The Model of a Christ-Exalting and Word-Saturated Church

Hey, it's good to see you this morning. Good to be here. Thank you for having me. I'm

honored to be with you.

I guess all I can say for after that is I'd love to teach you three things. It's been kind of the major

thoughts and teaching of my ministry is love Christ. Love is a word and love is people. That's if

you sum up those things, great things happen today. Everybody has a designer Jesus,.Jesus of

the word, love Christ of the word. He teaches on gender and marriage, and he teaches on the

Father. The Christ of the Word is the Christ we love, not a designer Christ that the church and

the world are trying to do. The Word is all sufficient, right? It has everything we need for life and

godliness. It's absent from nothing. We have everything we need just in the Scriptures. He

speaks to us through those. And then the result of that is learning to love one another. And

sometimes that's the hardest, right? It's difficult to love Christians. We're sinners and we bug

one another every once in a while. And so learn to love one another.

Gina and I are missionaries right now with an in faith mission, a mission called American

Missionary Fellowship. It's one of the oldest missions in the United States. And our

concentration is putting good teaching pastures in rural areas. They are forgotten in America.

Right now we're in Jordan Valley. Normally at 9:30 I'm preaching in Jordan Valley and then I go

to a little town called a rock. I'm helping two churches out on the West side of the valley that

don't have pastors. And so our goal is to help bring good expository preaching to the rural

areas. They're often forgotten by the bigger churches. So you'll hear more of that later. We have

a newsletter and a prayer card. It's back at the welcome desk. If you would like to get a very

encouraging 5 minute blog every Tuesday in your email of just an encouragement from the

passage of scripture, go sign up on that and you'll find lots of information on who Gina and I are.

I would like you to stand if you wouldn't mind and read First Thessalonians chapter one. Our

time together is a little brief this morning, but we'll do our best to take a 30,000 foot look at this

chapter to encourage us to.

1. A Christ-exalting partnership between the shepherds and the flock. (vs. 1-20

What a model of a church looks like, what it is, what's a Christ exalting church? What's a

word saturated church.That's our goal this morning. So if you have your Bibles, look with me at

First Thessalonians chapter one. Let me read this text and then we'll pray and get into it. Paul

and Sylvanius and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord

Jesus Christ, grace to you in peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you making

mention of you and our prayers. Constantly bearing in mind the work of faith, the labor of love,

the steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of our God and Father,

knowing brethren, beloved by God, His choice of you. Our gospel did not come to you in Word

only, but also in the power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction, just as you know what kind

of men we have proved to be among you for your sake. You also became imitators of us and of

the Lord, having received the Word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you

became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and IKEA. The Word of the Lord has

sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and IKEA, but also in every place your faith

towards God has gone forth. So that we need, no, we have no need to say anything,

for they themselves report about us. What kind of reception? We had with you and how you turn

to God from idols to serve a living and true God. And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he

raised from the dead. That is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. This is the reading

of God's Word. You may be seated. Father, we are privileged people. We live in a country where

we are free right now. I take it that we would not take that for granted this morning on July 14th,

2024, that we can sit here, open our Bibles and hear from your word. So Lord, may we be

hearers and doers. Open our hearts Lord, pour truth into it. Bring great conviction to us, great

encouragement to us, Lord, and cause us to be like your Son more.

When we're done here, we pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, if you know much about

Thessalonians, the Thessalonica Church is a very, very special church. It was born in Paul's

second missionary journey. His first missionary journey was a challenging one. It was where

they stoned him and left him for dead. And he got up and said let's go visit those people again.

And I'm sure Barnabas is going, Paul, you know, they just stoned you. Nope, let's go encourage

those believers and strengthen their souls. Let's encourage them. After all of that, he heads

back. He goes to Antioch and then into Jerusalem and the big debate starts.

Should Christians, these followers of Christ, be circumcised and law keepers? That gets him in

front of the elders in Jerusalem. And there Peter stands up, comes to his defense, and clearly

shows that salvation comes through Christ alone. James, the brother of Jesus, steps up next,

affirms the preaching of Paul that that salvation comes through Christ alone. Many things

happen. And then they send them out on another missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas have

a little dispute over John Mark. You remember that? And John takes Silas with him. Barnabas

takes John Mark in. Off they go. They return to the same places where they were left to be

stoned to death, only to go there to encourage the Saints to, to give them strength to hold on to

the gospel. That was his goal, to get back to them, to ensure the foundation of truth in their life.

