March 20 = 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Paul's Final Exhortations (Christian Conduct) 

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

Paul's Benediction

1 Thessalonians 5:23-28

OPEN:

• What causes you to "blow a gasket": Traffic jams? Christmas shopping? Bickering children? Burned dinners? Or what?

DIG:

• From this passage, what people make up the Christian community? 
• What attitudes underlie Paul's various commands here? What impressions of the Christian life do these commands give you? 
• How would you summarize the goal and hope of the Christian life (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) in your own words? 
• How do the many commands in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 relate to the multi-dimensional blessing of 1 Thessalonians 5:23? To the promise of 1 Thessalonians 5:24? To the requests of 1 Thessalonians 5:25-27? To the benediction of 1 Thessalonians 5:28?

REFLECT:

• Of the various commands, which are most relevant to your church? Your small group? Your workplace? You? Which do you feel you are already practicing well? Which one will you work on this week? How? 
• What encouragement, sanctification, and grace do you receive from God to fulfill these commands? How has your small group been a help to you in this regard?

Devotional

It’s Our Job

 

            An organization called OnePoll did a survey concerning the generous habits of Americans. The results showed that the average American commits five good deeds a month—and wants to do more. Some of the good deeds were little more than good manners (holding a door open for a stranger), while some required personal investment (carrying groceries home or paying for a stranger’s meal). When people were invited to share the nicest thing anybody ever did for them, the stories were touching tributes to human decency and kindness to those unable to pay it back.

            These stories are all around us because kind and good people are everywhere. A school bus driver in Copperas Cove (west of Temple), Texas, didn’t want children waiting in tall weeds at the bus stop—so he came back with his mower and groomed the abandoned property. A sergeant returning from overseas deployment for the birth of his son got stranded by the weather at an airport in Pennsylvania until a group of health workers on the way to a conference drove him the last eight hours in a blowing snowstorm. A 27-year-old worker at a New York Taco Bell routinely writes inspirational quotes and messages on the receipts she provides. A man on a plane found a lost wallet that contained ID and a paycheck, added some of his own cash, and anonymously mailed it back to the owner. These, and many other, stories play out every day as people do the work commissioned from the Lord—whether they realize it or not.

            “And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-15 NIV).

            Daily kindnesses make our lives run smoothly. When we receive kindness from another, it reminds us that almost all people have similar interests and challenges. When we perform a good deed for another, we are filled with a joyous warmth that reminds us that we are, at heart, good people who want good things for others. All of this comes to us in the teachings of Jesus. He called us to care for one another without first deciding how it might be to our advantage.

            God has been so good and generous to us that we are drawn to Him. We want to show those same character qualities to others as we go through our lives. We know that we have the ability to make another’s life brighter and happier just by a simple act of kindness. We all deplore the cruelties and crudities of our world. Here is a way to reflect some of God’s divine light and warmth across the landscape. One of the most obvious badges of Christian conduct is simple kindness. And so, with a good deed here, a kind word there, a small sacrifice now, we bless the world and imitate the One who sacrificed everything so that we might have the opportunity to be saved from certain and deserved doom. It’s our God-given job to improve the disposition around us!

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4 Powerful Ways To Spark Your Prayer Life

https://faithinthenews.com/4-powerful-ways-spark-prayer-life/

https://wisdomofgodwithwendy.org/want-spark-prayer-life-4-ways-can/

Here are 4 powerful ways that you can use to fire up your prayer life.

Pray Back His Word

There is nothing better, I believe, than to pray back God’s Word to Him.  We know that the psalms contain many prayers in the form of songs and David’s psalms are really prayers that were put to music.  Why not use some of these praise and prayer psalms as part of your prayer life like in Psalm 3 which says “I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill” (Psalm 3:4) or Psalm 84 “My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God” (Psalm 84:2).

Write out your Blessings

I challenged someone once who was going through a dark night of the soul to write out on a piece of paper everything that God has blessed them with.  They came up with a list that contained (first and foremost) their being saved, a job, a home, a family, food, and so many other things.  I believe that if we start counting our blessings and write them down one by one it will be easier to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess 5:18).

Pray Whenever/Wherever you Can

Going back to 1 Thessalonians in chapter 5:16-17, it says “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing” but how can we pray without ceasing?   The Greek wording used for “without ceasing” is “adialeiptōs” and it means “without intermission, incessantly” which means that we can pray throughout the day, like when we are waiting in line or in traffic, when we are showering, when we are driving, or just about any time you can think about it.  I start my day with prayer and devote certain times where I can be alone and pray in private, so don’t leave out this type of praying, but when Paul said to “pray without ceasing” I believe he meant that we can pray throughout the day so that we can be “constant in prayer” as Paul writes in Romans 12:12.

Find a Prayer Partner

I love to have others pray for me, but I also exchange prayers for them.  It is one thing to be praying for yourself, but what a privilege to have others pray for you.  Find a prayer partner and keep in touch with them on a regular basis.  Ask them to pray for you for certain things during the week, and vow to pray for them for their spiritual and physical needs.  Having a prayer partner is like having an accountability partner.  Commit to pray for them and for them to pray for you, and you may be more committed to prayer.

Conclusion

For sure, we should pray for God to be glorified, for God always seeks to glorify His name. When we pray, we focus on God’s will, and we know for certain that it is always God’s will for His name to be glorified. Pray that prayer every day because we know that is always His will.

May God richly bless you,

Pastor Jack Wellman