Here is the recommended personal devotions schedule. Monday to Thursday For each weekday, from Monday to Thursday, – Read the assigned text several times – Do Inductive Bible Study using the questions and prompts provided in the downloadable packet – Personal Reflection based on the questions in the packet. Friday to Sunday Read the assigned Old [...]

Submitted by Kevin Lai, Gracepoint Hsinchu Reflect on the fact that “God is just.”  How should this reality affect the way I deal with suffering, persecution, trouble, etc? Many times, when people face suffering or difficulties, their initial response is whether God is there or why is He allowing this to happen. However, as seen [...]

vv.3-4: “The Thessalonians’ growth in faith and love (cf. 1 Thess. 1:3) was taking place under the most adverse conditions: the continuing experience of ‘persecutions’ (diogmois; cf. Acts 8:1; Rom. 8:35; 2 Cor. 12:10) and ‘afflictions’ (thlipsesin, NIV ‘trials’; cf. 2 Thess. 1:6; also 1 Thess. 1:6; 3:3, 7). The church’s circumstances do not appear [...]

Submitted by Christine Chang, Gracepoint Hsinchu What can I learn from the fact that Apostle Paul uses different words—“warn,” “encourage,” and “help”–in advising the Thessalonians on how to minister to those who are “idle,” ‘timid,” or “weak”? I learn that in order for there to be a change in those who are idle, timid, and [...]

Submitted By Grace Kim, Gracepoint Berkeley What is the heart of Apostle Paul towards the Thessalonians? Apostle Paul’s heart is that of intense concern with the Thessalonians in what they have been going through. Even though Paul is not physically present with them, as he hears about their trials & persecutions, he is deeply concerned [...]

v.3 “Being sanctified or made holy is the process of living the Christian life.  The Holy Spirit works in us, conforming us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).”[1] vv.9-10 “As exemplary as the Thessalonians had been (1:3; 3:6), however, further progress remained a goal for them (3:12). […] More love is always possible for [...]

vv.1-5 Almost from the time Paul arrived in Thessalonica, the believers had experienced “trials” as a result of their conversion to Christianity. Indeed, Paul took it for granted (to the extent that he prophesied ahead of time, 3:4) that they would experience affliction to one degree or another, simply as a result of declaring their [...]

Here is the recommended personal devotions schedule. Monday to Thursday For each weekday, from Monday to Thursday, – Read the assigned text several times – Do Inductive Bible Study using the questions and prompts provided in the downloadable packet – Personal Reflection based on the questions in the packet. Friday to Sunday Read the assigned Old [...]

Submitted by Kenny Choi, Gracepoint Berkeley What was Apostle Paul’s view of himself? Apostle Paul’s view of himself was that of a parent to the Thessalonians. This passage oozes of his love for the church at Thessalonica, as parents would naturally and instinctively do for their own children. He risked so much, enduring suffering and [...]

v.2 “In Philippi, Paul and Silas had been beaten and severely flogged; they had been put in prison with their feet in stocks (Ac 16:22-24) and cruelly mistreated because they had rescued a slave girl in the name of Jesus Christ. They had also been insulted by being arrested unjustly, stripped of their clothes, and [...]