Thank you ladies, that was a blessing. Wonderful song, thank you for that. Book of First Thessalonians. The music has already been a blessing today. What a joy to sing together and to hear from the choir and the ladies quartet. And it's good to have Emily home for Thanksgiving break. Our daughter is home for the week for Thanksgiving break from college down in South Carolina and a couple of other college students joining with Emily to sing that quartet. Thank you, Pam, for accompanying. Thank you for that special number. First Thessalonians chapter number one. We have started a new series through the book of 1 Thessalonians and we did some introduction last week and so I won't go back and rehearse everything. But we look at 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 1 and we see the missionary team that God had put together that came to Thessalonica. Paul, Silas, and Timothy. God had called them there. They had left from Philippi where there had been persecution, where the Philippian jailer had gotten saved. They go to Thessalonica and they go in the synagogue. They go into the marketplace and they preach Christ. We could go back to Acts 17 and we could read the inspired account there in Acts 17 of Paul's missionary journey on the second missionary journey and his time that he spent there at Thessalonica. There were a group of people that got saved as they preached in the synagogue, as they went into the marketplace, and as they preached Christ and shared the gospel. There were Greeks, Gentiles that got saved, there were women, and there were some Jews that got saved. In a local church, the church at Thessalonica was formed, but they faced some opposition. As people were getting saved, as the church was formed, There were a group of unbelieving Jews that resisted what was going on and began to persecute Paul and Silas and Timothy. And they stirred up a riot, basically. They went to the rulers of the city, told lies, and defamed Paul and Silas and Timothy. And you know how it goes. We see it even in America sometimes when it's happening around the world. And there's falsehoods that are said about Christians, lies, and basically they turned the rulers of the city against this missionary team, saying they're the ones that are causing the trouble in the city, when actually they had come with the peace of the gospel, and people were getting saved, lives were being changed in glorious ways. We'll talk about that some more. In the midst of all of that persecution, Paul and Silas and Timothy remained faithful, This group of Thessalonians remained faithful and now Paul is writing back to them and he's still talking about their changed lives and the fact that their faith had gone out really into lots of different places, even down into southern Greece. They're in the upper northern area of Greece called Macedonia, a region that's now under the control of the Roman Empire, and there's a Roman governor. Thessalonica is the capital city of that particular Roman province. So there's lots of pagan influences. On the Aegean Way, a major trade route, a seaport, Thessalonica was given over to idolatry. There was immorality. There was all of the other paganism that was in the city. much like we see in our cities today. Maybe not big temples to the god Jupiter and Hercules or someone like that, a false mythological god, but our nation, our cities, even Lafayette has its fair share of idols. And there's idols on our hearts, sad to say. There are false religions even in our local area. are major cities, cosmopolitan centers, where there's idolatry, false religions, and Thessalonica was not much different. No, they didn't have planes and trains and automobiles, they had ships coming and people walking and using various forms of transportation, animals that they would travel on, people coming and going, and they were bringing their immorality, they were bringing their paganism, there was the rampant idolatry and immorality, and yet God Through the truth of his word, through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, lives were changed, people were gloriously saved, and out of all that paganism, out of all that false religion, out of all that idolatry, a small church is formed. And it continued to grow to the point that now, by the inspiration of God, Paul is writing back in this letter, and he is writing to the Thessalonians, and we spend some time looking at the greeting grace and peace. He gave thanks to God always for them. He prayed for them. He remembered and we spent a lot of time last week looking at verse three, the evidence of their salvation, the evidence of their faith. There was a work of faith. There were good deeds. There were, there was a changed life through the spirits virtues of second Peter one that were manifested. And one of the things that was evident was they, pledged their loyalty to Jesus Christ, and they stood with the apostles, and they defended them in the midst of persecution, and they identified with Paul and Silas and Timothy, they identified with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they turned to God from idols, verse nine says. There was evidence of their salvation, there was a work of faith, there was a labor of love, and a patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and the sign of God and our Father. In verse 4 he says, And this is where the theme will begin and kind of continue for a while, really all the way down through chapter 2 in verse number 8, because Paul begins to talk about how they received the gospel, how they showed evidence of