Faith Lived Out (1 Thessalonians 1:4-10)

First Thessalonians chapter one, starting in verse 4.

For we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance.

You know how we lived among you for your benefit, 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.

As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaea.

For the word of the Lord rang out from you.

Not only in Macedonia and Achaea, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out.

Therefore, we don't need to say anything, for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you.

How you turn 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, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Would you please pray with me?

Lord, you are awesome.

You're wonderful.

You're all powerful and mighty.

You're filled with graciousness and mercy.

And we thank you so much for all that you are and how you love us.

And Lord, we thank you for your word and that we get to open it up, that we get to hold it in our hands, very unlike this Thessalonian church that didn't have the New Testament.

Lord, I pray that we would realize how special and amazing it is that we get to hold your word and have access to it whenever we want.

We thank you so much for that privilege.

Lord, I pray that as we go through these verses, that you would speak to our hearts, that we would come with openness to whatever you might have for us, and that you would do an amazing work inside of each one of us.

Please don't let us come in here and leave unchanged by you.

So would you do your work through the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray.

Lord, we also want to pray for the sick in our congregation.

There's a lot of them, specifically for Pastor Ben, who's really going through it right now.

Lord, we pray for healing.

We pray for comfort.

We pray for peace.

Um, and we just pray in this time that uh that each person that's sick in our congregation would know your hand.

But Lord, especially for healing, this is turning into pneumonia and bronchitis and so many bad things.

Um, we just pray uh that your your peace and protection would cover all those that are sick right now.

And Lord, we do lift up what's going on in the Middle East right now.

We pray, God, um, for each country that's involved, for safety for the civilians, um, and for your perfect will to be done in everything that's going on over there.

We pray um for all of the world leaders that are involved in this, for our own president.

We pray for wisdom and guidance.

Lord, you can turn the heart of a king like you turn the rivers.

Um, so we have faith in that.

We pray that you uh that your hand would prevail, that there would be um justice in all of this and truth and just all the things that you desire.

We pray for the Christians that are in Israel, the Christians that are in Iran, um, that you would use this time for them to bring forth, as we're gonna read today, to the gospel to ring out, Lord, for everybody to be able to hear and that you would use this for revival in the Middle East.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So last week I challenged you to do something, and I don't want you to raise your hand if you did it or not, because I don't want you to break my heart.

But I asked you to place yourself in the shoes of this uh Thessalonian church that we're looking at, and to read this letter front to back like you've never read it before.

You know, like you're uh you're in this young church that's filled with new believers that probably have so many questions, going through so much persecution, so young in their faith, wondering what happens if I die before Jesus returns?

What happens to the believers that have just died before Jesus has returned?

What happens to them?

They're probably so hungry for this letter once they get it from Paul.

And I challenge you to read it cover to cover, like you can't see what's coming next.

And to just hang on every word like they probably were back then.

Because I think that's really how this letter was read when it was first received.

Just with such hunger, they couldn't wait to see what came next, and they probably read it over and over and over again.

And I mentioned that again this morning because remembering this will really help us to understand not only this passage, but really the rest of this book and the rest of 2 Thessalonians as well.

And today we're gonna see again Paul's fatherly heart, just like we saw last week, which is the heart of God, you know, in wanting to encourage this church along with everything that they're going through.

You know, to let them know that persecution is not only okay, it's actually to be expected when we are following and when we are abiding in Christ.

You know, Jesus said that himself in John 16, 33.

He said, I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.

You will, you will have suffering in this world.

Be courageous, I have conquered the world.

We're gonna be coming back to this verse a lot today.

It's kind of a companion verse almost to this message.

Now, if Jesus suffered persecution to the point of death, and our true desire is to be like him and to follow him and to abide in him, I think we should not only be okay with persecution and hard times, I think we should actually expect to have trouble in this world.

And we'll see through this letter in a few different spots the severe persecution that Paul himself experienced, and some of which this young church experienced when Paul was actually with them.

So let's jump in in verse 4.

It says, For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God.

So let's stop right there.

I want us to notice Paul again using this familial language with this church.

He is, as we established last week, one of their spiritual fathers, so to speak.

But he also sees them as equals in Christ, as brothers and sisters as well.

