Be Still And Know

1 Thessalonians 1:8 And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. Paul’s first visit to Thessalonica began well and a number of people decided to follow Jesus (see Acts 17:1-8). But, as was so often the case, his success caused jealousy among the local Jews who were losing some of their adherents. They recruited a group of troublemakers from the marketplace and formed a mob in order to attack Paul and Silas. The mob didn’t find them and so picked on some of the other believers and hauled them before the city council. The situation was clearly getting dangerous and so the believers encouraged Paul and Silas to leave the city that night. Given that difficult background, it must have been a massive encouragement to Paul that the church in Thessalonica was doing so well. How wonderful that they had not merely survived but grown so strongly that the word of the Lord was spreadin