For three Sabbath days he preached nothing to them but that Christ
• Came.
• Suffered.
• Died.
• Rose from the dead.
• Was the Son of God.
We find that churches are not spiritually strong that are built on a music program, as important as that may be, nor on a youth program, as important as that may be, or on any other “programs” as important as they may be. THE STRONGEST CHURCHES IN THE WORLD TODAY ARE THOSE BUILD UPON CHRIST!
Illus: The Lord asked His disciples, Matt. 16:13, “...Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” He addressed this question to all of His disciples, but they said, verse 14, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.”
Jesus said, paraphrase, “That’s fine, but who do you say that I am,.” Then Peter gave the positive answer, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Bingo! Peter was absolutely correct. Once he had proclaimed that truth, Jesus said, (paraphrase), “Peter, on the proclamation you just made, I will build my church.”
Paul recognized that was the foundation that God builds His church upon. That was why, when he arrived in Thessalonica, he preached for three Sabbaths that Christ
• Must come.
• Must suffer.
• Must die.
• Must be raised to life again.
• Was the Son of God.
All across this nation, churches are falling apart, or meeting as a social gathering. It should not surprise us when we find it is because they are building on the wrong foundation.
Paul preached the gospel and multitudes of people believed in it.
Verse 4 tells us that many of them were prominent women in Thessalonica. Some things never seem to change. It has always been that women seem to be more sensitive to the gospel than men. Why? It could be a number of things:
(1) It could be that since men are to be the spiritual leaders Satan does more to keep them from receiving the gospel. He recognizes if he can keep the head of the house from coming to know the Lord, it will cause constant disruption in home. That seems to be the case across this country.
(2) It also could be they feel they have to live up to a “Tough man,” image and they do not think they can do that as a Christian. Yet, the criteria they measure toughness by in the world is often an empty image.
For example, television ads would try to make you believe it is tough to drink certain alcoholic beverages. Is that tough? You can go to any hog farm and pour a six pack in a trough and a big old fat hog can come along and suck it up. Does that make him tough? Not in the slightest!
Well, for whatever the reason, more women seem to respond to the gospel message than men. Could it be they are TOUGHER than men when it comes down to it? Luke makes a special point to mention that along with the devout Greeks that not a few of the chief women also believed. Once they did, the Bible tells us, 1 Thess. 1:9, that those who accepted Christ, “...turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” They introduced a new lifestyle to their fellow citizens. THEY HAD INTEGRITY. But also...
II. THEY HAD INTENSITY
That is, what they had came from their HEARTS, not from their MINDS. This was why they were being accused of turning the world upside down with the new teaching!
Look at 1 Thess 1:8. We read, “For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad.” One of the ways you can tell that a Christian has this Gospel deep in his heart is because you can not shut him up. Paul wrote and commended them because long after he had left the scene they were still spreading the gospel. They spread it in Macedonia, Achaia, and everywhere.
When a church has this INTENSITY they will want to send missionaries around the world with this gospel. They want everyone to know about the Savior they have come to know.
Illus: As Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:19-20, they said, “...Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
The Thessalonian Christians wanted everyone to know that Christ-
• Came.
• Suffered.
• Died.
• Rose from the dead.
• Was the Son of God.
The church today needs a REVIVAL! We need to recapture that INTENSITY in our churches today!
• Too many members are at ease in Zion.
• Too many preachers have no message to proclaim.
• Too many Sunday School teachers have been captured by complacency.
• Too many people have lost their intensity.
When we have that intensity we will be persuasive.
Illus: A man went to an old country store. He noticed that a side room was full of salt. He said to the store owner, “You must really know how to sell salt.” The Owner answered, “I do not know a thing about selling salt, but that man who sold me all that salt knows how to sell salt!”
Christians of the early church turned the world upside down. Why? They recognized it was turned the wrong way and it needed to be turned to Christ.
Illus: Today the advice we get from some backslidden groups is this,
• “Let’s not do anything to bring attention to ourselves.”
• Shame! Shame!
• “Let’s not get involved in anything controversial.” Shame!
• Shame!
• “Let’s not rock the boat.” Shame! Shame!
When we proclaim this message of non-involvement, what we are really saying is:
• “We do not want to be world changers.”
• “We do not want to turn our world upside down like early
Christians did.”
