But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. —I Thessalonians 3:6  How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? —I Thessalonians 3:9  Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your…

Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. —I Thessalonians 1:10 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. —I Thessalonians 2:19-20              Jesus saved us, brothers and sisters, fellow followers/disciples of Jesus, not only from the coming wrath, but to allow Him to work through us to impact others.  Praise God that He saved us from the penalty and power of sin and to a new eternal life with Him!  But while we are living in this world— are we sharing what…

Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.” —Colossians 4:17              What is our Lord God Almighty saying to you and I through this verse?  It is very simple, isn’t it?  “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”  So, the question is— What ministry have you and I received from our Lord to finish?              It is also clear, from Ephesians 2:10, that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  Wow, first, you and I are God’s handiwork.  So, God is…

We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. —Colossians 1:9-12 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that…

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. —Philippians 3-20-21              Think about it.  This body we presently have, Jesus is going to “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”  Praise God!  This decaying body is, one day, going to be like the body our risen Lord Jesus presently has!  “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made…

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. —Philippians 1:3-6 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that…

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. —Ephesians 5:8-11 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. —Ephesians 5:15-17 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they…

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Ephesians 3:10-11 To grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. —Ephesians 3:18-19 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… as each part…

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. —Ephesians 1:13-14 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one…

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. —Galatians 5:2 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. —Galatians 1:11 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. —Galatians 1:18             Works practiced FOR salvation, “Mark my words!”, Paul says, means “Christ will be of no value to you at all.”  In other words, if a person thinks that WHAT THEY DO saves them, then they devalue what Jesus has done…