Encourage Your Hearts
Look Up, Not Around — Jesus Is the One Coming
SCRIPTURE:
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 CSB - May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
OBSERVATION:
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we see why Paul wrote a second letter to the church. Somehow, they had gotten the idea in their minds that the Great Tribulation was happening and that they had missed the rapture. It is not clear whether this was a misunderstanding or a twisting of Paul’s teaching from the first letter. Some believe it stemmed from false teaching or a false prophecy. Either way, the people were greatly disturbed. Paul now takes time to encourage the believers with “good hope by grace.”
Paul points out two major events that occur after the rapture of the church and during the Great Tribulation.
APPLICATION:
Clearly, for you and me, we are to be looking not for a great falling away and the Man of Lawlessness, but for Jesus. We are to be looking for His return. Paul told the church in his first letter.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 CSB - For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 CSB - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.
As we see the day approaching, pray this prayer for one another, as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 CSB - May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
May HE truly encourage our hearts and strengthen us in every good work and word. We have a message of HOPE BY GRACE for a lost, confused, scared, and ripe-for-harvest world.
PRAYER:
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 CSB - May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
OBSERVATION:
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we see why Paul wrote a second letter to the church. Somehow, they had gotten the idea in their minds that the Great Tribulation was happening and that they had missed the rapture. It is not clear whether this was a misunderstanding or a twisting of Paul’s teaching from the first letter. Some believe it stemmed from false teaching or a false prophecy. Either way, the people were greatly disturbed. Paul now takes time to encourage the believers with “good hope by grace.”
Paul points out two major events that occur after the rapture of the church and during the Great Tribulation.
- Great falling away – This could mean that before the rapture of the church, and even during the tribulation, there is a great awakening (Revelation 7:9-14) followed by a great rejection (Revelation 9:20-21 and 17:2-6).
- The Man of Lawlessness – the Antichrist – is restrained by the church. How? Because the Holy Spirit, who is working in us and keeping us, is restraining Him. When the church is gone, he will be free to rise up.
APPLICATION:
Clearly, for you and me, we are to be looking not for a great falling away and the Man of Lawlessness, but for Jesus. We are to be looking for His return. Paul told the church in his first letter.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 CSB - For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 CSB - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.
As we see the day approaching, pray this prayer for one another, as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 CSB - May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
May HE truly encourage our hearts and strengthen us in every good work and word. We have a message of HOPE BY GRACE for a lost, confused, scared, and ripe-for-harvest world.
PRAYER:
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.
When the world grows confusing and fearful, the believer's eyes should be fixed not on what's falling apart but on the One who is coming back — and that hope is enough to encourage every heart.
Posted in 14 - 2 Thessalonians
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