Last week, we saw how Paul began his letter to the growing church in this busy city of Thessalonica in Greece. Today, it's the second largest city in Greece and is thriving today as it was then. And we see in verses one through four how he begins this powerful letter. And this particular church, Paul planted as he was going through Greece and sharing the gospel. And the gospel was presented with great power and might and the Holy Spirit moved upon hearts and souls were saved and a small church was started. And Paul was there in Thessalonica for at least three weeks, probably a couple more months, working with not just the Jews, but also the Greeks there in Thessalonica, sharing the gospel with them and establishing them in the faith of Jesus Christ. But there was certain Jewish troublemakers that came by and they were accusing him of becoming someone that would bring down the Roman government. And so quickly he had to leave. And within just a few months of starting this church, he had to escape. And so as he is in exile, Paul writes this letter because he was thinking about his church members. He was thinking about those that he had to leave behind, even in the middle of persecution there in Thessalonica. And in the first few verses, we see a prayer of thanksgiving as Paul was thinking about them. He was thanking God for them. and also taught them some things. And really, this book is teaching them about some very key doctrine, some key teaching that will help them through the times of temptation and tribulation and persecution that they would experience there in Thessalonica. And one topic that he teaches about is found in verse four. We looked at this in a little bit last week, and we're going to develop it further today. And verse four, he says, I know, brethren beloved, your election of God. Paul says, based on what he has seen and heard in their lives, Paul could say to those brethren, I know that you are the elect or the ones that have been chosen out by God to become his own children. It's an amazing thing, an amazing statement. So now Paul, in verses five through seven, explains to them the basis for this knowledge. How does he know that they have been picked out from the people there in Thessalonica to become the children of God? He teaches them about their election. He means that God chose them to become part of that great family. Now imagine if you were there in Thessalonica and you were undergoing persecution. Your pastor had just left after being there for just a short time. You were being persecuted by people that claimed to know and love God, the Jewish people. Perhaps you start to feel a little deserted. My pastor's gone. The people that I used to have as my friends are against me now. I would imagine there was probably no greater comfort to this young and growing church than the fact that Paul, their pastor, says, because of what I have seen in your life and what I have heard about your life, I know, brethren beloved of God, that you are part of his family. I can tell that you are part of his elect. I know for a fact that you have been chosen by God to become a part of his family. There is no greater comfort for any Christian or any church than to know that they are part of the elect of God. In the midst of all this, Paul reminds them of that great truth. You've been chosen. You are part of his elect and you are safe and secure in the arms of God. Now, we don't undergo much persecution in this country. We can be thankful for the relative freedom that we have to worship and to proclaim the Bible. But back then they didn't have that luxury. And there are many Christians in the world today that do not have the kind of luxury that we have in being able to worship freely. And to them, a knowledge of their secure salvation by the election of God is probably the greatest comfort. that they could ever have. I've talked to many people that were very sick, perhaps very close to their deathbed. I remember one sister, especially Sister Joyce Hewlin. She knew she was saying. Without any doubt in her mind or any doubt in her heart, she knew that she was safe in the arms of Jesus. She knew that she was part of God's elect. And when she was struggling with her health, when she was sitting down here in the front and every once in a while she'd nod off, when she was going through that death experience, she was comforted by the fact that it wasn't so much her hand clinging to God, but it was God's hand clinging to her. She was safe in the arms of Christ because she knew she was one of his elect. Frequently, God shows you and I through the Bible that you can feel secure about your salvation. In fact, John writes in 1 John 5 13 after summarizing that entire book. And we've looked at this book a few years ago. He says this. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Why did he write this book? So that you may know. that you have eternal life, not that you might think that you do not that you might have to do certain things in order to have that security, but that you may know in your mind and in your hearts what that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. God wants those who are His children by faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, to have a confidence and a knowledge and an assurance of their election. He doesn't want you to walk around this world in doubt. He wants you to be secure and to know. Why? Because that, above all else, will comfort you when you are being persecuted, when you are going through the trials of life, when you are on your deathbed, Knowing that God has chosen you and has brought you out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and has set you on a rock, that is the greatest comfort that you and I could ever have, is knowing that we are one of his chosen people. That is a great comfort. But God also calls on you to make sure that you are one of his elect. He wants you to make sure that you are saved and that you are safe in his arms because of there is no greater thought in our life. There is no greater thing that we have to do in this life than to know for sure that we are part of his family, because if you mess up there, it messes you up for eternity, doesn't it? We sang about that. We talked about that in our prayers. We were talking to God. This is the most important thing in our life. It's not what kind of car you drive, what kind of house you live in. It doesn't matter how many grandkids you have. It doesn't matter about the clothes that you wear. It doesn't matter about any of these things. If your soul is secure, you can gain the whole world. And if you lose your own soul, everything that you've had in this world profits you absolutely nothing. And so the Lord says in 2 Peter 1 10, wherefore, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Now, what does that mean? That doesn't mean that you go out and try to become God's elect. It means that you assess and examine in your heart and your life and you make certain that you are putting your faith and trust solely in the arms of Jesus and you're believing in him and him alone for salvation. That you are not trying to work your way to heaven or work your way to have that relationship with God, but that God, in fact, has saved you and that you, in fact, are putting your faith and trust in Him and Him alone. It's not in your coming to church that saves you. It's not in reading your Bible. It's not in doing good works to the neighbors or your friends. It's in Christ and Christ's work alone. And so what Peter is saying and what Paul is saying here is there are certain evidences in the life of a true believer in Christ. There are certain things that you will be able to see as you examine yourself and you do so with diligence to make certain that you are a child of God. He says, if you do these things, you shall never fall. So how can you know that you have been chosen by God? How can you know that you are one of his elect? How can you know you have eternal life? I read a very grieving story as I was reading the biography of Bob Jones, Sr. who was a prominent evangelist during the time of D.L. Moody, and he would bring meetings to the tent meetings and the camp meetings where they had the sawdust trail back in the early 1900s. And I remember reading this biography, but there was one problem about his mother. His mother, to the very moment of her death, was worried that she was not part of God's elect. She was a godly woman. She loved the Lord. She raised up her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. She had evidence and display that evidence. And yet she realized or she thought that she couldn't be sure and she couldn't have that evidence in her life. She couldn't be absolutely certain that she was on her way to heaven. And that was a very difficult time for him and for her as she was facing death and she didn't know. She didn't know. But the Bible says that you can know. And God wants you to have a true assurance, not a false assurance where you think you are or that you think you are based on no evidence at all. But he gives to you and to me certain things that ought to be there if we are truly disciples of Christ. If they're not there, we've got to consider, are we faith? Are we putting our faith and trust alone in Christ as our savior? Are we genuinely one of his elect? How can we know that we have eternal life? There will be evidence. There will be proof of your election. And so we find these in verses five through seven. Like to begin verse four, we read again Paul saying, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. And then he describes how he knows this in verse five, because our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. Just as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake and you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost so that you were in samples or examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. This Tuesday is Election Day. I hope you're prepared. I hope you got your ID because you're going to need it to vote this year. Elections are very important. This Tuesday is important locally. We have a big election in Greenfield for the mayor. It was interesting as I read through the reporter and I saw some of the different elected officials. There's quite a few that are running unopposed. So I wonder if you have to vote for them. Does it matter? If nobody votes for someone that's running unopposed, do they still get elected? That's a question that I had when I was reading the paper. Maybe one of you know. You can tell me afterwards. But next year we have an election that is important nationally as we look to see who is going to lead our nation as the President of the United States. Now, a lot of times when we talk about the election of God, we have the mind of the democratic elections that we have in this country. Now, this kind of election that we're going to do Tuesday is very different than the election that we read about in the Bible, because when you elect someone as an official over your city or your state or your country, it's a whole bunch of people casting their vote. And whoever has the most votes wins generally. But when it comes to the election of God, You and I don't cast a ballot at all. And respectfully, when we think about it, it is God casting that ballot, if you will, based on his own knowledge and his own power to see who would become his children and give them that faith that brings them to salvation through Jesus Christ. Now, this kind of election is far different than what we're going to be doing on Tuesday. However, there are some similarities. There are some similarities. When we come to the Greenfield election this Tuesday, there's two people on the ballot that are running for mayor. There's the incumbent, who's a Democrat, Mayor Rodney Fleming, and then there's the challenger, Republican Brad DeRemer. Now, how do you know who's going to become the next mayor? How do you know? We won't know until after the election day, right? We won't know until it's actually taken place. But when it does take place, there will be proof of who was elected. There will be evidence. There will be those pieces of paper that you took to the polling booth and you circled in who you wanted to vote for. And then after a period of time, they will count all those ballots and they were there will be proof and evidence of who was elect. So it is with our election of God. If you want to know for sure whether you are on your way to heaven, there will be evidence, there will be proof, just like there is evidence and proof for who wins the election on Tuesday. For the mayoral election, first of all, there has to be proof that they have actually been elected by the people. People actually have to go to the polls and vote. The election has to be real. Not too long ago, they held an election in Iran where the current president was reelected president. Now, I'm not real sure, but I don't think that election was a real election. Sure, people probably went to the polls, but it was probably only the people that he knew would vote for him. And it turned out to be a unanimous vote. Do you remember that? It was kind of a farce. It was kind of a joke here in America. Was that a real election? More than likely not. But in order for there to be a genuine winner, there has to be a genuine vote. The election has to be real. Then and only then the one with the most votes will win. There's only one way that you and I can know if we are one of the elect of God. And that is through the through the gospel. The only way someone will know that they win the mayoral election is if people go to the polls. The only way that you and I can know that we are one of God's elect is if the gospel has been brought to us. The only way we can know is through the gospel. In verse five, it says, Paul writes, this is the basis for his knowing their election. He says, for our gospel came unto you or came not unto you in word only. but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance, just as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. The first evidence of your election as a Christian is this the reality of the gospel in your life, just as the elections have to be real in order for someone to have proof and evidence that they are the new mayor. The gospel must be real in your life. In verse five, the focus is on the gospel. It's not on the preaching of the gospel. It is on the gospel and the power of the gospel itself. What is the gospel? You don't need to turn there. But Paul, in his book to the Corinthians, first Corinthians in chapter 15, one through four, he defines for us the gospel. Listen carefully. He says, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received. and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which also I received. In other words, he was saved the same way we are. And this is the sum of the gospel, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried And that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ, the good news about Jesus Christ coming into this world to save you and to save me from our sin. There's a lot in that definition of the gospel. It shows us that there is to be a conviction of our sin. There is to be a recognition that I need a savior, that I need someone away from me, apart from me in order to bring me salvation. I cannot save myself. I must rely upon one man, the man Christ Jesus, that God the Father sent to be the savior of the world. What is the gospel? Romans one 16 adds to this definition where Paul writes, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ saving those who believe in him for salvation from sin. Question is, Is the gospel real in your life? How does the gospel become real in your life and demonstrate and have proof and evidence in your life that you are one of God's elect? We see that in this verse for our gospel came not into you in word only. We see here that the gospel will become real through the calling power of the gospel. It says here that it didn't come only in word, but it also implies that the word had to be there. He did have to come and share the gospel about Jesus Christ. That is why it is absolutely critical for us to share our faith. How shall they believe on him in whom they have not heard? If someone does not hear the gospel about Christ, they cannot be saved. They cannot know that they are part of the elect of God. They cannot have eternal security. Why? Because it is by Jesus Christ, that one name, that one man, He is the way. He is the truth. He is the light. And no man cometh unto the Father, but through him. This is why we have missions. This is why on Wednesday nights, especially, we've been looking at our missionaries. They need our prayer. They need our support. Why? Because we need to give the gospel out. It is through the gospel. It is through the word of God. It is through the word that is preached. That is the calling power where God says, come unto me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You have to receive the calling of God's word to salvation. Now, it did come in word, but it did not come in word alone. And this is where we see the power of the gospel. How does the how does the gospel becoming real in your life through the calling power of the gospel? First of all, you have to receive it. You have to hear it. You have to hang on it and you have to believe it. But it's also through the convincing power of the gospel. We see that the word, the gospel did not come in word only, but also in power. Here we have the facts of belief. This power is a life transforming, mind altering power. We see this power, and I think Paul had in mind this power when he opened the gospel to the people in Thessalonica in Acts 17. That's the passage that you need to go to if you want to see that particular church being founded and started. But according to Acts 17, for Paul reasoned with them out of the scriptures and what happened after he reasoned with them and showed them out of the Bible who Jesus Christ was and how they could come unto the father through Jesus, the son, it says in Acts 17 for that some of them believe what happened. When Paul reasoned with them and taught them from the Bible, something happened to their mind. They were thoroughly convinced that the Old Testament was talking not about some other man, but was talking about one man, Jesus Christ. And they put their belief in the only one that could save them. Their minds were changed and their hearts believed as a result. The convincing power of the gospel is what is needed to make the gospel real in our life. How a person answers the question that we find in Matthew 22, 42 shows if the gospel has come unto you in power or not. And that question is this. What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? That's what Jesus asked his disciples and the disciples said, well, some people believe you're Isaiah or or one of the prophets. Yes. What do you who do you say that I am? Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. How you answer that question demonstrates the evidence that you need in your life, whether or not you're one of his elect, whether or not you are a child of God. If you cannot say with all certainty that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that you are placing your entire life and destiny in his hands because he is your Savior. That's an evidence that the gospel has not come unto you. with a convincing power. It is all about Christ and his work on your behalf and in your life. That is how the gospel becomes real in your life, through the calling power of the gospel, through the convincing power of the gospel, also through the convicting power of the gospel. He goes on and says our gospel came not into you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. This is the reason for their belief. You see, God alone can take what is in the mind and plant it in the heart. When Paul reasoned with them and it convinced them in their mind, what happened then was they believed. Why? Because of the power of the Holy Spirit convicting them of their sin, showing them their need of salvation. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been convicted in your heart, showing you that you need Christ, that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, that apart from Christ, you are absolutely nothing? You've never had that conviction of sin in your life. You're lacking one of the key evidences that you are a child of God. Many ads also in much assurance. Here we have the changing power of the gospel, the changing power of the gospel, another key evidence of the fact that you are one of his elect, it says here in much assurance. This is the evidence of belief. That word much assurance literally has a picture of a full wearing. We're getting a lot closer to fall and winter and eventually we're going to start bundling up to wear a lot of clothes to stay warm. It's really fun as it gets colder and the kids like to go out and play in the snow. We have to bundle them up. We stick, I usually stick. sweatpants on and then I'll stick their jeans on. And then if they have a snowsuit, I'll stick a snowsuit on. And then, of course, they have a shirt and an undershirt, a flannel shirt, maybe a sweater and their coat. And by the time they go outside, they feel like they're about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. But why do they put that on? Because when they go outside where it's below zero, they will stay warm. But you can tell how warm someone is by how much clothes they have on. Or you can tell how cold things are by how much they are wearing. So it is with this full assurance. This is the evidence of belief. It's like putting on many layers of clothing. It is visible. You can tell. You can absolutely tell. You can tell if someone is wearing a lot of extra clothes and you can tell whether someone is saved or not by what is demonstrated in their life. What was worn or done on the outside would demonstrate what the word, the power and the Holy Spirit did on the inside. This is the evidence, the power of the gospel. The power of the gospel is a powerful evidence of your election. So as Peter says, make your calling and election sure. Make certain that you are a child of God. What is the gospel done in your life? Is it real? If we did not have an election, we would not have a real mayor. If the gospel is not real in your life and has not demonstrated itself in your life, you are not a real, genuine born again believer and your eternity is at stake. Have you heard God's call through his word? I think all of us can say yes, we have heard God's call through his word. We have sat here, we have listened to the gospel, we know the facts of the gospel. None of us have an excuse. We have all received it. There are many people in this world that have not received it. As I mentioned, our hearts need to go out to them and then we need to do what we can to share the gospel with them. There's people here in Indiana that have not heard the saving message of the gospel. I remember one of our One time, the president of our college, when we were down there, said he took a taxi cab in New York City, and I think it was an Arab man was driving him and he struck up a conversation and was talking to him about the Lord. And this man had never heard the name Jesus Christ in his life. We don't have that excuse. We don't have that problem. We've all received the calling of the gospel, his word. But has it done something to us? Has it changed us? Has it done something in our life? Is it real? Are you convinced in your mind about Jesus Christ? If you're doubting in Christ or you think that there is some other way other than Christ, you're not believing in Christ and you don't have evidence of your election. You cannot be saved apart from him and being convinced in your mind, in your heart that he is the way, the only way to heaven. Have you been convicted of your sin and your need of a savior? This is how the gospel becomes real in your life is when the Holy Spirit comes and does his work in your heart and convicts you of sin. Or can we go along and say, I'll do what I want when I want. And if we're never convicted and smitten in our conscience because of our sin is a demonstration that we're not part of his elect. Has there been a change in your life? I remember when I was in Sunday school and youth group, there was a song that we would sing. There's been a great change since I've been born again. Has there been a great change since you've been born again, or is your life no different than anybody else in this world? If there's no difference, there's no evidence. If there's a difference, you can look at it and examine it and make your election and calling sure and say, Lord, I praise God that the gospel and the power of the gospel has taken me from where I've been and has placed me in another realm, heaven. And I'm going to live like a Christian. There's a second proof when we go to the elections this Tuesday. In order to know who won the election, We have to have proof that that person who was actually elected in reality has accepted those results. Sometimes in the national elections, there's these huge parties that are thrown and they're designed always to be a victory party. No one is going to plan a losing party. They have the balloons already up there and the confetti. I mean, they are ready to go. So when they get the results, they can accept those results and say, I'm going to be your next president. And then they can have the songs and the fanfare and the balloons will come down and they'll pop them all with their pins. And they're all ready for that victory. But until the loser concedes and the winner accepts the results of those elections, they cannot serve in that election. Would it be silly if someone said. They got they won in a landslide, the election results were fantastic. And they got up there and they had all the victory stuff ready and they said, I'm not going to serve. I'm not going to serve, but they were elected, are they still the official? No. Why? Because they conceded and they said they don't want it anymore. The second evidence of your election of God is how you respond to the gospel in your life. The mayor, the winning mayor, is going to have to respond to those election results and say, yes, I'll take the job. You and I, as evidence of our election by God, have to respond to the gospel in our life. And we see this in verse six. Because again, as evidence of what Paul says, I know your election of God in verse four. And he talks about the gospel being real in their life. And here in verse six, he says, I've seen the response to the gospel in your life. And he says, and he became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word and much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. Another key evidence of your election is who you follow. He says, you became followers of us and of the Lord. That word follow comes from the original word mimetai, where we get our word mimic from. It means to become like or to act like someone. And the order that we find here is important. It's kind of a follow the leader with words. Look at it. It says, and you became followers of us and of the Lord. Who's leading the way? The Lord. And as the disciples and the apostles were following the Lord, we and the people there in Thessalonica were following the Lord in that same way. This was evidence of their election. Paul, in First Corinthians 11, once said something similar. He said the followers, again, that same word mimic the followers of me, even as I am of Christ. Now, this doesn't mean that you become a clone of that person. Rather, you want to be known as the early apostles were known. In Acts 4, 13, people looked at Peter and John and said this about them. They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. And people look at your life and say. That person's been with Jesus this week. That person's been walking with Christ this week. That person has been reading their Bible this week, that person has been going to church and worshiping and serving the Lord this week. Are you following him? The evidence is this, it's going to be when you follow him, you will become Christlike. You will become like him. You will become a mimicker of him, following after him, especially in your response to the gospel. And here we have the responses that they had and what we ought to have as evidence of our election. Are you receptive to the word? It says here in verse six that they received the word that word received means to receive warmly and to take hold of and to embrace. It's as if you had a friend that you hadn't seen for many years and you saw them and you ran up to them and you open your arms and you held them a few months ago. friend of mine who we went to college together and he passed through a church for a while. He's driving a semi truck now, but we were pulling up and I asked my wife, I wonder whose car that is out there. We were pulling up and I looked through my rear view mirror and there was this big lumbering fellow as he was walking through the parking lot. And I looked at it and looked at him. That's my good friend, Tracy Mitchell. I hadn't seen him for a couple of years. And I got out and he says, you need to shut off the car first. I was so excited to see my good friend. And the very first thing that we did when we got together and we got close to each other was we embraced. That's that word. We receive one another, we embrace, we welcome each other. That is what the picture is. When you respond to the word, you're going to do so by being receptive to it. You're going to receive it warmly, take hold of it as if it were a good friend. This is an evidence of your election. If you are receptive to the word of God, there's so many people that aren't receptive to the word of God, but rather they keep to themselves teachers that will teach to teach them what they want to hear instead of listening to the word of God. You listen to the word of God and you want to listen to the word of God. And every time you have the chance to listen to the word of God, you do. That is an evidence of your election. Another way that we see this is not just how you respond to the word, but how you are responded to. Are you resisted because of the word? It says here you've received the word in much affliction. This shows what it must have been like in Thessalonica. It wasn't just affliction. It was much affliction. They experienced a lot of affliction and persecution and opposition because where the gospel goes forth with power that we saw in verse five, there will be opposition. If the gospel is real in your life, there will be opposition to you and to me and our church. If this is how people respond to the gospel in your life, it is an evidence of what it has done in your life. So, yes, we don't want to go around thinking, OK, I want people to beat me up because of the gospel. But have you been opposed because of the gospel that people saw in your life? There is an offense to the gospel, and I'm afraid that when we do not share the gospel the way it's clearly presented in the Bible. There will be no offense. When you read a book like Become a Better You, or your best life now, which Pastor Joel Osteen in Texas is writing, he takes out the offense of the gospel. The Bible says all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And yet he's trying to take out the offense of the gospel and take away that suffering and that affliction. If the Bible very clearly teaches that if the gospel is real in your life, part of the evidence of that is that there will be opposition. Not because of your pride, not because of how you display what is going on in your life, but because of what Christ has done in your life, the very message of his word. Another way that we see this in our responses are rejoicing in the word. It says in verse six again, you receive the word in much affliction, but with joy of the Holy Ghost joy in the middle of affliction. That is unnatural, isn't it? Most of the time when I'm sick, I am miserable. I don't want to be have a lot of people around me. The other day, We were moving some tables downstairs and my daughter had one end and I had the other and we were moving it into the room and I rammed my finger into the door jam. Oh, and it hurt. And it's smart. This is about a week ago. It still hurts and it still smarts. And I just dropped the table down. I went to the room and I was just holding it and I was like. because it hurts so bad. And my daughter comes in and is thinking, did I do that? Are you OK? And I just said through my clenched teeth, just go away. Just go away. Why? Because a lot of times we just want to be alone and we want to just get over it. How many times do we go through affliction? This affliction isn't just talking about illness. It's talking about opposition. And we're joyful in it. That's not natural. It's not natural. It's through and from the Holy Spirit. Just before they went to the city of Thessalonica, Paul and Silas were in the city of Philippi, about 100 miles north, and there came a point where they were thrown in prison in the city of Philippi. But you know what happened in Acts 16, 25? It says that at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God and the prisoners heard them. That is unnatural. That is unnatural. But that's OK, because it's supernatural. And that is an evidence of your election by God, because he is placed in your heart, the Holy Spirit, who will give you joy in the midst of affliction and difficult circumstances. Your response to the gospel is an evidence of your election. You and I need to make our calling and election sure by examining the evidences of our election. How have you and I responded to the gospel? Are you striving to follow Christ, to mimic him, to be like him? Are you receptive to his word? Or I know it's a few minutes after twelve when twelve o'clock strikes, you're ready to