Your Modeling Career

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The series that we’re on together is Move Past, I think comes as a wonderful time in what the history of our local church here represents. It’s discussing for us the idea of of moving past in the struggles and trials that we face in life, how the gospel allows us to get through those struggles, overcome the past, and discover freedom in Christ today. And so we’re going to be going through this series together, talking about failures and temptation and forgiveness. And to be honest, last week I took a little bit from this message and shared it with the persecuted church because we talked last week about pain. And so if you want to just jump back and listen to last week’s message online as it regards to pain, um, it still relates to what this message is, and learning how the gospel helps us move past those things in our lives to experience the the joy and freedom of what we have in Christ. It’s not to ignore those pain or to ignore the the trials or temptation we live. Those things are real, but we learn how the gospel helps us to to overcome them and to live through them despite those things that happen around us in the world, or even affect us in our lives. I’m not saying that we can escape the pain of life, but the gospel gives us the opportunity to to find the joy of the Lord in it. And this passage we’re going to get into in first Thessalonians this morning talks to us about that.

And one of the reasons it’s it’s just a perfect timing in the history of our church, uh, Halloween weekend is a special time for our church family. Not not because, you know, we Halloween weekend something we go out and celebrate or whatever. But but for for us three years ago, Halloween weekend also falls on a Reformation Day in the history when Martin Luther, uh, tacked his 95 theses to the front of the the church in Wittenberg, or the castle door in Wittenberg. And the Reformation Day is officially declared as the same weekend as Halloween weekend. And it also happens to be the same day that as a church, we bought a bar that was a haunted house, then turned into our church. We bought it on Halloween weekend of Reformation Day. So if anything ever talks about the redemption and transformation of God, it’s this church. So anytime you ever walk away and you tell people where you go, you win. All right? You are. If that doesn’t paint the picture of Jesus better than anything, I don’t know what does. So. So it’s a wonderful weekend for us and talking about what Christ does, and especially the series and exploring how God helps us move past. And I’m going to give us just an idea or an individual that we’re going to focus on and where God brought him, bring us along on that journey with this individual as it happened in his life through the the apostle Paul.

And, uh, today, the topic that we’re going to focus on as we discuss moving past is actually we’re going to talk about your modeling career. All right. You’ll see where it’s relevant within this text in a minute. But your modeling career is important as it relates to Christ. And you may already recognize by using the word model. I don’t mean like, you know, walking the runway or whatever, you know, or however that, however that works for you. That’s not what we mean by modeling, but we’re going to discuss your modeling career today. And the reason we’re going to discuss it is because what God wants to do in you and through you determines how you’re able to approach the adversity you face in life. The gospel gives you the opportunity to do that. And so your modeling career in the gospel becomes important as it relates to that. When we talk about the Apostle Paul, he is one who experienced radical transformation in his life. In Galatians chapter one and verse 13, when he describes himself, it says this how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. The Apostle Paul confessing within his own life. He says it again just a few verses later. I believe in verse 23 that he persecuted the Church of God. He he wasn’t. He’s an angry elf, right? I mean, he he was he was one that, um, was in favor of this belief system.

He had so much so that he was willing to destroy, to maintain what he felt he was losing or was coming against his faith and the faith of the people that were practicing with him. And so he was one that destroyed. And his his reputation became so large that it tells us in, in the book of acts, in chapter nine, when Paul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples. Now he’s trying to join the body of believers. But they were all afraid of him, not believing that he he was really a disciple. But Barnabas took him in and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord, and that the Lord had spoken to him. And how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. And so Paul gives his reputation, his reputation preceding him. People are now afraid of him. Eventually we know that the life of the Apostle Paul, he goes on missionary journeys. Four of them, three of them are recorded in the Book of Acts and Philippians chapter three. He then gives his life pursuit, now that he’s been redeemed in Christ and transformed in his life. And this is what he says now, knowing what kind of past he said, he said, brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do forgetting what is behind and straining toward what. Is ahead. So Paul found the opportunity in his new relationship in Christ, despite the the obstacles he presented to the church, despite his hatred for the church and the persecution of the church. The point that he even was there at the stoning of Stephen and gave his his his the okay for the stoning of Stephen. Paul now looks at his life in the new identity in which shaped him in Christ, and he’s allowed to to let go of the encumbrances, to let go. What lies behind strain towards what lies ahead. As he’s given this thought, it’s in context of the gospel. He’s experiencing the freedom for which God has called him to, and the picture that God has for all of us in him is that when we come to know Christ, the transformational work of Jesus in us begins, and God continues to shape you and mold you into his image to reflect his glory in the Lord. Knowing who you are and created to be in Christ helps us to let go of what is behind and straining for what is ahead. Which brings us to your modeling career. First Thessalonians. Is a beautiful book of Scripture. It was one of the first books of the New Testament written. If you were just to chronologically order them, um, most people would say James was likely written first and first Thessalonians and Galatians somewhere came in that order afterwards.

But First Thessalonians is one of the first three books of the New Testament was written. When Paul writes this book, you see, it’s it’s more written as a, a group book that Paul is acknowledging the individuals who are traveling with him as as he writes this letter, he is with a team on this journey, presenting to people the idea or the church there, the idea of who they are in in Christ and how the Lord helps them in their adversity. Now in first Thessalonians chapter one, verses 1 to 7, what you’ll see is that the church that Paul is writing to is experiencing persecution. So the reason he’s writing them is to encourage them in the persecution. But the thought, the overarching theme that that Paul carries as he’s presenting this to the church in their adversity is something that as we study this together, we’ll find helps us in any adversity, really to shape our identity in God and overcome obstacles in which we face. You’ll see within the first four verses of First Thessalonians chapter one, it says this to the the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you. In thanksgiving for the Thessalonians faith. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

For we know, brothers and sisters, loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord. For you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And here it comes in verse seven. And so you became a model to all believers. Paul, as he begins this journey, starts his epistle in a similar fashion, which he begins all of his epistles, or most of his epistles, I should say. Grace and peace is the introduction that Paul often begins with. Most of the epistles in which he writes and and as he’s identifying for them, this grace and peace has come. When Paul continues in this epistle, he continues in the theme that he starts predominantly all of the epistles is that there is this God, and God shapes the identity of who you are. If you read the New Testament epistles, you’ll see a common theme in all of them. They started, they’re like this, that there is a God and this is who he is, and this is how he shapes who you are. Or or it starts on the other end where this is who you are.

And now this is how God shapes who you are. Paul starts his his understanding with the Thessalonians, beginning in the identity of who God is. And the first four verses God is mentioned in every verse. Listen to this to the church at Thessalonica, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you. Verse two. We always thank God for you all. Verse three we remember before our God and Father. In verse four, for we know brothers and sisters loved by God. He tells us within the first three verse three of this passage of Scripture as they identify themselves and God. This is how God shapes them in him. He says, we remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on in verse five and he says, this is deep conviction. You are. You have this inner being that is that is committed to this thought of who God is. So much so that it’s more than just an intellectual knowledge, but it’s affecting your very being and therefore affecting how you are living. When? When Paul talks about the shaping of your identity in God, there is there is a common three word phrase that he puts together, typically in his epistles. It’s faith, hope, and love. Faith, hope and love identify for the believer the past, present, and future of who we are in Christ.

The faith often is assimilated or associated with the past. Faith is something that’s active today, but our faith is established on something that is determined to be true because it was predetermined or stated to us from the past. And so faith rests on what has been established. It is deals with the past. Hope looks forward to the future. Hope is not just a wishful thinking, but it’s an earnest expectation. And love is in the moment. For Christian. Our our faith is not. Wishful thinking. But our faith is established on truth that has been proclaimed right. Now just to encourage you when it comes to faith and standing on your faith and sharing your faith. And sometimes you will encounter in this life people that get angry or people that get defensive when you talk about faith. But I want to encourage you in that because a lot of times when people react that way in the discussion of faith, it is anger and frustration as a defense mechanism. I think one of the things that we’re often afraid of is people. When it comes to the topic of faith and discussing and dialoguing over that is that we’re afraid. If what we hold to as individuals, if we begin to engage in that conversation and find out that what we held to isn’t true. Um, it scares us, right? And so the defense mechanism of that is, is just anger. It’s to put up walls.

It’s to be frustrated. But when it comes to the life of the believer, we shouldn’t be afraid to explore truth. We. We want to ask questions because the pursuit of our life is after truth. And if there is anything that we hold to that isn’t true, we want to be willing to let it go. But Paul is saying in this passage, listen, this is the the strength of the believers is shaped in the and faith, hope and love. It’s established on the faith. It looks forward to the hope and it lives on the love of Christ in these moments, because of the faith and the hope that they have. And the Lord gives us the opportunity to appreciate security in that moment, because we have a future to look forward to. We have a past that’s taken care of. And so and so we can love in this moment. And therefore in verse five it tells us. The believers. Have deep conviction in this. If you look through the apostles, the epistles, you’ll see that the epistles, the predominant way in which they begin, establishes this way. God. And this is who you are through him. And the reason I want to point this to us as we talk about our modeling career, we build upon that this morning is because the danger of a society that is, that is taught to think without God. Well, as you say, it is dangerous. The.

The society in which we, we, we live in today shapes our existence and being as if it were to think without God. The educational system has has separated itself from that. It’s taboo to bring up today. But as you look through the epistles, it’s significant in the identity of who we are. And so it’s important to start with a basis of understanding that our identity is only shaped from a God who has created us. And it’s how Paul begins his epistles. But a society that takes God out is in danger of all of us not being able to understand who we are in ourselves, apart from understanding who who God is. Richard Dawkins is a professor at Oxford University. He recently just wrote an article for Oxford University that said, any student that applies to be a part of the school that believes in creationism should automatically be rejected. Of course, Richard Dawkins isn’t a openly rejects the existence of a god. But here’s the irony of his his paper in which he wrote the motto of the University of Oxford University, of which he teaches is this the Lord is my light. The danger of any society that learns to think without God. It leads us to a place where we can’t answer the ultimate questions of life, of why or who am I? I remember as a kid in the 90s in the educational systems, going to school and hearing these thoughts of of self esteem and self respect and self aware, this whole self movement.

And I was listening to a Christian counselor discuss on this recently, and he said that it’s interesting when you go back and study this self movement that came out through the 90s that that really the basis for it wasn’t wasn’t built on anything. Because the idea at that point in the educational system is that we we God is taboo to talk about. And so we talk about self apart from God. But when you get to the basic questions, you know, someone can tell you this is how you live. You need to have self esteem, self respect, which which is fine and good, but they can’t tell you why. Why? Because if you if you think about that thought for a minute and you press it to its its extreme of a life that exists without God, the best case scenario for any human being is that you, without God coming into existence, are nothing more than a cosmic accident. Why have self respect? You’re just a cosmic accident. Or why should you have self-esteem or self-worth? Apart from God if you are simply a cosmic accident. Your value in life is only determined by what you can contribute, right? And if you can’t live up to the system of the society in which you live in or contribute as much as the other person you feel. Then you’re perceived as worthless. And no longer are you a human being shaped in the identity of God.

You are a human doing and your worth is determined by your capability. When you think about the, the, the existence of God and you begin to ask these questions, why should I have self respect? Or why should I have self worth? Or why do I even exist? The the the philosopher Bertrand Russell was asked that question and his his response was simply this we’re just there. Ravi Zacharias quoted the author Friedrich Nietzsche in one of his books. He said. He said this before giving his own statement. He said Friedrich Nietzsche shared on a belief without God, and he said, we stray through an infinite nothing with no up or down left. A universal madness would break out when the truth of what mankind had done when killing God has dawned upon us. But Ravi went on, and defining our need for God said this the very starting point of a godless universe is based on something that cannot explain its own existence. Nothing does not produce something and it never has. If life is random, there cannot be an ultimate meaning and purpose to existence. So the reality is, when we think of life apart from God, or teach our minds to do in such a way, we live in consistency and consistently with that thought. So when you take God out of the picture, you’re left to to perceive of a creation and a life that came into existence out of random chaos creating order.

