The Day of the Lord
5:1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Final Instructions and Benediction
12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
25 Brothers, pray for us.
26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (ESV)
21Test everything. Hold on to the good.
We aren’t to believe everything we hear but are to test everything. This reminds me of the Bereans in Acts 17:11 who searched Scripture and tested to see if what Paul said was true. In Acts 17:11 it says that the Bereans “were of more noble character than the Thessalonians.” Paul had just been to see the Thessalonians as well but the Bereans were the ones that tested what he was saying. Now Paul is writting to the Thessalonians and telling them to test to see if what others are saying is true. We need to do the same thing at school and in church! Paul wasn’t offended that the Bereans were searching Scripture to see if what he said was in accordance with what God said. We need to test what we are being told and then hold onto what is true and good.
1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
I loved this verse because I remember the sermons Pastor Bobby taught on. This is great because it is reminding us to be ready for the Lords coming because he will come when we least expect it. I need to be going to my friends and family and share this because again the Lord will come like a thief in the night, when we least expect it.
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
I love these verses because they are such great reminders to live out our faith. Verse 17 reminds me that I need to go to the Lord first for everything!
15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
This is a very good verse. “Paying back wrong for wrong” sounds like a fancy way of putting the word revenge. When someone does something bad to us, we are always tempted to do something back. To give them what they deserve, or a taste of their own medicine, however you want to put it. But that is wrong. That’s not our job. What Paul says to do instead of taking revenge, is to be kind to them and everyone else. Instead of doing something back do the opposite of that, by being kind. Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” By being kind, it’ll not only stop you from sinning by taking revenge, but it will also help “turn away wrath”!
17 pray continually;
Mmmm very short but very to the point verse!!
21 Test everything. Hold on to the good.
22 Avoid every kind of evil.
We need to test EVERYTHING we hear with the Bible and what God says and to always back it up with his word!
and 22 also is short but very to the point! :)
23May 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.
24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
These verses are so encouraging! We can have hope in God’s faithfullnes and in His ability to keep us blameless and pure until we see Him face to face in heaven! This reminds me that living the Christian life is not by my power, but because of God’s power and grace. Even though we stumble and fall, it does not change God’s faithfullness and His promise to sanctify us to to Him, it only makes grace abound more in us (Rom. 3:7-8; Rom. 5:20-6:2). The abililty to say “no” to sin and say “yes” to God comes only from Him!
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
I love these three verses. They are short and simple, but they mean so much! We should always be joyful, and we have no reason not to be. We are promised eternal life and thats amazing!!! better then anything we could ever get here on earth. Prayer is so important to. Prayer is a way we can speak to God and thats an amazing thing. We need to give thanks in all circumstances, that can be hard but the bible tells us to do it. All circumstances, everything. Its God will and we have to trust that what we may be going through is his plan for us and realize that he has control. This is something that I find so relieving. Because when we start to worry we can just pray to God and tell him our concerns and then he will answer our prayers. it might not be how we would want it to go, but he will answer. We just need to remember that it is his plan for us.
Boy did i need this encouragement and reminder.
1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night
That is why it is so critical to make sure you have repented of your sins and ask for forgiveness.
4But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
5You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness
We belong to our Lord and Saviour, which is all that will matter on judgement day. Your reputation before the Lord is all that will matter, not if you were cool in High school.
12Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you.
13Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other
Be thankful that we are members of such a great Bible teaching Church. Be grateful we have such great examples of leadership. Lets always keep Pastor Mike, Pete, Bobby, Luke, Dale, John, Ben and Susan in our prayers. The devil will always attempt to mess with them and bring them own.
19Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;
Trust in the Lord our God and the spirit He gives us.
9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God WANTS us to be saved, but its our choice. He wants us to be with him in heaven, but so many people choose not to want that.
16Be joyful always;
This is something that sounds so easy but when you think of “always” thats ALOT. I dont know how i could always be happy/joyful, but its what God wants so that is my new challenge for myself.
15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
i love how we as christians can give glory to God by doing even the simplest of things; like being joyful or bringing joy to other ppl, by being kind to other ppl or praying continually, or simply telling other ppl how you became a christian and how God has changed your life and doing it all in jesus’ name.
