Walking Worthy of God's Calling
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning, Church! I want to start by saying, “Happy New Year” to each of you who have made it out this morning and all those who may be joining us online as well!
It’s good to see each of you here this morning.
Today marks our first Sunday in this new year of 2026 and I just can’t help but to feel that it’s going to be a good year!
As many of you know and for those who are newer members of our congregation and may not, I like to initiate each new year with a theme...something we as a Church can work on as we kick the new year off. It’s just a little something I started back in 2022 and find it fun to keep us focused on the task at hand as we work our way through the year.
2022 — Totally Renewed in 2022
2023 — Making the Most of Every Opportunity in 2023
2024 — Bursting out the Door in 2024
2025 — Learning to Thrive in 2025
And as I began to thing about this upcoming year and I read the scripture for this week and just thought about where we are as a Church and where I feel we are headed this year, this is the thought that came to my mind...Moving the Sticks in 2026—Growing in God’s Grace & Glory.
Now, some of you may be wondering what in the world all that means so let me break it down for you. If you watch football you know that during the football game in order to continue moving down the field towards your end zone—the goal line—you have to get a first down. And when you get a first down, they “move the sticks” to start a new set of downs.
We coaches call it moving the sticks. We got to move the sticks in order to keep going and as we move the sticks further and further down the field, we get closer and closer to our goal, right?
Well, as we Christians continue through this game of life, we are to be constantly “moving the sticks” closer and closer to our goal.
What is the goal for the Christian? Eternity with God in Heaven, right?
So, we are to always be “moving the sticks”—moving closer to that end goal of one day seeing our savior—the Lord Jesus Christ—face to face.
We are to be growing in our walk with God, growing closer to Him, learning more about Him, spending more time with Him whether that be in prayer or by studying His Word. In some form or fashion we are to be constantly “Growing in God’s Grace & Glory” until the day comes when we get to spend eternity with Him in glory, Amen!
So, the theme for this year...Moving the Stix in 2026—Growing in God’s Grace & Glory. And I pray that by the time we reach the end of this year, each of us can say with great confidence, “I am closer to God today than I was at the beginning of the year!”
That’s my prayer for our Church and that’s my prayer for each of you as we begin this journey into 2026.
And today’s message fits right in with this theme and it’s almost a call to action for us as believers. If you have your Bible’s with you this morning, I’m gonna ask you to be turning with me to the Book of 1st Thessalonians and we will be picking up right where we left off last week in Chapter 2 Verse 1.
The title I have given to today’s message is simply “Walking Worthy of God’s Calling.”
Last week, we looked at Chapter 1 and Paul’s commendation of the Church at Thessalonica and then today, we’re going to see Paul continue this commendation by highlighting the fact that the Thessalonian Church was walking worthy of God’s calling upon their lives.
And I pray this will be an encouragement for every born again believer here this morning to walk worthy of the calling wherewith God has called you in His kingdom and His glory!
Moving the sticks in 2026 starts with us walking worthy of our calling and growing in our knowledge of God’s grace and glory.
So, with no further ado, if you have your Bible’s turned to 1st Thessalonians 2:1 would you say, Amen.
Reminiscing about the Journey — (Vs. 1-2)
Reminiscing about the Journey — (Vs. 1-2)
1 You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure.
2 You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition.
Paul begins Chapter 2 here with a walk down memory lane. He’s just finished Chapter 1 by telling the Thessalonian Church how proud he is to hear of their work and their witness to the lost and then, here in the beginning of Chapter 2, he backs up and says...
1 You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure.
1 For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain:
Paul is trying to drive home the fact that God used these men...Paul, Silas, Timothy to do a work in these believers that was still living on until this day.
“Our visit to you was not a failure!”
KJV says… “not in vain” — Vain here means...without result, without effect, without purpose.
So, Paul is saying here… “Brothers and Sisters you know that our visit with you was not without result; was not without effect; was not without purpose! It’s evident that our visit brought about a mighty move of the Holy Spirit that is still moving in you today!”
And then he says in Verse 2...
