Jason Locke's Blog

Just finished a preaching series on First Thessalonians. I hadn't spent much time in this, the oldest of Paul's letters, since seminary. According to the first verse, he co-wrote it with Timothy and Silas. We think they probably wrote First Thess from Corinth not too long after Paul had to leave Thessalonica (also known as Thessaloniki or Salonika) because of persecution. People have access to all kinds of commentaries and resource materials on First Thessalonians. Some of them are good. Others are not worthy of attention. As an approachable commentary, I like Beverly Gaventa's little volume from the Interpretation commentary series. Thought I would share a couple quick reflections on Paul's letter. I was refreshed by a new look at this short letter and enjoyed sharing 5 messages with our church. I'll share a couple things that stood out and encouraged me as I lived in this text. Here's the first: (1) God is incredibly pleased with us when we tune our ea...

We have an upcoming series on the Life of Moses (Apr-Jun). Classes, sermons & small groups will walk through and converse about texts that track this great person of faith. I'm looking for ideas about how Moses shows up (a) in Christian art or (b) in contemporary thought. Can anyone think of anything? I'd appreciate pointers to paintings, sculptures, etc. that tie into Christian history through the centuries. And can you come up with any references to Moses or the Red Sea Crossing or Wilderness Wandering in contemporary (as in popular) music, cinematography or other art?