1 Thessalonians 1 - Thankful For God’s Work

Main Idea: The presence of God’s work in the lives of others should move us to prayerful gratitude.

GOD’S WORK IS A MIRACLE

• God brings the dead to life in salvation through the Holy Spirit.

• God makes a family out of wildly different people.

• God starts, continues, and finishes His work in each person.

• God uses imperfect Christians to share the Gospel every day.

• God changes our hearts from loving the world to loving Him.

• God will rescue us from the penalty, power, & presence of sin.

GOD’S WORK IN OTHERS DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION

• Who are you sharing the Gospel with so they’ll know Christ?

• Who are you praying for at Tabernacle? Who’s not on that list yet?

• Who at Tabernacle you encouraging, challenging, and helping in their spiritual growth?

• Whose Gospel prospects are you praying for? How can you help?

• Who are you encouraging to turn from their idolatry, and then celebrating with as they see God changing them day by day?

• Who do you comfort by reminding them about Jesus’ return?

SERMON TRANSCRIPT (AUTO-TRANSCRIBED BY APPLE PODCASTS)

Turn with me and your Bibles. We are in the New Testament. We're in the book of 1 Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians was written in about 51 AD., somewhere between 20 and 22 years after Jesus' resurrection. I want you to think about this real quick.

This kind of blew my mind when I was thinking about it earlier this week. 1 Thessalonians, one of the earliest portions of scripture of the New Testament that we have. Possibly James and Mark might somewhat rival the time period for 1 Thessalonians.

Mark, certainly the earliest gospel account. But James and 1 Thessalonians would be some of these first penned portions of the New Testament. 1 Thessalonians was written closer to Jesus' resurrection than we are today from 9 11.

So, any of you remember 9 11 in the room today? I realized that this, whatever the opposite of dates me or ages me, I was young enough that I have no recollection of 9 11. But for many of you, you remember 9 11.

Now, given how somewhat-ish far away we are from some of those events, I don't think any of you perhaps were in New York when that occurred.

But it was a life-changing event that you probably remember where you were, who you were with, your reaction when you heard the news.

And it is so encouraging to me that with less of a time-span between Jesus' resurrection, which if you think of world-changing events, yes, 9 11, absolutely for our country, but how much more life-changing for the disciples of Jesus to have seen the

risen Lord with their own eyes, and then they spent the rest of their lives telling everybody about it. And so here, as Paul is writing to the Thessalonians, this is still, if you will, breaking news that is occurring.

And I want to give you guys a little bit of background to the book. Paul went to the city of Thessalonica on his second missionary journey.

So Paul was from the land of Israel, and he, on his initial trip with Barnabas, went around the Roman Empire, a little bit of Asia Minor, and I believe dabbling just a little bit in some cities in Greece, but at the very least in Asia Minor, they

went around, they told people about Jesus, they started churches, and then they came on back. Now this is Paul's second missionary journey, and he takes a new person with him, Silas.

You're going to see him referenced in verse number one by his Greek name Sylvanus, and he takes Silas with him. Him and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas had a falling out that we don't have time to get into today.

But suffice it to say, even godly people can sometimes mess up and argue and bicker with one another.

Doesn't mean we should do it, but it should also comfort our hearts to know, hey, even Paul got into spats where he no longer did ministry with certain people.

And so Paul and Silas, they go, they're visiting some of the same areas that Paul did on his first missionary journey. And then he goes over into the area of Macedonia and Greece.

Thessalonica was a port city with a population of about 200,000 people on the Aegean Sea.

And it was a great central hub that once the gospel reached the people in Thessalonica, through the different sailors and merchants and travelers that would come through the port city, the gospel could spread out to all the rest of the Roman Empire.

This was the way that Paul did a lot of his missionary journeys, where he said, okay, I'm going to find like the centralized spot. You can think today of like Los Angeles or New York.

And Paul would go there, start a church, so that as people came into New York or Los Angeles, they would then go back out to their hometown or homeland or as they were getting on the ships, they would tell other people all along the way about Jesus,

the Messiah. I'm going to read for you briefly the account that Luke gives us in Acts of what happened to Paul as he was going to Thessalonica.

