions and about lists of people’s families’ names from years ago. Refuse to quarrel. Refuse to argue about God’s rules. Those kinds of things are not good and they do not help anyone. 


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Some people may teach things that are different from the true message. Anyone who teaches false things like that can cause the Christians not to agree with each other. So, you must tell him that he must stop. If he does not stop, you must tell him one more time. Then, if he still does not stop, stay away from him. 


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You know that a person like that has chosen not to believe the true message. He is doing what is wrong. And he knows that. But he continues to do what is wrong. <n>Paul hopes to meet Titus at Nicopolis</n>


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I will send either Artemas or Tychicus to you. After one of them has arrived, try very much to meet me at the city called Nicopolis. I have decided that I will stay at Nicopolis during the winter. <n>Verse 12 Tychicus was a man who had travelled with Paul. (See Acts 20:4, Ephesians 6:21-22, Colossians 4:7 and 2 Timothy 4:12.) We do not know who Artemas was. <n>Nicopolis was a city on the west coast of the country that we call Greece. 


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Zenas, who is a <i>lawyer</i>, and Apollos will leave Crete soon. Do everything that you can to help them. So then, they will have everything that they need for their journey. <n>Verse 13 A lawyer is someone who knows about a government’s rules. <n>The name ‘Apollos’ is also in Acts 18:24; 19:1 and 1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:4; 16:12. 


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Our Christian people must learn to do good things always. They should help to supply the things that people really need. Then the Christians will not be lazy and they will not waste their time.


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Everyone who is here with me says ‘hello’ to you. Say ‘hello’ on our behalf to those Christians there who love us. I pray that God will continue to be very kind to all of you.


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I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am in prison because I am Christ Jesus’s servant. Timothy, who is like our brother, is here with me also. <n>We are writing this letter to you, Philemon. You are our friend, that we love. And you work on behalf of Christ, as we do. 


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We say ‘hello’ also to you, Apphia, who are like a sister to us. And we say ‘hello’ to you, Archippus. You work like a soldier on behalf of Christ, as we do. We say ‘hello’ also to the group of Christians who meet in your home.


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We pray that God, our Father, and the <i>Lord</i> Jesus Christ will continue to be very kind to you. We pray that they will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. <n>Paul thanks God because of Philemon</n>


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I thank God because people tell me good things about you. You love and believe the <i>Lord</i> Jesus. And you love all God’s people. 


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I pray that you may always be ready to talk to other people about Christ. Talk to them about what you believe. So then you will understand more completely every good thing that is ours because of Christ. 


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My friend, you have been kind to God’s people. You have helped them and you have made them happy. I know that you love Jesus and all God’s people. That makes me very happy. And it makes me feel much braver and stronger. <n>Verse 6 It is not completely clear what this verse means. It could also mean something like this: ‘Many good things are ours because of Christ. I pray that you will understand all those good things more and more completely. So then you will really be able to help God’s people. You will talk to them about what you believe. And so they will know how great Christ is.’ <n>Paul asks Philemon to help Onesimus</n>


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There is something that you ought to do. I could tell you that you must do it. I could tell you that clearly, with the authority that comes from Christ. 


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But I am not telling you that you must do it. Instead, I am asking you to do it because you love people. I am Paul, and I am an old man. Also, I am in prison now because I am Christ Jesus’s servant. 


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So I am asking you on behalf of Onesimus, who is like my own child. I taught him about Jesus while I was in prison. And now he has become really alive because he believes Jesus. So he is like my own child. 


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Before, Onesimus did not help you. But now he can help both you and me. <n>Verse 10 The name Onesimus means ‘a person who helps other people’. 


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I wanted to keep him here with me while I am in prison. I am in prison because I taught people the good news about Jesus. If you were here, you would have helped me. I know that. And I wanted Onesimus to help me on your behalf. 


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But I wanted to ask you first. I did not want to do anything unless you agreed. I did not want you to think that you had to help me. I did not want you to help me because you thought like that. Instead, I wanted you to help me because you really want to help.


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You can have him back again not only as your slave. Now he can be something much better than a slave. He can be like a brother, that you love. I love Onesimus very much. But you will love him even more than I do. You will love him as a slave and you will love him also as a brother. He is like a brother to you because you and he are both the <i>Lord</i>’s people.


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I am your friend, who works with you. If you think about me as a friend like that, then please say ‘welcome’ to Onesimus. Be happy that he has come back to you. And be kind to him. If I came to meet you, you would say ‘welcome’ to me. And you would be happy to meet me. Be happy about him in the same way. 


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If Onesimus has done anything wrong to you, I will make it right again. If he ought to pay you some money, I will pay the money to you on his behalf. 


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I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay the money back to you. But remember how very much you yourself have received from me. You have become really alive by Jesus Christ because I taught you about him.


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So, my friend, I really want you to help me, because we are both the <i>Lord</i>’s. Help me, so that I can feel stronger and happier. Help me because we are both united to Christ. 


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I write to you because I am sure about you. You will do what I ask. I am sure about that. Also, I know that you will do even more than this. <n>Paul finishes his letter</n>


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I want to ask you one more thing. Please prepare a room in your home where I can stay. I know that all of you are praying about me. I hope that, as a result, they will let me go out of prison. Then I will be able to visit you again.


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Epaphras is also here in prison with me because he is Christ Jesus’s servant. Epaphras says ‘hello’ to you. 


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Many years ago, God spoke to our grandfathers (<i>Israel</i>’s people) by the prophets (people who spoke God’s messages). He spoke many times and in many different ways. 


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But in these last times, he has spoken to us by his Son. In the beginning, God made the whole world and everything that there is by his Son. And God has chosen that everything should be his Son’s. 


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The Son shines with the bright light that comes from God. The Son’s nature is a copy of God’s nature. He shows us completely what God is like. The Son’s powerful word causes everything in the world to continue. The Son himself made it possible for us to be clean from everything that we do wrong. After he had done that, he sat down in <i>heaven</i>. He sat at the right side of God, who is the greatest ruler, with all authority. <n>Verse 3 Jesus sits ‘at the right side of God’. The right side (or right hand) is like a picture of the most important place. This means that Jesus rules with the same power and authority as God himself. <n>God’s Son is greater than the <i>angels</i></n>


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God has caused his Son to be much greater and much better than the <i>angels</i>. God has given him a much greater and much better name than the <i>angels</i>’ names. 


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God never spoke like this to any <i>angel</i>: <n>‘You are my Son. Today I have given you the <i>honour</i> that goes with that name.’ [Psalm 2:7] <n>Nor did God speak like this to any <i>angel</i>: <n>‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.’ [2 Samuel 7:14] 


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But when God brings his first, greatest Son into the world, he says this about him: <n>‘All God’s <i>angels</i> must <i>worship</i> him.’ [Deuteronomy 32:43] [Psalm 97:7] 


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God speaks about the <i>angels</i> like this: <n>‘God makes his <i>angels</i> like winds. <n>He makes his servants like fires that burn.’ [Psalm 104:4] 


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But God speaks to his Son like this: <n>‘You are God and you will never stop ruling! <n>You rule as king. And you always do what is right and good.


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You love what is right. And you hate what is wrong. <n>That is why I have chosen you. I am your God and I have chosen you. <n>I have chosen you to be much greater and much happier than those who are with you.’ <n>[Psalm 45:6-7] <n>Verse 9 To hate means to not like something strongly or completely. To hate is the opposite of when you love something or someone. 


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God also speaks like this about the Son: <n>‘<i>Lord</i>, you made the earth in the beginning. <n>You yourself made the skies also.


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The earth and the skies will come to an end, but you will continue always. <n>They will all become old, just as clothes become old.


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You will cause them to roll up, like someone rolls up an old coat to put it away. You will change them as people change clothes. <n>But you will always be the same. Your life will never come to an end.’ <n>[Psalm 102:25-27] 


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God has never spoken like this to any of the <i>angels</i>: <n>‘Sit at my right side until I make an end to your enemies. <n>I will make them like a place where you rest your feet.’ [Psalm 110:1] 


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All the <i>angels</i> are <i>spirits</i> who are only God’s servants. He sends them to help all the people that he will save.


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So we ought to be very careful. We must continue to remember the true words that we have heard. Then we will not go in the wrong direction, away from God. 


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The message that God spoke by <i>angels</i> was certainly powerful. God <i>punished</i> people when they did not obey his rules. It was right that he <i>punished</i> those people.


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So we must think even more about how God saved us. He has done great things for us. If we forget those things, we cannot get away from God. He will certainly <i>punish</i> us. The <i>Lord</i> Jesus himself first told everyone that God would save people. And then the people who heard him told us. They showed us that this message was certainly true. 


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God also showed that this message was true. He did all kinds of great and powerful things that surprised people. He also gave people gifts by the <i>Holy</i> Spirit, as he chose. <n>Verse 2 The Bible says that an <i>angel</i> had spoken God’s rules to Moses on Sinai mountain many years ago. (See Exodus 19 and 20, Acts 7:38, 53 and Galatians 3:19.) <n>Verse 3 The writer wrote this letter only 30-40 years after Jesus died. The writer, and the Christians that he was writing to, had heard about Jesus from other people. But those other people had met Jesus himself. They had listened to him while he taught them. <n>Jesus became like us to save us</n>


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God did not choose <i>angels</i> to rule over the world that will come. And that world is what we are talking about. 


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But God has included in the Bible the words that follow. They are certainly true: <n>‘Men and women do not seem very important, <i>Lord</i>, but you think about them. <n>They are only human people, but they matter to you.


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You made them less important than the <i>angels</i> for a short time. <n>But then you made them great and powerful, like kings.


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You caused them to rule completely over everything.’ <n>[Psalm 8:4-6] <n>It says that God has caused people to rule over everything. So there is nothing that people do not have authority to rule over. We do not see people rule over everything yet. 


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But we do see Jesus! God made him less important than the <i>angels</i> for a short time. And now God has made him the great and powerful king because he died. God is so very kind, that he sent Jesus to die on behalf of all people. <n>Verse 9 The writer is saying that the words from Psalm 8 (in verses 6-8) are speaking about Jesus. The writer shows us many words from the Old Testament (the first part of the Bible) like this. 


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God made all things for himself and he causes all things to continue. God’s purpose was to bring many people to himself. He wanted them to live with him always as his children. Jesus leads us to God. He saves us from the results of everything that we do wrong. God had to let Jesus have trouble and pain in this world. He caused Jesus to become everything that was necessary to save us. 


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Jesus makes people completely good and clean inside themselves. Both Jesus and all the people that he makes good and clean have the same Father. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call all those people his brothers and sisters. 


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He says this to God about it: <n>‘I will speak loudly about you to my brothers and sisters. <n>When all your people meet together, I will sing songs to you. I will say how great you are.’ [Psalm 22:22] 


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He also says this: <n>‘I will believe that God will help me.’ [Isaiah 8:17] <n>He also says this: ‘Here I am, with the children that God has given me.’ [Isaiah 8:18] <n>Verse 12-13 Again the writer takes words from the Old Testament (the first part of the Bible) to speak about Jesus. They show that Jesus thinks about us as his family. He became human, like us. As a man, Jesus had to believe that God would bring him through great trouble, and death. 


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So Jesus speaks about people as his children. And because we all have human bodies, Jesus himself became human like us. So then he died to destroy the <i>Devil</i> and the <i>Devil</i>’s power over death. 


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It is clear that Jesus did not come to help the <i>angels</i>. He came to help all those people who are Abraham’s family. Those people really believe God, like Abraham believed him. <n>Verse 14 The <i>Devil</i> is the bad <i>spirit</i> who wants to be God. He is the ruler of bad <i>angels</i> and of everything that is bad. He is the enemy of Christians. <n>Verse 16 Abraham was the grandfather of <i>Israel</i> and of all <i>Israel</i>’s people. He chose to believe God, even when that was very difficult. So, he is also like the father of everyone else who really believes God. (See Chapter 11:8-12, 17-19 and Genesis 15:1-6.) 


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For this reason, Jesus became completely like us, because we are his brothers and sisters. He became our kind, <i>chief priest</i>, who understands us. He always obeys God and he <i>serves</i> God on our behalf. Jesus died so that God could <i>forgive</i> us. God needs to <i>forgive</i> us for everything that we do wrong. So Jesus has brought us near to God. 


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The <i>Devil</i> (God’s enemy) tried to make Jesus himself do wrong things. But Jesus did not do anything wrong because he never stopped obeying God. So now, he can help us not to do wrong things.


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You Christians are like my brothers and sisters because you are God’s people too. God wants all of us to be with him in <i>heaven</i>. You must think seriously about Jesus. We Christians say that we believe Jesus. And God has sent him to be our <i>chief priest</i>. 


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Jesus did everything that God sent him to do, just like Moses. Moses obeyed God while he worked among all God’s people many years ago. 


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But someone who has built a house is much more important than the house itself. And it is like that with Jesus. Jesus has done much greater things than Moses did. 


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Moses obeyed everything that God told him. He was a servant to all God’s people. He was like a servant in God’s house. He spoke about the things that God would say in future times. 


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But Christ obeyed God because he is his Son. He is the master of God’s house and we belong to his house. We are God’s people if we continue to believe Jesus. So we must be brave. We must go on being sure about what we hope for, until the end. <n>A place where God’s people can rest</n>


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God’s Spirit, who is completely good, speaks to us like this: <n>‘You must listen when you hear God speak today. 


