SCRIPTURE:
“Paul, Silas, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.” (1 Thessalonians 1:1, NIV)

“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.” (1 Thessalonians 1:2, NIV)

“We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3, NIV)

Observations:
I asked myself how does this letter start out? 
This letter starts out with a blessing of grace and peace to the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Interpretations:
I asked myself the significance of a blessing of grace and peace?
Grace is not something that is earned but unmerited favor from our Lord Jesus Christ who imparts His grace and peace to us that we may show grace and peace to others as we turn to the the Prince of Peace in a world full of curses.

Interpretations:
I asked myself how v. 1:1 relates to a laboring, witnessing community?
A witnessing community blesses each other in Christ.

Observations:
I asked myself what actions do I see Paul , Silas, and Timothy taking?
1. They always thank God for all the Thessalonians.
2. They mention them in their prayers.

Observations/Interpretations:
I asked myself why do they do those actions?
There is a reason they thank God and mention the Thessalonians in prayer which will be evident in verse 3.

“We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3, NIV)

Interpretation:
I asked myself why is it significant what Paul, Silas, and Timothy do?
It is significant because the Thessalonians actions prompted Paul, Silas, and Timothy to always thank God for them and mention them in their prayers. That is wonderful to know that a community is being thanked for and prayed for because of the difference they make in other people's lives.

Interpretation:
I asked myself how v.2 relates to a laboring, witnessing community?
A witnessing community takes time to thank the Lord for brothers and sisters the Lord has placed in their lives and intercedes on behalf of the brothers and sisters.

This is what our Senior Pastor of Pittsburgh Chinese Church-Oakland does every Tuesday as he goes through the directory and prays for the congregation members.

Observations:
I asked myself what cause-effect relationships do I see in v.3?
Here we see 3 cause-effect relationships:

1. Because of faith, work is produced.
2. Because of love, labor is prompted.
3. Because of hope, endurance is inspired.

I decided to look at a diagram here.

                                    Work                                                   Labor

                                                               Endurance

This is a continuous remembrance and not a one-time thing. When I am faithful, loving, and hopeful, I leave a footprint of my walk with the Lord making others always remember what I have done and they could even intercede on my behalf before the Father.

Interpretation:
I asked myself where do faith, hope, and love come from and the significance of that?
Faith, hope, and love come from Jesus Christ who gives us His grace and peace to be His witnessing community and are developed as inner qualities that are not tangible to see but render three distinguishing qualities:

The first thing is as we make Jesus Christ the center of our lives, He will work in us by His grace so our faith will be developed His way to produce work His way.

^"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV)

Living in Christ, faith will produce work in a witnessing community.

The second thing is as Jesus continues to be the center of our lives in a witnessing community, our love for the Lord prompts us to engage in labor. I am talking about spreading the Gospel by being ministers of reconciliation and Ambassadors of Christ in the areas our Lord Jesus calls us and places us in whether it is in class, Greek life, athletics, work, academia, etc.

This can only happen when we have so much love for the Lord that his pain and love for the lost becomes our pain and love for the lost that we want to finish God’s work through laboring.

“He [Jesus] told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’” (Luke 10:2, NIV)

The final thing is as Jesus Christ continues to be the center and focus of our lives in a witnessing community, our hope in our Lord Jesus Christ inspires us to endurance. Now, I am talking about inspiring endurance through persecution and hardships that sometimes Christians’ work produced through faith and labor prompted by love ignites. But because of hope in Christ, endurance is inspired through the suffering and persecutions.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39, NIV)

Interpretation:
I asked myself how v.3 relates to a laboring, witnessing community?
A witnessing community is all about work, labor, and endurance as a fruit of faith, love, and hope produced, prompted, and inspired because of Jesus Christ's grace and peace in our lives shown by His agape love.

Implications:
I saw important implications for my own life. To be an effective witnessing community based on these 3 verses,  I need to:

Bless others in Christ by imparting the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Take time to thank the Lord for brothers and sisters the Lord has placed in my life and intercede on behalf of the brothers and sisters.

Realize work, labor, and endurance are a result of the fruit of faith, love, and hope which produce, prompt, and inspire them [work, labor, endurance] because of Jesus Christ's grace and peace in my life shown by His agape love.

HOW GOSPEL GIVES ME TESTIMONY REGARDING L.A.B.O.R:

It is because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ imparted so powerfully in my life by the labor of my mom and later by Kevin Leibach and Elizabeth Leibach, former staff workers with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship that I changed my mind about going to law school and decided to do ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for six years. If I had died after those six years, I would have felt my life was fulfilled because I had the wonderful opportunities to engage the campus in all its ethnic diversity with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, building a college fellowship, making disciples who embodied biblical values on a college campus.

I had a desire for law school but seeing the impact Kevin made in my life during my junior year of college when he would labor in love to do a Bible study/discipleship/prayer time just for me week after week, changed my life in college. Kevin had labored to take me in his wing going over the Gospel of Mark with me as he emphasized prayer so much.

What Kevin did for me, I wanted to labor for others so even though law school was on my mind, I decided to become the president of our PITT-IVCF chapter and then a staff volunteer with PITT-IVCF.

Kent Walley, my mentor and staff worker at the time challenged me to do the staff application for InterVarsity telling me, "Ramesh, if you go into law school without applying for staff, you will always wonder, 'what if', I had applied for staff. Apply for staff and if the Lord Jesus wants you to minister to students this way, he will allow you to get a provisional appointment with InterVarsity"

I did apply and was so excited to be working with IVCF as one of their staff. Yet, the Lord Jesus did not let my dream of studying law go to the wayside. I got another degree in Administration of Justice specializing in Adult and Juvenile Correction with a 3.85 average and got a major in Legal Studies with a 4.0 average.

As challenges arose, I was down and confused if I should continue to be doing student ministry. It is at that time the Lord Jesus used Kent Walley to ask me to give a talk on 1 Thessalonians 1 & 2 which can be read at "What kind of W.I.T.N.E.S.S.I.N.G  C.O.M.M.U.N.I.T.Y will you be part of?" which goes beyond the first 3 verses, I am sharing here.

I felt the Lord Jesus directly speaking to me telling me that He has endorsed my work and declared from His throne that it is good so I continued to do ministry until irreconcilable character flaws in me hindered me from effective student ministry so I had to go on sabbatical.

Even through that, I saw God's abundant grace showered upon my life. Because of some of the shame and loneliness, I was dealing with, I isolated myself from IV, from being involved in a church, etc but the Lord Jesus was not done with me.

Jesus knows how much I love to minister to students, just as how I have been ministered to, so students can draw closer to Christ and have every facet of their lives be impacted by the Gospel. With that in mind, I was given the opportunity to join the staff of Pittsburgh Standard at the time. Now to this day, by God's abundant grace and mercy, Pittsburgh Standard has become an online paper glorifying Christ on campus and being used as a means to minister to others with the love of Christ at http://www.pittsburghstandard.com

I was also given the opportunity after being in the wilderness to become part of Potter's Clay cell group which became my favorite part of the week. Potter's Clay cell group was the small group community of Oakland International Fellowship where we studied God's Word together, cared for one another, shared with one another, and prayed with one another whatever was happening in our lives. I have never found a community like that in my life and was blessed to be part of it with Edwin, Marie, Christy, Elias, Liz, Min, Ksenija, David, Elizabeth, Jeremy, Luke, Ryan, Keng, Ling, Steve, Zela, Cathy, Susannah, Kristen, Josh, Bryan, Lyd, Rachel, Pastor Ed, Ian, etc.

It is through this community that Jesus helped me have a solid church life where I even taught Sunday School for awhile. Istill get teary when I think about the wonderful witnessing community, the Lord Jesus helped me be part of that reminded me of glimpses of my small groups with IV. Thank you Jesus for taking me to Potter's Clay at the right time.

