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Grace mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord

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and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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One big terrible mistake. One big terrible mistake.

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I'll bet you've never thought about Paul's Macedonian call as that, as

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one big terrible mistake.

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I mean, he had a lot of plans about where he was going to take the

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Gospel.

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He had a lot of plans.

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He was driven by a great zeal to let all the world know about the

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peace and the forgiveness in the love in the Hope in the joy that we

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can have in Christ Jesus.

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He had already had many successes as a powerful preacher even upon his

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conversion in the Damascus. Immediately, almost immediately if it says

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he grew powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving

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that Jesus was the Messiah.

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And then after his conversion on his first trip to Jerusalem, he's out

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preaching in the streets streets and preaching powerfully.

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In fact preaching so much and so powerfully that he was causing kind

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of a ruckus and

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the other disciples asked him to leave and go back to Tarsus where you

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come from.

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He did stir things up by his preaching.

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He was a good preacher, and there's wonderful examples of Paul's

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powerful preaching throughout the Book of Acts for example. His sermon

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in the city of Antioch in Acts chapter 13, I think is a great example of

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a clear exposition about who Jesus is and what he has done based on

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the Hebrew scriptures. And his sermon concludes

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he doesn't mince words his sermon concludes therefore my

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friends.

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I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is

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proclaimed to you.

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Through him everyone who believes who set free from every sin a

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justification you are not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Paul 

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was a powerful preacher. But with powerful and direct preaching one

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also runs the risk of upsetting the status quo as it were. And so

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increasingly his preaching met with opposition and persecution and

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suffering.

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Indeed the context for our lesson today from 1st Thessalonians is one

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of Paul meeting with increasing opposition.

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In fact as I studied this text and read through the context one might even say

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that it almost seemed at least looking at it from the ground looking

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at it from Paul's perspective looking at it from the perspective of

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of his missionary band.

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It might have seemed that things were starting to kind of fall apart

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on this his second missionary journey.

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We like to think of Paul's missionary, missionary work as one progression

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one glorious progression of the Gospel going all around wherever he

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preached.

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But often times his mission work could be characterized more as a

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series of fits and starts. And I think even in this case he might have

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he might have thought from looking at it from the ground that maybe

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it's might like one step forward and two steps back.

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So he's on the second missionary journey and he has these big plans to

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take the Gospel to this area

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that we call today Turkey, called Asia in scripture. But he wants to preach the Gospel in Asia but it says the Spirit, they were prevented by 

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the Holy Spirit.

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You don't know what the circumstances where but something prevented

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them and Luke, I think truthfully incorrectly says, yes God is at work

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in all of this to even in preventing us from preaching the Gospel in a

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certain place at a certain time.

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So then he decides to go all the way up North Bethania up to almost the Black

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Sea, same thing.

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The spirit would not allow it.

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Paul and his band didn't know where to go what to do next.

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Well they headed south past Missia.

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They went down to Troas the port city.

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And that's where Paul had this Macedonian call. He had this vision of this man from

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Macedonia begging for for them to come over to help them.

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Things were not going as planned and actually now they would even in

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some ways get even worse,

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I mean from the human perspective.

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So they go over to Macedonia and they end up in Philippi and we know

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that the Gospel was proclaimed there in a few people received the word

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of God with great joy, but very soon after getting their Paul and

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Silas were unjustly accused of something that they didn't do.

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They were justly accused.

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They were beaten with rods and they were thrown into the innermost

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dungeon with their feet fastened in the stocks. Something

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I would have never won a would have wanted to put in a missionary

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newsletter for my mother to read that's for sure.

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I mean the beauty of it

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all of course is that God is still working in that.

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I mean he is still working in that in that that through that an

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unfortunate series of events.

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We might say that phillipian Jailer and his family did here and

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receive the Gospel with great joy.

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But Paul still because of all of that ruckus had to depart Philippi 

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very quickly as well.

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So they went on to Thessalonica and there again things started out

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okay. Started out pretty well some Jews

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it says and a large number of God-fearing Greeks,

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we read an Acts. And quite a few prominent women were persuaded and

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joined Paul and Silas but yet there is more trouble and the city gets

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agitated and soon they have to basically flee

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Thessalonica, flee for their lives. So they went on to Berea.

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They preached there and the Bereans received received the message but

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again crowds got agitated and they had to Spirit Paul out of

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Macedonia.

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He had to flee for his life.

