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Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith
We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.
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You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
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And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
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for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
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For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews
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in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.
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so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them.
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Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith.
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How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?
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Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
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Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.
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May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
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May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
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and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.
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Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
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And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,
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so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
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After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
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Therefore encourage one another with these words.
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While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
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You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
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He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
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Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.
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give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
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but test them all; hold on to what is good,
