Sunday 21 July, 2013

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1 Corinthians 1:1-3

1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I have been chosen to be an apostle of Christ Jesus just as God planned. Our brother Sosthenes joins me in writing. 2 We are sending this letter to you, the members of God’s church in Corinth. You have been made holy because you belong to Christ Jesus. God has chosen you to be his holy people. He has done the same for all those everywhere who pray to our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is their Lord and ours. 3 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

You have to love Paul.  He makes it so easy to understand who he wrote to and why.

I also love his encouragements that so commonly are part of the introductory verses of his letters.

He makes these great encouraging and sweeping statements that include all those who love God in Jesus.

This letter is for you – it’s not only historically relevant for the Corinthians – but it is relevant for you.  Are you ready for the journey of Corinthians?  Then let’s read every day and apply the truth of God’s Word to us day by day!

Father, as we read Corinthians open our hearts and minds to Your Word.  Adjust us where we need it, comfort us where we need it, inspire and challenge us where we need it!

Written by Ps. Richard Botta

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Saturday 20 July, 2013

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2 Thessalonians 3:14-18

14 Keep an eye on anyone who doesn’t obey the directions in our letter. Watch that person closely. Have nothing to do with him. Then he will feel ashamed. 15 But don’t think of him as an enemy. Instead, warn him as a brother or sister. 16 May the Lord who gives peace give you peace at all times and in every way. May the Lord be with all of you. 17 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own handwriting. That’s how I prove that I am the author of all my letters. I always do it that way. 18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Paul, in making his closing remarks to the second letter to the Thessalonians, makes a series of significant statements that he clearly wants the readers to keep in mind. The part of this scripture that catches my eye initially is in vs 14-16. My Bible has a heading before 16, but it was not there in the original, so I read around it: Paul initially in vs 14, calls the reader to have nothing to do with anyone who does not obey what the letter says, but quickly follows this up with the instruction to do this not as an enemy, but as a fellow believer. It then follows up with verse 16, which is a warm message of incredible peace!!

The next verse then intrigues me. Is Paul including this final statement because he is aware of others impersonating him? Is he wisely setting up protection of the true messages of scripture? Is there another reason that he is including this statement? Whatever the reason, it is an encouragement to me that the content of scripture is true to the eyewitnesses who wrote it.

Father God, help us to be loving and wise in the way that we deal with those who do not have faith in the scriptures and thankyou for giving us Your word!

Written by Justin Ware

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Friday 19 July, 2013

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2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

6 Brothers and sisters, here is a command we give you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep away from every believer who doesn’t want to work. Keep away from anyone who doesn’t live up to the teaching you received from us. 7 You know how you should follow our example. We worked when we were with you. 8 We didn’t eat anyone’s food without paying for it. In fact, it was just the opposite. We worked night and day. We worked very hard so that we wouldn’t cause any expense to any of you. 9 We worked, even though we have the right to receive help from you. We did it in order to be a model for you to follow. 10 Even when we were with you, we gave you a rule. We said, “Anyone who will not work will not eat.” 11 We hear that some people among you don’t want to work. They aren’t really busy. Instead, they are bothering others. 12 We belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we strongly command people like that to settle down. They have to earn the food they eat. 13 Brothers and sisters, don’t ever get tired of doing the right thing.

The last verse in this passage really stood out to me – “…never tire in doing what is good”.

There are many reasons why we might be tempted to tire and give up on doing what is good. Sometimes we may wonder what the point is when we don’t seem to see any results. Or we may be tempted to give up because we don’t seem to get the recognition from people that we feel we deserve.

It’s good to remember that we offer our service to God for His glory and not for earthly rewards or praise from man.  We are part of God’s eternal plans and purposes. If we are being obedient to what we believe He has called us to do, then we are laying up eternal treasures that cannot be seen or measured with the human eye.

God help me to keep an eternal perspective when I am tempted to give up on doing what is good. Help me to seek obedience to Your word rather than the praise of man. Thank you for the privilege of partnering with You and serving You with my life.

Written by Shelley Witt

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Thursday 18 July, 2013

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2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

3 Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread quickly. Pray that others will honor it just as you did. 2 And pray that we will be saved from sinful and evil people. Not everyone is a believer. 3 But the Lord is faithful. He will strengthen you. He will guard you from the evil one. 4 We trust in the Lord. So we are sure that you are doing the things we tell you to do. And we are sure that you will keep on doing them. 5 May the Lord fill your hearts with God’s love. May Christ give you the strength to go on.

