GREETINGS

¹From Small Man (Paul) and He Gives Honor (Timothy), sacred servants of the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

To all of Creator’s holy people who gather in Village of Horses (Philippi) and to the spiritual leaders and those who have the sacred task of helping others, who together watch over the sacred family.

²May our Father the Great Spirit and our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, bless you with the gift of his great kindness and peace.

THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

³Whenever you come into my thoughts I give thanks to my Creator. ⁴I always pray with a glad heart when I send up prayers for you, ⁵because from the first day until now we have walked side by side in the telling of the good story. ⁶I have no doubts that the one who set your feet on this good path will keep walking it with you until the day that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One appears.

⁷It is right for me to think of you in this way, for you hold a warm place in my heart. You have shared with me in the gift of Creator’s great kindness, both in my chains and when I stand on the truth of the good story. ⁸The Great Spirit knows that the longing I have to see you comes from the warm and tender heart of the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

⁹When I send my voice to the Great Spirit, I pray that the love you have for each other will grow strong and remain steady in wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰In this way, you will be able to make good choices that will lead to a pure heart and keep you from stumbling until the day of the Chosen One. ¹¹I pray that your lives will be filled with the good fruit of doing what is right, which comes from remaining true to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. All of this will bring honor and praise to the Great Spirit.

THE STORY OF THE CHOSEN ONE IS BEING TOLD

¹²My sacred family members, I want you to know that the hard times I find myself facing have not held me back. Instead, new ground has been gained for the telling of the good story. ¹³So now the soldiers who guard the lodge of the People of Iron (Romans) and all the other people here know that I am in chains because I follow the Chosen One.

¹⁴Knowing that I am in chains has given a great number of the sacred family members new courage in our Honored Chief to win the victory over their fear and boldly tell the good story. ¹⁵It is true that some tell about the Chosen One only because they are full of jealousy and bitterness, while others do so out of a good heart.

¹⁶The ones with good hearts do so because of their love, for they know that Creator has given me the sacred task of guarding the truth of the good story. ¹⁷The others, who are filled with jealousy and bitterness, tell about the Chosen One with crooked hearts and out of a selfish desire to cause trouble for me while I am a captive in chains.

¹⁸So here is how I see it. Whether they do these things for the wrong reasons or the right reasons, the story about the Chosen One is being told. This is what makes my heart dance. And my heart will keep dancing, ¹⁹for I know that when I am set free it will be through your prayers and the help given from the Spirit of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

HONORING THE CHOSEN ONE

²⁰From deep in my spirit comes the hope that I will never face the shame of defeat but that I will have the courage, now and always, to bring honor to the Chosen One by the way I live or by the way I die. ²¹How can I lose? The Chosen One is my life, and death only brings me something better.

²²Even if death would be a better choice, living in this world means my work will bear good fruit. So I do not know which way to go. ²³I am being pulled from both directions. On the one hand, I desire to go and be with the Chosen One, which would be far better than staying here in this world.

²⁴But on the other hand, staying here to help you is needed even more. ²⁵Since I am needed here, I am sure that I will stay, so I can continue to walk you down a road of joy and strengthen your faith. ²⁶Then when I come face to face with you once again, you can be full of joy and stand tall in what the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), has done through me.

WALKING WORTHY OF THE CHOSEN ONE

²⁷Whatever happens, you should walk in a manner that brings honor to the good story about the Chosen One. In this way, whether or not I come to see you, I will hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, having one purpose, and struggling together to hold true to the good story in which we have put our trust.

²⁸Show courage in the face of those who oppose you. This will be a sign to them that they are coming to a bad end, but for you it will be a sign that Creator is setting you free. ²⁹For you have been given the honor not only to trust in the Chosen One but also to suffer for him. ³⁰For you are now struggling in the same spiritual battle you saw me fight in the past, one I am still fighting.

WALKING THE ROAD TOGETHER

¹As you walk the road with the Chosen One, have you gained from him courage for the journey? Have you found comfort in his love? Do you share together in his Spirit? Has his tenderness and mercy captured your heart? ²If so, then have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together in one Spirit. And walk side by side on one path. This will make my heart leap for joy.

³But when you do these things, make sure you do them for the right reasons. Do not let selfish ways take you down a path of bragging or trying to look better than others. Instead, let humility be your guide as you honor others above yourself. ⁴Each of you should look to the needs of others, not just to your own.

THE HUMILITY OF THE CHOSEN ONE

⁵Think about yourselves in the same way Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One thought about himself.

