Now we're going to read from God's Word. As you're turning to 1 Thessalonians chapter one, five through 10, I just want to follow up on something that we had sent out last week over email. One of our own, Albert Weathers, he is still in the hospital. It's been a long stay, and they've just been doing a lot of tests, a lot of observation, He may be there for an undetermined amount of time more. He would love to take calls or take visitors. So if you are so moved and able, feel free to visit our brother there. He's at Lisantera. All right, 1 Thessalonians chapter one, verses five through 10. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you, the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to 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, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. This is the word of the Lord. Today I want to talk to you about how we are chosen to be changed. I want to tell you about a friend who changed. Years ago there was a friend of ours, and she needed to lose weight. For medical reasons, she needed to lose a substantial amount of weight. And she changed. I don't remember the exact numbers, It was something like over the course of maybe six months, she lost about 90 pounds. The change was significant. It was huge. It was visible. And you could see, you could tell that she had changed. When someone changes that much, people want to know. And so we asked her, people would ask her, you seem so different, how? How did you do it? And in her case, it was through daily walking, long daily walks, something like an hour and a half, something like three hours every day walking all around the city. And after people heard that answer, after people heard her, let me tell you, a lot more people started taking daily walks Now, do you know what? When we see someone change, we listen to them, we listen to them. And in our text today, we see that we were chosen to be changed and to talk about it. So three changes that we see in the passage this morning. First of all, there's a change of example, a change of example. Then secondly, there's a change for expansion, a change for expansion. And then thirdly, a change in expectations. So a change of example, a change for expansion, and a change in expectation. Let's start with the change of example. Verse six, Paul writes, and you became followers of us and of the Lord. having received the word and much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. When the gospel came to these urban dwellers in Thessalonica, they changed. They changed in this way. Paul, Paul and Silas and Timothy, Paul and the others, they became their models and they also began to mimic Jesus. They began to imitate Paul and the others and they began to imitate Jesus. He says, you became imitators of us and of the Lord. When a person comes to God, it's like you are a duckling. And you know what they observe about baby ducks, right? This is what you see if you watch these little nature documentaries or you read about it. Those ducklings imprint on the mother who is in front of them. the ducklings imprint, they see the mother duck and they imitate whatever she does throughout the day. When she waddles over into the pond, they waddle over into the pond. And when she ducks and dunks herself under the surface for food, they duck and they dive under for food. Paul is saying this, I became An example to you, you imprinted on me. They imprinted on Paul and they also imprinted on the Lord Jesus when they received the gospel. And so can I ask you this? On whom are you imprinted? Whom are you imitating? What are the main influences on your lifestyle? I mean, people document trends. Especially they enjoy documenting trends among teens. For instance, take pants, take jeans, take blue jeans. Torn or not torn, fitted or loose. Can't we just wear pants? But that's just not how it is, and this has been true for decades. All of us are imitators. Think about the kind of influence, the kind and the depth of influence that people have on you. For instance, your parents. Your parents are an influence on you. For better or for worse, your parents give you a pattern for how you give and take in your closest human relationships. Your parents are a pattern. They are a pattern for you for what conflict will look like as you grow up and have your own relationships. They're a pattern for you for what closeness will look like in your own personal relationships. Your parents, example, forms you to be the kind of person who will either readily admit when you've made a mistake, or whether you become the kind of person who can't admit even the slightest degree of error. Your parents are an influence. But think of also how popular culture influences you. For you, with however you take things in, which influencers have your eyes? Which influencers and talkers and podcasters have your ear? Not just influencing your concept of beauty or style, but influencing things that are very specific and very practical. Influencing how you parent or influencing how you process pain influencing your view of sex, influencing your view of the opposite sex, influencing your view of the same sex. What influences have you chosen? The Thessalonians chose to imitate Paul, Silas, and Timothy, and the Thessalonians chose to imitate the Lord Jesus. Have you made that choice? Have you made that conscious choice to imprint on Jesus? If you are a Christian, isn't that Isn't that part of the invitation that Jesus gave you? He said, follow me. Follow him, like a duckling following the mother it imprinted on, like sheep following your shepherd. There are two aspects to imitation that are brought out here, word and deed. Word, the scriptures, the information, the theology, and the teachings of Christ, those things, the