Talk

Signs That You’re Saved

Ben Stuart

January, 15, 2023

“Before we explore what a Christian does, we have to understand what a Christian is.”

As we continue in our new series in 1 Thessalonians, Ben Stuart breaks down Paul’s introduction to the letter and examines a few of the defining characteristics of Christians, and how those traits are meant to encourage us in uncertain times.

Key Takeaway

We cannot do anything to earn our salvation, but there is fruit of our salvation that we can examine through the scriptures.

Characteristics of a Follower of Jesus Christ:

God chose you as you are. He isn't surprised by your struggles or your hardship, He loves you despite it.

The gospel came to you, and you received it.

Death is coming for you, but you are ready to stand in front of our maker and face judgment.

Your life has changed. Your outward expression does not line up with what the world tells you it should look like, but with the Holy Spirit.

“

"God wants to pull you out and set your feet on solid rock and put a new song in your mouth of praise to our God."

”

Ben Stuart

Discussion Questions

Do you sometimes live as if God chose only the best parts of you? How do you feel knowing that God chooses you knowing every part of you?
Can you put the gospel into words in a way that a nonbeliever could understand what it means?
Have you ever come face-to-face with death? What was your initial reaction if yes?
In what moments of life are you reminded most of your mortality?
How does your life look different from when you were not a follower of Christ?

Scripture References

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

2We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.

3We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

4For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,

5because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

6You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,

The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

1Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

2Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the

Lord

, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. 3But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.

5“ ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea.7But they cried to the

Lord

for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

8“ ‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

11“ ‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

14“Now fear the

Lord

and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the

Lord

. 15But if serving the

Lord

seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the

Lord

.”

16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the

Lord

to serve other gods! 17It was the

Lord

our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18And the

Lord

drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the

Lord

, because he is our God.”

19Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the

Lord

. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20If you forsake the

Lord

and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

21But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the

Lord

.”

22Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the

Lord

.”

“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.

23“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the

Lord

, the God of Israel.”

24And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the

Lord

our God and obey him.”

25On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. 26And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the

Lord

27“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the

Lord

has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”

28Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.

Buried in the Promised Land

29After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the

Lord

, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 30And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

31Israel served the

Lord

throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the

Lord

had done for Israel.

32And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.

33And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

7“You are the

Lord

God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham.

14One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

9not by works, so that no one can boast.

10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

28God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,

29so that no one may boast before him.

6For you are a people holy to the

Lord

your God. The

Lord

your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

7The

Lord

did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

8But it was because the

Lord

loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

2As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

Ben Stuart

Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.