WISE COUNSEL FROM SMALL MAN

¹²My much-loved family, you have always followed my guidance, not only when I was with you but much more now that I am away. So then, with great respect, you must walk the path Creator has given you for being set free and made whole. ¹³For the Great Spirit is creating in you the desire and strength to do what pleases him.

¹⁴Do everything without grumbling or arguing. ¹⁵In this way, you will show yourselves to be pure and innocent children of the Great Spirit. Even though you walk among a generation of people who live in bent and twisted ways, your reputation will shine as bright as the stars in the night sky ¹⁶as you hold out to them the words of life. In this way, on the day of the Chosen One, I can stand tall at the end of the trail knowing that my hard work was not wasted on you. ¹⁷Even if my lifeblood is to be poured out like a ceremonial drink offering in loving service to your faith, my heart is glad and I share my joy with you. ¹⁸Your hearts should also be glad and share the same joy that I have.

TWO FAITHFUL SPIRITUAL BROTHERS

¹⁹I want to hear how you are doing, so I am trusting in our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) to send He Gives Honor (Timothy) to you soon, so that he can encourage me with good news about you. ²⁰I know of no one else like him who truly cares for your well-being. ²¹For all the others care only for their own things, not the things relating to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

²²But you know the good reputation of He Gives Honor (Timothy). He works side by side with me, like a son with his father, as we tell the good story. ²³That is why I hope to send him to you as soon as I see how things turn out for me. ²⁴Our Honored Chief gives me hope that I will be coming to you soon.

²⁵Until then, I feel the need to send Walks with Beauty (Epaphroditus) back to you. He is a member of our sacred family and warrior who has fought side by side with me in serving the Chosen One. He was your message bearer to help me in my need, and now I am sending him back to you. ²⁶He has a deep longing to see all of you again. His heart has been on the ground ever since you heard he was sick. ²⁷It is true that he was so sick he nearly died. But Creator had pity on him, and on myself as well, to keep my heart from falling to the ground, heavy with sorrow.

²⁸This is the reason I so desire to send Walks with Beauty (Epaphroditus) to you, so that, when you see him, your heart will be glad and my own heart will be free from worry. ²⁹So when he arrives, welcome him in our Honored Chief with glad hearts. Show great respect and honor toward people like him. ³⁰For he came close to death working for the Chosen One. He risked his life to give me the help you were not able to give because you lived so far away.

BEWARE OF THE FLESH CUTTERS

¹So then, my sacred family members, dance with glad hearts in harmony with our Honored Chief. I never grow tired of writing these things to you again, for they give you a safe path to follow. ²Be on the lookout for those wild-dog men—the flesh cutters and troublemakers who require others to participate in the cutting of the flesh ceremony.

³We are the people of the true cutting of the flesh ceremony. For we stand tall in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One and put no trust in a ceremony done with human hands. We honor and serve Creator in the way of his Spirit, as he cuts from our hearts the worthless and broken ways that dishonor him.

⁴I used to trust in outward ceremonies and had a better reason than others to do so. ⁵When I was eight days old, the cutting of the flesh ceremony was done for me. I was born a member of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel). I am of the tribe of Son of My Right Hand (Benjamin). I am a full-blood Tribal Member (Hebrew). As for our tribal law, I was of the Separated Ones (Pharisees). ⁶I was so on fire for our law that I hunted down and brought harm to the sacred family. When it came to doing what is right according to our tribal law, I was faultless.

THE GREAT BEAUTY OF KNOWING THE CHOSEN ONE

⁷But now, because of the Chosen One, I have let go of those things in which I took so much pride. They now mean nothing to me. ⁸Even more than this, I now count all things to be worthless compared to the great beauty of knowing the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), as my Honored Chief. Because I follow him, I have lost everything, but compared to knowing the Chosen One, I now count them as dog droppings.

⁹To be in full harmony with the Chosen One is my desire. I do not want to gain my own good standing with Creator by keeping tribal law but by trusting in the Chosen One. This good standing comes from the Great Spirit by trusting in what he has done, not what I can do. ¹⁰I want to fully know the Chosen One and the power that raised him from the dead. I want to know what it means to participate in his sufferings and to become like him in his death, ¹¹living in the hope that, like the Chosen One, I will also rise from death to life.

FOLLOWING THE CHOSEN ONE TO VICTORY

¹²I do not mean to say that I have won the victory or have already arrived at the end of the good road. But I keep dancing the victory dance, staying in step with the Chosen One, who is the headman dancer leading the way. In this way, I can fully become what the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), has made me to be.

