Greeting
1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)
1 Thes 1:6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
The life of a Christian: joyfully becoming more like Christ even while facing the rejection that He suffered. Lord, you called it: following You has a significant cost. I wnat to be like You and experience the joy that goes along with it even if it is painful along the way. Please come soon!
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
We may not live in those places in the verse, but this verse still applies to us. Change Macedonia to Orange County and change Achaia to your high school. Once you’ve done that, does it apply to you? Are we examples in the places we live in? We should. It says we should be a model to all believers. So if we want to be a model to all believers, we need to know what the model believer should be! How do we know what it is? The answer is a big durrr, by reading the Bible! It’s not hard! The more we know about how God wants us to act by reading the Bible, we can live up to this verse!
Just like in Colossians 1, Paul mentions and gives thanks for three basic Christians characteristics that he sees in the Thessalonians: faith, hope, and love. And these traits are mentioned all over the new testament; it’s clear that these are basic elements of the Christian life.
A faith in the Gospel that produces good works.
A love for the saints that produces labor/service.
A hope in the future/heaven that produces endurance.
And all three of these things are tied together in the gospel. I pray that as we focus on the gospel, it would clearly overflow into our lives in faith, hope, and love.
5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
This verse was really intresting because it reminded me that the bible that we read is not just words on paper it was made by GOD with his power and holy spirit to guide our lives to him! Makes reading my bible a little more intresting id say.
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
We need to always be striving to be more like Christ even when it hurts through suffering or persecution! Christians need to be little christs in this world!
9for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
These two verses are profound because they discuss three characteristics of a legit conversion to Christianity.
1. Turning from idols…in our lives it won’t mean that we turn from worshipping golden calves. It means that God will have the preeminent spot in our life and all the things that used to come before Him are a distant second in terms of focus and priority.
2. Serving God…Christians are new creations whose lives are all about serving God and not serving ourselves. Before our conversion our lives were characterized by selfishness and service to ourselves and other idols.
3. Waiting for Christ’s return…Maranatha, baby! As Christians we know that the next big thing on God’s calendar is Jesus’ second coming and we long for that to happen!
We should each take time today to evaluate our lives and see if the three things listed above…turning form idols, serving God, and waiting for Christ’s return…characterize our lives. If not, we have some serious soul searching to do. As I consider these things I realize that I am doing well with #1 and 2 but I need to step up my excitement about Christ’s return. You can bet that I will spend dome time in prayer today asking God to change my focus and help me to eagerly anticipate His return!
3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ben, I really like your comment on this verse about how faith, hope and love are basic elements of the Christian life!
What stood out to me was that are things that start inside the believer that have outer realities—work, labor and endurance. Faith, hope and love can sometimes seem to just be concepts in our minds, but they need to be more than that. They need to be characteristics about us that produce real fruit in our lives of working hard for the gospel, never stopping living obediently to out Lord Jesus Christ!
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
As believers we are to be modeling Christ both to the world and to the Christians around us too. We should be models to the believers in our lives; they should look at us and glorify the Father and like Paul imitate us as we imitate Christ. May this be our goal, to set the example in all we do.
NEW BLOG!
8 “The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,”
That’s how strong the Thessalonians faith was… it had become known *everywhere* (that is, most likely all around the Mediterranean Sea: Israel, Greece, Turkey, Rome, and such). That is a large area. And that’s how far their faith spread!
I wonder… how awesome would it be if at Compass Bible Church (and even specifically at True North), everyone’s faith was SO strong, that people in northern Cal. would know about our church? It would be great! And that wouldn’t even be close to how far the Thessalonians faith spread!
People were hearing how they (the Thessalonians) turned from idols they had probably been worshipping for a long time. There was report that they just forgot about those and turned to Jesus Christ. I pray that people will be hearing this about Compass today!
3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I really like this verse. It so beautifully describes the fruit that comes when someone is truly converted to Christianity. There is a natural overflow from the spirit that resides in us. This reminds me of Ben’s sermon this weekend-When we truly ‘grasp’ the GRACE we have been given LOVE will overflow into action. It is a natural reponse! The FAITH that we have in Jesus Christ will fill us with a desire to WORK by sharing the Gospel. And all things are possible through Christ who strengthen us – And the HOPE we have in Him will give us ENDURANCE to finish the race set out before us…
Let’s share the GRACE and LOVE we have received from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by “Doubleing it Up” on Evangelism Night this Saturday!!!! Remember to start praying now for God to prepare the hearts of those who will hear the message of salvation….
