Worship: For Heaven’s Sake The Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, because he wanted to encourage and inform them in the midst of trial and adversity, even though he couldn’t personally visit them. (Read more below.)
Wellness: For Health’s Sake Pastor Flemons, a doctor of biblical wellness, reviewed a ScienceDaily.com article, which reports on a study that links the eating of red meat and poultry to a higher risk of developing diabetes. Even so, the author of the study concludes and recommends that reducing the consumption of red meat, choosing certain parts of the chicken, eating fish or a plant-based diet and dairy is all that is required to reduce the risk of diabetes. Pastor Flemons recommends choosing only a plant-based diet to achieve and maintain full health. God’s original diet for man is always best.
(NOTE: Before following any advice given here, please read our disclaimer on this page.)
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FaceBook – Two Letters to Thessalonians (The Thessalonian Letters)
FaceBook – Diabetes, Red Meat and Chicken
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TOPICS THIS WEEK – September 3 – 9
Worship Sunday – Thessalonica; Monday – Berea and Athens – Tuesday – Corinth; Wednesday – The Thessalonian Letters; Thursday – Apollos at Corinth; Friday – Ephesus; Saturday, the Sabbath – Days of Toil and Trial [All topics per The Acts of the Apostles by Ellen G. White.]
Wellness Sunday – How to Get Well Monday – Why Overwork Is Bad; Tuesday – 7 Principles of Biblical Wellness; Wednesday – Diabetes, Red Meat and Chicken
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Words of Encouragement
Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Deuteronomy 28:9 And the LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
For Heaven’s Sake…
“Many of the believers in Thessalonica had ‘turned . . . from idols to serve the living and true God.’ They had ‘received the word in much affliction;’ and their hearts were filled with ‘joy of the Holy Ghost.’ The apostle declared that in their faithfulness in following the Lord they were ‘ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.’ These words of commendation were not unmerited; ‘for from you,’ he wrote, ‘sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad.’ AA 256.2
“The Thessalonian believers were true missionaries. Their hearts burned with zeal for their Saviour, who had delivered them from fear of ‘the wrath to come.’ Through the grace of Christ a marvelous transformation had taken place in their lives, and the word of the Lord, as spoken through them, was accompanied with power. Hearts were won by the truths presented, and souls were added to the number of believers. AA 256.3
“In his first epistle to the Thessalonian believers, Paul endeavored to instruct them regarding the true state of the dead. He spoke of those who die as being asleep–in a state of unconsciousness: ‘I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. . . . For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.’ AA 257.3
“The Thessalonians had eagerly grasped the idea that Christ was coming to change the faithful who were alive, and to take them to Himself. They had carefully guarded the lives of their friends, lest they should die and lose the blessing which they looked forward to receiving at the coming of their Lord. But one after another their loved ones had been taken from them, and with anguish the Thessalonians had looked for the last time upon the faces of their dead, hardly daring to hope to meet them in a future life. AA 258.1
“As Paul’s epistle was opened and read, great joy and consolation was brought to the church by the words revealing the true state of the dead. Paul showed that those living when Christ should come would not go to meet their Lord in advance of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus. The voice of the Archangel and the trump of God would reach the sleeping ones, and the dead in Christ should rise first, before the touch of immortality should be given to the living. ‘Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.’ AA 258.2
“In his second letter Paul sought to correct their misunderstanding of his teaching and to set before them his true position. He again expressed his confidence in their integrity, and his gratitude that their faith was strong, and that their love abounded for one another and for the cause of their Master. He told them that he presented them to other churches as an example of the patient, persevering faith that bravely withstands persecution and tribulation, and he carried their minds forward to the time of the second coming of Christ, when the people of God shall rest from all their cares and perplexities. AA 264.2
“‘We ourselves,’ he wrote, ‘glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: . . . and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power. . . . Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power: that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.'” AA 264.3
Both epistles “concluded with a prayer that admidst life’s toils and trials the peace of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ might be their consolation and support.” AA 268.1
(This study is based on Epistles to the Thessalonians and chapter 25, “The Thessalonian Letters” in The Acts of the Apostles (AA), by Ellen G. White.)