But Paul had a plan and his plans, if you have plans, are not always God's plans, aren't they?

Anybody have a plan and God changed it? Are you willing to say God, your ways are better

than mine, your thoughts are better and say, God, whatever. I know we've all done that, Gene,

and I've gone through that in our own ministry. Well, Paul had a great desire, a huge desire to

get the northern Galatia, which is called Asia. In that time. He wanted to go there. That's where

he felt he needed to be in the Spirit of God in Acts chapter 1415 and 16.

Rechange his direction. And he bent the knee to God. And because he did that, we have two of

the probably the best churches to learn from Indiana, the New Testament. You have Philippi and

you have Thessalonica. Because he chose to obey God instead of his own will. And sometimes

that's hard. You have a plan. You've done your work, you've done your research, you've done

your planning, you've done all these things, and you think this is the way God's going to do

something for your church or for you individually. And yet God has something different that, I

promise you, is actually better.

But we have to die. We have to die to our own selves, right? And Paul understood that.

This is what motivated him to write about dying to self and living in Christ. He knew the

advantages of doing that. He knew what joy came from that. And so out of Paul's

obedience comes from this very precious church.

As he gets to the Thessalonica, he comes not by himself, He comes with others. And because

our time is short, let me jump into some points here.

Number one: We'll see in verse one and two a Christ exalting partnership between shepherds

and the flock. If you study Paul's epistles, the 13 that we know he was right. We don't know who

wrote Hebrews. Some of us have our opinions on that, but we know he wrote 13 inspired letters.

And every time you study those letters, he is always with somebody. He never serves alone.

The only time we find him alone is in his trial. He says, I stood alone. But in his ministry, he's

always together. There's always a plurality of men that he goes with. He introduces you to these

men.Sylvanius came with him from Jerusalem. He was a very honored man. He was an elder

there. He loved the word of God. He loved the church. He was tested and tried and Paul took

him. And his proof was in the pudding, because guess who ends up in prison with Paul and

Philipp before he gets to Thessalonica?

You remember there was a demonic girl that was quote praising God, but Paul wanted nothing

to do with Satan trying to honor God and he cast the demon out of her. They caused an uproar.

They end up in prison beats and inside the prison singing praises. And you know what

happens? God shakes the place and they're released. They and the prisoners are in the prison.

The prison keeper thinks they're all gone. Paul has them all there. And what an amazing story,

right? You have the birth of the Philippi church.. They beat up doubtlessly from that and they

make their way to Thessalonica and here they are.

They're coming with these three men. Probably Luke as well, because he records this in the

book of Acts.So you have Paul, Sylvanus and you have Timothy. Timothy is a young man. They

picked him up in Derby and Lystra along the way. The Bible says that Timothy was ministering

already. He was well known by the Saints. That's one of the things I love about elders. When we

look for elders in the church, they're already eldering before they ever become officially elders.

And that's what Timothy was. And so when we see this opening of this, there are these men

who are ministering together. They come as a team. Each one of them brought gifts. Some of

them are coming from different diverse things. Timothy had a father that was Greek, a mother

that was Jewish. He had to be, we're going to circumcise you because we don't want to offend

the Jews. So here a young man, adult age, had to go through that. So these are a unique group

of men who love the Lord and their giving up of their lives to go out.

But then you come to the Church of the Thessalonians.

Notice in verse one, this church is birthed out of trials as Paul always did. As Paul always did,

he would make his way into a town and he would head to the synagogue because he was

always willing to preach to the Jews first. Chronologically, that's how God came to the Jews 1st

and then to the Gentiles and so forth. And so we'd always go to the synagogue and it tells us

there in Acts chapter 17, Listen that he went there and he preached 3 Sabbaths. And it says

that many people believed that the birth of the church happened there. But eventually the

same hatred that followed him from town to town, a rejection of Jesus Christ as the true Messiah

raised its ugly head and they attacked again. And you remember Acts Chapter 7, Jason is

probably a leader of this new church. They come to his house looking for Paul. They drag him

out and beat him severely. Meanwhile, Paul, Sylvanius and Timothy are ushered

out the back in their off to Bria. So this church was birthed out of difficulty. It was not birthed out

of Ohio. Hey, we've got a great building. We have all these finances. We do all these things. It's

birthed out of suffering. And is Christ worthy for suffering? For when you believe, when God

gives you faith and you believe, you will lay your life down for him. And that's what this church

does. And it makes them a very special group of people to the apostle Paul. But there's some

interesting thoughts here in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what this church

was born in.

