The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 20:1-4

1 When thou shalt go forth to war against thine enemies, and shalt see horses and chariots, and people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. 2 And when ye are come near unto the battle, then the Priest shall come forth to speak unto the people, 3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye are come this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, neither fear, nor be amazed, nor a dread of them. 4 For the Lord your God goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, and to save you.

Consider also this day in your study Deuteronomy 7:21, 28:7; 2 Samuel 22:31-33; Psalm 18:30-32

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 18:18-19

18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my Name, I will require it of him.

Study also Isaiah 49:2, 51:16, 59:12; John 1:45; Acts 3:22

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 17:18-20

18 And when he shall sit upon the throne of his Kingdom, then shall he write him this law repeated in a book, by the Priest of the Levites. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep all the words of this Law, and these ordinances to do them: 20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left, but that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel.

Consider also in your heart today
Psalm 119:97-120

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 15:6-11

6 For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, as he hath promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou thyself shalt not borrow, and thou shalt reign over many nations, and they shall not reign over thee. 7 If one of thy brethren with thee be poor within any of thy gates in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: 8 But thou shalt open thine hand unto him, and shalt lend him sufficient for his need which he hath. 9 Beware that there be not a wicked thought in thine heart, to say, The seventh year, the year of freedom is at hand: therefore it grieveth thee to look on thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought, and he cry unto the Lord against thee, so that sin be in thee: 10 Thou shalt give him, and let it not grieve thine heart to give unto him: for because of this the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand to. 

11 Because there shall be ever some poor in the land, therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor in thy land.

Consider also Job 29:12-17; Psalm 41:1; Proverbs 22:9; 2 Corinthians 9:5-7

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapters 13:4, 14:2

4 Ye shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, and shall keep his commandments, and hearken unto his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a precious people unto himself, above all the people that are upon the earth.

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 12:4-5, 7-8, 12, 30-32

4 Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God, 5 But ye shall seek the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of your tribes, to put his Name there, and there to dwell, and thither thou shalt come,

7 And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, both ye, and your households, because the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. 8 Ye shall not do after all these things that we do here this day: that is, every man whatsoever seemeth him good in his own eyes.

12 And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons and your daughters, and your servants, and your maidens, and the Levite that is within your gates: for he hath no part nor inheritance with you.

30 Beware, lest thou be taken in snare after them, after that they be destroyed before thee, and lest thou ask after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods, that I may do so likewise? 31 Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for all abomination, which the Lord hateth, have they done unto their gods: for they have burned both their sons and their daughters with fire to their gods. 32 Therefore whatsoever I command you, take heed you do it: thou shalt put nothing thereto, nor take ought therefrom.

Also meditate upon - Joshua 1:7-9; Proverbs 30:5-6; Amos 3:7; Galatians 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Teach Your Children of the Lord your God

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 11:1-2, 18-21

1 Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God and shalt keep that, which he commandeth to be kept: that is, his ordinances, and his laws and his commandments always. 2 And consider this day (for I speak not to your children, which have neither known nor seen) the chastisements of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm.

18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as a frontlet between your eyes,

19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house, and upon thy gates, 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

Also for today’s study - Proverbs 22:4-6

12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul? That thou keep the commandments of the Lord and his ordinances, which I command thee this day, for thy wealth? 14 Behold, heaven, and the heaven of heavens is the Lord’s thy God, and the earth, with all that therein is. 

