Let's turn back to 1 Thessalonians,
the first chapter. 1 Thessalonians 1, looking at verse 2, the apostle
says, We give thanks to God. We give thanks to God. We give
thanks to God. Paul wisely ascribes everything
to the Lord. He does not, and we must not,
take the credit for any spiritual or physical or material blessing.
The glory belongs to the Lord. Paul does not boast. He does
not take the credit. He does not give the credit to
anyone else for any blessing. He said, we give thanks to God.
I've had people say to me, well, the reason I don't pray a whole
lot, I don't know what to ask for. Well, you're missing the
message of prayer. Prayer is giving thanks. Prayer
is praising the Lord. Paul said we give thanks to God.
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Brethren,
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. God hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
It is he that hath made us, not we ourselves. It is God that
worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. We give
thanks to God. And look at the next word. We
give thanks to God always. It's a never-ending occupation
to give thanks to God, to rejoice in the Lord. We're murmurers.
I'm sure glad God's not sending fire serpents today upon all
who murmur. I expect a lot of us would have
a lot of snake bites, wouldn't we? Finding fault with his providence,
finding fault with his trials, finding fault with his dealings
with us. I give thanks, Paul said, always.
And here was a man who was in prison, here was a man who was
shipwrecked, here was a man who was three times stoned, three
times beaten with rods, three times scourged, here was a man
under the affliction of false brethren, false teachers in the
church, charged with crimes he did not commit, thought to be
crazy by the rulers of the government. We give thanks to God always,
always. My heart bubbles with his grace.
My mouth's filled with his praise. I give thanks to God always.
Look at the next word. For you all. For you all. Every one of you. Babes and elders.
Babes and elders. Rich and poor. Young and old. Black and white. I give thanks
to God for all of you. Every member of his family. Don't
you give thanks to God for every member of your family? I mean
your immediate family. You don't love one more than
the other. I know some of us have been accused of that, haven't
we, as parents or grandparents, but believe me, we don't. We
love them all the same. We give thanks for you all. And
I believe in the family of God. There may be those who run around
together, there may be folks whose personalities fit together
better than other personalities, but Paul said we give thanks
to God always for all of you, all of you. You have your place,
your special place. And then look at the next line,
he said, making mention, making mention of you in our prayers. I know of no greater gift, and
I mean this, I wrote this down and will read it just like I
wrote it down. I wrote it down and I've read it a dozen times
since I wrote it down. And I mean it, I sincerely mean
it, I believe that it's true, I know of no greater gift that
you can give to any person than your prayers. to make mention
of that person before the throne of grace. There's not any gift
of greater value than for you to go before the throne of grace
and call somebody's name in prayer. Lord, I pray for help. I couldn't
give you a better gift. There's no way in this world
you could give me a better gift. And Brother Jay a moment ago
said, Lord, we want a message. We want to hear a word from you.
Give our pastor power to preach that gospel for the glory of
Christ. He couldn't have handed me a
$100,000 bill of more value for me and you than that prayer right
there. That's what Paul's saying. I give thanks to God. I'm not
bragging on myself or you or anybody else. I give thanks to
God for all things. I give thanks to God always.
Not just when God blesses me, but when he's pleased to bless
me with a trial. Not just when God makes me successful, but
when in His providence and grace I fail. I give thanks to God
always for all of you, every one of you. And I make mention
of you in my prayers. And I remember, I remember. I
don't forget, he said. I remember without ceasing. I
remember uninterrupted. I remember. I remember. I think I know something
of what he's saying here. I've been pastor here 29 years.
I remember. I remember. Now notice Paul doesn't say,
I remember your failures. I don't remember our disagreements.
He didn't say that. He said, I don't remember. I
remember that time you said so and so. No. He said, I remember
your works of faith. Works of faith. They're works
motivated by faith. It's because you believe that
you did what you did. I remember. I remember some of
you men back yonder that stood with me and for me and for the
gospel 29 years ago. I remember. I remember your works
of faith. You did it because you believed
the gospel. You did it because you believed God. You were persecuted,
you were hated, you were despised, you sacrificed. I remember. That's
what Paul says, without ceasing, uninterrupted. I remember. I
remember your works of faith. You did it because you believed.
