Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Church with the Right Stuff │ Msg 112 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Church with the Right Stuff │ Msg 112 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: The first Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. That's a
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  Speaker 1: rather dawning title, isn't it. Originally, though, it was just
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  Speaker 1: a heart to heart letter from a pastor named Paul
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  Speaker 1: to a struggling young church in the Greek city of Thessalonika.
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  Speaker 1: About a year had passed since a storm of persecution
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  Speaker 1: had swept Paul away from the Thessalonians, leaving them as
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  Speaker 1: mere saplings in their faith. Paul had to wonder if
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  Speaker 1: they could weather the tumult alone. So much was at
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  Speaker 1: stake these people, this city, the momentum of the faith,
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  Speaker 1: all of that was on the line. According to commentator
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  Speaker 1: William Barkley, it is impossible to overstress the importance of
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  Speaker 1: the arrival of Christianity in Thessalonika. Christianity was settled there.
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  Speaker 1: It was bound to spread east along the Ignation Road
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  Speaker 1: until all Asia was conquered, and west until it stormed
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  Speaker 1: even the city of Rome. He continues, the coming of
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  Speaker 1: Christianity to Thessalonika was crucial in the making of it
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  Speaker 1: into a world religion. Thessalonika was a test case, and
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  Speaker 1: Paul was torn with anxiety to know how it would
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  Speaker 1: turn out. Here's a question, did the Thessalonian Church have
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  Speaker 1: the right stuff to survive and grow? Through our study
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  Speaker 1: of Paul's letter, we'll discover that answer, and we'll also
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  Speaker 1: discover what it takes to develop a stronger faith and
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  Speaker 1: a greater joy in our own lives, the kind of
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  Speaker 1: Christianity that not only lasts, but endures and spreads a
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  Speaker 1: contagious Christianity. To get under weigh in our study, let's
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  Speaker 1: turn in our bibles to First Thessalonians, Chapter one, verse one.
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  Speaker 1: I'll read the chapter for you, Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: to the Church of the Thessalonians. In God, the Father
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  Speaker 1: and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace.
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  Speaker 1: We give thanks to God always for all of you,
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  Speaker 1: making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in
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  Speaker 1: mind your work of faith and labor of love and
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  Speaker 1: steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the
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  Speaker 1: presence of our God and Father, knowing brethren beloved by God.
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  Speaker 1: His choice of you for our gospel did not come
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  Speaker 1: to you in word only, but also in power and
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  Speaker 1: in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction, just as
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  Speaker 1: you know what kind of men we prove to be
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  Speaker 1: among you. For your sake, you also became imitators of
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  Speaker 1: us and of the Lord, having received the Word in
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  Speaker 1: much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so
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  Speaker 1: that you became an example to all the believers in
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  Speaker 1: Macedonia and in Achaiah. For the word of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
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  Speaker 1: but also in every place. Your faith toward God has
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  Speaker 1: gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything,
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  Speaker 1: for they themselves report about us what kind of a
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  Speaker 1: reception we had with you, and how you turn to
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  Speaker 1: God from idols to serve a living and true God,
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  Speaker 1: and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he
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  Speaker 1: raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who read, excuse
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  Speaker 1: us from the wrath to come. There's a fine line
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  Speaker 1: between healthy admiration and unhealthy exaltation. It's one thing to
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  Speaker 1: look upon a person or a place with real respect
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  Speaker 1: and delight, but it's another thing to exaggerate in your
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  Speaker 1: mind just how great that person or place might be.
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  Speaker 1: Exaggeration really does foul things up. I read an old
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  Speaker 1: Chinese proverb this past week that I think says it
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  Speaker 1: very well. Exaggeration is to paint a snake and add legs.
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  Speaker 1: If the thing is made to crawl, it's not going
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  Speaker 1: to walk. It's just going to crawl. If the thing
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  Speaker 1: is made to walk, it won't be able to walk
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  Speaker 1: on water. It may not even be able to swim.
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  Speaker 1: So easy for us to hold up certain individuals in
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  Speaker 1: our minds as though they have put life together so well,
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  Speaker 1: they don't really know the world in which we live.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it's easy for us to have the mistaken
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  Speaker 1: idea that a person, because he or she may have
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  Speaker 1: achieved something great, knows little of needs as we know them.
