We`ll Work Till Jesus Comes Series

If you have your Bible, please open it to 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 3. A pastor was leaving his area and was saying farewell to his congregation at the Church doors for the last time. He shook the hand of an elderly lady as she walked out. She said, "Your successor won't be as good as you." "Nonsense", said the pastor, in a flattered tone. "No, really", said the old lady, "I've been here under five different ministers, and each new one has been worse than the last.

Today is the fourth and final part of the series on old hymnals. Last week, we looked at Heaven and who will make it there and what it takes to be able to make it there. This week, we will look at another famous hymn... We`ll Work till Jesus Comes. In week one of this series, we looked at the amazing grace and mercy that God offers us even when we do not deserve it. In week two of the series, we looked at how great God is and how He is worthy of our praise. In week three of the series, we looked at how on one day we will spend an eternity in Heaven or hell. Essentially, we have had God is love, God is great, God is coming back, and today we have God needs to be spread. When praying about and lining up this series, I realized that week four would land on the day that VBS starts. I believe it is important that we look at working until Jesus comes especially as we kickoff Vacation Bible School. Let us look at 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 3 starting in verse 1.

READ 2ND THESSALONIANS 3:1-5

Here, Paul lays out 2 prayer requests before he gets into the main focus of this chapter.

1). Gospel to be spread

Before Paul asks for anything else or talks about anything else, he asks for the Thessalonian Christians to first pray for the Gospel to be spread. Paul specifically asks for them to pray that the Gospel may speed ahead, meaning that the Gospel would have unhindered progress as they began to tell others about the love of Christ. Paul writes both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians while he was on his second missionary journey. Paul wrote both of these letters to the Thessalonians while he was in this city in Greece known as Corinth. Paul would later write both 1st and 2nd Corinthians to the church that was founded in the city of Corinth while Paul was on his missionary journey. So, as Paul was on the front lines fighting the good fight and spreading the Gospel, he wrote back to the Thessalonian church, and he asked for prayer. He asked them to pray that this news that they have about Jesus Christ who died on a cross to save them would not face opposition as they tried to spread it and tell other people.

2). Them to have protection

Paul asked for deliverance from those who were evil and wicked. He is asking for the Thessalonians to pray that those on this missionary journey would be protected and delivered from those that were trying to hinder them from sharing the Gospel. Paul was still early in his time at Corinth, and this was probably before the church was officially founded by Paul. So, as you can imagine Paul was facing a ton of opposition at this point from the people of Corinth. Keep in mind what the main religion of Greece was the time. They worshipped false gods like Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, and that list goes on for a while. I can only imagine what some of the people said to him as he preached the Gospel. Can you imagine going to a country where everyone there believes the same exact thing and you are trying to tell them about Christ?

So, in his opening, Paul asked for the Gospel to be spread and for protection as they shared the Gospel. This goes to show that even if you are not on the front lines of ministry, you need to be praying for those that are. You need to be praying for the very things that Paul asked the Thessalonians to pray for... that the Gospel would be spread with unhindered progress and for protection for the people that are serving on the front lines. This week during Vacation Bible School, we need those prayers that Paul needed. This week, we need you to be praying that the Gospel would be spread to every child that walks through our doors and that when the Gospel is being shared with them, that all distractions would disappear so they can focus on the message of Christ. This week, we need you to be praying for protection from evil and wicked people. 20 years ago, there were 2 places where it almost guaranteed that there would not be a shooting. That was church and school. In today's age, it is the complete opposite. Church and school are the most targeted. We need prayers for protection from wicked and evil people as we serve on the front lines of ministry.