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How Fo Get Um Right Wit God

Kay den, bruddas an sistas. Stay good inside, cuz you guys stay tight wit da Boss! Da kine stuff I telling you guys inside dis letta, dat fo help you guys fo stay outa trouble, an dat no make bodderation fo me fo tell you guys dat one mo time.

Eh! Watch out da kine peopo dat ack pilau kine! Dey da kine peopo dat everytime do bad kine stuff. Dass da kine peopo dat say you gotta knife up da body. Dey tell, “Fo be Godʼs guy fo real kine, gotta cut skin.” But you know, us guys, we da guys dat get Godʼs Spirit. Dass jalike da mark fo show dat we Godʼs guys fo real kine, not dem. Cuz wen we do stuff fo God, da Spirit help us do um, dass why. Us guys can feel real proud cuz we stay tight wit Godʼs Spesho Guy, Jesus Christ. We no tink we okay jus cuz somebody wen do someting to our body.

Now me, if I like, I can tink I okay cuz a who me, an wat I wen do, but no need. If da odda guys figga dey can trus dat stuff, I figga I get plenny mo fo trus den dem guys. Listen up! Dey wen cut skin on me one week afta I born. I from da Israel peopo, from da Benjamin ohana. I hundred percent one Hebrew guy. I wen work real hard fo do everyting Godʼs Rules say, jalike da Pharisee guys teach um. I wen go all out fo make da church peopo suffa plenny. If you figga can get um right wit God if you do jalike Godʼs Rules say, I do all dat awready. No can poin finga me an say I neva.

But you know wat? No matta I wen figga all dat stuff do me plenny good, now, I figga all dat stuff ony junk! Cuz I stay tight wit Christ now, dass why. Mo den dat, jalike I wen say, now I figga everyting ony junk. Cuz now, I know my Boss Jesus Christ fo real kine, an dass mo betta! I wen lose everyting cuz I his guy, you know. An I figga, all dat kine ony rubbish! Cuz I like come real tight wit Christ. I like everybody know dat I stay tight wit Christ. I do wat Godʼs Rules say, but dat no make me get um right wit God. I get um right wit him cuz I trus Christ, dass why! Dat way, wen I trus him, God da One dat wen make me come right wit him.

10 Main ting, I like know Christ to da max. He wen come back alive afta he wen mahke, an he get plenny power. I like him make dat power work inside me. Wen I suffa cuz I Christʼs guy, I like handle um jalike him. I like come jalike Christ, so wen I go mahke, I goin handle um jalike him. 11 So den if can, I figga, bumbye afta I mahke, God goin let me come back alive.

I Like Win Da Race

12 I not saying dat I wen win da race awready. I not perfeck yet. Mo like I go all out, cuz I like da medal fo come mines. Jesus Christ make me come his guy awready. Dass why I go all out fo win. 13 Eh, bruddas an sistas! I know dat da medal not mines yet. But I doing da main ting so I can get um -- I not even tinking bout all da stuff dat wen happen awready. I going fo broke fo da stuff dat goin happen bumbye. 14 I running all out fo win da race. An you know wat kine medal I goin get fo dat? Dis: God goin tell me, “Eh! Come up hea by me!” An I going dea cuz a Jesus Christ, dass why.

15 You know, all us guys dat stay grown up an solid inside, good we all tink an feel da same way. If you guys tink diffren, God goin show you how you suppose to tink. 16 You guys doing okay, so stick wit da stuff you know an stay do um.

17 Eh, bruddas an sistas! Help each odda fo ack how I ack. Get odda guys dat do jalike I do. Check out dem guys too. You guys get all us guys fo copy, so you guys can do jalike we do. 18 But eh! Jalike I wen tell you guys ova an ova awready, an even now I stay crying wen I telling you guys dis: Get plenny guys dat stay agains Christ, an dey no can take dat he wen mahke on top da cross. 19 Dem guys, bumbye dey goin wipe out. Dey ony live fo eat. Everytime dey do shame kine stuff, an dey figga dey so hot stuff wen dey make lidat. Dey da guys dat ony like tink bout da kine stuff from dis world.

20 But us guys, we get our own place wit God inside da sky. Dass wea our Boss Jesus Christ stay. We stay waiting fo him come back from dea, cuz he da guy dat goin take us outa da bad kine stuff we stay in. 21 He goin make our bodies come real diffren, no matta our bodies stay kinda junk kine right now. Christ, his body wen come real awesome, an he goin make us come jalike him. He can do dat, cuz he get da power fo take ova everyting.

No Confidence in the Flesh

Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again,(A) and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs,(B) those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision,(C) we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus,(D) and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence.(E)

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised(F) on the eighth day, of the people of Israel,(G) of the tribe of Benjamin,(H) a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;(I) as for zeal,(J) persecuting the church;(K) as for righteousness based on the law,(L) faultless.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss(M) for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing(N) Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ(O) and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,(P) but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness(Q) that comes from God on the basis of faith.(R) 10 I want to know(S) Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,(T) becoming like him in his death,(U) 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection(V) from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal,(W) but I press on to take hold(X) of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.(Y) 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind(Z) and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on(AA) toward the goal to win the prize(AB) for which God has called(AC) me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example

15 All of us, then, who are mature(AD) should take such a view of things.(AE) And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.(AF) 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17 Join together in following my example,(AG) brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.(AH) 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears,(AI) many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.(AJ) 19 Their destiny(AK) is destruction, their god is their stomach,(AL) and their glory is in their shame.(AM) Their mind is set on earthly things.(AN) 20 But our citizenship(AO) is in heaven.(AP) And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,(AQ) 21 who, by the power(AR) that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies(AS) so that they will be like his glorious body.(AT)

Footnotes

  1. Philippians 3:9 Or through the faithfulness of