Parish Study | 3.23 | 1 Thess 1.1-10
Parish in the Word | 3.23
1 Thess 1:1-10
Parish in the Word
One of the purposes of our Parish gatherings is to build community. But a community is not just a group of people gathered together. That is a crowd. Nor is a community simply a group of people gathered together around something. That is an audience. A community is a group of people gathered around something which they also share with one another.
It is in this context of gathering around the word and sharing with one another that God forms us into a body, distinct members knit together by his spirit, with Christ as our head. This is the pattern in which we’ll seek to know God as his church. And you know what, it is actually quite simple to do. Gather around his word and seek to hear from him and share what he has for us together.
1 Thessalonians
Over the course of this year in our parishes we’ll move through Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. This is one of Paul’s earliest letters, written around AD 50-51, to a young church he planted. This church is remaining steadfast amidst persecution and has been an encouragement to Christians in the whole region of Macedonia.
Paul writes to this church to give thanks for them, encourage their continued faithfulness, and bring clarity to a few questions they had concerning death and Christ’s second coming.
Our series taught by Jacob Carr on Bible Study has given us some tools to look at scripture and understand what we are reading. Let’s use these together to look at the word of God.
Study:
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
One of the purposes of our Parish gatherings is to build community. But a community is not just a group of people gathered together. That is a crowd. Nor is a community simply a group of people gathered together around something. That is an audience. A community is a group of people gathered around something which they also share with one another.
It is in this context of gathering around the word and sharing with one another that God forms us into a body, distinct members knit together by his spirit, with Christ as our head. This is the pattern in which we’ll seek to know God as his church. And you know what, it is actually quite simple to do. Gather around his word and seek to hear from him and share what he has for us together.
1 Thessalonians
Over the course of this year in our parishes we’ll move through Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. This is one of Paul’s earliest letters, written around AD 50-51, to a young church he planted. This church is remaining steadfast amidst persecution and has been an encouragement to Christians in the whole region of Macedonia.
Paul writes to this church to give thanks for them, encourage their continued faithfulness, and bring clarity to a few questions they had concerning death and Christ’s second coming.
Our series taught by Jacob Carr on Bible Study has given us some tools to look at scripture and understand what we are reading. Let’s use these together to look at the word of God.
Study:
- Pray for God to open our hearts to his word.
- One person reads 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 out loud
- Move through the below questions as a group
- What is Paul communicating to this young church?
- What did Paul do for this church and what did the church do for others?
- What is in this letter for our church today?
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Posted in Parish in the Word