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 2:17 - 3:13
Paul expresses his heartfelt connection with the Thessalonian believers, revealing how their steadfast faith brings him immeasurable joy despite separation and persecution. His emotional letter demonstrates the profound mentor-disciple relationship that drives meaningful spiritual community.
• Paul confesses that "Satan blocked" his attempts to visit the Thessalonians
• Timothy was sent as Paul's representative on a journey that likely took weeks on foot
• Paul declares the Thessalonians are his "glory and joy" - finding fulfillment in their faith
• Timothy returns with good news that the Thessalonians are standing firm
• Paul prays "night and day" for their continued spiritual growth
• The letter includes prayers of blessing that sound like a conclusion but mark the midpoint
• Paul references Jesus coming "with all his holy ones" (angels) in his closing blessing
We encourage you to read 1 Thessalonians chapters 2-3 before listening, and join us next week as we continue our study in chapter 4.
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.
Speaker 2:Hey Steve, how's it going? I'm betting people don't want to hear that cat scratch sound you make with your mouth.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, it's interesting that you called it that, because right now I have a cat going between my legs. I'm at a standing desk doing this thing. There's a cat going between my legs going.
Speaker 2:So it wasn't you, it was the cat.
Speaker 1:Maybe it wasn't me at all all right so you just got back from a uh, a bike ride, steve I did.
Speaker 2:I did uh 174 miles over three days wow, that is a lot of riding yeah, according to my uh app, it says I burned like over 8 000 calories did you lose weight or did you make?
Speaker 1:I haven't weighed myself yet yeah, do you care about that? I don't even.
Speaker 2:You're not fat, so you know every time I've done a ride like this before I end up gaining weight and I don't know if it's because you're like all swollen and holding water or what, but I don't expect when I get on the scale in the morning, I don't expect to see it yeah down well maybe, maybe in a couple of days I imagine, naturally, you want to like your body wants to um replace all those calories that you burn.
Speaker 1:So people are.
Speaker 2:Keep her hungry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, All right. Well, we are on 1 Thessalonians 2, the end of chapter 2. And all of 3. And all of 3. So 2.17 through 3.13.
Speaker 2:3.13. That was my hotel room the other night. Wow, boop, boop, boop, whoa Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.
Speaker 1:You think God's trying to tell you something through that, Steve.
Speaker 2:No, I'm going to go with no on this.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, I didn't expect that. So there are coincidences in life.
Speaker 2:That's not one of them. Most likely what?
Speaker 1:That's not a coincidence.
Speaker 2:Oh, I mean yes, that is a coincidence.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're such a moron.
Speaker 2:I'm a little tired.
Speaker 1:I'll bet you flew in today, right.
Speaker 2:And boy, my arms are tired.
Speaker 1:I was going to make that joke, darn it. All right. All right. So, as always, guys, if you haven't read first thessalonians chapter three, read it. You gotta read it. So just pause, come back when you're done, all right what you got in the first section yeah, I can read the first section. That that's easy, it's easy Up through.
Speaker 2:3.5 is what I'm assuming.
Speaker 1:Oh, you want me to read. All right, so I'm going to read, are we?
Speaker 2:doing ESV or NIV. Today I'm going to do NIV.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's what I'm on to. All right, so I'm going to read 1 Thessalonians, 2.17 through 3.5. Is that right, c? All right, here we go.
Speaker 1:But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time in person, not in thought Out of our intense longing, we made every effort to see you, for we wanted to come to you. Certainly. I Paul did again and again, but Satan blocked our way. For what is our hope, our joy or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you, indeed, you are our glory and joy.
Speaker 1:So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left. We thought it best to be left by ourselves. In Athens, we sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God's service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials, for you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted, and it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.
Speaker 2:Well, isn't that special. And who kept them from going there? Hmm, oh, I don't know. Who could it be, maybe Satan? And who kept them from?
Speaker 1:going there. Hmm, oh, I don't know who could it be? Maybe Satan? I was so lost I didn't know where you were going with that. I forgot about that SNL skit.
Speaker 2:Who was that? Dana Carvey as the church lady.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Satan.
Speaker 1:You do that so well, though steve those whiny voices you really imitate down. This is my impression of ken I don't think that's a good impression of my voice, steve all right, so he's blaming satan here he does blame satan um, and you know a lot of people do that.
