Tabor Baptist Church

• Paul loved the church and the believers in Thessalonica
• He prayed constantly for them
• He longed to see them again
• He sent Timothy to them to encourage and establish them
• Paul closes his letter with words of encouragement:
• v23 - God of peace
• v24 - God is faithful (You will be presented blameless)
• v25 - Fellowship: pray for us, (v26) greet one another, (v27) read the Scripture
• v28 - Comfort: the grace of God

Comfort in the God of peace

• Nelson Mandela - Reconciliation, forgiveness, not retribution
• The world values peace
• Critics point to verses that seem to imply that God is not a God of Peace
• He is angry with sin and is righteous, but ...
• God is not the author of confusion but peace
• Many of Paul's epistles start and finish with peace from God (cf 2 Thess 3:16)
• Peace has been given to us (Rom 5:1)
• God is not at war with us and we are not at war with Him
• We are at peace with God and we can also know the peace of God
• God's peace: humans were to blame and not God, but He reconciled us to Him through the blood of the cross
• Remember the God of peace

Comfort in the sure purposes of sanctification

• 'Be holy because I am Holy'
• His desire is that we should be blameless before Him (1 Thess 2:13, 4:3,7)
• Sanctification is a huge subject
• Having been justified we must be sanctified
• We have 'positional' sanctification - we are justified before God already
• We have 'progressive' sanctification - we are to reach forward to what we will be
• We must be sanctified in body, soul and spirit
• The Bible places great emphasis on the body (cf 1 Cor 6:15)
• The Bible sometimes uses soul and spirit interchangeably (cf Luke 1:46-47) and sometimes together (cf Heb 4:12)
• Our soul is sanctified by reading the word of God
• We are to be sanctified totally and utterly
• Do not use the cross as a crutch for sin but be righteous

Comfort in the Fellowship of the Saints

• Pray for us - we are weak and need God's help
• There is a tremendous fellowship in prayer
• Pray for the young, the elderly, the sick, the leadership, for everybody
• Comfort and affection in love being shown
• Cultural to greet each other with a kiss
• Different cultural ways to greet different people today
• Greet all believers
• Fellowship in the word of God
• Paul is placing his epistle on the same footing as the Old Testament as it is inspired by God
• Encourage personal and public bible reading
• The Scriptures sanctify and renew us, they help us to know the word of God
• The Scriptures must be central in all we do

Comfort in the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

• 'Our' Lord Jesus
• We need God's grace to enable us
• v15 - not to revile
• v19 - not to quench the Spirit
• God's grace when we sin and need to be lifted up again
• God's grace to understand the Bible
• God's grace to walk alright