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Unstoppable: Would Paul Be Thankful for You?
March 5, 2024 · 30 min
Pastor John Mark explores why Paul is grateful for the Thessalonian church and discusses how these reasons are important examples to follow for believers and churches today.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton March 5, 2024 · 30 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
Pastor John Mark explores why Paul is grateful for the Thessalonian church and discusses how these reasons are important examples to follow for believers and churches today. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor John Mark explores why Paul is grateful for the Thessalonian church and discusses how these reasons are important examples to follow for believers and churches today.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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The Unstoppable Church 0:00 Man, it is a blessing to be with, God's people and we're actually gonna talk about that today as we look, back to, the book of first Thessalonians. If you have your Bible, go back there. First Thessalonians chapter 2,0:12 where Paul begins to talk about how thankful he is for that church in Thessalonica, and he gives us some clear reasons. And what we want to do is be sure that we are that kind of church. If you are new here,0:24 in person or online, we started a series, brand new series at the beginning of 20 24 entitled Unstoppable. That as believers, as followers of Christ, as a church, and in our0:35 ministry, is that everything we do, we want to make sure biblically that we are unstoppable. And so we looked at this church in Thessalonica that Paul and, Silas and others0:47 planted on his second missionary journey. And it was a church that was filled, with a bunch of Jews, Hellenistic Jews, Greeks, Gentiles. It was kind of a crazy collection of people. That's kind0:59 of us. Right? Everybody say amen. It's a crazy collection of people from different spaces and different backgrounds, different religious backgrounds even that God put together and knit together and they1:11 truly became an unstoppable church. That church there in Thessalonica in Greece, was absolutely killing it. And so Paul tells them1:23 in first Peter, first Thessalonians, chapter 2, he kind of tells them first of all what he's thankful for. Pick it up. Let's look at verse 6 of chapter 1 first. He says, you became talking about this church,1:35 this crazy collection of people. He says, you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of, listen to this, severe1:46 suffering, but with great joy given by the Holy Spirit, and so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Now, just in that1:58 verse, you'll see 3 thoughts, and we've looked at these over the last couple of weeks, 2 of them. We're gonna look at the third thought today. First thing he said is you became a model church for other2:10 churches to follow. And, if you missed that message, go back. You can find it online. We looked at really what it meant to be a model church. And Paul just laid it out for them in first Thessalonians2:22 chapter 1. He says, man, a a model church does this, it does this, it does this, it does this. And so go look at that sermon. Then the next thing he said, and we looked at this a couple of weeks ago, he says, you2:33 became imitators of us as we imitated Christ. And we talked about what that looked like. But notice what he says today. He says right in the middle of that2:45 verse, he says, you received the message in the midst of severe suffering. That what we're gonna notice about that church and and and like many2:57 other churches, is culture didn't like what God was doing in that church in Thessalonica. And it shouldn't shock us today that the culture doesn't3:09 always like the message of the gospel and what churches do even this day. But Paul says, that church even though they were persecuted, even though they went through extreme suffering, he3:20 says they did not shrink back from receiving the message. And so as a church and as a congregation of believers, that's the way we want to be regardless of what is going on in culture, in life, in in our lives,Longing for Fellowship 3:32 in politics, whatever, We always want to receive the message. Whatever it is, sometimes it's going to be hard. God's word sometimes can be very clear. Don't do this, do this, shy3:44 away from this. Sometimes God's word is going to be encouraging to us regardless of what it is, We want to make sure that we simply receive it. And then what happened is Paul and Silas and others, they got run out of3:56 town. They had to go on about their business. They, went out planting churches in other places, but Paul writes back to them. He says, I love you and4:07 I long to be back with you and I miss you greatly. Jump up to first Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 17. This is Paul kind of expressing his love for them. Here's what he says in verse4:19 17. He says, but brothers and sisters, and let me let me just stop you right there. If you've been with us over the last couple of weeks, how many of you have ever heard the church referred to as the family of God?4:31 Alright. It's that is who we are. That is what we are about. I focused a little bit on this last week but I want you to know if you look, Paul now says there brothers and sisters. If you look4:43 elsewhere in this passage, in this book, Paul says I treated you like a father does his young children. I cared for you like a mother nurses her baby. He4:55 said, you are like brothers and sisters to me. Here in a few seconds he's