In The Footsteps of Paul

Proving That Jesus Is The Christ

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Tony Moore

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Series Code: IFP

Program Code: IFP000008


01:36 Paul and Silas were rejoicing over the
01:38 church that they have planted in Macedonia
01:41 and they were bearing in their bodies
01:43 the marks of their ministry.
01:45 We don't know how long they stayed
01:46 at the house of Lydia after they were
01:48 released from prison, but we do know
01:51 the journey they took when they left the
01:52 Roman colony of Philippi. "When they had
01:55 passed through Amphipolis
01:57 and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
01:59 where there was a Jewish synagogue."
02:01 Yes, Paul and Silas would have walked
02:04 the 30 miles from Philippi down to
02:07 Amphipolis, a city surrounded by water
02:10 on three sides. I have often wondered what
02:13 they have talked about as they walked along
02:15 that journey. They must have rejoiced at
02:17 how God had worked miraculously to save
02:20 that Spirit possessed girl and how he turned
02:24 the tables in the very jailor that had put them
02:26 in prison had become a believer in Jesus.
02:29 Yes, they were rejoicing as they walked along.
02:32 I wondered, was it easy for them to walk
02:35 after receiving such a severe beating.
02:38 They didn't tarry here at Amphipolis,
02:40 they must have left the next morning
02:42 because it was not a Jewish Synagogue here.
02:45 They were headed down to the great port city
02:47 of Thessalonica. And as they left the city
02:50 they walked under the watchful gaze
02:53 of this magnificent lion statue.
02:57 This statue had been carved perhaps to
03:00 commemorate a military victory of
03:02 Philip of Macedonia. They walked under
03:05 its watchful gaze heading down to the
03:08 great port of Apollonia. It was here at this port
03:12 that Alexander the Great's wife and son
03:15 were murdered after his death.
03:18 But, they didn't tarry in this city either
03:19 because that was not a Jewish Synagogue.
03:22 Instead they pressed on down to the
03:24 great port city of Thessalonica.
03:29 This city was built by Cassander
03:32 and named after his wife who was the daughter of
03:35 Philip of Macedon and the sister of
03:37 Alexander the Great. This was a
03:40 tremendous city, built along the Coast at the
03:43 Northern end of the Thermaic Gulf.
03:45 Today the Gulf is known as the Gulf of Salonika
03:49 as the name of the town has been shortened.
03:52 This was a great city and very strategic
03:55 for the Roman province of Macedonia.
03:58 It was the capital of that province in
04:00 Paul's day and had a commercial success
04:04 approaching that of Ephesus and Corinth.
04:07 Strabo referred to this city as the
04:10 most important of Macedon.
04:13 The white tower behind me is a very important
04:16 landmark for the modern city of Salonika.
04:19 But, that tower will be built over a
04:21 thousand years after Paul visited the city.
04:24 Also the Arch of Galerius is a very
04:27 important monument. There still on the
04:30 Egnatian way. But, this will be built
04:33 several centuries after Paul as well.
04:36 Yet, is a powerful testimony to the
04:38 presence of Rome in this the capital of
04:41 Roman province of Macedonia.
04:45 This was the great commercial shipping
04:47 center in Paul's day as it is in ours.
04:50 But, Paul was not attracted to this city
04:53 because of its commercial success
04:55 or because it had a great port.
04:58 He was attracted here because there was a
05:00 Jewish Synagogue. "As his custom was,
05:04 Paul went into the synagogue,
05:06 and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with
05:08 them from the Scriptures, explaining
05:11 and proving that the Christ had to suffer
05:13 and rise from the dead. This Jesus I am
05:16 proclaiming to you is the Christ, he said."
05:19 He attended the Synagogue on the
05:21 Sabbath and there he reasoned with them
05:23 from the Scriptures. For three Sabbath days
05:26 proving that Jesus was the Christ.
05:30 Do you notice it says, his source of authority,
05:33 he was proving to them from the Scriptures.
05:36 What Scripture do you think he used?
05:38 Matthew? Romans? Galatians?
05:42 No, that had not been written yet!
05:45 His source of authority was appealing to
05:48 the Scriptures the Hebrew Scriptures
05:50 what we call today in the Christian world
05:52 the Old Testament. Proving from them
05:55 that Jesus was the Christ that is
05:57 that Jesus was the Messiah.
