Good afternoon friends, I am writing this on a Saturday.  So I want to take a moment and remind us that worship is not confined to 9 o'clock on Sunday morning.  We are to prepare all week long for our time together on Sundays.  Reading the Word and prayer are two of the external means of sanctification according to WCF Chapter 13.  How did the Sprit prepare Mary to sing such a song?  Daily study of the OT where there were other inspired songs. Blessings, Jeff I am struck by the use of songs in response to what God has done or promises to do throughout the Bible.  The psalms are all songs.  Hannah's prayer when  Samuel was given to the Lord is similar to Mary's song. Moses' song after Egyptians drown in the Red Sea.   These are all inspired songs. So I wonder why it is that we want to come up with new songs not based on these inspired ones. His mercy is for those who fear him.  Therefore, there is no mercy for those who do not fear h...

Good evening friends, Today we look at a passage that appears to conflict with other passages.  "The day of the Lord" is good news for some and bad news for others.  The question is which is it for you. Blessings Jeff Wait a minute.  When we pray "Your kingdom come", one of the things we are praying is that the kingdom of glory would be hastened.  Aren't we supposed to be eagerly awaiting Christ's return?  But Amos seems to be discouraging such thinking.  So let's try to resolve this apparent conflict.   First, it can only be an apparent conflict.  Because we know that all scripture is God breathed, it cannot say one thing in one place and contradict it some place else. Let us think about the audience of Amos.  He is in the time of Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom.  They have been idolaters since the kingdoms divided.  And yet they think that they will be delivered in the day of the Lord.  All their enemies will be vanq...

Good afternoon brothers and sisters, People usually think of Numbers as the book with all the names in it.  But it is hard to top 1 Chronicles.  Heritage is a big deal in Jewish thought.  Author looks back about 500 years and lists names of people that lived way back then.  Some of us who are interested in genealogy might be able to go back that far, but I think is is pretty rare.  The sons of Israel are real historical figures, not just legends. Blessings, Jeff From Reformation Study Bible notes:  The majority of interpreters have dated Chronicles during or shortly after the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah, in the latter half of the fifth century or the early decades of the fourth century B.C. It is reasonable to locate the book during the period from about the time of Zerubbabel to soon after the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah. The major themes of the book fit well within these boundaries (between 515 and 400 B.C.). So the beginnings of Jewish history in...

Good afternoon fellow travellers, We have all seen the credit card commercial that asks "What's in your wallet?".  Today's passage is focused on what was in Israel's stronghold. Blessings, Jeff Observations At God's direction, Amos invites Egypt and Philistines to gather on the mountains of Samaria (aka Israel) to observe the oppressed in her. The Lord's own statement - they do not know how to do right.  They store up violence and robbery in the their strongholds. Thoughts Of all the things to store in a stronghold, violence and robbery are the strangest things I have heard of.  For example I have important documents in a fireproof lock box.  Things I don't want to loose.  I always know where to look for them. Safe deposit boxes are a step above a safe in the house. Then we think of the gold in Fort Knox.  While we aren't on the gold standard, we still have a lot of gold in storage. The castles of Europe.  The center of military might and defending...

Dear true companions I hope all is well with you on this hot summer day.  Generally, I try not to speculate too much, but I did today.  We can know the words of correct doctrine in this case Christology, but sometimes we need to think about how the doctrine works is real life.  Put it into our own words. Blessings, Jeff Have you ever thought about the implications of the "two natures in one person" aspect of Christ.  Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 8 deals with Christ the Mediator.  In part, section 2 states "So that two whole, perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion."  In other words, Jesus' human nature did not share any attributes of the divine nature.  Jesus human nature was not all knowing, all present and all powerful.  These are attributes of His divine nature.  So Jesus human nature" grew up" just like every other p...

