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2 THESSALONIANS CHAPTER 1 KJV WEB 2The 1-1,2 -- No Entries 2The 1,3-10 (7e) Responsibility >> Protecting the gospel >> God defends His own word – God takes revenge on our enemies, giving to them what they have given to us, and He sharpens us on the tongs of their adversity. He will let them have their way for a while, and then He will act on our behalf, because of His promise to protect us and preserve His Church in the world. Ultimately, though, He will reward us for all we have suffered for His namesake. God’s penalty is severe on those who raise their hand against the innocent. (98ka) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> The salvation of God >> Enduring the wicked is to overcome them – Paul said, Jesus is the “savior of all men, and especially of those who believe” (1Tim 4-10). There will always be those who are being saved. They made Paul’s purpose meaningful as an evangelist and a preacher and a teacher. If nobody believed, the Church would not exist. 2The 1,3-7 (71d) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Worthiness of man >> God makes us worthy of heaven – God makes us worthy of heaven through our willingness to suffer for His cause. What is eternal life worth to us? Would suffering cause us to "curse God and die," as Job’s wife advised him to do (Job 2-9,10)? Job didn’t receive good advice from anyone; he was completely alone in his suffering, which made it all the worse, and when he came out the other end, nobody but he was approved. Note also that nothing was ever spoken against his wife, who enjoyed the fruit of her husband’s faith. God did not judge his wife in that she submitted to him, and by that she came under the umbrella of his faith. Suffering has no intrinsic value; rather, it is endurance; our willingness to accept whatever happens to us. This has deep, intrinsic value. Those who truly believe in God will not abandon their faith or sacrifice it or trade it in hope of reducing their suffering; Job’s wife urged him to do just that, saying in essence, ‘Since the ultimate source of your suffering is God, abandon your faith that your suffering might end.’ This logic is like saying, ‘Since you have fallen off the ship and the towline you are holding is causing you to be battered against the waves, let go of the rope. Job’s wife figured that if he abandoned his faith, it would reduce his affliction, since God endorsed it, but abandoning his faith would have only added to his suffering, and in the end he would have had nothing. Job kept his faith in God, though he was tortured and afflicted by Satan, which God allowed, and this was also the case with the Thessalonians. They were being afflicted and persecuted for their faith, and it was their endurance that gave them the victory. See also: God allows suffering and evil to test us like He tested Job; 2Tim 4-20; 145ea (98m) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> Endurance invites the judgment of God – Persecution and affliction is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment, in that He uses it to prove our worthiness of His kingdom for which indeed we are suffering. It is well enough to say, ‘God, I love you,’ but the purpose of all this evil in the world and all our suffering is to prove our love to God. Since He knows everything, it seems moot that we should prove anything to Him, so it is not really for Him but for us to know. God thinks in terms of eternity. In a million, billion years from now God doesn’t want any lingering questions such as: do I really love God? or How do I know I love God? or Do I really hate sin? or If I had the opportunity to sin, would I do it? All these questions are answered in the present persecutions and afflictions we endure every day. (100a) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) >> Persevere in tribulation – It is one thing to suffer persecutions and afflictions, but it is another thing to endure them. If we endure them, it guarantees our spiritual growth, as God promised. There are two kinds of persecution: silent persecution and direct persecution. In silent persecution they ignore us and hope we go away; but if that doesn’t work, they will directly persecute us, sometimes to the death, but this never generates their hoped result, which is to rid the world of Christianity. Therefore, when God and His people are bent on articulating the gospel, the world is powerless to stop it. (156e) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> You will know them by their endurance (188e) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Suffering >> Suffering the will of God in your life – Endurance is one of the great virtues of Christianity. The willingness to endure our circumstances holds promise in this life and the one to come; it is the very foundation of our faith in Jesus. Faith is summed up in the word “endurance.” If we are willing to live for Jesus under any and all circumstances, Jesus considers us His disciples. True faith is not hinged on circumstances, but on the truth we believe, which remains constant. Christians who have an easy life go to heaven because of their faith in Jesus, and those who believe in Jesus to spite their persecutions and afflictions, or disease or bodily illness, their willingness to endure their suffering draws them closer to Jesus, and God sees them as more than acceptable but worthy of His Kingdom. We could