3C's Bible Study

The outstanding mark of the Gospel that was preached to the Thessalonians that made their faith stable and secure was the power that came with it.

There are at least three main expressions of power in the Gospel:

These three work together to produce the assurance and conviction of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of people.

But how do we walk in power? There are at least three channels found in the Scriptures:

It takes both authority (being born of the Spirit - John 1:12) and ability (being led by the Spirit - Romans 8:14) to walk in the power of God.

Paul spent just about three weeks in Thessaloniki with the church there before he was forced out by religious zealots from the local Synagogues.

Despite the relatively short time, the impact that this visit had on the church was a deep and enduring one that is attested to by the warmth and practicality in this letter.

In this first episode we consider the foundational elements of faith, hope and love that provide the basis and evidence of walking fruitfully with the true God.

A church that will reveal the glory of God to the world must be rich in both grace and truth. Emphasizing grace at the expense of truth ultimately sets us up against the truth as we set about to define love and acceptance in a way that God, who is love, does not. On the contrary, broken humanity is unable to comprehend truth without the grace that enables us to receive it.

Let's pray that our churches, homes and lives will be shining examples of grace and truth held in the same balance that Jesus did when he walked on Earth.

Inherent and explicit in our calling as Christians is the call to be an overcomer. In our efforts to live out a life of fellowship with the Father, we will face intense opposition from within (the flesh), around us (the world) and against us (the devil).

Victory is only possible on one basis, and that is our faith in the work of Christ in history, and in us today through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit bears witness to the truth in our hearts and it is as our eyes are opened to discover the truth and believe in the testimony of God that we see His victory in our lives.

Perfect love is the love that takes its reference from God, the who is the definition of love. The Christian life is an expression of the sublime meeting of grace and truth which is a reflection of the essence of God's love.

We learn in this episode the three distinct characteristics of the love of God, and end with a prayer that this love will be perfected in us and through us.

Building on the call to test every spirit, this episode focuses on how to test or discern things. We are called to discern things - whether they are natural or spiritual, true or false, right or wrong and to discern spirits - whether they are of God or not.

Discerning things means seeing beyond what is apparent into what is really there. Discerning spirits requires that we go into the origin of things, and that can only happen by the light of God, not by suspicion or deduction. The origin of a thing determines its capacity and influence in our lives.

Through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, we have the capacity to discern all things, but this capacity can be limited by either dullness or defilement in our spirits. We can sharpen and purify our spirits by exposing ourselves constantly to the light of God and walking in obedience to the things that He shows us.

One of the outcomes of fellowshipping with the Father is that we are trained in discerning what is not of God or for us, giving us the much-needed discretion for life and godliness.

The call to test every spirit reveals that behind every prophetic activity on earth is a spirit, and that every believer has the spiritual equipment to tell the false from the true.

The test of spirit is so crucial in our walk with God because deception is one of the major strategies of the enemy to contaminate the spirit of God's people in the last days.

The enduring call of the Christian life is to walk in love, not only when we feel love, but as a decision we make to submit to and live out the life of God in us.

When we fail to walk in love, we will ultimately express a nature that is of the devil. Our lack of love will produce hatred, bitterness and eventually murder.

Choosing to love is the key to receiving the grace to love. It is how we maintain vitality in our fellowship with the Father and life of continually answered prayers.

John makes the case in the opening verses of this chapter that our call to righteous living is possible because we have the seed of God in us. Beyond education or psychology or legislation, it is the life of God imparted to men that can produce the virtues of a holy life.

In view of the life that we have received, and the nature we now have, John wants us to set our hope aright and to make a break from every conscious practice of sin in our lives.

John builds on the practicalities of maintaining fellowship with the Father by highlighting the potential entry points of the enemy, and the tools that we can use to shut those doors.

He covers the problem of the world and the lusts that are within every person and counsels us to not love the world. We explore the practical implications of this charge.

He closes off with a warning against the spirit of deception and presents the witness of the Holy Spirit as a potent antidote to deception, leaving us with the responsibility and ability to abide in God.