Kingdom Minded – in all things – 3-31-22

“But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.” 2 Thess. 3:13 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

Do you already have a relationship with a powerful God who cares about your every need because He loves you? Did you know my God can communicate with you and protect you – He has a plan for you to prosper if you just submit to His will and let His plan play out in your life!!! God wants a relationship with you and has already made a plan for your life. He loves you so much He sent His son to this world, to die as a sacrifice for your sins and rise from death with victory over sin and the ability to have a personal relationship with you.

Do you want to know truth? Be able to discern lies? Know how to figure it all out in these confusing times and have peace? The Bible says Jesus is the truth. I have experienced it and it has changed my life. I was once a hot mess of sin, promiscuity, drug and alcohol use and so much more. But I was lost and when I could not find my way, or find a truth, I numbed it with bad choses. When I found Jesus, and truth – I found peace and deliverance from those things.

If you want a relationship with God without truth you will get the counterfeit, hypocritical Christianity that has kept some of you away for too long. You need truth and relationship. You need to be honest with yourself and God (including honest repentance) and God will reveal truth to you. It becomes the two way, interaction that your relationship with God is built on. This is why Jesus is called the truth, because he is our only way to the Father.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10 NIV
Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus, I believe you are the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be. Help me through a real personal relationship grow and accept your will for my life – that I may live in your blessings. Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

BIBLE READING:

Dear Heavenly Father – Please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who you are, who Jesus is, and who the Holy Spirit is. Open the eyes of our understanding, please, so we may know the hope of our calling and the vast sovereignty and power of the grace of the cross. Please do not let us miss out on what you want and need from us today. Lord, I pray that your word prepares us and not scares us! We forbid the works and influences of fear over your word and our sound mind. And please keep us and bless us and shine your face upon us and pour out grace over us and give us peace! Thank you! – In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Today’s reading is the Book of Second Thessalonians chapter 3 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Pray for Us

3 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, ²and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.

³But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. ⁴And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you.

⁵Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

Warning Against Idleness

⁶But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which ^[a]he received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; ⁸nor did we eat anyone’s bread ^[b]free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, ⁹not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.

¹⁰For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. ¹¹For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. ¹²Now those who are such we command and ^[c]exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.

¹³But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. ¹⁴And if anyone does not obey our word in this ^[d]epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. ¹⁵Yet do not count him as an enemy, but ^[e]admonish him as a brother.

Benediction

¹⁶Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.

¹⁷The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every ^[f]epistle; so I write.

¹⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Footnotes

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Today we conclude the study of First and Second Thessalonians. We never learn if they learned to view life and death with a kingdom mindset – we never earn if the slackers ever get to work. We know from history their persecution slowly became worse and worse. And we know the first century church suffered greatly, but they were successful in their kingdom work. Their job was to establish a foundation so the 2000 years later you and I can read about them and learn how to be better at serving Jesus and fulfilling God’s plan for our life.

You and I can sometimes get cause up in our own struggles – but that is a distraction. We must learn to be kingdom minded, because the kingdom of God is at hand!! Our obedience might be saving people generations from now – or we may go to heaven today!
There was a fatal car crash in my town this week. It was a head on crash (still under investigation). The whole town is talking about it. It is not that fatal crashes do not happen here, many do. It is the harsh reminder that we can die in an instant. It’s a reminder of how frail we are. Yet, if not by death we can be taken up by rapture. Tomorrow is not promised. It’s a difficult but honest truth and I must impress it upon you in all love – love for your souls! Choose to serve God, as quick as possible, and choose to do his will, because this might be yours or my last breath.
Meanwhile, my town is missing the point of their own soulful stirrings – distracted by the antics of the devil played out through Hollywood and “stars” behaving badly at a show that worships them instead of God, while they thank a lower case god and flash demonic symbols simultaneously. (Yes, I am referring to the slap heard around the world followed by a speech on ‘love’.) That is the wrong kingdom, the beast kingdom, one of this earth and sin and is actually a lie – because it is not a kingdom, but a vehicle driving everyone into hell with the demons who comprise it.

Paul points out the utter most important tool we MUST use to help our brothers and sisters from getting on board the wrong kingdom and to get them focused on The Kingdom of God! And it is prayer – pray for one another! Pray:
“that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.” Verse 2

Pray. Because with prayer we are protected IF we do the things we are taught by the Bible. You ask me where I found that big old “IF”? It is right there in the context surrounding the promise of verse 3. Verse 2 says pray, verse 3 is the promise of that prayer and verse 4 is the part we are responsible to do. If the before and after are done, then we receive the promise.

“But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you.” Verses 3-4

I pray verse 5 over you and me: “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.”
In this world of fake love – let us have real love. Let us love ourselves the right way and not in vanity and let us love God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit – truly fall in love with our Creator. Then let us love one another, so much so that we would and might have to die for another.

This love section and prayers are important. I came from a legalistic church that thought it was love to toss out people who disagreed with them and extracted verses like this next one from the context to justify their actions. Where was the love? And they wondered why the church split repeatedly. But we all know that I have a very different perspective of ‘tough love’ because the version (that carried a rebellious, judgmental and controlling spirit) from the 80’s is NOT godly love. Broken unloving people cannot exercise a godly tough love! It is just impossible and you end up with a form of witchcraft manipulating and expelling people. Stop it!

Verse 6 says to withdraw from disorderly brethern, biblically and in love. And Paul continues saying how he showed (and lived) as an example. So we should be humble enough to work and show an example of Christ.
There is an old saying that I never quote correctly, but it goes something like this: Keep your mouth shut and nose to the grindstone and let your work speak for its self.
I supposes we can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. You get the point. It goes back to being Kingdom minded and looking out for their souls.

As we discussed on the 25^th in chapter 4 of First Thessalonian – the Roman culture and the Christian culture were at odds. Sinful nature of humanity at odd with the spiritual. It is the core of our sin problem. We are bent to sin.
Roman culture was that a sign of wealth and success was to lay around paying or enslaving people to serve you. Lazy was glorified. Then they spent their day meddling in other people’s lives and stirring the pot / being disorderly , because they were bored from lack of work.
Here is the lie of lazy: work is NOT part of the curse of sin. yet, man acts like it is a curse. Work is what we were made to do. We were made to work in Eden – First man was created to steward (aka work) God’s garden and then woman was made to help him. We are made to work.
So this Roman, and humanistic view of not working, is contrary to our core created purpose. We have other purposes, yes, but we were made to work AS A WORSHIP of God, in loving stewardship. The corruption of this concept IS the very root of the curse of sin.

I work. I make leather earrings and accessories, which take a long time to make and I work hard. I also spend hours studying then teaching the word of God. Then people look at me an accuse me of not working and avoiding going to work – because our views of work have become even more corrupted than the Romans. I am doing as God told me. If I am not blessed that is on God, if I am not successful, that is on God – yet my every need has been met and I have asked NOTHING of any of them. Their complaint is not my problem, it is their lack of faith in being obedient to God.
I put it out there boldly, because it is His testimony at sake. I am created to worship him in my work and therefore bring him Glory – So Lord, be glorified! And let us break the bondage of the modern world’s concept of work, as Paul fought against the Roman ones!!!

“For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” Verse 10
By the way, as proof that I work, I am fed. I am a little overweigh and it is obvious I am fed. When I was sick for those 2 months I lost a lot of weight and God gave it all back in the last couple weeks of being sick – so I didn’t return to church and the world looking like my God didn’t provide. He did provide and I live! I did not die!

When I was a child I was taught that the Thessalonians were not working because they thought the rapture would happen so quickly they did not need to work. So, in case you were taught that – here is what the chapters really say – yesterday said they were upset because they thought they missed the rapture – if they missed it, why are they not working in anticipation of it coming? If that is not enough to convince you that the lack of work was NOT because they anticipated Christ then let us look at verse 11 in context of Roman culture:
“For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies.” Verse 11
Being disorderly, not working, and being busybodies are all part of Roman culture as signs of being wealthy. Roman society was a class system. You could succeed up and out of your class – or become bankrupt and fall from your class – but classes were not to intermingle and always displayed their cultural signs of their class. So what Paul s saying is there are people in this church acting like a social class that puts others down and doesn’t see the equality of Christ – that all men are created equal in the eyes of the Lord.
If left unchecked, this “better than you” spirit would corrupt the church just as it does in modern churches. In this case, they needed to apply the humility of work to the problem.
The church rocked the Roman world by slaves and free men, wealthy and laborers / tradesmen all sat together to eat and they had church services around the table. Like Jesus rocked the Jewish world by associating with sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors.

This charge to those not working was a charge to come out from the Roman world and be separated, culturally. No more laying at the bath house gossiping, while making one person fan you and another to feed you grapes. Break the social norms, and go work for the kingdom.