You did it because you believed, and I remember your labor of
love. It's because you loved that you labored. It's because
you loved Christ, and because you loved the gospel, and because
you loved each other, you were willing to stand up and be counted.
You were willing to roll up your sleeves, as Barnabas said, and
spit on your hands and get out amongst them and stand for something. I remember, he said, without
uninterrupted. I remember. I remember, he said,
I remember your works of faith, it's because you believe that
you serve the Master. I remember your labor of love,
it's because you love that you labor in his vineyard. You men
who support the gospel of Christ, you ladies, I remember last conference
when people came here from everywhere and our ladies cooked and served
and labored and worked because they loved Christ, because they
loved people. He said, that's last year, let's think of this
year. Paul said, I remember last year. I remember last year. Without ceasing, I remember.
Uninterrupted, I remember. I remember your, the faith that
produced works and the love that produced labor, and I remember
your patience. Your patience. Look at this,
patience of hope. It is because you have hope in
Christ that you've been patient. Now God's, I told some folks
recently and I encouraged a church, I was in a church I was in a
church two weeks ago, and the pastor said it was the best meeting
they'd ever had in the years that he'd been there. And the sermon that meant the
most to them. I gave them a testimony to free and sovereign grace.
I told them how that God was blessing here and now, and how
that we were preaching that multiplied thousands of people, the gospel
of Christ. and how the ministers were coming
and hearing the word, and God was saving people, and the ministry
was widespread in England, France, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, all
over the United States. But I said it hadn't always been
that way. There were ten years here in
the early days of our ministry when we didn't hardly have a
minister, and there wasn't a whole lot of preaching being done,
even a little doctrine being proved and things like that.
These men and women had patience. They were patient, patient with
God in his providence, patient with a young pastor in his fumbling
and failures, patient with one another in our ignorance. Patience. Why were they patient? Because
they had hope of better things. They had hope of better things.
Hope in Christ. You see, hope in Christ will
give you patience. If you have hope, God will bless.
God will honor his word. And that's the thing some of
our young preachers now are coming along with, studying together.
Don't expect them to be Spurgeons. It takes years to make a Spurgeon.
Don't expect them to be Whitfields. It takes years to be a Whitfield.
Don't expect them not to fumble and fail and fall flat on their
faces. They're going to do it. We need
to expect to do it. But let's have patience. Why?
What gives us patience? The hope of things to come. The
hope of things to come. It's just like a young ball player,
you know, in the little league. He stands up there and strikes
out, but you can see him in 20 years hitting home runs. So the
coach doesn't demand of him a home run now, he's patient with him.
He's patient. And that patience is because
of the hope. And I think some of the men in
this congregation, the women in this congregation, years ago
saw in the rough. in this picture here, someday
that fellow might be able to pray. Let's be patient with him.
