All right, if you have your Bibles this morning, would you turn with me for the first time to 2 Thessalonians? 2 Thessalonians, as we continue our journey through God's Word. Last Sunday, we... brought to a close the study of 1 Thessalonians. And now as we just move right across the page into 2 Thessalonians, we'll keep chugging along here. And what a blessing I believe it's going to be. It's a great reminder to me as you, I would encourage you, I know I've done this prior, I'd encourage you to read these letters through in their entirety. I wish that we would take the time to do so this morning, but for sake of time, I won't. But you certainly can do that. Go home and read through the entirety of the letter and see the connections that are going to be made from 1 Thessalonians to 2 Thessalonians. And again, it's a great reminder of hearing the same things over again, because sometimes we need to hear them again for the first time. Amen. So if you found second Thessalonians and chapter number one, let's stand as we honor the reading of God's word. If we're able this morning, second Thessalonians and chapter number one. We're just going to read the opening two paragraphs there, verses 1-4 of 2 Thessalonians 1. The Word of God says, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever and ever. Amen and amen. Thank you for standing. You may be seated. Titled the message this morning rightly thankful rightly thankful and I see where I Believe that you can see where I pull that from as the Apostle Paul Silvanus and Timothy or just going to refer to him as Silas Same man, just abbreviated an easier way to say that name but again, there's another option for the yorkers if you're looking for names and Anyway, in verse number three, the Apostle Paul specifically, and I want to also just plug this in as a preface to the study of this book. Many times I will refer to Paul specifically, and that being it's clear as we read these letters, both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, that the Apostle Paul, although he has the support and companionship in the ministry and in the writing of these letters of Silas and Timothy, that Paul was actually the one at this point who was penning these things down. And that changes in Paul's life later as we think about the progression of his own life. This is very early in the life of the Apostle Paul's ministry. 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and the book of Galatians would be, it's safe to say that those are the first three writings of our New Testament. There is an ongoing debate as to whether Galatians or 1 Thessalonians was first, and after studying both of them, I would lean towards 1 Thessalonians being the very first letter that was written. But nevertheless, it doesn't really matter all that much. What's important to know is that this is God's Word, and it's come to us. through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God through the Apostle, and the timing of these letters from 1 Thessalonians to 2 Thessalonians is relevant as well, knowing that it's a very short period of time that has passed between the 1st and the 2nd letter. And the reason for the rapid writing of the 2nd letter is going to become obvious to us here because Again, as I kind of jokingly said that we hear it again for the first time, it was the case for them. He wrote the letter to them. He gave them this oath, this charge at the end of the letter that it would be distributed and so that it would be read among other churches. And here we are again, as we stated last week, 2,000 years later, still studying these same ancient writings, and they're just as relevant, they're even less, they're more relevant, I should say, than today's newspaper. They're up to date, and they're for us, and for our instruction, for our edification, and also, specifically, for our correction, because there are times when we we understand things wrongly. And so Paul had to revisit this congregation, this church in Thessalonica, that he had a very brief ministry at. Timothy, though, was able to go back and to spend time with them and to see what was happening, and now he's writing to them again because some of the same frustrations, some of the same confusions that existed in Thessalonica, which by the way are some of the same things that we battle with today, were happening so quickly in that place. And specifically, we're going to see there's two things primarily that the Apostle Paul is going to focus on. in this letter. The one is what we would classify or term eschatology. It's the study of end times as we think about the culmination or the consummation of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. Paul is going to address this again to the Thessalonian believers for their instruction and for ours. And we're going to make some very strong points and point out some things as we already have in 1 Thessalonians of some major distinctions that I believe are major errors in the day in which we live as it pertains to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can do so unapologetically and let God's Word speak for itself. The other thing that the Apostle Paul is going to deal with in this letter is the ongoing issue that because of, because of, and this is a very, very important point, and again, we'll revisit this, but your beliefs affect your behavior. And one of the things that was happening in the church in Thessalonica was the people specifically were, here's a spoiler for you, they were, people were telling them that the day of the Lord had already come, that Christ had already returned, And and so some of them were living in kind of a fear and and the other side of