Weekly Challenge -1 Thessalonians 5

Life Group Community:

The week before we finished 1 Thessalonians 4 with Paul reviewing the rapture event with the group of new believers.  This week we read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 in which Paul told the church about the day of the Lord which occurs after the rapture.  It is inevitable, sudden, and inescapable.  Which is why he used the simile of labor pains upon a pregnant woman. 

As believers, we can respond to this news with faith, love, and hope.  We use these to encourage other believers, build each other up, and stay focused on our commission to offer hope in a hopeless world. 

We read several stories during LG.  One story was how Jim Bakker is now selling End of the World Biscuits on his website for donations at marked up prices.  You can see other items and “donation” amounts here.   You can pick up a Time of Trouble food bucket for $3,000!!

We closed with a story about the woman who wanted to be buried with her fork.  It was a great reminder of how the best is yet to come.  Do you believe it?  Are you responding to your family with faith, love, and hope?  Do people at work see it?  Do your friends?  Does your community?

My challenge this week is to be intentional in asking God to show you how to encourage others every day this week.

 

STORY

There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. As she was getting her things in order she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at her service, what scriptures she would like read and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

“There is one more thing,” she said excitedly.

“What is that?” came the pastor’s reply.
“This is very important,” the woman continued. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”
The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say.
“That surprises you, doesn’t it?” the woman asked.
“Well to be honest, I am puzzled by the request,” replied the pastor.

The woman explained, “In all my years of attending church socials and pot luck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, ‘Keep your fork.’ It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming…like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance! So, I just want people to see me there in the casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, ‘What is with the fork?’ Then I want you to tell them: “Keep your fork…the best is yet to come!”

The pastor’s eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the woman good-bye. He knew that this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She knew that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the woman’s casket and they would notice the pretty dress she was wearing, her favorite Bible and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the pastor heard the question, “What is with the fork?” And over and over he smiled. During his message, the pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. The pastor told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. He was right. So the next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you, “That the best is yet to come!”

Weekly Challenge - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Life Group,
What happens to believers when they die?  When is Jesus coming back?  When will we be caught up, raptus, or raptured?  How will we know it has happened?  What will happen to all the believers who have died before the rapture?  Is it ok for me to grieve or mourn when a believer dies?

These are some of the questions the new Thessalonian believers had for Paul.  Paul was telling all believers that we have hope which non-followers do not have.  This hope should bring joy and encouragement.  Then we should encourage others with this truth.

One way to find hope is to seek it in God's word.  It was encouraging to me to listen to our LG community read passage after passage about hope in the bible!

My challenge to you this week is to ask God to provide you opportunities to encourage someone this week because of the hope which you have.  This is not a wish type of hope.  It is anticipation, expectation, confidence type f hope.

Be intentional this week.
Travis

Here are a couple images from the lesson prep regarding the timing of the rapture:

Weekly Challenge 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Life Group,
I really enjoyed preparing and leading this lesson.  The main topic was loving each other and the power of community.    

We also talked about living in unity and not causing dis-unity.  This reminded me to go back and read through Ephesians 4 several times this week along with Hebrews 12:18. 

Ephesians 4 has been our Life Group descriptive chapter on living in community for several years.  Words jump off the page to me when reading about bearing with each other in love, we are unified because of our savior, each of us in community have different roles, it is time to mature and grow, be intentional, deal with issues between believers early, don't sin when you get angry, be wholesome in your speech, uplifting, not gossiping and judgmental.  Love, Love Love. 

Also, here is the link to the crazy story of neighbors escalated feud over a Facebook post. 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/feuding-neighbor-fence-hand/story?id=27884426

Be intentional this week.

Travis

Weekly Challenge -1 Thessalonians 2:1-4

Life Group Community:

Our discussion of 1 Thessalonians 2:1-4 included 2 main topics.  First, why can it be hard for us to speak with boldness?  Second, how do we define success as Christians?

For the first topic of boldness, we saw that Paul spoke boldly and we know that the young believers in Thessalonica spoke with boldness.  Both parties were suffering for the cause.  We viewed a clip from God’s Not Dead where only one student spoke boldly because he knew it was the right thing to do.  I am sure he was not the only believer in that class.

The second topic of defining success as a Christian was enjoyable as well.  Some Christ followers might say we cannot talk about being successful because we will never “arrive” as a Christian.  While it is true that we don’t achieve a special perfect status, Paul said that he was successful.   The other end of the spectrum is the home of the Christians who look at their actions and life status as success.  I have been on 20 mission trips, I have not been divorced, my children know all the books of the bible, my kids have never been on a date, the pastor finds me to shake my hand, etc. (you get the point). 

We decided as a class that success comes back to the heart.  We know there has to be enough evidence to convict you if you were arrested for being a Christian.  Jesus said in Matthew 7, that by their fruits you will know them.  But your serving, mission trips, parenting, loving your spouse, and being in community have to come from a heart of love and thanksgiving.   Then you will be changed, your family will be changed, your community will be changed.  That sounds successful to me!

My challenge to you this week is to ask God the Spirit to show you how to adjust your heart.  Maybe you need to stop judging other parents, or couples who have been divorced.  Maybe you need to evaluate why you are doing activities.  Is it to check the Christian box, or is it so your heart will produce the fruits?

Be intentional this week.

Travis

Weekly Challenge -1 Thessalonians

Life Group,
These young/new believers were expectantly "Waiting" for the return of Jesus, but they were not passive.  Their actions were making a difference all across Greece.  That is such a great story.  Just imagine people asking them why they are doing these things?, why they have hope?, why they are acting different?
The new believers from Thessalonica could not open their bibles to give answers.  They could not draw out the Roman Road to salvation.  They could not use church answers and use words like exegetical, theological, and pedagogical.

But they could say something like "I don't know much, but I do know that when I heard Paul talk about this hope, I felt it was true and decided to follow it.  Now I have joy and peace because I have a new hope.  So I have decided to pass it along to other people"

So what is your story?  What do you tell others about how your life was changed or why you are a part of a community of believers?
My challenge to you this week is to make this a discussion during a family dinner. 

Be intentional.
Travis

Weekly Challenge -HOPE

Life Group Community:

We had a great start to our new study of 1 and 2 Thessalonians.  Aaron and I are both excited about the opportunity to teach through these 2 letters. 
During LG, we spent a lot of time on Saturday reviewing the introduction to the new church in Thessalonica and the purpose, places, people, and dates. 

Our study would make a great movie. We have a story of HOPE which includes Jewish/Christian converts, Greek converts, mobs, Jason hiding people, Paul and Silas having to escape out of town, Timothy meeting with the new believers and reporting to Paul, and locations such as Thessalonica, Corinth, Lystra, and Philippi.

We have the same hope as these new followers of God the Son.  We get to live with hope (anticipation, expectation, and confidence) and be linked by community.

The challenge for the week is to read 1 Thessalonians again, but think about the hope the new followers have even through the trials, confusion, persecution, being made fun of, taken to jail, and losing contact with their leader.

Think about this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr (and possibly others before him):

I may not be the man I want to be;

I may not be the man I ought to be;
I may not be the man I could be;
I may not be the man I one day will be;
but praise God, I’m not the man I once was . . .
and that makes all the difference.
 

Be intentional this week.

 

Travis