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Category: Epistles – Is his letter to our church?

Epistle of Paul to the Romans 1 - the Apostles sends a church letter to Rome and the local saints of area churches
Epistle of Paul to the Romans

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 

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JUNE 2024 – 2025 —

1 CORINTHIANS 

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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 LETTERS 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 JESUS through your comment, sharing and email to me about this ‘Letter to you?”

Roger@talkofJesus.com

  • He heaps up riches

    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

    What are they selling5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
    casino drinks2 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.

    trump-las-vegas-2-towers-7479744 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.

    amish harvestSee 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.

  • Got a minute? – 2

    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?

  • Stuck in our Sin

    Stuck in our Sin

    Isaiah 63:16-17  For you are our Father,
    though Abraham does not know us,
    and Israel does not acknowledge us;
    you, O LORD, are our Father,
    our Redeemer from of old is your name.

    O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways
    and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
    Return for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes of your heritage.

    Matthew 12:  He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!

    • Are you a lost sheep of the Lord?
    • Stuck in the mud, are you… and think no one cares?
    • Been a while since you have found your self in fellowship and worship with other believers?

    God our Father welcomes the ‘prodigal son.” (Do you recall, beloved lost sheep?)

    Jesus our Lord and Redeemer leaves the ninety-nine of the fold to rescue the lost one. (…That angels might rejoice. Do you recall?)

    James 4 (ESV)

    Warning Against Worldliness

    4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are at war within you?[b]

    2 You desire and do not have, so you murder.

    You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

    You do not have, because you do not ask.

    3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

    4 You adulterous people![c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

    Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

    5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace.

    Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

    7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.

    Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

    8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

    Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

    9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

    10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

    Therefor be humble before the Cross. Bow down an worship your Redeemer.

    Be NOT like a proud goat on his own hill,

    But like a humble sheep,

    Faithful to the call of the Shepherd.