Sunday Scripture - 1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 - 24

Sunday Scripture is just simply a thought or two on a 
Bible verse 
or short passage 
that may have struck me afresh 
or maybe for the first time 
or has always been special to me.

Today I am looking at 

1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 - 24

This is one of the longer passages that I have included in a 

Sunday Scripture 

But that doesn't mean this will be a very long Blog Post.

In this passage we see the responsibilities we have as Christians, believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.


These are two-fold


1.  Relationship between us and God


2. Relationship between us and other people





1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 - 24 

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 

And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 

See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 

Rejoice evermore. 

Pray without ceasing. 

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 

Quench not the Spirit. 

Despise not prophesyings. 

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 

Abstain from all appearance of evil. 

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

 

 

Relationships

1.  Relationship between us and God

Rejoice always

Pray without ceasing

Give Thanks Always

Do not quench the spirit

2. Relationship between us and other people

Comfort & encourage others

Respect others

Be at peace with others

Help the weak

Be patient with everyone

The start of our passage jumps right in with verse 11 which almost sums up how we should treat others.

It continues through to verse 15 considering relationships and attitudes towards those who have a leadership role and those who need more help than others, stressing the patience and care needed and advising of the right attitude to all people doing good and not evil to any.

The next section of our passage starts with verse 16 giving instruction in a very simple way as to how we need to behave towards God and continuing on to verse 22.

Perhaps we should remember that a part we often overlook is a very important phrase giving us the reason we need to keep these relationships right.

 

       "For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus

       concerning you"

To NOT keep these relationships as stated here is to go against the will of God.


But we are not at the end of our passage just yet.

To finish off Paul leaves us with a blessing in verse 23

and

some of the best encouragement we can have in verse 24

"He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

We have a faithful God who does what he promises.

3 Truths About God's Grace - Coffee & Conversation

Do we really understand God's Grace to us?

Here we are taking just a few minutes to consider

3 Truths about God's Grace

It is a Healthy Christian Exercise to consider, read about and dwell on God's Grace to us on a regular basis.

So let's look at three truths about His Grace that will help to focus our minds on how wonderful God is.

1.  We Don't Deserve God's Grace  -   ROMANS 5 v 8

God's Grace is great & powerful

God has extended His grace to us through Jesus.

We were still in a state of continual sin but God still extended His Grace to us before we loved Him.

2.  We Can't Earn God's Grace  -  EPHESIANS 2 v 8-9

God's Grace to us is so hard for us to grasp at times.

We cannot understand exactly what it is or define it fully.

But if it weren't for His Grace we could never know salvation.

3.  We Can't Lose God's Grace  -  ROMANS 8 v 38-39

God's Grace is His -  not ours.

God is the only one who could bestow His Grace upon us 

and hence can be the only one to take it from us.

We have this promise in Romans to remind us of this fact.

5 Best Quotes on Easter

Here is my choice for the 

5 Best Quotes on the subject of EASTER

I am not a fan of QUOTES

In fact sometimes I get very annoyed at how people almost treat a quote

 as more important than the 

Word of God

I actually wrote a blog post about Do We Really Need This Quote?

However I do see that there are certain topics that there are some great quotes on from some very reliable people. This month I'm thinking about God's Blessings so let's get encouraged with some quotes around this.

There are many quotes from so many people on the subject of Blessings but I prefer to only refer to or recommend ones from people who I trust as standing firm on the Word of God.

So in the list below I will quote

NOT  Joel Osteen   but   A.W. Tozer

 NOT  Oprah Winfrey   but   William Tyndale

NOT  Joshua Harris  but   D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

1.  Clarence W. Hall

     "If Easter says anything to us today, it says this: You can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there."

2.  Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"The cross of Christ justifies God; He remains holy because He has punished sin in the death, the shed blood, of His Son."

 

3.  C.S. Lewis

"He died not for men but for each man.  If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less."

Have you read the 5 Best Quotes on EASTER?

4.  William Tyndale

"To see how Christ was prophesied and described therein, consider and mark, how that the kid or lamb must be with out spot or blemish; and so was Christ only of all mankind, in the sight of God and of His Law."

5.  A.W. Tozer

"The only cross in all of history that was turned into an altar was the cross on which Jesus Christ died. It was a Roman cross. They nailed Him on it, and God, in His majesty and mystery, turned it into an altar. The Lamb who was dying in the mystery and wonder of God was turned into the Priest who offered Himself. No one else was a worthy offering."