If you, as you read this, think – that is not me. Yes, it was not ALL the Thessalonians either, so many hearing it might think, I must work more and more and I am already tired. And you and I live in a social norm of ‘glorifying being busy’ and ‘overworking’ – wearing a ridiculous number of hours of work as a badge of honor. It’s the same coin – same problem just the other side of it.
And Paul says to them:
“But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.” Verse 13

Join us, starting tomorrow, as we begin our weekday study of the Gospel of Mark. We are beginning each quarter of this year with the Gospel story. I am very excited to be able to study the actions of Jesus’s ministry leading up to our Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday – and the week of Passover in our life will correspond with the wee of Passover in Jesus’s life in our study! Please like and follow as I am sure it will be a powerful and life changing study!

1^st Mark 1, 4^th Mark 2, 5^th Mark 3, 6^th Mark 4, 7^th Mark 5, 8^th Mark 6, 11^th Mark 7, 12^th Mark 8, 13^th Mark 9, 14^th Mark 10, 15^th Mark 11, 18^th Mark 12, 19^th Mark 13, 20^th Mark 14, 21^st Mark 15, and 22^nd Mark 16.

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Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

30 Mar 202230 Mar 2022

Excited to See Jesus – 3-30-22

“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” 2 Thess. 2:15 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Second Thessalonians chapter 2 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

The Great Apostasy

2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ²not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of ^[a]Christ had come. ³Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of ^[b]sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits ^[c]as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷For the ^[d]mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only ^[e]He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. ⁹The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹²that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Fast

¹³But we are ^[f]bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through ^[g]sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, ¹⁴to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our ^[h]epistle.

¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, ¹⁷comfort your hearts and ^[i]establish you in every good word and work.

Footnotes

2 Thessalonians 2:2 NU the Lord
2 Thessalonians 2:3 NU lawlessness
2 Thessalonians 2:4 NU omits as God
2 Thessalonians 2:7 hidden truth
2 Thessalonians 2:7 Or he
2 Thessalonians 2:13 under obligation
2 Thessalonians 2:13 being set apart by
2 Thessalonians 2:15 letter
2 Thessalonians 2:17 strengthen

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Fake News. Lies. Propaganda. False reporting. Accrediting the wrong people with the information. This sounds like the year 2022. Or even 1944. Or 51.
Yep, 51 – the estimated year that Paul wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians. Some came saying the rapture happened and they were left behind! And worse, saying his message was from Paul! AND that meant they were IN the Great Tribulation. It certainly must have felt like it then and the years that followed – before the century was over, Christians and Christian Jews were being lined up and marched into the colosseum (a building build with the spoils from destroying the temple of the Lord) to be slaughtered for entertainment. Yes it must have felt like the Great Tribulation. Another term is Jacob’s sorrow.
In 1933, when Hitler came into power, and the grievous years after – must have felt like the Great Trib and was definitely a sorrow for Jacob. When studying that period of History, I can only imagine the despair and hopelessness – some who believed in Jesus must have wondered if they missed the rapture, missed the mark, and missed salvation. And the world did not help because it was done secretly and the rumors were too horrid to believe.
People who have studied both say the cruelty and horror of both were equal in being indescribably evil and brutal. Yet, neither were the Great Tribulation.

In 2022, people have become too comfortable and have forgotten the depth of uncivilized horror we are capable to putting on our fellow man. Open, recorded, and accessible meetings are happening on the world stage and we intentionally advert our eyes. They are saying unbelievable things that almost touch the depths of horror man has already reached.
I rebuke fear with remembering our Memory Verse this month:
Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

We have not missed the rapture and today is not the Great Tribulation – There is a HUGE confidence and comfort in our Lord when we understand these things. These things are taught to adults and children, young Christians and old Christians – so we most certainly can put aside any fear of the unknown, to learn what is known.

Paul prayerfully writes and we prayerfully apply to ourselves and each other: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.” Verses 1 & 2
Fear not – stand firm – don’t be shaken There is a fear He is addressing about having missed the rapture, but also a fear of learning and understanding these end time signs. First remember that we are supposed to give our lives to God – these aren’t our lives to live. We are citizen of Heaven not of earth! We are to be heaven minded, and therefore comforted by our prize of being with our savior forever.

As I try with words to comfort you, Paul also tries with words to comfort – he is pulling from many teachings and prophetic texts, some not even in the Bible. But these are the doctrines we (who believe the Bible) believe. But we only have part of the info. Because of this we have people saying these are signs of the rapture, meaning these happen first. Others say the rapture can happen at any minute so these are the signs of the great tribulation. And still others say these are the signs of the second coming of Christ. (All major events described as happening in the end times.) Well, Jesus said we were starting the end times then, so we are definitely last in the times, now.

So Paul makes a list of signs that must happen before some end time event (based on which thought you support) can happen. The problem is – Paul didn’t take us into the spirit and these are based on teachings and this is not meant to be a prophetic timeline. The Bible is not fallible – but maybe we are looking at it wrong. Like the book of Proverbs is written for instruction not prophetic promises, and people incorrectly pull out something as a promise that was only a teaching example. Paul is comforting them not speaking prophecy – so we have him saying remember this will happen and that will happen first…
Like when my son was waiting for His father to come pick him up Friday after work. Every time my son would wake up and expect dad to be there, and I said we have to go to work and school first and have a few meals and snacks and you’ll go to afterschool club and when you get home you’ll still have TV time. Not necessarily in that order but I am glad you are excited to see dad. Sometimes I would get a call from school – my son was so excited he told everyone he was seeing his dad. And he carried on so much that she was confused as to if dad was picking him up. AND Sure enough after school and work, while still waiting I would have to remind him of that conversation – we did not miss dad, because I stopped to get gas on the way home.

That is a great example! Maybe the modern problem is we aren’t looking up and waiting, wanting, excited to see Dad! I talk about repentance and the time is short – and so many sleepy eyed Christians tell me to settle down it has been years that people have been saying it (as if to say it won’t happen) and I say Yes! 2000 years of saying – it is going to happen sooner for us than for these Thessalonians almost 2000 years ago! Yet they sat there ready and waiting. Are we sitting here so ready, we wonder if we have missed it?

You have read Paul’s words above – I did not even try to comfort you with his words. Our evil generation not only fights about which event we are talking about, but we also fight about the son of perdition and about the retaining one. I am trying to focus on the meaning of why Paul wrote and why it is comforting. And not try to be a fortune teller.

A common theme in Paul’s writings is to stand fast (stand firm, stand therefore, etc.) sometimes written out directly and other times implied. And after Paul comforts the church, he concludes this section with the encouragement to stand firm and prays for them to get back to their purpose (sometimes even Biblical things can be distractions).

Now for my personal opinion on the events of the end time’s –

I believe we should live with our eyes fixed on heaven, on God, and on Jesus who is standing between us and God. We should wake up every day and hope it is the day of the rapture. And then say a prayer for one more day to try to bring at least one more soul into the fold. Since I was a small child, I believed it would happen in my life time, I would not die but I would be raptured. And now I live each day repentant and as best I can as to not miss it for any reason (and fail and learn and grow, but I repent and continue to ask for God’s help).

I hope the rapture would be pretribulation. But I do get very angry when preacher use an unbiblical argument for that – so we do not suffer. Paul suffered. The first century church were being killed off as fast as the word spread. Hitler killed on fire Christians who believed every word of the book, (as well as Jews, criminals, and homosexuals). Christians all over this globe currently suffer. Many of you come from countries where persecution is higher than the USA, where I hear most of these preachers use this argument. But we all do hope not to suffer – but suffering is pretty much promised. There are other biblical supports for a pre-trib rapture. My hope for a pre-trib rapture is to get to see my love, Jesus, sooner!
I firmly – very firmly – believe in a mid- to end of trib Rapture. Why? So we are prepared. And if I am raptured sooner, let God lead the needy to my supplies.

I am not the Bible and I can contradict myself. I live like the Rapture is scheduled for today and prepare for it to not happen for another 50 years.

These things are going to happen in God’s time, whether we understand them or not, or if we believe them or not. So we might as well not argue over details and get distracted by the comfort… Jesus is coming for us and loves us.
Like my son sitting in the window looking for daddy’s car to come down the road.

I also think there is at least one last uprising of the church – revival or awakening or both – we are not done – do not sit around idle waiting to escape – do the work we are sent here to do. Occupy until He comes. Stand therefore stand! And be like my son telling everyone that Daddy was coming – because Jesus is coming!

