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When Satan Cancels Your Plans (1 Thessalonians 2, 3) · Prodigal Hope

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad that we are here.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad that we can open up the word, that we can get into what God has for us this morning.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: This little section is going to prove a really interesting one as we are going
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: through what Paul is writing to the Thessalonian believers.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: As we know,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: last time we spent a great deal of time looking at how Paul,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: somewhat we could say, took some time to defend his character.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: To defend his,
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: maybe even we could say his integrity against a wave of slander that was coming down
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: for he and his missionary team.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's one other note that we have to make sure we are aware of though
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: because now Paul is going to,
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: we could say, explain the reason why he hadn't come back to visit them.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: This, by all accounts,
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: was surely another piece of that smear campaign that was running against Paul trying
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: to ruin his reputation and drag his name through the mud.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: As those who were slandering him were surely twisting his sudden departure
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: and making it seem as if it was a little bit sketchy,
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: a little bit self-interested, and maybe even a little bit deceitful.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: How in the world can you trust that Paul guy now?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, Paul,
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: as we have just read,
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: is iterating and reminding these believers that nothing could be further from
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: the truth.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Again, look at verse 17.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: He says,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: but since we were torn away from you,
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: brothers,
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: for a short time,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: in person,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: not in heart,
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, again and again, but Satan hindered us.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: He says at the beginning of that little section that he and Silas have been torn away.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sort of a violent image that he is sort of inserting into this letter here.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: That term implies, we could say, a forceful separation.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sort of like a tear in a garment.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: But actually even more specifically,
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: the words torn away quite literally mean that Paul feels as
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: though he has been orphaned.
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  SPEAKER_00: Almost like a parent being deprived of a child.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: It is a violent rupture that he feels in this moment.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Which I would say is very much in keeping with what we know from Paul as we looked at last time.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: As he is expressing his almost parental love for this congregation.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Remember verse 7 chapter number 2.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Where he says that they were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: of her own child.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or verse 11 where he compares himself to a father like a father with his children.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: We exhorted you.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: We have already seen this parental love.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And now he is diving even further into that analogy.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's like a parent eager for the good of those that he loves.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: He desires to see them built up, to see them encouraged and enriched in the gospel.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: He longs to see them flourish in the faith and the love and the hope that come
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: from knowing the spirit of the risen Christ.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And there is nothing that Paul wants more for this group of believers
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: in Thessalonica than to see them,
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  SPEAKER_00: as he says in verse 12, to walk in a manner worthy of God.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Notice he says that,
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  SPEAKER_00: verse 12,
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  SPEAKER_00: we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and his glory.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is his desire.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is his heart.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it's filling up inside of him.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, of course, he wants them to prosper and he wants them to have good success.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: But whether they did so financially or socially, that was not of primary importance for Paul.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: What mattered for him,
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: and as he's expressing here, is that their conducts align with their calling.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he's after.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm reminded of a story, an account from the records of George Washington.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've heard of him.
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  SPEAKER_00: But there was a young officer in George Washington's Virginia regiment in the 1750s
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  SPEAKER_00: who was caught cheating at a game of cards.
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course, Washington in his typical candor took this opportunity.
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  SPEAKER_00: And there's a letter, you can still find it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: He writes this letter and he addresses all of his men.
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  SPEAKER_00: And he addresses them and he's reminding them.
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  SPEAKER_00: And the singular reminder that he gives them that wearing the uniform wasn't enough.
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  SPEAKER_00: As he says, quote, it is the actions and not the commission that make the officers.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a somewhat similar impulse is filling Paul here as he's reminding them
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  SPEAKER_00: to walk in a manner worthy of this calling that you've been given by God.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is something similar that is on Paul's mind.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, he's not after them in this sense of earning their keep.
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  SPEAKER_00: Paul isn't suggesting that these believers could earn their right to belong to God
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: by how they lived.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what he's saying.