06:01 We've come up here to the upper part
06:04 of the city. Where I am standing on the
06:07 Byzantine walls part of the ancient defenses
06:10 of the city. This spot provides a tremendous
06:13 view of the harboring city below.
06:17 And it's a wonderful place where I can
06:19 open to you the Scriptures as Paul was
06:22 doing to the Jews in the Synagogue
06:25 thousands of years ago here in this city.
06:28 It said that he was explaining and proving
06:32 or opening and alleging. This word opening
06:36 is a very special word, very rich in its usage
06:39 in the New Testament. It was used by Luke
06:42 to describe Jesus walking on the road
06:45 to Emmaus. They ask each other,
06:47 "Were not our hearts burning within us
06:50 while he talked with us on the road
06:53 and opened the Scriptures to us?"
06:54 Jesus walked with the two disciples
06:57 on the road to Emmaus and as he walked with
07:00 them their hearts were downcast,
07:02 their hearts were sadden and Jesus opened
07:05 the Scriptures to them and they said our hearts
07:08 are burning inside. Luke used it again
07:11 to describe when Jesus met with the disciples
07:14 in the upper room. "He said to them,
07:17 this is what I told you while I was
07:19 still with you: Everything must be
07:21 fulfilled that is written about me in the
07:23 Law of Moses, the Prophets and Psalms.
07:26 Then he opened their minds so they could
07:30 understand the Scriptures.
07:31 He told them, This is what is written,
07:33 that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead
07:36 on the third day, that repentance
07:37 and forgiveness of sins will be preached in
07:39 his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
07:43 Jesus opened the Scriptures to the
07:45 disciples and then he opened their
07:47 understanding about those Scriptures.
07:50 Paul followed the same process here
07:52 in Thessalonica. He went into the Synagogue
07:54 and he opened the Scriptures before the
07:56 Jews and the God fears who had gathered
07:58 for the Sabbath. And then he opened
08:01 their understanding by explaining how
08:04 those passages had been fulfilled in the Messiah.
08:07 Yes, Paul followed the same process
08:09 that Jesus did. This word explaining
08:13 or proving is also very, very important,
08:16 it means to commit before someone,
08:19 to place before someone. Paul read the text
08:23 and then he placed along side of it the
08:26 fulfillment in Jesus. Acts 17, verse 3,
08:30 "Explaining and proving that the Christ
08:32 had to suffer and rise from the dead."
08:35 Was Christ his name? No, that was his title!
08:39 The word Christ is the Greek word for
08:42 anointed one. It is the equivalent of the
08:45 Hebrew Messiah. Paul came into the Synagogue
08:49 and was alleging and proving from the
08:51 Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ that is
08:54 that Jesus was the Messiah.
08:56 The problem was at this time the Jews commonly
09:00 believed that the Messiah would come
09:02 and would deliver the nation from the
09:04 occupation of the Romans. They believed
09:07 the Messiah would be a liberator.
09:09 Paul came to show that the Messiah would
09:12 actually come and not liberate his people from
09:16 the Roman bondage, but liberate them from sin.
09:18 That he would not be the great victor
09:20 but he would be the one who would actually die
09:23 for the sins of the people and indeed
09:25 the whole world and then come back to life.
09:28 Paul following the principles that
09:31 Jesus used, began at Moses and all the
09:35 prophets and worked through the passages
09:37 and then place along side those messianic
09:41 prophecies the fulfillment in Jesus
09:44 of Nazareth. I wonder what prophecies
09:47 are used. I think he probably started
09:50 with the first messianic prophecy we read about
09:52 in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15.
09:56 "And I will put enmity between you
09:58 and the woman, and between your offspring
10:00 and hers; he will crush your head,
10:03 and you will strike his heel."
10:05 Yes, here we have the first promise
10:07 of Messiah. The Messiah was to be born
10:10 in the seed of a women and then the Messiah
10:13 would crush the head of the serpent,
10:15 a deadly wound is here, predicted to take place
10:19 to the old serpent that deceived them
10:21 there in the garden Eden. But, in the
10:23 process the Messiah's heel would be crushed.
10:27 We share with them Genesis chapter 49
10:30 verse 10, where Jacob on his death bed is
10:33 blessing his sons and as he comes to Judah
10:36 he makes this messianic prediction.
