Thriving Through Thessalonians #5

Thriving Through Thessalonians #5

Let me tell you a secret: Be a disciple and this stuff comes naturally.

1.       You need iron sharpening iron fellowship.

2.       You need the supernatural resources of grace and peace.

3.       You must discover what God wants you to do and begin to do them

4.       You need Holy Spirit power.

5.       You need a mentor, someone to show you how.

6.       You need someone to whom you are modeling the Christian life.

7.       You need hope in the second coming.

8.       To thrive spiritually you need to live authentically and with integrity so that

you can overcome the opposition.

9.       You need to have someone interceding for you and you need to be praying

                   for someone else.

10.     You need love to motivate your obedience.

11.     You need to keep yourself from sexual promiscuity.

12.     You need to love the family of believers.

13.     You need to be exemplary in civil matters.

To thrive spiritually you need encouragement.

The concern that the people had was about their believing loved ones who had

died.

                  

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (MSG)

13 And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don't want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. 14 Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus. 15 And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence—we have the Master's word on it—that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they'll be ahead of us. 16 The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God's trumpet blast! He'll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise—they'll go first. 17 Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. 18 Oh, we'll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.

Those believers who have died will also be resurrected when Jesus returns.

                  

The disciples of Jesus have a hope in a continued living relationship with God.

         

One thing a grieving Christian does have is hope.

Between Jesus and His disciples there is a relationship which nothing can break,

a relationship which survives even death.

In life and in death the believer lives in union with Jesus and nothing can break

that fellowship.

We are to reassure one another that nothing can destroy our relationship with God.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

To thrive spiritually you need encouragement.

In those times we need another disciple to come along side us and remind us that God is still with us, that God hasn’t given up on us, that nothing can separate us from the love that God has for us, the love lavished upon you.

Reassurance, encouragement is like a life line thrown to us when we feel we are

sinking.

                            

When another person reassures us and encourages us discouragement is disabled, moving forward is empowered

Do you have someone in your life that is an encourager?

         

Not only do you need to have an encouragement, you need to be an encourager.

         

We either encourage or we discourage. We either edify or we tear down.       We either build up or we destroy. If we do nothing we are discouragers. Inactivity communicates that your concern is no concern of mine.

Are you an encourager?

           

Encourage another, invest in them. Then take note of how you feel. Maybe you could testify to that experience next week.

You and I as followers of Jesus both need encouragement and to be encouragers.