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  SPEAKER_00: Conduct for the Christian isn't the basis of our calling.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's the fruit of it though.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: The fruit of our calling manifests in this conduct that is becoming,
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  SPEAKER_00: that is worthy of the calling that God has given us.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's how the gospel sort of flips the usual script that we often live by.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: As it announces to us that our new calling and name and identity,
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: they are gifts that have been given to us by faith in Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: They are received, not earned.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, even still, the motivation is still very much the same.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is conveying to them this impulse to live in a way that reflects,
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  SPEAKER_00: that echoes what they've been given.
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  SPEAKER_00: Rather than living...
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  SPEAKER_00: On pins and needles, hoping we can earn a place in the family of God.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is saying, no, learn to live that you already belong, so live like it.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Walk in a manner worthy of the calling that God has given you by grace.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's sort of like a parent giving their teenager as they walk out the door
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  SPEAKER_00: to some such party or event or what have you.
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  SPEAKER_00: As they're walking their way out the door,
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  SPEAKER_00: one last reminder, remember whose name you represent today.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you heard a similar sort of warning or maybe you heard a similar sort
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  SPEAKER_00: of reminder when you were going out the door.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm not there yet.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have a couple of years till I have to watch that happen in my own home.
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  SPEAKER_00: When I will have to watch my kids exit the house and go gallivanting off somewhere
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  SPEAKER_00: and trust,
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  SPEAKER_00: this is what keeps me open,
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  SPEAKER_00: I trust that they don't do something too reckless and that they come home
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  SPEAKER_00: in one piece.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that reminder is meant for what?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: That Their behavior, good or bad, can't alter their standing in the family.
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  SPEAKER_00: No, they're still going to be my son and daughter.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's not on the table.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: But their conduct can dishonor the name.
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  SPEAKER_00: Remember whose name you represent.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this is even truer when it comes to families.
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  SPEAKER_00: We could say the Christian family.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because the name being represented isn't just the last name you inherited.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's the new name you were given to.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Flip over with me to 1 John.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Keep your place in 1 Thessalonians.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And look at what John says.
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  SPEAKER_00: I love how he words this.
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  SPEAKER_00: 1 John chapter number 3 is this incredibly pragmatic little letter that gets to
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: the heart of what it means to be a Christian and all sorts of other facets involved
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  SPEAKER_00: in that.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And he has this amazing phrase in the beginning of chapter number 3
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  SPEAKER_00: that echoes what we're talking about here.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: 1 John 3, look at verse number 1.
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  SPEAKER_00: He says to this congregation,
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: see what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called
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  SPEAKER_00: the children of God.
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  SPEAKER_00: We are incorporated into the family of God by faith,
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  SPEAKER_00: not because of us, but by love, by sheer love of God.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: He has brought us into that family.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And notice what he says, and so we are.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's not a matter that's up for grabs, that's up in the air.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is true of us because of Christ.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And look what he says.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Beloved, verse 2.
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  SPEAKER_00: Beloved, we are God's children now.
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  SPEAKER_00: And what we will be has not yet appeared.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Notice again, he says twice, so we are.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Beloved, we are God's children now.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: He is emphasizing the fact that you belong to the family of God.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: And yet the emphasis is the same.
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  SPEAKER_00: Walk in a manner worthy.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's.
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  SPEAKER_00: Parental love,
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: much like John's here,
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: and this fervor that he has for this church, it could barely be contained.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: He loves this church and he wants to see them grow in their walk and in their faith.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Flip back to 1 Thessalonians again and look at verse number 19.
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  SPEAKER_00: 1 Thessalonians 2.19, notice what he says.
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  SPEAKER_00: And again, remember what he's trying to contend with.
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  SPEAKER_00: Arguments that he hasn't been around.
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  SPEAKER_00: Paul's not come back.
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  SPEAKER_00: Does he even really care about you?
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  SPEAKER_00: He's contending with that slander that he hasn't been around
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  SPEAKER_00: because obviously he doesn't really love them as much as he said that he did.
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  SPEAKER_00: And now what does he say?
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  SPEAKER_00: Verse 19.
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  SPEAKER_00: For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
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  SPEAKER_00: Is it not you?
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  SPEAKER_00: For you are our glory and joy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Paul is just exploding with love and affection for these believers.
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  SPEAKER_00: You yourselves are my crown and my joy, he says.
