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Preached February 17, 2008 at Longview Missionary Baptist Church
1 Thes. 2:1-16 (ESV)
For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. [2] But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. [3] For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, [4] but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. [5] For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed— God is witness. [6] Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. [7] But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. [8] So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
[9] For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. [10] You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. [11] For you know how, like a father with his children, [12] we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
[13] And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. [14] For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, [15] who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind [16] by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last!
The boy was at a crossroads. His parents had taken him to church when he was younger. But over the last few years, church and Christianity was not a high priority. His parents’ marriage was crumbling and the home was becoming a war zone. Added pressures of a layoff for the father followed by reeducation to try to find a new job and long working hours for the mother left the children to see about themselves much of the time.
The boy was transitioning between middle school to high school, which meant changing schools. Many of his familiar friends were gone. High school brought many new challenges the boy was trying to navigate alone. Alcohol, drugs, sex, rebellion, and paganism were at his finger tips. He was at a crossroads many teenagers face.
What would become of him? Statistically, he was headed for trouble. The deck was stacked against him.
What would you do for that boy? All around us are teenagers and children and young adults and senior adults and median aged adults who are at a crossroads. On one hand, they can go down the path that leads them off of a precipice. Or, they can be led in a different direction. All they need is a guide.
Have you noticed how many guides there are in the world? How many people want to influence you away from God and Christ and truth and hope and faith and love? They try to seduce you to worship the false gods of sensuality and materialism and self. They promise no limits, no boundaries, only freedom to do exactly what you want to do. The result is marriages crumble, addictions slip a noose around necks, and people are desperate.
As a Christian, every single one of us is called to be a guide for others. Jesus used a different phrase. He called us to “make disciples.” A disciple maker is a guide. A person who comes along side and helps others walk with Christ.
Just like that boy who was at a crossroads, we all know people, young and old, who need encouragement in the right direction. Right now you have friend who is about to walk out on her marriage, hoping for something better. You have a friend who is making reckless choices and can’t see the harm that is going to come to him and others. You know teenagers and children who are wandering through life because they don’t know any better. You know someone who is searching spiritually.
And you can make a difference in their lives. As Christians, we know that Jesus Christ is the answer, that the Lord is our only hope. We have the Gospel– the Good News of how Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection can transform our lives and our world. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus is Lord and Savior.
So, as Christians, we are called to make a difference in the lives of people, to be disciple makers.
Whose life do you want to make a difference in for the kingdom of God?
How can we do it?
1. A disciple maker pleases God above all others. (vv. 4-5)
a. We must not begin with the disciple. We must not begin with ourselves. We must begin with God.
i. ILL– Army Boot Camp– not about what the recruit wants or likes. Aim is not to please them, but the Army.
b. As disciple makers, pleasing God is job #1.
i. V. 4– He called us.
ii. V. 4– He evaluates us.
iii. V. 5– He watches us.
John Stott: “No secret of Christian ministry is more important than its fundamental God-centeredness. The stewards of the gospel are primarily responsible neither to the church, [nor to people], but to God himself. On the one hand, this is a disconcerting fact because God scrutinizes our hearts and their secrets, and his standards are very high. On the other hand, it is marvelously liberating, since God is a more knowledgeable, impartial and merciful judge than any human being or ecclesiastical court or committee. To be accountable to him is to be delivered from the tyranny of human criticism.”
c. We play to an audience of 1– The Lord
d. For Paul, Silas and Timothy, being approved by God, trusted by God and searched by God banished any possibility of dishonesty from their hearts and stirred them to fearless, persistent Gospel proclamation.
e. Nothing provides a better check to self-seeking in Christian work than a constant awareness of God.
2. A disciple maker genuinely cares for disciples. (7-9, 11)
a. Many who operate under the banner “Christian” who are merely doing all they can to take advantage of people.
b. We, like Paul, must act like a tender mother and loving father.
i. Nursing mother– gentle, caring, giving without getting anything in return.
ii. Father– carefully guides and instructs his children
iii. Both motivated by sacrificial love for the well-being of the child.
iv. This is what discipleship ought to look like.
c. Giving or sharing our lives with those we are discipling. You can’t make a difference in the life of a person and keep them at arm’s distance.
d. Paul worked hard for the benefit of the Thessalonians. He was self-sacrificing for their benefit.