say that nobody is worthy of heaven; we are all sinners saved by the grace of God, but He also says of those who willingly suffer for His namesake, they are brethren to Christ who suffered on the cross for them. (242kb) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Reacting to persecution >> Enduring persecution >> Having a reputation of being persecuted – Paul speaks proudly of the Thessalonians to all the other churches, because of “your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions, which you endure.” This is the mechanism of their spiritual growth: persecution and affliction. They will cause us to either fall away from the faith or flourish. If we have nothing more than a religion, then we will flee from persecution and affliction. No matter what brand of religion we have, it is never worth pain and suffering. However, our faith in Jesus is worth it. Those who are religious tend not to be persecuted, but those who have a genuine faith in Jesus Christ will be persecuted (2Tim 3-12), because of the Holy Spirit that exudes from them, for He is an offense to the world. Even love can give offense to some people, because they suspect the Lord Jesus Christ is behind it. The world hates God and it always will, but there will always be some who will be saved from the world and cleave to Christ and become His children, adopted by the Spirit. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar 2The 1,3-5 (115j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through obedience of faith >> Through determination >> Determined to obey Christ (137l) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Maturity >> Maturing with our brothers >> Maturity is tested by our relationship with others 2The 1-3,4 (11h) Servant >> Love is our standard of ministry – The true test of faith and love is adversity. If we maintain our convictions through the difficulties of life, it will authenticate our sincerity both to ourselves and to those who observe our behavior. Endurance is one of our most valuable assets, in that it takes us where we want to go, and bridges the gap between what we have and what we want, between who we are and who we want to be. It is our ticket to honor, where only greatness treads, demonstrated by caring for others more than ourselves. (81j) Thy kingdom come >> Pray without ceasing >> For the Church -- These verses go with verses 11&12 (229b) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Kingdom grows by itself >> Growing in numbers corresponds with spiritual growth >> Kingdom grows in strength – What better compliment could Paul give than that God's people were growing? He was happy that the church was growing spiritually and that they understood God on a deeper level every day. This guaranteed the Church’s very existence in the world more than if it were growing numerically. Growing numerically without knowing what they believed or why would spell extinction for the Church, but when the Church grows spiritually, it guarantees they will also grow in numbers, which in many respects is just as important. To be growing in the love of God is to be growing in love toward one another, which is the greatest proof that Jesus lives in us. So, there is priority in everything, the Church’s spiritual health coming before numbers. If the Church is not spiritually growing, it is dying, and people would sense their decay and flee from it. The Holy Spirit wants to impart quality into us before we grow in numbers. 2The 1-3 (125a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love is the action of faith >> Love is the response of receiving from God (131i) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Interdependence >> Encouraging one another (156d) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Loving your fellow man is evidence of salvation >> Love the brethren KJV WEB / Navigation Bar 2The 1,4-10 (157a) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Rejecting God >> Rejecting the truth – The Bible is explicit about making a distinction between dying from famine, disease and war, and dying as a result of persecution, just because we believe in Jesus. The Thessalonians suffered persecution at the time of this writing, and Paul was telling them to look forward to the second coming of Christ when they will be vindicated, when He comes 2000 years later as though he came in their own time and caught their persecutors red-handed, for God does not recognize time. God in his righteous judgment condemns those who afflict His people and gives relief to the saints, according to Jesus story about the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16-25). His second coming is not just about judgment but also about giving relief to the Church that will be persecuted in the last days; that is Paul’s promise. It will not be a light persecution against the Church but one whose enemy’s goal is to completely eradicate every Jew and Christian from the earth. The fact that Jesus’ return occurs at this time suggests that if He didn’t come, their enemies would have succeeded. This is how severe the persecution will be during the first five Seals of Satan’s wrath, significantly lowering the population of the earth. Not just Christians but the whole will suffer at the hands of this tyrant. 