Thanksgiving, Assurance, and Affliction (1 Thess. 1) (9/13/26)

Our sermon this morning is Thanksgiving Assurance

and Affliction. And I subtitled it yesterday,

Life Drenched in Eucharist. Bear with me. Let

us now pray this morning as we consider these

things. Glorious God and Heavenly Father, we

praise you for your goodness. We thank you that

you have called us to be your children. We pray

that you would help us understand more and more

as we go on in our Christian life what it means

to be your children, not just for eternity, but

for here and now. We thank you that you have

given us your word, that you have not left us

to wander or speculate through human wisdom about

what you would have us to do. We petition you

that you would let the words of my mouth and

the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable

in your sight, O Lord, our strength and nearest

kinsman, Redeemer. Jesus Christ. Amen. So our

text this morning is 1 Thessalonians chapter

1 Thessalonians 1 · chapter mention

1 beginning in verse 1. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy

to the Church of the Thessalonians in God the

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you

and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus

Christ. We give thanks to God always for you

all. making mention of you in our prayers, remembering

without ceasing your work of faith, labor of

love, and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus

Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing,

beloved brethren, your election by God. For our

gospel did not come to you in word only, but

also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in

much assurance, as you know what kind of men

were among you. for your sake, and you became

followers of us in the Lord, having received

the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy

Spirit, so that you became examples to all in

Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you

the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only

in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place.

Your faith towards God has gone out, so that

we do not need to say anything. for they themselves

declare concerning what manner of entry we had

to you, and how you turned 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, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath

to come. These are the words of Almighty God.

Receive them in your hearts. So there's three

things, three pieces of information I want you

to take through as we consider this passage.

First, the Eucharist of work, labor, and steadfastness.

The Eucharist of work, labor, and steadfastness.

Second, you are the chosen of the covenant God.

You are the chosen of the covenant God. And finally,

Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. Jesus

delivers us from the wrath to come. We are beginning

a new series for this fall from the First Epistle

to the Thessalonians. As you know, the word epistle

means letter, but it's more than just a common

letter. It is a formal, purposeful message solemnly

sent with authority and instruction. Thessalonica

is located in what we call modern -day Greece.

In the New Testament, it was known as Macedonia.

This city was a prosperous port town, founding

around the time of Alexander the Great. The port

became even more important during the early Rome...

Roman Empire because it not only had the port

but it became a crossroads, an intersection with

one part of the road going to the west towards

Rome and the other part going north up to the

Danube River. And so they were set up to have

a lot of trade. Now this later on during the

Roman Empire it became the capital of the Macedonian

province. At the time of Paul's visit, it was

a large city around 200 ,000 souls. And Paul

is writing this letter during his second missionary

journey after a very brief and turbulent stop

in Thessalonica. Paul begins, of course, here

with the greeting that includes his fellow missionaries,

Silvanus and Timothy. By the way, just for you

out there, Sylvanus is Silas, but it's just the

Greek version of it. So Paul greets the church

of these Thessalonians in this way, in God the

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and then gives

them the blessing of grace to you and peace from

our God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

They are in these folks in this church. And of

course this has relevancy for us as well. They

are in God the Father and the Lord, right, so

that they may receive the undeserved favor and

peace of God. You see, you can't receive the

undeserved favor, that's grace, and the peace

of God if you are not in the Lord Jesus Christ,

if you are not trusting and living for God. And

he says all of this is because Jesus Christ is

now and forever his peace rests upon them. They're

in him, they're in Christ Jesus, and they are

also receiving the peace of Christ. Now Paul

here representing Timothy and Silas and himself

proclaims to the church that they are to give

thanks to God and he says this to all of the

saints. Right and he says this he says That he

mentions them in his prayers and he remembers

without ceasing Now this is important this word

remembering That we see here is tied to remembering

what the giving of thanks for them this giving

of thanks is The Greek phrase and it's a plural

for all y 'all Okay, and it is the word Eucharisto,

Eucharisto, which is the historic church word,

Eucharist, that the historic church has given

for the Lord's Supper. You see, when we come

to the Lord's table, we are there to give thanks

to God and remind him in a memorial fashion.

of his promises to us through Christ Jesus. Not

that God needs to be reminded. We're really the

ones that need to be reminded. But God asks us

to do these memorials to give the thanks for

the work of his son. And he remembers his covenant

promises to his people. And so he is telling

them that when he prays for them, he is giving

thanks in a memorialized way. for them. That's

fascinating, isn't it? It's not usually how we

approach how we think about the other Christians

in our life. And here we need to remember that

our communion is oriented from the standpoint

of a meal of thanksgiving and the death and resurrection

and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's

a thanksgiving memorial for the work Christ.

