Turning to God, to Serve and to Wait for The Son

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Turning to God, to Serve and to Wait for The Son

• 1Thessalonians 16-10

Presented by Bob DeWaay October 23, 2005
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Genuine Faith that Endures Persecution Because of
a Work of the Holy Spirit

• 1Thessalonians 16
• You also became imitators of us and of the Lord,
  having received the word in much tribulation with
  the joy of the Holy Spirit,

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Joy in Persecution

• Acts 540, 41
• They took his advice and after calling the
  apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them
  not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then
  released them. So they went on their way from the
  presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had
  been considered worthy to suffer shame for His
  name.

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They are a Model Church

• 1Thessalonians 17
• so that you became an example to all the
  believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

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Macedonia and Achaia
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Macedonia and Achaia
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Their Lives Demonstrated the Power of the Gospel
to Others

• 1Thessalonians 18
• For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from
  you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
  in every place your faith toward God has gone
  forth, so that we have no need to say anything.

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A Description of True Conversion

• 1Thessalonians 19
• For they themselves report about us what kind of
  a reception we had with you, and how you turned
  to God from idols to serve a living and true God
  

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Pagans Misunderstand the Gospel

• Acts 1412, 13
• And they began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul,
  Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The
  priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the
  city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and
  wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.

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Paul Tells Them to Turn from Idols

• Acts 1414, 15
• But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of
  it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the
  crowd, crying out and saying, Men, why are you
  doing these things? We are also men of the same
  nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that
  you should turn from these vain things to a
  living God, who made the heaven and the earth and
  the sea and all that is in them.

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Paul Explains General Revelation

• Acts 1416, 17
• In the generations gone by He permitted all the
  nations to go their own ways and yet He did not
  leave Himself without witness, in that He did
  good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful
  seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and
  gladness.

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Turning, to Serve and to Wait

• 1Thessalonians 19, 10
• For they themselves report about us what kind of
  a reception we had with you, and how you turned
  to God from idols to serve a living and true God,
  and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He
  raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues
  us from the wrath to come.

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True Christians Wait Expectantly for Christs
Return Being Delivered From Gods Wrath

• 1Thessalonians 110
• and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He
  raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues
  us from the wrath to come.

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Applications

• Our lives and words should show others the truth
  of the gospel.
  
• Having repented, we should actively serve God.
• Being saved from Gods wrath, we should long for
  Christs return.

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Our lives and words should show others the truth
of the gospel.

• 2Corinthians 42
• but we have renounced the things hidden because
  of shame, not walking in craftiness or
  adulterating the word of God, but by the
  manifestation of truth commending ourselves to
  every man's conscience in the sight of God.

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Our lives and words should show others the truth
of the gospel.

• 2Corinthians 43, 4
• And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled
  to those who are perishing, in whose case the god
  of this world has blinded the minds of the
  unbelieving so that they might not see the light
  of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the
  image of God.

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Our lives and words should show others the truth
of the gospel.

• 2Corinthians 45, 6
• For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus
  as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for
  Jesus' sake. For God, who said, Light shall
  shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone
  in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge
  of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

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Having repented, we should actively serve God.

• Hebrews 914
• how much more will the blood of Christ, who
  through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
  without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience
  from dead works to serve the living God?

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Being saved from Gods wrath, we should long for
Christs return.

• Romans 59
• Much more then, having now been justified by His
  blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God
  through Him. For if while we were enemies we were
  reconciled to God through the death of His Son,
  much more, having been reconciled, we shall be
  saved by His life.

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