The Regular Guys Bible Study
The Regular Guys Bible Study podcast -- RGBS -- is a podcast for regular guys by regular guys (not theologians) studying the Bible together. It's brought to you by a couple of goofy guys who just want to study the Bible together and show you that anyone can read and study the Bible. In fact, you SHOULD read and study the Bible yourself. We're here to show you how we do it, and, hopefully, we can have some fun along the way.
The Regular Guys Bible Study
1 Thessalonians 1
We dive into First Thessalonians Chapter 1, examining how Paul commends these early Christians for their faith that "rang out" across their region despite severe suffering.
• Written around 50 AD, only about 17 years after Christ's death and resurrection
• Paul wrote with Silas and Timothy while likely in Corinth
• The Thessalonian church faced Jewish opposition and possibly extreme poverty
• Their "work of faith," "labor of love," and "steadfastness of hope" show how genuine faith produces action
• They received the gospel with joy despite suffering, demonstrating the Holy Spirit's power
• Their reputation spread so widely that Paul didn't need to explain their faith to others
• Their example challenges us to consider what message our churches send to non-believers
• Paul references Christ's return and "the wrath to come," pointing to end times
Join us next time as we continue through First Thessalonians Chapter 2!
You are listening to the Regular Guys Bible Study Podcast, the Bible study for regular guys by regular guys. We are your hosts, ken and Steve, and we are just regular guys studying the Bible together not theologians all right, steve. Today is our first podcast for season eight, also known as first.
Speaker 2:Thessalonians did you reduce the volume slightly on the intro.
Speaker 1:I don't think I did.
Speaker 2:No, I thought maybe that's why I actually heard almost all of it this time, before I think it was clipping out or something.
Speaker 1:I don't know, Steve.
Speaker 2:And I know we had received some comments that the intro was a little loud.
Speaker 1:Did we?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:From who you don't remember that. Oh from yeah, yeah, Mr T. Yeah, Mr T gave us a comment that the intro was a little loud.
Speaker 1:It's still a little loud, you know, one of these days people are going to listen and they're going to go. Oh no, this is the wrong podcast, cause I'm going to change that intro. I don't love the intro. Um, and I think, um, I think I could use AI to come up with something that's a little more, uh, a little more in theme, uh, thematically correct with this BS that we do.
Speaker 2:Well, where did you get this one?
Speaker 1:I just I found it as a free thing online. You know free podcast, intro type stuff. I just found it, yeah there's a place for that, huh yeah there's several places for everything there's also places that and you know they, they want you to sign up and so they can charge you and stuff. But I didn't do that. Regardless of all of that stuff, or should I say irregardless?
Speaker 2:Irregardless.
Speaker 1:Regardless and irregardless of all of that stuff, we are starting 1 Thessalonians today.
Speaker 2:We're going to go through the whole first chapter of 1 Thessalonians oh my gosh, Do you think we'll make it through?
Speaker 1:it's like it's 30 words at least, at least 30 words. So we're going to go through the first chapter of Thessalonians, of first Thessalonians. If you have not read first Thessalonians, pause now and go read it. It's so quick, quick, it's ridiculous. You're, you could read it.
Speaker 2:Are you talking to me? I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1:Maybe I am, but if you haven't read it, pause it, read it. You can read it at a red light. No, I don't actually encourage that. Don't look at your phone or Bible while you drive.
Speaker 2:But if you have to do it while driving, do it at a red light.
Speaker 1:At multiple red lights. But it is very short. You shouldn't have any problem going through it. All right. So before we get started with first um, first thessalonians um. You know there is some intro. Did you look up anything about first thessalonians steve? Before you, I read it.
Speaker 2:I did read what was in my esV Bible. All right About this. Would you like me to read it?
Speaker 1:Oh shoot. You know what we didn't do, steve. We didn't go over what translation we wanted to use for this.
Speaker 2:We didn't.
Speaker 1:Ooh, what translation.
Speaker 2:I assumed ESV. Okay, because that's what we've done all the others in except for Romans.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right, and I should have switched, but I did not switch. I have been reading in IV because of our previous, but it's still the word of God. I'm sure it's the same, so let's hope. All right. So what did you read in your ESV intro?
Speaker 2:You want me to read it, because I don't remember what it said.
Speaker 1:It was just read it out loud it's been like three weeks since we've recorded. Just read it. Give credit to the ESV study Bible that you are using.
