Let’s Pray for the Church

Sunday Morning
Chu Thanh
Colossians 2:1-7

1)      Passion V1: You have to have passion to pray for the church. Paul prayed earnestly for the church. He said that he “was struggling for those in Laodicea”. He prayed for them with a heavy heart because that’s how much he yearned for God’s hand in them. 

2)      Prayer V2: We are easily discouraged in our walk with God sometimes. We live in a world with fallen human beings. The looks that we give or the way that we act will somehow discourage someone. We ignorantly do things that discourage one another. Things that come into our life will bring burdens to our hearts. The best thing you can do for a person who is discouraged is pray for them. Paul said that his “purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love”.  Those who are being prayed for are being knit together in love.

3)      Purpose of Prayer: The purpose of prayer is so that we would have knowledge and wisdom (V3). Praying for the people in the church will give them knowledge of right and wrong and wisdom to apply it in their lives. Praying also gives us love of God’s word (V4). We need to pray for the church to have a love for the bible. Only then can their faith be firmly founded and established.

 Praying is not something that is hindered by physical boundaries. You don’t need to be right next to a person to pray for them. It is something that can be done any time (V5).

4)      Principle V6: We must pray that the church of God will have desire to continue witnessing, worshipping, learning, and growing. Paul says to “continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith”.

Paul’s Heart for the Church

Sunday Morning 5/22/11

Colossians 1:9-14

Most of the time we pray for people only when they are in need. Although there is nothing wrong with that and we are commanded to do that, we often neglect the people who are doing well. We should add the people who are blessed by God onto our list. Just because they are blessed and growing does not mean that they are not vulnerable to the attacks of Satan. In fact, the moments you are so closest to God are the moments that the enemy comes to you more than any other time.

V9 According to Paul, there is no stagnancy in the life of Christians. Paul prayed that the church would be “filled with knowledge of his will”. Paul wants us to allow God to fill us in all completeness.

Luke 5:17 Jesus did an outstanding miracle here. He had healed a paralyzed man. The response of the crowd was that they had become “filled with awe”. There was a sense of fear and respect. It was a feeling of the dominance of God’s wonder inside of them, complete and full.

Luke 6:6 When Jesus healed the lame man, the crowd was filled with awe, but the Pharisees were filled with something else: rage, anger and fury.

There are many things we can be filled with but God wants us to be filled with:

1)      Knowledge: V9 we need to be filled with the knowledge of his will. God wanted the church to be dominated by the will of God. People sometimes know God’s will but it does nothing for them. To be filled with the will of God means that we will V10 walk worthy of the Lord. The life that we live, the conduct that we demonstrate will equate to God’s. The life of a Christian should be equal to his standard. We would live a life pleasing to God. We would live a life doing things that please God and not doing things that sadden him. Being filled with knowledge of Him will compel us to walk according to His purpose. To know him more, we would love him more.

2)      Power: V11 no one can live a Christian life with their own strength. Our efforts would be meaningless. Even with our best attempt we would not be able to obtain the things of God. It is inevitable that we would be scared, uncomfortable, sad, discouraged, etc. But we need to realize that God’s power is available and he can take those things away. We need to be filled with God’s power so we can face difficulties in life with joy as well as live according to His will.

Colossians 1:3-14

Colossians 1:3-14

sunday morning 5/15/11

V3 There was a group of heresies that had become quite influential on the church. It caused doubt in the hearts of the young believers. To combat these things, Paul introduced himself as giving thanksgiving to God for them. It was a way to assure someone that he or she is on track. He was building their confidence, assuring them that they were in God’s hands.

Paul was thankful for the Colossians:

1)      Identity: V4 “since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints - the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven… ”

a)      Faith is only as good as the object as it is placed in. A person may have a lot of faith in the bank, but it is only as good as the reliability of the bank. Faith itself will not guarantee the safety of their money unless that bank is well managed. For our faith to be valid and secure, it must be placed upon Jesus Christ. Jesus never fails, he never falls, and he never goes bankrupt. When we place our faith in him, we will not be shaken.

Many people say they believe in Jesus but there is never any change in them. If we believe that our faith is good in Jesus Christ, if we believe that Jesus is living, then our faith should be as living as He is. Faith without works is dead. If our faith doesn’t change our lives, it is as good as dead.

b)      Love is the identity of every true and genuine believer. Jesus said that people will know him through our love for one another. John says that he whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, and neither is he who hates his brother. If anyone says he is of God and hates his brother, he is a liar. John Macarthur says that a true child of God will love fellow believers.

Paul thanks God for the love of the saints in Colossians. It was not secretive, and it was not selective. Love does not mean that we have an emotional attachment toward them. It doesn’t mean that we feel good when they do something mean to us. It means that we continue to serve them in sacrifice and selflessness.

John 13:1 “(Jesus) having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

 When Peter pleaded with Jesus not to go to the cross during the last supper, Jesus rebuked him calling him Satan. Of course peter wasn’t Satan because Jesus was speaking spiritually. If peter hadn’t known anything about love, he would have thought that Jesus really hated him a lot.

Loving someone doesn’t mean that we will never be mad at them or upset with them. Before Jesus was captured, his disciples fell asleep on him. At this point he probably wasn’t so happy with them but he still loved them.

c)       Hope in Jesus shouldn’t be empty as many people claim. If you believe that Jesus is real, that he died a real death, rose from a real grave, and ascended to a real heaven, your hope will not be empty. If our hope is as real as our faith, one result is that we will be willing to sacrifice the present things on the alter for the future. We need to invest ourselves into heaven. If you sow to the flesh you reap things of the flesh. If you sow to the spirit you will reap spiritual things.

2)      Availability :

In many ways, availability is a word that speaks of openness and availability. During the week we find that we don’t even have time to do ministry work. We like to, but we find ourselves in such time restrictions. We should make ourselves available to prayer, to giving, to support for others.

The Power of a Mother's Love

Mother’s Day Message

The Power of The Mother’s Love

sunday morning 5/8/11

1 Kings 3:16-28

We obey our parents because it is right with God. We honor our parents because it is right with the word. Obeying our parents will result in a successful, prosperous, well-lived life.

1)      The fight for life: The battle between the two women was probably a long painful one before they were able to stand before the king. This battle began with the love of a mother for her son. She was willing to go the extra mile until she could obtain what belonged to her.

2)      The fullness of love:

a.       Sacrifice: The woman who was truly the mother of the child was willing to sacrifice her son so that he could live. She was willing to let go of her right as a mother to let her son live. Our mom’s sacrifice their time so that they can cook and clean for us. They sacrifice that dress or purse they want so they can buy our food.

b.      Suffering: The love of a mother suffers long. If that woman were to give up her boy, she is basically admitting to defeat. She is admitting that she was guilty. She could do that for her son because of the love she had for him.  Our moms suffer when we talk back at them. When we roll our eyes of give them attitude, they turn the other cheek because they love us.

c.       Accepting: A mother’s love is accepting. The mother of the child was a prostitute. She had no husband. She had nothing but the small boy. She was willing to give that only hope and joy she had up for the sake of her child’s life.

3)      The faith to learn: Solomon had the wisdom to be able to deal with this situation. He wrote thousands or proverbs. Among them, he wrote that we should obey our parents and respect them. This man was the wisest man of all time. If he says we should do something, we should listen.

A life of Worship

A Life of Worship

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

sunday morning 4/17/11

1)      Rejoice always: The joy we have in Jesus Christ should be founded upon the things of God, upon the eternal things. Phil 3:1 says to “rejoice always in the Lord”. Tribulations and troubles that come our way should not dictate our outlook on life. Even though we might encounter trials in our lives, we have joy in the Lord. A Christian life is a joyful life. The people of the church of Jesus Christ should be the most joyful people in the world.