This was God's sovereign plan to put a church In Thessalonica. So now 2000 years later, you

and I are studying what was written to them so we could understand our God, understand the

work of the Savior, and understand how to love one another better. What an amazing thing that

God has His hand in this. And notice there's a conjunction there, God the Father and the Lord

Jesus Christ, that links them in equality together. God had a plan for salvation. Christ executed

that plan and the result of it, Notice is grace to you and peace. Unmerited favor. You have

salvation not based on your own strength, but out of the grace of God. Oh, that's marvelous,

isn't it?

And you have a peace that now passes all understanding the world has none of. That's the

result of grace. And so we now see this Little team, this ministry and this plurality of leaders.

Notice their response to what God has done in verse 2. This is how they handle things. This is

the partnership between shepherd and flock. Notice we give thanks to God always for all of you

and we'll stop right there. You can imagine this group they had left in Thessalonica. They had to

get out of town at the back door kind of in a sense as Jason's being beaten and probably other

Christians who had named the name of Christ and believed that Jesus was the Messiah.

They scoot out of there. They're still licking their wounds from Philippi. I remember they were

beaten badly and they make their way now to Berea. But it's quite a trip from Thessalonica

down to Berea, and as they go along, this is what probably would have happened. We give

thanks to God always. Can you imagine Paul, Sylvania's, Timothy and Luke and whoever else

was with them stopping periodically just saying, hey, let's pray for that church. They're under

tremendous stress right now. You know, when someone wants to kill you, would you continue to

go to church? I mean, I think you want to think about this. You know, this is the New Testament,

our error church. They would love to kill this church off. Would you still go? So Paul and

Sylvanus and Timothy and Luke and others would constantly stop thinking God for all of them.

Now, I think that all” is a really important word there, right? There's certain people in the

church sometimes get honored more than others for whatever reason, Paul says. We thank the

Lord for all of you. If you're part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul would thank God

for you. And notice what he does. He has these men with them. Sylvania is probably younger

than Paul. Timothy, we know is younger. These men are being formed by a leader, a leader who

puts all his weight in the Lord Jesus Christ, all his weight in this finished work. He holds none of

his own strength. He gives it all to the Lord and he's teaching these men to pray for this church.

Notice making mention of you in our prayers. Good leaders pray for the Church. They weep

over the church. They weep when you weep, they rejoice when you rejoice. So there's a mark of

true biblical leaders. This is what you look for as you grow as you church grows. And you're

looking for leaders, you're looking for men who are tied to the church. They're willing to lay their

life down. They're willing to take a beating for the church if need be because they love Christ's

bride and they will not abandon her.

2. As a Christ-exalting church that works, loves, hopes and is instructed by the Word together.

(vs.3-4

We'll notice in our second thought this morning that we come to a Christ exalting church that

works, loves, hopes. And is instructed by the word together, a Christ exalting church that works,

loves, hopes and is instructed by the word of God. Look at this. What they pray for. This is

what's motivating their prayers. I think this is so fascinating. You know this verse. You've heard

this before. Constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of

hope in the Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father knowing brethren. Beloved

by God, his choice of you. Now this is tons of theology and justice in a short amount of time.

I want to just land on just a few things.

Paul was overwhelmed that they had not listened. They had faith at works. Not faith produced

from works, works that were produced from faith. You see that this is what made the apostle

extremely encouraged that they were not just people who were oh, faith, faith, faith. Let's go live

anyway we want. Antimonious type of thinking, right? They had a faith that was bringing them to

work for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I mean, that's a good thought. Isn't that what James taught? James said. Show me your faith, I'll

show your deeds. Show me deeds, I'll show your faith. Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2:10,

That God has prepared good works in advance for every one of us to do so. One of the things

when Paul thinks of this church, he says this is a group of people that have faith that works. It's

not a dead faith. It's not a sit on your hands faith. It's not good, let's let anybody else do that.

