Letters to the Churches

From: Sha’ul, Sila and Timothy To: The Messianic Community of the Thessalonians, united with God the Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah: Grace to you and shalom.

We always thank God for all of you, regularly mentioning you in our prayers,

calling to mind before God our Father what our Lord Yeshua the Messiah has brought about in you — how your trust produces action, your love hard work, and your hope perseverance.

We know, brothers, that God has loved and chosen you;

that the Good News we brought did not become for you a matter only of words, but also one of power, the Ruach HaKodesh and total conviction — just as you know how we lived for your sakes when we were with you.

You, indeed, became imitators of us and of the Lord; so that even though you were going through severe troubles, you received the Word with joy from the Ruach HaKodesh.

Thus you became a pattern for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia;

for the Lord’s message sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but everywhere your trust toward God became known. The result is that we don’t need to say anything;

since they themselves keep telling us about the welcome we received from you and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the true God, the one who is alive,

and to wait for his Son Yeshua, whom he raised from the dead, to appear from heaven and rescue us from the impending fury of God’s judgment.

You yourselves know, brothers, that our visit to you was not fruitless.

On the contrary, although we had already suffered and been outraged in Philippi, as you know, we had the courage, united with our God, to tell you the Good News even under great pressure.

For the appeal we make does not flow from error or from impure motives, neither do we try to trick people.

Instead, since God has tested us and found us fit to be entrusted with Good News, this is how we speak: not to win favor with people but with God, who tests our hearts.

For, as you know, never did we employ flattering talk, nor did we put on a false front to mask greed — God is witness.

Nor did we seek human praise — either from you or from others.

As emissaries of the Messiah, we could have made our weight felt; but instead, we were gentle when we were with you, like a mother feeding and caring for her children.

We were so devoted to you that we were glad to share with you not only God’s Good News but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.

For you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship, how we worked night and day not to put a burden on any of you while we were proclaiming God’s Good News to you.

You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless our behavior was in the sight of you believers;

for you know that we treated each one of you the way a father treats his children —

we encouraged you and comforted you and appealed to you to lead lives worthy of God, who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.

Another reason we regularly thank God is that when you heard the Word of God from us, you received it not merely as a human word, but as it truly is, God’s Word, which is at work in you believers.

For, brothers, you came to be imitators of God’s congregations in Y’hudah that are united with the Messiah Yeshua — you suffered the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Judeans who

both killed the Lord Yeshua and the prophets, and chased us out too. They are displeasing God and opposing all mankind