by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
Text: I Thessalonians 3<\/p>\n
Here in Thessalonians, Paul writes because these new disciples were facing difficult times. Everywhere Paul established disciples, there was pushback from the community! Remember the story in Acts 17,<\/p>\n
“But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people<\/em>” (Acts 17:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Then, these new brethren sent Paul and Silas away (for Paul’s safety!). That <\/b>left these young converts facing their community without Paul’s leadership! They had only their memory of what he had been able to instruct them on. This trouble didn’t end for them when Paul left! Hence, Paul wrote this letter to them so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. (I Thessalonians 3:3). He reminded them that “when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know<\/em>” (I Thessalonians 3:4).<\/p>\n
Such affliction throughout the history of the church has caused some disciples to quit, to abandon their discipleship. Others, enduring the trials, were strengthened and then, in turn, strengthened others.<\/p>\n
As you read this letter, try to put yourself in their place. They had social pressures – idolatry, immorality, pressure to conform to their community, family, and even their ‘old ways’. Some caved in, but these brethren were holding firm. But<\/strong>\u00a0how would you have done? How are you doing <\/b>today with the pressures you must face in following the teaching of Jesus? Are you being transformed? Or are you being conformed to your past lifestyle? The admonition to each generation of disciples is the same: Be faithful to Jesus<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Hugh DeLong Text: I Thessalonians 3 Here in Thessalonians, Paul writes because these new disciples were facing difficult times. Everywhere Paul established disciples, there was pushback from the community! Remember the story in Acts 17, “But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[182,188],"class_list":["post-96157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-suffering","tag-trials"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55767,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-dead-in-christ-shall-rise-first\/","url_meta":{"origin":96157,"position":0},"title":"The Dead in Christ Shall Rise First","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ron Daly via\u00a0Guardian of Truth XLI: 4 p. 10-11, February 20, 1997 Paul wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonians, that when the Lord descends from heaven, \"the dead in Christ will rise first\" (I Thessalonians 4:16). Apparently, Paul had reason to be concerned that some of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51921,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-last-years-of-pauls-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":96157,"position":1},"title":"The Last Years of Paul’s Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Philippians 2:17-30 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul had written the Roman brethren that he would like to go to Spain after seeing them - Romans 15:23-25, 28 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Things didn\u2019t go quite as Paul planned. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After going to Jerusalem, he was arrested, but he did go to Rome \u2013\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pauls-sons\/","url_meta":{"origin":96157,"position":2},"title":"Paul’s Sons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Earl Robertson via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 8, No. 6, June 2008. The relationship of Timothy and Titus to Paul as sons is spiritual, legitimate, and true -- \"legitimately born, not spurious,\" says Thayer, pg. 119. They were true sons. Paul said Timothy was \"a true child in the faith,\" showing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63239,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pauls-imprisonment\/","url_meta":{"origin":96157,"position":3},"title":"Paul’s Imprisonment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Philippians 2:17-30 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We all have a tendency to make assumptions about what does not appear \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Those assumptions help us to organize what we do know \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We do this whether we are trying to determine why someone walked by without saying \u201cHi!\u201d or when we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90182,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-bears-all-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":96157,"position":4},"title":"Love Bears All Things","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Weston The word Paul used in this text, which is translated \"bears\" in the New King James translation, means \"to cover\" (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, p. 586). Thayer gives the varied usage of this word as \"1. to protect or keep by covering, to preserve... 2. to cover with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":79693,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-paul-imply-that-he-could-only-marry-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":96157,"position":5},"title":"Did Paul imply that he could only marry a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, What is the meaning of I Corinthians 9:5? Is Paul implicitly stating he can only take a fellow believer as a wife? I know there are other verses for circumstances that touch situations where believers are married to non-believers. Answer: Here is something I wrote about the context\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}