THE GROWTH OF GOD'S CHURCH
1 Thessalonians
1:1-10
ENCOURAGING THE CHURCH
V:1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. "
A. The Way we treat each other is important.
1. Recognizing
those who serve with you in the ministry is being kind and courteous.
2. None of us can
do the work of the Lord by ourselves.
3. God put people
in our lives to serve Him.
4. We are all an
equal part of God's team.
B. We should be quick to give credit before others to those who serve with us.
1. We may be head
of the committee, but the committee does not function
without
servants.
2. No one should
take the credit for what God has done.
3. Each of us has been selected to serve
together.
C. Together, we are the Church that God has created.
1. We must
constantly recognize to others that God is our Father and Jesus is
Lord and
Savior of our lives.
a. Jesus is
head of the Church and lead team member.
b. We must
never forget that we can do nothing without Jesus.
John
5:30, John 15:5
2. From our heart
we should wish the very best for others.
3. The very best
is the Grace of God (His favor) and His
peace.
4. The church has
it's foundation and continuation in the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.
PRAYING FOR
THE CHURCH WITH THANKS GIVING
V:2-3. " We give thanks to God always for all of you,
making mention of you in our prayers; 3 constantly bearing in mind your work of
faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in
the presence of our God and Father"
A. Our prayers for the Church is important.
1. Notice, Paul
gave thanks to God for the Church.
2. We will never
know all the benefits a Church does in the Lord.
3. What we do
know is that God uses each Church to carry out His will.
B. The greatest work of the Church is done through faith and
love of each member.
1. God has never
promised us that serving Him would be without problems
2. The devil is
always busy attempting to discourage and block our progress.
3. God's work
will be stopped by the devil.
4. We must trust
the Lord and stand on His promises.
5. He will never
leave us without His power to fulfill his plans.
SELECTED AND
EMPOWERED BY GOD
V:4-5. " Knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice
of you; 5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power
and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of
men we proved to be among you for your sake. "
A. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
1. Because of His
great love, God chose us in Jesus Christ.
2. We did not
chose Him, He chose us before the foundation
of the
world. Eph 1:4
3. The good news
is God did not wait till we were good enough to
serve him.
B. Jesus brought us the Gospel with His preaching and
teaching of His Word.
1. He showed
Himself to be God with miracles and signs that no man
can do.
2. He left
witnesses on earth to His raising of the dead, casting out demons
and healing
all kinds of diseases.
3. He gave us,
the church through the power of the Holy Spirit the ability
to do greater things than He did. John 14:12
4. Jesus left us
the Word in print, both Old Testament and New Testament
which no man
has been able to destroy.
a. It is believed that the book of
Genesis was recorded around 1500 years
before
the birth of Christ.
b. God has
preserved His word for 3500 years.
5. There are over
5000 seminaries in the US
C. The conviction of the Word is through the power of the
Holy Spirit.
1. John 16:8-11
When He comes,
he (Holy Spirit) will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and
righteousness
and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
10 in regard
to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see
me no longer;
11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now
stands
condemned.
2. There is
victory in the Word of God.
THE CHARACTER OF THE CHURCH
V:6 -7. "You also became imitators of us and of the
Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy
Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia
A. We are imitators of Jesus Christ.
1. As much as we
can we ought look like and act like Christ.
2. Being imitator
of Christ requires us to give up self and take on Christ.
3. To serve
Christ, our agenda has to His agenda.
B. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can move out of
our comfort zone
and serve where
Jesus sends us.
1. We may be the
first church that some are exposed.
2. When people see
us, they ought to see what the Church
of Jesus Christ
3. There are some
that God is drawing to the Church that we are the examples.
a. No one can
come to Jesus unless the Father draws them.
John 6:44
b. If our
attitude is not right, we miss an opportunity to be a witness for Christ.
THE MISSION
V: 9-10. " For they themselves report about us what
kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to
serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He
raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come."
A. The church ought to have reputation for serving Jesus
that others talk about.
1. We ought to be
known for preaching the Word with conviction
so are drawn to Christ.
2. We ought to be
known for teaching the Word of God that
those drawn to the
Church know
the true meaning of salvation.
B. The Church ought to be known for teaching the
consequences of sin and
the consequences
of not have a relationship with Jesus.
1. The church has
to know the hell is real and means an eternal
separation from
God.
2. Those who
believes in Jesus ought to have joy in their expectation
of spending
eternity with Christ.
NASU
SECTION OUTLINE OF (1
THESSALONIANS 1)
Paul opens his first letter to the Thessalonians by listing
five characteristics of the church in Thessalonica.
I. It Is an Energetic
Church
A. For their
strong faith (1:1-3 a)
B. For their
labor of love (1:3 b)
II. It Is an Elect
Church
III. It Is an
Exemplary Church (1:5-7)
A. Paul's
example to the church (1:5-6)
1. His
preaching is anointed by the Holy Spirit (1:5).
2. His personal
lifestyle is anointed by the Holy Spirit (1:6).
B. Their example
to the world (1:7): They are a model to all the believers in Greece
IV. It Is an Evangelistic
Church
everywhere.
V. It Is an Expectant
Church
Jesus from
heaven.
(from The Outline Bible by Harold L. Willmington Copyright ©
1999 by Harold L. Willmington. Produced with permission of Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia
Baptist Church
For more lesson follow me on facebook and vist my blogs
revmmitchell.com and goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment