The book of Philemon, is a one chapter letter from the Apostle Paul, in which Philemon's slave, Onesimus, ran away and ran to Paul. Paul lets Philemon know that Onesimus has converted to the faith and puts in a good word for him, asking Philemon to treat him not as a slave but as a brother in Christ.
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The book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament is the account of the cupbearer of Artaxerxes, and how he facilitated the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, the return of the exiles, and a return to the ways of the Torah by the Israelites, and the opposition that they came against and overcame through God's providence.
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There is a lot of good stuff in this little epistle. I am going to share just this in chapter 2: " ..God's solid foundation stands firm, having this inscription: The Lord knows whose are His, and everyone who names the name of the Lord must turn away from unrighteousness."
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Chapter 6 starting at verse 2, Paul instructs Timothy: "Teach and encourage these things. 3 If anyone teaches other doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, 4 he is conceited, understanding nothing, but has a sick interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness[b] is a way to material gain.[c] 6 But godliness with contentment is a great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into the world,
and[d] we can take nothing out.
8 But if we have food and clothing,[e]
we will be content with these.
9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root[f] of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
It's really easy for someone to forget what our focus is to be and get caught up in other, lesser things, such as accumulating wealth, influence, or our own pleasures. We should be filtering everything we do through our mission of showing others Jesus.
Another small letter written by Paul to the church of Thessalonica. Chapter 1 sticks out to me when Paul is talking about rewards and judgments, beginning in verse 5:5 It is a clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering, 6 since it is righteous for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you 7 and to reward with rest you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His powerful angels, 8 taking vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from His glorious strength 10 in that day when He comes to be glorified by His saints and to be admired by all those who have believed, because our testimony among you was believed. 11 And in view of this, we always pray for you that our God will consider you worthy of His calling, and will, by His power, fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you, and you by Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
One might jump on this and say that sinners will have what's coming to them in the end. However, that's not what I take from this. Remembering we will all face judgment in the end, we need to remember our calling, live in Christ and under the covering of His blood, and seek to be a light to those who still don't follow Christ. Because do we really want others to face judgment and condemnation and be sent to Hellfire? Absolutely not. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and Christians are an extension of that. We are not to rejoice in someone's downfall ( I think we are all guilty of that behavior on some level) but seek to help lead them to redemption.
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Firefly Lane, Kristin Hannah My daughter has been telling me that she has heard so many good things about the author Kristin Hannah and her ...
