Sermon text: I Thessalonians 5:1-11

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This morning we are going to take a look at a passage in 1 Thessalonians. We will look at the beginning of chapter 5, which is primarily about the end of the world, particularly when Jesus will return again.

In the Bible we have two of Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. They are written to a predominantly Gentile church of new converts. Part of the purpose of 1 Thessalonians is to comfort and motivate the believers there with the truth of the Lord's sure return. So the primary issue that Paul emphasis throughout is that of the second coming of Christ.

The city of Thessaloniki still exists today. In fact it is one of the few cities from the New Testament times that still exists. Thessalonica was a very important city in biblical times. Its main street was a part of the very road which linked Rome with the East. Trade poured into the city from east and west. It is impossible to overstress the importance of the arrival of Christianity in Thessalonica. If Christianity was established there, it was bound to spread east along the Egnatian Road until all Asia was conquered, and west until it stormed even the city of Rome.

Sermon text: Acts 26:9-18

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Our passage this morning is about Paul and particularly what happened to him when he was arrested for preaching about the resurrection of Jesus and that Jesus was the Messiah that the Jewish people had been waiting for.

Paul has really upset the Jewish authorities of his day and they are doing whatever they can do to stop him from talking about Jesus. In Acts 21 a mob of people attempted to lynch Paul. They were responding to suggestions that Paul was attacking the fundamental symbols of Jewish national solidarity, the people, the law and the temple. One follower of Christ, Stephen, has already been stoned to death in Acts 7 . . . and Paul is now being treated the same way.

The mob is particularly upset that Paul may have brought Gentiles (non-Jews) into the temple, thereby making it unclean according to their laws. They were looking for reasons to accuse him because they did not like a lot he was saying. In Acts 21, it says that some Jews had seen had seen Paul hanging out with a guy named Trophimus and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple. And for the Jews, the temple rules were a big deal and there were certain parts of the temple that only Jews were to have access to.

Sermon text: Acts 10:1-11:18

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I like to people watch.  And often as I sit in some public place and just watch people I like to ask myself what Christianity has to offer various people. 

So I see a guy sitting on a bench waiting for a bus.  He looks pretty worn.  His pants have holes in them and he is holding a brown bag with a bottle in it.  Some kids walk by him and they stare, but they don’t make eye contact.  Then they laugh with each other after they have passed.

Or I see a couple sitting together having dinner and by all estimates they look happy, they have nice clothes, their kids are cute and not screaming more than would be expected.  I watch as they go outside and get into their nice vehicle and drive away content.

Or the other day in the bank while I was waiting to speak with someone I watched a middle-aged man in a nice suit talk with other employees of the bank.  He was confident and firm, yet still kind and easy to listen to.