Good afternoon friends, Here we are at the end of Kings already  We have gone from Saul  with his infidelity from almost the first day, through David and Solomon to a divided kingdom.  Ending with Israel dispersed and Judah in captivity.  Yet God is faithful to his promises. Blessings, Jeff Observations and thoughts Jehoiachin means Jehovah establishes.  He was king for 3 months and 10 days.  Rather ironic. Can you imagine spending 37 years in prison as a conquered king?  Not just exile but imprisoner.d.  Many of the other kings of Judah did not reign this long.  To live a long time in prison instead of reigning as king.  Did he wake up every day and bemoan the folly of his ancestors?  In a way, he was paying the penalty for all their folly and idolatry. He was graciously freed by the king of Babylon.  There was no reason for him to do this.  We hear or prisoners being released early because of good behavior.  But the...

Here is a catch up devotion.  'Trying to do two on Sundays as part of "spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship"  WSC question 60. Blessings  Jeff Joel ends his short prophecy with a description of the glorious future of Judah.  Exile is just around the corner, but Joel sees far into the future.  Makes me wonder, what is going to change in Judah to bring about this glorious future?  After all, Judah has been unsuccessful over their 344 year history at remaining faithful to God.  They are going to go into exile.  How is that going to make them any more faithful?  If they weren't faithful with Jerusalem and the temple, how is being in a foreign land and no temple going to help them? Isn't it interesting that Peter quotes an earlier section of Joel in Acts 2 as the explanation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost?  The fulfilment is not in the return from exile and a restored Judah but begin...

Dear Friends, Hope you have had a blessed Sabbath.  After writing this devotional, I was thinking about understanding our place in history.  Josiah knew that the end was in sight because God told him through a prophetess.  Many of the major events in history are portrayed as a complete surprise.  But there are people who understand the times and can figure out what is coming down the road.  Churchill knew that Germany was going to war before the shooting started.  But no one would listen.  I think God calls the Church to be faithful regardless of what is happening in the  world. Blessings Jeff The last good king of Judah.  Even though God has decreed exile, Josiah still carries out major reforms.  But judgment will come after Josiah has died. What does this teach us? Some thoughts: Impending judgment is never a reason to stop following God.  It would be easy to take the "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die" perspective....

Good afternoon fellow soldiers, There is a lot that can be said about the word.  I hope this short devotional will help to encourage you as you get close to the end of this years journey.  Even if you are behind schedule, know that every minute in the Word is beneficial to your walk with Jesus. Blessings, Jeff Not  only is scripture God breathed 2 Tim 3:16 it is also alive.  A pastor I know of once commented that you don't have to believe that a sword is sharp in order for it to cut you.  One of his methods of evangelism was just to get non-Christians to read the Bible.  They don't have to believe that it is inspired or alive in order for the Spirit to use it to divide the thoughts and intents of the heart.  This is one of the reasons I issued the current challenge to read through the Bible in a year.  Chapter 15 of The Westminster Confession of Faith is Of Sanctification.  The exposition states that the Word read and preached is one of the e...

Good morning sisters and brothers, We say goodbye to Hosea for another year.  While he is a "minor" prophet, there is nothing "minor" in what he says.  The last prophet to the northern kingdom before dispersion.  Yet God is still calling them to return to Him.  May we hear this call as well. Blessings, Jeff Here is another example of God asking a rhetorical question.  This time it is to Ephraim, the tribe that represents the northern kingdom.  Remember that Joseph was Jacob's favorite son and Joseph is replaced by his sons Ephraim and Manasseh who were born to him while he was in Egypt.  So Joseph has a double portion with the nation of Israel.  By the way, Ephraim means "doubly fruitful."  I don't recall ever commenting on the "federal" or representative theme in God's relationship with man.  Adam represents all mankind in the garden.  What Adam does, all subsequent man have also done.  This is Paul's argument in Romans. ...

Good afternoon friends, Westminster Shorter Catechism question 39. What is the duty God requires of man? Answer the duty God requires of man is obedience to His revealed will.  God's revealed will is the moral law.  Adam had one law - don't eat from that tree.  He failed.  Moses gave Israel the ten commandments which they generally failed to do.  But these failures were still part of God's sovereign will.  Man can fail to obey the moral law, but he cannot get outside of God's sovereign will.  Glory by to God. Blessings, Jeff Another interesting episode in the life of Hezekiah.  A predecessor of Nebuchadnezzar sends envoys to Hezekiah because his illness had been reported all the way to Babylon.  Hezekiah tries to impress the envoys by showing all his riches.   Solomon had done much the same when the queen of Sheba came for a visit.  So he had some president for his actions. David had sent envoys to a neighboring kingdom when th...