2 You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition.
Paul and Silas had been beaten with many stripes and thrown in the innermost part of the prison in Philippi. Treated like criminals, they sat in the innermost part of that prison but they didn’t let their circumstances overcome their confidence in their God!
They prayed and sang praises unto God in the middle of the night in that prison and God heard their prayers and delivered them from that prison and gave them some souls for their labor! The Jailor and his whole family got saved during the process!
The next day, when the leaders of the city heard what had happened and that Paul and Silas were Romans they basically begged them to leave their town.
They might have been beaten for their beliefs but a great work was done in Philippi and lost souls were led to Jesus because of the work they did.
Now, most people after being beaten like Paul and Silas were for their beliefs would have taken the win with the Jailor and Lydia and the Church that had been started in her house and just went on about their business but that wasn’t good enough for Paul and Silas.
The Spirit of God was on the move and they wanted more! More souls for the Lord! More lost people to be found! The snatching of more souls from falling headlong into the fiery flames of hell!
So, Paul says…
2 You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition.
Paul says, “Instead of tucking tail and heading the opposite way, we continued our journey of sharing the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! God gave us the courage to continue our journey for Him—to declare unto you boldly the good news of Jesus Christ even though we faced persecution and peril at every turn!”
You know, as I was thinking about these verses, I couldn’t help but to think of what God would do in today’s time if Christians everywhere would just stand like Paul and Silas stood. Standing in spite of opposition and sharing the good news of Jesus with confidence!
As I penned those words I couldn’t help but to think back to one of the greatest tragedies of last year, the murdering of Charlie Kirk, and to think how Charlie stood despite the opposition. He ended up giving his life for the cause of Christ but look what has happened since then.
Turning Point Chapters at local colleges have sprung up everywhere! They had 18,000 new chapter requests after Erica Kirk spoke for the first time after her husbands death.
Bible sales went through the roof! Over 18 million Bibles were sold in 2025—an 11-12% increase from 2024! 2.4 Million alone in the month of September when Charlie Kirk was assassinated!
Fox News reported that some Churches experienced their attendance rise over 15% after the assassination of Charlie Kirk! They also reported that scores of non-believers were picking up a Bible for the first time in their lives!
God will use anyone who’s willing to stand to bring about repentance and revival and my prayer is that as we work our way through this year, we as a body will grow in our walk with the Lord in such a way that God will use us, corporately and individually to bring about a revival in other people’s lives!
I’ve heard multiple stories just in the last week of how God is moving already in some of our congregants lives...we’ve got men leading people to Christ at work; we’ve got others being noticed by their bosses that a change has taken place in their lives and being asked if they’d like to help lead a Bible study.
It’s amazing what God will do in us and through us when we just simply give ourselves over to Him!
So, in Verses 1 & 2 Paul takes a second to just simply remember the journey and reminisce about how they ended up in Thessalonica in the first place.
Now, before I move on I want to say one more thing...sometimes it’s good to just stop, sit and reminisce about your own journey of where you are and how God has brought you there.
It’s good to think back upon your journey and see how God moved in certain situations to bring you where you are today.
And what I will tell you is this...more than likely you will see frames of your life—stages where when you look back on them you will begin to see the hand of God moving in them like pieces of a puzzle all coming together and what a wonderful thing it is when you can see all those pieces of your life start to come together for the honor and glory of God!
What an amazing thing it is! Give it shot and try it in the very near future and you’ll see what I’m talking about!
Moving on from Reminiscing about the Journey, Paul then begins to Reiterate the Purpose of the Journey.
Reiterating the Purpose of the Journey — (Vs. 3-4)
Reiterating the Purpose of the Journey — (Vs. 3-4)
3 So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.
4 For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.
Paul was a chosen vessel unto God. God had a plan for Paul long before Paul really knew who God even was. He was entrusted by God to share the good news of His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, with Gentiles, and kings and children of Israel Acts 9:15 says.
Paul understood his purpose and his calling—to please God and not people for Paul says… “He alone examines the motives of our hearts.”
And he says here...
