Passage: 1 Thessalonians 1:4-10 Speaker: Pastor Jon Kopp Series: Open House
Speaker: Jon Kopp - “The Bible makes a very radical idea inescapable: not only is the gospel the interpretive norm for the whole Bible, but there is an important sense in which Jesus Christ is the mediator of the meaning of everything that exists. In other words, the gospel is the [interpretive] norm for the whole of reality.” - (Graeme Goldsworthy) When Paul writes to a very young church living in a very difficult place, He encourages them with a thought similar to the one above, because what is happening in the midst of a new group of believers in Thessalonica can only be explained by looking at the gospel. As they face affliction and persecution, Paul directs their gaze back to the work of God through the message of the gospel as a source of encouragement, hope and rejoicing.