17 For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, mighty and terrible, which accepteth no persons, nor taketh reward: 18 Who doeth right unto the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, giving him food and raiment. 19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God: thou shalt serve him, and thou shalt cleave unto him, and shalt swear by his Name. 21 He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 10: 12-14, 17-21

Sunday Sermon

Lights of the World Part 3

By Watchman Nee

Of Jesus' presence in the world it is written that "the darkness overcame it not" (John 1:5 margin). Nowhere in Scripture does it tell us of sin that we are to "overcome" it, but it distinctly says we are to overcome the world. In relation to sin God's word speaks only of deliverance; it is in relation to the world that it speaks of victory. We need deliverance from sin, because God never intended we should have any touch with it; but we do not need, nor should we seek, deliverance from the world, for it is in the purpose of God that we touch it. We are not delivered out of the world, but being born from above, we have victory over it. And we have that victory in the same sense, and with the same unfailing certainty, that light overcame darkness. "This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:4, 5). The key to victory is always our faith relationship with the victorious Son. "Be of good cheer," he said. "I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Only Jesus could make such a claim; and he could do so because he could earlier affirm: "The prince of the world ... hath nothing in me" (John 14:30). It was the first time that anyone on earth had said such a thing. He said it, and he overcame. And through his overcoming the prince of the world was cast out and Jesus began to draw men to himself. And because he said it, we now dare say it too. Because of my new birth, because "whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world," I can be in the same world as my Lord was in, and in the same sense as he was I can be utterly apart from it, a lamp set on a lampstand, giving light to all who enter the house. "As he is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). The Church glorifies God, not by getting out of the world but by radiating his light in it. Heaven is not the place to glorify God; it will be the place to praise him. The place to glorify him is here.

6 Therefore shalt thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, that thou mayest walk in his ways, and fear him.

11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, not keeping his commandments and his laws, and his ordinances, which I command thee this day:

18 But remember the Lord thy God: for it is he which giveth thee power to get substance to establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as appeareth this day.

19 And if thou forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish.

20 As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before you, so ye shall perish, because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.

The Book of Deuteronomy 8: 6, 11, 18-20

Also for meditation;
Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Proverbs 3; Proverbs 4; Proverbs 7; Matthew 4:4

Heavenly Father; I come before you this day, and ask for You to soften the hearts of my fellow citizens and heal my nation. It is we that have turned our faces away from You, and have sought other gods in the way of material objects and instant satisfaction. We have forgotten, or worse have refused to accept Your words as wisdom, but instead have sought the wisdom of men. I pray to You Lord, help us to return to You. Amen

6 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, the Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be a precious people unto himself, above all people that are upon the earth. 7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor chose you, because ye were more in number than any people: for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, the Lord hath brought you out by a mighty hand, and delivered you out of the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt. 9 That thou mayest know, that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy unto them that love him and keep his commandments, even to a thousand generations,
10 And rewardeth them to their face that hate him, to bring them to destruction: he will not defer to reward him that hateth him, to his face. 11 Keep thou therefore the commandments, and the ordinances, and the laws, which I command thee this day to do them.
The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 7:6-11

Additional Scripture upon which one may meditate 
Exodus 3:5, 19:5-6; Leviticus 19:2; Amos 3:2; 1 Peter 2:9

10 Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen, and I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46:10

20 Assemble yourselves, and come: draw near together, ye abject of the Gentiles: they have no knowledge, that set up the wood of their idol, and pray unto a god, that cannot save them.

21 Tell ye and bring them, and let them take counsel together, who hath declared this from the beginning, or hath told it of old? Have not I the Lord? and there is none other God beside me, a just God, and a SAVIOR: there is NONE beside me.

22 Look unto me, and ye shall be saved: all the ends of the earth shall be saved: for I am God, and there is none other.

23 I have sworn by myself: the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That every knee shall bow unto me, and every tongue shall swear by me.

24 Surely he shall say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: he shall come unto him, and all that provoke him shall be ashamed.

25 The whole seed of Israel shall be justified, and glory in the Lord.

Isaiah 45:20-25

12 Beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage:

13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his Name.

17 But ye shall keep diligently the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his ordinances, which he hath commanded thee.

18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that thou mayest prosper, and that thou mayest go in, and possess that good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,

25 Moreover, this shall be our righteousness before the Lord our God, if we take heed to keep all these commandments, as he hath commanded us.

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 6:12-12, 17-18, 25

Additional meditation for today
2 Corinthians 5:15-21

29 Oh that there were such an heart in them to fear me, and to keep all my commandments always: that it might go well with them, and with their children forever.