As Potter's Clay grew, it multiplied into Baby Clay I and Baby Clay II. I was given the honor of being the servant leader of Baby Clay II and it was renamed Living Acts with Acts 2:42-47 as the theme verse.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

I labored for a year with Living Acts and am so blessed to have Josh and Kristen leading it now, and recently involving the small group to do outreach for Pitt-Asian InterVarsity students by assisting Andrea and Jason.

Even though I am not on staff with InterVarsity anymore, I am thankful for the leaders that Jesus has raised in Andrea, Jason, and Dabney to minister unto students through IV for IV became an integral part of my own journey to closer faith even through the struggles.

I am still blessed to be laboring for Jesus having a passion and desire to reach every student with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, showering Christ's love in their lives using my job as a floor manager of Market Central Dining to build relationships with students and using http://www.pittsburghstandard.com and http://www.facebook.com for His honor and glory.

It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Jesus' love for me that transformed my life in my junior year of college and it has been such a blessing even through the growing pains of discipline.

Jesus placed a wonderful community in my life in the likes of Tom and other IV staff to labor for Him and now has placed a wonderful community in my life at Oakland International Fellowship to labor for Him. This past Sunday, I was blessed to lead 3 children through a Bible scavenger hunt during children's Sunday School seeing one of the students read so many Bible verses for me.

I have labored in love for Jesus because of what Jesus first did for me by His love. I will continue to be on campus, reaching others with the love of Christ as long as the Lord Jesus will have me do it as He has given me the signature verse for my life as I spent 33 days to read through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

The signature verse for my life is: "But life is worth nothing unless I use it to do the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus, the work of telling others about God's mighty goodness and love!" (Acts 20:24, TLB)

When I was lost, Jesus found me. When I was down, Jesus lifted me up. When my sin covered me in shame, Jesus covered me in His Blood wiping away the stains and guilt of my sin. Jesus gave me a new path to walk on no matter how many times I had messed up, walking with me. Jesus reminds me by His grace, I will be all that He wants me to be and as I rest in Him to labor for Him. I can do that because He labored for me on the cross of Calvary shedding His precious blood, dying for me to redeem my life, and coming back to life to spend with me. Thank you Jesus! You too can labor for Jesus as you allow Jesus to transform and change you by His grace.

The grace of the Lord Jesus is never that it will take you away from Him but will always draw you closer and closer to Him. Thank you Jesus! The Gospel is what gives us joy, courage, and humility to live our lives for Him and labor for Him in love and not out of fear or compulsion. Pastor Ed of OIF loves to to use those three phrases: joy, courage, and humility. You can have that too!

I ask you now dear friend, who do you L.A.B.O.R for this day in life?
Dear friend, whether it is labor day or not, who you labor for in life will determine your own happiness and joy. The apostle Paul was able to be joyful, have courage, and humility because he labored in love for Christ. His love for Christ is what compelled him to reach others for Christ no matter what circumstance or situation he was in. He did it because of the Living Christ transforming him by the Gospel. The same thing happened to the Thessalonians who became a witnessing community because of their faith that produced work, love that produced labor, and hope that inspired endurance.

You too can have that in Christ on this labor day and day after day when you turn to Jesus as you are. Friend, Jesus loves you as you are and Jesus is the best Master that we can labor for. Jesus is always so loving and never condemns us or puts us down. On the contrary, even when we mess up, He picks us up and puts us on solid ground helping us learn from our mistakes in a loving way. I can attest to that because I have been there covered in shame because of sin until Christ showed me so vividly His love one day. His calling for me in student ministry never went away through the years as Jesus has used different means in my life for me to labor in love for students.

Jesus can use you too for whatever  He has called to you to do. It may not be direct student ministry but each of us does have a calling as the body of Christ. Seek the Lord to find that if you do not know already. A calling also does not have to be limited to one thing alone.

I remember a pastor  sharing a testimony when I visited Allegheny Center Alliance Church. Pastor Rock Dillaman wanted to be a pastor of the Alliance Church and shared that he was asked, "What would you do if we don't hire you?" If he had answered, I would go back to selling insurance, etc, he would have not been hired. But, when he answered something to the effect that I will keep looking because I know God wants me to be a pastor here or elsewhere, he was given the job. He was given a calling and acted on it no matter what the circumstances.