their salvation. And he says in verse number six, ye became followers of us and of the Lord. So we see first of all, this morning, we see followers, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and followers of the preachers, the proclaimers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This word follow is, where we from its root word get our word mimic. To mimic means to imitate, to copy. And this word follow or followers is from the word, the root word that we get the word mimic. So it's saying be followers, be imitators, be copies of us and of the Lord. He's saying ye became imitators, copies, mimics. of us and of the Lord. That's a changed life. They used to be among the pagans and worshiping false gods. They used to have the idolatry and the immorality, but God had changed them. They were a new creation in Christ Jesus. And now where they once were followers of false teachers, and whatever kind of pagan rituals that were involved in those false religions, now they were followers of the Lord. They were imitators, copiers, followers, imitators of the Lord and of God's called servants who preached the gospel to them. This was not an arrogant statement on Paul's part. He wasn't looking for likes and follows and subscribers. He was just simply declaring that as they had been saved and had been called of God to preach the gospel, and as the Thessalonians received the gospel and were gloriously saved, They came along with them as followers of Jesus Christ. They joined with them. And Paul would say in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 16, be followers of me. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse number one, follow me as I am of Christ. So Paul in other places would, in the case of the Corinthians, would commend them as followers of the Lord and call out others to follow the Lord. And it says, if we are saying in our evangelism, come follow the Lord as we are following him, as we are disciples of Jesus Christ, come join us as disciples. And Jesus, as a matter of fact, when he called his disciples, he would say, come follow me. He shall be fishers of men. where once the Thessalonians had followed ungodly people and false teachers, they now followed Christ and preachers of the true gospel of Jesus Christ. They pledged their loyalty to Jesus Christ, having taken up their cross, denied themselves, and followed him. True believers are disciples. True believers of Jesus Christ are disciples. They are disciplined in their walk of following Jesus Christ. Jesus had said, as I already mentioned, to his own apostles, come follow me, learn of me. We have many people that we can follow in our culture today. We have hundreds of influencers And then you add the celebrities and the superstars and the various artists and entertainers. There's a lot of people that we can follow. I don't know all the statistics, but there are certain levels that you can get on YouTube of followers and you can become monetized and you can make money. I remember teaching at our Christian school at our former ministry I remember the first time that I gave out a survey to the kids about what do you want to be when you grow up. This was like junior high several years ago now. And for the first time, I mean, I'd done this survey many a time. For the first time, I saw, I want to be an influencer. And that was the majority out of, I don't know, maybe 15, 20 kids. The vast majority of them said they wanted to be an influencer. And I actually, at first, I was like, an influencer. And then I began to realize what they were talking about. And so we would talk about it in class. And there were dreams of being a YouTuber. and having followers, subscribers. And I'm not saying all that is bad. I'm not saying that there can't be any benefit to that. But who are we following? We have, again, multitudes, hundreds of channels and social media pages. There are loyalties sometimes to artists and entertainers that People are more loyal to them than they are to the Word of God, to church, to Jesus Christ. They'll give at least word, they'll mention Jesus, they'll talk like they know the Lord, but when you really look at where their time and attention, energy, and money is spent, it's often spent following people who are not following the Lord. I'm not saying, again, I don't want to be misunderstood. I'm not saying that we can't have people, YouTube channels, political commentators, whatever. I'm not saying we can't have a social media page or a YouTube channel that we follow. But I just want us to think, who are we following? Our culture today, it's been said that a culture whose Heroes and primary influencers are entertainers and celebrities is not a healthy culture. I would have to say we're not in a healthy culture because it's clear that our culture primarily follows as its heroes, entertainers and celebrities. People whose lives are typically, not always, but typically immoral and blasphemous, and much of their entertainment, not just their lifestyle, much of their entertainment, glamorizes immorality, sin, blasphemy. So who are our heroes, so to speak? Who do we follow? One of the key evidences of the Thessalonicans One of the key evidences of their salvation, of being a new creation in Christ Jesus, of the gospel saving them from their sin, is that they turned to God from idols and Paul could write back to them, you are followers of the Lord and of us. Again, that would have cost many of those Thessalonians. possibly family relationships being ostracized as many of them could have been kicked out of their homes, so