Prepare your heart for Sunday by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together.
You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and tangibly putting scripture to action in your personal life, and in our corporate body.
Carefully Think
- Read the text for this Sunday, 1 Thessalonians 1, focusing on verses 4-10.
- Who is the author of this letter and who is the intended audience? Think beyond the city and to the people identified and what criteria Paul uses to address the audience.
- In verse 3, why does Paul point out what he remembers? What do those things describe?
- How does Paul have so much confidence to assert "we know", in verse 4, that God has chosen these people? Look at the "because" in verse 5 for the reason.
- What was the gift the apostle gave to the people? Who else is the active helper in verse 5? Is there a reason the gospel comes "in" word, "in" power, "in" the Holy Spirt, and "with" conviction? What does the "with" emphasize? Why is it important for the church in Thessalonica to "know what kind of men" Paul and his co-workers proved to be?
- Verse 6 describes the result of all these things as being "imitators" of the kind of men that brought them the gospel. What are they imitating? Why would God have them recieve the gospel in such hard circumstances (much affliction) and what still causes them to have joy
- Verse 7 gives the reason for the trials and their joy for what purpose?
- What does Paul state the church is doing in verse 8 and why does Paul need to say nothing? How does what the church is doing compare to what Paul is doing and what does this say about what Paul expects any church to do?
- Paul even clarifies in verses 9-10 what the Thessalonians are sharing with others. How would you summarize what Paul is saying very clearly in these verses?
Prayerfully Meditate
- Pray for God to prepare your heart to open your heart and give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him as you study this passage and prepare your heart for Sunday.
- Think on the fact that this is a letter Paul is writing and the purpose it serves in communicating to his audience the first 10 verses of this letter? It is more than just a nice way to open a letter and gives an example of how we should be engaging in coversation with one another. How do you engage each other in encouragement to share the gospel with one another?
- Paul is clarifying the impacts of the gospel coming to the Thessalonians from Paul and the direct relation to that work giving reason for the believers to go and share their faith all around them. Paul also clearly articulates how they are sharing their faith. Pray that God would embolden you and give you such joy that you would share your faith with such clarity and precision that no one questions the reason for the hope that you have.
- Meditate on how the testimony of the lives of the Thessalonians and the words that they speak to others is how they share the gospel. Do you believe that "only" living your life before others is clearly sharing the gospel? Pray for conviction to see from this text that God expects both a life lived in faith and the reason for your faith to be utilized in spreading the gospel everywhere you go.
Intentionally Act
- Pray for God to reveal to us the lack of faith in our lives as we live day to day in our words, actions, and even how we walk down the street. Are you living in such a way that God would use you like the Thessalonians to spread the gospel of our Lord and Savior to all those around you?
- Pray for opporutunities to share with unbelievers the only hope of salvation, repenting of worshipping idols and to to serve the living and true God who alone can save us from the wrath to come.
- Engage one another in our church, to encourage each other in the gospel, reminding one another of our salvation and encouraging one another to continue sharing this good news with all those God brings to us.
- Find people in our church who would be good to "imitate". Remember that imitating is not just learning the "practices" of someone else but also allows God to bring the "trials" needed in your life that increase spiritual maturity.
- Be intentional to review the lyrics and listen to the songs in preparation for worshipping our King and Savior as one body, in one mind and in one voice.
- Pray for those leading our corporate gathering this week and for the Holy Spirit’s work as the Scripture is explained and applied: Dawson Bryant, music; Brandon Ferguson, Elders' prayer and Scripture reading; Todd Arnold, teaching.
Songs for Sunday
- All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name (Video)
- Holy (Video)
- I Asked the Lord (Video)
- Now Why This Fear (Video)
- Here Is Love (Video)