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    Ray Noah

    Founder and President of the Petros Network, a church planting and humanitarian non-profit working in the developing world.

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    Foolproof Theology

    5×5×5 Bible Plan

    Read: II Thessalonians 2
    Meditation:     II Thessalonians 2:2-3

    “Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say.

    Shift Your Focus… Paul is speaking specifically about the coming of the Lord, warning his readers not to be alarmed and misled by the constant and “creative” barrage of new information coming to them about the end times.

    Of course, what Paul teaches specifically has a general application as well.  Not only are we hit from time to time with supposed “new teachings” regarding the Lord’s coming, i.e., “88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Return in ’88,” (I’m fairly certain the author of that one, which was written in 1988, was off a bit), in general, there seems to be new doctrinal teachings du jour that we have to sort through.

    Paul’s advice—and mind:  Check it out in the Word.  Whenever you hear of some new revelation, a new practice or phenomenon, a “word” from the Lord, go to the Bible to see if it lines up with the clear teaching of Scripture.

    That’s what the Berean Christians of Acts 18 did.  Verse 11 of that chapter says, “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

    Although the Thessalonian believers were amazing Christians in so many ways—just go back and read I Thessalonians 1—apparently they were also fairly gullible.  They seemed to be easily swayed by every wind of doctrine.  Not the Bereans!  They filtered everything through the Word of God, and if it didn’t line up with orthodox doctrine, they tossed it into the spiritual trash heap.

    Let me encourage you to be Berean-like in your faith.  Know the Word of God and test everything you hear against it—even what I have to say.  If you will do that, you will not be misled as false teachings increase in these last times.

    “The Holy Scriptures tell us what we could never learn any other way: they tell us what we are, who we are, how we got here, why we are here and what we are required to do while we remain here.”  ~A. W. Tozer

    Prayer… I will keep your Word, O Lord, as a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway.  I will read and meditate upon it daily.  I will seek to live out its precepts fully.  I will measure every sermon I preach and every sermon I hear against it—it will be the plumb line by which everything gets measured.  Mostly Lord, I will honor your Word supremely in my life.

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    The Best Praying

    5×5×5 Bible Plan

    Read: II Thessalonians 1
    Meditation:     II Thessalonians 1:11-12

    “We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

    Shift Your Focus… I pray for people—every day. I assume you do too.  Often the focus of our prayers is for their comfort and success—and that is not necessarily a bad idea.  But wouldn’t the better way be to pray for them be as Paul prayed for these Christians in Thessalonica?  The priority of his intercession for them was that God would count them worthy of the calling that he had placed on their lives, and that he would fulfill divine purposes through them.  He prayed that through God’s power and their submission to that power Christ would be glorified in them and they would be glorified in Christ.

    Now that is an altogether higher form of intercession!  And when you think about it, isn’t it really far better than asking God for another person’s happiness and comfort?  Isn’t it truly more noble than praying for someone’s success?  At the end of the day, wouldn’t that person be better off if God’s power had enabled them to accomplish his purpose, that their achievements would have been those inspired by the Holy Spirit rather than their own spirit, and that their efforts had caused a good word to be spoken about God rather than themselves?

    I don’t know about you, but if that could be said of my life by the end of this day, I would take that over the usual definition of a good day any day!

    As you are prompted to pray for another today, take Paul’s approach.  In fact, why don’t you just use Paul’s prayer—I don’t think he would mind.

    Oh, and by the way, if you are taking the time to read this Blog today, I just want you to know that I am praying Paul’s prayer for you. If you have made the effort to get this far, just know this:  I am lifting your name and your cause before our gracious Father.  I am praying Paul’s Thessalonian prayer for you:  That you will be counted worthy of your calling and strengthened with supernatural power to carry out the good purposes that the Holy Spirit is prompting you to fulfill.  My deepest prayer for you is that through your life, Jesus Christ will be glorified.  And I also pray that you will know something of his glory in your own spirit at some point during this day.  May his blessings rest upon you in very real ways today, and as you lay your head down on your pillow tonight, may you hear him whisper in your ear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into my Father’s rest.”

    “Let your prayer for temporal blessings be strictly limited to things absolutely necessary.” ~St. Bernard

    Prayer… Lord, you see the dear person who is reading this.  Fulfill this Thessalonian prayer in their life.  Bless them with every form of spiritual abundance and enlarge their capacity for faith.  Let your hand be with them today.  Keep them from causing harm, and keep them from being harmed. Make them a trophy of your grace and a conduit of your glory.  In Jesus name I pray, amen.

