Skip to content Are you believing fake news? Sep 17 · 56 min ...more
Are you believing fake news?
September 17, 2023 · 56 min
What God creates, Satan counterfeits. Can you tell the difference? Join us as we dive deeper in our survival guide to the end times!
Series Mark Driscoll Audio September 17, 2023 · 56 min · Mark Driscoll Audio
What God creates, Satan counterfeits. Can you tell the difference? Join us as we dive deeper in our survival guide to the end times! ...more Show the full description Show less What God creates, Satan counterfeits. Can you tell the difference? Join us as we dive deeper in our survival guide to the end times!
Series Mark Driscoll Audio
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With Pastor Mark, it’s all about Jesus! He is a spiritual leader, prolific author, and compelling speaker, but at his core, he is a family man. Mark and his
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0:01 Well, hey, podcast pals. It's, pastor Mark Driscoll here saying thank you for tuning in. I've had the honor of teaching the bible for around 30 years. Happy to report I got my cancel card about a decade ago.0:12 Nice to get that out of the way. And now I'm back in zombie mode, man. You can't kill me. And if you would do me a solid, I could really use your help. Number 1, rate this podcast.0:24 Everybody gives me 1 in 5 star reviews. I need you to give me a 5 star. In addition, review the podcast. Tell them it's good. It's helpful. It's fun. It's authentic. It's genuine. It's down the0:36 fairway. It's all about Jesus. And, share it. Let your friends know. Let your family know. And if you wanna trigger your enemies, let them know too. I've been triggering woke joke folks since the mid0:48 nineties and glad to keep up the fight. Alright. Good to see you all. Thanks for joining us. I have a tremendous sense of expectation. I I was1:00 praying all week, and I went on a prayer hike, and I had the sermon prepared. And then I felt like the holy spirit spoke to me and said to go a completely different direction. So I believe that God has something very1:11 unique for each of you today. I believe for some of you, it's a healing. For some of you, you're going to become Christians. For some of you, you're gonna get unburdened. For some of you, you're gonna reconcile some1:21 strained relationships. And for others of you, God's gonna give you instruction about the next season of your life. And to do that, we're gonna open the word of God because the best way to get a word from God is to open1:30 the word of God. We're in a New Testament book called first Thessalonians, and we're in chapter 2. As you're finding your place, what I wanna do is give you a couple of gifts, and then I'll pray, and then we'll jump in.1:40 This sermon's gonna be a little bit different. But if you'd like to learn more about first Thessalonians, I'll give you a QR code, study guide. And, if you wanna learn more about the holy spirit and having a personal1:51 relationship with the holy spirit, I'll give you a copy of this book, spirit filled Jesus. And like I always say, you get what you pay for. It's free. Lower your expectations, but I'm trying to help. Amen? And so if you2:01 scan the QR code, we'll send the digital version to you. And if you're here today, you can grab, this study guide on the way out. And if you're new and stop by gift services, we'll give you a a free hardbound copy of2:12 spirit filled Jesus. That being said, what I wanna do now is I wanna pray for you. And I I want our time together to be 1 that we remember because God met with us in this place at this time. So2:24 holy spirit, we invite you. You are the honored guest. Lord, these are your people. This is your house. We're opening your word. We're seeking your will. Holy Spirit, we invite you2:36 to guide us, to lead us, to empower us, to unburden us, to instruct us, to strengthen us. And, holy spirit, as we as we come into your word, we pray that you would2:48 do what only you can do, and that's meet with us and help us learn more about this god who loves us so deeply and dearly. And, god, as we study, would you reveal to us the ways that we can be an encouragement and3:00 strength to those around us? And, god, I pray for a special grace and anointing in the holy spirit on our time together in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay. So let me set this up for you. Paul plants a church in a city3:11 called Thessalonica. And then he writes them a letter because a riot broke out, and he was literally driven out of town. Every time God does ministry, Satan does anti ministry. Every time the Holy Spirit has a3:23 revival, unholy spirits show up with a riot. These new Christians then, they have a lot of questions for him, so they write him a letter, and he writes a letter back, first Thessalonians. That's what we're studying. And3:34 1 of the major themes in the book is about the last days or the end times. And the people are looking into the future, and they're wondering, what does the future hold for us? And Paul tells them. And3:46 so we're gonna talk briefly about the last days or the end times. And according to the Bible, this is the time between the first coming of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus. Jesus came the first time humbly. He's3:58 coming again in glory. He came the first time to die for us and rise for us, and he's