You are demonstrating that you are the Messiah's letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such is the confidence that we have in God through the Messiah.

By ourselves we are not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our credentials come from God,

Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy shown to us, we do not get discouraged.

Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God's word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience before God.

In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus the Messiah.

But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God and not from us.

We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to God together with you.

All this is for your sake so that, as his grace spreads, more and more people will give thanks and glorify God.

We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not built by human hands.

God has prepared us for this and has given us his Spirit as a guarantee.

For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each of us may receive what he deserves for what he has done in his body, whether good or worthless.

Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade people. We ourselves are perfectly known to God. I hope we are also really known to your consciences.

So if we were crazy, it was for God; if we are sane, it is for you.

All of this comes from God, who has reconciled us to himself through the Messiah and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

for through the Messiah, God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them. He has committed his message of reconciliation to us.

Therefore, we are the Messiah's representatives, as though God were pleading through us. We plead on the Messiah's behalf: "Be reconciled to God!"

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God's righteousness would be produced in us.

Since, then, we are working with God, we plead with you not to accept God's grace in vain.

Instead, in every way we demonstrate that we are God's servants by tremendous endurance in the midst of difficulties, hardships, and calamities;

through honor and dishonor; through ill repute and good repute; perceived as deceivers and yet true,

We have not cut you off, but you have cut off your own feelings toward us.

What agreement can a temple of God make with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said: "I will live and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people."

Therefore, "Get away from them and separate yourselves from them," declares the Lord, "and don't touch anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.

Since we have these promises, dear friends, let's cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit by becoming mature in our holy fear of God.

Yet God, who comforts those who feel miserable, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

So, even though I wrote to you, it wasn't because of the man who did the wrong or because of the man who was hurt. Instead, I wrote to you so that your devotion to us might be made perfectly clear to you before God.

We want you to know, brothers, about God's grace that was given to the churches of Macedonia.

We did not expect that! They gave themselves to the Lord first and then to us, since this was God's will.

But thanks be to God, who placed in the heart of Titus the same dedication to you that I have.

Each of you must give what you have decided in your heart, not with regret or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.

Besides, God is able to make every blessing of yours overflow for you, so that in every situation you will always have all you need for any good work.

In every way you will grow richer and become even more generous, and this will cause others to give thanks to God because of us,

since this ministry you render is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, it is also overflowing with more and more prayers of thanksgiving to God.

Because your service in giving proves your love, you will be glorifying God as you obey what your confession of the Messiah's gospel demands, since you are generous in sharing with them and with everyone else.

And so in their prayers for you they will long for you because of God's exceptional grace that was shown to you.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments

and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah.

We will not boast about what cannot be evaluated. Instead, we will stay within the field that God assigned us, so as to reach even you.

I am jealous of you with God's own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to the Messiah.

Did I commit a sin when I humbled myself by proclaiming to you the gospel of God free of charge, so that you could be exalted?

Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

I must boast, although it does not do any good. Let's talk about visions and revelations from the Lord.

I know a man who belongs to the Messiah. Fourteen years ago whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows that man was snatched away to the third heaven.

I know that this man whether in his body or outside of his body, I do not know, but God knows

Have you been thinking all along that we are trying to defend ourselves before you? We are speaking before God in the authority of the Messiah, and everything, dear friends, is meant to build you up.

I am afraid that when I come my God may again humble me before you and that I may have to grieve over many who formerly lived in sin and have not repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity that they once practiced.

Though he was crucified in weakness, he lives by God's power. We are weak with him, but by God's power we will live for you.

We pray to God that you will not do anything wrong not to show that we have not failed the test, but so that you may do what is right, even if we seem to have failed.

Finally, brothers, goodbye. Keep on growing to maturity. Keep listening to my appeals. Continue agreeing with each other and living in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you!

From: Paul an apostle not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus the Messiah, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

He gave himself for our sins in order to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.

Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be the Messiah's servant.

For you have heard about my earlier life in Judaism how I kept violently persecuting God's church and was trying to destroy it.

But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased

(Before God, what I'm writing to you is the truth.)

So they kept glorifying God for what had happened to me.

Now those who were reputed to be important added nothing to my message. (What sort of people they were makes no difference to me, since God pays no attention to outward appearances.)

For through the Law I died to the Law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with the Messiah.

I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me, and the life that I am now living in this body I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I do not misapply God's grace, for if righteousness comes about by doing what the Law requires, then the Messiah died for nothing.

Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do the actions of the Law or because you believe what you heard?

In the same way, Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentiles by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, "Through you all nations will be blessed."

Now it is obvious that no one is justified in the sight of God by the Law, because "The righteous will live by faith."

This is what I mean: The Law that came 430 years later did not cancel the covenant that God ratified previously. The promise was never nullified.

For if the inheritance comes about through the Law, it no longer comes about through the promise. But it was through a promise that God so graciously gave it to Abraham.

Now a mediator involves more than one party, but God is one.

So is the Law in conflict with the promises of God? Of course not! For if a law had been given that could give us life, then certainly righteousness would come through the Law.

For all of you are God's children through faith in the Messiah Jesus.

But when the appropriate time had come, God sent his Son, born by a woman, born under the Law,

Now because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry out, "Abba! Father!"

So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if you are a child, then you are also an heir because of what God did.

However, in the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all.

But now that you know God, or rather have been known by God, how can you turn back again to those powerless and bankrupt basic principles? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

Even though my condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. On the contrary, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, or as if I were the Messiah Jesus.

These people who have been instructing you are devoted to you, but not in a good way. They want you to avoid me so that you will be devoted to them.

(Now it is always good to be devoted to a good cause, even when I am not with you.)

Those of you who are trying to be justified by the Law have been cut off from the Messiah. You have fallen away from grace.

You were running the race beautifully. Who cut in on you and stopped you from obeying the truth?

I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view of this. However, the one who is troubling you will suffer God's judgment, whoever he is.

envy, murder, drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that. I am telling you now, as I have told you in the past, that people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Stop being deceived; God is not to be ridiculed. A person harvests whatever he plants:

Let's not get tired of doing what is good, for at the right time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

So then, whenever we have the opportunity, let's practice doing good to everyone, especially to the family of faith.

Now may peace be on all those who live by this principle, and may mercy be on the Israel of God.

From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by God's will. To: His holy and faithful people in Ephesus who are in union with the Messiah Jesus.

May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He has blessed us in the Messiah with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm,

In union with him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of God's grace

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until God redeems his own possession for his praise and glory.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the most glorious Father, would give you a wise spirit, along with revelation that comes through knowing the Messiah fully.

Then, with the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you will know the confidence that is produced by God having called you, the rich glory that is his inheritance among the saints,

God has put everything under the Messiah's feet and has made him the head of everything for the good of the church,

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love for us