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
This is what we want to here people say about us. We should always perservere through suffering. We should let the Bible help steer us through our troubles. As James said, we need to perservere through trials and just trust in God
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia
What a great statement to have said about some one as a follower of Christ. Our goal as christians is to to be ambassadors representatives for Christ. That other may look and take notice. We should all be striving to be models of Christ to the church. Lord, I pray that True North would be a model to the church in Orange County. I pray young men and women would rise up at each high school and proclaim the biblical gospel to the the saved and the unsaved and that kids would take note and model there lives after the lives of the the kids at True North. May each of our lives be all about you and nothing else.
May the song in our heart sing.
“I wanna make my life about about glory
I wanna spend my days telling the world your story
In everything i do
In everything I say
Following after you giving you thanks and praise.
I wanna make my life all about your honor
Morning noon and night the best I have to offer
In everything I do
In everything I say
Following after you
Giving you thanks and praise.”
5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
when i read the gospel i feel it with alot of power like in no like im reading like im reliveing thing and my life that were wrong and im learn how thing sheould be
9for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
This is a key verse in describing what repentance looks like. Turning from making other things the top priority in your life to making God the top priority in your life. When people do this their new life will look dramatically different than their old way of life and others will notice and talk about it. If you can’t identify a clear before and after “you”, evidenced by others noticing something different about you, you have to wonder whether you’re a Christian at all.
8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
I want this for my life. I want God’s message to ring out from me. Everywhere I go I want people to know that I am a Christian and I am living my life for Christ! The Thessalonians fairth had been made known everywhere! That’s pretty awesome. I want this to be true of my life and true of True North as well.
Our first cup of “T”
3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the fruit of a Christian! Works produced by faith, labor and serving prompted by love, and staying strong in our faith because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ. If we want to see “proof” in our lives that we are Christians, this is a great verse to apply when examining ourselves.
5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
it is encouraging realizing how much God works with our words… we could give the most eloquent gospel presentation and nothing could happen, but we could also simply lay out the gospel for a friend, and God can take that and do the rest with his power and Holy Spirit. i was reminded of romans 10 where it says
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
Their faith became known everywhere!! They were unashamed of the gospel!! I pray that i would have that boldness at my school so that God would use me as a tool to spread his gospel to everyone on campus!!
6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
This is important to remember…that even when we are suffering we should thank God and come to Him for our needs…because we develope perseverance and a deeper faith through our sufferings.
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
This is a great starter! Here, Paul silas and Timothy are very encouraging! Of course, this type of greeting is in most new testament chapters, but it never gets old. This is a wonderful example on how we need to be encouraging and praying for others.
6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
The Thessalonians had a complete life change after hearing the gospel. They became imitators of Paul and his companions, who pattered their life after Christ’s example. They willingly took on the severe suffering which accompanied Christianity and became a model to all believers.
This is the real deal; this is what a Christian should look like. As we model the example of Christ, it will result in a model for other believers to follow. Many who claim Christianity do not always display these attributes. Our tendency is to take on the many characteristics of the world we live in. We are to be set apart, holy, continually displaying a love for God and others. An inward transformation produces outward change. This is apparent in the lives of the Thessalonians; my prayer is that it would be evident in our lives as well.
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
Being a Christian is not a piece a cake. We are heavily persecuted and looked down upon. Many people will claim to be christian but stay conformed to the patters of the world so to not be critisized so intensly. Those people are not only liars and not christian, but weaksauce at best. We need to stand firm in our faith and face persecution because we have a just and loving God and He will protect us.
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
This verse got me thinking about next year and how I will be a senior. The verse made me think am I a good christian model to my school does the Lord’s message ring out of me and is my faith in God known everywhere? Well lets look at the way we act and see if we are being a christian model.
10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
God gave us a way to heaven and that is Jesus he is the way to God he is the truth and life.
2We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
Do we remember to thank God for the people in our lives? For everything that He’s given us? Sometimes in times of need or trouble we find it difficult to even remember that God has given us everything, and to thank him for those things. The people in our lives, the leaders, family, friends, and all the material and even non-material things are things we need to thank our God for on such a regular basis. He gives and He can also take away…so make sure you trust in Him and thank Him for everything!
You know how we lived among you for your sake…
These Christians lived in such a way that they became role-models for the church – and they did it out of love for other Christians. This shows that how we live is just as important as what we believe. We need to be holy in our actions before others as well as sound in our doctrine.
short chapter but a lot to comment on!
5because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
We got to remember that the Gospel has the power of God for people’s salvation! Romans 1:16! Gospel is not just words, but it has God’s power! I want to be effective in preaching the gospel that people will feel the conviction and respond to it by repentance and faith. That’s what my prayer is!
I remember when I got saved, I didn’t realize how great the gospel was to that point. The gospel just really convicted me because I realize that I was far from God. I was convicted because of how much I sinned, I suddenly was exposed to all my bad thoughts and feelings I had.