Good afternoon fellow pilgrims, Have you used one of those scanners at Stop and Shop and had an audit.  They periodically check that users have actually scanned everything in their cart.  I usually get one when I have just a few items.  I think it is because I go once a week and have a pretty full cart and a few items is out of the norm.  Anyway, when I got done the other day and I was putting bags in the car, I looked at some of the last things and couldn't remember scanning them.  I checked the receipt and sure enough I had missed them.  Took those things back and did the right thing.   So business is all about trust.  Does the business trust the customer not to steal and does the customer trust the business to charge a fair price.  Today's devotional has this same theme. Blessings, Jeff The relationship between ethics and righteousness from two perspectives. On one side, a merchant who uses false balances loves to oppress his customer...

Good morning friends, Reading "The Rare Jewel of Contentment" this morning.  Burroughs makes the point that the covenant God makes with his people through Christ should be the source of our contentment.  But as I thought about this, it seems that we don't remember that covenants are one of the ways God makes himself known.  So I hope these observations help you to think more about covenants. Blessings, Jeff Observations: The Lord swore to David a sure oath. What other type of oath would God use?  The character of the person taking an oath is key.  The word of an untrustworthy person is not worth much.  Because man is fallen, even the most trustworthy person may have ulterior motives.  But God is unchangeable.  There is no variation or shadow due to change. The Lord is the initiator.  Remember that when David wanted to build a house for the Lord, God prohibited him from doing this but made this oath to David.  David did not request the pr...

Good evening fellow sojourners Listened to another Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon on Romans 8 last week.  He pointed out that the motivation for holiness should be what sin does to God and not what it does to us.  I  quench the Spirit when I sin.  It is an affront to God.  I am to put to death the deeds of the body so that I do not offend Him, not because of any negative consequence to me personally.  Today's passage is an example. Blessings, Jeff The sad summary of northern kingdom's entire existence. How can author say that people did things in secret against the Lord that were not right?  Certainly they may have thought that God did not see what they were doing.  But the testimony of scripture is clear that God sees all things and is much displeased with the sin of having other gods.  And God sent prophets galore to warn them. When there are pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and every green tree, these are very public acts.  It ...

Making up for one day. When I picked this verse back on the 4th of July, I really didn't have any particular reason other than I had written thoughts on most of the rest of the chapter in previous year's readings.  So this was just something that I hadn't written on before.  But now that I have written it, the applicability to "Independence Day" seems to be clearer.  Israel was well on their road to ruin.  But they still had kings and some degree of freedom.  Hosea may well have been speaking of current loss of benefit and not future. Blessings, Jeff Part of the description of the Lord's punishment of Israel. He was a prophet to Israel at the time of Jeroboam II, the 3rd son of Jehu as we saw in yesterday's devotional.  In reality, the northern kingdom had abandoned proper sacrifices from the beginning.  Because Jeroboam I was afraid that Israel would want to go back to Jerusalem to comply with laws, he made two calves to replace temple worship. All th...

Good afternoon friends, It was good to be back in church this morning.  The drive back from Wisconsin was tiring and I just didn't have energy to write the last 3 days.  So I have more catching up to do. Some thoughts on how God fulfills his promise to Jehu. Blessings Jeff Review of the promise to Jehu.  And the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” 31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin. 2 Kings 10:30-31 While Jehu got off to a good start (executed Ahab's descendants and wife Jesebel, and the prophets of Baal) God's promise is not based on future performance.  If your sons walk in my ways, they will sit on your throne.  Jehu gets 4 generati...