coming again to raise his children from the dead and to judge his enemies and to sentence people to heaven and hell4:10 forever. The time between the times are the last days of the end times. That's the time in which he was writing, and that's the time in which we are living. I'll give you a few occurrences of this theme in first4:21 Thessalonians. He says in chapter 1 verse 10, to wait for his son from heaven. Just so you know, that's what we're waiting for. And let me just tell you, our planet has a god sized problem. And it doesn't matter4:33 how many wars we wage, how many elections we hold, how many prescriptions we prescribe, or how many conflicts we have until Jesus comes back, there is going to be a constant series of problems,4:45 pains, and perils throughout human history. We wanna do all we can to prepare for the coming of Jesus, but ultimately, there are some things that won't change until he arrives. Wait for his son from heaven, raised4:56 from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. He says this in chapter 4 verses 15 through 17, the coming of the Lord. That's his phrase. He says, the Lord himself will descend from5:08 heaven. This is gonna be an incredible moment. When Jesus Christ is coming back, this is the hope of the believer. Goes on to say, the5:20 dead in Christ will rise first. Those of you who have lost people that knew Jesus and you love them, they will rise from death. They will be healed. They will be perfect, and they will be whole, and your relationship5:31 with them will be perfect, healed, and restored forever and ever. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And then I love this phrase,5:43 so we will always be with the Lord. Because the Lord will always be with us. And then lastly, he says this in chapter 5 verses 2 through 9. The day of the5:55 Lord, that's the second coming of Jesus, will come like a thief in the night, and people will be saying, there is peace and security. And then suddenly, destruction will come upon them as labor pains. Remember6:07 that phrase. We're gonna unpack that. We'll come upon he says, we'll come upon them as labor pains, come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain6:18 salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you love Jesus, his coming is the best day. If you don't love Jesus, his coming is the worst day.6:31 For those of us who are Christians, we're not going to hell, but we are going through hell until Jesus brings heaven to us. For those who don't know the lord Jesus, this is their heaven.6:43 This is as close to glory as they will ever be, and hell awaits them. And what he's telling the Christians is to encourage 1 another, to think in terms of the long view of things, and to reverse engineer your life. Okay.6:55 Jesus is coming. History does have a purpose, and there is a lord ruling over it. And here, he said that what we're experiencing in the last days of the end times are like the birth pains7:07 of a pregnant woman. And he's echoing the Lord Jesus who said in Matthew 24 8 that his coming would be like birth pains. K. How many how many mothers are in the house? Okay. I'll7:19 I'll be honest with you. I I do not identify as a birthing person. I just don't. I don't. I I've had I've had some of the symptoms. I've had weight gain. I've had bloating. I I've7:31 had heartburn, but it wasn't because pregnancy. It was a series of dietary choices, if I'm honest with you. My wife, Grace, who is a7:42 birthing person, by the way, she and it's just crazy how it's always women. I just just anyways. So just a weird statistical anomaly, I'm sure. So my my7:54 wife, Grace, she's given birth to 5 children, and and I've been there for the the pregnancy and then the birth. And here's what I've observed. It's a lot. That's what I've observed.8:06 Okay? It's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of pain. It's a lot of discomfort. It's it's it's days of real stress and fatigue, and then the contractions start as you near8:18 the end. And the contractions are unbelievable. Like, this is why God doesn't have men birth children. Because, like, 1 guy would have a baby and the rest would be like, yeah. The race is gonna end.8:30 We're not doing that. We're not doing that. And my so our oldest daughter, she's, pregnant. She's due any any day. This week, we were talking and she was sitting there, and she's like, oh, I was like, what's that? She8:42 said, a contraction. I was like, hey, when your daughter has contractions, you kinda have a contraction too. That's how you feel about it. So what happens is now she's experiencing8:53 the discomfort in the beginning of contractions, and what'll happen is they'll increase with intensity and frequency until it feels like you're gonna die. Right?9:06 Ladies, is that true? It's what it looks like. I mean, that's why they bring in the drug dealer. They're like, would you like Epidural? Yes, I would. You know? I was hoping for a9:17 Groupon. Can I get 1 too? Just watching. It's kind of a lot. It's kind of a lot. Yeah. Right here. Tap me. And so but then out of the greatest9:29 pain comes what? Brand new life. Out of the greatest pain comes new life. And what he is saying, Jesus, and here Paul,9:41 is that as we get closer to the end, it's birth pains. It's pressure. It's anxiety. It's stress. It's pain. It's9:52 difficulty. It's it's it feels like it's going to kill us, but ultimately, it's gonna do 2 things. It's going to birth a brand new world around us. And before we get10:04 there, it'll birth brand new life in us. God is using all of the labor pains to birth new life in us until Jesus returns and brings new life around us. And10:16 what we're reading here is called a prophecy. For those of you who are perhaps new to the Bible, the Bible is written by God, the Holy Spirit, through human authors. And, about 25 percent of the Bible, when it10:28 was written, was prophetic, meaning it was prophetic, meaning it was telling us in advance what the future would hold. The Bible has about 2500 prophecies. Roughly 2000 of them have been10:39 fulfilled with great specificity in human history. There's about 500 remaining to be fulfilled. 