Affliction Attitude S8e2 1thes1:6

Other than being hunted by a Mob, Paul has a lot of good things to say about the people of Thessalonia:

• they are in the right place: they are loved and chosen by God Himself
• they have chosen the right examples: Paul, Timothy and Sivanus
• they have started well: believe, listening, receiving and starting to change
• they have the right circumstances: AFFLICTION
• they have the right attitude: joy
• they have the right reproduction: now they are examples to those around them
• they have the right report: now others are reporting how they have turned to God and have been changed.

If you have some relational, financial, situational, or physical AFFLICTION, this encouragment is for you.  Listen 7 minutes, subscribe, like, and savor. Bewithme.us. bewithme.us@gmail.com

Transcript

Michael Smith: 0:01

Good morning, my brothers and sisters, welcome to episode two in the book of death scillonian. That is we're in season eight. And we're just starting out in Thessalonians. We've done one, one little introduction and yesterday we learned that Paul starts with a prayer to the Lord about the Thessalonians. And he says that he's going to remember them before God. Nothing fancy just mentions them, does it regularly talks about their faith, their hope, their love. And then what he does is he focuses on them, and then he backs the camera up. And he gets a larger perspective. And he says that brothers, you are loved by God, and he has chosen us so not only are you in, in my heart, so to speak, you're in God's heart. Let's back the view up, that He has loved us so much that he chooses us and a Lexus and that their election is undergirded by the favor of God. And therefore it's secure and lasting. So then he's going to talk about the practical witness that Paul and his minions who are Sylvanus and Timothy, have had with them. So this is from verse, chapter one, verse five and a half. You know, what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word with much affliction, you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia, and in Akia, for not only his the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Akia. But your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we not need say anything, for they themselves report concerning us, the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who deliverance us from the wrath to come. So here's what I'd like to do today. I want to talk about imitation. These He starts by saying, you know, what kind of men we proved be another word you started well, you watched us. And of course, this emphasizes our individual witness and our character and our presentation, if you will, of ourselves to the world. And this incredible, incomprehensible above our pay grade message is delivered amongst our fellow brothers and sisters, in these vessels of dust, and our point here is that we're supposed to try to make our vessels attractive and win some packages. Because he says, You became imitators of us now they were there for three weeks, and he sent Timothy back up to them. It doesn't say how long Timothy was there. And now Timothy is back down the peninsula back in Corinth, which is where this letter is being written from. But he reports You became imitators remember back in Galatians, chapter 12 Paul also says I entreat you to become as I am, and we looked at back back in season six episode 18 We got a big kick out of that and we kind of the whole podcast was about well Imitate me of what we could say here today, you know, Imitate me except and then we made a little checklist except for my financial life or sex or because my pure purity life or my tongue life and Paul doesn't say that he says become as I am, period. So we preach obviously with our words, but we also preach with our walk and our habits and our honesty and our generosity, we preach to their self control, etc. Alright, so, so let's look at the Thessalonians and specifically, let's talk about the all the things that they do right so first of all, they have the right circumstances that is their circumstances are one of affliction. And you may say today is oh, you know, Christianity can't be for me my life's a mess and in whatever category you have affliction, whether that might be you know, health affliction or financial afflictions or relational affliction or something physical or maybe consequences from old old sins Well, I got news for your you're in great company. That's what the that's what they have as well. Then they choose a good example is Who do they follow? You know, who do they follow on on Instagram so to speak? And they choose not the bad examples. They choose a good example who was Paul and Timothy and Silas and then they start with the right behavior, which is they receive Him and believe and then they change and they become imitators then they have the right attitude, which is joy, which is so hard, you know, I was I was thinking is your is your life characterized by you know, being the Christian er from Winnie the Pooh, you know, just kind of a mopey dopey thing. And we see the Thessalonians here is their, their attitude is joy, even amidst affliction, even if it's change, even if it's having to drop their idols and their, you know, their sort of way of life. And I was thinking about, well, why should we not have joy well considered, you know, this Christian walk is different is absolutely difficult. There's no question about that, but consider the alternatives of being abandoned. And then the final thing is they result in the right results, which is their, their witness. Sounds fourth, I love this. It's almost like a trumpet of them. And then other people have told us your story. So even third hand now, he's saying that your witness has gone forth. Alright, so practically, number one circumstances, you probably have some affliction in your life. If so, you're in good. You're in good company. Secondly, start with the right way. And there's probably I hope, there's people that are listening to this who have not received the Lord have not believed in him, and kind of stand as enemies with God. Well, thank you for listening. I'm so glad you're here. Let's start with that. And then if maybe, maybe some of you are in the wrong crowd and imitating the wrong people. And you know, there's probably some people in and some people out after you become a believer. And then certainly the right attitude, oh, my goodness, Let's be joyful people. Let's, let's have our faith, sound forth and be a good witness that that third hand people can give the right report about us. So if we ask people around you, what would their report be of you? Would it be one of joy and change? And, and good witness? I thank you for listening. I thank you for wherever you are in your walk, whether you're starting with the right, the right start or trying to change your right attitude or working for the right report and other people wherever it is. I am so glad you're here and I'm so glad you're walking with me this little walk through the book of First Thessalonians thanks for listening. I'll see you tomorrow.