Shabbat Shalom! Today we're going to start the study of the book of 1st Thessalonians. And just to have an introduction to the book today, to give us a little bit of background to the book of 1st Thessalonians, to the letter that Shaul Paul wrote to the Thessalonians many years ago, about 51-52 AD, when Shaul wrote that letter of concern to the brothers and sisters in a local assembly in the city of Thessalonica. It's called today Thessaloniki in Hebrew, or Thessalonica, but in the scripture it's called Thessalonica. So please turn with me to 1st Thessalonians, chapter 1. I would like to deal with this for today, the first three verses, and I will connect this with Acts, chapter 17, where the apostle Paul, Shaul, went to visit that city.

So turn with me, 1st Thessalonians, chapter 1, and I'm reading the first three verses by way of introduction. And we read, Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, or Timothy, unto the assembly of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah. Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus the Messiah. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, in the sight of God and our Father.

Now just put a finger here, and turn with me to the book of Acts, and chapter 17. And I would like to read the passage there, the first nine verses of Acts, chapter 17. And I'm reading from verse 1. Now when they had passed through Ampipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Shabbat days risen with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Messiah must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Yeshua, Jesus, whom I preached unto you is Christ, is Mashiach. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.

But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, "Crying these, that have turned the world upside down, are come he there also, whom Jason has received. And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus, one Yeshua. And they troubled the people, and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.

And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go." And I'm pausing here with the reading. I read 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3, and Acts 17:1-9. Beloved brothers and sisters, in the study of the book of 1 Thessalonians, immediately come to my mind the verse that was said by Yeshua himself many years ago to the disciples in the city of Jerusalem, in the city of Jerusalem. He said to them in Acts 1:8, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utmost parts of the earth." That was the word of Yeshua the Messiah after his resurrection and before his ascension.

That the Gospel message will begin from the city of Jerusalem, and that those early Hebrew Christian Messianic Jews, Yehudim Meshichiyim, will preach the Gospel, and they're going to be his witnesses beginning in Jerusalem, later on in Yehuda, Judah, later on in Samaria, and ultimately unto the uttermost parts of this earth, including the city of Thessalonica. And so we find out how true it is that here we have a letter that was written by Shaul Paul, a Jewish believer, that he in the beginning of his life persecuted the Jewish brethren, the Hebrew Christians, and he later on saw a vision of Yeshua the Messiah, saw that miraculous vision of Yeshua the Messiah who said to him, Shaul, Shaul, Saul, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

And then Paul have accepted that Jesus is the Messiah, and he was used by the Lord to be the apostle to the goyim, to the Gentile world. And here as we study the book of 1 Thessalonians, immediately we want to ask the question: Who is the author of that book? Who wrote that letter that we have here before us? Well, we saw very clearly from what we just read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 1. It began with Paul. But Paul doesn't only take this for himself to say that I am, you know, some sort of a superior individual. He was an apostle. He was shaliach, we call him in Hebrew.

He was a messenger of the Lord, but he always used to serve with others, that he took them as companions with him. As Silvanus and Timothy were those two that served with him. And Paul took along Silas and Timothy. This word for Silvanus is really applied to Silas. And he took Silas and Timothy, and together they ministered wherever they have gone, in many places in Asia Minor. But here the apostle Paul includes in this letter Silas, Silvanus, and Timothy. He is the author, the one who wrote that letter. He wrote many, many letters, the apostle Paul, because he was the one that had gone to three missionary journeys in Asia Minor, presenting the person of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, and presenting the gospel of the grace of God, chesed Elohim, that the way of salvation for mankind is only through the person of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

So, here this letter was specifically written by Shaul, along with Silas and Timothy, to a local assembly in a city that is called Taslonika. Now, a little bit about Taslonika or Saloniki. By the way, in Saloniki or Taslonika, there were many Jewish people over the many generations. When we just read in Acts chapter 17, we find out that there was a synagogue of the Jews in the city of Taslonika. And there were always Jewish community in that city of Taslonika. But the city of Taslonika was really a city that was established at about 315 BC. And the naming of the city of Taslonika was named by Cassander.

He was one of the generals of Alexander the Great, who named the name of the city, Taslonika, after his own wife. His own wife was a half-sister of Alexander the Great. And in appreciation, perhaps, for his wife, he named Taslonika after this wife of his, who was half-sister of Alexander the Great. There was always Jewish community there in Taslonika. And sadly to say that about 1492, when Jewish people have been expelled from Spain, many of the Jewish people went to Saloniki, Taslonika, that we know it today, Saloniki. And they have fled, they have run away, expelled from Spain, and they have settled in a city that's called Saloniki, Taslonika.

And by the way, my very own mother, Esther, Levitam, actually have immigrated to Jerusalem from Saloniki, from Taslonika. My mother and her parents came to Israel, to Jerusalem from Saloniki. They were part of the Sephardim, Sephardic, or Spanish Jews, who were dispersed, who were chased away, as we call it, the expulsion of Spain, of the Jewish community. And they have moved to Saloniki, lived in Taslonika, and ultimately immigrated to the city of Jerusalem many, many years ago. Even long before Israel became a nation in 1948. So Jewish people always lived in Saloniki, in Taslonika. But it was a pagan city. It was one of the largest cities in that area, next to Corinth.

