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OCTOBER 15
6 And you became followers of us and of the heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even
Lord, having received the word in much afflic- Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
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tion, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you
became examples to all in Macedonia and
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Achaia who believe. For from you the word of
the Lord has sounded forth, not only in 1:6 followers.The Thessalonians had become
Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every third-generation mimics of Christ. Christ is the
place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so first; Paul is the second; and the Thessalonians
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that we do not need to say anything. For they are the third (1 Cor.4:16; 11:1).joy of the Holy
themselves declare concerning us what man- Spirit. Joy in the midst of suffering evidenced
ner of entry we had to you, and how you the reality of their salvation, which included
turned to God from idols to serve the living the indwelling Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19).
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and true God, and to wait for His Son from
DAY 14:Why was Paul writing to the Thessalonians?
Paul had originally traveled 100 miles from Philippi via Amphipolis and Apollonia to
Thessalonica on his second missionary journey (A.D. 50; Acts 16:1–18:22). As his custom was upon
arrival, he sought out the synagogue in which to teach the local Jews the gospel (Acts 17:1,2). On
that occasion, he dialogued with them from the Old Testament concerning Christ’s death and res-
urrection in order to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was truly the promised Messiah (Acts 17:2,3).
Some Jews believed and soon after, Hellenistic proselytes and some wealthy women of the com-
munity also were converted (Acts 17:4).
Because of their effective ministry, the Jews had Paul’s team evicted from the city (Acts
17:5–9),so they went south to evangelize Berea (Acts 17:10).There Paul had a similar experience to
Thessalonica with conversions followed by hostility, so the believers sent Paul away. He headed for
Athens,while Silvanus and Timothy remained in Berea (Acts 17:11–14).They rejoined Paul in Athens
(Acts 17:15,16 with 1 Thess. 3:1), from which Timothy was later dispatched back to Thessalonica
(3:2).Apparently,Silas afterwards traveled from Athens to Philippi while Paul journeyed on alone to
Corinth (Acts 18:1). It was after Timothy and Silvanus rejoined Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:5) that he
wrote 1 Thessalonians in response to Timothy’s good report of the church.
Paul undoubtedly had multiple reasons for writing, all coming out of his supreme concern for
the flock from which he had been separated. Some of Paul’s purposes clearly included: 1) encour-
aging the church (1:2–10); 2) answering false allegations (2:1–12); 3) comforting the persecuted
flock (2:13–16); 4) expressing his joy in their faith (2:17–3:13); 5) reminding them of the importance
of moral purity (4:1–8); 6) condemning the sluggard lifestyle (4:9–12); 7) correcting a wrong under-
standing of prophetic events (4:13–5:11); 8) defusing tensions within the flock (5:12–15); and 9)
exhorting the flock in the basics of Christian living (5:16–22).

OCTOBER 15 And such as are for the captivity, to the
captivity.” ’
3 “And I will appoint over them four forms of
destruction,” says the LORD: “the sword to slay,
Jeremiah 15:1–16:21
the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and
Then the LORD said to me, “Even if Mo- the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
15 ses and Samuel stood before Me, My 4 I will hand them over to trouble, to all king-
mind would not be favorable toward this peo- doms of the earth, because of Manasseh the
ple. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he
forth. And it shall be, if they say to you, did in Jerusalem.
2
‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell
5 “For who will have pity on you,
them, ‘Thus says the LORD:
O Jerusalem?
“Such as are for death, to death; Or who will bemoan you?
And such as are for the sword, to the Or who will turn aside to ask how you
sword; are doing?
And such as are for the famine, to the 6 You have forsaken Me,” says the LORD,
famine; “You have gone backward.

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