Hey, I'm glad I got in. I have my fire insurance in my back pocket. No, this is faith that works.

This is faith that does something right. Oh Lord, You've saved this wretched soul. Not just to

hold down some dirt here, You have something for me to do. Have become a prayer warrior. I'm

an evangelist. I share the gospel with people. I'm a missionary on my job in my neighborhood

where you send me. I have faith at work I'm not just saved just so I can go to heaven someday.

Praise the Lord for that. You can see what's motivating him when you think about persecution in

an American church that has been free of this, but it's coming, brothers and sisters and some of

you older here know it's coming. They will not put up for our view on marriage, on gender. They

will not put up with our view of the scriptures. Will we have faith that works when that comes

down? This church was birthed in beatings. And they had a faith at work. Notice the next one.

Let me flip this one around. They had a love that laborers. Some of you married folks here.

You know love takes labor, doesn't it? It takes dying to yourself to be the spouse that God has

asked you to be, to be a picture of Christ if you're a husband, a picture of the church if you're a

wife. We know that it's dying to ourselves. It takes labor, right? And this is a love that laborers,

it's willing to sweat, it's willing to even agonize to to make sure that the clear gospel of love, the

clear gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that love is shown.

So when you take a beating instead of returning. Rivalry for rivalry, or word for word? There's

love that comes out of him, and Paul knew that. Angry Christians do not. Present this. This is

people who labor and love their love, Laborers. They labor for the church. Do you believe God,

Christ is the head of this church? Not the elders.

Christ is the head of the church. And how did he become the head of this church? He laid his

life down for us. He spilt his blood for everyone who calls himself a believer. Is he not worth

laboring for? What can I do for you, Lord? What do you want from me? What did you give me

and how can I serve you? How can I speak of it? How can I pray? We begin to labor for him

because he died for us. Isn't that so true?

3. A Christ-exalting church with a Word-saturated missional reputation. (vs, 5-8)

The third one is an amazing one as well. There's a hope that is steadfast. I meet Christians all

over the world. You know, I have the privilege of training pastors all over the globe. We've

traveled extensively. One of the things that marks people, particularly in the third world where

we train a lot of pastors, is they have a hope that is not built on materialism. They have enough

to eat that day in many cases. They have a hope that is steadfast because it's not in

themselves, it's in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So their hope is unmovable, right?

There's a steadfast hope in there and that's what God gives us. And you can have that

materialism is hard on us, right, to houses and cars and mortgages and debt and things like

that. They make those things difficult for us. And when we amount those things and we crew

those things and we don't store up hope and steadfastness, then we lose our joy.

Have you lost your joy? There's times where I lose my joy, always a result of sinful thoughts or

behavior in some way. And as I repent and tell the Lord what I sinned, and I also say, Lord, will

you give me back my joy? Please give me back my joy.I want my hope. Some of you know this

as your hope shifts, shifts from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ onto what you think you eed,

your hope and joy will go out the door. You will not lose your salvation. David said restore to me

the joy of my salvation. You use your joy and these brothers are known and they're constantly

bearing in mind this faith that works, this love that labor's in this hope that is steadfast and

notice that it's in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's where your hope comes from. All these things,

your works and your love and your hope, they're all coming from Jesus Christ. He's the reason

for everything. I have nothing to talk to you about if it wasn't for Jesus. I could just go on like the

news to you. Just worthless stuff trumped by the next event. I can stand here and boldly

proclaim humbly to you like this because my hope is in Christ. His finished work. Isn't that

beautiful? I hope you have that as well. Notice in the presence of our God and Father.

I know some of you may feel alone at times.You're never alone.

Christ purchased the church with His own blood. That was the Father's plan. He will not

abandon His own. He'll never leave you and forsake you. And He's with the church. And I know

I've met with your elders and your staff and I'm praying and I know you've gone through some

challenging things these last few years. The Lord's here. He's not left you. He's present with

you. And as long as the words being preached and the worship is going vertical instead

horizontal, be careful of that. It's going vertical. You'll always have the Lord hear blessing what

you do. You may not always understand his past, but he will be with you.

