The year 2023 started out great for me but literally ended with a bang. I was in an automobile accident in August totaling my car. After recovering from that I tripped and fell at a school I was subbing at and broke my humorous bone. So, I’m now in physical therapy. Other than this my year’s been great. My big highlight of the year was my trip to New England in October. I’ve never been back East so I took a bus tour of the fall foliage and visited eight states. It was a wonderful tour with a great group of forty-one people from all over to whom we grew close to. We traveled from Boston to Cape Cod, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. My favorite was the Maine rugged coastline and delicious lobster I had on a lobster roll with lobster bisque. I collected fourteen shot glasses of each city visited for my son’s collection. After the tour I flew to Philadelphia to see my friend Dr. Eloise Meneses, a high school friend who was in my wedding, whom I hadn’t seen in thir...

 Disclaimer: Paul talks about the Rapture in this passage a concept I still struggle with. I believe that once you die you go direct to the Lord, so bodies awaiting till the rapture to rise is hard for me to grasp. I can see how Paul was comforting the Thessalonians here but was his concept correct? Add any comments you wish to this bafflement of mine. That said, I wrote this per the text. What do you all think? Psalms 78:1-7; I Thessalonians 4:13-18   The psalmist in Psalms 78 is not only telling his current audience to listen to his teaching but to pass it on from one generation to the next. Just like he has heard it from his ancestors, he asks the Israelites to teach them to the coming generations. They are to teach them to the children yet unborn so that these children will teach their children. Why? So, they should set their hope in God, not forgetting God’s works. Fast forward to the New Testament where Paul is passing on this hope to the Thessalonians. The question ...

  Matthew 23: 1-12; I Thessalonians 2:9-13   Jesus when he talks about the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23 basically says: “Do what they teach but not what they do.” What he questions most is their motivation. They do what they do to be seen by others. They wear fancy robes and love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues. They love to be greeted with respect. All this Jesus sums up in the word pride or not being humble. He states then that those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Years later Paul writes to the Thessalonians telling how he did what Christ had instructed. That he was humble leading a life worthy of God, his motivation being for God’s glory not his own. He tells that not only are the Thessalonians his witnesses of this but God also. They have seen how pure, upright, and blameless his conduct has been. He encourages the Thessalonians to do the same. To live a life w...

  Matthew 22:34-40; I Thessalonians 2:3-8 Jesus tells of the greatest commandment in Matthew 22. It is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and then to love your neighbor as yourself. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy as they write the Thessalonians seem to have this great love for their neighbors – the Thessalonians. Even though they were persecuted greatly out of their love for God and the Thessalonians they declared the gospel of God to them. Their highest goal was to please God, not mortals. They tell how God tests their hearts to see if what they’re doing is out of the love of God or just love of themselves seeking praise from mortals. Then they further their love for the Thessalonians by when making demands of them being gentle with them, tenderly caring for them. Not only did they share the gospel, but these leaders shared themselves. Why? Because they had become very dear to them. What a way to show love to your neighbor by sharing yourself with t...

  Matthew 22:34-40, I Thessalonians 2:3-8 In Matthew 22 the Pharisees and Herodians come up to Jesus to entrap him asking him if it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. You see to agree would be against the Jewish Nationalists – the Zealots while not to agree would be a crime of state. Jesus answers cleverly saying “give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” Now if I would have been in that crowd I would have asked, “What are the things that are of God?” Later in chapter 23 Jesus will tell the Pharisees that they’re concerned with insignificant things yet neglect the weightier matters of the law which are justice, mercy, and faith. This is a common theme you will read throughout the Old Testament which is summarized in Micah 6:8 as it tells what is required of you – what are the things of God that we are to give back. These are to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. These are the weightier matters of the law th...

  Psalms 106:19-23; Philippians 4:1-9   Psalms 106 is full of praise for the Lord for God’s enduring steadfast love and for his mighty doings. However, there is something we should be to make us able to fully praise the Lord. It includes those who observe justice and do righteousness at all times. Also included is having a penitent heart. The psalmist here confesses that they themselves have sinned and committed iniquities along with their past ancestors. He brings up the account of the making of the golden calf the Israelites did and worshipped while being impatient with Moses’ delayed return. They again forget about all the awesome deeds the Lord had done parting the Red Sea and providing food and drink for them. Thank goodness Moses stood up for his people and turned away God’s wrath. In Philippians Paul is urging two women to get along – to be of the same mind. These are women who worked hard beside Paul but their disagreement with each other was affecting their minist...

Exodus 16:2-15; Psalm 105:1-6,37-45   Was it only in the last chapter of Exodus we studied how the Lord delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians by parting the Red Sea. One thing we learn about this group is they are ones to complain. Instead of waiting for God’s provision they are hungry and look back to all the food they had in Egypt, forgetting the oppression. It is easier to get the people out of Egypt than to get Egypt out of the people. So, God intervenes again. God sends them quail in the evening – meat to eat and in the morning provides bread in the form of manna. They are delivered from hunger pangs. Unfortunately, there will be other times they will complain forgetting the provision of the Lord. It is vital for God’s people to live in a moment by moment relationship of faithful obedience to the Lord. This is built on trust in the character and faithfulness of the Lord demonstrated through God’s actions on behalf of Israel. Psalms 105 is a Call to Worship telling ...