The moment is now. Decision time. Will you obey God?
That is the choice that we face on a daily basis.
Will I obey Gods word today, or will I go about life on my own? We should be asking ourselves that question every single morning when we roll out of bed.
Obedience starts with the understanding that Gods Word is just that...THE WORD OF GOD. I came to that decision years ago, if you’re not there yet...it’s ok, we love having you here...but it’s my prayer that you will first make a choice to accept Him into your heart as your Lord and Savior and accept His word.
That’s a choice that leads to eternity in heaven with Him! It’s not about all the good things you have done, it’s about a personal relationship.
The choice is yours.
Choices riddle the landscape of our lives don’t they?
We’re faced with them at home, at work and in the personal space of our minds and hearts.
Great leaders will tell you that the ability to make good choices in your life comes from experience, but experience often comes from a wealth of bad choicesļ
Obedience to God is not made by indecision, that’s always a bad choice!
Many of the bad choices I have made in my life can be traced back to a single decision...this is the most crucial moment. This is where we need God involved in the process of leading us.
This is where we need obedience to God and His will for our lives.
With all of the choices God leaves, we still have to make the right one!
The reality of irreversible lung cancer in the life of the chain smoker can be traced back, in essence, to the decision to have ONE more single cigarette.
The reality of the individual in prison for a crime they committed can be traced back to one final decision...commit the crime or do what’s right.
It’s often our ability to make the small, God honoring decisions in our lives that determine how we will make the bigger ones.
Once The Apostle Paul gave his life to Jesus Christ, he was a model of God centered decision making.
We see his obsession with honoring God with his choices in life filter into the church in Thessalonica.
This was a new church that should have fallen apart...instead they became a church that was a model for all churches. As you remember, Paul had to leave these people behind too quickly because of persecution.
Paul wrote a letter to this church, to explain why it is so important to honor God with every decision in our lives. He wanted to give them the advice he didn’t have time to give them the first time around...this is the letter to that church.
We pick our study up this week with the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica.
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Verse 2...Paul suffered greatly for the gospel. (explain gospel) He was beaten and thrown in prison. His life was constantly threatened by the Jewish leaders of the day.
We see something very important here in verses 2-3...Paul never made demands on anyone that he was not willing to impose on himself!
Now this tells me something...be a true example, don’t preach one thing in your life, or profess God’s word for the standard of your living and do the opposite, this is detrimental! This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.
Ghandi was once asked if he would think about converting to Christianity and he said, "I like your Christ, but not your Christians. Your Christians are not like your Christ".
These Thessalonicans could smell hypocrisy a mile away, Paul was genuine! I think that attracted them. They saw hypocrisy in the Jewish leaders. Paul was real! Paul preached of a God who could transform lives...mighty to save and able to cleanse, regenerate and fill people with the Holy Spirit. Paul was sincere! Paul was BOLD about his faith!
It takes a bold person to stand up for the gospel, the Word of God!
We take our fair share of shots from people outside of this church that think we ’water down’ the scripture. They have obviously never been here before. We may change our approach through the years, we change our approach when culture changes...but we must never change or add to the word of God just to fit our needs as a church or as Christ followers.
Yes, we have guitars and drums here, yes we use multi media and advertising as a tool to reach this world for Christ. I have to be honest with you, I feel good about standing before Jesus Christ one day knowing that I did everything short of sin to bring people into a relationship with Him!!!!"
I don’t think I’ll be apologizing for being relevant. I don’t think I’ll be sorry for making it a point to relate and connect with people culturally! This is, after all ...the most important news this world can hear. And this world needs a bold attitude. Paul knew this! Paul knew that...
The bible is edgy!!!
I agree with John Ortberg here...we, as Christ followers often become so used to the Bible that we forget its edginess!!!! Its message is strong and its words convict.
Paul didn’t dilute the message, he had boldness from God....remember, he came to them in weakness and fear, with much trembling (1 Cor 2:3) He had been beaten, God gives strength!
Ask God for that strength in your life. The strength to never back down, to hold in obedience to the words of scripture! No matter what the cost to your personal feelings of emotions!
V4 - They didn’t try to please men. THIS IS HUGE! THE PULPIT MUST NEVER BE INTIMIDATED BY THE PEW!!! (explain what it means) From Paul’s example we learn a valuable lesson...the Christian should not be intimidated by the world around them.
Have you ever been in a church where the pastor is wishy washy? As Christians there is no need to apologize for scripture. I know how great the pressure can be for a Christian in this world.
It’s sometimes very difficult for the pastor even. We’re in a church of some 7,000 people in attendance weekly...there are a lot of people here who have a lot of varying opinions about the Bible, interpretation of scripture and how we should be doing church!
Not everyone is going to be happy!!! If that is your ultimate goal you’re in for a world of hurt!!!
In the past 6 years that I have been preaching...I have had people accuse me of being inclusive and intolerant...how can I say there is only one way to God? How can I be so very narrow-minded??? How can I say the Bible is the true word of God beyond a shadow of a doubt? We can say these things in LOVE because God said them first! Because God loved people FIRST.
