Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20100801.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Thessalonians: Discipling Afflicted New Christians
Part II: Encouraging Afflicted New Believers In Recalling God's Power In The Disciplers
A. God's Certifying Power Seen In The Disciplers' Response To Persecution
(1 Thessalonians 2:1-4)
  1. Introduction
    1. Afflicted new Christians may need assurance that those who disciple them are God's true servants. The trials of their faith can sometimes easily shake new believers to doubt their disciplers , and thus their word!
    2. To that end, God may let His messenger face relentless persecution, for their response to it all exposes their heart to their hearers, a truth revealed and explained in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-4 (as follows):
  2. God's Certifying Power Seen In The Disciplers' Response To Persecution, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-4.
    1. Paul's ministry team was evidenced to be truly of God because God's power was seen in their faithfulness in ministry amid known, extensive persecutions at Philippi, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2a with Acts 16:16-40:
      1. Paul wrote how the Thessalonian believers knew Paul's ministry team had been physically persecuted and insulted when they were at their previous ministry assignment in Philippi, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2a.
      2. Reviewing the record of these events in Acts 16:16-40 reveals that persecution had been extensive:
        1. Paul's team had been confronted by a demon-possessed girl whose evil spirit had sought to discredit his Gospel by misleading others to think it was false when it was true, Acts 16:16-18a. (1) She had a spirit of puthon, translated "python," which, in Greek mythology (according to a former seminary professor, Phil Williams), was a lying entity! (2) Thus, the spirit would always say the opposite of what was true to the girl's masters, Acts 16:16b. (3) Yet, when she shouted Paul's gospel was true, onlookers would think it was a lie due to her "python" spirit, and it troubled Paul, Acts 16:17-18a!
        2. According, Paul had exorcised the demon (Acts 16:18b), angering the girl's masters by neutralizing their ability to make money off of the girls possession (Acts 16:19), leading Paul and Silas to be slandered, then beaten and imprisoned with their feet locked in stocks , Acts 16:20-24.
        3. Paul and Silas remained faithful to the Lord, singing praises to God until the Lord used a great earthquake to release them, reversing their fortunes and suffering, Acts 16:25-40.
    2. Paul's ministry team was evidenced to be truly of God as God's power was seen in their continuing to speak the Gospel boldly at Thessalonica amid much more opposition, 1 Thess. 2:2b NIV; Acts 17:1-10a:
      1. Not to be deterred by their past sufferings, Paul and his team continued to minister the Gospel once they arrived in Thessalonica fresh out of Philippi and its persecution trials, 1 Thessalonians 2:2b.
      2. They kept ministering amid more opposition, and these events are described in Acts 17:1-10a:
        1. Paul's ministry of the Gospel at Thessalonica was met by an uproar in the city fueled by unbelieving Jews who were jealous of their ministry, Acts 17:1-5.
        2. When Paul's foes were unable to find him, they drew Jason who had housed Paul's team with some other new believers to the city rulers, claiming the Christians who had turned the world upside down had come there to violate Caesar's decrees and serve a competing king named Jesus, Acts 17:6-7.
        3. This led the rulers to make Jason post a bond to be forfeited if there was further trouble (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Acts 17:9), so the believers had sent Paul's team away, Acts 17:8-10.
    3. Paul claimed his team's response to such persecution was evidence they were God's true messengers, 1 Thess. 2:3-4: their persistent ministry amid such strong, ongoing persecution revealed his team not to be deceitful, immoral or underhanded men (Ibid., ftn. to 1 Thess. 2:3), but true servants of the Lord.
Lesson: The fact that Paul's team had been known by the Thessalonian believers to face repeat, intense physical and verbal persecution without yielding ground in their message revealed even to new believers that such men were not deceitful, immoral, underhanded impostors, but God's true messengers.

Application: (1) If in ministry efforts God lets us face angelic conflicts that result in much persecution, He is using it all to expose our true hearts before other usually weaker believers so they can see we are His true servants, and so trust our words! (2) If we see a discipler facing such trials and they reveal he is not deceitful, immoral or underhanded, it is God's signal to trust his message as God's messenger!