Notice verse 4. This is one of my favorite verses. Here he starts with a verb, knowing, here

knowing brethren, beloved by God, his choice of you. One of the fascinating things that we learn

about Thessalonica church is Paul didn't have to go back and reteach them. Soteriology, the

doctrine of salvation. One of the things that why they were so thankful why they gave praise

to God is because this church got it. They understood salvation was not of themselves. They

understood that God did something an eternity past, that he knew them from the foundations

before and drew them to himself. They understood that knowing a brethren beloved of God, that

the word beloved is a beautiful word. It has the idea of pressing down on that, that God pressed

his love on undeserving people. They knew this. They were not like much of the American

church that says, well, God, I don't know how you're going to do this without me.

The American church has this arrogance about them that God needs them in some way.

God's eternal He existed long before there was ever any person on this world or in the world.

It is God who knows you from the foundations of the world. And Jesus says all that the Father

gives me, I will lose none of them. And what he is so thankful about this church that listen to

this, is that they knew this. That's soteriology. Our doctrine of salvation starts with a God who

knows us before the foundations of the world, and we cannot escape his love. I know there's

many questions because we get into the doctrine of election. You go, oh, this. I said, oh, hey,

here's all I know is the Lord knew me before the foundations of the world because that's

what the Bible says. And that Jesus promised that he would not lose me because the Father

gave him to me. If you get that far, you've got a good handle on soteriology and notice that

they're loved by God, beloved by God. His choice of your Bible may say his election of you elect

us is a word. That's a good word. He chose us from the foundations of the world.

The Third Point here this morning, Christ's exalting church with a word saturated missional

reputation. I know that's a mouthful, but I wanted to get this in notice he says in verse 5 for our

gospel did not come to you in Word only now notice that little. Personal pronoun there as it

starts our gospel. There's an ownership there. It's our gospel. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ

yours. Oh yeah, our church believes that. I'm sure your church believes this. I wouldn't be

preaching here. They wouldn't even let me near this if they didn't believe this, Right? But is it

your gospel? Do you see that the Father knew you from the Foundation's world, knew that there

was no hope for you? You would fall under His judgment for all of eternity if the sun does not

come and die for you. Have you owned that gospel? That is, it is our gospel, that's the

preaching of God's word. I said, God, you did this for me. It's personal, right? I met so many

Catholics who have been saved and they said, here's what they say all the time. They said there

was no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We have a personal relationship with Jesus

Christ. It's our gospel. And Paul owned this, but notice how it comes. It did not come to you in

Word only. Now we're going to stop there. I'll log off, right?

There's a very important word in the New Testament errors, particularly in this 1st century.

Logos was a word used by the philosophers of the day, the Plato's and Socrates and so forth,

and they had the word of the day, right? They had all the word for life. Paul calls it vain

philosophy. In Colossians chapter 2. And so he's showing a difference here. We not only came

in Word logos, the understanding of all things, all knowledge and all power and authority is what

the word means. The philosophers of the day thought they had it. He said we preached that. But

what makes us different from the philosophers of the world is knowing what comes with it. It

wasn't in Word only. It certainly was what Paul preached. He opened his Bible, the Old

Testament scrolls in the synagogues, and he preached Christ from the Old Testament. But

notice it also comes in power in the Holy Spirit.

Oh, you can watch the CNN, the Fox News, the those who think they know everything they

have not the spirit, and they just got to do something better the next time they're up. I can

preach here with all confidence, not in Scotland as you'll hear me stumble and bumble from

along. But you know what's coming with me? The word of God, who is accompanied by the Holy

Spirit. And every time I share a verse, the Bible, whether it's with a lost person on the road or

wherever it may be, I am promised that the Spirit comes with it. And He can do what I can't do.

He can pierce your heart. He can open our minds this morning and flood the truth in. If you're

not saved, He can pierce your heart and bring you to the knowledge of the need of a Savior.

And that's what's so different about Paul. And This is why this great missional testimony of the

exalting Christ, they were missional because they preached the Word and they did it in full

conviction. Your translation may say full assurance. It's a very good word. You can be assured

we're hearing the word of God. You know, here in Scott's words today, you're hearing the Word

of God. Notice just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you. That's what the

Word of God does to you. You want to have character. You want to be a person of character.