Speaker 2:Oh, satan made me do it, or?
Speaker 1:yeah, but he's not. He's not blaming satan for sin that they've committed.
Speaker 2:That's, that's completely different or he just didn't want to go I don't think that's true.
Speaker 1:I don't say that um. But what's interesting, he does not say but we um decided we couldn't because we needed to go to this other place. He says again and again we wanted to come see you, but satan blocked our way. So what does that mean exactly why? Why does he think satan is who blocked his way?
Speaker 2:I don't know. Maybe he thinks if he went back there the uh, the jews that were after him would like get a hold of him. I don't know. It was apparently apparently safe enough for Timothy to go by himself even.
Speaker 1:Well, we don't know if he was by himself. I'm sure he had some attendance with him. He was probably the leader of the small group that went, Don't you think? I doubt he went by himself. I don't think he traveled the roads alone, really.
Speaker 2:Maybe not, but he was a lot younger so he could probably travel faster.
Speaker 1:That is true, that is true. But you know, I think there's multiple possibilities here. Multiple possibilities here. Um, it could be that he is just saying satan, meaning these evil people. That's what. That's kind of what you were saying. These evil people are trying to kill us kept us from going back um, and so he could be just saying that he could also. There are multiple times where Paul has an angel come to him and talk to him, or a vision, so let's go here, don't go there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he could have an actual vision that says Satan is there in your path, don't go. So I don't really know, we don't really know. All right, we won't go, we don't really know.
Speaker 2:All right, we won't go, we'll just send Timothy.
Speaker 1:You killed Timothy. What is that from?
Speaker 2:But that's not the name it's Kenny Kenny.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's from South Park.
Speaker 2:I didn't finish it. That's not a very.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not a very.
Speaker 2:I don't really ever watch it uh-huh, uh-huh in my past I have, but I never really got hooked on it like some people yeah, I thought it was too um sacrilegious and apparently they made news with trump this last week yeah, I saw something there anyway I didn't see what it was.
Speaker 1:Let's don't go that, down that rabbit hole steve? Let's don't go through not the politics rabbit hole.
Speaker 1:um, all right, let me see, I have a note here. Uh, okay, are you done with the satan thing? Yeah, okay, for the next verse. It says for what is our hope, our joy or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. All right, two questions, steve. Oops, I lost it. First of all, where do you find your joy? Number two, that's not where I find my joy in number two, I'm just saying Some days I do I do?
Speaker 1:Number one where do you find your joy? And number two would somebody say that about you?
Speaker 2:that you are their joy because of how you live. So I had a note here as well. I think that the Thessalonians are Paulul's fruit of the spirit, and that's why it brings him glory and joy he is.
Speaker 1:I see they are his fruit. Yes, yes, all right so all right let's go there. Do you have fruit that you find your joy in? I'm not saying, name them, but I want it to be thought-provoking it is thought-provoking. And I'm glad you said that it's their fruit, because that kind of makes me think a little different, down a different line than I was thinking you know there is some.
Speaker 1:I don't know that I stop and take joy in it though, like I should probably, but I don't, it doesn't really sit at the top of my mind, or even during prayer time or whatever yeah so I probably should try to focus more on that type of stuff you know, um, I will say this, and first of all, I don't, I don't take joy from a look what I did, kind of standpoint, but when I go back to my hometown or hang out with some old friends that I had influence over and they had influence over me.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying that I taught them everything I know about God, I'm not saying that at all, but we influenced each other. And when I go spend time with them and hear that they're walking with Christ, that man, I will say, that brings me so much joy, because there are people from my past who have walked away. And I have so much joy, though, when I, you know, I'm around those people and they have stuck with it and they are still living a life that's, you know, christlike life, and they value the word Cool. So that's what.
Speaker 1:I got to say about that Now. The other part of that was I've already forgotten. Are you anybody's joy? Are you anybody's joy?
Speaker 2:am I anybody's joy? Hmm, that's a good question.
Speaker 1:I could be okay I could think of a few people that have certainly had big influence on me and whether or not they think of me and okay, I have, I have exactly the same response to my own question that I don't know, but there are people that I do know that had a huge influence on me and and I've told them that in the in the past. I hope they find joy in that so, but that's that's not up to me. For them to find joy in that, I should be their joy, find joy in that, I should be their joy, that's what I think, right, all right, cool, yeah, cool, cool, that's cool. That's cool man, that's cool, all right all right.
