WE ARE TRUE NORTH CHURCH
A NON-DENOMINATIONAL CHURCH IN PITTSBURGH, PA
SERVING THE NORTH HILLS AND SURROUNDING AREAS

Hosea the man and Hosea, the book. Hosea the man wrote about the life that God commanded him to live. The book of Hosea is the story of a man’s obedience to God, a sacrificial obedience that illustrated both Israel’s disobedience and God’s steadfast love for his people. But...would you obey if God told you to marry the town harlot? That was what Hosea had to do, as a way of illustrating the behavior of the nation of Israel.

Did you know that many of the Psalms are connected? They may have been written by the same author or refer to the same event. Psalms 3 and 4 are one such pair. Others are Psalms 1 and 2, 18 through 21, 42 and 42, and 118 and 119. Some psalm are theologically paired while others are companions that tell a story.

The two letters to the church at Thessalonica were an address to the local church and touch on issues that still apply to the church today: evangelism, ethics, fellowship, worship, obedience, hope. There is a message for pastors about serving their church with the gospel in the first letter.

So many people begin their reading of the Bible with great intentions and they start with Genesis. I’m glad that the Year 1 PATH Journal began in John, to get us into the good habit of SOAP journaling and Bible reading. People sometimes avoid the Old Testament, thinking that it is not relevant to us today or too intimidating to read. Do not be afraid of the Old Testament; it is filled with exciting and beautiful stories of God’s people...

In Part 1 of the blog on Luke, I told you that Luke was written for a predominantly Gentile audience. How does this gospel narrative do that? I’m glad you asked! Along the way, I have some more interesting information about this gospel.

Year 2 begins with the gospel of Luke. He is not identified by name in the gospel, but was well known by early believers. Acts 27:1- 28:15 places the author in Rome along with the apostle Paul. Luke was not an apostle nor did he witness to the gospel events; however, being a companion of Paul, who was an apostle of Jesus, gave him direct access to source material. Both his gospel and the book of Acts were written in letter form to Theophilus.

Year 1 begins with the gospel of John. Wait- we don’t start with Genesis? Don’t worry...Genesis is the next book. John is an excellent starting place because it is an evangelistic book- John wrote this book to persuade people to come to a saving belief in Jesus. I have personally done in-depth Bible studies of John several times and have seen and learned something new every time.

Romans is Paul’s longest letter, written around AD 57. There is no question of authorship, as Paul identifies himself as the writer in his greeting (Romans. 1:1-7). Paul had a secretary named Tertius who did the actually writing (Rom. 16:22 I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.), which was customary in a time when writing was done with scarce resources. We think nothing of writing something and re-writing it as we edit, because we don’t have to write on pap