We are praying for you.

 We are praying for you. Be strong.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-7

 

Rachel Workman: 1 This letter is from Paul, Silas,^[a] and Timothy.

We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May God give you grace and peace.

The Faith of the Thessalonian Believers

² We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. ³ As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ We know, dear brothers and sisters,^[b] that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. ⁵ For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance^[c] that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. ⁶ So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. ⁷ As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia.^[d]

We are chosen by God. That's pretty humbling. It's important to remember this when thinking about those around you. Not all my friends are Christians. If God chooses them then they will turn to him. If he doesn't then it’s His will and his plans.

 How did Paul know that these Thessalonians belonged to God? He saw a change in their lives. If you put 1 Thessalonians 1:3 next to 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10, You will get the picture:

Your work of faith /  you turned to God from idols

your labor of love /  to serve the living and true God

and patience of hope /  to wait for His Son from heaven

 My question for myself is would Paul know that I belonged to God? Would he see these changes in my life? There are plenty of idols in my life that are not called god.

____________________________________________________________________________________

John Burnett:  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.

2 We always give thanks to God for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;  We should always be praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ like Paul did for the Thessalonians  3 constantly keeping in mind your work of faith and labor of love and [a]perseverance of hope [b]in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, 4 knowing, brothers and sisters, beloved by God, His choice of you;  This little verse is powerful.  There are many people who believe they are saved because they made a choice like asking Jesus into your heart.  That is not how it works.   God the Father chooses who He gives to the Son. 5 for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction;  To be saved, the Holy Spirit has to open your eyes to your sin so that you will be convicted and repent of your sins.  just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sakes. 6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word during great affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.  The Thessalonians were highly persecuted but they knew they were saved because the Holy Spirit had convicted them and they became good examples because they imitated Paul and his disciples.

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

Monday’s  reading for 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10

⁸ And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, ⁹ for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. ¹⁰ And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.

Galatians 6:11-18

 

Rachel Workman:  Notice what large letters i use as i write these closing words in my own handwriting.

¹² Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. ¹³ And even those who advocate circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.

I think this is a good point and one we can use in our lives now. Some churches are not as concerned about what is correct as they are who's in attendance.

¹⁴ As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross,^[c] my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. ¹⁵ It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. ¹⁶ May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.^[d]

A new creation and a new people. We can not serve two masters. Either we crucify our interest in this world or we continually live in conflict.

¹⁷ From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus.

¹⁸ Dear brothers and sisters,^[e] may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

____________________________________________________________________________________

John Burnett:  11 See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! 12 All who want to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For those who [d]are circumcised do not even keep [e]the Law themselves, but they want to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But [f]far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through [g]which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new [h]creation. 16 And all who will follow this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.  There were Christians in Galatia that were trying to revert back to Judaism or at least bring the law of circumcision back as a part of law that must be kept in this new religion of Christianity.  Keeping the law was something that brought these people pride so they would boast about how good they were for keeping the law.  We are not able to keep the law.  This is why we have to have Christ's righteousness imputed to us because our righteousness falls so short.  When we are born again, we are a new creation and we realize that all of our striving to be good was in vain.  We see that our striving was only self-righteousness that we boasted in and Paul says here that we are only to boast in Christ in verse 14. 

17 From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the [i]marks of Jesus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Tomorrow’s reading for 1 Thessalonians 1:1-7

1 This letter is from Paul, Silas,^[a] and Timothy.

We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May God give you grace and peace.

The Faith of the Thessalonian Believers

² We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. ³ As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴ We know, dear brothers and sisters,^[b] that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. ⁵ For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance^[c] that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. ⁶ So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. ⁷ As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia.^[d]