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Do not refuse to listen to him. <n>Do not be like <i>Israel</i>’s people many years ago, when they refused God. They refused to believe him, in that dry, sandy place.


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There your grandfathers tried to make God do what they wanted. <n>For 40 years, they saw the great things that God did for them. But they refused to believe him. They refused to wait for him.


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So that is why God was angry with all those people. <n>“They always want to do what is wrong”, he said. “They refuse to obey me.


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I am very angry with them. <n>So, I promise this and it will not change: I prepared a place for them to rest. But they will never arrive at the place that I prepared for them.” ’ <n>[Psalm 95:7-11] <n>Verse 7-11 Many years before, Moses led <i>Israel</i>’s people away from Egypt, where they had been slaves. God wanted to bring the people to their own country, where they could make new homes. He wanted them to rest there. He wanted them to be happy. But they had to walk a long way through a dry, sandy place to get there. The people were often angry with God. Many times, they would neither believe God nor obey him. (See, for example, Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 14:1-35.) So God did not let those people go into the country that he had promised them. He waited 40 years, until all of them were dead. Only their children arrived in the new country. 


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So be careful, you Christians, who are like my brothers and sisters. Be careful that none of you refuses to believe God. If anyone is really bad deep inside themselves, they will turn away. They will go away from God, who is alive. 


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So help each other every day to go on believing. Do that each day, because the word ‘today’ means ‘now’ for us. Then none of you will want to refuse God because of wrong things. We can tell ourselves that wrong things are not very bad. But if we do wrong things, we are fools. 


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When we became Christians, we believed strongly. We must go on being sure about Christ like that until the end. Then we will <i>share</i> in everything that is his. 


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We have seen what the Bible says: <n>‘You must listen when you hear God speak today. Do not refuse to listen to him. <n>Do not be like <i>Israel</i>’s people many years ago, when they refused to obey God.’ <n>[Psalm 95:7-8] 


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This speaks about all the people that Moses led away from Egypt. They heard God speak. But they refused to listen to him. 


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God was angry with those people for 40 years. They did what was wrong. So they died in that dry, sandy place. 


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God also spoke this serious promise: ‘I prepared a place for them to rest. But they will never arrive at the place that I prepared for them.’ [Psalm 95:11] <n>He was speaking about those people who refused to obey him. 


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God promised his people a place where they could rest. And that promise is still true for us. So we should be very careful. We want all of you to arrive there. We do not want any of you to fail. 


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Certainly, we have heard the good news, just like the people with Moses heard it. But they failed to believe what they heard. So the message did not help them. 


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We who believe that message will arrive in that place. And then we will rest with God. It is as God said: <n>‘I am very angry with them. <n>So, I promise this and it will not change: I prepared a place for them to rest. But they will never arrive at the place which I prepared for them.’ [Psalm 95:11] <n>God said that. But he had finished his work when he made the world. 


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In the Bible God has spoken about the seventh day. <n>‘God rested from all his work on the seventh day’, the Bible says. [Genesis 2:2] 


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As we saw before, God also said later: ‘I prepared a place for them to rest. But they will never arrive at the place which I prepared for them.’ [Psalm 95:11] 


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Those people who heard the good news first, refused to obey God. So they did not go to rest with him. But God’s promise is still true for other people. Other people can go and rest with him. 


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So God chose another special time and he called it ‘today’. He spoke by David a long time after Moses. As we have already seen, he said: <n>‘You must listen when you hear God speak today. Do not refuse to listen to him.’ <n>[Psalm 95:7-8] 


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Joshua did not bring the people to the place where they could rest. So God had to speak again later. He had to speak about another day. 


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There is still a place ready for God’s people, where they can rest completely. They will rest like God rested on the seventh day. 


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God rested after he had finished his work. And it is the same for everyone who goes to rest with God. They will rest after they have finished their own work. <n>Verse 8 After Moses died, Joshua led <i>Israel</i>’s people. (See Joshua 1:1-2.) He led them into the country that God had promised their parents. <i>Israel</i>’s people lived there, in their own country, for several hundred years. But that country was only like a picture of what God wants to give us. He was not really talking about a place on earth where we could rest. He wants us to rest with him always, after our lives on earth. Also, he wants us to rest inside ourselves, even during our lives here on earth. He wants us to be without trouble inside ourselves. We can rest like this if we really believe God. 


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So we must do everything possible to receive that rest with God. Nobody should copy the example of those people who refused to obey God. Then none of us will fail to go in. 


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Every word that God speaks is alive and powerful. His word is sharper than any long knife that has two sharp edges. Just as that knife can cut deep, God’s word goes very deep into us. His word can even cut between our human nature and our <i>spirits</i>. It is like a sharp knife that can cut between our bones, or even through our bones. God’s word shows what we are really thinking. It shows what we really want. 


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There is nothing in the whole world that can hide from God. He can see everything completely and clearly. And we will have to explain to him everything that we have done during our lives. <n>Jesus is our great <i>chief priest</i></n>


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We have a great <i>chief priest</i>, who has gone into <i>heaven</i>. He is Jesus, God’s Son. We have said that we believe him. So we must continue to believe him strongly. 


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We have a <i>chief priest</i> who understands us. He knows how weak we are. The <i>Devil</i> tried to make him do all kinds of wrong things. So, Jesus understands all the wrong things that we might do. But he never did anything wrong himself. 


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So, when the <i>Devil</i> tries to make us do wrong things, we can ask God to help us. We can come bravely to God, who is our King. He will be very kind and very good to us. He will give us everything that we need. <n>Verse 16 Jesus died on behalf of us and now he is with God in <i>heaven</i>. So, we can come to God and we can pray to him. We do not need to be afraid, because Jesus is there. We can ask God to help us. And we can be sure that he will help us very much. <n>Verses 15-16 The <i>Devil</i> is the bad <i>spirit</i> who wants to be God. He is the ruler of bad <i>angels</i> and of everything that is bad. He is the enemy of Christians. 


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God has chosen each <i>chief priest</i> from among <i>Israel</i>’s people. That <i>priest</i>’s work is to <i>serve</i> God on behalf of all the other people. The <i>chief priest</i> offers gifts and <i>sacrifices</i> to God. The people give those gifts and <i>sacrifices</i> to him because they have done wrong things. 


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That <i>priest</i> himself may often make mistakes, because he is human. So, he can understand other people who make mistakes. He can be kind to people who do silly things. 


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The <i>chief priest</i> offers <i>sacrifices</i> to God for everything that people do wrong. But he must give <i>sacrifices</i> to God for himself too, because he can do wrong things also.


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Nobody decides to be a <i>chief priest</i> by himself. God must choose him, just as God chose Aaron. <n>Verse 4 Aaron lived many years before this time and he was the first <i>chief priest</i> for <i>Israel</i>’s people. He was Moses’ brother. (See Exodus 28:1-4 and 1 Chronicles 23:13.) 


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It is the same with Christ. He did not choose himself to do this important work. He did not choose to be a <i>chief priest</i>. God chose him. God said to him: <n>‘You are my Son. Today I have given you the <i>honour</i> that goes with that name.’ [Psalm 2:7] 


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And in another place in the Bible God says this: ‘You will always be a <i>priest</i>, just like Melchizedek.’ [Psalm 110:4] <n>Verse 6 Melchizedek was a <i>priest</i> and a king who met Abraham many years ago. (See Genesis 14:18-20.) Chapter 7 of Hebrews explains more about Melchizedek. 


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When Jesus lived on earth as a man, he prayed loudly to God. He cried very much while he asked God to help him. He prayed strongly to God, who could save him from death. Jesus <i>served</i> and obeyed God. So God heard what Jesus said to him. <n>Verse 7 In this verse the writer remembers when Jesus prayed in the garden. Jesus knew that he would die soon. He was very sad. He asked his Father to make him strong. And God did what Jesus asked. (See Luke 22:41-44.) 


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Jesus is God’s Son. But he still learned what it is like to obey God. He learned because he had trouble and pain. 


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And as a result, Jesus is the only person who can save us. He saves us for all time from the results of what we do wrong. He saves all those people who obey him. 


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God has called Jesus the same kind of <i>chief priest</i> as Melchizedek. <n>We must be careful that we do not go away from Christ</n>


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We have a lot more to say to you about these things. But we can only explain things to you with difficulty because you understand so slowly. 


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After all this time, you ought to be teachers, but you are not teachers. Instead, you need someone to teach you the first lessons about God’s message again. You have become like babies, who need milk instead of proper food. 


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Anyone who has to drink milk is still a baby. That person does not know what is right. They do not know when they are doing something wrong. 


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But people who have grown up properly eat proper food. As a result of practice, they have taught themselves. They have taught themselves to know the difference between what is right and wrong.


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So we must go on from the first lessons that we learned about Christ. We must learn more as Christians. Then we will understand everything that we should understand. We should not need to learn again about those first things. We already know that the beginning was important. We turned away from doing wrong things then. Those wrong things lead to death, but we believed God. 


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We have already learned about special ways to make things clean. We know that Christians put their hands on other Christians. They do that when they pray for them. We know that dead people will live again. And we have learned that God will decide about every person then. He will decide what is fair for them for all time. 


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So we must go on learning as Christians, if God helps us. <n>Verse 2 God gave <i>Israel</i>’s people many special rules to make themselves and other things clean. (See, for example, Numbers 19:1-10.) ‘Special ways to make things clean’ can also mean Christian baptism. Baptism is when they put someone into water. (Or they may put water on someone.) This shows that, as a Christian, God has made that person clean and new. <n>The Bible tells us that Christians often put their hands on somebody. Then they prayed for them. It was often when God chose that person for special work. (See, for example, Acts 9:17 and 13:3.) <i>Israel</i>’s people also put their hands on people or animals at certain times. (See, for example, Numbers 27:18, 23 and Leviticus 16:20-22.) <n>We must not turn away from Jesus</n>


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People who choose to turn away from Christ cannot come back to him. That is impossible. They once came into God’s light. So they know what is true. They have really begun to know the good things that come from <i>heaven</i>. They have received the <i>Holy</i> Spirit. 


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They have learned how good God’s message is. They have seen that the future world is very powerful. 


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But after all that, they turn against God! So it is impossible for them to come back to Christ again. Nobody can really help them to turn to Christ again. They are just like the people who fixed Jesus to a big cross. It is like they are killing the Son of God again themselves. They are ashamed of Christ in front of everyone.


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Think about a field where God sends rain often. That ground can cause the plants in it to grow well for the farmer. Then the farmer can use those plants. 


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But a field where only weeds like thorns and thistles grow (plants with many sharp, hard points) is worth nothing. There is a danger that God will call that ground very bad. The farmer will burn that field.


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We love you, good friends, and we are still sure about you. We speak like this, but we believe better things about you. God has saved you. And we are sure that you will continue with him. You will go on doing everything that Christians should do. 


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God is always right and fair. He will not forget how much you love him. He will remember how you helped his people. And you are still helping them. 


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But we want each one of you to continue to the end. You must show that you really want to go on. Then you will be sure about what you hope for at the end. 


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We do not want you to become lazy. You must copy the example of those people who continue believing God. They go on being very patient. And so, they receive what God has promised. <n>God’s serious promise</n>


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For example, God spoke a promise to Abraham many years ago. And because there was nobody greater than God himself, God used his own name. His name caused the promise to be very serious. God would certainly do what he had said. 


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‘I will certainly be good to you’, God said. ‘And I will give you many children and many, many grandchildren’, God promised [Genesis 22:17] . 


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Abraham waited patiently for a long time. And then he received what God had promised. <n>Verses 13-15 Abraham and his wife wanted a son. But they could not have a child, and they were becoming too old. Then God promised to give Abraham a son, and many grandchildren. (See, for example, Genesis 12:2; 13:16; 15:4.) And Abraham believed what God said. 


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When a person promises something very seriously, he uses the name of someone or something greater than himself. This shows that he will certainly obey his promise. Then nobody can argue about it. 


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God wanted to show even more certainly that he would never change his purpose. He wanted his people to know this clearly. They would certainly receive what he had promised. So, God spoke his promise and he used his own name. This showed that his promise would certainly happen. 


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These two facts cannot change. God can never say something that is not true. And these two facts cause us to feel strong and sure. We are like people who have run to God. We have run to God so that he can keep us safe. So, we must continue to hope strongly for what God has promised us.


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We can be completely sure about what we hope for. God is like something really strong that does not move. When we hope, we fix our lives in God. We fix our lives like an <i>anchor</i> stops a boat moving away. The <i>anchor</i> holds that boat safely in the same place. When we hope, we reach behind the special curtain in God’s house in <i>heaven</i>. We reach into the Most <i>Holy</i> Room. 


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Jesus has already gone in there. He has gone before us, on our behalf. He has become our <i>chief priest</i> for always and he is a <i>priest</i> just like Melchizedek. <n>Verse 19 Every boat has an <i>anchor</i>, which is a heavy metal weight. The <i>anchor</i> is on the end of a strong line that the sailors fix to the boat. They throw the <i>anchor</i> into the water to stop the boat. The <i>anchor</i> fastens into the ground under the water. Then the boat is safe, because it cannot move. We can be like that boat when we really believe Jesus. We can be completely sure about what God has promised us. God has promised us great things because of Jesus. <n>Verses 19-20 God told <i>Israel</i>’s people to build a special house where they could <i>worship</i> him. Behind a curtain in that house there was a Most <i>Holy</i> Room, where God himself came. Only the <i>chief priest</i> could go into that room, on one special day each year. (See Leviticus 16:2 and Hebrews 9:7.) But that special house was like a picture of what is really true in <i>heaven</i>. Jesus is our <i>chief priest</i>. When he died, God tore that curtain into two pieces. (See Matthew 27:51.) This showed that Jesus had opened the way to <i>heaven</i> for us. Jesus lets us come to God. (See also Hebrews chapters 8 and 9.) 