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  Speaker 1: I chuckled to myself as I read some time ago
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  Speaker 1: about our twenty year reunion of the old AFL football
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  Speaker 1: owners and managers and some of the athletes that played
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  Speaker 1: in the American Football League. They held it here in
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  Speaker 1: Los Angeles, because apparently this is where things got started
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  Speaker 1: back in nineteen fifty eight, was it fifty nine? Al
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  Speaker 1: Davis was among them, the owner of the Raiders, and
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  Speaker 1: as you would expect, he, along with many of those
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  Speaker 1: people that were there, swapped stories about those days in
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  Speaker 1: which things were lean, tough, and yet a lot of vision,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of hope for that budding football league. Al
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  Speaker 1: Davis told a story that I thought illustrates so perfectly
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  Speaker 1: how exaggeration can cause things to be pushed out of
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  Speaker 1: the realm of reality. Sitting at his table was a
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  Speaker 1: Nicky Hilton, famous name around our world, and of course
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  Speaker 1: many people at that table looked upon Hilton with awe.
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  Speaker 1: As Nicky was introduced, everyone sort of waited as they
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  Speaker 1: sucked in their breath. It was said, and now here
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  Speaker 1: is the man who just not long ago made one
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  Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars in Los Angeles in the baseball business.
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  Speaker 1: And he's introduced, and everyone applauds, and he walks up
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  Speaker 1: to the rostrum to speak, and he chuckles and says,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps I should clarify that it wasn't me. It was
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  Speaker 1: my brother Baron, and it wasn't here in Los Angeles.
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  Speaker 1: It was San Diego, and it wasn't baseball. It was football,
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  Speaker 1: and it wasn't one hundred thousand dollars. It was a
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  Speaker 1: million dollars. And he didn't make it. He lost it.
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  Speaker 1: It's amazing when you look under the cover, what you see,
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  Speaker 1: what's really there is just another man with just another
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  Speaker 1: set of problems like yourself. Now, every time I open
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures. I have to do battle with idealism, don't you.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I read first Thessalonians, and I think, oh,
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  Speaker 1: what it must have been like to be in the
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  Speaker 1: church at Thessalonika, And I think of the man that
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  Speaker 1: founded the church, and I once again I want to
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  Speaker 1: paint the snake with legs on it. I think of
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  Speaker 1: Paul as almost walking on water. I think of him
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  Speaker 1: as the great founder of the churches and the apostle
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  Speaker 1: of apostles, and this great teacher of grace. In fact
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  Speaker 1: of the Maverick opinion that if Paul could somehow come
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  Speaker 1: back from beyond and would be willing to appear on
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  Speaker 1: Christian television, which is in itself a question, I imagine
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  Speaker 1: he would be introduced as the expert in church growth,
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  Speaker 1: the man who was the beloved evangelist whom everyone longed
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  Speaker 1: to hear. He's spoke in a day when people were
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  Speaker 1: starving for the truth. Family man, popular writer, dynamics speaker,
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  Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul. And I think this dear gentleman would
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  Speaker 1: shuffle up to the rostrum and just in his appearance
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  Speaker 1: surprises and I think he would begin by clarifying I
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  Speaker 1: am no expert in church growth. I probably broke more
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  Speaker 1: rules than I made and kept. I am not a
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  Speaker 1: beloved evangelist. I have been stoned, and I have the
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  Speaker 1: scars to show you of when I was scourged. I
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  Speaker 1: have been shipwrecked. I have been misunderstood. I am not
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  Speaker 1: a family man. There's not a word in scripture of
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  Speaker 1: a wife or children. I am not a popular writer,
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  Speaker 1: and I am not a dynamic speaker. And if you
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  Speaker 1: want my story, you can read it in Second Corinthians
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  Speaker 1: ten ten. His letters are too strong, his presence is unimpressive,
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  Speaker 1: and his speech is contemptible. In an ancient work I
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  Speaker 1: have come across, entitled the Acts of Paul and thekla
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  Speaker 1: by Onocipherus of Iconium, I find this description of the Apostle.