2The 1-4,5 (189c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> Acceptable sacrifice -- These verses go with verses 11,12 (192f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Waiting for God to do it His way >> Lose your rights to gain His vindication -- These verses go with verse 10 (209e) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Righteous saved with difficulty >> Righteous saved with hardship >> Righteous saved with endurance – God considers those in heaven worthy of being there, because of their endurance, meaning that our suffering does not bring about God’s righteous judgment; our endurance does. We know that no one actually deserves heaven or to be saved or forgiven, but if God considers us worthy, who are we to argue with Him (Lk 20-35). God by His sovereign authority has deemed us worthy of Him by enduring the things we suffer. Some people might want to become masochistic and seek afflictions in order to become more worthy of His kingdom, but it is not how much we endure, but our willingness to endure His word (Heb 12-19). Anybody who is bold enough to believe in Jesus in a world that hates God is guaranteed a life of adversity, so there is no need to look for trouble. “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2Tim 3-12). Suffering and afflictions are guaranteed in this life because of our faith, as though it were made of suffering, being so much an aspect of this life, so engrained into the natural realm, affecting our human experience to its very core, so enduring our personal afflictions proves our faith, and by that God approves us. 2The 1-4 (165h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Hardship >> The hardship of persecution 2The 1,5-12 (38d) Judgment >> Jesus defeated death (Satan) >> Resurrection brings about judgment – There is a day set by the Father, the First Resurrection, which also happens to be the day of the Rapture, called the day of the Lord. That day will be preceded by a sequence of days consisting of years in which God will judge the earth through various plagues through the Trumpets as a consequence of martyring His saints, leading to the crescendo of the First Resurrection. We glorify Him by our faith, and He glorifies us through His works that He performs for our benefit and for the destruction of our enemies. That day is still coming when Paul and the people of his day who believed in Jesus will be raised from the dead to receive new bodies, terminating the kingdoms of men and ushering in the glorious age of Millennium, initiating His eternal kingdom. Paul is writing about the very last day of this age, which will be a very glorious day when Jesus comes to be glorified in His saints, and He will glorify them, giving them new bodies that cannot die. 2The 1,5-10 (28i) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God crushes those who make us stumble (29a) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> Delivered from our persecutors – We know that God will deliver us from our enemies in the life to come, but what about this life? Many people ask why God allows suffering. The enemies of the gospel will suffer in hell forever; therefore, it is righteous that God should allow us to suffer for a little while, sometimes at their hands, that we may be comforted forever (Lk 16-25). God lets the cards fall where they may instead of coming to our rescue every time we run into trouble. If He did this, it would disable the whole point of adversity, which is to confirm our faith. In heaven there won't be any adversity, but in this life faith grows as we struggle in our difficulties. What we discover about ourselves is that we still believe in God though we suffer, proving that we believe in Jesus no matter what happens. God’s intensions for us are good, and no evil has come from Him, though He uses it to strengthen our trust in Him and reward us accordingly. He is always ready to help us grow in our faith through our circumstances, which is the purpose for this life. God has commanded us to be separate from the world, and communicate the gospel that some might be saved. We make enemies that way, yet we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. We are a people for His own possession, zealous for good works. We will live with Him forever in His kingdom, and He has taken some from every nation for thousands of years that His kingdom may be filled. See also: Hell; 2The 1,6-10; 21d / God allows suffering and evil to test us; Heb 3,15-19; 203b (40m) Judgment >> God is glorified >> God defends His righteous ones through judgment (49k) Judgment >> Judgment day >> God judges the world >> The great tribulation – In the same way that God wants us to prove our faith, He desires the wicked to prove their unbelief, so He can judge them for it, referring to the war of Armageddon in the last days when man becomes fused to Satan, who together literally wage war against God. Of course Satan is leading them, so it is questionable if the devil really hopes to win this war through the use of human flesh or if he is purposely herding mankind into a meat shredder and a great furnace of God’s fury? The answer is probably that both are true, in that Satan is self-deceived, thinking he can beat God. Mankind will have become insane; indeed, a spirit of insanity has already entered the very fabric of social consciousness in preparation for this war, and it only makes sense that their leader is also insane, though he knows in his heart that winning a war against God is impossible. Satan drives mankind into judgment with God, like pushing him in front of a speeding truck. Prior to this war God will have pummeled the earth with many punishments throughout the trumpets and the bowls, yet they have learned nothing from any of this, but continue in vain to defeat God, which will end the same moment it started. 