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  SPEAKER_00: This church,
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  SPEAKER_00: he is noting,
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  SPEAKER_00: had been crucified to the world just as Paul had through the gospel of the cross.
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  SPEAKER_00: They themselves are trophies of Christ crucified and what that message does in
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  SPEAKER_00: the hearts of sinners.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And nothing could give Paul a greater sense of gladness and fullness
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  SPEAKER_00: than hearing how this church continued to live under the cross.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's what he's conveying to them.
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  SPEAKER_00: He's eager.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's using this, we could say, this hyperbolic statement.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm eager to stand before Jesus and point to you as evidence of the power of the cross.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's my boast.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's my joy.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's my crown.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because you are evidence of it.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I delight in you, he said.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: All of which to say...
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's lack of a follow-up visit to Thessalonica was in no way a statement
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: on his affection for this church.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: That has no bearing on the conversation.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they were severed from their company,
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: as Paul says, but their absence was only, we could say, spatial.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was only geographical.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't really a spiritual separation.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he says.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Did you see where he says that in verse number 17?
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: We were torn away from you for a short time in person, not in heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: We were separated from you by location, yes, but we were still with you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our hearts were with you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Despite what the rumors said,
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  SPEAKER_00: despite what the slanderers were saying about them,
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  SPEAKER_00: he had done everything that he was capable of.
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  SPEAKER_00: He had tried everything to get back there.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Again, verse 17.
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  SPEAKER_00: For a short time in person,
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  SPEAKER_00: not in heart,
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  SPEAKER_00: we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: We want to come and be with you.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be in your midst.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: We want to fellowship with you because we wanted to come to you, Paul says.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: I, Paul, again and again.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: But Satan hindered us.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Paul longed more than anything to renew their bonds of love and fellowship and not via letters.
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  SPEAKER_00: He didn't want to just keep sending postage back and forth.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to see them.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be with them.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to rub shoulders with these people, cry, laugh,
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: and have all the sorts of experiences that come along when you get with people
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  SPEAKER_00: in one place.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And you almost get the sense that this letter is okay,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's sufficient, but that's only because every other option has been exhausted.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Paul says, he seems to say, we weren't able to see you, but it wasn't for lack of trying.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Plans were made, as he says, I, Paul, again and again.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's constant arrangements being made,
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: constant plans being set up, and all of those plans keep seeming to be dashed.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: By Satan, he says.
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  SPEAKER_00: Satan hindered us.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's so notable that Paul understood that the true enemy in all of this,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: all of these plans being tossed to the wayside,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: he's not being able to come back and visit this church.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Paul understood that the true enemy in this moment wasn't just a bad travel agent.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just that he had a bad travel agent or it wasn't just any other sort
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  SPEAKER_00: of reason like that.
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  SPEAKER_00: No, it was the evil one himself.
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  SPEAKER_00: What the writer of Revelation says,
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  SPEAKER_00: the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan,
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  SPEAKER_00: the deceiver of the whole world.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's who was standing against Paul.
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  SPEAKER_00: The collapse.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Of all of his arranged plans to return to the Thessalonian church wasn't just
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: a matter of circumstance, wasn't just a matter of bad luck.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, he saw it as the counter movements of the evil one.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he saw it as.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is the countermeasures of Satan who loathes,
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  SPEAKER_00: he hates even the faintest echo or whisper of good news being spread.
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  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want that.
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  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want any whisper of Jesus Christ and him crucified and risen again.
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  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want that going out.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want that spreading.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: As Paul referenced in the section just prior to this,
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: this is what we could say the anti-Christian opposition is chiefly known for.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Restraining the gospel.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Remember what he says, verse 15 of the same chapter.
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  SPEAKER_00: Who?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Who?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out and displeased God
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: and opposed all mankind.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: How do they do that?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: By hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: One of the chief trademarks of opposition to God and to Christ is the hindrance,
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: the restraining of the gospel going forth.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: The Apostle John,
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: in the same letter, 1 John,
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: you have to turn there, 1 John 2.22, he describes the same sort of sentiment.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: He says, who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is the Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes on to say that there are Antichrist even in that day.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: They're alive and well.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: This opposition, in other words...
