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1 Thessalonians 2 - THIS Is Why Christianity Is So Powerful: It Spreads In Persecution · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Hello, and good morning friends, and fave A listeners, thank
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: you for tuning into the Bible Explained podcast. So yesterday
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  Speaker 1: I got the chance to watch the entire Charlie Kirk memorial,
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  Speaker 1: and I watched the whole eight hours of it, and
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  Speaker 1: I thought it was cool to see speaker after speaker
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  Speaker 1: preaching the gospel to millions of people who are viewing
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  Speaker 1: this thing just over and over again. It was absolutely
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  Speaker 1: wonderful and I couldn't recommend watching it more. But the
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  Speaker 1: one thing, of course, that really struck everybody was Charlie
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  Speaker 1: Kirk's widow when she gave her speech. So my sister
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  Speaker 1: and I did an episode about that on YouTube. We
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  Speaker 1: talked about what forgiveness is and what it is not biblically,
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  Speaker 1: because I think a lot of people, myself included, really
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  Speaker 1: misunderstood or misunderstand what forgiveness is. We kind of think
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  Speaker 1: that it's just being a doormat, like laying down and
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  Speaker 1: letting people walk all over you, and you just have
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  Speaker 1: to ignore that and let them keep doing it over
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  Speaker 1: and over and over again. But my sister had a
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  Speaker 1: much better understanding of what forgiveness was than I did,
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  Speaker 1: so I let her talk pretty much the entire episode,
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  Speaker 1: and my sister taught me something about forgiveness, something that
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  Speaker 1: I had never recognized or realized before. So I think
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  Speaker 1: that the episode is a good one for us Christians
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  Speaker 1: to talk about. Is what really is forgiveness according to
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  Speaker 1: the Bible? How is it defined? And also how does
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  Speaker 1: it go hand in hand with the imprecatory prayers, because
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  Speaker 1: I've been talking a lot about that recently on the
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  Speaker 1: podcast and last week's video that I did, so I'll
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  Speaker 1: link that new YouTube video on forgiveness in the description
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  Speaker 1: of this podcast episode. So once we're done reading First
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  Speaker 1: Sessalonians Too and discussing this, you can go over to
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  Speaker 1: YouTube and check out my channel and hopefully subscribe as
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  Speaker 1: well as watching the video. All right, let's read First
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  Speaker 1: Sessalonians Too the entire chapter. Actually, normally I try to
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  Speaker 1: break up the New Testament chapters into smaller chunks, but
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  Speaker 1: this one is one of those ones where you kind
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  Speaker 1: of have to read the whole thing in order to
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  Speaker 1: get the context of what is happening. This chapter is
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  Speaker 1: discussing Paul's relationship with the Thessalonians, because once again, poor
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  Speaker 1: Paul has to defend his character and has to defend
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  Speaker 1: his ministry because people are just fighting against him and
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  Speaker 1: spreading all sorts of lies about him, about these terrible
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  Speaker 1: things that he supposedly was doing. So he has to
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  Speaker 1: defend his character to the Thessalonians and remind them, like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we know each other. I did not do
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  Speaker 1: these things. So let's go ahead and read this chapter
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  Speaker 1: as usual. I'll be reading from the World English Bible
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  Speaker 1: for you yourselves. No, brothers, our visit to you wasn't
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  Speaker 1: in vain, but having suffered before and been shamefully treated
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  Speaker 1: as you know at Philippi, we grew bold in our
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  Speaker 1: God to tell you the good news of God in
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  Speaker 1: much conflict. For our exhortation is not of error, nor
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  Speaker 1: of uncleanness, nor in deception. But even as we have
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  Speaker 1: been approved by God to be entrusted with the good news,
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  Speaker 1: so we speak not as pleasing men, but God, who
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  Speaker 1: tests our hearts. For neither were we at any time
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  Speaker 1: found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a
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  Speaker 1: cloak of coveteousness. God is witness, nor seeking glory from men,
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  Speaker 1: neither from you nor from others. When we might have
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  Speaker 1: claimed authority as apostles of Christ, but we are gentle
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  Speaker 1: among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children,
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  Speaker 1: even so affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased
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  Speaker 1: to impart to you not the good news of God only,
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  Speaker 1: but also our own souls, because you had become very
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  Speaker 1: dear to us. For you remember, brothers, our labor and
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  Speaker 1: travail for working night and day, that we might not
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  Speaker 1: burden any of you. We preach to you the good
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  Speaker 1: news of God. You are witnesses with God. How holy,
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  Speaker 1: righteously and blamelessly we behaved ourselves towards you who believe.
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  Speaker 1: As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one
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  Speaker 1: of you, as a father does to his own children,
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  Speaker 1: to the end that you should walk worthily of God,
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  Speaker 1: who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. For
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  Speaker 1: this cause, we also thank God without ceasing that when
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  Speaker 1: you received from us the word of the Message of God,
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  Speaker 1: you accepted it not as the word of men, but
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  Speaker 1: as it is in truth, God's word, which also works
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  Speaker 1: in you who believe. For you, brothers, became imitators of
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  Speaker 1: the assemblies of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen,
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  Speaker 1: even as they did from the Jews, who killed both
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and drove us out.
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  Speaker 1: And don't please God and our contrary to all men
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  Speaker 1: forbidding us to speak to the gentiles that they may
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  Speaker 1: be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath
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  Speaker 1: has come on them to the uttermost. But we brothers,
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  Speaker 1: being bereaved of you for a short season in presence
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  Speaker 1: not in heart, tried even harder to see your face
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  Speaker 1: with great desire because we wanted to come to you. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: I Paul once and again. But satan Us, for what
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  Speaker 1: is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Isn't
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  Speaker 1: it even you before our Lord Jesus at his coming,
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  Speaker 1: For you are our glory and our joy. So poor
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  Speaker 1: Paul can never catch a break. He's always being accused
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  Speaker 1: of something. And you can tell, and for Thessalonians too,
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  Speaker 1: that he is being accused once again of several things.
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  Speaker 1: So let's go through this. And actually, for this chapter,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's really beneficial to put yourself in the
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  Speaker 1: shoes of the Thessalonians, because think about where the Thessalonians
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  Speaker 1: were at this time. They barely knew Paul. They had
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  Speaker 1: heard the gospel message from him, but they only got
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  Speaker 1: the chance to really be around him for about three
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  Speaker 1: weeks before he had to leave. There probably were several
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  Speaker 1: Thessalonian Christians who had never even met Paul because they
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  Speaker 1: became Christians after Paul had left. So it's very likely
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  Speaker 1: many of them, not knowing Paul, were beginning to hear
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  Speaker 1: these rumors about Paul, thinking that they might be true.
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  Speaker 1: So that is why Paul writes this segment of this
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  Speaker 1: letter to the Thessalonians. He starts in verse one, you
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  Speaker 1: yourselves know, brothers, our visit to you wasn't in vain,
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  Speaker 1: But having suffered before and been shamefully treated as you
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  Speaker 1: know at Philippi, we grew bold in our God to
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  Speaker 1: tell you the good news of God in much conflict.
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  Speaker 1: In those two verses, Paul reminds the Thessalonians, He's like, look,
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  Speaker 1: even though we were only with you for a very
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  Speaker 1: short period of time, our visit to you was not
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  Speaker 1: in vain. In fact, our visit to you was really
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  Speaker 1: good because of the fact that we were emboldened from
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  Speaker 1: the previous persecution that we had faced in Philippi, and
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  Speaker 1: actually that persecution is talked about in Acts chapter sixteen,
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  Speaker 1: Acts sixteen sixteen through thirty two. Here's what it says.
