Melissa Rightmire Melissa Rightmire

Week Twenty-one

Paul was a spiritual father to countless believers. He planted more churches than we have letters from him, and yet through his writings, we glimpse the depth of his care and commitment to each community. This week, as you finish Ephesians and begin reading Philippians, Colossians, and 1 Thessalonians, you’ll encounter four letters that reflect Paul’s unique relationship with each church.

Though there are common themes woven throughout all his letters, each one is personal—tailored to the specific needs and challenges of its recipients. Despite relying on slow and informal methods of communication, Paul remained deeply connected to the churches he founded. His words carried encouragement, correction, instruction, and prayer—anchoring these young communities in Christ.

As you read this week, pay attention to the consistent themes Paul emphasizes: the centrality of Christ, unity in the Church, love for one another, and perseverance in the face of opposition. Notice how Paul prays specifically for each church. These prayers, though written centuries ago, still resonate powerfully today. They are rich resources for both personal and corporate prayer. As you pray them, imagine joining a great cloud of witnesses throughout history who have lifted the same words to God.

One of Paul’s most persistent messages is the call to unity in Christ—especially between Jews and Gentiles, a radical idea at the time. He consistently underscores the value of brotherly love within the Body of Christ. He also urges believers to stand firm against the inevitable resistance to the gospel. His letters remind us to cling to the Truth that sets people free, to live lives marked by righteousness, and to always be ready to share the message of peace in a world marked by chaos.

Paul encouraged a bold, unwavering faith in God’s ability to do more than we could ask or imagine. He wrote often of the sacrifice of Jesus—our salvation—and the confidence we can have in His power to cleanse and transform us.

And above all, Paul called the Church to prayer. Pray together often. Pray for open doors to share the gospel. Pray for the message to be received. Pray for your fellow disciples across the globe—that their witness would bear fruit.

These letters were written to specific people in a particular time and culture, yet they remain profoundly relevant today. What a gift. What a legacy. What a heritage we share in Christ!

And now, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

You can write a comment below, or reach me, Melissa, at mrightmire@crnaz.com . Thank you for traveling with me on this journey through the New Testament.

Below are the readings for week 21:

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Melissa Rightmire Melissa Rightmire

Week Twenty

It seems obvious that Paul struggled immensely with the churches in Corinth and Galatia. They both had outside influences that were taking the church down the wrong path. While Paul wrote some incredible theology in both letters, his outright boldness can be difficult to read! Some of the things he says to the Galatians would be way too risky to have documented anywhere today! Imagine if your pastor told someone in an email that another person should be emasculated (Galatians 5:12)? That email would not survive the slaughter of instagram or any other social media outlet.

As much as we admire the apostle Paul, if he lived today cancel culture would have called him out and we would not hear from him again. Wouldn’t it be sad to miss out on 2/3rds of the New Testament! Thankfully, the culture and people of the time were not as sensitive as we are today and it was easy to see both letters as incredibly instructive and even inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That’s really the key. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Since we believe that, as you finish 2 Corinthians this week and read through Galatians and into Ephesians, take a moment each day to ask the Holy Spirit, ‘what do you want to teach me?’ Where do I need to be rebuked and corrected? Am I open to being trained in God’s definition of righteousness? These are questions we should continually ask ourselves. When the real answer is ‘no, I’m not feeling open to any of this today,’ take a moment. Take a breath. Close your eyes and listen to what your body and your spirit are saying. Spend time in silence and listen for God’s voice. He knows your current struggle! He will encourage you. He will provide the space in your heart to read on. This is not a race, it is a journey and we are on it together! Take heart! Jesus has overcome the world!

You can write a comment below, or reach me, Melissa, at mrightmire@crnaz.com . Thank you for traveling with me on this journey through the New Testament.

Below are the readings for week 20:

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Melissa Rightmire Melissa Rightmire

Week Nineteen

What we know as 2 Corinthians is actually Paul’s fourth letter to this church. It also appears that he visited Corinth briefly two more times after founding the church and spending 18 months there. We already know that Paul deeply loved the people of Corinth. He was their spiritual father in Christ. When you read this letter you will hear a pastor guiding a people gently and specifically.

While there is MUCH to talk about with this letter, I want to draw your attention to 2 Corinthians 1:10 & 11, “. . .On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.” It’s such a small yet weighty statement. What if this is true for pastors and people in general? Could it be that God delivers people through the tremendous pressures that life gives us, even deadly peril through accidents, disease, or horrible trauma? Could it be that God delivers us “by your prayers”?

John Wesley is quoted as having said, “God does nothing but by prayer, and everything with it.” Watchman Nee wrote, “We cannot make God do what He does not want to do, yet we can stop God from doing what He wants to do.” This all by prayer or lack-there-of from His people.

I’m not sure if you know how much pastors rely on the prayers of their congregations. Let me be direct and say, it is critical that the people of God pray for their pastors. Pastors enter into the most difficult situations in the lives of their people. It is done out of love and care for those we are in community with. Pastors also get to celebrate with the family of God as children are born, baptised, graduate, and make important decisions. We celebrate with those who celebrate and weep with those who weep. It is part of the calling and not one that is begrudged, rather it is embraced.

Likewise, Pastors have their own lives with unique yet familiar challenges. We all have a family of some sort. Like every family, no matter what we look like on Sunday, we have our challenges. Pastors experience transitional seasons like moving, death, graduations, work changes, health and financial challenges. Everything you experience, pastors can experience in their own lives too. Yet, for the pastor it can be difficult to reveal our own challenges. It can be difficult to put onto the church community what we are experiencing.

