Would you turn with me to First
Thessalonians, chapter two. I prepared this message for the
preacher's class when we go to Mexico this week, and I thought
it would be beneficial to us, too. I have entitled this a successful
ministry or what is a successful ministry. Now, I want to be a
part of something that the Lord's blessing, don't you? I want to
be a part of something that the Lord's in. And I could very effectively
give you in 30 seconds or less what a successful ministry is.
If God's in it, it's a successful ministry, no matter what it looks
like. And if the Lord's not in it,
it's a failure, no matter what it looks like. Now, I could sit
down and that'd be enough. You'd think, oh boy, but I'm
not. I'm not. We're going to look at 1 Thessalonians
2. where Paul says in verse 1, for
yourselves, brethren, know our entrance into you that it was
not in vain. I read one of the other versions
and it said, you know that our entrance into you, it was not
a failure. Now, I don't want to be in something
that is a failure, do you? And I know you don't. I want
to be in something that the Lord is blessing. So what is a successful
ministry? Now, look back at verse 9 of
chapter 1. Paul says, for they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had to you. This is when
he first came. Here's what took place. How you turn to God from
idols To serve the living and true God and to wait for his
son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which
delivered us from the wrath to come. Now that's a successful
ministry, isn't it? When that takes place, that's
a glorious success. That's the Lord's blessing on
it. Now in chapter two. He says, for yourselves, brethren,
know our entrance into you that it was not in vain. It was a successful ministry. Now, it's important for us to
understand that success is not measured in human terms, not
what men would call successful. I was watching on Larry King
this week. And he had Joel Osteen on that
show. He's probably the most popular
preacher in America right now. And he has 37,000 members in his church in Houston. And he's on Mary King, and I
suppose that that would be looked upon as a great success, wouldn't
it, by the world? But let me ask you this. If the gospel of God's grace
is not preached, is it successful? You know the answer to that question.
Success is not defined in human terms. You know, when Noah got
on the ark, after 120 years building that ark, I don't know how many
people he preached to and witnessed to, but the scripture says he
was a preacher of righteousness. He's called that. I know that
Noah was a preacher, so he was preaching to somebody. And after
120 years of preaching, he just had his family get on the ark.
Eight people. Was Noah a failure? Or was Noah a success? You see, if the Lord's in it,
it's successful. No matter what the results look
like. And if the Lord's not in it, it's a failure no matter
what the results look like. Now, in 1 Thessalonians 2, we
have the components of a successful ministry. And this is the kind
of ministry I want to be part of. Now, this is not just about
preachers. I don't talk about my ministry. This is not my ministry.
This is our ministry. You're in the ministry just as
much as I am. There's no such thing as full-time
Christian service. Every believer's in full-time
Christian service. There's no secular and lay people. All of God's people are God's
clergy. That's just the way it is. And
we're all in the ministry, and we want to know what it is to
be part of a successful ministry, something that God is in. So
let's look at verses 1 and 2 together. He says, For yourselves, brethren,
know our entrance into you, that it was not in vain, it was not
a failure, but even after that we'd suffered before and were
shamefully entreated, as you know at Philippi. Now, let me
give you the background. Do you remember in Acts chapter
16? Paul and Silas preached the gospel in Philippi, and what
happened to them? They were thrown into a prison, and they were
beat. And they had to get out of town.
I mean, it was a rough time for them, and they went from Philippi
to Thessalonica, and he's talking about that. He says, you know
at Philippi, although we were shamefully entreated, thrown
in jail, beaten, as you know at Philippi, but yet when we
came to Thessalonica, we were bold in our God to speak unto
you the Gospel of God with much contention, with much conflict. Now, here's the first part of
a successful ministry. The Gospel is preached. The Gospel
of God is preached. And anytime the Gospel of God
is preached, it's a success. It's glorious. It's something
special when God's Gospel is preached. He said, I know we
were mistreated in Philippi, but that didn't keep us from
preaching. I love this phrase, the Gospel of God. Not the Gospel
of man. But the gospel of God, even in
the midst of the conflict, we were bold in our God to preach
the gospel of God. Now, what is the gospel of God?
Turn with me to Romans chapter one. You see, the gospel of God
has a specific content. And if that content is not preached,
the gospel's not preached. Now, when I say that, when I
talk about the gospel having a specific content, I'm not talking
about some kind of catchphrases being used. I know that there
are men and preachers who look for certain phrases to be used.