3 So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.
Paul says, “The message we brought was genuine. It was true. It was holy. And we brought it out of love and for no other hidden agenda.”
John Phillips — The Thessalonians were all too familiar with the utter vileness of pagan religion and with the trickery, lust, greed, and dishonesty of many pagan priests. What had first attracted them to Judaism had been the purity of the doctrine that the Jews proclaimed; what had repelled them had been the hypocrisy of many of the Jews. What now attracted them to the gospel was the sublime message of love, joy, peace, holiness, forgiveness, and new life in Christ. What made them eager and willing converts was the transparent integrity of its messengers.
This morning, it would be good for us to remember who it is we serve and why we share the gospel of Jesus Christ...because our purpose is to please God and not men. For one day, when we stand before Him, we will give an account of all the deeds done in our body.
Jesus said in...
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Paul told the Romans in...
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
The purpose of our service is unto God for all that He has done for us.
Take just a moment and think back in your life about all that God has done for you and just how good He’s been to you and then think about all that you’ve done for God.
I’ll bet what He’s done for you far outweighs what you’ve ever done for Him but that should be the driving force behind what we do each and every day.
Paul said it like this in...
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Paul says the least we can do for all that God has done for us is to live our lives for Him!
1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
We’ve all been entrusted with the good news of Jesus Christ to take it out to a lost and dying world. That is our purpose—this is why the Church exists today—to evangelize the lost! And we do it to please God and not people.
Paul Reiterates the Purpose of the Journey and then he Restates their Motives during the Journey...
Restating their Motives during the Journey — (Vs. 5-12)
Restating their Motives during the Journey — (Vs. 5-12)
Vs. 5
There are many preachers out there who get up each and every Sunday and get on a stage and present a message that is partially Biblical but more often than not, it’s more tailored toward some feel good, self righteous type of living and it tickles the ears of it’s hearers and tells them everything they want to hear and the reason they do it week in and week out is for the money—Peter and Paul both called it filthy lucre!
It’s not about forming relationships with their hearers; It’s not about the koinonia—the fellowship of doing life together with their congregants; It’s not about seeing the lost come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from an eternity spent in hell...they do it simply for the money.
Their motives are wrong!
And Paul says here in Verse 5...
5 Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money!
Paul, Silas, & Timothy’s motives were genuine. They cared deeply for the believers in Thessalonica and they were proud of the news they were hearing of how God was using them in a mighty way!
He goes on to say in Verse 6...
6 As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.
Again, they sought to please God and not men. As I read this though, I couldn’t help but to think about all the people who seek the praises of men today.
Listen, I like a good… “That was a great message today, Preacher” as good as anyone but I’m not here to tickle your fancy. I’m not here to make you feel good or to tell you that you can live any way you want and God will bless you with an abundance of money or that you have all the power you need living within you and if you believe it, you will receive it!
That’s not why I’m here this morning. I’m here to simply preach the Word of God and to watch it move and work in the lives of it’s hearers and accomplish what it may. I have no power in and of myself whatsoever. The power is in the Word and the Work of the Holy Spirit and I’ve watched it first hand save souls and change lives and that was the motive behind Paul and Team’s coming to Thessalonica as well!
We should be motivated by our love for God and our love for others not motivated to seek the praises of men. The praises of men may get you somewhere here on earth but they will not change your outcome in eternity. Only a changed heart can do that!
When I thought about this section I was taken to Hebrews 11 where the writer wrote of Moses and his faith. He said in...
24 It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
25 He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.
26 He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.
27 It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.
Moses had every opportunity to seek the praises of men but it was the praises of His God that he instead was after! His eyes were on the eternal reward and his focus was on God!
Paul’s motives were genuine & sincere being focused not on the praises of men but on a job well done by his Savior.
We need to make sure this morning that our motives are pure as well. What is it that motivates us to tell others about Jesus? Are we doing it seeking the praises of men or of God?
Paul goes on to say in...
7 As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children.
8 We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.
And there you have it...the real motive of all motives...love!
Paul loved people and Paul loved God and Paul wanted as many people as he could to know the same God he knew!
The best way Paul knew to express his love for others was to share Jesus with them.
