Philippians 4

Paul’s Advice

1 So, brothers and sisters, I love you and miss you. You are my joy and my crown. Therefore, dear friends, keep your relationship with the Lord firm!2 I encourage both Euodia and Syntyche to have the attitude the Lord wants them to have.

3 Yes, I also ask you, Syzugus, my true partner, to help these women. They fought beside me to spread the Good News along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

Always Be Joyful

4 Always be joyful in the Lord! I’ll say it again: Be joyful!5 Let everyone know how considerate you are. The Lord is near.6 Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.

7 Then God’s peace, which goes beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your thoughts and emotions through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, keep your thoughts on whatever is right or deserves praise: things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable, or commendable.

9 Practice what you’ve learned and received from me, what you heard and saw me do. Then the God who gives this peace will be with you.

Thanks for Your Gifts

10 The Lord has filled me with joy because you again showed interest in me. You were interested but did not have an opportunity to show it.11 I’m not saying this because I’m in any need. I’ve learned to be content in whatever situation I’m in.12 I know how to live in poverty or prosperity. No matter what the situation, I’ve learned the secret of how to live when I’m full or when I’m hungry, when I have too much or when I have too little.13 I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.

14 Nevertheless, it was kind of you to share my troubles.
15 You Philippians also know that in the early days, when I left the province of Macedonia to spread the Good News, you were the only church to share your money with me. You gave me what I needed, and you received what I gave you.16 Even while I was in Thessalonica, you provided for my needs twice.17 It’s not that I’m looking for a gift. The opposite is true. I’m looking for your resources to increase.18 You have paid me in full, and I have more than enough. Now that Epaphroditus has brought me your gifts, you have filled my needs. Your gifts are a soothing aroma, a sacrifice that God accepts and with which he is pleased.19 My God will richly fill your every need in a glorious way through Christ Jesus.

20 Glory belongs to our God and Father forever! Amen.
21 Greet everyone who believes in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings to you.22 All God’s people here, especially those in the emperor’s palace, greet you.

23 May the good willt of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Colossians 1

Greeting

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and from our brother Timothy.2 To God’s holy and faithful people, our brothers and sisters who are united with Christ in the city of Colossae.Good willt and peace from God our Father are yours!

Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our prayers for you.4 We thank God because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people.5 You have these because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the Good News which is the message of truth.6 This Good News is present with you now. It is producing results and spreading all over the world as it did among you from the first day you heard it. At that time you came to know what God’s kindnesst truly means.7 You learned about this Good News from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant. He is taking your place here as a trustworthy deacont for Christ

8 and has told us about the love that the Spirit has given you.
9 For this reason we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight.10 We ask this so that you will live the kind of lives that prove you belong to the Lord. Then you will want to please him in every way as you grow in producing every kind of good work by this knowledge about God.11 We ask him to strengthen you by his glorious might with all the power you need to patiently endure everything with joy.

12 You will also thank the Father, who has made you able to share the light, which is what God’s people inherit.

What God Has Done Through Christ

13 God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves.

14 His Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven.
15 He is the image of the invisible God,the firstborn of all creation.16 He created all things in heaven and on earth,visible and invisible.Whether they are kings or lords,rulers or powers—everything has been created through him and for him.17 He existed before everythingand holds everything together.18 He is also the head of the church, which is his body.He is the beginning,the first to come back to lifeso that he would have first place in everything.19 God was pleased to have all of himself live in Christ.

20 God was also pleased to bring everything on earth and in heaven back to himself through Christ. He did this by making peace through Christ’s blood sacrificed on the cross.
21 Once you were separated from God. The evil things you did showed your hostile attitude.22 But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his physical body. He did this so that you could come into God’s presence without sin, fault, or blame.

23 This is on the condition that you continue in faith without being moved from the solid foundation of the hope that the Good News contains. You’ve heard this Good News of which I, Paul, became a servant. It has been spread throughout all creation under heaven.

Paul Describes His Work

24 I am happy to suffer for you now. In my body I am completing whatever remains of Christ’s sufferings. I am doing this on behalf of his body, the church.25 I became a servant of the church when God gave me the work of telling you his entire message.26 In the past God hid this mystery, but now he has revealed it to his people.

27 God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery—which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory.
28 We spread the message about Christ as we instruct and teach everyone with all the wisdom there is. We want to present everyone as mature Christian people.

29 I work hard and struggle to do this while his mighty power works in me.

Colossians 2

1 I want you to know how hard I work for you, for the people of Laodicea, and for people I have never met.2 Because they are united in love, I work so that they may be encouraged by all the riches that come from a complete understanding of Christ. He is the mystery of God.3 God has hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ.4 I say this so that no one will mislead you with arguments that merely sound good.

5 Although I’m absent from you physically, I’m with you in spirit. I’m happy to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
6 You received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live as Christ’s people.

7 Sink your roots in him and build on him. Be strengthened by the faith that you were taught, and overflow with thanksgiving.

Beware of Requirements Invented by Humans

8 Be careful not to let anyone rob you of this faith through a shallow and misleading philosophy. Such a person follows human traditions and the world’s way of doing things rather than following Christ.9 All of God lives in Christ’s body,10 and God has made you complete in Christ. Christ is in charge of every ruler and authority.11 In him you were also circumcised. It was not a circumcision performed by human hands. But it was a removal of the corrupt nature in the circumcision performed by Christ.

12 This happened when you were placed in the tomb with Christ through baptism. In baptism you were also brought back to life with Christ through faith in the power of God,t who brought him back to life.
13 You were once dead because of your failures and your uncircumcised corrupt nature. But God made you alive with Christ when he forgave all our failures.14 He did this by erasing the charges that were brought against us by the written laws God had established. He took the charges away by nailing them to the cross.

15 He stripped the rulers and authorities of their power and made a public spectacle of them as he celebrated his victory in Christ.
16 Therefore, let no one judge you because of what you eat or drink or about the observance of annual holy days, New Moon Festivals, or weekly worship days.

17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts the shadow belongs to Christ.
18 Let no one who delights in false humility and the worship of angels tell you that you don’t deserve a prize. Such a person, whose sinful mind fills him with arrogance, gives endless details of the visions he has seen.

19 He doesn’t hold on to Christ, the head. Christ makes the whole body grow as God wants it to, through support and unity given by the joints and ligaments.
20 If you have died with Christ to the world’s way of doing things, why do you let others tell you how to live? It’s as though you were still under the world’s influence.21 People will tell you, “Don’t handle this! Don’t taste or touch that!”22 All of these things deal with objects that are only used up anyway.

23 These things look like wisdom with their self-imposed worship, false humility, and harsh treatment of the body. But they have no value for holding back the constant desires of your corrupt nature.