You know that we treated each one of you just as parents treat their own children.

So then, my friends, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.

In our work together with God, then, we beg you who have received God's grace not to let it be wasted.

I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you---I who am said to be meek and mild when I am with you, but harsh with you when I am away. By the gentleness and kindness of Christ

I urge you, then---I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you.

But because I love you, I make a request instead. I do this even though I am Paul, the ambassador of Christ Jesus, and at present also a prisoner for his sake.

So I make a request to you on behalf of Onesimus, who is my own son in Christ; for while in prison I have become his spiritual father.

I beg you, my friends, to listen patiently to this message of encouragement; for this letter I have written you is not very long.

For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

That was not what you learned about Christ!

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to be with him: I beg you, my friends,

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the holy angels I solemnly call upon you to obey these instructions without showing any prejudice or favor to anyone in anything you do.

Before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who firmly professed his faith before Pontius Pilate, I command you

to obey your orders and keep them faithfully until the Day when our Lord Jesus Christ will appear.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and because he is coming to rule as King, I solemnly urge you

Make it your aim to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to earn your own living, just as we told you before.

In this way you will win the respect of those who are not believers, and you will not have to depend on anyone for what you need.

For I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God.

For I received from the Lord the teaching that I passed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took a piece of bread,

And now I want to remind you, my friends, of the Good News which I preached to you, which you received, and on which your faith stands firm.

Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires, so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you, I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel.

Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.

While we were with you, we used to tell you, "Whoever refuses to work is not allowed to eat."

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we command these people and warn them to lead orderly lives and work to earn their own living.

We encouraged you, we comforted you, and we kept urging you to live the kind of life that pleases God, who calls you to share in his own Kingdom and glory.

Those who obey their human nature cannot please God.

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God---what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

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

Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.

No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him.

Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.

We receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

And you have, in fact, behaved like this toward all the believers in all of Macedonia. So we beg you, our friends, to do even more.

Those who claim to be respectable are more and more convinced they are right.

that still bear fruit in old age and are always green and strong.

The road the righteous travel is like the sunrise, getting brighter and brighter until daylight has come.

He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.

So then, my dear friends, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless.

I pray that your love will keep on growing more and more, together with true knowledge and perfect judgment,

So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God's call through Christ Jesus to the life above.

Our friends, we must thank God at all times for you. It is right for us to do so, because your faith is growing so much and the love each of you has for the others is becoming greater.

For this very reason do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your goodness add knowledge;

to your godliness add Christian affection; and to your Christian affection add love.

But if you do not have them, you are so shortsighted that you cannot see and have forgotten that you have been purified from your past sins.

But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen.