Tune in to hear Pastor Josh preach from 1 Thessalonians 2 this morning:
“There are many ways to avoid persecution and suffering for the gospel. We can avoid confrontation and church discipline, compromise with those who call themselves Christians but are not. We can avoid teaching unpopular doctrines of Scripture, such as this one on suffering, so as to keep people comfortable. We can compromise our purity from the world, so we don’t stick out like a sore thumb and gain the ire of those around us. We can assimilate, refuse to confront sin in the church, and refuse to draw attention to ourselves. And we can avoid sharing the gospel with the condemned and dying world around us. We can become like the enemies of Christ and his people who were unwilling to suffer for the sake of others. Like the opponents Paul condemns here, we end up being the enemies of mankind; those who possess the saving message but fail to share it, which would become evidence of our own condemnation. But this, church, is not what God has in store for genuine disciples.”