Pastor's Ponderings: Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 (April 8, 2025)

April 8, 2025:  Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Dear Ones in Christ, 

Good morning this Tuesday before Palm Sunday.  I am about this study early today.  It is an unusual hour for me to be up, but there are a great many responsibilities today that must be fit into too few hours.  I am certain that you have the same times when your days are over-filled too.  In the hours of this day, remember to pray, confessing your sin, giving praise to God for all of His blessings, and petitioning God through Christ, to hear our needs and the needs of others this day.

Today we are in the second chapter of Paul's first letter to the new Christians at Thessalonica.  This passage is, in many ways, more about the nature of Paul's ministry in their midst than about the specifics of his ministry with them.  So why is Paul concerned to write this way when so much else of this book is about the amazing strength of faith, and the successes that came from the people's witness for Christ to the people around them.  It was genuine, and this passage tells us why.  In this time of Paul there were many itinerant traveling "salesmen", but they were always after sharing themselves in such a way that they were constantly taking advantage of the people they approached.   That was not the case for Paul and Silvanus, and Timothy.  Their message of Christ, His life, His choice to be killed for the sins of the world, and His Resurrection are offered as a generous gift of love for the people of Thessalonica, both by them, and most especially by God.  Paul asked no money, only the opportunity to share the message of God's compelling Love and forgiveness, and to show by his own genuine faith, his desire to have them know this truth of God for them all.  Obviously, Paul and his companions, had a much different experience in Philippi.  We can only image what happened to them.  Perhaps they were run out of town, or beaten, or stoned.  However, that did not make Paul any less bold about sharing his faith in his life with the people in Thessalonica.  In fact, such a rough experience in one place seems to have created in Paul a compassion for the people of Thessalonica, that they might experience the true faith that he carried in his own life.  It was most apparent that Paul and his companions were not looking for any personal benefit, rather they brought with them their hope in the Savior and shared their personal journeys of faith.  I am convinced that any pastor under call to serve the Gospel must be ready to do the same thing.  If a pastor preaches at the members of the congregation, that is not genuine.  The Gospel message must be offered through the transformative ways in which it brings a changed heart and mind for the shepherd of the congregation.  It is this true faith that calls all people to Christ.  If that is not present, and obvious, then a congregation needs to be aware that there must be something else going on in that pastor's faith experience.  Right now, in our modern world, the newest generations of people somehow see the church and her people as superfluous to their own spiritual journeys.  What will bring them back to understand that the Church is Christ's gift for all people, a place where the people who believe in Christ come to have their faith strengthened and nurtured?  The very same genuine lives of the faithful ones will succeed, just as Paul's ministry in Thessalonica succeeded.  Paul's heart for Christ was irresistible, and so is ours!

Pastor's Ponderings: Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 (April 7, 2025)

April 7, 2025:  Monday Bible Study on Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10

Good morning after my break last week.  It is good to be back with you.  The best news is that I have a new computer, and it takes seconds to start, to move from item to item, and to open emails.  Prayers today for Sue who is having her first cataract surgery this week.  Please keep her in your prayers for good surgery, and a quick recovery.  Pray too for Annette who is having major dental work done this month.  Pray for our world, God's creation, to turn to the Risen Savior as His Church celebrates His Resurrection on Easter Sunday.  I hope that you will be able to be with us for Easter on the 20th of April.  Our brunch starts at 8:30 with items brought in by our members, and our festival worship is at 10.  Our musicians are busy preparing for this special celebration.  Offer a prayer of Thanks to God for their devotion to their singing and playing and keep me in your prayers to as I prepare for this most special day. 

 Today as we move to Paul's first letter to the church in Thessalonica, we discover something quite unusual.  These new Christians had become energized with the message of the Gospel in such a way that the news of their new faith, and their devotion to the Risen LORD, had spread from north to south, and east to west, all around them, and even to the north into places where it would have been unheard of for anyone to bring a message other than the multiplicity of Roman deities, who under the right conditions could be convinced to do the worshiper's bidding.  I know that sounds a little like the way in which we speak about Christ, but its reality was not similar at all.   The gods of Rome, and the somewhat different Greek gods, perhaps mostly different by the names that Greeks used for them, were petty, back biting, waring with one another, and were often malevolent toward those who worshiped them.  At least that is what the worshipers believed about what they would do.  Paul teaches them about a very different faith.  Faith in God's only begotten Son, raised from the dead on the third day, and Savior of the world, a loving, compassionate, caring Son, who died for the sins of the world, making it possible for all people to be forgiven through faith in God's Son.  So, in all of this the newly faithful in Thessalonica were so changed in their faith and action that others also found their message of Christ to be compelling because of the energy and excitement in Jesus.  Indeed, such energy and excitement get caught by many others.