10:40 "The scepter will not depart from Judah,
10:43 nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
10:46 until he comes to whom it belongs
10:48 and the obedience of the nations is his."
10:51 Yes, the old patriarch Jacob predicted
10:55 that the scepter would not depart from Judah,
10:58 that the rule of authority would continue
11:01 through Judah until the Messiah would come.
11:04 The King James uses the word Shiloh,
11:07 this was considered to be the Messiah
11:11 by the Jews of Paul's day. Yes, it's predicted
11:14 that Judah would continue on the other
11:16 tribes that largely disappeared,
11:17 Israel had gone into oblivion but Judah had
11:21 continued until the Messiah would come.
11:24 Then Paul read to them the passage from
11:27 numbers 21 and verses 8 and 9.
11:30 Where Moses is instructed by the Lord
11:34 to place a serpent upon a pole.
11:36 "The Lord said to Moses, Make a snake
11:39 and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten
11:42 can look at it and live. So, Moses made a
11:45 bronze snake and put it up on a pole.
11:48 Then when anyone was bitten by a snake
11:50 and looked at the bronze snake, he lived."
11:53 Did Paul share this passage with the Jews
11:56 in the Synagogue? Of how in the wilderness
11:59 when the snakes were coming out and biting
12:01 the people that the Lord instructed him
12:03 to put a snake up on a pole, to lift the snake
12:07 up from the earth and that people who looked
12:09 at that snake would look and live.
12:12 Jesus had applied that passage to himself
12:15 and in his conversation with Nicodemus,
12:18 as the serpent was lifted up in the
12:20 wilderness he said: So, the son of man
12:22 must be lifted up and all who would look at
12:25 Jesus would live. Yes, Paul was placing
12:29 before them the text and explaining
12:31 how they were fulfilled in Jesus.
12:32 There was a misconception that the
12:34 Messiah would come and would destroy
12:36 the deliberately occupying armies of Rome.
12:40 Paul was showing that indeed the Messiah
12:43 would come and he would destroy the very power
12:45 of sin by giving his own life.
12:48 He would be lifted up from the earth
12:50 and all who look would live.
12:53 Certainly Paul would have shared with them
12:54 the great passage of Isaiah chapter 53.
12:58 Isaiah is called the Gospel prophet
13:00 because he points forth to the Messiah
13:02 so eloquently. "He was despised
13:05 and rejected by men, a man of sorrows,
13:08 and familiar with suffering. Like one from
13:11 whom men hide their faces he was despised,
13:15 and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up
13:18 our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
13:20 yet we considered him stricken by God,
13:22 smitten by him, and afflicted.
13:24 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
13:27 he was crushed for our iniquities;
13:29 the punishment that brought us peace
13:31 was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
13:34 We all like sheep have astray, each of us has
13:37 turned to his own way; and the Lord has
13:40 laid on him the iniquity of us all.
13:42 He was oppressed and afflicted,
13:44 yet he did not open his mouth;
13:46 he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
13:49 and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
13:51 so he did not open his mouth."
13:55 What a tremendous prediction of the
13:58 suffering Messiah that would come.
14:00 Yes, he suffered for our sins he was bruised
14:05 for our iniquities, he was pierced.
14:08 Certainly Paul would have read this passage
14:10 and explained how it was directly fulfilled in
14:14 Jesus death on Calvary's cross.
14:18 Yes, the suffering serpent is portrayed
14:21 here like a lamb led to the slaughter.
14:24 Jesus died for us! Jesus gave his life
14:29 that we might have life and it says
14:32 by his stripes referring to the lashes
14:34 he received on his back by his stripes
14:37 we are healed. Certainly Paul represented
14:42 this tremendous passage before the Synagogue
14:44 here in Thessalonica. Did Paul read to them
14:49 Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9
14:53 verses 25 to 27, is one of the greatest
14:55 prophecies in the Bible. Revealing that Jesus of
14:59 Nazareth is the Messiah. Some believed to be
15:03 the greatest prophecy in the Bible,
15:05 pinpointing that Jesus of Nazareth
15:07 was the Messiah. It was so powerful
15:10 that there was a rabbinical curse placed
15:13 upon that portion of the Scripture.
