1 Thessalonians 1-3 - Outline

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

March 24, 2013


 *OCT 2 - 1 THESSALONIANS 1-3 - SAVED BY CONVERSION, EVANGELISM, WATCH-CARE*


 *1. 1:1, (ESV) PAUL: GREETING OF GRACE AND PEACE. “Paul and Silvanus, and
Timothy, to the church of Thessalonians in God the Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.” *We bless You Father, that we are in
both You and our Lord Jesus Christ. We bless You for Your grace and peace.
Your Kingdom become manifested through us because of this. We yield to Your
way! *Hallowed be your :name!*


 *2. 1:5 (1:2-10) THANKSGIVING: FOR WAY GOSPEL RECEIVED. “Because our
:gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Spirit, and much assurance; even as you know what manner of men we became
among you for your sake.” *The Thessalonians lived Your will on earth as
lived in heaven! We would follow their example. We would walk in their
steps. We would follow them as they followed Christ. *Your :kingdom come!*


 *3. 2:3-4 (2:1-12) PAUL: PERSONAL WITNESS OF HIS CONDUCT. “For our
:exhortation is not of error nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: 4 but even
as we have been approved of :God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we
speak; not as pleasing men, but God who proves our :hearts.” *Father, we
thank You for the Pure Gospel, and its Pure Messengers, as it was
originally given. We pledge to share it in this same purity and power. *Your
:will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.*


 *4. 2:13 (2:13-16) PAUL: THANKFULNESS FOR THEIR STEADFASTNESS IN
PERSECUTION. “And for this we also thank :God without ceasing, that, when
you received from us the word of :God’s message, you accepted it not
asmen’s word, but, as it is in truth, God’s word, which also works in
you
that believe. *O forgive us Father, for sometimes receiving Your Word
carelessly, as ordinary words, or even in unbelief with no acting upon it.
Besides Your Word, there is nothing greater except Yourself. Beyond the
sacred page, we see *You*, Lord! *Our :daily :bread Give us this day!*


 *5. 2:19-20 (2:17-20) PAUL’S DESIRE AND CROWN: CONVERTS FAITHFUL TO THE
END. “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glorying? Are not even you,
before our :Lord Jesus at his :presence? 20 For you are our :glory and our
:joy.” *Father, we bless You for converts who *stand*! We bless You for
Finney’s converts who stood to the end. We would impart to our converts
this power of endurance. *And forgive us our :debts, As we also have
forgiven our :debtors.*


 *6. 3:9-10 (3:1-10) PAUL: COMFORTED THROUGH TIMOTHY’S GOOD REPORT. “For
what thanksgiving can we render again to God for you, for all the joy with
which we joy for you before our :God; 10 night and day praying exceedingly
that we may see your :face, and may perfect what are lacking in your
:faith?” *O give us the maturing desire of the soul-winner for his
converts, Father. May we see the value of a soul. May we have the passion
of the soul-winner! *And bring us not into temptation!*


 *7. 3:12-13 (3:11-13) PAUL’S PRAYER ON THEIR BEHALF. “And the Lord make
you to increase and abound in :love one toward another, and toward all,
even as we also do toward you; 13 to the establishing of your :hearts
unblamable in holiness before our :God and Father, at the presence of our
:Lord Jesus with all his :saints.” **Love*: the Bonding Power of Unity!
Evermore grant this to us, Father! *But deliver us from the evil one!*


 *NOTE**: 1:9-10 (1:2-10) NEW CONVERTS: AWAITING THE RETURN OF CHRIST! **“For
THEY report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and
how you turned unto :God from :idols, to be bondmen of a living and true
God, 10 and to wait for his :Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the
dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath :to come.” *We bless You Father
for the apostolic example of coming to new places and people.


 *C.H. Spurgeon Quotes: “Wouldn’t Give a Penny for Temporary Salvation” - *I
confess that I would hardly give a penny for any salvation that I could
lose; I would not go across the street to pick up a quarterly or yearly
salvation.