   

 Don't forget to download our

                      EASTER Quotes Free Printable 

You will find all of my other posts on Easter at

My EASTER PAGE

Plus why not have a look at the other Free resources in our

Blog Resource Library

Easter Word Search Puzzle for Younger Kids + FREE PRINTABLE

Do your kids enjoy puzzles?

Most kids do!

The Theme for this 

Word Search for Kids is

EASTER

I'm offering this Word Search as one of my assortment of Free Printables which can be found in my Resource Library

Kids Easter Word Search

It includes 14 words all connected with Easter and will help the kids to remember what they have been learning about Easter or to ask questions about some of the words included.

The Word Search is available to download in both A4 and Letter size and of course comes with an answer sheet.

Have you downloaded this Free Easter Word Search for Kids yet?

Download your FREE PRINTABLE HERE in A4 or Letter size

Or pin this pic below to come back later

Refillable Easter Eggs - Organising My Home

Last year I discovered a girl called Louise who made refillable Personalized Easter Eggs and I bought some for my 3 grandchildren.

This year I will be re-using these three eggs.

Now when I got these large plastic eggs they were already full of treats and you can read more about the eggs & about Louise's online business in my review  

Louloumadethis - Unique Gift Ideas

 

This year when I went up to the storage area 

I easily found the eggs.

2 Deep Pink ones for Ruby and Sarah 

and a Blue one for Matthew 

but of course they were not full of little treats now.

I would have to think about it this year and decide what I should put in the eggs and then organise to get the treats myself.

BEFORE

Main Thing is I need to remember 

an egg is "egg-shaped" 

so not just any treat will fit inside.

IDEAS

First Thing as per usual for me is a list of ideas that would immediately spring to mind knowing what our grandkids like.

1. Chocolate
2. Stickers
3. Lego Cards
4. Little Notebooks
5. Washi Tape
6. Balloons
7. Bubbles

Secondly I thought about having a little look around my study for the box that contains things that I used to have for little prizes for my Sunday School kids a few years back.

1. Sharpeners
2. Bookmarks
3. Magnets
4. Hair clips
5. Pencils
6. Pens
7. Flip Bracelets
8. Small puzzles

So glad I thought about this because I then realised that I probably already had enough little treats in the house to fill all three eggs. 

I got out my two boxes that had these types of things plus other larger things stored inside.

The first one mostly had items that would be too large 

The second one had a variety of better sized items

 

FILLING  THE  EGGS

These were the things I could consider (except for the large bubble wands but they will be used in the back garden in the summer because the grandkids love to run around the grass after me trying to catch or burst the bubbles).

Small bubbles - but there was only one of these left and they would not be happy if one got bubbles and the other two didn't.

Washi Tape - only two was ok because it would be for the girls but at 2 yrs and 4 yrs they are a bit young to appreciate it.

Balloons - Yes definitely they always enjoy a balloon to play with.

Small ball puzzles - best for Matthew's age so he could get one of those.

Stickers - only a few Easter themed ones and they would suit Sarah

Little Hoop button operated game - Ruby would be old enough now to try it.

And we cannot forget the 

Chocolate treats - Ruby needs different items from Matthew and Sarah as she is allergic to nuts and dairy so I had to go online previously and order a selection of bars and buttons for her because there is not a good variety in our supermarkets.

AFTER

Yes everything I had picked did fit into the eggs but I could have had more treats if eggs were not egg-shaped and I didn't include any chocolate items.

 

     

Tips & Helps!

Don't leave things like this to the last minute.

Most mums and grannies will normally have some sweet treats in the house but you can also have some other little treats bought in anytime you see something in one of those pound shops or the dollar shops for our American friends.

Also what about some of those small things that your kids receive at Christmas or birthdays that they hardly notice among everything else or just forget about. Store them away in a box for a time like this.

Another place I like to gather things up from is any Christian Book Shop I'm in - some of these have a great variety.

Lastly when you are shopping online somewhere like Ebay keep an eye out for small items because sometimes you can buy a bunch of similar things for a good price.

So is Easter sorted for our Grandkids?

 

Almost for the grandkids because I have the refillable eggs and I already have some eggs for an egg hunt for them.  Now just need to get some Easter eggs for grandkids, the grown-up kids & my husband and myself because let's be honest we all love Chocolate Easter Eggs too.

Now you may be thinking how this is organising my home!  

Well....

1.  I had the eggs already in the house

2.  I knew exactly where they were in the storage area

3.  I had little gifts that would suit the kids ages in 2 boxes

4.  I knew exactly where these two boxes were in my study

5.  I had a table clear for working on where I could sort the little gifts out around the eggs without having to use my dining table.