If those phrases aren't used, it wasn't a good message. It
wasn't the gospel of God. Something was left out. They'll
look for certain phrases. Now, that's foolishness. Let
me show you this from Scripture. In the book of Ephesians, The
word righteousness is not mentioned. You won't find that word in the
book of Ephesians. Does that mean righteousness wasn't preached?
You know better than that. What about the book of Acts?
We have the acts of the apostles, the preaching of the apostles.
You know one word that is absent from their preaching? In the
book of Acts, you won't find the word love. It's not there. Does that mean they didn't preach
the love of God? Of course not. So when we're talking about the
content being there, I'm not talking about looking for certain
catchphrases and we say, well, if that wasn't said, it wasn't
sound. No, not at all. But the Gospel does have a content
that's always there. And we have so many examples
of what the content is, but here's a good one in Romans 1. Romans
1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God. Now there's that phrase, the
gospel of God, God's gospel, not man's gospel, but God's gospel,
the gospel of which God is the author, the gospel that comes
from him. Now look what he says. which He had promised to for
by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures." It's the Gospel of the Scriptures,
of the Old Testament Scriptures. You can't preach the Gospel and
not preach the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul said in 1 Corinthians
15, verses 1 through 3, "...Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you
the Gospel, And he said in verse three, how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. And he was talking about the
Old Testament scriptures. He was talking about the Passover.
He was talking about the great day of atonement. He was saying
his death. lines up with what the Scriptures,
the Old Testament Scriptures, teach about His death. And if
I don't preach the Gospel of the Old Testament Scriptures,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
how He was buried and rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures, how He is who the Old Testament points Him out
to be, and He did what the Old Testament points Him out to do,
I have not preached the Gospel. It's the Gospel of God according
to the Scriptures, Paul says, which He had promised before
by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, verse 3. And here's what the
Gospel of God is. It's concerning His Son. Jesus Christ, our Lord, who He
is, He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh
and declared to be the Son of God, the seed of David, The Son
of God. Made flesh, the seed of David,
but the eternal Son of God. Just read it in Isaiah 9. Unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government shall
be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. That's who He is. And look what
He says next. Declared to be the Son of God
with power, with authority. And here's what proves it according
to the Spirit of Holiness. He was filled with the spirit
of holiness. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He never sinned.
And by the resurrection from the dead. Now, what's his resurrection
from the dead tell us? Tells us he wasn't a failure.
He did what He intended to do. And God raised Him from the dead
because He didn't fail. Now, whatever it was He intended
to do, that's what He did. And the Gospel of God tells us
of a successful Savior. One who, when He was raised from
the dead, that means everybody He represented was saved. Now,
I realize that in our day, many preach a Gospel where Christ
really is a failure if He intended to save everybody. And he didn't. What does that make him? If that's
what his intentions were, if he intended to save every man
and they weren't saved, he's a failure. He's a failure. But
thank God that's not the case. Oh, we preach the gospel of God.
And when the gospel is preached, that is a success. And Paul says
we were bold in our God to preach the gospel, even in the midst
of this conflict. Now, boldness. means to speak without ambiguity. It means to speak in plain terms,
not to cover up what I'm saying. Paul, as a matter of fact, translated
this in 2 Corinthians 3.12, seeing we have such hope, we use great
plainness of speech, boldness of speech. In true gospel preaching,
it's not trying to sugarcoat things and trying to make it
more palatable to the flesh and make it easier to receive. I'm
not trying to make the gospel understandable. That's not our
purpose. Our purpose is to declare what
God says and we trust the Holy Spirit to make it understandable
and apply it. We preach the gospel and leave it alone. He said we
were bold in our God. to preach the gospel even in
the midst of this conflict. Paul said, even though we were
beat and imprisoned in Philippi for our preaching, that didn't
prevent us from this bold preaching. Now, that's what I want, isn't
it, don't you? I want bold preaching. I don't mean brazen preaching.
I don't mean somebody who's got an arrogant attitude, but I mean
someone who's going to tell me what God says in His Word. That's what I want. I don't want
any fanfare. I don't want anybody trying to
dress it up. Give me the truth. That's what Paul did. Now, let's
go back to our text, verse 3. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 2. He says, for our exhortation. Now, an exhortation, that's what
true preaching is. There's some exhorting going
on. You're calling upon men to do something. It's not just grinding
out the facts. If I'm truly preaching, I'm calling
on a verdict. I'm calling on you to believe.