word informs your head. Verse five, it says, the word came to them And so the question for you, if you have imprinted on Jesus, is the word coming to you? Are you seeking it out? Are you taking it in? Is Bible instruction, is Bible reading, is listening regularly to Bible teaching, is it regularly influencing you? But not just word, also deed. So what examples, what actions do you imitate? Are there believers, people, specific people, who maybe they are ahead of you in their tenure with the Lord, are there specific believers whose lives are worthy of imitation. People like Paul who are sold out to live for Jesus. People like Paul whose lifestyle matches their language. Verse five, it says, you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And so, Believer, your life, the further and further and the longer and longer you walk with Christ, your life needs to match your talk, especially in a way that the people who are around you can see it and confirm it. You can't be a person who talks about trusting the Lord, trusting the Lord with all your heart. You can't talk about trusting God with all your heart, but then people see you crabby and cursing when your car battery dies or you get a flat tire. And you can't recite all kinds of scripture passages and memory verses and then turn around and go to McDonald's and treat the employees there like trash. Your talk must match your walk. So be careful with the kind of influences that you select. Be careful with the kind of friends that you select. Be careful with the shows that you select Exposure breeds imitation. Exposure breeds imitation. I remember in my childhood, there was a year that I lived away from my parents. I was in another state when I was a kid for that one year. And that year, I so wanted, I wanted to be liked by a group of the other kids that I started conforming myself to their expectations. And within months, There I was. I was always a church kid. I was a weekly memory verse kid. There I was. I was cursing, just like them. I was giving the finger, just like them. I was imitating them. When a person knows Jesus, a big change must occur. Verse nine, you turn to God from idols, to serve the living and true God. They turned to God from their idols to serve the living and true God. That's one of the big changes that needs to happen when you follow Christ. They turned from their idols. They turned to serving the living and the true God. And in some ways for them, you could almost describe this as it's like they started a second marriage. The first marriage was over, they're now in their second marriage. This verse, verse, Nine, it describes repentance, this whole idea of turning from their idols and turning to serving the living God. That is a description of repentance. Now that word repentance, it's just not in common parlance. It has fallen out of common use, but when a person converts to Christianity, this is one of the core two things that need to be present. When a person converts to Christ, they do two things. Now, you children who have grown up in church, who are taking notes, do you know what those two things are? Those two essential things that need to happen when a person comes to Christ. What must a person do to be saved? Well, there are two things. Repent and believe. Repent and believe. So, that's together in places like Mark 1, verse 15. Repent and believe the gospel. Now, what's repentance? What's repentance? Listen to the definition of repentance from this historic creed, the Westminster Shorter Catechism. What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God. with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience. Repentance has three components. First of all, repentance involves admission of guilt. I have sinned. I am not what I should be. I have treated people poorly this week, an admission of guilt. Secondly, repentance has not only admission of guilt, it has a turning from sin, turning from sin. I want to stop. I hate what I'm doing. I hate my sins. There's an admission of guilt, a turning from sin, and there's a turning to God. God, I want to follow you. I want to serve you. I want to do what you have asked of me. So those are the three components of repentance. And if you are listening to this, and you're a person who is considering following Jesus, you're considering maybe even converting to Christ, then one of the things that needs to happen, and this is true for people who have long walked with the Lord, we make the same choice every day, you must repent. You must believe, and you must repent. That means you must personally admit guilt. Excuse me. How do we do this? Well, maybe another way you can think of it is this. Be specific. Be specific with your sin. Be specific about your sin. So it's not just this general, oh, yeah, I'm a rotten person. It's specific. Maybe the way that you dishonored your mother, maybe the way that you, You told a lie and you got away with it. Nobody knows, but you know. Perhaps the way that you recognized. I am completely self-absorbed, 100% of the time. The only thing that's playing in my mind is the show me, about me, and the drama of my life. And I am so self-absorbed, everyone else in my life ends up having to absorb all of my anger, all of my demands. I am supremely self-absorbed. So you personally admit guilt. You're specific with your own sin. It also means this. turn from your own sin, you admit, I've done this. I am like that, but I hate it and I no longer want it to be part of me. I'm done with this. It also means you turn to God and you say specifically to God something like this, God, I want to be good. I'm so tired of myself and my sin. I want to be good as you define good. I want to be good and I want you, I want you God. Now that's repentance, the message of John the baptizer. The question I have for you is, are you there yet? Are you there yet? So this is a change in example. Next, let's look at a change for expansion, a change for expansion. Verses seven through nine, what are we talking about here? We're talking about evangelism. We're talking about missions, verse eight. He says to the Thessalonians, for from you, from you, the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, those are the two provinces of Greece, so all of Greece, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place, your faith toward God has gone out. So that we do not need to say anything. When these Greek people in Macedonia, when they converted, and became followers of Jesus, they wanted to spread the news. They wanted to publish it. They wanted to post about it, and they did. And they spread the idea all across Greece, over all of Greece. When you read places like Acts chapters 18 through 20, you see some of the specific Thessalonians from that congregation who did that, who just went out across Greece. There were people from this new Gentile congregation who traveled And as they traveled, they talked. People like Aristarchus, people like Secundus, people like Jason, all from this new congregation in Thessalonica. They're the ones who did it. They went to other cities on a mission to spread their faith. So verse seven, Paul says, you, you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. And so the evangelism effort, the missions effort, the missionary effort from Thessalonica, those people are examples also for our own imitation. We ought to imitate them. And that's why as you study the teaching in the Bible about the church, missions is one of the major purposes for Christ's church. So on one hand, the church is a stadium The church is a stadium for events, a place to give glory and honor and worship to God. The church is like a stadium. The church is also like a greenhouse or like a hospital. It's a place to grow. It's a place to heal. The church is like a stadium, it's like a greenhouse or a hospital, but the church is also like a shipping port. It's also like a transportation hub. It's a place to export the gospel and export good into the world. We have received, and so now we send. Look particularly at how these Thessalonians spread their faith to fellow Greeks. How did they do it? Did they just throw an advertising campaign with billboards? Did they have targeted intriguing mailings where people would get something and wonder what it is, open it up and read a little note? What did they do? How did they do it? Verse 9, you get a clue of it here. They themselves, that is the people of greater Greece that the missionary efforts from Thessalonica reached, they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and then note this, these people in greater Greece, they tell us how you, you told them how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Paul is saying, When we arrived, when we were going throughout Greece and all the world, when we arrived at these other cities and we found people whom you brought the gospel to and whom you converted or encouraged, Paul says, when we got and talked to these people in these other cities, they told us how you told them about the change that God made in you. In other words, when these Thessalonians contacted other fellow Greeks and spread the message of Jesus, they particularly did it by sharing their personal story. They did it not with, it's not talking about billboards, it's not talking about a viral campaign, they did it by sharing a personal story. They met fellow Greeks who did not know Jesus and then they themselves told their own personal story. They told their conversion experience, told about the idols that they once served, told about how they left those idols, and told about how they turned to the living and the true God. And so I want to encourage you, church, think about using your own personal story. Think about using your story. Believer, you have a story. Everyone's story is different. There are some similarities that we all share when it comes to when and how we repented and believed, but our personal stories, they're all different. You could fill a book and it would be a marvel of the grace of God in each of our individual lives. You have a story, believer, like the woman at the well in John 4, you've got a story about how you met Jesus, when you met Jesus, how Jesus addressed your bad behavior, how Jesus met you, and maybe for you, it was your endless quest for men, or your endless quest for women. Or maybe for your personal story, it will be about how Jesus spoke to you, spoke to your endless questions about the meaning of your life, or maybe how Jesus convinced you and how Jesus changed you. or maybe how Jesus satisfied you, and you want to tell everyone in town about it. Now, why do these people have a passion to publicize Jesus? Why did they do evangelism and go out in missionary efforts? Was it some sort of requirement that they had to do it in order to maintain their reputation in the faith community? Was it kind of like some sort of spiritual multi-level marketing system? No. No, that's not why they did it. They spoke, they spoke from joy. Verse six, you became followers having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that when one sinner repents and believes, all of heaven rejoices. It becomes a national holiday in heaven. The beings in heaven are cheering, It's just a great day. Heaven is a noisy place. Gladness, public celebration permeate heaven. And that sinner, a sinner who is saved by Jesus, that sinner also gets joy. Not only do they get salvation, they also get the joy of their salvation. And so, my friends, if I can encourage you I want to encourage you with this. Retell your personal story. Retell. Tell and tell again your personal story. Maybe even ask God to open the door for you to tell your personal story sometime. But do it from a place of joy, not obligation. And tell your story the way you would tell the story of how you got out of a traffic ticket. Tell it the way you would tell that kind of story. Do it the way that you would tell the story of how you survived a house fire and somehow no one was harmed in it. Tell it with the same kind of joy that you had when you submitted an application. And we were conscious that your application, it was like a 60-40 chance because it just didn't look very good. Tell it with the joy of when your application looked terrible, but somehow you still got in. I know a man who has a burning joy and a burning desire to tell his story. He did not start to believe until he was about 40 years old. And for the first 40 or so years of his life, He lied, he cheated, he stole, he addicted himself to all sorts of things, he spent time in prison, he brought shame and burdens to his family. But when Jesus saved him, he gave that man a joy, and it's a joy that he can't stop speaking about. So we see a change of example, imitating Jesus. We see a change for expansion, spreading the kingdom of Jesus. Now finally, our third thing, a change in expectations, a change in expectations, verse 10. Now there's a change of expectations in these Thessalonian people. Now it says in verse 10, these people wait for his son from heaven, talking about Jesus, wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come." Now, one thing you want to think of when you think of the Thessalonians, they weren't people just sitting around, ready to become Christians, and as soon as that engaged, they were just off and running, and it was just so sweet, it was like the perfect day. These people, when that happened, it was trouble. They were in trouble. Verse six, it says, they received the word, the gospel of Jesus, they received it in affliction. The word is phlipsis. It's talking about high stress. It's talking about painful pressures and agony because they received the gospel. For the Thessalonians, the account of Acts says, when we converted, It made things better, but it also made things worse. We have new enemies in our city. Many in their cities, if you read and ask, many in their city now harass them. Many in their own city now threaten them, spread stories about them. They lost social capital by converting. Doors for advancing their careers, prospects for marriage, they started to slim down, they started to close. But it says they had joy. in their affliction. Joy, in spite of now living in a world where people insulted them and mistreated them. Now how in the world could they have joy in this kind of affliction? It was because of a change in their expectations. Verse 10, this is one of the expectations that now changed. One of the new expectations they now enter it into. They were waiting, it says in verse 10, they were waiting for Jesus now. They're waiting for Jesus. They are certain that Jesus will come. And they knew, they know that when Jesus comes, all will be well. What's gonna happen? What will happen when Jesus comes? Two things are in view in verse 10. When Jesus comes, these two things, resurrection and wrath. resurrection and wrath. Resurrection, Jesus, the one whom God raised from the dead, it says, well, he will raise us from the dead. And everything that you lose, everything that was taken away from you will be restored and never to be lost again. There's resurrection, and in the coming of Jesus, there's also wrath. It says, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Many of you have told me some of your story. Many of you have been wronged. You've been abused. You've been exploited. You were discriminated against. You've been swindled. You were silenced. Many of you have been wronged. And all of us have done wrong. But the lists of God record every sin, every sin that was done against you. And God has appointed a collection date, a due date. The bills will be paid. Listen to what Jesus does when he comes again. 2 Thessalonians 1, verses six and seven. I'm reading from NIV and New King James. God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you. and give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. When Jesus comes back, he will pay back trouble to all who have troubled you. And when Jesus comes, he will give you who are troubled rest, full and final rest from all of your troubles. Some of that will be a rest from injustice. You've cried for justice all these years. The cries for justice no more because justice will fully come. You cry for justice and for now it seems like nothing. The wicked prosper, the wicked go unpunished, but when Jesus comes He brings wrath, it says. Listen to 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 8. Jesus comes in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes in that day. When Jesus comes, the man with the sword will confront you. There will be no way out of it. There will be no way to defer the court date. And when you and I stand before Jesus, there will be only two outcomes, rescue or wrath. To those who believe, rescue. To those who reject, wrath. Now, some Some people, maybe you're uncomfortable with the historic Christian teaching. Some people just dislike this whole category, this concept of the wrath of God, the thought of Jesus coming in wrath to judge. Really uncomfortable with that. Because maybe you want Jesus to be love and you want Jesus to be acceptance and no judgment. But God is both full of love and justice. He's both loving and he is just. God is both holy and he is gracious. Because God loves, because of the strength and depth of his love, when those