And Paul tells these Thessalonians that this

giving of thanks flows from him remembering without

ceasing their work of faith, their labor of love,

and the patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ

in the sight of God our Father. Paul with thanksgiving

memorializes their undertaking of deeds of faith.

Their labors are love and I want to Explain that

a little bit. These labors of love is better

understood. When you look at this word labors,

this phrase is better understood as works of

love in troubles and toils. So you think about

that. What he is memorializing is their deeds

of faith. And then their love that is done, which

is acted upon in toils and troubles. Right? It's

not all the happy, oh, everything's good. Everything's

working out. And finally, patience of hope in

the Lord Jesus Christ. I also want to clarify

this a little bit. Here, patience is not contently

waiting. But actually, if we look at this word

carefully, it is steadfastness in the hope of

the Lord Jesus Christ. We've spoken about standing

in your post and being steadfast all summer long.

And here it is again, right here in this text.

So we are to stand steadfast in our hope of the

Lord Jesus Christ, which means being faithful

in those deeds of faith. And those labors of

love, even though it might be in toils and troubles,

we can stand steadfast in what God has called

us to do. So Paul is memorializing works of faith,

labors of love and toils and trouble, and their

steadfast hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And

Paul reminds them that all this occurs in the

sight of our God and Father. Think about that.

Whatever toils and troubles that we have is in

the sight of our God. He sees it. He knows it.

As a matter of fact, dearly beloved, he is orchestrating

it. Now note here that Paul includes himself

when he declares, their identity. So he's talking

about all this, and he's given them some clarity

at the beginning. But in case they weren't sure,

in case they didn't know that they were Christian,

in case they didn't remember that they were baptized

unto the covenant God, the triune God, he says,

beloved brethren, you know your election. Your

gods you belong to him You know our in our parlance

today Paul is grabbing them by their baptism

and he's holding them Hey, I know there's some

toils and troubles and some things you're doing

here, but I'm giving thanks to God I'm memorializing

what God has done in your life Don't forget God

has chosen you And so Paul reminds them that

all in all their challenges and all their opposition

All that they are doing flows from the work and

labors and steadfastness in Christ Because they

couldn't do any of this without their election

God sovereign work in our lives Paul continues

in verse 5 and says for our gospel did not come

to you and word only but also in power and in

the Holy Spirit and in much assurance as You

know what kind of men we were among you for your

sake and you became followers of us and of the

Lord Having received the word in much affliction

with joy in the Holy Spirit So that you became

examples to all the Macedonian Achaia who believe

Now notice how Paul spoke of the gospel coming

to them not just in the word But in the power

of the Holy Spirit not just in those things,

but that the word and spirit brought them assurance

To all in the church and Paul reminds them that

they became followers of them and they followed

the Lord Receiving the word and much affliction

So they were given much assurance and much affliction.

And in all of that, they were given joy by the

Holy Spirit. Now here's the thing. When we truly

recognize our status before the Lord, we are

glad to receive God's assurance. How many of

us are at peace and have joy in our affliction?

We have a hard time with that. We struggle in

our afflictions sometimes. You see, as you're

sitting here, you might be saying to yourself,

well, that's nice, but did they really have it

that bad? I know it says much assurance, much

affliction, and receiving it in joy. Yeah, but

their life wasn't so tough. What's going on that

Paul would want to Eucharist this or memorialize

this and giving thanks? now Fortunately for us

we do actually have some context See this was

written just a little while after Paul had been

there and we see this recorded in Acts 17 So

let's see what we see here So says this in Acts

17 beginning verse 1 now when they that's Paul

Silas and Timothy have passed through Amaphilus

and Apollyona, they came to Thessalonica, where

there was a synagogue of Jews. Then Paul, as

his custom was, went to them, went in to them,

and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from

the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating

that the Christ had to suffer and rise again

from the dead, saying, This Jesus whom I preach

to you is the Christ. And some of them, that's

the Jews, were persuaded. And a great multitude

of devout Greeks, that's God -fearing Greeks,

and not a few leading women, joined Paul and

Silas. But it goes on, because that's the good

news. And we're all like, yeah, you know, Christ

being proclaimed, people are turning, this is

outstanding. But verse five tells us, but the

Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious.