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: The opposition to the movement of the gospel is not a new thing.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a new entity ever since the garden.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the devil?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: He whispers in Eve's ear, did God really say ever since then?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: That ancient opposer,
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: the evil one,
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Satan himself,
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  SPEAKER_00: has been seeking to seduce the world to this scheme that opposes God,
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: that opposes his will,
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: that wants to restrict and confine his word,
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: the word of the gospel, the word of truth.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now of course I would have to hasten to say this, that this doesn't mean...
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: That we should just go around slapping the satanic label on everything we don't like.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's what Paul is doing.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's not really the point.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: However,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: it does mean that when the gospel is opposed,
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: when the message is opposed,
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Of Jesus' death and resurrection and ascension for the sake of sinners.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: That they might be justified when that message is opposed.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Whether outrightly, very blatantly, or whether it's opposed in very subtle means.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Those who are doing the opposing are marching along to the same step of Satan's drum.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Whether they realize it or not.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And this is kind of sobering because sometimes it's obvious.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes opposition to the gospel is obvious.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like when someone blatantly denies that Jesus is God in the flesh.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty obvious.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or when someone says that we can be saved apart from Christ.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: That we don't really need Christ.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's a very obvious move of opposition.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a little bit more subtle.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like when someone sort of suggests that we can be made right with God based
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: on how we perform, based on our actions, based on how we live.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's a subtle little nod that is now undermining the work of Jesus.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: It is a subtle opposition to what the gospel says.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Or sometimes even more subtle than that is when the gospel isn't
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: so much outright denied as it's crowded out by a lot of other noise.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's traditions or politics or programs or agendas.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: When those are crowding out the message of Jesus.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know what Satan is doing?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's smiling.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's smiling.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because the gospel is not going forth.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what he loathes.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: There was a book written in the middle of the 1900s.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've read it.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you haven't read it.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I would recommend that you do.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's called The Screwtape Letters by C.S.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever read this?
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone ever read this?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: C.S.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis wrote this book called The Screwtape Letters, which is a fascinating book.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Just fascinating.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: The premise alone might sell you on reading it just because it's one of those books
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: that seems to be a little bit timeless.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: In the book,
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: the Screwtape Letters,
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: essentially,
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: there is this senior demon who's writing letters to his apprentice,
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: a younger novice demon.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: And he's writing these letters to show him how he can convince himself.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: And lead men and women away from God.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And away from true Christianity.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: How do we do that?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: How do we undercut the message of Christ?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: And most of them involve...
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't dislodge people from the faith.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't divorce them from believing in Jesus.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: At least you can corrupt their faith.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: At least you can twist it.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Into something other than what it originally started as.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And in one letter he says this.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's a very, very...
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Pointed paragraph.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of them,
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: but in this one he says, this is the senior demon talking to the younger demon.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: He says this, quote,
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: What we want,
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: if men become Christians at all,
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: is to keep them in a state of mind I call Christianity and.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Christianity and the crisis.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Christianity and the new psychology.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Christianity and the new order.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: If they must be Christians, let them at least be Christians with a difference.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Substitute for the faith itself some fashion with a Christian coloring.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to, this lets us sort of get a little bit of a glimpse.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Into the work of the evil one as he makes counter moves to oppose the gospel.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to always be outright.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not going to always be blatant.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he's just going to put a little word at the end of the gospel.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus and something else.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: The point is sometimes all Satan needs is to get the church talking
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: about everything else except Christ and him crucified and risen again.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when he smiles.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And ever the very concerned spiritual father, Paul.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: He can't bear to think about this happening to this church in Thessalonica.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Which is what prompts him to send Timothy to the church.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: His most trusted disciple.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: He sent him to minister to this church and to take stock of their situation.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Look again, chapter 3, verse 1.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Remember chapter 17 of Acts?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can find out the events at Athens there.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And we sent Timothy,
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: our brother and God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ,
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: to establish and exhort you in your faith that no one be moved by these afflictions.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Paul.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: He loves, he can't stand the idea, the hint of Satan getting a foothold in that congregation.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: As he says, he can't stand the idea of them being moved, moving them, disturbing them.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: The word is fooling them by inundating them with this idea of all
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: of these afflictions,
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: all of this suffering,
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: all of this compressed pressure that is weighing down on the church.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he fears,
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Paul fears,
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: that this sudden flood of distress and pressure might prove so unsettling
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: that they will begin to believe that satanic idea,
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: that suffering is incompatible with the faith.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, he says, remember what we told.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: This again is another one of those instances in scripture of
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: the so-called prosperity gospel being proven utterly false.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you needed another piece of evidence, here you go.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: The notion that you can just believe harder or throw a few more seeds aka checks
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: into the offering plate and all
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: of your problems will suddenly disappear has no biblical basis at all.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact...
