For God is my witness how much I long for all of you with the compassion that the Messiah Jesus provides.

But you know his proven worth how like a son with his father he served with me in the gospel.

Therefore, I hope to send him as soon as I see how things are going to turn out for me.

Therefore, those of us who are mature should think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will show you how to think.

Therefore, my dear brothers whom I long for, my joy and my victor's crown, this is how you must stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

I know how to be humble, and I know how to prosper. In each and every situation I have learned the secret of being full and of going hungry, of having too much and of having too little.