1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
October 18, 2026
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, CA.
The other day when I was on my morning walk and it was still quite dark outside, I stopped by my regular Sausalito coffee shop to visit with my neighbors. We quizzed each other on when will we turn our clocks back one hour for Daylight Savings. It’s not until November 1st—2 weeks from now.
We are not just experiencing the changing of the seasons, the changing of our clocks, but we are also experiencing significant changes at LABC. After the long and faithful ministry of your former senior pastor of 37-plus years, you have been anticipating change to happen. There have been staff changes and they have been reflected on the front of your Sunday bulletins. Last month on September 27th, you voted with an almost unanimous majority to close the Lakeshore Children’s Center that has been an enduring program for over 53 years. Please know that these changes have not been easy, but rather quite difficult because they affect people we care about.
In the midst of such significant change, we can also find comfort when we see in Scriptures that the early church also needed reassurance that all is well.
Thessalonian Church
Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian church is like Paul was writing to us, here at the Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church. We know that there are many idols in our world today to which we might believe in or follow with our life, but like the Thessalonians, we turned from such idols to “serve a living and true God.”
What distinguishes a “living and true God” from idols is that this new life in God promises us with the expectation that the Christ, whom God raised from the dead, rescued us from wrath, will come to the world again. We are waiting for the fruition of time because we believe in the “living and true God.”
Paul reassures the Thessalonians that “For we know, brothers and sisters, beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in the power and in the Holy Spirit.” (vv.4-5)
We at Lakeshore might feel that we are all alone going through this rough patch in our ministry, but when Paul was writing to the Thessalonians, he mentioned Silvanus and Timothy too. This suggests that there is team of people rooting for us and standing in solidarity with us as we experience change. Paul wants these church members to imitate not just him, but also Silvanus and Timothy.
He then reminds them that their faithfulness and fruitfulness serve as an “example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” The Thessalonians were such strong believers that, “In every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it.” (vv. 7-8)
Lakeshore Church
At this critical and perhaps most vulnerable season of Lakeshore’s life, we might easily think of ourselves as unimportant or insignificant. Our pastoral staff has been reduced. After 53 years of continuing ministry, Lakeshore Children’s Center is closed. We wonder what would become the fate of these empty houses.
We have received financial statements that tell us that we are forever challenged to give more just to keep the front doors open. And there’s an overall need to bring our facilities up to modest expectations so that our church home appears to be attractive and appealing. It’s like when we have lived so long at one place that we don’t really see the dirt anymore. What will it take for us to become energized and future focused again?
From these words from Paul, we receive the wisdom of the Bible for us today. It’s like the congregation of Thessalonica is standing in support of us today. We are bonded to this congregation in Christ by a spirit of thanksgiving for one another. So, what are the gifts of such a spirit?
A spirit of thanksgiving can motivate us as believers to be more intentional and thoughtful in all the ways we communicate with one another; to be open, honest, and direct. A spirit of thanksgiving can motivate us toward greater communal intimacy where we know one another even more than we are now. A spirit of thanksgiving can motivate us to forgive and seek forgiveness, especially as we work to be understood and to understand. A spirit of thanksgiving can and should motivate us toward collaborative ministries that can spin out threads of deep fellowship and church unity.
Ripe in this season of thanksgiving in our calendars, we are in the right place and at the right time to embrace this spirit of thanksgiving. Paul said, “We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (vv. 2-3)
If you have ever flown through the Milwaukee airport and had to open up your bag for the TSA officer to examine your content, you now have the task of putting everything back together again. There’s a sign above that says, “After you have been “discombobulated,” to mean extremely confused, now you can repack your clothes!
We have been discombobulated with all the changes that are happening around us that we are extremely confused or disoriented of what will happen next. And on top of this, you will have an opportunity to interview and call your next pastor to serve at Lakeshore. This too will be different and may create an unsettledness among you.
Living God
Against great odds, before the Thessalonians believed in Christ, they were believers of idols. These idols were also backed by the Roman government with no religious freedom or the separation of church and state that we enjoy today. If you don’t want to be on the watch list of the Roman government, you better believe in the idols.