Someday he just might say something that's worth listening to. Someday
God just might bless the ministry. And bless your heart that patience
is blessed of God. I remember, he said, I remember,
I remember uninterrupted the fact that you believed and you
worked according to your faith and you loved and you labored
because of that love and you hoped, you had hope, you had
hope in your heart, hope based on the expectation of his blessing. He's going to bless. He's going
to bless. Darwin, he's going to bless you
someday. Be patient. Be patient. Don't run out there
before God anoints us. Let's be patient. Be patient
with one another. He said, My word will not return
void. You get out there and stand for
what we call the grace of God, the sovereign grace, you're going
to get it from every direction, from inside and out, up and down,
around and through, but you be patient. He's going to bless
his word. You compromise it and he won't. You stand, and like
Martin Luther said, here I stand! Now you do what you will, but
here I stand. And bless your heart, God blessed him. God blessed
him. He was not without persecution,
he was not without trouble, but here I stand! I can't do anything
else! I know it's so. And I may stand
with four, I may stand with four hundred, but here I stand. Here
I stand, and I stand here until the four hundred join me. But
here I stand. Old Joshua and Caleb came back,
and they had ten against them and two for them, themselves. And they stood. And God blessed
them. They were the only two fellows
that entered the Promised Land that were over twenty years old
when they left Egypt. Isn't that right? The only two
fellows. They stood alone. But bless your heart, God blessed
them. That's patience and hope. Patience and hope. And Paul goes
on, verse four, and he says, I know, brethren, I know, brethren,
beloved of God, your election. I know it. God chose you. Chosen
not for good in me, quickened up from wrath to flee, hidden
in the Savior's side by the Spirit sanctified. Teach me, Lord, on
earth to show by my love how much I owe. When I stand before
his throne dressed in beauty not my own, When I see thee as
thou art, when I love thee with an unseeming heart, then, Lord,
then, Lord, shall I fully know, and not till then, how much I
owe, how much I owe. I give thanks to God." Paul says,
we give thanks to God, always, always, for all of you, for all
of you. I know your election of God."
Now, look at the next verse. Let me spend a few moments here.
I want you to consider about four or five things. Our gospel, he said, came not
to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. What did Paul preach at Thessalonica?
What did he preach? He said he preached our gospel. Why did he call it, why did the
apostle call this message his gospel? He said our gospel. Our gospel came up to him. He
didn't invent it. He sure didn't think it up. He
sure didn't produce it. It's the gospel of God. But he
said our gospel. Our gospel. I'll tell you why
I believe he called it his gospel. And he did this several times.
He called it my gospel. He called it our gospel. And
I tell you why. First of all, I believe he called
it our gospel by way of distinction. By way of distinction, you see,
because there were other gospels being preached. That's the reason. In Galatians 1, he says, If we
or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel, let him be
accursed. I marvel that you so soon remove
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel, which is not another, but there be those who pervert
the gospel of Christ." He said in 2 Corinthians 11, they'll
come preaching another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel. So he calls this our gospel,
by way of distinction. It's not the gospel of baptism.
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. It's
not the gospel of law. By the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. It's not the gospel of a denomination. There's one church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. One true church. All who are
in his body are in his church. All who are in his bride are
in his church. All who are in his blood are
in his church. Not the gospel of denominationalism.
It's the gospel of Christ. It's our gospel. Paul says that
by way of distinguishing it from these other gospels that are
being preached. Our gospel. Secondly, I believe he called
it our gospel because he'd been saved by that gospel. He'd been
saved by that gospel. It was his in the sense that
he'd received it. He had received it. It was his
in the sense that he had been saved by, he had been redeemed
by. Let me tell you this, if our
gospel is to go to the hearts of others, it's got to come from
our hearts. Now don't ever forget that. I
don't care whether you're witnessing, teaching, or what you're doing,
preaching or what you're doing. If your gospel is going to go
to the heart, it's got to come from the heart. Let me show you
an example of that. Turn to Ezekiel. And some of
you are going to say, well, I never saw that before. Well, surprise,
surprise, I didn't either until just a few days ago. Ezekiel
chapter 3. I told you we're learning together.
A lot of times I get up here and preach on Sunday, but I just
found out Friday. That's true. And when we cease
to grow, my soul, I want to learn. Look at here, chapter 3, Ezekiel.
He says in verse 1, Moreover, he said to me, son of man, eat
that thou findest." Eat this roll, and then go speak to the
house of Israel. Eat it. So I opened my mouth,
and he caused me to eat that roll. He said to me, Son of Man,
cause your belly to eat it. Fill your innermost being, your
bowels, your innermost being with this word that I give thee.
Then did I eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
And he said to me, Now skedaddle down and preach to them. That's
it. That's it. Devour it. Eat it.