the coin were That there were others who were so sure that Christ was going to return at any minute that they were doing nothing okay, and so idleness is wrong and and also Hopelessness is wrong and Paul is pointing them to this this reality that no Christ has not come yet And and hey here we are 2025 Christ has not returned yet Which tells us what? His return is nearer than ever before. That's what we need to know. And so, anyway, He addresses these things and there'll be a great help and encouragement to us. And again, it's basically the Apostle Paul repeating to us some things over again. And what I've learned in my 43 short years of being here on this earth is that we need to hear things over and over again because we are prone to forgetting. or prone to overlooking things that we already know and we need to be reminded of them. So we cannot apologize, nor should we apologize for the repetition of some of the things that we're going to look at, but rather that maybe this time they'll soak a little bit deeper into our hearts. and help us to truly embrace the truth and be changed by it. Here we see just a very typical greeting from the Apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy. As a matter of fact, if you just look back at Chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians, it is nearly identical, if not identical, to the opening there. in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 1, it says, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. And again, so we have a very consistent and very concise opening, and Paul's gonna get right to the point here after this section. The other thing is to note that, as stated before, it was a relatively short period of time between the first and the second letter. One of my most dependable commentators believed that it was probably about six months in between, upwards of to a year possibly. But nevertheless, it's also believed that this letter was being written from the same location as the first. that being the location of Corinth. You remember that Paul, Silas, and Timothy were moved out of Thessalonica because of some persecution that was happening there, and it was for the good and spread of the gospel as they then moved, and Paul spent about a year and a half with the Corinthians. And at some point, Lord willing, we'll study those letters as well. But anyway, look at this opening and be reminded of the things that Paul is emphasizing to them. He calls them the church. The church, it's the ecclesia. It simply means the assembled people of God, the called out people of God. called out from their former manner of living, called into the grace of God, called into by the Spirit of God, to live a life that is devoted to God, to live a life that has been changed, transformed, and being conformed to the image of God. The Ekklesia is a very important aspect of the Christian life. We are a called, a chosen, assembled people and notice he puts these these prepositions they are in God our Father and you can carry that preposition in to and the Lord Jesus Christ we're in God and in the Lord Jesus Christ that is to say their identity now is not that so much that they were Thessalonians that they were Gentiles but rather they are children of God they are in Christ Jesus, they've received a new identity marked by God himself, that God places his mark and his identity upon the life of those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And be reminded here today that your identity is not so much whether you're a Bowersox or a Mitchell or a Groninger or a Dale or a Risser, I know that's maiden name, but anyway, the point being, Point being that our identity is not even that we're Americans, right? We're Americans sure, but our identity is we're in God in Christ Jesus He is our Lord. He is our God. He is our Savior and and so our ultimate Our ultimate Allegiance is to God himself because of what he has done for us and how he has arrested our hearts in Christ Jesus. And this is just a reminder to them and to us that we need to think about who we are because of what Christ has done for us. And that's where he goes to next, verse 2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessing that comes with being in Christ, in God, is that we have this grace and this peace that comes from God and it's to you. It's the same source of your calling and identity. Grace to you from God, the Father and the Son. You know, I love the five solas of the Protestant Reformation, that we are saved according to the scriptures, sola scriptura. It's according to the scriptures alone that we come to understand that we are saved by grace alone, sola gratia, by faith alone, that is in Christ alone. So it's sola scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide, Solus Christus, and it's all soli deo gloria, to the glory of God alone. And Paul emphasizes this aspect of the grace of God, that we are receiving grace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It's grace meaning that it's things that we don't deserve, but God gives them to us out of his goodness, his kindness, and his love to us, it's grace to save us, it's grace to sanctify us, grace to preserve us, grace for us to persevere in, grace to serve, and ultimately it's grace to glorify. He reminds them of the necessity and the blessing of grace, and he says, and also peace. That is peace to you and for you. Again, from the Father and the Son. Peace always and forever reminds us of the reconciliation that we so desperately need with God. But not only that, when we have peace with God, we can actually have peace inside of our own hearts, and it leads to being able to have peace with others as well. Amen? It's