Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Carefully Think

• Read 1 Thess 2:14-16. What is the connection between v. 13 and v. 14? What response to the gospel does Paul highlight in the first clause of v. 14? How does Paul modify or further explain how or why they became imitators?
• How does Paul describe the churches of v. 14?
• Look at Acts 17:1-10. Describe the sufferings of the Thessalonians when they received the Word. Look at Acts 4:3, 18, 21, 5:17-18, 40, 6:11-14, 7:57-8:3, 9:1-2, 23-25, and 12:1-5. Describe the sufferings of the churches in Judea when they received the Word. How does Paul describe the parallels between the way the Thessalonians received the Word and how the churches in Judea received the Word
• What did the unbelieving Jews do to Jesus according to v. 15? What did they do to the prophets? (v. 15) What did they do to the apostles? (v. 15) What was their relationship to God? (v. 15) How does this relationship with God drive their relationships with “all men”? (v. 15). How does their hostility to men reflect itself? (v. 16) Summarize this response to the gospel.

Prayerfully Meditate

• How is imitation crucial in responding to the gospel?
• How does the description of local churches in v. 14 inform your overall view of the local church?
• Why do you think Paul spends so much time talking about the response of the unbelieving Jews here? Consider the original audience of the letter and the circumstances of their reception of the gospel.
• What did Paul intend to communicate with these verses to the Thessalonians?