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There was a plot to kill him in.

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So he flees Macedonia.

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So that's his Macedonian experience running from one place to the next.

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Not really knowing how long he was able to stay in

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in fact in Macedonia,

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he was there for a pretty short time. And that I think had a big impact

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on this letter that we are using is our text today.

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He later in that characterizes brief time in Macedonia in his second

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letter to the Corinthians.

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When he said when we came into Macedonia our bodies had no rest.

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We were afflicted at every turn fighting with out and fear within.

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At some points he must have thought it was a big terrible mistake. With

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such a little amount of time to prepare the people to teach the people

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in Macedonia. In places, like Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea such a

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small amount of time to teach these people it maybe this whole thing

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was a terrible mistake. Any missionary discipleship takes time. When people

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come from unbelief or not knowing anything and you proclaim to them

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and they received the Gospel and the good news.

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It doesn't mean that they leave all of their old habits or their

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old beliefs that are still those things are just evaporates into thin

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air.

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It takes time discipleship takes time.

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There's so many things that Paul still wanted to teach the people

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wanted to tell the people. But haven gotten thrown out of the region

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of Macedonia

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so swiftly.

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He surely wondered if the faith that he had barely proclaimed would

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endure. Would it not be overcome would it not be snuffed out by

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the criticism and the persecution that he knew the people there would

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be facing?

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And so having to flee out of Macedonia Paul then goes down to Athens

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and then to Corinth and of course he preaches the Gospel there as

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well.

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But his concern for the few converts for the few converts up in Macedonia.

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His concern was weighing heavily on their hearts in fact in Chapter 3

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of our letter First Thessalonians.

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He said I couldn't stand it any longer.

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I couldn't stand it any longer.

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He he said he was afraid that the tempter had tempted the people

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to give up on their faith.

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So out of his great love and concern for those people he decides to

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send Timothy up to check on them.

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Timothy goes up and he comes back. He comes back with the amazing news

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that their mission work in Macedonia had not been in vain. Timothy

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comes back with the wonderful news

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now that that the church was not only not only surviving but it was

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actually thriving.

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And so Paul sets out to write this first letter this first epistle to the

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Thessalonians.

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Probably the oldest of the Epistles of Paul that we have extant. And

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writes to them rejoicing in the news of their steadfast faith.

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And in the text that is our text for today in that portion of the

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letter.

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He really talks about how it is how it is that the faith took

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root there in Thessalonica when he'd been there for such a small

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time.

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He talks about the how and the why.

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How they're able to remain strong in Jesus. He reminds the Christians

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as we've heard in our lesson today that that he had boldness

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to

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proclaim the Gospel

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there are much amid much conflict.

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He says he didn't preach an erroneous message.

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He says he wasn't out there to try, you know to deceive people with

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flattery.

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He says that he and his missionary band

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we're not there for personal glory or gain.

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He says that they endeavored to lead holy and blameless lives among them.

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He said that we didn't just give you

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the word of God we did our entire ourselves over to you. And we cared

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for you and we treated it says that we treated you like a father a

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loving father would treat his children exhorting them and encouraging

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them.

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He says all of these things but then he comes to the point

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I think in the very last verse of our texts most importantly most

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importantly.

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How did the faith take root there and how did it end or after only

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hearing his teaching for a short period

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of time. Well he says it was the Word of God and the Spirit of God

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working through that Word that caused the new Christians to turn away

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from the idols as it says earlier in 1st Thessalonians to turn away

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from the idols and to serve the living and the true God.

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So Paul sums it up in the final verse of our texts and we also thank

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God constantly for this that when you received the word of God, which

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you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what

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it really is the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

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In your Ministries

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and maybe even in your life in general.

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You might be plagued with these kinds of thoughts.

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This is nothing but a big terrible mistake.

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Satan may try to put that thought into your head. Luther called

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it ten tatseo.

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When the tempter comes and sticks those kinds of thoughts into

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your head.

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It's just a big mistake.

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They're really two kinds of ten tatseo one is about your faith, you know a

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doubts about your faith whether God loves you whether the gospel is

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real with our God is really caring or listening to you.

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That's one kind of ten tatseo.

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But the other kind which I think is actually much more prevalent

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in many ways and certainly very excruciatingly painful.

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Is a ten tatseo about your calling.

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That's the other kind. Am I worthy of this?

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Do I belong here?

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Am I capable of it?

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Am I not just making a huge mess out of things?