16Be joyful always;
Everyday we should have joyful hearts. This is another one of my favorite verses that i remember and try to live out everyday. It is an awesome verse to obey, and i think it is also really easy to do with Jesus Christ :]
***BE JOYFUL FOR JESUS!!!***
9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
We are not appointed to take wrath. We are not. Jesus already took the wrath for us. Non Christians don’t understand that. It’s a gift. Yes, a gift that changes your life, but still a gift, the ultimate gift. GOD didn’t appoint us to take wrath, he already took it for us.
11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
This is something that we should be doing. Being encouraged feels so good so lets keep doing it.
16 Be joyful always;
People always remember those who are always joyful and positive. As Christians, people should recognize us by our good attitudes. God is on our sides so we shouldn’t get discouraged.
2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
We don’t know when Jesus will return, so we need to always be prepared and we should be out preparing others by evangelizing to people. They won’t know the gospel unless someone will preach it to them, so lets go out (specifically tonight at double it up!) and evangelize!!!!!
16Be joyful always;
This is a clear command! I used to think it was okay to be down or discouraged due to circumstances, but this verse makes it so obvious that in the Lord it is possible to be joyful always. That is huge, I’m so glad for this reminder today.
14 “And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.”
Is there any Christians we know who seem to be idle in their faith, not producing much fruit in their lives? Let’s be sure to warn them and urge them to stay strong.
Do we know any brothers in Christ who are timid? Paul, Silas, and Timothy say “encourage them!” Just like they tell us to help those who are weaker and have patience with EVERYONE.
Also, like Max was saying, it’s not our place to avenge ourselves or others. Is someone insulting or hurting us? God says be kind to them! That may seem impossible sometimes, but we need to be very careful not to pay people back for the wrong they’ve done us. If we are, instead, kind to them, what an awesome example we’ll be representing Jesus!
15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
This is such an important verse. We need to not try to get revenge on people, we need to leave that to God. Instead we should “leave hot coals of kindness on their head”. Revenge may seem satisfying, but in reality, it just causes more problems. We need to trust in God, that he will take care of situations. He does not need us to do so for him. If God thinks that justification is necessary, than he will make justice, we need to just show kindness to the person and trust God.
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;
though these verses are short, they are packed with great material that we need to obey as Christians. we need to be joyful always, because we have the hope of Christ Jesus; that God will raise us like He did Christ. we can be joyful in everything, even in the face of persecution, for we will always be God’s. we also need to pray continually, and we need to talk to the God that we claim to have a relationship with. and of course, we need to always thank God for His innumerable blessings, for He has given us so much that we don’t deserve.
We mustn’t try to put out the fire that the Lord has given us, for it will lead us to a righteous, God glorifying life.
9.) For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
10.) He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
Mmm what a beautiful thing!! We should be praising God every day for this, thank you Lord!!
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus
In hard times in life we can still be happy. We don’t need to wonder why me or why is this happening to me because God has everything happen in our lives for a reason.
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
It is SO IMPORTANT to encourage each other! I can speak personally on this one. People in the past have encouraged me to read the Bible more, evangelize, etc. It really helps! I know that I am not the only one going through hard times, and its helpful to know. When others encourage me, it encourages me to encourage others (if that makes sense?) Building each other up includes not slandering and gossiping (which brings people down.) Nothing good comes from that. So we should all encourage and build each other up, in the name of Jesus Christ, so we will all grow spiritually together!
This is great leason to learn. For I know that I need to be patient with my brother and everyone that surrounds me. Helping the weak is a great thing to do so in the end they will not be left behind and suffer a great lose. I know my parents do a lot for me and work thier butts off every day, and for that I know now that I should give them more credit and love when they home. For we should all do that. I love my parent and I love you guys at truenorth. God bless you.<3<3<3 rember to encourage everyone every day!
This truly is one great chapter! I could comment on just about every verse! Sorry that I am also late, I’ve been gone all day from home.
1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
This verse is talking about Christ return. Paul doesn’t know the times and dates when Christ will return, but neither do the angels. Mark 13:32″No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” It’s not that big of a deal to Paul when the day comes of the Lord’s return, all Paul is concerned is that all the Christians will be ready to be apart of the rapture and not be condemned when God’s judges the world. Paul also is not worried because the day is going to be like a theif in the night, when no one’s going to expect it.