You know, you get the idea that Paul is writing this book from the perspective of, hey, church, we are in this together.

I know what you're going through.

I've been there.

Don't be discouraged.

You're doing great.

Hey, you guys, keep it up.

And I want us to notice here, just in that first part of verse one, how Paul throws in loved by God.

Those words are so important that he threw in here.

You know, so often we can experience persecution of any sort, or simply even hardship in our daily lives.

And we can start to doubt God's love, can't we?

Man, if he really loved me, would he allow this?

If he really loves me, why doesn't he rescue us?

Why doesn't he heal me?

Why doesn't he change my circumstance?

Because what I'm going through is really, really hard.

Doesn't he see what I'm going through?

You know, it's possible, you know, Paul had sent Timothy to this church.

Timothy comes back, reports to Paul, and then Paul's writing this letter.

It is possible that Timothy brought back a report that some in this church were having those thoughts and were asking these very questions here.

So I think that's why Paul throws in here, loved by God, because it doesn't need to be there grammatically.

It could just say, for we know, brothers and sisters, that he has chosen you.

But he says, for we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God that he has chosen you.

You see, bad circumstances and persecution do not mean that God's posture towards us or his attitude towards us has changed one bit.

The truth is we live in a fallen world where there's a time change, as Amy said.

Where the consequences of our sins and the consequences of others' sins against us, we have to live with those things.

We're living under the consequence of the curse that sin brought on way back in the garden.

And those things are a reality.

The sin and the curse and this world that we're dealing with.

Jesus said, You will have suffering in this world.

Be courageous.

I have conquered the world.

The peace in the midst of all of this is Jesus.

That he's walking us through the trials, that he has a future for us in heaven for all eternity with him.

Which Paul will remind them of in verse 10, but we'll get there.

But look at verse 4 again in its entirety.

It says, For we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God, that he has chosen you.

Your translation may say, elected you right here.

I think the idea Paul's trying to transfer to this church right now is he first loved us before the foundations of the earth.

He desired you and he has chosen you, and he has said, follow me.

You know, if you're a believer, you said yes to that, and you've been following him ever since.

And he has not left you or forsaken you, and he will not leave you or forsake you.

His love for you is as much and is as real as it was from day one.

You are loved by God since before time began, and that has not changed.

I think Paul wanted this church to know that, and I think he wants this church right here to know that as well.

And I'm gonna go a bit on a rabbit trail here because I think it's important, it's a topic of conversation that comes up quite a bit.

But some people get thrown off here where it says he has chosen or elected you.

Because if God chose us before he created the foundations of the earth, did he force us into this relationship?

It's a question that comes up a lot.

If you take that one step further, does that mean that he creates some people just so that they can be tormented in hell for all of eternity?

And those are valid questions to have.

And I'm not gonna stand here and pretend like I understand exactly how this works.

Honestly, I don't think anyone on the face of the planet, past or present, fully has ever understood exactly how this works.

That's because I think scripture teaches both that God has chosen and elected us, and at the same time has given us the opportunity to respond to the invitation and to follow him and desires that none should perish.

No, not one.

And I don't want to get too deep into this rabbit trail here this morning, but I do want to address it.

If you want to see a little bit further into what our church specifically believes about that, you can go listen to our first uh sermon that we did in Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

And that is kind of more of a deep dive of what we believe.

But surface level here, I just want to address this real quick.

You know, we have verses like Ephesians 1, chap uh uh verses four through five.

It says, For he chose us in him before the foundations of the world to be holy and blameless in love before him.

He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

And we also have verses like 2 Peter 3:9 that say, The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

So the question becomes how can we look at these two verses and both of them be true at the same time?

He chose us to be holy, he doesn't want any to perish.

How exactly does that work?

I honestly believe, and this is my opinion, is I don't think that our finite fallen minds can ever grasp this.

And that's why I don't think any human has ever or can fully grasp this concept, but I fully trust that God can.

You know, there's two extremes on this subject that I want to talk about.

So there's the chosen extreme.

You know, we don't have a choice, we are predestined, and yes, God has made some human beings to spend uh an eternity in hell.

So let's go to that next slide.

So we're gonna represent that by the square.

This is predestination.

And then the other side is free will.

You know, it's completely up to me to follow Jesus, and I could lose my salvation in the next few minutes if I'm not careful, and that's represented by the triangle.