No matter what our lives look like day-to-day, pastors need your prayers to uphold them so God will continue to deliver them and many will hear and see the gospel lived out. When the church prays for their pastors, people see the gospel lived out in the entire community of believers. Praying for your pastors is a fundamental way that Jesus’ prayer in John 17:21-23 is answered; all of us in the Father and Son and they in us, perfected in unity so that the world will know that Jesus is the Lord of all.

Your prayers matter! I speak for the Crossroads pastoral staff and say thank you for helping us with your prayers so the gospel can be made known through the east valley! You are faithful in prayer and we enjoy the fruit of your prayers each day. You matter! And know that we also are praying for you! Just as Paul often said in his letters, every time we think of you, we mention you in our prayers. This is how the body of Jesus becomes the church and the world knows that Jesus is Lord.

You can write a comment below, or reach me, Melissa, at mrightmire@crnaz.com . Thank you for traveling with me on this journey through the New Testament.

Below are the readings for week 19:

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Melissa Rightmire Melissa Rightmire

Week Eighteen

The church in Corinth apparently needed some additional pastoral guidance from Paul — hence we have what we call the letter of 1 Corinthians. You may want to go back to Acts 18 to refresh your memory of Paul’s 1.5 year stay in the city of Corinth.

1 Corinthians is actually the second letter Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth. The first letter has not been found by historians, but Paul references it in 1 Corinthians 5:9. He probably wrote this letter while he was in Ephesus between two to four years after he founded the church in Corinth.

The subjects Paul addresses in this letter are provoked by a letter or report he received from Chloe’s household. An overarching theme in this letter is how the Body of Christ should live. While Paul addresses some pretty heavy topics like sexual immorality, incest, lawsuits, marriage, and food, everything he talks about is meant to help the reader understand how these things impact our relationship with God and each other. His emphasis is not just that these things are bad but that they destroy the church, families, and put up barriers in our relationship with God.

This is not a letter to faceless and nameless people. It is a letter of deep love for a people that Paul poured his heart out to for a long time. It is written to a people he deeply invested in. It is a letter to people that he would later say he wrote out of the depth of his love (2 Corinthians 2.4). Why else would he go to the trouble of addressing tough issues? But, it is also a letter for us. We are also the people he poured his heart our for. In fact, Paul poured his heart and life out for the people who would come to believe in the living gospel generation after generation after generation. Like David said in Psalm 22.31, “declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!” It is because he and others poured out their hearts that we know Jesus today.

What I love about 1 Corinthians is that Paul moved with incredible grace from hard conversations to the Spirit filled life in the Church. He spoke of the way a healthy Body of believers moves together like a human body does - each part doing what it was made for. He was able to put a unified Body of believers on display as we waltz through chapters 11 through 14.

He ends his letter with pure gospel! He makes it clear that the gospel isn’t good news without resurrection! “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting?” Victory is in Christ and His resurrection! Therefore, stand firm brothers and sisters! “Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord” because that work is not in vain. If we set out to do the work of the Lord, all those other things he spent the beginning of the letter talking about will fade away in the distant past, because our focus will have shifted to the Spirit filled life. And oh what a life it is!

Enjoy this letter Paul poured his heart and life out for to the Body of believers across the world today and even to us at Crossroads in Chandler, Arizona.

You can write a comment below, or reach me, Melissa, at mrightmire@crnaz.com . Thank you for traveling with me on this journey through the New Testament.

Below are the readings for week 18:

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Melissa Rightmire Melissa Rightmire

Week Seventeen

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! Romans 6:20-21

Paul must have been a bold man! He wrote the letter we know as Romans to everyone who believed in Jesus in Rome before he even knew them. Well aware of the Roman culture he was able to write to them with authority and credibility. Scholars believe this letter was written while he was in Corinth on his third missionary journey. He had still planned to go to Rome on his way to Spain.

As you read this and other letters Paul wrote, you will hear a continual theme of unity among believers. He often challenged both Jews and Gentiles to consider themselves as brothers and sisters in Christ. This thread is loud and clear in the letter to the Roman believers — both Jew and Gentile. He called them to begin by understanding their own humanity, their frailties and brokenness, in order to see each other as bound together in the righteousness of God.

Specifically in this letter, Paul takes time to respond to the questions and philosophies of the day. How do people who are never told about Jesus or God know that He exists? Why do people do such evil things and how does God feel about it? What is the purpose of the Jewish law and does it apply to the Gentiles? I am free since I believe in Jesus, so I can do whatever I want now, can’t I? Will God ever judge the cruelty of humanity? It’s them and not me, right?

And there’s that word “right” which leads us to the related theme of righteousness in Paul’s letter. He used the word, dikaiosynē 36 times in this letter. He uses it to talk about the character of God and how He imparts that to believers. He talks about the role of righteousness in the believers life. He talks about righteousness as a moral standard, again looking to God’s character as that standard. But, he does not neglect speaking of the role of the righteousness of the Jewish law that many of the believers in Rome grew up in. Paul uses this letter to articulate how to recognize righteousness in God as well as in believers. By the end of this letter we know that righteousness is very much wrapped up in our relationship with God but in no way excludes our relationships with one another. The righteousness of God, imparted to us through faith, must be lived out together. And there we are again talking about the life of disciples, doing discipleship together. Making disciples that make disciples that make disciples — together.

I keep ending up here in this challenge of discipleship together. Maybe it’s where I am at in my life and I am dragging you with me. I just keep seeing this thread pulled through everything we are reading. Do you see it? Does it tug on your heart and challenge you too? How are you responding to it?

You can write a comment below, or reach me, Melissa, at mrightmire@crnaz.com . Thank you for traveling with me on this journey through the New Testament.

Below are the readings for week 17:

 

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