It is difficult to worship God in a church gathering if we can’t worship Him personally at home. It is hard to worship God when we are feeling sad and depressed all the time. We need to rejoice in the Lord and learn to worship him individually. It is hard to worship in front of people because we haven’t been prepared.

2)      Pray without ceasing: this doesn’t mean we always have to be on our knees and behind the closet door. It means that the joy we have in God triggers us to pray. Praying ceaselessly doesn’t mean that we need to mumble prayers twenty four hours a day. It means that there is an unstoppable communion with us and God. if we practice listening to God and praying to Him, we will begin to long for it.

3)      In everything, give thanks: Even in the worst circumstances we should give thanks. God is still god in every predicament and will bring together all that we are going through. The mark of a Christian is thankfulness. We shouldn’t wait until thanksgiving or Sunday to be grateful towards God.

Things may be hard but we have a joy in God that is unexplainable. It leads us to constant prayer and thanks giving.

The Foundation of Our Peace/ The Practice of Peace

Chu Thanh 4.10.11

1 Thessalonians 5:13-14

References: Romans 12:18, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Colossians 3:15

One thing that puts us in darkness and in unrest is when there are arguments within the family. The foundation of our peace is built on the same principle in the church. We are a family that has the same destination. Paul gives us advice on how to be in union and peace with one another.

Although we share the same blood with our family members, we are our own individuals. In God’s family, all of us are separate individuals with different abilities. There is unity in this diversity and it makes up the body of Jesus Christ. We can be different in every way yet we can stand together in harmony under one God. This is what draws the world’s attention to us.

When the church loses its peace, is when the people in the church allow their differences to get in the way of fellowship with one another. People looking for peace will try to find it in the church. However, when the church loses its peace, it will be seen as ineffective in the eyes of the world. No one wants to go to a church where the silence and awkwardness prevents us from feeling the love of God.

The peace that comes to us is the result of what Jesus did on the cross (Romans 5:1). The world, without Jesus, could never have peace. We can speculate all we want about how to create a peace amongst us but without the blood of Jesus, it is impossible. Jesus suffered so much from the cradle to the cross and it is a shame to not desire and run after the peace he has made available to us.  We need to pursue it, chase after it. We need to seek it in active involvement.

V14

1) “Warn the idle”

How often do we notice that the person sitting next to us isn’t there anymore? When we see that a brother or sister has missed church for a couple weeks, we should help them and warn them. We need to be there for one another.

2) “Comfort the timid”

 When a person is not doing well, we can’t just sit there and tell them it will be okay. We need to show them that everything will work out for good. We need to show them the section in the word of God that applies to the predicament they are in. These truths will comfort them. This is why we study the bible word by word and chapter by chapter. We do it in hope that when the time comes, we can bring comfort to one another with the word of god.

3) “Hold up the weak”

To hold up something in the Greek means to hold that object so close to yourself so that it won’t fall apart.

Guest Speaker: P.V. Russ

Matthew 13:44-46

Jesus was a great story teller and a lot of the things he taught were in a parable. One main thing he would teach was about the kingdom of God. All these stories had a point and teach us something about God.

As the pearl merchant found out, all his little pearls could not beat his love for that one, special pearl he had been looking for. He sold all he had to purchase the pearl. Jesus is telling us that cheap things and valueless things will never fill our hearts. We were created to know God and to be in a relationship with the living God. Long before we were born he loved us, he knew us, and he put his love upon us.

When the love of God touches our hearts, we come to realize that he is more beautiful than being successful, having the cool cars, and the big house. Jesus is more beautiful and it grabs our hearts. As it cost the pearl merchant everything he owned it will cause us everything to receive the kingdom of God. This doesn’t mean we need to sell all our possessions. We can love the things we own but we need to love God so much more, so that if we lose everything, we really don’t lose much at all.

