Thank you, Pastor, for leading us this morning. I appreciate that. Good morning, everyone. It's another beautiful morning in the UP. About 22 below this morning. So the animals told me they're getting kind of tired of it. So we'll see. Looks like good weather coming the next few days. And we're all surviving. So beautiful sunshine this morning, and that helps.

We're going to begin a study today of 1 Thessalonians. We've finished up with Timothy and Titus. And now we're going to move into Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, Lord willing. And I'd like to begin this morning by asking you to turn to Acts 16. I'm going to read a lengthy passage in Acts 16 into 17, which is a historical record of Paul's missionary journey in Philippi and then on into Thessalonica. 

Acts 16 at verse 16: Now, it happened as we went to prayer that a certain slave girl, possessed with the spirit of divination, met us, who brought her master's much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul and us and cried out, saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out that very hour. 

But when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, these men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city. And they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 

And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 

And suddenly, there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately, all the doors were open and everyone's chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep, seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. 

Then he called for a light, ran in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately, he and all his family were baptized. 

Now, when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, let those men go. So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, the magistrates have sent to let you go. Now, therefore, depart and go in peace. 

But Paul said to them, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now, do they put us out secretly? No, indeed, let them come themselves and get us out. And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out and asked them to depart from the city. 

So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 

Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them. And for three Sabbaths, reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying, this Jesus, whom I preach to you, is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded, and a great multitude of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas. 

But the Jews, who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace and, gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, these who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying, there is another king, Jesus. 

And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. And then we see that the men follow them to Berea, where he has all this fruit from Thessalonica and persecute him there as well. 

And as I read that, it sets the context for us as we come to the first letter of Thessalonians. But such was the life and ministry of the apostle Paul and his companions. They had a simple approach. Preach Christ and him crucified, buried and risen from the dead, the Savior of the world. And there was a typical response. Some believed, some hated, and persecuted the messengers. This was just the case for our Savior as well when he preached on this earth. 

You remember in John 10, he claims to be God. He talks about being the true shepherd. And it says they picked up stones to stone him. But when you get down to the end of that chapter in verse 42, it says, and many believed on him there. Paul wrote to young pastor Timothy and said, all who desire to live godly in this ungodly age will suffer persecution. 

Jesus said to his disciples in John 15, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 

My brothers and sisters, God has us here in this world this day, each day, for one main purpose, that the world may know that Jesus is the Christ. We are his ambassadors. We have the word of reconciliation. We've been commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Everything we do here in this place, in our fellowship, our Bible studies, in the course of our daily lives, should be to prepare, to focus on, and to carry out this great privilege that has been given to us as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

This was the life and ministry of Paul. He left the persecutions and the new converts and the church in Philippi, and he traveled to Thessalonica to preach the gospel to the Jews and the Gentiles. This was his custom to go into the synagogue first. This was his method to preach Christ, to reason from the scriptures, to implore men to believe, then to bring the new believers into the church for edification and preparation to be the new gospel preachers as they go out into their sphere of influence. 

And in all this, to expect persecution, to know that the world hates Jesus and will hate those who follow him, who stand for the truth, who preach the gospel and live holy lives that bring glory to God. This is the simplicity of ministry. This is the example for us in the life of Paul, and we see it so clearly as he comes to this thriving metropolis of Thessalonica, this place of great diversity, trade, and utterly pagan and corrupt culture. 

It was the next city on his journey. It was the next place he would preach Christ until they ran him out of there and he had to go to Berea. The next place he would see fruit, people saved, a church formed, and a great persecution from those who do not believe. The pattern was consistent. The reactions to the gospel are typical, just as it was for Jesus in John chapter 10. Many believed on him there, and that's the great encouragement of the gospel ministry, the great glory of God that's accomplished through the church. 

Well, we come to our text this morning, and we're just going to do an introduction in these first 10 verses. You'll follow along with me, 1 Thess 1, at verse one. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, and God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 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. Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. 

And you became followers of us and the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For you from the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything. 

For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he had raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 

Well, I've given you four points on your outline: the context, the city, the Christ, and the crop. We've discussed at some length in our introduction the context already, but I just want to emphasize the situation that we see here in Thessalonica. There is no Christianity here. There's no basis for morality. I think it's difficult for us in the context of 21st century America to understand the context into which Paul comes with this good news message of Jesus Christ. 

Archeologists tell us that the buildings in Thessalonica, particularly the homes, did not have any windows. And the reason was because the crime was so rampant that people did not want to give access to criminals to come into their houses. They found lewd and sensual paintings on the exteriors of the buildings and homes from this city in this time. It was wholly pagan, thriving, yes, a place of commerce, a cosmopolitan city, but overrun with crime and sufferings of all kinds. 

And there was only pagan religion, nothing that would give a foundation of morality except perhaps the synagogue, the small little Jewish influence that may have been there where Paul started. This is the context. And we learn more about the city. 

Today, the city's called Thessaloniki and is a major seaport of Greece on the northwestern shore of the Aegean Sea. It has a history that spans more than 2,300 years. From its beginning in the kingdom of Macedon in 315 BC, Thessalonica quickly became one of the most important seaports of the kingdom due to its strategic location as a hub connecting several major trade routes. The most important one in Roman times being the Via Ignatia which ran east and west through Macedonia, connecting Europe with Asia. 

The city also connected trade routes that went north to the Balkans and south towards Athens. Under Roman rule, Thessalonica was a free city, meaning that it had its own government and later became the capital of one of the four districts of Macedonia and eventually the capital of all the Greek provinces in the late history of Rome. 

The book of 1 Thessalonians, written around 50 AD, was most likely Paul's first epistle. It predated the Gospel of Mark, the earliest gospel, and was only about 20 years after Christ's resurrection. Paul wrote the letter from Corinth where you'll remember he spent 18 months preaching and teaching the word of God to the newly formed church there. And it's interesting to think about the contrasts between where Paul said and wrote this epistle in Corinth and the church that would receive it in Thessalonica. 

We're just finishing up the second letter to Corinth in our Thursday night studies, and it's amazing to see what a burden to the Apostle Paul of the church in Corinth was. He had a tremendous love for those believers in Corinth, but they were a thorn in his side, you might say, for much of Paul's ministry. Listen to this one verse, 2 Corinthians 12:15, as Paul's heart is poured out to the church in Corinth. He says, I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. That church caused a great deal of grief for Paul because of his great love for them. 

But this was not the case in Thessalonica. The church there was a loving, thriving, fruitful church with a powerful witness to the world around them. Look with me at our text in verses five to eight. It says, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us in the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. 

For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. What a joy and a comfort it must have been for Paul to sit down and write this letter sitting in Corinth. All the reports that were coming back from Thessalonica about the church there were good. They were encouraging. 

This was a maturing church, and they became a model church that was an example and a witness and a tremendous encouragement to Paul. It reminds me of Hebrews 13:17 where it says, Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. 

This was so often not the case in Corinth, but it was the rule in Thessalonica. And it wasn't because they had it easy there. This was a heavily persecuted church, and much affliction, Paul wrote, they received the gospel. 

They were suffering greatly, and yet their testimony was pure, was faithful, was fruitful to the glory of God. So we see the context, we see the city, next we see the Christ. And this is such an important point for us to see as Paul comes to this great strategic city of his day, notice Paul's affection, his encouragement, and great consummation of purpose we see in the words of our text. 

Back in verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father. Knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, in much assurance. 

And as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake, and you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. If you look at verse 10, it says, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

We're going to come back to these first 10 verses next time to do a proper exegesis, but look at the outline that forms here in Paul's words. Paul and his friends came preaching the gospel. They came preaching Christ, first in the synagogue and then to the Gentiles. The message was their method, and it did not come in word only, but in power, the power of the Holy Spirit. 

And the Thessalonians received this message. They believed Jesus Christ, resulting in salvation and fruit. They were transformed. They were changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. They turned from idols to serve the living God. The Spirit was working through the gospel preached, and this resulted in fruit and a changed life and a witness and in hope. 

Notice the characterization of their new life in Christ, one of faith, hope, and love. Their faith was known around the world. Their love was expressed in ceaseless works, labor of love toward all men, and their hope, their application or anticipation was in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of this was in the context of great persecution. 

They were suffering. They were being persecuted. Verse 3, patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. The patience of hope in the midst of persecution. Verse 6, and you became followers of us in the Lord, having received the word in much affliction. But notice it says, with joy. Not only was this a faithful, thriving, growing, witnessing church, but this was all in the context of great persecution. And this was such a tremendous example and encouragement to all the churches and to Paul. 

He gave thanks without ceasing for the church in Thessalonica. Paul came preaching Christ and Him crucified. The Thessalonians received this message with joy and the power of the Holy Spirit and there was a harvest. There was a crop, the fruit of changed lives. Encouragement for the brethren and a witness to the world, and this is what it's all about, my friends. 

This is the purpose of the church. We've been studying it for months in doctrine and exhortation in Timothy and Titus, and now we see it in application in the church in Thessalonica. We give thanks to God always for you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your faith, labor of love, patience of hope. Work of faith, labor of love, patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

This is what the church should look like. This is what the focus should be. We're going to look more closely at these verses next time, but this is the fruit of the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit in the lives of the elect of God. This is how a church is supposed to function, to flourish. And in the midst of suffering, of persecution, struggles, and trials beyond measure. 

And what strikes me is that their hope was in the coming of the Lord Jesus. This was their patience of hope. This was the key to their perseverance. Verse 9, they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turned from God to God, from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 

We're just going to trust the Lord, do the work of love, preach the gospel, and we're going to wait and anticipate His coming. This is our hope. This is our salvation from the wrath to come, He says. These verses lead us into a major theme of the book, deliverance from the wrath to come, the rapture, the day of the Lord. 