1 of them is the second coming of Jesus and all the events surrounding10:51 it. And what I love about the Bible, there is no other religion or quite frankly, any other ideology that has any accuracy in interpreting the future. How11:03 many of you in recent years, you think polls are adorable? People that are telling us what's going to happen, they may as well get drunk, throw a dart at the board, and just say that that's their findings.11:15 No 1 has any idea what the future holds, but God does. And the reason God tells us is that when we know the future, we don't have as much anxiety and fear in the present because11:26 we know what's coming. But here's what happens as well. Prophecy protects us from false prophecy. And false prophets in the bible are those who say, here's what's going to happen, and that it doesn't11:38 happen. Some of the very prevalent false prophecies in our day would include, for example, that sort of radical environmental agenda that says that human life and animal11:50 life are equal, and that ultimately, the planet is going to die and human life will come to an end. Well, here's what we know. Jesus will come back before that12:02 time. We need to be good stewards of our body and our world to be sure, but even the latest findings that were reported from NASA this week say that history had a beginning, and it wasn't a big bang. It was12:14 a big god. And in the end, it history is winding down, and invariably, it's going to come to an end. And before it comes to an end and before our resources come to their end, our12:25 savior will return. And now we are delivered from the false prophecy. Another powerful false prophecy in our day is that we are good and getting better. It's called evolution.12:37 K? If you still believe that we're getting better, you're adorable. K? You're adorable. And what happens is we have all of this external progress technologically, but no internal12:49 progress morally. We can go to the moon, but we can't be nice to our neighbor. Right? We can create lots of technology, but all we have is13:00 broken relationships, and we just injure 1 another constantly. And so this myth, hey, we're good in getting better. I don't I I don't think any sane person is feeling that today.13:12 You know, it used to be bad. It's good now, but it's gonna be awesome. In addition, there is another false prophecy, and that is we are alone in the cosmos. We have been abandoned. There is no god over human13:24 history, and there is no 1 coming to rescue us. Those who believe these very powerful delusional false prophecies, they live with tremendous anxiety. Because if you13:36 look into the future and you either don't know what is going to happen or you believe a false prophecy, it creates lots of stress, fear, and anxiety in the present. And,13:49 and just think of it in this way. Life is hard, and it's going to get harder before Jesus returns, and then he's gonna make everything better. That's what the scripture is saying. But how many of you right now, if you14:00 don't look up to God, but you just look out at the future, you get a lot of anxiety and fear in the present? How many of you right now? Let's just be honest. You look at the economy and you're like,14:12 inflation's up. How are we gonna pay our bills? Where are we gonna buy a house? Like, where are we going? How many of you, just looking into the future at culture, you're like, it feels like we are14:24 just in free fall rebellion against God, morally, sexually, culturally self destructing. How many of you, your parents, and you've got little kids, you're like me, you're a grandparent, you've got little kids, you're14:34 like, what does it look like in 20 years for them? I mean, we're watching the purge. Will they be doing the purge? Like, where where are we going? And how many of you looking forward to the election aren't looking14:46 forward to the election? Amen? Sean and I were talking about it, just before the service. I'm telling you, there's gonna be some increasing birth14:57 pains in this next year. You're gonna see lots of cultural conflict. You're gonna see lots of false prophets. You're gonna see lots of fear and anxiety. You are going to see the oxygen15:09 mask drop on America and the barf bags filled. That's where we're going. It's going to be turbulent. K? The birth pains. Now those who don't know15:20 the lord, they are not doing well. This is actually when you feel the birth pains, but you don't know what is happening. All you do is just endure, and then15:32 you start to break. So let me just tell you how people are doing. First and foremost, mental