As we prepare to look at the 1 Thessalonians, we turn our attention to the birth of the church at Thessalonica and Paul's ministry there, in Acts 17:1-9. We see him REASONING, EXPLAINING, PROVING and PROCLAIMING who Jesus is; He is the suffering Messiah, God's King, who died and rose again. This is what that church believed at that first meeting and what Paul encouraged them to continue with; thus, we get his first letter to them, 1 Thessalonians, which we will study over the next couple of months.

In this passage, we see Jesus investing into the lives of His disciples. He first calls them to Himself and then sends them out in His name, with His authority.

When Jesus called His first disciples, we see how they immediately obeyed His calling, left behind their security and took steps of faith, as they continued to follow Him. We too have been called to that same life of faith.

After Jesus' resurrection, the two Marys go to visit the tomb. There, they meet two angels who tell them to Come and See where Jesus was lying. They then Bow and Worship when they meet Jesus and are told to Go and Tell the other disciples. This should be our response as we approach Easter this year.

As Jesus draws to the end of the Beatitudes, He spends some time letting His disciples know what will be the result of following Him, as a kingdom person, and that is, we will face opposition and persecution. But He also turns this from an academic exercise to a personal one. Because it is not just a simple, 'those' people out there, somewhere in the world, it is them personally, because He goes on to say. "Blessed are YOU when people insult YOU, persecute YOU and falsely say all kinds of evil against YOU because of ME."