Key Thought : Paul corrects a number of misconceptions about the state of the dead and the second coming of Christ to the Thessalonians that can help us today. [Teaching plan for “The Dead in Christ” August 20, 2012] 1. Have a volunteer read I Thessalonians 4:13,14. A. Ask class members to share a short … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:14. What hope does Paul offer regarding those who have died? In verse 14 Paul offers the solution to the problem of hopeless grief. In the original language he describes the believers who have died as having “fallen asleep through Jesus.” While falling asleep is a common metaphor for death in New Testament times, the … Continue reading –>
According to 1 Thessalonians 4:13, what was Paul’s purpose for writing verses 13-18? Why should this text mean so much for us today? Why were the Thessalonian believers grieving as if they had no hope? A major factor was probably the short period that Paul was with them. We know that Paul talked about the death and … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. List the clues in this passage that point to the false beliefs in the Thessalonian church that brought unnecessary grief to those who held them. Within the Judaism of Paul’s day, a variety of views regarding the end time were prevalent. One of these viewpoints, in some form, crept into the Thessalonian … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Acts 17:3; 1 Cor. 15:20-23, 51-58; John 5:28, 29; Rev. 20:4-6. Memory Text: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Key Thought: Paul gives the Thessalonians (and us) a powerful … Continue reading –>
“Love is a pure and holy principle, but lustful passion will not admit of restraint and will not be dictated to or controlled by reason. It is blind to consequences; it will not reason from cause to effect.”-Ellen G. White, Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 1, p. 222. “[Love] is pure and holy. But the passion … Continue reading –>
Introduction: Do you know anyone who seems to have lived a holy life? What was that person like? When you saw that person, did you wish more than anything that you could be holy like him or her? To be honest, how many of us live perfect, holy lives every wakeful minute? What are the consequences of living … Continue reading –>
I don’t usually make a big deal either way about being single. I don’t think of myself as a single person, I just think of myself as a person. While I have heard other single people complain about married people treating them differently, I can only count on one hand the number of married people … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 and 3:11-13. What aspects of the earlier passage does Paul reaffirm in today’s text? The Greeks had a number of words for “love,” two of which are found in the New Testament. Eros (not found in the New Testament) is the Greek word from which we get the word erotic. It refers to the sexual side of … Continue reading –>
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:6-8. What is Paul saying about sexual immorality? A man who had been sexually active outside of marriage said to a pastor: “As a young man, I learned to see sex and love as one and the same thing. When I got married, however, I discovered that premarital sex destroys not only your … Continue reading –>