Brotherly Love

1 Thessalonians 4:9

Christianity is not too much about what you have and don’t have, or how big your church is. The one thing that separates and distinguishes Christianity from all other religions in the world is love. It is how the world will know that we are the disciples of Jesus Christ. It’s not about what goes on inside the four walls of the church but about how we interact with one another outside the church. Love is the hallmark of Christianity.

1) Love origination: V9 We have been “taught by God to love one another”. Of all the writers in the bible, from King David, to the prophets, to Paul and John in the New Testament, none are able to teach the topic of Love better then God. This is because love originates from God.  It begins with God. It will be demonstrated by God. The love of God is the central force that motivates us to love one another. It creates in us a new divine nature that is quickened by the Holy Spirit. We should now have this ability and nature that allows us to love a way we have never loved before.

There are millions of fish in the oceans. There are ugly fish, pretty fish, big fish, small fish, etc. They are so different but they all have one thing in common, they all swim. This is because it is in their nature to swim. Similarly, when we become believers, we naturally love.

2) Love outward expression: V10 Paul says that the love of the Thessalonians has been expressed and they have been doing well. However, he urges them to continue to love even more. He advises them to keep on loving, to love better and longer. How do we do this? V11.

a) Lead a quiet life: Don’t stir trouble or arguments by your zealous and passionate belief in something.

b) Mind your own business: Don’t get into people’s business. Don’t gossip. Do the task you were assigned to do, not dig into someone else’s.

c) Get to work: don’t be lazy. Paul says to “work with your own hands”. For the Greeks, people who worked with their hands were considered as lowly as slaves. To the Jews, every Jewish boy was taught to learn a trade regardless of his background. The Vietnamese culture can be in conflict with God. Working with our hands is an honorable thing. Earning an honest living is not a bad thing.

3) Love impression: V12 if we love one another, we will “earn the respect of those outside of the church”. The world will chase after fame, money, and power but we should chase after love. The only way that we can make our “invisible God” visible to those who don’t see Him is to love one another. Love provides growth internally for us. A loving environment in the church will help us to grow steadily.

The hallmark of Christianity is about love. It will become the glorious mark to the world and they will know the Lord through our love for one another. More importantly, loving one another pleases the Lord.

Sexual Purity

Sanctification:

V3 God wants us to be holy. He wants to set us apart for his purpose. The moment you accept Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. He will not allow you to be in anything immoral. Every day, he will mold you and shape you to be sanctifies as Jesus Christ. We should yield the members of our body into sanctification. God demands that we separate ourselves from evil. Sexual immorality is something that has gotten in the way of the church.

It wasn’t normal for the men to have just one wife in the past. Many men went out and engaged in plenty bad things. That was the culture in the day. However, this is also the culture of our day, today. The sin that Paul saw in the people of his day is the same as that in our day. This is a serious problem. God has called us to sanctification.

Subjection:

V4 Bring the members of your body in subjection to control. Watch what you allow your eyes to see and body to do. Bring your body in subjection to your spirit. We need to starve our flesh and feed our spirit. We need to starve our flesh to death. Contrarily, we need to feed our spirit with sermons, fellow Christians, and the bible. Eventually, the flesh will no longer be heard. Our bodies will be disciplines.

Separation:

V5 When the world around us is saying that it is ok to have sex; we need to close our ears to it. It is ok for us to have sex, God made it for us. However, it is only ok between a man and woman in marriage.

Judgment:

V6 In our culture, men get away with doing sexually immoral things. The woman is the one that takes the short end of the stick. The man needs to realize that the girl they are taking advantage of has a father, mother, brother, or sister. That person may be a person in the Lord. You may think that you will get away with it but you won’t. Even if no person finds out, God will take care of it. He knows and your sin will be judged by him. You will be forgiven but there will be severe consequence.

Empowerment:

V7-8 God did not call us to be unclean but to holiness. God is nudging and tapping us. He is calling us to return to Him, to confess to Him, so that He can restore us and sanctify us.

What Pleases God?

1 Thessalonians 4:1

When Jesus was on earth, he saw a man that had been demon possessed. Jesus got on a boat and went to the place where the man was to set him free from the demon. He saw a young boy who was dead with his mother mourning beside him. Jesus gave him life again. He saw a multitude following Him and realized that they were hungry. He fed them. There were many instances in the bible where Jesus went out and did good. But why? Jesus would say, in John 8. “I always do the things that please God.”

This should be the goal and desire of our lives, pleasing God.

1)      It is a radical principle. It changes our lives. If we lived our lives with this method that Jesus used, everything about us would be changed.

2)      It is a flexible principle. Pleasing God doesn’t require us to constrict ourselves to a list of do’s and don’ts. We are called to be obedient to the moral law of God. We aren’t trying to please these laws, but please the one who had given them.

3)      It is a progressive principle. There is no end in pleasing God. We can never reach the fulfillment of it. The more we please the Lord, the deeper we want to please Him. It takes us from one level to another.

What do we need to do to please God?

Colossians 1:9-14

1)      Fruitful living: being fruitful in every work. Bearing fruit for the name of Jesus. As a vine produces its own fruit; Jesus produces His own fruit, us. Are our lives similar to a bowl of fruit? Our lives should be like this. When people walk by us, they should want to come and receive something from us the way they would a beautiful bowl of fruit.

2)      Increasing in the knowledge of God: knowing God and increasing in our knowledge. The way we know God should be more then it was yesterday, last month, and last year. A lot of people know a lot about Him but don’t have knowledge about him in a profound and personal way. Paul says if we want to please God, we must know God.

3)      Strengthened and powerful living: living a life pleasing to God means that you are strengthened by His glorious power. This power in unlimited. God’s power is everlasting. It will continue to carry us through. The bible suggests that we will be strengthened by the lord’s might. Powerful living pleases God. It shows that we are tapping into the power that the Holy Spirit provides. When we depend on Him, it pleases God. We receive powerful living from God so that we will have patience and longsuffering.

4)      Thankful: giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance, pleases Him.

What Every Pastor Should Be

1 Thessalonians 3

Paul’s sacrifice, protective care, and appreciation of the church demonstrated his heart for them.

1. Sacrifice: Paul was able to endure pains we couldn’t even think of; being whipped, beaten, slandered against, stoned, and more. However, being away from the church was something he could not handle.  He sent Timothy to the church to encourage and strengthen them. This was an act of selflessness.

a)      It was a great loss of companionship for Paul to part with Timothy. They had been on this missionary trip with one another with endless trials, pains, and tribulations. Timothy was side by side with Paul for months, but Paul was willing to send him away. This left Paul by himself.

b)      It was a great loss in personal comfort. Timothy was there to help Paul and comfort him. He was the one who would make sure Paul had a meal to eat or a blanket to sleep with. Sending Timothy away created a void in Paul’s heart, but he loved the church in Thessalonica enough to do it.

2. Protective Care: Paul told the church that they, along with every other Christian, are destined to severe trials. We as followers of Christ have been appointed to tribulation. Everywhere around the globe, there are struggling Christians. Paul knew that Satan would put afflictions upon them was sending Timothy to establish them in a secure faith and foundation. He wanted to make sure the church was still intact with God.

3. Appreciation: The church’s continuation in the Lord was what Paul, Timothy, and Silas were thankful for. Paul probably didn’t receive much from the church because they were such new believers. Paul didn’t need anything from them. He was just happy that the church shared the same faith in Christ that he did.

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20

Paul defends himself to the church in Thessalonica against all the accusations against him. It could have easily been misunderstood that Paul had forsaken the church or that he had abandoned them.

Love: V17 Paul loved the church but he was taken away from them by force. His love for them was compared to an encouraging father. He loved them with as a mother loves her baby (V7). Paul’s love for the people was unlike the usual. He was so attached to these people who he had only known for a short period of time. His love, however, was not exclusive. He loved people everywhere, not just in Thessalonica. He loved God’s people.