Corinth was also a very large city. And Paul visited that city of Taslonika. It was on his second missionary journey that the Apostle Paul finally arrived to Taslonika, to Saloniki. His first missionary journey, we can read it in Acts chapter 13, verse 4, all the way to Acts chapter 15 and verse 35. In his second missionary journey, chapter 15 of the book of Acts, verse 36, all the way to chapter 18 and verse 22 in the book of Acts, he visited Philippi, he visited Taslonika, and he visited Corinth, including the city of Taslonika. And later on, he had a third missionary journey. We find it in Acts chapter 18, verse 23, to Acts chapter 21 and verse 17.

Finally, the Apostle Paul later on have arrived in Acts chapter 27 and 28 to the city of Rome. And ultimately, you know what happened to him. He died. He lost his life because of his faith in Yeshua the Messiah. So, he's on his second missionary journey. You know, a missionary, missionary in Hebrew, his mission was to spread the gospel, to broaden the knowledge concerning the person of Yeshua the Messiah in Asia Minor. About 50 AD, he had arrived to the city that is called Taslonika. And we're going to see that in a moment what had happened to him there. But what we find out, beloved brothers and sisters, that these believers that have come to know Yeshua the Messiah was a very, very young group of believers.

They were not a big church or assembly in Asia Minor in the city of Taslonika. They were a small group of believers. They were very young believers, brothers and sisters. They were not like you and I who were already 10 years in the law, 20 years in the Messiah, 30 years, some of us 40, 50 years. They were young believers. They were young believers that just heard about the Messiah, Yeshua. And when I say young believers, it doesn't mean they were young people, but I mean young believers at various ages. But they have come to love the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And the Apostle Paul was very much attached to these believers because he wanted them to grow and to develop spiritually and to follow the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, even though they have experienced a lot of opposition in their lives.

And sometime when I'm thinking what we just heard about some of our brothers and sisters who went to hand up the Bibles to some of the Jewish people here around. And it's so easy, you know, when there is offense and there's an opposition to what we try to share. And yet can you imagine, we're going to see it in a moment, what experience these first group of believers in the city of Thessalonica have experienced because of their faith in Yeshua, in Jesus the Messiah. So they were young in their faith. And in 50 AD, Shaul Paul went with Timothy and Silas. He was in this local area there.

We're going to talk about it in a moment. And then he left them because he had to flee because of persecution. He left the city of Thessalonica, went to Berea and we read it in Acts chapter 17, ultimately to Athens and then eventually to Corinth in chapter 18 of the book of Acts. So these young believers who just came to know the Lord very short, one year, two years when he wrote this letter, it's about 51, 52 AD, about a couple of years after, because he had to flee, to run away from there. And then he wrote to them out of concern for the brothers and sisters in the local assembly, the local congregation in the city of Thessalonica.

Now, I want just for a moment, just that you can see that the Apostle Paul preached to them the gospel. They have accepted Yeshua the Messiah. And the theme in the book of Thessalonians is the return of the Messiah. If he was the Messiah, if he was the Christ, the anointed one, and if he died for our sins and he was raised and he was ascended to heaven because Paul gave them the gospel, will he return? Will he come back? And those believers needed to be established in the truth of the return of the Lord. You know, many people don't believe today that Jesus, that Yeshua is coming back.

Many people don't believe that Yeshua the Messiah is one day going to come and establish the kingdom here on earth. Another thing that we have issues, and I do believe in it, that some do not believe in the catching up and the rapture of the assembly of the church. Now, I believe it. I teach it. I always understood it from Scripture. And I will show you this from the passages that we are going to read as we are going to get to it. Now, I know there are many views in the body of Messiah, and we cannot correct everyone. We just need to bear with one another.

But as a teacher of the Bible, I am responsible to express what I believe and I have to do so. Otherwise, I will not be consistent with what I understand from the Word of God. But I just want to emphasize in these five chapters of 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul emphasized the return, the coming back of the Messiah. Look with me for a second. First of all, chapter 1 and verse 10, he's saying to the Thessalonians, "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Yeshua, which delivered us from the wrath to come." In other words, these believers are called to wait for the return of God's Son from heaven.

Notice, to wait for his Son from heaven. He's coming back to wait for his return. Notice chapter 2, how at the end of chapter 2, verse 19, how the Apostle Paul mentioned, he said, "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, at His coming?" See, Paul is emphasizing the return of the Lord. He's coming. He's not going to delay it for too long. Even though, today, you and I are already in the year 2017, and the Lord hasn't come as yet. But in the year 52, 51 AD, Shaul Paul anticipated the coming of the Lord.

The Thessalonians anticipated the return of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, down back to this world. To be here and to take His rightful place here. Look at chapter 3, and verse 13. "To the end, He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, with all His saints." You see, He's again emphasizing now here, in chapter 3, Yeshua is coming. And He is not only coming along, He's coming with His saints. Well, His saints who are going to come with Him have to be with Him first, in order to come with Him back to this world.

