Want

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and in which you stand firm.

For I do not want to see you now only in passing; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia.

We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this generous gift.

I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you by my letters.

But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.

For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man.

Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.

Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says?

For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. They only do this to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.

For the circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel.

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,

For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face,

Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.

They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or that which they so confidently assert.

Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.

Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

But refuse to enroll younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ, they will want to marry,

Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

This saying is trustworthy. And I want you to emphasize these things, so that those who have believed God will take care to devote themselves to good deeds. These things are excellent and profitable for the people.

But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your goodness will not be out of compulsion, but by your own free will.

We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.

O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?

So if I come, I will call attention to his malicious slander against us. And unsatisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and forbids those who want to do so, even putting them out of the church.

Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.