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books in depth, especially in light of end times Bible prophecy. And with that being said, you know, the most apparent doctrine in these two epistles is the teaching of the rapture, what's also known as the second coming of Christ. This is actually a subject that is alluded to or spoken of with great detail in both epistles. And the reason for that is because one of the main themes of the Thessalonian church is affliction, persecution, and tribulation, which is actually an element that precedes the rapture in end times Bible prophecy. The tribulation takes place first, and then you have the second coming of Christ thereafter. And so it should come as no surprise that if we see a church experiencing in the Bible tribulation, persecution, you know, the subject of the rapture should come up because of the fact that it has to do with end times Bible prophecy. And in fact, the apostle Paul hears of their affliction and basically takes the liberty to remind them of the great deliverance that all Christians will experience one day in the future after the great tribulation. Now, there's a lot that we can learn from the church at Thessalonica and in particular, in this matter of endurance and the willingness to serve the Lord in the midst of tribulation. You know, that's important. It's important that we continue to serve God, even when things aren't going our way, even when things are tough, when things are difficult, when we're going through afflictions, we need to be able to endure that and push through those hard times and continue to serve the Lord. Amen. We need to continue to win people to Christ, serve God, live a life of holiness, live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord in spite of difficulties. And this is a book that teaches us how to do that. Look at verse number one. First and foremost, we're going to look at the rudiments of this church and what I mean by rudiments, I mean the beginning, the origins of this church. Where did this church start or who started it? When did it begin? Look at verse number one, it says, Paul and Silvanus, by the way, Silvanus is just simply another name for Silas, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the church at Thessalonica, when you actually study the history and specifically in the book of Acts, we actually see that it was planted during Paul's second missionary journey. Paul took three particular missionary journeys that where he went, he won people to Christ, he planted churches and this particular church was actually planted on his second one. If you remember during the book of Acts, when we were studying the book of Acts, his first missionary journey took him through Cyprus and he went to Asia Minor and basically he went around that region and then he went back home, but then after that on his second missionary journey he actually expanded a little further into Greece, that's where he went into Mesopotamia, he went to Thessalonica, he went to Berea, he went to Derbe, he went to Corinth and ultimately in his third missionary journey we know that he goes to Rome and so he continues to expand and during this time of preaching the gospel and doing this missionary work he starts this church in Thessalonica. Now go with me to Acts chapter 17, we're going to come back to 1 Thessalonians, but I want to talk about the origins of this church because it's really an important factor, it's an important element when realizing or recognizing why is it that this matter of affliction and tribulation is being addressed so much in these two epistles. Look at Acts chapter 17 in verse number 1, it says, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews? And now if you've read through the book of Acts, if you know anything about the New Testament, this is obviously a very antagonistic location for any Christian, a synagogue. And the reason for that is because the Jews in the New Testament were the adversaries to the gospel, they're the ones who sought to impede the gospel from going forward and getting people saved, they were the ones who promoted the death of Christians and putting them to death because of the fact that Christianity was taking over and it was really causing Judaism to die out. And so we see here that the Apostle Paul comes to Thessalonica, which is by the way, it's a Roman province, a lot of Greek speakers, a lot of people who are not Jews and they're being won to Judaism by the Jews because they're in this synagogue and there's Greeks within this synagogue. So he goes there, look at verse number 2, it says, And Paul, as his manner was, I like when it says as his manner was, because what is he talking about, he's talking about preaching the gospel, soul winning, as his manner was, went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must need to have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Jesus whom we preach unto you is Christ. So what is he doing? Well, think about this, you know, if the Jews are going out there, they're starting these synagogues and we know that within these synagogues, they are reading Moses, they're all reading the scriptures, there's obviously people within the synagogues that are actually saved, okay? Because people didn't just start getting saved when Jesus Christ came on the scene, you know, during this time, people were saved even before then in the Old Testament, people believed on the Lord. The difference is this, is that in the New Testament, the name of the Lord is Jesus Christ. So one of the main responsibilities of the apostles was to go out into all the regions, go out to the Jews and to the Gentiles and the Greeks and tell them that the Lord that they're believing in, his name is Jesus. Now if there's ever an individual who said, I don't believe that, you know, I'm saved but I don't believe that the Lord is Jesus, then at that point, they're not saved, okay? It's not that they lost their salvation, they just believed in vain. Because of the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord, that is his name, it's a name that's revealed in the New Testament, all of the Old Testament scriptures point to the prophetic appearing of Jesus Christ. And so what Paul is doing is he's going using their scriptures, which is his scriptures as well as the Old Testament, the prophets, and what is he doing? He's showing that Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, must need to have suffered, they agree on that. And risen again from the dead, they agree on that because Jonah, right, Jonah and the book of Psalms talk about the resurrection, and it says, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. So obviously, what we see is that they believe on Christ. They believe on the Messiah, they believe that there's the anointed one, Paul's coming to tell them, okay, but it's Jesus, okay? The Christ that you believe in is Jesus Christ. Now I believe that within this synagogue, there's saved people, okay? And you know, to prove that, you have someone like, his name's Flemi right now actually, the guy who was perfected, he was a great preacher. What is it? Apollos. Apollos, who was preaching the word of God, he was a fiery preacher, he was getting a lot of people saved, but he needed to be perfected, okay? And the disciples came to him and perfected that which was lacking in his faith, which is the fact that he was preaching the Messiah, but he just wasn't preaching that it was Jesus. They came to him, they taught him that it was Jesus, and then he began to preach exactly the same messages that the apostles preached, that the Christ that they should believe in specifically is Jesus, okay? But I also believe that there's people in the synagogue who are not saved, okay, because obviously it's a synagogue. And in a synagogue, there's going to be Jews there, people who have rejected the true Christ, and so there's people who are not saved. Look what it says in verse number four, and some of them believed. So he comes into the synagogue, he starts preaching the word of God, he starts preaching that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and the Bible says that some of them believed. That basically translates as they got saved, okay? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's what it's referring to. Some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few. Now what does that tell us? It tells us that Paul's being very fruitful here, because he's preaching the word of God and it says that a great multitude of Greeks believed. And not just that, of the chief women, not a few. That simply means a great multitude of women believed as well, okay? You know, they're preaching the word of God, they're getting a bunch of people saved, I mean, you know, they're doing God's work, amen? It's a receptive area, is what we're looking at here, okay? It's a receptive area, there's people here who are obviously going to the synagogue because they want to hear the word of God, or else why would they be there in the first place, right? They want to hear the word of God, they believe on the Lord, they want to know what the right, what the truth is, and Paul comes and basically confirms that it's Jesus, a lot of them believed, not a few, a great work is done. Verse five, but the Jews which believed not, these are the people who just rejected what Paul just said, moved with envy, notice it doesn't say moved because they thought that they were right, right? That's a different story. They think they're right, you know, they're deceived, that's one story, that's one thing, but here it says that they were moved with envy. They were upset at the fact that Paul in one swipe, right, three Sabbath days, was able to basically convert their entire synagogue. He says moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort. Now folks, if these people were sincere, what they would have done is taken unto them certain righteous people to preach the word of God back, right, to confirm or to debunk what they're saying, but that's not what we see. They took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, they basically got the scum of the world, they gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason. So Jason's name comes up, so this is obviously a guy who's involved in this particular church, he's involved in this group of believers, and he must be someone of leadership or influence because any time the devil attacks, he always goes after the leader. He always goes after the head. Any time the devil attacks a family, he goes after the husband. Any time he goes after a church, he goes after the pastor. He's always attacking the leader, so this is why they're basically attacking and persecuting Jason. He says they assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. Verse 6, and when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, these that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also. Now this is a powerful statement folks, because they're all the way in Greece. This is Thessalonica, this is the Roman province, this is near Macedonia, okay, this is very far from Jerusalem and Judea, this is a different portion, and what we see here is the Jews are saying, hey, these that have turned the world upside down, the world that they're referring to is Israel, are come hither also. They're trying to give them bad rap. These people who are just turning the world upside down, they're preaching this word, and they're saying that Jesus Christ is king, they're coming over here now. He says in verse number 7, whom Jason hath received. This guy's affiliated with this guy, Paul, you know, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, which is a false accusation by the way, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. Now, they're not saying there's another king, one Jesus, they're just saying that Jesus Christ is king, and king, lord of lords. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things, and when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither, went into the synagogue of the Jews. So what happens here? There's a ton of persecution and affliction coming upon the believers here in Thessalonica. The area gets a little too hot, and so Paul and Silas, they basically decide to flee into Berea, which is south of Thessalonica, to another synagogue. And we're not gonna read the rest of the story, but these Jews are so upset that they actually followed them to Berea, trying to stop them there too, they don't want them to convert the people there too. And when you read later on, you see that those in Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and that they received the word of God with all readiness of mind. They searched the scriptures daily to see if those things were so. So what we see is that the Jews who were actually in the synagogue in Berea were more noble, they were more sincere, they were more pure of heart than the Jews in Thessalonica. They were actually willing to listen to Paul and see what he had to say. And then when Paul preached unto them Jesus, what they did is went back home, opened up the scriptures to see if those things matched up. And they did, and that's why they got saved there too. Now go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter number 1. So what do we see here with the inception of the church at Thessalonica? Well, we see that they faced opposition right off the bat. So at the beginning of the inception of this church, the Thessalonian Baptist Church, what do we see? Persecution, affliction, we see trial, we see tribulation, they're getting on Jason, I mean they're running the man of God out of the city. So right from the start, right when they started the church, there was already controversy, there was already drama taking place. They faced obstacles, enemies, opponents who were against the message. And we see that this movement known as Christianity had already gained that reputation. As they say, they come hither also. And look, if Christianity wasn't a threat, if they didn't have the truth, if they believe what they taught was a lie, why don't you just let them do whatever they want, if they don't pose a threat. But I'll tell you why they began to persecute them and inflict them is because they have the truth. And Christianity is a threat. It's not a physical threat, it's a threat to the principalities and powers and the rules of the darkness of this world, because Christianity can save a soul, amen? It's the only religion that can save a soul, but not only that, it's the only religion that can turn a Christian to righteousness, to live a righteous life that can turn the world upside down, that can change the world. And so this is a threat to the Jews, this is a threat to the synagogues. Paul is a threat. And you know what, too late, because he already started the church. It's already established. You got people who are committed in that church. You have Jason who's leading the work there, he's doing a great work, and it's already done. Now, when I think about this, I think about our church. Because first works Baptist church