Chapter 4, notice at the end of chapter 4 now. And verse 15, I'm not going to read the whole section there. "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep." Again, the coming of the Lord, He's coming. He will help them to understand, when is it applied to the coming of the Lord, that His second coming to establish the Messianic kingdom. And when it is applied to the coming of the Lord, to take His saints to be with Him in heaven. He's going to establish that in the fourth chapter.

And then finally, beloved brothers and sisters, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, and notice at verse 23. "And the very God of peace, God of Shalom, sanctify You wholly. And I pray, God, Your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach." Every chapter, without exception, the Apostle Paul emphasizes the coming of the Lord. The coming of the Lord. He doesn't talk about His first coming, because He already came and He died and He already went to heaven. He's definitely speaking about, number one, His second coming to reign and rule upon the face of this earth. And secondly, which will happen before the catching, the snatching of the church, of the assembly to heaven, when the Lord is going to come to meet His own saints in the air.

We're going to get to that when we're going to get to chapter 4. You know, this is how we see the emphasis here and the theme of this book is the return of the Messiah. You know, it's kind of sad to say that many times when we talk about the Lord, we always talk about He came and He suffered for us and He died for us and He gave His life for us and He went to heaven. But we hardly occupy with the Lord's return. Now, what are we going to do if the Lord is going to return today? I still remember a preacher that I asked him, what would you do different had Yeshua would come today?

He said, I would not do anything different. I will get up in the morning. I will read my Bible. I will pray. I will go and get my bus ticket and I will take the bus and I'm going to visit Mrs. So-and-so. And I'm going to go to another place. I'm going to visit Mr. So-and-so. And I'm going to prepare my meeting for the evening because I'm scheduled to preach in this place. I will not change anything. Nothing I'm going to change because I am ready for the Lord to come at any time. Now, unfortunately, we have to admit we are not always in this state.

There are so many things that fill our mind and our hearts and we are not, you might say, in a spiritual condition to wait for the coming of the Lord. Should He come today? Should He come at any moment to take His own people to be with Him in glory? Should He come at any moment? How are we going to be? What are we going to do? Where will He find us? Or what will He find us doing? Now, of course, we need to do our work and our responsibilities. We all have and He expects from us to be faithful in what the Lord had given to us responsibility to do here on earth.

But nevertheless, the believer, like the Thessalonians, need to always have his or her heart anticipating the return of the Lord and to do things in view of the coming of the Lord. Well, as we continue by way of introduction to the book of 1 Thessalonians, we also notice that the division of the book is basically very simple. In chapter 1, 2, and 3, the Apostle Paul really shows us the relationship that he had with the Thessalonians. His affection towards them. The way that they behaved and treated him. His love and care for the Thessalonians. And he emphasized it again and again as he shared with them in the first 1, 2, and 3 in his letter.

And then we have chapter 4 and chapter 5. The Apostle Paul give an exhortation to the Thessalonians concerning their relationship with the Lord. And how important that they will be exhorted to live a godly life. To live a life that is pleasing to God. You know, many times when we listen to messages and listening to Bible teachers, you know, we sometimes don't like when they belabor the necessity of living a godly life. Being faithful to the Lord. Wherever we are, in our work area, in our school, in our home. To seek to live a holy and a godly life. The Apostle Paul emphasizes. We sometimes don't like all these preachers.

Always speaking about it. Always speaking about it. But you see, brothers and sisters. It seems to be that we always need to be alerted to this. Because you know how quickly we wander. How quickly the things of the Lord is slipping by. We have time for everything else. But very little time for the person of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. So the Apostle Paul is emphasizing the importance of living a godly life. While anticipating the return of the Lord Jesus the Messiah to this world. To take his rightful place here in this world. So it had been suggested that there were three reasons why Paul wrote the book of 1 Thessalonians.

Number one, to confirm believers in the truth of the Gospel. Number two, to confirm believers to live and encourage them to live a holy and a godly life. And number three, to comfort them with the assurance of the hope that they have. That the Lord is soon going to return and take them to be with him. So this is, in a sense, just some thoughts concerning the background of the letter of 1 Thessalonians. Now go with me for a moment back to Acts chapter 17. And I want just to emphasize a few thoughts there. You see, Paul is on his second missionary journey. He, as we mentioned, chapter 15 and verse 36, all the way to chapter 18, he had this second missionary journey.

He had arrived to Philippi. You remember what happened to him in chapter 16 at Philippi. You remember when he went to Philippi and then there he found this woman. You remember that woman who was worshiping idols and how the Philippians gave him a very hard time in the city of Philippi. And eventually he went to prison. When he was in prison, you remember in Acts chapter 16, all of a sudden at midnight, as they were singing, the door shook and the chain fell off them. And the jailer was ready to kill himself. And so when he wanted to kill himself, Shaul, Paul said to him, don't kill yourself.

