(Philippians 1:1–2; Philemon 1:1–3)
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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Timotheus the brother,
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to the holy ones in Colossae, and to the faithful brothers in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Thanksgiving and Prayer
(1 Corinthians 1:4–9; Philippians 1:3–11)
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We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you,
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having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love that [is] to all the holy ones,
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because of the hope that is laid up for you in the heavens, which you heard of beforehand by the word of the truth of the good news,
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which has come to you, as also in all the world, and is bearing fruit, as also in you, from the day in which you heard, and knew the grace of God in truth,
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as you also learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is a faithful servant of the Christ for you,
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who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
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Because of this, we also, from the day in which we heard, do not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
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to walk worthily of the LORD, pleasing in all, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God,
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in all might being made mighty according to the power of His glory, to all endurance and long-suffering with joy.
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Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us for the participation of the inheritance of the holy ones in the light,
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who rescued us out of the authority of the darkness, and translated [us] into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
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in whom we have the redemption [[ through His blood]], the forgiveness of sins,
The Supremacy of the Son
(Hebrews 1:1–14)
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who is the image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation,
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because all things were created in Him, those in the heavens, and those on the earth, those visible, and those invisible, whether thrones, whether lordships, whether principalities, whether authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him,
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and He is before all, and all things have consisted in Him.
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And He is the head of the body—the Assembly—who is a beginning, a firstborn out of the dead, that He might become first in all [things] Himself,
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because all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Him,
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and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself—having made peace through the blood of His Cross—through Him, whether the things on the earth, whether the things in the heavens.
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And you—once being alienated, and enemies in the mind, in the evil works, yet now He reconciled,
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in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and unblemished, and unblameable before Himself,
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if you also remain in the faith, being founded and settled, and not moved away from the hope of the good news, which you heard, which was preached in all the creation that [is] under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a servant.
Paul’s Suffering for the Church
(2 Corinthians 11:16–33)
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I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up the things lacking of the tribulations of the Christ in my flesh for His body, which is the Assembly,
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of which I became a servant according to the dispensation of God, that was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
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the secret that has been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now was revealed to His holy ones,
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to whom God willed to make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations—which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory,
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whom we proclaim, warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,
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for which I also labor, striving according to His working that is working in me in power.
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