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    Get Ready To Go

    5×5×5 Bible Plan

    Read: I Thessalonians 5
    Meditation:     I Thessalonians 5:2

    “For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.”

    Shift Your Focus… Both Thessalonian letters devote a great deal to Christ’s return.  Paul concludes this first letter by reminding his readers that this great event will happen when people least expect it—“like a thief in the night.”  So as believers, we must therefore live each and every moment expecting the unexpected.  We are to live with our bags packed, so to speak, ready to leave for our true home—heaven—at a moments notice.

    What does it mean to live in such a way?  Paul gives a checklist of sorts in the final verses of this letter.  Perhaps you’ve used a checklist to make sure you have the right things packed in your suitcase before going on an extended trip. As you prepare for the journey home—which by the way, will be an extended trip with no return—here is your spiritual checklist:

    • Verse 6:  Be alert—be on the lookout; remain on guard as to Christ’s return and the evil conditions of the time in which it will take place.
    • Verses 6 & 8:  Be self-controlled—keep your life, your passions, your desires and fleshly drives in check.
    • Verse 8: Be armed—put on the armor of faith (conviction), love (self-sacrifice) and hope (the assurance of your salvation).
    • Verse 11:  Be encouraging—instead of finding flaws in others, build them up and help them to be ready for Christ’s return.
    • Verses 12-13:  Be respectful—treat your spiritual leaders—ministers and lay leaders—with high regard and love.  Give them respect not because of their position, educational achievements or popularity, but because of the nature of their work.
    • Verse 13:  Be at peace—seek peace actively, not passively, with fellow believers.
    • Verses 14-15:  Be involved—get involved with others by warning the idle, motivating the timid, helping the weak, being patient with everyone, and exhibiting kindness rather than retaliation toward those who’ve hurt you.
    • Verse 16:  Be joyful—maintain an attitude of joy no matter what.
    • Verse 17:  Be prayerful—stay in God’s presence continually.
    • Verse 18:  Be thankful—not only in good times, but even in bad times exhibit an attitude of gratitude.
    • Verses 19-20:  Be sensitive—develop a sensitivity and an appreciation for the work of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ; especially as it relates to prophecy.
    • Verse 21:  Be discerning—be knowledgeable of the Bible so that everything can be tested against it.
    • Verse 21:  Be obedient—understand what the Word of God says, and be quick to obey it.
    • Verse 22:  Be pure—moral purity should continually characterize your life.
    • Verses 23-24:  Be dependent—be wholly dependent on God and cooperative with the Holy Spirit to bring about sanctification and blamelessness in your life—body, soul and spirit.
    • Verse 25:  Be an intercessor—regularly intercede for others before the throne of God.
    • Verse 26:  Be friendly—love and affection must be demonstrative, and an outward expression of your inner affection for fellow believers.
    • Verse 27:  Be unselfish—take responsibility to share with other believers the truth of God’s Word.
    • Verse 28:  Be gracious—live in the light and reality of God’s grace, personally and relationally.

    Are you ready to go, or do you need to do some more packing?  Jesus may come today, so make sure you’re ready for the journey.

    “Our deepest calling is not to grow in our knowledge of God. It is to make disciples. Our knowledge will grow—the Holy Spirit, Jesus promised, will guide us into all truth. But that’s not our calling, it is His. Our calling is to prepare the world for Christ’s return. The world is not ready yet. And so, we go about introducing a dying world to the Savior of Life. Anything we do toward our own growth must be toward that end.” ~Jeffery Bryant

    Prayer… Lord, I long to see you. Perhaps it will be today!  But whether it is today or a hundred years from now, empower me through the Holy Spirit to live in a state of readiness, ready to go home at a moments notice.

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    The Masterful Sermon Of A God-honoring Life

    5×5×5 Bible Plan

    Read: I Thessalonians 4
    Meditation:     I Thessalonians 4:11-12

    “Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.  Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.”

    Shift Your Focus… In Paul’s day, some of the believers were so convinced that Jesus was going to come back at any moment that they simply quit life and waited. They quit showing up to work, they quit earning a living, they quit taking care of stuff around the house.  Why bother?  Jesus was coming back.  So they just waited.

    And they became a burden for everybody else.  Others had to do their work.  Others had to provide food for them.  Others had to take care of the things they were supposed to do.

    We have words for people like that:  Irresponsible, irritating, lazy.  And they are a terrible witnesses for Christ.

