1Thessalonians 1:1 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.
1Thes. 2:1 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.
1Thes. 3:1 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.
9 How 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.
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Psalms 36:1 For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all.
2 In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are.
3 Everything they say is crooked and deceitful. They refuse to act wisely or do good.
4 They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots. Their actions are never good. They make no attempt to turn from evil.
5 Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O LORD.
7 How precious is Your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of Your wings.
8 You feed them from the abundance of Your own house, letting them drink from Your river of delights.
9 For You are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.
10 Pour out Your unfailing love on those who love You; give justice to those with honest hearts.
11 Don't let the proud trample me or the wicked push me around.
12 Look! Those who do evil have fallen! They are thrown down, never to rise again.
Ps. 37:1 A psalm of David. Don't worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong.
2 For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither.
3 Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
4 Take delight in the LORD, and He will give you your heart's desires.
5 Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust Him, and He will help you.
6 He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.
7 Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for Him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.
8 Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper-it only leads to harm.
9 For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the LORD will possess the land.
10 Soon the wicked will disappear. Though you look for them, they will be gone.
11 The lowly will possess the land and will live in peace and prosperity.
12 The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance.
13 But the Lord just laughs, for He sees their day of judgment coming.
14 The wicked draw their swords and string their bows to kill the poor and the oppressed, to slaughter those who do right.
15 But their swords will stab their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.
16 It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and rich.
17 For the strength of the wicked will be shattered, but the LORD takes care of the godly.
18 Day by day the LORD takes care of the innocent, and they will receive an inheritance that lasts forever.
19 They will not be disgraced in hard times; even in famine they will have more than enough.
20 But the wicked will die. The LORD's enemies are like flowers in a field-they will disappear like smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and never repay, but the godly are generous givers.
22 Those the LORD blesses will possess the land, but those He curses will die.
23 The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
24 Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.
25 Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.
26 The godly always give generous loans to others, and their children are a blessing.
27 Turn from evil and do good, and you will live in the land forever.
28 For the LORD loves justice, and He will never abandon the godly. He will keep them safe forever, but the children of the wicked will die.
29 The godly will possess the land and will live there forever.
30 The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong.
31 They have made God's law their own, so they will never slip from His path.
32 The wicked wait in ambush for the godly, looking for an excuse to kill them.
33 But the LORD will not let the wicked succeed or let the godly be condemned when they are put on trial.
34 Put your hope in the LORD. Travel steadily along His path. He will honor you by giving you the land. You will see the wicked destroyed.
35 I have seen wicked and ruthless people flourishing like a tree in its native soil.
36 But when I looked again, they were gone! Though I searched for them, I could not find them!
37 Look at those who are honest and good, for a wonderful future awaits those who love peace.
38 But the rebellious will be destroyed; they have no future.
39 The LORD rescues the godly; He is their fortress in times of trouble.
40 The LORD helps them, rescuing them from the wicked. He saves them, and they find shelter in Him.
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