Thank you for taking time to read this week's sermon. I hope that you are all doing well and are in good health. I am feeling a little bit better each day, and I thank the Lord for that.
Over the course of the last few weeks, we've been studying what the Lord has to teach us from Paul's epistle to the Thessalonians. Last week, we looked at most of chapter 2. Today, we will finish chapter 2 and all of chapter 3.
As we saw, Paul left Thessalonica and carried on with his missionary journeys. However, he never forgot those in the churches that he founded. He was always concerned with the fact that they remain strong in the faith and progressing in their relationship with the Lord.
Paul had the desire to go and visit the church in Thessalonica again, but he was not able to make the return journey himself. He wanted to make sure that the people were doing well, so he finally decided to send Timothy, his associate, to the church in order to find out how the people were doing and to send word back to him.
Paul was encouraged to hear back from Timothy that the people were doing well. They were following the way of Jesus even in the midst of persecution. They had not fallen into false doctrine, and the church was strong.
I would like to focus on a couple of statements that Paul makes toward the end of chapter 3. In verse 11 he states, "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you."
Love is what the Christian faith is all about. As Paul says in I Corinthians 13, without love, we have nothing. Paul wanted their love for the Lord to increase day by day. We grow in our love for the Lord when we spend time with the Lord in prayer. We grow in our love for the Lord when we see His power working in us and through us.
Paul wanted the people's love to increase for each other. One of the way's that the Bible says that others will know that our faith is true is that they will see that we have great love for one another. When those in the body of Christ love one another and help one another, people are attracted to that kind of faith. On the other hand, when they see people in the church bickering, dividing and acting hateful towards one another, it turns people away from wanting to follow the Lord Jesus.
We are also to love those who are in this world. We show our love in two ways. First of all, we show our love for the world by going into all the world and preaching the Gospel to every creature as we have been commanded by the Lord, We also show our love by helping people and trying to help to make this world a better place. There are a lot of people in this world who need our help. Let us find a way to act in love to those who are hurting.
At the end of the chapter, Paul urges the believers to live holy and blameless lives right up to when the Lord Jesus returns to this earth. That is just what Jesus has told us to do. We do not want to be living in such a way that we would be ashamed when the Lord returns. We don't want to have shame when the Lord comes, we want to rejoice because the King has returned in power and great glory.
Let us love the Lord, one another and those in this world that God has made. Let us live in such a way that the Lord will be please with what we have done when we stand in His presence one day. Amen.
Prayer Requests
Please continue to pray that I will keep feeling better. Thank you.
Pray for the people of Pakistan experiencing flooding, and pray for those having problems because of flooding in Mississippi.
Continue to pray for peace in the troubles areas of this world. Pray for peace in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Ethiopia.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in the nations of Somalia and Saudi Arabia. Pray that many will come to know Jesus.
Next week, we will continue with our current study. I will post the verses on Monday, and I hope to have a midweek posting. May God bless you all.
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