Consume it. Fill your innermost being with
his gospel. And then you go preach it. But
if you're just shooting off the top of your head, some people
wonder, why can't I preach? You ain't got nothing to preach.
Why should you preach? Why should you teach? You've
got to eat it first. You've got to consume it. You've
got to fill your innermost being with it. You can't tell what
you don't know. I preach to you the doctrine
of human sin because I feel its power, its bitterness, its shame. It ain't talk about sin till
you've been there. I preach to you God's sovereignty
in all things because I've seen Him. Isaiah said, I saw Him! I lifted up on a throne, I saw
Him! I saw Him. John says, the things
I've seen and heard declare I unto you. You've got to eat it. I preach
unto you the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse, to justify,
to purify, because I've felt that power. I'm cleaned by his
blood. I have no sin in Christ. My sins
are atoned for, paid for, put away, cleansed, cast into the
depths of the sea, cast behind the back of God. Remember it
no more. I know it! The reason I tell
you about it. Cheer up, my fainting brother. We have hope in Christ. I preach unto you the comfort
and strength of his spirit under the greatest trial, because I've
been there. I know what he can do. I know
what he has done. I know the supply of strength
and grace he gives. Eat it! You can't preach it till
you eat it. Your gospel will never go to
anybody's heart till it comes from yours. That's true. The thing Paul says is my gospel. It is my gospel. It's my gospel. First of all, by way of distinction,
it's my gospel as opposed to that fellow's false gospel, as
opposed to that fellow's gospel of works and deeds and decisions
and health and wealth and all that other junk. It's my gospel!
Identified with God's true servant, it's my gospel because I've eaten
it. I've drunk it. I've filled my
belly with it. My innermost beings are consumed
by it. Cut into my mind, you'll find
thoughts of Christ. Cut into my heart, you'll find
love for Christ. Cut into my will, you'll find
a desire to do His will." My gospel. And then he called
it our gospel because he'd been committed to his trust. He was
a steward of God who had received the gospel as a trust. Let me
tell you something. If you had a very precious possession
and you were going away on a trip, you came over to my house and
you said, Brother Henry, this has been in my family for 175
years. It's my most precious possession.
My great-grandfather gave it to my grandfather who gave it
to my father who gave it to me. And I just don't want to leave
it unattended. I don't want to take it with me. I want to put
it in your trust. I tell you this, it would be
safer with me than it would be with you, even. I just wouldn't
let anything happen to it. I expect it would make me a nervous
wreck, keeping it. But I'd be concerned about where
it was and I'd be concerned about the condition of it. My mind would be on that all
the time. And let me tell you something, Paul said, we've been
entrusted with the gospel. And let me tell you, that gospel
is the gospel of God. which has been given to us, right
on down here. And brother, let me tell you
something. If you're going to play a game, you better not play
at preaching. If you're going to, this is God's sacred trust,
this is God's most precious possession, this is the gospel of his glory,
the gospel of his beloved, the gospel of his son. handle it with care. Don't let
the thieves of legalism and antinomianism or arminianism or any other ism
come in and steal it from you. Don't compromise it. Don't allow
it to grow rusty and corrupted. Guard it with your life because
it's worth ten million like you and me. Guard it. Oh, it's God's
gospel. He called it mine because God
entrusted me with it. God entrusted me with it. Our
gospel. I look at the next thing quickly.
He said, this is what he preached, our gospel. And how did the gospel
come to these people? Paul said, look, in other words,
four things here. He says it didn't come to you
in word only, but it did come in word. That's the way it came. God deliver us from words only,
but God don't deliver us from words. I'd rather see a sermon
than hear one any day. I disagree with you. I'd rather
hear one. I'd rather hear one. I never have really seen one,
to be honest with you. I've seen some people. I've seen
some people that adorned the gospel and some that disgraced
the gospel. I've seen some that made the gospel attractive and
some who made it unattractive. But I've heard some messages
that I needed. I've heard the word, and he said,
Our gospel came to you not in word only, not in word only,
but it's got to come that way. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall they call on him
in whom they've not believed, and how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how will they hear without
a preacher?" Paul said, what I received of the Lord I deliver
unto you, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. He was buried and rose again according to the scriptures.