2The 1,5-7 (49e) Judgment >> Enemies of God’s church are destroyed KJV WEB / Navigation Bar 2The 1,6-10 (15j) Servant >> Angels execute Judgment >> In regard to the world (21d) Sin >> Disobedience will condemn you to hell – It doesn’t say that God deals out retribution to those who do not believe; it says He deals out retribution to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. God doesn’t care what we believe; He only cares that we obey Him, for it is an indicator of what we believe the truth. The gospel message is that we should believe in Jesus by obeying His commandment, which is to love one another, but we can’t love God’s people while we are persecuting and afflicting them. Persecutors of God's Church have denied heaven and have proven their hated of Him, and for this reason He created a place for them, where His presence does not exist; shouldn't that make them happy? Nothing of Himself is there; He has removed all attributes of Himself from it. There is virtually nothing in hell that would remind anyone of God, not a flitting bird through the sky, not a sky, no clouds, no rain, no water, no trees, nothing alive or growing. There is nothing in hell but a sea of humanity who refuses to serve God and a boiling caldron of liquid hot magma in which God will throw them. Those who find their way out of the lake of fire are welcome to lie on the shores of nowhere with only the memories of evil tormenting their minds forever, having forgotten every happy moment they ever had, perhaps forgetting there was ever a sky and birds that played in the breeze. All they will ever know is their darkness now. The sadness of their souls alone would kill any mortal, but now they cannot die. After a million years if God released them and gave them a second chance, they would all conspire against His throne, and He would have to throw them all back into hell again where they belong. See also: Hell; 25l (25l) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> You’re walking in death if you’re not walking in Jesus – Life in hell is a mystery, eluding even its inhabitants. The living dead is an oxymoron, yet this is the condition of those in hell. 2Cor 5-10,11 says, “Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Something similar is happening to those in hell, only minus any form of life. The damned are dead, yet behold they live. They are not suffering for Jesus’ sake like Paul said and like those of us who obey Christ experience on a daily basis, but they are alive just the same, though they are dead, but they can never fully die. They should have become Christians rather than eternally reliving our suffering of obedience in a body that does not want to serve the Lord. The meaning of being alive in hell is not the same as being alive in the flesh, any more than we understand life in heaven, but one day we will go there and experience it first hand. See also: Hell; 104e (29h) Gift of God >> God is on our side >> He fights our battles for us (40b) Judgment >> Jesus is the judge >> Jesus judges the world’s disobedience (87b) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Be doers of the word from the heart >> We have no choice but to be doers of the word (104e) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by fire >> Hell is an eternal purifying process – God is totally committed to honoring man's free will that He has given us. God has established the earth in a very large universe to prove His grandeur and for us to prove our loyalty to Him. God has given us an ability to love and hate, and He intends to reward those who serve Him and condemn the rest to eternal judgment in hell. We could call it punishment; God does, but more than that, hell is a place of the dead. He made it for those who love death and believe in sin rather than worshipping God through faith and love. Hell is the only alternative to heaven, the only place in God's New Creation (when He makes it) that does not support life. It’s a place that God has prepared for those who prefer to be stuck in an eternally descending process of dying, rather than enjoying eternally increasing joy in heaven. It is their choice; people don’t have to go to heaven if they don’t feel like it, but at the same time God doesn’t feel obligated to make a comfortable alternative for those who refuse to serve Him. If man doesn’t want God, then neither will they enjoy any of His wonderful gifts. See also: Hell; 208e (109a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Revelations of the Holy Spirit >> Spirit reveals the Father (180h) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God’s narrow way >> Rebelling against the word of God (200d) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Rejecting the faith of God >> Rejecting Christ through disobedience – The world wants to be master of its own destiny, and so God gave them what they wanted, time and opportunity to show that they were adamant about wanting nothing to do with Him. It wasn’t a flippant decision they made, unless we define flippant as having 70 or 80 years to make a single decision. On the one hand God condemns the wicked for not obeying the gospel, and on the other hand He glorifies the saints because they