health is plummeting, especially for younger generations. Here's the, here's the statistics. Teen girls15:44 who persistently felt sad or hopeless increased dramatically from 20 11 to 20 21. That's from the CDC. So we're just following the science here.16:02 And a lot of this was created by COVID and lockdowns and false prophets. And there's rumor of this happening again. Let me just say this in advance. We will not close. We will add16:14 services. We will add services. Number 2, people16:26 are self destructing by self medicating. When you feel the birth pains and you don't know what to do, you just wanna self medicate so you don't feel the pain. Here is the latest research.16:38 I'll read it to you. With US overdoses hitting US overdose deaths hitting a new high in 20 22, a majority of adults have felt the impact of the substance16:50 use of crisis. 2 thirds say either they or a family member have been addicted to alcohol or drugs, experienced homelessness due to addiction, or experienced a drug overdose leading to an emergency room visit,17:02 hospitalization, or death. Mentally, people are breaking younger and younger, and people are self destructing by self medicating. I mean, to me as a dad, this is devastating. I've17:13 got I've got kids. When you're in your teens and your twenties, you should be looking forward to your life and your future. You should be planning a path that you wanna run down. Instead, anxiety, fear, and depression17:25 that leads to self medication, that leads to self destruction. And we live in this stupid day when it's like, let's decriminalize and legalize drugs. Well, then all we have is people who are self destructing, and if we17:37 love them, we know that's not best for them. And our major cities are just filled with people who are tormented and tortured, and they're self medicating and they're self destructing. In addition, people are losing hope17:49 and they're ending their life. Again, here is the, the latest research. This is suicide rates in the United States of America, And what you are seeing is a18:00 record increase in suicide. What these are, these are dear people that God loves but Satan hates. And they're feeling the birth pains, but they don't know the Lord over history. And so they have18:12 fear and anxiety about tomorrow to the degree that they don't want to see it, and they end their life. Now, I don't wanna discourage you, but I want us to18:24 deal with reality. Things aren't going well, and it doesn't seem like they're going to improve anytime soon. How many of you? You sense that?18:36 Yeah. K. So the question is, okay. Well, what do we do? Well, here's here's some good news. Christians endure the same experiences as non Christians. We live in the same world. We experience the same birth pains.18:48 Just give you some lines from first Thessalonians. He says, we've suffered and been shamefully treated. Some of you know exactly what that feels like. He says, we've had much conflict. Some of you are19:00 fully aware of that. Labor and toil every day just feels like an exhausting overwhelming burden to bear. He says, we suffered. Drove us out. He literally19:12 got ran out of town. He says Satan hindered us. Some of you, your life is like walking into a stiff headwind, and Satan and satanic forces and demonic spirits just constantly exhaust you and wear19:24 you out because they're trying to stop you from living in obedience to your God. And he says this line, and I love the fact that he's honest. Paul's 1 of the most significant, brilliant, courageous men in the history of19:36 the world. And here's what he said, we could bear it no longer. He reached a point where he's just like, I just don't know if I could keep doing this. He talks about distress, affliction. He19:48 uses the word grieve, fainthearted, and weak. And so the Christian and the non Christian go through the same experiences, endure the same birth pains. The difference20:00 is the non Christian can only look out, and the result is fear. The Christian can look up, and the result is faith. This is the difference. It's not that we deny the20:12 reality around us, but we acknowledge the greater reality of our God who is over everyone and everything that's around us. K? And and20:24 the good news is the bible tells us that Jesus Christ is alive and well right now. And he's ruling and reigning, and he's seated on a throne, and he's being worshiped by divine beings and departed20:35 saints. And when we sing and pray, heaven and earth get a little closer together, and there's a thin place called the church where the presence of God drops into the people of God as they sing their20:47 praises to God. That's why we sing and pray so that we can have thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As hell is around us, we need heaven to come down upon us. And as we look20:59 up to the Lord Jesus, we realize that he is in control of history, that he has a plan, that he wins in the end. In the meantime, he can walk with us through this life. He can unburden21:11 us. He can heal us. He can direct us. He can love us, and he can protect us. And the result is that we we don't need to have fear. Instead, we can have faith. And the bible says that God hasn't given us a21:23 spirit of fear. Fear literally comes with a demonic spirit. We saw what this looks like a few years ago. The entire planet was gripped by a spirit