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  Speaker 1: Paul is a man of moderate stature, with thin hair,
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  Speaker 1: crooked legs, large eyebrows, and a long, protruding nose. Now
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  Speaker 1: you're talking, there is a guy I can identify with.
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  Speaker 1: That's our man. That's the Apostle Paul. That's our guy.
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  Speaker 1: And if he's any other kind of man, he's too much.
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  Speaker 1: You see, we forget that strength is in weakness, the
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  Speaker 1: greatness is in humility. That significance is in a true,
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  Speaker 1: authentic walk with God, not in being able to sway
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  Speaker 1: the masses in your own strength, which Paul could not do.
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  Speaker 1: One of the most unlikely candidates for worldwide evangelists is
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  Speaker 1: this man, and one of the most unlikely places for
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  Speaker 1: a letter to be written from his pen is Thesselonika.
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  Speaker 1: You see these places and these people are just places
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  Speaker 1: and people. They're significant because they have been touched upon
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  Speaker 1: by the spirit of God. Almost like a coin you
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  Speaker 1: own that was once held by the Queen of England.
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  Speaker 1: It's just a coin until the queen holds it, and
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  Speaker 1: now it's a coin of nobility and you and you
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  Speaker 1: preserve it. You don't spend it, you frame it, you
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  Speaker 1: don't forget it. My commitment to you in ministry is reality.
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  Speaker 1: I will not allow you to ski eight on the
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  Speaker 1: frozen ponds of idealism. Very long you do, you you
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  Speaker 1: hit thin ice and you tumble and you get frozen
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  Speaker 1: in your faith. It loses it's zest, and it's all theory.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's stuff for another century, and it's applauding a
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  Speaker 1: great historical people. But it's not for you. I don't
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  Speaker 1: buy that. In fact that helps nobody. The founder is Paul.
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  Speaker 1: He lived in Thesalonika, not more than five weeks, if that,
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  Speaker 1: probably more like three. He writes to affirm and to
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  Speaker 1: exhort and to inform, and that's it. That's the letter
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  Speaker 1: in a nutshell. The city is Thesalonika, call today Thessaloniki
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  Speaker 1: or Salonika if you travel Greece. It's the second largest
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  Speaker 1: city in that country. It's a city of about two
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  Speaker 1: hundred thousand people. It was located along the earliest freeway,
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  Speaker 1: the Via Ignatia. It could have been a letter written
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  Speaker 1: to the Californians according to verse one, to the Church
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  Speaker 1: of the Californians to the people of Fullerton. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: we're located along a freeway. It's just a place like
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  Speaker 1: this place. It's a place where dirt was dirt, and
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  Speaker 1: people were people, and chariots were driven too fast, and
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  Speaker 1: it was just an ordinary garden variety town. Happened to
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  Speaker 1: be a great place to live economically if you were
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  Speaker 1: into the free thinking of the day. It was along
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  Speaker 1: that freeway that connected people to the heartbeat of the
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  Speaker 1: capital of the world. But it was just a place.
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  Speaker 1: And he wrote is because he missed it he was
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  Speaker 1: now in Corinth, and when you lived in Corinth, you
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  Speaker 1: were you were full of nostalgia about those quiet places,
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  Speaker 1: those places where life seemed to be a little easier,
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  Speaker 1: a little more pure, where relationships were deeper. Thessalonaika. So
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  Speaker 1: he sits down to write them a letter. He's not
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  Speaker 1: into writing letters. If he was, we don't have any
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  Speaker 1: of them before this, So it's it's it doesn't have
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  Speaker 1: the the aura of rome of the Roman letter it
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  Speaker 1: it certainly doesn't have the the emotion of the Timothy letters.