So these are the absolute two extremes, and there's a lot of stuff in uh the middle.

But God says, you guys, I think, in your finite brains, you are looking at this two-dimensionally.

You know, I believe God sees it and says, you need to tip your view on its axis a little bit a little bit to see it how I see it.

And you'll see how these things can exist at once.

Because if you're online at all, you're seeing that these two sides are fighting all the time.

No, these verses, no, these verses, and if it's a square, then it can't be a triangle, and if it's a triangle, then it can't be a square.

But I think that whole time, God's just saying you need to tip it on the axis, and you can see how a square a square and a triangle can exist at the same time.

But I think in our finite minds, we're sitting here and we're thinking, like, no, it has to be a square or a triangle, because we can only see it right now in two dimensions.

But I really think God's sitting there is like, you can't see it from my perspective right now.

Like, you have to be able to see it in 3D, but right now you can only see it in two dimensions.

And I think that's where we run into this problem.

I really believe that, and I'm okay with believing that he has done this perfectly, he's done this lovingly, he's done this justly, but we have to have faith in that, that these two things can exist at the same time, even though we can't kind of grasp it in our human minds.

I love to think about when we're looking at this, um, when Jesus called Simon, you know, who then became Peter and his brother Andrew.

Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee.

He saw these two brothers, they're out in a boat, they're fishing, they're casting their net out into the sea, for they were fishermen at the time, and Jesus said, Follow me.

And he told them, and I will make you fish for people.

And it says, Immediately they left their nets and they followed him.

And I don't think all of a sudden they turned into zombies, you know, and they're like, Okay, we need to follow this guy.

We don't have a choice.

Jesus chose them to follow him, he called them to be his disciples, and then they chose to leave everything behind and they chose to follow him.

Conversely, there was a rich young ruler that came to Jesus asking, What must I do to inherit eternal life?

And it's established that he's done all these good works.

So Jesus says, Sell all your stuff.

And then Jesus invited him to follow after him.

And the rich young ruler turned away and he chose not to follow Jesus because he didn't want to give up the things of the world.

But he was invited, and he chose not to follow Jesus.

You know, and I admit that was a bit of a rabbit trail from I think the intent of why Paul's writing this, but it comes up so much, and there's so much argument between these two things right now, and I just wanted to address that real quick.

But Paul wanted this Thessalonian church to take comfort in the fact, I think this is what the context gives us, in the fact that they were loved by God and chosen, and nothing has changed about that.

He desired us before time began.

In 1 John 4.19, we love because he first loved us.

And God wants us to take comfort in that and to know, regardless of circumstance, that his love is unchanging.

We were loved by him before we physically existed and before we should have even been desirable.

You know, when we were still in the muck and the mire of sin, he loved and desired us first.

And I really don't think Paul here is writing this to teach him about predestination, as I was just talking about.

I think context tells us he was simply trying to comfort them, he was trying to reassure them in God's love.

Now look at verse 5 with me.

Because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance.

Again, some people get thrown off in the New Testament when Paul says my gospel or our gospel, like we're seeing here.

Like, is it different than Peter's?

If it is it different than Barnabas or John or whoever it might be.

But we just need to remember that gospel simply means good news.

It means good tidings or a reward for good tidings.

And in this context, we're talking about the good news of Jesus Christ, obviously.

You know, we can read it like this, I think.

Our good news of Jesus Christ did not come to you in word only, but also in power in the Holy Spirit.

I think when we think about it that way, it doesn't make it think like, is it different than somebody else's?

She's talking about the good news of Jesus Christ.

You know, the gospel we learn in Scripture in Romans 1.16 is the power of God for salvation.

And it was delivered by Paul, notice, in word and in deed, in the Holy Spirit.

With full assurance, it says here.

It wasn't Paul's power.

We know that Paul wasn't the greatest orator, right?

He wasn't the Billy Graham of the day or the gray glory of the day that could captivate stadiums by himself, by his speaking ability.

It was the power of God shown in him through the Holy Spirit, both in word and in deed.

And Paul knew it wasn't his own giftings.

Paul knew that it was the power of God that was letting the gospel go out and that this great response was coming.

And this church, they didn't doubt the good news then.