of fear. People making self destructive, shortsighted decisions. The21:35 number 1 command in the entire bible, the thing that the bible echoes the most is this, fear not. Because every human being, even those of us who know and love Jesus, as we look out,21:47 fear. As we look up, faith. And so we need to find Jesus over it all, and we need to trust Jesus through it all so that we can be part of preparing the way for the21:58 coming of the Lord. What I wanna do now is I just wanna read first Thessalonians 2 1 through 12. Typically, when I teach through a book of the bible, I'll just break and do sections. I just wanna read the22:10 entire thing, and then I wanna share with you what the holy spirit shared with me as I was praying for you this week. Let me just read it, and faith comes by hearing the word of God. So thank you for listening. For22:22 you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming was not in vain. Now there are things in life, it looks like it was a waste of time and energy. But if it was for the Lord, it's never in vain. But22:34 though we had already suffered and been shamely shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our22:46 appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, that's the good news about the death, burial, resurrection, and second22:56 coming of Jesus Christ. So we speak not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God is23:08 witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, that we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you. Like a nursing mother,23:20 back to the birth pain language, taking care of her own children. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but but also our own selves because you have23:32 become very dear to us. You just need to know that's exactly how I feel about this church family. Very dear. You are wonderful people, easy to like, easy to love, easy to23:44 lead. Thank you. For you remember, brothers, our labor, back to the birth pains, language, and toil, we work day and night that we might not be a burden to any of you23:55 while we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses in God also how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how like a father24:07 with his children, we exhorted each of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Let me just summarize this for you.24:19 Paul's talking about enduring the birth pains. That's what he's talking about. The birth pains, he's feeling it and he's sensing it. Sometimes in church, I just feel inclined to say this,24:31 you don't need to pretend. How are you doing? Answer. What's the canned answer? How are you doing? Great. Jesus doesn't need to come back. Like, it's that good. You know? And24:43 and I and I always like it when people say this, you're doing good. Right? Well, yeah. I don't know what to say here. I you you want 1 answer, but that's not true. I'm like, I'm I'm and so24:55 it's okay to not be okay. And then the question is, be honest, and I'm gonna tell you how when you're not okay, you can become okay. And what he suffered he uses the word25:07 here suffered twice. He's suffering mentally. Some of you know what this is like. He says we were shamefully treated and had much conflict. When people25:19 shamefully treat you, they are destroying your reputation. And when you have a lot of conflict, it causes a lot of stress and anxiety. Some of you will avoid conflict at all costs. I don't know what25:31 that's like, but some of you avoid conflict at all costs. Right? Because what you know is mentally, it's just too distressing, and it's overwhelming, and it's exhausting. Paul25:43 is enduring this. In addition, he's suffering physically. The story of the planting of the church at Thessalonica is found in another book of the New Testament called Acts, and it's the acts of the Holy Spirit25:54 through the apostles. And in chapter 17, it says that Paul and, Sylvanus and Timothy, who are mentioned at the beginning of first Thessalonians as coworkers and cowriters of this book, they26:06 enter into the, ancient town of Thessalonica. They meet at the synagogue with the Jewish people, and Paul teaches them the Bible about Jesus who is Jewish and the fulfillment of all the Jewish26:18 prophecies. The Bible says that there was a revival and a bunch of people got saved and they met Jesus. And the result was there was a riot. There was a riot. And what happened was26:30 an angry riotous mob, they wanted to close the church and they wanted to cancel Paul. Cancel culture is nothing new. Ultimately, they wanted to not only cancel Paul, but crucify him. They26:42 wanted him dead. So Paul is in this difficult position where if he stays and they attack, these people that he loves are caught in the crossfire. They could be put to26:54 death perhaps along with their pastor. So he runs. He flees. He leaves town. But now his life is in danger. They want him dead. Ultimately,27:06 Paul is murdered. He is suffering physically. He's also suffering legally. In acts chapter 17, when he planted the church, there was a man named Jason who brought Paul into his house and was a27:18 friend and a generous partner in ministry. Well, the government showed up, and they punished Jason. And he actually had to pay a fine for just supporting the ministry of Paul. What that means is27:30 now Paul has problems with the government. The Roman