 So let's begin here, 1 Thessalonians. We're in chapter 1. We're going to look at verses 1 through 10, but I'll begin by reading verses 1 through 4, giving that introduction that I mentioned. So you have context, and then moving especially into verses 5 through 10 for some practical exhortations that Paul gives to us from this book. So beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 4, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul, Sylvainus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all making mention of you in our prayers. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father. Knowing beloved brethren, your election by God. And so to understand the book, obviously we need to present a background to view it by. We're looking at the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. Thessalonians refers to the city that they came from, the city of Thessalonica. When you look into history, you'll see that Thessalonica was a major city. It was a chief seaport of Macedonia. When you look at your map, Macedonia today represents what would be northern Greece. Thessalonica was a harbor town. It had an estimated population of 200,000, which at that time would have made it a very large and impressive city. We're so used to large cities that we don't get an idea of how 200,000 would be a major city because we have cities like New York or Los Angeles. We have cities like San Francisco, Boston, San Diego. Those are all large cities. But Thessalonica would have been a very large city during that day. It was a city that was filled with a lot of sin. It was filled with a lot of idolatry and all. And the apostle Paul had gone there on a mission journey. When you read the book of Acts, you'll see in chapter 17 how Paul had planted a church there while on his second missionary journey. When you read the first few verses, Acts 17, 1 through 4, those verses record that Paul came to Thessalonica and he preached in a synagogue for three Sabbaths. And he saw some Jews and many Greeks come to faith in Jesus Christ. So Paul was in the city for a short time, yet the church took off. It became very strong, but resistance to the gospel also immediately became very strong. It says in Acts 17, verse 5, that the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar. And because the city was in an uproar concerning Paul and his team, it prompted the brethren to send Paul and Silas and Timothy away. Somebody wrote upon leaving Thessalonica, Paul, Silas and Timothy traveled to Athens by way of Berea. After a short time in Athens, Paul desired to receive a report from the new church in Thessalonica, so he sent Timothy back to serve and minister to the new believers there. We'll see that in chapter 3, verse 2. Paul wanted to check on the Thessalonians' faith for fear that false teachers might have infiltrated the church. Timothy soon returned with a good report prompting Paul to write first Thessalonians as a letter of encouragement to these new believers. So this letter written by Paul was written from the city of Corinth. You see that in Acts 17 and 18 while he was there. It's one of his earliest letters. It was written somewhere around 51 A.D. Now we need to remember that Paul was an apostle, but not only was he an apostle, he was also a missionary. He was an elder. He was a church planner, but he was especially a pastor. And as such, as a pastor, he had a great concern for believers. He especially desired this young church to mature, to grow in their spiritual faith. And that's the kind of desire that should be in every true shepherd. You see, there are those who want a large church and they want prosperity, they want fame, they want to have speaking invitations, and those things can be motivators. But a pastor's desire like Paul's was for believers to be growing, to be well loved, to be well taught. It reminds me of 3 John verse 4 where the apostle John says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. Well, this city was undergoing some difficulty. Paul was concerned for that church there in the city. This is a young church. It was in a difficult city to minister in. It was a city that was filled with corruption. There was intense persecution. And because of this, they needed to be encouraged to remember that God was with them in the midst of the affliction that they were enduring. It could feel easy for you to be abandoned, to think you're abandoned. They needed to be reassured that they weren't alone. They needed to know that God was with them. I think that the church today needs to be reminded of similar things, by the way. We're living in very sad times, very difficult times in many ways. I have to be honest with you. I don't know anything about Kate Spade, other than she designed some things. Really didn't know anything about Anthony Bourdain, but was saddened upon hearing of their suicides. I watched on occasion Anthony Bourdain's program, but I couldn't watch the whole thing. He was always mad about something, it seemed. He was always making odd comments, and he obviously was a man who wrestled with life, and he obviously was a man who was unhappy. You could see it in him. You could hear it, the things that he said. I was reading, whether or not this is accurate, I don't know. It's hard to know anymore, but I was reading some things that were purporting to be quotes from Anthony Bourdain, and he was saying apparently that he didn't believe in anything. He had no faith in anything. He was one who constantly challenged convention and all. You see that in his life, and