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This Melchizedek was the King of Salem. And he was a <i>priest</i> of God himself, who is greater than everything. Melchizedek met Abraham when Abraham was returning from a fight. Abraham’s men had just beaten 4 kings with their armies. And Melchizedek asked God to be good to Abraham. 


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Also, Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. The name ‘Melchizedek’ means ‘King of everything that is right’. And his other name, ‘King of Salem’, means ‘King of everything that is without trouble or war’. 


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Nobody wrote down that Melchizedek had a father or a mother. Nobody wrote down that he had any grandfathers. Nobody wrote about the beginning of his life and nobody wrote about the end. Melchizedek is like the Son of God. He continues to be a <i>priest</i> always. <n>Verses 1-3 Genesis 14:18-20 describes the time when Melchizedek met Abraham. <n>Verse 2 A tenth part is one part out of every 10 parts. 


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Now think about how great this man, Melchizedek, was! Even Abraham, the grandfather of all <i>Israel</i>’s people, gave gifts to Melchizedek. Abraham gave him a tenth part of everything that he had won in the fight. 


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Men from Levi’s family group who become <i>priests</i> must take a tenth part from all their own people. The <i>priests</i> receive a tenth part of what the other people of <i>Israel</i> have. God’s rules say that. But those <i>priests</i> and the other people are like brothers, because they all come from Abraham’s family. 


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Melchizedek did not come from Levi’s family. But he received a tenth part of what Abraham had. Abraham had received God’s promises. But Melchizedek asked God to be good to Abraham.


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It is always the more important person who asks God to be good to a less important person. Everybody knows that this is true. 


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<i>Israel</i>’s <i>priests</i> receive a tenth part of what their people have. But those <i>priests</i> die. Melchizedek received a tenth part from Abraham, but Melchizedek will always be alive. The Bible tells us that. 


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So, by the <i>priests</i> in his family, Levi gets the tenth part from the people. But we could say that, by Abraham, Levi also paid a tenth part to Melchizedek. 


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This is because Levi was Abraham’s grandson. Levi was not yet born when Melchizedek met Abraham. <n>Verses 5-10 All the men from Levi’s family had to <i>serve</i> God in his house. But only those men from Levi’s grandson Aaron’s family could become <i>priests</i>. (See Numbers 1:50 and Exodus 28:1.) All <i>Israel</i>’s people had to give a tenth part of what they had to the men from Levi’s family. Then all the other men in Levi’s family gave a tenth part of this to the <i>priests</i>. (See Numbers 18:21-32.) 


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The <i>priests</i> from Levi’s family were a necessary part of the rules that God gave to <i>Israel</i>’s people. But those <i>priests</i> could not make the people completely right with God. So the people needed a different kind of <i>priest</i> to come. They needed a <i>priest</i> like Melchizedek, not someone else from Aaron’s family. 


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The Bible speaks about our <i>Lord</i> as a <i>priest</i> (Psalm 110:4). But he belonged to a different family group from Levi’s. Nobody else from our <i>Lord</i>’s family group ever worked as a <i>priest</i>. 


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It is completely clear that our <i>Lord</i> came from Judah’s family. Moses said nothing about men from Judah’s family group being <i>priests</i>. <n>Jesus is a different kind of <i>priest</i>, like Melchizedek</n>


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What we have said becomes even clearer now. Another kind of <i>priest</i> has appeared, who is like Melchizedek. 


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Jesus did not become a <i>priest</i> because of rules about which family he came from. He became a <i>priest</i> because of his powerful life. Nothing can ever destroy that life. 


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The Bible speaks about him as a <i>priest</i>: <n>‘You will always be a <i>priest</i>, just like Melchizedek’, the Bible says. [Psalm 110:4] 


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So the old rules have come to an end now. They could not really do anything good, so they were not really worth anything. 


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God’s rules that he gave to Moses could not make anything completely right. But God has brought us something better to hope for. And because we hope for it, we can come near to God.


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Also, God promised very seriously when he made Jesus a <i>priest</i>. He did not promise anything when other men became <i>priests</i>. 


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But Jesus received God’s very serious promise because God spoke to him like this: <n>‘The <i>Lord</i> has promised seriously, and he will not change his mind. <n>You will always be a <i>priest</i>.’ [Psalm 110:4] 


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So this means that Jesus shows us a much better <i>agreement</i> from God. God has promised us much better things than the old rules could give us. And Jesus makes us completely sure that we will receive these things.


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There were many of those other <i>priests</i>, because each one died. Then they could not continue to work as <i>priests</i>. 


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Jesus always lives to pray to God on our behalf. So, he can completely save everyone who comes to him. He will lead them to God.


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Jesus is the kind of <i>chief priest</i> that we really need. He always obeys God. He has never done anything wrong. He is completely good and clean. He is separate from everyone who does wrong things. God has raised him to the most important place in <i>heaven</i>. 


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Jesus is not like any other <i>chief priest</i>. They need to offer <i>sacrifices</i> to God every day. First they offer <i>sacrifices</i> for the things that they themselves have done wrong. Then they offer <i>sacrifices</i> on behalf of the other people, for all the wrong things that the people have done. But Jesus offered one <i>sacrifice</i> for all time. He gave himself. 


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Moses’ rules make men <i>chief priests</i>. And because those men are human, they can do wrong things. But God’s very serious promise came after the rules that God gave to Moses. God promised his Son that he would be a <i>chief priest</i> always. And his Son has become everything that God wants him to be, completely and for always.


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The most important thing that we are saying is this. We do have this kind of <i>chief priest</i>. He has sat down at the right side of where God sits as king in <i>heaven</i>. God is the greatest ruler, with all authority. 


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Our <i>chief priest</i> works in the Most <i>Holy</i> Room that is inside the true special <i>tent</i>. That <i>tent</i> is in <i>heaven</i>. The <i>Lord</i> himself made that special <i>tent</i>. No man built it.


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It is the duty of every <i>chief priest</i> to offer gifts and <i>sacrifices</i> to God. So our <i>chief priest</i> must also have something to offer. 


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If he was living on earth, then he would not be a <i>priest</i>. There are already <i>priests</i> here who offer gifts to God. They obey the rules that God gave to Moses. 


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But the place where these <i>priests</i> work is only like a copy and a shadow of things in <i>heaven</i>. Many years ago, Moses was ready to make a special <i>tent</i> for God. So God spoke to him: ‘Be careful to make everything just like the plan’, God told him. ‘I showed you the plan on the mountain’, God said. <n>Verse 5 Many years ago, God met with Moses on a mountain called Sinai. God told Moses to make a special <i>tent</i> and many other things. (See Exodus 24:15-18; 25:40; 26:30.) 


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But now God has given Jesus much greater work as a <i>priest</i>. His work is greater than the work that those <i>priests</i> do on earth. Jesus has made it possible for God to agree a new and much better thing with his people. It is much better because it began with much better promises. 


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If there had been nothing wrong with that first <i>agreement</i>, then nobody would have needed a second <i>agreement</i>. 


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But God did find something wrong with it. So he spoke like this to the people: <n>‘A new time is coming, the <i>Lord</i> says. <n>A time is coming when I will agree a new thing with <i>Israel</i>’s people and with Judah’s people.


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It will not be like the things that I agreed with their grandfathers. <n>I led their grandfathers out of the country called Egypt. I led them like someone who takes another person’s hand. <n>But they did not continue to obey the things that I had agreed with them. <n>So I turned away from them, the <i>Lord</i> says.


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I will tell you what I will agree with <i>Israel</i>’s people. It will happen in the days that will come, the <i>Lord</i> says. <n>I will put my rules into their minds. I will write my rules deep inside them. <n>I will be their God and they will be my people.


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None of them will ever have to teach their brothers how to know me. None of them will need to say to anyone else, “You should know the <i>Lord</i>.” <n>Everyone will know me, even the least important people. And the most important people will know me too.


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They have done wrong things, but I will <i>forgive</i> them. <n>I will not continue to remember what they have done wrong, the <i>Lord</i> says.’ [Jeremiah 31:31-34] 


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God speaks about a ‘new’ thing that he will agree with his people. So he has caused the things that he agreed with his people a long time ago to become old. And nobody can go on using something that has become too old. It will soon come to an end. <n>Verses 6-13 The old <i>agreement</i> that God made with his people included many rules. If the people obeyed all those rules, then their lives would be happy. (See, for example, Deuteronomy 5:32-33 and 8:1.) But the people could not obey all the rules. Those rules could not really make them right with God. The rules could not make them become new people. The rules could not make them really love God. So they needed a better <i>agreement</i>, that could really make them different. Jesus has made that new <i>agreement</i> possible for us. We can be really right with God and we can know him because of Jesus. <n>Verse 8 Judah was one of Jacob’s 12 sons. (Jacob is another name for <i>Israel</i>.) At the time when Jeremiah spoke these words from God, Judah’s people were separate from the other people of <i>Israel</i>. 


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The first <i>agreement</i> included rules about how people should <i>worship</i> God. It also included a special place for people to <i>worship</i> God on this earth. 


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<i>Israel</i>’s people made a special <i>tent</i> for God. The first room in that special <i>tent</i> was called the <i>Holy</i> Room. The <i>lampstand</i> (where a light burned for God) was in this room. The special table where they offered bread to God was there too.


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The special gold table where they burned <i>incense</i> was inside that room. And the special <i>agreement</i> box that had gold all over it was there too. This box contained the gold pot that had special food from God in it. The box also contained Aaron’s stick that grew leaves. And it contained the two flat stones on which God had written the <i>agreement</i>. 


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The gold shapes of two special <i>angels</i> stood on the top of the <i>agreement</i> box. These special <i>angels</i> showed that God was present there. Under the <i>angels</i>’ shadow, on top of the box, was a gold lid. That lid was the place where God <i>forgave</i> the people. But we cannot explain everything about these things now. <n>Verses 1-3 Exodus 26 and 27:9-19 describe the special <i>tent</i> that God told Moses to make. Exodus 25:31-39 and 25:23-30 describe the gold <i>lampstand</i> and the special table for bread. <n>Verses 4-5 Exodus 30:1-10 describes the gold table where they burned <i>incense</i>. (<i>Incense</i> is material that makes a nice smell when it burns.) Exodus 25:10-22 describes the special <i>agreement</i> box. <n>Verse 4 Exodus 16:14-31 describes how God supplied this special food for <i>Israel</i>’s people. Exodus 16:32-34 describes how Aaron put some of this food in a pot to keep it. Numbers 17:1-11 describes how Aaron’s stick grew leaves, flowers and fruit. This showed that God had chosen Moses and Aaron to be the leaders of <i>Israel</i>’s people. 


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When they had prepared these things like this, the <i>priests</i> went into the first room every day. They went in there to do their duties. 


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But only the <i>chief priest</i> could go into the second room. He had to go in there alone, but he went in only once every year. He had to take blood from an animal, which he gave to God. He offered the blood because he was sorry. He was sorry for his own mistakes. And he was sorry for the mistakes that all the people had made. <n>Verse 7 Leviticus chapter 16 describes how the <i>chief priest</i> went into the Most <i>Holy</i> Room once a year. 


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God’s Spirit, who is completely good, was showing something clearly by these things. He was showing that the Most <i>Holy</i> Room was not yet open to everyone. The first room in the special <i>tent</i> was still there while they <i>worshipped</i> God by these things. 


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This is like a picture that means something for us today. It shows us about the gifts and <i>sacrifices</i> that people brought to God. Those gifts and <i>sacrifices</i> could never make the person who <i>worshipped</i> God completely right with him. They could not make people stop thinking that they had done wrong things. 


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The old rules that God gave were only about foods and drinks and how to wash in special ways. Those rules were only about people’s bodies. People had to use those rules only until the time when God would make things new and better. <n>Christ and the new <i>agreement</i></n>


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But now Christ has appeared. He is the <i>chief priest</i> of the good things that have come. He works in a greater and much better <i>tent</i>. No man made that <i>tent</i> because it does not belong to this world. 


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Christ went into its Most <i>Holy</i> Room once, for all time. He did not offer the blood of goats and young cows when he went in there. He offered his own blood after he died. He made us free from everything that we do wrong. He has made us free always. 


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The people were not clean enough to <i>worship</i> God. The old rules said that the <i>priest</i> must make their bodies clean again. He must use the blood of goats and male cows. He must cause that blood to drop like rain on them. He must also burn a young cow and he must use the ashes on the people. And then those people’s bodies became clean again. <n>Verse 13 Numbers 19:1-22 describes how the ashes of a young, red cow could make people clean for God. 


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But Christ’s blood will do much, much more than this! God’s Spirit, who lives always, made it possible for Christ to offer himself to God. Christ was a completely good <i>sacrifice</i>, without anything wrong. He offered his own blood to make us completely clean inside ourselves. The wrong things that we have done lead to death. But he will cause us to stop thinking about the wrong things that we have done. So then we can work for the God who is alive. 


