Lesson 2 from 2nd. Thessalonians chapter 1

Lesson2 from 2nd. Thessalonians ch.1 Read the chapter again
As we looked into the first four verses we see the apostle Paul
encouraging and exhorting the church that he had founded for their faith…”Your faith growth exceedingly.” Faith that grows…fruit grows doesn’t it? And when you go to the super market to buy fruit you will find it in various stages of growth, some of it is ripe, some not so ripe and some of it is over ripe. And Paul tells the Galatians that faith is also a fruit of the Spirit, besides being a gift of the Spirit, perhaps we will do a study on the fruit of the Spirit after this one (if God permits .)
Verse #5 here in ch.1 says “which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God …..what is this manifest evidence that he refers to? It is their patience and faith as they endure
both persecution and tribulation. Patience is also a fruit of the Spirit. The King James Version calls it long suffering. God does not send persecution or tribulation to His children, we see in 1 Thessalonians ch. 5 verse 9,” for God did not appoint
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Sometimes He may allow some test or a trial just to give us opportunity to have our faith proven, but remember what the writer to these people said when he was so concerned about their faith coming under attack and the fact that he could not make it….he said in 1st. Thessalonians 2:17, 18…”But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. Therefore we wanted to come to you --- even I, Paul, time and again---but Satan hindered us.”Satan hindered us, Paul says. And then in that same verse that I just read, the next verse…”For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord at His coming?” His hope, his crown of rejoicing, his glorying in the Lord was because of the souls he had led to the Lord, even those he had influenced , had helped to come to Christ because his testimony among them was believed. Remember what he said back in the first epistle, chapter 2, verse 13…”For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also works effectively in those who believe… this is the key to success in our witness that what we say is convincing to men and women as it should be, the Word of God! Our words unless they line up with God’s Word, are just empty babblings. How important it is to bring a soul to the Lord.Back in verse 4 of our study chapter 1 of Thessalonians 2the apostle refers to their patience and faith in all their persecutions and tribulations that they were enduring, and further in verse 5, he says that all of this is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, WHOA! Did you hear what I just read? It is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. This walk with God is not to be taken lightly either by us or by those who oppose us. Not only are we to walk worthy of our calling but God has taken responsibility over us also. I do not take lightly the harassing of my children and how much more must God feel about His children and their good keeping, divine protection is theirs as long as we walk worthily…
Worthy before God …of our calling. In the 7th. Verse here in chapter 1, God is going to set the record straight….thousands of Christians are suffering much persecution somewhere in other lands tonight. The record probably reads much like the 11th. Chapter of Hebrews, “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection, still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.” Hebrews 11, verses 35 to the end of the chapter Turn there and we’ll read it.
Read also verses 37-40. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted,[a] were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in 39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

Back in our study chapter He is going to take vengeance on those who do not know God!....on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. (read verses 7-9)
It behooves us to watch for our own souls and those of our families. I think we need to focus ijn prayer on our families, whether they are serving the Lord or not, We need to see revival and get ready for a move of God. When you look at the next few verses it should cause us to stop thinking about ourselves and our inability to speak to others about their spiritual condition…look at verses 10-12.
Again verse 10 says, “When He comes (praise God, He is coming )when He comes in that Day, to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. When He comes back to this earth my friends, He will not come as an infant….He is coming in power as the old songwriter penned it, “we’ll hail that blessed hour”, He is coming with great glory, It is going to be a glorious appearing. This will be the Second Coming of our Lord back to earth …the rapture has already taken place; and He is coming with His saints, those who have been raptured before the tribulation takes place and when He comes in this appearing , He will set up His 1000 year reign known as the Millennial reign of Christ
And during that reign, there will be peace…real peace for 1000 years. In the meantime we will suffer persecution, in this life…2nd. Tim.3:12 says, “Yea, and all who live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” but that is not tribulation ….1st. . Thess.5:9 which says, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ our lord.
This chapter, to summarize it if you will tells me that Jesus is coming back to this earth to rule and to reign and that you must believe in the Gospel in order to be a part of that company of saints who are going to be with Him when He comes. It tells me that you have to believe the old-time Gospel You cannot make it in unless you believe. It tells me that there is everlasting fire , everlasting destruction for those who have not believed. Verses 11 & 12”
tells it all: “Therefore we pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of His calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work with powerthat the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified
Aren’t you glad for the gospel tonight? Vs. 12, says, “that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s got plenty of grace tonight..That is my desire tonight to have His name glorified in me. Can you say amen? Some people blaspheme that holy name…let us be known as a people who glorify His name. Do you have a testimony tonight that will glorify His name?Read 2 Peter 3:1-18. But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is how we can be sure we will make it in.

Those near miss accidents or is it the hand of GOD?

II’m not sure whether this is the proper terminology or not: near-miss accidents. However aq couple of weeks ago, my attention turned to a news clip regarding an industrial accident in our neighboring province of Nova Scotia. It seems there were two men working off a scaffold when it gave way beneath them and they fell to the ground or at least the next level. Total falling distance was 1.5 meters, not that far really
Sadly though one man died in hospital that same day. It made me go back in time and recall a similar situation that involved my Dad and myself and three other men working off a wooden scaffold in a pulp and paper mill in what was then the city of Lancaster in New Brunswick Canada. That was in a time when job safety was not much of a priority, the scaffold was not too well built as well we overloaded it, five of us on it at the same time. There was no warning, a sudden snap and down it went two floors down, there being a large hole in the floor where we had been working. Three men went with it as well as the staging. One of these men suffered severe head injuries but he survived. Miraculously, my Dad was standing on a piece of plywood that was a part of the staging/scaffolding, and it caused him to gently slide on it to the surface of the first floor, the one with the hole. He thus landed safely and on his feet. As for myself, upon the hearing of the snap, immediately my hands shot upward over my head to some ¾” conduit piping that we had just previously installed. It was an immediate response and felt as if my hands were lifted by someone other than myself or all those standing around me. I believe now and reflecting back, I know it was the hand of the lord, I could tell of many more near-misses like the time a 600 volt double-ended substation blew up in my fac, a slip of the screwdriver, my fault. But again I survived with minor injuries, suffice it to say that oncagain God intervened and spared my life, not because of any goodness in me but only through His grace and His mercy am I alive today.Several years later., I was reading in the Bible and I was reading from the book of 1st. Chronicles chapter 4 which is heavy into genealogy, not the most exciting book in the Bible, but suddenly, as suddenly as that snap I heard when the scaffold collapsed, I saw these two verses And it was as if they were written just for me. Verses 9&10 : “And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, which literally means, “he will cause pain”. Now Jabez could have allowed that name to get him down and blame his troubles on his mother or his brothers. Instead he chose to call on the God of Israel and he prayed this prayer, “Oh that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me and that you would keep me from evil that it may not grieve me.” The Bible says that God granted him what he requested. It made me to realize that God has had His hand on my life and also that it’s alright to ask God for His blessing. This is not one of those prosperity doctrines that are so prevalent today, it is simply receiving from God’s hand the provision He has made for us. The bible says, “in every thing give thanks.” That is my intention, to thank Him in everything. Another scripture passage that I memorized as a child going to a Baptist Sunday School is found in Proverbs 4:5,6 states it thusly, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path." I am living proof of this advice