started off with controversy. It started off with affliction and tribulation, it started off with persecution, I mean there was a lot of drama to the beginning of this church. And some people would hear that and say, well that's not a church that I want to be a part of then. What they don't seem to understand is that you won't find a church in the New Testament that doesn't start off that way. There's always some form of persecution because, yay, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Afflictions and tribulations are part of the Christian life. And if you're not facing any type of persecution, if you're not facing any type of affliction or trial, you got to ask yourself, are you living a godly life? Because that is a natural, or should I say supernatural, byproduct of living a godly life. One person in particular, as I mentioned, was facing the brunt of the persecution, that was Jason. So we see this young church, probably not even well established yet, yet it's already facing opposition from the very beginning. So this church was birthed in the midst of persecution. And these converts that they were making, they weren't flimsy, they weren't double-minded. These are people who were in it for the long haul, they're willing to suffer persecution and go through the difficulties and suffer the trials for the name of Christ. Many of them were committed and ended up actually joining Paul in partaking in the missionary journey because later on in Acts chapter 20, you see Paul taking into Macedonia a group of believers and he takes with them some of the disciples from Thessalonica. So these Thessalonian converts, they're growing in the knowledge of God's word, they're getting committed and they're even joining Paul in his missionary journeys as well. So we see the rudiments of the church is that it starts off already on a bad note, according to people who don't like that, you know, they don't like the drama. But it's a good note, amen? When you look at it from an eternal perspective, it's a good note to start on, and in fact, it's an indicator that what's going on here is of the Lord. Because if it wasn't of God, then, you know, why are the enemies fighting us so hard? Why are people trying to stop us from starting this church? I mean, it reminds me when Pastor Anderson came to Los Angeles to start a church. And they said, oh, this new IFP who turned the world upside down, they've come hither also. They've come to Los Angeles. Now they're in Orange County. They're just spreading, they're trying to teach that which is contrary to the decrees of Caesar, you know. And they're trying to get Jason, they're trying to get Bruce Mejia, they're trying to get the pastor of the church, the evangelists of the church, they're trying to shut him down and blow up his church because he's a threat, his message is a threat to that society. But we're not a physical threat, you know. We're not a physical threat to any group of people in this world. We're a spiritual threat. And that's what God wants us to be. Thou are our Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, the Bible says. So we are to charge hell and be on the opposition and fight hell and fight the devil and fight the enemies of God in a spiritual way. This is spiritual warfare that we're in, okay. So we see the rudiments of the church, the origins is that it started off in persecution, but it continues to go through persecution. We'll see that later on in the coming chapters. Look at verse number two, the rudiments of the church, but not only that, we see the remembrance of their labor. So they're going through tough times because Acts 17 was in the beginning, but now when the letter's being written, they're still going through opposition. Because folks, you know, they didn't move their church, I mean it's still in that region. It's in the seat of Satan, right, because there's a synagogue there. So Paul's like, he wins them and he's like, all right guys, see you later, you know. And he leaves them in the belly of the beast, but this is where they grew up, this is their home, this is what they've known, and so they're there facing that opposition, okay. And I remember when we started this church, people were thinking like, oh man, you're going to Los Angeles? Oh, that's like the belly of the beast. Oh man, that's so liberal out there and all these things and oh man, how is a church like this going to survive there? Hey, here we are four years later. Now obviously they blew up our building so we had to move, but if it was up to us, we would have stayed there in El Monte. I would have met in the building that Sunday after the bombing if I could have, I would just tell you Lisa, sweep all the glass and probably tape that wall a little bit so the air doesn't come in and then we'll have preaching, we'll have a service, we'll go sowing. Look at verse number two, we're going to look at the remembrance of their labor. He says, we give thanks to God always for you all. Paul's saying this, making mention of you in our prayers. Let me just remind you that people out there are praying for us, they're praying for you. They're praying for me, they're praying for our church. Never take for granted the fact that there's people out there who think about you. If you ever think, oh man, I'm going through a tough time, I'm just, you know, people don't know, hey, people are out there praying for you. People out there are thinking about you, they're praying for you, they're praying that your faith fails not, that you endure the affliction. There's people out there that think about our church. They make mention of us in their prayers. Verse three, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and the sight of God and our Father. So we see here that he's saying, I'm remembering, I'm bringing to remembrance without ceasing your work of faith. Now what is a work of faith? It's showing us that, you know, just like James 2 talks about, it's showing us that the church at Thessalonica, they have faith but they're actually exercising their faith as well. They're bringing a blessing to the brethren. Go to Hebrews chapter number six, if you would, Hebrews chapter six. I'm going to read to you from James 2, verse 14. The Bible reads, what doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not works? Can faith save him? Now we obviously understand that this passage of scripture is often taken completely out of context to teach that you have to add works to your faith to confirm you're saved or to get saved or to stay saved or whatever, when this actually has nothing to do with the salvation of your soul. James 2 literally has to do with the salvation, the physical salvation of someone who is destitute of food and naked, someone who is in need of the physical things of this world. It's saying here, if a man says he has faith but he doesn't have works, he's not working his faith, how can your faith save a person who is in physical need of food? How does your faith in Christ help someone who's starving? He says, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful for the body, what does the profit? So in other words, he's asking, how is it profiting that person who is starving? How does your faith profit that person if you're not helping them? If you just say be warmed and filled, God will take care of you, brother. God knows your needs, brother, and you have the resources at your disposal and you choose not to help that individual, your faith cannot save that person. Your faith does not profit that individual. He