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So Christ brings a new <i>agreement</i> from God. Christ’s death made people free from the wrong things that they had done during the time of the first <i>agreement</i>. So now, the people that God chooses can receive from him. They can receive the good things that he has promised for always.


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Before a person dies, he may make an <i>agreement</i> about all his own things. That <i>agreement</i> says who will get his things after his death. But nobody can get anything until that person has certainly died. 


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An <i>agreement</i> like that only means something after the death of the person who made it. It has no power while that person is still alive. 


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That is why even the first <i>agreement</i> with God needed blood from a death. The <i>agreement</i> could not work without that blood.


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Moses read God’s rules aloud to all <i>Israel</i>’s people. He told them every rule that God had given them. Then Moses killed some young cows and goats. He took some of their blood and he mixed it with water. He used sheep’s hair that people had made red. He used also some small branches of a plant called hyssop. He used the sheep’s hair and the hyssop to throw the blood. He caused the blood to drop like rain. He caused some of the blood to drop on to the book of God’s rules. And he caused some to drop on to all the people. 


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And Moses spoke to them. ‘This is the blood of the <i>agreement</i> that God has told you to obey’, he said. 


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In the same way, Moses put some of the blood on God’s special <i>tent</i>. He also caused blood to drop on to all the things that the <i>priests</i> used in their work there. 


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God’s rules say that blood is necessary to make almost everything clean. And God will not <i>forgive</i> people unless a death gives the blood. <n>Verses 18-20 Exodus 24:3-8 describes the events that these verses are talking about. <n>Christ’s death is a better <i>sacrifice</i></n>


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So animals’ blood was necessary to make those things clean and right. They were copies of the true and proper things that are in <i>heaven</i>. But the proper things in <i>heaven</i> need better <i>sacrifices</i> than that to make them clean and right. 


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Christ did not go into a Most <i>Holy</i> Room that people had made on earth. A place like that is only a copy of the place in <i>heaven</i>. He went into <i>heaven</i> itself. And now he is present with God and he speaks to God on our behalf.


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The <i>chief priest</i> here on earth goes into the Most <i>Holy</i> Room year after year. He takes an animal’s blood to offer there each time, not his own blood. But Christ did not go into <i>heaven</i> to offer himself to God again and again. 


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He did not need to die again and again since the world began. Instead, he has appeared once, for all time. He has come now, when the world is near its end. He came to remove completely all the wrong things that we do. He died as a <i>sacrifice</i> for us. 


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God has chosen that every person must die once. After death, God will decide what is fair for that person. 


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So Christ also died and he offered himself once. He did this to take away wrong things for many people. And Christ will return to earth a second time, but not to take away wrong things. He will come to save those people who are waiting for him.


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Moses’ rules are only like a shadow of the good things that will come. The rules do not show what those good things are really like. The rules say that the <i>priest</i> must continue to offer the same <i>sacrifices</i> for the people, year after year. The people bring their <i>sacrifices</i> when they come to <i>worship</i> God. So, people will never be completely good and clean because of those rules. 


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If the rules could do that, the <i>priests</i> would have stopped offering <i>sacrifices</i>. The people would have become completely good and clean once, for all time. They would have become clean like that when they came to <i>worship</i> God the first time. So they would not still think that they had done wrong things. 


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But those <i>sacrifices</i> cause people to remember, year after year, the wrong things that they have done. 


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So, when Christ came into the world, he spoke to God like this: <n>‘You do not want gifts and <i>sacrifices</i> of animals, but you have prepared a body for me.


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The whole animals that they burn do not make you happy. <n>The <i>sacrifices</i> for what people have done wrong do not make you happy.


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Then I spoke again: “Here I am, God. I have come to do what you want. That is what the book of your rules says about me.” ‘ <n>[Psalm 40:6-8] 


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So Christ had said first: ‘You do not want gifts and <i>sacrifices</i> of animals. You do not want the whole animals that they burn. You do not want <i>sacrifices</i> for what people have done wrong. These things do not make you happy.’ But Moses’ rules said that these <i>sacrifices</i> were necessary. 


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Then Christ spoke again: ‘Here I am. I have come to do what you want’, he said. So God takes away the old <i>sacrifices</i> and he puts Christ’s <i>sacrifice</i> in their place. 


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God wants to make us completely good and clean. And he has done that because of Jesus Christ’s <i>sacrifice</i>. Christ offered his own body once, for all time, when he died.


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Every day, the <i>priests</i> stand and they do their work. They offer the same <i>sacrifices</i> to God again and again. But those <i>sacrifices</i> can never take away the wrong things that people have done. 


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This <i>priest</i>, Jesus Christ, offered one <i>sacrifice</i> for wrong things, for all time. Then he sat down at God’s right side. 


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Since that time, he waits for God to make an end to his enemies. God will make Christ’s enemies like a place for him to rest his feet. 


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As a result of one <i>sacrifice</i>, Christ has made his people completely right with God always. God is making those people completely separate from everything that is bad.


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God’s Spirit, who is completely good, also shows us about these things. He shows us that these things are true. He says this first:


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‘This is what I will agree with them after that time, the <i>Lord</i> says. <n>I will put my rules deep inside them. I will write my rules on their minds.’ [Jeremiah 31:33] 


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Then he continues to speak: <n>‘I will not continue to remember the wrong things and the bad things that they have done.’ [Jeremiah 31:34] 


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So when God has <i>forgiven</i> these wrong things, no more <i>sacrifices</i> are necessary. <n>Christ made it possible that we can come near to God</n>


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So then, Christian friends, we are completely free to go into the Most <i>Holy</i> Room. We can be sure that we can go in there, because of Jesus’ death. 


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Jesus has opened a new way to God for us. This way leads us through the curtain to God, where we will be alive. Jesus opened this way when he gave his own body. 


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So when we come near to God, we must believe him completely. We must want only to obey him. He has made us clean deep inside ourselves so that we are free. We are free to stop thinking about the wrong things that we have done. We are really clean. It is like he has washed our bodies with clean water. <n>Verses 19-20 Again, the writer is using God’s special <i>tent</i> as a picture of what is really true in <i>heaven</i>. Jesus died instead of us, because of everything that we do wrong. God has accepted Jesus’ <i>sacrifice</i>. So now, we do not need to be afraid when we come to God. We can come near to him and we can talk to him. He will not <i>punish</i> us. We are like people who can come into the Most <i>Holy</i> Room in the special <i>tent</i>. God is present there. <n>Verse 22 God has made us completely clean, inside and outside. At a Christian baptism, they put a person completely under water (or they put water on the person). Baptism is like a picture of the fact that God has made us clean. So the writer may be thinking about baptism at the end of this verse. 


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We say that we believe God’s promises. And we must continue to be completely sure about what we hope for. God always does what he has promised. We can be sure because we know that. 


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We should think about how we can be kind to each other. Then other people will want to be kind too. They will really want to do good things, like us. 


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Some people have stopped going regularly to our Christian meetings, but we must not stop going there. Then we can help each other to be strong Christians. You should do this more and more, because the <i>Lord</i>’s great day is coming. You know that the <i>Lord</i> will return soon. <n>We must not refuse to obey Christ</n>


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We have learned what is really true. We have believed it. So now, we must not decide to continue doing wrong things. There is no other <i>sacrifice</i> that will take away those wrong things. 


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There is only <i>punishment</i> that will make us very, very afraid. We must wait for God to decide about us. But the <i>punishment</i> would be the very hot fire that destroys people. That fire destroys everyone who refuses to obey God. 


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Anyone who refused to obey Moses’ rules had to die. Two or three other people may have seen that person do something wrong. They had to say that the person certainly did something wrong. Then <i>Israel</i>’s people had to kill that person. They could not be kind to a person like that. <n>Verse 28 <i>Israel</i>’s people could not <i>punish</i> someone unless that person had certainly not obeyed God’s rules. At least two other people had to show that he had not obeyed. (See Deuteronomy 17:6 and Numbers 35:30.) 


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So think about a person who refuses the Son of God. How much worse that person’s <i>punishment</i> will be! He is like someone who has walked on God’s Son. That person has made Christ’s blood and God’s <i>agreement</i> seem like something dirty. But it was Christ’s death that made that person clean and right with God. That person has said very bad words against God’s Spirit, who is so very kind. 


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We know God. And God said this: ‘I will <i>punish</i> people for what they have done wrong. I will give them what they ought to have.’ [Deuteronomy 32:35] He also said this: ‘The <i>Lord</i> will decide what is fair for his people.’ [Deuteronomy 32:36] 


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So anyone who refuses God should be very, very afraid. God, who is alive, will certainly <i>punish</i> that person.


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Remember what happened to you in those early days when you first learned about Christ. Then you had a difficult fight against many troubles. But you continued to be strong. 


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Sometimes people made you ashamed in front of many other people. They said bad words to you and they did bad things to you. And at other times, you chose to stay with other Christians who were receiving this kind of trouble. 


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You felt the trouble together with those who were in prison. When people took your own things away, you were still happy. You knew that you yourselves had something better. You had better things that will be yours always. <n>Verse 34 People who were enemies of these Christians had taken away the Christians’ own things. But nobody can take away what God has given to Christians. God had <i>forgiven</i> these Christians because of Jesus’ <i>sacrifice</i>. And he had given them new lives, with a new purpose. They knew that they would always live with God. 


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So do not stop being sure about what you believe as Christians. If you continue to be brave, you will receive great things. 


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You need to be patient and strong. Then you can do what God wants. As a result, you will receive what God has promised. 


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God promises this in the Bible: <n>‘In a very short time, the person who is coming will come. <n>He will not be late, the <i>Lord</i> said.


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The person that I have accepted will live. Those people will live because they believe me. <n>But if any of them turn back, I will not be happy with them.’ [Habakkuk 2:3-4] 


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But we are not among those people who turn back. If we were, God would destroy us. But we are people who believe God. And so, God will save us. <n>Verse 37 These words from Habakkuk mean that Jesus will come back to earth soon. <n>Verse 38 Here the writer of Hebrews has put the last part of Habakkuk 2:4 first. He is showing the Christians that they must go on believing God. That is very important for all of us. 


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If we believe God, we can be completely sure about things. We will be sure about the things that we hope for. We will be sure about things that we cannot see. 


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Because we believe God, we understand about the world. We understand that God made the whole world. He spoke and it happened. He made all the things that we can see. He made them from things that we cannot see.


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Abel believed God. So he offered a better <i>sacrifice</i> to God than Cain offered. And because of that, God said that Abel was a good man. God said that he was happy with Abel’s gifts. Abel is dead. But because he believed God, we can still learn from his example. So it is like Abel is speaking to us still.


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Enoch believed God, so he did not die. Instead, God took him away. And nobody could find him, because God had taken him away. Before God took him away, Enoch had made God happy. The Bible tells us that. 


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Unless we believe God, it is impossible for us to make God happy. Anyone who comes to God must believe him. That person must believe that God is really there. And they must believe that God is good to people. God gives good things to everyone who really wants to find him.


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Noah believed God, and so he obeyed God. God told Noah about bad things that would happen. Nobody could yet see those events, but Noah believed God. So, Noah was careful to obey what God told him. He built a large boat to save his family. As a result, Noah showed that everyone else in the world was wrong. And Noah became one of those people that God accepted. They are right with God because they believe him. <n>Verse 4 See Genesis 4:3-7. <n>Verse 5 See Genesis 5:24. <n>Verse 7 See Genesis 6:9-22. 


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After this, Abraham believed God, so he obeyed God. God told him to leave his home. God wanted him to go to another country. Abraham did not know where he was going. But God promised to give that other country to Abraham. He obeyed God and he started travelling. 


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Abraham believed God, so he went to live in that foreign country. He lived in the country that God had promised to him. He lived there in <i>tents</i>, like a stranger. Isaac and Jacob lived there in <i>tents</i> too. God had made the same promise to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. 


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Abraham was waiting to live in the city that will always be there. He was completely sure that he would live in God’s city. God made the plans for that city, and God built it. <n>Verses 8-9 See Genesis 12:1-5; 18:1; 23:4; 26:3 and 35:12. Isaac was Abraham’s son. Jacob was Isaac’s son. <n>Verse 10 Abraham really believed God. So he knew that his home was really in <i>heaven</i> with God. The Bible tells us about God’s city. (See, for example, Psalms 48 and 122; Isaiah 14:32; 33:20 and Revelation 21:10-22:5.) 


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Both Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were too old to have children. But they believed God’s promise to Abraham about a child. God would always do what he had promised. They believed that. And so, God made it possible for even Sarah herself to have a baby. 


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Abraham was so old that he was almost like a dead man. But from this one man there came many, many grandchildren. After some years, there were so many of his people that nobody could count them. There were as many of Abraham’s family as the stars in the sky. There were as many as the bits of sand on the sea’s shore. <n>Verse 11 See Genesis 17:15-19; 18:10-14 and 21:1-3. Sarah was Abraham’s wife. <n>Verse 12 See Genesis 15:5; 22:17 and Romans 4:18-22. 


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All these people continued to believe God until they died. But they did not receive all the things that God had promised to them. They understood that those things would come after a long time. They were like people who saw those things far away. All these people agreed that they were only strangers and travellers on the earth. 


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And people who say things like that are certainly looking for a country of their own. They are looking for a country where they will be at home. 


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None of these people continued to think about the country that they had left. If they had thought about it, they might have had the chance to return there. 