Lord Jesus, I am weak, please help me and strengthen me. Thank you so much Jesus! You can labor in His Name. He will be your all in all. Jesus will help you be a witnessing community.

I don't know what you are going through right now but Jesus does. He sees every facet of your life. You maybe burned out right now and don't have the energy to labor for Jesus. Don't feel guilty or down on yourself. Elijah did so much for the Lord and one day became severely depressed that he wanted to die but God told him to go take rest and provided food for his nourishment.

God will provide your nourishment even when you feel burned out. Don't be hard on yourself. In the states, many have a day off for labor day to get rest but there is a rest no day off can give except Jesus Christ. Jesus Offers You Faithfully Unconditional Love Leading You! This is so, joyfully you can go through life in Him.

Yes, come as you are to the Fountain of Blessing and lay all your requests upon Jesus. Everyone needs compassion, a love that is never failing, and that is what Jesus offers you and me even when we feel down and out. Jesus does that because of His love and for us to realize that our true hope can only be found in Him that will help us to have faith to produce work, labor prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope.

I want that for you friend. The alternative is terrible because whether we realize it or not if we do not labor for Jesus and live for Jesus, we will be laboring and living for Satan. That is the worst way to live our lives. For the time being the deception of Satan may cloud but when the deception is revealed, what pain and sorrow! I don't want that for you. I have been deceived in different ways because I did not hang on to the Lord Jesus Christ and the attitudes, He wanted me to exhibit. I was doing things my own way when Jesus offers the right way.

No matter how much I tried to do right, I have failed. It is because none of us, you nor I can do anything apart from utilizing the grace of the Lord Jesus available to all believers. This same grace is what justifies us by faith and sanctifies us by faith. Our lives will become lives of justification and sanctification in Christ so one day we will experience the glorification available to all His children who know Jesus as their Lord and Personal Savior when we seek Him and His grace always! That can be you and me forever! Yes friend!

The Good News is once we are saved, we will always be saved in Christ and the fruit of the Holy Spirit will be exhibited in our lives as 'He who began a good work in us will finish it to completion on that day of Jesus Christ' (Philippians 1:6)

That means it is Jesus Christ who wants to work in you and through you to labor for Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit, He will empower you, equip you, and enable you to do all He wants you to! That is exciting to know friend!

Jesus will take you as you are in all your shame and failures when you surrender your life to Him. Yes, He will friend. Jesus offers you forgiveness and you can experience the kindness of the Savior because He is Mighty to Save no matter where you are, what you have done or where you have been. Yes, He can my friend. He loves you so much there is no other love like His. Accept it by friend.

Don't let anyone tell you that you are beyond hope no matter what you have done. You are not! You are loved and precious in the Savior's sight and called by Name. Yes, friend Jesus calls you by Name to be His child. Come as you are and receive His love.

Jesus saved Paul who was a murderer killing Christians when he was called Saul of Tarsus. Jesus who saved and revealed Himself to Saul of Tarsus who later became the Apostle Paul can be your Savior and Lord too! He wants to!!!

Now is the time of Salvation! Do not wait for some other day or think this is for someone else and not for you. No, friend, this time is for you! You have been brought to this stage for such a time as this. Receive the love of the Savior and experience Him.

May you experience His love knowing Lord Always Bestows Our Redemption!

"Lord Always Bestows Our Redemption!" (L.A.B.O.R)/"Who do you L.A.B.O.R  for this day in life?"