for some reason, Kate Spade's life, life became too difficult for them. They were people that obviously had no hope. They were people who obviously had no joy. They had no real purpose. I mean, it just breaks your heart. And somebody was saying to me that Bourdain, if he went to a restaurant and ate something, because he was a well-known chef, perhaps you're aware of him, if he ate something that just didn't settle, even if it was a hamburger, that he could be upset about that for days. There are believers today who are upset over life, who think they've got a bad deal, a bad rap. There are believers who are thinking that suicide might be an option, and it's not. It's not an option. What we need to do is we need to know that we have a God who gives us purpose, who forgives us of our sins, who cleanses us from all unrighteousness. A God who says, behold, I make all things new. We have a God who, though you may be alone, you can say, I'm never alone, for he is with me. We have a God who said, I will never, never, never leave you, nor forsake you. We have a God who gives us a purpose in this life and a goal for the next. We have a God who has washed us and cleansed us of all of our sin, a God who has written our name in the Lamb's book of life, a God who is with us through all things. Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we are never alone. He is with us. His rod, His staff, they comfort us. In Christian, you need to wake up to that. You need to remember that. There's always hope. As long as your eyes are open, as long as you're breathing, there's always hope in the Lord. And even if you close your eyes, what could be greater than opening them up there to behold the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, to see him face to face, we have hope. Don't give up. Don't give up. Going through affliction, going through hard times, going through difficulties, having disappointments, guess what? You know this. It's part of life. It's part of life. God has a way, I believe, in working through those things to develop us into the people we want to be. I think of a man by the name of Jacob, a man who is wrestling with God himself. And ultimately, what the Lord does is he touches him in the hip area, withers the muscle there, and causes him to limp. God caused him to be crippled. God will bring crippling so that we know that he is the one we depend on. He's the one who gives us strength. Understand that. And he changed Jacob's name. Jacob's name originally meant supplanter. He was sneaky. That's what his name meant. And God made him a prince with God. And God will wound us sometimes. But that wounding of God makes us stronger in my weakness. Then Paul said, I am made strong. Hold on to the Lord. Don't let go. Hold fast to him. And by the way, he holds fast to you. Jesus said, no one can take you from my father's hand. No one can take you from my hand. My father and I are one. He's holding fast to you when you don't even realize it. Walk with the Lord. I say that because my heart is touched. And I'm sad. I'm sad to see these people forgive me. They have no hope. And I do. I have the blessed hope. Jesus Christ. And one of these days he's coming for me. And I'll be with him. And I'll live serving him. And this is what it's all about. Psalm 9 verse 9 says the Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed. A stronghold in time of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you. For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Hold fast. The Thessalonians were going through tough times. Paul is a pastor. He's concerned for these sheep. It's a young church. Infiltrators, bad teachers are beginning to already infiltrate to come in to undermine the faith of the believers. It doesn't take long for someone to bring in a message that is attempting to undermine the message of God. And so he's concerned. He writes them. And as he writes the Thessalonians, he gives them a glimpse of their future. He wants them to know the future. He wants them to know that their future in the Lord is glorious. He wants to encourage them to continue to grow in godliness as they serve the Lord. You see, one of the reasons I chose to teach this book is because it reveals the rapture. Somebody said, First Thessalonians provides Christians with the clearest biblical passage on the coming rapture of believers, an event that will inaugurate the seven-year tribulation. At the rapture, Christ will return for his people. The dead in Christ shall rise first while those still living will follow close behind. All believers will meet Jesus in the air to begin an eternity spent with the Lord. And so with this in mind, the spirit of the Lord prompted Paul to write to these new believers. And that's what we're going to be looking at as we study the book of First Thessalonians. Notice how it begins in verse one. Paul, Sylvainus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The way they would write letters at that time was to introduce it with the author. So it begins with Paul. Then it would have the recipient to the church of the Thessalonians. Then it would have a blessing, grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And so notice with me as it begins how Paul introduces this letter. Notice he doesn't identify himself as an apostle. Look at that. It's as Paul, Sylvainus, and Timothy. Now if you look at other letters that he's written, he wrote some 13 letters in the New Testament. Many of those letters he would introduce himself as an apostle. He did so in the book of Romans. He