1 Thessalonians 1

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy greet the church and give thanks for their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The gospel came to them “not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit,” and they became imitators of Paul and of the Lord, receiving the word with joy in much affliction, so that they became “an example to all the believers” in Macedonia and Achaia. Their faith rang out everywhere, as people reported “how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven... Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”