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  Speaker 1: As we are going to prayer, a certain girl having
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  Speaker 1: a spirit of divination, met us, who brought her masters
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  Speaker 1: much gain by fortune telling. Following Paul, she cried out,
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  Speaker 1: these men are servants of the Most High God, who
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  Speaker 1: proclaimed to us a way of salvation. She was doing
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  Speaker 1: this for many days, but Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned
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  Speaker 1: and said to the spirit, I command you, in the
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  Speaker 1: name of Christ Jesus, to come out of her. It
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  Speaker 1: came out that very hour. But when her masters saw
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  Speaker 1: that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized
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  Speaker 1: Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before
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  Speaker 1: the rulers. When they had brought them to the magistrates,
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  Speaker 1: they said, these men, being Jews, are agitating our city
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  Speaker 1: and advocate customs which is not lawful for us to
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  Speaker 1: accept or observe. Being Romans, the multitude rose up together
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  Speaker 1: against them, and the magistrate tore their clothes from them,
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  Speaker 1: then commanded them to be beaten with rods. When they
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  Speaker 1: had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison,
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  Speaker 1: charging the jailer to keep them safely. Having received such
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  Speaker 1: a command, he threw them into the inner prison and
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  Speaker 1: secured their feet in the stocks. Now, if you keep
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  Speaker 1: on reading, it actually tells the story of how that
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  Speaker 1: jailer became saved. But regardless, you know, Paul and Silas
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  Speaker 1: are in Philippi. And also it sounds like Luke is
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  Speaker 1: there too, because Luke is most likely the author of
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  Speaker 1: acts and he includes himself as being in Philipi. So
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  Speaker 1: Paul certainly had his team there with him in Philipi.
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  Speaker 1: And so what happens is they're going to prayer. This girl,
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  Speaker 1: who has a evil spirit inside of her, starts harassing
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  Speaker 1: Paul and Silas, saying that they have a way of salvation,
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  Speaker 1: not the way of salvation, but a way. And eventually
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  Speaker 1: Paul gets so irritated at this girl that he commands
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  Speaker 1: the evil spirit to come out of her. And when
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  Speaker 1: it does, the men who owned this slave girl became
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  Speaker 1: furious because this slave girl was gaining them a lot
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  Speaker 1: of money because she was, you know, giving fortune telling
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  Speaker 1: and stuff like that. So they see that she no
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  Speaker 1: longer has this evil spirit inside of her, they become
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  Speaker 1: furious drag Paul and Silas to the magistrates of Philip,
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  Speaker 1: where he accuses them and says all sorts of lies
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  Speaker 1: about them, and the magistrate ends up stripping them naked
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  Speaker 1: in public and beating them with rods, then throwing them
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  Speaker 1: into prison, which was not legal for that magistrate to do,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, because Paul himself was a Roman citizen.
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  Speaker 1: But that's beside the point. However, this emboldened Paul and
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  Speaker 1: Silas to preach Jesus's name even more fervently. And isn't
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  Speaker 1: that amazing how that works like that? You know, persecution
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  Speaker 1: we typically think as being something very scary, something we
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  Speaker 1: want to avoid. But it's really amazing how when persecution happens,
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  Speaker 1: God will just give people this crazy amount of strength
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  Speaker 1: to be able to go through it, and to go
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  Speaker 1: through it very strongly and very boldly. I mean, look
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  Speaker 1: at Charlie Kirk. I do believe that a man was
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  Speaker 1: a martyr because he was going out on Christian campuses.
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  Speaker 1: He was actively proclaiming the Gospel wherever he went. You know,
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  Speaker 1: he actually went to Japan just recently before he died,
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  Speaker 1: like a week before he died. He proclaimed the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: message there and he purposely did that, because I think
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  Speaker 1: it's something like one point five percent of Japanese people
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  Speaker 1: know about Jesus. Charlie Kirk spread his faith everywhere he went.
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  Speaker 1: He was a martyr, and yet now through his death,
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  Speaker 1: look at how many people are being emboldened to stand
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  Speaker 1: up for Christ. For some reason, Christianity is often spread
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  Speaker 1: through martyrdom and through persecution, because the Holy Spirit just
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  Speaker 1: emboldens people to speak about Him when persecution like that happens.
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  Speaker 1: And that was the same story with Paul and Silas.
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  Speaker 1: After they experienced this persecution, they became even more bold
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  Speaker 1: to tell the good news about God in the middle
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  Speaker 1: of this conflict. That's what it says here in verse two.
