SERMONS ON 1 THESSALONIANS
Our sermon ideas on 1st Thessalonians will help you prepare a powerful message on the benefits of being an imitator of Christ—in sacrifice, suffering and grace. Paul’s letter to Thessalonica reminds us that within our hardship that we experience vulnerability that leads others to healing. Prepare your messages on God's Word in 1 Thessalonians with sermon outlines or an entire sermon series.
1 Thessalonians: The Believer and the Second Coming of Christ (15 of 32)
by Stan Coffey
BACKGROUND: The church at Thessalonica was founded by Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 17:1-9). The church was made up in the majority by Gentiles, who were mostly slaves and members of the working class (4:11-12). Paul's brief but fruitful ministry there was abruptly terminated by unbelieving Jews who incited a riot. Paul and his companions then journeyed to Berea. Driven out of Berea by persecution Paul went to Athens, leaving Timothy and Silas behind. At Athens Paul sent word for his companions to follow him, but from I Thessalonians 3:1-2 it seems he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to inquire...
The Heart of a Great Pastor
by Marvin D. Patterson
God looks over the millions of people and says 'Welcome to Heaven. I want the women to go with Saint Peter, and the men to form two lines. Make one line of the men that dominated their women on earth, and the other of men who were dominated by their women.' There's much movement, but eventually the women are gone and there are two lines. The line of the men that were dominated is 100 miles long. The line of men that dominated women has only one man. God gets angry and says, 'You men should be ashamed of yourselves. I created you in my image and you were all dominated by your mates. Look at...
The Church with God's Hand of Favor (1 of 13)
by Ernest Easley
If there was ever a church that experienced God's hand of favor, it was the church at Thessalonica. If you moved into Thessalonica back then and were looking for a church to join, you would have joined this church. It was an exciting, thriving, a loving church. It was a church with God's hand of favor. And it's that church that we're going to be looking at today and for several Sundays together as we begin a new series of messages from the book of 1st Thessalonians. You will not want to miss a single message. Now before we begin reading in 1 Thessalonians, I want to show you something back in Acts 17. Paul and Silas are on their 2nd...
1 Thessalonians: Sanctified-Through and Through (15 of 29)
by Roger Thomas
Introduction: For several months we have closed our evening services with the benediction that ends 1 Thessalonians. Tonight I want to use that passage as the text for our overview of this next book in our on-going journey through the New Testament. Recite it with me: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Note how those three verses break down into three sentences, each with a slightly different emphasis. They are all part of the same prayer. Each...
Quenching the Spirit
by Ken Trivette
There is the old story of a church that caught on fire and everyone was rushing to the church to help put the fire out, even the town atheist. The pastor said to him, ''I have never seen you at church before.'' The atheist replied, ''I have never seen the church on fire before.''2. John Wesley said, ''Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.''3. The disciples said after spending time with Jesus, ''Did not our hearts burn within us'' (Luke 24:32). 4. Paul told Timothy to ''stir up the gift of God that is in thee'' (2 Tim. 1:6). The verb ''stir'' literally means ''to fan the flame.'' 5. We often use the expression ''being on fire...
Love of God
by John Barnett
Tonight as you turn to 1 Thessalonians 2:8 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. (NIV). Let’s contrast that love with the world it came into: ‘‘I am entering upon the history of a period rich in disaster, gloomy with wars, rent with seditions; nay savage in its very hours of peace. Four emperors perished by the sword; there were three civil wars; there were more with foreigners, and some had the character of both at once ... Rome wasted by fires; its oldest temples burned; the very capitol set in flames by Roman hands...
Steps to Happiness (19 of 20)
by Jerry Vines
Sometimes what we would like is to just hear something simple, easy to understand which can help us lead a joyful Christian life and help us experience the kind of life God promises to give us. Nothing deep. No heavy-duty theology. Just some simple, easy-to-understand instructions about how to make it on a daily basis.In these closing verses of this letter of Paul to these young believers in Thessalonica, we really have something like this. He has been giving us theology. He has been giving us Christianity 101 and what Christianity is all about. He's been giving us the basic doctrines, the importance of the church, and the...
Built for Success (10 of 12)
by Jeff Schreve
I want to speak to you tonight on this subject: ''Built for Success.'' Now, in the dictionary, success is defined this way: ''A favorable or desired outcome; the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.'' I don't know anybody who doesn't want success in whatever they're doing. If you're going to do a job, you want it to be successful. If you're going to be in school, you want to be successful in your class. If you're going to start a business, you want that to be successful. You want success. A friend of mine, a member of our church, is head coach at Texas High for their basketball team. One of the kids on his team, his first name...
For What Are You Remembered? (1 of 7)
by Jeff Lynn
In 2001, author Jim Collins wrote the best-selling book, ''Good to Great'' where he and his team spent five years researching the history of 28 companies. His research revealed 11 companies that were considered great because of their great results that were sustained over a period of 15 years. In other words, they weren't ''flash in the pans.''Some of the results were not only surprising to him and his team, but to the rest of the business world, as well. Companies, and even churches, are using those results to try and move their institution or entity into a great one. However, you can be excellent by the world's standards, but what does....
Found Faithful in Spiritual Warfare
by David Cook
Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. 5 For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might...
