1 Thessalonians 1:1-3   Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. {2}  We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; {3}  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Paul’s interest in the church:

          After establishing the church in Thessalonica, Paul was forced to leave due to problems by the Jews who did not believe. This did not prevent Paul from his concern for the believers there and he wrote two letters to them to encourage and teach them and us truths for Christian life. In this first letter and our text, Paul is commending the believers for their example of being Christian and we can apply that to our churches today as we endeavor to apply Scripture and our belief to everyday living.

Their faith:

     Faith must be taken in two ways – one is our trust in God,

Ephesians 5:18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Contradiction today:

      There are many Christians and even ministers that think that it not against Scripture to drink alcoholic drinks as a “social” drinker. They will use this verse as proof that it is okay to drink as long as you do not become drunken – excess. In reality, medical science tells us that the alcohol in even one glass of beverage alcohol (beer) cannot be completely utilized by the body and the body places the unused portion in the body until it can be eliminated from the system, thus making it impossible for anyone to drink a little and not have the “slightest” effect upon them. So, then there is evidence of being filled with the effects of just a little alcohol.

      In the verse Paul counters the cult of “social” drinking by the words that follow – but be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. One cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit (which implies complete control by the Holy Spirit), if he/she has come to even the slightest degree under the control of alcohol (or anything else that

2 Peter 1:3   According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Needy people:

Our basic needs and our perceived needs are often miles apart. Paul tells us that having food and raiment we are to be content (1 Tim 6:8). As the Israelites journeyed in the wilderness they had very little, yet God said they lacked nothing (Deut 2:7). They lived on manna and water as well as goat’s milk. They had food basics, raiment and shelter (man made and the cloud of God). God provided for their needs with manna and keeping their clothes in good condition (Deut 8:3-4).

      Agar asked that he be feed with convenient food and that God would not make him wealthy or poor (Prov 30:8-9). David said in the shepherd’s psalm that since the Lord was his Shepherd, he would not want – lack anything he needed. In the gospels, Jesus tells us not to worry about certain things because our Heavenly Father knows all about it and will provide for us better than He does the birds and the flowers

Philippians 3:2   Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

Potential problems:

      Paul warns of potential failures in our faith and walk in the Lord. In Col 2:8 he speaks of being “spoiled” which means to be carried away as captive; to be lead away from one’s persuasion. We can be spoiled about our beliefs. Paul also mentions making “shipwreck” of our faith (1 Tim 1:19) and Peter mentions of falling away from our steadfastness” (2 Pet 3:17).

      Faith and doctrine are integral parts of our salvation. We need faith to believe and enter into the born again, new life, experience; but we must also keep our faith grounded in God’s word – the pure doctrine of Scripture. Scripture warns of these errors – Ro 16:17; Eph 5:6-14; Col 2:18; Heb 13:9; 2 Jn 8

Dogs:

      Paul mentions “dogs” as a danger to our spiritual life. The word means a literal animal, dog, but metaphorically a man of impure mind, an impudent man. The term dog is used throughout Scripture and is always used in a bad or negative sense – Deut 23:18; 2 Ki 8:13; Psa 22:16, 20; Isa 56:10, 11; Matt 7:6;

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Definition of faith:

      The “faith chapter” of Hebrews is a wonderful chapter in God’s word. Here it is defined, not as some intangible wistfulness, but as “substance” and “evidence”.

      Faith must first have a legitimate object, and that object is nothing less than the mighty Creator by Whom the worlds were created out of nothing by His very word.

      Beyond this, faith is defined, not by what it is, but by what it does. The man of faith comes to God by a more excellent sacrifice – like that of Abel (verse 4) – which typifies Christ and His death for us. Faith will, like Enoch, live to please God (Verse 5), and will, like Noah, prepare an ark – do whatever is necessary out of obedience to God – to the saving of his house (verse 70.

      True faith will, like Abraham, go out as God leads, not knowing where and willing to live in tents if necessary (verse 8, 9) as he looks for the eternal city whose Builder and maker is God (verse 10). Such faith

Man of God

1 Timothy 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Man or woman of God:

      The expression “man of God” appears 78 times in the Bible with only two occurrences in the New Testament, both of these are by Paul to Timothy, the other being in 2 Timothy 3:17.  In the Old Testament it is used often of prophets or those sent by God for His work. Sometimes they are named and other times they are simply called the man of God. The first occurrence is in reference to Moses (Deut. 33:1) and often throughout the Old Testament he is called man of God. David is called man of God in Neh 12:24. In Judges when an angel appears to Manoah and his wife about Samson, he is called a man of God.

Qualities of a man or woman of God:

            Moses being called a man of God was a great leader and the law giver to Israel. He was also said to be the meekest man (Num 12:3). David being called a man of God is said to be a man after God’s

Mark 4:38 (KJV) -- And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

Time of great problems:

      There are times when we have some seemingly great problems and God is no where to be found. He seems to ignore our prayers and our praying gets difficult and the sky seems like brass – our prayers just bounce back to us. If this persists too long we begin to wonder if God cares about us.

Consider the sparrows:

      Jesus talked about sparrows in teaching us not to be overly burdened about the things of this life (Lu 12:6-7). Unless there is some obvious reason (like sin – Psa 66:18; Prov 15:8, 29; Isa 59:1-2) that our prayers are not being answered, then we can reason that perhaps it is a test as Job was tested.

The disciples:

      The disciples came to Jesus in the midst of the storm with the idea He either could not help or would not – He did not care. They feared for their life believing that the