gonna say, and when I'm not with you, it's like I've been orphaned. You know, I love this whole family mentality of the church. It5:07 doesn't matter how small we are or how big we are, we are a family of believers. Man, and that's what Paul says. He says, brothers and sisters, I long to be you be with you. I miss5:19 you so much. And so, let's read on. He says, but brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time, notice this, he says in person5:31 but not in thought. He goes, listen, we were driven out of town. We were run out of town. He says, so I was felt like I was an orphan. What is an orphan? Someone who is somehow, someway, usually in a5:43 very difficult circumstance, orphaned from their mom and dad. Paul says, that's what it's like for me. When I am not with God's people, he says, I feel like an orphan. But notice what he5:55 says, by being separated from you for a short time in person, but never in thought. He says, out of an intense longing,6:07 that that's a heart to be with God's people. We made every effort to see you. He says, man, I wanted to be there. And child of God, if you just read this and if we6:19 think of Paul's example for us, man, we want to have an intense longing to be with God's people. Man, you you you just hearing you worship and and studying God's6:30 word today and clap and celebrate. What we're gonna see here in a few seconds, after both services and baptisms and even after the last service, another baptism. We're gonna celebrate. Child of6:42 God, Paul says there needs to be a longing in our heart to be back with God's people. In other words, when we worship today, and we celebrate today, and we see the baptisms today, and if you go up to life6:54 group today, man, and then all of a sudden you're gonna be released to leave. There ought to be a longing in your heart that starts to grow. Sunday afternoon, say, I can't wait for worship. Monday, it grows a little more7:06 and say, man, I just can't be back wait to be back with my people. Tuesday, by Wednesday, you ought to be begging to be in God's house. Alright? And by the time you roll into Saturday night, there are to be such a hunger7:17 to be back with God's people to say, man, I've got to get back with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I feel orphaned this week because I am not with them. And I love what Paul says, we made every effort7:30 to be with you. Child of God, don't let a little difficulty keep you from coming to church on Sundays or coming to church on Saturday night. A little hardship.7:42 Man, Paul says we made every effort. We're gonna see something else. Notice what he says, for we wanted to come to you, certainly I Paul did, again and7:53 again, but listen to these words, but Satan blocked our way. Let me ask you a question. What do you think of when you think of Satan? I just did some Google images. I got some actualThe Reality of Spiritual Warfare 8:05 pictures of Satan. These were when he was in kids, when he was in, he was in elementary school. These were all of his pictures. I don't know if you think Satan is real or not, but can I tell8:17 you? Satan is real. How many of you know that? And let me tell you what, Paul, the Apostle Paul who loved God said, I desire greatly, I long8:29 greatly to be back with you, but Satan hindered my path. You say, pastor, how did Satan hinder his path? I'll tell you that here in a second, but first of all, I8:41 also want to talk to us about 5 ways I think God allows Satan to hinder us along the way. But start with this, you might wanna write this word down. The Greek word for the8:52 devil, or Satan, is diabolos. Anybody hear the English word diabolical? In other words, he's always strategizing9:05 to keep you from getting with God's people and being who God wants you to be. And when you think of that word diabolical, that also means that he's not always gonna do it the same way9:17 every time. That he's gonna come at you in different ways. Sometimes he will come at the dad or the mom or the son or the daughter or the kids or through the work and through circumstances. I I kinda think if you look9:28 through God's word, you'll see 5 major ways that Satan really comes after God's people. Number 1, through circumstances. Paul actually says right here in this passage, that listen,9:40 I've done everything I could to get back to you, but circumstances just wouldn't allow it. Every chance I had, at every turn, Satan put a a a9:52 wall or a barrier between me and you. So sometimes there are circumstances in your life and in my life that Satan will use just to keep us from being with those that God10:04 wants us to be with and be where God wants us to be. I think there's a second time second way. See this throughout God's word. Sometimes Satan, he'll just twist God's word on you. How many of you know that?10:17 He'll just twist it on you. Go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God's created everything. It was good, it was good, it was good. He created Adam and Eve, and then all of a sudden Satan shows up. Remember what10:27 Satan said? Satan shows up to Eve and says, did God really say that you can't eat fruit from any of the trees in the garden? What did Satan do? He twisted God's word. And10:38 then Eve actually responded correctly and said, no, no, no, no. God said we can't eat up that tree. So then he twists God's word again. He goes, well now you know why he doesn't want you to eat that tree, because the10:50 moment you eat that tree, you're gonna be just like God. And what happened? She fell in sin. So child of God, that's why it's so important that we would study God's word so that in those11:02 