In this letter Paul pastors the Thessalonian church by encouraging and directing the people in following God; however, in these verses we see that Paul is not a lone ranger, but a team player. He supports the church in prayer and provides wisdom to help them stay healthy, but he also calls upon the Thessalonian church to pray for him and the work that God has called him to.

It can be easy for me to sit back and watch others go about serving God, passively waiting for someone else to encourage those in the congregation without work, or those who are in stressful situations, abdicating responsibility and saying to myself that someone else is praying for the leaders of the church, or for the people overseas on mission, for the scriptures teachers, the workers, the parents, the students, and the lost…. No. I belong to the body of Christ and I have a part to play.

God had a specific purpose for Paul’s life, to use Paul to spread the Good News far and wide, and to pastor new churches. Part of the role of the Thessalonian church was to stand with Paul and pray for him and the work God was accomplishing through him.

Lord, please help me to remember that I am a vital part of this body. My prayers make a difference. Help me to do what you’ve called me to, and to stand alongside your people and encourage them as they serve you. Amen.

Written by Beth Waugh

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Wednesday 17 July, 2013

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2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

13 Brothers and sisters, we should always thank God for you. The Lord loves you. God chose you from the beginning. He wanted you to be saved. Salvation comes through the Holy Spirit’s work. He makes people holy. It also comes through believing the truth. 14 He chose you to be saved by accepting the good news that we preach. And you will share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Brothers and sisters, stand firm. Hold on to what we taught you. We passed our teachings on to you by what we preached and wrote. 16 Our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father loved us. By his grace God gave us comfort that will last forever. The hope he gave us is good. May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father 17 comfort your hearts. May they make you strong in every good thing you do and say.

Paul encourages the Thessalonians to “stand firm and hold on” v 15.  There has been confusion in the church about the second coming of Jesus and the ‘lawless one’ … seems nothing has changed in 2,000 years! … there are still any number of ideas and interpretations about all of that … but Paul’s advise is just as relevant for me/us as it was for them.

I’m to stand firm and hold fast to my salvation, keep my eyes on Jesus and know His word.  It really is that simple.

Thank you Father that the gospel is so simple, you love me, saved me by your grace and have given me eternal comfort and hope.

Written by Suzie Hodgson

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Tuesday 16 July, 2013

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2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

2 Brothers and sisters, we want to ask you something. It has to do with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It concerns the time when we will go to be with him. 2 What if you receive a prophecy, report or letter that is supposed to have come from us? What if it says that the day of the Lord has already come? If it does, we ask you not to become easily upset or alarmed. 3 Don’t let anyone trick you in any way. That day will not come until people rise up against God. It will not come until the man of sin appears. He is a marked man. He is sentenced to be destroyed. 4 He will oppose everything that is called God. He will oppose everything that is worshiped. He will give himself power over everything. He will set himself up in God’s temple. He will announce that he himself is God. 5 Don’t you remember? When I was with you, I used to tell you those things. 6 Now you know what is holding the man of sin back. He is held back so that he can make his appearance at the right time. 7 The secret power of sin is already at work. But the one who now holds that power back will keep doing it until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then the man of sin will appear. The Lord Jesus will overthrow him with the breath of his mouth. The glorious brightness of Jesus’ coming will destroy the man of sin. 9 The coming of the man of sin will be Satan’s work. His work will be seen in all kinds of fake miracles, signs and wonders. 10 It will be seen in every kind of evil that fools people who are dying. They are dying because they refuse to love the truth. The truth would save them. 11 So God will fool them completely. Then they will believe the lie. 12 Many will not believe the truth. They will take pleasure in evil. They will be judged.

Who is the lawless one????

To be honest over the ages many have claimed it is this person or that.

I have no idea!

But what I do know is that the manner of my life is what will keep me away from the deception of the enemy and the lawless one.  “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”

You and I need not fear, we do not need to be concerned – what we need to do is stay close to the truth – God’s Word and practice it.

How powerful is God’s Word that it keeps us safe!

Father help me to stay true to Your Word, reading, meditating and living it every day!