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  Speaker 1: And so Paul continues, for our exhortation is not of error,
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  Speaker 1: nor of uncleanness, nor in deception, but even as we
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  Speaker 1: have been approved by God to be entrusted with the
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  Speaker 1: good news, So we speak not as pleasing men, but
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  Speaker 1: God who tests our hearts. So Paul's like, look, I've
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  Speaker 1: heard the rumors that you guys have heard about how
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  Speaker 1: we are working with deception, that we are in error,
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  Speaker 1: that we have uncleanness inside of us. And the reason
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  Speaker 1: some of these accusations about Paul might have been coming
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  Speaker 1: forth was possibly because of the amount of women that
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  Speaker 1: we're becoming Christians. Apparently, back in these days, if a
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  Speaker 1: woman no longer believed in the religion of her husband,
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  Speaker 1: sort of like sexual foul play was typically thought of
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  Speaker 1: as taking place. And because these women, these prominent women
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  Speaker 1: in Philippi and also in Thessalonaika were becoming saved, becoming Christians,
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  Speaker 1: people thought that Paul and Silas and whoever else was
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  Speaker 1: part of Paul's ministry at this time, that they were
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  Speaker 1: almost seducing these women away from their husbands. But Paul says, no,
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  Speaker 1: we did not have any uncleanness inside of us when
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  Speaker 1: we were telling you the gospel. We didn't have any
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  Speaker 1: deception or error. He says, we have been approved by
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  Speaker 1: God to be entrusted with the good News, and so
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  Speaker 1: we speak. We speak because God gave us that message,
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  Speaker 1: not because we want to please men, but because we
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  Speaker 1: want to please God, who tests our hearts Verse five.
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  Speaker 1: For neither were we at any time found using words
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  Speaker 1: of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of cove righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: And God is our witness, not seeking glory from men.
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  Speaker 1: Neither from you nor from others, when we might have
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  Speaker 1: claimed authority as apostles of Christ. So Paul's like, look,
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  Speaker 1: we're apostles. We could have used that every time we
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  Speaker 1: went up to speak. We could have been like, look,
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  Speaker 1: you guys need to listen to us, because we are
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  Speaker 1: apostles of Jesus, because we can do these miracles, because
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  Speaker 1: we can speak in tongues, because we have all these gifts.
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  Speaker 1: You guys need to listen to us. But Paul says,
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  Speaker 1: we could have claimed that authority, but we did not
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  Speaker 1: do it. We didn't seek glory from men. We didn't
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  Speaker 1: have a cloak of coveteousness. In fact, Paul goes on
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  Speaker 1: to say, we didn't ask anything from you guys. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: we took care of ourselves when we came to the city.
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  Speaker 1: We provided for ourselves. And that's something that Paul often did,
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  Speaker 1: was when he went to plant a church, he would
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  Speaker 1: provide for his own needs by doing tent making. And
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  Speaker 1: some people also think maybe he did leather work as well.
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  Speaker 1: He had a job and did not take money from
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  Speaker 1: the places he was going to plant these churches, and
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  Speaker 1: he did that purposely, not because it's wrong to tithe
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  Speaker 1: or pay your pastors, as some people claim, but because
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  Speaker 1: Paul did not want these people to get the wrong
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  Speaker 1: idea about him, that he was coveteousness, or that he
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  Speaker 1: was only spreading the gospel message because he wanted money,
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  Speaker 1: he says, no, I did not want your money. That's
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  Speaker 1: not why I'm doing this. I'm doing this because I
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  Speaker 1: believe the Gospel needs to be spread to people, because
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  Speaker 1: this is the truth of God. He says in verse seven.
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  Speaker 1: We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother who
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  Speaker 1: cherishes her own children. We talked about this before, but
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  Speaker 1: there were these guys that basically called themselves like super
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  Speaker 1: apostles or something, and they'd go around claiming to be,
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  Speaker 1: you know, true Jewish people, to have all the answers,
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  Speaker 1: to have some sort of revelation from God, to have
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  Speaker 1: seen visions and have like special words of knowledge or
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  Speaker 1: something like that. They'd go around preaching to these vulnerable people,
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  Speaker 1: and Paul talked about them at length in Second Corinthians
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  Speaker 1: because of how damaging these men actually were because they
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  Speaker 1: were Charlatan's. They were only doing it for their own
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  Speaker 1: selfish gain or for coveteous reasons, because they wanted money
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  Speaker 1: or fame or something else. One thing that these quote
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  Speaker 1: unquote super apostles would do is they would often yell
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  Speaker 1: at people, even going as far as to slap people
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  Speaker 1: across the face for heresy. So in Second Corinthians, chapter eleven,
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  Speaker 1: Paul discourages in the strongest sense anybody that listens to
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  Speaker 1: these quote unquote super apostles. In fact, he does it
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  Speaker 1: with some snark as well. Second Corinthians eleven nineteen says this,
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  Speaker 1: for you bear with the foolish, gladly being wise. For
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  Speaker 1: you bear with a man if he brings you into bondage,
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  Speaker 1: if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if
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  Speaker 1: he exalts himself, or if he strikes you on the face.
