Encouragement for the Saints

II Thessalonians 1

A simple telephone call would have cleared up some of the problems encountered by the believers in the early church. But of course, there were no telephones in Biblical times. Paul had to personally be tracked down, given information, draft a letter to clarify the question, and then get it back to the church where the question arose. This often took months to accomplish. In the meantime, wrong teachings could develop.

Either some of the people misunderstood what Paul wrote about the Lord’s return or someone had written a letter forging Paul’s name and it confused them. At any rate, the second letter is written to correct any wrong ideas and practices concerning the Lord’s return.

With this background, we now begin our study of the second letter Paul wrote to Thesslonica.

• Encouragement of praise (II Thessalonians 1:3-4)
  • For their faith
    • There was evidence of great increases           
      • Suffering can be a pathway to growth
  • Abounding love
    • They were a community of people who loved one another
  • For their endurance through persecution
• Encouragement of promise (II Thessalonians 1:5-10)
  • The promise of their relationship
    • They were counted worthy
    • They were worthy of the Kingdom
  • There is repayment (II Thessalonians 1:6-9)
    • To the troublemaker
    • To the troubled
    • When will this be? (II Thessalonians 1:8-10)
• Encouragement of prayer (II Thessalonians 1:11-12)
  • For steadfastness
  • For God’s glory to be revealed