Describe a time you or someone in your family was alarmed by news that either a food you had eaten was horrible for you, you were at risk for being exposed to some chemical, or some toy was declared a hazard to your health. How did you react at the time? How has that affected you now? Are you more wary/skeptical or are you more dull to that type of news? Have you changed your lifestyle choices based upon that kind of news?
Verse 3-4: On January 23, 2020, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock from 2 minutes until midnight to 100 seconds until midnight. In what ways should we be alarmed, or at a minimum on guard, about the state of affairs today In what ways should we not worry?
What are the key attributes of the anti-Christ, the “man of lawlessness”? Do we have to worry about this person as a Christian?
Verse 5: What are some things that Paul told the Thessalonians would happen in the end times? See 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5. What are some things you believe about how the world will come to an end?
Verse 6-7: Why do you think God doesn’t just destroy evil right now once and for all? He clearly restrains the power of Satan so that the final anti-Christ doesn’t take power now.
Verse 8-10: Satan wishes to create a corrupt imitation, a counterfeit, of Christ – he wants to have his own temple (2 Thessalonians 2:4), he wants to have a human represent him here on earth (2 Thessalonians 2:3), the anti-Christ will be mortally wounded but not die (Revelation 13:3), the anti-Christ will be able to perform miraculous signs (2 Thessalonians 2:9), he will bring his own version of a message of peace (1 Thessalonians 5:3) which he will establish on earth for a time, and he will be a friend of Israel for a time (Daniel 9:27). In what ways do you think an anti-Christ would be attractive to the world? What would be a warning to all Christians about the leaders we look up to?
Verse 11-12: In what ways are any of us capable of being under a delusion about God and our relationship with him? What are some ways that Christians are being deceived today?
Verse 13-15: Paul requests the Thessalonians “stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us.” Are there some Christian traditions that you don’t see eye to eye on with other Christians? How do we determine which traditions are ones we hold on to and which we lay aside?
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Here are a couple of thousand sermons on 2 Thessalonians.
