A Example Church

A model church, Paul wants the church to understand that they are an example, not only to the people around them, but to other churches.

What is that makes them a model? Not attendance numbers, annual budget, media coverage, or slick marketing techniques.

Paul summarizes his profile of this church characterized by faith, hope, and love!

1 Thessalonians 1-Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

You belong to God and this a reminder that God is the father to all believers!

You are under His protection, under His guidance, under His care!

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God gives us grace and peace, things we need to extend to the unsaved!

A Christian doctor carried out an interesting survey recently involving his patients.

As they waited in the waiting-room, they were asked to fill out a little survey on themselves.

One of the questions asked was “What is your number one wish?”

On analyzing the answers the doctor found that the number one wish of 67% of his patients was to have peace of mind.

Real peace comes from God and our relationship with Him.

2-We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers,

I read about a young boy who had been naughty. During family devotions the father prayed for his son and mentioned a number of bad things the boy had done. Soon afterward the mother heard the 6-year-old sobbing. When she asked what was wrong, the boy cried out, "Daddy always tells God the bad things about me. He never tells Him the good things I do!"

What happened to that child underscores a shortcoming that is common to many of us. Instead of recognizing the good in people, we tend to notice their faults

We should be thankful for the people God has put in our life!

We should pray for those ones that God has put in our life.

3-remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,

(Work of Faith)

We are not saved by works; but our faith in Jesus Christ should produce works.

We are left on the earth to witness and serve one another.

(Labor of Love)

Our works should be motivated by love.

(Patience of Hope)

We have a lot of things to have hope in, Jesus coming again, spending eternity in heaven, no sickness, no death, no separation.

Eugene Lang, a self-made millionaire, greatly changed the lives of fifty-nine students in East Harlem. Asked to speak to the sixth-grade class at a school with a high drop-out rate, he wondered what he could say to inspire these students to stay in school. He wondered how he could get them to even look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I'll help pay college tuition for every one of you." For the first time, those children had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly ninety percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.

Hope can make a difference!

4-knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.

Every individual makes a decision where they will spend eternity.

God knows is saved and who is lost, but He is leaving the decision up to us, whether we will accept His sacrifice of love for us or reject it

Paul is saying, “Thessalonians, I just want you to take that in. You are loved of God. He chose all of us, the question is do we choose Him.”