Category: Epistles – Is his letter to our church?

Epistles ἐπιστολή or Letters

I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians

FEATURED SERIES

JUNE 2024 – 2025 —

1 CORINTHIANS

First letter after ACTS of the Apostles:

Epistle of Paul to the Romans Church

Letters – Is he writing to me?
The short answer: YES.

In their epistles or 1st century church letters the Apostles and other men sent out by Jesus build up the saints [small – ‘s’] or members of local first century churches.

A Disciple or other witness of JESUS would write it. Messengers then delivered these church letters to many isolated worshipers.

Followers of Jesus Christ receive these letters as a major encouragement to their personal faith. Then leaders read them to worshipers of their church.

Although the Epistles 0r Letters to the Church were originally written to churches of the first century,

Romans through Jude will seem like letters to your 21st century church.

What do Peter, Paul, John and others tell us we must do?
Is he talking about an issue in your 21st c. church as well?
How does the writer’s advice, warning, or encouragement to the 1st c. believers apply to you as well
Is the writer of this letter talking about something you need to address in your 21st century ‘christian’ life?

Contemporary Application of the Letters (Epistles)

Most New Testament writers take on specific issues confronting faithful followers of Jesus Christ. These same issues continue to confront believers until the Lord’s coming again in these last days.

Certainly Christ our Lord will come again to those God has chosen for eternal life.

Believers currently suffer more than most of you who know Christ in your local church can imagine.

In other lands Christians continue to suffer by the hand of the ungodly.
Go into all the world

A 21st century Common Era church can see and hear nearly any atrocity of man or artificial imagination of sinful man’s mind, yet ‘christians‘ dare not speak of any absolute truth of the Lord God or talk of JESUS CHRIST.

Will YOU comment on Scripture and share the Gospel?

I invite you to read the inspired word of Scripture written in these LETTTERS TO THE CHURCH.

YES, He IS writing to YOU.

Beloved brother or sister in Christ Jesus,

Will you read this ‘CHURCH LETTER’ and talk of JSUS through your comment, sharing and email to me about this ‘Letter to you?”

Roger@talkofJesus.com

Meeting Together

We know you are NOT like us, but welcome back to our church. We missed you.

Hebrews 10:

25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

26 Dear friends,

if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.

27 There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.

John 10:14,27

“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me …

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

James 5:

The Prayer of Faith

13 Is anyone among you suffering?

Let him pray.

Is anyone cheerful?

Let him sing praise.

14 Is anyone among you sick?

Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

19 My brothers,

if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,

20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Luke 15:

4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do?

Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Could you hear the Voice of our Good Shepherd?

Would you come back to His church, dearly beloved?

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”

October 26, 2013
He heaps up riches

Surely every man walks about like a shadow;
Surely they busy themselves in vain;
He heaps up riches,
And does not know who will gather them. – Psalm 39

“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.

James 5:1-8

English Standard Version (ESV)

Warning to the Rich

5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.

4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,[a] until the coming of the Lord.

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.

8 You also, be patient.

Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

October 24, 2013
Got a minute? – 2

Do you have a few more minutes?

Could you pick up your Bible on a weekday?

How many minutes, busy and impatient ‘Christian,’ could it take to read just one chapter of God’s word?

Do you claim Christ, yet offer not even a minute for one short teaching of the Lord? One parable, one Psalm, a few proverbs, a short story of faith… Got a minute for God’s word this day?

(Your Bible has 66 neglected Books filled with communication from God.)

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12]

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against… the rulers of darkness… wickedness in the heavenly places… therefore take up the whole armor of God… above all, taking the shield of faith… and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [Excerpts Ephesians 6:11-17]

Do we embark on our daily journey to the workplace of the world without a minute for God’s word of the Bible?

Is your witness for Christ in the world lacking some of the armor of God?

Would you take a minute now to read Ephesians 6?

Got a minute for the Bible every day?

Or has our witness become dull or left behind?

October 15, 2013