GET A GRIP ON GOD’S WORD Paul told the Thessalonian believers to “stand firm” and to keep a “strong grip” on the Word of God that he had taught them. Standing firm on God’s Word we build our life on its gospel truth and instruction. Keeping a strong grip on the Word, we cling to
DO YOU WRITE IN YOUR BIBLE? The Lord warned that many so-called prophets had not really heard and studied God’s Word. But Jeremiah was God’s man. He stood in the Lord’s counsel and marked His word and preached it as he heard it. Do you mark God’s Word? Do you take note of what
DO YOU APPRECIATE YOUR PASTORS AND SPIRITUAL LEADERS? The apostle Paul instructed the Thessalonian believers to “give recognition” to those who are leaders in the Lord’s work. The word “recognition” means to show honor and appropriate respect, recognizing their worth and giving them what they are worth. In Greek, the word “honor” also implies financial
WE GRIEVE BUT NOT WITHOUT HOPE The apostle Paul described believers who had died as having “fallen asleep” in Jesus. For them death is like sleep, a transitional state where one closes his eyes in this world and opens them in the next. Having given the Thessalonians this description, Paul encouraged them not to “grieve
FACE TO FACE DISCIPLESHIP The apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the new believers at Thessalonica after hearing Timothy’s report concerning them. He was working in Athens when he felt compelled to send Timothy back to check on them. When Timothy returned to him with his great report of their continued faith in the
WORSHIP IS WAR! The apostle Paul commended the Thessalonian believers for turning from idolatry to the worship of the true and living God. They did this by receiving the message of the Gospel with joy, so that they gladly placed their faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. We think that we are too modern
DO YOU MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME WITH OTHERS? Live with godly wisdom toward those who are outside the faith. Let them see Christ in you. Remember that you were once an “outsider” too, but Christ has brought you near. Season your conversation with grace, asking the Spirit to give you wisdom on how
PUTTING ON GOD’S FORGIVENESS Paul told the believers in Colossae to put off their old ways of thinking and behaving and to put on their new life in Christ. He spoke of these old and new ways as if they were articles of clothing. Among the new articles of spiritual clothing that believers received was
STRUGGLING IN THOUGHT AND PRAYER FOR OTHERS Paul often “struggled” for the believers in towns and cities where he had been before, but had left behind in order to carry the gospel to other places. Colossae was one of these places. Located in the province of Asia Minor (Modern day Turkey), Colossae was the least
SPREADING THE GOSPEL ALL OVER THE WORLD Paul described the “gospel” (“good news”) as being like a plant “bearing fruit and growing” everywhere it went “all over the world.” And what was that fruit? “Changed lives!” In the next verse, Paul identified the one who had actually carried the Good News to Colossae as