Undeniable Difference
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
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. Last week we looked at the hope that we have through the knowledge that Jesus is coming back! This week, we are looking at the difference it makes when believers live that hope out, even in the midst of real challenges.
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:
Share about a time when someone in your circle of influence (family, friends, co workers…) made a comment about the way in which you respond to challenges (difficlut people/ situations, etc). What was it that caught their attention and how did you point the difference to God’s presence in your life? What was their response to that?
Read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, Isaiah 13:9, Joel 2:31:
The message here is clearly that people will be surprised and that the impact will be deep! Talk about hte way this “Day” is described— what does this tell us about God, about people, about sin and about grace?
Contrast the surprise of the people how experience this with the fierceness of God’s wrath on them. Why is there such a disconnect here between our view and God’s view of the situation we create as we “do life”?
Read 5:3 and Luke 17:26-30
We pray all the time for “peace and safety”— for our nation, our family & friends. Scripture talks about the way God keeps us safe, that we are to seek peace. What is the difference between a God-acknowledging pursuit of peace and what Scripture is talking about here?
We know God is gracious, we know He is patient, and yet these verses are clear that this will be sudden, utterly overpowering and totally devastating. Talk about that: When a patient loving God executes sudden and total destruction, what’s happening? How does that connect in the nature of God Himself (reference these and other Scriptures as you discuss).
Read 5:4-8, Galatians 5:19-23
Contrast the nature and consequences of the difference noted in these passages. WHY is there such explicit urgency about these things that are more about character than health/ economy/ war & peace?
In asking what sharing our hope looks like, Scott said, “It’s about getting involved in the lives of people who are living in darkness”. Talk about that. Why do we do or not do that? What can we do to engage here?
Read 5:9-11
What exactly are they to encourage each other with, according to these verses (appointed to salvation not wrath, will live together with Jesus Who died for us…)
How does this “build each other up”?
Respond:
Scott made the point that “We live in the light to bring hope to the darkness!” Spend some time praying together that God would bring divine opportunities to to bring that hope, and the courage to do so in the moment where the opportunity opens.
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