We are all here. We haven't left. And this jailer came in and he said, what must I do to be saved? And the Apostle Paul gave him this wonderful statement where he said, believe in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Notice Acts 16 and verse 31. And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus the Messiah and thou shalt be saved. Thou and thy house. You will believe, you will be saved. Your house will believe, they will be saved. And then if you remember, they took the Apostle Paul. This man, he took him into his house, the keeper of the prison.

And then from there, they brought them away and they left the city of Philippi. When we arrive to chapter 17 in the first nine verses, this is the only thing we read really about Thessalonica. When they finally have arrived to Thessalonica, we find out that what happened to Paul in Thessalonica, in Thessalonica. It says in verses one to four that the Apostle Paul, as it was his custom, went first of all to the synagogue of the Jews. He was Jewish. He was Jewish. He's coming to the new town. His custom was to go to the synagogue of the Yehudim, to the Beit HaKnesit. Why does he do so?

Because he himself in Romans 1:16 says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe, to the Jew first, and also unto the Greek, unto the Gentiles. So, in faithfulness to the Lord, he first of all is going to the synagogue of the Jewish people. So, we read the arrival of Paul in the city of Thessalonica is in Acts chapter 17 and verse 1. Listen to that. Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews. By the way, in Acts 16, he went to the waterfront, because there was no synagogue where the Jewish people were, in verse 3 there, and he preached to them the message of the gospel.

In Acts chapter 17, he arrived at Thessalonica, the first thing, he's going to the synagogue of the Jews. In Acts chapter 17, verse 10, he's going later on to Berea, the synagogue of the Jews. Later on, he leave Berea and he go to Athens, he go to the synagogue of the Jews. In Acts chapter 18, he goes again in verse 1 and verse 4 to the synagogue of the Jews. It was his custom. To the Jew first, he's going to share with them the message of the gospel of our Lord Jesus, Yeshua HaMashiach. And so, as he's arrived there, notice that in verse 2, it was a custom that he had. He said that Paul, as his manner was, he went unto them.

And you notice he said, in three Shabbat days, he reasoned with them out of the scriptures. In other words, Paul was about three to four weeks in the city of Thessalonica. That's all what we read here. Three Shabbat days, as his custom was, he went to the Beit HaKneset, the synagogue. As a Jew among his own brethren, he's going and the purpose of his coming is to share with them the gospel of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And so, notice, three Shabbat days, he reasoned. Notice it says here in verse 2, he reasoned with them, this is his Jewish earthly brethren, out of the scriptures. Now, remember, beloved brothers and sisters, that Paul did not have in his hand the New Testament, the Brit HaChadasha.

You and I have it today, we are reading from the New Covenant today. But the only scriptures that the synagogue had, and that he had, was the Tanakh, the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures. So, he's reasoning with them three Shabbat days, as he met with them at Beit HaKneset, at the synagogue. And he's reasoning with them from the Hebrew scriptures. Make you wonder, what did he read there? What was the subject of the day? Because every Shabbat day, there is a custom in our Jewish circles to read a certain portion from the Torah and from the law and from the prophets. He may have read Genesis 3:15 of the seed of the woman.

He may have read Deuteronomy chapter 18 of the prophet that will rise from among the people of Israel. He may have read Isaiah 53. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned each one to his own way. But the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He may have read Psalm 22. Speaking about the one they pierced my hands and my feet. He may have read Zechariah chapter 9. Behold, the king cometh riding on a donkey. He may have read any passages from the Torah, first five books of Moses, the prophets, and also the writing, the Psalms. He may have read Psalm 2. Kiss the son lest he be angry and he perish from the way.

And God said, "Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." We do not know what he read. But we know from verse 2 of Acts chapter 17 that he reasoned from the scripture three Shabbat days. Because Shaul Paul had been a recognized leader among Israel in the past. You remember he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. They may have given him to read a text from the scripture. Like they gave to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah in Israel in Luke chapter 4. And the Lord read, you remember from the prophet, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." As he read from Isaiah chapter 61.

We do not know what he read. But I can assure you that he ministered to them, the person of the Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, out of the Hebrew scripture. You know yesterday I talked with a dear Egyptian Christian, a believer in Jesus. And he said to me that in Egypt they don't allow them to give to the Muslims the Old Testament on its own. Because that's called the Bible of the Jews. They only allow them to give other New Testament to some and also the complete canon of scripture. But you see, beloved brothers and sisters, Shaul Paul didn't have the canon of scripture in its totality.

He only had the Old Testament, the Tanakh. And he could preach about Yeshua using the Tanakh alone. Because it is the Word of God. It is the Word of God indeed. And he was faithful to present from the Tanakh, from the Old Testament, from the Hebrew scripture, the very fact that the Messiah was going to come. And where he will be born. And how he will live. And what's going to happen at his death. And the price that he was going to pay. And the rejection that he was going to experience. Paul knew very well his Hebrew scripture. And so for three Shabbat days. One after another, as it says here, he reasoned with them out of the scripture.