government, the most powerful authority on the earth after the holy spirit is looking for Paul. Eventually, they have him arrested multiple times,27:41 and history outside of the bible says they had him beheaded. In addition, he was suffering spiritually. Because he obeyed God, he did exactly what God said,27:53 but it appeared like he had failed and lost. That's what it appeared like. God, I went into town. You told me to go. I said what you told me to say, and now I'm being attacked. And now I'm running for28:05 my life. And now I got legal bills I can't afford. And now the headlines are trashing me, and my enemies are celebrating, and the church I planted is suffering. And the people that I love, I can't even be there to28:17 look them in the eye and tell them how precious and dear they are to me. Sometimes you get in trouble for doing the wrong thing. Sometimes you get in trouble for doing the right thing. And28:29 sometimes, you just need to know this, friend. Let me let me just say it this way. As a believer in Jesus Christ, our goal is not winning, it's worshiping. Amen. It's not winning,28:40 it's worshiping. And here, it looks like Paul was losing, but he was worshiping. He did exactly what God had told him to do. My my my28:52 encouragement to you is this. Don't worry about being successful. Focus on being faithful. K? And that's Paul. He lost his29:04 church. He lost his reputation. He lost his platform. He lost his friends, but he was obedient to his God. And when he died, he heard, well done, good and faithful servant. Professionally,29:16 he is suffering. If you read ahead a little bit, in second Thessalonians, the next book that we'll get into next, in chapter 2 verses 1 through 3, Paul says, hey, that other letter you29:28 got, that wasn't from me. So Paul's job, he's a preacher and a teacher and a pastor. He writes books of the bible. That's what he does. He writes at least 13 books of the New Testament. There's 27 books of the29:40 New Testament. He writes at least 13 of them. And there is a book called Hebrews. The name of the author is unknown. Some think it's Paul. If so, that's 14 books of the New Testament. And so29:52 he has the highest credibility and the greatest authority. And what happened was the church sent him a letter with a bunch of questions. So he wrote a letter back because he couldn't be there to answer the questions.30:04 Well, then his critics and enemies heard, well, Paul wrote a letter, and he sent it to the church. We should write a letter, pretend it's from Paul, and send it to the church. This is a this is an ancient deepfake.30:16 This is a this is a Russian dossier. Right? This is fake news. This is an anonymous source. This is all of that false witness and30:28 lying. So they write a letter. They send it to the church. The church would have gotten together as you are. They would have heard, hey. We got we got a second letter from Paul. Now you can assume and presume that30:40 everything in that letter contradicted everything that Paul believed. Now they have a crisis in the church. And now the headline is, Paul has denied the faith.30:52 Oh, everything he wrote, he's deconstructed. He's he's an apostate. He's abandoned. Team Jesus. Here here we have it. He's written an apology for everything he's ever31:04 said and done. It was all a lie. If this is believed, his entire life's work is in jeopardy. Everything that the Holy Spirit gave him to write that has been preserved as the sacred31:16 perfect word of God is at is at risk and jeopardy. In addition, financially, he is suffering. Again, we're just talking about the birth pains. What they said was31:28 Paul came into town, preached, some of you trusted him, he stole all your money, and left town. He's a con man. That's what they said. That's what they said. These are people that31:40 he baptized. These are people that he loved. These are people that he hugged and prayed for and introduced to Jesus. And the poor dear people in the church are thinking, oh my gosh. Our our founding pastor has31:52 denied the faith, and he's he's embezzled a bunch of money. It's a crisis. Did Paul take a dime? No. No. He32:04 didn't. But they lied about him. And so what he says as you read the book, he says right here in this section of, first Thessalonians chapter 2, he says, quote, we work day and night not32:16 to be a burden. What he's like is, we got a full time job and volunteered at the church. We didn't take anything. We gave everything. Everybody needs some good news. Our world is32:27 filled with nothing but bad news. The good news is the Bible tells us not just what happened, but what always happens. And we don't just need to look at the Bible. We can look through it and make perfect and32:39 total sense of this weird, woke world in which we live. I've been preaching God's word for about 30 years, and I wanna let you know that real faith is independent, free,32:51 and a voice that is prophetic in a world that is pathetic. And I wanna thank you for your partnership. We are 100 percent supported by ministry partners like you. You can't cancel us. We33:03 don't have advertisers. We don't have publishers. You can go pound sand because people like you pay the bills. Go to real faith dot com slash donate. Give your best gift and help me keep up the good33:15 fight. And then lastly, he is suffering and feeling the birth pains relationally. To