Speaker 2:Well, this is ESV Strong's annotated study Bible.
Speaker 1:Stubby Bible Stubby.
Speaker 2:Bible Stubby Bible.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:Let's hear it. Paul wrote this letter to encourage new believers in their faith, to exhort them to godly living, to give them assurance about the eternal state of believers who had died, and to defend the integrity of his ministry as an apostle. Thessalonica present-day Thessaloniki was the capital of Roman Macedonia. It was an important trade route. Paul, twice identified as the author, visited Thessalonica on his second missionary journey, but was forced to flee because of Jewish opposition. He sent Timothy to work with the largely Gentile church there, and Timothy brought him good news of their faith. This is one of Paul's first letters, probably written around AD 50 to 51. That would only be about 20 years after Christ died 17,.
Speaker 1:Actually Right, he was 33, correct.
Speaker 2:I think he was 33, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so all right. So my info that I looked up is much less, but Paul, silas and Timothy wrote this together and they were probably in Corinth when they wrote this and it was around 50 AD, which, if you don't know, ad starts when Jesus was born, not when he died on the cross or was resurrected.
Speaker 2:But isn't there some question whether that's off by like zero to four years?
Speaker 1:Yeah, zero to four years. I was going to say I think four years is. Uh, there's some question. I don't remember which way it's off I don't either, but then, wouldn't it be plus or minus four?
Speaker 1:it would be plus or minus four, I don't. I don't know which one it is. No, they, they. There is a. It's not like someone believes it's plus or minus four years. Someone says that it is actually this date, and I don't remember what that is, but that means that Jesus had died and was resurrected about 17 years prior to this, which really is not very long.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's uh that's shorter than my working career.
Speaker 1:It's a whole lot shorter than my working career. It's about half of my working career, Um, and I can. There's some things in my life I cannot remember very well, like what I did in jobs a while ago, but I can remember what I was doing 17 years ago.
Speaker 2:Really what?
Speaker 1:17 years ago I was working at the company that you and I both worked for. Still work at it.
Speaker 2:No, Technically Sort of Not technically, we got sold off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got sold off yeah, we got sold off, but, um, I was um it manager. No, no, I was a cat engineer. I had quit the it management job and went to a cat engineering job and I was writing um p cell code and some other, some other things, a lot of Pearl. I wrote a lot of Pearl codes. Why? Because I was doing text parsing and it's really good at that. Anyway, gosh, I just realized this.
Speaker 2:This, this podcast sucks especially for those that don't have a clue what we're talking about. Let's move on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why don't we start reading steve?
Speaker 2:I've already read. Do you want me to read your turn?
Speaker 1:you want me to read this first section. I'll read the first section.
Speaker 2:I think you should read the whole chapter.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because that first section is barely a breath.
Speaker 1:I know that's why I wanted to read that section. This will be my first time reading it in ESV, so wish me luck.
Speaker 2:All right, here we go 1 Thessalonians 1.
Speaker 1:Me luck, all right, here we go. 1 Thessalonians 1. Paul, silas and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians, in God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfast of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. How do you pronounce that, achaia?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Achaia, for not only was the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything, for they themselves report, concerning us, the kind of reception we had among you, ken Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Thank you, ken, you're welcome.
Speaker 2:Steve. So I have to say I have notes, but there aren't that many of them.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, I have to switch to NIV to see my notes. I mean.
Speaker 2:I can see them, but they don't show up as little note tags in the scripture so clearly the first part that was what you only wanted to read is just sort of their hey, this is us hi, this is us.
Speaker 1:Hi, this is us Exactly Paul, silas and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians and God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you, you know.
Speaker 2:I think we've lost this greeting of one another in a, I'm going to say, flamboyant way in our emails. If we even put like if I were writing you an email, I might not even say, hey, ken, I might just say blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, steve, that's exactly how I'd read it too, by the way.
Speaker 1:Steve, that's exactly how I'd read it too, by the way.
Speaker 2:We have lost this art form.
Speaker 1:I normally will say hey Steve, or hi Steve or Steve.
Speaker 2:Usually it'll just be like the person's name comma. Why are you such a fool?
Speaker 1:I might say that, but if I'm questioning why? But I don't think I need to question that, steve, it's just the way God made you. Do you think that's valuable, or is that a cultural thing?