Speaker 2:So I talked about timothy already, but this is 310 miles by car, so maybe half a month by foot and how far did you go on bike?
Speaker 1:174, I think so you basically went half the way on a bike, right so if if he had a bike, he could do it in six days okay maybe less so, oh man, what was your average speed? Did you track that?
Speaker 2:These guys are so slow 10 miles per hour. It ended up around 10,. Yeah, because I didn't always stop it during breaks.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that brings it down, so he could go potentially 3 miles per hour. That's a fast walk. That's a pretty fast walk.
Speaker 2:Pretty, pretty fast, but he's a young guy, it's possible.
Speaker 1:Let's uh, let's say two miles per hour, because you might have to get camels and stuff. I mean you got lots of stuff going on let's just say 150 hours 150 hours of walking. That is, if you walk 10 hours a day, that's 15 days.
Speaker 2:So he might he might be able to get there in half a month and then he turned around and came back, because he already is back by the time they wrote this.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, you're right. So he walked for at least two weeks, spent some time with them, I'm sure and turn around, turn around came back. Yeah, wow, that's um that, but that's, they have no choice, that's what you gotta do. I guess, unless you settle down somewhere.
Speaker 2:So this reminds me of something I saw on my ride. We were deep into Amish country in Ohio, so we saw lots of horse and buggies and occasionally you'd see one, which I'm assuming they were Amish. They could have been Mennonite, I don't really know the difference, wouldn't recognize it if I saw it, but they were riding e-bikes and I was. Like you know, tesla makes a totally electric car.
Speaker 1:You could get so well? First of all, there are some. You know they're not. They don't all hold to the exactly the same restrictions, I know Right. But and also, if they were Mennonites, I think they could ride anything, including driving a car.
Speaker 2:But that struck me as odd.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I have heard there are some amish that will drive cars um. But I don't, I don't really understand that yeah, I'm curious where that rule came in.
Speaker 2:Is that that was where the line was drawn?
Speaker 1:1932 or some or 18 18 something. Uh yeah, why would you draw the line at that point? I don't understand it. That's a rabbit trail yes, so what was your point there, steve, did you have a point?
Speaker 2:uh, just that timothy went by foot most likely oh yeah, I forgot we were talking about timothy, probably not on an e-bike.
Speaker 1:Um, and they did not have bicycles back then, steve, they did have chariots and horses, but that's that seems like a stretch that kind of dough.
Speaker 2:I don't think um you might have it was greek, right.
Speaker 1:Well, he was jewish greek I have no idea about timothy. Um, paul was roman jew, so that's what I meant. He has more potential for something like a chariot than a normal jew. Uh, would like timothy. I think I don't know what timothy is all right. Well, we don't know anyway it probably took him a while.
Speaker 2:Um, okay, uh, any other comments in here, steve uh, and three to five, uh, encourage you in your face so that no one would be unsettled by these trials, for you know quite well that we are destined for them. In fact we, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted, and it turned out that way, as you well know. So he's basically warning them of coming trials, and I think maybe why they only sent Timothy I don't have to make sense of my note here well, I say he, he was probably all they could spare, but they were still worried about them going through trials and didn't want them to be left hanging, you know, incommunicado, for a long time. So they wanted to see how they were. They were worried enough about the thessalonians to send timothy.
Speaker 2:That's my point yes, shoo because they were aware of the trials. You know, I just did a really long bike ride. I'm not all together here.
Speaker 1:Whatever you're gonna use that excuse for how long? All night, okay, all right. Well, um, uh, yeah, and by the way, you were saying, you know they, they were worried about this, but they sent timothy. Um, I think timothy paul was the person that was most um, recognizable, I think, and he was really the one that people talked about and wanted to get rid of. So it could be that Timothy had a better opportunity to get there safely, without being recognized, as you know, a follower of Christ before he got there. So, anyway, I have a note for five.