I'm calling on you to repent. I'm calling on you to be different.
I'm calling on myself to be different than I was before I heard this
message. That's what exhortation is. It's not just grinding out
the facts. There's an exhorting, calling
on somebody to do something. Now, he says, our exhortation
was not a deceit, nor an uncleanness, nor in guile. Now, that word deceit is error.
Error. that which is not what the scripture
teaches. The truth is preached. God never saved anybody apart
from the truth. Our exhortation was not one of
deceit. Of His own will begat He us through
the word of truth. God doesn't use error. Why should
He? He's God. Well, if He can't find
anybody to preach the truth, He won't have any problem. He
won't have any problem. Our exhortation was not of deceit
or error, nor of uncleanness. You see, the gospel is the doctrine
according to godliness. It's always the gospel, the doctrine
according to godliness, not uncleanness, nor in guile. Literally, that
word means bait. You know what you do when you
go fishing? You cover up the hook with bait so the fish can't
see it's a hook. You throw it out there, you want
to trick him. Now that's what most preaching is. It's putting
bait on to trick somebody. You've got an agenda behind it.
Paul said we didn't use anything like that. We told the truth.
There wasn't anything tricky about this. There wasn't anything
clever about it. It's a simple telling forth of the truth. In
a successful gospel ministry, this triad of evil is not going
to be behind it. Deceit, uncleanness, and in Gal,
verse 4, but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with
the gospel, even so we speak. Not as pleasing men, but God
which trieth our hearts. Now here is a successful ministry
where God has entrusted his gospel to a people. Are you a believer? Do you know the Lord? Are you
somebody who actually rests in the Lord Jesus Christ as your
salvation before God? Now, if you are, that means God,
the God of the universe, has entrusted to you that which is
most precious to himself. What a sacred trust! Now, if God has entrusted His
gospel to you, if God has entrusted His gospel to me, I don't have
any interest, by the grace of God, I don't have any interest
in trying to change it to please men. None at all. It's God's gospel. Now, I want
you to like me. I want you to be pleased with
me. There's no doubt about that.
I like what Scott Richardson said. I'm as vain as the next
fellow. You know, I mean, we want to be liked. I realize that.
But still, when it comes right down to it, if I'm preaching
the truth, if I'm preaching God's gospel and you don't like it,
that's okay. I'm not going to change. Paul
said, if I yet please men. He said this in Galatians 1,
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. If what I'm doing is trying to
please men, all I prove by that is I've never really been entrusted
with the Gospel. Because if God ever entrusts
you with the Gospel, you're not concerned about pleasing men,
you're concerned about pleasing the Lord. And in preaching, you
know who I really want to be pleased with what I'm saying?
Let me give you a hint. It's not you. It's the Lord. And if the Lord is pleased, you'll
be pleased, won't you? That's the way you please God's
people. Say what pleases the Lord. And they rejoice in it.
He said, I didn't come trying to please men. Look what he says.
But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel,
even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our
hearts. Now in a true ministry, God's
going to try it. He's going to test it. He's always
going to test it, and there's so many different ways of testing
it. He may test it with no visible results. You know, I've seen
fellows go bad because they were preaching and it didn't seem
to get them anywhere, so they thought, well, I'm going to try
something else. I'll try a different message to get these results.
No, that's no good. He'll try them in with no visible
results to see if they'll continue preaching the truth. He'll try
them with success. That's an even greater trial
as far as preaching the truth. Every true ministry is tried
by God himself. You know, the Lord is going to
make sure when he puts somebody in the ministry, and I'm talking
about man, woman, any believer, they're going to be made to be
faithful. He's going to try in order to
cause them to be faithful. Now, look what he says in verse
5. For neither at any time use we flattering words as you know
nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness. Now, in a successful
ministry, flattering words are not used. Now, you know what
flattery is. I like to be flattered. Well,
that was good. That was good. People, let me backtrack. Don't think when you walk out
the door and say, that message was a blessing. I'm thinking,
oh, they're flattering me. No, I'm not thinking that. Sometimes I am. It depends on who it is. But
this is not the point I'm trying to make, this thing of flattery.
You know what it is when somebody flatters you. They tell you good
things about yourself with an agenda behind it. It's always
insincere. flattery. And this is what is
behind most preaching, flattering men, making men out to be higher
than they really are, with more ability than they really have.
