Earlier, in the city of Philippi, we suffered and the people treated us very badly, as you also know. But God still gave us the boldness to tell you his good news, even when people strongly opposed us.
“I’ve told you these things so that you can have peace because of me. In this world you’re going to have trouble. But be encouraged! I’ve already defeated the world.”
They won the victory over him by the blood of the Lamb and by speaking the truth about Jesus to others. They didn’t love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you openly told others what you believed in front of many witnesses.
Since we’re surrounded by such a huge cloud of witnesses, let’s throw off everything that weighs us down and any sin that gets in our way. Let’s keep on running the race on the course in front of us.