And you heard this gospel and received this gospel and believed
this gospel and stand in this gospel and are saved by this
gospel, but you heard it. That's what I want preached here.
Every time anybody gets up here, I want that sower to sow that
precious seed. I don't care if he's preaching
on baptism, I hope he winds up at Calvary. I don't care if he's
preaching on Sinai, I hope he leaves it pretty soon and gets
to Calvary. I don't care if he preaches on Armageddon, just
give us about 5 minutes Armageddon and 45 minutes of Calvary, that
would be enough. I think that's the right proportion. Whatever
a man is preaching on, if he's preaching on giving, let's get
to the cross. Let's get to the cross just as quickly as we can.
Our gospel didn't come to you in word only, but it came in
power. Power. What does this power do?
This power strips. You talk about x-ray. You put
a fellow in front of an x-ray machine, you can see inside of
him. You put this gospel in front of him, you can see inside of
him. He can't anyway. He can't. You talk about revealing
the broken bones. You talk about revealing the
tumors and cancers. You talk about revealing the
decay. You talk about revealing the
heart trouble. This gospel is powerful, more
powerful than any x-ray machine that's ever been invented. It
shows us our guilt. It shows us our self-righteousness.
It shows us our sin. It breaks up the pile of ground.
You take that old plow out there, that disc, and put that gasoline
in that tractor, and you hit that old new ground, you know,
and it starts digging in and plowing in, and that's why it
tears up stumps and roots and dirt and rocks and everything
else. If it's strong enough, this gospel's stronger. Boy,
it'll root out all that old bigotry and prejudice. It'll tear up
that fallow ground, it'll bust up those rocks of rebellion,
it'll break it up, it'll churn it up! It'll churn it up. It'll
get that ground ready for some hope, for some seed of truth. It'll bust up. Oh, the gospel's
powerful, it crushes, it convinces men of sin, it breaks up, it
shuts us up to Christ, it tears up all these things. Our gospel
came in power, it came in the Holy Ghost. That is, it came
in Revelation. The gospel not only comes in
power to crush and bruise and hammer and shut men up to Christ,
but it comes in the Holy Ghost to teach. We don't want to get one-sided.
We don't want to go to an extreme here. I think I have some friends
who have made experience their end. In other words, the end
of their preaching. They were always talking about
awakening and quickening and convincing of sin and trouble
and sorrow and mourning apart and all that. But the gospel
not only comes into power to do those things, but it comes
into revelation. It teaches a man about Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes, he'll convince
the world of righteousness and of sin and of judgment, but he'll
take the things of Christ and show them to you. He'll comfort
you. He'll comfort you. He said, I've
got many things to say to you, and you can't bear them, but
when He comes, He'll guide you into all truth. Sure, blessed
are they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed are they
that hunger, they'll be fed. Blessed are they that thirst,
that thirst will be quenched. And if you keep a man down here
like, bless his heart, Old Brother Shelton used to do, And some
of the others down here mourning apart all the time. That's half
of the work of the gospel. The gospel comforts. The gospel
gives a man hope and grace. Sure, I'm a sinner, but I'm a
sinner saved by grace. Sure, there's no good in me,
but there's good in my Lord. Sure, I have no ability, but
bless your heart in Christ, I can do all things. Sure, I have sins
to pardon, but I've got a pardoner. I've got a mediator. That's what
Paul says. Our gospel didn't come to you
in a bunch of words, orthodoxy, doctrine, legalism, intellectualism. Boy, that's cold and dead as
a hammer. Here a fellow stands up and everything
he preaches is right. Dead right. Dead right. Just dead as he is. Cold as a
wedge. cold as a wedge, and not word
only. It came in power, bruising, crushing,
humiliating, convincing power! But more than that, it came in
the blessed, sweet, comforting revelations of the Holy Spirit.
