Teach me thy way, O Lord Teach
me thy way Thy guiding grace, O Lord, teach
me Thy way. Help me to walk right, more by
faith, less by sight. Lead me with heavenly light Teach
me Thy way When I am sad at heart Teach
me Thy way When earthly joys depart, teach
me thy way. In hours of loneliness, in times
of dire distress, In failure or success, teach
me thy way. When doubt and fears arise, teach
me thy way. Windstorms o'erspread the skies
Teach me thy way Shine through the clouds and rain Through sorrow,
toil, and pain Make Thou my pathway plain, Teach me Thy way. Long hath my life shall last,
Teach me Thy way. Where'er my lot be cast Teach
me thy way Until the races run Until the journey's done Until
the crown is won Teach me thy way Teach me thy way Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2. I prepared this message for the
preachers 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 First
Thessalonians, chapter two, where Paul says in verse one, 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 Larry 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
had 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 is 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've suffered before and were shamefully entreated,
as you know, at Philippi. Now, let me give you the background. Do you remember Acts chapter
16, where 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 any time 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
chapter one. Romans chapter one, 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 before
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,
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 3, 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 three. 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, Isaiah
9, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government
should be upon his shoulders. His name should 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. 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. And 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. Don't
you I want bold preaching. I don't mean blazing preaching
I don't mean somebody who 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 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 First 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 a 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. And 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.
It wasn't even tricky about this. It wasn't even clever about it.
It's a simple telling forth of the truth. Now, in a successful
gospel ministry, this triad of evil is not going to be behind
it. Deceit, uncleanness, and in Gal, verse four, 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 triumphs
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 fella. 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 OK. 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've proved 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 have to be made
to be faithful. He's going to try in order to
cause them to be faithful. Now, look what it 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 it 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. You know, turn to 2 Peter chapter
1. Hold your finger there and look at this passage in 2 Peter
chapter 1, where 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's been talking
to the Ephesian elders, and he says in verse 33, he's 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, 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 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 of men sought we glory. We're not seeking glory
for men, all we care about. And God is witness to this. We
care about the glory of God. I'm not seeking glory for 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 didn't 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 were in this for the money. You know, Paul
was a tent maker. That's what he did. 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 7, 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, and in true successful ministry,
you want to give yourself to those people. You love them. 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 nine, 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. And 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 unblamefully
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 fast. 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've absorbed 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 not just... It's a call on somebody to do something.
Every time I hear the Gospel, oddly 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 completing Christ and don't need anything else that
comforts you to know that you're saved by the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, didn't have anything to do with your
work. 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 charge 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 has 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 chapter
4 for a minute. What is it to walk 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, 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 longsuffering, 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. Now back to our text in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 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 receive 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 as 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. 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 man. 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 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 effectually works in you. Now, here's what happens
in a successful ministry. God effectually 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 of God's image.
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's 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 Roberts. 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 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 we believe
in the local church, the independence of the church. We don't have
conferences where where we have a head over us, you know, some
kind of pope or some kind of ruler or president of the conference.
And you've got people that we don't believe in that kind of
stuff. We're local. Churches, I think the word is autonomous.
We, we, which is his church. We don't look to other churches
with his 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's in a ministry, when God's in it, people are
going to believe the same gospel that every other believer believes.
were all the same. Bradley, unto 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 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. Good job.