“In Every Good Deed and Word”Eternal Encouragement - 1&2 ThessaloniansLanse Evangelical Free ChurchAugust 3, 2025 :: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17  
Today, after a few weeks off, we are returning to our sermon series on First and Second Thessalonians. A few weeks ago, we finished Paul’s first letter to the church of the Thessalonians, and now we’re jumping into his second.
And, strangely enough, we’re going to start in the middle. Chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, which is a prayer nestled in the middle of Paul’s letter to that beloved baby church that he helped to start and cared so deeply about.
You may remember that it’s from these two verses that we get our title for this entire series, “Eternal Encouragement.” That’s in verse 16.
Your version may say, “eternal comfort” which is a good translation. You may remember that encouragement comes in two basic flavors. There is exhortation like, “I encourage you to get your feet off of the coffee table, mister” and there is consolation like, “I am so encouraged to know that the Lord is at work in our church by hearing all of these things that God has been doing in our Kentucky Team.”  Exhortation and consolation are both kinds of encouragement.
If anything, I think this one is more comfort and consolation because in this context, Paul has been trying to encourage the Thessalonians since they are being persecuted for their faith. We’ll get into that more next week, Lord-willing, when we open up chapter one, but this church was hurting, and so Paul was reminding them once again about the return of Jesus Christ and the salvation that He will one day bring. He’s going to fix everything!
And that is the source of our “eternal encouragement.”
Eternal encouragement. Eternal! Forever! Unending. Inexhaustible. Unstoppable. 
Encouragement. Comfort. Consolation. Forever. 
Eternal encouragement. Doesn’t that sound good?!
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Do you need some encouragement these days?
I don’t know about you, but I need encouragement these days. And not just a flaky encouragement that is based on something transitory and fleeting, but solid encouragement on something that doesn’t run out. Eternal encouragement.
And Paul knew that the persecuted Thessalonians needed that, as well, and so in the middle of his letter he pulls up and prays it for them.
And maybe the most encouraging thing that he says in is prayer is that they already have eternal encouragement!
Did you catch that? Paul prays to, “[O]ur Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us [past tense] and by his grace gave us [past tense, already] eternal encouragement and good hope...”
I have just two points this morning to summarize these two verses, and I hope they are both a great encouragement to us all. The first one is simply:
#1. THE LORD HAS GIVEN US GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT!
Paul begins his middle-letter benediction by reminding the Thessalonians what God has already done.
He invokes two of the Persons of the Triune God, “Our Lord Jesus Christ himself[!]” He names Jesus first, and then He names His Father which he points out is (by adoption) “our Father.” He just as well could have the named the Spirit here because anything the Son and the Father are doing includes the Spirit, as well. But he names the Son and the Father and then reminds us what this Triune God has done.
He has loved us. Church, He has loved us! Isn’t that encouraging?! 
How encouraging that must have been for the church of the Thessalonians to hear. Remember, they were being persecuted. It didn’t always feel like the Lord was loving them. But Paul says, “He loved us.” And he includes himself in there. Not just “He loved YOU,” but “He loved us.”
How? By choosing us. By sending His Son for us. By giving His Son for us. What that Table right there stands for.  “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
That’s eternal encouragement! That never ends. The love of God!
And it’s a gift. It’s (v.16) “by his grace.” We don’t earn it. We can’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. We never could deserve it. We deserve the opposite of it.
Some people go out on missions trips to try to earn God’s favor. “If we just work hard enough and help enough people, then maybe God will save us.”
No, no, no, no, no! That’s not how it works. If that’s how it works, we are doomed. No, Paul says that the Lord loved us and "by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope.”
Remember, “hope” in this context is a good future guaranteed. Hope is faith directed into the future which is a sure thing because of God’s grace.
Last week on our trip, Pennie did one of the devotions for the group, and she shared her testimony of being encouraged by Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jer. 29:11). And just like God’s plan for the exiled Israelites was for their good future, God’s plan for us Christians is a good hope and a good future for all eternity because of God’s grace!
The Lord has given us great encouragement! That’s verse 16. And because of that, Paul is bold to pray that the Lord would give us even more. And that’s verse 17. "May the Lord who gave us eternal encouragement (v.17), encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”
#2. MAY THE LORD GIVE US GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT!
Isn’t that interesting that in verse 16, Paul says God has done it, and then in verse 17 he prays that God would do it? Same basic root word, parakaleo, to encourage or comfort.
God has encouraged, may He encourage. If God is handing out eternal encouragement, I think we can turn to Him for daily encouragement, too. Amen?
May the Lord “encourage your hearts.”May the Lord “encourage your hearts.”May the Lord “encourage your hearts.”
How encouraging that must have been for the Thessalonians to read Paul praying that for them!
What a great thing for us to pray for each other! Yesterday, as I was preparing this message, I committed to praying these words for our church family every day for the rest of the year. And I’m going to begin praying these words for people all the time. I’m glad it’s our new memory verse for the next couple of months. Let’s pray these words for each other. Let’s put them in encouragement cards to each other.
May the Lord “encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” So that encouragement to our hearts is meant to give us inner strength to do whatever the Lord has called us to do.
The word for “strengthen” could also be translated “establish.” It means to give the inner stabilization that we need to do whatever the Lord is calling us to do. Paul prays that the Lord would “strengthen [us] in every good deed and word.”
Some of your versions says, “every work and word.”
Everything we do.Everything we say.That’s about everything, isn’t it?
Paul prays for grace to give the Thessalonians fortification to keep on keeping on even in the face of oppression and persecution. They were going to be tempted to give up. Some of them apparently already had (see 2 Thess. 3:10-13). But Paul prayed that deep down they would encouraged and beefed up to do and say whatever the Lord would have them do and say.
“Every good deed and word.” Every!
That means all the good deeds that we did back in Kentucky. And that means all the good deeds we are called to do right here in Pennsylvania. That includes the good deeds that need done for the Good News Cruise. That includes all the good deeds that need done at the Lanse Free Fridge.
And that includes the good deeds that need done at our homes and our jobs and in our neighborhoods.
I pray that God would strengthen you to get up and go to work tomorrow.I pray that God would strengthen you to make dinner for your family.I pray that God would strengthen you to give somebody a ride.I pray that God would strengthen you to send somebody an encouragement card.
“Every good deed.”
And every good “word.”
Because some of our best deeds are things we say. Encouraging things. Gospel things. We need to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who haven’t heard it yet. So that they have eternal encouragement and good hope, as well.
What good deeds and good words are you being called to do and say?
Does anybody remember what our theme as a church is for 2025? 
It’s “Serving the King.” In 2025, as a church, we are focusing on stepping up and kneeling down to serve the King of Kingdoms.
A group of us did that in special ways in the “hollers” of eastern Kentucky. Maybe you’re supposed to go on a Crisis Response Trip yourself. Or maybe you’re supposed to sign up to park cars at the Good News Cruise. Or to walk around talking to people at the cruise-in. Getting outside your comfort zone.
How are you supposed to step up and kneel down to serve the King of Kingdoms?
The Lord has given us great encouragement–for eternity.
May the Lord give us great encouragement–for today that empowers our words and works for Him. 

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Messages in this Series:
1 Thessalonians
01. "To the Church of the Thessalonians" - 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
02. "We Loved You So Much" - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16
03. "You Are Our Glory and Joy" - 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13
04. "Do This More and More" - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
05. "Encourage Each Other With These Words" - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
06. “We Belong to the Day” - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
07. "To Each Other and To Everyone Else" - 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
08. "This Is God's Will For You" - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-28