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Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
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Thanksgiving and Prayer
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
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All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
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They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
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We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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The Man of Lawlessness
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,
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He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
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And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.
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For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
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And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
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The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie,
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and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
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For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
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and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
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Stand Firm
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
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He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
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encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
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Request for Prayer
As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.
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But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.
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Warning Against Idleness
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.
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nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
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We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.
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For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
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We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