And you know, brothers and sisters, listen. We don't need any human opinion. We don't need some theologian telling us one thing and another theologian telling us another thing. What we need is to present the person of Yeshua, the Messiah, out of the Word of God. The Bible is God's Word. And we can be assured that the Spirit of God will take God's Word. And will appropriate it to the heart. Whether it is to the Jews or whether it is to the Gentiles. God is faithful. And His Word will not return unto Him void. Tanach, Old Testament. Brit Hadashah, New Covenant. Both of them are indeed divinely inspired.

And Paul used only the Tanach, only the Old Testament, to present to these people, to these Jewish brethren, the person of Yeshua, the Messiah. By the way, you notice that the three points that He must have been speaking to them out of the Tanach in verse 3. Notice that? It says, He opening and alleging that the Messiah, in Greek we have Christ, Christos, Mashiach in Hebrew. That the Messiah must need have suffered and risen again from the dead. And that this Jesus, this Yeshua, whom I preach unto you, is the Messiah, the Mashiach, the Christ. You can see from verse 3 of Acts chapter 17. Perhaps the three points that Shaul Paul presented to these Jewish people in the city of Thessalonica.

Number one, Messiah must suffer. Number two, Messiah must be risen from among the dead. Number three, this Yeshua, Jesus, whom I preach unto you, He is that Messiah that was promised in the Hebrew Scripture. Now, I would have loved to be there at that time. Sitting in, in a synagogue in Bet HaKneset with all the other Jewish people and listening carefully to the message that Shaul Paul gave them. He was amazing. He could unfold from the Scripture, can lift up the truth that is found in the Word of God. Number one, the Messiah must suffer. He must suffer. There is no such a thing that the Messiah come as king and reign over everyone without, first of all, dealing with the problem that we all have, Jew and Gentile, the problem of sin.

You remember John chapter 10? Therefore, doth my Father love me because I lay down my life. I lay it down of myself and I take it up again. This commandment have I received of my Father. He had to suffer, beloved brothers and sisters. There is no other way to deal with the problem that you and I have, the sin issue. Unless God had to judge His own Son, the Mashiach of Israel, the Savior of the world concerning sin. He must suffer. He must suffer. Not only suffer by the hand of men, but suffer by the hand of a holy and a righteous God. No wonder Psalm 22 says, "Eli, Eli, lama shvaktani, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" He had to suffer.

He had to be forsaken by God on your behalf and on my behalf, because you know what? Had he not suffered, you and I will have to suffer the consequence of our sin and sin's eternal separation from God. So can you imagine how it grieved him in his heart that many could not grasp it? The Messiah is not only going to come to reign as a king. He must suffer. He must die. He must be punished for sin on our behalf. That's what he said. And Isaiah, by the way, Isaiah 53:6 is a confession of Israel in a future day. When they will say, "Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way. But the Lord laid upon him." This is Yeshua. Him. This is the Messiah. The iniquity of us all. They will say it as a nation in a future day when Israel will be restored. But we all need to say it today. They all need to say it today if they are going to be forgiven and accept forgiveness of sins. Messiah must suffer. Notice in that verse 3. Secondly, Messiah must rise from the dead. Notice he said in verse 3. He must suffer and risen again from the dead. Now, if the Messiah, if Christ, Christos, Mashiach in Hebrew, if the Mashiach will only die and remain in the grave, he will be like everybody else.

Muhammad is in the grave. Even Moshe is in the grave. His body is in the grave. Look at any other Hinduism and Buddha. Even with any religious system is in the grave. It is appointed unto men once to die. And after this, the judgment. But you see, the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, did not only die, but he rose. Psalm 16:10 said, "Thou shall not leave my soul in Sheol, neither allow me to see corruption. I will be resurrected," he was saying in Psalm 16. He will rise from among the dead. Isaiah 53 speaking about, "He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied." He speaks about the resurrection of the Messiah.

So, Jesus, the Messiah, did not only die. Yeshua HaMashiach didn't only die, but he was risen. And if you read carefully, in Romans chapter 4, it says in verse 25, "He was delivered for our offenses, and he was raised for our justification." In other words, if you and I to be declared just, he must be risen from among the dead. So, the first Shabbat, he spoke about his suffering. The second Shabbat, a week later, he spoke about his resurrection. But the third Shabbat, he had to nail it. He had to bring it to the front. The third Shabbat day, if we will take it in that way, it says, that this Yeshua, Jesus, whom I speak, whom I preach unto you, is Christ, is Mashiach, is Messiah, is the Anointed One.

That's the one. This Jesus. And notice he used the word Yeshua, Jesus. Now, you know, the name of Jesus had been used by men for all sorts of things. And yet, God gave him this name. You remember what we read in the book of Matthew? And thou shalt call his name Yeshua, Jesus. Matthew 1. For he shall save his people from their sins. Yeshua in Hebrew means salvation. You will call his name Yeshua, salvation, because he will save. Will Yoshia, he will save his people from their sins. This name was so appropriate. And for the believer, this name is so precious. Precious, precious name of Jesus, the name of Yeshua.

