Philippians 2:17-28

17You believe in Christ, and you are his servants. That is like you are offering yourselves as a sacrifice to God. Perhaps I will soon have to die. Then my blood would be like drink that I am pouring on your sacrifice, to please God. So, if I have to die now, I will be happy. And we should all be happy together.

18Yes, it is right that you should be happy, and I will also be happy with you.

19I want to send Timothy to come to you soon. I hope that the Lord Jesus will let me do that. Then, when Timothy returns to me, he can tell me news about you. And that will make me happy.

20Timothy really loves you, as I do. There is nobody else here with me like him.

21Everyone else thinks only about themselves. They have no interest in the things that are important to Jesus Christ.

22But you know what Timothy is like. He has worked with me like a son works to help his father. Together we have taught people God's good news.

23That is why I hope to send him to you soon. But first, I want to know what will happen to me here.

24The Lordhas helped me to hope that I will soon come to you myself.

25Whatever happens, I think I must send Epaphroditus to come back to you. He is our true Christian brother. He has worked with me to serve God together. We have worked hard, like soldiers. When I needed help, you sent him to me. He has helped me on your behalf.

26Now he wants very much to see all of you again. He became very sad, because you heard the message that he was ill.

27Certainly, he was very ill, and he almost died. But God was kind to him. And God was kind to me too. If Epaphroditus had died, I would have become even more sad.

28So I want even more to send him back to you. Then you can be really happy, and I will not feel sad any more.