15:15 It went cursed be the finger of the hand
15:18 of the arm of the man that studies
15:21 the times of Daniel 9. Why such an incredible
15:25 curse? Cursed to be the finger,
15:27 the hand of the arm of the man.
15:29 Because this prophecy pinpoints
15:33 beyond the shadow of the doubt that
15:35 Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messiah.
15:38 Let me read it to you Daniel 9
15:40 verses 25 through 27, "Know and understand
15:44 this; From the issuing of the decree to restore
15:47 and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,
15:49 Hey, we read that before!
15:51 The Anointed One the Messiah the Christ!
15:53 "Until the Anointed One the Christ the Messiah,
15:57 the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,'
16:00 and sixty-two 'sevens. It will be rebuilt
16:03 with the streets and a trench,
16:05 but in times of trouble. And after the
16:07 sixty-two sevens, the Anointed One that is
16:10 Christ will be cut off and will have nothing."
16:12 Cut off means he would be killed he would
16:15 have nothing, the same language
16:17 that we read there are in Isaiah chapter 53,
16:20 "The people of the ruler who will come
16:22 will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
16:24 The end will come like a flood:
16:25 War will continue until the end,
16:27 and desolations have been decreed."
16:30 And then we come to verse 27,
16:33 He that is the Messiah, the Christ.
16:36 The Anointed One will confirm a covenant with
16:38 many for one seven. And in the middle
16:41 of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice
16:43 and offering." Yes, I'm certain that
16:46 Paul would have read this text,
16:48 for in the Galatians chapter 4, verse 4
16:50 he said, When the fullness of time
16:52 would come God sent forth his Son,
16:54 born of a woman born under the law
16:56 that he might redeem those under the law.
16:59 Yes, Paul believed the foulness of time had
17:04 come the great prophetic clock of
17:06 Daniel chapter 9 had struck.
17:08 The time had come for the Anointed One
17:11 the ruler to be presented before
17:14 the people of Judah. And indeed this prophecy
17:19 was fulfilled in a beautiful way
17:21 in the life of Jesus. There are so many other
17:25 fantastic prophecies that Paul would have
17:28 set before the people there.
17:30 Prophecies like Isaiah chapter 9
17:33 and verses 6 and 7, "For unto us a child is born,
17:37 to us a son is given and the government
17:39 will be on his shoulders. And he will
17:41 called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
17:44 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
17:46 Of the increase for the government
17:48 and peace there will be no end.
17:49 He will reign on David's throne
17:51 and over his kingdom, establishing
17:53 and upholding it with justice
17:54 and righteousness from that time on
17:56 and forever." Yes for onto us a child is born
18:01 and onto us a Son is given. Paul would have
18:04 revealed how Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.
18:07 How that he was born miraculously conceived
18:11 of the Holy Spirit. He would share with them
18:13 the story of what had happened with the priest
18:16 there in the temple how the Angel Gabriel
18:18 appeared to them and said, you will have a
18:20 son in your old age and your wife was bearing
18:22 all these years she will become pregnant
18:24 and you give a birth to a son
18:26 and you won't call him Zachariah,
18:27 you call him John. For he will make the way
18:31 for the Messiah, he will prepare the road
18:34 for Messiah to come. Certainly Paul would
18:36 have shared that story with them
18:37 he would have shared how that the angel appeared
18:40 to Mary there in Nazareth. And how
18:42 that is a virgin she gave birth to Jesus.
18:46 He would have continued by sharing
18:48 the 16th Psalm that describes how
18:51 the Messiah would be resurrected
18:52 from the death that he would not be left
18:54 in the grave that his body would not suffer
18:57 corruption that he would come forth
18:58 from the grave. They be resurrected back
19:01 to life, certainly he would have shared
19:03 with them the 22th Psalm that describes
19:05 how he would be pierced and describes
19:07 the details of how his life would be taken.
19:11 Yes, Scripture was full of prophecies predicting
19:15 the suffering aspect of the Messiah.
