Passionate for Purity

Take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 4. We arrive at a

transition in the letter this week. Paul has been dealing with all kinds of

encouragements so far. It’s been very personal. We’ve gotten to see how God

worked in birthing this church. We’ve gotten to see how the missionaries

thought and how they served. We’ve been challenged and blessed on so many

fronts through this study.

Now there’s a transition in the letter. Paul begins to dive in with some

very specific pastoral instructions now. Thus far there’s been little in

the way of direct commandments and instructions. It has been largely

biographical—here’s what we went through (autobiography), here’s what you

went through (biography). Some historical situations in the missionary

journey and sending Timothy.