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  Speaker 1: So Paul's yelling at the Corinthians. He's like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you guys claim to be so wise, and yet you're
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  Speaker 1: listening to some of the most foolish people on the planet,
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  Speaker 1: So why are you doing that? But you know, this
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  Speaker 1: was a very common thing back in Paul's day, these
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  Speaker 1: speakers that would be very harsh to their audience, that
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  Speaker 1: would literally slap people across the face. And Paul's like,
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  Speaker 1: did we do that to you? Thessalonians did we do
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  Speaker 1: what people are claiming that we did. Did we slap
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  Speaker 1: you across the face? No, we were gentle among you,
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  Speaker 1: like a nursing mother who cherishes her own children, even
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  Speaker 1: so affectionately longing for you. We were pleased to impart
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  Speaker 1: to you not the good news of God only, but
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  Speaker 1: also our own souls, because you would become very dear
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  Speaker 1: to us. Basically, that verse means that Paul and Silas
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  Speaker 1: and Timothy and everybody else in Paul's ministry were willing
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  Speaker 1: to die for the Thessalonians. They said, we were pleased
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  Speaker 1: to not just give you the good news, but our
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  Speaker 1: own lives if that's what became necessary. We were going
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  Speaker 1: to do that for you because we have affection for you.
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  Speaker 1: And that is something that the Thessalonians would have seen.
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  Speaker 1: You know, because Paul and Silas and them had to
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  Speaker 1: leave Thesalonaika so quickly due to religious persecution, they knew
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  Speaker 1: how dangerous this was. They knew that Paul and his
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  Speaker 1: team were risking their lives every single day to present
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  Speaker 1: the gospel to people. Paul reminds them of all of
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  Speaker 1: that because of these rumors spreading around about Paul verse nine,
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  Speaker 1: For you remember brothers, our labor and travail for working
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  Speaker 1: night and day, that we might not burden any of you.
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  Speaker 1: We preached to you the good news of God. In
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  Speaker 1: other words, Paul is making the argument, I am not
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  Speaker 1: like these other people who just want to use you
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  Speaker 1: for your money, who just want to give you these
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  Speaker 1: speeches that sound pretty, that sound really knowledgeable, but are
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  Speaker 1: empty and have no real truth behind them. We are
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  Speaker 1: not those type of people. We worked for ourselves. We
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  Speaker 1: took good care of you, guys. We were gentle, We
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  Speaker 1: didn't mistreat any of you, we didn't seduce your women.
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  Speaker 1: We were kind to all of you. And we made
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  Speaker 1: sure to show you this because we want you to
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  Speaker 1: know how important the gospel message actually is. You are
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  Speaker 1: witnesses with God, how holy, righteously and blamelessly we behaved
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  Speaker 1: ourselves toward you who believe. That's what he says in
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  Speaker 1: verse ten. As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored
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  Speaker 1: every one of you as a father does to his
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  Speaker 1: own children. So in verse seven, Paul considers himself and
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  Speaker 1: his team to be like a mother to the Thessalonians,
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  Speaker 1: and now he considers himself to be like a loving father.