19:17 One day He will come as the conquering king,
19:20 one day He will come as the delivering king
19:22 but that will be as a second coming
19:24 not his first coming. Paul would have
19:26 explained all of the passages were
19:29 fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
19:32 And it was quite successful as Luke
19:34 notes in Acts chapter 17 and verse 4
19:37 where he says, "some of the Jews were persuaded
19:39 and joined Paul and Silas, as day a large
19:42 number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few
19:45 prominent women." Yes there were number of
19:47 Jews who believed in Jesus as their Messiah
19:51 here in this city. And a large number of God
19:54 fearing Greeks. Remember when we looked
19:57 at the God fearing Greeks we were back in
20:00 Asia minor and we discovered that the God
20:02 fearing Greeks were people who had not
20:04 be circumcised, they had not gone all the way
20:06 to become Jews but they preferred
20:09 the monotheistic religion of the Jews.
20:11 They were supportive, they were sensitive
20:14 they preferred this religion, but did not go
20:17 all the way to become Jews.
20:20 Well, a number of the God fearing Greeks
20:22 here in this city a large number became
20:24 believers in Jesus as their Messiah.
20:27 And then Luke notes that a number of prominent
20:31 women of this city also believed.
20:33 Yes, it was a powerful experience,
20:36 a wonderful experience, a successful experience.
20:39 We don't know how long Paul
20:41 stayed here in the city. Luke records that he
20:44 taught for three Sabbaths
20:45 in the Synagogues. Apparently then he
20:48 moved to the house of Jason.
20:50 For in Philippians chapter 4 the apostle
20:54 remembers how that the church of Philippi
20:57 sent financial aid to him on two separate
20:59 occasions while he was here in this city.
21:03 Probably Paul had spent several months teaching
21:06 the new converts, nurturing the
21:08 young church. Yes, a large number of God
21:12 fearing Gentiles and not a few prominent women
21:16 believed in this city along with many Jews.
21:18 This was powerful, it was tremendous;
21:21 it was exciting to see a church developing
21:24 here in the Macedonian capital of Thessalonica.
21:28 And yet the Devil was not excited,
21:30 he was threatened. "But the Jews were jealous;
21:34 so they rounded up some bad characters from the
21:36 marketplace, formed a mob and started
21:39 a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house
21:42 in search of Paul and Silas in order to
21:44 bring them out to the crowd.
21:45 But they did not find them, they dragged Jason
21:49 and some other brothers before
21:50 the city officials, shouting:
21:51 These Men who have caused trouble over all
21:53 the world have now come here,
21:55 and Jason has welcomed them into his house.
21:57 They're all defying Caesar's decree,
22:00 saying that there is another King,
22:02 one called Jesus. When they heard this,
22:04 the crowd and the city officials were thrown
22:06 into turmoil. Then they made Jason
22:09 and the others post bond and let them go.
22:13 Satan's kingdom was threatened here in the
22:15 Roman capital of Macedonia.
22:16 So, he stirred up the people against
22:19 Paul and Silas here in the city.
22:22 It's interesting that in Philippi was the
22:25 Roman citizens who accused Paul and Silas
22:28 of being Jews and have coming in to their city
22:31 advocating customs not lawful for Romans
22:34 to accept. You see, it was not permissible for
22:37 Jews to proselytize Roman citizens
22:41 and thus they were accused of proselytizing
22:44 in the city of Philippi. But, here in
22:46 Thessalonica it was the Jews who accused
22:49 Paul and Silas of advocating a King
22:55 other than Caesar. Yes, that's right they were
22:57 accusing them of sedition of presenting
23:00 another King other than Caesar.
23:03 It is very interesting that the
23:05 public officials see beneath their
23:09 base accusations. They recognize that
23:12 this envy that is motivating the Jews
23:14 here in the city to reject the teachings of
23:17 Paul and Silas. So, they allow Jason
23:20 and some of the other believers who had been
23:22 brought before them to post bond and to leave.
23:25 It's very interesting that the tactic
23:28 used before Pontius Pilate against
23:32 Jesus worked. But, it did not worked here
23:36 in the city of Thessalonica.
23:38 "As soon as it was night the brothers sent
23:41 Paul and Silas away to Berea.
23:43 On arriving there, they went to the Jewish
23:45 synagogue." Luke says that they had to live
23:49 the city of Thessalonica under
23:50 the cover of darkness. And they had traveled
23:53 the 50 miles in land to Berea.
23:55 This was the area of the home of Philip of
23:59 Macedonia and Alexander the Great.
24:03 Here they received a very different reception
24:06 than they received here at Thessalonica.
24:08 As we shall see in the future episode.