says, even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone. By the way, that proves that you can have faith without works, because it says, if you have faith but you don't have works, then your faith is dead and it's alone. It doesn't say it's non-existent, it says it's alone. Yea man may say thou hast faith and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. Look at Hebrews 6, 10, it says in verse number 10 of Hebrews chapter number six, for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name and that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. I believe this is what 1 Thessalonians is talking about, when he talks about the work of faith, it's referring to the fact that they're laboring and working to be a blessing to the saints, saints being believers. And I want you to also notice in Hebrews chapter six that it says that we have showed it or they have showed it towards God's name. So you know when you're a blessing to one of your brothers and sisters in Christ, you're serving that person as unto the Lord. So even if you never get a thank you, you never get a pat on the back, you never get a I appreciate everything you've done for me after all these four years, I'm making all these graphics for you or whatever, according to the Bible, if you're really doing it for the Lord, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. Now look, I encourage everyone here, if someone does something kind to you, kind for you, if they help you, say thank you, be courteous. Teach your children to be grateful, to have gratitude, to say yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am, thank you, no thank you, show gratitude, you understand? But if it never happens, if someone never thanks you or recognizes you or says what a great job that you did, don't worry, God is not unrighteous to forget your works and labor of love, if you did it with the right motive obviously. But if you're just doing it to be seen of men, then obviously you have the wrong motive. I believe here that the church at Thessalonica, when the Apostle Paul says, you know, I remember the work of faith that you have, it's referring to the fact that they were helping each other out. And you know what, a local New Testament church is not only a place where we hear the preaching of God's word, where we go sowing, it's where we help each other out as well. It's like a family, it's a church family. So he says the labor of love, he says the patience of hope as well. Now why is he saying the patience of hope? Because they're going through tribulation. And you know what, when you go through a difficult time in your Christian life, no one ever comes to you, God never comes to you, the Bible never comes to you and says, this is when it's going to end. I mean, wouldn't that be nice? You know, when you go through a tribulation, God never says, hey, don't worry, this subscription to a trial, it's only a three month subscription, it'll finish off in three months, you know, it's about to end in seven days, this is how much it takes to recover from it. We don't know when it ends, right? We don't know when it's going to stop, when we're going to become healthy again, when the tribulation stops, we don't know. So what do we do? We have to have the patience and hope. And you know what trials do for you and I? It makes us patient. It makes us endure. It makes us wait, more specifically, upon the Lord. So you just wait. When is it going to end? I don't know. I'm just going to be patient and hope. And what does hope mean? It doesn't mean like, you know, the way the world uses hope today is like, well, I hope I get to do this. Or I hope, it's like, it's a possibility, but it's also a possibility that it might not happen or something, right? Hope in the Bible is something that will happen. You understand? When it talks about hope, we're saved by hope, the Bible says. It's something that we know, okay? It's used interchangeably sometimes with faith. And here it says that we have patience of hope. So what does that mean? We're patient knowing that God will one day deliver us. We're patient knowing one day that the trial will end. We're patient knowing that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. So we have to be patient and hope. When is it going to end? I don't know, but I know it's going to end because as Jesus said, the things concerning me have an end. Trials come to an end, folks. Tribulations come to an end. Persecutions come to an end. It may start again, but it will come to an end when it starts again, you understand? And the worst thing that you can do as a Christian when you go through a tribulation is take a break from church. The worst thing you can do is take a break from the Bible. The worst thing you can do is take a break from prayer. Take a break from living a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. That's the worst thing you can do. You say, what should I do? Endure it. Be patient. You say, but I just don't feel like coming to church and I'm so discouraged. Come anyways. To be exhorted to continue in the faith. To be exhorted to just make it one more day. Hey folks, that's why I encourage people to come to church three times out of the week. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Thursday evening. Why? Because you deal with a lot of nonsense and filth and stupidity and tribulation out in the world throughout the week. You need a refresher in the week, amen? Come to church so I can yell at you for an hour, slobber. That's why no one sits here because I just, that's why Maury's all the way back there. I can exhort you to continue in the faith. I can remind you of the hope that is in you. I can remind you that the things concerning you have, and Romans 12, 12 says rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. By the way, you know, if you're going through a trial today, you might as well learn patience because even if you're impatient, it's not going to change anything. You're like, well, I'm just going to be impatient and now God's going to shorten up the trial or something, you know? No, it doesn't work that way. So you might as well just learn patience. You might as well learn endurance. You might as well learn how to face the affliction and to continue instant in prayer and rejoice in hope knowing, you know, when we were going through our tribulation in the beginning of the year, one of the things that I always thought about, one of the things that I always talked about was the millennial reign. I was like, man, I can't wait till the millennial reign. This makes me look forward to heaven. This makes me look forward to the new heaven and the new earth. It makes me look forward to when Jesus Christ, when the government shall be upon his shoulders. I look forward to that and I rejoice in that. Verse 4 of 1 Thessalonians 1 says, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Of course, we understand that to be elected of God, this is not something that's predestined. Okay? There's teachings out there and more specifically from the Reform group, the Calvinists that will teach that, you know, God picks certain people to go to heaven and he picks certain people to go to hell. That's a false doctrine. Okay? He said, well, it says elected, yeah, but we're elected according to the foreknowledge of God. Foreknowledge meaning he knows who's going to believe on Jesus Christ and who's going to reject him. God is omniscient. He understands the beginning to the end. He understands everything in between. He knows every decision that we're going to make and he knows who's going to believe on Christ for salvation and who's going to reject him. He says, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. Verse five. So we looked at the rudiments of the church. We're also going to look at the response to the gospel. Look at verse number five. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. Now what is he talking about there? When he says for our gospel came not unto you in word only. We obviously understand that the gospel is the word of God, right? It's us bringing the word of God to someone else and showing them from the Bible how to be saved, right? But the Apostle Paul here is saying that it came not unto them in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. What is he talking about? Well, he's saying that the message of the gospel was accompanied with power. He's basically saying when he came to them, he didn't come to them with just words on a paper. He didn't just come to them with a track, just leave it at the door with them or something. He didn't come to them with the door hanger for their door. He came and he opened his mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel. And we see that he came not only with the gospel, but with power behind the gospel. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number two, if you would, 1 Corinthians chapter two, hold your place in 1 Thessalonians. So the message was accompanied with power. And folks, this is why it's important that when we go out and preach the gospel, when we go out and sow in, we pray for power. Don't rely on your talents or how well you memorize all the verses and you got your little schedule down and you know exactly when to say this and when to say that. You know, that's all fine and dandy and we need to make sure we prepare as much as possible. But the most important element that you're supposed to use when you go out there is the power of God. That's what you need is God's power on your life because the gospel is the power of God and to salvation to everyone that believe it. We need power. There's plenty of churches out there that have the gospel, but they're not preaching because they don't have power. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians two verse four, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. You don't have to go out there with a dictionary and a thesaurus to sound all smart and in intelligent when you go out there. What other words can I use to make myself sound more credible? How can I sound more intelligent when I go out there? Hey, we don't need enticing words of man's wisdom to convince people that they need to get saved. He said what? My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, he says. He says, when I came to preach the gospel unto you, it was a demonstration of the spirit that dwell within me and power. In other words, they knew this is of God. Why? Verse five, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. It's like, I placed my faith in the gospel not because of this guy, this guy, who's this guy? He doesn't seem very, did you go to Bible college? He says he didn't even go to seminary. He didn't go to this, he didn't graduate from whatever Bible college there is, he doesn't have a certificate in divinity, a bachelor's or whatever, but you know what? One thing he does have is the power of God, obviously. He has the spirit and the power. When he preaches God's word, I listen because obviously it's God in this person who's speaking to me. And this is what we should rely on, folks. Look, we need to prepare, we need to make sure we memorize all the Roman's road, that we get our soul-winning verses down, but more important than your talents and your giftedness and your ability to wax eloquent is to have the power of God in your life. That's what we need, boldness, power. Go back to 1 Thessalonians, I like what he said, our gospel cannot unto you in word only. He says, but also in power. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 4, 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 with triath our hearts. For neither at any time used we flattering words as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness. This is why he says what manner of men we were among you for your sake. What he's talking about is this, when we came to the door, you knew that we weren't looking for your money. Because aren't there pastors out there that that's exactly what they want? Aren't there churches out there, the prosperity preachers of this day, who could care less whether your soul splits hell wide open, or if it has eternal life, what they want is for you to give them their money. They want your pocketbook is what they want. Now look folks, obviously we need finances and resources to keep this program going, amen? To keep this machine running, to keep winning souls to Christ, to pay for all the bills, to do all these things, but here's the thing, when we go out there and preach the gospel, that's not on our mind. And you know what, if we can't pay the bills here, we'll be in a park. Simple as that. We'll bring this pulpit, we'll put it over there, and I'll preach at a park if that's what it takes. Obviously we understand it's not going to happen because God's always going to provide for us. But there's groups of people out there who have a cloak of covetousness folks, where the only reason they want to get you into church, or the only reason they want to preach to you is to deceive you, to flatter you, in order to get your money. There's people who only want, you know, people who are affluent in their church. People who are rich, people who have money, I mean they're constantly checking, you know, how much does this person make, what is this person tithing? How much is this person giving on a monthly basis? Why? Because that's what they're concerned with. They have a cloak of covetousness. You say, well don't you know how much I give, Pastor? Nope. I don't care how much you give. I can care less of how much you give, I don't know if you give, I don't know who gave this week, I don't know who gave last week, because I don't care. Because at the end of the day, God's the one who ultimately provides for our church, provides for me, provides for you. And by the way, we don't use flattering words here either. Whereas a lot of churches, they'll use flattering words in order to keep the congregants there. God's not mad at you. He's fine with you doing this, and you know, just keep living in sin, and keep fornicating, it's okay. God understands we're all sinners. And we are all sinners. But here's the thing, is that we need to have a balance of understanding we're all sinners, but God still wants us to get the sin out of our lives. It's not like we're all sinners, so go ahead and have a free for all and all the iniquity you want. No, it's like we're all sinners, but folks, we have a Bible that constantly tells us to clean up our lives, to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord, to get right with God. This is important. And a lot of pastors don't want to hit those topics, they don't want to talk about those things because it might cost them some members. And that, to them, is dollar signs. He says we didn't come to you with flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness. So what does he say? He came to them in power, not with a door hanger, not with some sort of gimmick, right? He didn't need a gimmick to get people saved, he simply used the word of God. He not only says that, but in chapter one, he goes on to say, in power