to speak, and out of their families because they now follow Jesus instead of some false God, instead of some legalistic, Judaistic religion that was a work salvation. There were Thessalonians who had suffered as they helped Paul and Silas and Timothy escape from the persecutors as the rulers were forming policies and legislation against them, the Thessalonicans helped Paul and Silas and Timothy escape to Berea, where they continued to preach the gospel. If I can make a little bit of a side note, Paul, Silas, and Timothy were persecuted in Philippi, didn't change the message or the method when they came to Thessalonica. They preached the gospel, they preached Christ. And then they didn't change the message, even though they got persecuted at Thessalonica, they didn't change the message when they went to Berea. And they continued to preach the Gospel at Berea. So we see that they remained faithful to the Gospel. And where once they had blindly, the Thessalonicans had blindly, sinfully followed after false gods and the wicked, Idolatrous, immoral people of the various false religions and mythological false gods of the culture where they had once followed them blindly and sinfully, now they were followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the preachers of the gospel. Their loyalty was to Jesus Christ. So we see followers, and then we see receivers. They received the word in much affliction, verse six says. The gospel was received in spite of the hardships, in spite of the persecution, in spite of knowing that they might have to be kicked out of their families, ostracized from their culture, called weird, called whatever they would have called them in that culture as Christians. They would have had to face all those pressures. They would have had to have faced even persecution that was already aimed at Paul and Silas and Timothy for preaching the gospel, yet they identified with the gospel preachers. They identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. And they received the word. To use a sports analogy, I don't, I don't, I'm not happy with the Purdue Boilermakers football team this year, okay? I'm trying to think of the right way to say it, because I'm a Boiler fan, but it's been a rough year. And I'm listening to the game on, I guess it was Friday night, and I'm listening to the game on the radio over the internet, because we're traveling down to pick up Emily down in Indianapolis at the airport, and I'm listening to the game. And I'm hearing the call as the 75-yard pass goes through the hands of a receiver short of the end zone, which could have tied the game. He didn't receive the ball. I've seen it in baseball where a player takes his eye off the ball for just a split second on a ground ball or on a fly ball, just a split second, takes his eye off the ball. The catcher gets distracted by the runner trying to steal second base and wild pitch or pass a ball. Didn't receive But they received the Gospel. They received by faith and repentance, turning from the idols, turning from their sin and turning to God. They received the Gospel. They believed. They called upon the Lord and He saved them. And it was a pearl of great price to them that they lay hold of the Gospel, that they receive the Gospel and believe the Gospel. by God's authority, become a child of God, not by their works, not by their good deeds, not by their best efforts and their education, their intellect, but no, by confession of their sin, calling out in desperation, they received the Lord as their Savior. They were gloriously saved, though it meant persecution and resistance. And they received, notice it says, with joy, with joy, joy of the Holy Ghost, of the Holy Spirit. Romans 14 and verse 17, for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. God brings joy. The gospel brings joy. Jesus Christ brings true joy and true peace to life. The world says, oh, the fun, the entertainment, the joy, the happiness is found in all of the immorality and all of the wickedness and in all of the sin. But no, the Thessalonians, they had all that. And though they had gained the world, they were losing their souls. And the Thessalonians said no to the sin, no to the idolatry and the immorality. They saw it as condemning them to an eternal hell, and they went after Christ. They received the gospel. They trusted Christ as their Savior. They confessed their sins. They turned to God from idols, and they received joy. They receive true contentment and satisfaction and peace that can only be found in Jesus Christ. And we're thankful for the gifts that God gives us in his mercy, wonderful things that we can enjoy in life. But true, lasting joy and peace comes through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by faith, having confessed our sins, having turned from our sin and turning to Christ and his finished work on the cross and his resurrection and the Thessalonians experienced that joy and Paul wrote of that. He saw it, it was real in their life and he had heard word years later and now he's writing back to them and he's commending them and mentioning this clear evidence of their salvation that there was joy. We as believers, do we have an expression of that joy in our daily lives. Life gets hard, doesn't it? There are discouraging times, there are depressing times, there are pressures, trials and tribulations and temptations. There are times where we fail and we fall and we have to confess our sins and claim to promise He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But there's a joy to our life that should be there that's far different than the unsaved Workmate, fellow employee, teammate, classmate. There ought to be a difference that they see that we have a joy that comes from the Lord that is not a temporal happiness through fleeting passing pleasures of sin, but a deep internal joy and satisfaction and contentment that comes from a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The Thessalonians had that. So we see followers, receivers, we see joy, and then we see example in verse number seven. Ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. Examples, this word example has the idea of a stamp, an impression that's put into a coin or into wax. We have coins that have a stamp on them, have various likenesses of presidents or famous people. Maybe you have something around the house or for instance, a notary might have a stamp, a seal that is authorized and you may have to have something notarized. At our school, at our former ministry, we had a particular seal stamp that we had to put on official transcripts. So if I mailed out, I signed off on a transcript and I mailed it out, I had to seal it with that stamp. And what is he saying? He says, you have been sealed with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The stamp of Jesus Christ is upon your life. And then that then shows to everyone. See, to the point, he says that your example, that seal, that stamp of Jesus Christ on your life is so evident that it is spread throughout Macedonia and into the southern part of Greece into Achaia. I apologize for my mistake last week, I trusted my own memory and my geography and I put Thessalonica in the wrong place on the map, I apologize for that. But they're in northern Greece, they're in Thessalonica and their example, their testimony for Jesus Christ spread all throughout northern Greece and down into southern Greece, Achaia. Think about the people that came and went from Thessalonica as a major trade route, a seaport, the Aegean Way. People were getting saved. Not only was there a nucleus, a ecclesia, a local church that was formed, but they were sharing the gospel. Their testimony was being spread abroad, and there were people getting saved on their travels that were now going into Macedonia and Achaia, and people were talking about the church at Thessalonica, where they had heard the gospel. People were talking about what God was doing at the church at Thessalonica. They were examples. Reminder, again, the application, I think, is obvious and easy. What kind of examples are we? What about our children? Would they look up to us as mom and dad and say, mom and dad love the Lord. They seek to please the Lord. They seek to apply the principles of God's word to their life. What about in our workplaces? Do they see that you are a follower of Jesus Christ, an example of Jesus Christ? Do they see the seal, the stamp of Jesus Christ on your life so that when they look at you, they say that person, they're a principled person, they know the Lord. I may not know the Lord, I may not know everything that's going on in their life, but they are the real deal. Jesus Christ is real to them. And maybe you've already experienced that in your workplace or in your classroom, at your school. And people are already beginning to come to you, and it's amazing, isn't it? We talk about it often here. But people come to you, and they ask you to pray for them. And they'll ask you that, and you'll be like, well, what made you come to me? You're real. When you talk to God, I think God listens. That's the testimony that we should have. The Thessalonians had that kind of testimony, and it was spreading into the regions around Thessalonica, Macedonia, northern Greece, and into Achaia. And he continues with this in verse 8. He says, For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith through God were to spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything. Paul is saying, everywhere we're going, we're hearing, we're finding, we're meeting people who have been saved as a result of the ministry of the Thessalonians. To the point that there have been opportunities that they thought were, they were gonna be sharing the gospel. They don't have to share the gospel there because people are already saved as a result of the witness of the Thessalonians. Or they got saved and are there helping with the church or whatever. Paul is saying, we are meeting people, we are seeing the influence of the Thessalonians in places where now we don't even need to share the gospel or plant a church because there's people who are already there serving the Lord who have been saved as a result of the witness of the Thessalonians, or were saved at Thessalonica and moved abroad, or were traveling through. Paul is commending them, and he says that their witness, their testimony sounded out. This is the word that we would understand for reverberates. The idea is of a vibration. If you've ever used cymbals or if you've ever, oh, that funny bone when you hit your elbow and it reverberates up your arm. You hit a, like cymbals together and the vibration or there's, Something around the house that you bump into, you bang, and that vibration continues for a while. That's the idea. Their lives had changed. They had been saved. And now their testimony, their witness, their evangelization had spread so that they were meeting people all around who were Thessalonians who had been saved at Thessalonica, were Thessalonians who had traveled abroad or had moved away, or people who had heard what was going on and known what God was doing at