Please God…….

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 1 Thess 4: 1-2 (ESV)

Living a life pleasing to God 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2

Pleasing God = Joyful Obedience Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 1 Thess 4: 1-2 (ESV) Pleasing God = Joyful Obedience

Subtle obstacles in pleasing God. Planting the seed in pleasing God.

When you are trying to please others but you don’t realize it For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. 1 Thess 1: 3-4 Need for acceptance Please others

Am I trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God Am I trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. Galatians 2:12

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Matt 6:5 Need for recognition Need for acceptance Please others

Need for recognition Need for acceptance Need for love Please others

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matt 10:38

Subtle obstacles in pleasing God When you are trying to please others but you don’t realize it. When you have an unhealthy way of comparing your life to others. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord…1v6

Subtle obstacles in pleasing God When you are trying to please others but you don’t realize it. When you have an unhealthy way of comparing your life to others. When you are pre-occupied with your own life.

Self centeredness Please myself Please others Arrogant Insecure Not teachable Thinks he is pleasing God but is actually pleasing self Insecure Unsettled Thinks he is pleasing God by pleasing others Self centeredness Please myself Please others

Please God Please myself Please others

Subtle obstacles in pleasing God. Planting the seeds to please God.

Be authentic Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 4: 1-2 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed – God is our witness. 1: 5

Authenticity is reflected in the little things you do in your daily walk

Make pleasing God your pleasure ..and may the Lord make you increase and abound in your love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all the saints. 3: 11 Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 4: 1-2

Defeat vs Disobedience When the music fades all is stripped away And I simply come… I’ll bring you more than a song For a song in itself is not what you have required You search much deeper within Through the way things appear You’re looking into my heart Defeat vs Disobedience

Pleasing God is a relationship process Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 4: 1-2 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God… Col 1: 10

Pleasing God is possible only through Jesus Christ Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 4: 1-2