Speaker 2:I think it is valuable from a church history standpoint. It helps give us you know, it gives us proof of who wrote the letter. It kind of gives us a time Well, not a timeframe in this part but lets us know who he was with. But other than that, uh, lets us know who he was with, Uh, but other than that, mm, mm, mm. Not really Okay, let's just know who the letter was too.
Speaker 1:So, but you don't. You don't find that we need to be doing something like that when we communicate with each other.
Speaker 2:I don't think so.
Speaker 1:You know what, though it is? Um well, we don't write letters. That's an email, is not a letter. We don't write letters anymore, and I will say, when I was a kid, I wrote some letters and I was much more formal and addressing to whom it may concern.
Speaker 2:I found a roach in your cereal box.
Speaker 1:Exactly that. Yes, so I think communication in general has become much more casual because it is such a fast thing that we do, and so this was a much more formal communication method. All right, so you don't have a lot of notes. I got a lot of notes, steve, but you know now that you bring that up.
Speaker 2:That's a little interesting, because I'm pretty sure that whatever they were writing on was super expensive back then and you'd want to keep it as short as possible uh, yeah, papyrus, but but they probably made it themselves, or do you think they bought it? I don't know if they bought it Like sheepskin or something, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Did they do it on sheepskin or on papyrus, I don't know. Isn't papyrus like reeds that have been?
Speaker 2:I don't know, I have no idea.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm glad we're showing you know where I get, you know where I get paper from ken, from the printer that's it somehow generates comes out with it comes out with ink on it already yeah, uh, same um.
Speaker 1:And if I want to take notes, do you know where I get paper, steve? You don't, you use your ipad no, sometimes I'll just scribble something down um on a post-it note nope, who needs a post-it note? I've got the backs of so many junk mail envelopes that I can just write stuff on, but then you lose your note because you throw it away like just a quick note that I all right, we're getting off task again, man.
Speaker 2:All right, what is wrong? Okay, so my first real note is around verse five, so if yours is before then, all.
Speaker 1:I've got a note around verse three, but the problem is I'm going to read the NIV version of verse three because my note is related to those specific words. It says we remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, I just find it interesting. So work, work is the thing done or accomplished, right?
Speaker 1:And then the labor is the effort it took to do that work and the endurance. If you think what is the difference between labor and endurance? The endurance is the mental and physical effort it took and takes to keep doing it.
Speaker 2:I have to say I like the NIV translation better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is. That's why I went to it.
Speaker 2:This says remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and your labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. That has a totally different meaning than what you read, or at least it feels like it does.
Speaker 1:It's the same meaning, if you think about it. It can be the same meaning, but it's a lot clearer in the NIV. Yeah, I think it's really. I used to always read NIV, by the way, but something has changed, I guess recently. I think it happened when the NIV went from a word-for-word translation to a phrase-by-phrase translation and some people did not like it. But in a lot of ways, NIV is a lot easier to read. But anyway, one interesting thing about work, the works.
Speaker 1:This is a very common theme in the Bible that works and faith again go hand in hand. We already did James right, and that was all about people. It really bothers me when I hear someone talk about James and I don't know if you've heard this much, but I've heard people talk about they don't like James because it's all about works, and that's not true. If you read James, it's about the faith that is evident through your works, and so I don't know. It's a constant theme in the Bible to me that if you have faith, you're going to have works. That's just the way it is.
Speaker 2:And then he says yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. I was going to say, and some things will never change.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:That's just the way it is.
Speaker 1:I don't know what you're doing, Steve.
Speaker 2:Some things will never change. I don't have the tune right. What song is this? I'm not doing it very well. You're doing steve. Some things will never change. What is that? I don't have the tune right what song?
Speaker 1:what song is this?
Speaker 2:I'm not doing it very well anyway, you were saying all right.
Speaker 1:So um, how is labor prompted by love?
Speaker 2:see in this esV says labor of love.
Speaker 1:Okay, it says labor of love Okay.
Speaker 2:But I think they are laboring out of love for the gospel and for Christ and, in their faith, are performing this work of hope.
Speaker 1:And they're doing it because of love and endurance and hope to me make a lot of sense, right? If you have hope in something, you'll keep doing it until that thing gets done. Right?
Speaker 2:Or the steadfastness.
Speaker 1:Yes, steadfastness.
Speaker 2:Right or the steadfastness? Yes, steadfastness. Maybe that's why I don't like this version for this paragraph, because who uses the word steadfastness?
