Show Some Love
1Love each other like family. 2Welcome strangers. Some folks who did this welcomed angels without realizing it. [1] 3Remember your fellow believers [2] in prison as if you were cellmates. Remember those who are physically abused as though you’re getting beat up too.Love Your Spouse, Not Money
4Honor your marriage vows. Don’t sleep around. God will pass judgment on people who commit adultery and other sex sins. 5Don’t fall in love with money. Be content with what you have. Remember what God said,“I’ll never leave you. I’ll never quit on you.” [3]
6So say it with confidence, “God has got my back.
No way am I afraid.
What could anyone do to me?” [4]
Hang On to What You’ve Believed
7Remember your church leaders who passed along to you God’s message. Consider the good things they’ve done with their lives. Then do good things with your lives too. 8Jesus never changes. He is and was and always will be Jesus Christ. 9Don’t get conned into believing any of those wild ideas about religion. God’s kindness is what nourishes us. We don’t get any help by obeying kosher food laws, which never helped anyone who obeyed them, anyhow.10From our altar we serve precious food. It’s something those ministering in the Jewish worship center don’t have the right to eat. 11In the past, the high priest brought the blood of sacrificed animals into the Most Holy Place, to atone for sins. The bodies of those animals were burned outside the camp. 12Today, though, we have Jesus. He, too, suffered outside the city. He used his blood to wash away the sins of people and make them holy. 13So, let’s join Jesus outside the comfort zone and suffer alongside him. 14This city is where I am now. But there’s another city waiting for me.
Help Your Ministers
15So let’s do this. Because of what Jesus did, let’s praise God right out loud, by name. 16And let’s not do this. Let’s not give up on others. Help people. Share what we have with others. God loves to see that.17Do what your church leaders say. They’ve got a big job, guarding your souls. They’ll be held accountable for that. Make it a happy job for them. It doesn’t help anyone to do otherwise. 18Pray for us. Our conscience is clear. We want to conduct ourselves honorably all the time. 19Please pray especially that God will allow me to come back to you soon.
May God Equip You
20Here’s my prayer for you: May the God of peace,
who raised our great shepherd from the dead
and gave us the eternal agreement
through the blood of the Lord Jesus,
May God use each one of us to do anything he wants us to do
through the strength Jesus gives us.
God gets the credit and the glory
for all he has done.
Forever.
And that’s the truth. [5]