that reconciling work of God through Christ Jesus that we're no longer enemies or at enmity with God, but Christ has reconciled us and has made peace with God so that we can now come to Him in His grace, in His mercies, in His love for us. And again, these things are just reminders to the church that who they are and what they have because of that grace and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So there is our gracious greeting. Let's move now to where we're going to spend most of our time, verses three and four. I gave the heading to verses 3 and 4, a godly gloating, and this is an appropriate thing, that there's a boast that the Apostle Paul gives here. And typically when we think about boasting, it's associated often with pride. Pride and boasting go hand in hand. But this is an instant where boasting or gloating is not a sinful thing. I don't think that we would say that the Apostle Paul is proud. He's pleased. So many times we use that phrase, and I think we do so with good intentions, but I think it's not necessarily the most appropriate thing. I'm so proud of you. We shouldn't be proud. We should be pleased, right? Paul doesn't say, I'm proud of you. He says, I'm boasting about you. He's pleased with them. And I think that he was joyous that he could actually do that. And so look here again, verses three and four, he says, we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly. And the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. So there's a well-deserved word to God. Notice he says, we ought always to give thanks, right? We ought always to give thanks, and he points in a very specific direction. That direction being our thanks should be going to God himself. and the cause of his thanks is coming for you. So the Thessalonians were the reason that he was able to give thanks, but the thanks that he was giving was not going to them. It wasn't patting Silas and Timothy on the back, and Paul wasn't pulling a muscle to pat his own back. Instead, he's saying, any progress, any good that I find, as I hear reports coming from Thessalonica, deserve to go to God. Hey, let us be reminded of the very same. If anyone, and Lord willing, I hope and pray that it is true, that there are good reports coming out from Jack's Mountain Community Church, and anything good that comes from this body of Christ, may we always and forever give the thanks to God and not take credit for it for ourselves. Amen. That God would receive the glory, that God would be the one who is the object of our thanks. And this is where the Apostle Paul aims his thanks. He thanks God, but he thanks them for them. And specifically, he says, I'm thankful to God for you because your faith is growing abundantly. You're loving one another and you're doing so increasingly. Now, we've got to go back and make correlation between these letters. Turn back into 1 Thessalonians and chapter number 1 again. Just keep your place there in 2 Thessalonians and look at the way the Apostle Paul began the letter there in chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians, verses 2 and 3. He says we give thanks to God always for all of you constantly making mention of you in our prayers. Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. So in in chapter one of his first letter, he's pointing out the same characteristics that he is now giving thanks to God for. That is to say that those things continue to persist and to grow. First Thessalonians chapter number three, verses six and seven. Apostle Paul again says, this is from Timothy's report that had come back the first time from Thessalonica. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, he has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you. For this reason, brothers, in our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith. So again, reference to their faith there in the first letter. Flip over to chapter number four, verses nine through 12. Again, another similar, along the same line, now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia, but we urge you brothers to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. So we can say that the Apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy in their first letter, they instructed the Thessalonians to do these things. And now, here it is, time has passed. There has been enough time to see the fruits, whether or not they received that by faith and were walking in that truth, being obedient to it. or not, and praise God, the report comes back that yes, indeed, their faith is not where it was, it continues to grow, and furthermore, their love for one another is actually increasing. Now this is an important point because so many times we think about hearing the right things and knowing the right things, But that's only half of the equation, right? We can't just know things. We actually have to put those things into practice. And so as we study through these letters, they're just not a mental exercise for us. They're not some sort of, you know, checking our spiritual book and say, yep, I heard that. We studied through that book. We've done this. No, but that we would actually hear these things and that we will be receiving them, that it's increasing our own faith. And it's also leading to us to to a deeper and dedicated devotion to practicing them in our lives on a day-to-day basis. And again, this is a two-fold fruit in the life of the Thessalonian church. It was one, a demonstration of the genuine nature of their faith, and it was two, their demonstration or the readiness to receive and apply the instruction that they had already received. Now, I think it's also important to recognize that when we look at