moments, in those seasons, perhaps when a false teacher or someone else begins to twist God's word, we'd say, woah, woah. That is not what God's word says.11:13 Sometimes Satan, you can look this in God's word, comes at us and hinders us in the form of people. Sometimes there will just be people and you see this in Paul's ministry and Paul's life. There were11:25 people who just were constantly looking to persecute Paul, to drive him out of town, to run him out of town. And so sometimes Satan will send people that will constantly11:37 attack you. Sometimes Satan will send people that are wolves in sheep's clothing. How many of us understand that? That they'll come into you and act like they really love you and they care about you11:49 and then all of a sudden, you see the things. Sometimes, Satan doesn't play around. He just flat out, Jesus says, will come12:01 to steal, kill, and destroy. In other words, he's not playing around. What did Peter say? Sometimes Satan is like a roaring12:12 lion looking for someone to not playing around. See, there are times that that that Satan will subtly twist God's word.12:24 There are times that Satan will throw some circumstances in your way. There are times that that that Satan will come to you in the form of a of a person who attacks you or someone that acts like a sheep, or whether12:36 eventually you find out they're wolves. There are other times he's coming straight at you. He's coming straight at your finances, your family. He'll come straight at your kids, your parents. Man, what does he want to do?12:47 He wants to look for someone to devour. Remember in the old testament a guy named Job? Job had everything. Remember what happened? Satan says, I12:59 wanna go after him. His family, his finances, his career, and his health. And just flat out went13:11 after him. I think there's a fifth way when you look in God's word and we see it even in our own day. I think sometimes Satan comes after us by creating false narratives in our own mind.13:24 Anybody ever struggle with doubt in your life? Anybody have something in your past? Anybody in here perhaps sitting right here that Satan is playing a false13:35 narrative in your mind right now? If everybody around me knew, they wouldn't love me. Or can God forgive me again?13:49 See, Satan will throw some false narratives at you at you and if you don't surround yourself with God's people, you'll begin to believe the lies of Satan. But Jesus called out14:00 Satan. He said, don't ever listen to him because he's flat out a liar. Now, we also win God's way and with wisdom, we wanna navigate,14:12 decisions we make in our life because not every bad circumstance is Satan. Not not every difficult person that comes in our life is from Satan. Sometimes we've got to14:24 be honest that we're in a bad circumstance or bad situation because I've made bad decisions. And that's where we let God's word inform us. So we want to be very clear that when we look back and think, man, what is going14:36 on in my life? Is it Satan attacking me? Is it attacking my family, my person? Or have I made some bad decisions along the way? There are times that Satan will bring our bring14:48 something our way that we would love to get rid of. But God wants to use it for his divine purpose. You say like what? How many of you remember from second Chronicles chapter 12? Paul's torn in the flesh.14:59 Remember? Paul is taken up, he goes up into heaven, gets a very incredible vision from God and then all of a sudden it says, Satan buffeted him in his body by giving him a thorn in the flesh. What was15:11 Paul's immediate response? God, take it out. Says he prayed not once, not twice, but 3 times that God would remove the thorn in the flesh. And15:22 remember what God said, no, no. I'm gonna leave it there to keep you humble so you can serve me. So so, child of God, listen. We wanna step back and understand there are times that Satan will15:34 attack us. He is real, he is diabolical, he's gonna come at your weakness in your moment. There are times he's gonna put a thorn in your flesh that you're going to beg God to take away. But, God's going to look at you15:45 from time to time and say, nope. I'm going to leave the thorn there because I have a divine purpose for it in your future. So, don't ever be afraid of Satan. But we15:56 also want to be aware of him. And the key is to grow in maturity in our faith. And that's what Paul talks about with, the Thessalonians. He says, listen. You becameThankfulness for Salvation and Scripture 16:14 say, pastor, what was Paul so thankful about this church who received the message in the midst of severe suffering that they were imitators of him and imitators of Christ at their model church. Here's number 1.16:26 Write this down. Open your app. Is first thing Paul was thankful for is because of their salvation. Because of their salvation. Pick it up in verse 13. Let's let me just read it to you16:38 and I'll I'll show it to you. There's some key words in here. He goes, and we also there's that word thank God continually because when you received the word of God,16:50 which you heard from us, you accepted it. Here's what Paul is saying. Simply going to church doesn't make you a Christian. How many of us know that? No more than walking17:02 into your garage makes you a car. We need to understand that just coming to church doesn't make us a Christian. And so what does Paul say? He uses a couple of words here in verse 13. First word is this,17:14 he says you received it. That word receive has the idea of when we came to town preaching, you listened to the message. You didn't tune us out, you listened to