Hold to the Word of God.

Hold to it, every bit of it. Gender, marriage, salvation, life, godliness, everything that has to do.

Hold to the word of God. One of the things I always do when I'm with leaders that have good

ideas. Verse for that. That's a great idea about how you can support that from the Scriptures?

See, that's where our character comes from as pastors and elders and leaders. It comes from

the Word of God. It does not come from ourselves. The Word of God creates this character

within us, worthy for Him to trust us with the children's souls of his redeemed. And notice verse

six. It wasn't just them being proved, but you also became imitators of us and of the Lord. That

was Paul's message all through his epistles. Follow us because guess where we're going?

We're going right towards Christ. Can you say that?

I mean, some of you young men, you want to have a wife someday. If you're not going towards

Christ, why would she follow you? Oh hey, is this set of you the people who know you? That

person loves the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't like him, but I'll tell you every time he's going to talk,

He's going to lead you to Jesus. I hope that's true, right? Dad 's father 's husband 's

grandfather’s are in this room. We should be known for that. If you follow me, I'm taking you

to Jesus. I have nowhere else to go. All of it's just vain moms raising children, grandmas, wives.

You play such an amazing role. Lead your children to Jesus. This is what he did. This is why his

ministry was so successful. Where imitators imitate us because we're fallen with full conviction,

The word that's brought on and understood through the Holy Spirit follows us. Having received

notice, having received the word in much tribulation, with joy in the Holy Spirit. What did they do

in Philippi when they were beaten and put in the inner prison with their feet and hands in stocks,

what did they do? You tell me what they did. They sang. They sang. I have studied Acts 16 so

many times and said Lord would I sing there. Or would I complain?

See full conviction comes from the Holy Spirit just cannot be kept within us and that's what

these men were known for. And so this did come in Tribulation verse 7 so that you became

examples to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

You know, when somebody suffers for Christ and won't give up, won't turn back. Oh goodness,

your example is going to go. You're going to be a testimony and people are going to want to

hear and that's what happens. This church, this little Thessalonica church, that shouldn't even

happen because Paul wanted to go to Asia instead, but God redirects him because he does

that. There's a church now that their testimony is going out to everyone. What an amazing thing

for the word of the Lord has now to assist. This is beautiful and I'm hurrying now for the word of

the Lord has sounded forth from you. Sound it forth from you the word that Greek word we get

the word echo from. There's an echo in here a little bit. If I say hello, it doesn't come back and

say goodbye. It comes back. Hello. Here's what's so beautiful about this church is what God

said they said. Could that be said about you and can that be said about Faith Community Bible

Church? What God says, what we say, it echoes forth and notice it's gone forth. There's no

need to say anything. And then finally, I've got to hurry here because we have the Lord's table.

4. Christ's exalting church that proclaims the testimonies of transforming power of gospel.

Look at verse 9 for they themselves report about us. What kind of reception we had with you.

They know this group of people turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God. These

people were falling down before Pagan immoral worship. They were cutting themselves. They

were involved in all kinds of horrible things.They turned from dead gods to a living God. And

notice what transforming power that takes place in the gospel. Now instead of falling before

dead pieces of wood or stone or made-up gods, they wait for his son from heaven.

The word wait, the verb there is Anna minnow. A minnow means to abide. But Anna minnow

makes this a very strong word. It means waiting with expectant confidence.

Is that how you're waiting for Jesus? With expected confidence and notice, if you have any

question about who this Son is, it's the one He, the Father raised from the dead that is Jesus.

And look at this as we close. Who rescued us from the wrath to come?

Jim's going to come lead us to the Lord's table and you're going to hold the bread and you're

going to hold the cup in your hand. And brothers and sisters, that reminds us that God rescued

us from full wrath and judgment of the Father. Christ rescued us. Don't miss that. Oh, Father in

heaven, our time is too short here together. They're so rich in this text. But at the same time.

Lord, we want to leave time to remember your son's work. I thank you for the book of First

Thessalonians. I thank you for the example that was set there. Thank you for the men that led

and cared for this church. And I thank you for the members that made this up. May they be

a constant example for us? We give you praise for this Lord, and now as we worship you around

the table, we ask that we would be reminded of your goodness in Jesus name, Amen.