this, these two things side by side, that their faith was growing and notice he doesn't just say it was growing. He says it was growing abundantly, right? It was increasing in abundance and their love for one another was increasing. He's coupling faith and love together. Now here's a question for you. Can you grow in faith and not grow in love? Is it possible to be growing in faith and not growing in love? Just think about that for a second before you answer. Just ponder it. Is it possible to grow in faith and not grow in love? And I think the answer needs to be what? No, right? When we're growing in faith, specifically, that is, we are growing in faith in Christ, growing in the grace and the knowledge of Him, and thereby trusting Him more and more, that we would then reflect the same, how? Not in winning arguments, right? Not in beating people upside the head with the old King Jimmy, Right? But rather that we would love them. Right? Because here's what happens. The more we grow in faith in Christ, the more we see ourselves for who we are. Right? And the more we understand our desperation and need of His grace, which in turn helps us to love Him more because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Right? And it equates to loving others more. And this is a beautiful, beautiful picture of what the gospel does in the hearts and the lives of his people. That in Thessalonica, those believers understood deeply the love of God in Christ Jesus for them. It increased their faith in him, and it also increased their love for one another. And I pray I prayed that this would be the testimony for each and every one of us. So we have this well-deserved word to God, and then next we have a well-demonstrated work of God. Notice the Apostle Paul writes, as is right. We ought always to give thanks to God, for you brothers, the word Adelphos, it's a family term connecting them to one another in this familial way and he says it's as it's right. That is to say it means it's worthy based upon the attributed value. It's right for us to do this, that is to say it's right for us to give thanks to God for you because The Thanksgiving was worthy because their faith produced works, right? And again, we point this back to the realities that we just looked at in 1 Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians, it revealed these same attributes, and to have the same testimony repeated is a demonstration of the work of God's sanctification at work. Hey, reminder, 1 Thessalonians, chapter number 5 and verse 23, what was the apostle Paul's prayer? for the Thessalonians. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. Surely he will do it. And now, Paul, what an amazingly exciting thing it is that the Apostle Paul would be able to say, hey, I see these things, I remember, you remember, we prayed for these things, and they're actually happening. Let us never remember or never forget that it is God who is at work in us, right? He is the one who is hearing those prayers. And so, it not only wasn't necessary and right and good of the Apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy, to be praying for the sanctification of the Thessalonian believers, but the Thessalonian believers also had a responsibility to actually practice their faith and love, right? And so all of these things are all being used as God's ordinary means to bring about His extraordinary ends. And so it's not a matter of one or the other, it's a both and, right? That we would always and forever work out our salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it's God who's working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. And what a wonderful thing this was to see the effectual outworking of the Apostle Paul's prayers in 1 Thessalonians now being demonstrated in the visible life of the church in Thessalonica. Their godly gloating was also in recognition that the things in Thessalonica did not get easier Remember, if we turn back to chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians, I'm sorry that we're flipping back and forth so much, but it's necessary that we make these connections. In 1 Thessalonians and chapter number 2, the Apostle Paul, he recognizes the difficulties that the Thessalonian believers were, in fact, enduring. And in verse 13 he says, And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the Word of men, but as what it really is, the Word of God which is at work in you, believers. Great! Verse 14, For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews. If you remember back in Acts chapter number 17, we looked at this, at the Apostle Paul and Silas Timothy as they were booted out of Thessalonica. It was because they were literally beating these people. They were afflicting, they were persecuting them. They were laying on them physical abuse. And now Paul references or recognizes here in 2 Thessalonians that their Their faith and love is growing, it's increasing, and it's abundant, and it's not because their life was now easier, right? It's so, so important that we remember this. A well-tested faith before the world is being demonstrated in the fact that their faith and love was being lived out, it was being practiced in the face of the adversity that they were being tested by. It was not in the absence of persecution and affliction, but rather it was in the presence of those things. In other words, easy street in the life of the Thessalonian church did not exist. And here is a good reminder for us. that when we are thinking about living a Christian life, we need to get it out of our heads that things should be easier. We should get it out of our heads that things should be easier because adversity, affliction, goes