3. A disciple maker faithfully lives the Gospel. (6, 9-10)
a. The Gospel changes everything. It redirects our lives.
i. If we are going to be used by God to make a difference in the lives of other people, then our lives must be transformed.
ii. Paul modeled the Gospel with his entire life.
b. We must live out the message we share. We are to model the Gospel.
i. Discipleship is more caught than taught.
ii. ILL– easy to teach a lesson on prayer. Must more effective to see prayer in action
iii. Our disciples begin to emulate and reflect us.
c. Our lives must be consistent with the message we proclaim. This is crucial for parents who want their children to grow up to love God.
d. V. 10– Holy living witnessed by the Thessalonians. Can the people you are influencing give testimony to your holy lifestyle?
4. A disciple maker boldly declares the Gospel. (1-3, 4, 11, 13)
a. We have only one message. Not just empty, pointless words. Not false words. We give clear, persuasive teaching of the Gospel.
b. It is often opposed. Those who stand for the Gospel will be persecuted.
c. The Gospel is the message that Jesus is Savior and Lord.
5. A disciple maker calls for commitment to the Lord. (12, 14-16)
a. A disciple maker models, teaches, and then expects the disciple to live it.
b. Accountability to live God’s way sorely lacking today. We don’t expect much from one another. Possibly because we are not living the way we should.
c. We must live holy lives and call others to holiness as well. We must live for Christ, no matter the cost.
Conclusion
Are you a disciple maker? God wants you to be one.
Back to the boy– Several people came into his life at just the right time. They loved God and sought to please him above all others. They genuinely cared for the boy. They modeled the message they shared. They called the boy to commit to Christ, to live for him.
People like Danny and Penny, Chip and Justin, Mike and Bill. They discipled the boy who is preaching this message to you today. I am a product of discipleship. People made a difference in my life. You can make a difference in the lives of others.
Will you make a difference in a life today? Will you be a disciple maker?
Preached February 10, 2008 at Longview Missionary Baptist Church
1 Thes. 1:9-10 (ESV)
For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, [10] and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
The process of metamorphosis in nature is fascinating. An insect egg is laid and develops. In 4 days it hatches and becomes a caterpillar. For two weeks the caterpillar eats, and stores up energy. It enters the pupa stage and forms a chrysalis (hard outer casing). For 10 days it is in the chrysalis. While encased, the caterpillar is undergoing extraordinary transformation. At the end of 10 days, a monarch butterfly emerges and lives for another couple of months.
Monarchs, the state insect of Texas by the way, are a great illustration of what happens to us when we become Christians. We undergo a transformation or conversion when we become a child of God.
There was a point in our lives when we were lost, sinful, corrupt, spiritually dead, enemies of God. But God, in his mercy brought about transformation of our lives through the cross of Jesus Christ, the drawing of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of our sins.
John 3:3 (NKJV) Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
2 Cor. 5:17 (NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Acts 3:19 (NKJV) Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
New birth, new creation, new life– all words and phrases to describe our transformation or conversion. Last week, I told you that God initiates and completes our salvation. This is called election. But God uses the process of conversion to save us. Unless you have been converted, you are not a child of God, your sins have not been forgiven, you do not have a home in heaven, and you are separated from the love and mercy of Christ. Just like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, conversion is a radical reorientation of one’s life.
While some things remain the same, there are fundamental differences. When we are converted, we are still the same person, but we have new character, new life, new hope, new direction, new focus, new relationship with God.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 describes the process of conversion, what conversion looks like in the lives of the Thessalonian believers and in our lives too. What does conversion entail?
1. Repentance: “turning to God from idols”
a. The Thessalonian church was filled with Gentiles.
i. Gentiles worshiped many false gods. Family gods, city gods, patron gods for their line of work, imperial gods of Rome, cult of Caesar.
ii. You could have as many gods as you wanted, just as long as you didn’t abandon any of them. To do so might bring the wrath of the gods down on the community.
b. But to become a Christian, you cannot worship other Gods. There is only one God, and he is a jealous God. He will not allow you to serve him and other gods. An idol is anything we establish in our lives that might compete with God’s preeminence. An idol is a God-substitute. This includes family, vocation, food, sex, entertainment, power, money, and pleasure.
i. Many so-called Christians today try to have the One True God on one hand and have their pet gods on the other. They come to worship on Sunday, but the rest of the week, they worship their idols.
ii. But Paul teaches us that we cannot really worship God if we hold onto our idols. We cannot be converted if we do not turn from idols.
c. Turning means repentance. Repentance is a changing of one’s heart and life. True repentance is a thorough change both of mind and lifestyle.
i. Repentance means turning from all sin to all good. True repentance includes sorrow for sin and a broken heart over our idolatry.
ii. Repentance is not a half step of merely adding Jesus Christ to your cabinet of worshiped objects. It is a radical step of abandoning the gods of this world, and the lifestyle of immorality and wickedness the worship of those idols bring.
