Sunday, May 11th, 2025. 3:08 PM.
“But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”
-Galatians 4: 26 ESV Study Bible.
Mother’s Day
May 11th, 2025
Woonsocket, Rhode Island
“You’re so literal!”
My mother used to say that to me when I was just a little boy.
Lately, something has been coming to mind about the name Christ.
In the middle of that name or title of the Lord Jesus – CHRIST– are the letters RI
And on the crucifix are the letters INRI – for some Latin words.
And the abbreviation for Rhode Island is RI.
And Rhode is the Greek word for Rose.
And a long time ago, I read that someone who named Rhode Island saw an island in Narragansett Bay – and it reminded him of the Isle of Rhodes in the Mediterranean Sea.
And it is written:
“I am a rose of Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.
As a lily among brambles,
So is my love among the young women.” -Song of Solomon 2: 1, 2. ESV Study Bible.
In the mid-to-late 1980s, I worked at The Roast House at the Lincoln Mall in Rhode Island.
And there was a very pretty young lady working there — still in high school, she was.
Her name was Sharon Faria.
And her younger brother also began working at the restaurant.
His name was Mark Faria.
Once, while working there in the kitchen, Sharon came walking through the kitchen to begin her afternoon job. After she went by, I just had to say to those working with me in the kitchen:
“That Sharon Faria is so pretty!”
I just had to say it.
The capital city of Rhode Island is Providence.
In the very center of the name and word PROVIDENCE are the letters
ID.
We the People of True God need to identify with Christ Jesus the Lord and Redeemer and Savior, our Good Shepherd.
2 Thessalonians 1
New International Version
“1 Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,[b] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.[c]“
Footnotes
- 2 Thessalonians 1:1 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas
- 2 Thessalonians 1:3 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 2:1, 13, 15; 3:1, 6, 13.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:12 Or God and Lord, Jesus Christ
CityAlight ~ Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me (Lyrics)
CityAlight ~ Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me (Lyrics)
I believe Hope is the motto for Rhode Island
And there is a bridge in Rhode Island called:
Mount Hope Bridge. It spans Mount Hope Bay.
Living Hope
“The Lord gives the word;
The women who announce the news are a great host:
The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!
The women at home divide the spoil—
Though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
The wings of a dove covered with silver,
Its pinions with shimmering gold.
When the Almighty scatters kings there,
Let snow fall on Zalmon.” -Psalm 68: 11-14. ESV Study Bible.
Psalm 68 ESV
Psalm 68 ESV – God Shall Scatter His Enemies – To the – Bible Gateway
What A Beautiful Name – Hillsong Worship
What A Beautiful Name – Hillsong Worship
2 Thessalonians 2 ESV
2 Thessalonians 2 ESV – The Man of Lawlessness – Now concerning – Bible Gateway
2 Thessalonians 2
English Standard Version
The Man of Lawlessness
2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,[a] 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness[b] is revealed, the son of destruction,[c] 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Stand Firm
13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits[d] to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
Footnotes
- 2 Thessalonians 2:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 13, 15
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Some manuscripts sin
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Greek the son of perdition (a Hebrew idiom)
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13 Some manuscripts chose you from the beginning
Galatians 4-5 ESV
Galatians 4-5 ESV – Sons and Heirs – I mean that the heir, – Bible Gateway
“Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother, For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
Break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
Than those of the one who has a husband.”
“Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.” -Galatians 4: 21-31 ESV Study Bible.
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” -Galatians 4: 4-7. ESV Study Bible.
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” -Romans 8: 9-11. ESV Study Bible.
Romans 8 ESV
Romans 8 ESV – Life in the Spirit – There is therefore – Bible Gateway
God’s Way Of Salvation (John 3:16)
Gospel Tract – God’s Way of Salvation (John 3:16) – Moments With The Book
The Rapture
Gospel Tract – The Rapture – Moments With The Book
What is Meant by the Rapture?
Tract For Believers – What is Meant by the Rapture? – Moments With The Book
Romans 9-13 ESV
Romans 9-13 ESV – God’s Sovereign Choice – I am – Bible Gateway
John 5-8 ESV
John 5-8 ESV – The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath – Bible Gateway
Mark's Imaginings 