Turn over to chapter 4 with me, verse 13. Paul says, but I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. 

Those words caught up, or raptura in the Latin is where we get the term rapture, but it just means to be caught up. Jesus is going to come and catch us up to be with Him. Now go over to chapter 5 verse 1. Paul says, but concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 

For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you are also doing. 

Then when we get to 2 Thessalonians, we're going to look at chapter 2 in relation to this, 2 Thess 2, and Paul says, now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, again referring to this being caught up, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 

Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 

Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 

This is the promise. We are not appointed unto wrath, but to obtain salvation. My friends, these are vast subjects in the Word of God, encompassing so much Scripture, so many details, and so much mystery. When we get into chapters 4 and 5 and in preparation for 2 Thessalonians 2, we're going to do a deep dive into these doctrines, Lord willing, and we will trace the key phrase, the day of the Lord, through the Old Testament uses, contexts, and patterns, and we will have a hard look at the central, vital truth that it is Israel that is at the center of God's salvation plans, and why it matters that He will keep His unconditional promises from Genesis 12. 

I believe this will help us a great deal to understand what Paul is talking about and how it all fleshes out in Daniel and the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ as we look forward to the time when Jesus comes. But I want to just make one important point concerning all of this as we close our introduction to this book and look forward to the months of study ahead. 

All of the dynamic teachings of Paul in these two short letters to the church in Thessalonica have a very specific purpose. Did you notice as he talks about the rapture, as he talks about the day of the Lord, about deliverance from the wrath to come, in every instance, chapter 4, chapter 5, 2 Thess 2, he closes his teaching, his encouragement with this key word, comfort, comfort. 

The word literally means to draw near. The Thessalonians were concerned because of the intense persecution of the believers that they had missed the rapture and they were in the day of the Lord. We will see that someone, some false teacher by word or by letter or by revelation, Paul said, had brought this teaching to their ears and drawn them away from the truth. 

And all of the believers in this precious church, so dear, so encouraging to Paul, are instructed concerning the rapture, the day of the Lord, the wrath to come, and consistently the doctrine is to do one thing for the church. It's to accomplish one goal, to comfort, to encourage, to console, to draw near in an embrace. The church need not worry about missing the rapture or experiencing the day of the Lord. Rather, we can anticipate deliverance and salvation, not wrath and condemnation. 

Does this mean that we should expect to avoid persecution? What a crazy thing to take from a letter that sits immersed in the context of suffering and intense persecution. The question as to whether the church will be raptured before the time of Antichrist has nothing to do with persecution. Remember where we started. Jesus said the world will hate you. The world will persecute you. Paul said if you desire to live godly in this ungodly age, you will suffer persecution. 

Peter says we were called to this, to suffer for His sake. Jesus was crucified. Paul had his head cut off. Peter was crucified upside down. The believers in the early church experienced tremendous persecution, and this has been the rule for the martis, the witnesses for Jesus Christ throughout time. The ones who we have come to call martyrs, the word literally means witnesses, but it became such the norm for Jesus' witnesses to be killed for their testimony that the word has taken on the meaning of death, of persecution for His namesake. 

We should expect persecution, my friends, and it may come sooner than we think. Don't think of the rapture as a guarantee of deliverance from persecution and that we should not expect persecution. No, persecution is promised, and it's really irrelevant to the argument why should it matter to me if my head is removed by Nero or Stalin or Mao or the God-hating men and leaders that we have today, or the Antichrist. It's not an issue. 

But what is the issue in my study of these things, particularly in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, is that the subjects of the rapture and the day of the Lord are Our comfort, our hope, our consolation for the believers then and now. Not fear and trepidation and worry. The Thessalonians were greatly concerned because they thought they had missed the rapture and they were in the Day of the Lord. 

Paul says, don't worry. These things are comfort, they're consolation. You won't miss the rapture, you won't be in the Day of the Lord. That's not God's plan for the church, but rather that's a turning back to Israel time. Keep these truths in mind as we work our way through these epistles because it's important to understand these things as we work through the words and the context and Paul's intent and what he's saying. 

Primarily, he wants to comfort the believers. He says it every time. So it shouldn't be a fear, it shouldn't be a worry. It's a correction of a misunderstanding with the purpose of comforting. What an amazing little letter we begin this morning. And it's always a journey, always exciting to start a new book, a new encouragement, edification, as we come here week after week, as we get together during the week to study God's Word, to seek the living God through His Word. That's the privilege we have. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you. We thank you for comfort, for consolation. We thank you for truth, that you tell us the truth. Thank you for the example of this church. So long ago, such faithful believers who were focused on the simplicity of Christ, the simplicity of ministry, to be faithful, to love, be a witness, and to wait on the Lord Jesus. Thank you that we are not appointed to wrath, that we will not suffer your wrath. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but Father, we are appointed to salvation. Thank you for that promise and we trust you for your grace and power in our lives as long as you have us here for whatever may come. In Jesus' name, amen.