And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
1 Thessalonians 5:14

1. When life's circumstances cause us to question our salvation, God's children must turn to God's ____________ for ____________.

2. Those who are mature in the faith are called to __________ __________ the church with their knowledge of God in Christ Jesus.

3. The zeal of those young in the faith should be ____________ and ____________ with the Gospel!


Scripture Readings
Ezekiel 17:22-24
1 John 2:12-14
Mark 4:26-34

Take It With You!

As we spend our Summer growing in the love of God, it will be helpful for everyone to be reading through 1 John daily. Here helpful insights will be offered to aid in your study.

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:14-24

[John] wants to comfort all and to exhort them to remain in the purity of the Word of God. After mentioning all the levels of age he addresses the fathers and the adolescents, or the young men, anew. But he gives to each age its own descriptive word and changes this into the spiritual sense. The fathers build, the youths fight for and defend the state, the children are preserved in it. All overcome the devil; but they do so with a new kind of warfare, namely through the Word.
Martin Luther, Lectures on the First Epistle of Saint John. LW. XXX, p. 247.