Good morning. Today we're going to look at verses 23 and 24 of
chapter 5 of first Thessalonians. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you
entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without
blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and
He also will bring it to pass. You see we are the ones that are trying to
sanctify ourselves. But we can't do it. No matter how hard we try, and we do,
we can't. He has to do it. But we don't like that because we are not the ones
in control. It requires surrender of our will. When we do, then He is free to
complete the process. Verse 23 reminds us that we are three parts; spirit,
soul, and body. All three will be made complete by Him - without blame! How
great is that! How do we know that it will happen? Verse 24 tells us: because
He is faithful. He's going to do it for you. You just have to let Him. So let
go and let God.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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