10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
This is a great verse, includes some of the gospel that Christ has been raised from the dead. I really like that last part of the verse “Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” ohh there is is so much reason to rejoice, I deserved that wrath. I deserved to be in everlasting punishment, but Christ graciously took my place on the cross so that I don’t have to deal with that if our trust is in Him! We can not thank God enough for sending His Son down to suffer so that a sinner like me can be forgiven of every sin.
I actually just finished writing a song about Christ’s love! I also like in this part it says that Jesus rescues, He saves. When someone rescues you, that means that you were in trouble. It just paints this picture in my head where I am in trouble, I’m falling and God is there and takes ahold of me and catches me.
8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
9for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Love these verses. It basically explains what happens to us when we become christians. We turn from our old sin to trust and serve God and eagerly wait for him to return. I love how people EVERYWHERE new that these people were christians and were proclaiming Jesus’ name. God start to a new SOTD series!
6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
If we call ourselves Christians we better start imitating Christ’s behavior on this earth! He was tempted and overcame, when He suffered He persevered, and when He was faced with death on a cross He died for us! And that should encourage us to live for him!!
8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it
Even in the days of no facebook and poor transportation, everyone in the surrounding areas heard about the faith of this early church. Sadly, probably very few kids at our own high schools know about the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. We need to desire this kind of faith that spreads like wildfire, and take steps to bring it about. If we are telling everyone that we know about Christ, and being bold for Him, then we will see a Revival not only on our campuses but throughout the entire region!
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
I agree with Allen. Being a christain is very difficult. Sometimes I get made fun of ten times a day (not an over exaggeration by the way) for being a christian. But, really, what are their opinions going to mean on judgement day or for the rest of eternity. Sure, its going to hurt a bit, but keep in mind that we are loved by God. Thats all that really matters. Stay strong True North!!!!
2We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
i thank god everyday for blessing me with all of you guys(:
3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
AMEN !!
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
I think one of the most important things about being a christian is trying to be more like god and living our life the way he does, and i think this verse explains that perfectly(:
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
We need to be models like these men were. They were models to not only non christians but to christians. Christians notice what other christians are doing. Whether its good, or its bad They do notice. We need to be careful in everything we do, what we say, how we act. We need to do this 24/7. Of course were going to mess up, we’re all sinners. But God calls us to try to avoid sinful nature and thats what we should aim to do
I still don’t know how to copy and paste on a mac…..
Anyways, the end of verse 9 popped out to my attention. “They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God…”
first off, nothing in life should be put before God. He needs to be number one and above all! Idols are surely tough to get rid of, but I think that if you truly care about God and love him more than anything, then you will want to leave your idol behind to serve Christ fully! It is not always easy, but it feels like a boulder is lifted off your back after you drop idols in order to follow The Lord. He is all that matters, and I want to make sure nothing comes between mine and God’s relationship.
3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This verse is very encouraging to me!!! The whole verse is great but i like the last part!! We as christians have hope in our Lord, and from that hope we will have endurance!! That is so good to hear as we are going through times of trouble we need to see the hope that we have in our Lord!!!!!
8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
As Christians people should notice that we are ine by our actions. It is so cool in this verse how people all over knew about their faith. Let’s spread our faith in our schools and bring some revival to orange county!
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
That is what we need to be. We need to be beacon of light to the world, models of the behavior CHRIST wants in us. I know that I need to work on this. I’ve been annoyed with my parents and I fear it has boiled over into disrespect. I need to work on that. Please pray for me.
It’s nice to see all these peeps on here…ROCK ON FOR JESUS!
I used some of the same verses you guys used. I found it interesting in tutorial…actually I found this whole chapter interesting! I basically pounded the desk today in Mr. Cox’s quiet tutorial because I was so excited. XD
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
I was just thinking about all the nonChristians that watch us like hawks, making sure we don’t make any mistakes…IT’S INTENSE! We are examples, not just for them, but for other Christians and even children as well! Let it be known that you follow the Lord and that you live for Him! And verse 8 where it says “your faith in God has become known everywhere” reminded me of that verse where it says we’ll shine like stars in the universe (also the song)…I think it’s Ephesians 2:15-16. We hold out His truth in the darkest place that’s for sure! annnnnnd it should be known all over the school that you are the “Christian girl/boy” or “hardcore Christian”….Those names are always an honor to have!
WHAAA-WHOOOO!!!! look at all these people taking in their daily cup of tea. Keep it up(lets get to 80 :])
6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
We all will be persecuted as Christians and we need to remember to keep His joy inside of us when troubles come our way. GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US(it is a little creepy, but also REALLY cool). And He has been through it all, so you can’t make up an excuse. So be joyful and full of the Holy Spirit. :]
***REMEMBER THAT HE IS ALWAYS THERE!!!***
8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
What an awesome reputation the Thessalonians have! There faith has been made known to all those around! Are we known for our intense faith? Do those around us know that our faith rests completely in the Lord? I pray that True North would have this reputation and our faith in God would be made known to all those around us!
