2010-05-02
1 & 2 Thessalonians
Review: Will You Commit to the Cause?
Steve Lane

A. 1 Thessalonians: Are We Ready?
Do we want to do what they did? Then we need to be what they were!
Are you growing? Why not begin today?
He is patient, but the time is now. Are you weary of the struggle? He is kind and gentle, and will give you rest. Put on His yoke, and plow His field in His strength.
Do you know Him more this year than last?
Do you love His people more than ever?
Is prayer more powerful than ever?
Are you abiding more than ever?
Do you love His Word more?
1 Thessalonians 1: 3 Are you laboring and working, and do you have more endurance/faith/love/hope?

1 Thessalonians 2: 8
The little band of missionaries were what brought the gospel to Thessalonica.
This is how we make progress as a church.

1 Thessalonians 2: 9
Do you ever follow Paul's example and deny the flesh for the sake of the call?

1 Thessalonians 2: 10 - 12
We must be like a father.
Revelation 3: 8 The church at Thessalonica, ready to go through that door.
Are we Ready?

We have a most delightful calling: to go into all the world and make disciples.
We get to join in an empowered, but sometimes exhausting, labor for a cause that is...
But first, we must be that church. We must commit.
1 Thessalonians 2: 13 Don't misunderstand.

B. A Great Commission Church, Full of Great Commission Believers

1 Thessalonians 1: 4 - 10
Notice they immediately began to duplicate what happened to them.
Faith to be lead into a box canyon—faith that the power will be there.
Open hearts, open homes, open lives. A sharing of one's life.

C. Don't Put out the Fire!
Peru — will we resist going back to status quo?
Faith that produces work and love—that prompts sacrificial labor and endurance, inspired by hope.
Walk by faith or by sight.
Or, considering their attribute of love...
This church was on fire and spreading. They were believing God's Word.

D. Don't Quench the Spirit!

1 Thessalonians 5: 19
All these things are a prerequisite to 2 Thessalonians 1: 11 - 12