Let's begin by talking about Paul, Silas, and Timothy. Paul planted churches and then sent people like Silas and Timothy to check up on those churches. Way too many for Paul to keep track of all by himself. Then they would then report back to Paul and Paul would sometimes write them letters back to help them. So in a way, Paul was a kind of spiritual physician giving these churches regular checkups.

It seems as though Paul's diagnosis for the church in Thessalonica was pretty good - it was a reasonably healthy place. He points out three things that make them spiritually healthy.

1) Their faith is growing. How could he tell? Who knows?! How can we tell if our faith is growing? Faith is less about the things we believe and more about trusting in God. That happens at ReNew all the time, as we are challenged by one another to ask questions and examine difficult conclusions.

2) Their love for one another is increasing. Again, how did he know? How do you measure that? At ReNew, we can see that happening as we share our time together on Sunday, or participate in youth programs on Wednesday nights or Sunday afternoons, or organize and attend game nights, weed the garden, etc. We have fun together and we support one another when we need it the most.

3) They show incredible resilience. How do you measure that? We live in a world where it's hard to be a person of faith - our kind don't have the best reputation right now. It's hard to believe that God is actually renewing all things. There are all sorts of reasons to doubt, to give up on faith, to become cynical - and yet, here we are. We're still here.

We may not be perfect, but this place is in pretty good health.

Speaker: Aaron Vis
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
http://bible.com/events/49516294

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