1Thessalonians:2

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* For you yourselves know , brethren , that our visit to you was not in vain ; * but after we had already suffered and been shamefully treated in Philippi , as you know , we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in the face of great opposition . * For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity , nor is it made with deceit ; * but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel , so we speak , not to please men , but to please God who tests our hearts . * For , as you know , we never used flattery nor a pretext for greed —God is witness — * nor did we seek glory from men , either from you or from others , though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ . * But we were gentle among you , like a mother nursing her little children . * Having so fond an affection for you , we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives , because you had become very dear to us . * For you remember our labor and toil , brethren ; we worked night and day , that we might not be a burden to any of you , while we preached to you the gospel of God . * You are witnesses , and God also , how holy and righteous and blameless we behaved toward you believers ; * for you know how , as a father with his own children , we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you * to live a life worthy of God , who calls you into his own kingdom and glory . * And we also thank God constantly for this , that when you received the word of God which you heard from us , you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is , the word of God , which is at work in you who believe . * For you , brethren , became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judea , for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews , * who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets , and also drove us out . They displease God and are hostile to all men , * hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved ; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins . But wrath has come upon them at last . * But since we were taken away from you , brethren , for a short time , in person not in heart , we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face . * For we wanted to come to you —I , Paul , again and again —but Satan hindered us . * For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation ? Is it not even you , in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming ? * For you are our glory and joy .

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