2 Thessalonians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 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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Philippians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 The book of Philippians, written by the Apostle Paul, to the church in Philippi. Chapter 3 beginning verse7:

But everything that was a gain to meI have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of  the surpassing value  of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ---the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Paul, being a Pharisee of the Pharisees, expert knowledge of the Torah, of the Law, followed it to the letter, but following the law did not save him. He came to understand, through Divine revelation, that it was the Messiah Jesus who brought salvation. Following every detail of the law could never save him, could never make him truly righteous. Salvation comes by grace through faith, not of works, ever.

Ephesians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 Chapter 2:4-9 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!...You are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift---not from works, so that no one can boast. "

The Apostle Paul emphasizes through his epistles that salvation is through grace. It is a gift of God through Christ Jesus. Our works cannot ever save us, even if we obey the letter of the law, it isn't enough to save us, only trusting in what Jesus did, trusting that He is the way to salvation. Jesus is the ONLY way to eternal life.

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Galatians, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 The book of Galatians is a smaller epistle written by Paul. What stuck out to me in this book is the explanation that following the law and traditions of Judaism will not save us, only Christ, the fulfillment of the law, can save us. 

There were many factions with differing beliefs, and one of them was that what Jesus did was good, but still was not enough to save us from eternal damnation, that following the letter of the law AND believing in Jesus was the only way to salvation. Gentiles were getting circumcised because they thought they had to be circumcised as part of salvation. People were losing sight that Jesus made the way for salvation, and although good works and living uprightly was great, our works do not, nor can they ever save us. 

Works are a fruit; they show whether we have Life, or not. They are not the Life itself.

Chapter 5 verse 13-18 ( I suggest you read the whole book for proper context): For you were called to be free, brothers,; only don't use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another. 

I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don't do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. "

The chapter goes on to give a generalized list of behaviors that will not inherit the Kingdom of God, and then a list of the fruit of the Spirit. Worth reading.

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Romans, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 Ah, the book of Romans, written by the Apostle Paul, to the Christians in Rome. There is so much good stuff in this book I don't think one can retain it all in one time through it. In the first chapter, Paul tells us that the depravity in the world comes from seeing evidence of God in this world and rejecting him, causing hearts to be hardened, thinking becomes nonsense, and their senseless minds become darkened. Claiming to be wise, they become fools, exchanging God's glory for cheap counterfeits.  And it is for this reason that God turned them over to depraved minds including homosexuality, envy, murder, pride, boasting, inventing evil, parental disobedience, undiscerning minds, untrustworthy behavior, being unloving and unmerciful (paraphrased). Paul lays it all out from the get go and he's pretty blunt. He was speaking to the early church in Rome, a center for immoral behavior, and I am sure that many new converts came from that culture where immorality was just an acceptable part of daily life. He had to make sure they understood that this was not acceptable, especially as followers of Christ. He then proceeds to make sure they know that ALL have sinned and need Christ, from the decadent Roman citizen to the Pharisee in the synagogue, and that true righteousness comes through faith in Christ.

I will probably hit other areas of Romans the next time I read it, I just wanted to share this opening part of it. Note that nowhere does it say that because Jesus loves them, that sinners can stay in their sinful lifestyles and still be part of the body of Christ. We all must turn away from our sin  and not pick it up again. We can't turn away from it if we don't recognize it as sin. And we can't do that without God showing it to us.

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The Book of Acts, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 The Book of the Acts of the Apostles, written by Doctor Luke, a history of the early church from the time of Jesus' Ascension to Paul's travels. 

Acts 2, with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the believers in Christ, Peter gave a sermon, and starting at verse 37, the people "came under deep conviction" and asked, "Brothers, what must we do?"

"Repent," Peter said to them, "and be baptized , each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." 

I think we as modern day Christians complicate matters too much. We are told to believe and be saved. And we are told to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus and we WILL receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't say you will receive the gift of speaking in tongues. It doesn't say you will fall down and convulse. It doesn't even say you will visually manifest a supernatural gift in that moment. But that doesn't mean that you don't have the gift of the Holy Spirit. That will become evident in your fruit. When you bear fruit of love, joy, peace, and the other fruits of the spirit, that will be your evidence. It will be in how you live your life, both when you are being watched and when you aren't, and will bring focus and glory to God through Jesus Christ, not on your own attempts to manifest the Holy Spirit. 

Let's get one thing straight. We don't manipulate the Holy Spirit into moving. We don't control the Holy Spirit. Living in the gift of the Holy Spirit requires living in obedience to the Word of  God, living in humility, and running any thought or idea we have that we think might be God speaking to us, through what His Word already says. If it doesn't line up, it isn't the Holy Spirit. If it doesn't bring focus to God, better rethink what you are going to say. 

For example, a "godly man" told this teenage boy that God revealed His word, that this man was going to marry his daughter. This boy said absolutely not, God never told him such a thing. Then this "godly man" told another teenage boy the exact same thing. Neither of these boys married her. Was that the Holy Spirit working through him? He was a leader in a church, well respected. He may have meant well in finding a mate for his daughter, but manipulating the "Holy Spirit" is wrong on any level.

I believe you will more likely see real movements of the Holy Spirit in those who are the most humble. those who don't seek to do things to cause attention on themselves. Sometimes the quietest people are the most obedient and in tune to what the Holy Spirit wants. After all, in the Old Testament, didn't God speak in a still small voice rather than in the storm and wind? 

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The Gospel of John, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 

The Gospel of John, Chapter 1

Written by John the Revelator, one of Christ's disciples, this book has a different writing style and perspective than the other three Gospels. There are plenty of studies out there on the significance of each Gospel. I am just going to talk today about the first chapter.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This first part of the chapter is about Jesus, of course. It testifies to the fact that Jesus is eternal, that Jesus is God but also with God (Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are the same yet separate), that Jesus was part of the act of Creation, and that life and light have always been in Him and part of Him.

Verse 12 is powerful: But to all who receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. 

This is a powerful chapter, and a powerful book testifying to the life of Jesus. There is so much in here, definitely worth a deeper study.

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The Book of Luke, Holman Christian Standard Bible

 The Book of Luke, the fourth book in the New Testament of the Holy Bible, it is also one of the four Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus Christ. It was written by Luke, a doctor and follower of Christ in the early Church, and was written as one of two letters to Theophilus. We don't know exactly who Theophilus was, but by reading Luke and Acts, both of whom were written to Theophilus, we can gather that he was possibly seeking for the truth of who Christ was, and the origin of the Christian church.

In this book we find in the second chapter, the account of Christ's birth which is often read at Christmastime, and from there it proceeds to give an account of the life of Christ and his miracles, teachings, death, and resurrection. 

As I was finishing up the last chapter today, the words in the above photo spoke to me. Jesus had died and been resurrected, but many of his disciples were not aware of that yet. They were still grieving and probably dealing with PTSD from watching him be brutally executed and wondering if they were next. They were wondering what to do and where to go, and many of them reverted back to their old professions, such as fishing. 

Then Jesus comes along and explains to them the Old Testament and the Prophets, and how he fulfilled most of the Messianic prophecies. Then he reveals himself as resurrected Jesus--not a ghost, as he shows by eating with them, and having them touch him. He opens their eyes to the truth, and proceeds to give them directions and their purpose. No longer are they just students, but now it's time for them to step up as His ambassadors, telling the world about Jesus and the salvation that ALL men, Jews and Gentiles, can have through Him. They are to start locally, and spread out to the rest of the world. 

It's amazing how that happened, studying early New Testament Church History. Despite persecution and threats and even brutal death to those practicing Christianity, it continued to spread and grow.

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