September 15, 2019
Field Guide for a Follower | Week 2
A field guide gives us things to watch for that we might otherwise miss. Often important details and defining characteristics. What if there was a field guide to spotting a real follower of Jesus? To be honest, following Jesus today is more difficult than ever. We experience pressures to conform, to forget, to minimize, and even neglect the day-to-day implications of the Gospel. As our world changes, is it realistic to try and live the profound yet practical way of Jesus? We think so. By journeying through the life of the Thessalonian church, we will reclaim the defining markers of following Jesus.
WEEKLY GIVING STATISTICS
(Fiscal Year Began June 1, 2019)
Last Week Weekly Need YTD
$4,043 $3,058 ($209)
UPCOMING EVENTS
CHILD DEDICATION: September 22
BAPTISM: October 6
BRAD VANDERSON | LEAD PASTOR
Key Passages 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3,9b-10 ( English Standard Version)
Greeting
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
The Thessalonians' Faith and Example
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly[a] 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.
9b 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.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (English Standard Version)
The Coming of the Lord
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,[a] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Romans 5:1-5 (English Standard Version)
Peace with God Through Faith
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith[b] into this grace in which we stand, and we[c] rejoice[d] in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.