d. Repentance is a willful act of turning from one path and proceeding in another direction. It is turning to God. This turning to God leads to:
2. Commitment: “serving the living and true God”
a. Take note of whom we serve. God is living and true. He is not imaginary. He is not created in our minds. He is alive. He is real. He is nothing like the idols we worship in our hearts.
b. We are to serve him. The word serve comes from the Greek word for “SLAVE.” It refers to total commitment to God.
c. We must give God our total commitment in worship.
i. Worship is devotion and love given to someone or something.
ii. Whom or what do you worship? Consider what you are most devoted to, what you are most committed to.
iii. Is it a job, a person, a hobby?
iv. God alone must receive our highest and greatest commitment in worship.
v. All of life is to be an expression of worship to God. We worship. It is not just Sunday Church stuff.
vi. When you work, work for the Glory of God. When you play, play in a way the honors God. When you go about the mundane of life, do it in a way that screams, “I love the Lord! I am committed to him! I offer all that I am to him as a sacrifice of praise.”
d. Serving God means living a just and good life. It means we will love our neighbors and show mercy to those who need it. It means we show love to the unlovely and compassion to those who deserve retribution. It means we help the helpless and comfort the afflicted. It also means we confront injustice and defend the weak. It means we celebrate what is right and pure and noble.
e. It means we serve our fellow man by taking them by the hand and leading them to the Savior.
f. This commitment to the Lord does not last for a little while and then expire. There is no retirement age when it comes to being committed to the Lord. (ILL– Brother Richardson sharing the Gospel with Jeremy at Colonial Village).
3. Perseverance: “waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ”
a. Notice how Christ is described:
i. He is God’s Son. He is deity.
ii. He comes from heaven. He is seated in the throne room of all creation and rules it.
iii. He is the Jesus- a real person who lived historically.
iv. He is the one who died on the cross and rose from the dead, defeating death and by doing so, the one who gives us eternal life.
v. He is the one who delivers us from wrath. God’s wrath is God’s righteous judgment against those who are evil and disobey the truth. It is not an irrational outburst of passion by God or a fit of temper. Rather if God is holy, pure and righteous, then his wrath represents a just reaction to the wickedness of those who rebel and sin against him.
(1) And Jesus delivers us from it. We deserve God’s wrath.
(2) But Jesus bore it on the cross for us and we can be forgiven.
b. We are to wait for the coming of this Jesus. One day Jesus is going to return. All the promises will be fulfilled.
c. Until then, we persevere. We don’t quit. We don’t turn away. We don’t give up. We keep on turning away from idols to serve the living and true God. And we don’t abandon Him.
d. Waiting means we are patient and we trust him. We have sustained expectation. The result of genuine conversion is perseverance to the end.
Conclusion–
If you remove one of these things– Repentance, Commitment, or Perseverance– you do not have genuine conversion. But remember, God initiates and completes it. Philip. 1:6 “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” Have you been converted?
Preached February 3, 2008 at Longview Missionary Baptist Church
Everyone has opinions on what “church” should look like and be like. There are several categories where people have strong opinions:
Architecture– imposing Cathedrals to traditional colonial meeting houses to doing the best you can in the jungle with a simple lean-to made with sticks and leaves to very simple frame building
Interior– very ornate and formal to informal and casual, some even with no walls
Pulpits– some are massive works of art and others simple and rugged.
Music style– classical, southern gospel, traditional, contemporary
Order of service– liturgical high church, to low church informal, to no liturgy at all
Style– traditional style, contemporary, formal, informal
But ultimately, none of those things have anything to do with church.
Churches are like cars. When you buy a car, you have many choices when it comes to features and accessories. From the paint color to power windows and locks to electric seats to leather or cloth interior, many options for people. The paint doesn’t fundamentally change the car. It is just a preference. The fundamental thing is that it has an engine, and a frame, and wheels and runs.
Unfortunately Christians today are fighting over the color of the car and could care less about the car itself. In other words, we fight over preferences but neglect the substance of church.
Definitions:
Church– a congregation of Christ’s baptized disciples, united in belief of what He has said, and covenanting to do what he has commanded. So we are talking about people committed to Christ and to one another.
Gospel Church– or a New Testament Church, as opposed to “so-called” or false churches, is committed to Jesus Christ in spirit & truth. Many cults and false religions that claim the name church but really are not because they do not submit and worship Christ.
