@FirstChurchofJerusalem
Today's Early Church Wisdom
“I shall not hesitate also to put into ordered form for you, along with the interpretations, everything I learned carefully in the past from the elders and noted down carefully, for the truth of which I vouch. For unlike most people, I took no pleasure in those who told many different stories, but only in those who taught the truth. Nor did I take pleasure in those who reported their memory of someone else’s commandments, but only in those who reported their memory of the commandments given by the Lord to the faith and proceeding from the Truth itself. And if by chance anyone who had been in attendance on the elders arrived, I made enquiries about the words of the elders—what Andrew or Peter had said, or Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and whatever Aristion and John the Elder, the Lord’s disciples, were saying. For I did not think that information from the books would profit me as much as information from a living and surviving voice.
~ Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60–130 AD) From the Preface to his lost ‘Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord’
This week's Psalm is Psalm 31 'My Rock, My Shield, My Song'

They Are Blessed & Holy

The Resurrection and you

The apostle John, in his Revelation, tells us another exciting fact about the righteous dead, when he reveals that they are blessed and holy. He writes, “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4-6). How is it that we are in this state? Is it simply through our own attempts to be holy? No. It is God who makes us holy by gift and by grace. The gift comes when we receive Jesus, for it is at this point that we are accounted righteous through the sacrifice of the Cross. It’s not something we earn. It’s something we’re given. When we walk with Jesus, after being born again, the Holy Spirit progressively transforms us into the likeness of God - this is the grace that makes us holy. We can and should seek to be holy, but without a personal relationship with God, this is impossible. If you do not yet know Jesus Christ as your friend and Saviour, today can be your day to embrace God’s gift of blessedness. On the Home page you will find a prayer to help you take this vital step.