It says, after they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a Jewish synagogue. As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the scriptures.

So Paul is here at this place for about a month. He was explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead. He says, this Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.

Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.

This would have been scandalous for some people in the first century that they would say, no, no, no, Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, and so he's only for our people, or he's really particularly for the men.

But what Luke highlights is everyone, no matter your ethnicity, no matter your gender, you are invited to be a part of God's new kingdom with King Jesus at the helm.

Says, but the Jews became jealous and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city.

Attacking Jason's house, that's one of the believers, they searched for them, for Paul and Silas, to bring them out to the public assembly.

When they didn't find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here too.

I love that description of what Jesus did in just these 20 years since his resurrection. People are saying these people have turned the world upside down.

What kind of impact are you making on your family, your friends, or your neighbors through your love and walk with Jesus? Are people experiencing incredible kindness and forgiveness, love, invitation to know Christ and walk with him through you?

Then he says, they say, Jason is welcome to them. They're all acting contrary to Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And amen, there is another king that we serve that is far greater than any earthly government.

And no matter what the kingdoms of man may say, we have one king that we answer to. Says the crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset. After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

As a side note, would you be willing to pay the government because you're a Christian? I want you to think about that. This is what the very first Christians were encountering.

Mobs, riots, government penalties as a result of them just being Christians and spending time with other Christians. What are you willing to go through as a Christian in the wonderful land that we are in today?

Says, as soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea, which is a nearby town.

Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews, which given what just happened in Thessalonica, I don't know that I would be like, yes, that exact same plan is what I'm going to go do again. But that's what Paul did.

Says the people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica. It says since they received the word with eagerness and examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Do you want to be a noble person in the eyes of God?

When you hear God's word, eagerly accept it. What he tells you to believe, believe. What he tells you to do, do it.

How he tells you to act, act. The attitudes he tells you to have, have those. Readily, eagerly receive the word and examine the scriptures to see if these things are so.

Nothing that I ever say is 100% guaranteed to be correct. There is no preacher, podcaster, influencer on earth who is infallible.

So take everything that you ever hear me say, anything you ever hear Pastor Ron say or a Sunday school teacher or someone on the internet, always test it by the word.

If you want to have noble character in God's eyes, receive the word eagerly and search the scriptures daily to see what is true. It says, Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men.

As if it wasn't enough in Thessalonica that you had many God-fearing Greek men that believed and Jewish women that believed, now there's God-fearing Greek women that believed.

And I love God's open arms to all of humanity, as he says, you are now all my people through Christ.

It says, but when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul at Borea, they came there too, agitating and upsetting the crowds.

Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to go to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed on there.

Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.

Having only spent about a month or so with this new church, so he's in Thessalonica for like maybe four weeks, and these people are going from not knowing anything about Jesus to Paul spends like maybe a month with them.

It says three Sabbath days, so maybe from a, you know, that's Thursday night at, I think it's six o'clock is when those days start. So like Thursday night at six, you know, give it 21 to 27 days later.

How much do you think you could learn about Jesus in 27 days? This is what this new baby church was experiencing. So Paul was very scared for their faith, and he sent Timothy to check on them and to disciple them further.

Timothy then brought back news that the church was not just surviving the persecution that they were going through, but they were thriving in it.

And so Paul writes this book, First Thessalonians, to put the finishing touches on the discipleship work that he started. So today, we're going to look at this finishing touch, being thankful for God's work, being thankful for God's work.

Would you pray with me? And then we'll dive into chapter one. Dear Jesus, thank you for today, God.

I pray that you would be with every person that is here. Lord, thank you for your goodness to us, that you never leave us alone. Lord, the fact that you can work miracles.

Lord, thanks for this book and how it talks to our hearts to remind us over and over and over again of what you can do in us. Lord, not what we're capable of doing in and of ourselves, but what you do.

We love you, and we ask all of this in your precious name. Amen. Let's do this.

