Sermon Notes | 4.23.23
Rise Week 2
1 Thessalonians 1:2–10
[2] We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, [3] remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. [4] For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [6] And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, [7] so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. [8] For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. [9] For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, [10] and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (ESV)
Gospel TRAITS
1 Thessalonians 1:3; 6-7; 9-10
faith – love – hope
imitators – joyful receivers – exemplars
I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages. – Charles Spurgeon
repent – serve – wait
When people decided I was…wicked and evil and conniving and not…a good person, that was the one that I couldn’t really bounce back from ’cause my whole life was centered around it…We’re people who got into this line of work because we wanted people to like us, ’cause we were intrinsically insecure, because we liked the sound of people clapping, ‘cause it made us forget how much we feel like we’re not good enough. And I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and it’s just, I’m tired of it. – Taylor Swift
Gospel POWER
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. – Romans 1:16
Gospel GOSSIP
1 Thessalonians 1:8-9
There is an important lesson to learn here…We should harness to the service of the gospel every modern medium of communication which is available to us. Nevertheless there is another way…it is very simple. And it is not expensive; it costs precisely nothing. We might call it ‘holy gossip’. It is the excited transmission from mouth to mouth of the impact which the good news is making on people. ‘Have you heard what has happened to so and so? Did you know that such and such a person has come to believe in God and has been completely transformed? Something extraordinary is going on in Thessalonica: a new society is coming into being, with new values and standards, characterized by faith, love and hope. – John Stott
A Prayer for Salvation
“Heavenly Father, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but through your Son Jesus I can be more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you that he lived the life I should have lived and paid the debt and punishment I owed. Receive me now for his sake. I turn from my sins and receive him as Savior. Amen.”