Pray
Open with prayer.
Opening up
If it was your job to make someone worthy of being an Australian, what characteristics and behaviours would you encourage them to adopt?
Digging in
Read 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12.
What frame of reference do 1:1-2 and 1:12 provide? And how should this shape the way we understand this chapter?
What does Paul see in the church in Thessalonica that fills his heart with gratitude to God (v.3)?
a. What might these two things look like in the wild?
b. Share a time when your faith grew and your love for the saints increased. Are things different now? If so, what might you do to continue growing in faith and increasing in love?
Paul boasts to other believers about the Thessalonians’ perseverance and faith (v.4). How might ‘boasting’ benefit us when we speak with one another?
a. How might we do this without being arrogant or manipulative?
In 1:5, Paul turns from praising the continued perseverance of the Thessalonians to highlighting its consequences for them and their persecutors. What are these consequences?
How should we understand the relationship between our efforts and our eternal destiny (v.5)?
What objections do people raise to the ideas expressed in 1:6-10? How would you answer them?
According to 1:6-10, when can we expect relief from trouble, suffering and strife? Is this a small or significant comfort?
Given Paul’s statement in 1:5, what does he mean in his prayer for the Thessalonians (v.11)?
a. How should this shape our prayers for one another?
Taking it with you