and in the Holy Ghost. What is that talking about? He's basically talking about spirit-filled men. He came with spirit-filled men. The Bible tells us in Mark 16, you don't have to turn there, go with me if you would to Daniel chapter number five, if you would, Daniel chapter number five. Mark 16, 20 says, and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following, amen. You know someone that you need when you go out sowing more than your sowing partner? The Holy Ghost. That's who you need. Now make sure your partner comes with you. I'm just saying more important than your silent partner is the Holy Ghost. Now we obviously understand that the Holy Ghost dwells within us. He's sealed there until the day of redemption. He's always going to be with us, but when we're talking about bringing the Holy Ghost with us, we're just simply saying be filled with the Holy Ghost. Be conscious of his presence because we need him to help us discern who to talk to and who not to talk to. And you know there's times when we try to organize as much as possible and then God leads us another way to go talk to someone else. I remember years ago when I used to work on a bus route, we're on some neighborhoods preaching the gospel and the neighborhood that we're in, it wasn't really receptive. No one was getting saved. Not only that, but no one was even answering the door and if they did, they didn't really want to talk. And it was just kind of rough. Okay. It was in Long Beach. And I remember we're following the path and I'm like, man, this is just really unreceptive and kind of discouraging. You do a block and no one answers or if they do answer, they're just kind of not receptive. It gets a little discouraging, you know. And then there's a street to my left and I look and there's this gang member there. I didn't know he was a gang member because I grew up in Long Beach and I know the colors. And I'm like, that's a gang member. And he looked pretty thugged out. And I said, let's go talk to him. And he was just sitting there like leaning on a fence actually. And I just went over there and I gave him an invite and I started preaching him the gospel and I kid you not, probably like 10 minutes into my presentation, just bawling, tears rolling down his face because he had been thinking about dying. He had been thinking about eternal life. And he told me afterwards like this was like God brought you here. God brought you here. You know, God sent us to an unreceptive block so that I can turn my head to the burning fiery bush or something, that he sat there so I can go talk to that one guy. It's important for us to take the Holy Ghost with us to just be sensitive and discerning who wants to listen and who doesn't. You know, don't, you know, when you're out there talking to people, when you're preaching the gospel, don't just try to get through your presentation. Make sure you discern their faces if they're interested in what you're saying or not. He says, and in the Holy Ghost, talk about spear-filled men. And I like what he says here also, he says, for our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. That's a powerful statement. What does that mean? Why does it say also in much assurance? Basically, these guys came and removed all doubt. Pretty powerful. You know, some people come and they're just like, yeah, I think this is the way you get saved. I think you can know. I think it's like this. I think it's by works. I think it's by faith. We come and say, no, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. Let me remove all doubt from you. Let me give you the full assurance of salvation today. You can know 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt. You don't have to wonder. You don't have to question. You don't have to doubt. You don't have to wonder, man, I sinned. Did I lose my salvation? You will never doubt ever again. Just let me give you the assurance of it. Let me give you the eternal security of salvation through Christ, where you can walk away and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are saved. You know, a lot of people think, well, no one knows for sure. I do. How can you say no one? You're speaking to someone who does. Have you taken a consensus of every single individual in this world? No. And you know what, yeah, a lot of people out there don't know for sure if they died today that they would go to heaven, but you're speaking to someone who does. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm saved, and I can help you to know that as well. I mean, I've talked to people that after I gave them the presentation, they got saved, they told me I've never had anyone explain it as clear as you did. Never had that before. How many of you have ever had someone tell that to you? Is it because we're special? No. Is it because we go to First Works Baptist Church? No. Is it because we wear shirts and ties and I part my hair? Nope. Why is it that no man ever spake like this before? You know why? Because we were using God's word, we know what the Bible says in regards to salvation, and we speak with confidence, with power, with the Holy Ghost, and much assurance. That's why. We go out there to give them full assurance of salvation. I don't think anybody can know. You can. I do. No, you don't know. No one knows. The Bible says that ye may know. Let me show you. Take about 10, 15 minutes. And you know what? That does something to an individual when you talk to them like that. It shows confidence. Boldness. He says we came to you with much assurance. That means when the Apostle Paul and them came preaching, they're like, Jesus is Christ. Let me show you. Acts 17, 3, you're in Daniel chapter 5. Acts 17, 3 says, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this is Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. No shame. He's like, he didn't say, I think it's Jesus. It might be a historical fact study that maybe biblical archaeology says that it possibly might be the case. I'm looking to write a book called The Case for Christ. You know, just alleging. No, he says, this is Jesus. And he's saying it in the midst of all these Christ rejecting Jews who are against the message. He's like, no, no, no, no. It's Jesus. You think it's Jesus. I know it's Jesus. Look at Daniel 5 verse 16. It says, and I have heard of thee speaking to Daniel that thou canst make interpretations. Look at this phrase and dissolve doubts. I like that. They came to Daniel like, hey, Daniel, hey, you Hebrew, I heard you know how to interpret things and I heard you're able to dissolve doubts. That's a great reputation, is it not? If you have any doubts, go to Daniel, he'll dissolve them for you. His words and his interpretations are like acid to doubts of God's word and you'll just dissolve it. That's what we want to do when we go on and talk to people. You know, I'm not against answering people's questions. Obviously you don't want to deviate from the main topic at hand, which is the gospel. It's always good if you, anytime I get finished talking to someone and I get them saved, I always say, do you have any questions at all? I said, you can ask me anything you want pertaining to the Bible and I guarantee you there'll be an answer for it because I want to dissolve doubts. I want to dissolve the person's doubt in regards to works, to faith, to hell, heaven, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit. I want to be able to dissolve all the doubts, just rid them of every single doubt and false doctrine and all this nonsense and filth and trash that has