Salvation is not transactional but transformative. When God calls you to salvation, it is a calling to believe and be transformed by the power of God to accomplish His will and bring glory to His name.

In the secular world, you become very accustomed to transactional relationships. Unfortunately, not only do many people approach their most intimate relationships with a transactional mindset, but many also attempt to relate to God in a similar manner. However, God does not negotiate or bargain, nor can God be manipulated or deceived. It is impossible to receive God's salvation through any form of human transaction.

When you believe in faith and are saved by God, you are transformed by the power of God for the glory of God. In 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, Paul prays with confidence in God's will for the Thessalonian church to continue being transformed for His glory.

How does salvation transform your life? These verses illustrate two fundamental ways in which salvation transforms a Christian's life. That is, salvation transforms what you are and what you do.

Christians endure the present with confident faith in the coming of Jesus, who will rightly judge the world, rescue the saints, and reveal His full glory. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to encourage the saints who were enduring persecution. The encouragement is that Jesus is coming again to rescue the saints and judge the wicked.

Thinking of the vengeance and judgment of God is uncomfortable for many Christians. So, how should you respond to the coming judgment of Christ?

This passage is both an encouragement to Christians and a warning to unbelievers. To believers, it encourages you to have confident faith, and to unbelievers, it serves as a warning of God's coming judgment.

This passage encourages the saints to endure the present with confident faith in who Jesus is and what he will do. To unbelievers, it is an urgent plea to repent.

When you think about helping, ministering, and serving others, you tend to think first about what you can do, give, or assist with. However, these opening words of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians remind the church that your ministry is your own testimony.

What impact should your testimony have on other Christians? This passage identifies two ways that your testimony should impact other Christians.

TXTThe desire of God is not that you would be insulated or isolated from the world but that you would be a living testimony to God’s truth in and to the world.

Every Christian experiences a tension between desiring to be separated from the world and obedience to proclaim the gospel to the world. Throughout history, there have been excesses on both sides of this tension. Sometimes, Christians have overemphasized separation from the world and sought to isolate themselves from the world and restrict contact with non-Christians. At other times, Christians have overemphasized ministry to the world and abandoned holiness and the requirements of faith and obedience in a foolish attempt to make the gospel more worldly appealing.

The Christian who attempts to isolate themselves from the world disobeys God’s command to be a gospel light and witness to the world, and the Christian who seeks at all costs to be appealing to the world disobeys God’s command to live lives of holiness.

Whether you are a recent high school graduate preparing to enter the working world or attend college, or an adult working a secular job, every Christian must wrestle with this tension that comes from living a holy life for Christ while living in an evil world.

This is the very issue that Jesus is praying about in John 17:14-19. He does not pray that God would take Christians out of the world, but while they are in the world, keep them holy and obedient to the faith.

In this sermon, pastor Ben Smith preaches from John 17:14-19 on how you can be in the world without becoming like the world by seeking godly affections, resting in God’s power, and being set apart by God.

When someone goes to school to learn a trade, the ultimate goal is to become proficient in the skill well enough to employ it to earn a living. When students choose their degree program in college, the intended purpose is to prepare for a career in a specific field.

Training for a job or studying for a future career are worthy endeavors and have a sense of anticipation for what is to come after the training is complete. However, if your goal were only to train but never to employ your skill, it would become a purposeless endeavor.

A ministry is something that serves as an agency, instrument, or means. The church's ministry is to equip and mature the saints for faithful service to the Lord. Ephesians 4:11-16 points to the role that church leaders have in equipping the saints and the command on all the members of the church to mature and grow.