ENCOURAGEMENT FOR TOUGH TIMES
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Pastor Dennis Clanton
Woodland Church
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
1. STAY FOCUSED ON GOD’S SAVING POWER
(2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, NLT) “As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation-a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
a. Soak up God’s encouragement
“We can’t help but thank God for you … loved by the Lord.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:16, NLT) “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope…”
“In His life of secret prayer, too, my Saviour is my example. He could not maintain the heavenly life in His soul without continually separating Himself from man, and communing with His Father. With the heavenly life in me it is no otherwise: it has the same need of entire separation from man, the need not only of single moments, but of time enough for intercourse with the Fountain of Life, the Father in Heaven.” –Andrew Murray, Like Christ
b. Stand Firm
(2 Thessalonians 2:15, NLT) “With all these things in mind, … stand firm.”
“I don’t think you need be afraid of life. Our hearts are very frail; and there are places where the road is very steep and very lonely. But we have a wonderful God. And as Paul puts it, what can separate us from His love? Not death, he says immediately, pushing that aside at once as the most obvious of all impossibilities.
No, not death. For, standing in the roaring of the Jordan, cold to the heart with its dreadful chill, and very conscious of the terror of its rushing, I too, like Hopeful, can call back to you who one day in your turn will have to cross it, “Be of good cheer, my brother, for I feel the bottom, and it is sound.” –A. J. Gossip, When Life Tumbles In, 20 Centuries of Great Preaching
c. Keep a Strong Grip on Biblical Teaching
(2 Thessalonians 2:15, NLT) “With all these things in mind, … and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.”
d. Celebrate
(2 Thessalonians 2:13, NLT) “We are always thankful.”
2. STAY FOCUSED ON ETERNITY
(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17) “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.”
a. God saves us because He loves us
“…who loved us…”
b. Our salvation is eternal
“…his grace gave us eternal comfort…”
3. IN EVERYTHING SAY AND DO
(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, NLT) “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, … strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.”
a. Be challenging
“strengthen you”
b. Be bold
(Philippians 1:20, NLT) “I will continue to be bold for Christ.”
c. Be burning
(Luke 12:35) “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning…”
(Romans 12:11) “Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.”
GROWTHWORK
- BE A PART OF A SMALL GROUP.
- USE A GOOD DEVOTIONAL WITH YOUR BIBLE.
- CELEBRATE THE WINS.
- BE CHALLENGING.
- DO GOOD!