Jeremy R. Geerdes Posts

Hebrews 10:34 haunts me. Writing to Jewish believers scattered throughout the Roman empire, the anonymous writer of this enigmatic letter calls on believers to avoid sin and thus fall into the judgment of God, but to “remember the earlier days” when they suffered greatly for their faith. Among the injustices which they endured was “the […]

As Paul raced toward the conclusion of his first letter to the believers of Thessalonica, he wanted to give a final list of bullet-point exhortations. He says in verse 12, “give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you.” In verse 14: “warn those who are irresponsible, […]

Continuing on the theme of joy in the midst of – in spite of – hardship and persecution, I’ve come to 1 Thessalonians 1, where in verses 5-7, we see a very interesting thing: the disciples in Thessalonica believed even as they saw Paul and co. suffering severe persecution. And they did so with joy […]

St. Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae starts like most of his others. In the opening salutation, he identifies himself and Timothy as the senders, the Colossians as the recipients, and proceeds to express his gratitude to God for his readers’ persistent faith. Then he shares with them what he’s been praying and wanting […]

It’s a fairly regular scene at my house. With a six-year-old and a five-year-old, both with very strong opinions and ideas, it’s not at all uncommon to have one stomping off with a harumph to tattle about how the other just won’t play the right way. Of course, anyone who has ever witnessed a similar […]

If there was anyone who had reason to rejoice in anything, spiritually speaking, it was Paul. This guy was amazing. He had the right lineage. He had the right tutelage. He had the right zeal. And after he was saved, he was almost immediately effective at arguing the truth and validity of Christianity. He was […]

After St. Paul’s resolve – that he was more concerned about the Philippians’ joy than his own safety and/or comfort – and exhortation – that the Philippian believers should adopt the same attitude – I come to chapter two and find the word “joy” in verses 2 and 29 and “rejoice” in verses 17, 18, […]

Continuing on in Philippians 1, we arrive in verses 21-30. Springboarding from the discussion about the joy he finds in the knowledge that the gospel is being spread in spite – and because – of his imprisonment and other trials, St. Paul proclaims that “Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life […]

Once again, it has been a long time since I wrote. The busy-ness of summer compelled me to take a hiatus from writing, and so I worked on another reading plan in my personal devotions. But now that fall has come and the kids are back in school, I want to finish this word study […]

It’s been a couple of weeks since I really worked on my word study of joy. There have been a number of reasons for this, but the primary cause was a detour through Revelation 2-3 as I spent a couple weeks in prayer and fasting over spiritual strongholds which need to be removed from my […]