notes

Main point summary

Praising God for his life changing word that comes in power, brings hope, and bears fruit!

Discourse

editing

NT

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

esv

mine

Paul, a Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the b Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy here writing to you, the church in Thessalonica through our Heavenly Father, and our Savior, Christ Jesus.

c Grace to you and peace.

May God's grace, offered to you by Jesus' redemptive work be yours, so that you may have peace with God.

d We give thanks to God always for all of you,

We are so thankful to God for each one of you that we are ever praising and thanking Him for you!

constantly 1 e mentioning you in our prayers,

We lift you up in prayer before God continually,

remembering before f our God and Father g your work of faith

not forgetting, but calling to memory before God your good works and changed life all brought about by your faith.

and labor of h love

Also , how your love for Christ has spilled out, overflowing in good works.

and i steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only that, but you have held fast, not wavering, but having a confident expectation of the eternal inheritance we have through Christ.

For we know, j brothers 1 loved by God, k that he has chosen you,

For we are fully confident fellow saints, who are cherished and beloved by God, that he (El Roi) has picked you to be his own before the foundations of the world.

because l our gospel came to you not only in word,

The evidence of you being loved and chosen is obvious, the results being, the good news of Christ was not just something you heard,

but also in power

it was much more than that, it made a powerful, lifechanging impact on you.

and m in the Holy Spirit

Also, the Spirit of God worked in your hearts and minds to accept the gospel.

and with full n conviction.

but it didn't stop there , you also believed what we preached. Your hearts were filled with conviction, knowing that you are sinners in need of God's saving grace.

You know o what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

You are well aware of our character and how we conducted ourselves when we were with you. We did this for your benefit.

And p you became imitators of us q and of the Lord,

Also through imitating us, you became imitators of God himself!

for r you received the word in much affliction, s with the t joy of the Holy Spirit,

Because you have become imitators of us and Christ, laying down your life in order to please God, you embraced the gospel regardless of the abundant opposition you faced, full of the joy and gladness only the Holy Spirit can give.

so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

As a result, now you are the ones our fellow brethren in Macedonia and Achaia are now following!

For not only has the word of the Lord u sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia,

This is because it is not just in your area of Macedonia and Achaia that the gospel has been spread through you.

but your faith in God has gone forth v everywhere,

Yet still more, the news of your hope in Christ has reached all over!

so that we need not say anything.

Your faith in God has changed your lives and the results are that you have become a witness to all that know and hear of you. Now your witness is doing the job of spreading the gospel for us!

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of w reception we had among you,

Because we keep hearing from others how you welcomed us and accepted what we had to say,

and how x you turned to God y from idols

and have stopped worshipping dead idols, that have no power to save are following God, the one who can save!

to serve the living and z true God,

Now you live to follow and please the only real, living God there is.

and a to wait for his Son b from heaven,

You have also joined us in waiting for Christ's return, when he will come back to earth and set all things right.

c whom he raised from the dead,

Praise God Jesus is not dead, he is alive! Raised on the third day and seated at the right hand of the Father. He is our hope and deliverance, now and for all eternity.

Jesus d who delivers us from e the wrath to come.

God's son, Jesus is the one who paid for our sins, and by his blood we have peace with God. His blood alone frees us from God's coming judgement for our sins.

The gospel resulted in: - work of faith (faith produces works) -labor of love (love produces labor) -steadfastness of hope in Christ (hope produces patience)

Do we have Paul's heart for the people we minister to? Let us keep thanking God for the work he has done in their lives, not thinking our work is done, but continuing to pray for them.

We have this hope because we know that God has chosen us and we are loved by him!

Why do we know they were chosen? Because the gospel came to them in power, the Holy Spirit and with conviction. They see the fruit in their lives!

I love this picture of Christ's attitude, "Not my will be yours be done." Then his disciples following his example despite all the persecution they faced. Now other believers join regardless of affliction, recognizing there is a greater treasure than momentary pleasure or ease.

Are our lives transformed so much that others notice?

The results of receiving the gospel: -We turn from worshiping "idols" -We have the hope of Christ's return

discourse

Notes

Author: Paul, Silvanus & Timothy Gave thanks to God for them Constantly praying for them Proved themselves for the sake of the Thessalonians Recipients: Church of Thessalonians They are in God and Christ, thus grace and peace to them Three things stand out about them: their labor of love, work of faith and steadfastness of hope. They are loved by God They are chosen by God They know this because the gospel came to them in word, power, conviction, and the Holy Spirit They imitated Paul and God Became Christians despite affliction with the joy of the holy spirit Became examples to other believers News of them spread every Paul received a good report of them They turned from idols to God, now serving the living true God They have this hope: to wait for Christ's return Occasion: Wanted to know they hand heard a good report about their continued faith Praising God for the faith. Relationship: Giving thanks to God for them Remembering the works that God has done in their life A thankful, proud tone, written with obvious affection and love for the recipients. Themes: Thankfulness for their faith & work Evidence of their faith Being imitators The gospel spread because of their faith Purpose: Encouraging them to continue in their faith Sharing doctrine Tone: Thankful Encouraging Keywords: God Lord Jesus Christ Holy Spirit Faith Hope General: How thankful Paul is at what God has done in their lives that he remembers it, savors it. Not just turning to the next ministry task and forgetting what God has already done. How they sought to be blameless when with them Paul emphasizing how God is living and true compared to idols Jesus was raised from the dead All Christians have the same hope: waiting for Jesus' return Jesus delivers us from coming wrath Next Steps: I am going to use what I have learned to study the book of Galatians. I am doing a Bible Study with a few friends and am excited to be able to use paraphrasing in order to prepare the studies and and have a better grasp on what Paul is saying.