Okay, now this word envious here isn't just like

what we would call common envy. We look at the

Greek, we see that it says to boil with envy,

hatred, and anger. This is the same as the high

priest inscribes towards Jesus. And it says that

these Jews who were not persuaded becoming envious

took some of the evil men from the marketplace

and gathering a mob. and set all the city in

an uproar and attacked the house of Jason. We're

going to pick that up in a minute. But it's very

interesting to note here. Do you notice? Every

city in the world, as one commentator says, has

its own city rent -a -mob. Every city has its

own rent -a -mob. This was happening in Thessalonica.

Obviously, it happened in Jerusalem the week

of Christ's death. Right? We saw this same thing

over and over again throughout history, the French

Revolution being won. We see this again and again,

and huh, interesting for us, we see this same

sort of thing today. So don't be discouraged,

this is one of Satan's normal ploys. However,

it is distressing, it is toil, and it is trouble

as we work in these things. So they set the whole

city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason,

one of the believers, and sought to bring them

out to the people. They were looking for Paul

and Silas, but when they didn't find them, they

dragged Jason and some of the brethren to the

rulers of the city. And listen to this, crying

out, these who have turned the world upside down

have come here too. Now notice that what the

mob is doing is accusing them of exactly what

they're doing. Does that look familiar? Nothing

new under the sun. And they said this, Jason,

this guy, he's harbored them. And these are all,

all those folks, are contrary to the decrees

of Caesar. And they're saying there's another

king, Jesus. And they troubled the crowd. So

the rena crowd, that mob, they were troubling

the people. So that meant other people were like,

what is this? Maybe they have a point. And remember,

Rome was no kind of joke. They didn't put up

with mobs at all. If they had mobs coming together,

I mean, this is why the rulers are disturbed.

The rulers are disturbed because if you were

a Roman ruler, if you allowed a riot and a mob

to come, guess what would happen? The legions

would march in. They'd put down that mob. They

execute you because you can't do your job It's

this fear of I'm gonna lose my power and influence

So I got to listen to the mob and I got to let

these guys trouble that you don't see him standing

up and saying Wait, what are the facts here?

Not at all Not at all So all this is going on

And so check this out. Look what the leaders

did. They said, so when they had taken security

from Jason, that's money. And the rest of them,

they let them go. And then the brethren immediately

sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. So

being unjustly accused and having to pay much,

Jason and the brethren were released. But they're

not just released like everything is hunky dory.

Everything's OK. No. They are released into a

hostile world and they had to send their teacher

away and So we find the book of first Thessalonians

written from this context Paul was only with

them three weeks Have you ever felt like you

needed more discipleship in your life, and I'm

glad to be around to try to help you with that

But Paul was only there three weeks And the angry

mob spurred on by Satan coming against Christ

and his church, right, creates such a disturbance

in their brand new faith. They were at a hostile

moment in their new faith with God haters stirring

up mobs who were actually causing them harm.

It was costing them their safety and money. And

you see if these Thessalonians in this church

kept their eyes on the chaos around them, their

world would look unstable and uncertain at the

very beginning of their Christian faith in Christ

Jesus. Now we do know that Timothy from time

to time moved back and forth between wherever

Paul was, predominantly in Corinth. Back to Thessalonica,

and he would bring back reports. And so it's

in that context that Paul writes to them, assuring

them of their identity as covenant members in

Christ. I've said this many times this summer.