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Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

29 Mar 202228 Mar 2022

Hope in Jesus – 3-29-22

“when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” 2 Thess. 1:10 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Second Thessalonians chapter 1 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Greeting

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

²Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s Final Judgment and Glory

³We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, ⁴so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and ^[a]tribulations that you endure, ⁵which is manifest^[b] evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; ⁶since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with ^[c]tribulation those who trouble you, ⁷and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, ⁸in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, ¹⁰when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who ^[d]believe, because our testimony among you was believed.

¹¹Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, ¹²that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Footnotes

2 Thessalonians 1:4 afflictions
2 Thessalonians 1:5 plain
2 Thessalonians 1:6 affliction
2 Thessalonians 1:10 NU, M have believed

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Paul is writing 2 Thessalonians very shortly after the first, and while he is still down the road in Corinth. Paul wrote to them originally (in the first letter) to say how proud of them he was for doing so much right, but stop the nonsense of not working, understand life and death (the day of the Lord) from God’s perspective, and be pure. Apparently they heard the praise then stopped listening – because not only had things NOT changed in any significant manner, but the people were compromising more and more. There are three chapters and three sections to this book: section 1’s theme is that regardless of persecution there is hope, section 2’s theme is to bring clarity to the Day of the Lord because there are still false teachers among them teaching wrong doctrine, and section 3 is get to work.

This poor little baby church of new believers who haven’t yet been taught all things are under an attack from the enemy, that is horrible. Now, here is a fine line I want to walk carefully – innocent victims or victims who need to take responsibility for their own negligence that lead to becoming a victim. This is an unpopular topic and thought of as opinion in our modern world, where victims are guiltless by virtue of having been taken advantage of.
As a child I was abused. I stopped it by telling, but that man was let back around us and therefore it wasn’t stopped. I should have told again, but I knew it did not work the first time and the drama and chaos and how upset everyone was at me for saying anything…. I just kept my mouth shut. As a child I did not have the tools for that situation and the adults in my life didn’t either. I was an innocent victim. I was victim blamed and had to unlearn that – because it is further abuse.
As a young adult I dressed inappropriately, drank too much, did drugs, I went to the places I should not have been, and flirted and teased the wrong boy and eventually I was overpowered. I did dress and act like I wanted consensual sex (and did drugs and drank), in direct disobedience to God. Regardless of the outcome I am responsible for repenting and asking forgiveness for my part. Not such an innocent victim – but I was still victimized and that part is not my fault, and that was his action to repent of. And the world says I did nothing wrong, but the whole situation would not have happened if I was not disobeying God.
Please try to understand what I am saying. We sin, and we are wrong and must repent. The enemy attacks and kills steals and destroys, we are victims and must heal. The parallel to my stories is this: In the first letter the church were babies and innocent victims. But once they received the letter and knew better – they were the young adult. They are being killed, the enemy is stealing truth from them, and they are being destroyed – victims. But even under attack and being victimized – God expects us to NOT sin and if we do, to repent.
Paul addresses the sin, the attacks, and tries to comfort them, so they can heal. In our modern world enemy attacks come in the small issues of first world problems and every size up to the life and death persecution our readers in Kazakhstan (and other places in the world). With each attack, small or great, or even multiple at a time has the same effect of trying to steal from you and victimize you. We cannot buy the humanist view that all victims are guiltless or we will hold onto sin in our lives and have a barrier between us and God – and quite frankly, never heal. We need God’s presence and comfort to heal.

So Paul, understanding this, and us, trying to understand how it applies to the attacks against us, starts with our eye on God – prayerfully thanking God for our faith and growth.
How easy it is as a victim, or under attack or when knocked down to want to give up, doubt, stop growing, stop loving, and become ensnared. But you and I – we are good repenters, looking for our errors and repent. We strive to be like David and we get back up and keep seeking God’s heart! We thank God for our faith and growth and understand we have lots of growing left to do. We keep it real and honest but do our best and only succeed because of God – God working in us is the only reason we can even serve God – because we are messy and we have been broken by sin and attacks.
So this letter in verses 3 and 4 shows it is written to us! The ones who keep trying.
But those who do not and try to hide their sins – I have forewarned, everything we try to hide will be exposed. So just don’t or you’ll find yourself on the wrong side of judgement.

Verse 5, Paul shifts the reader’s attention to the things in the spirit world. Because the world we see overwhelms us, but look at the truth!
It is true you suffer, in one way of another, but walk righteous. Because – see there is a reason God has us behave, there is a reason God wants us separated. God ALWAYS has a reason. And the reason here is God will repay the righteous for their suffering and those who caused it will be repaid with tribulation.

Once moved into the spirit – we are outside of time. So suddenly Paul is prophesying about the return of Jesus in the second coming. But to Paul this wasn’t prophetic as much as it was the doctrine – this is just understood as part of the gospel message. Jesus came once to sacrifice – as a baby and died on the cross, rose again so that lives have the opportunity to be transformed. This was like a last chance for the world. Then the rapture happens, which Paul mentions in First Thessalonians – some say before great tribulation (aka Jacobs sorrow) and some say after but no one knows and the speculation muddies the scriptures and causes fear instead of comfort – so we need to just accept what we can and be ready for anything, knowing we are in the hands of Jesus. Anyway, He comes so we can be with Him when He comes for the Second Coming – which Paul starts to talk about here starting in verse 7.

Speaking of verse 7 some speculate that the rapture and the second coming happen together because it says we will get rest – but it is strange a we will be fighting next to him in the second coming. Remembering back to other verses in the Old Testament when we looked into the spirit world and time got all wrapped up and confused – maybe we even get breaks here on earth from our troubles and sometimes get to see God’s justice rolled out and other times it’s all spiritual.

Jesus taught hell is burning and unquenchable fire – verse 8 is speaking of hell. Hell is real. Make sure you aren’t one of the ones giving trouble. But modern Christians do not speak so freely of hell, so we stop paying attention. But if we tune into verse 9 we hear the punishment – and we are gripped by fear!!
Well, knock it off. Seriously, in the name of Jesus we cast it out knock it down rebuke it and forbid fear from disrupting us. Paul’s point is we are not viewing this with comfort and life and we need to stop. But here we are scared instead of comforted. Here we are literally enacting the rolls of those who Paul is writing to. We were lied to by the enemy – let it go, you were a victim, now, verse 10 arrives with ALL TRUTH!

“when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” Verse 10

Here it is! Our HOPE! Our healing. Our testimony because of theirs. When my Jesus comes, my savior, my Lord, my everything!!!! When He comes in that day (what day? Stop getting sidetracked and letting in fear.) When He comes to be glorified in all His saints, in you, in me… Oh Lord Jesus be glorified in me and my life even now!!! When He comes to be glorified in [fill in your name] and be admired… loved, worshiped, adored, OH HOW I AM BREAKING OUT IN WORSHIP!! Worship our Lord with me! Pray in the spirit! Yes Now! The point is those doing bad will be punished and we get to commune with our greatest love – hallelujah! We Thank you Lord Jesus that we can be with you and worship you and you can be glorified in us! Hallelujah!

Even Paul breaks out into prayer:
“Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Verses 11-12

I am going to continue to praise and worship and pray like this – when you reach this point please continue praying and praising! Because this is where we are supposed to focus on. Eyes on Jesus!!

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

28 Mar 202227 Mar 2022

What to Do in the Day of the Lord – 3-28-22

“Faithful and absolutely trustworthy is He who is calling you [to Himself for your salvation], and He will do it [He will fulfill His call by making you holy, guarding you, watching over you, and protecting you as His own].” 1 Thess. 5:24 AMP

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of First Thessalonians chapter 5 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

The Day of the Lord

5 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ²For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. ³For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. ⁴But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. ⁶Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be ^[a]sober. ⁷For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

¹¹Therefore ^[b]comfort each other and ^[c]edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Various Exhortations

¹²And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and ^[d]admonish you, ¹³and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴Now we ^[e]exhort you, brethren, warn those who are ^[f]unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. ¹⁵See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray without ceasing, ¹⁸in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰Do not despise prophecies. ²¹Test all things; hold fast what is good. ²²Abstain from every form of evil.

Blessing and Admonition

²³Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify^[g] you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

²⁵Brethren, pray for us.

²⁶Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.

²⁷I charge you by the Lord that this ^[h]epistle be read to all the ^[i]holy brethren.

²⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

Footnotes

1 Thessalonians 5:6 self-controlled
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Or encourage
1 Thessalonians 5:11 build one another up
1 Thessalonians 5:12 instruct or warn
1 Thessalonians 5:14 encourage
1 Thessalonians 5:14 insubordinate or idle
1 Thessalonians 5:23 set you apart
1 Thessalonians 5:27 letter
1 Thessalonians 5:27 NU omits holy

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

The final chapter of the first letter to the Thessalonians can be broken down into three sections: the day of the Lord, various instructions, and blessings.