Man, what a statement!
The best way we can express our love toward someone is to tell them about Jesus!
Isn’t that just amazing!
God expressed His love for us by sending His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins—to do what we could not do on our own—and the best way that we can show our love to mankind is by simply sharing what God has done for us!
8 We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.
Paul said we loved you so we had to share Jesus with you but we also wanted to share our lives with you as well.
Koinonia — fellowship — doing life together!
That’s what love really looks like!
Paul told the Corinthians who were arguing over who had the best gifts in 1 Corinthians 13...
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Peter would say in...
8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
Love is the purest motive one can have. And Paul did everything out of his love for God and love for others.
Vs. 9
9 Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you.
They weren’t there for their money. They were Bi-Vocational like I am today. Now, here’s what I’m going to say...and some might disagree and that’s just fine...there is nothing in the world wrong with being a full time Pastor.
There are things I would love to be able to do for the Lord but I can’t because I’m Bi-Vocational so when the Church is large enough to support a full time Pastor, by all means I am a proponent of it.
But you have to keep in mind that the majority of these congregations were started by Paul. They weren’t mega churches or large congregations. They were start ups and more often than not, they were small enough congregations that they met in one of the members houses.
And so Paul says here and he’s basically reiterating what he said above, Brothers and Sisters I didn’t come to Thessalonica to be a burden unto you—preaching some new doctrine just to swindle you out of your money! No, Silas & Timothy & I worked the entire time we were with you all so as not to be a burden unto you.
Vs. 10
10 You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers.
11 And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children.
12 We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory.
KJV says here of Verse 12...
12 That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
Paul says, “The motive was our love for God and our love for you. The motivation of our love was to encourage you to live your lives in such a way that God would consider it worthy.”
Don’t miss the significance here...who’s doing the calling? God, right?
Where is He calling us? Into His kingdom and glory.
If God has called you into His kingdom and glory this morning, don’t you think we ought to be living a life that is worthy of that calling?
Let me ask you something this morning...if you’re with me say, Amen...is the life you are living today worthy of the calling that God has placed on your life?
That’s the question that each of us need to be asking ourselves and should be the motivation to move the sticks in 2026 in our own lives.
Everything Paul and company did, all the Churches that were planted, all the souls that were led to the Lord, all the epistles that were written, was because Paul wanted to live a live that was worthy of God’s calling upon his life.
Some of you sitting here this morning know that the life you are living isn’t worthy of the calling that God has placed upon your life and some of you may very well even be getting called into the ministry by God for some other calling upon your life. He may be calling some of you to teach or to serve or to preach or to be missionaries or a whole host of other things.
Listen and let me teach you something from experience this morning...if God is calling you to do more...do it! Don’t put it on the back burner; don’t say you’ll do it when you’re more equipped; don’t wait!
God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called!
And I can tell you from experience that if God is calling you to do something more, you will never find peace until you surrender to His calling!
And then, when you finally do surrender, you will look back and wish you had surrendered sooner!
And maybe you are here and God is simply calling you to be saved this morning. He’s placing a calling upon your heart at this very moment to trust in Him and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
If that is you, won’t you answer that call today?
Won’t you trust in Him and the finished work of Jesus on Calvary before it’s everlasting and too late?
Don’t push Him away. Don’t wait. Now is the accepted time and today is the day of salvation!
Paul started by Reminiscing about the Journey to Thessalonica. Then, he Reiterated Their Purpose—to please God and not man. Next, he Restated Their Motives—love and then the motivation—to urge them to walk worthy of God’s calling upon their lives. And lastly, as we come to a close this morning, Paul Remembers the Work of the Word in the lives of the Thessalonians.
Remembering the Work of the Word — (Vs. 13)
Remembering the Work of the Word — (Vs. 13)
They received the message — Will you receive the message that has been preached here today?
They accepted every word preached as the word of God — Will you accept the fact that God is trying to speak to you here today?
The Word continued to work in those who believed — If you are here this morning and saved, will you allow the Word of God to work in you or will you deny it the work of God that He is trying to do in your lives?
