I Thessalonians 5 Dear RTB’ers, First, a bit of clarification… The words “sleep and asleep” occur four times in today’s reading (I Th. 5:6, 7, 10) and three times in yesterday’s reading (I Th. 4:13-15). In chapter 4 Paul was clearly using “sleep” as a metaphor for death referring to those believers who had died. …
Author Archives: Fred
July 30 / I Thessalonians 4
I Thessalonians 4 Dear RTB’ers, For this is the will of God, your sanctification… (v. 3a, NASB). This word, “sanctification” occurs twice more in the next four verses in the NASB; the ESV has “holiness” in verses 4b and 7b. It was a new concept to me that I picked up on only a few …
July 29 / I Thessalonians 3
I Thessalonians 3 Dear RTB’ers, Reminder: The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea… (Acts 17:10) Paul had spent only three weeks in Thessalonica. That was enough time to win a few converts and to begin relationships, but his sudden, unexpected departure put an end to his teaching and created in …
July 28 / I Thessalonians 2
I Thessalonians 2 Dear RTB’ers, I posted yesterday on a bit of the background to the Thessalonian letters. Paul mentions in today’s second verse a bit that I had left out, that Paul had come to Thessalonica from Philippi where he and Silas had been badly treated, not by the Jews this time, but by …
July 27 / I Thessalonians 1
I Thessalonians 1 Dear RTB’ers, Today we go in a new direction in our walk through the Bible –the first of Paul’s epistles. Although our Bibles have (in order) seven epistles before we get to I and II Thessalonians, most scholars agree that I Thessalonians was the first epistle that Paul wrote – in fact, …
July 26 / Psalms 28-29
Psalms 28-29 Dear RTB’ers, Psalm 28. …who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. (v. 3b) These words struck me today, by way of condemnation! So often I find myself in two-faced conversation – speaking words and listening to what is being said while my mind is way off somewhere else …
July 25 / Psalm 27
Psalm 27 Dear RTB’ers, Psalm 27. David had two primary (personal) enemies in his life – first it was Saul trying to kill him, then it was his son Absalom trying to take his throne. In addition, when David was king surrounding nations were constantly doing battle with Israel. So as I read the psalms …
July 24 / Psalm 26
Psalm 26 Dear RTB’ers, Psalm 26. Integrity. In the past: …for I have walked in my integrity… (v. 1b) And in the future: …I shall walk in my integrity… (v. 11a) In my life, an incident from graduate school comes to mind. One of my major professors asked me to help him with something – …
July 23 / Psalm 25
Psalm 25 Dear RTB’ers, Psalm 25. Today I noticed that Psalm 25 has 22 verses. We will see 22 verses again with Psalm 33 and Psalm 34 a couple of months down the road, then with Psalm 119 much later. Psalm 119 actually has 176 verses, which is 8 sections with 22 verses each. When …
July 22 / Psalms 23-24
Psalms 23-24 Dear RTB’ers, Those of you who stay caught up with our readings, especially those of you who read early in the morning possibly noticed that yesterday’s Psalm reading at church was almost exactly our own daily reading. We read Psalm 22:22-31; at church it was Psalm 22:23-31, one verse off. I was able …