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is begging them to remember what you heard.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Remember what we told you.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 3 again.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: That no one be moved, unsettled by these afflictions.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: For you know that we are destined for this.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Just as it has come to pass.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And just as you know, we kept telling you this.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: That this was in the cards.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: And anyone who belongs...
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: To the Messiah,
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is basically like,
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: anyone who belongs to the Messiah who was crucified,
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: the Messiah who suffered,
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: to the Messiah who died,
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: they should not be surprised when suffering and death follow,
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: when it ensues for them too.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is why Peter,
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: in 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 12,
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: he says to that same to another church,
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: but he says to the church,
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: don't be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: though something strange were happening to you.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: These afflictions aren't unexpected, Paul says.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: These afflictions, this opposition, this suffering is not strange, it's not foreign.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: As he says to them, you were destined for this.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a solemn appointment.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's what those words mean.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: That Jesus' followers, that they be afflicted.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Flip back a couple pages.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have to go more than a couple pages.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: To the book of Acts chapter 14.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Just notice how Paul praises this.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, this isn't the midst of his first missionary journey.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 14 verse 22.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what his message is.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Acts 14 verse 22.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: They're strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: And how are they encouraging them?
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: What's their word of encouragement?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: And saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: What a marketing spiel.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: What a great commercial message.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Join our congregation.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to suffer.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's going to be tribulation.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Could have picked a better marketing scheme, Paul.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: But he's being honest with them about what to expect when it comes to faith
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: in Jesus, when it comes to faith in the one who was crucified.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: As he says to the Romans,
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter number 8,
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: You see, his message, Paul's message was consistent.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: His message to whether it was the Romans,
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: the first missionary journey,
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: or whether it's here to the Thessalonians, it's the same.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: This message isn't sort of just a buck up and grit your teeth and just get in the game.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be hard, so just deal with it.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Just embrace it.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what he's saying.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, his gospel is precisely what he commissions Timothy to preach to them.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 2, chapter 3 again.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: We sent Timothy.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: We sent him.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: He is our representative, our brother and God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: To, notice, establish and exhort you in your faith that no one be moved by these afflictions.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: In other words,
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: where the Thessalonians themselves felt greatly moved,
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: greatly disturbed,
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: and greatly unsettled by everything that was swirling around them.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Timothy was sent to bring them a word that settled them,
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: that quelled their fears,
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: that set them at ease, and to plead with them the words of comfort.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's what that word exhort means.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Did you notice?
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Establish and exhort you in your faith.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: That word exhorts the same word from chapter number two,
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: verse 12, where he says, we exhorted you.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's the same word from chapter three,
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: verse seven,
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: where Paul talks about deriving comfort, which we'll get to in a moment.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a word for comfort.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, it's the same.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Greek word.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to know this word in chapter three,
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: verse two,
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: this word exhort is the Greek word,
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: which we get that title, the perikletos for the Holy Spirit's.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: The helper.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: The comforter.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's any accident that the message of Timothy and the one
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: that he brings to this church is one that embodies,
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: that is captured by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Comforting and helping the anxious and distressed.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the substance of the Spirit's comfort for the church is the same.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's the essence of Timothy's exhortation.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're the same thing.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: John 15 verse 26.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: When the helper comes,
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: when the paracletos comes,
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: whom I will send to you from the Father,
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Timothy and the Holy Spirit...