with the territory, right? Through many hard trials, the Lord Jesus Christ said, you shall enter the kingdom of God. So get it out of your minds that things just ought to be easier than they are. I remember a couple of years ago, I made this comment and it rings true to this very moment, but the response was telling. I said, I literally said, you know, things are hard, but they could be worse. Right? Is that true? It sure is. Well, this person, this person said, yeah, but they could be better. And I'm like, well, no kidding, right? No kidding. But what are we expecting? I'm expecting things to get a whole lot gooder, but not here now. Right? Not here and now. As a matter of fact, sometimes I get a little bit nervous when things are going too well. Right? I start tiptoeing because I'm like, man, there's gotta be a landmine around here somewhere about to explode. Because why? It's not the typical thing that we can expect as Christians. Now, here, I'm getting ahead of myself, but I want you to understand this. He says, your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This word steadfastness, it literally means perseverance under pressure, right? So I want you to get this. It's perseverance with the reality of pressures. Now, those pressures are both within and without. I love when I meet somebody who's honest enough to say, you know, my biggest enemy is me, right? And there's one guy in particular that I've been talking to, and he says, I just, I wish I could get out of my own head, right? Did you ever feel that way? I wish I could get out of my own head. Because here's the reality, this person specifically, has a past that he would rather forget, right? And I know that among us, myself included, that you understand what that's like, right? When before we come to Christ, and even after in some circumstances, we make some really stupid decisions, right? And the accuser, and sometimes our own flesh, likes to do what? bring those things up, right? Keep bubbling them to the top and keep showing them, you're not who you think you are. You're not who those people think you are, right? And so they get inside of their own head. The Thessalonians, no doubt, were having those same struggles. Can you imagine being part of the Thessalonian church as a Gentile, right? These were not people who were religious and now somehow changed their religion to be a Christian. Now, these were pagans. These were people who were living a heathen life, and the gospel of Jesus Christ came to them where they were and totally transformed their lives. And now they're still living in the same context of that life around people that knew who they were before they came to Christ. And they're probably saying, well, you think you're better than we are, right? Again, this is the reality that we live in. Now, here's the difference, though. And there's the thing that I was alluding to earlier. The only way that we actually experience this persecution and affliction that the Apostle Paul is referring to here is that we're actually living our faith in a way that it's demonstrated in our day-to-day living. Okay, let me explain that a little bit more. It's very easy to be a Christian in America in the year 2025 if you just go about your business day in and day out, you keep your mouth shut, you stand in line, you do what you're told, and you don't make any waves, right? It's very easy to be a Christian in America like that. As a matter of fact, a lot of people accept cultural Christianity very readily because they say, well, these are just good citizens, right? They do what they're told. They don't say anything harsh or mean. They leave me be, right? Listen, you can live a Christian life just like that, and you probably will offend nobody except for God. Hello? The Thessalonians were not going through afflictions and persecutions because they were living their faith in private. They were not just simply gathering one day a week and then going back out into the world and acting like nothing was different, right? It's a fact. As a matter of fact, the only time that you will suffer persecution, put it in the words of 2 Timothy, Paul's instruction to Timothy, he says in chapter 3, verses 10 through 14, you, however, have followed my teachings, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that have happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, which persecutions I endured. Yet from them, as the Lord rescued me, indeed, here it is, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. In other words, Paul is saying the reason that I was being persecuted was not because I was avoiding the synagogue, It wasn't because I was avoiding the idolatrous places of the world such as Athens. It wasn't because I had the gospel in my hip pocket and everywhere I went I sat on it, but rather I was engaging the world in which I lived in with that very gospel and every time I did that it caused friction among the people that I was dwelling with. Let me just remind you, if you will share the glorious good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will face opposition. But let me also encourage you that just the same as the Lord Jesus Christ was working through the apostle Paul and saving those, right? Saving those who would believe he'll do the same in your life. And we don't do it. We don't do it. to just avoid, or rather to stir up the persecutions and afflictions, no, they'll come naturally. We do it because it's the very means by which God is saving the lost in this world. But again, you can live a life that's free of the affliction. You can live a life that's free of the persecution. Knowing this, the Apostle Paul goes on here in 2 Timothy. He says, while evil people and imposters will go on and on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But here's his instruction to Timothy. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly In other words, Timothy, don't avoid, don't avoid all the suffering, don't avoid all the persecution that comes from living a life in Christ and for Christ, but rather know that the sufferings are because you're in Christ. Instead of running away from difficulties, instead of avoiding hard conversations, that we should take them head on. Now, don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that you should walk down the street and look for an argument every single place and time that you have the opportunity. If that's the mentality you have, you've entirely missed the point. And that's exactly what Paul didn't do, right? What did he do? He engaged with the truth. And he specifically reasoned with people that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and he did so from the scriptures. We have opportunity upon opportunity to do this in the day in which we live. Constantly, people are in despair and distress by the pressures and the life that we live in, the world that we're constantly in. And I hate to say it, but there's a whole lot of people today, there's a whole lot of Christians today that are more concerned about what's happening in Washington than they are about in Penns Creek. And listen, again, I'm not saying that what's happening in Washington is irrelevant to Penns Creek. But I am saying what's happening right here in our hearts, theologically, in our faith, in our love, is way more important than what's happening there. Amen? I hope you believe that because it's the truth. It really truly is. You want to make a difference down there, start right here. As a matter of fact, you want to make a difference down there, start in your home. Amen. These things are, don't excuse it all away, right? Embrace the reality that, and again, if we apply that same principle to family life, I promise you, you have people in your own family that when you share the gospel with, they're going to be hostile towards it. But there's those that are going to believe it as well. So what do we do? We share the gospel and we let the spirit of God move as he wills, amen? Anyway, the point being this, the reason that they were suffering affliction and persecution was because they were living their faith out loud. They were living it wherever they were. They were telling the truth and they were proclaiming the gospel. There's also a kind of affliction and persecution that we endure from being a jerk, right? and also from consequences of our own sinfulness. That's not at all what the Apostle Paul has in mind here. Now, I'm thankful for the grace of God in the moments where we're just a jerk and we sin. But this is speaking specifically of the afflictions and persecutions that come from a faithful life lived before God. So there's a godly gloating in the apostle Paul, and he's giving it to them. And it's, I mean, I want to say it's an attaboy, right? Man, isn't it good to get an attaboy from somebody who sees what you're doing, which leads us to the next point, right? Notice he says, therefore we ourselves boast about you. Apostle Paul, Silas, and Timothy were the ones doing the boasting here. And there is a boasting that is and is not sinful, okay? And what's the distinction between a boasting that's sinful and one that's not? Well, boasting that's sinful is, look at me, right? Look at what I'm doing. Look at what I've done. But a boasting that is not sinful is when someone else says, Look at what happens there, and praise God for it. Or, from the mouth of ourselves, it would be, praise God that this is happening, right? So there is a boasting that's not sinful, and this is exactly what we see here coming from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. that they are boasting, literally, that's what he says, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God. In other words, wherever they were, there they were in Corinth, and wherever they would go, whoever they would meet, they would say, you should see the people down there at Thessalonica. You should see that church. You should see how those people trust in Jesus Christ. You should see how they love one another. You should see how they endured the persecutions and the sufferings that they go through day in and day out to be a Christian there in Thessalonica. You should see. what's happening there. He's boasting about them. Proverbs chapter 27 and verse 2 says, let another praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips. Now, how do we apply this to you and I here today? Well, four simple things and I'm gonna be done, okay? Number one, Determine not to complain about difficultly you are or you are in or have endured. And man, when I wrote this, I was like, good grief, God, that is so me. Let me say it again. Determine not to complain about difficulty you are in or have endured. How often do we say, oh man, you have no idea how hard it was to do this or how hard it was to go. You have no idea how, and it was, and again, not saying those things aren't true, but what is that? When we start shaping or we start framing our perspective from that point of view, what are we looking for? Oh, oh, I'm so sorry. You poor thing, right? I'm just being honest, right? That's what, that's what we, I can tell you. And again, that's why it was so hard for me to write this sentence because I'd have just as soon avoided it. I've done this, right? Man, it was so hard to go through that. No, that's not what they were doing. Thessalonians weren't saying, hey, man, it's