Sent to know your faith

1Th 3:3  That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
1Th 3:4  For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
1Th 3:5  For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

We are appointed to afflictions.
We will suffer tribulations.

These are facts. The followers of Christ do NOT walk an easy path and if they think they should they haven't read their Bibles. 

Men get it in their head that things ought to be peaceful and wonderful, everyone should get along here and now on earth but our LORD even says this--

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

How do those who cry out for peace explain that verse and the following?

Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

We are NOT going to have it easy, yet many of us do, don't we? Many of us live peaceful lives for the most part and aren't experiencing tribulations.  But we are only a small minority in a huge world and in that huge world there are many countries where being a follower of Christ is very dangerous and anything but peaceful.  Because we aren't personally touched by this we live in a bubble that keeps us from realizing fully that the words of Christ then are still relevant to us today.

When Paul was writing to those who had heard the gospel and had become followers of Christ, born again unto our Savior, He wanted them to know that things wouldn't be easy, and they weren't.

1Th 3:3  That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.
1Th 3:4  For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.
1Th 3:5  For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

He was worried that Satan would sneak in and steal away those who wanted to be Christ's. The tempter- tempting you.  That's what He does best. Satan will tempt us with all sorts of things, in fact anything he can tempt us with in order to steal our faith away. We have to help others who face the tempter, and pray for help for ourselves, because we aren't immune to the trials and tribulations, the temptations that will come and have come to man since sin entered the world.

By the grace of God may we keep our FAITH.  Please LORD, help us, save us, keep us!

Satan hindered us

1Th 2:17  But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
1Th 2:18  Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
1Th 2:19  For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20  For ye are our glory and joy.

But SATAN hindered us.

Was Satan real to the Apostles? Undoubtedly.

Did Satan personally reveal himself to the Apostles and stand in their way, preventing them from getting to those in Thessalonica? I doubt it. But Satan manipulates circumstances using those who are His- both human and fallen angel.  There is a being, an angelic being, albeit fallen, that exists and he is not a fairy tale baddie.   He is real and he confronted Jesus face to face upon earth in the wilderness. Remember?

Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6  And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Mat 4:7  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Does this sound like a fake figment of someone's imagination? If you believe that then you obviously cannot believe in God or Jesus. 

Satan is real.  Jesus was REALLY tempted. He was SPOKEN to by the tempter, He was TAKEN by the devil- physically taken and SET on a pinnacle of the temple. He was then TAKEN physically by devil to an EXCEEDING HIGH MOUNTAIN and then given a VISION by the devil.

This was real and Satan is real. Jesus believed this, He knew Satan from the beginning when Lucifer the son of the morning was created an angel and He knew when Lucifer's heart was lifted up.

Eze 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness

Jesus knew this fallen angel, the father of sin, the created being who chose to disobey, the being who turned his back on love and let self serving begin.  Jesus knew Satan, before He - Jesus -set aside His divinity and took on human flesh becoming Emmanuel, God with us- the Son of God in human form. Jesus knew Satan because Satan was the reason for His consenting to take on humanity. Jesus had to make that ULTIMATE sacrifice because Lucifer sinned.  So, yes, the DEVIL, SATAN, SERPENT, ACCUSER, EVIL ONE, is REAL, a real being, a real entity.

Jesus could come face to face with Him because Satan couldn't trick Jesus, he couldn't deceive Jesus in any way at all. 

Why doesn't Satan appear to us? Because He knows that revealing His true self to us would drive us straight into the arms of our Savior. Satan knows that as long as he keeps up his great façade that people will fall under his deceptive spell. Remember, He didn't appear as himself in the garden of Eden when tempting Eve to sin, he took on the form of a serpent.  Do you suppose if he had confronted her in his angelic form she might have questioned right off why he was speaking contrary to God? That just seeing him would have instilled further in her the need to keep close to God, to obey God?

If Satan appeared to us in his angelic form he could transform himself into an angel of light, right? So it wouldn't be so entirely awful, but there again, it's him TRANSFORMING himself.  If he has to transform himself into something beautiful it stands to reason that he no longer possesses that beautiful form he once held in heaven as one of God's covering cherubim's.