11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
We need to encourage each other daily like being on here on SOTD! We really can get a hundred comments one day, if people will just encourage everyone to be on here! We need to build each other up also, by giving them encouragment. I find it very ironic because Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians when he is commanding them to encourage.
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
I hope all us who has been apart of True North in the classes of 09′ and 10′ will remember Pastor Bobby preach on this at Winter Retreat 08′. These our commands, so let’s apply them to our lives today! I’m challenging you!!!
21Test everything. Hold on to the good.
22Avoid every kind of evil.
We should evaluating everything that we do or have, if they are good we can keep on to them. If they are bad we need to get rid of them, whatever it is. We need to avoid every single type of evil, we should hate evil because it seperates us from God.
23May 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. 24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Wow, this chapter is full of awesome verses!
I love the promise of God’s faithfulness. He has been faithful to save us and now will continue to work in our lives and keep us in Christ until His coming. Philippians 1:6 says, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God will continue the good work of salvation created in us on the day of our conversion! He ordained the day of our salvation and will continue to ordain each aspect of our lives until the day of Christ’s return or our death. I can have peace resting in God’s faithfulness to continue my sanctification.
17pray continually
what an awesome chapter. Verse 17 is very short and to the point. When we are constantly in prayer, it is easier to stay out of sin because we are communicating with our Lord. Our prayers are something that can never be taken away from us. We can talk to God whenever we want! Think about that for a second. What is it that’s holding you back from spending time with Jesus? I want to encourage all of you to spend some time each and everyday praying and talking to our Creator. He wants us to talk to him. After all, he is our Father =)
Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This verse is very comforting to me because it shows how God will have a pre-tribulation rapture. until recently I was freaked out about if the rapture would come in the middle of the tribulation or at the end as some scholars beleive, untill two sundays ago I heard a sermon on the subject of when the rapture would take place in relationship to the tribulation. This was one reason that the pastor believed that it would come before the tribulation, and it is good to see that this theory about how God wouldn’t let us suffer the tribulation written in the bible as a fact.
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
I am with Kyle! I remember our series 24/7 Christianity from two Winter Retreats ago… Notice the words here…”Always,” “Continually,” and “In All Circumstances…” These things are to be our lifestyle! Let’s make sure that being a Christian isn’t something we do, but someone we are.
12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you.
Truly we are so blessed to have such wonderful pastors at our church as Pastor Bobby, Pastor Luke, and Pastor Mike. They are awesome! They rightfully bring God’s word to us weekly and explain it. Praise the Lord for the leaders at our church!
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus
During difficult times it can be challenging to remain thankful. I can honestly say I am thankful for some of the most painful times in my life, realizing that without them, I would have failed to learn some very important lessons. This command really sets us apart from the rest of the world. As they witness our joy and thankfulness during stressful times, it speaks volumes. Think of the example of Paul, often being beaten and imprisoned, he always remained thankful. My prayer is that we would not fall victim to self pity or doubt but trust in God’s will for our lives, giving thanks in every circumstance
1st Thessalonians 5
1 Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.
7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
For those who tempt fate and tempt the Lord there are heavy consequences for their disobedience to God. I pray that no one here at True North would play Russian Roulette with their spiritual life by trying to live life in the world and forsaking the one who is calling them to life in Christ Jesus which leads to Heavenly riches. Don’t be deceived by Satan into thinking that you can just live the life you want now and become a Christian when you are through doing the things of this world. Like it is written in verse 2 that Christ will come like a thief in the night without warning and there will be no second chance. These verses are a vivid warning to all of us that we should be prepared every day for Christ’s return. Maranatha!!
Vs 2
This is one of those verses in the Bible that dramatically changes every aspect of thinking in the present tense. If we always have in mind that the Lord can come back at any time then this should change how we live our lives
15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
This verse reminds me of when Jesus said to turn the other cheek. This is especially true when it comes to christians and other christians… we should not be trying to get back at our brother that wrongs us, but love each other just as Christ loved us and forgive each other. Gotta keep those connections going strong.
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
These are some of my favorite words to live by.
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Haha, Mrs. Burke just took the words right out of my mouth. These are easy to forget but life changing if you live by them!
16Be joyful always;
17pray continually;
18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Love these verses!! Be joyful always is an amazing reminder to me because there is nothing in life to be down about when God is in your life!!! Pray always no matter what turn to God for He is always there. Give thanks and praise to God for everything He has always done.
Good reminders!!