    I haven’t seen too many people in our day who have quit life and are just sitting around waiting for Jesus to return to rescue them from the daily chores of life.  But I have seen a fair number of people who are terrible witnesses for Jesus.  Not so much because they don’t give an adequate verbal witness—they talk a good game.  They just don’t play it.

    Their lives don’t match their language. Seekers can’t see Jesus because their lifestyle gets in the way of their language, their work ethic clouds their witness, their nosiness and noisiness is incongruent with their beliefs.  They cut corners, do sloppy work, show up late, gossip—working as unto the Lord is not something that describes them.  Sinners can’t see the purity, reverence, industriousness and excellence of their Christian faith simply because those Christ-like values are consistently missing from their actions.

    You’re life is a sermon.  The question is, what is it preaching?  Paul is saying that your life—your behavior, attitudes, words and world-view—at all times must generate respect for your Lord. People are watching you, and whatever they see in your life day in and day out paints a picture of your Jesus.

    Hope you are painting a masterpiece!

    “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” ~St. Francis of Assisi

    Prayer… Lord, help me today to so live that when people look at me, they will see you, and be attracted.

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    A Perpetual Example Of Joyful Faith

    5×5×5 Bible Plan

    Read: I Thessalonians 3
    Meditation:     I Thessalonians 3:7-8

    “Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we? really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.”

    Shift Your Focus… Paul had been the one who led the believers in Thessalonica to faith in Christ. He had established the church there, and then his work needed to be duplicated in other cities, so he moved on. But the great Apostle Paul was worried.

    Paul was very much concerned that the Thessalonican’s experience with persecution and hardship would dampen the fires of their faith. Like a father worrying over his children’s heath and welfare, Paul worries that they will be unsettled by their tribulations (vv. 2-3), he is afraid Satan might tempt them to bail out on their faith because of these difficulties, and as a result, he fears that his efforts in leading them to Christ and establishing them in a church will be rendered useless (v. 5).

    As it turns out, however, these believers are weathering their storms quite well, and in spite of their newness in the faith, they have a level of spiritual maturity that is remarkable. News reaches Paul that he can tick the Thesslonicans off his worry list because these Christians are doing just fine—and this just makes his day. In fact, the very first thing you notice in chapter three is Paul’s longing to be with them (as opposed to his need to visit the Corinthians for disciplinary reasons—see II Corinthians).

    The Thessalonicans are a perpetual example of the kind of faith we ought to exhibit. Our lives should be lived in such a way that we become a continual source of joy for those around us, especially our spiritual leaders. When we exhibit an unwavering devotion to God, receptivity to his Word, and determination in the face of adversity, we become a source of thanksgiving rather than anxiety to those who are looking after us.

    Does your spiritual leader take pleasure in the genuineness and quality of your Christianity? Is your spiritual life a source of encouragement to other believers? Can the people who love you check you off their worry list, knowing you have a faith that endures in the face of difficulties?

    People who love you—especially your spiritual leaders—are watching your life. So go ahead, make their day. Give them good reason to check you off their worry list—they’ve got enough other folks to worry about who don’t quite get it yet!

    “Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.” ~Robert Schuller

    Prayer… Dear Father, make me a source of encouragement to those who know and love me. May I be for them a continual cause of joy rather than worry, even as I endure difficulties.

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    Called To Suffer

    5×5×5 Bible Plan

    Read: I Thessalonians 2
    Meditation:     I Thessalonians 2:14-15

    “You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved.

    Shift Your Focus… Most likely, you have never suffered for your faith—really suffered. Neither have I.  We suffer when the doughnuts don’t show up for church, or the sermon goes too long, or the music is too loud, or the sanctuary is too cold, but for the most part, we don’t really pay a heavy price for our faith in America.

    Other believers do, however. Even as you are reading this blog, Christians are being persecuted in other parts of the world simply for believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior and for sharing the Good News. According to Voice of the Martyrs (www.persecution.com) approximately 160,000 believers are martyred for their faith every year.

    By the way, how many of those took place in America?  I don’t know for sure, but my guess is none!  But just because the suffering Paul speaks of is rare in our country, it is certainly not rare for our Christian brothers and sisters around the world. In fact, I would venture to say that when you consider the panorama of church history, the believer who doesn’t suffer for Christ is the exception rather than the rule. As Paul taught in I Thessalonians 3:4, “we warned you troubles would come.” In Philippians 1:29, Paul said, “It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.”