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  Speaker 1: This is something that Paul did actually quite often to
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  Speaker 1: the recipients of his letters. He considered himself to be
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  Speaker 1: their father because he I think he really did have
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  Speaker 1: a genuine affection for them. I really don't think that
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: that's that out of the ordinary. You know, I'm not
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a parent myself, and I don't know what that feeling
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: is like because I don't have any kids. But I
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: can definitely feel it somewhat like this matronly kind of
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: affection for the youth group kids in my youth group,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: because I just have this like deep love for them.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I love them so so much, and I just think
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: they're so cute, and usually I feel like they can
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: do no wrong, even if they're doing something wrong. I
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: have that feeling towards those students, And so I can
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: see how Paul might have that same feeling for these
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: churches and these people that he's mentoring. He feels like
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: a father to them, like a parent to them, and
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: then he says in verse twelve that he treated them
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: in this kind way so that they should walk worthily
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Now,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: that is something that in Acts chapter seventeen, people were
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: accusing Paul of spreading a message of insurrection against the emperor.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Here's what Acts seventeen four through eight says. Some of
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas of the
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: devout Greeks, a great multitude and not a few of
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: the chief women. But the unpersuaded Jews took along some
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: wicked men from the marketplace and gathered a crowd set
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: the city in an uproar, assaulting the house of Jason.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: They sought to bring them out to the people. When
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: before the rulers of that city, crying, these are those
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: who have turned the world upside down, having come here
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: also whom Jason has received. They all act contrary to
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: this Jesus. The multitude and the rulers of the city
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: were troubled when they heard these things. When they had
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: And that, of course is the story of Paul and
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Silas being in Thessalonika, and why Paul and Silas had
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: to leave because this mob of Jews were so angry
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: at what Paul was preaching that they actually went into
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Jason's home, raided the place, expected to find Paul and
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Silas there, did not find them for whatever reason, and
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: ended up dragging Jason to the magistrates to say this
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: lie about what Paul and Silas were saying. That Paul
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: and Silas apparently were spreading this message of insurrection against
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the Caesar, which absolutely was not the truth. And what's
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: really funny is that the Jews would have known that
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: better than anybody, because they were the ones who were wishing,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: who were wanting the Messiah to overthrow the Roman government.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: That's what they wanted. And yet when Paul and Silas
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: and Paul's team started teaching that the Messiah had come,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: that his name was Jesus, they didn't want Jesus to
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: be their Messias. They wanted something else, So they instead
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: twist everything that Paul and Silas said to make it
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: look like Paul and Silas were trying to stir up
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: this rise against the Roman Empire, which is absolutely crazy,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: and even Paul right here says, we're not doing that. Instead,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: we are preaching the gospel of Jesus who calls you
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: into his own kingdom and glory, meaning a kingdom that
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: is not part of this earth, but one that is different,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: one that is not going to come here, but is
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: going to come in the afterlife. Paul makes that very
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: very clear right here in for Thessalonians two, verse twelve,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: that it has nothing to do with an earthly insurrection
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: against Caesar. Then in verse thirteen he says, for this cause,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: we also thank God without ceasing that when you received
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: from us the word of the Message of God, you
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: accepted it not as the word of men, but as
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: it is in truth, God's word, which also works in
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: you who believe. For you, brothers, became imitators of the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: assemblies of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: even as they did from the Jews, who killed both
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and drove us out.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: And don't please God in our contrary to all men
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: forbidding us to speak to the gentiles that they may
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: be saved, to fill up their sin always. But wrath
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: has come on them to the uttermost. In that paragraph,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Paul is commending the faith of the Thessalonians because they
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: are standing up for Jesus and for their faith in
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: spite of the fact that they have a lot of persecution.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: And we do know, you know, Thesalonika in these days
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: was a very prominent city. It was a city that
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: was a shipping hub because of how well it was
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: situated on the shore, like in the Upper Peninsula of Greece.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: There were a lot of Jews in Thesalonika. In fact,
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: when Paul went there, he went directly to the synagogue
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: to teach the Jews about Jesus. So the Christians in Thesalonika,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: we're getting a large amount of persecution from the Jews
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: in that area. Paul commends the Thessalonian Christians. He says,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: good for you for standing up for Jesus in the
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: face of this persecution. And he says, you know, these
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Jews who think that they are pleasing God. He says,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: they killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: and they drove us out, and they don't please God.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: And they are contrary to all men. Forbidding us to