Speaker 1:He says for this reason, just right after what you just talked about, for this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain. And you know, it struck me later. He talks about that. You know they found out that they were doing great, but I can see. You know, jesus talks about the parable of the seeds right, and how the seeds are scattered and some go into fertile soil and some land on the rocks and they shoot up really fast and then they wither away and some land on the path and blah, blah, blah Anyway, and you can see there's no way. Paul knows right where, how stuff, where stuff lands.
Speaker 1:When somebody says, yes, yes, I accept it, jesus is, um, is god, and he's my lord and savior. He died for my sin. He's the christ um, as spoken in the old testament. And then the persecution comes, and if they don't have, if they're not really rooted well in the gospel, they're just going to get ripped away, right, yeah, so, um, you know, I just think it's really cool. I have no point really, except that I think it's really cool, um, which is probably another reason why there's so much joy here, because he just never knows. And then he comes to find out yes, this one worked. Yes, it planted in deep soil. All right, that's all I got for that section. Anything else? Me too. All right, not there. All right, that's all I got for that section anything else, all right, not there.
Speaker 2:Guess it's time for me to read huh, yep, first Timothy 3, 6 to 13, all right but Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love.
Speaker 2:He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that he has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we long to see you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, 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. How can we thank God enough for you? In return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you, night and day, we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you. I'm having trouble tonight.
Speaker 1:I was on a long ride, just a couple of days ago.
Speaker 2:That's right, so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. All right, it really shouldn't have been that hard.
Speaker 1:No, it shouldn't have been that hard, and you know I shouldn't have interrupted either.
Speaker 2:And I feel bad about that. But I had to make fun of you.
Speaker 1:I had to make fun of you. It was rude and I had to do it. All right, what you got here, steve. I had to make fun of you.
Speaker 2:It was rude and I had to do it Um all right what you got here.
Speaker 2:Steve, um, so I have a note on eight through 10 and I'm going to read it again, okay, cause I think I screwed it up enough. Okay, um, for now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. This week it struck me that Paul's faith and mindset are a lot stronger than mine.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:And maybe it's because I'm not directly on a missionary field. There should be, but there isn't anyone that I'm trying to convert directly. You know everything's sort of indirectly.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't pray day and night for people.
Speaker 1:Hmm, I know you pray morning for people.
Speaker 2:I do, but that's a little different. That's just our little concerns here and there. Some of them are big concerns, but it's not usually about someone being saved.
Speaker 1:Okay, you, it's not usually about someone's being saved. Okay, so do you think um, that needs to change in your life, steve. Probably there's no, there's a. It's a yes or no question, steve, not a. Probably, probably. Look, let me just be honest with you, steve.
Speaker 2:Probably yes or no. Probably means yes I should, but I don't want to. That's about right. Yep, all right.
Speaker 1:It's only because it's so uncomfortable. Where are you sitting when you pray? Are you trying to cross?
Speaker 2:your knees. I'm talking about direct proselytizing.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, let's, let's just go to the prayer, praying night and day for people that you want to receive Christ. I look, I will say this about Paul. I, paul, no, I never mind, I can't say it. I was gonna say paul had it easier because, because, no and then my, my, my reasoning kind of just fell apart. Um, yeah, but I will say that paul had an opening. How about that people?
Speaker 2:well, and it was definitely.
Speaker 1:He was sent on this mission directly by god yes we have commandments to do the same but people would see paul and ask him or tell him that he's wrong. I mean, you know, without him needing to say say anything because of his reputation. We don't have that reputation. Maybe that's another problem, but I don't know. I agree with you that I need to be more what's the word? More I do talk to people. I, you know, I have it in my accountability that I need to talk to people around me that, other than just like my friends, More deliberate.
Speaker 2:I believe that's the word.
Speaker 1:I was looking for. I need to be more deliberate about the goals of my communications with my neighbors and with people not just in my immediate circle, and that needs to be more deliberately sharing Christ and how Christ has changed my life and can change theirs. Oh man, oh okay, and so I need to start praying for those people as well. Oh, darn it, how about you?
Speaker 2:What did you have?
Speaker 1:here, okay. Well, right now I'm being convicted that I need to do this more and not and it's not a probably, but yeah, I know what you meant by probably also. Okay, all right, so I need to start changing um. I will start changing that for um, all right, so let's see. No, you, you covered one of my things. Um, oh, in 10, I thought you were going to ask about this Night and day. We pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith, what is lacking in their faith.