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for the love you show us, the hope you give us, and the faith you instill in us. Help us Jesus to use the faith you have given us for good works, the love you have shown us to labor in love for others, and the hope to endure all circumstances. Thank you so much Jesus for dying for us and coming back to life to save us. We are sorry for our sins and repent of them. We ask you for your forgiveness and for your help to be a wonderful witnessing community. Thank you Father God, we can walk in the never ending Savior’s sight imparting nurturing Gospel as we become your community, for your community makes unity nurturing, imparting others towards you. Thank you so much. Help us not to forget what you teach us in your Word but live out your Word in our lives. Thank you so much Jesus. I pray for all that are looking for answers in the wrong places and that you become their Answer key that they would come to thee Jesus. And Lord, those that have come to know you as their Lord and Personal Savior but have been influenced negatively by their associations with the wrong things in this world, I pray that they will come back to you as you lead them and guide them back to you. Thank you so much Jesus. Wherever students are whether it is in InterVarsity, Cornerstone, Campus Crusade for Christ, Greek Life, etc, I pray that you Oh Lord will equip them, enable them, and empower them to engage this campus, city, country, and continent in all its ethnic diversity with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you that you have brought us here for such as time as this and we can be your vessels as we depend and lean on you. Thank you for the power of your love enabling us to live for you and live to make a difference in other people’s lives. Thank you how you help us. Savior, you can move the mountains and are mighty to save. You show us compassion and your kindness so please help us to shine our light to let the whole world see who you are and why we labor for you. Thank you so much Jesus! Thank you for hearing our prayer and answering us. You rose and  conquered the grave and we know you will always be there for us. Thank you so much Jesus you are Mighty to Save! In Your Precious Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!

Lord Jesus, You are my all in all. You are my Prince of Peace, Rock, Savior, and Friend. You are my Holy Father guiding me through to live a life of righteousness, holy righteousness. Oh God, I need you more than ever. I need to feel your hands around me holding me tight. I need your love to surround me so that you can glow in my life. Help me please Jesus. I desire in your presence. Thank you for guiding me to live a life of righteousness. Oh God you love me more than ever. You hear my voice when I cry out to you. When I seek your face, you fill me up. You are my all in all. Thank you Jesus so much for your help no matter what I face, your grace is available and you take my case. Thank you for hearing us and answering us. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! AMEN! (Most of the prayer is from a vineyard song called “All in All”)

You don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and give you peace to LIVE out your actions.

How do you look at GODISNOWHERE?

One of my pastors, Pastor Hugo SHARED this example one Sunday at the RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:

If you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no peace.

But  as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.

Yes, friend God is aLIVE and wants to bring a transformation in your life through the GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and LIVE with us.

Yes, friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE & LIVING GRACE.

When we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive us and RESTORE us to Him and we will find peace in Him.

^"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)

Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.

"For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)

Come to Jesus as you are and pray this prayer to accept Jesus as your Lord and Personal Savior. He will transform your life around! Praise the Lord! You don't have to have all the answers! You can come as you are!

If you want to be a soldier in the Lord's army, you can become it right now. Now is the time of Salvation! You do not have to wait but can pray this prayer and give your life to Christ to serve Him daily! There is no draft but coming to Christ is voluntary. He loves you so much and wants you to come to Him! He will take care of you, guiding you and leading you!

PRAYER:
Dear Jesus, I love you. Thank you for loving me so much and thank you for choosing the cross to die for me. You became the Son of Man and lived here on earth. Then you humbled yourself and became obedient to death-even death on the cross. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. You died on the cross so that I can be covered in your blood and cleansed by your blood as I acknowledge that I need you and cannot enter Heaven without you being my pathway. So, Jesus I confess all my sins to you and all the ways I have tried to get into Heaven when you already provided the means and the Way. Thank you for all that you have done for me. "The cross is the place, a wonderful place where accused and condemned find mercy and grace. Thank you Jesus, it is at the cross where the wrongs we have done and the wrongs done to us were nailed at the cross. Thank you Jesus, at the cross you died for our sins and at the cross you gave your life for us." I thank you for that and thank you for coming back to life to save us. Thank you Jesus for being there for me! Thank you for loving me. I love you Jesus! Please take me as I am and make my life into something that you will be proud of. I surrender my life to you and need your help to live for you. I am forever grateful for what you have done for me and I can never repay you. I want to live for you and need your help. Help me Jesus please. I thank you Jesus for saving me! Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering me. Whatever your will give me the willingness and strength to bear it. Thank you Jesus! I acknowledge you as my Lord and Personal Savior! In Your Name I Pray precious Jesus! Amen!