This is a pattern for every minister of the Gospel, to love God’s people. When Paul was taken away from them, he still prayed for them every time he thought about them. He wasn’t with them in person but he was with them in spirit.

Care: V18 Paul wanted to see them “face to face”. When you see a person face to face there is an intimacy and fellowship that cannot be felt on the phone or computer. Paul wanted to be with them. It is a sorrowful thing for a leader to not have the desire to be with God’s people.

Jesus came down to Earth and became human so that he could feel our pain and sorrows, to experience the things that tempt us and hurt us. Jesus searched for the missing sheep and lifted them upon His shoulders and gave them rest. Caring is about commitment, about sacrifice, and putting away our own agenda to make time for others. A challenge for us is to become the shoulder of Jesus for people.

Discernment: V18 Paul wanted to go and see them but “Satan had stopped them”. Satan is powerful and we can’t underestimate that. He is here to cause havoc in the lives of the people of God. However, God is more powerful though and be can’t even begin to fathom how much bigger it is then Satan’s. Paul had that spiritual understanding of when God wanted him to stop.

Sometimes Satan will shoot arrows at us and we will hold grudges against the people of God because we lack the discernment that it is a work of Satan.

 Joy: Paul’s joy was to see people open their hearts to receive Jesus as their lord and savior. They were his joy and his crown. The people were what Paul had lived for.

Jesus’ life was the same. He saw the cross and because of the joy before Him, He endured the pain. Jesus was God, He had everything. He was Lord of Heaven, he could calm the storms. Jesus had it all but He became a man and endured the shame because He had joy in the hope that we would be saved.

As Christians, our joy should be to see the salvation and success of God’s people the way Paul and Jesus did.

How They Receive the Word of God

1 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Paul states that the gospel message he proclaimed was the word of God. He presented it with great conviction and passion knowing that it has the power to change people’s lives. The people received it, valued it, and honored it as the word of God.

The message that we present must be from God. Only then will the word be at work in the hearts of the people. As teachers, we have to approach students knowing that they are struggling.

Pray for your pastors and teachers. Pray that they will not lose heart and be discouraged. Pray that the message coming from them is unrestrained. Pray that they will spend time to seek the living word and drown themselves in it. We need to receive the word in all seriousness and honor unto God, the way Paul presented it.

New Year Message: The Secret to a Worry-Free Life

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all you anxiety on him because he cares for you” -1 Peter 5:6-7

The reality or worry: 

For peter to address the word “anxiety” to the church meant that it was something real and practical. The people in the church worried a lot about the things that normal people worry about. Worry is the same as it was generations ago. It is an issue that confronts our hearts every day. People worry about school, employment, family, and more. All sorts of things can be bombarded into our minds and cause us to worry. Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean that we will not encounter the things that make us worry. It is a reality that we cannot escape. We have become a worry sick society. Hospitals have recorded that stress and worry cause obesity, heart attacks, ulcers, depression, nervous breakdowns, and even cancer.

Peter knew that the church was worried about many very serious matters. However, he never told them to deny it, run from it, or ignore it. In our society, people try to distract themselves from their anxiety with several things but it never makes it go away.

The release of worry:

We can’t run from it, hide from it, or pay it with money. However, you can give your worry away. God is powerful, caring, and gracious enough to willingly take on our worries. Peter said to cast our anxieties to the Lord.

In order to do this, we need to humble ourselves and trust in God. We can’t be caught up in the things of this life. We should be at the feet of Jesus and pour our hearts out to Him. Jesus invited the weary to come to Him and He would give us rest. God doesn’t want us to carry our burdens on our shoulders for our entire lives. We have to give our burdens and worries to the Lord.

The result of a stress free life:

When we allow the shoulder of God to carry our burdens, we will begin to recognize the power of God in our lives. People will care about us but they don’t have to power to care for us the way God can. The God who created the universe is not an uncaring or impersonal God. Our God is real and He loves us. We can cast all of our worries to God.

