Gospel of Luke Ch. 2 and 1 Thessalonians Ch. 2

"And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"
"As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, 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 in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."

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Luke 2

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. 22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; 23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) 24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; 37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. 40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. 44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. 48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? 50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. 51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

1 Thessalonians 2

1 For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain: 2 But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. 3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: 4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: 6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.

7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: 8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. 10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:

11 As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, 12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. 13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, 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 in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: 15 Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: 16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. 18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.

19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? 20 For ye are our glory and joy.

Before I responded to you here, now and yesterday, I prayed. I prayed about what to write, and I also prayed for you.

Since you accuse me of sin, I’ll discuss some of the relevant evidence, including some of my life. In any case, the true Supreme Court over all is the Lord, and He is my witness, and no matter how long it takes, I’ll wait for Him to reveal all and make everything right.

You say — tying it to the Bible version question — that I’m self-absorbed and self-righteous. On what evidence, then, do you make that claim?

In response I have to say that no, your charge is untrue, and by the grace of God, He’s made me over time into a faithful assistant good shepherd to THE Good Shepherd. That means helping to care for and caring about His whole flock.

HE made me exceptionally parental in heart and mind for His remnant, whoever they are. Some are even among today’s “disgusting, vile” sinners, as they have yet to repent. They are among all walks of life - - and all races, too. I took a look at some of your other recent comments here.

I take the Lord’s Word seriously, to be a true doer in response to His whole counsel, and not merely a hearer.

He says we’ll be judged for every word (Matthew 12:36), and I believe Him. He describes the early church as walking in both the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:29) and I believe Him.

And I endeavor to properly love my enemies. And to bring forth, from His unmerited love and patience for me, that same love and patience for others, no matter how I find them or feel about them in a human sense. God wants to save them, no matter how unpleasant or contemptible they seem to me.

Like many people think of their sports teams, such as, “We just need to draft him,” or just “trade for this position,” or “fire the coach,” I’m always thinking passionately about how best to serve the Lord in HIS great passion, His RESCUE MISSION to SAVE SOULS. That’s what ALL this is about.

And that’s why, I believe, He suddenly one day a couple of years ago spoke to me AUDIBLY, saying, “Erika, the power is with you.”

In His rebuke of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3, the Lord told them to be zealous and repent so He could dine with them. Abraham prepared a meal for the Lord. Jesus said His food — meat in the KJV — was to do His Father’s will, and He instituted a supper that points ahead to Heavenly eating with satisfaction.

In the Lord’s teaching — all of it — and correction, He teaches us how to make pleasing spiritual meals - - ones that He will be pleased to eat with us. The Lord wants to save us from our sinful, selfish self-destructiveness, which would have us serve up terrible meals to God and other people, as much as we could get away with, and then have to “reap what we sow” and have to eat those terrible meals ourselves in Hell. He suffers patiently to try to convince us to prepare our meals like He does, so we can enjoy incredibly pleasant meals with Him in Heaven.

But these times are so perilous, with so much rebellion against the Lord, and so much not caring by many people about the spiritual meals they’re preparing, what is likely now to come forth in correction, because the Lord will allow it? The loss of meat eating, and perhaps other foods as well. And instead, the eating of bugs and “lab-grown” artificial food. That is a warning.

I had to come a long way out of the deceptions of the world, including lesbianism and secular intellectualism, but the Lord gave me the strength to keep following Him. And I’ve been willing to eat endless humble pie, to suffer if need be for correction or to advance His Kingdom, and held back nothing from Him. Everything has been on the table, and I gave Him permission to do whatever it takes in my life for His will to be done. I’ve been willing to suffer worldly loss or to stay in suffering for the sake of being faithful to Him. I also renounced the devil and all his works, because he has deeply infiltrated so much of life today.

In Ephesians 5 we’re instructed to imitate God and understand His will, and that’s what I strive to do. I want to be in agreement with Him, and I will let Him change me, whatever it takes, for Him to do so.

I have to bear witness to all that God, out of His grace, has given me, and thank Him.

He blessed me with me faith and a good amount of understanding, so that I know and believe that one thing in life matters above all else — being truly reconciled to God through His Son. That is the one thing that has to be sincerely tested in every way that God instructs us to in His Word.

And God is my witness how I’ve followed Him since I was young, and though I had to come out of much sin and confusion, I kept taking His correction and choosing Him even when it meant worldly loss.

God has used it for my good, but I’ve had a lot against me in my life. My circumstances starting out as an adult were such that I might have put seeking His Kingdom second behind securing a successful life in this world.

My parents were abusive and isolated us. My father died when I was a teen, leaving us destitute. My parents weren’t close to their families, and though we got dozens of sympathy cards because my father was friendly with many, my parents also had no close friends. So we had no support. We were preyed upon by auto mechanics. I had no one to “show me the ropes.” I ended up in financial trouble after college - despite finishing with little debt - because I moved into an apartment I couldn’t afford and it set me up for further problems.