whom he loves are harmed, he is angry. Wrath proves love. For example, what would you think, what would you think about a woman, she's married, she's a wife, and let's say their home is robbed, and the robbers do violence to the woman during the robbery, the robbers defile the woman during the robbery, what would you think of the husband if he was not angry? What would you think if that husband said, I love my wife, I love my wife very much, but I'm not angry that they injured and violated her. If you heard a husband say that, you would rightly think, you say you love her, but you don't love her. Wrath proves love. In the same way, when God sees humans hurting humans, he is angry. When God sees the image of himself being vandalized, He's rightly filled with wrath. But these afflicted Thessalonians, these believers, they waited for Jesus to return and to rescue them and to deal wrath. Part of that posture of serving the living and true God, it means you serve, it means you do these things, you speak, you do the works of building the kingdom and growing in the faith, but part of the posture of serving God and turning to God, it means you wait. they were waiting, you wait for Jesus to return. The Jesus whom the Father raised from the dead, the Jesus who will return to raise us from the dead and to deliver us from the wrath to come. Waiting is this posture of expectation. We have that in, like when we go to the DMV, and you open the door and you enter and you wonder how many people are here and there's this huge line, how long is this gonna take? Why do you still get in that line? You get in that line because you expect eventually, maybe it's gonna be an hour, maybe more, you expect eventually your number will come up. Believer, in this life, you are waiting for the Son, Jesus, to come back from heaven to raise the dead and to judge all the earth. Now, I asked earlier, whom do you imitate? Now I'm asking, for whom are you waiting? For what are you waiting and hoping? Here's a few questions you can ask yourself to reveal what you're actually waiting for. Number one, what are you closely tracking? Are you closely tracking something like interest rates? the market indices? Are you closely tracking every report from your attorney about your case? Or are you closely tracking the texts, the messages, the words from a person who you really hope will love you and you're longing for that? What are you closely tracking? Second question, what will set things right? In your life, what will set things right? Is it the right person getting elected and installed? Is it the right laws getting passed? Is it a better job and better benefits? That's what will really set things right. Is it a better car? Is it a better friend? One who can totally understand all your complexities. What will set everything truly right? And third question, what robs you of hope? What robs you of joy? You know, what is it? that is keeping you up at night and keeping you from falling asleep? What is it that wakes you up and when you wake up, it fills you with despair and with dread? What is robbing your hope and joy? And fourth and last question, what miracle still has not arrived? What miracle still hasn't arrived? Is it the cure for your condition? Is it that your toxic supervisor needs to retire or be fired. That would be the miracle that still hasn't arrived. Is it that you want to be married and you still aren't married? For whom are you waiting? For what are you waiting? Where is your expectation set? Behind our frustration, behind our despair, maybe we're something like King Saul in the Old Testament. He was under pressure. Intense pressure, a battle was about to begin. The armies were gathered, they were ready to face off, but the prophet hadn't arrived. The prophet Samuel needed to arrive, needed to make sacrifice before the Lord for the army. But Saul waited, Saul waited, and Saul grew impatient. And so Saul took matters into his own hands. Saul took actions that were not appropriate for his position. He took actions that caused him to lose the kingdom. He would not wait. And then Samuel finally arrives and says, to obey is better than sacrifice. What are you waiting for? A cure? Money? Justice being served? An end to your suffering? An end to your loneliness? What are you waiting for? And how do you keep on waiting for Jesus? Well, here's one way. You keep waiting for Jesus, because in the gospel, Jesus waited for you. Verse four says that we wait on Jesus, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. We're waiting for the one who chose us. We're waiting for the one who loves us. It's talking about predestination. What is this election, this prior selection by Jesus to love us and to rescue us? The scriptures say this. The scriptures say his believing people are chosen before the foundation of the world. And that means Jesus was waiting forever for you to turn to him. He waited millions of years for you. Can't you wait the rest of your days for Him in the fullness of time? Jesus came to endure the same humiliation and the same temptations that we endure. And for his entire lifetime, yet without sinning, he did that. And in the fullness of time, Jesus endured the greatest crisis, the incredible pressure of every sin that we committed, crashing down on his shoulders, on the cross. On the third day, in the fullness of time, Jesus rose from the dead, and so he will return and raise us from the dead. The gospel changes us. It changes us from being outsiders to being intimates, from being fragile to resilient, from being hard people to loving, from being withdrawn to becoming influencers. from craving love to being confident that we're loved, from hopeless to welcoming the future. Jesus softens us and Jesus is sending us. Let's pray.