WEBVTT
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Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and from the Lord and
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Savior Jesus Christ.
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Amen.
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Well, welcome to spring semester 2023.
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We begin with snow, and likely when we get to mid May, it'll already be
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balmy and summer like.
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But that's spring here in St.
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Louis.
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Today in Chapel, we begin a series that will run through Paul's first
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letter to the Thessalonians, typically on Mondays, and this will
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continue through the end of Lent.
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And so today, I've been assigned First Thessalonians chapter one
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Paul's Opening and his Prayer of Thanksgiving
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for the believers in Thessalonica. Paul's prayer of thanksgiving is one
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of the better prayers, I think, that Paul writes.
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He's got a lot to be thankful for as he considers how
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the Gospel has come to these people in power and in the Holy Spirit.
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He remembers their work of faith, their labor of love, their
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steadfastness of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He praises them for being imitators of him and for receiving the
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Gospel even amid much affliction.
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And all of this, I believe, is driving Paul to the conclusion of this
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prayer in verses nine and ten when he lays out some of the things that
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he will be discussing in this letter. Where he writes for they
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themselves, the other churches in Macedonia, report concerning us the
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kind of reception that we had among you and how you turn to God from
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idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from
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heaven, whom he raised from the dead,
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Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
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Paul writes to
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comfort these believers in Thessalonica and to strengthen them in
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their faith and to encourage them to live as disciples of Jesus.
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But let's be honest, when you read one Thessalonians, a lot of the
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first part of the letter is Paul defending his apostolic ministry.
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Paul went to Thessalonica, preached the Gospel, founded the church,
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but then Jewish opposition arose against him and he had to flee to
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Baria and then to Athens.
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And so someone might tell these believers in Thessalonica, Paul does
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not love you, he doesn't care about you, and his Gospel has been
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ineffective among you.
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And so the best proof of the effectiveness of Paul's ministry is how
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the Gospel indeed came to these believers empowered in the Holy
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Spirit and how they turned to God from idols.
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And this is Paul's ministry among the Gentiles.
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If we think back to the first century, these are people
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who used to worship as gods things that were not God.
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They used to worship idols that in fact could not hear them, could not
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love them, could not choose them, could not save them, could not
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justify them, and on the last day could not raise them from the dead.
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These are false gods that could not save them from God's wrath to
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come.
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And yet the gospel came to them in power and in the Holy Spirit.
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And as a result, they turned from those false gods, those lifeless
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idols, to the true and living God. To the God of Israel. To the God
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who created all things. To the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To a
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God who can hear them did love them, has chosen them, has justified
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and saved them.
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And through his Son, Jesus Christ will raise them up on the last day.
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A God who has saved them from his own wrath for their sins.
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For this is the predicament of those Thessalonian Christians. Before
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the gospel came to them
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they were idolaters and so subject to the wrath of God.
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For as Paul says in Romans One, the wrath of God is being revealed
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against the the godlessness and unrighteousness of men who suppress
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the truth in unrighteousness.
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And these men, these women, these children were once subject to that
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wrath, but not anymore.
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Now that the Gospel of Jesus has come, now that they have found out
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what God has done for them through His Son Jesus Christ. Sending Jesus
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to redeem Israel, but not Israel alone, but to redeem the nations, to
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call his human creatures back to Himself.
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Now that they've heard about what
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Jesus has done in his death for them and his resurrection from the
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dead.
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Now they are no longer subject to the wrath of God.
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Rather, Jesus saves them from that wrath.
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Even today those Christians heard that they are justified.
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There it is God's end
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time verdict on the Last Judgment has come to them ahead of time,
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proleptically through the gospel.
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And now they not need fear of the day when Jesus comes back to judge
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all people, for they have already received the judgment of God in
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Jesus Christ.
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They've been declared righteous for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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And this is the power of the gospel that has been given to us to
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preach.
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This is a gospel that comes in power and in the Holy Spirit, and can
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turn all people from lifeless, false gods, no matter what they may be.
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Gods that cannot hear, cannot help, cannot love, cannot choose, cannot
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save, cannot raise up the dead.
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And instead, we ourselves have been called to serve a true and living
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God the God of Israel, the God who created all things.
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The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom you yourselves have been
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justified, have been loved by him, have been chosen by him to be his
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people and out to be bears of the same gospel to the world.
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A gospel that comes in power and in the Holy Ghost.
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A gospel that can save people from false worship and false trust and
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lifeless gods and lifeless things to the one God who can truly save.
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And so you too have been called to serve the living and true God.
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And to patiently wait for his Son, Jesus, whom he raised from the
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dead.
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Jesus, who saves you from the wrath to come.
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And now may the Lord God, our heavenly Father, keep you steadfast in
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this faith, both now and in the life everlasting.
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Amen.
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And may the peace that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and
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minds in Christ Jesus.
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Amen.
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Please stand.