Your identity matters. You are a man or a woman

in Christ Jesus. That's what you are, every one

of you in here. That's your identity. Paul is

telling them that the sovereign God assures them

greatly in much affliction So we need to understand

What Paul is doing here So with this context

of act 17 Paul brings clarity about what it means

to be giving thanks memorializing This church

is undertaking of their deeds of faith, memorializing

their labors of love and troubles and toils,

and memorializing their steadfastness in the

hope of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, in turn,

took them with their little faith, their brand

new setting. Now, they weren't completely ignorant.

They knew the Old Testament for Paul was teaching

in the synagogue. And outside the synagogue,

they could hear out there were the God -fearers.

We see all these people. But in their faithfulness

and that great and difficult time, we see that

God in turn used them to His glory and the benefit

of the world. And all of this with joy in the

Holy Spirit. Why? So that they could become examples

to all the Macedonian Achaia who believe. And

he goes on and says, from you the word of the

Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia

and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith

toward God has gone out, so that we do not need

to say anything. Paul tells them that those who

hear and see their works of faith, their labors

of love, and their steadfast hope in the Lord

Jesus, themselves declare the works of God, declare

Jesus as Lord. Now, as we sit here and I tell

this story, we think, yeah, man, that's probably

something we should memorialize, right? But Paul

is talking to all the church. He doesn't know

it at the time, but by the inspiration of the

Holy Spirit, Paul is speaking to the churches.

Throughout church history speaking to every one

of us in our families and in our situations in

the United States in the year 2026 with all its

goodness and blessings because there's a lot

of them and all the toils and troubles They are

they have been delivered from idols Right? Delivered

from idols. God has delivered you from all kinds

of idols. You used to trust in all kinds of other

things. For some of you, it was your own good

works. For some of you, it was money. For some

of you, it was just yourself. You were so prideful

and arrogant. It's just me. And yes, even some

in the church. Yes, even all of us. have been

delivered from the idols in our life, that we

may serve the true and living God. And just like

them, we are to wait for his Son of heaven, whom

God raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers

us from the wrath to come." There's real wrath

coming. There's real judgment of God coming.

This goes back to what Peter says. People were

saying, oh, you know, God's not really coming.

Right because we've been hearing that since the

days of old Jesus is coming God's wrath is gonna

come see we tend to think of everything happened

Having to be focused on the last judgment I've

said this to you before empires fall and the

church remains The things that we believe have

made us great as some type of empire, we will

fall. This empire will fall, but God's church,

His people, His holy temple, His saints, the

elect that He has chosen, they shall remain.

And as we remain because of the work of Jesus

Christ, we are delivered from the wrath to come.

Dearly beloved we are assured of God's work on

our behalf in Christ Jesus even in great afflictions

and troubles Remember Paul's greeting declaring

God's grace and peace upon the church Too often

we succumb to the sounds of the mob and real

toils and troubles of life But we don't respond

in the right way Why? Each one of us. We've all

learned from our experiences, our family, how

we've dealt with things, our own sinful natures,

and even the whispers of Satan to approach these

difficulties with discontent, saying, I've been

under provided for by God. I know he's made me

a Christian, but I've been under provided for.