And what's the next word? And in much assurance. As in,
I'm not what I ought to be, I'm not what I want to be, I'm not
what I'm going to be, but I'm not what I used to be. I have
some assurance. I know two things. I know this
gospel so, and I know I believe it. I know that. And I grow in a knowledge of
that every day. I grow in the knowledge of that.
I'm more and more convinced that God within Christ reconciling
the world unto himself. And I'm more and more convinced
that he's my only hope, aren't you? He's my refuge and my strength. I have no other. I say with the
disciples, to whom shall we go? Our gospel came in much assurance.
John said, I know that we've passed from death unto life.
And that old blind man said, well, I don't claim to be a theologian,
but I know I was blind and now I see. Now you want to debate
that, I'll debate it. But I'll leave all this other
stuff to you theologians, he said. These Pharisees, you know,
they give glory to God and so forth and so on. Who was this
man? He said, I don't know! I just
know I was blind, now I can see. And I know who did it. His name
is Jesus Christ. That's what I know. That's what
I know. So he said, our gospel, our gospel,
our gospel didn't come to you in word only and make a dead-letter,
orthodox, fundamental theologian out of you cold as a wedge. Our gospel didn't come to you
only in power to convince and to break and to humble and to
bruise. But it came also in the Holy Ghost to teach, to reveal,
to manifest. And it came in assurance that
you might rest. Cease from your labors and enter
into his rest. Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
bruised and mangled by the fall. If you wait till you're better,
you'll never come at all. Come, ye weary, heavy-laden,
come to Christ. Come to Christ. And he says, and you became,
verse 6, you became followers. Now the gospel of God's grace,
the gospel of God's Son, the gospel of the power of God does
not leave a man the same. Now I know today's so-called
gospel, you want to go to heaven, yes, you don't want to go to
hell, no. You believe Jesus died on the cross, yes. You trust
Him as your Savior and accept Him as your Savior, yes. Come
down and shake my hand. Now go about your business. And
we'll see you Sunday if you're able to make it." Well, this
gospel, it comes in power and assurance and the Holy Ghost. It doesn't leave a man the same.
Paul said, you became something. You were something, you became
something else. If any man is in Christ, he's a new creature.
And this gospel so dominates, so controls, so overpowering
that it changes everything. Some things immediately, some
things later, but it does the change. Yes, it does, it changes. And here's what he says, you
became followers. You became followers of us and
of the Lord. Now, brethren, you notice he
said you're followers, and I'll help you a little bit here, I
think it might be beneficial. He said you became followers
of us and the Lord. A man just converted is not fit
to be a leader. You don't take a raw recruit
and make a captain out of him. But he has to first be a follower.
No man can be a leader who's never been a follower. That's
so. One of the first things that grace does to a man is not make
a leader out of him, it makes a follower out of him. That's
the first thing grace does. It brings a man down, it humbles
him, it makes him a follower. A follower. He follows God's
service, not slavishly, not blindly. He follows them as they follow
Christ. But every new baby needs a daddy
and a mama. Every new baby needs someone
to care for him, needs someone to teach him and to feed him.
And then he becomes a parent himself. He becomes a leader
himself, he becomes a captain himself. But I guarantee you
first, he becomes a follower. And he follows, he follows. He
follows willingly, he follows lovingly, he follows obediently,
and not slavishly. He follows Christ. But he follows
God's servants in whom he sees Christ. That's right. And then he said, you receive
the word. You receive the word of God. You receive his word. You don't argue with it. You
don't cut it to pieces. You don't say, I'll take this,
but I won't take that. You receive his word. I believe. I believe. I don't understand.
