Hello again and welcome to the program. We're in the book of 1 Thessalonians. They're meeting at Jason's house when a mob showed up outside looking for Paul and Silas. They couldn't find them so they attacked Jason and took security of him and Paul and Silas had to leave because of the danger and they went on to Berea. We're looking at it. Stay tuned. Well, when we say Paul and Silas went on to Berea, they didn't get in their new Honda van and travel down there. What happened was they had to walk, and it took about two weeks. That means about 14 nights they slept somewhere on the ground as they walked all day through that treacherous area. to get to Berea. We read when they got there, the Bible says that these were more noble than those at Thessalonica because they didn't cause a mob right away. But the thing that did happen was the mob from Thessalonica came down and caused trouble for them there. Now this is the fifth time that Paul has been run out of the city. He goes to Athens, which was a long trip. If you were going to take that trip today on a bus, it would take you about six hours. They didn't have a bus, they were walking long time. They get to Athens, and what do they do? They're preaching the gospel, not only in the synagogue, but also in the marketplace. However, Paul was very, very concerned about what was going on back there at Thessalonica, and we read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 1, Wherefore, when we couldn't no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to come for you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed there unto. What an interesting portion of scripture. It says we could no longer forbear. It's a Greek term, it's like a vessel full of water, but it's overflowing, can't handle anymore. That's how it was with Paul. They couldn't handle it anymore. They needed to know what was going on back there in Thessalonica. So, it was going to be that he would be left in Athens alone. Now, that would not be a good thing. He did not have any relatives. He did not have any friends. He was all alone in a very wicked city. So they sent Timothy, he refers to him as a minister, a brother and a minister and a fellow laborer. Timothy was a good man. He was sent to establish those Christians back there in Thessalonica. That word established in Luke 9.51 has been translated steadfastly set. That's what we need to be, steadfastly set. And also, to comfort them, he said here, to comfort them. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 2, to comfort you, he said, concerning your faith in chapter 4 and verse 18 he said comfort one another in chapter 5 and 11 he said comfort yourselves together and then he said in 5 14 comfort the feeble-minded so he was sent there to establish them that they would be steadfastly set and to comfort them and challenge them to comfort one another second corinthians chapter 1 verse 3 we read but blessed be the god even the father of our lord jesus christ the father of mercies and the god of all comfort who comforted us in our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comfort of god no matter what we're going through today when we're going through some things This world is not my home. I'm just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door. I can't feel at home in this world anymore. Well, also we can be comforted by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus' final words, he referred to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter four times. Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China in the 1800s. His wife died while he was there in that mission. He wrote, quote, how lonesome were the weary hours when confined to my room, how I missed my dear wife and the voices of the children far away in England. Then it was I understood why the Lord had made that passage so real to me. Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. Twenty times a day, perhaps, as I felt the heartthirst coming back, I cried to the Lord, I said, Lord, you promised. You promised me that I should never thirst. And whenever I called, by day or by night, how quickly he came and satisfied my sorrowing heart. So much so that I often wondered whether it were possible that my loved ones who had been taken would be enjoying more of his patience than I was there alone in my room. There's more than a trip to heaven paid for, Calvary. We can also have the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, with us here as we go through the situations of life. And so, take advantage of the Comforter. And also, as Paul did in all five chapters in 1 Thessalonians, keep looking at the bigger picture. Christ is coming soon.