have believed. The wicked could not produce a single response of faith, while the saints were dedicated to bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God and demonstrating their faith in everything they said and did. (208e) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Salvation verses >> Preaching on hell – Hell is such a horrible place that a mortal man could not live a second there, either from the terror of being condemned by God as sinners or from the conditions of hell itself. Putting them together, then, is death upon death. Those in hell are continually dying, yet behold they live. They might as well have served the Lord in this life by dying to sin rather than spending eternity dying in sin (2Cor 6-9,10). At least we have the Holy Spirit during our time of sorrow, which turns our grief to joy in hope of eternal life and for the opportunity to suffer for His namesake, but those in hell glorify God by their eternal suffering. See also: Hell; 2The 1,8-10; 47i (218c) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> You cannot control the judgment of God >> You cannot control how God responds to persecution 2The 1,6-9 (153d) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Hiding under a cloud of guilt >> Your sin will find you out 2The 1-6,7 (117d) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Let Jesus do the work >> Let Him work on your circumstances (228a) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Comforted >> God comforts you in times of adversity >> He comforts you in your suffering KJV WEB / Navigation Bar 2The 1,7-9 (66a) Authority >> Lordship of Christ >> He is Lord over all creation >> over life and death 2The 1,8-10 (47i) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Hell is the absence of God – Those in hell who will suffer forever would find heaven even worse, because God is there, the very person they hate; and all the saints will be there, many of whom they martyred. If heaven were forced upon them, they would have a perpetual reminder of their wickedness, and so the best thing to do is find a place where God does not exist, a place that God has prepared for those who hate Him, where no good thing dwells, and that place is hell. The Bible talks about the lake of fire, but it also talks about the wicked receiving a resurrected body, and we don’t know what kind of body they will receive, but we can assume it will be a body suited for the environment of hell. If they can endure fire, who knows what differences they will have to their current bodies. If they have never repented of their unbelief and die in their sins, they will stand before God not wishing to go to heaven and not wanting to go to hell; their hearts will be filled with angst. The kindness that God had shown them throughout their lives will have ended on the day of their death. Now, for the rest of eternity all they will experience is suffering and evil, and there is no one to blame but themselves. The hell they will face will match their own darkness, and it won’t make them happy. They will be alone with no one to care for them, thrown into a world that is just like them. They have finally found a place that models after their own heart, and it will make them miserable, because they never stopped to think of the misery they caused other people. See also: Hell; 2The 1-8,9; 26c 2The 1-8,9 (26c) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Death is separation from God’s presence – Hell is a place apart from God’s presence and from the glory of His power. It says that the wicked will suffer eternal destruction. Many people these days don’t believe in the existence of hell, or else they say that those who are thrown into the lake of fire will be burned up and their existence terminated. They think eternal suffering is unjust. The reason they don’t believe in the notion of hell is that they are going there, and for this reason they misconstrue every verse in the Bible that speaks of hell, including this one, interpreting eternal destruction as annihilation, but that is not what Jesus taught (Lk 16-23,24). Some claim to believe in Jesus, but their claim comes shy of a confession of faith. Unbelievers do not marvel at God, though He is marvelous. People marvel at fireworks on the 4th of July when they light up the sky with vary-colored sparks (oooh, aaah). Christ’s second coming will be an amazing spectacle, yet the wicked will not marvel at Him. For them it will be a time of great sorrow, because they worshipped someone who hated them when they could have worshipped the lover of their souls. People will have made the wrong decision to live against the Lord and thought of Him like a fairy tale, and now here He comes, and all their theories are proven wrong in an instant, and their lives are over, and all that remains is for them is to be cast into hell, where their suffering will never end. See also: Hell; 203h (154a) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> No excuse >> There is no excuse for rejecting Christ (173g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Catholicism >> Unholy sacrifice >> Offering sacrifice without God’s approval >> Sacrifice against the will of God (201b) Denying Christ >> Whoever is not with Jesus is against him >> You are against Christ when your unbelief materializes >> Our disobedience is against Christ (203a) Denying Christ >> Running from God >> Wicked men cannot approach the throne of God >> God chases them away from His presence (203h) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Withdraw from obeying God >> Withdrawing from God – We are not to judge our brother as to whether he believes in God or is saved or is going to heaven, for we don’t know a person’s heart; even if we accurately judged a person, we did not rightly judge him. There are people who never believed in God, who never made a confession of faith or a claim to godliness; these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction in hell, and if anybody withdraws from God to the point of losing his salvation, which is possible, they will go to the same place. Those who grossly disobey Christ do not believe in Him either. Some have repented of their waywardness and returned to Christ, whereas others have crossed an indistinct line. Those who have given up on God and given up on faith, believing instead that Christianity is a fairytale, they are lumped with those who never believed, with one distinct disadvantage: their heart has been hardened to the point of no return. See also: Hell; 2The 1,5-10; 29a (209c) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Counterfeit relationship through religion >> I never knew you 2The 1-8 (217i) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> I never knew you >> Because you never knew Him 2The 1-9 (145f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Deliverance from demon possession >> Human state >> Filthiness >> Being defiled 2The 1,10-12 (66c) Authority >> Lordship of Christ >> Jesus is Lord of His people (95k) Thy kingdom come >> Attitude >> Having an obedient attitude >> Ready to do good (233j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the glory of God >> Seek His glory without wavering >> Seek His glory through perseverance – In Mat 5-6 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied,” and Paul prays for the Thessalonian Church that God would fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power. There are things that people want to do, ministries that God plants in their hearts that seek ways of helping people and doing good for mankind in the name of Jesus Christ. By this, they need to work with God, and He will empower their faith. A human effort merely accomplishes what is done; but when God gets involved, He multiplies the fruit that is born of faith. When people understand we attribute Christ to our righteousness, they will either persecute us, which will act to publicize the work of God, or inspire others to get involved who seek to glorify His name. See also: working the grace of God; 2The 1-10; 252i 2The 1-10 (192f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Waiting for God to do it His way >> Lose your rights to gain His vindication -- This verse goes with verses 4&5 (236l) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> The Rapture >> The day of the Lord – This is another instance of the Day of the Lord. every time it is mentioned in the Bible its significance increases, which increases our need to properly understand it. (252b) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship Jesus (Because He is equal with God) >> Jesus is worthy of our worship >> Worship Jesus for who he is (252i) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship God >> Worship God for who He is >> Glorifying God – The goal of every Christian is to glorify God. Jesus said, “He who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” When it comes to glorifying God, all the passages that speak of it dovetail into this one: Jn 3-21. Our ministry originated from Him; He put it in us. This is not humanism; we are not good people. God has placed His goodness in us that hungers and thirsts for righteousness (Mat 5-6), and we are seeking a ministry from Him, conceived in our heart by the Holy Spirit, and we desire to manifest that ministry in the world as a way of conveying to everyone who sees and hears that God desires His grace in them too. See also: working the grace of God; 2The 1-11,12; 91g KJV WEB / Navigation Bar 2The 1-11,12 (11b) Servant >> Standard for being a servant >> A Spirit-filled life (30e) Gift of God >> Prepare to receive from God >> We must first get His attention (44j) Judgment >> Transformed >> Fulfill your ministry according to the will of God (71e) Authority >> Ordained by God >> Worthiness of man >> Perfecting the worthiness He has given us (77m) Thy kingdom come >> Being Humble Before God >> Exalting God through humility (81j) Thy kingdom come >> Pray without ceasing >> For the Church -- These verses go with verses 3&4 (82c) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Direction (Attitude) >> Who to pray for (91g) Thy kingdom come >> The called >> Walking along the narrow way >> Responding to the call of God – Christ gives His disciples an opportunity to prove their faith, to show that they are worthy of their calling. How do we prove our worthiness? We walk on our designated trail of good works that God has prepared for us, known as the narrow way. This is also how we “fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power.” It’s all on this trail, not on any trail but our trail that God tailor made just for us. Each person has his own narrow way that God has prepared, and each person’s trail leads to the same destination, which is faith in Jesus Christ. It is analogous to Jesus shining with the glory of God, and we all come to Him on our own designated