1 Thessalonians 1
Paul, Silas and Timothy,2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia–your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead–Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. NIV
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It is interesting to look at history and at different countries and see that where Christians are persecuted the hardest the Gospel is spread the most. Here in America we are not persecuted. Instead we are made more and more comfortable and slowly slip away from God. I hate the thought of being persecuted for my faith, but I wonder if it would challenge me to walk closer to God. The Bible says that in the endtimes there will be a great coming to Christ and a great falling away. It could be possible that as the church starts to experience persecution those who were so-so in their faith will fall away while others will get stronger and start to spread the Gospel and the church will grow.
Merry, but not the Christmas variety - March 2, 2007 at 8:52 pm
vs 4-5. We know you are chosen because the gospel came to you not with words (witnessing) but with the power of the Spirt and His deep conviction.
vs 8 The Lords message rang out from you, your testimony is known everywhere. This is a very powerful statement.
BricK - March 2, 2007 at 10:16 pm
imitators?– wish I could say that is who I am, an imitator of the Lord, I am so far from being a reflection of Christ…but the hope that I hold on to is that my heart wants to be an imitator of Christ…i just have to keep pressing, deny myself and grow(study the word, pray and worship)
GhEtTo RoN - March 2, 2007 at 11:50 pm