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May 25, 2004
To help pastors of churches pursue their mission of preaching God’s Word, Alistair Begg recounts the apostle Paul’s founding of the Thessalonian church and his ministry to this congregation. In his first letter to the church, Paul insisted that pastors must faithfully teach Scripture and the Gospel. Such men must serve as bold leaders who are still gentle with the truth, even as they pursue integrity so that they can lead Christ’s people.
1For you yourselves know, brothers,1 that our fcoming to you gwas not in vain. 2But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated hat Philippi, as you know, iwe had boldness in our God jto declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much kconflict. 3For lour appeal does not spring from merror or nimpurity or oany attempt to deceive, 4but just as we have been approved by God pto be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not qto please man, but to please God rwho tests our hearts. 5sFor we never came with words of flattery,2 as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—tGod is witness. 6uNor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, vthough we could have made wdemands as xapostles of Christ.
1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to gThessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2And Paul went in, has was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them ifrom the Scriptures, 3jexplaining and proving that it was necessary for kthe Christ to suffer and lto rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” 4And msome of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did na great many of the devout oGreeks and not a few of the leading women. 5pBut the Jews1 qwere jealous, and taking rsome wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. 6And when they could not find them, sthey dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, 7and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against tthe decrees of Caesar, saying that there is uanother king, Jesus.” 8And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. 9And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.