Dearest friends, As we get ready to depart Madison for home today, I was struck by Paul's preparation for departure for heaven.  If the Lord wills, we will live and see you soon.  But if not, I can think of no better way for a "last letter." Blessings Jeff Contentment - To most people, being executed after years of keeping the faith is not exactly finishing the race in first place.  Most would wonder if God really cared and if it had all been worthwhile.  Paul has much to say in other letters about being content, but to be content at the end is truly amazing.   The key is that eternity with Christ was better than any earthly success or reward. The reality is that "the time of departure" for each believer is closer each day.  Running the race, keeping the faith, fighting the good fight are all that matters.  Not possessions, power or position. Jeremiah Burroughs wrote "The Rare Jewel of Contentment".  One of the things he points out is that a ...

Good morning fellow travelers, We start our travels back to Connecticut tomorrow.  We are nearing the end of our travels through the Bible for this year.  This passage reminds us that God's plan of salvation is not merely obeying ritual, even ritual that He has established. Blessings, Jeff Theme of this chapter is that both kingdoms are unrepentant.  Recall that Hosea is last prophet before Israel is dispersed, many years before Judah goes into exile.  We know that all the kings of Israel were bad.  Some were worse than others, but all of them walked in the ways of Jeroboam (first king after the split) who made Israel sin.  Judah on the other hand has some good kings and some bad kings.   So what I find interesting is that from God's perspective both are essentially equally guilty and in need of repentance.  I think v6 is key.  God desires steadfast love and knowledge of Him.  Both kingdoms failed in this.  Judah maintained sac...

Good morning fellow pilgrims, I've been working on memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  This started about this time last year when I was working on the sermons on prayer.  Luther prayed the ten commandments.  So I thought memorizing Exodus 20 and WSC questions on the commandments would be helpful in framing prayer.  Any way, question 39 is What is the duty which God requires of man?  Answer The duty which God requires of man is obedience to his revealed will.  In today's passage, one character is in revolt against God's revealed will in several ways and another character is obedient in face of great opposition.  Yet both are following God's sovereign will. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessings, Jeff Observations and thoughts The final appeal of an illegitimate ruler is to accuse followers of the legitimate ruler of treason.  Athaliah must have known that she was done for when the people were celebrating resto...

Good afternoon friends, I wonder what Hosea would say to the health and wealth preachers.  Is marrying a prostitute "my best life now"?  This faithful man living in the midst of an unfaithful people who is called to give them a graphic picture of their infidelity.  God will punish but He will also restore in fulfilling the promise of Genesis 3:15. Blessings, Jeff I chose this group of verses because Hosea's 3 children by Gomer (his wife of whoredom) were Jezreel (son - means God will sow ), No Mercy (daughter) and Not my people (son).  Can you imagine Hosea going around town and telling his friends and neighbors about his children.  We think of naming children after parents or grandparents or a famous person.  God tells him the names for his children.  Everybody around him would know who and what his wife was, and why the children had these names.  He could not escape the message that his family circumstances sent to the people around him. ...

One more for today and again related to Jonathan's sermon of 7/11/21. Blessings, Jeff The wonder of God's word.  Says the same thing over and over in different ways.  In regards to suffering, some times it is a passage like John 9 with a concrete example.  But this passage also gives the same answer from a poet's point of view. Psalmist has experienced affliction even though he knows God's rules are righteous and that He is faithful.  Confronts the reality of suffering. Comfort comes from God's steadfast love.  God has revealed his holiness but also steadfast love.  The affliction is not a covering for sin, that is through Christ alone.  As with the man born blind, the psalmist's affliction is so that God's work may be displayed in him. God is a covenantal God.  He makes promises that His people can rely upon.  The only way for people to know of this attribute is through God's self revelation in scripture.  This is not a baseless wish th...

Trying to catch up a little bit.  Spending our last Sunday in Madison.  Another example of picking a passage weeks ago and having it relate to the sermon of the day. Blessings, Jeff Several questions jump out of this passage. Why does Elisha go to the capital of Israel's enemy? Why does the king of Syria think Elisha can answer his question?  What difference does it who is the king of Syria make in redemptive history? Possible answers: The Syrian army has just fled for their lives from a non-existent physical opponent.  What do they say to the king when they show up in Damascus and there is no army following them?  There are no casualties, no  one is injured.  Maybe they said, It was the God of Israel who threw us into confusion and chaos.   King of Syria had sent Naaman to Israel to be healed and he came back healed.  Syrian army had been sent to capture Elisha, they were temporarily blinded, captured by Israel and then sent home. ...