As an angel he can appear invisibly, or take on other forms, we know this, these are facts. With these facts at our disposal why don't we live as if Satan and one-third of the heavenly angels that fell with him are real? Why? Why do we insist upon living as if all the evil in the world is simply that of man's creation and instigation? Why have we regulated Satan's activities as being man's and only man's? Why have we changed the real fact of demon possession into man's madness? Why have we taken all the soothsayers, the witches, the astrologers and  regulated them as mere human kooks? All these things that very real have been twisted into fairy tales and fantasy, and even been made to be desirable, when in truth they are evil and of Satan.  People will tell you they believe in psychics and then go on to say how wonderful they are, honest and loving. Are they telling you the truth, yes. Because we've been conditioned to believe that evil is good, all under Satan's guiding hand. If you try to call evil- evil then you are the one who ends up appearing evil. Picking on that harmless, wonderful, tender hearted, kind, giving, loving person by calling their special gift evil, why that makes you the big baddie.  Do you see how Satan has deceived people and the majority of society? He wants a lot of his minions to be loving, seemingly even God-fearing if it helps, kind, wonderful, the most caring ever, the most selfless people, because if he has them right where he wants them it keeps up the illusion that his evil is good.

When Paul wrote- 'Satan hindered us.'   he meant it! He meant that Satan literally had a hand in keeping them from going to these people. Why didn't He say, it wasn't God's will that we see you at this time? Because Paul knew that the things that were taking place to keep them from visiting were of the evil one.  We can say it still wasn't God's will or it would have happened, but it wasn't God's will that evil exist and it isn't His will that the results of evil are so horrific. We could go all the way back to the beginning if need be and talk about the power of choice being the revelation of love but most of you who have followed my blog know this already, for those of you who haven't followed my blog, well it's all in there.

It's not God's will that innocent children die.  He allows things to happen because to do otherwise is to take the power of choice from existence and that's something He cannot do. We have to trust that all the evil that affects the truly innocent will be ultimately punished in the day of God's wrath.  Do we get to comprehend everything? No, not right now. We see through a glass darkly and everyone knows that looking into a dark glass you can only see so much. But one day we'll see clearly.

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I do know that Satan hindered Paul, as Satan hinders many, many people today- the majority in fact and he does so through masterful deception. All but God's very elect will be deceived. We must pray unceasingly that we are among His elect by HIS amazing grace, by HIS righteousness.  When Satan is hindering us from doing God's work, may our eyes be opened to the reality of the evil One and the power he possesses and wants to use against us, and in seeing this may we fix our eyes upon Jesus getting ever closer to our Savior.

1Th 2:19  For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20  For ye are our glory and joy.

Our hope is to be in the presence of our LORD JESUS CHRIST at HIS coming!
Our hope is for all those we pray for and witness to, will also be in the presence of the LORD JESUS CHRIST at HIS coming as well!
It was Christ's hope, His joy, His glory, His rejoicing that we should be HIS and this is our hope that all are HIS. We can hope, we must hope, and leave the judging to the Righteous Judges- Jesus Christ, and God the Father in heaven.

All by HIS LOVE! His amazing love!

Followers of Christ Jesus

1Th 2:14  For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
1Th 2:15  Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
1Th 2:16  Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

The Jewish people who practice their religion will not dispute the fact that their history proves their rejection of their own prophets.  Go ahead and read their history. They tormented their prophets. They turned their backs on their prophets and over and over they were called by those prophets to repentance. Time and time again they did NOT heed the call to repent and they received the punish for that failure. Were there times when they listened and were spared? Yes.  But the facts are the facts and their history proves that they as a people rejected many of their prophets. So, if that fact is true and something they won't dispute why do they dispute their rejection and their murder of the Lord Jesus? Maybe it's more a rejection of His being the Son of God, of His being God with God, of His being the innocent Lamb. As long as they do not recognize the Sonship and innocence, the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus they don't have to feel guilt for the crime they committed.  Or maybe it's because they had the Romans do their dirty work they feel that their hands are clean. There are many maybes but the facts are the facts, undisputable.  Do we blame the Jewish people today for the crime committed 2000 years ago? We shouldn't, not anymore than we should blame the white people today for their ancestors practicing black slavery.  We shouldn't, not anymore than we should blame all Germans today for their ancestors slaughter of the Jews.  Each and every guilty person will face God in judgment and by the grace of Jesus they will have repented, but if not, they will be punished then for their crimes, their sins. Yet, when this word was written it was still very fresh in the minds of the Christians, the guilt of those who rejected the Savior.  Why was it so fresh? Because all of the Apostles were Jews themselves. They were of those who rejected the Lord Jesus, but they chose to continue on into the new light of the Savior's arrival, the Messiah realized.  This doesn't mean that a lot of their former friends and even family members didn't rejected the truth.

They separated themselves from those they used to worship with and this was a very real happenstance, this is HISTORY.

Reread the above verses-

1Th 2:14  For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
1Th 2:15  Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
1Th 2:16  Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.

Those who accepted the truth of Jews and then of Gentiles will be SAVED.  But those who opposed the truth and tried their utmost to keep others from it will receive the justified wrath of God.

Today we must believe in the TRUTH.
Today the world is filled with LIES.

If any are seeking the truth and meet opposition from others the story will be the same, the very true, the very real story and it won't have a happy ending. 

We cannot stand in the way of truth.

We cannot let others keep us from the truth either.

Many will try to keep us from the truth, maybe not as violently as they do in some countries around the world, but they will.  Many will hold up their false beliefs and demand that we accept them as truth and they'll do it all the while not claiming to be as the Jews and others who deny Christ, but they'll do in in Christ's name.

Narrow is the way, few will find it.

Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

You aren't going to stand with the majority, you can't, not if you are truly following the truth of our Savior.

We have to beware of those today who call themselves spiritual Jews, they too have become corrupt. Not all of those claiming to be spiritual Jews will be God's, anymore than those who are Jews claiming to be God's people are His, when they don't even believe in His Holy Son.

May God keep us in HIS TRUTH no matter what, no matter who!

All by HIS GRACE, all by HIS LOVE!

The Word of God, not the word of men

1Th 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

The word of men and the word of God.

How many people believe the word men?  A lot. We have authorities on everything there is to be an authority on. We have theories proven and unproven and we have people who believe them all just on the say so of the authority of man. If a person says they are an authority on a subject and then reveals document after document, degree after degree proving they've studied all there was to study on that subject, others believe them. They've studied, they've been rewarded for their studying by receiving documents and a lot of them receive a title as well, a doctorate. They can call themselves a doctor of the subject they've intensely studied and mastered the knowledge of.  We get one of these people in our presence and they expound upon the subject they know so much about and we believe the things they are saying. Why wouldn't we believe them? They are learned men or women and have done something we have not, and know so much more than we do. They have the authority now to speak as a knowing one. We don't possess the authority and so we cannot speak as one with that authority. 

Now here we have the apostles who are THANKING God without ceasing- why? Because the people have received the word of God. The people have HEARD the apostles speak but did NOT receive the word of men but the word of GOD. They did not receive the word as being the apostles words, they took the words that they were given and believed them as the WORD of GOD- which is the TRUTH. The WORD of GOD can work effectively in a person when they truly believe the word is GOD'S and not MAN'S.

When you are called to spread the Word of God, to give the gospel to others, you are NOT called to expound on YOUR knowledge.  You are NOT to give YOUR words.  We are not to speak to others in order to have them marvel at our expertise on the Bible. We are to give them the TRUTH in God's Word. The life of the Words. We are giving them GOD'S WORD and He alone is the AUTHORITY on HIS Word, His truths.  We might be charged to speak the words that God has given to us through the Holy Spirit, but we are to never claim those words belong to us.

We don't want people to believe in the Word of God by saying …so and so told me what they believe and now I believe.  We want people to believe in the Word of God by saying I believe what I've been told because it is God's truth, it's a truth that can stand on its own even if the very same person who told me about the Word of God suddenly denies it all.   The Word of God is truth and NOTHING changes that, our belief or unbelief does NOT alter the word of God, it remains.  

Man's words are not filled with truth. You can take a man's words from a hundred years ago and show where they were wrong, their theories disproved in light of another man's more modern theory.  Yet so many people believed everything that man said a hundred years ago and would stake their lives on his words being truth.  We like to call it- truth for the time- meaning it's alterable if time changes things. Yet God's word is NOT truth for a time, it's truth for ever and will never be disproven, never.

Men can try to tear it apart into a million pieces and try to stick their own truths into it but it will remain forever unchanged GOD'S WORD, on GOD'S authority!

1Th 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

People can believe what they want to believe, that's where the freedom of choice comes into play. You can whip someone into submission. You can torture them into acting how you want them to act. You can brainwash a person, we all know this is possible. You can try to and sometimes succeed in taking the power of choice over what a person believes away from them, but ultimately it's that freedom inside each of us to have the thoughts we choose to have that NO ONE can take from us. I don't want to force anyone to believe in anything I have to say, not a single thing. If a person is going to believe in the Word of God it has to be because they believe it truly is GOD'S WORD and not man's. The conviction of God's Word as TRUTH for all is the only conviction we need.  God's truth.  God's Word.