Let's look first at verse number one. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. Timothy was a man that, a young man, that Paul had likely met on his first missionary journey as he was traveling to the city of Lystra.

On the second missionary journey, as Paul and Silas are going through, apparently they pick up Timothy now for the ministry, and they are discipling him.

And so Paul, Silas, and Timothy says, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here, notice that it's not just a letter written to an individual person, but it's the church. It's the gathered assembly together.

It says, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they also say, grace to you and peace.

Grace is the Greek word, charis, and this would be a pretty common greeting in the Grecian world, that if you have Greeks, you're like, hey, grace to you, you know, charis.

And in the Jewish world, you would have peace, shalom, that would be a common greeting.

And so here, to these two ethnically and formerly religiously different groups of people, Paul unites them together to say, may God's grace be on you, and may his peace be on you.

He says, we always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. Can I ask you today, who are you taking note of in your prayers? Paul is an apostle.

He is a multi-church planter. He is one that penned much of scripture. If he could pray for believers all across the Roman Empire, then certainly we ought to be praying for the people that we worship with each and every Sunday.

13:42

Faith, Love, and Hope

He says, we always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers.

We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I love these three phrases here, work produced by faith, labor motivated by love, and endurance inspired by hope. First, looking at the work of faith.

You will not do the work that God wants you to in your life without belief that God will accomplish it. You cannot do what God wants you to do if you do not believe that God will accomplish it.

If you don't believe that God can fix what's broken in you, that your sins and failures are permanent fixtures, you will not work to conquer those sins through the Spirit.

If you don't believe that God's bride is the church and that she is to receive our devotion as Jesus gives her his devotion, then you will not work to build this church through attendance, encouragement, giving, and serving.

Jesus' work is produced in us by belief in Jesus' power. It's not, okay, well, if I do enough stuff, then Jesus can do great things. No, the work that we have is a faith in Jesus' ability, not in our own.

It's calling on him to be the one working in and through us. It does not come simply by our own effort. It says, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love.

Loveless labor is useless in God's kingdom.

How worthless in the eyes of God is it for a pastor to preach to individuals that he dislikes, a Sunday school teacher to begrudgingly instruct children, a singer to lead people in worship that he is bitter against, or for someone to prepare a

potluck meal for someone they gossip about. You can labor and do the things, but if it's done without love, we have missed the point. How incredible, on the other hand, hard work motivated from love is.

When those serving to prepare meals for those in need pray for and encourage those people, when those that sing to a church know and care about those within the church, when children's teachers pray for the students during the week and put joyful

effort and energy into their time with them, when a pastor genuinely cares for the flock the chief shepherd has given him. Do you have today a labor motivated by love?

That what you do, whether in your life, in the church, is it motivated by love for God and love for one another? Then I also love this endurance inspired by hope.

What could make you continue to be a faithful Christian in the middle of deep grief, constant temptation, heartbreaks, loss, illness, and this heavy world?

The certain hope of your home with Jesus and the fact that he will return to make all things right. I can keep loving and obeying God when I can barely sleep. I can continue to say no to sin because I know that Jesus will reward me.

I can continue being in this church with my broken self and other broken people because I know that Jesus will make us new and restore us. I can keep going because I know where I'm going, who I'm going to, and what I'm going to receive on that day.

Do you have a work of faith, a labor of love, and endurance of hope in the Lord Jesus?

17:28

Chosen by God

Then Paul says this, for we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God, that he has chosen you. One of the wonderful truths in scripture is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the sacrifice for our sins.

If you ever look at your own life or your own failures and sins and go, I don't know how God could forgive me. Am I really one of his children?

But I love what Jesus said, all that the Father has given me will come to me, and those that come to me, I will never in any wise cast out. God has chosen you. So when you go, have I done too much?

Have I lost out? You're not holding on to God, my friend. God is holding on to you.

You are his beloved intentionally. I love that God is the elector. It's not that we elected ourselves.

