So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation,

Slaves, obey your human masters in all things, not only when they are watching you because you want to gain their approval; but do it with a sincere heart because of your reverence for the Lord.

Instead, we always speak as God wants us to, because he has judged us worthy to be entrusted with the Good News. We do not try to please people, but to please God, who tests our motives.

Don't be fools, then, but try to find out what the Lord wants you to do.

"Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do.

Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."

For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will, with all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives.

Greetings from Epaphras, another member of your group and a servant of Christ Jesus. He always prays fervently for you, asking God to make you stand firm, as mature and fully convinced Christians, in complete obedience to God's will.

God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality.

You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what he promises.

(SEE 13:20)

For God wants you to silence the ignorant talk of foolish people by the good things you do.

From now on, then, you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God's will and not by human desires.

The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away; but those who do the will of God live forever.

And after all this, Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, only pretended to return to me; she was not sincere. I, the LORD, have spoken."

I will give them the desire to know that I am the LORD. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with all their heart.

But thanks be to God! For though at one time you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed with all your heart the truths found in the teaching you received.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people.