permeated their minds through false religion. I want to come there and just dissolve all that doubt. That's what we should do. You don't need to be a pastor to do that. You don't need to be a deacon. You don't need to be an evangelist. You just need to be a person who comes with the gospel, not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. When we go out there, we're going out there with confidence. I know sometimes people get a little nervous going out there and preach the gospel. I get nervous from time to time still, especially if it's that first door. But folks, you have this treasure in earthen vessels. You have the truth. And unless you run into another gospel preaching Christian, you always have the upper hand because the truth is the truth. Like, I'm just scared. What if they ask me something I don't know? Then mark it down, go study it, and come back with more assurance. He says much assurance. Verse six, are you in First Thessalonians one? First Thessalonians one, he says, for our gospel came not into your word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. As ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sakes. This is a different category of men. Not because they're special necessarily, but because they have the word of God. He says in verse six, and ye became, look what it says here, followers of us and of the Lord. That's a great statement there, right? So did they follow the Lord? Yes or no? Did they follow the Apostle Paul? Yes or no? So they were able to do both. You know some people are like, oh I don't follow a man, I follow only Jesus. Well Jesus told you to follow a man, so you're going to have an issue there. No he didn't. Yes he did. There's plenty of scriptures throughout the New Testament, throughout the Bible, where God deputizes an individual to lead his people. Now obviously sometimes there are malicious leaders out there, are there not? People who are, you know, they just want a leadership position in order to tell people what to do, and they have different motives, and it's an ungodly type of a leadership obviously. We as pastors should be under shepherds, taking care of the flock of God, because we know that we're accountable to God. You understand? But Paul the Apostle said, follow me as I follow Christ. Folks if the Bible teaches you're only to follow Christ and not man, then the Apostle Paul should have said, follow Jesus, don't follow me man. I'm doing my own thing. I gotta figure this thing out myself. No he's saying follow me because I follow the Lord, and if the Apostle Paul is succeeding at being a Christian, if he knows what he's talking about, that's the man you should follow. So look, don't just follow the blind leaders, just because they're a leader. Follow someone who actually knows what they're doing, who's actually preaching God's Word, is successful in the Christian life, knows what they're talking about, amen? Is standing for the truth. He says he became followers of us and of the Lord. Now what this tells me is that the Thessalonians are pretty mature spiritually, because they're like well Paul I'm gonna follow you because you follow the Lord. He says haven't received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. That's powerful. He says you got saved during the most difficult time of your life. You receive the word in much affliction. That's difficult. You receive the word even though it can cost you your life. Even though it would cost you persecution, affliction, hey it may have cost you some of your family members to turn on you, but you still receive the word. Hey I admire people who in spite of the persecution they get saved and they maintain. Even in spite of the threats, in spite of the persecution, in spite of family members just saying I will never talk to you again, I want nothing to do with you, you're part of a cult. How can you listen to that terrorist up there? Don't you see his beard? He's so hateful, X, Y, and Z, he just, I don't want nothing to do with you and you know what they do? They still follow the Lord. They still read the Bible, they're still insoles to Christ, they're still faithful to church. He says he became followers of us and of the Lord. Haven't received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. Go to Philippians chapter one, Philippians chapter number one. See folks, God's will for our lives first and foremost is to get saved. That's what he wants for us first and foremost. It's not the only thing he wants us to do, but right off the bat he wants us to get saved. But then he also has other plans for us. Look at Philippians 1 27, only let your conversation be as it become at the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. Look what it says in verse 29, for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, look what it says, but also to suffer for his sake. You know what God's will is for your life? To get saved and to suffer. What? Yeah. And not just suffer, the Bible says, suffer for his sake. So that's on top of your own personal sufferings that you got going on there. Your own financial woes and your health woes and relational woes, even on top of all that, he says, I still want you to suffer for my name's sake. Lord, you're asking a lot. Hey, don't you want to know God's, I want to know what God wants for my life. I want to know God's will for my life. Lord, what is your will? To suffer for my sake. No, I mean like the other wills, Lord, like being a millionaire and prospering and never having a problem and the Christian life being like a bed of roses and nothing bad ever happening to me. Isn't that what you want from me? Is that what God wanted for Job? Is that what God wanted for Elijah? Is that what God wanted for the prophets of the Old Testament? Every Old Testament prophet suffered. Now obviously we don't want to take it to the extreme and think that our whole life is just suffering. I mean, I'm particularly right now, I'm not suffering. I'm not really going through anything very difficult. But the reality is this, is that there's coming a season when I am. I just came out of a hard time. Take it easy on me, all right? Just kidding. You go through seasons of trials, peace, trials, peace, trials, peace, right? But God's will for your life is that you suffer for his name's sake. He says having the same conflict which he saw in me, verse 30, and now here to be in me. So they, or excuse me, having the same conflict which he saw in me and now here to be in me. Go back to First Thessalonians chapter one. He says you receive the word and much affliction. Which is a good way to start off, amen? It's a good way to start off the Christian life suffering. Why? Because now you know what's coming down the pipeline, which is part of the Christian life. He says in verse seven, so that you were in samples, and samples is just another way of saying examples. So that you were in samples to all them that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. So their suffering was so bad. It was so terrible. They're going through so much that Macedonia, which is north of Thessalonica, Achaia which was to the south of Thessalonica, they both heard about what was going on. So their immediate world knew what was going on at the church at Thessalonica. They knew about the Thessalonians. And it became examples unto them. He said why does it say examples? Because God often allows Christians to suffer to encourage other Christians to suffer. And not fear suffering. Folks, that's why it's important that when you suffer, just endure. Because