God is the one that has chosen us. And then I love, as we're going to see in verse number five, that election isn't meant to be this like ethereal, scary thing. It's the obvious conclusion given people walking in the Holy Spirit.

So that's what we're going to see in just one second. I do want to say this though. Your salvation is not an accident to God.

He's never said, oh yeah, I mean, I guess Susan can be saved. I wasn't planning on it, but I guess I can throw her in there as well. God knew from all eternity past.

The Book of Revelation would tell us that those that are saved, their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. And I'm so grateful that God not only loves us, but he has chosen us.

He doesn't just feel kindly for you. He has a purpose for you. This choice, this election is for a purpose that you would do his will, that you would become part of his family.

We are not just incidental to God's plan. We're not just an add-on. Instead, God intentionally loves and cares for us and has given us a mission.

So he says, we know God has chosen you. Okay, well, how do we know who God has chosen? He says, because our gospel did not come to you in word only.

It wasn't just that we preach the gospel message to you. That's not how you figure out who's chosen. Who is chosen?

Those that the gospel comes to empower in the Holy Spirit and with full assurance. He says, you know how we lived among you for your benefit. The evidences of election are God's working in a person to obey and to defeat sin.

When you see someone that doesn't want to be who they are right now, or who they were six months ago, or who they were three years ago, when you see someone that goes, I don't want to be that person anymore. I want to walk with Jesus now.

That's a great indication the Holy Spirit has moved in, that there is power from God that is working in and through them, that they would be made more like Jesus.

The second thing that he says, they're in the Holy Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit leading to recognition of one's sin, God's righteousness, and the coming judgment, and above all, Jesus Christ. How do I know if I am chosen?

Does the Holy Spirit live in you? Does he tell you, shouldn't have done that, shouldn't have said that, you should be following Jesus. You should go and care for that person.

When you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, you can know that God has chosen you. And then the third evidence of election that he gives is with full assurance, that is confident faith in Jesus despite difficulties and temptations.

All throughout this week have navigated through within our church body issues of abuse, broken marriages, cancer diagnoses, family troubles, wayward children, and a thousand other things.

But what I have seen over and over again, is the people of God that say, I know my circumstance says, everything is awful, but I have faith in my God.

There is no more jarring reality, there's no more jarring example of God's work in a person's life than when they choose to have faith despite the circumstances. Then he says, you know how we lived among you for your benefit.

Your life is not ultimately about you. Can everyone say, it's not about me? Your life is not ultimately about how your actions change your life.

Your life is ultimately about God and how you can lead others to know and love and obey God. He says, you know how we lived among you for your benefit.

Then he says, and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord, when in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. Of this phrase, imitators of us.

This is what Jesus has in mind in Matthew 28, when he gives his last call to the disciples, and he says, go therefor and make disciples. Disciples are the people that learn from you what you do and what you believe, and then they do it too.

The Christian life is a life that is intended to be imitatable. That's not a word. I looked it up in the dictionary, but you guys know what I mean when I say it.

Do you have a life that can be or should be imitated? If every Christian attended like you attend, served like you serve, gave like you give, would our church be able to survive? Would there be anyone at church half the month?

Would we have any money to turn on the lights, to give to missions, or to support the church's work? If every Christian loved like you love, who would be left out of the love of the church at Tabernacle?

Who wouldn't receive prayers if everyone was imitating you? Who wouldn't have a friend here if everyone was imitating you?

Now, I say that, that should make all of us, hopefully as Christians go, ooh, Lord, I got some more people I need to be loving, some more people that I need to be caring for. But just recognize, all of us are in that boat.

I promise you, not me, not anyone in this church that I'm like, yes, this person is just perfect. I feel like they do everything perfect. You can imitate them, just like you can imitate Jesus, and everything will be great.

All of us have our flaws and failures. And so, as Paul here says, you yourselves became imitators of us. Don't feel like you have to be perfect before you're an example to someone else.

Part of the way that we can be an example, an imitator, or be imitatable, again, not a word, imitatable to other people, is own your faults, own your failures to be able to say, I was wrong. I said this. I had this attitude.

I said that I would be here at this time, and I was not. Please forgive me. That can be one aspect that we can be imitatable.

Not a word. Then he also says, when in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. When you hear God's word, what is your reaction?

Is it boredom? Is it resentment at God telling you what to do? Or is it happiness that you now know the will of God for your life?

How do you hear God's word in your life? Are you happy to know what God says? Or do you view it as an affront to your individuality?

I'd like to encourage you, like the Thessalonians, receive the Holy Spirit's message when God is talking to you, when he speaks to your heart and he says, you've been doing this thing, and you should not be doing this thing.

Listen to him and be glad, be joyful, that the God that loves you and died for you and shows you, he has not left you alone and he still wants to be active in your life.

And his activity in our lives is not always going to be affirming of our actions. Sometimes it will be saying, don't do that. You should not pursue that.

And we ought to be grateful for those times, as well as the times when the Lord affirms and says, well done, or you did good in witnessing, or you did right in forgiving that person, even though they might not have earned the forgiveness.

Be willing to receive God's message with joy, no matter what format it takes. He says, because you imitated us, he says, as a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

People that have seen a pattern follow a pattern. What kind of pattern are you setting for others in your house, in your friend groups, to your children, to your grandchildren? What kind of pattern are you setting?

Then he says, for the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. What areas of your life and mine do people not know that we follow Jesus?

Do people know in your home that you follow Jesus? Do people know in your neighborhood that you follow Jesus? Your workplace, your friend group, your Tuesday night bowling league.

I say that because we got a couple of people on our Tuesday night bowling league, and I'm cheering you guys on that the Lord will continue to use and bless you guys. Who would hear your name and say, oh, they're a Christian.

They're always talking about Bible or Jesus or church. They're always asking how they can pray for me. Where is the word of the Lord sounding out, ringing out from you to other people?

Here Paul says, it's gone way outside of the city, like that whole geographic area of Macedonia. Oh, and also in this other geographic area of Achaia.

And then he also says, therefore, we don't need to say anything for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you.

Paul's going to places, he's declaring the gospel message, and he's having people say, oh yeah, you guys were in Thessalonica. He's going, what? Yeah, we heard from some travelers.

What a testimony that that would be. If I could walk into your neighborhood and maybe, you know, do some old timey knocking on doors and inviting people to church, and I were to knock on a door and someone goes, oh, yeah, that's Gary's church.

Oh, hey, no, Miss Ina down the street. She goes there. I'm in that bowling league with Martha and Teresa.

And I apologize that my brain blanked when I saw you, Esther. It was the sunglasses. I was like, oh no, I'm gonna get the, what is it?

The one in black, the little... And so like, oh yeah, I know them. I go to that with them.

What kind of testimony do we have for one another? What kind of testimony are we giving? And then he says, how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

If you have really turned to God, you don't stick around with the same things that you used to worshipfully follow. You can have an idol even if you don't have a little gold statue of Buddha or something in your house.

Your idol can be anything that you love and follow and talk about and give to more than your God. Part of your testimony and mine is acknowledging who we used to be.

And not being that person anymore, that we have repented from the way we used to be and are trying to pursue being better. Are we kinder than we used to be? Do we talk differently than we used to?

Are we more trustworthy now than we used to be? There ought to be a change that shows up in our lives. And then he says, And to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Here, within just about 20 years of Jesus' resurrection, the confident expectation of believers in Jesus was that Jesus will return. It might be today. It could be before the sermon ends.

It could be in a thousand years from now. We don't know when Jesus will return, but our confident belief is that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. But I love that it says Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath.

God is coming to judge the earth, but He will rescue His people from that judgment. Can I ask you today, are you one who has been rescued from the coming judgment by putting your faith and your trust in Jesus alone?

If you have never turned your life over to Christ as your Savior and your Lord, I would love to talk with you today about how you can know for sure that you are one of these elect, the chosen, these ones that follow Jesus, that have the Holy Spirit

living inside of them, that have become a part of this wonderful family of God that Jesus created. living inside of them, that have become a part of this wonderful family of God that Jesus created.