THE DAY OF THE LORD

As I began saying on Friday and it is worth repeating – Everything the Bible says about the day of the Lord and end time prophesy is in there to prepare and not scare you. But the enemy preys on our natural fear of the unknown and there is a lot unknown about this day. That fear is a direct reflection of Evil’s fear of the fulfillment of these prophesies. But we are not of that kingdom and have no reason to worry. But… we are fragile humans.

“For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” Verse 3
I was 24 years old, finished with college and living a ‘grown up life’ when my son was born. I mean I wasn’t uninformed, ignorant, or naive. I knew my due date, I knew it was almost time, I knew the signs and made it to the hospital, I knew. I had peace, I thought I was safe – it turned out to be complications. I was there for 3 days before I actually went into labor. It happens suddenly. Even though I was in the hospital hooked to machine monitoring and anticipating… nothing and no one knows when. The nurse brought me dinner and said that after dinner they were going to give me a sleeping pill, then the next day they would have to induce labor or do a C-section. I looked at my dinner and just wasn’t hungry. My grandmother was with me – she was a maternity nurse for 30+ years and a living legend at that hospital. So she talked softly, like always, and tried to gently explain what was happening. BUT! SUDDENLY! I said to her “I think the baby is here!” and sure enough he was crowning! She started to run out of the room to get the staff. But I stopped her and begged her to hold my legs together I was scared and not ready!!! Suddenly I was also taken by fear and wanted a big undo button!!! But like verse 3 said – I could not escape. She amazingly comforted me and got the staff and I had a beautiful healthy baby boy within the hour.
That. That is what Paul is talking about. That is how the wrath of God falls on the evil when they run out of grace. Even the demons and the enemy himself have a measure of grace – not to be saved, but to dwell here until it is time for them to be tossed into hell, which is being prepared for them (not for humans – although if humans follow evil to their damnation, that is their choice – but let me encourage you to choose God instead).

“But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.” Verses 4-5
See, he wants to prepare us – not scare us! We are of the light not of the darkness.
I suppose in our modern perspective and fear of this comes with limited Biblical knowledge. So let’s broaden this discussion.
Jesus was the first person in the Bible to declare that the End Times had indeed began. Therefore – we are well into the end times. And when you hear people argue that “people have been saying it for a long time – so it is not true” I always show them that Jesus said it. It is true. Their perspective of time is what is wrong. We are 2000 years into the end times.
Next Jesus also said he brought the ‘day of the Lord’. You know that great and mighty and feared day from the old prophets, yeah, that day. So we are 2000 years into ‘The Day’. We are living, occupying and dying in this great year of the Lord – is it as scary as the enemy had you believe? Take a deep breath of air and notice you are alive and able to leisure read blogs on the internet. (Not saying we don’t have real persecution and struggles – just saying compared to what I thought, it isn’t so bad. and it will get worse, but God has kept life going for a very long time, and He will continue.)
And as for the difference between darkness and light. Let’s use a reference to the book of Job. Job’s friends said to Job he must be suffering the punishment of God. But God’s wrath and punishment is ONLY for the evil, the dark, and the demons. We are children of the light. BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN WE WON’T SUFFER! You see we live in a world subject to the curse of sin. (Live here, but we are not of here because we should be kingdom minded!) Paul was no stranger to suffering. Job was no stranger to suffering. Before our lives are over, we too will suffer to some degree. I had suffered abuse as a child. I had suffered from rape. I had suffered from addiction. I had things placed upon me and things robbed from me by the enemy. As I came back to God, I suffered the loss of friend and being teased by them. I lost a lot. I have even lost social media privileges for posting scriptures and links to this blog – I am more careful now.
The point is to know the difference between God’s wrath and the sufferings of this world. We are of the light and will not suffer the wrath. That means we can always overcome. We can always overcome evil and death because we have eternal life. Remember we are not of this world, so the death of this world is inconsequential. But the wrath of God – no man and no beast and no demon or angel or anything can overcome God or His wrath. I repeat, being of the light, we will not be subjected to wrath only to the attacks of the enemy – of which we are already victorious.

“Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” Verse 11

VARIOUS INSTRUCTIONS – THE TO-DO LIST

Now that we are comforted, focused back on the kingdom, bathed in the love the Father has for us… and we talked about the things we shouldn’t do with Paul telling us to work hard, be sexually pure, and view life and death as God does (not deceived about the resurrection, rapture and second coming of Jesus) – now let’s look at Paul’s list of various exhortations. (I have said it before and I will probably say it a million times – I love the way Paul exhorts. It’s a list of “do”, not a list of “don’t do”. There is only humility, love and correction and never criticism or cruelty or an attitude of being better than.)

List of “do”:
DO respect the church authority, for peace sake. (That is a hard one. He is hitting me where it hurts right out of the gate. God told me to come to this church – so here I stay until He says otherwise. But the first prayer meeting I attended, a deacon told me to settle down, there will be no “signs and wonders following” in this church. This is the very church I grew up in and taught me as a child that every word in the book is true. So many days I respect God’s command to respect, more than I respect man, himself. I admit – it is a struggle. I pray often for him and his family. I pray for signs and wonders to abundantly bless them!)

DO warn people who are out of order. (Yeah, do not let people side track or distract from the work of the Lord – warn them, lovingly, bringing them back on task. This is about people – not about demons, witches or the demonically possessed.)
DO comfort each other. (Don’t you love when you share your struggle and it gets dismissed?)
DO uphold the weak. (When we are weak, He is strong [2 Cor. 12:10] so upholding the weak is multiplying God’s strength – think about that! Yet often the spirit of criticism and condemnation win and strife broods in our modern church. When we think someone is consistently wrong – we should wrap them all the more in love and tenderness instead of harsh words without life.)
DO be patient with yourself, with God, and with each other.
DO “see that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.” Verse 15 (“See that” seems like maybe we have authority to control others. Be careful. Let church leadership know and let them handle it. And if you are leadership – walk in wisdom, scared of God and not man. Without breaking out all the ways this can go wrong and be incorrectly interpreted out of context, let’s just take note that there is a part B to this verse that literally give what to do instead of rendering evil for evil. The verse in context might be more clear if read as: don’t render evil and do what is good both for yourselves and for others. At least that is enough of a lesson on that for today.)

DO “¹⁶Rejoice always,” (I pray the Lord baptizes you in joy!)
DO “¹⁷pray without ceasing,”
DO give thanks for everything.

Then Paul tosses in a couple “Don’t”s and finishes with a “DO”:
DON’T “quench the Spirit.”
DON’T stop, prevent, inhibit, or despise prophecies.

DO “²¹Test all things; hold fast what is good. [And]²²Abstain from every form of evil.”

BLESSINGS PRAYED, DECLARED AND DECREED

I pray verse 23 for you and me (so let’s pray together in agreement): that “the God of peace Himself sanctify [us] completely; and may [our] whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the name of Jesus, Amen!

Let me declare and decree over you and myself, in the name of Jesus, God’s promise that “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”verse 24. It is written. It is done. Victory is yours. God is faithful.

“²⁷I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.”
This was Paul’s first letter (assumed, as we discussed at the beginning) and therefore there was no set rule about what to do with it. Paul is saying it is for everyone who believes, so read it to everyone who believes – not just to the nuclear group in Thessalonica. This then became the standard with all of Paul’s letters as he encouraged them to share. They were shared, copied and then shared more, and copied more and shared even more. The letters, at least one, made their way back to Peter, who declared Paul’s teachings to be “scripture” and birthed the written New Testament with those words (we will get there in our reading this year, sooner or later).

Meanwhile, “²⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”

See you tomorrow for the beginning of the 2^nd book of Thessalonians.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

27 Mar 202225 Mar 2022

WEEKEND READING – 3-27-22

“The great God who formed everything Gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages. As a dog returns to his own vomit, So a fool repeats his folly. Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Proverbs 26:10-12 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Proverbs chapter 26 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Honor Is Not Fitting for a Fool

26 As snow in summer and rain in harvest,
So honor is not fitting for a fool.

²Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow,
So a curse without cause shall not alight.

³A whip for the horse,
A bridle for the donkey,
And a rod for the fool’s back.
⁴Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Lest you also be like him.
⁵Answer a fool according to his folly,
Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
⁶He who sends a message by the hand of a fool
Cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.
⁷Like the legs of the lame that hang limp
Is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
⁸Like one who binds a stone in a sling
Is he who gives honor to a fool.
⁹Like a thorn that goes into the hand of a drunkard
Is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
¹⁰^[a]The great God who formed everything
Gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages.
¹¹As a dog returns to his own vomit,
So a fool repeats his folly.
¹²Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

¹³The lazy man says, “There is a lion in the road!
A fierce lion is in the ^[b]streets!”
¹⁴As a door turns on its hinges,
So does the lazy man on his bed.
¹⁵The lazy man buries his hand in the ^[c]bowl;
It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.
¹⁶The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes
Than seven men who can answer sensibly.