24:12 Paul left Timothy here in the city to encourage
24:16 the new church, to strengthen
24:18 the new church. He loved this church,
24:21 later he would talk about when he had to
24:23 live prematurely that it was like being orphaned
24:26 because he was taken away from his children.
24:29 When Paul and Timothy were down in Athens,
24:33 Paul's heart was concerned about the
24:36 church here in this city. And he had
24:39 Timothy return here to capital of Macedonia,
24:42 to be with the church even though it meant
24:45 that Paul would be alone there
24:47 in the great city of Athens.
24:48 Paul writes to the church and reminds them
24:51 of this in First Thessalonians chapter 3
24:54 verses 1 through 3. "So when we could stand it
24:58 no longer, we thought it best to be left by
25:00 ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy,
25:03 who is our brother and God's fellow worker
25:06 in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen
25:08 and encourage you in your faith,
25:10 so that no one would be unsettled
25:12 by these trials. Paul was concerned
25:14 about the church and so he sent Timothy
25:17 from Athens back up to the city here in
25:20 Macedonia to encourage the church,
25:23 to pastor and nurture the church.
25:24 This meant that Paul would be alone in the
25:27 Great University City of Athens.
25:29 Where he would witness there on the Areus Pagus
25:31 the supreme court of Athens where his faith,
25:35 he would be alone there but he was
25:37 encouraged to know that Timothy was here
25:39 in this city with he young church.
25:41 Yes, Timothy returns from Thessalonica to
25:46 join Paul in the great city of Corinth
25:49 and there he brings a report of how God
25:52 had blessed the church here in this city.
25:54 Paul is so encouraged that he takes out
25:56 of his pen and his paper and he writes a letter
25:59 a pastoral letter to the church here.
26:02 This would be the first of Paul's
26:05 thirteen Pastoral Epistles.
26:07 And many believed that there would be the
26:09 first document of what we know today
26:11 is the New Testament. Yes, this church where
26:15 Jews had accepted Jesus as their Messiah.
26:18 This church where Greeks had turned from idols
26:23 to accept Jesus as their Messiah.
26:25 This city had been transformed by the
26:28 power of the Gospel as people had accepted
26:31 Jesus as their Christ, as their Messiah.
26:36 Like Paul we've gone back and looked at
26:38 many of the great prophecies
26:40 of the Messiah. Found in the Hebrew's Scriptures
26:43 and we've seen how they had been minutely
26:46 fulfilled and the life death
26:48 and resurrection of Jesus. I wonder perhaps
26:52 for the very first time you've seen
26:54 this prophesies filled in Jesus.
26:58 And perhaps the Holy Spirit had spoken
27:00 to your heart and it's prompting you to accept
27:03 Jesus as your Christ as your Messiah.
27:07 For some of you, this may be the very
27:09 first time, you made a choice like that.
27:11 For others you reaffirming a choice
27:13 that you've made before. But, I want to encourage
27:16 all of you to take this most important step
27:19 of all to accept Jesus as your Christ
27:22 as your Messiah and as your Lord.
27:25 Join me as we pray! Father in heaven,
27:29 we thank you so much for the tremendous story
27:31 of Paul and Silas coming down from Philippi
27:34 to the Roman capital of Macedonia
27:36 and how they presented in the Synagogue
27:39 that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Christ,
27:42 the Messiah. And like those early believers
27:45 we want to accept you as our Messiah
27:47 as our Lord and we pray that you will bring
27:50 to us the same joy that you brought to them.
27:52 Thank you for this wonderful confidence
27:55 that we could have in you,
27:56 we pray in Jesus name, amen.
27:59 Yes, it's thrilling to have confidence in Jesus
28:02 as our Messiah, our Christ, our Lord.
28:05 Timothy had brought an encouraging report to
28:08 Paul down in Corinth of the church
28:10 here in this city. But, he also shared a concern
28:13 tragedy had taken place here in this city,
28:16 one of the early believers had died
28:18 and it shattered the peace and security
28:21 of the community. Paul from his pastor
28:24 heart writes a beautiful teaching
28:26 about the blessed hope that the believers
28:28 have in Jesus, that even death can not take
28:33 that hope away. The next episode would be
28:35 "The Blessed Hope" that Paul shares
28:38 with the church here in Thessalonica.


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Revised 2014-12-17