Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in…
“But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while – in person, not in spirit – were all the more eager with great desire to see…
“They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always…
“For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own…
“For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men,…
“Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a…
“You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers” (1 Thessalonians 2:10) You are witnesses. You are the ones who have…
“For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel…
“But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart…