 So here we are, 1 Thessalonians 2. We'll look at verses 13 through 20. I'll begin reading at verse 13. I'll read to verse 17, and we'll get into our study. 1 Thessalonians 2, beginning at verse 13. Paul writes, 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. For you brethren became imitators of the churches of God, which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us. And they do not please God and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved. So as always to fill up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. But we brethren having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you a prolonged introduction. And in doing so, I'm gonna be leading you to the context of the verses that we're gonna be looking at. We're gonna be looking at verses 13 and conclude at verse 20 today. But in order to get there, I wanna remind you of a few of the things that we've already seen. And I'll begin by reminding you that in the first 12 verses of chapter two, Paul has been reestablishing his ministry credentials. As mentioned, it appears that there are infiltrators who have entered into the church there in Thessalonica and are attempting to undermine the ministry of the apostle Paul. It would also seem that there have been some accusations, false accusations that have been lodged against him. And so as they're making these false accusations, it will help us to understand how Paul is going about dealing with him because he's been establishing a certain amount of things in the first few verses. And that helps us to understand why he would take that path. I was sharing with you when we began our second chapter, how that if Paul wanted to have ministry, he needed to establish certain things that would help the people who was speaking to to understand and respect him. Obviously he had gone there to Thessalonica. He had been involved in the planning of the church. They already knew him, but he needed to remind them of a few things. And so I was sharing with you last time how he had established what would be called his credibility. And as we were looking at the verses related to that, I was sharing how that he was able to point to the things that he's gone through in order for them to understand that he has earned their respect. And if you want to have credibility with people, if you want people to receive from you, people who know you, it's really important for you to have earned their respect by the way that you live. And Paul was doing that, so he spoke concerning his credibility. So one of the elements, if you want to be used by the Lord to have is the element of credibility. You need to have a track record that is a proven track record. He also shared with them things related to his compassion. So we began with credibility, we moved into compassion. And as he began to speak to them, he shared with them the kind of love he had for them. And he described his love for them the way that a mother loves her child or the way a father instructs his child. And so if you're going to be used by the Lord, you need to have credibility, you need to have a proven track record. But you also have to have compassion because people know or need to know how much you love them. They need to know how much you care for them. Listen, if you're the kind of person who feels very comfortable just talking to people and sharing with them with no compassion and care for them at all, you're not going to have much of a ministry over the long haul. You need to have compassion. And so Paul had that. So the third thing we'll be looking at in just a moment will be found in verse 13 and that's going to be his conviction. And we'll look at that in some detail in just a moment. Now as they're making accusations against Paul, some might wonder why is he taking time to defend his ministry? What does it matter? I mean, if they don't like him, so what? If they don't think he has a valid ministry, what does that matter? Paul knows that he has a valid ministry and Paul really doesn't care if they like him. So why would he take time to defend himself? Why would he concern himself whether people think of him as a minister or have that valid ministry? The question really is why should it matter? Well, it matters because the truth of the gospel matters. And I want to lay a foundation for you as I developed this by pointing a few things out. The truth of the gospel matters. There are people who don't think so. They don't really care. Look at if you don't like me, you don't like me. I don't care. But there are others like Paul who would say, well, it's not that whether you like me or not is that I need to be a kind of person that you can respect in order that I might have ministry amongst you. And therefore, let me remind you of who I am in order that you might see that the credibility that I have and the compassion that I have lends itself to the conviction that I have. And so some would say, does it really matter? And the answer is, yes, it does. It matters if your ministry is called into question. It matters and Paul is defending it. It matters because the truth of the gospel matters. When Paul was writing to the church in Rome in chapter one, verse 16, he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I don't turn away from it. I don't hide from it. I'm not ashamed of it. Why? Because it's the power of God into salvation. It matters. This gospel message matters to the world that is lost. It's God's word because this message of the gospel when believed will actually result in somebody being saved. When Paul was writing to Timothy in second Timothy three, verse 15, that verse tells us that it is the holy scriptures that are able to make us wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. It's the message declared that gives people a chance to know the truth, a truth that will set you free. It's the scripture that reveals to us salvation. It's the scripture that reveals to us our savior. In Romans chapter 10, verse 14, Paul asked the question, how then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher? He went on in verse 17 of Romans 10 to say, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And so does it matter? Yes, why? Because it's the gospel of salvation and to all who hear that message and believe they can be saved, it points out their savior. Now Jesus when he was giving the commission, the great commission to the church in Mark 16, verse 15 said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now the important thing is making sure that the message is given clearly and accurately. That's why Matthew 28, verse 20 says that, Jesus said to teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And so we're not to add anything to what he said nor take away anything that he said. Early in church history, false teachers entered the church and they began to corrupt the message. In Jude, verses three and four, it reads, beloved while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt it necessary to write to you, appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I made every effort to write to you about our common salvation. This is his salvation. He says that was once for all delivered to the saints. It's a message that came one time for all time. It's not a message that it's gonna be added to or improved upon. That's one of the main reasons or one of the reasons at least that somebody will come and say, well, there is truth that has been given to us since Jesus. I mean, look at Islam and I would say no, it's been one time for all time delivered to us. And that's why when a Mormon missionary will say, well, we have new and current revelation. That's why I don't listen to them. Why? Because no, it's one time for all time been delivered to us and we're to contend earnestly for this faith. And so we're not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ has been delivered unto us. It reveals to us who Christ is. It reveals to us what salvation is. We need to remember that the battle for the soul of man in many ways is a battle for his beliefs. The battle is more than a physical battle. It centers really on the core of thinking the way that we think. That's why in second Corinthians, Paul would say this in chapter 10 verses three through five. He says, though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. In Romans 12 verse two, he said, do not be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. See, the battlefield is the mind and what the devil wants to do is to overturn your beliefs and he wants to appeal to your carnality our flesh in order that he might somehow dilute the message or cause us to reject it. It's a battle for your mind. The battlefield is the mind and the message of the gospel needs to be preserved. It is one time for all time been delivered and it needs to be rightly divided and presented accurately. The Bible actually gives us a message that saves lives here and now and ultimately saves lives for eternity. I had a radio ministry in the city of Chicago a while back now and we would go to do what you call radio rallies and so people would write letters, say they listened and then I would go and I would spend some time giving a Bible study and kind of introducing myself in ministry to the people. I can still remember the first time I went to Chicago, you're in a place where they don't know who you are so there were several hundred people there who came for the rally and I was walking amongst them and they didn't know who I was because they had a different picture of who this guy is that they listened to on the radio and so I still remember I came up behind the pulpit and I stood there and I said, so you're surprised now, right? Because I don't look like what you thought I looked like and they're nodding their heads like no, I said because my last name is Rosaless, you figured that I looked different, right? And they're honestly nodding, yeah, yeah. I said, you thought that I was probably a little shorter and probably a little heavier. You thought that I had a black mustache, dark complexion, it was very ugly, right? And they're smiling, I said, that's raw, you have us confused. Somebody said that I have a face for radio, I don't know if that's a compliment or not. But I went to Chicago and I was doing a radio rally and a woman approached me and said, I'd like you to speak to my husband. And he approached me and he began to share with me about his testimony and this is what he said basically. He said, I wanted to meet you because I wanted to tell you my story. He said I was depressed and ready to kill myself. I made a decision to commit suicide. So for some reason I filled my bathtub with water and I was about to step in. He said I wanted to bathe and then when I finished bathing, I was gonna take my life. But as I was about to enter into the water, he goes, I remember that my brother had given me a cassette tape for you young people. They're little teeny things that you used to put in this player and they were, anyway, I, you have to turn them over. Anyway, he says, I listened to, he said he wanted me to listen to this cassette, a teaching from somebody on the radio. He says, so for some reason I decided that I didn't want to die and not fulfill that last request of my brother. So I went and I got the cassette. I put it in my player, climbed back into the bathtub, fully determined to kill myself after listening to this message. He said, it was you and you were teaching out of the book of Revelation. And as I was there in the bathtub, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. He said, I am literally alive today because of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel changes lives. It changes lives. We, years ago, back in the early 80s, long before some of you, as I'm looking out, were born, let me give you some ancient history. There was an epidemic that the United States began to encounter that we had never encountered before it was called HIV AIDS. We didn't know how people got AIDS. You may now know, but we didn't then. There were so many rumors and so many books that were being printed related to this one disease, AIDS. And we didn't know how people really connected with it. There were people saying that you could breathe microbes and that you'd be infected. There were others who were saying that it could be surviving on toilet seats. And nobody knew how you got AIDS at that time. This is in the early 80s. And somebody in our church had AIDS. And I was asked to go and see him. And I went to the hospital. I still remember standing outside looking into the room that he was in isolation in. And he had tubes in his nose and he had tubes that were hooked up to his arteries, his veins and all. He was receiving so many different medicines. And as I was standing there looking, I saw his wife standing there next to him. She wasn't gowned. She didn't have a mask. She was just standing there. And here comes the nurse. And she says to me, if you're gonna go in there, you have to put on this suit. And there was some suit that was to isolate me from any of the microbes. But I'm looking at this man's wife. And I'm thinking if she goes in and without it, then I ought to also. And I remember walking in to see him, to pray for him as he was there dying of HIV AIDS. And as I walked in, he had his eyes closed but his eyes opened because his wife said, Pastor David's here to see you. And he opened his eyes and I remember him looking towards me and then making a motion to his wife for her to give him a pencil and a piece of paper, a pad of paper. And she held the pad as he wrote. And then she handed me the note that he wrote to me. And as I looked at it, I still remember what it says. It said, I am eternally grateful to you. The reason he was eternally grateful is because he came to faith in Christ through the power of the gospel of Jesus here in this church. He died within two or three days but he's in eternity now, behold in the face of Jesus Christ because the gospel will save you not only for now but for eternity. That's the power and we as a church need to understand that because today we have people who will say, well, what's the big deal? Why would Paul worry so much? Why would he be concerned enough to defend himself? Why does Paul have to establish his credibility? Why does Paul have to encourage them with his compassion? Why did he have to remind them of his life with them and what they knew about him? It's because the message of the gospel very often is undermined by a poorly lived life and that's why. And you see what happens is people will infiltrate and they call into question things and what they'll do if they can't attack the messages they will attack the messenger and that's what was happening. They were entering into the church and that was something that happened very early in the history of the church. And so what happened in order to safeguard the church from bad doctrine is the church established ways to know what an infiltrator is and how they look. What is it that they're doing in other words? And so letters were written and distributed amongst the churches. Paul wrote many of those letters and these letters outlined the beliefs of Christians and so these letters that we have in the New Testament are intended to help us to know who the true Christ is, what the gospel is. And these letters were written and they would go from church to church and so you have so many of them. Paul writing many of them and that they outlined beliefs of believers. The core of essential doctrine was rather recognized and in that way it protected the truth. And if someone came to the church and they didn't bring the truth, they were to be exposed and rejected. And second John verses nine and 10, the apostle John said it like this. He said, whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, the word doctrine means teaching, does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him. When he says do not receive him into your house, it's not a picture of me standing at my door and someone knocking on the door and me looking at them and them saying that they believe in a certain thing and then I just closed the door. No, that's not what he's saying. We need to remember that the church is met in houses. And what he was saying is if somebody is not giving the recognized essential truths of Christ, don't give them the pulpit. Don't give them the ability to influence the congregation with false doctrine. Don't bless them. Don't welcome them in. Refrain from doing so. Why? Because they are giving a false message. So in order to attack the gospel, often false teachers attack the messenger. That is why Jesus' education, his teachings and his character was attacked so often. In John 7.15, the Jews marveled, saying how does this man know letters having never studied? How did he get educated in this way? They're calling into question his knowledge of scripture. And that's why they would call into question his character, Matthew 9.10, 11. It happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house. Behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? They're attacking his teaching and they attacked his person. That's what they do. And because the message and the messenger are intertwined, Paul often was attacked because if you can undermine his credibility, you can undermine his message. So Paul knew that we influence other people's faith in God and this fueled his desire to safeguard his ministry reputation. That's why he rehearsed his credentials. That's why he said to them, I have compassion for you. In 1 Corinthians 10, 32 and 33, Paul said, give no offense either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own prophet, but the prophet of many that they may be saved. So he said, don't offend people. Why? Because if you offend them, they may not receive what you're saying is my desire for them to be saved. Ministers are to live lives that are blameless because the gospel is that important. Which is one of the reasons why I as a pastor become so grieved when pastors will enter into a pulpit like this and begin to use profanity and coarseness of speech to make their points. You don't need to do that. The ministry of the word is supposed to elevate us, not to put it back, put us back into a gutter. And so we're to speak in such a way as to give no offense there is the offense of the personality, but there's also the offense of the cross. We need to be careful not to be offensive with our personalities. And if there's an offense at all, it should be because we're true to the gospel. In 1st Timothy 3, verse seven, Paul said the elder must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. So Paul had made it clear. You have a church there at Thessalonica and the existence of this church is proving my ministry is from God. I laid the foundation of faith he would be saying and I am jealous for your spiritual safety. I pointed this out to you last time. He loved them. He had a spiritual father's concern for them. I mentioned to you that Paul had the same kind of spiritual concern for the Corinthians. In 1st Corinthians four, verse 15, he said though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. I love you like a father loves his children. He went on to remind them of how he endured conflict and opposition but he remained a bold man. In difficult times he didn't cease to courageously proclaim an unpopular message and he pointed out that his ministry should be evaluated in the light of his true motives. You see, Paul's teachers do not produce God anointed ministry but produces ministry blessed by God is purity of motives, a love for Jesus and rightly handling the word of truth. And so he had said in verse four we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. As men approved by God our greatest desire is to be pleasing to him. In verse five he said I never use flattering words nor a cloak for covenessness. You see false teachers alter the message for personal gain but Paul never did. In verse six he said we didn't seek glory from men either from you or from others. You see some people will say almost anything to gain and retain popularity. The more important they become in men's eyes results in an unapproachable nest to that minister. But in second Corinthians four, verse five, he said we don't preach ourselves but Jesus Christ is Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. He went on in verses seven and eight and said we were gentle among you like a nursing mother. Instead of taking from you, we cherished you, we loved you, we gave ourselves to you. And then finally in verses nine through 12 we're not like the false teachers. We worked to not be a burden to you. We lived devoutly, we lived justly, we lived blamelessly as examples of genuine Christian ministers. We exhorted, comforted, we charged you like a father charges his children to live properly. And our purpose in all of this that you would walk worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So he spoke concerning his credibility. He spoke concerning his compassion. Verse 13, we'll pick up here now. He speaks concerning his conviction. That's your introduction. Let's get into the study. 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. For this reason, so that gives us the third element of what makes a person effective in ministry. Credibility, compassion, and now we see conviction. Paul brought them to the word of God and brought the word of God to them. And he presented the word with conviction. He made it clear the gospel came in power in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. And that's how they received it. They received it as a very word of God himself. So he says in verse 13, for this reason, or because of the things we went through, the things we endured, we thank God. We thank God that our labor was not in vain. We praise him because you were open to his word. Not everyone believes that God can actually speak to us through the Bible. Many consider the Bible to simply be a book. In their culture, they could have done the same. They could have been like Pontius Pilate when Jesus was standing before him and Jesus spoke about his followers hearing the truth and Pontius Pilate's response was what is truth? They could have been like that. What is truth? You see, there are many today who don't believe the Bible is the word of God and the minister knows this. And sometimes ministers avoid presenting it. They don't wanna bore the people in the congregation. There are people in the congregation who get bored within 10 or 15 minutes. You may be aware of this, maybe you're not, but in many seminaries today, the new seminarians who are gonna be one day pastor in churches are being taught to give 15 minute messages. 15 minutes. They're saying you can't give anything any longer than that because the people don't have the will to listen and that's not true. That's just not true. Listen, when I first got saved as a young hippie, I would go to Bible study and when I would sit underneath the teachings of my pastor Chuck Smith, Chuck Smith spoke for an hour and a half. And we were hippies. We're supposed to be so drug-addled and stupid that they thought we would doze off, but we didn't. Whenever the word of God was divided rightly, whenever it was presented to us because we were hungry for truth and we wanted to know how to live, we sat there and we would listen spellbound. Tell me about Christ. I wanna know about Jesus Christ. My life has been so messed up for so long. I need to have the right path revealed to me. Teach me how to love. Teach me how to listen. Teach me how to give. Teach me how to be a person that's okay. That's normal. Teach me that. I was a hippie. I was a hippie kid who was just, I just loved my drugs and I loved my alcohol. I loved to do the things that were related to that and now I'm saved. You know, and hippies during that day, we didn't believe that anything could be really held fast to as if it was really true. For us, it was more a matter of like, if you believe that's cool, you know, just don't force your opinions on other people and don't harm anybody. And that was basically how I thought too. I can still remember after getting saved, I went into the military, I was in the army and as I would run, because I ran every day and as I would run, I would pray and I would say, God, help me to have conviction. Lord, I can still remember the way I said it. I used to say it like this. I said, God, give me a spine. Because as a hippie, everything flows. It doesn't really matter. You wanna believe that? That's cool, just don't push it on me. You wanna think that that's fine. I don't care. So what you see today is really the fruit of the way I thought at the age of 20. I thought that way. What you see today where somebody says, well, you know, I may look like a man, but I'm really a Filipino woman, which is, there's a guy who was out there saying that. You know, and you're looking at him and you're saying, I don't think so. Oh, no, no. And what right do you have to tell him he's not a woman if in his heart he's a woman? And I guess the same right that I would say to somebody who was in a 747 who says, no, I've never learned how to fly this thing. But in my heart, I'm a pilot. I don't think so. I don't think so. It's the same reasoning. And yet we have people who are running around saying that they're this or they're that. How do I know who I am? How am I to know what I am to believe? So I asked the Lord, could you help me and give me a spine so I can have confidence, encouraged so that I can hold fast to something that's true and not let go and present it as if it's a fact because it is? Help me not to waffle between opinions. Help me not to be that one who is tossed to and fro with every thought like a wave that's driven with the wind and tossed. Help me to have strength and stability. And that's what Paul preached with confidence. It's the Word of God. And there are a lot of pastors, I'm sad to say, who are afraid to bore the congregation because the congregation is unfortunately has been infiltrated with his belief system that if it's not interesting within five minutes, just reject it. Everything around us is instant and thus if I don't get instant wisdom or if I'm not entertained, but what I'm hearing and pastors know that so they don't want to bore their audience, they don't want to lose them but they forget the power of the Word of God. In Hebrews 412, the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Psalm 119, 130, the unfolding of your words gives light, it gives understanding to the simple. They received the Word of God, they regarded it as actually the Word of God. A writer by the name of Warren Wearsby said, "'The Bible is inspired by the Spirit of God "'and written by men of God who were used "'by the Spirit. "'God's Word is holy, pure and perfect. "'The Bible was written at great cost, "'not only to the writers, "'but also to Jesus Christ who became man "'that the Word of God might be given to us. "'The way a Christian treats his Bible "'shows how he regards Jesus Christ.'" The message of the gospel was not the Word of men, it's the Word of God. And that's what the Bible says of itself. In 2 Peter 1, 20 and 21, above all you must understand that no prophecy a scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as it were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So in verse 13, as those who had been saved, the Word was effectively working in them. When it says it effectively works in you, the Word effectively means to work for or to help someone in their work. It's interesting how he puts it here and I'll point something else. Notice he says, "'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, you received it, "'but you also welcomed it. "'Somebody standing at my door, I can receive them in, "'but there's a different attitude "'when I also welcome them in. "'I can receive a stranger, "'but that stranger isn't gonna be received "'the way that I welcome a friend.' "'When the Word of God was preached to them, "'they received it, they received it, "'but they welcomed it at the same time. "'Why? "'Because it was the Word of God "'that was gonna transform their lives. "'It was the Word that was gonna do a work in them. "'It had an effect in their lives. "'Why? "'Because they believed. "'And there was gonna be a noticeable change "'in the way that they thought "'and the way that they lived. "'So in 119-105 says, "'Your Word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.' "'The Thessalonians received God's Word. "'It impacted them. "'They applied the Bible. "'They obeyed what God had said, "'and God's Word had an impact. "'It changed them.' "'So verse 14, "'for you brethren became imitators of the churches of God, "'which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. "'For you also suffered the same things "'from your own countrymen, "'just as they did from the Judeans "'who killed both the Lord Jesus "'and their own prophets and have persecuted us. "'And they do not please God. "'And are contrary to all men, "'forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles "'that they may be saved. "'So as always to fill up the measure of their sins, "'but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.' "'And so he's speaking to them, "'and he's saying, look it, the Word made a difference. "'Verses 14, "'you became imitators of the churches of God. "'By applying God's Word, "'you became persecuted, "'which is part of being saved. "'You were aware that the Jewish believers "'were being persecuted and you basically joined them. "'And in this way you were following in their example, "'you didn't shy away from it.' "'In Philippians 1.29 it says, "'For to you it is given in the behalf of Christ, "'not only to believe on him, "'but also to suffer for his sake. "'You see persecution sifts the false profession of faith "'from the real conversion. "'The real Christian experiences persecution "'and not only experiences it, but continues in it. "'He endures it. "'She endures it. "'She's able to go through it. "'Jesus in Matthew 10.22 said, "'You'll be hated by all for my name's sake. "'He who endures to the end will be saved.' "'When I got saved I came from a time "'when, here's another ancient history lesson for you, "'when what is really taken for granted today "'is just being part of the American culture. "'It was actually in a time when culture was being transformed. "'It was being changed.'" You know, what is common today for people to say, well, you know, if somebody wants to have long hair past their shoulders or down to their waist and he's a guy, no big deal. That wasn't that way when I was a kid. When I was growing up, as a matter of fact, there were rules and regulations in high school. If your hair was as long as touching your ear, you could be kicked out of school. Some of you might remember that. You could be kicked out of school. You couldn't have, that was called long hair. When the Beatles, this ancient rock group, when the Beatles came out, they were called the long hairs. They were long hairs. Look at early pictures of the Beatles and ask yourself, do they have long hair? They look like Buster Brown. Did they have long hair? No, they didn't. They didn't have long hair, but compared to everybody else, it was very long and people would say these people are dope-smoking long hairs and society in general here in the United States hated long hairs because we epitomized everything negative, everything they didn't like. So if somebody grew their hair longer than their ear and went down to their shoulder, they were pointed out in public. They were mocked in public. Here's another ancient history thing for you in ancient discography. There was a couple called Sonny and Cher. I don't know, have you ever heard of them? But he, Sonny was a songwriter and he wrote a song, Laugh At Me. And the song Laugh At Me was written because of an experience he had with some people who saw him with the long hair and made fun of him and it hurt him. So he wrote a song called Laugh At Me. Cher sang a song about people look at you and stare, I don't really care because you're really great. Their hair wasn't that long. Look at old pictures, it wasn't that long. Anything that was longer than what I'm wearing right now, you were looked at as being a bum, you were scum and people would get upset at you. The idea that you would go with flip flops or you know, we call them Zories. We used to call them thongs but I don't use that word anymore. But if you ran around wearing thongs in public, no, flip flops. Because they do wear thongs in public, that's another sermons. But if you ran around like that, you were looked at as being a lowlife. I mean, Bob Dylan sang concerning people who were wearing sandals and they were looked at as being radical. So what is common today for a lot of people was not common when I was growing up. It was actually a real challenge to society when guys like me and others grew our hair long. We were basically thumbing our nose at them and saying, if you don't like it, I really don't care what you like. And they didn't like us. Now you'll look today at country music and a lot of the quote unquote country stars have real long hair, right? I've seen a lot of pictures of them and they have that long hair. Do you know that in the 60s that the country musician would actually hunt down or country people would hunt down long hairs and cut their hair? Because they hated it. There were songs like I'm an oaky from Muscogee. They hated long hair. They looked at it as a symbol of rebellion. So what you're used to today was not the way it was in my childhood growing up as a young man. So when I grew my hair long, I was saying something to society. I was saying, I don't care what you think. I'm gonna wear my hair the way I want. I don't care if you don't like that I go barefoot. That's too bad. I'm gonna, we were rebellious. We rejected that. But guess what? God got hold of a bunch of rebellious hippie kids. And because we had learned not to worry about how people judged us by outer appearance, when we started preaching the gospel, we were willing for people to say, I don't like you because of the way you are. I have never had the problem of worrying about how people think about me. You know why? Because he loves me. He loves me. I try to not offend people with my personality, but at the end of the day, it's my responsibility to tell the truth regardless of how people feel about it. And if people don't like it, take it to the Lord. Deal with it with him because he loves me and I'm trying to tell the truth. And so Paul had an attitude, not to say he was a hippie running around thumbing his nose. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is Paul gave the truth with confidence because it is the truth. And as you give the truth, there will be responses to it. And here's the point I'm trying to make. There's a lot of Christians who are afraid today of being rejected by people, their friends, co-workers, people in school, their parents because they're gonna reject me for being a believer. And so what they do is they hide their faith under a bushel. They hide it when in fact, it wasn't intended to be put underneath a bushel. It's intended to be on a lamp stand bringing light to the house. And if you have a love for Christ and a fear of God and a desire to see your friends and your family get saved, you will live openly for Jesus Christ. And whatever the cost may be, you'll be willing to pay it because the Thessalonians are being commended right now by Paul who is saying, you know how the Jews have responded to me? They don't even want me preaching to the Gentiles. You have become imitators of the churches under persecution because you see the value of preaching the word of God. The Jewish churches endured persecution from countrymen but so did the Thessalonians. Notice what he says in verse 15, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets. The Jews rejected Jesus, campaigned for his crucifixion. Their ancestors had also rejected the prophets and even to that day, the rejection could be violent. When you read the book of Acts, chapters 14 to chapter 17, it lists how Paul was persecuted in various places like Iconium, place called Derby, a place called Lystra in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. And so he's speaking concerning what took place. He says in verse 15, they killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets. Now, he's not revealing religious prejudice. He's simply reciting historic fact. Jesus himself in Luke 11 verses 47 and 48 said it like this, woe to you for you build the tombs of the prophets, your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers for they indeed killed them, you build their tombs. So this was typical of the rejection that those would call them to repentance. Notice in verse 15 again, he says they do not please God, they're contrary to all men. They oppose our preaching in doing so are in opposition to men being saved. And God is not pleased with this, God will judge them. Notice verse 16, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved. So as always to fill up the measure of their sins, wrath has come upon them to the utter most. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved. That was common in the ministry of the apostle Paul. But he says in verse 16 that they're filling up the measure of their sins. That's a picture of their sin leading to the rightness for their own judgment. He says wrath has come upon them. In other words, God's judgment is a certainty. The cup is filled to the brim. They're awaiting his judgment upon them. It's as good as already done because of the rejection of Jesus Christ. They are rejecting the proclamation of the gospel. And by the way, that continues to this day. When you have in your mind an image of a person who's Jewish, if you're of a certain age group, you may have a certain stereotype. As I was going up, there were many stereotypes of the Jew. There were pictures that were actually drawn that were characters of Jewish people and that there was a stereotype about them that I grew up not necessarily agreeing with but I was aware of. And you have to imagine for just a moment how interesting it was for me the first time to ever go to Israel and to go into Israel and to see a multi-ethnic group of people that were all Jews. It really was just for the first time, the very first time, it's really revealing to me because I had in my mind a particular look at all and then I go there and there are all these different ethnicities. I remember being with my wife Marie and we were in a place called Megiddo and she approaches me and she says to me, honey, I want to introduce you to somebody I just met. And so I go walking into this little shop that she's there in and she says, this is so and so. And then she says to the man, tell him where you're from. And I look at him and he says, I'm from Mexico City. And I said, Mexico City. I said, what are you doing here? Did you get around that wall? No, how did you get here? How, when did you get here? Somebody's gonna write me, I'm just teasing. I'm a hippie, I don't care. When did you come here? He says, I'm Jewish. I said, you're Jewish and there are a lot of Jews who live in Mexico and he happened to be one of them. Marie and I walk into a shop in, I don't know how many have been in Ben Yorah Street in Jerusalem, but it's a shopping area. Marie and I walk into a particular shop. As we walk in, the first thing the proprietor does is he looks to my wife. My wife's got dark hair and olive complexion. First thing he does is he speaks Spanish to her. First thing, she says, why are you speaking to me in Spanish? She says to her, aren't you from Spain? You know, there's a lot of Spanish Jews in Israel. A large amount of Spanish Jews. But you also see Asians. You will also see African Jews, Russian Jews. So this idea that only people of a certain complexion or look would be saved or be Jewish is not true. So you have this attitude that Israel has survived and this is in the ethos of Israel that they have survived because they've helped faster their Judaism. So they're very anti preaching the gospel. They don't want the gospel preached because they believe it'll undermine their identity as a nation. And so you can be Jewish and be an atheist and be granted citizenship in Israel. You can be Buddhist and a Jew and be granted citizenship as someone who's coming from the States or another place as a Jew in Israel, but you cannot be a Christian and granted citizenship in Israel because they believe that when you are converted to Christianity, you automatically are a Gentile. And to this day, they still reject the preaching of the gospel in Israel. We were there, Marie and I were there in Tel Aviv. And as we're standing in this area in the city, a young man walks up to me and hands me a track, a Bible track. It was in Hebrew, but I recognized that this is a Bible track. As I'm looking at it, this other Jewish man walks up to me, grabs the track out of my hand, pulls it out of my hand, and he says, don't read that. This is not good because he thought I was Jewish and he was afraid I'd be converted to become a Christian. There is a very strong antipathy to the Christian message to this day. Raul Reece and I were in Israel together years ago now and Sharon approached us and said, you may have an opportunity to speak to the Jewish Knesset, their parliament, because they're passing laws right now, trying to keep the evangelization of Israel from Jews, receiving Christ. And we're trying to get you guys an opportunity to speak to parliament to share with them concerning why we should allow, why the gospel should be allowed to continue. And there is a group called Yad Lachim and it is pushing anti-missionary legislation in Israel and encouraging the passing of a law banning missionaries in Israel. While an anti-missionary law is currently in force, Yad Lachim notes the law is ineffective in that it only forbids missionary activity targeting minors or activity done with financial incentives offered to deceive potential converts. The group points out that even this law is not enforced. The group stated we cannot emphasize enough how urgent it is to demand legislation against missionary activity in Israel. It isn't new. This has been going on since the time of the apostle Paul who said here in verse 16, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved. This has not stopped in all these years. He says in verse 17, but we brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. Therefore, we wanted to come to you, even I, Paul, time and again, Satan hindered us. What is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming? For you are our glory and joy. I want you to see this as we roll to a conclusion. When he says in verse 17, we brethren having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, he's speaking about the sentiment that a father would have when he is separated from his children and desires to be with them. I've taken many trips when my children were small. And there were times that my heart, I'll be honest with you, was so pierced because they were crying when I left that it was difficult for me to concentrate on my ministry while I was gone. And my longing was to be home with them. Paul is using that kind of image and he is saying that we were taken from you for a short time in presence, but not in my heart. My heart is still with you. I have mental anguish and I have pain because being separated from you has caused this. So this has provoked his love for them and his desire to see them again. He's saying, I wanna be reunited with you. I wanna come and see you. I intend to do so. I've even made plans. But notice what he says in verse 18. He says, Satan hindered us. We were ready to come, we planned to come, we meant to come. I've longed to see you, but I have had satanic opposition. I desire to be there with you, but he is closing doors for me. He's doing the best that he can to hinder me from coming to see you. He's trying to keep me from seeing you face to face, from imparting to you anything deeper about the things of the Lord, from having the joy that I could have in being reunited with you. I've desired to be there. I don't want you to think that I'm saying I'm gonna come and I don't come. I don't want you to be thinking that I'm giving you false hope, but in reality I just enjoy making you feel bad, trying to make you long for me when in fact I don't ever think of you. I want you to know that I wanna be with you. I want you to know that I think of you often, that I feel like a father that has been separated from his child. I wanna be with you, but the enemy has been working overtime. You see, the enemy opposes us. He tries to keep us from doing what God would have us to do. In Zechariah chapter three verse one, the scripture says he showed me Joshua, the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. In first Peter five, eight and nine, Peter said be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, resist him steadfast in the faith knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. He's opposing you. He's hindering you. There are times that you're sharing with somebody and you're wanting to share about the love of Christ with them and the phone rings or somebody interrupts the conversation. And very often it's the enemy who's doing what he can to interrupt and disturb that moment because the Holy Spirit was working in such a way at that time. He says Satan hinders us, but he goes on to say in verse 19 and 20, what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming? You are our glory and joy. Your salvation is one of the grounds of my hope for future reward. Your salvation is an evidence that I've been faithful and that I will be rewarded in heaven. I see you like the victors crown awarded in Greek games and I rejoice in your salvation as the victor does when the garland that he had won is placed on his head. And your being in heaven is a high source of happiness to me. He is saying this, you are deeply loved. You are our pride and joy. You have made ministry worth it. When he says in verse 20, you are our glory and joy. I can in a different level understand that I have grandchildren and granddaughters in particular that come to mind, though this is true for all of them, but the younger ones, I as their grandfather will look at them. I have one Stella and my Zoe. I'm thinking of those in particular at the moment and I'll look at them, but I'll say to Stella because she'll come into my office often and she comes into my office and I'll look at her and I'll say, who are you? And she'll stand and she goes, I'm Stella. And I'll say, oh no, you're my heart. That's what you are. I said, do you know how much I love you? Yes, she always acts bored, but it thrills her. I know it does. She always acts bored. Yes, I said, no, no, no, no. And I get real dramatic with her. Do you know how much I love you? Yeah, she'll do that. In a way, I see Paul saying that. Do you guys know how much I love you? Some things are so deep that you can't say it without emotion. Some things are that deep. You just can't see it. Say it without emotion. Not all the time, not every time, but sometimes. I tell my wife every day how much I love her every day. If I didn't, I wouldn't eat. So I do it every day. Hey man, there's a hungry man in my left that I do every day. But there are times when I look at her that I cannot say it without tearing up. Not every day, not all the time, just once in a while. I'll look at her and I'll think. And I think of all these years, years after years, of her faithfulness, of her goodness, of her kindness, of her trust, of her loyalty, of her encouragement, of her being there, and I'll look at her. And I don't even know how. And I'll just say, honey, why don't you look at me? Like, yeah, I'm worth it. Husband, I hope you do the same with your wife. I hope you do. Wife, I hope you do the same with your husband. It goes a long way, goes a long way. Well, guess what? Paul was saying that to these people. You are my joy. You're my crown. When I'm in heaven, you being there with me will give me the greatest joy. You've demonstrated the reality of my ministry because you embrace the word of God. When it came to you, you received it. You even welcomed it for what it is, God's word. You endured and are enduring persecution from your fellow countrymen as I as a Jew have gone through with my own, but it's worth it because we'll be together in heaven. And you will be the symbol of my faithfulness to God as you're there because I gave you a message that you received that changed your life. And because of that, I can say to you, you are my glory and my joy because you are gonna be with me in heaven and together we will worship the one who made it possible. That's the heart of a pastor. That's the heart. That's a pastor's heart.