5 Essential Marks of a Gospel Church – 1 Thess. 1:1-8
1. A Gospel Church is founded by God’s loving choice. (v 4)
a. This is where it all begins. Salvation and church and the Christian life and our hope doesn’t begin or even end with us. It begins and ends with God.
b. Election is a word we understand in our day to day lives. ILL– Electing a president. But it is horribly misunderstood when it comes to God. So let me try to explain it.
c. Election means God initiates and completes our salvation.
d. ILL– in adoption, a person goes to an orphanage or to an agency and selects a child to adopt. That child is chosen and brought into a new family.
e. God’s election of us is based on love and mercy in action.
f. Many questions that Scripture doesn’t shed a lot of light on for us like what about those not elect and can we resist God’s election. I don’t know about those areas. But one thing I do know, is if it were not for God’s gracious act, no one would be saved and none of us would be here.
g. John 6:44 (NKJV) No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
h. John 15:16 (NKJV) You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
i. Ephes. 1:3-6 (NKJV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, [4] just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, [5] having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, [6] to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
j. A Gospel Church is populated by people God has lovingly drawn to himself and redeemed.
2. A Gospel Church is committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. (vv. 1, 3)
a. The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of our lives and our church. Without Jesus, nothing matters.
b. To quote the grand hymn: “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
c. In v. 3, we see that Jesus is the focus of our faith. A Gospel church will be Christocentric or Christ Centered and Christ Focused. It is all about Jesus!
3. A Gospel Church is empowered by the Holy Spirit. (vv. 5,6)
a. In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the church in a new way. He empowered the church to fulfill all that Christ commanded and purposed for us.
b. In verse 5, we find the Holy Spirit enables us to receive the Gospel.
i. The Holy Spirit illumines the Gospel or makes the Gospel understandable.
ii. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1 that the Gospel is foolishness to those who do not believe.
iii. John 16:8-11 (NKJV) And when He (Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: [9] of sin, because they do not believe in Me; [10] of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; [11] of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
iv. John 16:13 (NKJV) However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
v. 1 Cor. 2:12-13 (NKJV) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. [13] These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
c. The Holy Spirit enables us to rejoice in the Gospel (v. 6)
i. The gospel came to the Thessalonians in affliction. Yet they rejoiced.
ii. Though the Holy Spirit we are able to find joy in Christ no matter what happens.
4. A Gospel Church is characterized by Christian Virtue. (v 3)
a. Faith, love, and hope are the three cardinal virtues of every believer, and the virtues of every Gospel church.
b. These virtues are active.
i. Faith is Expressing trust in what God has done.
ii. Hard working love (working to the point of weariness).
iii. Enduring hope in Christ that does not erode with time.
5. A Gospel church bears witness to the Gospel. (v. 8 )
a. A Gospel church has been transformed by the Good News, the greatest news and a gospel church is compelled to spread it abroad.
b. At home– we share with our neighbors and family
c. And abroad– through the whole world.
Conclusion – This is what a Gospel church is and what it looks like. And remember, a church is composed of people. So, when we look at these essential characteristics of a church, we have to analyze our personal lives in view of them.
1. Are we a people established by God’s loving choice? In other words, has God worked in our lives to save us and adopt us?
2. Are we committed to the Lord Jesus Christ above all others?
3. Are we living in the power of the Holy Spirit day by day to be and do all God want us to be and do?
4. Are our lives marked by active faith, love and hope?
5. Are we bearing witness to the world around us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which alone is their only hope?
We must embody the Gospel (relationship with Triune God & our lifestyle) & pass it on (message).
Peached on January 27, 2008 at Longview Missionary Baptist Church. The is the first of a series of sermons on 1 & 2 Thessalonians.
In 1964 Sam Cooke recorded A Change Is Gonna Come. The song eventually came to symbolize the hopes and dreams of the Civil Rights movement– a change that would see all people respected and treated decently and fairly no matter what color your skin is.
Change is a common theme for many who feel disenfranchised and abused. Change is longed for by anyone who is not happy with the way things are.
John Mayer wistfully sings Waiting on the World to Change. It could almost be the theme song for this generation– a generation that is frustrated with what they see as injustice and a desire to make it different, but realizing they don’t have the power to do anything about it. Their answer- wait and bide their time until they have the power and then change the world. The song ends, “…one day our generation is gonna rule the population so we keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change…”
What will it take to change the world?
In the middle of the first century, a scruffy, weathered, rough-yet-gentle man walked into the city of Thessalonika in the region of Macedonia determined to change the world.
He wasn’t going to do it through education, economics, politics, or military might. Not democracy or dictatorship; capitalism or communism; Marxism or Humanism.
Paul’s aim was to change the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Of all the methods, theories, and devices in the world people try to use to change the world, only the Gospel can change the world. In fact, the Gospel Changes Everything.
● Map– 2nd Missionary Journey. Departed Phillipi and arrived in Thessalonica.
