Author: missionspaul

Can you name 2 people?
2 Thessalonians 1
Paul, Silas and Timothy.
Companions on the journey.
Sharers of the suffering.
Co-workers.
Co-authors.
Fellow missionaries.
We.
Us.
Our.
Chosen words.
It’s a team.
Your answer is always team.
Can you name 2 people?
If you can you’re rich.

Pastors have feelings
1 Thessalonians 5
You have probably realised as you have journeyed through the Bible with me that I struggle with any show of arrogance and I know there are Pastors who think of themselves in a way greater than is needed. But by and large Pastors are decent human beings with feelings like anyone else and they work hard at loving and serving others.
Recently I was at a church service and just before it commenced I witnessed 2 individuals be nothing short of rude to their Pastor. The condescending tone within their reply to his question caused me to struggle with thoughts of wanting to give them a loving slap in the name of the Lord. Within 5 minutes they both had their hands in the air worshipping God as if nothing had happened. I wondered how the Pastor felt who was definitely on the receiving end of something that had happened. Was he finding it as easy to hold his hands in the air in worship?
I am not saying we should make our Pastors into untouchables. No not at all. In travelling I cringe sometimes at the culture of honour of spiritual leaders that in my experience is way too much.
I am just advocating for niceness. It’s not too much to ask is it?
Just some respect.
Just some regard, a higher regard than the person showing it.
Just some love.
These are Paul’s instructions, v12-13.
So go on, this week, be nice to your Pastor. He has feelings too.

Make it easy on yourself
1 Thessalonians 4
I’m not being unkind but some people just make it more difficult than it need be.
If only they conducted their life with a bit more wisdom.
If only they controlled their life with a bit more effort.
If only they cared for others with a bit more commitment.
Paul gives 3 directives that apply more than ever today:
Don’t be noisy about you.
Don’t be nosy about others.
Don’t be neglectful about your responsibilities.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be as difficult as it may feel.
Make it easy on yourself.

“We train our people to stay.”
That was the incredible answer to my question on what happens when persecution becomes too much for the church planter. Just over a week ago since I returned from the church planting movement in the sub-continent and that answer remains in my thoughts.
1 Thessalonians 3
Paul had told them persecution was coming and it came.
Now he was concerned about their reaction to it.
What did they do? They remained steadfast.
This is the joy of the third chapter.
Is it tough today?
We are so conditioned now for the next chapter. Prophesies are about the next season. Destinies are in our mind.
For those persecuted: we train our people to stay.
Life isn’t always about moving on.
Sometimes it is about digging in and staying.

It’s not all failure!
1 Thessalonians 2:1
I’ve never seen this before and I love it!
v1 “our visit to you was not without results”
Paul then continues to examine their time in Philippi.
Too many have walked away from things thinking they have failed and that it was a waste of time. The only failure is the failure to examine correctly their time.
Today will hold results.
A kind word.
A new thought.
A decision that was waiting to be made.
These may not be results that get the headlines but they are important results nonetheless.
Give God your today and you will see the results.

Be thankful …
1 Thessalonians 1:2
We always thank God for all of you …
Have you ever had one of those moments where you are just a little annoyed at someone?
Though this may not be good for my reputation I had such a moment last night! I had what could be described as an attack of grumpiness. I know I’m sure you can hardly believe it of me!
Then I read this verse ahead of this morning. Hmm!
So I did what Paul said he did. I decided to thank God for everyone I could think of. I thanked God even for the people who are reading this today, for you. After I had got through the thanking I had forgotten I was grumpy! It had worked!

As Paul thanked God for these Christians he remembered their faith, love and hope and what these traits had accomplished.

As Paul thanked God he remembered the past and his involvement with their lives.

As Paul thanked God he remembered what God did for and through the people.

Now I am hoping no one will be like I was. I hope you’re not grumpy today. But instead of whining about someone, thank God for them. In fact always thank God for them. See what happens …!

CHRIST our mystery!
Colossians 4:3
The Apostle Paul uses this word often in his letters, but not as we do. We use it as something which is confusing and hard to understand.
For Paul however, he takes the word well known at the time as Greek mysteries which were hidden, secret truths, beliefs and practices within secret societies. The initiated persons are the only ones enlightened, everyone else is oblivious. Christ hidden, Christ secret, Christ unknown not to heaven but to earth. Yet now …! He is our mystery because we have been initiated and now we see.
So what do we do? v2-6
We pray for an open door.
We declare the gospel as clearly as we can.
We suffer for doing so.
We use wisdom.
We respond in grace
We do all this because others need to come in and know this mystery, this Christ!

Folks sorry for the lack of devotion/blogs. Not sure why they haven’t come through these last few days. I have enquired but not getting any joy. Anyway thank you for your emails and texts asking where they are, that’s encouraging in a way! So I’m loading these separately. Cannot rely on computer systems it seems!

CHRIST above!
Colossians 3
v1-4
What does it mean to set hearts and minds on things above?
1. It is not to be inactive on earth.
Setting our hearts and minds above means we have to go lower. It is here where our mission is. And so Paul says battle with your humanity on earth in relation to yourself and to that of others, v5-14.
Mission is lowering yourself to earth.
Whenever I am in a country like Africa or india I am watching people. And I am asking myself ‘how does it feel for these people when life is just how it was yesterday?’ Their earth experience is limited and sometimes disabled. But we are called to their earth to serve and to surrender but we do this from a place of a mind and heart fixed on above.

2. Mind means attitude
The DRC was the most moving time for my life. The community we visited were gripped with fear. The rape capital of the world, 48 an hour. It was easy to see how that statistic was possible as the women are taken from their homes and raped many times.
One thing was said to me time and again, “the enemy cannot take my eternity.” Their mind was resolute on Him above!
In lesser struggles of life, for our world, there are many who want a change of circumstances but not a change in their thinking.

3. Heart means attention
In the Pilgrims’ Progress, there is a man with a muck-rake who looks no other way but down as he rakes to himself the straws, the small sticks and the dust of the floor. There stands also one man over his head with a crown in his hand to offer the man that crown. But the man does not look up, but rakes the floor. To this man, heaven is nothing but a fable, and only things here on earth are counted substantial. Are we like the man?
Or is our heart and mind set on Christ above.

CHRIST the Divine!
Colossians 2
He is not the 2nd most important person of the godhead. That’s how we imagine it though it’s unhelpful, because it is wrong! Father, Son and Spirit are equal in authority.
Why is He the Son then? Not because of inferiority nor that the Father preceded the Son in existence.
In the first century mind to have the son come in place of the father is better than a colleague or an associate of the person.
The New Testament writers are saying God cannot come because He hasn’t got a body. But Jesus has come and he is acting as a son. You see Jesus you see the Father. He is the Son not the way we see sonship but He is Son because He can speak as God for He is, He can act as God for He IS GOD.
In v 9 He is Divine.
*So don’t let man ask you to follow Jesus plus. Jesus plus man’s traditions. Jesus plus man’s desires and requests. Jesus is enough, He is divine, v6-8.
*Just as Christ contains the Godhead, so you contain Christ! You belong to Him, marked with His mark and having had your own resurrection into new life, v9-12.
*And this is why only Jesus can forgive sins, why only Jesus can give you life and why only Jesus has defeated the power that stands against you, v13-15.