But nothing in this world has ever suggested that chaos has created order. It would be like us today, going to a junkyard and seeing a Boeing 747 there in the middle of the junkyard and thinking, man, that is amazing how this junk came together and just automatically formed this Boeing 747. So life without God only implicates that life is chaotic. Yet we see that life has created order, and we live our lives as if it were an orderly existence, having meaning and purpose, but denying God. But without him. Without God, as Paul has identified the significance of and just these first four verses, we have no ultimate value as people. It’s why Psalms chapter 14 and verse one it says to us, the fool says in his heart there is no God. There’s a pastor and Christian counselor named Chip. Chip. Ingram. And he talks about anyone who shapes his life without God. He says this about them. They have a warped self-image that produces insecurity and inferiority. It produces performance orientation in order to show your self-worth. It produces withdrawal. If you feel like you can’t compete with with what’s happening in society around you. You may see your worth by what you have, and therefore you live a life giving your kids a bunch of stuff as if it makes you successful. You find yourself involved in, in people pleasing and codependency and addictions on anything to find your value in something.

We’re all looking for a place to find our value and acceptance and worth. And that’s what these first four verses say. That in verse five, the church has developed this deep conviction because in faith, hope and love, through Christ they have found their acceptance and value and worth. And the reason that they’re able to express this faith in God, because they have seen a God who has been faithful to them, who has pursued them in Christ, who is attributed value to them because he has created them in his image, and he has willingly given his life, despite any successes or failures that people may think they have. And see. I think the answer for us in our thinking before we can even begin to talk about self worth or self respect isn’t even in self. And the answer is I don’t need more of me. I need more. Jesus. See for me to find why I should have worth or respect and dignity as an individual. It’s shaped by an intelligent designer who has created me for his intentions and purposes. I don’t need more of me, I. I need more of Jesus. I need God’s team. And I need God worth. And when you look in verse four of this passage, as Paul is describing to the body of believers about who they are, it says this in verse four, for we know, brothers and sisters, that you are loved by God, that he has chosen you.

When it came to the early church, uh, the, the gospel had had power and and was on fire. In fact, it says that in verse five, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power. And the reason is because in the society in which these individuals lived, many of them, or a majority of people were in the area of slavery, and women were looked at as property and children were looked at as worthless. And now this gospel comes along and it and it proclaims the identity of everyone as having value in God. They are not a cosmic accident, but are intended and created for a divine design and intention by God. And people. I think intrinsically within ourselves, we know we have worth. We know there’s value in life. That’s why we celebrate birthdays and we cry at funerals. And the look in verse four and think. And God. Chose you. Look, it’s not saying. You chose God. It’s not saying you proved your worth to God. Saying God chose you. None of us will ever get to heaven and say to God, God, you want to know why I’m here? It’s because you. It’s the best thing you made since sliced bread. It’s only by his grace. It’s why Paul starts in the very first verse of of this section of Scripture. He says to the church in Thessalonians, and God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace to you. God giving you what you don’t deserve. And this piece isn’t just things or calm, but this is the this is a this word for peace is the holistic well-being of your soul, your identity as an individual. That God has chosen you in his grace, in peace, and finally, individuals that know there is worth to their life that they’re more important than just property as slaves and women were treated, or they have value as children were looked at as without value. Finally, someone elevates them in their identity because their worth was more than just what you do. It is who you are because you are not a human doing. You are a human being. And every journey starts with this grace of God developing our deep conviction and our understanding of who he is. You know, something happened. Interesting, I think, as it relates to the gospel in the book of Galatians, Paul Paul wrote the book of Galatians just as a defense of what the gospel is. And one of the reasons he wrote the book of Galatians is, is because of an encounter he had with some Jews talking about needing to follow the Jewish law in order to to validate your salvation and earn your salvation. And he found even in this that Peter, the apostle Peter, started to live like these Jewish individuals before the Gentiles. He rejected the gospel and went back to a works based salvation, or at least lived a lifestyle that demonstrated that that’s what God desired.