¹⁷He who passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own
Is like one who takes a dog by the ears.

¹⁸Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death,
¹⁹Is the man who deceives his neighbor,
And says, “I was only joking!”

²⁰Where there is no wood, the fire goes out;
And where there is no ^[d]talebearer, strife ceases.
²¹As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire,
So is a contentious man to kindle strife.
²²The words of a ^[e]talebearer are like ^[f]tasty trifles,
And they go down into the ^[g]inmost body.

²³Fervent lips with a wicked heart
Are like earthenware covered with silver dross.

²⁴He who hates, disguises it with his lips,
And lays up deceit within himself;
²⁵When ^[h]he speaks kindly, do not believe him,
For there are seven abominations in his heart;
²⁶Though his hatred is covered by deceit,
His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.

²⁷Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,
And he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

²⁸A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it,
And a flattering mouth works ruin.

Footnotes

Proverbs 26:10 Heb. difficult in v. 10; ancient and modern translators differ greatly
Proverbs 26:13 Or plazas, squares
Proverbs 26:15 LXX, Syr. bosom; Tg., Vg. armpit
Proverbs 26:20 gossip or slanderer, lit. whisperer
Proverbs 26:22 gossip or slanderer
Proverbs 26:22 A Jewish tradition wounds
Proverbs 26:22 Lit. rooms of the belly
Proverbs 26:25 Lit. his voice is gracious

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6- “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

26 Mar 202225 Mar 2022

WEEKEND READING – 3-26-22

“Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.” Proverbs 25:28 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of Proverbs chapter 25 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Further Wise Sayings of Solomon

25 These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied:

²It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

³As the heavens for height and the earth for depth,
So the heart of kings is unsearchable.

⁴Take away the dross from silver,
And it will go to the silversmith for jewelry.
⁵Take away the wicked from before the king,
And his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king,
And do not stand in the place of the great;
⁷For it is better that he say to you,
“Come up here,”
Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince,
Whom your eyes have seen.

⁸Do not go hastily to ^[a]court;
For what will you do in the end,
When your neighbor has put you to shame?
⁹Debate your case with your neighbor,
And do not disclose the secret to another;
¹⁰Lest he who hears it expose your shame,
And ^[b]your reputation be ruined.

¹¹A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold
In settings of silver.
¹²Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold
Is a wise rebuker to an obedient ear.

¹³Like the cold of snow in time of harvest
Is a faithful messenger to those who send him,
For he refreshes the soul of his masters.

¹⁴Whoever falsely boasts of giving
Is like clouds and wind without rain.

¹⁵By long forbearance a ruler is persuaded,
And a gentle tongue breaks a bone.

¹⁶Have you found honey?
Eat only as much as you need,
Lest you be filled with it and vomit.

¹⁷Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house,
Lest he become weary of you and hate you.

¹⁸A man who bears false witness against his neighbor
Is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble
Is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint.

²⁰Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather,
And like vinegar on soda,
Is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
²²For so you will heap coals of fire on his head,
And the Lord will reward you.

²³The north wind brings forth rain,
And a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.

²⁴It is better to dwell in a corner of a housetop,
Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

²⁵As cold water to a weary soul,
So is good news from a far country.

²⁶A righteous man who falters before the wicked
Is like a murky spring and a ^[c]polluted well.

²⁷It is not good to eat much honey;
So to seek one’s own glory is not glory.

²⁸Whoever has no rule over his own spirit
Is like a city broken down, without walls.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6- “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

25 Mar 202224 Mar 2022

Work Hard, Be Pure, and Be Heavenly Minded – 3-25-22

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:17-18 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of First Thessalonians chapter 4 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Plea for Purity

4 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; ²for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

³For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. ⁷For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. ⁸Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who^[a] has also given us His Holy Spirit.

A Brotherly and Orderly Life

⁹But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; ¹¹that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, ¹²that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

The Comfort of Christ’s Coming

¹³But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen ^[b]asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who ^[c]sleep in Jesus.

¹⁵For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are ^[d]asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. ¹⁸Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Footnotes
a. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 NU who also gives
b. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Died
c. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 Or through Jesus sleep
d. 1 Thessalonians 4:15 Dead

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

It almost seem Paul intended to end the letter with the prayer we concluded with yesterday. I am so thankful he didn’t because in the next two chapters he sheds light on a concept we think is prophetic and new (because this is the first time it is taught like this in the Bible). However, it would seem, Paul only mentions it in part because it is just a standard part of the basic gospel message. (And better understanding of why Paul said he was accused of preaching an afterlife where the dead are resurrected.) Since modern Christianity (and basic Gospel message) is robbed of this truth – this may be a confusing and even scary concept – the Rapture. Also back then there was only one ‘interpretation’ of it. But God permitted most of the details to slip away over time, so no one can know the day or the hour – but we can all see the signs of the time.

The last two chapters are instructional and have 3 easy points: First work hard, second is be sexually pure, and third is have a different perspective on life (and death).

Paul has a difficult task when speaking against sexual impurity – sex was a part of temple worship of the pagan gods AND some of these new believers were OWNED slaves in the sex industry. They cannot of their own free will stop participating in sex. This situation was handled gently – one on one with those women helping them to cope and handle their plight – and tried to raise funds to free them.
God called the Jews to be different, giving them food and cleanliness laws – same with the Christians, but our cleanliness rules are to give our whole self to Jesus and not look or act like people of Rome and the world. So these sex slaves would stop dressing promiscuously outside of work, they slowly were transformed in their personal time. BUT it was also known that Paul was not writing about the slaves and their predicament.
Just like you and I, when we first became Christians, we continued to participate in certain things that later God revealed to us were a sin. Some things we knew straight away and repented of. Others took time.
When I returned to God, I would leave church, get in my car and light a cigarette – I needed deliverance. Some sins, we know are sins but are helpless against until we are delivered.

In Thessalonica as well as all over the Roman world – people with means opted to be lazy, laying around having sex and discussing philosophy. And they would participate in pagan temple sex.
In today’s reading we see (in verses 1-12) the instruction to work hard and be sexually pure mixed together – obviously addressing those who participated in the lazy part of Roman culture. Besides it being fashionably to participate in this – Christian new Jesus was returning soon, so some thought, as some do today, they can just sit around waiting for him (they missed the parable of the brides and their oil lamps).

So, what about people then, and now, in relationships presumably having sex (and/or living together), who come to Jesus to build a relationship. If Christ like love, sexual purity and hard work are what are supposed to define Christians and set them apart unto God, what do we do about newbies in this complicated sin? One of which Paul did not tolerate (mostly because it was ritualistic pagan sex to false gods – but the Bible says what it says). Marriage, family, purity and relationships are important to God.
I knew a lady with three small kids, going through a divorce, dating another man and someone in her drug and alcohol rehab introduced her to Jesus gets her into a church. Within a few weeks of her attending church she brings a man and her children with her and everyone assumes it is her husband, especially because of how young the children are. This man was not even the same man from two weeks ago and is not her husband. But everyone seems to like him so she moves in with him. A little later the leadership learns they are not married and confronts them. Well, they moved in together while waiting for her divorce to be final. What does leadership do with a complicated mess, legally joint property and splitting the sinful couple would complicated. Can’t marry them as she is still married and in process of a divorce. There are three small children entangled.
Step one is to inform the couple of what is right and wrong – give the scriptures so the Holy Spirit can work on them – ONLY God knows the right path to clean up the messes of sins. That was done in this situation. Then the couple was told they must marry as soon as legally possible. They did. And all is well? No, years later the man sexually abused the children. Maybe in this case marriage wasn’t right, they didn’t have time to get to know the man to learn these things. Maybe sexual sin was a spiritual stronghold and deliverance was needed, not marriage.
At the same time, there was another woman with a similar situation, older children. She was already divorced. So they got married. They are married to this day and had children together and now grandchildren – they are a beautiful family. In that case it worked.
And I know of a man who met Jesus and moved out of his place with his girlfriend. They tried to keep dating but even though she was at first receptive to Jesus, she did not stay in the church or with the man.
Paul is not speaking of these situations. Relationships without Jesus are messy and complicated and breaking up is NOT always the right answer, and staying together and getting married is NOT always the right answer. Yet as a new Christian, in any situation, we must make every effort to get to the part where we are separated to God with our behaviors acting Christ-like, working hard, and being sexually pure. Paul was addressing the people who were not making that effort. And Paul concludes with:
“Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” Verse 8
Therefore those who continue in sexual sins willfully – they are ejecting the Holy Spirit and like Paul says, we cannot tolerate and keep them among us. Just make sure, before you cast someone out, that you have tried every loving option God has available. Including deliverance. If you haven’t laid hands on them and tried to free them, then you are missing the point – God wishes none shall parish. Try everything first, if they still reject God, send them back to their own kind.

