PREPARATIONS FOR A JOYFUL DAY
2 Thessalonians 1:1-5
To have a joyful day, start out expecting a day of joy.
I want to use the analogy of baking a cake.
When you start thinking about baking a cake, you expect
it to be good and enjoyable to eat.
You wouldn’t think about a cake with the end result being
something you can’t eat.
When cooking a cake, you have the expectations of something sweet and delicious.
The first thing you do is lay out all the ingredients.
Eggs, flour, milk, sugar, butter, baking power, flavoring
Each ingredient has a job to do. Flour provides the structure; baking powder and baking soda give the cake its airiness; eggs bind the ingredients; butter tenderizes; sugar sweetens; and milk provides moisture.
Having the ingredients does not make a cake
You have to stir up the mixture.
Heat the oven to the desired temperature. There is some wait time.
Put the batter in a cake pan then the oven. There is some bake time.
Once the cake is baked, you have some cool down time.
You have to set yourself up for the sweetness each day.
You live life one day at a time. Prepare your self for joy
each day.
In this text, Paul sets the church up for the sweetness in life.
It was not a good time to be a Christian. They faced extreme
opposition from the Jewish leaders who did not want them to
exist.
Paul encouraged the Church with grace and peace from the Father.
He gave them the attitude for peace in the mist of persecution.
Prov 27:9
Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man\’s friend by hearty counsel.
You have set yourself up each day for Joy.
You have all the ingredients for Joy
PEACE, YOUR DAILY OBJECTIVE
V:1. Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A. I liken the sweetness of life to God’s Grace and peace.
Without the thinking, you want make any plans to enjoy grace and peace.
God’s grace, His favor is all around you. You woke up this morning
With God’s favor. What plan do you have to take advantage of
His grace so that it results in your peace?
1. Paul gives us all the ingredients for a peaceful day.
2. I liken flour to the Word. The Word of God is the structure
Of Christian living
3. Start each day off in prayer. Meditate on your favorite
Scripture.
B. I liken the milk, the moisture, to Jesus Christ.
John 4:10
Jesus answered her, \”If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks
you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you
living water.\”
The living water is eternal life. Our life is a journey to eternal life
with Jesus. Our focus on Jesus takes us beyond daily
activities.
C. I liken the baking power and the baking soda to the Holy Spirit
1. The Holy Spirit comfort us each day and reminds us of the
Promises of God which lighten burdens and enlightens our
minds.
2. We have to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit for it to do its job.
D. The sugar that sweetens, I liken to God’s compassion for us.
Matt 9:36-37
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were
harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
God knows what you are going to go through during the day.
1. God’s compassion causes Him to move on our behalf.
2. We should have that same compassion for others.
E. The butter, the tenderizing agent, I liken to tolerance.
Tolerance softens us to the problems and needs of others
Romans 2:4
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and
patience, not realizing that God\’s kindness leads you toward repentance?
1. We have peace with God because of His tolerance through Christ
2. Since God is tolerant with us, we must learn to be tolerant with others
F. The eggs the binding ingredient, I liken to the study of God’s Word.
1. When we come together as a group we are binding ourselves together
in the body of Christ.
2. In the Word, we will find all that we are and all God expects
of us in the study of God’s Word.
3. There is power in the Word.
Power to change
Power to convict
Power to love
Power to serve
STIR UP YOUR GIFT
Now that you know you got all the ingredient for a peaceful day,
what are you going to do about it?
To get the peace that surpasses all understanding,
you Got to stir up the gift.
2 Tim 1:6
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God,
which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
G. Like baking a cake, it want happen unless you stir up the ingredients.
1. The peace of God don’t happen all at once. You can’t just snap your
fingers and be peaceful with your situation.
2. To be at peace is a time consuming process.
3. In baking a cake, you got the preparation time, you got the bake time.
and you got the cooling down time.
4. In order to enjoy grace of God’s peace you have to learn patience.
Becoming patient takes time.
a. You got the preparation time which is the study of God’s Word.
b. You got the stirring up time, when you are submitting yourself to
the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
c. You got baking time when you are growing in the spirit.
d. You got the cooling down time when you are determined to be like
Jesus.
You are cooling down when you are getting rid of any attitude that
is not pleasing to God.
You are cooling down when you learn to listen and not argue.
You are cooling down when you are meditating on God’s word.
You are cooled down when you get up in the morning expecting
with confidence that you are going to have a peaceful day.
You are cooled down when you can look at trouble and see
the goodness of God.
BEING GRATEFUL A KEY TO PEACE
V:3. We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so,
because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of
you has for each other is increasing.
A. When baking a cake you stir up the ingredients with love.
1. Like setting the temperature of an oven, You have set your
temperature or attitude for a joyful day.
2. Start your day by being thankful for what God has done
in your life.
Meditate on the goodness of the Lord.
Be thankful for what He did in the past.
Be thankful what He doing in the present.
Remember that God is good all the time.
GROW YOUR FAITH
1. Allow your faith to grow by continuing to study God’s Word.
2. Faith come by hearing and hearing by the Word Of God.
3. Study the Word and know that all the promises of God apply
to you
4. Practice being in a loving mood.
God gave us two important commands.
God loves us first by sending Jesus to die for our sins.
a. We must love the Lord with our heart, mind and soul.
b. Then we must love our neighbor as ourselves.
5. It is the expectation of a joyful day that you should work toward.
Like cooking a cake, you expect something good.
This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad
in it.
6. You Got peace and Grace through Jesus Christ
Grace and peace is promised to you by God.
BOAST IN THE LORD JESUS
V:4 Therefore, among God\’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5 All this is evidence that God\’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering
A. One of the keys to your joy is boasting in the Lord. We should boast
about the work of others in the Lord
1. Boast about what God has done for you.
2. Boast about what God has promised you.
B. Watch this, peace is not the absence of problems, but seeing them
as the evidence of God counting you worthy of the Kingdom of God.
1. Get up in the morning knowing you going to face problems, but
expecting God to work them out in your favor.
2. Get up in the morning expecting peace and joy in the mist of
troubling situations.
IN SUMMARY
START YOUR DAY WITH THE EXPECTATION OF GOD’S GRACE
AND PEACE
EXPECT A JOYFUL DAY
STIR UP THE GIFTS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU
FACE THE PROBLEMS OF YOUR DAY WITH JOY, KNOWING
THAT GOD IS WORKING IT OUT IN YOUR FAVOR
LOVE THOSE WHO HATE YOU. BE KIND TO THOSE WHO CAUSE
TROUBLE.
Rev. M. Mitchell