Why? You've got a free will, all you've
got to do is decide, on and on, all the flattery that goes on
in preaching. Flattering men, bringing men high. And every
time you bring men high, you know what you do? You make the
Lord low. That's what happens every time. And Paul said we
did not at any time use flattering words. We preach man as he really
is. And if you preach man as he really
is, you'll preach God as he really is, and you'll preach salvation
as he really is. Salvation is of the Lord. Now,
he said we didn't use flattering words nor a cloak of covetousness. God is a witness to this. Covetousness fuels a false ministry. Coveting power, coveting prestige,
coveting human praise, coveting. Turn to 2 Peter 1. Hold your
finger there and look at this passage in 2 Peter 1. Peter talks
about these false prophets. He says in verse 1, but there
were false prophets among the people. even as there shall be
false teachers among you who privily, secretly, shall bring
in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and
they'll bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall
follow their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of
truth shall be evil spoken of, and watch this, through covetousness. shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth
not, and their damnation slumbers not." Turn over to Acts chapter
20 real quick. I want you to see Paul's summary of the ministry. He winds up, he'd been talking
to the Ephesian elders, and he says in verse 33, he'd been reminding them of what manner
of man he was with them at all times, and here's how he ends
it up in verse 33, I've coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel.
That's not what I've been after. Yea, ye yourselves know how that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that
were with me. And I've showed you all things,
how that so laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It's more blessed
to give than to receive. Now, he winds things up by saying,
I wasn't coveting any man's apparel or money. Now, the ministry I'm thankful you all take care
of me the way you do. I'm thankful for your gracious care of me. Thank you. I'm so thankful for
that. But I'm not doing this for a paycheck. And a man that's
in the ministry for a paycheck, because that's his job, he's
a hireling and nothing more. He's not real. He's a false prophet. And he'll always change his message
in order to accommodate what he wants. Now, he said, I've
not coveted any man's gold or silver or apparel. And he says
to the Thessalonians, verse five, neither at any time use we flattering
words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness,
verse six, nor men sought we glory. We're not seeking glory
from men. All we care about, as God is
witness to this, we care about the glory of God. I'm not seeking
glory from men. Not if I'm real. And if you're
real, you're not seeking glory from Him. You want the Lord Jesus
to be glorified. You delight in His glory. And
you don't care about, what if I do get glory from you? What
do I got? You realize that for what it is. I mean, I think of
what the Lord said, they do what they do to be seen of men. He
says, Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. And a
miserable reward it is. No, that's not what fuels the
true ministry. We're not seeking glory, he says,
nor of men sought we glory, neither of you or yet of others, when
we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ. Now, what's he mean we might
have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ? Well, he's saying
we could have expected your support, but we didn't want to give you
any reason. To think that we're in this for the money. You know,
Paul was a tent maker. That's what he did in this. At
this time, he was making tents because he didn't want to give
them the opportunity to say, well, he's in this for the money.
No, he was not. Verse seven. But we were gentle
among you. We weren't abusing you or trying
to take from you. We were gentle among you, even
as a nurse cherisheth her children. So being affectionately desirous
of you, we were willing to have imparted to you, not the gospel
of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear
to us. Now, in a successful ministry,
there's a genuine love for the people we preach to. It's real. It's not fake. It's not phony.
We love the people we preach to. But Paul said, no, I didn't
just grind out the truth. I was willing to give myself
to you. And it's always that way in a true successful ministry.
You want to give yourself to those people. You love them. You know, it's one thing to love
to preach. A lot of people love to preach. And it's another thing to love
the people you preach to. It's altogether different. And
Paul said, when we came to you, we were gentle, even as a nurse
cherishes her children, so being affectionately desirous of you,
we were willing to have been part of you, not the gospel of
God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear to us.
Verse 9, for you remember the brethren, our labor and our travail,
For laboring night and day because we would not be chargeable to
any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. A successful
ministry is a labor. It's a labor. It's not for loitering. Is that the way you say it? It's
a labor. He said we labored night and day. It's a work. It's the
work of a ministry. Like I said, Paul worked as a
tent maker so the Thessalonians would understand this was not
about him making money. The ministry is a labor, and
if it's not a labor, it's a failure. Verse 10. He says, You are witnesses,
and God also how wholly and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves
among you that believe." Now, here's the description of the
conduct and behavior of the ministry. And if that's not a genuine description
of the behavior of the ministry, it's a failure. And you see these
three words he uses to describe his conduct. And listen to me
real carefully. This isn't just about the preacher.
