Paul says ‘hello’

1 This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy.

We are writing to the people of the church in Thessalonica. You belong to God the Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We pray that God will continue to help you. We pray that he will give you peace in your minds.

² We always thank God for all of you. Every time that we pray, we pray for you. ³ As we pray to our Father God, we remember how you live. You do good things because you believe in Christ. You work hard to help other people because you love them and you love God. You are also strong and patient because you hope strongly in our Lord Jesus Christ.^[a]

⁴ Our Christian friends, God loves you. We know that he has chosen you to belong to him. ⁵ When we told you God's good news, it was not only words that we spoke to you. God helped us with his power and with the Holy Spirit. As a result, you were sure that our message was true. You also know that we lived among you in a good way. We had come to help you.

⁶ In your lives also, you copied our example and the example of the Lord Jesus. When you believed our message, people caused you to have a lot of trouble. But God's Holy Spirit helped you to be very happy. ⁷ As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.^[b]

⁸ Because of you, people in many places have clearly heard the message about the Lord. It is not only the people in Macedonia and in Achaia who have heard it. People everywhere now know how you trust God. So, as we travel to different places, we do not need to tell people anything. ⁹ Those people themselves speak about how you accepted us. They tell us how you stopped worshipping false gods. They know that you now serve the true God who always lives. ¹⁰ They also tell us that you are waiting patiently for God's Son to return from heaven. God raised him up after his death on the cross. He is Jesus. He saves us from God's punishment that will come one day.^[c]