Sermon Video: Receiving God's word in a hostile environment - 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16

 

We know the stories of the missionary martyrs, those who risked their lives and gave them to share the Gospel.  Less well known are the persecutions of those who chose to accept Jesus in those dangerous settings.  The persecution that Paul endured is familiar to us, but what about the ordinary men and women of Thessalonica, what was it like for them?

In our text today Paul doesn't detail the hostility they faced, rather he focuses on what they did in response: they accepted the Gospel as the very words of God.  This remarkable faith is encouraging to us, reminding us of the power of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit.  Persecution didn't stop the redeeming power of God's grace in Paul's day, it won't in ours either.

Sermon Video: The spiritual parents of a new church - 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12

The Apostle Paul tells the young church at Thessalonica that he and his team  were related to this congregation as its spiritual mother and father.  Both the tenderness of a mother and the encouragement of a father were needed by the community of new Christians as they grew in maturity.

This same principle applies to individual new Christians within an established Christian congregation, a reminder to mature disciples of Jesus that we are called to serve as mentors of the discipleship of others.

Messianic Jewish Perspectives: An interview with Pastor Matt Frey, Heritage Fellowship

 

Pastor Matt and I have had an email conversation going for some time, I was glad to have the opportunity today to learn more about his faith journey, call to ministry, and efforts to plant a congregation that is both welcoming to Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus Christ, and at the same time intentional about its mission to evangelize within the Jewish community.

Pastor Matt offered numerous insights into issues related to being Jewish, Judaism, Messianic Judaism, and the Hebrew Roots Movement.

Listen to the Word of God: 62 Scripture passages that refute 'Christian' Nationalism - #36 Romans 12:2

 

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

How should God's people, those whom he has called, "out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9) conduct themselves in the world?  

The Star Wars sequel trilogy has flaws, a lot of them, but the idea of a stormtrooper who questions his indoctrination isn't one of them.  With Finn, whom the Empire only gives a designation to: FN2187, one of the nameless and faceless soldiers of the Empire, we finally get a glimpse at what it would take to say "No." to the evil that they are asked to do in its name.  Finn, in an act of rebellion, rescues the Rebel operative Poe Dameron, and subsequently joins the rebellion.  He becomes a thinking person with a moral code, not just a number.

Why talk about this Star Wars character in connection with 'Christian' Nationalism?  The answer is really simple: 'Christian' Nationalism creates its own stormtroopers.  No, we're not talking about people who can't hit the broad side of a barn with a laser gun, and we're not talking about the ways that term was used by WWII's fascist regimes.  Rather, 'Christian' Nationalism elevates the role and purpose of the state, sanctifying it by claiming that God wants them to run/rule it in God's name, which makes service to the state and obedience to the state into spiritual imperatives because they come from a, supposedly, God-sanctioned ruler or party.

What happens when the state engages in evil?  What happens when the state persecutes the outcasts and "others" that it designates as its enemies?  Do followers of Jesus go with the flow, do they make themselves no more than a cog in the machine of state?  

True discipleship of Jesus is not unthinking conformity, certainly not to the kingdoms of this world.  Instead, the Apostle Paul instructs us that we need to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, we need to seek the will of God, even if that means rebellion against an Empire.

Sermon Video: "a model for all believers" - 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10

What makes a church one that is worth emulating?  Contrary to the numbers-based way in which much of the Church today decides which congregations are successful and which are not, the Apostle Paul offers to the new believers in Thessalonica his own praise by declaring that they are, "a model to all believers."

What was it about this congregation?  (1) God chose them, (2) the Holy Spirit worked powerfully among them, (3) Paul and his team lived in a Christ-like way while there, (4) they chose to imitate Paul's team and Jesus, (5) all while maintaining their joy in the midst of suffering.  This combination of God's will and their faithfulness in response to what God and Paul's team had done, led to God utilizing them as an example throughout Greece.

Our question: What can we do, as a local congregation, to also be worthy of being emulating, better yet, what can we and the other local congregations around us do to help shine the light of the Gospel in our community?  Paul has shown us the roadmap.