And I think this is Paul just saying, hey, don't doubt it now.

You didn't doubt it back then, don't doubt it now.

Regardless of circumstance, do not doubt it.

And I think we here today need to take that to heart as well.

Especially if you're going through something really hard right now.

If you're suffering some form of pain or loss or persecution because of your faith, God loved you first.

Remember that.

He has chosen you, and that hasn't changed and it never will.

Remember, the full conviction of the gospel that came to you through the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's what he's telling them.

Know that God will never forsake you or abandon you, no matter how hard things get.

And I think we need that word here today just as much as they did.

Though things look very different than from that first church.

We are still caught in this brutal world's kingdom as we wait for the next, are we?

Now, in the second half of verse 5, Paul's gonna start to use his and uh Titus's experience to show his conviction of the truth of the gospel.

And as I was reading through this, I was thinking, okay, why is he doing this?

And I think part of it is because liars don't survive persecution.

Follow me on this.

You know, this is one of the reasons that uh ten of the eleven remaining apostles, other than Judas, of course, ended up dying.

Dying for their faith.

And that is used to prove the truth of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.

You know, if it was a grand scheme, you know, that these disciples had come up with, like, hey, let's tell the world that this happened, they wouldn't have survived the first day of persecution, much less the threat of a brutal death.

They wouldn't do that for a lie.

They're like, you know what?

No, no, no.

I don't want to be crucified.

This was all a lie.

No, but ten of the eleven died an excruciating death for the sake of Jesus Christ.

They had full belief and assurance and conviction.

And they also had a hope of what was ahead in eternity that led to their endurance until the very end when they actually died and got to be with Jesus Christ.

And I think that's why Paul's throwing this in here right now.

So look at the second half of verse 5.

It says, You know how we lived among you for your benefit.

Hey, you guys, look at our example.

When we were among you, we didn't live for ourselves.

We didn't come to you to try and gain money or to try and get free stuff or special treatment or notoriety or any of those things.

And they didn't doubt God's love because of the persecution that they suffered when they were in Thessalonica.

You know, Paul's telling them we were willing to die for the message of the gospel when we were among you, when we were with you.

And you, look at verse 6, 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.

Paul and Silas exemplified Christ's words that in this world you will have tribulation.

Paul wants to spread, I think, the confidence that they had, wants to spread that confidence into this church.

Now, let's be honest with ourselves.

Wouldn't it be nice if we came to belief and relationship in Christ and all of our problems were gone?

Wouldn't that be nice?

But our desire for that is actually a desire for Jesus' return.

It's a desire for what awaits in eternity for us as Christ's followers.

That's the reward that awaits us.

But sometimes we act like this is how it should be now, don't we?

If we're being honest with ourselves.

And yet we wonder why our lives aren't all sunshine and roses.

We are living in enemy territory under a curse of struggle and death, and Satan hates us.

How could a loving God allow bad things to happen to good people?

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they took the keys of the kingdom of this world and they handed them to Satan, and it's been his ever since.

We've done all of this to ourselves because of our sin.

All of these hardships that we're going through and the trouble that Jesus talked about are a result of our sin and we're paying the consequences as long as we're here on earth.

But what did Jesus say?

I have overcome the world.

And he, you know, being in us, he's gonna walk us through it until we fully realize this desire that we have to no longer experience the pain and the struggle.

And we're gonna get to more of that on ver uh in verse 10.

But don't miss what it says here in verse 6.

In spite of severe persecution, you welcome the message with joy from the Holy Spirit.

This wasn't conjured up or stoic joy, so to speak.

This was the joy of the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 5, verse 41, this is when Peter and the other apostles were flogged for preaching the gospel.

Acts 5:41

It says, Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy, to be treated shamefully, excuse me, on behalf of the name, that name being Christ, obviously.

Getting beat up doesn't usually cause joy in somebody's life, does it?

No.

It has to be through the Holy Spirit that we would be able to experience hardship for the name of Christ and truly rejoice that we get to suffer for Christ's sake.

Now look at verse 7.

As a result, so that's the result of them accepting the gospel in the midst of persecution.

As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

See the pattern?

Paul and Silas were an example of Jesus, and the Thessalonians became an example of Paul and Jesus to the other Christians in the region.