6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
This is the life a Christian should be living. This verse is saying that we need to be imitating the great example of the Lord, praising him through suffering and persecution, and welcome Joyfully the truth of the message the Lord has given us. This is what I want to strive to be like. I admire those who come to mind when I read this verse. I can’t wait for the Joy of his returning.
I like verse 7 because I can use the word spiritual fervor.
It says, “And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
Being a model to all the believers just makes me think of have a spiritual fervor towards others. Your friends, family, or any non-christians should see the reflection of Christ in your lives. If they are not really seeing that in your life then their is probably a little problem. Lets think about how were showing Gods love to others!
3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This verse showed me alot. I learned that indurance in our faith comes from hope in Jesus Christ and His return. His promises are always true and we can rely on them at all times to strengthen and encourage us. Promises like the ones in 1 Cor. 10:13 and Jude 24 encourage me give me strength to endure temptation. I hope they will bless you too!
2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
Don’t take anything for granted! I get into the bad habit of forgetting to thank God for everythinggg-horrible. We need to especially remember to thank God for our Christian friends because they’re the ones who will care for us, build us up, and hold us accountable, and that’s something that’s not easy to come by. :]
2.) We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
This verse is just a good reminder of how we should constantly be keeping people in our prayers, specifically our brothers and sisters in Christ.
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
I love how max did what Pastor Bobby does in his sermons by making us realize it does apply to us and we can’t just say it was for those in Macedonia and Achaia… also we need to be in the word daily and praying daily so we will be ready for the battles and also so we can be models to other Christians
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Yes, Christ suffered and he died for us even though we were still sinners, but we also need to remember what he saved us from. He saved us from the “coming wrath.” This wrath was deserved too because of our sin. But we no longer have to endure that because of Jesus. Rejoice
8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Perfect demonstration of how our lifestyle can be our testimony. It’s quite clear once someone is transformed in Christ into a new being that they’ve left behind their earthly desires and sins.
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
i cant wait!!!!!
9for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
I really liked this verse because it really shows repentence in a way without using the word….kinda like giving a definition turning away from something towards God…chillbert!
Great comment Christa!!
6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
Through all the suffering, they became models or examples to the other believers. First, they followed the example of others and were teachable and followed the Lord, and then they became examples to others. This makes me think on whether or not I am doing that and personally being an example to others and following the Lord. We need to live blameless lives and lives others can follow, along with following Christ’s example. At school, we must be examples of Christ and be lights to the non-believers at our school, instead of just “blending in” with them.
3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
these are some basic characteristics that we should be applying to our lives. We should be doing work (specifically the things that God commanded us) and we should be doing it through our faith in Him. We should also being doing labor in love for one another and to build them up and we should be enduring all these hardships in hope that our Lord Jesus Christ will be there for us because we can’t be living for him on our own.
Yay! 1st Cup of “T”!
2We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
I thank God for everyone at True North! I feel so amazingly accountable and encouraged by everybody. And how my christian friends lift me up to do more for God. Just simply take some time out of your day to thank God for everything He has done for you. I feel truly blessed by everyone at True North and i thank God for all of you.
6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
The thessalonians suffered a lot according to this verse becaus people persecuted them for their beliefs. Despite the fact of being tortured and killed, they still lived a life pleasing to God and lived according to God’s standards.
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
Sooooo excited for Thesellonians!! Paul sure had a bunch of compliments for them! I am ready to step it up to the level of the Thessalonians, turning from all idols to the true and living God!
True North! Way to represent with some great comments today! It has been a pleasure reading them all day long!
10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
This verse excites my imaginations! I am ready for Jesus to return! The thought of him coming to rescue us is dynamic! Yes, I do think of Gandalf coming down the mountain from Lord of the Rings but I also know that is a cheesy comparison. Nothing will compare to the glory of Jesus Christ when it is revealed. To think that we will see our resurrected Lord and meet him in the air (stay tuned for chapter 4) is something that I find to be greatly encouraging.
I hope it happens tomorrow!
Maranatha!
1st Thessalonians
3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul gives us three examples of character shown by these believers from the church in Thessalonica. First their lives were evidenced by a work that was produced by faith. They turned from their idols to faith in Christ which produced repentance and faith.
9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
Second they produced labor that was prompted by their love for Christ even while they suffered persecution.
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
Finally they gained endurance that was inspired by hope in Christ return.
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
PRAY REVIVAL 09
7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
No matter where we are we need to be models to the world and good examples of Christians. We need to help those who do not believe. BE A LIGHT