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Instead, they were wanting very much to go to a better country, in <i>heaven</i>. And for this reason, God is not ashamed to be called their God. He has prepared a city for them.


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God wanted to see whether Abraham really believed him. So God told Abraham to offer his son, Isaac, as a <i>sacrifice</i>. And because Abraham did believe God, he obeyed. God had promised many grandchildren to Abraham. But Abraham was still ready to offer his only son as a <i>sacrifice</i>. 


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But Abraham was sure that God could cause Isaac to become alive again. So Isaac would live again, even after he had died. And we could say that it was like that for Abraham. It was like he did receive Isaac back from death. <n>Verses 17-19 See Genesis 22:1-14. 


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Isaac believed God, so he promised good things to Jacob and Esau. He told them that God would be good to them in their future lives.


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Jacob believed God. So he told Joseph’s sons that God would be good to each of them. He did that when he was dying. He <i>worshipped</i> God while he used his stick to hold himself up.


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Joseph believed God. So, when he was going to die, he spoke about all <i>Israel</i>’s people. He spoke about the time when the people would leave Egypt. And he told them what to do with his bones. <n>Verse 20 Jacob and Esau were Isaac’s sons. See Genesis 27:25-29, 38-39. <n>Verse 21 Joseph was one of Jacob’s sons. See Genesis chapter 48. <n>Verse 22 See Genesis 50:22-26. 


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Moses’ parents believed God. So, when Moses was born, they hid him for three months. They saw that he was a very special child. So they did not obey the king, but they were not afraid. <n>Verse 23 The king of Egypt had said that all <i>Israel</i>’s baby boys must die. See Exodus 1:22-2:2. 


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Moses believed God. So, when he became a man, he refused to be called the son of the king’s daughter. 


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Moses chose to be with God’s people. Egypt’s people were doing bad things to them, but Moses still chose to be with them. He chose not to do what was wrong. Wrong things only make people happy for a short time. 


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Moses could have been very rich in Egypt. But instead, he let people do bad things to him. He let them make him ashamed because he believed about Christ. He thought that it was worth more than a lot of money. He thought only about what God would give him at a future time. 


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Moses believed God, so he left Egypt. The king was angry about that, but Moses was not afraid of him. Nobody can really see God. But Moses continued strongly with his purpose, like someone who could see God. <n>Verses 24-26 See Exodus 2:3-12. <n>Verse 26 Jesus Christ did not come to live on earth until many years after Moses had died. But he has always been alive in <i>heaven</i> with God. So, the writer means that Moses chose to obey God. He obeyed God even when it caused him a lot of trouble. He did that because he was waiting for Christ to come. <n>Verse 27 Moses left Egypt when he led <i>Israel</i>’s people away from that country. (See Exodus 12:29-42.) 


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Moses believed God, so he prepared the first <i>Passover</i>. And he told <i>Israel</i>’s people to put blood from the <i>sacrifice</i> round their doors. Then the <i>angel</i> who destroyed people came. He saw the blood and so he did not kill the oldest sons in the families of <i>Israel</i>’s people.


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<i>Israel</i>’s people believed God, so they went through the Red Sea. They walked through just as they would cross dry land. But when the people from Egypt tried to cross that sea, they drowned. <n>Verse 28 The <i>Passover</i> was an important day for the Jews (<i>Israel</i>’s people). They ate a special meal on this day every year. They did this to remember that God had brought them out from the country called Egypt. They had been slaves in Egypt, and God made them free. Exodus 12 explains about the <i>Passover</i>. <n>Verse 29 See Exodus 14:15-29. 


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<i>Israel</i>’s people believed God, so they marched round Jericho city for 7 days. Then the city’s walls fell down.


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Some men from <i>Israel</i> had come to that city earlier. They wanted to discover how strong the people were. Rahab was friendly to those men and she gave help to them. She was a woman who had sold herself to men for sex. But then she believed God, so she did not die with all the other people in her city. Those other people did not believe God. <n>Verse 30 See Joshua 6:1-20. <n>Verse 31 See Joshua 2:1-21 and 6:22-25. 


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I could say a lot more, but there is not enough time. I could tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets (people who spoke God’s messages). 


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Because they believed God, some of them won wars against other countries. They did what is right and fair. And they received good things that God had promised. Some of them caused big wild cats called lions to shut their mouths. 


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Some of them put out fires that were burning very strongly. Some of them got away from people who wanted to kill them with long knives. After they had been weak, they became strong. They became very strong to fight wars. They beat foreign armies and they caused those armies to run away. <n>Verse 32 The writer gives the names of 6 men who were leaders of <i>Israel</i>’s people. See, for example: <br/>· Judges 6:11-8:32 (Gideon) <br/>· Judges 4:6-24 (Barak) <br/>· Judges 13:2-16:31 (Samson) <br/>· Judges 11:1-12:7 (Jephthah) <br/>· 1 Samuel 16:13; 17:12-51 and 2 Samuel 5:1-5 (David) <br/>· 1 Samuel 3:19-21 and 7:3-17 (Samuel) <n>Verse 33 Samson and David both killed lions (big wild cats). (See Judges 14:5-6 and 1 Samuel 17:34-37.) But Daniel is the best example of someone who ‘caused lions to shut their mouths’. (See Daniel 6:22.) <n>Verse 34 The king of Babylon put Daniel’s three friends into a very hot fire because they would not <i>worship</i> him. But because they believed God, they did not die. (See Daniel 3.) 


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God caused some of these people who had died to become alive again. And the women in their families received them back. Other people refused to turn against God so that they could go free. So, their enemies did bad things to hurt them, which caused them to die. But these people were sure that they would have a better life after death. They were sure that they would live again with God.


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Enemies said that these people were fools. The enemies said bad things to them and hit them with sticks. The enemies tied people with metal lines and put them in prison. 


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Enemies threw stones at them to kill them. They even cut them into two pieces to kill them. Enemies also killed some of them with long knives. Some of these people had to wear only the skins of sheep and goats while they walked about. They were very, very poor and they had a lot of trouble. Other people did very bad things to those who believed God. 


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These people who believed God were too good for this world. Some of them had to walk about in dry places where nobody lived. Some had to walk only in the mountains. Some had to live in holes in the rocks and in holes in the ground.


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God said good things about all these people because they believed him. But they still did not receive everything that he had promised. 


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God had prepared something better for all of us. So, he did not make those people completely as he wanted them to be, without us. <n>Verses 35-39 Many people who believed God had very difficult lives. But they continued to believe, and God made them strong. The writer wants his readers to remember these people’s example. He wants them to be strong, even when trouble comes. <n>Verses 39-40 All the people that the writer has described in Chapter 11 lived on earth before Jesus. So they could not completely understand God’s purpose during their lives on earth. But we live after the time when Jesus lived on earth. His death lets God <i>forgive</i> us, if we believe him. So, the ‘something better’ that God had prepared for his people was our new life because of Christ. 


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So then we ourselves know about all these people who believed God. They are our examples. They are like a very big crowd all round us. They show us how we can live for God. We must be like people who run in a <i>race</i>. We want to run fast in the <i>race</i>. So, we must throw away everything that would stop us. We want to live for God. So, we must refuse wrong things that stop us. Those wrong things can so easily hold us strongly. But we must continue to be brave and strong while we run the <i>race</i>. God has chosen the way that is in front of us. <n>Verse 1 A <i>race</i> is when people all run at the same time on a certain path. Their purpose is to reach the place where the <i>race</i> finishes. That is the most important thing. Our lives as Christians on earth are like a <i>race</i>. The writer does not mean that Christians should want to be first. They should not be trying to see who is the ‘fastest’ (the best Christian). It does not matter whether they are the first to finish. But it is very important that each of us finishes the <i>race</i>. We must never stop obeying God. Then, when we have left this earth, we will always be with him. 


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We must always think about Jesus, like people who go on looking at him always. He is the example of someone who believes God completely. He leads us and he will cause us to believe completely. Jesus died on a cross that people had made from wood. He had a lot of pain and people were very ashamed of him. But he refused to think about that before he died. He knew that God had chosen the way for him. He knew that God had chosen to make him very, very happy later. And now he sits in the most important place next to where God sits as king. 


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Think carefully about Jesus. Bad people did such very bad things against him, but he continued to be brave and strong. Think about him, and then you will not become tired and weak as Christians. <n>We are really God’s children</n>


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You are in the fight against everything that is wrong. But you have not yet had to continue fighting until someone killed you. 


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You have forgotten that someone wrote words to God’s children. These words can make you brave and strong: <n>‘My son, think seriously when the <i>Lord punishes</i> you. <n>He will sometimes show you that you are wrong. You must not become sad and weak. when he tells you that you are wrong.


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Because the <i>Lord</i> does that to everyone that he loves. He <i>punishes</i> everyone that he receives as a son.’ [Proverbs 3:11-12] 


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You must be patient and strong when life is difficult. Receive the trouble as <i>punishment</i> from God, who is your Father. God is teaching you as his children. There has never been any son whose father did not <i>punish</i> him. 


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God teaches all his children not to do wrong things. So if he does not <i>punish</i> you, then you are not really his children. Then you are like children who do not really belong to him. 


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Also, we have all had human fathers who <i>punished</i> us. And we thought that it was important to obey them. So it is much more important that we obey the Father of our <i>spirits</i>. If we obey him then we will live.


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Our human fathers <i>punished</i> us for a short time, as they thought best. But God <i>punishes</i> us because that really is the best thing for us. Then we can become like him. We can become completely separate from everything that is bad. 


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No <i>punishment</i> makes us happy at the time when we receive it. It makes us sad then. But later we know that the <i>punishment</i> has taught us good things. It has made our lives more like God wants us to be. Then we are without trouble deep inside ourselves because we are right with God.


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You have become tired as Christians, like people with hands that hang down. You are like people with weak knees. Lift up your hands and make your knees strong again! 


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Live for God, like people who walk on a straight, flat path. So then, people with weak legs, who cannot walk well, will not get worse. Their legs will not become unable to walk. But instead they will become well and strong. <n>Verses 12-13 The writer is thinking again about Christians as people who are in a <i>race</i>. (See verse 1.) He is telling his readers to believe God. He is telling them to become strong Christians again. <n>Verse 13 If the stronger Christians really live for God, then weaker Christians will copy their example. And then the weak Christians will become strong too. <n>We must not refuse to do what God says</n>


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Do everything that you can to live without trouble or quarrels between you and anyone else. Also, do everything that you can to live a completely good life for God. Nobody will see the <i>Lord</i> unless their life is good like that. 


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Be careful that nobody among you turns away from God. Nobody should refuse to receive from God, who is so very kind. Be careful that nobody becomes angry against God. A person like that can cause trouble among you, because they are like poison to other people’s lives. A person like that can lead many other people away from God.


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Be careful that nobody among you has sex with someone other than their wife or their husband. And watch that nobody is careless about God’s rules, like Esau. He gave away everything that he would have received as his father’s first son. He gave it all away so that he could get only one meal. 


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And later, as you know, he still wanted to receive those good things from his father. He wanted his father to ask God for good things for him. But that was impossible. Esau cried when he asked his father for those good things. But he could find no way to change things. Esau could not change what he had done. <n>Verses 16-17 Esau was Isaac’s first son. The oldest son in a family was very important. He received the biggest part of his father’s land and money when his father died. Also, the father asked God to give special, good things to that son. (See Genesis 25:29-34 and 27:30-41.) <n>The two mountains</n>


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You have not come to a place that you can touch, like the Sinai mountain. That mountain burned with fire. But where the people stood, it was very dark. It was so dark that it was black. There was a very strong wind and a storm. 


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There was the sound of a <i>trumpet</i> and a powerful <i>voice</i> that spoke to them. When the people heard that <i>voice</i>, they were very afraid. So they asked strongly that the <i>voice</i> would not speak to them any more. 


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They remembered what God had already told them. So they were very afraid. ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, you must kill it with stones’, God had said [Exodus 19:12-13] . 


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Even Moses was very afraid. ‘I am so afraid that my body cannot stop moving’, Moses said [Deuteronomy 9:19] . <n>Verses 18-21 <i>Israel</i>’s people came near to Sinai mountain. That was where Moses received God’s rules for the people. (See Exodus 19:10-25; Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22-26.) <n>Verse 19 A <i>trumpet</i> is a metal pipe with a wide end. People hold the other end in their mouths and they use it to make music. 


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But you have come to Zion mountain and to the city of God, who is alive. You have come to the Jerusalem city that is in <i>heaven</i>. You have come to a place where there are thousands and thousands of happy <i>angels</i> all together. 


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All God’s people, who are like his first and most important sons, meet here. God has written their names here in <i>heaven</i>, because they belong here. You have come to where God is. He will decide what is fair for all people. You have come to where people’s <i>spirits</i> are. These are the <i>spirits</i> of all those people that God has made right. God has made those people be as he wants them to be. 


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You have come to Jesus, who brought the new <i>agreement</i> from God to his people. Remember also the blood that Jesus lost. He bled when he chose to die. That was how he made us clean. Jesus’ blood shows us about better things than Abel’s blood. <n>Verses 22-23 Zion mountain is part of Jerusalem, the capital city of <i>Israel</i>’s people on this earth. The Bible often uses the name Zion to mean Jerusalem. But Christians belong to God’s city in <i>heaven</i>. They belong with all of God’s people, who will live with God always. God’s people include everyone who believed God in earlier times. Those people are dead now, and their <i>spirits</i> are with God. We are not dead yet. But it is like our <i>spirits</i> are already there too, with them. <n>Verse 24 Jesus chose to die. But Abel died when his brother killed him. Abel’s brother, Cain, killed Abel, and Abel’s blood came out on to the ground. (See Genesis 4:8-10.) So, Abel’s blood only shows us about bad things. It shows us that God had to <i>punish</i> Cain. But Jesus died for us so that God does not have to <i>punish</i> us any more. 