31:39

Godʼs Miraculous Work

As we close, we're just going to look at two things. They're basically just sentences there on your handout. But the presence of God's work in the lives of others should move us to prayerful gratitude.

So that whole chapter is Paul going, I am so thankful for you guys because I've seen what God is doing in you. So what should we take from that? We should be grateful and pray for God's work in the lives of others.

First, you can see there that God's work is a miracle. God brings the dead to life in salvation through the Holy Spirit. Someone can't just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and say, okay, now I'm a Christian, and now I'm saved.

Those that have truly turned to Jesus, the Holy Spirit moved in, and he made what was once dead and against God into friends with God. God makes a family out of wildly different people. I want you to look around the room today.

You're gonna see the young and the old. You're gonna see people from different nationalities, different backgrounds, different political affiliations, and all of us have very, very, very few things in common. We speak English.

That's why I'm able to preach in English to you. But apart from that, we don't have a whole lot in common, except we have Jesus, and Jesus is that one that can make all of us into one people together.

I love that God starts, continues, and finishes his work in each person. The same God that had the Thessalonians believe in the word that was preached was the same God that was keeping the Thessalonians walking with Jesus even through persecution.

And it is that same God that wasn't going to abandon them. He was the God that would see it through to the end.

As he told the Philippian Church, being confident to this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. God uses imperfect Christians to share the gospel every day. Praise the Lord.

If it weren't for that, none of us would be able to do anything for God if God only used the perfect. Now, we shouldn't pursue that imperfection. Don't pursue sin.

But what a joy that God isn't waiting for you to get it all together before you can be used by him. Just because I felt the Lord laying it down on my heart.

I know even as I preach and teach and do different things, sometimes I'm not as temperate with my words, and I might make a joke or say something that is offensive. And so I apologize even for a joke that I made earlier in the sermon.

Lord, smoke my heart for that. I love that God changes our hearts from loving the world to loving Him. It's God that turns the Thessalonians from idols to serve the living and true God.

And God will rescue us from the penalty, power, and presence of sin. That's the I was saved when I called on Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I was saved once and for all from the penalty of sin.

Day by day, I am being saved from the power of sin. And then one day, either at my death or when the Lord calls, or when Jesus returns, I was like, when I die or when the Lord calls me home, that should be the same thing.

Either when I die or when Jesus returns, I will be saved once and for all from the presence of sin. So God's work is a miracle. We ought to be thankful for it.

And God's work in others deserves our attention. So these are just the practical ends of all of those things that we just looked at. Who are you sharing the gospel with?

So they will know Christ. Salvation is a miracle. Who are you interested in seeing receive that miracle of salvation?

They will not believe unless they hear the gospel message. And unless they see the gospel message lived out through you and the way that you treat others. Secondly, who are you praying for at Tabernacle?

God makes a family out of wildly different people. Are you caring for that family? Who is not on your prayers yet?

Can I encourage you to pray for one another? God's work is done in each and every person. Who, at Tabernacle, are you encouraging, challenging, and helping in their spiritual growth?

Do you just come to church in order to get, or do you come to church in order to help encourage and build up another person? God uses imperfect Christians to share the gospel every day. So whose gospel prospects are you praying for?

How could you help someone as they are trying to witness to their kid, or their neighbor, or their friend? God changes hearts from loving and following idols to loving him.

Who are you encouraging to turn from their idolatry and then celebrating with as they see God changing them day by day?

And lastly, because God will rescue us from the coming wrath as Jesus returns for us, who do you comfort by reminding them about Jesus' return? Do you remind them of the home that is waiting for them eternally with Jesus?

Do you remind them of the fact that God sees the injustice being done to them, and he will make it right? Will you choose to help people as God is working, and God is working in lives all around this room?

Will you notice and see how God is working in the lives of others? Will you care about it? Will you be involved with it?

Will you be thankful and pray to the Lord for it? Are you thankful for God's work? Not just in you, but are you thankful for God's work in the lives of others?