Last week we looked at the four phrases Paul used to describe the believers in Thessalonica: Work produced by faith that believes there is a larger purpose to our work. Work produced by faith produces a different kind of work. It is work that is motivated by more than ambition or necessity. Labor prompted by love is work that binds people together. It is work that builds great teams because it values people and not just productivity and accomplishment. Endurance inspired by hope is not just optimism. It is the ability to endure when everything else has been removed, eroded or burned away. It is the rare ability of a leader to…

Paul and Silas spent only three weeks in Thessalonica but he later wrote them at least these two letters. They must have been quite a group of people. The pattern is familiar. Look at Acts 17 for the context. Paul enters a city and heads for the local synagogue to present the Gospel to the Jews. Some Jews believe as do a large number of Greeks – including prominent women. But the Jews who have been hounding Paul along his journey round up some bad characters, form a mob and start a riot accusing Paul of causing trouble all over the world by defying Caesar. It is one of the…

With all that is happening in Ukraine this week it is difficult for me to focus on the assignment this morning. I would much rather go into a rant about Putin and the lunatics in this country who are supporting his invasion of a sovereign country in the vain hopes of recapturing a lost dream of domination and empire. That is what I would like to do but that is not what we are going to do. This morning as our final lesson in Daniel we are going to look at Chapter 9 and the prayer of Daniel. But before we do that we should take time to look back…

For thousands of years we have been curious about the end of the world. Some of the earliest literature in the we have is focused on how the everything will end. For the past 100 years in this country, Bible studies on the end times and Christian fiction have been best sellers. The more dangerous and filled with conflict our lives have become the more these books have increased in sales. The world seems like it is constantly on the eve of destruction. Wars and rumors of wars are good news for book sales about the doom awaiting us. Likely, everyone here read Hal Lindsay’s “The Late Great Planet Earth”…

Four weeks ago we met the young Ezekiel who is called to be a whistleblower and to expose the corruption and degradation of the priests and leaders of those who have been left behind in Jerusalem. Instead of deliverance from Nebuchadnezzar they are going to be overwhelmed by his armies. God has left the Temple and Jerusalem. All that will remain in Jerusalem is what will remain in this world when the Church departs – a world without pity, mercy, justice, hope or pleasure. Only complete delusion. Evil that has been boiling below and ever present in the world will be revealed. What has been hidden will be obvious. In…

With nothing being said, King Nebuchadnezzar has died and his son (or maybe his grandson) has assumed the throne. It’s gone so quickly, hasn’t it? We first met Daniel as a young man only five chapters ago and now here he is at 85. We know almost nothing from history about Belshazzar but what we do know suggests that he was a ruler serving under another ruler named Nabodinus. We don’t know but for the purposes of the story we’ll refer to Belshazzar as the King of Babylon as at the time of this story Nabodinus had just been killed in battle and so Belshazzar may have been giving this…

Last week we looked at some of the common themes in Jewish humor – especially the theme of irony and outwitting the oppressors. There is a German phrase for what we sometimes feel when we read the stories of what happens to those who made life difficult and even life-threatening for Daniel and his friends.  It is “schadenfreude” or rejoicing over the misfortunes of others – especially those we despise. “They got what was coming to them” is how we put it because most of us believe or hope that is how the world works. People eventually get what is coming to them and there is always a certain amount…

This morning I want to look at three humorous stories in the book of  Daniel. When I use the word story I am not talking about fiction. A story is sometimes fiction but it is also the truth arranged in a certain order and told with a beginning, a middle and an end. When Katherine Hankey wrote, “Tell Me the Old, Old Story” she was not saying tell me the old, old fable or myth. She was saying tell me the stories of Jesus; the facts of Jesus.  When I say we are looking at three humorous stories that is not the same as we are going to tell jokes…

After the death of David the throne went to Solomon, the son of Bathsheba. That was not without controversy and division as one of David’s wives, Haggith, wanted her son Adonijah to be next in the line of succession. Nathan the prophet intervened and Solomon was made king. After David’s death Solomon reigns over the greatest days of Israel. Following the death of Solomon there began the long decline that would last for the entire history of the nation of Israel. There was controversy and division about who would be the one to follow him as ruler of the United Kingdom of Israel.  Rehoboam, his son, was declared his successor…

Three weeks ago we met the young Ezekiel who is called to be a whistleblower and to expose the corruption and degradation of the priests and leaders of those who have been left behind in Jerusalem. Instead of deliverance from Nebuchadnezzar they are going to be overwhelmed by his armies. God has left the Temple and Jerusalem. All that will remain in Jerusalem is what will remain in this world when the Church departs – a world without pity, mercy, justice, hope or pleasure. Only complete delusion. Evil that has been boiling below and ever present in the world will be revealed. What has been hidden will be obvious. In…