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  Speaker 1: Remember those first letters you wrote, they were simple letters,
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  Speaker 1: especially if you were homesick. I may speak to some
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  Speaker 1: college and university students today who are away from from home,
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  Speaker 1: and you found yourself feeling things you never thought you'd feel,
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  Speaker 1: like love for home, and you're you're you're realizing that
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  Speaker 1: it's a lot of months between nine when you see
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  Speaker 1: mom and dad again. Maybe you've already written on these
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  Speaker 1: little simple letters. You'll understand this letter. You'll understand why
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  Speaker 1: he says some of the things he says. He begins,
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  Speaker 1: as we ought to begin our letters. I have a
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  Speaker 1: thing on the way we write letters, and you've heard me,
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  Speaker 1: so I don't know why we sign him. At the end.
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  Speaker 1: You write a person a five page letter. The first
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  Speaker 1: thing he does is go to the fifth pageency who
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  Speaker 1: wrote the letter. Then he goes back and he reads it.
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  Speaker 1: If you don't know who wrote it, you can't you
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  Speaker 1: can't interpret and enjoy how it's written. You've got to
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  Speaker 1: know the writer. They did it right then, Paul, Silas
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  Speaker 1: and Timothy. Why these three, well, they were the traveling
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  Speaker 1: companions at that time. They were with him in Corinth,
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  Speaker 1: and Timothy has just come back from Thessalonika with a
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  Speaker 1: report as to how things have been. Paul can't wait
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  Speaker 1: to write and say I've gotten word and I'm anxious
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  Speaker 1: for what God's going to do among you. But he
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  Speaker 1: hasn't been with him very long. He was only there
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  Speaker 1: about a month. Then he went on his way to
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  Speaker 1: Athens and then Quary, so he misses him. Notice something
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  Speaker 1: in verse one, It is to the Church of the
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  Speaker 1: Thessalonian to the church. It is truth for the church,
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  Speaker 1: not from the church. Since the church has become institutionalized,
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  Speaker 1: we get a lot of things from the church, don't we.
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  Speaker 1: What does your church teach on then you fill in
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  Speaker 1: the blank, or what's the teaching of the church on
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  Speaker 1: what's the church policy on you know that there is
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  Speaker 1: not a time in the New Testament when the Church
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  Speaker 1: had a policy on things, or did you know that
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  Speaker 1: the church didn't teach? The church was taught in the
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  Speaker 1: first century the church was the recipient of truth, not
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  Speaker 1: the dictator of truth. The church had open arms when
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of God opened his mouth. But now the
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  Speaker 1: church seems to have a long bony finger pushing at
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  Speaker 1: people's chest, saying, get this straight. This is truth. To
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  Speaker 1: the church. The church is a learner. The Church is
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  Speaker 1: a discoverer. The church accepts, the Church receives. The church
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  Speaker 1: doesn't dictate if it is indeed listening to the scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: The scriptures dictate, the scriptures teach. When the scriptures are open,
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  Speaker 1: we stay quiet, we listen because the scriptures, coming from
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  Speaker 1: the very pen of the Spirit of God, is pushing
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  Speaker 1: at us. The scriptures are saying, thus saith the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: and we listen. It's to the church. I thought about
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  Speaker 1: it as I first read this letter again information for me,
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  Speaker 1: I am to stay quiet and take it in and
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  Speaker 1: for all of us. It's the Church of the Thessalonians.
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  Speaker 1: That's their earthly address. But their heavenly address is that
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  Speaker 1: they are in God, the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Your heavenly home
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  Speaker 1: is not Fullerton? Aren't you glad? Your heavenly home is
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  Speaker 1: not California? And all God's people said, Amen, that's right.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it may be fine, but it is no
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  Speaker 1: place to spend eternity. Your eternal home is in God
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  Speaker 1: the Father and in Jesus Christ. And that's a double
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  Speaker 1: luck security, double luck question. How can I get out
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  Speaker 1: of Christ? I'm in? Well, if he ever gets out
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  Speaker 1: of God, we're out of him. But I'll tell you
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  Speaker 1: that's never going to happen. We are in the Lord Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: who is in the Father, and the Father is overall,
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  Speaker 1: in all and through all. You're safe. You've got it now.
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  Speaker 1: Since that's true, there's a way to live, and it's
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  Speaker 1: marked by grace and peace. His favorite words, A lifestyle
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  Speaker 1: of grace flooded with peace. Is that your lifestyle is
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  Speaker 1: that your environment. It's for you, it's for you to claim,
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  Speaker 1: it's for you to live. And there are all kinds
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  Speaker 1: of people around you that will try to take it
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  Speaker 1: away from you. Don't let them do it. It's yours.
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  Speaker 1: Live it, enjoy it. If I could start a heresy,
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  Speaker 1: it sounds like a heresy, It's really truth. God's easy
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  Speaker 1: to live with. He was hard on sin at the Cross,
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  Speaker 1: but he took out all of his wrath on sin
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  Speaker 1: and took his son. He paid the penalty for our sins.
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  Speaker 1: And the blood came, and the blood washed us clean.
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  Speaker 1: And now in Christ I am free. God's anger is assuaged,
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  Speaker 1: his wrath has been poured out on the cross, not
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  Speaker 1: on his children. Isn't that wonderful? Years? Every time I
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  Speaker 1: think of it, I laugh. I said to a man
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  Speaker 1: on the plane the other day, Jesus makes me laugh.
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  Speaker 1: I thought you were a preacher, he said. I said, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but he makes me laugh. What do you mean? It
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  Speaker 1: was the most wonderful moment of witness. I think the
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  Speaker 1: guy is still leaving the plane thinking Jesus makes him laugh. No,
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  Speaker 1: I met that in the right way. I'll laugh at him.
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  Speaker 1: I laugh with him, I laugh at life. I laugh
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  Speaker 1: at my tomorrow because he has freed me from that
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  Speaker 1: thing that plagued me called sin. And it's awful twin guilt,
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  Speaker 1: that's wonderful way to live. Grace peace to you people
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  Speaker 1: in Thesalonaika. Now he's giving thanks for them. Verse two,
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  Speaker 1: we give thanks to God always for all of you.
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  Speaker 1: Wait a minute, sounds like one of those always and
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  Speaker 1: never remember having arguments with your mate. Don't say always
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  Speaker 1: and quit saying never. There are some times when you
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  Speaker 1: can say always and you can say never. Paul does
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  Speaker 1: we give thanks to God always for all of you.
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  Speaker 1: So it isn't idealism. This is real. Here I am
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  Speaker 1: in Chlrinth and I'm thinking aback on my days a
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  Speaker 1: year fifteen months ago when I was in Thessalonika, and
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  Speaker 1: I smile and I thank God for all of you.
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  Speaker 1: And he says, we make mention of you in our prayers.
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  Speaker 1: Why before I ask that, let me ask you. Do
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  Speaker 1: you give people reason to be grateful? You give folks
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  Speaker 1: reasons to be thankful that they're alive. I think that
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  Speaker 1: one of our goals in life is to spread a
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  Speaker 1: little cheer germ here and there give them reason to
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  Speaker 1: be glad. There they woke up that morning. Now, second question,
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  Speaker 1: I was ated a while ago. What is it that
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  Speaker 1: makes us grateful for some people? Isn't it interesting? Some
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  Speaker 1: people you can't wait to forget other people. You can't
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  Speaker 1: forget if you try. Why is it that you want
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  Speaker 1: to forget some people and others? Every time you, you know,
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  Speaker 1: have spare moments seemed like the flash in your mind,
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  Speaker 1: and you're praying for him and you're thankful for him.
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  Speaker 1: I walked up and down the hallway of our pastor's
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  Speaker 1: floor this week, and I just talked to different ones
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  Speaker 1: of the people there, and I stopped off with my
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  Speaker 1: secretary and asked her the question. And I bumped into
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  Speaker 1: Doug Haig, who has just brought back from Columbia twenty
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  Speaker 1: one of our high school college kids. He took twenty three. No,
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  Speaker 1: I'm teasing, we brought back all that he took. And
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  Speaker 1: I said, man, you must have had a terrific relationship
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  Speaker 1: with that family over there. He says, yeah, it was great.
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  Speaker 1: The dies over in Columbia. I said, makes grateful for him? Does?
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: He says, oh, every time I think about him, I
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: just smile, says I remember when missus Dye would come
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: out on the runway that we were building, and she'd
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: bring a big jug of ice water or ice tea,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and no one had hinted, and no one had left
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: a little note. Nobody even expected it, but we looked
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: up and there she stood, smiling with this frosty jug
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: of iced cold water ready to pour out. And he says,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: every time I think back, I remember those things. And
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I said to Doug, tell me the things that cause
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: you to remember and give thanks and pray for certain people.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I had already typed in my notes some of the things.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: And you would have thought we did as xerox the
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: things he told me and the things I'd already put down.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Here's a few of them. People who accept us as
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: we are. Second, people who affirm I don't mean that
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: they agree with us across the board. That's not real,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: but who regularly affirm us. They give us energy to
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: go on. Third, people who are real. We like real people.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: We don't like phonies, do we. We want to be
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: away from phonies. When we sense that somebody is a fake,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: we can't get away fast enough. But we like people
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: that are authentic. We like folks that are supportive, people
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: who are innovative and generous givers rather than takers and users.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Don't we We don't like to look back on an
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: experience and feel that we were used, that someone got
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: out of us what they wanted, and then that's over
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: and we go on. We like to feel that that
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: person gave didn't try to just suck the life out
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: of us. Hey, that's what he thought about. In fact,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: he doesn't leave us with a list that some preacher
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: could come up with. He tells us the list. Verse three.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: He says, I give thanks for all of you constantly
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: bearing in mind. That's great statement, and it has in
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: mind never forgetting. This isn't a flash in the pan
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: glad handing lap on the back. This isn't a passing
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: fancy so that they'll send him money. It's not that,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: he says, I constantly bear in mind three things. Your
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: faith that was put to work. We could call faith
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: at work, your faith at work, your labor that came
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: out of love, and your steadfastness because of hope. And
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: when I think about that, I give thanks. I smile
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: because I know a few folks like that, don't you.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: People who don't leave faith on the shelf, They put
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: it to work. People who don't just talk about love.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: They love. They fill up the jug, put in the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: ice and bring it to the runway. Got it. They
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: don't say if you have a need give me a call.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: When has anybody called you and said, I really have
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: a need? They are the type people who call you
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: and say, let me help. And furthermore, they are folks
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: whose steadfastness just motivates the socks off of you. Steadfastness
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: of Oh, that's a great word, steadfastness. The margin renders
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: it perseverance. It's a It's an old Greek word from
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: two terms that mean to abide or to rest under
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: something hoopole under to abide meno hoopo meno, which it
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: was used for a beast that carried the load. Have
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: you ever been to Mexico, You've seen the burroughs, and
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: you've seen people on a on a trip, they pile
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: their stuff on top of this burrow and they don't
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: stop piling. It just keeps going until there's more stuff
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: than borough. And they've got straps around and rope around,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: and not fifteen granny knots to tie that thing. And
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: the old Borough just holds on under the loans, backs,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: ways and the words of the New Testament. He abides
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: under the load. That's the word. When I call to
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: mind the load you were under, but you didn't fuss
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: about it. I give thanks. I give thanks to Jesus
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Christ in the presence of the Father. You know one
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: of the reasons that we push everybody together so close
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: at this place. You know, if some of you had
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: your way, you'd have a space between you and the
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: other person. You'd prefer to kind of be left alone.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: We don't leave you alone around here because you need
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: to feel the press of other folks. You're not alone.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: If we knew how many people came to this place
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: lonely and broken and desperate, it would shock us. See
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I get the letters from folks two weeks, three weeks,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: month later saying back, and they'll name the date when
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: we came. We are so low. But there was something
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: about being in a companionship that just stirred us. On
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: never heard that happen. I have. I've I've felt very
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: much alone and had had a life rub up next
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: to me and make a little friction and bond it together.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: I often think of the words of Anne Ortland, a
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: little book called Up with Worship. Every congregation has a choice,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: has a choice to be one of two things. You
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: can choose to be a bag of marbles, single units
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that don't affect each other except in collision like that.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: On Sunday morning, you can choose to go to church
