Dr Peter Masters

A sermon series on 1 Thessalonians, showing the Lord’s profound instruction for the Christian life through the Apostle Paul.

Paul’s Eleven Signs of the Elect

– Sunday AM October 1, 2017
Paul’s letter to a young church begins with eleven signs that people are truly elect and saved. Paul can rejoice for the Thessalonians, but could he for us? And are the signs reflected in professing Christian congregations today? Have we reason to rejoice?

Transformation Process

– Sunday AM October 8, 2017
Thessalonica saw lives radically changed. The new objective of believers was the gathering of souls out of a doomed world for Christ’s return, not world restoration (an old heresy returning today). Here also is their realisation of God’s hatred of sin. Is ours fading?

Three Tests of Soundness

– Sunday AM October 15, 2017
Paul entered Thessalonica outwardly lowly but inwardly laden with treasures of grace and power. He lays out three tests of soundness: matter (the message), motives, and manner (of proclamation), and here we apply them to Jews, pagans, modern atheism, and present-day Christian phonies also.

Thankfulness for a Miracle

– Sunday AM October 22, 2017
Paul’s description of the mission to Thessalonica presents the vital ingredients of evangelism – a desire for souls, hard work night and day, holy lives, fatherly appeals, and a desire for lasting conversion, all leading to a miracle of God in illumination and regeneration.

Joy in Fruitbearing

– Sunday AM October 29, 2017
Of all the marks of conversion the apostle’s crowning sign here is readiness to suffer in the course of witness. Also, he refers to Satan’s hindrances (here are today’s), and to the immense joy of relating to converts (our wreath of glory) both now and eternally.

Portrait of Paul

– Sunday AM November 5, 2017
Reflected in this letter is the apostle’s deep concern for believers, and his sacrificial spirit. Also we see his acceptance of hardship for Christ, his great priority of building faith and trust in believers, his prayerfulness and his teaching on separation from the world.

Walking to Please God

– Sunday AM November 19, 2017
Four principles of living to please the Lord: (1) The need to be pledged to constant progress, (2) the chief virtues to aim at, (3) the necessity of deliberate, determined abstention from sin, especially returning sin, and (4) the role of the Holy Spirit.

Christ’s Imminent Return

– Sunday AM November 26, 2017
The apostle declares Christ as the unique and authoritative hope for the resurrection of the body. Here also is the concept of being joined to Him for salvation and therefore for eternity; the parousia and the rapture, and their imminence and comfort.

Spiritual Wakefulness

– Sunday AM December 3, 2017
So inclined are we to spiritual and moral casualness that the apostle stresses the necessity and urgency of constant self-scrutiny of our tendencies, temptations, conduct, words and our associations in the fight against the surrounding ‘darkness’. Here are his three selected items of armour.

Paul’s Compendium of Conduct

– Sunday AM December 10, 2017
This brief ‘treasury’ of concise exhortations lists key duties for Christian living, including rules for the spiritual life and duties for life in the everyday world. Here are the first eight forming a life of aspirations to both monitor and inspire.

The Life of Prayer

– Sunday AM December 24, 2017
A call to prove the Lord in every phase of life. Here are the biblical departments of prayer, followed by the need for greater determination, faith, desire, thoughtfulness, patience, holiness and sincerity, with attention to prayer in trials, and the obligations that come with prayer.

The Culture of Thankfulness

– Sunday AM December 31, 2017
The Bible is full of thankfulness. Here is its immense significance in the Christian life, also its power to inspire humility, indebtedness to God, appreciation of Him, holiness, trust, reliance, love, happiness and evangelism. Here also are matters for inclusion in thanksgiving.

“Quench not the Spirit”

– Sunday AM January 7, 2018
How is the fire of the Spirit manifested in believers’ lives? Here are texts showing His work to be sanctifying, illuminating (with joy), and imparting zeal for souls and good works. Here also are the ways we resist and quench the holy flame.

God’s Sanctifying Power

– Sunday AM January 21, 2018
‘Let go, and let God’ is a great mistake in sanctification, for there must be striving and prayer for progress in holiness. Yet, says Paul, it is all achieved by the power of God. Here also are the three ‘departments’ of life to be specially guarded.