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Following is an excerpt of "Built Faith Tough (4 of 9)" by Keith Krell added on 10/16/2009.
This content is part of a series.
Built Faith Tough (4 of 9)
Series: No Rest for the Righteous
Keith Krell
1 Thessalonians 3:1-13

This past week while we were in Oregon, I filled up our van with gas for $4.13 a gallon. I never thought I would be so happy to only have to pay $4.13 a gallon. In this day of increasing gas prices, drivers are looking for every advantage. One of the most overlooked strategies is keeping tires properly inflated. A group of Carnegie Mellon University students determined that the average driver could save $432 annually (when gas is $3 per gallon) by keeping tires at the recommended pressure. Tires usually lose air pressure v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. If your car's engine has a problem, you notice it immediately. But you can still drive on under-inflated tires—just not very efficiently. Likewise, we lose "efficiency" in the Christian life the same way tires lose air pressure: very slowly. When we finally are stopped dead in our tracks by sin or failure, it's not because of a blowout. It's because we failed to perform daily spiritual maintenance: prayer, worship, Bible study, self-denial, service, and obedience. Over months or years we can grow so spiritually inefficient that we fail to notice. Have you checked your spiritual air pressure lately? Are you operating for the Lord at peak efficiency? Be warned: Failing to perform daily maintenance can ultimately leave you stranded.

So how can we ensure that our faith won't leave us stranded? How can we have a "pumped-up" faith that will go the distance? How can we help other believers grow spiritually? These questions are answered in 1 Thessalonians 3 where Paul states, "Afflictions are not accidents—they are appointments." In these thirteen verses, Paul shares two strategies to build ourselves and others up in the faith.

1. Prepare God's people to endure trials (3:1-8). In this first section, we discover that the way to prepare others to endure trials is to strengthen them in the faith. Paul begins with these words: "Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith" (3:1-2). Now this passage presupposes that we understand the circumstances surrounding Paul's ministry in Thessalonica, so allow me to summarize those circumstances. Paul arrived in the Greek city of Thessalonica after he and his coworker Silas had received a terrible beating and been imprisoned in the city of Philippi. During their short time in Thessalonica, Paul, Silas, and Timothy led several of the Thessalonians to faith in Jesus and this new nucleus of believers formed a church. But soon trouble started, and Paul, Silas, and Timothy were forced to run for their lives and Paul and Silas were forbidden from entering Thessalonica again. So the three ministers traveled to the cities of Berea and Athens. It was while they were in Athens that Paul's concer ...

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