It's a precious name. But this Messiah Yeshua that I'm speaking to you about is the very one promised Messiah. I'm speaking to them in verse 3. He is the one that you have to trust him. And so, brothers and sisters, imagine in the synagogue that the Apostle Paul used the three Shabbat day that he ministered the word of God to present the Messiah in his death, in resurrection, and the fact that the Messiah, this Jesus, is truly that Christ, that Messiah that they needed to trust in. And so, in verse 4, praise God, that is how the assembly, the church, the congregation in Thessalonica have began. With a few individuals that have accepted that Jesus, that Yeshua, is the Messiah.

And some of them believed, you see. Actually, brothers and sisters, the local assembly in the city of Thessalonica began by Jewish believers and other non-Jews from the synagogue in Thessalonica after the preaching of the Apostle Paul. Some of them believed. And they concerted with Paul and Silas. And notice he said, and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, apparently, they were Greeks, they were Gentiles, they were Greek, they came to the synagogue to listen. And they perhaps believed and accepted the God of Israel. But now, Paul came and he ministered to them the fact that Yeshua, the Jesus, is the Messiah. Those devout Greeks also have believed in the person of Yeshua, the Messiah.

And then he said, and a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few. Imagine, there were women. Every time when you read in Scripture, you find out about the women. The women have such an effect upon every local assembly. They are such a blessing, the godly sisters that love the Lord and want to live for the Lord. What an effect they are making upon any local assembly. You remember when Yeshua went to the cross, it was the women who stuck around, while all the men had fled. It was the women in the early church, in the early assembly in Jerusalem that had been so faithful and such a blessing to the people of God.

It's amazing when you really think about it, dear brothers and sisters. So, notice that Jewish people, verse 4, believed. Multitude, devout Greek, believed also. And not a few women also believed. And that's how the local assembly was formed. They became believers. Just perhaps, let's say, on the third week of Paul being there. A few days. What is the amount of information they had about the body of Messiah, the present day dispensation, the truth of the word of God? It was still in the making. The act of the Holy Spirit of God was still in the making. The Apostle Paul is preaching from place to place, sharing the message of the gospel, spreading the word.

Peter and James and John and many others presenting the gospel. And it says there were a young local assembly. But notice what happened in verses 5 to 9. The opposition came immediately. And who did it come by, unfortunately, is by his Jewish brethren. It says in verse 5, those who did not believe opposed the message. And I'm reading verse 5 of Acts chapter 17. But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the base of sword. And they gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people.

Now, unfortunately, in the early days specifically, the early Jewish community, that some of them have not accepted the Messiah, they were immediately opposing their own brethren. And, you know, sometimes we know that very well, in our own experience, how, in a sense, it is kind of discouraging. Because you see, well, listen, I found the Messiah. I finally have accepted that Yeshua, that he came, he's the promised Messiah. We are waiting for the Messiah for so many generations. But you see, Israel, as a nation, in all the areas of the world, as a nation, are still in a blindness, as Paul says, partial blindness. Blindness, in part, happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentile be come in.

And then, Romans 11, 26, all Israel shall be saved. But in this present time of Acts chapter 17, these Jewish people of the Pet Knesset, the synagogue in Thessalonica, who believe not, they were blinded. They didn't see what their brethren have seen, what Shaul Paul have seen, what Timothy have seen, what Silas have seen. They haven't seen it as yet. So, what did they do? They hired, notice, they took unto them certain lewd fellows of a base of sort. In other words, bad dudes, you might say. They took unto them those base individuals, and they gathered company. They set all the city in a uproar, and they assaulted the house of Jason, and they sought to bring them out to the people.

In other words, look at the opposition beginning right at the start. You become a believer in Yeshua, immediately there is an opposition. Immediately. And what do they do? They don't take it lightly. They are gathering all kind of people to cause you a lot of harm, whether it is bodily harm, or whatever it may be. Opposition began immediately. Now, in this case, it was in the synagogue, many believed from the synagogue, so their own Jewish brethren opposed them. Now, you might go to other countries from among the Gentile world. You will share the message of the gospel. Some of the people will accept Yeshua, and immediately those of the family and relatives who oppose the gospel will begin to oppose and to cause persecution upon the believers.

And notice, they assaulted the house of Jason. This man, by the name of Jason, is mentioned more than once in here, but it's mentioned in Romans 16, in verse 21, where the Apostle Paul mentioned him as a fellow countryman. He must have been other Jewish believer who hosted Paul and Silas and Timothy in his own house. So, the first thing to do is to find out this man by the name of Jason and to go against him and to oppose him and to cause him harm, because he hosted Shaul, Paul, and Timothy and Silas. So, we read in verse 6, They drag Jason out. Notice that. You see, brothers and sisters, the unbelieving world look at the believers in Jesus as the Christians or the Messiah followers, as people who cause the world to be upside down.

But really, beloved brothers and sisters, the world is already upside down. The world without the Messiah, without God, is an upside down world. In fact, the preaching of the gospel is turning things right side up. That's what happens when the preaching of the gospel is being presented in this world. Yeshua is the only one who could put things in order. But look what they are saying. These that have come, these that have turned the world upside down, are also came here to the city of Thessalonica. Look at the troublemakers. They're turning everything upside down in their faith in Yeshua, the Messiah. And is it so?