it's not in vain. God allows you to suffer in order to be an example to someone else who may be tempted to quit when they suffer. So when you're going through your tribulation, just remember that. I can't quit. My kids are watching. I can't quit. There's someone at church who's watching. I can't quit. There's someone along down the line who needs my testimony, needs my example. The church at Thessalonica, they're just going through tribulation. The Jews are persecuting them. They didn't think that their example was going to go from the north all the way to the south. I mean it was a large region that they were influencing because of their example. Their zeal provoked very many. Which leads me to my last point, their reputation among the regions. Verse 8, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place, your faith to God word is spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything. That phrase to God word is simply if you rearrange those words, it's toward God. Your faith toward God. So you say, look, yeah, the people in Macedonia heard you. The people in Achaia heard you. But the reality is this, everyone heard about it. Everyone heard about the persecution in Omani. Everyone heard about the bombing. Everyone heard about all the afflictions and trials of First Works Baptist Church. Everyone heard about it. And we became examples unto them. That's why it's important when I was preaching that sermon in preparations for warfare, what did I say? Never break rank. You stand your ground. You stand for the truth. You don't give up. Because there's plenty of people, especially now in the day and age in which we live with the internet, with YouTube, social media, I mean, people got news overnight. Some of you found out that the church got bombed through a family member that told you that they got it from like the news. I mean, Jacob told me, I think Jacob's dad told me that. He found out through his dad, his dad's like, and his dad found out through like a coworker. He's like, I think your son's church got bombed. And then he calls Jacob, and Jacob was like fishing or something, right? He's like, not my church. He's like, oh man, my church got bombed. Your faith to God would have spread abroad. He says, so that we need not to speak anything. Paul didn't need to go through all the churches and say, let me tell you about the Thessalonian church. Look what it says in verse nine, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. He says, we couldn't even go around telling the churches about you, because when we got to the churches, the churches told us about you. They're like, did you guys hear, you know, Paul's coming, you heard about that church that started in Thessalonica? Let me tell you about the church that started in Thessalonica. I heard about everything that you did over there, the persecution they're going through. That's a great church. So what did God do? He magnified the church at Thessalonica. Why? Because, you know, they were just a Lancaster Baptist type church. No. Why? Because they were just like a North Valley Baptist church, kind of Jack Treiber type of a church. No. Because of suffering, because of suffering. If you want to be magnified, it's going to cost you something. If you want to be exalted by the Lord, it's going to cost you something. And it's a very costly payment, but it's worth it. Because you become an example, then you get other people saved, people hear the message, and they become interested in God's word at the expense of your suffering. Like, oh man, I don't want to suffer then, that just doesn't sound very pleasant. Folks, the key person in this story is not us, it's Jesus, it's Jesus. We're not the main character of the story. This isn't our movie. This isn't our book. This is not even our chapter. We're like a paragraph. If even that, we're like a sentence in God's story. But you know what, if our sentence says that we suffer for Christ's sake so that the Word of God may be published and more people can know about the main character, which is Jesus, so be it. That's what we're here for. Yeah, but man, I'd like to be a main character. Well, you could be a main character in the eyes of God. Because God will exalt you for suffering for his name's sake. Verse 10, he says, and to wait for his son from heaven. Man, I'm sure that meant a lot to the Thessalonians. Because when you're going through a tough time, it seems as though heaven just sounds sweeter. When you go through a difficult time, I've been through times in my life where I've been through something so difficult, where it's just like, Lord, I just want to go home now. I just want to go home now. I can just go home now. To wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, look what it says, which delivered us from the wrath to come. And later on, we're going to see that what he's alluding to there is the fact that we're not appointed unto wrath. We're not appointed to God's wrath, why? Because God is going to deliver us through Jesus Christ. In every tribulation that we experience this side of eternity, we will experience some form of a deliverance, it's a promise. Even when we're at the brink of dying, I believe that God will deliver us. And we'll see more of that later on. John 12, 24, let me finish with this verse. The Bible says, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. Like I want to bear fruit in my life, you got to die. I want to just bear fruit, die. Now don't take that too literal. Die to self is what I'm saying. How can I get more people saved? How can we get the gospel to all across the nation? How can I be exalted in the eyes of God? How can I get the word of God to be propagated and blazed abroad? You got to die. Because when you die, you can bring forth much fruit, the Bible says. But unfortunately, you know what? There's a lot of corns of wheat that abide alone, that will never bring forth fruit. Why? Because they're unwilling to suffer for Christ's sake. Let's be like the Thessalonian church, who from right off the bat, right off of the inception, what? They suffered, they were willing to die to self, suffer persecution, go through tribulation, go through affliction, and what happened? The word of God sounded throughout all the regions. You know what? There's people today, I'm sure, that have gotten saved because of the efforts of the Thessalonians. They may not even know the names of the Thessalonians. We don't know the names of all the Thessalonians who are at this church, but you know who we do know the name of, Jesus. And you know what? We know of Jason, I mean that's pretty much all we know is Jason. We don't know anybody else, but you know what, we do know of their suffering, and it challenges us 2,000 years later to suffer for his name's sake, so we can be like a Thessalonian church as well. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word, thank you for the example of the Thessalonian church, Lord, what a great church, and I hope to meet those members one day in heaven, and I pray, God, that you'd help us to follow their example, Lord, and although our church has suffered in the beginning of this year, there's far more sufferings that are coming down the road, far more persecutions and afflictions. Help us, just like the Thessalonians, to receive the word of God in much affliction and joy of the Holy Ghost, and I pray, God, that you'd protect us, that you'd guide us, that you would reinforce us, Lord, strengthen us, that you may be honored and glorified through our suffering. In Jesus' name, amen.