The gospel (story of Jesus Christ and His saving grace) is not presented in the NT EVER in shades of accommodating Grey, but in black and white. It’s either true or false. Paul put his trust in the gospel and had little concern if it pleased anyone.
V8 -- Paul was strategic. He refers to the ’gospel of God’. With all of the raw paganism in the land at that time, this is what these people needed to understand. Other times in scripture authors speak of the ’gospel of Christ’(2 Cor 10:14), the ’gospel of the Kingdom’(Matt 24:14), the ’gospel of God’ that Paul refers to here, swept away all notions of false gods and idols!
The church in Thessalonica was bombarded culturally with worship of false gods. False gods were everywhere. Paul wanted them to first understand that there is one TRUE God.
This is the first step in understanding what sets Christianity apart!
There’s something else that SHOULD set Christians apart...love! How we treat people.
We see here in verses 7-8 how Paul treated them! This is so very important! The way we treat people, often times, speaks more for our faith than the words we profess!!! Nothing makes me angrier than when someone says to me, "if being a Christian means I have to act like so and so...(because they’re not a good example) then I don’t want anything to do with it!"
Paul treated these people like a mother caring for her children.
He was kind, loving and acted with gentleness and respect! Just imagine the impact we could have on the world around us if we exemplified this type of love??? If we forgave...if we held back judgment...if we ’loved’ people to Christ instead of arm twisting and arguing them to the foot of the cross!
Loving people as Jesus did isn’t easy!!!!
There’s something else in this text about obedience in our Christian faith that doesn’t always come easy...it’s really hard work a lot of the time!
V9 -- An attribute I love about Paul is his work ethic. This was against the Greek culture of intellect and poor work habits. It appealed to them. His work ethic drove him to ’weariness’ in the original text. We need to put some effort into it!!
We make obeying God difficult when we deem ourselves worthy of making up right and wrong. God CLEARLY drew these lines. We need to submit to the will of God, after all...He knows best.
Let’s get basic here...
For the Christ follower, obedience to God comes from a knowledge of His word, what the Bible says, how it applies to our lives. We need to study it so that we have it on our hearts and minds, that’s the only way it’s going to have an effect on our daily decisions...
Where are you at with this? After all, it’s all these people had...the preaching of Paul and the word of God. I’ve asked this before...do you know more about sports than you do about the Bible? Do you have more movie quotes memorized than scripture verses? Are the pages of your Bibles as worn out as the buttons on our TV remotes?
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What if we were told there was a book full of answers we were dying for...right at home on our tables. JFK assassination truths, UFO’s, Hoffa, ...etc...we would be all over it...yet there is a book full of truths on a much greater scale...in front of our faces!
The true truth! The secrets of life and death, the creation of eternity, the answers of how the world will end...
V 13 - I love this verse! They received the Word of God and accepted it. Period. This needs to be the first step in obedience once we have come into a personal relationship with Him...accept the truths in scripture and live them out!
Society is changing...relativism, postmodernism is running rampant! True truth is slowly becoming lost. Our society is more accepting of the individual’s truth, but less excepting of Gods truth.
The rate of Bible illiteracy is growing!
That’s alarming because the words of scripture have never been so accessible as they are today.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Scientology has been translated into 65 languages. The Book of Mormon has been translated into 100 languages, but the Bible has been moved into 2,656 different languages!
Some 65 million copies of the Bible are bought in the US every year. NOTHING ELSE IS A CLOSE SECOND!
The average house has 3. People praise the Bible, buy the Bible, give the Bible, own the Bible -- they just don’t actually read the Bible!!!
According to a Gallup poll, 1/3 people don’t even know who preached the Sermon on the Mount...Jesus!
Fewer than half polled can name the first book of the Bible and 80% of Christians think the phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is actually in the Bible!!! (Ben Franklin)
We need to acclimate ourselves with the teachings of scripture. As Paul taught the church in Thessalonica, as Jesus taught us.
It’s the only way daily Godly obedience will take hold in our lives!
The church in Thessalonica stood in stark contrast to the world around it.
We need to be genuine. Who you are here...needs to be who you are outside of these walls.
OFFERING, BAND OUT!
We need to be loving, we need to forgive, we need to be responsive when God is calling us to reassess our level of obedience and character of living...to God’s standards.
Are you willing to take that step in you life? Are you willing to do what’s right according to scripture? Are you willing to let the light of Christ shine into the world around you?
The moment is now! This world needs True Truth. This world needs Jesus Christ.
This is the road less traveled. Paul’s life is a testament to the fact that the Christian life is not the easiest one, but it is so worth it.
Rains will pour down, waves will crash around you, but we must always remember...
We are safe in God’s arms. He will protect and heal. He will give courage and strength. He is the Almighty God, mighty to save.
No matter who you are, or what you are going through...turn to Him.
Turn to His word, Run to His arms. He will never let you go.