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So be careful. Always be ready to listen when God speaks. God spoke to <i>Israel</i>’s people by his servant on this earth. He told them that they must obey God. But they refused to obey, so God had to <i>punish</i> them. They could not get away. Now God speaks to us from <i>heaven</i>. So if we turn away from him, God will have to <i>punish</i> us. We will even more certainly not get away from him. 


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At that time many years ago, God’s <i>voice</i> caused the earth to move. But now he has promised this: ‘Once again I will cause the earth to move. But this time I will also cause <i>heaven</i> to move’, he said [Haggai 2:6] . 


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These words, ‘once again’, show us that God will take away some things. Everything that he causes to move will finish. That means all the things that he has made. So then, everything that he does not move will continue to be there.


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But we receive a place where we will rule with God. And nobody can ever move that place, so we should thank God. We should <i>worship</i> God in a way that makes him happy. We should <i>worship</i> him because he is so great and so powerful. 


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Our God is like a fire that can destroy everything. <n>Verse 27 At some future time, God will destroy this earth and this sky that he has made. After that, he has promised to make a new earth and a new sky. (See Isaiah 65:17; 66:22 and Revelation 21:1.) All the things that we can see must come to an end. But the things that we cannot see are much, much more important. They will never come to an end. They include the place that God has prepared for us. 


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Always remember to be kind to strangers. Remember to let them stay in your homes. In this way, some people have received <i>angels</i> as visitors. But those people did not know that their visitors were <i>angels</i>. 


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Remember those people who are in prison. Think about what that would be like for you. Think like someone who is there with those people in prison. Remember those who have troubles because of other people. Other people are doing bad things to them. Trouble like that could also happen to you. Think about what that would be like for you yourselves. <n>Verse 2 The Bible tells us about some people who received <i>angels</i> as visitors. (See, for example, Genesis 18:1-21; 19:1-3.) <n>Verse 3 The writer is talking about Christians who had troubles. At that time, life was difficult for Christians. Many of them were in prison, and people were doing bad things to many other Christians. 


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When people have married each other, everyone should remember that. Everyone should remember that it is a very good and important thing. Husbands and wives must not have sex with anyone else. Nobody should have sex with someone who is not their own wife or their own husband. God will <i>punish</i> everyone who does not obey those rules.


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Do not want lots of money. Do not live like that. Be happy with the things that you have. Be happy, because God has promised to be with you. <n>‘I will never leave you; I will never let you be completely alone’, he said. [Deuteronomy 31:6] 


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So we can bravely say this: <n>‘The <i>Lord</i> comes to help me, so I will not be afraid. <n>I will not be afraid of anything that people can do to me.’[Psalm 118:6] 


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Remember your leaders, who taught God’s message to you. Continue to think about the result of how they lived. They really believed God; so copy their example. 


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Some people teach all kinds of strange things. Do not let them lead you the wrong way. God is very kind to us, so he will make us strong deep inside ourselves. It is good if we let him do that. Rules about what foods we eat do not make us strong like that. Those rules have never done anything good for the people who obey them. <n>Verse 9 Some people were teaching that Christians should obey certain rules about food. We do not really know which rules the writer was talking about. But the important thing is that food can only do good things for our bodies. Food cannot help our <i>spirits</i>, because only God can help us like that. Only God can make us really strong inside ourselves. 


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<i>Israel</i>’s <i>priests</i> worked for God in his special <i>tent</i>, and they ate there. But we have a <i>sacrifice</i> that they have no authority to eat from. 


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The <i>chief priest</i> brings the blood from the animal <i>sacrifice</i> into the Most <i>Holy</i> Room. He offers that blood to God because <i>Israel</i>’s people have done many wrong things. But they burn those animals’ bodies outside the place where the people live. 


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For this reason Jesus also died outside the city’s gate. And God saw the blood that he lost. Jesus died there as a <i>sacrifice</i>. He died there so that he could make people completely good and clean for God. 


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So we must go to him. We must be ready to go outside the place where everybody else lives. We must be ready for people to be ashamed of us, as they were ashamed of him. 


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Here on earth we do not have a home in a city that will always be there. But we are waiting for God’s city that will come. <n>Verses 10-12 <i>Israel</i>’s <i>priests</i> could eat some of the meat from animals that people brought as certain <i>sacrifices</i>. (See, for example, Leviticus 6:26, 29 and 7:6-7.) This showed that they <i>shared</i> in what the <i>sacrifice</i> was for. But on a certain day each year, they offered a very special <i>sacrifice</i>, for all the people. They killed animals and the <i>chief priest</i> took the animals’ blood into the Most <i>Holy</i> Room. The <i>priests</i> could not eat any of the meat from those animals. Nobody could eat it. They had to burn the animals’ bodies. (See Leviticus 6:30 and 16:27.) <n>That special <i>sacrifice</i> was like a picture of how Jesus would give himself as a <i>sacrifice</i> for us. And now Jesus has died for us. So now nobody needs the <i>sacrifices</i> that belonged to the old <i>agreement</i> between God and his people. Nobody needs those <i>priests</i> who worked for God during the old <i>agreement</i>. They have no authority to <i>share</i> in the <i>sacrifice</i> that is ours now. When we eat food, it makes our bodies strong. When we really believe Jesus, his Spirit makes us strong. So we could say this: we ‘eat’ Jesus when we believe him. When we believe him, we <i>share</i> in his <i>sacrifice</i> for us. <n>Verse 12 They killed Jesus outside Jerusalem city (see John 19:20). <i>Israel</i>’s people thought that a place ‘outside the city’s gate’ was a dirty place. It was a place for someone that they refused to accept. It was a place where people were ashamed to go. 


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So we should always continue to thank God. We should say how great and how good he is. That is our <i>sacrifice</i> to him, because Jesus helps us. Then we will always be offering this gift to him while we speak his name. 


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Remember to be kind to other people. And remember to <i>share</i> what you have with other people. God is very happy with <i>sacrifices</i> like that.


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Obey your leaders. Do what they tell you. They continue to watch over your lives on God’s behalf. And they will have to explain to God how they have done that work. So, if you obey them, they will be happy with their work. Do not make them sad, because that would not help you.


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Pray for us. We are completely sure that we have done nothing wrong. We always want to do only what is right. 


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God can take away all difficulties and he can cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. God caused our <i>Lord</i> Jesus to become alive again. He did not stay among the dead people. When Jesus died, the new <i>agreement</i> began. And it will continue always. Jesus is like a shepherd (someone who watches over his sheep). He is our great shepherd, and we are his sheep. 


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I pray that God will make you completely ready to <i>serve</i> him. He will give you every good thing that you need for that work. And then you can do everything that he wants. I pray that Jesus Christ will do these good things in us on God’s behalf. Then we will make God happy. Everyone should say how great God is for all time and always. This is true.


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Christian friends, I ask very much that you listen patiently to my message. I have written this to help you so that you can be brave and strong. And this letter is not very long. 


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I want you to know about Timothy, who is like a brother to us. They have let him go out of prison, so that he is free now. If he arrives soon, I will travel with him to meet you.


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Say ‘hello’ on my behalf to your leaders and to all God’s people. The Christians from the country called Italy say ‘hello’ to you too. 


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I pray that God will be very kind to all of you. <n>Verse 24 We do not know whether the writer was in Italy with the ‘Christians from Italy’. When he wrote this letter, they could all have been together, somewhere outside Italy. Or the writer may have been with Christians in Italy and then he went to another place.


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This book describes the things that God showed to Jesus Christ. He wanted Jesus to show these things to his own servants. These events must happen soon. Jesus sent his <i>angel</i> to show these things to his servant John.


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John has told everything that he saw then. These things are a true message from God. Jesus Christ really said these things. 


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God will be good to the person who reads aloud the words of this <i>prophecy</i>. God will also be good to all those people who listen to these words. So, if they obey these words, all these people will be really happy. I, John, have written all that I saw. Those people who hear these words should remember them. These things are very important and they will happen soon. <n>John writes to the 7 <i>churches</i></n>


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I am John, and I am writing to the 7 <i>churches</i>. You live in the country called Asia. I pray that God will continue to be very kind to you. I pray also that he will cause you to be without trouble inside yourselves. God will do these things for you. He is alive now and he has always been alive. And he will come. <n>The 7 <i>spirits</i> that are in front of God’s <i>throne</i> will also do these things for you. <n>Verse 4 We find the number 7 many times in the Book of Revelation. In the Bible, the number 7 usually means that things are whole. It means this: Things are completely what they should be. So ‘7 spirits’ may mean ‘the Holy Spirit’. He is God, so he is completely good. 


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And Jesus Christ will also do these things for you. He always says and shows true things. He is the first person who became alive again after death for all time. He rules the rulers on the earth. <n>Jesus loves us. He bled and died for us. That is how he made us free. We are free from all the bad things that we have done. 


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He has made us belong to his family, who rule as kings. He has made us <i>priests</i>, to be servants of his God and Father. Jesus Christ will always be very great! All authority is his for all time. This is true.


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Look, he will come on the clouds! Everyone will see him, even those who pierced him. People from all the countries on earth will be sad because of him. Yes, this is true. <n>Verse 7 To ‘pierce’ means to use a sharp tool to make a hole in something. The soldiers who killed Jesus put nails through his body to fix him to the cross. (Nails are small pieces of metal with sharp points at the end.) Also, a soldier put a spear into Jesus when he was dying on the cross. (A spear is a long piece of wood or metal with a sharp point at the end. Soldiers used spears to fight.) (See John 19:34-37.) <n>But we think that ‘those who pierced him’ does not include only those soldiers. The leaders of Israel’s people and of the Roman government in Israel decided to kill Jesus. And perhaps this verse also includes everyone else who does not want Jesus as their <i>Lord</i>. If they had been alive then, they would have wanted to kill him. All these people will see Jesus when he comes to the earth again. Then they will know that he is the <i>Lord</i>. They will know that they should have obeyed him. So they will be sad. (See also Zechariah 12:10.) 


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‘I cause all things to begin and I cause the end of all things’, says the <i>Lord</i> God. ‘I have all authority. I am alive and I was always alive. And I will come.’ <n>Jesus appears to John</n>


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I am John, and, like you, I believe Christ. So I am like a brother to you. Jesus is our king. And because we are his people, we are having trouble. So, like you, I need to be strong and patient. I was on Patmos island because I had taught God’s message. I told people what is true about Jesus. <n>Verse 9 Patmos island was near to ‘Asia’ and the 7 <i>churches</i>. The Romans had sent John to Patmos because they did not like him to teach about Jesus. Patmos was a prison. The Romans would not let John leave Patmos. 


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On the <i>Lord</i>’s day, God’s Spirit caused me to see and to hear things. It was like a dream as the Spirit showed me things. I heard somebody speak behind me. The sound was as loud as a <i>trumpet</i>. 


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The person said: ‘Write what you see in a book. You must send the book to the 7 <i>churches</i> in these cities: <n>Ephesus <br/> Smyrna <br/> Pergamum <br/> Thyatira <br/> Sardis <br/> Philadelphia and <br/> Laodicea.’ <n>Verse 10 ‘The <i>Lord</i>’s day’ may mean Sunday, the first day of the week. This was the day when Christians came together. They met to <i>worship</i> God. 


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I turned round to see who was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw 7 lights in gold <i>lampstands</i>. 


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In the middle of the lights, I saw someone like a man. He was wearing long clothes that reached down to his feet. And he wore a gold belt round the top half of his body. 


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His head and his hair were white like sheep’s hair. They were very white, like snow. And his eyes were like fires that were burning. 


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His feet shone like yellow metal that shines brightly in a very hot fire. When he spoke, his voice was like the sound of many rivers. It was like many rivers that were moving very fast. 


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He held 7 stars in his right hand. And there was a sharp <i>sword</i> with two edges coming out of his mouth. His face was like the sun when it shines very brightly.


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When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead person. Then he put his right hand on me. ‘Do not be afraid’, he said to me. ‘I am first and I am last. 


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I am God who is alive. I died once. But look, I am alive. And I will be alive always. And I have the keys to death and Hades. 


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So write down the things that you have seen. Write about what is happening now. And write about what will happen later.’ <n>Verse 18 Someone who has a key can open a door. Or they can lock a door. They have authority. So, this verse means that Jesus has authority. He can say when a person must die. He can also say where the dead person’s <i>spirit</i> will go. The Bible shows us that Hades is the place for dead people. Hades is like a city under the ground. 


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‘You saw 7 stars in my right hand. You saw 7 lights, in gold <i>lampstands</i>. This is what they mean. The 7 stars mean the <i>angels</i> of you 7 <i>churches</i>. And the 7 lights in their <i>lampstands</i> mean you 7 <i>churches</i>.’