I've got all this stuff against me. The world

is against me. And yet, the sovereign God has

called you. Think about this for a second. Sometimes

when we're dealing with difficult things, we

charge God with not giving us the grace we need

in the circumstances of our lives. Lord, have

mercy on us all. You see, We are to receive God's

word with joy and thanksgiving. You know Paul

himself mentions in 2nd Corinthians About the

thorn in his flesh. That's the context of this

text right here 2nd Corinthians 12 8 concerning

this thing I pleaded with the Lord with three

times that it might depart from me So he's got

this problem and people throughout all the church

history have tried to talk about Well, what was

this thorn in his flesh? I don't know. But I

can tell you this, and by the way, they don't

know either. It was a problem for him. Think

about this for a second. If you are an apostle

and you're going around doing good works, you've

even prayed for somebody and somebody has been

raised from the dead. And you have some kind

of problem that you're having, and you go to

God three times. You would think, ah, my toils,

my troubles, they're gonna go away. But it says

this in 2 Corinthians 12, concerning the thing

that I pleaded with the Lord three times, that

it might depart from me, and he, this is God,

said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for

my strength is made perfect in weakness. Now

none of us like weaknesses. I can tell you from

personal experience. When I was 38 years old,

I had my first stroke. And it was a doozy. And

I'd always been the strong guy, doing lots of

things, impressive. At least in my own sight,

I suppose. My children, perhaps. I was a pretty

tough guy. And suddenly, I couldn't even go to

sleep without somebody helping me. There were

many other things there. But you know in that

moment I learned that I had to trust on God and

The people that God had placed in my life to

care for me both spiritually and physically And

in that moment just like Paul and for each of

us just like every issue that we're having in

our life God's grace is sufficient for you for

my strength God's strength is made perfect in

weakness And then he says, Paul goes on there,

not just saying that like some kind of whimsical

thing, but we know this is a guy that has suffered

all kinds of difficulties. He's had beatings,

he's had persecutions. He's had every kind of

mistreatment and there were real mobs going after

him. They even tried to put him to death. They

stoned him and he lived. I can tell you what,

he had some scars on his body. And he says, therefore

I most gladly, I'm going to submit myself to

God. And he says, therefore most gladly I would

rather boast in my infirmities that the power

of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure

in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions

and distresses. And why do I do this? For Christ's

sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So

coming back to what Paul was saying here in this

text in 1 Thessalonians 1, he's saying, let us

Eucharist. Let us give thanks. Let us memorialize

the hardships of life. Wait a second. How often

do we take the hardships of life and we go, I

don't want to ever think about that again. You

see, we need to think about this. Being steadfast

in our hope in Christ Jesus and we're to do it

with joy Psalm 42 for tells us when I remember

these things I will pour out my soul within me

for I used to go with the multitude. I went up

with them to the house of God with a voice of

joy and Praise that word praise. There's actually

thanks giving thanks And he does this with a

multitude that kept the pilgrim feast. One of

the things that we need to do is we need to recognize

that part of memorializing things is having a

feast. You think about, what do we memorialize?

Christmas Day, we have a feast. Easter, we have

a feast. Labor Day, Fourth of July, Memorial

Day. What do we do? We have some kind of feast

of one sort or another. To memorialize something

is to rejoice in God, in both the good and the

hard trials of life. So part of this, by the

way, going to the Pilgrim Feast is whatever ails

you, whatever struggles that you're having, you

need to come and worship God every week and come.

Confess your sins. Be transformed by the Word

of God and come to His table of peace and receive

His grace. You see, I want you reading your Bible

at home. But the Holy Spirit works much differently

at home than it does in this place. The Spirit

is working in a powerful way in this place that

we can't see or understand. So to all the saints

in this room, do not neglect, as Hebrews tells

us, the assembling, the synagogue, the memorializing

together as God's people, confessing our sins

and coming to the Lord's table of peace. I've

seen people, they had a hardship. Then want to

stay home and circle up the family and gather

everybody in and not go to church I'm one time

rebuked a friend and I said This doesn't make

any sense You think that the greatest thing you

can do in a time of difficulty and trial and

the death of somebody is To isolate your family

and come together because that's the thing that's

gonna strengthen you No, dearly beloved. It is

to come to the house of God to worship God, come

to the feast that God provides every single week

here at church. Psalm 95 tells us, let us come

before His presence with thanksgiving and let

us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. Psalm 107,

turn 22 says, let them sacrifice the sacrifices

of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing.

As one commentator puts it, We as Christians,

just like the Israelites of old, must be gripped

by a confidence in the covenant loyalty of God.

He has loyalty to you because of Christ Jesus.

They gave thanks for God's demonstrations of

loyalty that had not yet occurred. This future

present is intensified in the new covenant at

the heart of the gospel of the gospel is the

announcement that the end of The world was invaded

right in the middle the future broken into by

the present Jesus is risen and so the eschatological

event that is that in that that event that judgment

at the end of time Has been interrupted by Christ

coming in the middle of history. It's already

begun. God is at work. The spirit of the risen

Christ comes as the spirit of the age to come.

And we already enjoy the fulfillment of what

is not yet. And for this reason, thanks and joy

invade our sorrows. The light of the coming day

brightens the night. Deliverance. is so utterly

certain. It is in fact a past event. Christ came,

He died, He rose again, He ascended to the right

hand of the Father, and His promises come true.

