Jun – July Sermons Series

: 8th June - 27th July

When something is irresistible, it is fascinating, magnetic and too powerful or convincing to be resisted. Would you describe the church as irresistible?

Ephesians 1:23 says the fullness and presence of Jesus fills the church. Ephesians 3:10 boldly declares that “…through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No doubt the church is a school for sinner; a club for the imperfect; and a hospital for the sick. At the same time, the church is meant to be irresistible! However, for a lot of people, the church is anything but irresistible. For them, the church is irritable, boring, and irrelevant.

In this new series The Irresistible Church, we will be looking at the Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, Titus and finally Philemon. Our aim is to help our members discover that for the early Christians, their experience of the church was anything but boring, irrelevant or predictable! By God’s grace and through your preaching, they will discover why the early Christians found the church irresistible and how God can truly change people’s lives through the church.

We will begin by looking at 1 Thessalonians for the next five weeks.

08/06/2014 Dear Thessalonians – Your Faith is Famous! (1 Th 1:1-10)
15/06/2014 Dear Thessalonians – Believe in Us! (1 Th 2:1-16)
22/06/2014 Dear Thessalonians – We Long to See You Again! (1 Th 2:17-3:13)
29/06/2014 Dear Thessalonians – Live to Please God! (1 Th 4:1-18)
06/07/2014 Dear Thessalonians – Stay Alert! The End is Coming! (1 Th 5:1-28)

Read through the whole book, not just the verses mentioned along with the sermon title.

The first letter to the Thessalonians is a mixture of consolation, instruction and encouragement for a young church which has experienced some opposition in the community, felt the pressures of a typical Greco-Roman religious environment with its temptations to immorality, and suffered a loss of confidence in the future owing to the death of some of its members.

In your preparation and preaching, you should aim to help your members understand the role of the Holy Spirit, inspire them to see who the church is, why does it exist and what it should be doing and how their present and their future are meant to be shaped by their hope in the coming of Christ.

Extra Resources

Further Reading

Christ’s Coming and the Church’s Mission in 1 Thessalonians
by Charles A. Gieschen, Concordia Theological Quarterly, CTQ 76 (2012): 37-55.

Slides and Videos

Main Series Slides
You can use these for sermon series promotion or for your main title slide. Both Chinese and English versions are available.

Sermon Slides
You can use these for each week’s sermon slides. Both Chinese and English versions are available.

Missing the Boat – Parable about Evangelism

A challenging video that tells a parable about evangelism.
Suitable for the sermon on the OAT Sunday.