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: They're ministering words of comfort, namely derived from Jesus.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Timothy is going there preaching Jesus to this church once again.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: So the Thessalonians can take heart and they can stand firm.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing that no amount of suffering can dislodge them from the grip of Christ on them.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's what Timothy is telling them.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: No amount of affliction can rip you out of the hand of the one who keeps you, who holds you.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: You see,
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: part of the hope of a crucified Savior is his solidarity with sufferers and his word
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: of promise to sufferers.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: What did he say to his disciples?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: John 16, 33, in this world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he tells us.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: In other words,
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: what sustained the Thessalonians in the midst of all of this satanic pressure,
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: in the midst of all of this adversity,
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: in the midst of all of this slander and rumors, and who do we believe?
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: What do we trust?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: How can we know how to move on and proceed?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: What sustained them in the midst of all of that is the same thing that sustains us.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's the message of the cross.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: May we never get away from that.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: And wouldn't you know that where Satan thought he had Paul defeated.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: He had him backed into a corner.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's testimony goes on and says otherwise.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number 6.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 3 verse 6.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: But now that Timothy has come to us from you.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: And has brought to us the good news of your faith and love.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: And reported that you always remember us kindly.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And long to see us as we long to see you.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's our word, parakaleo.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Comforted about you through your faith.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: For now we live.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you are standing fast in the Lord, for what thanksgiving can we return to God for you?
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: For all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: as we pray most earnestly night and day,
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: that we may see you face to face and to supply what is lacking in your faith.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Here, where the evil one, Satan, where he thought that...
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: He had Paul cornered.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: He had disturbed the peace.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: He had disturbed and unsettled the faith where he was trying to stoke waves of resistance.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Here Paul receives this testimony from Timothy and now he's testifying himself
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: that despite all that, despite the opposition, the word of God was at work anyways.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel of the cross was doing exactly what it does.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Strengthening souls, creating faith, and inspiring love.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Timothy's good report in fact.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: Did you notice those words?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Verse number 6 again.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: Timothy has come to us from you and has brought to us the good news of your faith.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: And love and reported that you always remember us kindly.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, this report that Paul hears, it's sending him over the moon.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: As he says, he is comforted by it.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's consoled by it.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: In body and mind and spirit.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Timothy is literally evangelizing Paul by this report.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's what that word means.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And despite all of that pressure...
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Despite all of those afflictions,
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: despite all of the seeming chaos of that moment,
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: the news of the faith of the Thessalonians,
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: their perseverance was like a breath of fresh air for Paul.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: He says, verse number 8, where's my verse?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't that like a parent's love for their child?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: I live because of, I'm living because of you.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a parent's love for their kid.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's life was bound up in theirs.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing that they were walking in faith, that was enough for Paul.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: That was like wind in his sails.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's enough.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know and I can trust that the gospel is at work in you.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I think what this does is this gives us a remarkable glimpse at what it means
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: to belong to the church.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Throughout this moment,
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: as he's writing this letter to these Thessalonians,
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: did you notice what he is constantly referring back to?
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: He can't wait to be with them.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we talk about our independence.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're Americans, we are very independent individuals.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about our independence so often,
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think, that sometimes we come to believe that we truly are.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: That all we need...
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's Jesus, my Bible, and me.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I need.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: So gathering with the church, that's optional.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: We can put that off.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: We can make other arrangements.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, I mean, who's going to notice?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Who's going to notice that I'm not there?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: But Paul, I think, is suggesting something entirely different.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Namely, we can say it like this.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: The Christian life isn't something that can be carried out in isolation.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: This section, again, as I noted, is bookended with a prayer to see this church face to face.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 2, verse 17, as he says, we desire to see you face to face.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: In verse number 10 of chapter 3,
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: as we pray most seriously night and day that we may see you face to face.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't enough for Paul to hear of their faith,
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: of their hope, of their love, of their reputation, of standing for Christ.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Hear that through word of mouth.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: That was okay.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: But he wanted to be with them.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: To worship and fellowship alongside these fellow believers.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because we could say it like this,
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: part of belonging to the church,
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: otherwise known as the body of Christ, is being where that body is.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why Paul speaks so provocatively about his departure when he says
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: that he was torn away.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was like having a limb ripped from his torso.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: Part of him was severed from that church.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes me wonder if we view the church the same way.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: When someone isn't in their usual spot, I know we don't have assigned seats, but we kind of do.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: You haven't put your name down, but I know, I can see.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: And when someone isn't there, does it feel like an amputation?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: Does it feel like Paul says that it feels like we're being ripped away?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: It should, because that's the kind of community that is being created by the gospel.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sinners who are bound together out of a shared desperation for the comforting words
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: of the gospel of Christ.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the church is.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: And when that word takes root in your heart, in your life, in your soul, did you know this?