Our future is certain in Christ Jesus. So stand

steadfast. we can already give thanks for a rescue

that we don't realize completely until the future.

In our hardships, we need to give thanks, walking

in joy, steadfastly, doing what? Going to worship,

working, tending to our families, and yes, feasting.

Dearly beloved, God is faithful to us because

of the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. We

were all once idol worshipers, and now we serve

the living and true God. Jesus has truly delivered

us from the wrath to come. When we experience

infirmities, insults, needs, persecutions, and

distresses, we need to recognize that the situation,

or that person that's bringing them, good or

bad, as a gift from a loving Heavenly Father.

Wait. What? Whatever these difficulties are,

whatever these things are, whether it's circumstances

or another person, we need to recognize these

issues as being a gift from a loving Heavenly

Father. Romans 11 .36 tells us, for of Him, that's

God, and through Him, and to Him are all things.

In order to give thanks and much assurance and

much affliction, to the glory of God and the

benefit of others. Dr. Lightheart suggests that

there are a number of questions that we can ask

ourselves, and I've selected a few for us to

consider. I will be sending these out after service

so that you guys can consider them further. But

we need to do this. We need to ask ourselves,

and this is going to radically change how you're

looking at this, right? But he says this. How

can I incorporate this thing or this experience,

good or bad, or this person into a recital of

God's great acts for me and for His people? So

whatever this trouble is, whatever this persecution

is, whatever this insult is, whatever this health

issue is, how do I look to God? And how do I,

even a good or bad situation, say, can I turn

this into a recital of God's? great acts for

me and for all His people. If you're facing illness,

there's a way to look at this and see and recite

it as, hey, this is God's work in me for His

glory and the benefit of others. A second question,

how can it become a reminder to God to be faithful

and an aid to my memory? How do we go to God

and say, I know Lord you've given me this thing

and I'm asking for relief of it, but you know

what? I am gonna trust you and be faithful and

steadfast through it. And how do I use it as

an aid to my memory? Not of just the suffering

and the stuff that you're experiencing, but for

the glory of God. and a reminder, an aid of how

God is faithful even in these difficult circumstances.

We need to ask, how can my response to this thing

or experience or person, try this one on for

size, be a continuing witness to the goodness,

faithfulness, and justice of God? Wait, how can

these insults and tribulations and toils and

illnesses How can my response be a continuing

witness to the goodness and faithfulness and

justice of God? This is a thing, isn't it? All

this is coming out of what Paul is telling the

Thessalonians, and everything looks like it's

stacked against them. A short time to be taught

by an apostle and get your church established.

Three weeks. unjust accusations, being charged

money, mobs chasing you, all these things, insults

and lies being told about you. How do I respond

to this to be a continuing witness to the goodness

and faithfulness and justice of God? Finally,

the last question that we'll think about here

on this subject today. is how can I receive this

thing, experience or person, right? So as to

break and distribute it for nourishment, edification,

and joy of others. You see this kind of tie in

to the Lord's Supper, right? How do I take this

giving thanks and making a memorial of this thing

so that I take it to others? And I say, look

at the faithfulness of God. How do I distribute

it? so that it is for the nourishment, the edification,

and the joy of others. Have you found Christ's

faithfulness in your life? You're His. If you

don't think He's there, if you don't think He's

leading you in your life with all of the challenges

that you're having, if you don't think He's giving

you what you need, He has in fact. So stand steadfast,

trusting. in Christ Jesus. Saints of God, God

has chosen you all. Jesus has delivered you from

the wrath to come. So let us give thanks, rejoicing

in works of faith, labors of love, and a steadfast

hope in Christ Jesus. Let us pray. Heavenly Father,

we give thanks to you, for you are our God and

deliverer. You sent your only Son, Jesus, to

deliver us from the wrath that is to come. Uphold

us, we pray. to give thanks in all things, especially

in times of trouble and weak faith. By the power

of the Spirit, give us your grace, peace, and

joy, that we might glorify you and bless the

world. We ask all this for the sake of Jesus

Christ our Lord, who reigns with you in the Holy

Spirit forever and ever. Amen. Let us continue

our worship by the giving of our tithes and offerings.

and offerings for your glory and for the service

of your kingdom. Blessed be God forever and ever.

Amen.