The FIRST LETTER of PAUL to the THESSALONIANS Chapter 3

The First Letter of Paul to the  

THESSALONIANS

Chapter Three

1 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 

2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 

3 that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 

4 For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. 

5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

Timothy's Encouraging Report

6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 

7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 

8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 

9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 

10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 

13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

The FIRST LETTER of PAUL to the THESSALONIANS Chapter 2

The First Letter of Paul to the  

THESSALONIANS

Chapter Two

Paul's Ministry to the Thessalonians

1 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 

2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. 

3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, 

4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 

5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. 

6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. 

7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 

8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 

11 For you know how, like a father with his children, 

12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 

14 For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, 

15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 

16 by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!

Paul's Longing to See Them Again

17 But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavoured the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, 

18 because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. 

19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 

20 For you are our glory and joy.

LHC - JUNE READINGS

The FIRST LETTER of PAUL to the THESSALONIANS Chapter 1

The First Letter of Paul to the 

THESSALONIANS

Chapter One

Greeting

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father 

and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

The Thessalonians' Faith and Example

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 

3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 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 proved to be among you for your sake. 

6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 

7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 

8 For not only has 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. 

9 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, 

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

an overview of 1 Thessalonians  by Bible Project 

https://youtu.be/No7Nq6IX23c

A Letter to the HEBREWS Chapter13

The Letter to the HEBREWS 

Chapter Thirteen

Sacrifices Pleasing to God

1 Let brotherly love continue. 

2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 

3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 

4 Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

6 So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;

    I will not fear;

what can man do to me?”

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 

9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 

10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 

12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 

13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 

16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honourably in all things. 

19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

Benediction

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 

21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

22 I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 

23 You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. 

24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. 

25 Grace be with all of you.

A Letter to the HEBREWS Chapter12

The Letter to the HEBREWS 

Chapter Twelve

Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 

2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do Not Grow Weary

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 

4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 

5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

    nor be weary when reproved by him.

6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

    and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 

8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 

9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 

13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 

15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 

16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 

17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 

19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 

20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 

21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 

23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 

24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 

26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 

27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 

29 for our God is a consuming fire.

PSALM 66

Psalm 66

How Awesome Are Your Deeds

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

1 

Shout for joy to God, all the earth;

2 

    sing the glory of his name;

    give to him glorious praise!

3 

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

    So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

4 

All the earth worships you

    and sings praises to you;

    they sing praises to your name.” Selah

5 

Come and see what God has done:

    he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.

6 

He turned the sea into dry land;

    they passed through the river on foot.

There did we rejoice in him,

7 

    who rules by his might forever,

whose eyes keep watch on the nations—

    let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah

8 

Bless our God, O peoples;

    let the sound of his praise be heard,

9 

who has kept our soul among the living

    and has not let our feet slip.

10 

For you, O God, have tested us;

    you have tried us as silver is tried.

11 

You brought us into the net;

    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

12 

you let men ride over our heads;

    we went through fire and through water;

yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

13 

I will come into your house with burnt offerings;

    I will perform my vows to you,

14 

that which my lips uttered

    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

15 

I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,

    with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;

I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah

16 

Come and hear, all you who fear God,

    and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

17 

I cried to him with my mouth,

    and high praise was on my tongue.

18 

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,

    the Lord would not have listened.

19 

But truly God has listened;

    he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

20 

Blessed be God,

    because he has not rejected my prayer

    or removed his steadfast love from me!

-=-=-=-=-=-

Psalm 66 · Ian White

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uXCAQoztM