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: That you become a vital lighting force for someone else.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: You become, just as Paul says, when I hear of your faith, it's like I'm alive.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: You are my life, he says.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: You might not know it, but you are somebody else's good report.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just like Timothy was for Paul.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Your faith and your hope and your love is enriching my faith and my hope and my love
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: which is enriching yours and so on and so on and that's how it goes.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: Your life is bound up in mine and mine and yours and sometimes we don't live this way.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: We live just self-consumed.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: We live self-interested.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: We live self-absorbed and our love runs thin and we drift and we get distracted
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: and that's precisely where Satan wants you.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's where he wants you.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to keep you right there.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: The devil's greatest trick is to tempt you into thinking that you can do all of this
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: on your own.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's better there, right?
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's safer there by myself.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to get involved.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to be vulnerable and trust and get and do life with other people and
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: so on and so forth.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: And this is why Paul is praying this way.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because he knows that that's not true.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: He longs to be with the church.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he also knows that all of this hinges on Christ.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's not because of Paul's gusto.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's not because of the Thessalonians' faith.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Christ is the one who establishes the church and makes it stand firm.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Which is why Paul closes this section with a prayer.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 11.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now may our God.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: as we do for you.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: Do you notice what he prays for?
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's praying for the direct opposite of what Satan had already done.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: Where Satan had hindered their gathering.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is saying, no,
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to pray to God that he opposes and overrides whatever Satan wants to do.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: That he brings us together again.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: May he direct our paths together.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: May our paths cross over.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: May we enjoy that fellowship.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: And may Christ get the victory.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because only Christ can settle unsettled souls.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: Only Christ can establish the church in a flawless righteousness
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: that is not their own, as he says.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: He can make us blameless in holiness by giving us what belongs rightly to him.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: And only Christ can make us increase in love and abound in love because he,
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: of course, is love incarnate.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: And this is his prayer for the church in their waning days,
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: in their days of feeling disillusioned, of their days of doubt and discouragement.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is reminding them of who is holding on to them.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know where Paul, as he says in verse 17, he felt orphaned.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's what those words torn away, we mentioned that.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: He felt orphaned from these spiritual children.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: Wouldn't you know that Jesus has a promise exactly for that?
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: John 14 verse 18, what does Jesus say?
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: I will not leave you as orphans.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: I will come to you again.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: You see, Satan may hinder our plans.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: He may make our arrangements fall through.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: But the good news is that he can never pry you out of the grip of Christ.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: Never.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: Never.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: No one, as Jesus says, John 10, is able to snatch you out of his hands.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: And one day soon, praise Jesus.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus returns with all of his saints, there will be no more separation.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: There will be no more being torn away.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, we, like the Thessalonians, will stand as trophies of Christ crucified.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: Blameless and holy because of him.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Beloved.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: What did John say?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: 1 John 3 verse 2.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: We read this earlier.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: Beloved, we are God's children now.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: And what we will be has not yet appeared.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: For we shall see him as he is.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to that day.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: When we stand face to face with the one whose grip on us has never relaxed.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it never will.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: No matter the opposition.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: No matter what all of the seeming chaos that swirls in our day.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: No matter who stands in opposition to the will of God,
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: to the ways of God, to the gospel of God, to the kingdom of God.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: God's grip on us never wanes.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: And one day soon we will be with him and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to that day.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.