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Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted Isa 53:4 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, July 7, 2025
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Introduction to Paul’s Epistles BibleVerse:1 Thessalonians 1:1 (NKJV) "To the Church of Thessalonica: Grace to you, and peace, in the name God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. " Message:
In Acts 17:1-9 we read that Paul, accompanied by Silvanus (also known as Silas) and Timothy, started a church in the important Macedonian city of Thessalonica. After about a month, they fled from mob violence stirred up by Jewish opponents.
Now we skip forward by about a year. Paul is staying in another great city, Corinth, for about 18 months. (Acts 18:1-11) He is joined after a while by Timothy and Silvanus; and apparently, either they or somebody else brings information to Paul about the nascent church in Thessalonica, including questions about the second coming of Christ and how various people are behaving.
We must remember just how little information these early churches had to go on. And we must also understand, from our own experience, just how divisive and opinionated a human organization can become . . . especially a church! They were desperate for leadership.
So we find ourselves in Corinth in 50 A.D. There may be early, rough versions of the Gospels circulating, but likely not to outposts in Macedonia. Information about Jesus Christ, the great Messiah, is hard to come by. So to remedy the situation, Paul sits down and writes a long, long letter to the church in Thessalonica, addressing a variety of topics.
The topics he covers break down into three main areas. First, theoretical theology: What is God’s truth about various big issues of faith? Second, more practical theology: How should the church members behave? And third, personal correspondence: Paul loved these people and wanted to communicate with them, and also tell them what he was doing.
And so, Paul more-or-less invented a genre of written document called the “epistle.” The word is taken from a Greek word epistole meaning “message”; and although it was used before Paul to designate a long letter, Paul’s development of the form was so spectacular that most dictionary definitions of “epistle” mention the Bible and/or Paul.
It is an article of Christian faith that these epistles were inspired by God. And understand, in the context of theology, “inspired” has a special meaning. It literally means “breathed out” (by God). We understand Paul’s epistles to be holy books, written under the authority of God Himself, working through Paul’s hand or speech. He is speaking God’s infallible word, just as did Isaiah or Moses in their time.
Meditation : “Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.” ~ Martin Luther Prayer : Lord, pour your love into my heart, that I may love you above all things, and my neighbors as myself. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. |
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