Jeremiah 12:1-14:10, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:8, Psalms 79:1-13, Proverbs4:30-34
Today is the 9th day of October welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is wonderful to be here with you around the Global Campfire taking the next step forward together. That will lead us to continue our journey in the book of Jeremiah. Once we get to the New Testament, we’ll be moving into a brand-new letter from the apostle Paul, a letter to the Thessalonians, the first one. So, first Thessalonians but we’ll talk about that when we get there. We have been reading from the Common English Bible, which is what we’ll continue to do today. Jeremiah chapter 12 verse 1 through 14 verse 10.
Introduction to first Thessalonians:
Okay. As we mentioned at the beginning, we have some new territory to enter into, a letter to the church in Thessalonica called first Thessalonians. And many biblical scholars believe this is the first preserved letter from the apostle Paul. Maybe his first letter, but if this is true, then first Thessalonians is probably the earliest existing Christian writing in the world. And that’s not kind of like an outlying theory. Lots of scholars believe this to be correct, true. This church, the…the church in Thessalonica, the establishment of the church is described in the book of Acts in the 17th chapter. Paul had been in Philippi and there was persecution, right? We read of this in the book of Acts where Paul goes somewhere then Jewish people find out about it. They kinda cause a riot. Paul either gets beaten up or arrested or fleas or whatever and goes to the next town. And, so, this is kind of the story. Persecution broke out and became severe in Philippi. And, so, he travels to Thessalonica and persecution breaks out there as well. But before that happens a brand-new church is planted and spins up and it’s an intense time and Paul’s doesn’t have a whole lot of time to teach. But a church is begun, and then persecution breaks out. And, so, Paul fleas in the night. And this is all happening on the second missionary journey of Paul. And, so he fleas and a few cities later he’s in Corinth. And Paul then stays in Corinth for like a year and ½. And, so, it’s likely that from Corinth, Paul probably wrote this letter known as first Thessalonians in the early 50s A.D. And since Paul didn’t have…didn’t have a whole lot of time to teach and then lay things in order with this church because of the persecution you can imagine his concern about whether they survived or what’s happening with them, but also you can imagine the questions that the new believers have. They…they…they have all kinds of questions that come up. And, so, many of them come up in this letter. And Paul sends his letter in place of himself because he’s not able to go. And, so, he sends Timothy with this letter and Timothy returns letting Paul know that the Thessalonians are actually doing…doing well. They’re staying true. But we…we find from this letter that there are people asking questions. They don’t have full understanding. And, so, they’re questioning things that Paul had taught them. In particular things like the afterlife of a believer. And, so, Paul talks about these things and this adds to our theological understanding which…which we receive quite a bit from in the writings of Paul. And, so, with that, we turn the page and begin this letter, First Thessalonians. Today we’ll read chapter 1 verse 1 through chapter 2 verse 8.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us day by day’s step-by-step week by week, month by month verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book through the Scriptures and for the thing that we can’t do, the transformation that happens because of it, the change in outlook, the change in perspective, the change of heart that only You can do. So, we open ourselves to You as we enter yet another of Paul’s letters. Come Holy Spirit lead us into all truth as we continue this journey forward. Holy Spirit lead us deeper into Jesus, we pray. In His mighty name, 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.