In 1964 I traveled through the western United States on a six-week trip with my parents.  There were many firsts on that trip.  We went to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.  If you remember your first trip to these spectacular national parks, then you probably also remember sharing your excitement at seeing Old Faithful erupt on the hour, or the vistas of the vastness and beauty of the Grand Canyon.  That excitement often causes others to plan a trip that includes both of these wonderful parks.  That is exactly what happened as the Thessalonians shared the Good News that had filled their lives.  As your pastor I have the privilege of sharing my excitement and faith every week as we gather for worship.   I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such a gift of speaking and working to live my life as an example of Christ's Love for everyone.  Let me explain a little further.  Another message both Melody and I share constantly as opportunity arises is how wonderful our lives have been because of our commitment to a large family.  Our children, whether biological or adopted, are a fulfillment of our desire to have a large family.  We knew that from the time that we were first married, and even before.  We were never put off by someone telling us that all of our children who were adopted would present all kinds of issues and would be extraordinarily difficult.  You all know the outcomes of these wonderful, now mostly young adults, who through our love for them, and the love of their brothers and sisters in Christ are making their way through life successfully.  Of course, our prayer has always been that others, through our witness, would consider doing foster care and adoption, allowing it to be a big part of their lives.  It is all about living our lives in Christ with the compassion that we have first learned from Him.  I hope that you can see how the Thessalonian's changed lives caused the news of their new faith to spread far and wide.  The message of their faith in Christ rocketed throughout the part of the world in which they lived.  This is especially important because Roman leaders were deemed to be a god at the time of their death, and even some living ones took that designation on as well.  The world in which these new Christians lived was full of opportunities to worship false gods, but the truth and power of Christ in His life, and in His Resurrection, filled the lives of these new Christians, and many who would come to faith in Christ after them.

I will be back with you tomorrow as we move forward with our texts.

With love in Christ, Pastor Kim

Pastor's Ponderings: Old Testament bible study of Psalm 13 (April 3, 2025)

April 3, 2025:  Thursday Bible Study on Psalm 13

Good morning my dear friends in Christ. Today we’re moving on in the Psalms to #13.

But before we begin, let's consider prayers for our members and friends once again.  Please pray for Kandice, Lisa, and Alexis in Hawaii as Kandice now needs to recertify for her disability assistance as a result of US government changes. Please pray for our members Larry and Joyce who are battling a pretty serious identity theft situation.  Please pray for Tricia, as she begins treatments after a biopsy this week. All of this is keeping her in Tucson from a planned trip to see her grandchild in Philadelphia. Pray for our Jesse as he starts a new job on Saturday at Park Place Mall. It is a temporary full-time job for a couple of weeks. Please pray for Josiah as he goes to a job fair on the 8th to apply for part time employment while he attends college.  Pray for Chris too who is looking for work that fits his skill set. Please pray for our seniors who are worried about their support for housing, medical, and social security from the federal government since all of the changes are still quite uncertain.

Now on to Psalm 13. If I were to give this Psalm a title it would simply be "How long LORD?"  Here we have David questioning the LORD'S response time to his requests for assistance with his enemies. In his pride as the king, he is also apparently a bit worried about how it all looks to those on the outside, and yet after all of his complaining, David offers words of confident faith, letting God know that he has not lost his way.  We really haven't changed much over 2500 years, have we?  When we find ourselves in really difficult times, it is the very same question as David's frustration with the LORD, that you and I think and speak as well. I can think of any number of circumstances when people would say this. For a loving couple who want to have children but have been unable to conceive, I know that this question to the LORD is on their minds if not on their lips. Why do I know this? This was Melody and my situation when we wanted a large family and could not over a 6-year period succeed in getting our family started. To say the least we were impatient over the whole situation. We were even at the point where a baby we would adopt had been born, and then we got pregnant having to give up the adoption of the child for which we had worked so long to get approval. We had one great gain in joy, and one great painful loss all at the same time. In all of this though we gave thanks for the blessing which was then coming our way. This Psalm of David makes great sense to us. As people of faith, we too live it in our lives from time to time. A wayward adult child may also have us asking this question, especially in today's world, where beginning life as a young adult is so difficult. Mom and Dad cannot always be there with every answer, so both they and their newly young adult are asking that question from their own perspectives as well. This is a short Psalm unlike some that are coming up that are literally pages long, and yet it speaks to our hearts, especially when our faith seems to falter, stumbling while we wonder if God will respond to our fervent prayers.  David shows us that even in circumstances that seem too difficult and even embarrassing, we must have confidence that the LORD of all things is with us, and sometimes that means having faith for a lifetime as we wait for God's ultimate answer through Jesus Christ. May God bless you this day and hold you in His care throughout your life.

With love in Christ, Pastor Kim