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‘Write this to the <i>angel</i> of the <i>church</i> at Ephesus: <n>This is the message from the one who holds the 7 stars. He holds them in his right hand. He also walks among the 7 lights in gold <i>lampstands</i>. <n>Verse 1 Many people think that the ‘angel’ here means a human person. The angel could have been the person who read this letter aloud to the <i>church</i>. (So ‘angel’ could also mean this in verses 2:8, 12 and 18 and 3:1, 7 and 14. Everywhere else in Revelation, ‘angel’ means a <i>being</i> from <i>heaven</i>.) 


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I know everything that you do. You have worked much for me. You have been patient through trouble. I know that you will not let bad men stay among you. Some men among you say that God has sent them to teach you. But he did not send them. You have thought carefully about what they say. And you have discovered that it is not true. 


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You have been patient and strong. You have had trouble because you are my servants. And still you have not become tired of obeying me.


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But I have something to say against you. You loved me very much when you first believed in me. You do not love me as much now. 


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So remember how much you once loved me. Be sorry about the bad things that you do. Do again the good things that you did at the beginning. Unless you are sorry about the bad things, I will come to you. Then I will take away your <i>lampstand</i> from its place. 


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You <i>hate</i> what the Nicolaitans are doing. It is very good that you <i>hate</i> it. I also <i>hate</i> it. <n>Verse 6 The Nicolaitans were teaching the Christians to do wrong things. They were not teaching the same as Jesus had taught. We do not know much about the wrong things that they taught. 


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God’s Spirit is speaking to you in the <i>churches</i>. You should recognise that the Spirit is speaking. Everybody who recognises that should listen. They should listen to what he says. I will let everyone who wins against <i>Satan</i> eat my fruit. This fruit is from the tree that makes us alive. And this tree grows in God’s garden.’ <n>Verse 7 ‘Wins’ here means ‘beats everything that is against Christians’. The <i>Devil</i> is always trying to stop people being Christians. We can only beat him when we go on obeying Jesus always. Jesus will show us what to do. He will make us strong. <n>Jesus’ message to the believers at Smyrna</n>


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‘Write this to the <i>angel</i> of the <i>church</i> at Smyrna: <n>This is the message from the one who is first and last. He was dead, and he became alive again.


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I know that bad people are hurting you very much. I know that you are poor. But really, you are rich. Some people there say that they are <i>Jews</i>. But I know that they say bad things about you. And I know that these things are not true. So they are not really my people, who obey me. They are really a group of <i>Satan</i>’s people. 


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I know that trouble will soon come to you. But do not be afraid. Listen! The <i>Devil</i> will cause some of you to go to prison. He wants to see whether you will continue to believe me. And you will have trouble and pain for 10 days. But go on believing, even if you must die. You may have to die because you believe. But if you continue to believe, you can win against the <i>Devil</i>. And then I will give you a gift because you have won. I will cause you to live with me always. I will give you this gift, as they give a <i>crown</i> to a winner. <n>Verse 10 The ‘10 days’ may mean a short, certain time of trouble rather than a long time. <n>Verse 11 A winner is someone who wins. In those days, somebody received a <i>crown</i> (a special hat) when they won. This means that they had done something better than other people. For example, they might have run faster than other people. They wore the <i>crown</i> on their head. (The <i>crown</i> was the shape of a circle. Someone tied leaves together to make the <i>crown</i>.) 


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God’s Spirit is speaking to you in the <i>churches</i>. You should recognise that the Spirit is speaking. Everybody who recognises that should listen. They should listen to what he says. The second death will not hurt anyone who wins against <i>Satan</i>.’ <n>Verse 11 The second death is the opposite of when someone lives always with Jesus. It means that a person must go to a place without Jesus. Nobody is happy in that place. The name of that place is hell, or the lake of fire (see 20:14). <n>Jesus’ message to the believers at Pergamum</n>


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‘Write this to the <i>angel</i> of the <i>church</i> at Pergamum: <n>This is the message from the one who has the sharp <i>sword</i>. That <i>sword</i> has two edges.


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I know where you live. It is the place where <i>Satan</i> sits as king. But still you go on <i>serving</i> me. You remember Antipas. He continued to speak about me. Some people who live in Pergamum killed him because of that. You saw it happen. But you continued to believe me and you told others about me. And you still do this, even there in that place where <i>Satan</i> lives. <n>Verse 13 Pergamum city was a place where <i>Satan</i> was powerful. That could be why verse 13 calls it the place ‘where <i>Satan</i> lives’. There was a special building there for people to <i>worship</i> the king of Rome. This king was against Christians because they would not <i>worship</i> him. Also, there was a very big stone table on a hill. People offered gifts to the false god Zeus on this big table. Also, many people <i>worshipped</i> a snake god. The <i>Devil</i> appears as a snake in the Bible (Genesis 3). 


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But I have a few things to say against you. Some people among you do what Balaam taught. He taught Balak to do what was wrong. And Balak caused Israel’s people to want to do wrong things. He caused them to eat food that people had given to false gods. And he caused them to have sex with people who were not their husbands or wives. 


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So be sorry and stop doing all these bad things. If you are not sorry, I will come to you quickly. Then I will fight against those bad people with my <i>sword</i>. This <i>sword</i> comes out of my mouth. <n>Verse 14 Balak was the king of Moab. See Numbers 22:1-25:3. 


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God’s Spirit is speaking to you in the <i>churches</i>. You should recognise that the Spirit is speaking. Everybody who recognises that should listen. They should listen to what he says. I will give my special food to everyone who wins against <i>Satan</i>. I will also give them a white stone. And I will write a new name on that stone. Nobody will know that name except the person who receives it.’ <n>Verse 17 The colour white in the Bible usually means being completely good and clean. So, the white stone may show that God will make us like that. He will make our <i>spirits</i> completely clean if we continue to believe him. <n>Jesus’ message to the believers at Thyatira</n>


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‘Write this to the <i>angel</i> of the <i>church</i> at Thyatira: <n>This is the message from the Son of God. He has eyes that burn like fires. His feet shine like bright yellow metal.


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I know everything that you do. I know how much you love me. I know that you go on believing me. I know that you are my servants. I know that you are patient and strong. I know that you do more work now than you did before.


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But I have something to say against you. You let that woman Jezebel teach you. She says that she speaks God’s messages. But she leads my servants the wrong way. God’s rules say that someone should have sex only with their wife or their husband. But she teaches my servants to have sex with other people. And she teaches them to eat food that people have given to false gods. 


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I have given her time to be sorry about these bad things. But she refuses to stop having sex with other men. 


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She has done bad things on a bed. So I will hurt her on a bed. I will cause a lot of trouble for those who loved her. They did bad things because of her. They will have very bad trouble unless they are sorry about those bad things. They must stop doing the bad things that she taught them to do. 


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And I will kill those who obey her. Then all the <i>churches</i> will know that I look deep inside people. I know what they really want. I know what they really think. And I will give each person among you what you ought to have. I will give you this because of what you have done.


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But you other people in Thyatira, you have not done what Jezebel taught. You have not learned what they call ‘<i>Satan</i>’s deep secrets’. I say something else to you. I will not ask you to do anything that is too difficult. I do not want you to be like people who must carry something heavy. 


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Everyone who goes on doing what I say will win. They will win against <i>Satan</i> if they obey me until the end. I will give those people authority to rule all the countries on the earth. 


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They will rule those countries with an iron stick. They will rule like someone who breaks clay pots into pieces. I have received this authority from my Father. 


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God’s Spirit is speaking to you in the <i>churches</i>. You should recognise that the Spirit is speaking. Everybody who recognises that should listen. They should listen to what he says.’ <n>Verse 27 The person who rules the countries will be strong. They will rule completely. (Clay is sticky material from the ground. People make pots out of it.) <n>Verse 28 The morning star appears in the sky just before the sunrise. It is very bright. It shows us that the day is coming. In chapter 22:16, Jesus says that he is the morning star. After times of trouble, that seem dark like the night, he brings the day. He is promising that Christians will not always have troubles. 


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‘Write this to the <i>angel</i> of the <i>church</i> at Sardis: <n>This is the message from the one who holds the 7 <i>spirits</i> of God and the 7 stars. <n>I know everything that you do. I know what people think about you. They think that you are alive. But that is not true, because really you are dead. 


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Wake up! You still do a few things because you believe Christ. Make your lives as believers strong again, because they are ready to die. I have discovered that you have not done everything right. You have not done everything that God wanted. 


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So remember what you have heard. Remember what you have learned. Obey God, and turn away from wrong things. Be sorry for the wrong things that you have done. If you do not wake up, I will come to you. I will come secretly, like someone who robs. So, you will have no idea about what time I will come to you.


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But you have a few people among you in Sardis who have not done anything bad. They are like people who have kept their clothes clean. They will walk with me and they will wear white clothes. The white clothes show that they are good. 


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Everyone who wins against <i>Satan</i> will wear white clothes. I will never remove their names from God’s book. That book says who will live with me always. And I will tell my Father and his <i>angels</i> that those people are mine. 


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God’s Spirit is speaking to you in the <i>churches</i>. You should recognise that the Spirit is speaking. Everybody who recognises that should listen. They should listen to what he says.’ <n>Jesus’ message to the believers at Philadelphia</n>


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‘Write this to the <i>angel</i> of the <i>church</i> at Philadelphia: <n>This is the message from the one who is completely good. He is really God. He has David’s key that shows his authority. What he opens, nobody can shut. And what he shuts, nobody can open. <n>Verse 7 David was a great king of God’s people, Israel. David lived on the earth many, many years before Jesus lived here as a man. But both men belonged to the same family. 


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I know everything that you do. Look, I have opened a door in front of you. Nobody can shut that door. I know that you are not very strong. But you have obeyed what I told you. And you have continued to believe me. 


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Some people there say that they themselves are <i>Jews</i>. But that is not true; they are not really God’s people. They are a group of <i>Satan</i>’s people. I will cause them to come and to bend down in front of you. Then they will know that I love you. 


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You have done what I told you. So you have continued to be very patient. So, I will keep you safe from the time of trouble that will come. It will come to the whole world. Trouble will come to everyone who lives on the earth. This difficult time will show me what each person will do.


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I will come quickly. Be careful that you continue to believe me. Then nobody can take away your <i>crown</i>. <n>Verse 11 The <i>crown</i> is Jesus’ gift. He gives it to Christians who win against <i>Satan</i>. He causes them to live with him always. See 2:10. 


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Everyone who wins against <i>Satan</i> will always remain in God’s house. I will make them like the strong part of God’s house that holds it up. They will never leave God’s house again. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of my God’s city. The name of that city is New Jerusalem. It will come down from my God. It will come from his home above the earth. I will also write my new name on those people. 


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God’s Spirit is speaking to you in the <i>churches</i>. You should recognise that the Spirit is speaking. Everybody who recognises that should listen. They should listen to what he says.’ <n>Verse 12 Jerusalem was the capital city of Israel. Israel was the country on this earth where God’s people lived. New Jerusalem will be the place where God’s people (all the Christians) will live always. The last two chapters of Revelation describe this New Jerusalem. <n>Jesus’ message to the believers at Laodicea</n>


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‘Write this to the <i>angel</i> of the <i>church</i> at Laodicea: <n>This is the message from the one whose name is Amen. That name means: ‘God’s promises and purposes will happen because of him’. He always obeys God. He says and shows only true things. Everything that God has made comes from him.


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I, Jesus, know everything that you do. I know that you are neither cold nor hot. It would be better if you were either cold or hot. 


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But you are only warm. You are neither cold nor hot. So I am ready to throw you away completely. <n>Verses 15-16 In a place near to Laodicea, hot water came up out of the ground. People used the hot water like a medicine. But by the time this water reached Laodicea city, it was not hot. It was only warm. Also, at another city near Laodicea, cold water came up out of the ground. This cold water was good to drink. But by the time it reached Laodicea through a pipe, it too became warm. So then people did not like to drink it. So, people could use both the hot water and the cold water where they came out of the ground. But they did not like the warm water at Laodicea. In these verses, Jesus is saying that he will not use the Christians at Laodicea. They are like the warm water that is not good for anything. 


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“I am rich”, you say. “I have done well and I do not need anything.” But you do not know how very poor you are really! You are like people who cannot see. You are like people who are without clothes. So that really, other people should feel very sorry for you. 


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I tell you that you should buy gold from me. With my gold, you would be really rich. I have made my gold the very best, because it has been through fire. You should also buy white clothes from me to dress yourselves. Then you will not be ashamed because you have no clothes. You should also buy medicine from me to put on your eyes. Then you will see. <n>Verse 18 Jesus is not talking about gold or clothes or medicine that we can see or touch. He is telling these people what they need inside themselves. He is talking about what they need in their <i>spirits</i>. These Christians must receive what only he can give them. They must stop thinking that they are all right. They thought this because they had lots of money. <n>People with ‘white clothes’ are like a picture of people who are completely good and clean. 


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I explain things to everyone that I love. When they have done wrong things, I <i>punish</i> them. So choose only to obey me. Be sorry for what you have done. 


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Look! I am standing at the door of your house. I am knocking on your door. You can hear what I say. So, if you open the door, I will come in. Then we will eat a meal together.


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I beat my enemies. Then I sat down with my Father on his <i>throne</i>. I will let everyone who wins against my enemies sit with me. They will sit on my <i>throne</i> with me. 


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God’s Spirit is speaking to you in the <i>churches</i>. You should recognise that the Spirit is speaking. Everybody who recognises that should listen. They should listen to what he says.’


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After this I looked. And there in front of me was an open door in <i>heaven</i>. As before, I heard someone speak like a <i>trumpet</i>. ‘Come up here’, he said. ‘I will show you what must happen after this.’ 