¹³My sacred family members, I do not represent myself as one who has finished the victory dance. My one aim is to forget what is behind me and to keep moving forward, dancing the victory dance with firm steps to the drumbeat of Creator’s heart. ¹⁴I keep my eyes straight ahead while I dance toward the high honor the Great Spirit has called me to through the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

KEEP WALKING THE GOOD PATH

¹⁵Those among us who have grown spiritually strong should see these things in the same way. If any of you sees differently, Creator will make it clear to you. ¹⁶Until then, let us keep holding true to the path we have already been walking. ¹⁷My sacred family members, I call on you to join with the others who follow me as I walk this road. Keep your eyes on those who walk in the same manner and follow them also.

¹⁸I have warned you many times that there are a great number of people who walk as enemies of the cross of the Chosen One. And now with tears I warn you again. ¹⁹A bad end awaits these people. They have made their weak human appetites the spirit they follow. They take pride in doing things they should be ashamed of. They have set their minds on the ways of this world.

THE WAY OF LIFE FROM ABOVE

²⁰But the way of life of the tribe we belong to is found in the spirit-world above, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for the one who has set us free and made us whole, our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One. ²¹When he appears, he will take our weak, death-doomed bodies and change them into a body like his, a body that shines with beauty and honor. For he is the one who has the power to bring all things into harmony with himself.

URGENT COUNSEL FOR TWO WOMEN

²My strong counsel to Good Journey Woman (Euodia) and Blessing Way Woman (Syntyche) is for them to walk hand in hand in their life together with our Honored Chief. ³I also ask you, Burden Bearer (Syzygus), to be true to your name and help these women who have shared my struggle in the telling of the good story. These women have also worked side by side with Walks with Kindness (Clement) and all the others whose names are written down in Creator’s book of life.

DANCING FOR JOY AND WALKING IN PEACE

⁴Always dance with joy before our Honored Chief! I will say it again: dance with joy! ⁵Let everyone see how kind and thoughtful you are. Our Honored Chief is close at hand. ⁶Do not let your hearts be weighed down with anything. Instead, with every step you take, send your voice to the Great Spirit, asking him for the things you need. And in all your prayers remember to give him thanks. ⁷Then the peace and harmony of the Great Spirit, which goes far beyond our small and weak ways of thinking, will watch over your hearts and minds through the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

⁸Last of all, my sacred family members, if anything can be seen as good and honorable, think deeply about these things. Things that are true and noble, upright and pure, full of beauty and worthy of respect. ⁹Follow the way of life you have seen in me, the things you have learned from me, heard from me, and received from me. Keep walking in the traditions I have passed on to you. Then the Great Spirit of Peace will continue to walk with you on this road.

CREATOR WILL TAKE CARE OF ALL OUR NEEDS

¹⁰My heart is dancing for joy before our Honored Chief! For even though in the past you did not have the chance to show how deeply you care for me, you have shown once again how much you truly care.

¹¹You should not think that I am looking for you to take care of my needs, for I have learned how to be at peace with whatever the Great Spirit has provided. ¹²I have lived with less than I need, and I have lived with more than I need. I have learned the secret of walking the road of life. Whether I am well-fed or hungry, whether I have more than I need or not enough, ¹³I can do all things through the Chosen One who gives me strength! ¹⁴All the same, you have done well to help me during my time of trouble.

¹⁵My friends who live in Village of Horses (Philippi), you remember those early days when I first told you about the good story. How that after I left Land of Tall People (Macedonia), you were the only sacred family that walked together with me in giving and receiving. ¹⁶Even when I was in the village of False Victory (Thessalonica), you sent gifts to me more than once. ¹⁷It is not your gifts that I am seeking after but all the good things that giving will add to your lives.

¹⁸But now I have received more than I need. My blanket has been filled with good things. The gifts that Walks with Beauty (Epaphroditus) brought from you are like a sweet-smelling smoke offering —a sacrificial gift, pleasing to the Great Spirit. ¹⁹And I know that my Creator will take care of all your needs from the great treasures of his beauty through the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

LAST WORDS

²⁰All honor and beauty belong to our Father the Great Spirit to the time beyond the end of all days. Aho! May it be so!

²¹Greet all of Creator’s holy ones among you, each one who belongs to the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus). The sacred family members who are with me send their greetings. ²²All of Creator’s holy ones send their greetings to you, most of all the ones who serve in the royal lodge of the Ruler of the People of Iron (Caesar).

²³May the great kindness of our Honored Chief, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One, guide your spirit on the road of life.