Thessalonica. Verse number nine. We see in verse nine and then down to verse 10, at the end of verse number nine, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." As they're meeting these people, as they're reflecting on what God had done while they were there, Paul had probably spent months, I know Acts 17 seems to only record a short time, but Paul was probably there at Thessalonica for months. He had obviously built some close relationships with this group of believers, so that would probably mean he was there a long time, though Acts 17 records at least the initial time that he was there. But Paul had ministered and there had been a church that had been established and was growing, and he is saying, these people that we're meeting, the places that we're going where we're meeting converts, we're meeting people talking about what's going on at the church at Thessalonica. He says, they are showing to us what manner of entering in we had unto you. He's saying, we are seeing fruit of the ministry. God has been so gracious to allow us to meet people who are fruit of our labors by the grace of God and preaching the gospel at Thessalonica. I've only been in the ministry about 25 years. I thank God for it. But there is something special about meeting people who you've known through the years, and they, by the grace of God, and all praise and glory belongs to Him, but you come in contact with them, they send you a text or a card, or you see them somewhere, and they'll say thank you for your ministry. Just little things. A teacher that sent me an email the other day, and just reflecting as we emailed back and forth, and just thanking the Lord. for his ministry in our midst. And how many times do we have that and we thank God for it? Maybe we're a little ashamed because there should be more of that because we haven't maybe been that example. We haven't maybe had that gospel influence and maybe we're under some conviction today about stepping up and being a better example and living for the Lord and serving him more faithfully But the point is that Paul was giving glory to God for the fruit that remained, that now he is looking back, and with all glory to God, he is saying, you have shown the manner of your, excuse me, you have shown through your life, through your faithfulness, the fruit, the manner of entering in we had unto you, and it is so evident of your repentance that you turn to God and from idols. He is saying that they are thankful. He is saying that they continued in their faithfulness to the point that verse number 10, together they are waiting for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. What is he saying? He's saying that we have this mutual patience of hope that now is awaiting for his son. Together now, as we have bonded in Christ, as we are in Christ, as he mentioned in his greeting, in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, he said, together we are waiting for his son. We are waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. And he uses language that reflects imminence. He is saying that we together are ready and waiting for Jesus Christ and it could happen at any moment. Now he's writing in the first century and there is an expectation that Jesus Christ could come at any moment and now we are How many years later? Some 2,000 years later, year 2024, and we look around and we say, it has to be imminent, right? We see some of the technology, we see some of the political things going on, we see some of the globalism, we see some of the treaties and some of the ways in which the nations are moving, but we know that the next event on God's prophetic timetable is the rapture of the church. And we are listening for the trumpet, the voice of the archangel, but ultimately we are waiting for our Savior, Jesus Christ. And his second coming is in two phases, the rapture where he takes us up and we are with him. And then there is his physical return at the end of the tribulation to establish the millennial kingdom. And he rules and reigns with a rod of iron from his throne in Jerusalem. And then from there, there's the eternal kingdom, the new heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem. And he is writing as he speaks of their faith, as he speaks of their example, as he speaks of their evangelism, as he speaks of all of these evidences of their faith, he says, we together are waiting expectantly for the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a hope. Now remember, They had faced persecution and it seems to indicate as we continue in our study of first Thessalonians, we'll see that it appears that for those who remained at Thessalonica in that local church, we know some traveled abroad. We know some were only there on their trade routes or whatever, but it appears that the church at Thessalonica is still facing persecution and somewhat severe from what we can gather from first and second Thessalonians. So in their expectation, they're also wanting deliverance from the persecution. And that's the tension that we live with. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. There's an aspect to the Christian life where we're ready to put all this aside. But at the same time, we're called to occupy till he comes. Our time waiting for the coming of the Lord is not time wasted. It's not time to sit back in our Christian Lazy Boys and pull out our bag of chips and our Diet Coke, Coke Zero preferably, and our cup of coffee and just say, okay, Lord, when are you gonna come? Because I'm ready. No, we're to labor. It's a labor of love. It's a work of faith. We're to be occupying, we're to take the five talents or the two or the one or whatever God has given us and we're to invest it right here and right now for eternity as we wait for his coming. And the Thessalonians had that kind of spirit. That was the way they were living and Paul was commending them for it. So we continue here, as we continue into chapter two, and this theme continues, as he commends them for their testimony, for their evangelism, for their example, for their influence. He continues down in chapter two, in verse number one, he says again, our entrance in unto you, it was not in vain. He's again reflecting on the fruit that remained, the fruit that God had given them, and souls saved, and lives changed. Verse 2, but even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated as you know at Philippi. We were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention. Speaking again to the persecution they faced when they were there at Thessalonica. Verse 3 of chapter 2, for our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. Three principles of Paul's ministry, of Silas and Timothy, of Paul and their ministry. Three principles of their ministry. First of all, their message, their message. What was their message? He says in verse three, their exhortation, their teaching, their preaching. It was not of deceit or of uncleanness nor in guile. Now again, we're looking at this in contrast to having the Thessalonians turning to God from idols. They were very well aware of the false teachers, of the pagan priests, of the mythological stories, and the pagan gods, and the idolatry, and the immorality, and all those who taught and led in those false religions. They were very well aware of those. And Paul is contrasting while at the same time proclaiming the true gospel. And he is saying our message was true. He says that it was not of deceits. It was without error. What is he saying? He is saying that the word of God is true, is perfect, is holy, is the inspired word of God. We didn't come with any error. He says not of uncleanness. He said there was no impurity. What were the false teachers, the pagan gods and the mythological gods often asking of the people in moral activities? It was not unusual for there to be immoral practices involved in the worship of false gods. As a matter of fact, some of the leaders, the pagan priests and false teachers, they were rampant in immorality and sensual sins. So of course they were excusing that in the followers because they themselves were participants and wanted to get a free pass. Paul said, we didn't come with impurity. Our message wasn't to give you a free pass to sin. As a matter of fact, our message was in clear contrast to the sins that were accepted and celebrated in the city, in the land. That was even by the Roman standards considered appropriate. and just part of life. Do we not feel the same? Do we not often go through the work week and there's like a mess of sewage that we kind of shake off each day when we come home? We come to church because we want to be with God's people. We want to hear the clear unadulterated, pure message of the gospel of Jesus Christ that's without error, that's without impurity. That's not about me, I'm not talking about me and my ability to deliver the message. I'm saying I am a vessel, I'm simply a messenger taking the pure, holy, gospel truth without impurity and delivering it. I'm just a messenger and I need to be a clean vessel. It speaks to me before it ever speaks to you. When I point to you, I've got five of you, but when I point to you, I've got at least three pointing back at me. And Paul will address that as he continues in his message and then eventually his manner and his method. He's saying there's no air, there's no impurity, and he says it's without guile. The message is without guile. It's without deception. It's without lies. Literally, the word guile is the word for baiting a hook, baiting a trap. He says our message was not some deceiving message to bait you, to trap you into some condemning sin. No, it was a message of deliverance, freedom from sin. So we see the message, and then we see the manner, verse number four. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts. He said before God, the manner in which we came was pure. We were entrusted with the gospel as unworthy vessels, but he says we were allowed, it was a privilege, it was a call. We have the tremendous privilege to be authorized by God to go and to tell the gospel, to preach the gospel to every creature. We're all called to be ambassadors with the Ministry of Reconciliation. Yes, I've been called as a preacher of the gospel, but we all have the responsibility to be evangelists. to share the gospel, and he says, we were allowed of God, it's been a privilege, we've been entrusted with the gospel, and so we did so with great respect, with great reverence, with great fear of God, we delivered the message not to please men, but to please God, knowing we are going to be accountable. That was the manner, we've talked about the message, and then thirdly, the method. The method, for nearly, excuse me, for neither Verse five, for neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness, nor amends, sought we glory, neither of you nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ, but we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our souls, because ye were dear unto us. His method was not with flattering words, with a cloak of covetousness. He didn't come with greed. This wasn't the prosperity gospel where he preached