My landlord at the time was a manager at a restaurant I was working at, and a gay man. I was living in a rental with my family and hadn’t even considered moving out yet, and my family wasn’t considering moving. But out of the blue one day, this manager suggested that maybe my family would like to rent his empty apartment. And that was unethical of him, to bring his business into work that way, but as a young person, the idea was exciting to me. Within a day, I’d seen the place, my family had decided to rent it, and then my family changed their minds, so it was just me taking a place with 2 and 1/2 bedrooms that I really couldn’t afford. Within a few days I regretted it, but I had no one to help me get out of it. I didn’t even have a lease, and I paid a month’s rent before I reluctantly went to live there.

My mother just wasn’t there. She had a serious mental health diagnosis, and wasn’t competent, but she was often destructive. When I said to her once that it was natural for parents to want to help their children to succeed in life, she said, Well, you are half your father.

She had, I believe, something to do with me becoming overweight as a child, so I was bullied in school. And I also had an undiagnosed hormonal problem, so I ended up, as a woman, much less feminine looking than average. So I didn’t have a typical adolescence, but far worse to me at the time, I didn’t have the attractiveness of youth to make people desire my company in order to help me get jobs and “climb the career ladder.”More than anything, then, I wanted desperately just to have a secure living, just to feel like I had the essentials. And God is my witness how hard I was willing and did work for that.

And I loved the Lord and always strove to make the most of all I had to work with. I believed in being as positive as possible.

I could have really used a mentor or two. I had a college art instructor, a lesbian, who praised my work and really liked me. She even likely wanted a relationship, but I just wanted a mentor. And she mentored me like a friend through several classes, until I included Psalm 23 in a project. She was furious. I reminded her that she’d said that she wished someone would include religion in a project. I just hadn’t realized she’d meant a project critical of religion. She even denied saying it until she suddenly seemed to remember. And that ended our mentoring relationship. From then, she was cold and distant. And despite really needing an advocate mentor like her, I didn’t even consider walking back my faith in the Lord for the sake of her “forgiving” me.

I also could have used friendly advocates in jobs I did have. In one related to my major, English, my superior turned out to love a TV show that was new at the time — South Park. She enthusiastically described it, but it sounded Satanic to me. She even recorded it since it wasn’t yet on the cable system most people had, and then had us watch it one day. For the sake of career success, I was tempted to pretend to like it and talk it up, but instead, to be as faithful to the Lord as I was able, I excused myself to do an errand and said nothing about it. And that lack of enthusiasm for it did hurt me with her at this newer, small company that was chaotic. Many things were just made up on the fly, and the management played a hardball that I wasn’t used to as a young person.

Just several years ago, I was working at a call center for a mail order pharmacy. I was, and still am, experiencing some physical problems that really affected my ability to work, so I wasn’t there long. But the place was a mess. They kept training classes of employees over two months, and I’d say 75% quit by the time they were on their own taking live calls. I was a lowly call taker.

But the Lord blessed me with a lot of intelligence, especially for troubleshooting, and I saw why people kept quitting and what some of the remedies could be. I thought about offering to be a contractor or something to help them improve, but the Lord wouldn’t allow me to, and He made it so my physical and other problems were so difficult that I couldn’t keep working there even as a call taker. I’ve known that the Lord has reserved for His spiritual purposes some of the things He’s equipped me with. In a split second, He could solve all earthly problems, of everyone. But then the real problem, our spiritual problems, wouldn’t be solved.

Looking back, I know that I’ve made thousands upon thousands of decisions to stay faithful to the Lord, and that’s even though I’ve been heavily pressed and tempted by worldly problems, and overall not understood or embraced by the church. And while, up to now, the Bible-believing churches have held to the fundamentals, in practice they haven’t been where they were 100 or 50 years ago. It’s made it hard to work with them as the Lord has equipped me. I’ve not been in one yet that’s prayed for the persecuted from the pulpit, but sports games are often mentioned, with passion. And I don’t think the church has grasped how displeasing the worldliness is to Him.

He especially gifted me intelligence, and I know that, again, if I’d simply put worldly success and security ahead of “seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,” I most likely would be, in worldly terms, “well off” right now, at the least.

Instead I haven’t had financial security since 1987, and I’ve been homeless several times. Many difficult experiences, but He has had purposes for them, and there was probably no better way for Him to grow and develop my faith in Him, and for Him to accomplish some other things.

So I’ve only touched on some things from my life here, but once again, I’m dedicated to the Lord and have been for a long time. He equipped me to provide some help to the remnant of faithful that exists at this time, even while having little acceptance from the church, and that help is not according to my own knowledge, understanding or sight, but His. He’s the one who really knows, understands and sees all, and I feel so very blessed just to work under His divine direction.

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