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 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4.
• Who are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy giving thanks for?
• How often does Paul say they should give thanks in this way? What does he mean by this?
• What specifically about the faith of these believers are Paul and his coworkers in the gospel noticing in the Thessalonians?
• What does the therefore of verse four refer back to?
• What two things are listed in verse four as reasons to speak proudly of a church? How do these compare to the two things in verse three for which they gave thanks?
• Are the persecutions the Thessalonians faced temporary? How do you know?

Prayerfully Meditate

• Why should Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy give thanks in this way? Why should an eternal reality cause an internal gratitude?
• How does faith enlarge? How does love grow? Think through evidences of these in your own life. How might you see these grow too?
• Why should Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy give thanks in this way? Why should an eternal reality cause an internal gratitude?
• List out several things that hinder you from the enlargement of your faith and growth of your love.
• What does it look like to speak proudly of something as Paul says here? Is this a bad thing? How do you know?
• What benefit does speaking of these things to other churches bring to them? What good is it to speak proudly of a church to other churches?