1 Thessalonians (Program #6) – The Church Becoming the Embodiment of the Triune God (1)

The way in which Paul, the apostle opens his letter to the Thessalonians is very interesting, “to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Well, you may wonder what’s so significant about such a greeting. First, notice that Paul didn’t just say that the Thessalonians believers were in God, in a general way or even in God and in Jesus. But he inspired by the Holy Spirit chose these words specifically, in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We considered in recent programs, what it is to be in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus.  Today, we will see more about what it is to be in Christ?

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1 Thessalonians (Program #5) – The Church in the Triune God

In all of his epistles, the apostle Paul under scores that our God is Triune. That is He is God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. And as such He becomes available to us not only as our Father and Savior without but also as the very source of our Christian life within.

Paul concludes 2 Corinthians, a marvelous book with an unmistakable reference to the Trinity, 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”  But in both 1 & 2 Thessalonians he begins the books by drawing our attention not just to God in a general way but to the Triune God as he says, “to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.“

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1 Thessalonians (Program #4) – The Triune God Embodied in the Word to Produce a Holy Life for the Church Life (2)

First Thessalonians, a letter written to a very young Church composed of newly saved believers reveals the Triune God in the first chapter. But this unveiling of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit goes on to reveal not just that God is Triune but that in our dynamic salvation all three of the Godhead are ministered to us becoming the very substance and elements of our faith and the beginning of our Christian life. A life relationship with God Himself.

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1 Thessalonians (Program #3) – The Triune God Embodied in the Word to Produce a Holy Life for the Church Life (1)

The word of God is so marvelous, the more you discover its’ infinite riches and hidden treasures the more you realize that there is far more to see than we can ever possibly exhaust. Its’ structure, its’ order even the subtle ways in which several passages begin are full of meaning and significance.

For example consider a passage that you may have read hundreds of times and never really stop to consider. Paul begins his letter to the Church in Thessalonica not in a general way, but in way that it is unique from the way he open any of his letters to the other Churches.

“Paul and Silvanus,” he writes, I Thessolonians 1:1, “and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.”  Even in a simple greeting we just read we will see there is a lot of meaning here.

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1 Thessalonians (Program #2) – Characteristics of a Holy Life for the Church Life

The more you read the book of 1 Thessalonians, the more you can realize that this letter was written to very new believers. The apostle Paul passing through Macedonia close to one year before spent three weeks preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in, to use his word, power, in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance to the people of this dark and sinful city.

In God’s mercy a good number of these worldly people got saved in a marvelous way. And from that short time of labor the Church in Thessalonica was born. Their testimony became an encouragement to the entire region. And now several months later the apostle writes the first of his two epistles to them with the goal not just of encouraging them but of strengthening them in three important characteristics of the Christian life.

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1 Thessalonians (Program #1) – Introduction to a Holy Life for the Church Life

The apostle Paul’s two letters to the Church in Thessalonica may be considered his earliest writings. They are also significant in that they represent his fellowship to new believers, for the church in Thessalonica was made up almost exclusively of young people whom Paul personally preached the gospel to less than a year before he wrote this letter.

Acts chapter 16 gives us the account of how the Church in Thessalonica came into being.  In chapter 16 of Acts beginning in verse 9.  “And a vision appeared to Paul during the night: A certain man, a Macedonian, was standing and entreating him and saying, come over into Macedonia and help us.  And when he had seen the vision, we immediately endeavored to go forth into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to announce the gospel to them.”

And now jumping to chapter 17, “And they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.  And according to his custom Paul went in to them, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening and setting before them that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying, this is the Christ, the Jesus whom I announce to you. And some of them were persuaded and were joined to Paul and Silas, as well as a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a few.”  So, a Church was born.

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Colossians (Program #23) – Christ-Our Life

We live in an age when Christians and faith in God and belief in His Word are under much outward attack. Things that were once accepted as firmly part of our heritage and foundation as a nation are now ridiculed, publicly criticized. Many believers see this as a time to rise up and be heard, be seen. Many high profile ministries, Christian workers vie for exposure in the media to make a name for themselves to counter this attack of God’s enemy against His people. But, what does the Bible say about our outward visibility? Yes, we are to be lights in the world shining forth with the Word of light, but we need to consider Paul’s word to the Church in Colossians 3. “If therefore you were raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.”

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Psalms (Program #38) – Christ—The Reality of the Law as the Testimony and the Word of God

consider for a moment an interesting observation.  Suppose the ruler of a country were to pass a law legalizing corruption, what will that tell you of the character of that ruler?  It will likely tell you that this person, this one making such law was also corrupt himself.  You see, laws are actually a kind of portrait of the law-giver.  So when we come to the laws of God we shall realize that they are a portrait of the Person that gave them.  In another word, the laws given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai is a portrait of the Person of God, a portrait of Jesus Christ.  So when we come to a passage of Scripture such as the 119th Psalm with its 176 verses many speaking of the law, we should have the impression that what we are seeing is not God’s demands upon you and me but rather we are seeing Christ as God’s expression and also the one to whom we are coming that He may supply us with Himself in order that we as His members could live Him out fully meeting even surpassing God’s every demand.

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Psalms (Program #37) – The Praise of God’s Elect Consummating in the Particular Position of Christ

The four gospels give us a four-fold record of what Christ is and what He has done.  However, the gospel did not reveal Christ as much as the Psalms do.  Psalms 118:22 says “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the head of the corner.”  The head of the corner, that is the corner stone.  Christ as the corner stone is the hardest point to understand in the entire Bible.

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Psalms (Program #36) –  The Highest Revelation of Christ

OK, here is a Bible question for you.   There is one verse in the Old Testament that is quoted directly at least twenty times in the New Testament and is referred to indirectly at least another twenty times.  What Old Testament verse could possibly command this much attention in the New Testament?  Well, here is a clue: it’s a verse from the Psalms.  In fact, it’s from a Psalms that Martin Luther said it’s the highest revelation of Christ in all the Psalms.  Give up?  It is Psalms 110:1  “Jehovah declares to my Lord, Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”  That’s our topic today.

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