introduced First and Second Corinthians by identifying himself as an apostle. The book of Galatians and Ephesians, Colossians, he did the same in First and Second Timothy. All of these include his apostolic title, but not here. He doesn't start, Paul an apostle, he just starts with his name, Paul. And he includes Sylvainus, also known as Silas, and Timothy. Now the reason he did that is very simple. He had recently been there, he had planted the church there. He didn't have to identify himself with a title. They knew him well. They knew he was an apostle. He had planted the church in that great city. He brings up Sylvainus, also known as Silas. He was an assistant many times on missionary journeys. He's introduced to us in Acts chapter 15 verses 22 through 41. He's mentioned in Second Thessalonians, Second Corinthians, as well as Second Peter. Silas was recognized by the church as an elder. And according to Acts 1532, he was also a prophet. We went through First and Second Timothy. So we know that Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother. We know that he was saved under Paul's ministry, that he had a believing grandmother and mother. He had a heritage of faith. He was instructed in Scripture from infancy. He was steeped in the Word of God. And these are the traveling companions of Paul. And so Paul is writing, notice first one to the church in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what's important to note here is the Thessalonians were not Jewish, they were Gentiles. And yet they are Christians. There's no separation between the Jews and the Gentiles in Ephesians 2 14 through 16. Paul said it like this. He said, Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us by his death. He ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups together as one body. Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death and our hostility toward each other was put to death. So it goes without saying, and we need to point this out briefly, there isn't a brown, there isn't a white, there isn't a black, there isn't a yellow, there isn't a red church. There is simply the church, the church of God. We all belong together. God didn't divide the church. Man does, but God didn't. He said, you are one in Jesus Christ. According to the book of Romans chapter 12 verse 5, we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members of one another. And so it's writing to the church. He refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that when he says the Lord Jesus Christ, the word Lord refers to his position. He is the Lord. When he says Jesus, that's his name, revealing his true humanity. And when he says Christ, that's his office. He's the anointed Messiah of God. And so he speaks concerning it in that way. And then notice again, he says grace and peace, grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace will always precede peace. You will never have peace without the grace of God. And when you read the New Testament, Paul will always say grace first and then peace. Isaiah 48, 22 says there is no peace saith the Lord unto the wicked. And so you will always have peace if you have first experience God's grace. He goes on in verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you all. That reveals to us that he was from Southern Tarsus because he says y'all. Notice that? We give, sorry, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. As you look at that, that is kind of simple, but let's point something out. He's saying whenever I pray for you, I am inclined to thank God for all of you. What a joy to be able to say to a church that just thinking of them blesses them. What a joy it is to say that when I think of you and I pray for you, you cause a smile to come to my face. I love you and you have blessed me is what he's saying. Well, that gives us an introduction as to why he's writing to them. He's encouraging them. He's strengthening them. He's going to comfort them because they're going through affliction. He's writing to establish them in faith. He wants them to remain steadfast. And so what is it? What is it about them that has caused him to thank God for them in this way? How can he say I give thanks to you? Well, verse 3 tells us. He says remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father. So he's saying I remember without ceasing. The word without ceasing speaks of that which is without intermittent. It speaks of incessantly. I am remembering these three things, your faith, your hope and your love. These are what are called abiding principles. In 1 Corinthians 1313 it says three things will last forever. Faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love. So he says, first I want to commend you. I want to commend you concerning your work of faith. You see your work of faith. In other words, someone with real faith is going to really work. I'm going to commend you for your work of faith. Now these are works that resulted from their faith in God and it reveals that they had genuine faith in God. It speaks of their works being characterized and prompted by Christian faith. It speaks of faithful activity for the Lord. The kind of work that only faith can enable it. It reveals that their faith isn't theoretical. It's not simply philosophic and it's certainly not just sentimental. It's a faith that is busy. It's a faith that works. It's a faith that puts their body in action, if you will. They work not to be saved. They work because they are saved. You see there are a lot of people today who think that you have to