Good morning. Here are
some more ominous words: do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you,
which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were
happening to you. "This is just a test". That's not something to look
forward to. To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on
rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with
exultation. As we have said before, He did not suffer because He had done
wrong. He suffered for doing right. And how do we suffer? If you are reviled
for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God
rests upon you. As we have talked about many times before, nonbelievers say bad
things about us simply because we are Christians. They hope to get rid of us.
If they cannot do that by making us do something that gets us fired, they make
us uncomfortable so that we will want to quit on our own. On the other hand: by
no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a
troublesome meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel
ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God. Father thank You that the reader
stands up to those who oppose him/her. He/she glorifies Christ in all he/she
does.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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