And so Paul opposes Peter to his face on this. And this is what happens in verse 14. It says, when I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas, which is Peter in front of all of them, you are, you are a Jew. Yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? You know something interesting about what? What Paul is saying about the gospel here. You know what what Peter is doing is? He’s being racist. I mean, is elevating the Jewish race above everyone else. And and Paul could have said, you know, Peter, I’m coming to you and and I want you to know something. You’re breaking our rule on not being racist. And if Paul had said that, he would have been correct. But the statement that Paul gives is even larger than just racism, because the root of what Peter is doing wrong is, is not just the act of racism. It’s much deeper in the identity of an individual as it relates to the gospel. See, Peter has led people to believe that your value is determined by the race that you represent. And I would say God certainly has created the races for his intentions and purposes. I think his glory is seen in that.

But your value and worth is far deeper than than just race. And so when Paul confronts Peter, he doesn’t say, you’re breaking our rule on racism. Uh, Peter, you’re breaking the gospel. Because all individuals, according to their worth, created in God, have a place before the Lord, regardless of where they come from and what they’ve done and and how society has viewed them. There’s a quote that says, uh, every saint has a past. And every sinner. As a future. So sometimes within the gospel, we. An error can fall in one and two extremes. Um, and I wouldn’t say it’s the gospel at all, but. The first is the battle of moralism. And the other is the battle of relativism. Moralism sometimes sees itself coming, coming to terms in legalism. Meaning we just kind of give this idea that as long as you do good, you’re going to be okay. Reality is within moralism. The statement is that it is truth without grace. So in a system of moralism, as long as you live up to the standard, you’re good. But the moment you fall short of the standard, you’re a failure. There is no there’s not grace in that. But the emphasis is truth. It’s all about truth and truth. And if and if you fail in this legalistic law giving system, then then you are a failure. And you wear the label of a failure. And the the other thought is, is relativism or sometimes referred to as antinomianism.

It just says, you know, whatever, whatever, whatever you want to believe. Just just whatever is true for you may be true for you. And whatever is true for me may be true for me, but they don’t have to be the same thing. Do what you want. And this is grace with no truth. The reality is. When Jesus came. The Bible tells us. But he was full of grace. Entereth. That the message of the gospel is more than moralism. It’s different than relativism. It’s both grace and truth combined in Christ. The reality is that apart from moralism, what the gospel presents is the opportunity that that God has to find us in our brokenness and give us his grace so that we can live in his truth. His grace gives us hope. His truth gives us purpose. And what Peter is finding himself in the middle of this discussion with Paul is that he has lost the identity of the gospel because he is living in this system of legalism and and moralism, which is denying the gospel itself because it’s undervaluing humanity as it’s created in God’s image. So in verses 5 to 7. Let me read these verses to us and make this application for us as models. Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power. And with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how he lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us, of the Lord.

For you welcome the message in the midst of severe suffering. With a joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers. So what exactly are we modeling? Can tell you it’s not the clothes I’m wearing today. What exactly is the church called to model? I believe what Paul is talking about in this passage is not what we often think about when we say the word model, which is the appearance on the outside. But what Paul is beginning to refer to us as individuals is the change that happens on the inside. It’s the character matched with your identity in Christ and in who you are because of what Jesus has done for you. So when it comes to this idea of modeling for Christ, I think what God is saying to us in this passage is he’s not he’s not asking you to pretend to be something you aren’t. We aren’t asking you to put on another mask. What modeling means is you get to show who you are and how Jesus is is changing you. What I mean is modeling, isn’t it? Isn’t perfectionism, it isn’t moralism, it isn’t relativism. It isn’t antinomianism. It isn’t religion. The modeling in which we carry as God’s people is redemption. You’re a model of redemption. In revelation chapter five and verse nine, I think the song of redemption is given there. It says about Jesus, worthy are you, O lamb, to to take the scrolls.

To break the seals. For you were slain, and you have redeemed by your blood a people from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation. See the song of redemption in which we model isn’t the expectation of perfectionism. When you come to Jesus, you’re perfect. But what it’s acknowledging is that Jesus is now doing his work within you. You’re the model of redemption. What it means is in your failures because of Christ, you get to be open and honest with that and show where Jesus is transforming your life and and in the things that God is transforming. You get to stand and shine and serve him in this world. What it means for us as people is that we’re bigger than our failures. What it means for us as people is even in our failures. We can reflect the goodness of who God is. So one of the reasons that we can confront topics that we’re going to talk about in the weeks ahead and forgiveness is because of what Jesus has done for us. And God’s standard on on me. He he desires for me to display him in this world, but he gives me opportunity, and my failure is not to run away from him because I’m worthless, but instead to run to him in my failures because of what he has done. I’m a model of redemption. I display the goodness of who God is. My, my, my modeling career is seen in both my successes and my failures.