30 Go, say unto them, Return you into your tents.

31 But stand thou here with me, and I will tell thee all the commandments, and the ordinances, and the laws, which thou shalt teach them: that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

32 Take heed therefore, that ye do as the Lord your God hath commanded you: turn not aside to the right hand nor to the left.

33 But walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may go well with you: and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

2 That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, and keep all his ordinances, and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son all the days of thy life, even that thy days may be prolonged:

3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and take heed to do it, that it may go well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily in the land that floweth with milk and honey, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee.

4 Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is Lord only,

5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6 And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.

7 And thou shalt rehearse them continually unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou tarriest in thine house, and as thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up:

8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9 Also thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house, and upon thy gates.

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 5:29-33; Chapter 6:2-9

Additional Scripture for Meditation 
Proverbs 4

Sunday Sermon

Lights of the World Part 2

By Watchman Nee

 In God himself there is a peace, a profound undisturbedness of spirit, which keeps him untroubled and undistressed in the face of unspeakable conflict and contradiction. "In the world ye have tribulation," Jesus says, but "in me ye may have peace" (John 16:33). How easily we get troubled as soon as something goes wrong! But do we ever pause to consider what went wrong with the great purpose upon which God had set his heart? God, who is light, had an eternal plan. Causing light to shine out of darkness he designed this world to be the arena of that plan. Then Satan, as we know, stepped in to thwart God, so that men came to love darkness rather than light. Yet in spite of that setback, the implications of which we appreciate all too little, God preserves in himself a quite undisturbed peace. It is that peace of God which, Paul tells us, is to garrison our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7). What does "garrison" really mean? It means that my foe has to fight through the armed guard at the gates before he can reach me. Before I can be touched, the garrison itself has first to be overcome. So I dare to be as peaceful as God, for the peace that is keeping God is keeping me. This is something that the world knows nothing about. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you" (John 14:27). How utterly men failed to understand Jesus! Whatever he did was wrong in their eyes, for the light that was in them was darkness. They even dared to identify the Spirit that was in him with Beelzebub the prince of devils. Yet when they accused him of gluttony and drunkenness, what was his response? "Father, I thank thee!" (Matt. 11:19,25). He was unmoved, because in Spirit he abode in the peace of God.  Or recall that last night before his passion. Everything seemed to be going wrong: a friend going out into the night to betray him, another drawing a sword in anger, people going into hiding, or running away naked in their eagerness to escape. In the midst of it all Jesus said to those who had come to take him, "I am he," so peacefully and so quietly that instead of him being nervous it was they who trembled and fell backwards. This was an experience that has been repeated in the martyrs of every age. They could be tortured or burned, but because they possessed his peace, the onlookers could only wonder at their dignity and composure. It is no surprise to us therefore that Paul describes this peace as beyond understanding.

How striking is the contrast Jesus draws between "in the world" where we are to have tribulation, and "in me" where we may have peace. If God has placed us in the one, to be thronged by its pressures and claims and needs, he has placed us also in the Other, to be held by him undisturbed amid it all. Jesus himself once asked, "Who touched me?" The believing touch of one in that Capernaum multitude registered with him. It matched his own heart of compassion, whereas the pressure of the rest crowding upon him had no such effect. All their impatient jostling did not touch him in the least, for there was little in common between them and him. "Not as the world giveth, give I unto you." If our life is the life of men, we are swayed by the world. If it is the life of the Spirit it is unmoved by worldly pressures. "Righteousness and peace and joy": with such things is the kingdom of God concerned. Never let us be drawn away, therefore, into the old realm of "eating and drinking," for it is neither the prescription of these things nor their prohibition that concerns us, but another world altogether. So we who are of the kingdom need not abstain. We overcome the world not by giving up the world's things but by being otherworldly in a positive way: by possessing, that is, a love and a joy and a peace that the world cannot give andthat men sorely need. Far from seeking to avoid the world we need to see how privileged we are to have been placed there by God. "As thou didst send me into the world, even so send I them into the world." What a statement! The Church is Jesus' successor, a divine settlement planted here right in the midst of Satan's territory. It is something that Satan cannot abide, any more than he could abide Jesus himself, and yet it is something that he cannot by any means rid himself of. It is a colony of heaven, an alien intrusion on his territory, and one against which he is utterly powerless. "Children of God," Paul calls us, "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15). God has deliberately placed us in the cosmos to show it up for what it is. We are to expose to the divine light, for all men to see them, its God-defying rebelliousness on the one hand and its hollowness and emptiness on the other.