● Free City in the Roman Empire that served as the capital city for the region of Macedonia. It was known as the key to Macedonia.
○ Via Egnatia ran through it. Best harbor for Aegean sea, a center for commerce.
● City was full of artisans, manual laborers, sailors, orators, and business people. But, it was not an educational or philosophical center like Athens. More like Detroit or Pittsburgh– A blue collar town.
● Allowed various religions to practice their faiths,They were very syncretistic. The city and its residence unified in worshiped Caesar.
● Paul goes to the synagogue (Reading of OT, lesson on Jewish tradition, and prayers). Paul as a visiting Rabbi gets to teach. From OT, he preached the Gospel. Some were converted!
● Some were not converted, and they attacked. The believers were afraid for Paul, so they got him out of town.
● Went to Berea, and does the same thing. Thessalonian antagonizers follow and stir up more trouble. Paul heads to Athens.
● What did Paul do and why did it cause so much trouble?
1. Paul preached the Gospel. What is the Gospel? (Acts 17:3) There are three components to the Gospel message Paul preached.
a. Jesus suffered. He died on the cross because of our sins. He took our punishment and the wrath of God that should have been pour out on us. He died for us.
b. Jesus rose. He didn’t stay dead. He rose three days later on Sunday Morning. The very first Easter Day. The resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Everything hinges on it. If Jesus did not rise, then our faith is meaningless and empty. But Jesus rose from the dead and brings new life.
c. Jesus is Christ. This means he is Messiah. Or we could say He is Savior. He alone is the one who brings new life to us. When we come to him by faith alone, turning away from our sin and giving up our religious efforts to make God happy with us and simply surrender to him, and giving him our whole lives, he forgives us and gives us peace with God the Father and gives us eternal life and meaning in life.
d. Notice four facts about this Gospel.
2. The Gospel is Reasonable. (Acts 17:2, 11)
a. Paul reasoned from the Scriptures. The whole Bible bears out the truth that Jesus is the savior, that he suffered and rose and alone is the Christ.
b. The Bereans would listen to Paul and then go home and study the Scriptures for themselves to “find out if these things were so.”
c. They were fair-minded. If you will come to Scripture and listen to the Gospel with an open mind, and not be close minded and resistant to it, you will find that it is reasonable. Not that it is natural and ordinary. But as you study it you will find that it is TRUE and BELIEVABLE.
d. Bill Maher, comedian, pundit, and atheist is co-producing a documentary this year called RELIGULOUS (Religion + Ridiculous). Recently appearing on the Conan O’Brien Show, Maher said this:
“You can’t be a rational person six days of the week and put on a suit and make rational decisions and go to work and, on one day of the week, go to a building and think you’re drinking the blood of a 2,000-year-old space god. That doesn’t make you a person of faith…That makes you a schizophrenic.”
e. Maher mocking Christ and Christianity though simply shows what happens when someone who is hardened and resistant to the Gospel speaks. Maher is caricaturing the Christian faith and making it sound crazy. But true Christian faith is nothing like Mr. Maher wants to describe it as.
f. Yet time and time again, when atheists and agnostics who honestly look at the evidence, without an agenda or without a desire to attack, but honestly trying to discover the truth, they see the Gospel as reasonable and possible.
g. If you have a closed mind and a hard heart, you will join the ranks of Bill Maher and the Thessalonian Jews who were not persuaded.
3. The Gospel is Revolutionary. (Acts 17:6-8)
a. Here is the reason Bill Maher and the Thessalonian Jews and the Roman authorities were and are so opposed to the Christian faith.
b. The Gospel “turns the world upside down.” Because Jesus is King. We are either allied with King Jesus or opposed to him.
c. New way of living and new priorities in life. That threatens those who want to rule their own lives.
4. The Gospel is Reviled. (Acts 17:5, 13)
a. Hated and opposed. The truth is Bill Maher reviles Jesus Christ. He is not more intellectual. He just hates Jesus.
b. The Gospel is opposed and reviled because it is exclusive. You can’t worship self, Caesar, or anything else and worship Jesus.
c. The true Gospel will always be hated.
5. The Gospel is Radical. (1 Thessalonians 1:1)
a. Despite the animosity and hatred toward the Gospel, it is unstoppable.
b. Despite severe persecution, the Thessalonian believers banded together and formed a church. And as a church, they were devoted to changing the world– with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
c. Radical new life– new walk, new community
The Gospel changes everything. If you want your life, your home, your world to change, only the Gospel will do it because:
The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes the direction of our lives.
When we encounter the cross of Jesus, either:
We draw near to God
OR
we turn away from God.