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Isn't this just a big terrible mistake and things aren't turning out

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as I planned.

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In fact, it's turning into a huge mess a colossal failure.

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Makes me think of mowing lawns.

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Mowing lawns. When I was in college

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I had a job at the apartment complex where we lived in southern

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Minnesota.

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I had a job and what was called the resident manager of the five

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buildings, about 125 units. And part of my responsibility as a resident

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manager was to mow the lawns, there was a lot of lawn out there a lot of lawn

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around all of the buildings in the playground in that whole area.

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So my job was to mow lawns.

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Well eventually of course finished college and we moved off to Seminary for 2

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years.

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After that, we went to a vicarage in Guatemala Central America for 2

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years of wonderful experience a beautiful 2 years.

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I think in many ways the greatest two years of our lives. We just really

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really liked it

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there. Went back to the Seminary for one more year.

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And then at the first call came back to Guatemala where we wanted to

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go to. The place

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we learned to love and had grown to love. And we're going to work among

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the Q'eqchi' people living in the western mountains.

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We have a lot of plans.

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We have a lot of expectations.

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Well, I'm not going to go into details here.

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But let me just say things did not work out as we planned.

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And a little more than a year after we had gone back to Guatemala with

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a little more than a year after we had gone back.

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We found ourselves back in the United States.

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We had to come back.

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We went up to live with my mother for a while.

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And while we waited to see what would happen next where the next call

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would come from. And so I happen to see my old boss from the apartment

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complex somewhere in town.

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And he said what's going on what we thought you were in Guatemala,

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I explained we had to come back. And he said well, what are you doing?

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And I said, I'm just waiting to see what happens next. Well if

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 if you don't you don't have anything to do I could use

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somebody to mow the Lawns around the apartment complex.

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And so I found myself sitting on that same lawn mower mowing lawns.

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Now don't get me wrong.

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It's it's it's a great there's nothing wrong with mowing lawns.

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So it's a very worthy.

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It's a fine job.

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I like doing that kind of stuff.

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But I started to think after 4 years of college.

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3 years of Seminary classes, three years living in Guatemala having

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learned a new language having learned a new culture.

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I'm back to where I started mowing lawns. And I distinctly remember

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this thought

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going around in my head as I wove the lawn tractor around the

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buildings.

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I thought went into my head, you think you're cut out to be a pastor?

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You think that you were cut out to be a missionary?

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It's all nothing but a big terrible mistake.

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The point is things don't always go as we plan them but that does not

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mean that God is not working through it

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all. Paul's original plan to proclaim the Gospel in Asia and Bithynia

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didn't work out. And it's missionary work in

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Macedonia was fraught with setbacks and suffering and persecution,

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so they had to flee for his life. And yet God is still at work. God's

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spirit is still at work and his word is still at work.

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Paul realized that it was God's word and only God's word at work when he

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heard of the thriving Church in Thessalonica and throughout Macedonia.

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In spite of the fact that you spent so little time there but it is the

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word of God that still works even when human plans fail.

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So remember that.

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When you think you've wandered into a big terrible mistake. When when

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the tempter starts putting those thoughts into your head. You're

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not worthy of this.

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You're not capable.

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You're not up to this.

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You're making a big mess of things.

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Who do you think you are?

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From a human perspective things can look like that like a big terrible

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mistake but God's word is active and God is still active. You know the

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Apostle Paul learned that from experience and later wrote all things

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work together for the good of those who love him who are called

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according to his purpose.

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And that's why Paul was able to say these words to the church in

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Thessalonica. The same words that certainly apply to us and that we

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need to remember as well.

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He said we thank God constantly for this that when you received the

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word of God, which you heard from us.

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You accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is the

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word of God, which is at work in you believers. In Jesus name.

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Amen.

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Today we are also remembering three great Lutheran hymn writers Philipp

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Nicolai, Johann Heermann and Paul Gerhardt. And I'm always amazed at how

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wonderfully and beautifully hymn writers can express Christian experience

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and express Christian teaching in their hymns.

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Well today is hymn was not written by any one of those three.

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But in commemoration of Nicolai, Heermann and Gerhardt, and you can look

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up their beautiful hymns in the in the hymnal. In commemoration of

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those hymn writers, let us unite our voices in a contemporary hymn. A hymn that

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in some ways summarizes the content of today's message.

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So, please rise as we sing hymn 828 :We Are Called to Stand Together."