work in order to somehow be saved. There are religious cults as well as church denominations that profess a genuine understanding of biblical truth who actually motivate their congregants to believe that somehow if they work hard they're going to be saved. You do not work hard to be saved. Listen, you remember this always. You work hard because you are saved. I went to a funeral recently and while there, the person who was giving a message was speaking concerning the one who had died and how assured everybody could be because this person worked so hard for God. It was going on and on and on. As I was listening, they were saying they had been baptized and baptism saved them. I put my hands over my face like that. My son Joseph was at the funeral too and I did it several times. Joseph finally says, Dad, are you okay? Do you have a headache? I said, yeah, his name is Joseph. No, I said, I said, no son, I don't have a headache. I'm praying because what was being said was misleading so many people. I'm praying God help us. God helped the church to come back to the grace of God. God helped the church to wake up to the freedom we have in Christ, the goodness of the Lord. That I'm not saved because I work hard, but who could outwork Jesus Christ? Who could do more than Jesus? What human being could ever die to themselves to that degree? That's why I need a Savior. His own mother said, God gave to me a Lord and a Savior. I need a Savior. I have one in Jesus Christ. He died on the cross for me and he says, if you will only believe, turn to me. I'll give you life. That's what Paul is speaking about here. He's speaking about the fact that Christians do work. We do serve the Lord. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who's in heaven. That's what Jesus said in Matthew 5.16. We have been saved in our salvation. Yes, we do have a life that demonstrates salvation by the things that we do. Ephesians 2.10, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Yes, we do works for the Lord. Titus 2.14 says, Jesus gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. But they had works, yes, because they were saved and their labor of love and the patience of hope demonstrated their faith, their labor of love. When he speaks of their labor of love, love is the origin of your work, he's saying. For love's sake, you have labored to the point of weariness. For love's sake, there are things that I've done that you can't pay me to do, but I did them. Who here would want to work and your job is to clean up vomit. That's your job. How much could you be paid to do that, clean up vomit? Or your job is to take soil diapers. Who wants to do that? Not as a job. If you put how wanted, vomit cleaner, diaper disposer, 10 bucks an hour, I'd say no. But guess what? Every parent in this room has done that. I've done that. I've done that. I can still remember my firstborn, my current, and I can still remember she was a baby, maybe two weeks old. I mean, teeny little thing. And you know, the diapers don't always fit well. And I remember putting her on my chest and just rocking her back and forth just, oh, a daddy baby time. And my chest got strangely warm. And you kind of, and there it is right in the center, evidence of her behavior right there. Or when you're in bed and you're dead asleep, and you know that the kid hasn't been well and you're in bed and you hear all you got to hear is just that. And you know, oh no, and you jump up and you run to go get them because your wife won't. And then you do that. Now who here? Who here wants to take that baby? Oh, Vomity, you know, their hair and their hair's all, and they're going, what's going on? And I'm going, I don't know. Who wants to do that? And take them into the bathroom and turn on the warm water in the bathtub and fill the tub up a little bit and then bring that baby in there and wash them. It's 3.30 in the morning. You're dead tired. But that baby's just kind of flailing around sick and you climb in there and you clean that baby and you hold that baby and you love that baby. But can you be paid to do that? Just yesterday, my granddaughter, one of my granddaughters, I have six granddaughters, and one of my granddaughters was over and she was seated next to me. And when she was born, she lived in our house for a little while. And he has a little baby. And we were talking and she was seated next to me on the sofa on the couch. And as we were talking, I said, do you know you used to live here for a while? And she goes, I know. I said, you know, right where we're seated, I said, I still remember. I said, your daddy, your daddy was carrying you and you were crying. She has eczema and her little body would just erupt and it was so painful for her. And she couldn't sleep. And she'd wake up at different times at night and she'd cry. And her daddy was there and my son, David's the best dad I know. I'll be honest with you, much better than I am, much better than I am. I thank God for my son's love for his kids. And he'd get up and he would take care of that baby. And this one morning, it was 330 in the morning, I was dead tired and I heard the baby crying. And David's over there trying to minister to this little girl. And I got up and I walked over and I said, what's up son? She can't sleep dad. And he says, I'm so tired. And so he and I went and sat down on that couch that I was sitting next to my granddaughter, sitting in the same place that I had many years ago done. And I said, you know, one time, and I was sharing with her, one time your daddy was carrying you