light beam. We all arrive in a similar fashion, but from a slightly different perspective. If we walk according to this trail, we will have perfect faith in God, which will encourage others, because it won’t be a carbon copy of any one else's faith, because of the distinct ways we all take to get there. This is why each of us has something to offer the body of Christ. Not everyone experiences the Lord the same way. The things we offer need to be available to others, and the product we offer is the work of faith with power. See also: Working the grace of God; 116a / Trail of good works (Works that God has prepared for us); 1Tim 4-6; 110j (116a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Through Good Works >> Works That God put in your heart – It is a travesty for some who have a desire for goodness to leave that goodness unfulfilled. We cannot fulfill those desires without an endowment from above. Since this was Paul’s prayer, it was something Paul was asking God to do with the Thessalonians, not for them. We too must strive to fulfill our desire for goodness and pray for God’s help in fulfilling all righteousness and working with God to perfect our faith. Most people understand the grace of God as it pertains to His willingness to forgive our trespasses and sins, but that refers to His mercy. In contrast, His grace empowers us to do His will. Working with the grace of God is like a lever with a fulcrum that allows us to lift things that we could not otherwise lift. We must desire goodness before we can begin to do good works, and this is the work of God. He wants His works and our works to come together, and the motivating factor behind them is our desire for goodness. The works of men and the works of God seem incompatible, but God seeks to harmonize them. The goal of Christ is to make His works our works. There are things that only God can do, but He wants to do these things through us, manifesting God in the world. See also: Working the grace of God; 2The 1-11; 76j (117c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Rest in Jesus (Sabbath) >> Rest in His yoke by faith (127h) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Goodness >> Rewards for doing good >> Doing good is the will of God (189c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> Acceptable sacrifice -- These verses go with verses 4&5 (228f) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> God is working in you to place you in His will >> To place you on the trail of good works (230b) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking >> What we must do to partake of the kingdom >> Partaking which requires our participation KJV WEB / Navigation Bar 2The 1-11 (76j) Thy kingdom come >> Desires of your heart >> Desiring to do the will of God – God gives us desires for goodness, and then works in us to fulfill those desires, so all we have to do is obey Him. We shouldn’t fuss or complain about His will, because we know it is the best thing for us and for those around us. Doing His will brings glory to His name, which should be our top priority. Obeying Christ is a win-win situation for everyone, and God is in control of it, orchestrating His righteousness in each of us. Those around us seem a little lost, but we are walking with God and striving to do His will. We can see a logical procession of good works linked in a chain of events that lead to our feet where we are now standing. We can see the work of God in our lives, though not everything we say and do is part of our calling. We were born to do the works that God prepared for us (Eph 2-10), so that doing them leads to a better understanding of Him. See also: working the grace of God; 88b (88b) Thy kingdom come >> Faith produces works >> Relationship between faith and works >> The work of faith – It is not a quantitative work that God has prepared for us but a qualitative work (1Cor 3-13). God is not content with sitting in the background but is ready to manifest Himself in our works. Some people want the power of God for all the wrong reasons and others shy from it altogether. They fear listening to the wrong spirits and getting lost and confused. However, if the Bible says there is such a thing as “the work of faith with power,” then we should pursue it without fear, not on our own terms but according to Scripture, for this in itself is a demonstration of His power. God works with each of us differently, not just a little differently but a lot differently, and this is something we need to understand so we don’t wrongfully judge each other. See also: working the grace of God; 2The 1,10-12; 233j 2The 1-12 (67j) Authority >> Jesus delegates authority >> Glorifying the name of Jesus – It takes the grace of God for us to glorify the name of Jesus, for we can’t do it in the flesh. Christ is glorified in us and we in Him; we glorify each other. Jesus and the Father have the same relationship, according to Jn 17-1, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.” We glorify each other in stepladder fashion, one rung at a time, the right foot is His, the left foot is ours, as God lifts us to new levels of spiritual maturity. We glorify Christ in the knowledge we have of Him that we reveal to the world, that we use in the Church to help each other grow in the faith. He glorifies us in the ministry we have in His name, and reveals the blessing and glory that is ours both in this life and in the one to come. See next page