And let’s speak of work, briefly. God made us to work – to manage the earth and the Garden of Eden. So why do we act as if work is an affliction put upon us by the curse of sin? We need to correct our view of work. Our work should be part of how we worship God. God includes that we are not to be busy bodies. We are not to be lazy, but work hard. I myself used to often witness to people on breaks. When I was accused of doing it during working time I did defend myself and explain I was punched out on lunch. This I withdrew and:
“aspire[d] to lead a quiet life, to mind [my] own business, and to work with [my] own hands, as we commanded you,that [I might] walk properly toward those who are outside, and that [I] may lack nothing.” Verses 11b and 12
Living righteous is more important and impactful than any words you can say while robbing time from your employer. God will open doors when the timing is right. Don’t be tempted to walk through open doors when the timing is wrong.

The third point – different view of life (and death) continues into the reading of the next chapter (Monday’s reading) So we will discuss more there as well, but let’s do a brief overview of the idea here.

First, the concept of the rapture is NOT an escapism theology, according to Paul’s belief. He is not waiting around to escape, not is he thinking we will escape hardship, as Paul just ran for his life a second time after forming this church, when he is writing this. The idea of the rapture was not about how we die and leave this life – but how we live while we are here and how we mourn losing others.

I know a Pastor in a Church in New Jersey who: “#LookingUp” all the time. He shouts Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus! He lives a life that is kingdom minded and looking forward to the catching up of the saints. It seems the Thessalonians were being fed some lies about some areas of this greater overall teaching. So Paul only gives us the corrections and not the complete theology.
When we die, our bodies go into the ground, but we are present with Jesus! Some take this to mean they cannot be cremated, and what about those Christians who were eaten by lions and burned at the stake? God is capable of healing the living, can He not put the dead back together? Is anything impossible for Him who created everything?
So when Jesus returns those who are dead get their bodies back first and then we join them in the sky.

I have heard people tell me that the rapture does not mean Christian get caught up (like it literally says here) but that the evil people are snatched away so only the pure remain. I am serious – this is a teaching that is going around right now. If people believe that they will be left behind. And sadly they will then think they are the righteous and the enemy will have a hay day with that! God forbid, in the Name of Jesus! Amen!

We must be so very careful that we look at the entire Bible and understand. In Matthew we read Jesus’s words about two I the field and one will be caught up and two in bed and one will be caught up… the same word “caught up” is used here by Paul. And it is the Greek word were we get the word “Rapture” from.

As scary as this strange concept of floating up and dead people rising, might be – as humans we usually fear the unknown – we must not focus on that. That is not the point. The point is not HOW we get to Jesus – the point is that He is coming for us and we will join Him. The point is to NOT fear death because it means we join Him and see our loved ones again. It means we celebrate the lives of our loved ones who transitioned on ahead of us. I means we miss them, but have confidence, more than just hope, that we will see them again. And it means it is all the more urgent that we share the gospel (including the rapture) with others – or they might ended up missing out and in eternal damnation – not caught up with Jesus and not to be seen again.
This is our encouragement – because we are to be kingdom minded – heavenly minded.

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.Therefore comfort one another with these words.” Verses 17-18

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

24 Mar 202223 Mar 2022

Love in Affliction – 3-24-22

“And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” 1 Thess. 3:12-13 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of First Thessalonians chapter 3 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Concern for Their Faith

3 Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, ²and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, ³that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. ⁴For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. ⁵For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.

Encouraged by Timothy

⁶But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you— ⁷therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith. ⁸For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.

⁹For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God, ¹⁰night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith?

Prayer for the Church

¹¹Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. ¹²And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, ¹³so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Today’s short reading concludes the greeting narration of encouragement, reminder of the truth, and actionable expression of love.
Once a thought Paul was driven by duty and supernaturally compelled to WORK at making disciples, and because he is short with word and very direct, we miss all the flowery adjectives where people hide love and feelings. Without those adjectives and without a healthy understanding of love – you could easily miss the driving force of Paul’s ministry.
Even in Acts, Luke very matter of fact like states this happened then that happened – and here I am explaining and it’s all very emotionless. On the same note – we are always told we should not chase feeling and let feeling guide us because serving God is not always big emotional high’s (the way the world often defines love).
But on the flip – There is a LOT of emotion, love, heartache, emotional victories, etc. included in serving the Lord as Paul did. Paul loved immensely and it is his love that drove him. Paul learned to see people the way God sees them.
Let’s pause and think about it. Really think about it. Do you see people through the eyes of God? I admit I do not see all people that way – when I am busy about my way around the store – I do not even look at most people, I am looking for what I need so I can get out to there. Thankfully, I pay enough attention that God has been able to use me sometimes in stores to minister to someone else. But when God goes into that store with me, he sees every person. He sees their hearts and needs and is working out a plan to turn them to him and provide for them, if they would just accept it. He is also working out a plan for other Christians – and for you and for me. God is people focused. And Paul was people focused.

So when Paul starts this chapter with sharing his concern for their faith – he is saying how much he loves them and therefore does not want to see them fall into eternal damnation. Like the previous chapters, and our discussion of how many Christian haters were in the city of Thessalonica – this is still addressing the fact that these Christians are being raised up in the lion’s den, surrounded by hungry monsters. That must be scary – they watched Paul run for his life and those vipers (as Jesus called them) followed Paul to Berea; so Paul fled again and went to Athens.
Many of the churches were born under threat and saw Paul flee and understood the very real threat – what makes this church different is Paul did not have time there with them to give them a solid foundation and some perspective on how to deal with the persecution. So in verses 1-5, Paul shows us that he addresses their fears with LOVE, POWER and a SOUND MIND. Paul left Timothy (and in Acts 17 we know he also left Silas and went to Athens to wait for them).

Paul is the Biblical authority on trials, tribulations, hardships, temptations and such. First, he wrote the most about how to deal with them in a godly way. Second, he had firsthand experience. This is true of all the Apostles and many other believers in the first century church, but we have Paul’s writings about it to help us.
Here Paul is concerned that “no one should be shaken by these afflictions” (verse 3). Paul is an excellent example of godly leadership. But – you and I live in a day and age where preachers do not preach repentance, hell, or even the power of God – it is just a weekly self-help meeting. It is so bad that many believers I have spoken to have not been able to find a church that hasn’t compromised and speaks repentance and our uncompromising and living God, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. There are now at least 2 organization in the USA trying to help connect believers with churches and pastors who do not negotiate with evil (do not compromise to keep the income levels).
One is America’s Frontline Pastors – which starts by vetting the leadership to ensure the kind of support Paul tried to offer.
But – it doesn’t all fall on people with pastoral degrees and licensing. We already saw that we should be praying for one another, praying for the church (the body of believers all over the globe), and praying for our Christian leadership – as Paul started the book sharing that he prays that way. So, what are we doing to ensure our brothers and sisters, and the ones we have taken under our wings to disciple, aren’t shaken by these afflictions (which also now include the pandemic and threats and rumors of war)?

By verse 6 we learn Timothy and Silas had returned to Paul and filled him in. It basically says “Timmy told on you! But it was all good! It makes me miss you all the more and I want to come visit. I am glad to hear you want to see us too!” And this is about as sweet, florally and poetic adjectives that Paul gets into. Oh the tender display of affection – because we humans are probably 80% emotional beings. We do need to know comfort, love and care.

“For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.” Verse 8
Well, this is some odd wording, toss into such sweet feels. I do think the translation is a little wonky but when we pull out the lexicon and review it – I think there are really a couple points in this verse that we can grasp.
One is Paul’s focus on relationship – how we interrelate – we live if you stand. It is all connected. Remember it is Paul who brings us the concept of all of us being a body.
The other is that it is Life or Death! Both the choice to believe or not is a life or death choice and our interpersonal relationship to each other as a body will dictate the life or death of the body.
God made us in the Garden of Eden to fellowship with Him – sin separated us from Him. We needed to get back but we did not know how. So God made a way, through Jesus, so we can have a relationship with Him, and saved from eternal damnation created for satan and not for us. Paul learns God’s heart and is not just people focused – but Paul understands the important of relationships and being relationally minded. Paul even shows that he believes it is a matter of survival. (We will see more to support this claim when we dig into his other letters.)

Whenever Paul thinks about people his letters blossom into prayers for them! Verse 9, thanking God for them! Every Thursday, on Facebook and Instagram I post a verse on being Thankful, and remind us to be filled with gratitude. It is designed to be shareable – less of me and more of just the pure word, uncut. We must remember to be thankful and remember to be relational and remember to pray and remember to this and that and there is so much to remember! I know. So I designed this so that through repetition and teaching, and through prayer and supplication, it will become natural as God works to change you and make it natural.

