1 Thessalonians 1:1-4; Acts 17:1-10

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God and His Church

Please turn in your Bibles to the New Testament and the book: 1 Thessalonians. This morning, we begin a series of sermons to take us through the fall, a series through the letters of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. So, WHY Thessalonians? I fully expect you to ask that question. In fact, I hope that you would be engaged and interested enough to want to know why I’ve chosen these books to kick off a new school year.

I’m going to answer that question - but I want to answer it with a question of my own: Do you remember what was happening 50 year ago? 1973 - do you remember that year? Some of you have vivid memories of that year - you were young, you were in love, or just beginning your adult life - full of anticipation and excitement for the future.

Some of us were little kids then.

Some of you have zero personal memory of 1973 - because you weren’t even born yet.

But what was going on in the world, 50 years ago?

HIGHLIGHTS: 1973 was the year the US officially ended its involvement in the Viet Nam War. It was the year the American Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade - deciding that abortion was a constitutional right. It was also the year the Watergate hearings began in the US Senate.

In April of the year, the World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world, only to be overtaken that very year by the Sears Tower in Chicago. The iconic Sydney Opera House was opened in Australia.

In pop culture: it was the year The movies ‘The Godfather’ and ‘the Exorcist’ were released, as Hollywood discovered its ‘dark side’. If you are a music fan - you will want to know that the number one song in 8 countries was sung by Tony Orlando and Dawn: “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” - and if you are old enough to remember that song - you are probably hearing the music in your head, right now.

Inflation was a major issue - with costs up 8.4 percent in the UK and 6.16 percent in the US. Gas prices were skyrocketing

But, if you wanted to buy a new car - you COULD get a brand new AMC Javelin for 2,900 - or a Ford Galaxie 500 for $3,883

There was something else going on, 50 years ago - it didn’t make the front page of any newspapers, let alone the newscasts on television -but it was important to every one of us here, this morning.

It was in the fall of 1973, when a handful of people, in Abbotsford, began meeting in a living room for prayer and to begin a church that would later be registered with the name Maranatha Baptist Church. They were led by a retired pastor: John Crook - who had already spent a llfetime serving the Lord, but in his golden years, didn’t use his age as an excuse to put his feet up, but drove out from Langley every week, to meet with this small group of believers.

The fact that this church is here, 50 years on, that you are here and that Maranatha is stronger than it has ever been - more people attending, more outreach going on, more prayer, more ministry, more money going to missions - Oh, there is so much more to do, so much room for growth - we don’t EVER want to become complacent .... but may we also NOT dishonour God by failing to recognize and praise Him for what He has done. And Maranatha Church, TODAY, is testimony to nothing less than the unwavering faithfulness of God, Who is unfolding His sovereign plan through history - and let us praise Him for His stunning way with His Church.

You know that God’s work in His church didn’t begin 50 years ago, here with Maranatha. Our story begins further back … much further back. The fact that there is ANY church in Abbotsford, or Canada or N. America … is because the Gospel made the jump from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria … to Asia and then made the jump to the West. DON’T Take that for granted.

READ 1 Thessalonians 1:1-4a

1 Thessalonians 1:1

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the CHURCH of the THESSALONIANS in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The letter begins in the typical format of a letter in its day. It begins by identifying who is writing the letter. In this case: Paul, Silvanus (The Romanized form of Silas) … and Timothy are given as authors - even though Paul is clearly the one responsible for the words, as He’s guided by the Holy Spirit.

After the writer is identified, typical first century letters name the intended recipient: To the Church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Church of the Thessalonians … IN God the Father.

Thessalonica was in Macedonia, modern-day Greece. It was one of the very first churches planted on the European continent. And Paul wasn’t even planning on heading there. More on that in a moment. But back to our question:

WHY STUDY THESSALONIANS?

Because it was written to a local church, like ours. That’s massively important. Do you want your life to count? Do you want to leave a God-honouring, Christ-exalting legacy with your life?

… Be a living and active part of a local church.

If you want to be part of God’s purpose in history - be part of a church - a local church. The letters of Paul, the letters of Peter and James and John … they were all written to local churches. In fact, the New Testament knows nothing of an ‘unchurched’ Christian. The Church, the body of Christ is at the very center of the purpose of God in This world - I don’t know what happened to the people who gathered to pray in this church, don’t know that I’ve even met more than a couple of them. But I do know this - that whatever else they did … they were used by God to build His church - where people have been saved and baptized and grown in their faith and raised families that have made an impact in lives in later generations … and that’s a legacy infinitely greater than collecting toys and leaving a few bucks to your children.

The Chuch of Thessalonica was a local church, it was one of the very FIRST churches founded in Europe, it was a small, fragile, young church growing in a hostile culture … and the Christians were wondering how their lives related to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Can you see anything we may have in common with that church?

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH’S BEGINNING

The story of the founding of the church at Thessalonica is reported for us in Acts 17.

READ - Acts 17:1-10

Paul is on his second missionary journey. It is about 49 AD. He sets out from Antioch with Silas (Silvanus) to visit the churches planted on the FIRST journey in Syria and on into Phrygia and Galatia, in what is modern-day Turkey. Timothy joins them along the way. They press on, westward and northward, through the province of Galatia, in what is present day Turkey - headed for further missions work in Asia Minor (which is also in present day Turkey). Dr. Luke, the author of Luke and Acts, joins them in Troas.

The team ends up on a ship that takes them across the Northern Aegean Sea to the port city of Neapolis before heading inland to the significant city of Philippi.

Paul and Company takes the Gospel to the Philippians, start the church, Paul rescues a demon-possessed girl, setting her free of her bondage, through the power of Jesus Christ - and is rewarded with being arrested for his efforts - because the slave-owners of that girl see their money tree dried up and worthless to them.

A crowd is stirred - a riot is ignited and Paul and Silas are punished by the local authorities, without fair trial. Taken to flogging posts, stripped of their clothes so their backs were exposed to the sun as well as the instruments of torture - then the rods were brought out.

Urged on by the crowd, the torturors swing the rods with reckless abandon, not so concerned with WHERE the blows land, as much as HOW FORCEFULLY they land. One blow catches a vertebra and even the already battle-seasoned apostle can’t hold back a yelp of pain. The beating doesn’t stop until both backs are bloody and open to the elements.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, who suffered rods frequently in Communist prisons describes the experience this way: “The blows burnt like fire … It was as if your back were being grilled by a furnace, and the shock to the nervous system was great.”

When the beating is finished, Paul and Silas are thrown into jail. In the black darkness of the putrid smell of the cell, feet fastened in the stocks, unable to rest on torn back,but in scorching pain when thy sit they turn to prayer. They pray to the Savior Whom the world would say has surely forgotten them.

Their prayers turn to praise and the the praise rises in song - until, in the middle of the night, in a Philippian jail, there is a full fledged worship-fest going on.

In the middle verse of one of the songs, an earthquake hits, the prison doors swing open - the jailer pulls out his own sword, about to finish himself off, since he’s sure all of his prisoners have escaped - and he knows his punishment for allowing that to happen - will be his execution. Better to do the deed himself - than be at the mercy of callous Roman soldiers. Well, Paul and Silas stop him - he puts his trust in Jesus Christ and he and his family are saved AND baptized … BEFORE BREAKFAST!

Paul and Silas end up being escorted out of town, battered and bruised but triumphant in faith with a church established.

From Philippi, they make the 90 mile journey southwest to the city of Thessalonica. Stopping along the way to sleep.

The journey takes about three days - if Paul and Silas are able to keep a normal pace after their beatings. That’s a big ‘IF’. As the Christians make their way, on foot, they are walking along a highway that is 10 feet wide, narrowing sometimes to 6 feet and, other times, widening to 20. They find themselves walking aongside Roman soldiers and officials, businessmen on sales trips, philosophers traveling to spread their ideas, party-goers heading to festivals and games. This is a mobile society and this is a busy stretch of road.

When the missions team rounds the corner on the highway and begins the descent down the hill into the city of Thessalonica - they look southward and find the sun, reflecting off the rippling water of the sea that marks the city boundary, forcing them to squint. The missionaries are making their way into a very significant city - it’s a city that, in many ways reminds me of Vancouver, in many ways. Thessalonica lies at the foot of a mountains that protect it from the winds out of the north ... and is an hugely significant port city - sitting atop a natural harbor, at the head of a protected bay - the Thermaic Gulf.

In fact, Thessalonica is the greatest city in Macedonia and one of THE great cities of the Roman empire. City was founded by one of Alexander the Great’s military officers, a man named Cassander, who named the city after his wife, Thessalonica,who just happened to be the half sister of Alexander the Great. From it’s beginning - the city was strategically critical. It had the natural harbour - and it also just happened to sit right along the most important east-west interstate highway in the entire Roman Empire: the Via Egnatia (Egnatian Way). It was a highway that you could get on in Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey) and it would take you, by land, all the way across modern-day Greece, all the way to the western coast of today’s Albania, where you could hop a ship for a short trip across the Adriatic sea to southern Italy, which would leave you with a short hop upland to Rome itself.

Because of the highway - a trip that used to take 3 or 4 months, by sea - now you can do it in 3 WEEKS - without the dangers posed by the unpredictable sea. So, here is a city that is on THE major highway of the Empire, it is the easiest port in that part of the Empire - for shipping and receiving goods from Egypt, Syria and Palestine … and it is 50 miles from Mount Olympus - the headquarters of the Greek pantheon of Greek gods and the throne of Zeus. Vardar Gate, through which passed the great Via Egnatia, held a relief of the gods known as the Dioscuri, the sons of Zeus who were worshiped as saviors from the dangers of the sea.

Obviously that made it a hugely important center for trade, by sea and by land and became a thriving city. It has a population, in Paul’s day - of up to 200,000 people. It is the capital of the Roman Province of Macedonia and, even today is the second most important city in Greece after only Athens.

The missionaries arrive in Thessalonica and notice the very first thing they do: Acts 17:1b-2, “… They came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. (2) And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures ...”

Paul’s missionary method, whenever a city has a sufficient number of Jews to have a synagogue - is to go there first. Makes great sense - no matter where you are in the world, a synagogue is filled with people who believe in the God of Abraham and Moses and David - they know the Hebrew Scriptures and they are waiting for the Messiah. Verse 2 tells us that Paul was invited to speak at the Sabbath service - for three straight weeks. When the invitation is given to him, inside the synagogue to come and read a few words, you can picture the congregation noticing the way he gingerly makes his way to the front and carefully opens the scroll of Scripture. Clothes may hide some of his wounds from view - but everyone can see he has recently been through torture.

Don’t miss his method for building a church, from the ground up. See the end of v. 2, “… he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.”

See the practical importance Paul gives to the Scriptures. Believing in their importance is so much more than just a line-item on his statement of faith. There is a reason for the way wedo things at this church. The center of our worship is expository preaching, book by book, section by section - as we journey through the whole Bible.

You may wonder, “Why isn’t the pastor preaching on this hot-button issue or that one?!”

Let me answer that question for all who are asking: Our style of preaching, at Maranatha is intentional. Whatever my gifts in preaching may or may not be .... we believe that the systematic, expository preaching of the Bible is the ONLY way to be able to REASON FROM THE Scriptures, as Paul does in Thessalonica - it is the only way to feed you a nourishing, well-balanced diet from the bread of God’s Word and equip you to defend your faith and hold out the good news of Jesus. And I am so thankful to be part of a church where the leadership and people are ALL on the same page - in recognizing our need. “Feed us, Lord.”

So, Paul reasons from the Scriptures with the people in Thessalonica. But what does he say?

Let’s pick up our text at the end of v. 2 and into v. 3: “… he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, (3) explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, IS the Christ.”

Acts 17 tells us that Paul spent 3 Sabbath days in the synagogue of Thessalonica, 3 weeks in a row, he was given the opportunity to speak. Notice the outline of his message. Verse 2, the end: “… he reasoned with them from the Scriptures … (3) explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from he dead ...”

So, Paul preaches a three-point sermon (See - it wasn’t invented by Baptist pastors!). First thing he does, is to address the hope and longing that every person in a synagogue would have … a longing for the Messiah - the great Warrior who would come as God’s promised answer to their great needs. The Messiah would rescue God’s people and punish His enemies. And whether first century Jew, or not - everyone has a built in longing for a Messiah to come - to punish evil and to rescue the righteous - we see it all around us. In a society that claims to be secular and NOT believe in God ...

The Second part of Paul’s message, as he preached the Scriptures, is to show the peple that the warrior Messiah had to come in a way they didn’t expect. They were expecting the Messiah to come charging onto the scene on a war-horse, with sword drawn. Paul teaches something very different: verse 3, “… it was NECESSARY for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead.”

The world is incredulous: “What kind of Saviour suffers?!” Christianity says, “Ours does - a Saviour who doesn’t just watch from a distance, but comes to suffering people to set them free from the INSIDE of their suffering.” And he unpacks the history of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

The third part of Paul’s message, drives it all home. Verse 3, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you … IS THE CHRIST.”

Paul’s preaching is a success - of course it’s a success. You can’t fail when you are faithful to the Word of God. Verse 4 describes the fruit of the ministry: “And some of them were persuaded and joined Paaul and Silas (that’s referring to the Jews of the synagogue). In the synagogue, there are also God fearing Greeks who have committed themselves to the God of the Hebrews - they are converts to the faith of Israel, without being circumcised. The Gospel made a mighty impact on them, too. Verse 4 goes on: “some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, AS DID A GRAT MANY of the devout Greeks and NOT a few of the leading women”. The women are likely Gentiles too.

Lives are transformed - The women hear a message that would be radical to their ears: “That they are ....”.

Salvation has come to Thessalonica - there is a new community here - multi-racial, multi-cultural community made up of men and women. It’s a beautiful picture of God’s kingdom and a foretaste of heaven. Paul speaks in the synagogue for 3 weeks, but that doesn’t mean he’s only in town for that long. In 1 Thessalonians 2, he reminds them of how the missionary team carried themselves while in the city. He reminds them of their labour and toil, ‘(How) we worked night and day,” - to keep from being a burden to the new churcch - and how ‘holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct ....’. He also makes a point of metioning how, ‘oke a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.’ None of these things can be done in a matter of 3 weeks.

It’s more likely that the team was in town, working with the church, for several months - maybe up to 6 months.

OPPOSITION RISES

But as any good story, as well as real life will tell you - the honeymoon doesn’t last forever. There’s always a complication to the story. In this case, the problem doesn’t come from inside the church … this tension comes from the outside: religious people, but people who rejected the Good news about Jesus.

Verse 5 tells us what happens: “But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble ...”. NIV: ‘some bad characters from the marketplace’ … No translation does it better than the King James version does here. It calls them, ‘certain lewd fellows of the baser sort ...’. . These are thugs - And, just like Antifa today, this rabble is turned into a mob that agitates, stirs up trouble and inciteds a riot. The ENTIRE city is in an uproar …

The frothing mob marches through the streets of town, on a rampaging mission - someone has to be the personal face of the Christians they are raging at. Jason is that face. He has been converted, he’s probably a man of some financial means … and presumably, he has opened his home to church for its meetings and that this church is drawing people away from the synagogue, gathering with these Christians instead - so what better place to find the missionaries?!

The crowd stops outside of Jason’s door and the sounds of angry shouts rise higher and higher … the pouding on the door increases in ferocity … until the door swings open and the house is ransacked in a desperate search for Paul, Silas and the rest of the team.

There is nobody to be found, so the crowd, needing something to show for their efforts - grabs Jason and all the other Christians they can find in his house and they drag them, by the necks - to the city authorities - to lodge a formal complaint.

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Interestingly, in our translation the people in charge of Thessalonica are called “the city authorities,” translating the Greek word politarch. This is the only place in ancient literature where this word is found, and there was a time when the liberal scholars were saying that it was proof that Luke didn’t know what he was writing about and could not be trusted as a historian. They assumed that Luke made up the word because he didn’t know the proper title.

But, as is often the case in such matters, it is the liberal critics rather than Luke who have been proved wrong, because, just a few decades ago, this term was found. And remarkably, it has been found not scattered throughout the Roman world as we might expect but in this very city of Thessalonica. In fact, there are sixteen inscriptions of this very word. It was even found on an arch that was once above one of the gates to the city. Since the inscriptions are not found elsewhere it seems that this was a term unique to Thessalonica. Thus, far from its being evidence of inaccuracy on Luke’s part, it is actually proof of his extraordinary power of observation and of his reliability as a historian.1

1 Boice, J. M. (1997). Acts: an expositional commentary (p. 290). Baker Books.

The Christians are pushed in front of the city council and the charges are hurled at them: Verse 6, “… These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, (7) and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

Oh, may we be accused of turning the world upside down for Jesus Christ.

The accusation that the Christians are stirring up a rebellion against Caesar is a serious one in Thessalonica. Any hint of revolt against Rome runs the risk of Thessalonica losing its privileged status as a free city - and risks bringing in the full force of the Roman military. Verse 8 tells us the city authorities are ‘disturbed’ - they don’t punish Jason, but they do make them put up a significant amount of money as bond - along with a promise to not cause trouble. Then they are allowed to go home.

With the spotlight on the CHristians and the concern over what the thugs may do next - when night falls on the city, under the cover of darkness, Paul and Silas are smuggled OUT of the city and head south, OFF the main highway, down to the city of Berea, where they start exactly as they did in Thessalonica - in the synagogue, WITH the Scriptures. And again, God blesses, the Holy Spirit moves and people are saved. In fact, Luke commends the Bereans with specific praise that has fired my ambition since the first time I read of it, as a teenager: verse 11, “THESE Jews were more noble than those in THesalonica; thy received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

Is that you, Christian?

If you want to stand upright in this upside down world - if you want

Things go well in Berea - UNTIL … the news reaches Thessalonica that Paul isn’t far away - that he’s just down the road in Berea, preaching the Good News of Jesus. They rent buses and fill them with their thugs … and make the trip down to start another riot.

The Christians get Paul out of town as fast as possible, send him out to the nearest sea-port and he heads south to Athens, where Silas and Timothy meet up with him again.

DESPERATE FOR HOPE

Some of you parents have sent a child off to school for the first time. And no matter how much you have anticipated the inevitable first day of school - you’ve known it was coming - for years you have been preparing yourself to drop them off, in a classroom - under someone ELSE’S care … but when the day comes - you can never … there’s a part of you that just wasn’t ready. “Oh … but he’s still just a baby - how will he make it without me to wipe his nose?

Now, put yourself in Paul’s position: You have invested yourself in a group of people - you’ve seen them come to saving faith in Jesus Christ - you were in the middle of discipling them, training them to live for Christ in the midst of a hostile society … when you were forced to leave them alone … suddenly … before you had a chance to finish what you needed to teach them.

DO YOU THINK YOU”D BE CONCERNED ABOUT THEM? DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD WONDER HOW THEY WERE HOLDING ON … IF THEY WERE HOLDING ON?!

Paul is extremely concerned, so, from Athens - he sends Timothy back to Thessanonica, to check on the church … to bring back a report, whether it will be good or bad, he doesn’t know, but he NEEDS to know how his children in the faith are faring.

He explains his heart in 1 Thessalonians 3:5: “For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear tat somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.”

Paul makes his way down to Corinth … where he ministers the Gospel … but the whole time, he is aching for a word from Thessalonica. Eventually, Timothy arrives with the news. Can you see Paul, sitting at his tent-making table, when Timothy steps into the house .... heart racing, eyes laser-focused in an attempt to pick up any clues his protege may be giving off - to get a sense of the news, before hearing a word.