And our task does not stop there. We are to proclaim to men the good news that, if they will turn to it, that light of God in the face of Jesus Christ will set them free from the world's vain emptiness into the fullness that is his. It is this twofold mission of the Church that accounts for Satan's hatred. There is nothing that goads him so much as the Church's presence in the world. Nothing would please him more than to see its telltale light removed. The Church is a thorn in the side of God's adversary, a constant source of irritation and annoyance to him. We make a heap of trouble for Satan simply by being in the world. So why leave it? "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel" (Mark 16:15). This is the Christian's privilege. It is also his duty. Those who try to opt out of the world only demonstrate that they are still in some degree in bondage to its ways of thinking. We who are "not of it" have no reason at all to try to leave it, for it is where we should be.  So there is no need for us to give up our secular employments. Far from it, for they are our mission field. In this matter there are no secular considerations, only spiritual ones. We do not live our lives in separate compartments, as Christians in the Church and as secular beings the rest of the time. There is not a thing in our profession or in our employment that God intends should be dissociated from our life as his children. Everything we do, be it in field or highway, in shop, factory, kitchen, hospital or school, has spiritual value in terms of the kingdom of Christ. Everything is to be claimed for him. Satan would much prefer to have no Christians in any of these places, for they are decidedly in his way there. He tries therefore to frighten us out of the world, and if he cannot do that, to get us involved in his world system, thinking in its terms, regulating our behavior by its standards. Either would be a triumph for him. But for us to be in the world, yet with all our hopes, all our interests and all our prospects out of the world, that is Satan's defeat and God's glory

29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, at the length, if thou return to the Lord thy God, and be obedient unto his voice, 31 (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them. 32 For inquire now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one end of heaven unto the other, if there came to pass such a great thing as this, or whether any such like thing hath been heard. 35 Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and that there is none but he alone. 36 Out of heaven he made thee hear his voice to instruct thee, and upon earth he showed thee his great fire, and thou heardest his voice out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and hath brought thee out of Egypt in his sight by his mighty power. 39 Understand therefore this day, and consider in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none other. 40 Thou shalt keep therefore his ordinances, and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee forever.

The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 4:29-32, 35-37,39-40

Also for you morning meditation;
Job 8:8-10, 12:20-25

Know that the Lord your God is indeed God. Follow His ways, read, study, and mediate on His words. 

7 For what nation is so great, unto whom the gods come so near unto them, as the Lord our God is, near unto us, in all that we call unto him for? 8 And what nation is so great, that hath ordinances and laws so righteous, as all this Law, which I set before you this day? 9 But take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, that thou forget not the things which thine eyes have seen, and that they depart not out of thine heart, all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons

19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars with all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath distributed to all people under the whole heaven.

The Book of Deuteronomy 4:1-9, 19

Additional meditation today;
Job 31:26-28, 36:21-26; Romans 1:25; Luke 16:13

2 Ye shall put nothing unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye take ought there from, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

The Book of Deuteronomy 4:2

8 But though that we, or an Angel from heaven preach unto you otherwise than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach unto you otherwise than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

The Epistle to the Galatians 1:8-9

18 For I protest unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

The Revelation of John the Apostle 22:18

16 For the whole Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable to teach, to convince, to correct, and to instruct in righteousness,

The Second Epistle to Timothy 3:16

5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield to those that trust in him. 6 Put nothing unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar 

The Book of Proverbs 30:5-6

13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, that when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is indeed the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe. 