And Paul’s gratitude continues to overflow into a more formal prayer for the church, which when we read we should pray, praying for our local churches, each other on here, and the whole global body of Christ:

“Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” Verses 11-13

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

23 Mar 202222 Mar 2022

Reminder to Apply Truth – 3-23-22

“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.” 1 Thess. 2:19-20 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of First Thessalonians chapter 2 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Paul’s Conduct

2 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. ²But ^[a]even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict. ³For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit.

⁴But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. ⁵For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a ^[b]cloak for covetousness—God is witness. ⁶Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. ⁷But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. ⁸So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. ⁹For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.

¹⁰You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; ¹¹as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and ^[c]charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, ¹²that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

Their Conversion

¹³For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. ¹⁴For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, ¹⁵who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are ^[d]contrary to all men, ¹⁶forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.

Longing to See Them

¹⁷But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. ¹⁸Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. ¹⁹For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? ²⁰For you are our glory and joy.

Footnotes
a. 1 Thessalonians 2:2 NU, M omit even
b. 1 Thessalonians 2:5 pretext for greed
c. 1 Thessalonians 2:11 NU, M implored
d. 1 Thessalonians 2:15 hostile

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

As we discussed yesterday, the first 3 chapters of this book are personal narrative more than instruction and today’s reading seems to continue yesterday’s greetings. When things are repeated in the Bible – there is always reason and we should always perk up our ears to pay attention. In Greek writing culture, Greeks repeated phrases and concepts as a means to build suspense but not necessarily the mysterious kind. Modern literature build suspense by focusing on unanswered questions leading up to the climax or the point of it. Greeks excitedly repeated the climate and the point. Their thought process was the first time you heard it you may have missed that it was important. The second time they stir your thoughts so your response is “hmmm, that is something”. The third time you hear it, your response should be “Ah ha! Amazing! Wow! That is important!” See, building suspense and excitement.
This is not that foreign to us. We have many amazing preachers and public speakers who repeat a phrase a few times whipping the audience up into excitement. It is not strange to odd to them read their speech and find it written repeatedly.
What is odd is that modern Christians read the Bible – quietly in their head. Jews always went to gathering to hear the Torah and Prophets read – and if reading them for themselves – they would read out loud. Never did someone read silently. Most of antiquity followed that same pattern, since usually there were few who could even read, so if you could read then you would read it out loud for everyone else. Paul wrote for people who listened and did not read.

This could shed some new insight about some strange wording you find in certain passages:
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 NKJV
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22 NKJV

This doesn’t mean you must literally hear it or you must go to church on Sunday. And this is why people say hearing means reading. But, I’ll tell ya what – Although I read and study it diligently; I also turn on the audio function on the internet version of the Bible that I use (many great choices out there). There really is something great about hearing someone read it to you. I sometimes follow along reading, so I do not get distracted. Other times I listen while I work, or do chores. I do not always read through the Bible in a year (last year we studied through it) – But it is easy and fun to listen through it – and that takes less than a year (you put it in and stop when you don’t have the time any longer and don’t break it up by chapter and verse.

Digging into today’s reading – the letter was carried up to Thessalonica and read out loud to a gathering of the believers, probably at Jason’s house.
The Letter started off with a greeting. Today’s reading starts with Paul defending himself. That escalated quickly. These people are doing great, so who is accusing Paul, and of what is he being accused and why is he defending his conduct??
Paul’s letters were usually to address a problem, answer a question and generally were written in response to something – we can tell by the way he wrote. But scrolls and ink were hard to come by and expensive – so Paul is as short and direct as possible, pinching pennies. Unfortunately that means – we can’t always extrapolate what the problem was, what the question was, or what he was responding to. There is a lot of speculation based on the context and historical information – and you all know (or will soon learn) that I am not a fan of speculating. And I try to be clear about what is speculation and opinion and what is truth.

Both the Biblical account in Acts 17 and historical accounts say that Thessalonica was a Christian hating town. (Yesterday’s verse about them going out as missionaries – easy to go when staying is life threatening!) We know form Acts that if Paul returned, Jason would get thrown in jail or worse. We know they immediate tried to discredit Paul and his teaching – moving here into grey area. Then into speculation: They must have attacked Paul’s character and conduct – so here Paul clears things up. I hope you read today’s reading (above) because I am not repeating the verses here.

Now, why would Paul have to tell them what they saw and experienced?
This is very relevant today. At least over the last couple years with the pandemic and especially in politics – this is another strategy, attack the enemy comes after us with. So we need to be aware of this. It plays out like this: We see and experience one thing. They gaslight us and tell us we did not see or experience it but then feed us another story over and over until we begin to believe it.
So then here Paul has to remind them of the truth. This is what really happened, remember?
Let’s look at the Russian / Ukraine thing that has the world all looking. They told me this is new and scary and could be WW3. But – remember? They have been fighting for many years. 12 years ago there was a treaty and Ukraine broke it, and Russia retaliated – and the terms included Ukraine NOT petitioning to become a NATO nation. Remember? Is the fighting worse now? Well they had very violent upheavals on and off over the years. And do you remember that Ukraine was also in the middle of a civil war? And the guy they have running things now, was a cabernet dancer/singer/swinger. As Christians we need to SEE the truth, regardless of what they are telling us to see. And NO I have not and will not side with either country in that conflict. But I will pray for their leaders to turn to God and for God’s will to be done.

The point is Paul has to defend against the gaslighting that have the ones who experienced Paul, turned around, and the new believers thinking Paul behaved in ways he did not. At least, between what he said, what we know of Thessalonica from Acts and what we know from history it would seem.

“You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” Verses 10-12

There are other speculator ideas of what this is all about as well. One such theory is that Paul is instructing them to be like him and work, work, work; and this alludes to problems addressed in 2^nd Thessalonians. To me it seems more biographical and narrative and not instructive. Paul is pretty direct with instruction.

Next Paul also reinforces the truth, validity and effectiveness of their salvation. So it would seem, again speculation, that someone was attacking their status as Christian causing them to doubt their very relationship with God!
When I was a new convert – I doubted my salvation occasionally, and doubted what I saw and experienced. I also doubted the worthiness and how can it be… all the things new believers go through. To this day, if I find doubt pop up – I remind myself of my conversion, my conversation with God and even more powerfully than that – I can repent, ask for forgiveness, and recommit my life to Jesus. Boom – done.
It might not have been people wavering in their faith due to others attacking them, although the suffering and death is mentioned. But this is a church of new baby believers, who have not yet had time to mature. They are out there being missionaries and standing for their faith and suffering – all grown up believer actions – but they are still babies, so they could need the conversion reminder just because of that.

Paul concludes the chapter expressing how much he really wants to come back to them. Sadly Paul has all sorts of other spiritually warfare battles going on – and is still running for his life out of cities he ministered in.

And we think we live in perilous times? I did not have to run for my life today. Someone did break windows at my home, but I did not run for my life. How about you?
I like to think, this chapter is all about applying honestly back into your troubles for some clarity – and our troubles are NOT as emotionally difficult.
I mean, take my quarterly sales tax for my business. In order to do my taxes, I run a report in my system. The system gives me a bunch of things all broken out in different ways. I just grab my total sale, my taxable sales and the sub totals for taxable counties. Then I go online to the sales tax site and I enter those totals and it asks if I want them to tally it. I say yes. And submit – the computer does the rest the money is automatically transferred all done takes 15 active minutes. BUT there is an emotional component. I worry I will do something wrong. I have heard all these big scary things in relation to sales taxes in my life and so I have this emotional baggage. So – every time – I print the form. I run the report days ahead. I double check that the report is calculating correctly. I shuffle data and figure out all sorts of things. Then the next day I write out the answers on the form. And I manually tally and calculate and I print the schedules and addendums and add my answers and tally and calculate and those certain classifications, I have to look up each time to know what numbers to enter and them I double check that the amount I came up with is the amount I collected. Finally I spend 15 minutes in the online program entering the first couple of pieces of data and telling it to do the rest and clicking submit. The emotional element makes things way harder, take way too long, distracts and takes away from what I should be doing. If I only apply truth in my troubles – I can see clearly and get the task done.

***

Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!

22 Mar 202221 Mar 2022

Welcome to Thessalonica – 3-22-22

“And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.” 1 Thess. 1:6-7 NKJV

RELATIONSHIP:

BIBLE READING:

Today’s reading is the Book of First Thessalonians chapter 1 (embedded below for your convenience in the NKJV).

Greeting

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace ^[a]from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Their Good Example

²We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, ³remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, ⁴knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. ⁵For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.