go. Are you receptive to his word? Are you eager to hang on what God is teaching you through his word? Are you being resisted because of his word in you? Are you rejoicing through his word? These are evidences of our election, a third proof. When this election takes place on Tuesday is. If someone accepts that election result, they actually have to show up to the office sometime and serve. If they don't do that, they're not mayor, no matter how many people elected them. Eventually, you'll get wind and we'll have to have another election and find someone that wants the job. A third evidence that we see in these verses of our election is the result. from the gospel in your life. And it says in verse seven, so that you are examples or in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. Now, in verse six, Paul first called them followers, and that's a pretty admirable statement. Now, in verse seven, Paul calls them examples. They came from being a follower to being someone who could be followed. That word in sample is from the Greek word to pass or type. These were the types that is discipleship from becoming a follower to becoming an example, a transition is what we need in our life. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, 12, he said, Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example, a tupos, a type. Same word. How? In word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. This typos or this tupos is a figure that is formed by a blow or an impression. I was talking to Brother Everett about coins this morning. He's a coin collector. I enjoyed collecting coins. I don't get to do it very much anymore because it is an expensive hobby. But one thing that I learned about coins is that they are made and minted when it is struck. That is what happens when a coin is made. It is struck. And in the Roman world, the coins that they made, they would take silver and gold and they would have a die and they would place that die on that planchette and take a big hammer and they would strike it. And the image from the die was then placed on that coin. It happens today in our midst, the U.S. midst, and it happens millions and millions of times. That is the picture of what the gospel will do in your life. It will make a big impact on others. This is an evidence of the gospel is the kind of impact that you through the gospel have on others. The impact will be faithful, it says, to all that believe. In other words, you have a faithful pattern that is worthy to be followed. Really brings to this question. Is your life as a Christian worthy to be followed. Would you want your spouse to follow you as you follow Christ? Would you want your children? To be like you as a Christian. Would you want your grandchildren to follow after your type and your example as you follow after the Lord? Would you want someone to follow your example as a Christian? Believe it or not, even if you don't want them to, many will. In fact, many already have. This is why we need to make the transition from being just a follower to being an example. From being a follower to being a type where God, through the gospel, makes an impression and that impression, when it is made, makes other followers examples. When you see that impression, there is an evidence. that the gospel is real in your life. There's an evidence of your election by God. The impact not only will be faithful, but it will be far reaching. He says that their testimony, their example was to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. Macedonia was where Thessalonica was. Achaia was in southern Greece. And in less than a year, the testimony of that small, young church reached all of Greece. It was far reaching. That's an amazing thing. How far has your testimony reached? When you see the far reaching impact of the gospel in your life to others in your neighborhood, in your schools, in your workplaces, in your families, your children and grandchildren, there's an evidence that God has elected you and is now using you in the lives of others. But often the impact will also be fast. This is the result of Christ centered Christians being revived by the Holy Spirit. When you realize the impact that God can make through the gospel in you. You will be revived. That's my desire this morning is that when you are certain of your election, you're going to go out here and you're not going to worry what people are going to think about you. You're not going to worry about what people can do to you because, you know, you're you're saving the arms of Jesus and you can make a huge impact. by God working through his gospel in your life, because no longer are you a follower, but you're an example. It's not just talking about me or the elders or the deacons is talking about you, you as the church ought to be an example. The results from the gospel is an evidence of your life and you need to make your calling and election certain by considering the impact your faith and your life. Has. As I mentioned earlier, one of the greatest comforts to Christians is election. When you feel deserted by everyone else, this ought to come to mind, because you can know that you have eternal life. You can know that you are chosen by God. You can know that you have security by him. You need to examine, as we've done here this morning, the evidences of election in your life. You need to make your calling and election sure. Are these evidences there? Are they there? Is the gospel real in your life because you see the power of it in your life? Is there the results of the gospel in your life that we've seen making a big impact on the world around you? And is there a response to God's word?