me, this had to be perhaps the most devastating for Paul. What they said was,33:27 do you know why Paul left? Doesn't love you. He's like that deadbeat dad that walked out when you were a little kid, and he never looked back. That's the kind of spiritual father he is.33:40 Paul didn't leave because he disliked the people, but because he deeply loved the people. He knew that if he stayed, the government would come and they would seek to perhaps kill him,33:52 and then they would punish, possibly even kill the Christians who stood with him. As I said last week, this is like somebody pulls a gun and between you and them or your children. You're like, I'm not on34:04 holstering because my kids are in the crossfire. I need to deescalate the situation. And even if it looks like I'm losing, if they're living, then we're winning. But what they told34:16 him was Paul doesn't love you. And so what he tells them throughout the letter, you're very dear to us. We love you. We miss you. I care about you. The language is very fatherly34:28 and very loving. But I'll I'll just say this. If somebody starts a church, it's for 2 reasons. They love God and they love people. That's why. When you start a church, it's a lot of work,34:39 and and it's not a lot of benefit. Like most businesses, 75 to 80 percent of church plants fail. It's about the same percentage as a small34:51 business. The apostle Paul didn't start this church because he was greedy and didn't love people. He worked for free and he sacrificed his own life and he gave them everything he had because he cared very35:03 deeply about them. Couple of life lessons. When a Christian leader is attacked, consider the source. See, we know who Paul35:15 is. We don't know who his critics are. We know that he planted a church. Doesn't seem like they did. People became Christians because of his ministry, not because of their ministry. And 2000 years later, the Holy Spirit35:26 kept his book, but not their book. Right? We're not reading first and second critics. We're reading first and second Thessalonians. To be sure, there are times35:38 that Christian leaders will say and do things that they shouldn't. Sometimes it's true. Sometimes it's kind of true. Sometimes it's not true at all. Be careful not to believe everything you hear. In that35:49 day, the headlines about Paul, they were devastating. Apostate crook running from the law, abandoning his church. Number 2,36:02 sometimes God gets you out of suffering. Most of the time, God gets you through suffering. K? And some of you, you grew up with a a theology in the Holy Spirit that if you just have enough faith36:14 and you pray and you cry and you scream and you claim the promise, the problem will go away. The truth is sometimes the Holy Spirit will get you around the36:25 suffering. Usually, the Holy Spirit will get you through the suffering. And this is what's gonna happen for Paul. His problems don't all get fixed, but his soul does. Things don't36:37 improve around him, but they improve in him. Let me just tell you this, friend. You can't improve around you much of what you experience during the birth pains as we're awaiting36:49 the second coming of Jesus. But the Holy Spirit can improve what's happening in you. In addition, when opposition gets harder, your obedience needs to go deeper.37:01 Paul here is in a season of deeper obedience. And some of you are in a season right now where this is a difficult season for you. What you're facing is something you've never faced. What37:13 you're dealing with is something you've never dealt with. Let me encourage you. You're ready. The reason it hasn't37:24 occurred previously is it would have broken you, not built you. You weren't ready for it. Now God sees that you are at a place that you are going to be strengthened through your37:36 suffering. And what what you previously would have been broken by, you'll now be built by. In addition, give yourself to another37:48 1. Your test is for your testimony. Yes. How many of you wanna have a testimony? K. How many of you don't wanna go through a test to have a testimony? You can't have 1 without the other.38:01 What he says is God tests our hearts. That's what he's talking about. Yeah. And what he's saying is that the test is for his testimony. And here's the here's the difference between a biography and a testimony. The world38:12 tells stories about human life and conquest and victory, and it's biography. And it is, here's what I did, and here's how I did it. A testimony is, here's what God38:24 did, and here's how he did it. The difference between a biography and a testimony is, who's the hero? A biography? I'm the hero. Testimony? God's the hero. And what Paul is going through here38:36 is a test, and it's for his testimony. And and here I've said this before, but I use this analogy a lot. This is my38:48 water bottle for the series. It's Jesus is coming. Look busy. And so I use this analogy a lot, but there's water38:59 in the bottle. What happens when I bump the bottle? What comes out? Out? Whatever's in the bottle. When you get pressure, when you get pushed, when you get pressed, what's in comes out.39:11 Could be bitterness or forgiveness. It could be anger or joy. It could be love or vengeance. And what Paul is saying is all of this pressure and all of this pushingShow more
Mark Driscoll
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