    Since the beginning of the church, Christians have suffered. They have been rejected, beaten, imprisoned, and killed. That’s what they do best. Within three hundred years of the birth of the church, beginning with only a ragtag band of twelve disciples, Christ’s church overtook the once hostile Roman Empire, converting it to Christianity. How did they do it? Not by fielding an army or gaining political power or suing for their rights. All they did was to suffer and die. That’s what Christians seem to do best. And that’s what makes them—that’s what makes us so powerful. Tertullian, a brilliant Christian apologist, said in the third century, “The blood of the martrys is the seed of the church.”

    Of course, that doesn’t negate the reality of the pain and devastation suffering brings. So could I encourage you to take a moment today to pray for the persecuted church.  While you are at it, say thanks to God for the country you live in where freedom of religion is still possible.

    And if you are called upon to suffer today—suffer in a way that brings glory to Jesus.

    “How naturally does affliction make us Christians!” ~William Cowper

    Prayer… Dear Father, I pray for all the believers around the world who are undergoing persecution, hardship and suffering.  Strengthen them for the battle, encourage them in their spirit, give them boldness to speak for Christ, and use their hardship as the seeds of revival in their community.  Lord, hold them close to your heart.

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    Are You Expecting?

    5×5×5 Bible Plan

    Read: I Thessalonians 1
    Meditation:     I Thessalonians 1:9-10

    “They marvel at how expectantly you await the arrival of his Son, whom he raised from the dead— Jesus, who rescued us from certain doom.”

    Shift Your Focus…  Are you expecting? Expecting the Lord to return at any moment, that is.

    The believers in the city of Thessalonica to whom Paul wrote these words believed that Christ could come back at any second. They were young in their faith, only about one-year-old in the Lord, and they were already getting a reputation in the region for their action-oriented faith, their love-inspired good words, their unshakable hope in the face of persecution, and their passionate expectation of Jesus’ imminent return.

    Their expectation of Christ’s soon return was not some silly pie-in-the-sky sort of wishful thinking. It was not a form of escapism to ease the pain of their persecution. It was not rooted in reality avoidance so they wouldn’t have to carry out the daily responsibilities of being good Christians. It was simply an authentic belief the Jesus was going to do as he promised: return soon and take them home to be with him.

    Rather than writing them off as overly emotional or shallow new believers, Paul praises them for this spirit of expectation. Because there was a fundamental sense of the Lord’s return, these guys were turning the heat up on their Christian living: They were busy doing the Lord’s work. They were paying attention to holy living. They were not shrinking back from their Christian testimony in spite of hardship. They were passionately living out their faith. They were fully engaged in what it means to be Christian precisely because they knew the Lord would come back at any moment, and they wanted to be the kind of church that Jesus would be proud of upon his return.

    That is the way believers ought to live. We should be living with a passionate expectation that Jesus could return at any moment. And as a consequence of that belief, we ought to be living fully engaged Christianity so that the Master will be proud of us upon his return.

    Let me ask you this: How would you live the rest of this week if you knew Jesus was returning exactly seven days from this moment? What would change about your behavior between now and then? What people would you share Christ with? What relationships would you make sure were reconciled? Would “I love you” be said more often around your house? How about “I’m sorry?” Or “how can I help you?” Would your church attendance, your tithing record, your daily devotions, and the way you relate to people improve between now and then?

    The real possibility is that Jesus just might return between now and next week. We just don’t know. But what we do know is that Jesus has called us to live as if he could return at any moment. Since Christ could come at any moment, Paul teaches throughout I and II Thessalonians that we are to live:

    • In holiness—especially in the area of sexual purity…and he says this with a sense of urgency.
    • In harmony—that is the result of truly loving each other…so much that we are willing to lay down our lives for one another.
    • In humility—to live in such a way that we draw the attention of others, not because of how sensational we are, but because of how honest, hard working and honorable we are.
    • In hopefulness—which occurs when we allow an eternal perspective to permeate the very core of our existence and affect everything we do, say and think.
    • In helpfulness—living out faith so practically that our lives are characterized by servant-heartedness and sacrificial selflessness toward one another.

    When we live in the kind of readiness that Christ could return at any moment—in holiness, harmony, humility, hopefulness and helpfulness—the natural bi-product will be that contagious faith will exude from our lives in much the same as it did from these amazing Thessalonians Christians.

    Are you expecting? You should be!

    “God destines us for an end beyond the grasp of reason.” ~Thomas Aquinas

    Prayer… My affirmation of faith, O God, is that Jesus is coming again.  He is coming for all who long for his appearance, who have readied themselves for his return.  I want to be counted in that number.  So again today, I ready myself for that possibility and I pray in my spirit, “even so, come Lord Jesus.”