Good morning friends, As Hebrews 1 tells us, in the past, God spoke at many times and many ways.  Daniel is certainly a prime example.  He had visions of future events and here he has an angelic visitation where the angel gives a verbal description of the future.  But Daniel knew that he was receiving revelation from God and faithfully recorded what he heard. Blessings, Jeff This is one of those times when chapters can make it harder to understand what is going on.  Daniel has two visions, one under Belshazzar (chapter 9) and the under Cyrus (Chapter 10 and 11) who would start the return of the exiles to Judah.  However chapter 11 starts by talking about Darius who was king before Cyrus.  Also, trying to keep the cast of characters straight.  The "me" refers to "the man dressed in linen" from 10:5.  It would be easy to think it meant Daniel as he is the human author or archangel Michael as he is the last named being in previous verse.  But ne...

Good morning friends, Managed to miss getting this finished yesterday.    As you may know, I worked at Millstone Nuclear Power station.  Back in the mid 90's, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shut us down due to nuclear safety concerns.  A plant manager once said "If I wanted loyalty, I would buy a dog".  You can imagine how this made employees feel.  The owner at the time, Northeast Utilities, refused to listen to employee concerns.  There were many technical issues, but the NRC lost confidence in the company to address safety issues.  Yet the leaders of the company refused to fire themselves and put new management in place.  I thought about this as I was writing this devotional.  What is your trouble?  You are, O king. Blessings, Jeff Observations: The king asks a question that unmasks condition of his heart.  What is your problem?  Why don't you just look around and see the miserable condition of the city.   ...

Good morning beloved, If God wills we will live and be on our way home a week from today,  Some wise men have said that context matters.  The passage for today certainly proves that point. Blessings, Jeff So what does the way women dress have to do with prayer?  This chapter is about all Christians (men and women) praying for all people.  So this is not a male chauvinist giving his opinion of women's fashions.  It really is a remarkable statement about complementary role of the sexes in prayer.  Many sceptics point to passages like this and accuse Christians of oppressing women.  But nothing could be further from the truth. Context Contrast between Church and pagan culture. In Roman world, women were generally no better than slaves.  But Paul sees women as having a vital part in the spiritual discipline of prayer.  We know that this is the case because v8 looks at men's role and v9 at women's role.  If Paul thought that only men were to ...

Good morning brothers and sisters, One of the things that makes me confident that the Bible is true is the impact revelation had on the men who received it.  No one would sign up for this task.  And no one would keep going without the life changing impact of having received some part of God's self revelation.  Daniel is a prime example. Blessings, Jeff After all that he has experienced personally and interpreted for others, Daniel's visions of the future utterly undoes him.  When Gabriel appears and comes near him, Daniel falls on his face.  Then when Gabriel speaks to him, he falls into a deep sleep with his face to the ground.  Then Gabriel touches him and makes him stand up.   If the person who has the vision accurately records it, seeks to understand it, has an angelic visitation to "make this man understand", gets the explanation and accurately records that as well, but at the end still does not understand, how are we to claim to understand i...

Good morning friends, We are familiar with the Christmas carol, "We three kings"  So to celebrate Christmas in July, we have a different group of three kings who find themselves out of water in a wilderness.  These guys are not following a star or looking for a savior.  They are out doing what seems right in their own eyes. Blessings, Jeff Observations You would think the Jehoshaphat would have learned his lesson.  He made an alliance with Ahab that almost got him killed.  Ahab disguised himself so the Syrians thought Jehoshaphat was the king of Israel and initially went after him.  But now here is in alliance with Ahab's second son, Jehoram, which means "Jehovah is exalted". Consulting a prophet of the Lord regarding battle plans is a last resort.  Jehoram decided to march through the wilderness of Edom to put down the revolt of the king of Moab.  After a "circuitous seven days march" they find themselves out of water.  Maybe that is why it ...