Do we truly believe God's word is of God and not man?  We have to, it is TRUTH.

Believing in the power behind the Word given by God is what will effectively work in us.

There is power in God's word because it has the authority of God Himself, our CREATOR, our REDEEMER, our LOVE, our LIFE ETERNAL.

We must believe in God's Word, not in the men who  preach their own words. A true man of God will guide others to God and God's Word -not to themselves and their words.

May we always and forever believe in the Word of GOD in all His Power, all His Authority!

In HIS LOVE!

Walk worthy of God

1Th 2:7  But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:
1Th 2:8  So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
1Th 2:9  For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
1Th 2:10  Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
1Th 2:11  As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,
1Th 2:12  That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

Gentle- not forceful, not overbearing, not demanding- but gentle, this is how the apostles preached the gospel to people. Were they adamant, perhaps at times. They didn't sugar-coat the truth, they didn't beat people down and sit on them to shove it down their throat. They preached with LOVE, just as JESUS did.

They labored, the travailed as they preached the gospel- their desire for people to KNOW the truth was a deep desire, not something superficial. Their hearts were in their work. They didn't want a single person to miss out on knowing the truth that could lead to their salvation.

The apostles conducted themselves as Jesus would have them. They were LIVING messengers of His word, they were living examples of a live connected to the Savior.

They loved these people they were NOT related to and yet they treated them as a father would treat their children. When you love your children you act responsibly and you deny them things you in your parent wisdom knows could harm them. You try to teach them lessons so that they're prepared for the life they'll one day have to live without them to be their guides. We want our children to be independent and be able to raise their own children to be responsible and so on. We don't tear down our children but we teach.  We don't abuse our children but we discipline.  God, our loving heavenly Father lives the same way with us. His love guides all His actions. 

The apostles wanted people to walk worthy of God- God who has called them to His kingdom and glory.

We are to walk worthy of God because God has called us ALL to His Kingdom and His Glory.

We are NOT to walk as those who have no hope in them. We are NOT to walk content to flaunt our sinful ways. Maybe we do have sins that easily beset us, but those sins aren't something to be proud of, something to show off, something to commit as if they weren't deadly to us.  We do not walk worthy if we relish our sins. We do not walk worthy if we are not striving against sin.

Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

We do not walk worthy if we take the love of God and ignore it, if we fail to live with that love as a reality in our lives.

All by the grace of God we live, we love.

God is witness

1Th 2:5  For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:
1Th 2:6  Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.

Flattering words.
Cloke of covetousness.

Flattery is pretty lying. Flattery is putting fancy clothes on a skeleton. Flattery serves NO purpose other than to create an atmosphere of untruths. The liar knows they are lying, the one being lied to may be deceived or allowing the lies because in all their horrid untruth they bring some strange comfort. We've all used flattery even if unintentional, and we've all been victims of a flatterer. The truth distorted becomes a lie and a lie is evil no matter how gorgeous that lie is, no matter how soothing that lie is, no matter how amazing that lie is. We call evil good and good evil.

Isa 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Flattery is evil and not using flattery is a good thing. If we use flattery then we are using lies.  People will say the end justifies the means, but that is us calling evil good, we've made an art of doing so. We can do it all we want, we can lie and call our lies truths but that will NEVER make them truths, never. Pretty lies are pretty evils and the most gorgeous of unrepented, unforgiven evils will still deserve death.

A cloke of covetousness.

A garment of intense desire to have what another haves to the point of letting it consume your life. Letting the desire for an object to be your god in place of GOD. Letting that THING be your all in all. The apostles did NOT use a covering of idolatry in their work. They did NOT let ANYTHING other than the desire to do God's will, overcome them. They kept God FIRST in all they did and GOD was their witness.

God is OUR witness too.

God witnesses our lives in all its aspects, nothing is hid from Him.

If we seek glory from others, He knows.

God knows us and we can pretend He doesn't even exist and live accordingly if that's what we desire, but the truth is the truth. God knows our hearts, God tries our hearts.

All we can do is pray for the righteousness of Christ to cover all our unrighteousness.