In Paul’s opening letter to the Thessalonians is a powerful message to these believers. God is here. God is actively here, empowering, encouraging, and persistent in the lives of those who have turned to God. This intimate connection between God and the life of God’s people is what made the church spread across the world.
Throughout these verses, Paul tells us that the church is in God, God creates the congregation and has chosen them, and God’s actions and words are made known through them. Paul is actively watching for God in the life of the church and proclaims God’s action taking place in front of them.
God in the Holy Spirit is empowering us to be church today. It doesn’t come from any terrific idea that a pastor might come up with. It doesn’t come from whether we have a large church staff or a small one. It doesn’t come even after 53 long years of the Children’s Center to close that the Holy Spirit comes or not. The Holy Spirit is the cooperative way that God has with the people to have God work in the world. The Holy Spirit builds people together to take action, together.
I don’t subscribe to a God that causes people to suffer just to make a point like what we find in Jonah. But in times when suffering and grief may be happening, the Holy Spirit builds on these times so that perhaps we may become stronger and more faithful. We can accept such suffering and persecution, joyfully, so that even in the face of threats and challenges, we may grow in our trust and faithfulness in God.
When we believe in the living God and the Spirit of God is with us, nothing will be able to defeat us. In Romans 8, Paul writes,
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:35,37-39)
We are confident that the Spirit is working among us, encouraging us to have an open mind so that we may proclaim the Good News in Oakland and in the world.
God’s Action at Lakeshore
Like Paul who was actively watching for Living God acting in the Thessalonian church, we too are called to actively watch what the Living God is doing among us.
Making this very difficult decision to close Lakeshore Children’s Center was awful; there’s not a better word to say it. It’s like having a next-door neighbor whom you can count on for over 53 years is no longer there. But when we believe in the Living God, we are able to better secure the future of this church and we prayerfully hope that these parents have found another place to watch over their children. Your generosity and compassion of offering a $500 subsidy per child to help parents bridge over the rest of this year to find childcare are actions made from faith.
Way back in February when we had over 50 people envisioning a brighter future for Lakeshore, one of the requests that you made very clearly is to begin to move toward a balanced budget for 2027. This obviously has led to some staff reductions since the largest portion of the church budget is and has always been especially for churches is staff costs. These actions have also led to making difficult decisions. None of us like to approach such situations and then find the need to make tough decisions. But with God’s help, we are doing them.
The Spirit of God is leading us to celebrate the life-changing ministries that our pastoral and church staff have done. These are not small tasks made simply by anyone person but collectively as the Body of Christ, they are made in consultation with God.
We’ll be celebrating Pastor Allison’s ministry with us on Nov. 1st and Pastor Carolyn’s ministry some day in the near future. We will grieve over these departures but as people who believe in the Living God, we also know that there will be many more servant leaders who will come into our community of faith to serve side by side with us. The living God is at this very moment blessing us with hope that when God calls the next person to become pastor of Lakeshore, you would confirm that calling by your vole.
When you really think about this—the living God acting right in front of our eyes is calling someone for us to consider to become your next pastor. This is not just the orchestration of an effective search committee or that someone is unemployed and seeking any job or that moving and living in the Bay Area is affordable and doable. When we really think about this, the living God is revealing to us signs of hope that God is not yet finish with Lakeshore. This community of disciples has the active Living God watching us to do God’s will.
Let us pray.
Be with us, Living and active God as we continue to address challenging situations that often lead us to making disappointing decisions. As your people, we know that we never like to see changes both in our lives as well as in your church. But when we affirm you as the Living God, moving and acting in the world, guide us and lead us to not be discouraged or disoriented but rather toward the confidence that all things will work toward your plan for us. Teach us to trust and be patient with one another so that in the end, you will continue to look favorably on us as your faithful servants known as Lakeshore church. We have hope in the future because you have promised us that in your name, we are people of hope. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.