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: speak to the gentiles that they may be saved, so
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: that they can fill up their sin always and what's
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: really funny here is Paul says an imprecatory statement. He says,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: wrath has come on them to the uttermost. Notice what
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Paul says about these Jewish men and women. They killed
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus, they killed his prophets, they drove Christians out,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: They don't please God, and they are contrary to all men.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: They forbid Christians to speak so that they can fill
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: up on their sin. You know, these statements Paul writes
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: here could be talking about anybody. It's not just the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Jews of Paul's day who are doing these things, but
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: it's anybody who is so contrary to Christianity that they
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: act in this way. And it's really amazing how people
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: who act like this they only target Christians because they
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: understand that there is power in the name of Jesus Christ.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: That is why these exact people, no matter who they are,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: throughout all generations, they are going to attack Christians because
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: they know that there is something real with Christianity verse seventeen.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: But we brothers, being bereaved of you for a short
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: season in presence not in heart, tried even harder to
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: see your face with great desire, because we wanted to
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: come to you. Indeed, I Paul once and again, but
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Satan hindered us. Paul kept trying to stand up to
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: these persecutors, he says, I have tried to come back
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: to you on multiple occasions, but I keep getting stopped.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: He says, Satan keeps hindering us. And you know, Paul
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: could be talking here about one entity who is you know,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Satan himself, the devil. But the term Satan in general
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: usually means the adversary. In fact, Jesus himself called Peter
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the Disciple Satan because Peter was becoming an adversary toward Jesus.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: At one point in time, Jesus says to Peter, get
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: behind me, Satan, you are not thinking about the things
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: of God. So I personally think that when Paul mentions
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Satan right here, he's talking about the adversaries of Jesus,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: which is demonic in nature. Obviously, we know that Satan,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: that Lucifer, hates Christians right and that he is constantly
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: targeting them. Jesus said that Satan goes around like a
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: roaring lion seeking someone to devour. That is what he
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: is doing. He is trying to devour people. He hates Christians,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: he hates the message of God because he is anti God,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: he is anti Christ. And so he's going to do
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: every single thing that he can to make sure that
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: the message of Christ does not get out to more people.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: And he is going to do that by lying to people,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: by influencing people against Christians, and lastly by making people afraid.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Those are the three tactics that he uses, and those
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: are really the only things that he has lies fear,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: intimidation and deceiving and influencing people against Christianity. Yet Paul,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: with all boldness, and Silas and Timothy and everybody else
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: working with Paul, tried even harder, is what it says
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: in verse seventeen, to make sure that the Gospel of
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Jesus did not die, but that it would spread to
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: even more people. The moral of that story is that
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: God is so much stronger than Satan ever will be,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: and Satan he's never going to stop until the end
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: of time. He is going to do his best to
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: make sure that the Gospel of Christianity is not spread.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: But the Holy Spirit is so much more powerful, so
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: much stronger inside of us Christians, that even when Satan
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: seems like he's winning, and he is able to effectively
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: persecute and martyr Christians. The Holy Spirit is going to
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: step up and make Christians even bolder, and make Christians
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: even stronger and more courageous to spread the Gospel of Jesus.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: And that right there shows how powerful the message of
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Christian really is. I'm not gonna lie. I really did
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: not intend to make this podcast Charlie Kirk related, but
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: honestly like it ties in so perfectly with what we
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: just saw happening in our world last week. You can
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: see just the Gospel, at least in my mind. You
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: can see it just opening up to more people. You
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: can see it coming to life the way Paul is
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: talking about you know, it's just it's so amazing. But
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I hope that you guys enjoyed today's episode.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: If you did, if you were convicted, share it on
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: their social media platforms. Tell people that the Bible Explained
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: podcast exists, because this is a really good way to evangelize,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: because you know, this podcast, for the most part, other
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: than the weather and coffee, we pretty much only talk
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: about the Bible. Here. But another good way to evangelize
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: is just by rating and reviewing this podcast wherever you're
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: listening from, because that helps this podcast get found by
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: more people. Faithful listeners have a fantastic and wonderful rest
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: of your day. As always, feel free to contact me
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, whether it's a prayer request or you
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: just want to introduce yourself. You're going to find my
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: contact information listed in the description of this episode. Faithful
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: listeners have a wonderful rest of your day, happy listening,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: and God bless