Unshakeable Faith
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
We are moving into a series on 1 Thessalonians where Paul’s basic purpose was to encourage followers of Jesus to live ‘unstoppable’ lives in anticipation of the Lord’s return. This week we are looking at chapter 1: Unshakable faith!
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Reflect:
Experience:
Our faith may be challenged, but it des not have to be “shaken” as a dead leaf that eventually falls off a tree in Autumn! Talk about a time where your faith was challenged; how did you navigate that BEFORE you knew how everything was going to work out?
Read 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3:
How might you explain the core point, “God’s work + our response = Spiritual transformation” in your own words to someone with little to no background in Christianity?
What if God is at work in our lives, but we do not respond? What happens then?
Read 1:4-5
Paul lists 3 things (Words, Power, Conviction). How do these work together in affirming a message that can only and always be taken on faith?
How is God’s work and our response interwoven here; can God be at work without a response from us?
Read 1:6-10
Paul talks about “recieving the message” with joy from the Spirit in the midst of real persecution and suffering. How does that work?
Read Acts 16:22-25: Both joy and courage come from the Holy Spirit (1 Timothy 1:7). When that is what God is working in us, we have the same choice Paul talks about in Romans 7,8 (to live by the Spirit or by the flesh). Talk about that; HOW do we make the choice to live by the Spirit and witness HIS joy/courage?
Scripture says their message “rang out”— it went viral! What was it about “turning to God from idols” that rang out? Read the rest of the passage and contrast “before and after” that would make waves in the world of their time.
Respond:
“Your faith in God has become known everywhere”… even without Facebook and Youtube! In other words, whatever God was doing their, however they responded, no one could explain it apart from God. Spend some time praying that God will make clear HOW He is working in our lives, and commit to letting the life of the Holy Spirit THRIVE in our lives so that others have to take notice!
____________________________________
Get more resources to go deeper through Commentaries and Bible Study helps HERE