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Speaker: Jerry Cisar
Critics of Christianity have often alleged that the Christianity of today has moved a long way from the faith taught by the Jesus of history. The accusation is that the church was infected with Greek concepts and philosophy. The Jesus of history, they would tell you, is not the Jesus that the church spoke about centuries later or preaches today.
Young people will go off to universities and grad schools and will likely encounter claims such as these. Others may encounter this in reading, watching documentaries, or from those you attempt to share the gospel with.
This Sunday we begin a series titled, “Dissident Disciples—a Study in 1 Thessalonians.” It is widely held that 1 Thessalonians is the oldest of all the New Testament documents. It was written in AD49 or 50, 3 months or so from Paul having fled the city. In this series you will see Jesus and what the church taught about Him from the earliest document of Christianity, written less than two decades after the crucifixion. This is primitive Christianity.
You may be surprised just how much the Jesus of primitive Christianity looks like the Jesus of Christianity today! Indeed, we will discover many things that under-gird the creeds of the early church. If this is the first piece of Christian writing and theological reflection that remains, it is more than old, it is very, very important.
Join us in worship as we begin our exploration of this letter. We begin in Acts 17:1-9. Why? In order to examine the story of the Gospel first coming to Thessalonica. It will set the stage for what we discover in the letter.