The Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica was primarily to assure them that believers who died before Jesus returned would be taken up, and to answer some questions. This was needed because when the Jewish leaders learned that Paul was teaching in this city, they incited the gentile population, persecuted the church, and drove Paul and his traveling companions out before they could teach the Thessalonians much about living as a believer.
They left behind a fledgling church. It was not uncommon for Paul to spend 2 or 3 years teaching a newly planted church how to live as followers of The Way (Christians) but he didn’t get that chance this time. Before fleeing, Paul appointed the men with the strongest faith to be leaders over the new congregation and promised to return as soon as was possible.
Outsiders were attempting to infiltrate the young church and turn them from the Gospel, so Paul wrote to them to answer the allegations being made and to encourage the church to stand strong in faith: to test new teaching against the scripture, to trust their leaders.
In chapter 5:14-15 Paul says, Continue reading “Instruction for the Persecuted Church”
For the past … oh … year or so, I’ve been working on a garden upgrade project. The entire thing has been chronicled on Grit Magazine’s web site (list of links below). Feel free to click through to go read all about it. Make sure you have a beverage handy. And a sandwich. They can take a while to read through, but they’re chock full of tips and advice on doing this.
old Poulon Pro that hasn’t needed anything more that the usual maintenance and upkeep until this year. I have replaced several major parts on it lately and it continues to find new and inventive ways to avoid doing its job. I’ve considered taking it to a repair shop to have it “rebuilt” but with their labor rates and parts prices, replacing it will (most likely) be cheaper. This is not an expensive trimmer.
In most cases the New Testament word translated as “ministry” is “diakonia” (Strongs 1248), which refers to “domestic duties” not religious teaching or ceremony which is the word “leitourgia” (3009). The exact meaning depends on the context of its use but in general it means the rendering of aid to another, the way a waiter/waitress serves a customer, an aid serves an officer or administrator, or a soldier serves his or her country. 
Our modern world sets this scenario as being the norm and anyone who is not over-burdened is lazy. I see sayings like, “If you want something done, give it to the busiest person you know.” At first glance that seems to make sense, but upon deeper examination it falls apart. Is that person “busy” because as soon as they finish one task they take on another or because they accomplish little: just trying to keep all the plates spinning? Too often it is the latter. 
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 
It is a humbling thing to be confronted with the fact that you are not Superman. You can no longer do things you once could … or rather, when you do them anyway you pay a hefty price. Stamina fades faster that it once did. And concepts you were confident you could handle turn out to be deeply distressing.
It’s been running fine. At least it has since the last time I had it towed in and repaired. That’s been a few weeks. I moved it so I could mow the driveway (yes, I mow my driveway) and when I went to move it back it started up, started to move then went completely dead. I mean big blue rock dead. Nothing at all, not even an idiot light lit up.