the message. You didn't doze17:26 off, you heard the message. But then notice, he says, after you heard the message, he says, you accepted it. That means embraced it. So I heard it, then I embraced it. And17:37 we're gonna see at the bottom of verse 13, he says, and then you believed it. So the first thing he's thankful for is their salvation. Let me ask you a question. If Paul was preaching here instead of me,17:50 would he be grateful for your salvation? That you heard the message, you embrace the message, and you believe the message. Not just did you come to18:02 church, has there come that moment in time in your life where you've trusted Jesus Christ as savior and lord? That you've stopped trusting yourself and you've begun to completely18:14 and totally rely on Jesus Christ. See, that's salvation. Man, faith is this idea. I forget all else and trust18:27 him. I forget everything else and I trust him. In other words, regardless how good you are, you don't think you're good enough to get to heaven. The bible says, for by grace you have been saved through faith.18:39 That not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works. None of us can earn it. So maybe you're sitting in here and Satan is having to is pouring a false narrative in your mind going, yeah, but all these18:51 people in here are pretty good, and I'm probably the worst of the lot. If that's the narrative going on in your mind, let me give you a better narrative or a different narrative. It doesn't matter how good19:03 the best person in this room is, you are still not good enough to earn your salvation apart from Jesus Christ. Do we understand that? That's where faith comes in. God looked at us and loved us so19:14 much that he sent his 1 and only son. That whoever believes in him would not perish, but would have everlasting life. So the question for you is has there come19:26 that point in time, that moment in your life where you've trusted Jesus Christ as savior and lord? If so, Paul is grateful for your salvation. Here's number 2. They had a high view of scripture.19:39 Man, I love what he says. Just continue to read verse 13. He says, you received the word of God and you accepted it, but how did they accept it? Not as a human word,19:50 but as it actually is the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. Man, I love what Paul says. He says, listen, you20:02 receive the word, not as just a human word, not as just a pastor's opinion, not even of Paul's opinion. He says, but you accept in the Bible the word of God, scripture,20:15 as it truly is, as these were the word of God. Those 66 books written over 1600 years by 40 different20:27 authors on 3 different continents in 3 different languages with 1 purpose, to demonstrate the love of God for all mankind and his willingness to love us so20:38 much that he would send his 1 and only son. And as such, he says you received it, you accepted it, and you allow it to lead you even in the midst of twists and turns in life.20:51 And so, child of God, that's 1 of the things that we are always gonna do at our church, is that we're gonna hold a high view of scripture. It's not my word, it is God's21:03 word. Paul says it's not even Paul's word, it's ultimately God's word. And as such, it will lead us, it will direct us, it will instruct us, and ultimately,21:16 the more we live our lives in accordance with God's word, the more we will flourish. The more we will benefit from God's goodness and God's grace. I love what Paul21:27 said talking to the young Timothy. He says this, he says, but as for you, Timothy, continue in what you have learned to become convinced of because you know that though,21:40 you know those who you learned it from. Now notice what he says, and how from infancy you have known the holy scripture. If you're a mom and dad and you're a soon to be mom and dad and you're man, I wanna encourage21:52 you. Man, get your kids in God's word. Get them in our in our ministry here so they can learn it. He says, from holy scriptures from infancy, which you are able to make you wise for22:03 salvation through, here's that word again, faith in Christ Jesus. Notice what it says in verse 16. For all scripture, not some of it, not the parts I like,22:15 not the parts a culture accepts, he says all scripture is what God breed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in22:27 righteousness. What do we want? A lot of times people wanna wanna just carve out the parts of the Bible that they really like. How many of you know and would agree with this, that when I there are certain22:39 parts of the Bible that I read that I just love those. They make me feel good. How many of you know there's some feel good parts in the Bible? And you know what? A lot of people just wanna stick with22:51 those. But Paul says what? No. All scriptures God breathed, even the rebuking part. Even the correcting part.23:03 Even in the training and righteousness part. So the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So child of God, we need to understand, man. Paul says,23:15 I'm thankful for you for your salvation that you have a high view of scripture because you let scripture lead you, direct you. You let it speak to you. Sometimes it's gonna pat you on the back. Sometimes it's gonna kick23:27 you in the right? That's what scripture's gonna do to us. Sometimes they're gonna go, no. You're going this way. You're not going that way. There's sometimes I'm gonna begin to shrink back and23:39 God's gonna go, no. No. No. No. We're not gonna back away because this is what my word says. Right? That we wanna be careful as a church that if23:51 culture begins to beat the