This morning I invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to 1

Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 2. We will Lord willing finish up this

chapter together. It feels good to say turn to 1 Thessalonians again—it’s

been six weeks since we were here last. I want to pick up where we left off

and hit the ground running.

As we’ve said, this is such a timely study for us. How God established a

new church and began to strengthen the ministry. We have been awed at the

power of God in that place. And we’ve gotten a behind-the-scenes look at

what drives a ministry.

The sharing of life. The boldness. The love. The investment.

As we get started here, I want to remind you that our backdrop here for

this letter is a church that was founded by missionaries. Missions is

essential to God’s plan for advancing his kingdom on earth.