Everywhere we are, This should be the code of our conduct right
here, wholly and justly and unblameably where you work. This is how people
should see you, your conduct in your home. This is how people
should see you and I just like this. And if it hadn't affected
my walk, it's not real. It's just not real. Verse 11. He says, as you know how we exhorted
and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his
children. Now, these words are used to
describe the preaching of a successful ministry. First, he uses this
word, exhortation. Now, exhortation is a call to
do something. That's what it is. It's not just
presenting the facts. It's a call from God for you
to believe. I want you to believe the gospel
I'm preaching. I'm not just throwing it out
there. No, I want you to believe. I
want you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I want me to come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm exhorting myself too. I want
you to love the Lord. I want you to honor Him in your
life. I want you to be humble and lowly and meek and Christ-like
in the way you live. That's what an exhortation is.
It's a call on somebody to do something. Every time I hear
the Gospel, I ought to leave different than I was when I came
in there. every time in some way. It's an exhortation. And
then he uses this word, you know how we exhorted and comforted. You know, the gospel is comforting. Isn't it comforting to know that
I'm complete in Christ and don't need anything else? Does that
comfort you? To know that you're saved by the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ that didn't have anything to do with your
works. Does that comfort you? Does it comfort you to know that when
He said, it is finished, your salvation was accomplished? That's
the comfort of the gospel. He says, you know how we exhorted
and comfort and charged every one of you. Now that word charge
is testified. Testified. Now, in preaching,
I'm bearing witness to what I've seen. What a no. I'm not giving second-hand information.
I'm giving what the Lord has taught me that I really believe,
and I'm testifying to it. It's not just, well, I read this,
here it is. No, I'm testifying to what I've
seen. When you witness, you know, if
you've got to train somebody to be a witness, there's problems. You know, there's classes in
churches on how to teach people to witness. Man, you know, that's
dishonesty on the very Obviously, train somebody to witness, you
witness when you've seen something. I'm bearing testimony and you
know this word, this word is where we get the word martyr
from. You only bear witness to what
by the grace of God you're willing to die for. And if you're not
willing to die for it, You're not bearing witness. And every
believer is a faithful martyr. Every believer, by the grace
of God, is willing to die for the gospel they believe. Now,
you know, apart from God's grace, you chicken out. You realize
that. I mean, if you were, you'd be like Peter and deny you even
knew the Lord. If the Lord didn't keep you from
it. You know yourself enough to know
that you'd be that way, apart from His grace. But in your very
spirit, in your heart of hearts, you're willing to die for the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is preaching. It is
exhorting, it's comforting, and it's charging everyone, as a
father does his children, that you would walk worthy of God. who hath called you into His
kingdom and into His glory." Once again, a successful ministry,
one that God has blessed, affects our walk. Turn over to Ephesians
4 for a minute. What is it worthy of the Lord? This is a passage of Scripture
we would all do well to read real often. Verse 1, Paul says,
"...I therefore am the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that
you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with
all lowliness, humility, and meekness, with long-suffering,
forbearing one another in love. endeavoring, giving every effort
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now that
is walking worthy of the Lord. May God give us all grace to
walk worthy of the Lord. Back to our text in 1 Thessalonians
2. Verse 13. For this cause also, I'm going
to go down to verse 14, so I'm going to wrap this up in a minute.
But in verse 13, he says, for this cause also, thank we God
without ceasing, because when you received the Word of God,
which you heard of us, you received it not as the Word of men, but
as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh
also in you that believe. Now, in a successful ministry,
the message is heard and received as the Word of God. Not just
the preacher's opinion. Not just the church's doctrine. But when you hear the Word preached,
you say, this is the truth of God. Now, if you hear me preach
and say, well, that's his opinion. That's what he thinks. You're
not hearing the way Paul speaks here. In a successful ministry,
And remember, whatever God's in is a success. You hear the
truth, that's the very word of God. The very truth of God. You're not even much thinking
about the man. You're thinking about the God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the man preaches. And you know it's true. And you
know, one of the things I love about the truth is when somebody
hears the truth, they know it's true. They know it's true. I
mean, the truth recommends itself. You don't have to prove it. When
you hear the truth, you know it's true. And if you're a believer,
you've got a spirit in you, God, the Holy Spirit that causes you
to know that's the truth. That's the truth. Now, Paul says,
when you heard us preach the gospel, you didn't hear it as
the word of men. This is so-and-so's opinion. This is what he thinks.