drum, that we don't back away from God's word. Why? Because it is ultimately truth and it's all God breathed.Perseverance Amidst Opposition 24:03 I I love what this says. Go look what the psalmist says, Psalm 1 19 verse 1 0 5. He says, Lord, your word is a lamp for my feet24:15 and a light on my path. And maybe there's someone in here that you feel like you're walking in dark seasons, dark days, hard days in your life.24:27 Maybe it's personally, maybe it's, emotionally, maybe it's with some addiction, maybe it's, with family, maybe it's relationships. I don't know. Man, just step back and say, your word,24:39 God, is a lamp for my feet. When do we need a lamp? When it's dark. Maybe you're 1 of those seasons where life is just dark. It is difficulty.24:51 If it is difficult, man, are you reading God's word every day? Are you listening to God's word every day? Are you becoming, kind of person that says, I long be with God's people each and25:03 every week? Man, we wanna have a high view of scripture and never back away. Here's number 3. You look at it. They were willing to walk their faith25:15 and live their faith in the midst of strong opposition. Go back and notice, pick it up in verse 14. He says, for you, brothers and sisters, back to the family idea, became imitators of God and the25:27 churches in Judea, which were in Christ Jesus. He says, you suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews. Now here it is. Who was the who25:39 was inflicting the suffering? In Thessalonica, it was the Gentiles. In Jerusalem, it was the Jews. It was all of us. There's always gonna be times where people come against us. He goes, who killed the Lord Jesus Christ25:49 and the prophets and also drove us out. What is he saying? If you find yourself facing opposition, he says, welcome to the club. He says, they did it to26:01 the old testament prophets. Now, when the old testament prophet would show up and begin to preach repentance, they would run them out of town. When he show up to the king and tell the king to repent, the king would kill26:11 them. The Old Testament prophets experienced difficulties. Why? Because people wanna do what they wanna do. He says, not only that, come to the New Testament. Jesus himself, who was God's 1 and26:23 only son showed up and he was what? Persecuted even to the point of death, which is death on a cross. Paul says, what about me? Paul says, at 1 point, I persecuted26:35 the church, then I got saved and I became, what? Persecuted by those who rejected the church. He says, don't ever be shocked. Don't ever26:47 think persecution of the believer is uncommon. It started in the old testament. It's going through all the Bible. It started in the new testament. It continued on. Jesus himself, he's our ultimate example.26:59 So as you think about persecution, hardship, difficulty that might come our way, man, don't ever forget. A lot of times people think Christianity is a playground.27:11 Don't be shocked when your Christianity becomes a battleground. That is not all fun and games. I I love what Paul said in, second this in second Timothy chapter 3 verse 12. He says,27:23 in fact, everyone everybody say everyone. Everybody say, that's all of us. Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus27:35 will be You wanna live it according to God's word? You wanna talk about it? You're gonna be persecuted. Christianity is not always a27:47 playground. Sometimes it's a battleground. Sometimes we need to show up ready to fight. Fight for our families, fight for our kids, fight for our church, fight for our community, and fight for our27:59 country. There are times we need to understand that if you want to live a godly life, there are gonna be people in this world that don't like it. Chief of all is Satan,28:11 who would love to throw circumstances and hardships and difficulties your way, man, so you will back away. We gotta close here because we've got some baptisms, because they were his28:23 glory and joy. So let's church, just listen to this. Paul says, for what is our hope and28:35 our joy are the crown in which we will glory in in the presence of our lord Jesus Christ when he comes? He asked a rhetorical question. He says, is it not you? Indeed,28:47 you are our glory and our joy. Here's the idea. This is where we're gonna close. By the28:59 way, everybody else just start getting ready. If you're you're gonna be a baptism candidate, begin to make your way down here. Come on staff, let's go. I've got a point to make. Alright? While they make their way down29:10 here, I want you to hear what he's saying. Alright? Come on get make your way down here. Paul is saying, I am over here. I have longed to get back to29:21 you. I hunger because you are my glory, you are my pride, and you are my joy. But he says, when we get to heaven, if I don't see you before29:33 then, you are the glory. And then I love what Paul says, and you're over here. You want me to come. You can't wait for me to come, but you're on your way to heaven as well. So here's the29:45 point. He says, listen. While we are down here, we don't shrink back from the call. But when we get to heaven, Paul says, I'm gonna look across30:02 crown. Church, let's be that kind of church. But more importantly, who do you put your joy in? And who is your crown?30:14 Who are you gonna invite to church with you next week? Because that's ultimately what really matters, Paul says.In this video 0:00 The Unstoppable Church3:24 Longing for Fellowship7:59 The Reality of Spiritual Warfare16:08 Thankfulness for Salvation and Scripture24:02 Perseverance Amidst Opposition
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