1 Thessalonians 2:13

Previously Paul thanked God for the way these believers were bearing the fruit of righteousness in their own lives (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Now he thanked God for the way they responded when he had preached the gospel to them the first time. They sensed that it was a divine revelation rather than a human philosophy, and they believed it. Because they received that divine message, it had done a mighty work of transformation in their lives as God’s Holy Spirit used it.