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Good morning dear friends, today is Friday, May 31.
Together we are walking an exciting journey through God’s Word.
We began May 1st and we’ll continue 150 days till Sept. 30th.
I’m trying to lead us on a journey chronologically, from the time Jesus ascended back to heaven, through the birth of His Church, by the Apostles in the years that followed, until the death of the Apostle Paul.
Now that’s not simple, because as I’m sure you’ve noticed none of the books of the Bible have date, time and location of their authorship in the first verse or so of the Book, so I’m leaning on Bible scholars much smarter than me, who have studied such things as we try to follow the journey together.
Yesterday we read Acts 18 and we followed Paul, Aquila and Priscilla from Corinth to Ephesus (18:19). Today I invite you to read Acts 19 but only the first 10 verses. Notice Acts 19:8 tells us Paul was in Ephesus preaching the Gospel in the Synagogue for three months, until opposition once again drove him out of the Synagogue into the hall of Tyrannus, evidently a public hall open to anyone. Do you see the response of the people in verse 10 and how long Paul stayed in Ephesus making Jesus disciples of both Jews & Greeks…two years! Wow!
Now many Bible scholars believe it was during this time that Paul wrote his first letter to the little church which was growing out of his three week stay in Thessalonica (today the city of Thessaloniki, Greece). Remember we saw that in Acts 17:1,2 day before yesterday. So, let’s insert the five chapters of 1 Thessalonians into our reading after Acts 19:10, and today we’ll read 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.
What a wonderful greeting Paul gives to this little church. Remember he’d evidently been run out of town after only three weeks! Don’t you love verse 2 & 3? Paul remembered them with great affection and prayed for them often. He writes: “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” What a magnificent statement…may I urge you to just let that simmer in your heart for a while? Massage each phrase…what do you hear Paul saying?
As you read these precious 10 verses of chapter 1 of 1st Thessalonians do you see Paul describing how the reputation of this little church has spread far and wide? Evidently they embraced the truth Paul preached to them, they rejected their idols, and they experienced a mighty, powerful work of the Holy Spirit of God among them.
Acts 17 doesn’t give us much detail about that, so as we read this first letter Paul writes back to them, we can assume two things: First…Paul had an unforgettable few weeks among them in which he saw the Holy Spirit of God do amazing things in many people’s lives, both Jews and Greeks, as they responded to the Gospel.
Second, after Paul & Silas had been run out of Thessalonica they went to Berea for a short while, and then Paul left Silas and Timothy there, while he moved on to Athens. During that time, I wonder if Timothy at least, and maybe Silas may have secretly gone back to Thessalonica from time to time to keep teaching the new believers. Or perhaps the hungry Thessalonian believers came to Berea to continue their learning from Timothy & Silas. Either way it seems clear the Christians in Thessalonica had a deep hunger to keep growing in their understanding of Jesus and His truth, and they learned quickly, and shared what they learned with others. The church in Thessalonica grew in size and in spiritual depth; and their reputation spread across the entire region and impacted other communities.
May I again ask some questions? What is the history and reputation of your church in the region where you live? How has your church impacted the people of the area where it is located? Read carefully what Paul says about what he has heard about that remarkable church in Thessalonica, as he writes to them in 1 Thessalonians 1.
May I point out one or two more things?
Paul writes: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, in spite of severe suffering…and so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” (1:6,7)
Imitators?
Has anyone every told you they are trying to imitate your Christian life because they find it so attractive, so challenging?
While Paul was in town only a few weeks, evidently his life, and that of Silas and Timothy, was so radically refreshing, that those who trusted Jesus, tried to imitate their lives as they began following Jesus. That’s a challenging thought isn’t it? Would you want people imitating your Christian life?
Paul also writes about their suffering in vs 6, do you see it?
Have you or your church suffered persecution from those who don’t want the Gospel in your town?
How has that happened, and how has your church responded?
Paul uses the words “severe suffering”! Yet he has heard the response of these dear people was so much like Jesus, he writes “you became a model to all the believers…”. Who has modeled for you how to respond to opposition, even persecution? How about the reputation of the Chinese church or more recently the Christians in India or Cuba or Iraq or Syria or Pakistan?
May I ask today that we pray for the Persecuted Church around the world. . .and as we do, that we also consider and pray about the reputation of your church, and my church in our communities? We can’t go back and change the past, but we can repent of anything in the past that God shows us has been harmful to His reputation, and we can ask God to help us build a wonderful, God honoring reputation going forward!
Have a great Friday my friends,
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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