so hard up here, guys. You need to help us, send help. Oh, we're about ready to give up. Nope. Their faith was what? Increasing. And their love for each other was increasing. Because what? They weren't sitting and sulking in despair, throwing themselves a pity party. They were getting on with it, right? Man, it's so hard. Determine not to complain about the difficulty you're in or you have endured. Secondly, determine not to boast about accomplishments you've done, right? The same could have been true that Thessalonians would have been saying, hey guys, we've got the church model. You should come here and write a book and tell every other church around what Thessalonians are doing and we'll show you how to do it, right? Man, I am so sick and tired of books that want to teach you how to grow your ministry. You want to know how to grow a ministry? Preach the gospel. Stand up, blow up, sit down and shut up. And God will work, right? He'll do it. God is the one who does it. We don't need some secret sauce or some secret strategy. We just need to be faithful to these simple things. love one another, trust in God, study his word and apply it, right? It's so, so simple and we don't boast about what we've done. I'm equally, I'm equally annoyed. I'm equally annoyed when I hear people, yeah, we just had a youth conference and 800 kids gave their heart to Jesus. Really? Are you sure about that? Well, praise God if they did, but who are you boasting about? Your ministry or the work of the spirit, right? Listen, these things are not necessarily in and of themselves bad, but the motivations behind them typically are. We don't boast about our accomplishments. Go back to where we began. Paul says, I thank God for you, right? The thanks belongs to him instead. So instead of those two things, instead, look for opportunities to praise God for supplying strength in your weakness, right? If you want to boast about something, again, we'll steal from Paul, boast in your weakness, boast in your weakness. Look for opportunities to give praise to God for doing something, supplying to you that which you needed in the midst of your weakness. And then finally, look for opportunities to praise. This one's so important. Listen, folks, don't lose me yet. Look for opportunities to praise the progress and faithfulness you see in others. Let me say that again. Look for opportunities to praise the progress and faithfulness you see in others. This doesn't just mean among ourselves, it certainly means that. But it also means when we see something good happening in another church, right? Amen. This is so important. And again, I stand in need of hearing these things equally to you. When you see someone else's ministry doing well, praise God for that. and you see somebody else baptizing and when it's happening, praise God for it. They say, wait a minute, you just were talking about this guy or these people who brag about how many kids come to work. Yeah, I mean that because they need to stop doing that, one. And we need to rejoice if it's actually happening, two. Amen. The two things are not at odds with one another. We need to be excited when we see God working other places. We need to brag about it. Brag specifically on God and encourage them in their faithfulness as well. Can you imagine? Can you imagine how wonderful that would be among churches if we would get excited for each other? Amen? When God is at work among us, we should rejoice in what he's doing here, there, and everywhere. And that's why, I know maybe it seems strange to you that we pray for these other churches and ministries every Sunday, but it's not. It is something we need to do that we would lift up our brothers and sisters in prayer, that we would praise God for the work that's being done there, and we would praise God for His continually using them, and that pray that they would be encouraged by it. And let me just tell you, it's contagious. They hear the prayers, those cards go out, we've prayed for you, I promise you, it's exciting for them. It's encouraging to them to hear that there's somebody praying for them, people that they don't even know, right? People they don't even know. God is good, amen? He's faithful. And I pray that these things will serve as an encouragement to us, that we would grow in our faith and love, and that we would be able to boast in the Lord for what He has done. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for your word. We thank you today, Lord. Lord, just for the freedom to preach this morning, what it's been so good, and I'm thankful for it, Lord. And I pray that you would just help these words in spite of me, Lord, to fall on good soil today, and God, that you would do a work in our hearts. Lord, your truth is eternal. Your word is powerful. And I pray, God, that it would just continue to have its will and pleasure in our lives. Father, I pray for each of us, Lord, as maybe there's something that's pricked our hearts today. that even right now, God, in the stillness of this moment, that, Lord, we would just cry out to you, Lord, in confession and also, God, in dependence of you, that, Father, we would look to you for the help and the strength that we need. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to find opportunities day in and day out to grow in our faith and love for one another, our faith in you and our love for others, and, God, that we would just truly seek to honor one another above ourselves, that we would seek to outdo one another in good works, Father that you that you and you alone Lord would receive all the glory The hour and the praise because you alone are worthy. We love you. We pray and ask this all in Jesus name Amen