Tag: Alden Thompson

Jesus, Creator of Heaven and Earth

• Lesson 1 for the week of December 29 to January 5

Major Texts: Gen 1:1; Heb 11:3; Ps 19:1-3; John 1:1-3; Col 1:15,16; John 2:7-11 Introduction: The lessons this quarter focus on the big and foundational question of origins, a question that is much agitated these days mostly because of the on-going...

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Introduction

• Introduction

The lessons this quarter are all about origins, particularly about creation as the event is found laid out in the Bible. Now the minute this subject comes up, everyone knows it is surrounded with a…

Keeping the Church Faithful

• Lesson 13 for the week of September 22 to September 29

Verses: 2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:18 Leading Question: Is salvation God’s business or ours? In his final admonition to the Thessalonians, Paul returns to some of the same themes with which he began his letters. 1. God chose you...

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The Antichrist

• Lesson 12 for the week of September 15 to September 22

Verses: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 Leading Question: Is the antichrist one person, one power, or potentially many? The second chapter of Thessalonians again returns to the question of the second coming and adds much more detailed information than...

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Promise to the Persecuted

• Lesson 11 for the week of September 8 to September 15

Verses: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 Leading Question: If someone sends a well-intentioned message that is misunderstood, what steps should one take to put things right? 1. Second Coming instruction, second edition.  Apparently Paul’s comments about the return of...

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Church Life

• Lesson 10 for the week of September 1 to September 8

Verses: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 Leading Question: How is it possible to exhort, admonish, and rebuke people so that our words will “reform but not exasperate” (6T 123)? Paul concludes his first letter to the Thessalonians with seventeen...

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Final Events

• Lesson 9 for the week of August 25 to September 1

Verses: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Leading Question: How do believers retain a sense of urgency and immediacy after a time of long delay? Already in the first century, some were losing their sense of urgency about the advent....

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The Dead in Christ

• Lesson 8 for the week of August 18 to August 25

Verses: 1 Thess. 4:13-18 Leading Question: How can the Christian’s hope be seen as a hope, not just a fear? In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul has given us one of the most specific and pointed promises of...

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Living Holy Lives

• Lesson 7 for the week of August 11 to August 18

Verses: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 Leading Question: When, in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul urgently admonishes the Thessalonians toward sexual purity, is that a concern that applies directly to our culture and age? 1. Saying the nice things first. In the...

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Friends Forever

• Lesson 6 for the week of August 4 to August 11

Verses: 1 Thessalonians 2:13 – 3:13 Leading Question: When is it safe to imitate other believers? 1. The Judean Example (1 Thess. 2:13-16). Paul commends the Thessalonians for “imitating” the churches in Judea. And his specific point of...

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The Apostolic Example

• Lesson 5 for the week of July 28 to August 4

Verses: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 Leading Question: Why should apostles – and preachers – be so careful not to be a burden on those whom they serve? 1. Boldness in suffering (1 Thess. 2:1-2). Why does Paul choose to...

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Joyous and Thankful

• Lesson 4 for the week of July 21 to July 28

Verses: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Leading Question: How can Paul write a personal letter to believers he scarcely knows? As reported in Acts 17:1-10, Paul had spent only three Sabbaths preaching in the Jewish synagogue when turmoil erupted...

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Thessalonica in Paul’s Day

• Lesson 3 for the week of July 14 to July 21

Verses: Acts 18:1-3; 1 Cor. 9:19-27; 16:19 Leading Question: How does the temperament and personality of a city effect how Christians share their faith? In 168 BC, the city of Thessalonica invited Rome to take over their...

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Preserving Relationships

• Lesson 2 for the week of July 7 to July 14

Verses: Acts 16-17; 1 Corinthians 2-4 Leading Question: When opposition arises, how do we decide between fight and flight? After an astonishingly brief stay in Thessalonica of only three weeks, enough trouble had erupted that Paul found it...

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