and we came and sat down like this. It was like 330 in the morning, four in the morning, you couldn't sleep. And your daddy told me, my son David said to me, dad, just go to bed, just go to bed. I can do this. And I still remember turning to him saying, son, I did this with you. I can do it with my granddaughter. Now you can't pay me to do that. Don't call me up at 330 and say, hey, can you hang out with my kid? I want to sleep. Ain't going to happen. But there are things that you do, mama. There are things that you do dad, grandpa, grandma, uncle, aunt for that matter, or just somebody who loves that you do out of love, out of love. You go through things that you wouldn't choose for yourself, but you love them and you'll put up with it and you'll help them and you'll do all kinds of that. Why? Because it's out of love and that's how it works. Our labor is to originate in love. I have a God who loved me so much. He gave his son for me. Why can't I serve him? Why shouldn't I serve him? And in my service to him, it's not to make him love me. It's because he already has loved me and I'm simply responding to the love that God has when I serve him. It's a labor of love and so their labor of love was something that he commended him for and also it was their patience of hope, that steadfastness in the face of constant opposition. These were people who were holding fast, their undergoing persecution, but they kept their trust in God because they waited for the reward. In Mark 13, verse 13, Jesus said, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end shall be saved. And so they had patience of hope and then he says in verse four, knowing your election of God. God has chosen you. Your lives reveal this. Your faith, your love, your hope in the face of hostility reveals that you are genuinely saved. And so he points that out and then he begins where it rather continues in verse five by saying, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe, for from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything. They themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. So notice verse five, our gospel did not come to you in word only. Our gospel, notice it begins by saying our gospel did not come to you. So that reminds us that the message is to be taken to others. It infers that it came to them and they responded to it as a divine revelation. God gave us the gospel, not so that we could be satisfied saints just kind of going to heaven by ourselves. God gave us the gospel. It came to us. Somebody brought it to me. Somebody spoke to me even though they knew they would upset me. The first time people began who were close to me began to share the gospel with me, I would get upset. I didn't want to hear it. I believed that I was a Christian. I already thought I was a Christian. Why are you hounding me with your message? I don't want to hear it and I would get upset and guess what? They continued to bring it anyway because the gospel needs to go out. The Lord said going to all the world and preach the gospel. It's intended to be communicated not just by people like me, not by well-known evangelists, but by us. We take the message out. We communicate the message to others. If God gave it to me, I give it to somebody else. And so Paul says that gospel came to you. One, it came in the form of Paul preaching it, but also they recognize it for what it is. They recognize the gospel as a message of salvation. It came to them and they responded to it as a divine revelation. They saw it as divine seed. It was received by them and it produced spiritual fruit. In Romans 10, 17, it says, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. So they heard the message of the gospel. They believed the message unto salvation, but he says it didn't come in word only. When it says in word only, he's saying that the gospel is not a compilation of thoughts or personal experiences or religious rituals. It's not eloquent instruction. The gospel is not simply stories or fables, myths or human philosophy. The gospel came to you for what it is. It is the revelation of God himself. In 1 Corinthians 2, 4, and 5, Paul said, my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And that's what he's saying. He's saying the gospel came to them in power. So power could speak of the miracles that often accompanied the preaching. In Romans 15, 18, and 19, he said, I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and deed to make the Gentiles obedient in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. The gospel came to you in power, not only in the signs and wonders, but it came in the power of transformation. Listen, if you're a Christian, always remember that there should be evidence that that's true. Somebody said, challenged me when I was a brand new Christian. This was a long time ago. They challenged me to have a different life. And the way it was illustrated was simple. You've heard this before, many of you. If you, the question was asked of me, if you were arrested for being a Christian, is there enough evidence for you to be found guilty in a court of law? Is there enough evidence of your life that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ? You know what we see today, unfortunately, as many people who make excuses for the continuing in sin, and they just say, well, you know what, you know, God ain't through with me yet. God hasn't finished with me yet. And they use it as an excuse. You know, somebody once said we have a tendency of rating sin instead of hating sin. And when you get to the