as you offer them the message of life. If you do so, I shall have reason to be proud of you on the Day of Christ, because it will show that all my effort and work have not been wasted.

and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy

so that when I am with you again, you will have even more reason to be proud of me in your life in union with Christ Jesus.

Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires, so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you, I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel.

The bridegroom is the one to whom the bride belongs; but the bridegroom's friend, who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom's voice. This is how my own happiness is made complete.

That is why I wrote that letter to you---I did not want to come to you and be made sad by the very people who should make me glad. For I am convinced that when I am happy, then all of you are happy too.

It was not only his coming that cheered us, but also his report of how you encouraged him. He told us how much you want to see me, how sorry you are, how ready you are to defend me; and so I am even happier now.

For even though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I am glad as I see the resolute firmness with which you stand together in your faith in Christ.

After all, it is you---you, no less than others!---who are our hope, our joy, and our reason for boasting of our victory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes.

Indeed, you are our pride and our joy!

Now Timothy has come back, and he has brought us the welcome news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always think well of us and that you want to see us just as much as we want to see you.

because now we really live if you stand firm in your life in union with the Lord.

Day and night we ask him with all our heart to let us see you personally and supply what is needed in your faith.

We must thank God at all times for you, friends, you whom the Lord loves. For God chose you as the first to be saved by the Spirit's power to make you his holy people and by your faith in the truth.

I remember your tears, and I want to see you very much, so that I may be filled with joy.

So, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord's sake; as a brother in Christ, cheer me up!

What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

We write this in order that our joy may be complete.

How happy I was to find that some of your children live in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.

Nothing makes me happier than to hear that my children live in the truth.

Now, the important thing is that your way of life should be as the gospel of Christ requires, so that, whether or not I am able to go and see you, I will hear that you are standing firm with one common purpose and that with only one desire you are fighting together for the faith of the gospel.

He is the only one who shares my feelings and who really cares about you.

All of us who are spiritually mature should have this same attitude. But if some of you have a different attitude, God will make this clear to you.

However that may be, let us go forward according to the same rules we have followed until now.

Euodia and Syntyche, please, I beg you, try to agree as sisters in the Lord.

Have the same concern for everyone. Do not be proud, but accept humble duties. Do not think of yourselves as wise.

And may God, the source of patience and encouragement, enable you to have the same point of view among yourselves by following the example of Christ Jesus,

so that all of you together may praise with one voice the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my friends, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose.

And now, my friends, good-bye! Strive for perfection; listen to my appeals; agree with one another; live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

To conclude: you must all have the same attitude and the same feelings; love one another, and be kind and humble with one another.

Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you.

They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women and with Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers.

When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were gathered together in one place.

Day after day they met as a group in the Temple, and they had their meals together in their homes, eating with glad and humble hearts,

Many miracles and wonders were being performed among the people by the apostles. All the believers met together in Solomon's Porch.