Brothers and sisters, the only answer for humanity is the blessed person of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. He's the only one who could give shalom with God. He's the only one who can give order in our life. He's the only one that was willing to give his life a ransom for many. And they had the privilege of listening to the message of the gospel. But, like you and I in the past, rejected it and took Jason, drag him out with other brethren, and crying in the middle of the city, these that have turned the world upside down are come to here as well. And so, they were blaming those who ministered the gospel as they were the ones who were turning everything upside down.

Well, the world is already upside down. Things are messed up here in this world. Things are so much in disorder here in this world that the only one who could put order in this world is our blessed Lord Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. And so now, brothers and sisters, notice this. In verse 7, they blame Jason and that he is saying, and others, that there is another king by the name of one that is called Yeshua. Notice that I'm reading now verse 7. So, Jason has received, he received these people, Paul, Timothy, Silas, and these all do contrary to a decree of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus, one Yeshua.

So, in other words, you see what they were trying to blame them, these Jewish believers, that they are claiming that there is another king and not Caesar. That Caesar is not the king, that Jesus is that king. Well, the truth of the matter, that while Caesar was a king, the only one who was a king of kings, the Lord of lords, that he truly can put things in order, is the Lord Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. You remember when the Magi, the wise men, came from the east? Matthew 2 and verse 2. They said, where is he that was born the king of the Jews? Later on, on the cross, the sign was on that tree, on that cross.

This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Later on, if you remember in the book of Revelation, they were written of him as king of kings and lord of lords, melech ha'mlachim and adon ha'adonim. Truly, he is the king. But they blame the believers that they said that there is another king to try to stir up Caesar against them and others against them. You know, these believers did not want to cause problems. They share the message of the gospel with a city that was lost, that was taken by idolatry. And they came to present the gospel message. And so we read in verse 8, and in verse 9, that they blame Jason and Paul and Silas and the others, that they were the ones who troubled the city.

And in verse 9, they took Jason and they let Paul and Silas and the others go, and they chased him out of the city. I'm reading verse 8. It says here, and they troubled the people, and that the rulers of the city, when they heard these things, and when they had taken security of Jason and of the others, they let them go. And by the way, this is the last that we read here, about the Apostle Paul's visit to the city that is called Thessalonica, Thessaloniki today. That's it. From here, after they let him go, he arrived to Berea in verse 10. Later on, he arrived to verse 16, to Athens.

And ultimately, he arrived in chapter 18, to the city of Corinth. And he moved along. But now, brothers and sisters, here is where we're going to begin the study of the book of 1 Thessalonians. As Paul went to Corinth, his heart was moved towards the brothers and sisters in the city of Thessalonica. And so by the time the Apostle Paul had arrived to the city of Corinth, he had such a burden for these brethren in Thessalonica, young believers who needed to be encouraged because they have experienced already persecution the moment that they have accepted Yeshua the Messiah. Jewish believers, Greek believers, women that were there, multitude of people, all who became believers in Yeshua the Messiah in Thessalonica, they have already experienced opposition.

And they perhaps needed to be instructed and encouraged by the Word of God. And so please go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. And I read the first three verses by way of introduction. I just want to mention those points before we're going to conclude in this ministry meeting today. Notice how Paul greets them. He began in verse 1 of 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul and Silas or Silvanus and Timothy unto the assembly, the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeshua HaMashiach. He writes them this letter.

By the way, he was in Korans about a year and a half. So it had been said that perhaps if he visited Thessalonica at the year 50 A.D. He wrote this letter at about 51, 52 A.D. and he's writing to them and you notice he's including Silas, Silvanus and he's including Timothy and together he's writing unto the church of Thessalonica or Thessalonians. By the way, he used the word church. Another translation said assembly. Another translation in the Hebrew would say kehilah. Now again, a church is not a building. You cannot write to the building. He's writing to the believers. Kehilah or assembly or ecclesia in the Greek are those that are called out individuals out from Israel, from the Jewish community, out from the Gentile world.

They were called out and they made the so-called church, ecclesia, assembly, congregation. It is believers and believers alone. Not building, not structures, not a stained glass window, not even unbelievers. Only true believers are part of the ecclesia, of the assembly. So that's why he's saying unto the assembly, unto the believers, of the city of Thessalonica, Thessaloniki, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, grace be unto you and peace, chesed, v'shalom, from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Notice that these believers needed grace, chesed, and they needed shalom, that is peace, because they have been in conflict, they have experienced persecution.

And Shaul, Paul is wishing them grace, chesed, and he's wishing to them shalom, peace. Notice another thing in this verse. It says, unto the assembly of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. You know, this is very important. that expression, in Mashiach, in God the Father, what does he mean by that? That they were believers. They were in. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, those that are in Christ Jesus, in the Mashiach Yeshua, a new creation. All things have passed away and all become new. They were believers. They were in God the Father because they belonged to him. They were in the Mashiach Yeshua because they belonged to him.

