God has changed history, how has he changed your life?

Strive to be a church firing on all cylinders seeking to please God by holy living, knowing that God ultimately works among us to produce this.

A large part of life involves waiting. We wait for appointments. We wait for public transport. We wait for text messages and emails. Some of us wait well, for others of us, however, waiting produces anxiety and concern. As God’s people, we wait patiently for the day of the Lord when he will with finality makes all things news as he returns to bring both judgment as well as salvation. But that time hasn’t come yet. We still wait. But how do we wait well? How do we live in light of the future certain coming day of the Lord? 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 helps us to think through how we live now, in light of the not yet.

Death is something that everyone of us will face head on. Since Adam’s fall from grace in the garden of Eden, every person since have felt the pang of death. Even as followers of Jesus we still face the reality that death has sting. Death is an intrusion, a robber, a dark cloud that hovers over life. As followers of Jesus, however, there is hope beyond the grave. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul reveals truth about life beyond the grave. Paul looks forward in history to the return of Jesus and reveals truth that gives us hope, even in the midst of death.

We please the people who matter to us, the people we love. How do we live in a way that pleases the God who gave us everything?

What do you ‘really live’ for? Be challenged that ‘really living’ is to be serving others in the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16 presents Paul’s passionate defence of his ministry to the Thessalonians, offering a compelling portrait of faithful and impactful gospel ministry. Facing criticism and accusations, Paul highlights his ministry’s core attributes, showing that true faithfulness comes from playing to an "audience of One.”

For many people the local church has often been perceived as a place of either irrelevance, suspicion, or hypocrisy. Full of imperfect people, the church has always had, and will continue to be a community where people struggle through life together, imperfectly. But under God, the church can actually thrive as it submits to Jesus’s Lordship. But what does a healthy church actually look like? When a church is doing and being what God has called it to do and be, what does it look like? In 1 Thessalonians 1 we get a snapshot of a young yet healthy church that challenges us to think about our own spiritual health.

When it comes to life there are many worries we all face. Not the least of these worries is financial security. Money now, just as in Jesus’s day, can cause us significant stress while at the same time providing great opportunity to see God at work. In his teaching in Luke 12 Jesus offers us a way forward beyond the grip of worry as he reminds us of our heavenly Father’s generosity.