Written by Ps. Richard Botta

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Monday 15 July, 2013

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2 Thessalonians 1:5-12

5 All of this proves that when God judges, he is fair. So you will be considered worthy to enter God’s kingdom. You are suffering for his kingdom. 6 God is fair. He will pay back trouble to those who give you trouble. 7 He will help you who are troubled. And he will also help us. All of those things will happen when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come in blazing fire. He will come with the angels who are given the power to do what God wants. 8 He will punish those who don’t know God. He will punish those who don’t obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be destroyed forever. They will be shut out of heaven. They will never see the glory of the Lord’s power. 10 All of those things will happen when he comes. On that day his glory will be seen in his holy people. Everyone who has believed will be amazed when they see him. That includes you, because you believed the witness we gave you. 11 Keeping this in mind, we never stop praying for you. Our God has chosen you. We pray that he will consider you worthy of his choice. We pray that by his power he will make every good thing you have planned come true. We pray that he will make perfect all that you have done by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus will receive glory through what you have done. We also pray that you will receive glory through what he has done. We pray all these things in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Thessalonian church was young, and maturing, and also under attack, infiltrated by false teachers. There are three main themes:

1) God is just.

2) Jesus is coming back to administer God’s justice.

3) We are praying for you.

In the face of persecution we need to be reminded that God is just. Persecution is evidence that we will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom. Rather than growing bitter when persecuted, the Thessalonians were growing in faith, in their love for one another, and in their ability to endure.

One day God will balance the books.

Open your eyes of faith to see beyond the limits of this life to the day when justice will be rendered. Where God’s people being oppressed, imprisoned and tortured, the truth is that God is just, and that God is not idle even when I don’t see Him intervening.

Why pray? Because God uses our prayers, and prayer changes us. God works in and through our hearts and minds, prompting us through the working of his Spirit.

Our prayers are an encouragement to those who are going through trials. We can be a blessing by praying for others. Remind them that God is just and that Jesus is coming back to make things right. If we do these things, we will have one of the most important ministries we can ever have: the ministry of encouragement.

Thank you Lord that even though I was once your enemy, I received Your forgiveness. When I feel upset by evil around me, I pray that You would intervene, give relief to the persecuted, and change the hearts of the persecutors.

Written by Cathy Croft

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Sunday 14 July, 2013

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2 Thessalonians 1:1-4

1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. Silas and Timothy join me in writing. We are sending this letter to you, the members of the church in Thessalonica. You belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 3 Brothers and sisters, we should always thank God for you. That is only right, because your faith is growing more and more. The love you all have for each other is increasing. 4 So among God’s churches we brag about the fact that you don’t give up easily. We brag about your faith in all the suffering and testing you are going through.

The Thessalonians are described by Paul as a people who’s faith and love is noticeably growing and increasing, even in the midst of persecutions and trials.

There is a principle here, that can encourage me. That no matter what the challenge or difficulty I may be facing, I can continue to grow in faith and in love for others, even when such circumstances would seemingly frustrate or squash my ability or to believe God or love others.

Lord, thank you for the example of the Thessalonians. Help me to be someone who grows in faith, love, and perseveres in these even in the midst of challenge, for your word shows me that it is possible.

Written by Ps. Rob Waugh

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Saturday 13 July, 2013

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1 Thessalonians 5:23-28

23 God is the God who gives peace. May he make you holy through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept free from blame. May you be without blame from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes. 24 The One who has chosen you is faithful. He will do all these things. 25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all the believers with a holy kiss. 27 While the Lord is watching, here is what I command you. Have this letter read to all the believers. 28 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Paul wraps up his letter to the church with expectation!  Expectation that they will continue growing in holiness and expectation that Jesus with return (soon).  And underpinning it all is God’s faithfulness and action in both of these.

How wonderful to know that it is God’s action in me to make me more like Jesus (holy) as my walk with Him goes on and in the whole of me, spirit, soul and body – not just one part.  I’m so glad that I’m not left to my own devises for this to happen it’s His faithfulness to me that it is happening.  Because I can actually see this for myself – I know that Jesus will return – it’s not a maybe but certainty – 2 certain things, God’s action in me and Jesus’s return – they go hand in hand. Wow, what complete peace that brings, no wonder Paul begins this with the “God of peace”.

Thank you Father for your unending faithfulness to us – to me.  Thank you that you’re so continually working in me, even without me realising it that all striving can just melt away to peace … and because of this evidence, I know Jesus will return.

Written by Suzie Hodgson

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Friday 12 July, 2013

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1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

12 Brothers and sisters, we ask you to have respect for the godly leaders who work hard among you. They have authority over you. They correct you. 13 Have a lot of respect for them. Love them because of what they do. Live in peace with each other. 14 Brothers and sisters, we are asking you to warn those who don’t want to work. Cheer up those who are shy. Help those who are weak. Put up with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back one wrong act with another. Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. 16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Give thanks no matter what happens. God wants you to thank him because you believe in Christ Jesus. 19 Don’t put out the Holy Spirit’s fire. 20 Don’t treat prophecies as if they amount to nothing. 21 Put everything to the test. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.
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