They were believers. He doesn't write to unbelievers. He's writing to saved individuals, Jewish individuals, Gentile individuals. He's writing them because they were part of the called out ones. And then he wishes them grace and peace. Many times you read the epistles that the Apostle Paul wrote, the letters, always grace and peace. Chesed v'shalom. They needed shalom. They needed chesed. They needed grace. They needed peace from God and to be encouraging to them. Notice now in verse 2, Paul gives thanks to God for these brethren. He says in verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you all. Making mention of you in our prayers. You know, many times people ask me to pray for them.

And I perhaps ask you many times to pray for me. I remember one brother told me, Brother Gideon, never for a moment stop to ask the brothers and sisters to pray for you because the prayers of the saints has value before God. And look at Apostle Paul. He says here, we give thanks for you. Can you imagine? He only saw them for about three weeks, one month. Three Shabbat days and in between. And now he's in Berea later on in Athens, later on in Corinth. He's now writing this letter some year or so and a half from the city of Corinth. And he's writing to them and now he's saying to them, oh, I remember.

He says, listen, we gave thanks to God always for you. We make mention of you in our prayers. In other words, he's saying to them, brethren, I'm not with you in person now. I had to leave. And yet, I want to tell you that I am always giving thanks to God for you because I know what I have seen when I visited you. I've seen you stirred up. You embrace Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, in your heart. You have showed the desire to follow after him. And then I know that you need the Lord's help. So therefore, we are making mention of you in our prayers.

How wonderful to see. I mean, Apostle Paul must have had so many people to pray for. Do you think he forgot the Thessalonians? Not at all. He says, we are making mention of you every time when he was perhaps going to prayer. Think of a local assemblies, congregation in various areas in Asia Minor where he visited. He perhaps, when he went on his knees, he says, God, I want you to help the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica. I remember God. I visited them on these three Shabbat days. I have expressed to them the gospel, message from the Hebrew scriptures. They have accepted the Messiah God.

They are going through trials and difficulties. Oh, be merciful to them. And he was praying for them, making mention of them in prayers. I encourage you, brothers and sisters, to make mention of our brothers and sisters in prayer. Not only to pray in general, pray for all the people of the world, but to pray specifically for individuals. Making mention of those individuals before the Lord because that's the way that the Lord delights to hear the prayers of the saints. And finally, brothers and sisters, by way of introduction, here in verse 3, we find out, notice what he's saying in verse 3, remembering without ceasing your works of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus the Messiah in the sight of God and our Father.

Three things he's mentioning, he says, remembering without ceasing. See, those three things must have been very much embedded in Shaul Paul's mind and heart when he left them. He remembers three things specifically. Remembering without stopping, without ceasing, number one, your works of faith. Number two, your labor of love. And number three, your patience of hope. You notice those words? Faith, love, hope. Faith, love, hope. Those are the only three things that remain here in this world. You remember what we read in 1 Corinthians. Just let me read with you this verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the love chapter, and verse 13. And now abideth faith, hope, and love. These three, but the greatest of these is love.

Those are the only three things that we have here in life. Faith, hope, and love. And Apostle Paul remembered those three things about these Thessalonians. He said, I really, really remember without stopping those three things about you, the works of faith. If you are a believer, he doesn't speak about faith unto salvation, but the works of faith. What the believer do in his life by faith in trusting the Lord to help him or her with it. Labor of love. They worked hard in loving, practical love. It's not only an emotional. You notice love, oh, I love you, so we have a good high feeling in our heart.

But it's not here. He doesn't speak about the feeling that they had, but the labor that means, the practice that they did when they loved one another and their brothers and sisters in this local assembly. He only met with them about a month, three weeks. And finally, he says, the patience of hope. The hope that they had. Wait a minute. You told us about Yeshua, that he died for our sins and he became the Messiah, the Savior of this world. But is he coming back? Will he return? And Paul remembered the fact that they also understood that they needed patience for the hope of the return of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, back to earth to take his rightful place here in this world.

It's amazing, beloved brothers and sisters, this expression, works of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope. These are the three things that you and I will need every day of our lives until the Lord is going to come or until he takes us to be with him. We need brothers and sisters to trust him. Not only to fix all our problems, but to trust him in the midst of our problem. Secondly, in the hard work to love the brothers and sisters and to love people around us, it takes a lot of work. It doesn't have to do with some tingling in the heart. Oh, I have such a good feeling towards someone.

No, no. It is labor of love. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love suffers long. Love is patient. That's what we need, practical love. And finally, patience of hope. The Lord is coming. In Hebrew, we call it tikvah, hope. In fact, the Hebrew national anthem is the hope. Hatikvah. And there is a hope. The Lord is coming. He's going to take his own to be with him in glory one day. And should he tarry? We're going to be with him if you're going to take us sooner out of this world. And when we're going to be with him, we're going to be absent with the body, present with the Lord.

We're going to enjoy the person of Yeshua, our Messiah, forever and ever. May the Lord encourage us as we begin the study of the book of 1 Thessalonians. We covered just an introduction to give us an idea of what the Apostle Paul have gone through in his second missionary journey. May the Lord bless his word. Amen.