Maybe we can't say that we aren't prone to using flattery, or being caught up in covetousness, but we have to be able to say that we are sinners and in need of a Savior, a Redeemer,  someone to forgive us and create a cleanness in us that we cannot create ourselves.

We need to listen to the Gospel and we need to share the Gospel all as our LORD directs us knowing God is our witness.

God's love tries our hearts all through LOVE.

We hear about tough love as if it's something new but it's as old as time. Love allows trials and tribulations all geared to created a person that is more dependent upon God than anything else. Love allows these upsets and horrors with the ultimate desire for faith to be realize in its fullness.

As our worlds come down around our heads and we lose everything we are tempted to hold dear, we have to holdfast to the one thing that means everything, God. We can't pretend to even begin to comprehend all the whys and the wherefores, we have to believe our God is in control even if it means our death.

By the grace of God may we NOT use flattery, or consent to being flattered. By the grace of God may we NOT use a cloak of covetousness in our lives. 

May we live through HIS strength and not our own, trusting in HIM for all things!

All by HIS grace and mercy, through HIS LOVE!

Allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel

1Th 2:3  For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1Th 2:4  But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

When we speak of God do we concern ourselves with whether or not we are saying things that are pleasing to our listeners?  Is it our intention to be pleasing to them? Is our objective to be men pleasers?  Seriously, is this our desire, to be pleasing to others? How many of us strive to please others?  Not the pleasing that comes from loving someone, but the pleasing that makes us feel good about ourselves, is this the sort of pleasing we are into? Doing good to look good to others, so they think we are good, is this the sort of life we lead?  When we get all caught up in trying to please OURSELVES through the accolades of others we've lost sight of the ONLY one we are to truly please.  We KNOW that we cannot do anything falsely to please God. While our fellow man might not be able to see through our selfish desire to gain their good graces, God sees through any and all subterfuge we dare to attempt towards Him. 

We must LIVE not to PLEASE our fellowman, but to PLEASE GOD, to do what is pleasing in His sight with the CLEAN heart that ONLY HE can give to us.

The apostles here is talking about witnessing to other of the gospel of Peace, of salvation found in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. When they speak they used NOT deceit! When they speak they use NO unclean, sinful lying words. When they speak they used NOT guile, no untruth crossed their lips.

God ENTRUSTED them with the gospel, with HIS TRUTH and that is the ONLY TRUTH They speak.  They didn't care if the men listening liked what they were saying. They didn't try to sugar-coat their message in order to make those listening happy.  They didn't go to the gentiles and start making up stories filled with pagan deities in order to garner their attention. They did NOT do a single thing to compromise the TRUTH of God! Those listeners might have wanted to hear how they could find eternal life through their own favored gods; they may have wanted to hear that they just had to work hard and be good to be saved.  Many people want to hear pleasing things, we call it natural and it is to our flesh nature. To hear that none of their former gods could save them eternally; to hear that they can't possibly work to save themselves wouldn't be pleasing but the apostles didn't care because the truth given to them by God demanded that they adhere to the truth and only then could they please God. Lies DO NOT please God. When we speak to please men rather than God we can succeed, but not eternally.

Does this mean God wants us to be bullies? Does this mean God wants us to force feed people His word? Does this mean we have to be nasty in any way in order to get our Savior's truth across? No. Can you imagine Jesus acting that way? Seriously, can you?  Don't say, 'Well, I'm not Jesus.', because even though that is true, we are to follow HIS EXAMPLE! Speak the truth! Speak it plainly! If people do NOT want to hear the truth then you keep on going, you keep on preaching to others. If NONE want to hear it, you just keep on living your life as our Savior would want you to live it- IN LOVE- NEVER in constant anger, constant malice, constant upset, constant bickering, constant animosity.  Our ACTIONS truly can speak louder than ANY words we might feel we have to speak. 

1Th 2:3  For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1Th 2:4  But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

We are allowed of God - to be put in TRUST with the gospel.

Amazing, so incredibly amazing! We are entrusted with something so wondrous! Please God help us to spread YOUR word as YOU would have us, not as we would have it. PLEASE LORD, please let us speak YOUR GOSPEL, YOUR TRUTH that YOU have trusted us with!

HELP US to PLEASE YOU, not people! 

YOU FATHER GOD, YOU try our HEARTS, try them o' LORD, try them, purify them with YOUR LOVE.

More tomorrow all by the GRACE of GOD!

IN HIS LOVE!