That's how discipleship should work, right there.

If you're younger in your faith, hang out with more mature followers of Christ and then imitate them as they imitate Christ, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11.

That's why fellowship is so important.

That's why home groups and Bible studies and all those things are so important so we can sharpen each other so that the younger generation can learn from the older generation.

That's just part of what discipleship means and why we should be hanging out with one another.

Now he goes on in verse 8.

For the word of the Lord rang out.

Your translation may say, sounded forth or resounded from you.

Not only in Macedonia and Achaea, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out.

If you're a highlighter or underliner, do that to ring out right there.

By definition, this is just something that resounds.

This isn't a quiet, hey, you know, did you hear about what's going on in Thessalonica with the Christians?

This is was something that could not be ignored by everybody that was hearing it, that it was ringing out to.

How many of you felt or heard the thunderstorm that came through a couple weeks ago?

It was pretty hard to ignore, wasn't it?

If you're anywhere between Paso and here, I think you could hear it ringing out and resounding.

It was rattling our windows at home, and we weren't even that close to the storm.

Something I don't think a single resident in our neighboring cities could ignore.

This is what the church's faith was doing in Thessalonica to all the believers in this region and beyond.

It was ringing out to them.

You know, have you heard?

I think Paul's, you know, thinking of it in the in the sense of, well, you know what, I'm not gonna go there right now.

But this is I think in the region people were were just talking about this.

It was it was buzzing about the faith that this young church had in Thessalonica.

And I think it was encouraging them.

You know, if this young church suffering so much persecution can go through this, we can do it too.

And this is a big region that we're talking about, that their faith was ringing out to.

I want to pull up the map one more time.

Because we're looking at Thessalonica right here.

This is the region of Macedonia, it goes up, whoops, a little bit farther.

This is Achaea.

So throughout this whole region and even beyond, Paul says, this whole region right here, this church right here, their faith is going out.

Remember how we talked about Paul liked to plant churches in port cities or where there was big roads going through so the faith could go out?

Thessalonica had both.

They were a port city and they had a major thoroughfare that was going through there as well.

And we see that this actually makes sense what we're reading about and the geography here, because we see in scripture, we also see throughout history, that when the church is persecuted, it so oftentimes leads to the gospel going out, the gospel populating within regions, even, you know, two of the fastest growing churches in the world right now are China and Iran.

Think about that.

Also, two of the most persecuted regions in the world for Christianity right now.

And then there's the church in America, one of the least persecuted churches in the world, and it's been on in decline for a while now.

Persecution is what is helping the gospel ring out from this Thessalonian church.

Think about that.

We're so averse to persecution, aren't we?

I know I am.

I don't like it, I don't want it, but look what it does.

God works it together for good.

Look at the second part of verse 8.

Therefore, we don't need to say anything.

Why?

Because it's already ringing out.

Verse 9.

For they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you.

How you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

Before Paul can even tell people about this church, they already know about them.

They already know about their faith.

It was an example of how radically God changed these people.

How radically the gospel changed this church.

You know, you've probably heard the saying before: preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.

Have you heard that before?

I get the sentiment behind that, but I only half agree with that statement.

There is power in the gospel being preached.

The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword.

It is powerful.

And there's also power in the gospel being lived out.

Paul already said that he and Silas shared the gospel in word and in deed.

And now we are seeing this church imitate them as they imitated Jesus.

The word of God rang out, and their example preceded them.

Anywhere Paul was going in that region, their example had gone ahead of Paul.

You know, as I've been going through this this week, I've been praying, Lord, please make that true of me.

But Lord, please make that true of our church, of Abide.

That we are sharing the gospel in word and in deed to everybody that we come in contact with.

Let your word ring out and your example precede us.

Will you please pray that with me?

And as promised, at the end of this chapter, Paul is going to encourage them with the hope of Christ's return, the hope of eternity with them.

So in verse 9, he says that they turned to God from idols to serve their living and true God.

And then in verse 10 it says, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

In turning from their idols, you know, where they were hoping that they did enough for their God to appease their gods, to not make their gods angry.

That was kind of what was going on with idolatry at this time.

They went from that and then they turned to an assurance of salvation, an assurance of God's love for them, and a hope in their anticipation of getting to be with him forever.

