For the Spirit of glory and of God rested upon you, on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified, the Bible says.
Go to Luke chapter 9, if you would, Luke chapter 9.
So what we see here in 2 Thessalonians is the fact that the Apostle Paul is telling them,
he's reminding them of the fact that persecutions and tribulation is the evident token,
it's the evident indication of God's assessment of their spiritual status.
So you know, because sometimes we don't know how well we're doing in the Christian life sometimes, you know?
So how do we know how good we're doing in the Christian life?
Well, you know, the contents of a tea bag, by the way, I don't recommend for you to drink tea.
This is not me approving tea, folks, okay?
I'm a coffee drinker.
This is just for illustration's sake, no illustration is perfect.
And sometimes we have to use these carnal things to explain the spiritual, okay?
I just offended all our tea drinkers here.
The contents of a tea bag is not revealed until when?
Until it's placed in hot water.
That's when you know what's in the bag, right?
So you know what, the contents of our spiritual walk isn't really revealed until we're put into hot water.
Until we go through persecution.
If you really want to know what you're made out of, how your walk really is,
you go through some affliction and persecution and it'll reveal who you really are.
You know, we're not revealed for who we really are when we're going through the good times.
It's when we go through difficult times.
It's when we're put under the gun, so to speak.
It's when the pressure is placed on us to not stand for God's word, not stand for the truth,
to retract statements or whatever it may be.
No, you know, that's when we're put under pressure.
That's when really we see what we're made out of, okay?
And so he's saying, you know, this is a manifest token.
God's assessed that you're made of the real stuff.
And amen to that.
You see, obviously to get into the kingdom of God, what do we have to do?
Believe on Jesus Christ.
Plus nothing, minus nothing.
Now are there some things in the kingdom of God that we can gain by reward?
Absolutely.
Eternal life is free, folks.
And eternal life is free when if you were to die right now, you would be in heaven
and you would also be in the millennial reign.
You would also be in the new heaven and the new earth.
You would be a part of that kingdom that belongs unto God.
But you know what?
At the same time, there are rewards that are being distributed that will be distributed
to those who suffer for his name's sake.
The Bible tells us that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ
if so be that you suffer with him.
So there's stipulations that are placed upon you being a joint heir with Christ,
gaining rewards, and that is the sufferings that you go through.
Not just the sufferings, but sufferings is one of them.
And so in order to gain those things, you have to be fit for that position.