1 Thessalonians 2 NLT ~ The Defense of the Apostolic Actions and Absence (chs. 2-3)

1 Thessalonians 2 NLT

1 You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. 

2 You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. 

3 So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. 

4 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. 

5 Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! 

6 As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else. 

7 As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. 

8 We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too. 

9 Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you. 

10 You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. 

11 And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. 

12 We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. 

13 Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe. 

14 And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews. 

15 For some of the Jews killed the prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us, too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity 

16 as they try to keep us from preaching the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last. 

17 Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again.

18 We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us. 

19 After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! 

20 Yes, you are our pride and joy.

1 Thessalonians 3 NLT

1 Finally, when we could stand it no longer, we decided to stay alone in Athens, 

2 and we sent Timothy to visit you. He is our brother and God’s co-worker in proclaiming the Good News of Christ. We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith, 

3 and to keep you from being shaken by the troubles you were going through. But you know that we are destined for such troubles. 

4 Even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come—and they did, as you well know. 

5 That is why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. I was afraid that the tempter had gotten the best of you and that our work had been useless. 

6 But now Timothy has just returned, bringing us good news about your faith and love. He reports that you always remember our visit with joy and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you. 

7 So we have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. 

8 It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. 

9How we thank God for you! Because of you we have great joy as we enter God’s presence. 

10 Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith. 

11 May God our Father and our Lord Jesus bring us to you very soon. 

12 And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows. 

13 May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. Amen.

Jun 19: India, Andhra Pradesh | Operation World

Jun 19: India, Andhra Pradesh | Operation World

AFWIS TV # 6 ~ Jesus Power and Light Company

Published on Feb 20, 2014

Sub Title:
The Light of Christ.
Are you connect to the power of the Lord?

• Category

  • Science & Technology

• License

  • Standard YouTube License

Jun 18: Iceland | Operation World

Jun 18: Iceland | Operation World

1 Thessalonians 1 NLT ~ The Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians (ch. 1)

1 Thessalonians 1 NLT

1 This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give you grace and peace. 

2 We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. 

3 As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

4 We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. 

5 For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. 

6 So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. 

7 As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia. 

8 And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, 

9 for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.

10 And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.

Jun 17: Hungary | Operation World

Jun 17: Hungary | Operation World

Jun 17: Hungary | Operation World

Jun 17: Hungary | Operation World

Colossians 2 ~ IV. Freedom from Human Regulations through Life with Christ (2:8-23) ~ V. Rules for Holy Living (3:1;4:6) ~ VI. Final Greetings and Benediction (4:7-18)

Colossians 2 NLT

8 Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. 

9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 

10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 

11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 

12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. 

13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 

14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 

15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. 

16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 

17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. 

18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 

19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it. 

20You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, 

21 “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? 

22 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 

23These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

Colossians 3 NLT

1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 

2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 

3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 

4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. 

5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 

6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 

7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 

8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.

9 Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 

10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. 

11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. 

12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 

13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 

14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 

15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. 

16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 

17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. 

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. 

19 Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. 

20 Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. 

21Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. 

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. 

23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 

24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. 

25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites.

Colossians 4 NLT

1 Masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a Master—in heaven. 

2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. 

3 Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. 

4 Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. 

5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. 

6 Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. 

7 Tychicus will give you a full report about how I am getting along. He is a beloved brother and faithful helper who serves with me in the Lord’s work. 

8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose—to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you. 

9 I am also sending Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, one of your own people. He and Tychicus will tell you everything that’s happening here. 

10 Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. As you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. 

11 Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish believers among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been! 

12 Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. 

13 I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis. 

14 Luke, the beloved doctor, sends his greetings, and so does Demas. 

15 Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house. 

16 After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them. 

17 And say to Archippus, “Be sure to carry out the ministry the Lord gave you.” 

18 HERE IS MY GREETING IN MY OWN HANDWRITING—PAUL . Remember my chains. May God’s grace be with you.

Jun 16: Honduras | Operation World

Jun 16: Honduras | Operation World

Colossians 1 ~ I. Introduction (1:1-14) ~ II. The Supremacy of Christ (1:15-23) ~ III. Paul's Labor for the Church (1:24;2:7)

Colossians 1 NLT

1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. 

2 We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace. 

3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 

5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News. 

6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace. 

7 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. 

8 He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you. 

9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 

10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. 

11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 

12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 

13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 

14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 

16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 

17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 

18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. 

19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 

20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 

21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 

22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 

23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it. 

24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. 

25 God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. 

26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 

27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. 

28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 

29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.

Colossians 2 NLT

1 I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. 

2 I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. 

3 In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 

4 I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. 

5 For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong. 

6 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 

7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. 

Jun 15: Holy See (Vatican City State) | Operation World

Jun 15: Holy See (Vatican City State) | Operation World

Jun 14: Haiti | Operation World

Jun 14: Haiti | Operation World

Philippians 4:2-23 NLT ~ VII. Final Exhortations, Thanks and Conclusion

Philippians 4 NLT

2 Now I appeal to Euodia  and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. 

3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. 

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 

5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 

9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. 

10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. 

11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 

12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 

13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. 

14 Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. 

15 As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. 

16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. 

17 I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. 

18 At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. 

19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 

20 Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen. 

21 Give my greetings to each of God’s holy people—all who belong to Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you their greetings. 

22 And all the rest of God’s people send you greetings, too, especially those in Caesar’s household. 

23May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

                                                             

Jun 13: Haiti | Operation World

Jun 13: Haiti | Operation World

Philippians 3 NLT VI. Warnings against Judaizers and Antinomians (3:1;4:1)

Philippians 3 NLT

1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith. 

2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 

3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 

4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 

5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 

6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. 

7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.

8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 

9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 

11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! 

12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 

14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. 

15 Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. 

16 But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. 

17Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. 

18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. 

19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 

20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 

21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Philippians 4 NLT

1 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work. 

Jun 12: Guyana | Operation World

Jun 12: Guyana | Operation World