Well, Timothy speaks - and shares the news of Thessalonica.

And … It is GOOD news. Praise the Lord! Finally, Paul can breathe.

1 Thess 3:6, “But now that Timothy has come to us from you , and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported thatyou always remember us indly and long to see us, as we long to see you - (7) for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.”

In spite of the opposition and Paul’s forced, quick exit - the Thessalonians are standing strong!

So, why the first letter to the Thessalonians? Well, it is to give thanks to God for them and encourage them in their perservering faith. He gives another reason for writing this letter in 1 Thess 3:10, “… we pray most earnestly night andday that we may see you face to face AND .... supply what is lacking in your faith.” Paul hopes to get back to Thessalonica to finish preparing the Christians to carry on in faithfulness to maturity … but, until that day comes - he is going to use this letter as his tool to accomplish the same purpose.

I have given the Title of this series of messages, “Faithful to the End” - because Thessalonians has so much to say to a church in a hostile world - about how to reach maturity. We need to hear what the Holy Spirit has written through Paul - dealing with subjects from how to live in the face of opposition, to how to live joyfully when suffering is raging and trials are beating down. This letter deals with how we look at our work livs and it deals with prophecy. Do you think there’s anything that could be of interest to you in these letters? There is SO much here.

… but You’ll notice that the Series title is vague: “Faithful to the End” - “Who’s faithfulness are we talking about here?” Well, it’s the

1 & 2 Thessalonians—The Hope of Salvation Our Battle Is against …

This is what the Christians faced in Thessalonica, but this is also what followers of Christ face today. This battle has not disappeared, and it will not go away. It is a constant battle that must be faced by all Christians. Some estimates show that over forty million Christians were killed in the twentieth century because of their faith. All we have to do is look at the Middle East or China, and we will see areas where Christians must stand firm for their faith as they face the threat of death. In 2008 the Summer Olympics came to China, and the opening ceremony was unlike anything seen in Olympic history. The ceremony was awe inspiring to anyone who watched it, but behind all the pomp and ceremony is a conflict in China, a conflict between the church and the Communist government. An underground church exists in China, and the government will not permit its believers to worship Jesus Christ openly and freely. Christians are viewed as a threat to communism, and they are persecuted for their allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This type of conflict has been with the church since the beginning. The claims of Jesus have withstood the power and threats of the Roman Empire, Muslim armies, the rise of Communism, and any number of other claims to power. In our time we have a slightly different challenge, a challenge called secularism. Many within the United States of America, both citizens and politicians, believe that Christians’ faith should be kept out of the public square. Faith is considered a private matter, and it should not play a role in public interaction. This is just as much a challenge to our faith as was the challenge in Thessalonica.

The truth is: if we are Christians, our faith cannot be private. We cannot just be a Christian on Sunday or in the privacy of our homes as we pray. We must follow Jesus publicly. Our faith cannot be limited to our churches or our homes but must be displayed in various ways at work and in the day-to-day activities of our world. That could mean several things for us. Perhaps it means we need to be more open or more serious about our commitment to Christ. Perhaps it means we should reflect the justice and truth of God in our callings or vocations, or perhaps it means we should reflect the love and compassion of the gospel in our callings or vocations. Whether we are at church, at work, at home, or in any other public place, we are ambassadors for King Jesus. That is the call Christ has placed on us.

We need to be stirred up to remember that the kingdom of God transcends the governments of this world. Jesus is King over everything in this world. He sits in Heaven ruling at the right hand of God, and as Christians we are called to acknowledge that “of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33). As Abraham Kuyper famously said in the climax of his inaugural address at the dedication of the Free University of Amsterdam, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’ ” There is not a single place where Christ does not touch our lives. We cannot privatize our faith. We cannot think that as long as we are reading our Bibles and praying and coming to church, we are doing enough. We cannot give in to a secular mind-set. Our faith must speak in the public square.

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