Speaker 1:Okay, let's make a decision right now. Do you want to use ESV for 1 Thessalonians going forward or NIV? Yes, okay, got it All right. For First Thessalonians going forward or NIV? Yes, okay, got it All right. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I got it. It makes sense to me, steve Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:We should use one of those.
Speaker 1:I'll read both, maybe both. Yeah, I'll read both. Normally I do. I don't know why I never switched over to ESV.
Speaker 1:All right, I have another note for verse, five Verse five says because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. Okay, my comment is about this great power thing. It sometimes really bothers me that I don't feel like when I received, when I accepted Christ and received the Holy Spirit, I don't feel like I received this power. You know, it's not like I suddenly spoke in tongues.
Speaker 2:No, flame dancing over your head.
Speaker 1:No flames, no tongue of fire landed on me. But I have no doubt, there is no doubt in my mind that I am saved and received the Holy Spirit. But so, but sometimes that bothers me. Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I get it. I know exactly what you mean. I feel the same way.
Speaker 1:And and I know that there are, uh like, some assembly of God I know we'll say you know, until you speak in tongues or something that you know, you haven't really received the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues or something that you know you haven't really received the Holy Spirit. I don't believe that at all. So what do I do with this?
Speaker 2:What do I do with that, Steve?
Speaker 1:Well, like all feelings, you should swallow them up and bury them deep inside that is a very good answer.
Speaker 2:that's what I was looking for okay, good thanks, steve.
Speaker 1:Do you have a? Do you have a more like real answer, steve?
Speaker 2:I don't, um, you know, in acts they, they have the whole flame over their head and that was one way they knew that certain people were saved, because the power was clearly evident. And as far as I know, we don't really see that in our churches today. Yeah, I don't know what to do with that. Yeah, I don't know what to do with that yeah, I don't know what to do with it.
Speaker 1:Um, I don't think I should let it bother me. Um, I mean, god has spoken directly to me before, so it's not like, uh, and I don't. I'm not saying you know, if God hasn't spoken directly to you about other things, then I think you're lost. I don't think that's true. You, and only you, know if you accepted Christ into your heart. Don't worry about signs and powers. If God wants you to have those, he'll make it happen when it needs to happen. But the Bible also makes it clear. Paul especially makes it clear Speaking in tongues for the sake of speaking in tongues is worthless.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:So all right.
Speaker 2:So what struck me about verse 5, and this isn't the only place Paul does this is he says our gospel. I feel like it should be Christ's gospel, or God's gospel. It's not Paul's gospel, it's not Peter's gospel. It's not Paul's gospel. It's not Peter's gospel, it's just the gospel.
Speaker 1:We call it the gospel, right, but Paul is the one and the apostles were spreading this gospel. The apostles were spreading this gospel, and what does gospel stand for?
Speaker 2:Good news.
Speaker 1:It is the good news and it is, you know, it is from Paul's standpoint. It's our good news that we're sharing with you.
Speaker 2:So it doesn't bother me. No, it doesn't really bother me, but just strikes me as a little Sounds like it does bother you a little bit. Okay, it bothers me a little bit that he seems a little egotistical, but hey, this is my gospel.
Speaker 1:He didn't say mine, he said ours.
Speaker 2:Our gospel Anyway.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's okay. That does not bother me, all right.
Speaker 2:So in 6, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction. What do you suppose this much affliction was?
Speaker 1:I assume that they were two things they were extremely poor and they were being looked down upon by the Jews and those around them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it probably does have a lot to do with the Jewish opposition, since that's kind of how Paul got driven out of their city in the first place.
Speaker 1:But I believe they were also extremely poor. Hmm, that's where did I read that? I read that somewhere. The uh, the niv, by the way says you became imitators of us and of the lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering, with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't finish because I thought I was at the end of the verse, but it says with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know I may be wrong about that and I don't have it written down anywhere, but I thought I read that the Thessalonians were extremely poor and so a lot of their suffering was from great poverty. But, as you read, paul was also driven out of there by the Jews right.
Speaker 2:Yep. Do you think he's writing more to Gentiles or more to Jewish people here? As you read? To me it feels like Gentiles as you read it was to the Gentiles. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's primarily a Gentile church, so I think he's writing to the Gentiles and maybe some Jews. Normally, most of the churches included some Jews and Gentiles, so probably both. All right, I had a similar note there, except I have a question, because verse 6 is another reference of the Holy Spirit giving joy in the midst of suffering. I have a question for you, steve have you found this to be true in your own life the Holy Spirit providing joy in the midst of suffering? I will say conditionally, yes.