 *Our Psalm for the Day: 92:13-14 (92) HOW GREAT ARE YOUR WORKS. “They are
planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14
They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green.” *Paul
saw You to be most faithful to the Thessalonians, Father; and we see You to
be faithful to *all* groups: the weak, the vulnerable, the widow, the
orphan, the poor, the old. *Faithfulness* becomes Your Name! *Hallowed be
your :name!*


 *Title: “A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath Day.” *This admirable composition
is both a Psalm and a Song, full of equal measures of solemnity and joy;
and it was intended to be sung upon the day of rest. The subject is the
praise of God; praise is Sabbatic work, the joyful occupation of resting
hearts. No one acquainted with David’s style will hesitate to ascribe to
him the authorship of this divine hymn; the ravings of Rabbis who speak of
it being composed by Adam only need to be mentioned to be dismissed. Adam
in paradise had neither harps to play upon nor wicked men to contend with.


 92:1. *It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, or Jehovah. *It is
good ethically, for it is the Lord’s right; it is good emotionally, for it
is pleasant to the heart; it is good practically, for it leads others to
render the same homage. We thank men when they oblige us: how much more
ought we to bless the Lord when He benefits us! Devout praise is always
good; it is never out of season, never superfluous, but it is especially
suitable to the Sabbath; a Sabbath without thanksgiving is a Sabbath
profaned.


 92:3. *Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the
harp with a solemn sound. *In Augustine to Ambrose there is the following
passage bearing on this same subject: “Sometimes, from over jealousy, I
would entirely put from me and from the church the melodies of the sweet
chants that we use in the Psalter, lest our ears seduce us; and the way of
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, seems the safe one, who, as I have often
heard, made the reader chant with so slight a change of voice, that it was
more like speaking than singing. And yet, when I call to mind the tears I
shed when I heard the chants of Your church in the infancy of my recovered
faith, and reflect that I was affected, not by the mere music, but by the
subject, brought out as it were by clear voices and appropriate tune, in
turn, I confess how useful is the practice.”


 92:6. *A brutish man knows not; neither does a fool understand this. *In
this and the following verses, the effect of the Psalm is heightened by
contrast; the shadows are thrown in to bring out the lights more
prominently. What a stoop from the preceding verse; from the saint to the
brute, from the worshiper to the boor, from the Psalmist to the fool! Yet,
alas, the character described here is no uncommon one. The boorish, or
boarish man, for such is almost the very Hebrew word, sees nothing in
nature; and if it be pointed out to him, his foolish mind will not
comprehend it. He may be a philosopher and yet be such a brutish being that
he will not own the existence of a Maker for the ten thousand matchless
creations around him which wear, even upon their surface, the evidences of
profound design. The unbelieving heart, let it boast as it will, does not
know; and with all its parade of intellect, it does not understand. A man
must either be a saint or a brute, he has no other choice; his type must be
the adoring seraph or the ungrateful swine. So far from paying respect to
great thinkers who will not own the glory or being of God, we ought to
regard them as comparable to the beasts which perish, only vastly lower
than mere brutes, because their degrading condition is of their own
choosing. O God, how sorrowful a thing it is the man whom You have so
largely gifted, and made in Your own image, should so brutify themselves
that they will neither see nor understand what You have made so clear. Well
might an eccentric writer say, “God made man a little lower than the angels
at first, and he has been trying to get lower ever since.”


 92.12. *The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree*. This song now
contrasts the condition of the righteous with that of the graceless. The
wicked “spring as the grass” but *the righteous shall flourish like the
palm tree*, whose growth may not be so rapid but whose endurance for
centuries is in fine contrast with the transitory verdure of the meadow.
When we see a noble palm standing erect, sending all its strength upward in
one bold column, and growing amid the dearth and drought of the desert, we
have a fine picture of the godly man, who in his uprightness aims alone at
the glory of God; and, independent of outward circumstances, is made by
divine grace to live and thrive where all things else perish. *(From “The
Treasury of David” by C.H. Spurgeon, abridged by D.O. Fuller)*



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