I can't explain it all by any means. It's God's word, I believe
it. And you receive that word with
much affliction. Some of them had to suffer for
what they believed. Some of you have had to suffer
for what you believed. But listen to this, you receive the word
in much affliction with joy. Now, I don't know how to explain
this, but we counted all joy that we might be afflicted for
his sake. I don't know how to explain this,
But here you come into your home, you stand for the gospel, the
word of God. And you get a lot of static from
your parents maybe, or from your brothers or sisters, or from
other relatives. And I don't know how to explain
this, I just know it's so. You stand, you stand for what
you believe. And you get that trouble and static. And it hurts,
it hurts deeply. You grieve, you cry over them.
You'd like to see God save them. But down in your heart, you've
counted a joy that you've been counted worthy to take a little
flak for Christ's sake. I don't explain that, John, I
just know it's so. And you go out on the job or wherever you
are, and you stand for what you believe, not obnoxiously and
making a nuisance out of yourself and running around trying to
buttonhole everybody or get a pin in their lapel or a lasso arm
or pull them by the ear and get them down the aisle and make
them see your way, but you just stand You just stand for the
truth. You do like Joshua. I don't know
about you fellas, whether you're going to serve the God your daddy
served, or who you're going to serve, but me and my house are
going to serve the Lord. That's where we stand. And they
give you a lot of static, and it hurts. It hurts deeply. And they divide the fellowship,
and that hurts. And they tell you they don't
want to have anything to do with you, and that hurts. But somehow, this is hard to
explain, somehow there's a joy and a satisfaction because Christ
suffered for our sake. And we're counted worthy. We
receive that affliction with the joy of the Holy Ghost. It's
like a loved one who knows Christ and who dies. And you're brokenhearted,
but deep down in there, there's a joy and a peace that he's going
to be with Christ. And some of you just have to
experience to understand. And verse 7 says you became examples
Patterns. Verse 8 said you become missionary,
you became missionary from you sounded out the word of God not
only where you live but all over the world. And that's what we're
trying to do. Trying to everywhere we can preach
the gospel. And you'll see in your bulletin
this morning how that we've heard from folks all over the world. And we're preaching the gospel
to many people. I'll tell you this. I hold up
this congregation to others and I say, go down and do likewise.
He says, is that right? Well, Paul did. Look at verse
7. He said, you were examples to those that believed in other
places. And I hold up this congregation in their spirit, in their attitude,
in their grace, in their fellowship, in their forgiveness, in their
love, in their missionary spirit, and I say, you just go and do
like they do. And then verse 9 says that you
turn from your idols to serve the living God. And verse 10
says you're waiting for his son. Somebody says, you don't preach
very much on the second coming. Let me tell you something. I don't know a great deal about
the advents and events and aspects of the latter days. And I don't
believe many people do. But I do know this, I know Christ
is coming. And I'm a lot more concerned
and a lot more enthusiastic about and a lot more joyfully happy
to look for a person and not an event. In other words, it's
like here, suppose you've got a boy overseas. He's been over
there in war 34 years. He's coming home. Do you care
what man plays? Do you care? They say, well,
then won't you come down and get everybody in position? We
want the Jews over here, and the Indians over here, and the
Americans over here, and the Moslems over... I don't care
where they stand. I'm looking for my boy. You see
what I'm saying? I really don't care where you
put them. Well, do you think maybe that the family ought to
go through some kind of tribulation before you... I don't care whether
they do or don't. I want him to come. Now, I believe
that's the best advice I can give anybody. All those things,
those things, the Battle of Armageddon is interesting to read about
whenever it's going to be and wherever it's going to be, I
don't know. And these other things are interesting to look into,
but brethren, I'm looking for his son, Christ Jesus. I'm looking for my Lord. And
it will be all right with me whatever he does, just so he
comes to take me home. And I know whatever he does will
be alright. I know whatever place he gives,
whomever, I'll put an okay on it half, that's okay by me. That's
okay. If he wants to save the whole
Jewish nation, I say okay, that's good. I'm for it. And whatever
he's placed to do. But if he says you're waiting
on his son, even so come, Lord Jesus. Our gospel. Our gospel produced some waiters.
Some waiters waiting on Christ.