point of understanding, and I pray that we all do, and I'm praying that God will continue to work in me so that I do too, when we get to the point of actually hating that which Jesus died to set me free from, I will no longer be in bondage to some of these carnal things that I find myself wrestling with, and I'll know what true freedom is. But there are a lot of people who make excuses for their sin. They'll say, well, you know what, I drink, but I'm from an Italian family. Or you know, yeah, I get mad, but I'm Mexican. No, come on. Come on. You know, when my dad was mean, my mom was mean, and so I'm mean. No, you know, my father is God. And my father changed my life. You know, I didn't have a perfect daddy, but I have a perfect father. And when I look for an example, I've learned many good things from my dad, but I learned the ways of God from my father. So by saying, oh, it's just the way I am. You got to accept me. No, I don't. No, I don't, because that's sin. So we need to say, Lord, set me free from this bondage. I don't want to be the way that I am. There's nothing wrong with that, by the way. There's nothing wrong with waking up in the morning and saying, God, today's a new day. Help me to live for you today. I want to have victory today. God, there are things before my feet even hit the ground. There's the enemy waiting to take me out before I even hit the ground. He's waiting. He's waiting on the job even before I get to the job, just driving down the street. Somebody's going to be going 25 and a 45. I know it. I know it. So help me, Lord. I mean, it's just the small things, but the things that add up. And so what we need to do is we need to understand that the gospel comes not to simply, not alone, to give us quote unquote salvation, but the gospel as we receive it transforms our lives. So we become entirely new people. In 1 Peter 1, 23 through 25, the apostle said, you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For all men are like grass and their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. And then he went on to speak of the transforming power when we discipline ourselves in the things of God, because he went on in 1 Peter chapter two, verse one to say, therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. You see, their lives had been transformed. And that is a sure way to demonstrate the power of the gospel. He says the gospel came in verse five, in the work of the Holy Spirit. The spirit touched their lives as he transformed and renewed them. The spirit brought conviction to these people who are once held in spiritual bondage. We need to remember it's the combination of the word of God and the spirit of God that produces a transformed life as we receive and obey. Notice again, he goes on to say, and the gospel came in much assurance. It came in much assurance. It can have two basic applications. One, the much assurance can speak of their full confidence that they placed in the gospel. I have trusted your word. God will not lie. What he has said, he will do. And I trust you, Lord. I trust you. I have placed my confidence in your message. In 1 Thessalonians, he'll say in chapter two, verse 13, for this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. If you want to know the truth of the word, whether it's true or not, determine to obey it. And God will manifest himself to you as you do so, John 14, 21. He'll manifest himself to you as you choose to obey. But it can also speak of the manner in which he preached and taught them. You see, when Paul would preach, Paul preached confidently. He did it because it's the word of God. He wasn't ashamed of it. He said to the Romans in chapter one, verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Listen, God does not lie. God is not a man that he should change his mind. God doesn't lie. It's impossible for God to lie. If God's word says it, trust it, hold fast to it, live by it. Ask God to give you strength and an ability to perform those things that he commands and watch what God will do in your life. When I got saved, I was very shy. I still am a real quiet person when given permission to be. I'm still real quiet because that's my personality. But I made a determination when I first got saved. I was a hippie and I see a similar wave today, by the way, because I was a hippie. And hippies were just the kinds of people who just basically wanted just to get along. We didn't want to argue with anybody. If you want to believe that, cool, I don't care. Why would it bother me? That's how I thought. You want to believe that's fine. So if you believe that you want to marry your horse, you know, that's between you and your horse. That's the truth. I mean, whatever, I don't agree with that, but I'm not in love with my pony. So I mean, if that's you, that's you. And I didn't, you know, I didn't make issues over things because I didn't see the need to. Hippies said, let's just get along, you know, make love, not war. That was really, that really was a philosophy. A lot of you are old enough to remember that that really was a philosophy. Just leave me alone, man. Let's just cruise. Let's just get along. We don't need to have problems. We don't need to argue. We don't need to fight. We don't need to be always in strife. And let's just, let's just get along because we are coming from a time that was really, really bad. I mean, we were seeing assassinations. John F Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. We were seeing wars in Vietnam. We were seeing protests in riots. We were seeing schools that