Jeremiah 12:1-14:10, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:8, Psalms 79:1-13, Proverbs 24:30-34
Today is the 9th day of October welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you today as we continue journeying forward and taking the next step on the adventure that leads us day by day the entire Bible and we have traveled a lot of the Bible that we have a lot of the Bible yet to hear from and to allow to speak into our lives. So, we’re working our way through the…the book of Jeremiah, one of the major prophets in the Old Testament. When we get to the New Testament today we have some new territory to go into, another of Paul’s letters, known as first Thessalonians and we’ll talk about that when we get there. We’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Jeremiah chapter 12 verse 1 through 14 verse 10 today.
Introduction to first Thessalonians:
Okay. So, as we mentioned at the beginning of our time together today we’re moving into the New Testament and we’re moving into some new territory, Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica and we can read about that, the formation of that church in the book of Acts, chapter 17. Basically, Paul had been in Philippi and then persecution had become severe so then he, as was the case in a lot of his travels, moved to another city. And he moved to Thessalonica where in a very quick move, very intense time this church, the Thessalonians was planted but then again a mob was stirred up against the church, persecution began to break out, Paul had to leave in the night and then a few cities later Paul then landed in Corinth and he ended up staying like 18 months in Corinth. So, that’s probably where he wrote this letter. But first Thessalonians among them majority of biblical scholars, this is…this is the first writing of Paul that we have and the earliest preserved Christian writing that we have. So, what we’re reading predates the…the book of Acts that tells about the formation of this church. This letter that we’re reading predates Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Gospels. And for that matter, predates anything else in all of the New Testament. This is thought to be the very earliest Christian writing that’s preserved. And Paul, he had wanted to go back to Thessalonica, but he wasn’t able to go so he had sent Timothy and then when Timothy came back and reported the good news that, even though they had only spent a little bit of time together in Thessalonica the people were staying true and they were being faithful to Jesus. This brought Paul’s spirits up. He was exhilarated and relieved and we see that his joy is something that we can…we can see in the words of the letter and it makes this a very encouraging letter from the apostle to those believers in Thessalonica, but also into our lives today. But Paul’s not just writing like just only a letter of encouragement. This community in Thessalonica, they hadn’t had a lot of teaching and training. They hadn’t had a lot of time since they heard the good news of the gospel and persecution was breaking out. And Paul was coming with the message of the imminent arrival of Jesus. And, so, they’re like trying to figure out how they’re supposed to be acting, how they’re supposed to be aiming. And they had questions because persecution was coming on the horizon and people were dying from, you know, reasons that people would pass away, whether that be sickness or illness or old age or even crime. And, so, they had been trained to wait for the imminent arrival of Jesus which was like immediate but then people were dying so they had questions about the afterlife of a believer. And, so, Paul addresses some of those questions. And as with all of the…the rest of Paul’s letters as we’ve discussed them as we’ve encountered them we get quite a glimpse into the early thought of the church, the early things that were going on, the early controversies, the early questions, the early arguments. We find that history embedded into these letters that are the earliest documents that…that we have. And, so, having said all that we begin. First Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 8.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we are so immensely grateful for the council that has brought into our lives, for the stability that it offers us constantly, for the way that seeds are planted in the soil of our hearts. And now that we are this far on the journey and we’ve made this the rhythm of our lives we see he the flourishing that You have been doing, the transformation that You have been doing within us. And, of course, once we see that then…well…it becomes more apparent that there is work to be done. This is a lifelong journey of transformation, but we are on the right path and we are grateful that we have Your word to illuminate our path. So, come Holy Spirit. Plant the words that have been spoken into our hearts, plant them in the soil of our lives so that again we continue to cultivate and plant and reep and harvest on a continual basis as we are growing forward. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the mighty name of Jesus we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.