For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

and to esteem them most highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

But although we suffered earlier and were mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of much opposition.

So when we could bear it no longer, we decided to stay on in Athens alone.

For now we are alive again, if you stand firm in the Lord.

Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.

As a result you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

in that our gospel did not come to you merely in words, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction (surely you recall the character we displayed when we came among you to help you).

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who labor among you and preside over you in the Lord and admonish you,

For the appeal we make does not come from error or impurity or with deceit,

For we never appeared with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed – God is our witness –

although we could have imposed our weight as apostles of Christ; instead we became little children among you. Like a nursing mother caring for her own children,

that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor,

not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.

For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.

For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night.

For from you the message of the Lord has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, so that we do not need to say anything.

For you became imitators, brothers and sisters, of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you too suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they in fact did from the Jews,