1. Malachi, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the saints in the Church by the River and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you have been enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge.
4. Truly, your church has flourished like a tree by the rivers of water, bearing fruit in every season and whose leaves do not wither.
5. Your abundance in spiritual gifts, in workers for the harvest, and ministers of the Word is known far and wide.
6. However, word has reached me, brethren, that while your sanctuary overflows with workers, like a vineyard with more laborers than vines, the surrounding fields lie neglected and parched.
7. There are churches, small in number but great in faith, crying out for the hands to play the instruments, for voices to lead in worship, for minds to unfold the Scriptures, and for feet swift to carry the Gospel beyond their walls.
8. I urge you, therefore, as one who loves the whole body of Christ, to consider not only your own interests but also the interests of others.
9. Did not our Lord Jesus say, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked"?
10. Remember the parable of the talents, where the man who buried his talent was rebuked, while those who invested and multiplied theirs were commended. You have been given a surplus of talents, not to be hoarded but to be invested in the kingdom of God.
11. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests but also for the interests of others.
12. Send forth your musicians to bring melodies of joy to the downcast.
13. Dispatch your teachers to sow the seeds of the Word in fertile minds.
14. Let your outreach workers extend the right hand of fellowship to the lonely, and let your sound engineers amplify the voice of truth in places where the echo of God's love is faint.
15. I beseech you, brethren, to share your abundance.
16. For in helping these smaller congregations, you are not diminishing your light but rather lighting many smaller lamps that can illuminate the darkness far beyond your own walls.
17. For Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich, did not hoard His divine prerogatives but emptied Himself for the sake of the church.
18. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
19. I am confident that you will do what is right, not out of obligation but out of the overflow of love that comes from Christ.
20. May your love abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
21. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
22. Malachi, your fellow servant in the Lord's work.
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