were shut down and students that were shot at Kent State and other places. We were seeing a lot of violence and we were tired of it and we said, we got to give up this, you know, let's just get along. Guess what? That spirit's still here, but that spirit has entered the church. That spirit has entered the church. You can't say anything that makes somebody mad in church because they get up and walk out. They don't want to hear it. They can't tolerate it. In a world that uses tolerance as a 13th commandment, you know, we've got to tolerate everything, don't we? If some guy thinks that he's a Filipino woman and has changed his name, who are you to say he's not? If some kid wants to go into Stanford and they can't even read, well, why can't he go to Stanford? Who are you to say he can't? We've got that mentality going right now. If you're reading your newspaper or watching the news, it's in the news. I'm not saying something that you don't know. It's there. There are people who are arguing every, every which way. You know, Caitlyn Jenner and all the rest just arguing and arguing. There's no right. There's no wrong. There's no right. There's no wrong. There just is, right? So when you stand up and you say, no, wait a minute, this is what the truth is. People get mad and I expect that from the world, but I get that from the church. I get that on Facebook where people who've never even read their Bible have to write and correct me about the things that I've been teaching for 47 years. It's amazing because we're all Siri and Google experts now. Hey, Siri, what's sanctification? Right? Am I talking to myself? It's true. Well, Paul would speak with confidence, not because he was a bully, but because he knew. Because he knew God and he knew God's word and he could speak with confidence. You see, I don't want to hear somebody say, oh, excuse me. I was visiting with you for a moment, but the place is on fire. But anyway, no, if you're going to tell me the place is on fire, you got to act as if you know that it is. So if you're running past me saying the place is on fire, I'm going to get behind you and run out with you. But if you're visiting with me, you know, by the way, I was, oh, I forgot to tell you the place is on fire. I'm going to wonder whether or not you believe it is. When you have a sense of conviction and listen to the church, I pray, listen, I'm going to speak to you as a pastor. I hope I'm yours. If I'm not, then listen to me as just some guy who's got something to say to you. Bottom line is this, the church is asleep in the light and we better wake up because this world is going to hell in a handbasket and the church is too busy not wanting to offend people. Guess what? I don't care if I offend you. I don't care. I don't care because I don't care. And I'm going to use this phrase might as well. I love you guys. If you don't, here we go. You know that term snowflakes. I think it's insulting, but there's a certain truth to it. Give me a safe space. And so we want to go to church and we want people to say, oh, you're going to have a great day. Let me tell you, you're not. Let me tell you, you're not. Let me tell you that life is hard and it's difficult. And just because you applied for the job of manager and you've never been in that job site in your life and don't know anything about it, and then you go home and say they're the prejudice against me because they didn't hire me as manager. Have you ever done the job? No, but that should, we got this crazy idea. We graduated from college. Therefore, we should get any job we want. No. Your college degree gets you nothing. It's your work ethic. It's your ability. It's your train ability. It's a slew of other things. It's not the diploma because there's so many people with the diploma. It's your attitude. It's your ability to learn. It's your willingness to work. It's your willingness to get up early and stay late if you have to in order to succeed at that. You say, well, wait, I have a great guy. He's going to give me a raise. Yeah, when you work harder, when you do the job, you see, faith is actually an activity. It's something that we do. It's the way that we live. And there's something in us that has to have a sense of confidence, the things that we're telling people. So when I teach, I realize that it's not entertaining today. I understand that. And I understand that a lot of people want to be entertained when they go to church. I realize that. But that's the sickness of the church, not the health of it. That's the sickness because eternal things have to be said in certain ways for us to get it. And Paul made that very clear. He said, listen, what I'm preaching to you and what you received, well, you received it because it was confidently proclaimed because it is the truth and you received it and it changed your life. And he goes on to say in verse five, and we got to go all the way to verse 10 today, are we going to do it? I believe in miracles. He says in verse five, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake, recall not only our message, but also our manner of life. We knew that our lives were impacting you. We lived appropriately. Now on one hand, there are those who are unfair to ministers. They judge ministers extremely harshly. But on the other hand, there are ministers who do not live up to the message. And in 2 Corinthians chapter six, verse three, Paul said, we give no offense in anything that our ministry may not be blamed. So we need to live what we give. And they saw that because in verse six, you