Speaker 2:I will say conditionally yes, and it's only if I look to God for the peace or the joy in the suffering. If I don't and wallow in my own self-pity and just blame God.
Speaker 1:I don't feel anything. Do you blame God sometimes? Any suffering?
Speaker 2:No, not really. I've never had anything super bad go wrong.
Speaker 1:And I also have a horrible memory. I was going to say yeah, I think you do have a horrible memory. You've had some pretty bad things happen.
Speaker 2:Well, maybe just the peace of God has made me think, ah no, it's no big deal, it's no big deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say something very similar. I'll say for me if I go through something that's severe, what I've noticed is initially I'll let it drag me down, and then I will quickly realize that I've got a savior and I run to him and I can find true joy in the suffering.
Speaker 2:You can.
Speaker 1:I can, I can find true joy in the suffering. You can, I can, I can find true joy in the suffering Doesn't ever get old. I know it All right. What else, Steve?
Speaker 2:Let's see All right.
Speaker 1:In verse 8. I have a note for 8 also. All right, what's your note? Let me find where it says it. I'll read eight while you're okay. The lord's message rang out from you not only in macedonia and akaia akaia. Your faith in god has become known everywhere.
Speaker 2:Therefore, we do not need to say anything about it yeah, that's what I was going to comment on, so that we need not say anything. And yet he does okay, that's paul, that's I know it's totally paul okay, I have a question.
Speaker 1:So I know what church you go to steve, but this is a question really for the listeners. So what kind of message does your church send to the people around it? So this message, this letter, is not to necessarily an individual right, it's to the church. And he's saying that the church in Thessalonica has, like, the message people are receiving from all over is about how great you are and how devoted you are. And the question I have is what kind of message is the church that you attend sending to the people around it that do not attend? Is it a message of love? Is it a message of Jesus? Yes, what is it?
Speaker 2:Is it? Are they teaching from the Bible? Are they inviting people in?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or are they exclusionary?
Speaker 1:So I'll say that the message um. I believe our church has a good reputation for teaching the Bible, um, and what it says.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:Um, so I agree. So I'm glad to go to the church I go to.
Speaker 2:And there's quite a few outreach ministries that some of them, that they're directly behind others, that they partake in that do a lot of good, not only in Austin but all over the world. Yes, that's true.
Speaker 1:All right and that. So that's about your church, and I have one more question what kind of message do you, steve personally, and you, whatever your name is listening, fill in your name. What kind of message do you send to the people around you?
Speaker 2:Oh, I would have to ask them.
Speaker 1:You should probably know.
Speaker 2:I could echo what I hope people get out of me, but sometimes we blind ourselves with that's true who we think we are and it's not really who we are?
Speaker 1:yep, that is true, and I think you know, let me. Let me just tell you this if people see you and go, oh yeah, I know he's a Christian, but he's cool, he's all right, he doesn't. He's not one of those that you know believes that all this stuff is bad.
Speaker 2:He's a Bible thumper.
Speaker 1:He's not a Bible thumper. You know, I'm not sure that's a good thing.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:And it's easy to fall into that, I agree with you on that.
Speaker 2:You don's easy to fall into that. You don't want to be the judgmental Christian that looks down on everything everyone's doing, but you also don't want to violate God's will and word.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's also, but we also don't want to judge those who aren't believers, because that's for Christ, we are called to judge the people in the church.
Speaker 2:So I don't know so what you're saying. When we're in that situation, we should say, oh, that's perfectly fine for you, since you're going to hell, but I don't partake in that.
Speaker 1:Exactly, steve. That's exactly what I'm saying. Okay, no, but it is. You know, it's easy for us to fall into this trap of not wanting to offend anybody. Not wanting to offend anybody, but our beliefs should not be secret. That doesn't mean we need to force what we believe on others, but what we believe should not be secret.
Speaker 2:And people with a good conscience should feel shame when they act a certain way around us. Well, I think our pastor spoke about that exactly this last Sunday. He was saying when he goes golfing he tries to hide that he's a preacher for like the first nine holes, but eventually it comes out and everybody starts acting different yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:All right, I also have a note for verse nine. I do too. Gosh, we have the same notes. This is ridiculous. All right, I'll let you go, steve.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna read it, okay, and maybe you can read it in the NIV. Okay, for they themselves report concerning us, the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath, to come. I just find that a really hard to follow sentence.