The good things and the bad. I can come before my my wife, my children, anyone that I blow it and we will blow it. We will always blow up because. But because our song is is redemption. We get to say, in my failures, this is how God is good. And this is why he’s not through with me. And this is why tomorrow I get to wake up with hope. Because the grace of my God exceeds the failures of me as an individual. Verse five, I think says something about the importance of our nature as people when it comes to this gospel. He says. Because our gospel, taking ownership of it, came to you not simply with words, but also with power. You know, one of the things I’ve learned about the gospel over the years. Is that the gospel isn’t some scared cat that I’ve got to just hide in a cage and protect from the world. But the gospel is a lion. The gospel is created not not for for us to cower from the world, but to run right into it. Because that song of redemption in which the the believers sing in revelation chapter five, that song of redemption that Jesus does in your own heart, is a song of redemption that can transform any heart in Christ. If we would just unleash what the gospel is, it’s not perfectionism, but it’s it’s grace.

It’s not. It’s not universalism, but it’s truth. It’s you being shaped in a God who is real, that gives you hope beyond your failures and and a future in him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this once. He said only that the community talking about believers, only that community which enters into the experience of this great disillusionment with all its unpleasant and evil appearances, begins to be what it should be in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this moment of disillusionment comes over the individual and the community, the better for both of you. And what Dietrich Bonhoeffer is saying. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was in jail during the time of Nazi Germany. He actually lost his life at the end of World War two, before Hitler took his own life, just a few weeks before Hitler took his life. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer is writing. He writes all sorts of of literature on how the church can have an effect in the community. But one of the statements he makes here that I just read is that the church it’s not this fortress of hiding, but it’s this place of living in this world of disillusionment. And we get to in this gospel because it is powerful to go out in this world and sing the song of redemption, because anyone can find a place in it, because all of us have identity and worth in Christ being created in his image. Let me close with this story.

Floyd Jones tells a story of of a young man who was he was an atheist. And he was telling Floyd Jones about growing up in a home of a mother who was a Universalist and a father who was a believer of Christian. He said, you know, my mom was a beautiful snowflake. She did everything perfect, and she lived the model life. She was an elegant lady and I loved her. And he said, you know, my father, he would take me to his church to as a believer. But my father was a mess. He was an alcoholic, he couldn’t break free from it. And he would continue to take me to church. And he’s telling Floyd Jones, he said, you know, I haven’t picked any faith in my life, and I don’t know if I ever will, but I could tell you if I had to choose a faith. I would pick my father’s. He said. Why? And the young man looked at him and said, because in my mother’s system, though, my mother was beautiful in her moralistic system, if if she failed or if anyone failed, they they found no place in that failure. But my dad. When he would walk into the community of which he was a part of, though he struggled in life. He kept finding grace. And the only reason I think he went back to that church. Was because of the grace he received when he entered into that community in his struggle.

So the song of redemption. But the body of believers is beautiful. Not just for people outside of us, but for us. Because in life you’re going to experience trials and things are going to get rough. And like the Thessalonians, they’re in persecution. Life isn’t always going to go the way that you want, but that song of redemption is what helps you identify your worth and value of who you are as a human being. It gives you a place to find yourself in God, to see the significance of who you are, and to see the hope of living into tomorrow because of what Christ has done for you today in his love. So here’s what I say to you. If you find yourself in that place. I’m going to encourage you to take time. If you’re at home and and things are going a little crazy. And you’re feeling frustrated in that. You look to your spouse or whoever’s around you and say, I need five minutes. I’ve got to work on my modeling career. Because I know in the midst of this. The redemption song of God in my heart is beautiful. And it helps me to identify who I am in these moments so I can reflect the beauty of who he is in this world.

Persecuted Church

Temptation