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Immediately the Spirit caused me to see and to hear things. It was like a dream. I saw a <i>throne</i> in <i>heaven</i>, with someone sitting on it. 


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The one who sat there shone with bright red and white light, like beautiful stones. Round the <i>throne</i> there was a rainbow that shone with bright green light. 


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All round the <i>throne</i> there were 24 other <i>thrones</i>. And 24 leaders were sitting on these <i>thrones</i>. They were wearing white clothes and they had gold <i>crowns</i> on their heads. 


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It was like a storm as bright lights and loud noises came out from the <i>throne</i>. There were 7 lights of fire burning brightly in front of the <i>throne</i>. These lights are the 7 <i>spirits</i> of God. 


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Also in front of the <i>throne</i> there was something like a sea of glass. This sea shone with light like a mirror. <n>In the middle, round the <i>throne</i>, there were 4 other <i>beings</i> that were alive. They had eyes all over them, on their fronts and on their backs. 


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The first of these <i>beings</i> was like a <i>lion</i> and the second <i>being</i> was like a male cow. The next <i>being</i> had a face like a man’s face. And the last <i>being</i> was like a big, strong bird called an eagle, that was flying. 


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Each <i>being</i> had 6 <i>wings</i>. And they had eyes all over them, even under their <i>wings</i>. All day and all night they never stop saying: <n>‘The <i>Lord</i> God is completely good and clean. <n>He is separate from everything that is bad. And he has all authority. <n>He was always alive and he is alive now. <n>And he will come.’


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The 4 <i>beings</i> that are alive say how great and powerful God is. They thank God, who sits on the <i>throne</i>. He is alive always. 


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When the 4 <i>beings</i> do this, the 24 leaders bend down to the ground. They bend down in front of God, who sits on the <i>throne</i>. They bend down to <i>worship</i> him. He is alive always. They throw their <i>crowns</i> in front of the <i>throne</i>. And they say:


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‘Our <i>Lord</i> and our God, you are so great and so good! <n>Everyone should say how great and powerful you are! <n>Everyone should recognise your authority, because you made all things. <n>You wanted to make them. <n>And they are alive and they are here now. <n>That is only because you made them.’


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Then I saw a book. God, who was sitting on the <i>throne</i>, was holding the book. He was holding it in his right hand. He had written inside the book and on the back of it. And he had locked the book with 7 <i>locks</i>. 


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And I saw a strong <i>angel</i> who spoke with a loud voice. ‘Who is so good that they can break the <i>locks</i>?’ he said. ‘Who can open the book?’ 


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But nobody in <i>heaven</i> could open the book. Neither could anyone on the earth nor anyone under the earth open it. <n>Verse 3 The place ‘under the earth’ means where dead people are. The <i>Jews</i> called this place Hades. They thought that it was like a city under the ground. 


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I wept much because there was nobody. Nobody was so good that they could open the book. So nobody could look inside it. 


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Then one of the leaders spoke to me. ‘Do not weep’, he said. ‘Look! The one who is stronger than everyone else has won the fight. His name is the <i>Lion</i> from Judah’s family group. His name is also the Root of David. He belongs to David’s family, but he is greater than David. He can break the 7 <i>locks</i> on the book so that he can open it.’ <n>Verse 5 Judah was one of the 12 grandfathers of God’s people, Israel. Israel’s great king, David, and Jesus Christ both belonged to Judah’s family group. Jesus is like a <i>lion</i>, because the <i>lion</i> is stronger than other animals. The <i>lion</i> rules the other animals. <n>Jesus was born on the earth into David’s family. So, we could say that he was David’s grandson. Jesus was born as a man many years after David. But Jesus is the Root of David. He caused David to be alive, as a plant grows up from its root. The root is the part of the plant that is under the ground. Jesus is God. He has always been alive in God’s home above the earth. He made everything and everyone else. (See also 22:16.) 


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Then I saw a <i>Lamb</i>. He was standing in the middle of the <i>throne</i>. The 4 <i>beings</i> that were alive, and the leaders, were round him. He appeared to be the <i>Lamb</i> that someone had killed. This <i>Lamb</i> had 7 <i>horns</i> and 7 eyes. His eyes are the 7 <i>spirits</i> of God, that God has sent into all parts of the world. 


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The <i>Lamb</i> came and took the book. He took it from the right hand of God, who was sitting on the <i>throne</i>. 


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And when he had taken the book, the 4 <i>beings</i> and the 24 leaders <i>worshipped</i> him. They bent down to the ground in front of the <i>Lamb</i>. Each leader had a <i>harp</i> to make music. And they were holding gold cups which were full of <i>incense</i>. This <i>incense</i> makes a nice smell when it burns. These cups of <i>incense</i> are like a picture of everything that God’s people pray to him. 


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The <i>beings</i> and the leaders sang a new song. This is their song: <n>‘You are so good! <n>You can take the book and break its <i>locks</i>. <n>You can do this because they killed you. <n>That is how you bought people for God with your blood. <n>You bought them from every family group, <n>from every language and every country.


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You have caused them to belong to your family, <n>the family that rules over everything. <n>You have made them <i>priests</i>, <n><i>priests</i> who are servants of our God. <n>And they will rule on the earth.’


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Then I looked again, and I heard the sound of many <i>angels</i>. There were thousands and millions of them, and they were standing round the <i>throne</i>. They stood round the <i>beings</i> that were alive and round the leaders. 


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They sang like this with loud voices: <n>‘The <i>Lamb</i> that they killed is very good! <n>He is so good that he must receive all authority. <n>He is rich and strong and he always knows everything. <n>Everyone must say how great and important he is. <n>Everyone must thank him!’


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Then I heard everyone singing. Everything that God has made alive was singing. That included everything in God’s home and everything on the earth. It also included everything under the earth and on the sea. They were singing: <n>‘We thank you, who sit on the <i>throne</i>. <n>And we thank the <i>Lamb</i>. <n>You must have authority always! <n>Everyone must always recognise how great you are! <n>They must recognise how powerful you are!’


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The 4 <i>beings</i> that were alive spoke then. ‘Yes, this is true’, they said. And the leaders bent down and they <i>worshipped</i> God and the <i>Lamb</i>. <n>Verses 6-14 The Bible tells us that Jesus is the <i>Lamb</i> of God. (See John 1:29, 36.) Many years ago, God’s people killed <i>lambs</i> and offered them as gifts to God. They did this before Jesus died. They wanted God to be happy with them. Then he would not <i>punish</i> them for what they had done wrong. But those <i>lambs</i> could not really take away all the bad things that people had done. Jesus, God’s Son, was the only completely good man who lived on this earth. So when he died for us, he offered himself to God as our <i>Lamb</i>. That is why everyone and everything should <i>worship</i> him. 


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Then I watched while the <i>Lamb</i> opened one of the 7 <i>locks</i>. And I heard one of the 4 <i>beings</i> say: ‘Come!’ It spoke very loudly. The noise was like a storm. 


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I looked, and there was a white horse. The person who was sitting on the horse was holding a bow. Someone gave him a <i>crown</i>. He had won many wars. Now he rode out to win many more wars.


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Then the <i>Lamb</i> opened the second <i>lock</i>. And I heard another of the <i>beings</i> say: ‘Come!’ 


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Then another horse came out. This horse was bright red, like fire. The person who was sitting on the horse had authority. He could bring war on the earth, so that people killed each other. Someone gave him a large <i>sword</i>.


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Then the <i>Lamb</i> opened the third <i>lock</i>. And I heard the next <i>being</i> say: ‘Come!’ I looked, and there was a black horse. The person who was sitting on the horse was holding something in his hand. He used it to weigh things. 


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Then I heard a sound like somebody speaking among the 4 <i>beings</i>. ‘A litre of wheat is worth one day’s work’, it said. ‘And 3 litres of barley is also worth one day’s work. But do not hurt the <i>olive</i> oil and the <i>wine</i>.’ <n>Verses 5-6 Wheat and barley are plants that farmers grow. People use wheat and barley seeds to make flour for bread. The person on the black horse weighs the wheat and barley seeds. They are very expensive. So the black horse is telling us about a time of trouble when people will not have enough food. There may not be enough water to grow wheat or barley. But the black horse must not destroy the fruits (olives and grapes). Olives make oil to cook with. Grapes make <i>wine</i> to drink. These plants grow deeper in the ground. They do not die so quickly if there is not enough water. So, this time of trouble will not destroy everything that people need. 


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Then the <i>Lamb</i> opened the next (fourth) <i>lock</i>. And I heard the last <i>being</i> say: ‘Come!’ 


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I looked, and there was a grey horse. The name of the person who was sitting on the horse was Death. And Hades, the name of the place for dead people, was following, near to him. They had authority to kill people in a quarter of the earth. They could kill people in wars, or they could cause people to have no food. They could cause people to be very ill so that they died. They could also cause the wild animals on the earth to kill people. <n>Verse 8 The ‘grey’ horse is the same colour as a dead person. 


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Then the <i>Lamb</i> opened the next (fifth) <i>lock</i>. And I saw a special table where people offered gifts to God. I saw the <i>spirits</i> of some dead people under the table. These people had died because they had spoken about Jesus Christ. They had said that God’s words are true. Other people had killed them because they had gone on speaking about Jesus. 


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These dead servants of Christ shouted loudly. ‘<i>Lord</i>, you have all authority’, they shouted. ‘You are completely good. You always do what is right. When will you decide to do what is fair to people? You must decide about all the people who live on the earth. How much more time must pass before you decide? When will you <i>punish</i> the people who killed us?’


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Then each dead servant of Christ received white clothes. And God told them to wait for a short time. They must wait until other servants of Christ have died too. God will still let the people on the earth kill a certain number of his servants.


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I watched when the <i>Lamb</i> opened the next (sixth) <i>lock</i>. Then the ground moved and everything on the earth moved very much. The sun became black like thick black cloth. The whole moon became red like blood. 


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The stars in the sky fell to the earth. They fell like fruits fall from a tree when a strong wind blows. 


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Then everyone on the earth hid themselves. They hid in holes in the rocks. They hid among the rocks in the mountains. Even the rulers and the powerful people hid. Even the army rulers, the rich people and other people with authority, they all hid. Also all the other people hid, whether they were slaves or free people.


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They shouted to the mountains and to the rocks: ‘Fall on us. Hide us from God, who sits on the <i>throne</i>. Do not let him see us. Hide us, because the <i>Lamb</i> is very angry with us. 


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After this I saw 4 <i>angels</i> who were standing at the 4 corners of the earth. They were stopping the 4 winds of the earth. So, no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 


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Then I saw another <i>angel</i> who was coming up from the east. He was carrying something to make a mark. It was the mark of the God who is alive. This <i>angel</i> shouted loudly to the 4 <i>angels</i>. They had received authority to destroy the land and the sea. 


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But he shouted to them: ‘Do not destroy the land or the sea or the trees yet. Wait until we put a mark on our God’s servants. We must put a mark on the front of their heads.’


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Then I heard how many people received God’s mark. The number was 144 000 from all the family groups of Israel’s people. 


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There were 12 000 from each family group: <br/> 12 000 from Judah’s family group <br/> 12 000 from Reuben’s family group <br/> 12 000 from Gad’s family group <br/> 


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12 000 from Asher’s family group <br/> 12 000 from Naphtali’s family group <br/> 12 000 from Manasseh’s family group <br/> 


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12 000 from Simeon’s family group <br/> 12 000 from Levi’s family group <br/> 12 000 from Issachar’s family group <br/> 


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12 000 from Zebulun’s family group <br/> 12 000 from Joseph’s family group <br/> 12 000 from Benjamin’s family group <n>Verses 5-8 The 12 names in this list were all sons of Jacob (except Manasseh, who was Joseph’s son). Jacob’s other name was Israel. He was the beginning of Israel’s people. The <i>angel</i> did not include the name of Jacob’s other son, Dan, in the list. <n>The large crowd who were wearing white clothes</n>


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After this, I looked, and I saw a very big crowd of people. There were so many people that nobody could count them. They came from every country, from every family group and from every language. They were standing in front of the <i>throne</i> and in front of the <i>Lamb</i>. They were wearing white clothes and they were holding branches of palm trees in their hands. <n>Verse 9 The branches of a palm tree have big leaves. At the time when Jesus lived on this earth, people used palm branches at special events. They thought that the palm tree was a special tree. The people held palm branches when Jesus rode into Jerusalem city. This was because they were so happy to see him. They were showing that he was a great king. They were showing that he would beat all his enemies. (See John 12:13.) In verse 9 the people in the big crowd are also holding palm branches and <i>worshipping</i> Jesus. 


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And they shouted loudly: <n>‘It is our God and the <i>Lamb</i> who have saved us. <n>They saved us from trouble and danger. <n>Our God sits on the <i>throne</i>.’


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All the <i>angels</i> were standing round the <i>throne</i> and round the leaders and round the 4 <i>beings</i>. They bent down so that their faces touched the ground in front of the <i>throne</i>. That was how they <i>worshipped</i> God. 


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They said: <n>‘This is true! <n>We want to <i>worship</i> our God. <n>We want to say how great and powerful he is. <n>Because he knows everything and we thank him. <n>He has authority and he will be strong always. <n>This is true!’


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Then one of the leaders spoke to me. ‘Who are these people in white clothes?’ he asked. ‘Where did they come from?’ 