Speaker 2:You know, I think he's just saying that we would like to come and help lift you up and if there's anything you have questions about or Like just help strengthen you when you're yeah. I don't think there's anything, at least not obviously that I've read so far. That's lacking in your faith.
Speaker 1:Well, let's try to remember that for the rest of the letter, because maybe something comes up where he says this is what's lacking. So I just I just want to remember that and hopefully, hopefully it will stand out, but I agree, I think it could just be. You know, when you're struggling, we want to be there to be able to lift you up and help you stand firm I just made a note that hopefully I'll see when I'm reading the next chapter you think you will yeah, I put it in bold I wonder if I can do that.
Speaker 1:Uh, let's see what can I do with that?
Speaker 2:I can't do anything with that I'm gonna move on, because no one wants to hear us talk about typing notes. All right, what else do you got Steve 11 to 13 to me sound like prayers of blessing and like could easily be the closing of the letter.
Speaker 1:That's yeah. When I read that, I actually scrolled to the right to make sure there were more chapters in this because I thought there were and there are five chapters in thessalonians two to go, yes um, do you pray like this for other?
Speaker 1:people you know. No, no is the answer, steve. I mean, I do pray for other people and I pray for, like you know, I make a point to pray for my wife every morning and I pray that she would be filled with the Holy Spirit this day and I'll pray something like you know let her be a light to the people around her, let her show love to those around her. I think it's the same thing. I don't speak in the same kind of ways, but I think I say the same thing. I don't speak in the same kind of ways, but I think I say the same generality.
Speaker 1:Do you Steve?
Speaker 2:Not regularly. You know, normally when people ask for prayer it's for something very specific.
Speaker 1:This is just like general encouragement of uh being faithful and having blessings of god, and yeah, but like when you, when you put on a somebody, a prayer request for somebody, because, just so you know, guys, we have a shared app where we look at. You know, we have prayer requests for each other and we'll put on prayer requests for people in our lives. Sometimes they might be hurting or need healing or whatever. But with that said, I typically when I am praying correctly and, in other words, when I'm not just trying to get through it as fast as possible, which I do sometimes too often I.
Speaker 1:I do it sometimes, but when I I'm praying earnestly and correctly, then I typically go beyond the healing request. You know and I pray for, especially the family that might be hurting because of that, needing healing or whatever. Needing healing or whatever, um, and I pray for um god to move in that person's life in some way. If they're a believer, then it's one prayer.
Speaker 1:If I think they're not a believer, then I will pray something else yeah, I do that too so so I think I think that part is okay, except when I'm going oh gosh, there's so many prayers on this list. I just need to hurry up and get done so I can finish the wordle yeah, that's so I can get ready for work work. Oh yeah, that, that's what I do yeah all right. Um, I have one more thing for this. At the very end, very last verse. Do you have anything else before that?
Speaker 1:nope, I am all out of notes, all right so the very end it says may he strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of god and father when our lord jesus comes with all his holy ones who were all of jesus's holy ones that he's bringing.
Speaker 2:I suspect. I don't know, but I'm going to guess that it's Christians in general. Christians are going to be generals, yes, in the Lord's army, no. I think it's probably people that are saved.
Speaker 1:I believe it could be I have no idea Because you know those are going to be raised and meet him in the sky, right, or something like that, and meet him in the sky right or something like that. But I was thinking this might be the prophets Moses, and because I know you know Jesus met with Moses and Elijah Elijah or Elisha Elijah, elisha, elijah, I'm not sure. I think it's Elijah, it'sa Elijah, elijah Elijah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:I think it's Elijah. It's the first one Elijah. Anyway, I'm thinking it might be those two plus more, and in this case Paul and Peter and James.
Speaker 2:Peter Paul and.
Speaker 1:Mary. Yes, I think I think Mary might be there, but so I don't know.
Speaker 2:I do have a cross reference that takes me to Matthew 25, 31.
Speaker 1:Oh good.
Speaker 2:When the son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, so they are. Angels is what they are. That's pretty seems, pretty clear. All right guys. Well, that is all we have for tonight. I appreciate you listening and we will be back. Make sure you listen next week to 1 Thessalonians 4. Read it first. Make sure you read it. All right guys, peace out the Regular Guys. Bible Study is a Chasm LLC production. All rights reserved.