Good afternoon friends, A few thoughts about Daniel at toward the end of his career as a prophet and as a political leader. Blessings, Jeff A new king from a new empire but Daniel is still at the top.  Darius the Mede wipes out the Babylonian empire, but keeps Daniel as an advisor.  The Jewish captive of Nebuchadnezzar outlives the empire that took Judah captive.  He immediately becomes a respected leader within the new Median regime.  Perhaps the story of the handwriting on the wall got the attention of Darius.  The evidence of an "excellent spirit."  Daniel had demonstrated that he was not afraid to speak truth to a king.  A wise king would see the value in this trait.  Being surrounded by 'yes men" who would not warn of the dangers of a course of action can be fatal. From Daniel's perspective, after a life of God's proven record of providing for him, not much can distract him from obedience to God.  Being a top official does not go to his ...

Happy Independence Day While we celebrate the day the founders declared independence, we didn't really become independent until Yorktown.  Even then, the British were not really willing to let us go.  That is why we had to do it again in War of 1812.  Glenda and I were watching a show about "how the states got their shapes".  This episode was about how "mother nature" impacted the shape of states.  Did you know that just after the British burnt the capitol and the White House, a tornado swept through DC and the British promptly left town.  Sounds like divine intervention to me.   It was for freedom, that Christ set us free.  You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Blessings, Jeff I don't know if this is this is most quoted verse of the most quoted psalm in New Testament, but it has to be close. Some observations:  The LORD - YHWH, the I AM.  my Lord - Adon, sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine): — lord, mast...

Here we are at the end of 1 Kings already. Today we look at a series of events that some might say proves that there are random arrows and therefore God is not in control of whatsoever comes to pass.  But closer look shows otherwise. Blessings, Jeff I love passages like this that make God's sovereignty seem problematic.  Right here a certain unnamed man in the Syrian army drew his bow at random and the arrow just happened to find the open spot between scale armor and breastplate to deliver a mortal wound to Ahab.  Isn't this saying that God was not in control of the soldier, the bow, the arrow, the armor and Ahab.  Apparently, It all happened by accident. But then we read "they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken"   While it is true that none of the players in this drama knew their role, all these intermediate events wer...

Good afternoon fellow pilgrims, There is a lot in prophetic books about the future that is hard to understand.  But stories like this of things that actually happened can also be a challenge.  So here are a couple of thoughts that I hope you find helpful.  God has certainly challenged me as I wrote these things. Blessings, Jeff  Just pondering what 6th petition means in light of persecution and coercion.  I would like it to mean that those inspired by evil (either sin or the devil) would be restrained from issuing such decrees.  That way, I would not be tempted to publicly save my skin by bowing down.  But I am convicted by just writing those words.  For I see that I am tempted and have already yielded to the temptation to save my skin privately numerous times.  These are much subtler circumstances like not wanting to offend people by a "2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God...

Good morning brothers and sisters, Today's passage is another example in how God uses prophets for the correction of kings.  In ancient Israel, the highest political authority is subject to correction by an unnamed prophet.  The point is that the king is not "personally autonomous".  He is subject to the Lord in all things.  The king's authority is derived.  In our day "personal autonomy" has trickled all the way down to individual citizens.  However, it wasn't true of kings and it not true of us. Blessings, Jeff God uses an unnamed prophet to pronounce judgment on Ahab for letting Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, go free after routing the Syrian army. I think this is an example of what Jesus later taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?...

Good morning fellow saints in the Lord, If the Lord wills, we will live and in two weeks from today we will be heading back to Connecticut.  We have enjoyed our time here, but have missed all of you back in Salem.  Today's passage is short, but filled with challenges. Blessings, Jeff Paul conducted his ministry in such a way that the people he discipled were walking in a manner worthy of God.  This is another "remember what you should never forget" passages. Obervations: repetition for emphasis - he exhorted, encouraged and charged each one to walk...  There can be no doubt in their minds as to what Paul thought was important.  He did these things when he was with them and then wrote them down in the letter to remind them of what he had said.  I can just imagine that every conversation he had with each person involved some discussion about their walk.  Not much room for the weather, sports or other trivialities. the "oh by the way" about God - who call...