But here's what so-and-so thinks. No, you heard it as the very
word of God. And notice Paul thanked God for
this. He says, for this cause also
thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive the
word of God, so on. Now, I want you to think about this. You've
been listening to me tonight. You believe I've been telling
the truth? You believe I've been telling the very truth of God?
Will God be thanked? That's a work of grace in your
heart. You wouldn't do that unless the Lord had done a work of grace
in your heart to cause you to respond that way. He said, God
be thanked that you received this word from us. You received
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of
God that affectionately works in you. Now here's what happens
in a successful ministry. God affectionately works. He
works. He always works. You know, the
Lord never fails. Whatever it is He intends to
do, He does. It may have one person. That's a success if God's in
it. It may have a thousand people. That's a success if God's in
it. It doesn't make any difference. Numbers don't mean anything. It's the Lord working. That's
all that counts. That's an effectual ministry. In verse 14, He says, for you,
brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in
Judea are in Christ Jesus. For you've also suffered like
things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews.
Now, in a successful ministry, everybody is the same. He says,
you fellows became just like the churches in Judea. You imitated
them. You believe the same gospel.
And this is, you know, everybody's different. I realize that. Everybody's
different. I've got my own. There's only one Todd Malbert.
There's only one. All individuals. We're individuals. We're not cut out of the same
mold. We have different likes and dislikes and all that kind
of stuff, and that's good. Different is good. I want to
be more open-minded. If you're not just like me, I
usually have a problem with you, but that's not good for me to
think that way. I mean, I want to be open-minded, but all that
being said, believers are all the same. They believe the same
gospel. Every one of them believe exactly
alike. They have the same hope. There's
one Lord. There's one faith. There's one baptism. And believers
are just alike. They believe the same Gospel.
And that's where we're members of the same family. I mean, this
is a true family. Families who have the same love.
We have the same Father. We have the same Savior. We have
the same goals and ambitions and desires. The glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He said you became followers
of the other churches when you heard the Gospel. You became
just like the other churches. And you know, that's one of the
glorious things about the gospel. All, every church, we believe
in the local church, the independence of the church. We don't have
conferences where we have a head over us, you know, some kind
of pope or some kind of ruler or president in the conference.
And you got people that sit, we don't believe in that kind
of stuff. We're local. Churches, I think the word is autonomous.
We we Which is this church? We don't look to other churches
with this church, but that being said every gospel church, although
they're Separate they're exactly like every single one of them
They believe the same gospel and rejoice in the same gospel
and when God did a ministry when God's in it people are gonna
believe the same gospel that every other believer believes
and were all the same, brethren under the same Lord and Master. And they were willing to suffer
persecution for that message. Look what it says in verse 14,
for you've also suffered like things of your own countrymen,
even as they have of the Jews. Now, when God is in a ministry,
when it's real, when the gospel is preached, folks are going
to be offended. And there will be persecution.
That's a promise. And so whenever the Lord's in
it, there will be preaching to the extent that people will become
upset that don't believe the message. There will always be
persecution. So there's a beautiful example,
I believe, from the Scriptures as to what a successful ministry
is, something the Lord's in. And that's what I want to be
in. I want to be in something that the Lord Himself is in. Let's pray together. Lord, we
don't want to move an inch without your hand to be upon us, without
your favor, without your blessing. Lord, truly, except the Lord
build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman waketh in vain." Lord, how we need Your mercy
and Your grace. How we need Thy Spirit. How we
need Your Son. Lord, how we need Your grace
to believe Your gospel. And Lord, we ask for Your blessing
to be upon us. Lord, we We don't know what you're
going to do in the days and years to come, but Lord, we ask for
grace to be faithful witnesses of Thy Son, faithful stewards
of Thy Gospel. And Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that You would be pleased to save by Your grace many men
and women for the glory of Thy name, for the glory of Thy Son,
And Lord, enable us to be faithful witnesses of Thy Son. And bless
Thy ministry. O Lord, we ask that we might
truly be put into the ministry. In Christ's blessed name we pray.
Amen.