If we are going to be world changers for Christ, we can not go along with that crowd. We have to stand up for what God’s Word teaches and expect them to join us.
Jesus said it this way in Matthew 11:12, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
Our INTENSITY level has to get to the place where WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT CHRIST is something we feel EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW.
• It is more important than our personal well-being.
• It is more important than our success.
The Thessalonians heard the gospel that Paul preached and they believed it. They built their lives on Christ. It brought about INTEGRITY and INTENSITY in their lives. Also...
III. THEY HAD INVOLVEMENT
Look at Acts 17:7-9, “Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.” Who was Jason? We only know that he was a believer and was willing TO GET INVOLVED! Jason was willing to get involved by welcoming the Christian leaders into his home even though he knew it could mean trouble for himself. It’s hard to find people who will go to some trouble to spread the gospel today.
Sometimes you will hear people say, “I do not have time to do the things I would like to do.” Listen, we all have the same amount of time--twenty-four hours a day. The difference is in how we use that time.
Illus: Do you know why some people have time to pray, read the Bible, and go soul winning? Because these things have become more important to them than anything else and they MAKE TIME TO DO THEM.
Do not kid yourself. You have as much time as anyone else. You have time for the things you are doing with your life because they are important to you.
Illus: Years ago, when Jack Parr reigned on late-night talk show, he said this about that great servant, Albert Schweitzer, who spent his life in Africa, “I’d like to be an Albert Schweitzer, if I could commute.”
In other words, it was not convenient for him to be like Albert Schweitzer. This is the situation with many Christians. They want to be first-class Christians, but are not willing to give up any of the other gods in their lives.
However, a lot of things that should happen, and we would like to see happen, will never happen unless we are willing to become involved.
Illus: There are too many armchair quarterbacks and back-seat drivers in God’s church today.
Everyone knows what everyone else ought to be doing, but they are not willing to do anything themselves.
We need people who are like the Thessalonians who were involved in winning sinners to Christ. We need you to help us in our attempt to evangelize the world.
Illus: When Bob Dole was running for President in 1996, he went across this country asking people to vote for him. He spoke to one man who said he did not vote for him in the previous election. Mr. Dole asked him, “Why didn’t you vote for me?” The man said, “Because you did not ask me to!”
Listen, I am asking you to help us. We need your help to reach the world with this gospel.
Illus: There was once a man who always seemed to bring home a boatload of fish.
• Everyone wondered how he could be so successful in catching fish every time.
• The game warden heard of this man’s great success. He asked the man if he could go with him, but did not tell him he was a game warden. The two men left early one morning. They went across the lake to a secluded area. The warden noticed the man did not have a fishing pole, just a net and a rusty old tackle box. When they got to the appointed place, the fisherman opened up the box and pulled out a stick of dynamite--lit it--and tossed it into the water. It blew up and the fish rose to the surface of the water. The fisherman began dipping his net in the water and putting the fish into the boat. The warden then reached his credentials from his hip pocket and revealed he was the game warden! Calmly, the fisherman opened the tackle box again, got out another stick of dynamite, lit the fuse and handed it to the game warden. Then, as the fuse burned down, the fisherman asked, “Are you going to fish, or are you just going to sit there?”
This is the question we must be asking of ourselves? We have the most powerful force known in our world--the message of a resurrected Savior--are we going to fish, or just sit there?
To carry out the work of Christ and to communicate the work of Christ, we must be personally involved in the church.
Conclusion/Summary:
A junior high youth group prepared a Palm Sunday passion play for their church. Instead of memorizing a script, they decided to familiarize themselves thoroughly with the story by studying a modern translation of the Bible and then they would ad lib their lines.
When the boy playing Jesus came back to the disciples the second time after praying alone in the garden, he said, “Asleep again! Boy, they just don’t make disciples like they used to!”
The disciples at Thessalonica were involved in the life of God’s church, intensely committed to God’s work, and characterized by integrity.
Do they still make disciples like that?
I believe they do--and I believe you can be one of them!
You can be a world-changer, not because you are so smart, or because you know all the right things to say, but because God is empowering you to be a mighty force in His kingdom!
(1 of 2)
I. THEY HAD INTEGRITY
(2 of 2)
II. THEY HAD INTENSITY
III. THEY HAD INVOLVEMENT
