Friday, June 10, 2016
Philippians 1 ~ I.Greetings (1:1-2 ~ II.Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Philippians (1:3-11) ~ III.Paul's Personal Circumstances (1:12-26) ~ IV. ~Exhortations (1:27;2:18) ~A. Living a Life Worthy of the Gospel (1:27-30)
Philippians 1 NLT
1 This letter is from Paul and Timothy,
slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi
who belong to Christ Jesus, including the elders and deacons.
2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ give you grace and peace.
3 Every time I think of you, I give
thanks to my God.
4 Whenever I pray, I make my requests
for all of you with joy,
5 for you have been my partners in
spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until
now.
6 And I am certain that God, who began
the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished
on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
7 So it is right that I should feel as
I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with
me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and
confirming the truth of the Good News.
8 God knows how much I love you and
long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.
9 I pray that your love will overflow
more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and
understanding.
10 For I want you to understand what
really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of
Christ’s return.
11 May you always be filled with the
fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus
Christ —for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
12 And I want you to know, my dear
brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped
to spread the Good News.
13 For everyone here, including the
whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ.
14 And because of my imprisonment, most
of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God’s message
without fear.
15 It’s true that some are preaching out
of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives.
16 They preach because they love me, for
they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News.
17Those others do not have pure motives as
they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely,
intending to make my chains more painful to me.
18 But that doesn’t matter. Whether
their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached
either way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice.
19 For I know that as you pray for me
and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.
20 For I fully expect and hope that I
will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I
have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ,
whether I live or die.
21 For to me, living means living for
Christ, and dying is even better.
22 But if I live, I can do more fruitful
work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better.
23 I’m torn between two desires: I long
to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.
24 But for your sakes, it is better that
I continue to live.
25 Knowing this, I am convinced that I
will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the
joy of your faith.
26 And when I come to you again, you
will have even more reason to take pride in Christ Jesus because of what he is
doing through me.
27 Above all, you must live as citizens
of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about
Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will
know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting
together for the faith, which is the Good News.
28 Don’t be intimidated in any way by
your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed,
but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself.
29 For you have been given not only the
privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.
30 We are in this
struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I
am still in the midst of it.
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