The First Epistle to the Thessalonians 2:13

Also for your meditation;
Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4

In order for God’s word to work in you, one must believe that He is. His word is truth and life. It feeds the spirit, the soul.

Sunday Sermon

Lights  in the World (Part 1)

by Watchman Nee

Without fear of challenge Jesus could say: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). His claim does not surprise us in the least. What is surprising, however, is that he should then say to his disciples, and so by implication to us: "Ye are the light of the world" (Matt. 5:14). For he does not exhort us to be that light; he plainly says that we are the world's light, whether we bring our illumination out into places where men can see it, or hide it away from them. The divine life planted in us, which itself is so utterly foreign to the world all around it, is a light source designed to illumine to mankind the world's true character by emphasizing through contrast its inherent darkness. Accordingly Jesus goes on: "Even so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." From this it is clear that to separate ourselves from the world today, and thus deprive it of its only light, in no way glorifies God. It merely thwarts his purpose in us and in mankind.

The career of John the Baptist was rather different. He did in fact withdraw from the world to live austerely in desert places apart, subsisting, we are told, on locusts and wild honey. Men went out there to seek him, for even there he was a burning and a shining light. Yet we are reminded that "he was not that Light." He came only to bear witness to it. His testimony was the last and greatest of an old prophetic order, but it was so because it pointed forward to Jesus. Jesus alone was "the true Light which lighteth every man, coming into the world"; and he certainly "was in the world," not outside of it (John 1:9, 10). Christianity derives from him. God can use a John crying in the wilderness, but he never intended his Church to be a select company living by the principle of abstinence.

We’ve also read how abstinence-"handle not, nor taste, nor touch" was merely one more element in the world system, and as such was itself suspect (Col. 2:21). But we must go a stage further than this, and once again the apostle Paul comes to our help. In Romans 14:17 he shows how the Christian life is something removed al. together from controversy about what we do and what we don't do. "The kingdom of God is not eating.and drinking"-not, that is to say, to be conceived in those terms at all-"but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," which are in a realm wholly different. The Christian lives, and is guided, not by rules specifying just how far he may mix with men, but by these inward qualities which are mediated to him by God's Holy Spirit.

1 For ye yourselves know, brethren, that our entrance in unto you was not in vain, 2 But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated at Philippi, (as ye know) we were bold in our God, to speak unto you the Gospel of God, with much striving. 3 For our exhortation was not by deceit, nor by uncleanness, nor by guile. 4 But as we were allowed of God, that the Gospel should be committed unto us, so we speak, not as they that please men, but God, which approveth our hearts: 5 Neither yet did we ever use flattering words, as ye know, nor colored covetousness, God is record.

The First Epistle to the Thessalonians 2:1-5

Also think upon Acts 5:28; Romans 1:16; Galatians 1:10-12;  2 Timothy 1:11-13

2 We give God thanks always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.

4 Knowing, beloved brethren, that ye are elect of God. 5 For our Gospel was not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know after what manner we were among you for your sakes.

The Epistle to the Thessalonians 1:2, 4-5

Also for your meditation this day; (see notes below)
Matthew 16:13-17; Mark 8:27-30

In the latter scripture we find that Christ tells them to tell no one. In the former, He says to Peter, that the Holy Spirit has revealed to Him only what is truth and such truth could not have come from men. Hence, again the latter scripture the instructions to tell no one, for only the spirit of God can open the eyes to this fact of truth. 

17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them diligently which cause division and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them. 18 For they that are such, serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies, and with fair speech and flattering deceive the hearts of the simple.

The Epistle to the Romans 16:17-18

20 Yea, so I enforced myself to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should have built on another man’s foundation. 21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see him, and they that heard not, shall understand him.

The Epistle to the Romans 14:20-21

Additional Scripture upon which to meditate today;
Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 3:10