Jesus said to his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them.

John 14, 1 through 4 says, this is Jesus speaking to his disciples.

He says, Don't let your heart be troubled.

Believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you.

Would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you?

If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.

You know the way to where I am going.

Jesus desires for us to be in this eager anticipation of his return, like this early church.

We're betrothed to Jesus right now, as we're still on this earth, similar to what we would call an engagement today.

But we're living in a foreign kingdom, waiting for our bridegroom to come and get us for that wedding.

So that we can spend eternity with somebody that loves us perfectly.

Where the toil and the struggle and the labor of this curse is gone.

And where it's pure enjoyment and awe all day long with no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering.

Now, if I were to tell you that Jesus is coming back for his bride next Sunday, first you should leave this church immediately because nobody knows the day or the hour.

And that would make me a false prophet.

But if for some reason we could know that, how would you live out this week?

You know, I bet a few things would happen.

I bet our disgust for sin would probably increase, wouldn't it?

I bet the distractions of this world would be a lot less tempting to get caught up in.

I bet we would live out the gospel a lot better, wouldn't we?

And I bet we would probably preach the gospel much more than we would have otherwise.

But that's how this church is living.

They're living like Jesus is coming back at any moment.

And I tell you what, Jesus could come back at any moment.

I fully believe that with all my heart.

But this conviction wasn't out of fear.

You know, we better shape up and get super legalistic about what we're doing because Jesus is coming.

I really believe from what we see in this church and in this letter that they were waiting in eager anticipation.

They just couldn't wait to be with Jesus forever.

And they wanted so badly for everybody they came in contact with to join them.

To be caught up with them, with Christ for all eternity with him.

I don't think this was a legalistic spirit of, you know, Jesus is coming, you better get your heart right.

I was like, you guys, Jesus is coming.

He's amazing, you should come with us.

It was very different attitude.

You know, right after Jesus told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them, Thomas asked, of course it was Thomas, how do we know the way where you're going?

And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

And that's the heart of the gospel right there.

Jesus died and he spilled his blood for our sins.

He is the way.

He is the only one true God.

He is truth.

And he resurrected to life so we could have the opportunity to share in his death and resurrection as if it was our own.

He is life.

And he's offering that to every single person that's here today.

You know, there's two verses I've told you this before that I love to share that I think just encapsulate the gospel so well.

I'm going to tell you, if you are not a believer, a follower of Christ here today, these verses for you.

And if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, these verses are for you too.

But if you don't know how to allow the gospel to ring out verbally, just by memorizing John 3.16 and Romans 10.9, it's just a very good way to allow the gospel to go out and the power of the gospel that we have no control of to work in that person's life.

John 3.16, for God loved the world in this way.

He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Most of you probably have that memorized in some translation already.

And then Romans 10 9.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Just throw that out at people and let the power of the gospel smack them in the face.

It's the power of God, it's not our slick presentation, it's just the gospel going out.

You have simple instructions that any of us can do right here.

And you can do right now if you have not claimed those as your own, if you have not given yourself to Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life and the savior of your soul.

But the thing is, Jesus desires every single person in this room.

Whether you're saved by grace or whether you are not.

And he's gonna never leave you or forsake you if you follow after him.

That's his promise to us.

So I just want to encourage you to accept that now and to also speak that forth and to also go and live that out for the world to see.

Will you please pray with me?

God, it's incredible to me how much you love us.

Before we did anything that we think made us feel desirable, you already loved us.

And then now we realize that there's nothing we could do to make ourselves more desirable to you.

Lord, I thank you that your love is unconditional, that you desired us and that you loved us before we even physically existed.

And we thank you that you have called us, you have chosen us, and you've given us the opportunity to follow after you.

That Jesus came, he died on the cross, he spilled his blood, he was buried, he was raised on the third day, and that he has offered those things to us as if they were our own.

So that we could be pure and holy and have a brand new life in you.

Born again.

Lord, we thank you so much for that gift that you have held out to us that each one of us can accept.

And we thank you so much that you've made this way so easy for us.

It was so difficult and hard for you, but you've made it so easy for us.

So I pray that we would take advantage of that and that we would desire to spread this love to everybody that we come in contact with.

To live it out and to speak it forth and allow our lives to ring out into this community, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.