to make you healthy, wealthy, and wise, like the prosperity gospel of today, that the real sign of true faith, of lots of faith, is to have a nice car and a nice house, and gold chains around your neck, a Mr. T. starter kit, and maybe a few airplanes and a Few cars, because I am to show you the example of what real faith looks like. So rich and famous we should be to show you how you can really live for God. Because if you really live for God like me and Kelly, you would be rich and famous like us. I'm saying that facetiously, tongue in cheek, of course, okay? But that's the prosperity gospel. Paul said, I didn't come like that. I worked as a tent maker. I took two offerings from Philippi because they saw my need, but I didn't come like the prosperity gospel, like the false teachers, the pagan priests who were after your money. And can I just say they were after them for immorality as well. And if we look throughout history, a lot of false teachers are fleecing the people of their money and exploiting them for personal pleasures. And Paul said, we didn't come that way. You can see, God is our witness. Our method was not with flattering words, not with covetousness, not with greed, not with self-glory or fame. He didn't even use his apostolic authority to lord over the people, to take advantage of them. No, he came in humble service, and he was gentle with them, compassionate, caring. And now he's affectionately desirous. He longs after them. He said, we came with that desire to share the gospel, to love them to the Lord and to love them as the Lord loved them and to serve them. And you can see Paul's heart here. You can see his pastoral heart for the people of God and how he longed for them to continue to grow in their faith and remain faithful. in their service for the Lord, and he says we came, and he uses the example of a nursing mother who cherishes her child. I've held all four of my kids with a formula bottle, and sometimes it was in the middle of the night, but there's something bonding and close and intimately personal about holding your newborn with a bottle, or a mother with her newborn. There's something intimate and bonding about that, isn't there? And Paul says, that's the way in which we served you. Paul's heart, his love, his pastoral care for these people, it's rebuking, it's convicting. But Paul is making it very clear he was not coming as some false teacher looking to exploit them and manipulate them and take advantage of them. No, he came with a personal care, gentle touch, with sacrifice, with service, and with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He came with the truth, and he spoke it in love, and people were saved, and there was fruit that remained. So as we close this morning, we come back to the example of the Thessalonians. Is that our testimony? Do we have that stamp, that seal, first of all, in order to have that stamp or that seal of Jesus Christ on your life, you must repent of your sin, turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. You first of all must trust Christ as your Savior, but with that seal, with that stamp, what kind of example, what kind of influence? What do we have as our personal testimony? What kind of testimony example do we have as a church that our testimony would go into Macedonia, into Achaia, and even to abroad, that these people know the Lord. They are a changed people. They love God, and they are a holy people. Do we have that kind of testimony? Are we sharing the gospel like the Thessalonians? Are we known for following Him, following the Lord like the Thessalonians? May that be true of us. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this powerful passage. Thank you for Paul's heart for the people May we have that kind of a heart for others. Lord, thank you for the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the power of God into salvation. And Lord, if there's someone here who has not been gloriously saved through the power of the gospel. Lord, may today they turn from their idols, turn from their sin and turn to God, turn to you in saving faith and call upon you. As believers, Lord, pray that you will work in our hearts regarding our example and our influence. May we be loyal, faithful, genuine followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. and not be enamored by the world, and not follow all of its values and priorities, but Lord, help us to be genuine, committed followers of you, living holy lives, faithful and obedient. Pray that, Lord, you'll do your work in our hearts as we close this service. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Jake's gonna come and lead us in our closing hymn. We'll sing just one stanza, if you'll find in your hymnals, Hymn number 13, if you'll stand to your feet and find hymn number 13, we'll sing bow the knee, just the first stanza of this great hymn. If God has worked in your heart, you can pray and seek the Lord even as we sing. If we can help you in some way after the service, please let us know. Or if we need to make an appointment this week, we'd be happy to do so. But let's sing together as our benediction hymn, as our invitation hymn. Number 13, bow the knee, Jake will come and lead us in stanza number one. the one who set me free. As I look with eyes and see his awesome glory, I remember who he is and vow that he He is King through all the ages, God of glory, God of glory. Amen. In just a moment, I'm going to ask Brian Purcell if he'll close us in a word of prayer. Kelly and I are going to step out into the lobby and greet you as you leave.