Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening

I want you to consider that throughout the bible we are challenged or commanded to live at a higher dedication to Christ than what life the world has chosen.

We, as followers and believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, have chosen to lay down our life for who we believe is the one true God… The King of Kings… The Father of Life!

Our life… Is it our life to begin with?

It was given to us, yes… but it was given to us to live as Christ.

To live in relationship with God.

Now, relationship is a very popular subject.

Many us have good & bad memories of people we are in relationships with.

Relationships look different, have different complexity and require different responsibilities based on their value to us personally.

We call some family, best friend, friend and acquaintance.

God is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (family member).

He is someone you can talk to about anything, anytime, anywhere.

But relationship is not my subject today… rather, this life we live.

What is the purpose of our life?

To glorify God in all we do, so that others will see His love and be drawn to Him by how you honor God.

Love God and Love His People.

I want you to go on a journey with me today and evaluate your commitment and relationship with God.

I would like you to consider your walk with Christ today.

Are you intentional about representing Christ?

Are you intentional about looking like Him? Are you intentional about producing the fruit of the Spirit in your life?

I’m starting a new series today called The Surrendered Life.

And today is Part 1 of this series and I want to talk to you briefly on An Intentional Walk.

When we go on walks we enjoy it more when we do it on our own.

When we want to walk.

When we do it intentionally.

We also enjoy it more when we can see the results of our walk, or when it’s profitable.

We see we are going somewhere or accomplishing what we intended to to accomplish with our walk.

So we enjoy our walk when it’s intentional and when it’s profitable.

But our walk will be enjoyed more when it is a powerful walk.

When it becomes a powerful walk it will make the intentionality and profitability more enjoyable!

Part 1 - An Intentional Walk

Part 2 - A Profitable Walk

Part 3 - A Powerful Walk

Scriptures

1 Thessalonians 5:16–22 (NKJV)

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

19 Do not quench the Spirit.

20 Do not despise prophecies.

21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.

22 Abstain from every form of evil.

23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

The Message (Chapter 5)

16–18  Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens.

This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.19–22

Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master.

On the other hand, don’t be gullible.

Check out everything, and keep only what’s good.

Throw out anything tainted with evil.23–24

May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ.

The One who called you is completely dependable.

If he said it, he’ll do it!

Body

7 Steps of an Intentional Walk

1. Rejoice

He first instructs his readers, (“rejoice always”).

This is an integral part of Christian living, as other Pauline texts such as Gal.

5:22 and Phil.

4:4 reveal.

The subject of joy or rejoicing has come up in 1 Thessalonians several times already.

In 1:6 we read how the Thessalonians “received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

And the Spirit is portrayed as the source of their joy.

Their joy was closely associated with their confidence in future salvation and vindication as part of the community of God’s people.

In 3:9 Paul asks the rhetorical question, “What thanks are we able to give to God concerning you for all the joy with which we rejoice on account of you before our God” (cf.

2:20).

Paul’s rejoicing is grounded in his knowledge of God’s working among the Thessalonians and is directed toward God.

Although Paul does not spell out the source or basis of Christian joy in 5:16, the instruction to “rejoice always” derives its meaning from the earlier passages in the letter.

To rejoice always is to see the hand of God in whatever is happening and to remain certain of God’s future salvation.

Without such conviction joy would not be possible in the face of affliction, suffering, and death.

2. Pray

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistles to the Thessalonians (General Exhortations: 5:12–22)

5:17 Not surprisingly Paul wished his converts to be people of prayer.

He himself was devoted to prayer as a fundamental activity in his life (cf.

1:2f.; 2 Thes.

1:11; Rom.

1:10; Col. 1:3, 9).

In several of his letters he instructs his readers to devote themselves to prayer (cf.

5:25; 2 Thes.

3:1; Rom.

12:12; Phil.

4:6; Col. 4:2, 3).

Undoubtedly he believed it was the Christian’s duty to engage in prayer regularly.

Since the next injunction concerns giving thanks, which is an integral part of Christian prayer (cf.

1:2f.), when Paul writes ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε (“pray without ceasing”), he may well have in mind intercessory prayer (cf.

5:25), though the term is actually a general one for prayer.

Obviously he does not mean this to be taken literally, but he does expect his converts to remember continually to pray for their own needs and the needs of others.

This was presumably to be done both privately and in the corporate prayers of the church.

3. Give Thanks

The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistles to the Thessalonians (General Exhortations: 5:12–22)

5:18 Paul’s third injunction, ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖτε (“give thanks …”), requires the interpreter to decide whether ἐν παντί is temporal (“at all times”) or expresses the circumstance (“in every situation”) in which thanksgiving should be made to God.

In favor of the former is that temporal adverbs qualify the previous two instructions and that in 1:2 and 2:13 Paul employs temporal adverbs with εὐχαριστοῦμεν (“we give thanks”).

Against it is that temporal use of ἐν παντί does not seem to occur elsewhere in Paul (Best, 236).

While the temporal understanding is to be favored slightly, the sense of what Paul is saying is not appreciably affected.

To thank God at all times is to see God working in every situation to bring about the divine saving will.

This is not to say that God causes suffering and affliction, but to acknowledge, as Paul does in Rom.

8:28, that God works for the good of the elect through every situation.

For this reason the Christian is obliged to give thanks to God at all times.Paul concludes the three commands of vv.

16–18 with the motivational observation, τοῦτο γὰρ θέλημα θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ εἰς ὑμᾶς (“for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”).

There is no good reason for limiting this statement to only the last of the three injunctions.

The parallel imperatival form of all three indicates an equal stress on each one.

It would be indeed peculiar if Paul thought only giving thanks was the will of God, but not rejoicing and especially praying.