The Marks of a Man of God

1 Thessalonians 2:1-6

What are the things that separate a person for the exclusive use of God? Although there are many factors, these are three of the most challenging.

1.       Faithfull in their mission

V1. When Paul came to Thessalonica, it was not a glorious coming but it was also not a failure.

V2. They have previously suffered and were mistreated.

Paul was exclusively chosen as an apostle to preach to the gentiles. He received a vision from God to go to Europe. The first city they reached was Philippi. God anointed Paul with the ability to cast out demons. Paul was on the right path with the Lord. However, this landed him in jail. The little girl Paul casted the demon from could no longer predict the future. The owner couldn’t make money anymore. The people arrested and whipped Paul even though he was a roman citizen.

Most of us would wonder and question whether we were where God wanted us. We would ask God where He was and why he had forsaken us. We would begin to doubt the mission and purpose of God in our life. Paul didn’t do this. He began to pray and sing to the Lord. The chains binding him in the prison cell were broken. He didn’t run away from the prison. He stayed and preached to the prisoners. Paul didn’t run from the place that God had brought him. Paul was faithful in his mission.

If we received a mission from God today and were arrested and beaten, we would go back to our family. We would go to the hospital to treat our wounds. We would take a long break and go on a long vacation. Paul didn’t do what we would do. He remained with God and stayed faithful.

The church of Thessalonica didn’t come into existence by a parachute from the sky. It took faithful men and women like Paul and Silas. Our mission may not be to travel around the world, but we need to evangelize to those around us and pray for them.

2.       Fearless in the message

V2. Paul and the apostles were bold, courageous, and fearless. They didn’t stop or quit declaring the gospel even in tribulations.

There were mobs and riots in Thessalonica that cause Paul to have a sudden departure. These people took the opportunity to accuse Paul of being like every other religious leader that passes by. Paul wrote to the church to address the accusations. They wouldn’t have come with their backs still bleeding.  They didn’t run in the face of trial and conflict. They had been tested with fire. They didn’t make anything up. They were real. Their message was real.

The message was directly from God. It was given to us to share with everyone else. God entrusted us with the message and wants us to share it with fearlessness.

3.       Fresh in their motive

V4-5

Paul’s motive was pure. His intention was not to please men but God. He didn’t use words to butter people up and flatter them. He didn’t have a hidden agenda. He came as he was, hiding nothing, to declare the gospel. The men and women that God uses have nothing to hide.

1 Thessalonians 1:6-10

1)      The gospel begins with the fact that God had chosen the Thessalonians for His divine purpose.

2)      The gospel is linked to change because when a person receives the word of God, they will be changed. No one can be the same when they come into a personal contact with the powerful message of the gospel. The Thessalonians were changed. In this radical change they received:

a.        V4 A new foundation. The ground that the Thessalonians stood on changed from sinking sand to solid rock. They once stood in synagogues trying to figure out the meaning of life. Jesus came and gave them the knowledge that they were so desperately seeking. They began to live upon a new knowledge, a new foundation.

b.      V4 A new family. Paul referred to the Thessalonians as brothers loved by God. The word brother is an intimate word. These people were so closely knitted by the blood of Jesus Christ that they were able to see and treat each other as family.

c.       V9 A new focus. They turned to God and away from idols. Instead of worshipping images built of stone, they broke their habits of bowing down to those statues and worshipped the true God. They no longer looked to these lifeless idols.

d.      V10 A new future. They had no future. When the message of Jesus Christ came, they received a new hope in Him.

3)      The gospel compelled the Thessalonians to become followers of Jesus Christ. The gospel didn’t come to them sugar coated. They knew that to follow Jesus meant that they would be persecuted, yet they received it with joy.

Not only did they imitate the messengers that brought them the gospel, they became examples to other new believers. They were only followers of Jesus Christ for a few weeks but already, they became known to all others throughout Europe. They had no pastors or leaders at the time, but they had the Holy Spirit.