The King is Coming (1 of 2)
by Scott Maze
Upcoming Election - early voting begins tomorrow. I love the fact that several of our church members are running for local offices - Javier Alvarez and Greg Bell. School Board is a really big deal and there are substantially different worldviews in play among those running for this position. Take time to bring your Christianity into the voting booth this week. Several weeks ago, I asked for your help in your choice of today's sermon. Your top choice was ''When Will Jesus Return to Earth?'' But a little analysis of the results, led us to understand that it was really only this early service that asked for this topic. So ... in the next...
Work and Witness in a Life of Love (7 of 13)
by Drew Hunter
If you're new to us, we usually move through different books of the Bible together. We believe that the Bible is God's word to us, and that he continues to speak to us through it. And so we are taking this Fall to move through the First and Second letters to the Thessalonians. Next Sunday we'll be taking a break from this letter. We're going to have a guest speaker with us, and I'm really looking forward to it. Dr. Steve Wellum is going to be here. He is a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. He is also teaching a Systematic Theology class this fall at the new Indianapolis Theological...
A Letter of Encouragement (52 of 66)
by Tony Thomas
Several weeks ago I told you about taking two of our grandchildren zip-lining. That’s how spring break ended. The real story, however, is how spring break began. As Paul Harvey used to say, here’s the rest of the story! After the last service on March 26, we headed east. We arranged to meet our eldest daughter at LaRosa’s in Beavercreek, OH. We ate dinner together and then we took our two eldest grandchildren with us and headed south. We stayed at Holiday Inn in Cincinnati and got up the next morning, and drove to The Ark. The Ark is located on I-75 between Cincinnati, OH and Lexington, KY. It’s a life-sized replica...
The Attitude of Gratitude
by James Merritt
Rudyard Kipling was a great British poet whose writings have blessed many of us, including a generation gone by. Rudyard Kipling was a very famous writer even before he died, and made a great deal of money at his trade. A newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, ''Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over $100 a word.'' Mr. Kipling raised his eyebrows and said, ''Really, I certainly wasn't aware of that.'' The reporter cynically reached into his pocket and pulled out a $100 bill and gave it to Kipling and said, ''Here's a $100 bill Mr. Kipling. Now you give me one...
Pastors and Those They Lead (12 of 15)
by Robert Dawson
One of the things I miss greatly about living in NC is my Mudcats (MiLB). Kristal, John Mark and I loved going to watch baseball at 5 County Stadium just a few miles from our home. If we were lucky enough to get tickets on the Friday night games we could hang out after the game and watch their weekly fireworks display. They would turn out all the lights and shoot the fireworks up from outside the left-centerfield fence. We could see all kinds of colors, shapes and patterns. There were some that looked like a big, bright asterisk hung momentarily in the blackness of space. Others looked like blazing hot streaks as they raced across...
Pleasing God through Sexual Integrity (6 of 13)
by Drew Hunter
C.S. Lewis wrote an essay called ''the weight of glory.'' In it he wrote this: ''To please God . . . to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness . . . to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son - it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.'' Is it possible to please God? A God who has no need of anything. A God who is infinitely happy in himself, in the fellowship of the Trinity. And yet, the Bible says that it is possible to bring pleasure to God. That God could have pleasure... and that that pleasure could be somehow...
Practical Christian Living (6 of 10)
by Stephen Whitney
The city of Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn to serve as the capital of the colony of Pennsylvania. He named the city Philadelphia meaning ''city of brotherly love'' because as a Quaker, he had experienced religious persecution and wanted his colony to be a place where anyone could worship freely. This tolerance for anyone to practice their faith was much greater than what most of the other 12 colonies allowed. It led to better relations with the local Native Indian tribes and resulted in the rapid growth of Philadelphia into the most important cities in the colonies so they held the Continental Congress there. It was there on....
The Transforming Power of God's Word (4 of 13)
by Drew Hunter
We want to be a church that has a certain kind of culture. We want to have a gospel culture. A culture that reflects the way that God treats us in Jesus. When we receive the grace of Jesus, we begin to reflect the grace of Jesus. When we are welcomed by Jesus, we begin to welcome others like Jesus. And we are committed to taking Jesus' call to follow him as disciples seriously. And we are committed to helping one another obey him. This is a culture of discipleship: We submit our lives under the grace and authority of Jesus; and we help one another do the same. In other words, God has made us a new humanity. We are a new...
A Jet Tour Overview of Acts-1 Thessalonians (35 of 37)
by John Barnett
As we begin our overview of the New Testament tonight let's first step back and see the big picture. Someone has written an: AN ARCHITECTS VIEW OF THE SCRIPTURES The Bible is like a majestic palace constructed with precious oriental stone comprising 66 stately chambers, each an individual room, yet a part of the whole ediface: incomprehensible, majestic, glorious and sublime. As we go into the vestibule, the book of Genesis, and find recorded the mighty works of God in creation this vestibule, has access to the law courts. Which, when passing thru come to the picture gallery of the historical...
Entrusted with the Gospel (Pt. II) (3 of 13)
by Ernest Easley
We are learning these days from the New Testament book of 1st Thessalonians how to Live While Looking Up! As you learn how to do that .. not only will you Run Into some things (such as holiness .. purity .. Christlikeness) .. but you will Run From some things (those things that do not look like Jesus). Hey folks .. LIVING WHILE LOOKING UP will help you get ready and stay ready for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the book of 1 Thessalonians is all about: help us get ready and stay ready for the Lord's return. So take God's Word and turn with me to the book of 1st Thessalonians. Today we pick up...