⁶And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. ⁸For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. ⁹For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Footnotes

a. 1 Thessalonians 1:1 NU omits from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

MEMORY VERSE CHALLENGE:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

STUDY/DEVOTIONAL:

Let us start with a History and Overview of the Church at Thessalonica and the letters written to this church. It all began in Acts 17 – during Paul’s second missionary journey and in the home of Jason, presumed to be a relation of Paul. This church is located in northern Greece. If you do not recall, it is Acts 17:1-9. Paul and his crew were there for less than 3 week. Preaching first to the Jews then the Gentiles. It was not that the Jews were not getting it, many were – but more gentiles than Jews were becoming Christians (mostly because few Jews were converting). So the envious Jews grabbed evil men from the market place – men who did not care either way and had no skin in the fight, but just wanted to fight – modern day internet trolls, but these picked up clubs and intended physical harm.
Engaging with men who do not have skin in the fight, is pointless. They do not care. Be like Paul, Silas, and the crew and slip out the back.
The mob attacked Jason’s house and dragged out Jason. Jason had to pay a fine and if Paul returned, Jason would be tossed in jail forever (or the best they could do). Poor Jason. And this poor church which was founded and had only 2 weeks of training and hearing the gospel before Paul could not return.

So this book was written during the end half of Paul’s second missionary journey, as Paul received word of them and kept tabs of the church’s well-being. This is most commonly thought of as the first letter Paul wrote – but some scholars say the letter to the Galatians was written first (two years before this). Galatia is the region that he traveled through during the first missionary journey (Derbe, Lystra and that second Antioch). So as Paul and the gang traveled through upper Asia minor, before arriving at Thessalonica, he may have written to the churches in Galatia – but the date of that letter is unknown and debated.

This book, however and Second Thessalonians were both written in Corinth where Paul stayed for a while establishing that church and checking up on Jason’s. The persecution of the Thessalonica church was brutal, there were many deaths (but it doesn’t say if from the persecution or from other causes), some false doctrine and relaxed perspectives on certain sins had crept in and these baby Christian were suddenly dealing with adult issue (issues of mature believers) while they were still learning the basics. Because of this Paul give us some very prophetic writings – which were apparently common teachings and understanding among the early church. (They are the teachings on the rapture and the resurrection of the dead in Christ, along with the signs of that time. Now we understand what Paul’s final defense, it was the rapture and the Kingdom of Heaven. Always be heaven minded, always keep your eyes fixed upward, and always choose what you will do by if it furthers the Kingdom work.)

This book is in 5 very short chapters – some light reading this week which hold some theological punch and more so in the next book! The book is outlined with chapters 1-3 being personal and more biographical, and chapters 4-5 are more instructional.

Chapter one begins with a greeting – common still with Christian, but it sounds more like “thoughts and prayers” or “praying for you” and it usually lacks action or meaning. It is not without ceasing. And we sit reading the Bible wondering where did the signs and wonders go? And we ask God for more power and
he says – but you aren’t using the power I gave you!
So we sit wonder what that means instead of using the power to pray without stopping for other believers thanking God that they are sharing in the work and carrying some of the burden. And if we are tempted to think of other, it would seem we think only in envy, strife and division. Look around; am I wrong?

Step one – fix our greeting. Let’s commit ourselves to trying to focus on prayer for others and thanking God that they share the burden, instead of being overcome with jealousy of their blessings and anointing. (I am sure most of you already are doing it right and I am preaching to the choir – but it needs to be said for those who aren’t.) One by one we will be changed by grace and therefore spread that transforming grace onto the world, through prayer. And it only happens when we stop praying all-consuming prayers for ourselves and our very real and urgent needs and start being kingdom focused. (Sometimes our problems distract us from the mission.)

What are you known for?
Are you known for “your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 3) ?
Do you remember your election – meaning God chose you and came to you with power (if you received it – and if not, go ahead and receive it)?
Are you filled, to overflowing with the Holy Spirit? Do you pray in tongues often? Do you need to do it more?

As Paul greets and praises these young Christians, we can all do a little self-reflection and see if this fire still burns as bright, like theirs. In verse 7, Paul says that they are a good example.

But let’s not skip verse 6 – where they are full of joy, doing this under “much affliction”. Most of us with the ability to find this blog and read it are under some affliction – mostly light affliction. Where is our joy? The Joy of the Lord is supposed to be our strength.
Pay attention because book 2 is addressed to them because of their depression and compromise of a sin. The enemy came in and robbed them of the joy they were praised for having. Many times we see people laughing in church and assume it is demonic. I was once, sitting in this very spot and the joy of the Lord overcame me and I laughed for at least 24 hours! I was in a battle against some major things and I needed the strength renewed and had no idea what God was doing until after and I can look back and say – I want to live in that joy.

Another point to take notice of – these baby Christian with God leading them because Paul couldn’t… are fulfilling the “go, ye, therefore” mission from Jesus in Mathew 28. They sent out missionaries and evangelists!

“For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.” Verse 8

And finally, in alinement with what I have said over and over in this blog since I started it – REPENT. Being a good repenter – like King David (a man after God’s heart, making lots of mistakes, but repenting and seeking to serve God). These Christians were excellent repenters, turning from idols.

Let me share an interesting thing that happened to me recently. When I turned to God, I repented. Since then, I repent daily saying the Lord’s Prayer and asking for guidance in turning from any sin still in my life. My son moved out almost a year ago – then moved back then moved out and still hasn’t taken all his things and left some cluttered areas. I am also a bit unconventional and creative and have a high tolerance for clutter. Then I hear a sermon on chaos is the enemies’ area and can become a stronghold, and God is order. That sermon was a special I tuned in for, the man is a missionary and I was interested in hearing him – it was God ordained. Because the week before in my normal Wednesday night Bible study group the lesson was on repenting from idols and sinful objects and cleaning your house of them. I thought I has done that job well. (If you do not know what I mean, we will do a lesson on it. but in short – idols and objects of evil can be tarot cards, ouija boards, horoscope stuff, crystals meant to focusing powers, incense meant or made for ritual or made with ritual, and stuff like that.) I, being called to teach and with a desire for purity feel there is no needs for even more things – anything that doesn’t meet the criteria of Philippians 4:8. But that is where I personally draw the line. We all have to work out our salvations with fear of God and in hopes of full obedience.
Anyway – during the Wednesday night study I felt like I needed to clean up my clutter in the right hand corner of my living room. I had an animal skull, I used to teach drawing classes (I am also an artist) on the bookshelf and thought maybe it was giving the appearance of evil. So I packed it away – I can pull it out for the lesson and then put it away after, each time. A day later I felt that area still needed something – the bookshelves were cluttered with my son’s stuff and mine. The painting on the wall were cluttered as well. So I took down a painting I did when I was not serving God and thought I did my due diligence. But God was making me more and more uneasy about that corner. Then I heard the message about clutter being a point where the enemy can hide. I said – that is it! Everything on the bookshelf goes! I will use that bookshelf to more space for the business God gave me and make room for the business to grow! As I look books and games off the shelf I have made two piles: my things and my son’s things. Next I find a third pile forming – I called it “GASP! What is that doing in my house?” I called my son and asked if he wanted anything from those shelves and he said no – I said, before I get rid of them, I have all your childhood books and will put them aside for you to go through (they will be nice to share with his children someday). Everything else I had permission to toss! Praise the Lord – there were books on new age stuff and dragons and videogames on evil things and…. Gone. Gone! GONE!!! I broke and ripped up and threw away all of it! Clutter really is an easy place for graven images to evil to hide, literally! I was ashamed – I had to repent! and ask forgiveness for not stewarding my area better. I am now committed to going through any and all clutter and spring clean the compromise out of this house!!

The point is – David was praised for being a good repenter by being called a “man after God’s own heart” and the church in Thessalonica was praised for being a good repenter and getting rid of idols and associated items. It is a necessary action of becoming a believer. You cannot hold onto things that represent evil and grow in power as a Christian. If you think so – you have been lied to. I am sorry.
If you do without knowing – it will still hold you back and you need to repent and clean out!
I do understand, there is a lot of money in those things (imagine what could have been if that money was instead used for furthering the Kingdom). You cannot sell them and let others be trapped by the sin – we must destroy them. And there are always the: “this isn’t so bad” items that leave the least amount of room for evil – but room, none the less. I am in this with you. I just cleaned my living room corner this past weekend. I know.

Only 10 verses in today’s chapter – but a whole lot of self-examination and room to do better.

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Thank you for reading in 2022 – a Year of Wisdom and Salvation
May the God of peace keep you and bless you. May you stay focused on Christ and covered in grace.
Maranatha ~ Come Lord Jesus!