Speaker 1:It's still hard to follow in NIV. I'll read it. Okay, mine was a whole lot easier. It's almost identical. What was that noise? Did you hear that noise? Your mic is no longer working, Steve.
Speaker 2:My air compressor just kicked on, so it drowned me out. Ah, that's what happened.
Speaker 1:So you, you heard it kick on. I heard, and then nothing. That's great, good job, steve way to be prepared. Yeah, let me work next to, let me do the podcast next to the air compressor. That makes a lot of sense to me. I'm just a stupid bumpkin.
Speaker 2:You look like a stupid bumpkin.
Speaker 1:What were you hearing? My comments what were you here? Uh, my, my comments. Uh, all right, my comments on verse nine. I say does my life tell my story of?
Speaker 2:that sounds like your previous comment okay.
Speaker 1:well, I'm trying to read my notes and they don't make sense. Does my life tell my story of christ? Do my actions, okay, tell my story of christ is to me, or do I have to tell people because my life doesn't reflect what I believe? What in the heck? Okay, all right, this is what I think I'm trying to say. Does my life represent my story of Christ and who he is to me, or do I have?
Speaker 2:to tell people because my life doesn't reflect what I believe.
Speaker 1:And what answer did you come up with? I don't really have an answer, steve. Um, okay, and the reason? I'm going to read nine again, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turn to god from idols, to serve the living and true god and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. So, um, first of all, I believe that my life reflects well, I mean, it doesn't it not a? I don't think I reflect my life as contrary to a life of Christ, a life in Christ, but I think, through my life, you know, being a good person, blah, blah, blah. Is that, is that all there is to me? No, um, I think there has to be words. There has to be words.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:I think your life should not. It's really important that your life backs up your words.
Speaker 2:Well, the reason there has to be words is because you might be in front of someone that's never heard of Jesus and has no idea why you act the way you do, and so they're not getting the message. They're just eh, he's a pretty good guy, I like Ken, and they don't know that they could be good guys too.
Speaker 1:Yes, and here's the thing, though, steve. I think many people can talk about Jesus, and many people can live lives that are worthy of talking about Jesus. I think where people struggle is having words that match their life. You know what I'm saying, walking the talk.
Speaker 1:Yes, walking the talk and talking the walk, and that is that really, I think, is the a big struggle for a lot of people is having that, that life that matches what they, what they say. I know for me at times I had I struggle, I'm sure, at times with that. You know I've heard people say, oh, don't put a fish on your car because you know, when you're driving and getting irritated with the people around you, you don't want them knowing that you're a christian. Um, I did put a little fish on my car, a little on my license plate, a little fish, jesus thing and um, but I don't really get mad at people when I'm driving.
Speaker 2:I'm too old, I just drive put someone else in your car, might end up flipping somebody off.
Speaker 1:Are you trying to say something about my wife Steve?
Speaker 2:No, I might be projecting though.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, anyway, I think that's it. Do you have anything else?
Speaker 2:Well, in 10, it says wrath to come. Do you believe this is the wrath spoken of in end times?
Speaker 1:I do, I do.
Speaker 2:Me too.
Speaker 1:I think it's the wrath of Jesus' second coming. You might call it his third coming, though, honestly, yeah because um he was born. That was the first one no, no, his first was when he was uh, in what is it, john?
Speaker 2:Where the oh, the word. In the beginning there was the word, and the word was God and the word was with God, and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:We did John, didn't we? I think that was one of our seasons. So Jesus was there in the beginning, at the creation of the earth and the creation of everything, right? So I I'm not going to call it really his third coming, but, um, yes, so he was well then, he was born.
Speaker 1:He was born second then yeah then he died and came back that would be the third, then this would be the fourth, it'd be. The fourth, it'd be the forthcoming he's going to be forthcoming. Maybe that's where that comes from. Maybe that's where that word comes from. It's because it's truth Forthcoming is being truthful. That's right oh my goodness, it's all coming together now, steve. Wow, or is it? I don't know.
Speaker 2:Anyway, that's all coming together now, Steve Wow or is it?
Speaker 1:I don't know. Anyway. That's all we got, that's all we got Next time second, not second. Thessalonians first Thessalonians, chapter two. All right, see you next time, guys, the regular guys. Bible study is a chasm LLC production. All rights reserved.