became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. So you recognize my message and you recognize my manner of life and knew that it was worth imitating. Paul was a model of godliness, of faith, of love, of purity. He was a model of sacrifice, dedication. He was a true spiritual leader and true spiritual leaders are worthy of being imitated. When their lives line up with God's word, people will be blessed. In Hebrews 13, verse seven, the writer says, remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct. So he says, you became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word. Following Jesus had exacted a great price. Faith is always tested. Persecution is a test that believers experience. They were persecuted because they turned from idols. They turned to the living God. No doubt some were assaulted, some lost jobs, many lost friends, many lost relatives. He says in verse six, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. They didn't receive a message guaranteeing endless fun on earth. They received a message in the midst of pressure and resistance. And instead of having an attitude of the world being unfair, they accepted what had happened. Instead of depression, they had the joy of the Spirit of God. Hebrews 10 34 says, you joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. And what was the result? Verse seven, you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believed that would be Greece, northern and southern. You were an example of faith. You were an example of zeal and endurance through trials. You began by being imitators, but the result, you became models in your suffering for the gospel. You have become worthy of believers to imitate. He says in verse eight, from you the word of the Lord is sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything. You are an evangelistic church. In spite of opposition, God's word is exploding through you. The whole region knows what you stand for, serving the Lord. You have a great reputation. You are known as believers in Jesus. Here's something for you. Every church has a reputation. Every church does. If you look through the New Testament, you can see that churches had reputations. The book of Romans speaks of the Roman church, a church that was well known for their evangelism. It also speaks concerning the Corinthian church, a church that was known for its carnality. Every church has a reputation. They also were an evangelistic church. Everybody knew that in the face of opposition and affliction, they stood up and spoke more boldly the things of God. They were known as believers, and they had a testimony. Verse nine, they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. They left the dead idols in order to serve the living God, and so you see evidence as a salvation. He says, they turned away from idolatry. They turned to the Lord. No more images, no more statues, no more idols. Second, they served the living God. They became servants of the God who is alive. They worshiped him only. And then verse 10, there's a third thing. They waited for Jesus. He says, to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. You turned from idols, you're serving the living God, and you're waiting for Jesus. This speaks of a sustained anticipation, not growing dim through time. You are holding fast. I got saved in 1970. I was told in 1970, Jesus Christ is coming any day now. At that time we had people who were going out charging their credit cards up. They were charging them up to the max because they said, I'm going to leave my bill for the antichrist. That's the truth. That's the truth. They're still paying on it. They had a sustain. You need to have a sustained anticipation. I was told Jesus has come in any day now. And now it's 47, almost 48 years later. And there are those that say, well, he hasn't come yet. And my response has always been the same. He's one day closer. He's one day closer. And one day I will see him. And one day I will be with him. One day there will be the voice, the shout of the archangel, the trump of God. The dead in Christ will rise first. And we who remain shall be caught up together with them in the air and will be with the Lord. And it's going to come soon. And so we live each day in anticipation for that to take place. And he's saying, Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. We're not going to enter into the tribulation. We'll see that. But we're also not entering into eternal damnation. We have life because of Jesus Christ. It isn't that long. One of these days, you're going to have the opportunity, if you're a believer in Christ, to look into the eyes of the one who wept for you. Perhaps to see the wounds that will remain on him, the lamb, one who had been slain. You'll have the opportunity to approach him and to worship him, to say to him, thank you. I love you. I promise you, you're not going to be thinking, I've got all these questions to ask. How come you didn't let me marry my high school sweetheart? Why didn't I ever get that promotion? All of your questions will be answered. You're just going to look at him. And he's going to say to you, I pray well done, my good, my faithful servant. He can say to you, enter into the joy of your Lord, a joy that has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Welcome in. It's for you. Welcome in, my faithful servant. That's my heart. That's my desire. And that's what I will hear from the lips of Jesus because I anticipate his coming and I will be with him. And I pray that you are too, that we'll together worship him.