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: or to sleep in. Who really cares whether there are
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: one hundred and ninety two or one hundred and ninety
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: three marbles in a bag, Or you can choose to
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: be a bag of grapes. That's interesting. The juices begin
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: to mingle. Ever set on a bag of grapes, that's
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: another story. I'll tell you about it. It just the
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: bag begins to get really moist. There is no way
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: to extricate yourselves if you tried. Each is a part
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: of all, part of the fragrance, part of the stuff,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: good word, Anne, part of the stuff. We keep the
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: stuff to ourselves. We build walls around our houses, and
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: we build big, thick places of residence so that you
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: can't get in. And then we come to worship and
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: we realize we're not walled up. We're together in this thing. Oh,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: we need that. We need the work of faith and
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: labor of love insteadfastest of hope, to keep rubbing off,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: to keep saying, we're in this thing together. So lonely alone,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: so awful, feeling like Elijah, he felt the wrong thing,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: but he felt it. I'm all alone and there's no
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: one left. I mean, I got Jezebel on my case
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: and that wimp a hab is on my case. It's
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: kind of a swind all paraphrase of One King seventeen.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, where are they? And God speaks to him
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: and says, man, I got seven thousand that haven't even
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: bowed the need of bail. Why is he telling him
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: that same reason? Paul gave thanks because there's something about
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: knowing next to me as a person that's got faith
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: and love and hope, and it's in place, and he's
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: a struggler with me, and he's not giving up, and
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: that makes me give thanks when I'm in the lonely
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Corinth and it's late and it's dark, and I'm tempted
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: something great this summer. Wasn't it about knowing you had home,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: you had a place of residence, you had a body
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: of people. It was great for me. I'll tell you,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: knowing brethren, beloved of God, His choice of you. Our
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: gospel didn't come into you in word only verse five.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Don't you hurry through that. I had to put the
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: brakes on when I got to that part. He's thinking
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: now year, fifteen months ago, when I first came to you.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: I didn't dump a truckload of theology and say there.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Next I came and I gave you the gospel. But
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: it wasn't just a pack of words. I didn't just
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: stand up and say, Jesus Christ came to this earth,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ died for our sins. Jesus Christ arose from
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: the dead. Believe in Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: Next and I pressed onto the next place. You know
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: what that creates. That creates information oriented Christians, and you
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: don't hold together when life gets tough. Look at what
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: he says, and I'm going to show you a related
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: passage we're gonna look at next time. Our gospel did
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: not come to you in word. Only turn the page
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: and look at chapter two, verse eight. Having thus a
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: fond affection for you, we were well pleased to impart
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: to you not only the gospel, but also our own lives.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: I love it. When Paul got through, whether it was
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: three weeks or three years, they knew Paul as real
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: warts and all cracks and all struggle and all no wonder,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: there was such a kinship, no wonder. He prayed for
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: these people. He had delivered his life to them. I
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: didn't just give you information. I entered into your life
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: and you entered into mine. Now go back to chapter one.
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Look at verse five. It wraps up our gospel. Came
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: in power, It came in the Holy Spirit, It came
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: with full conviction, just as you know what kind of
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: men we proved to be among you for your sake.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: You remember those days, You remember those late nights. You
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: remember when I wept over the death of my brother.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: You remember when I couldn't put together my thoughts on
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: why this suffering wouldn't go away. You were with me
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: when the headache didn't stop. You were with me when
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: I struggled with those people out of Philippi that dug
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: my steps. You knew me, and he pointed at direction.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Derek Bach, Harvard President, said, there is a very obvious
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: dearth of people who seemed to be able to supply
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: convincing answers or even point the direction towards solutions. You
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: one of those people, Yes, many of you are. Don't stop.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Don't be ashamed of having answers. Don't think that being
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: a fellow struggler with the human race means you're completely
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: out of all answers, that's not real either. The Gospel
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: is here and it's truth and it's objective, and I
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: don't miss that. But don't stop. There. Isn't the Gospel sufficient? Yes,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: it is sufficient. Well, isn't it sufficient for the entire
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: balanced Christian life? It is not. It needs life, It
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: needs a body. I love the story of the little
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: girl afraid at night and couldn't sleep, and her mother
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: kept coming to her side, and she said, honey, remember
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: the Sunday school lesson. Jesus is with you all the time.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: You have no reason to be afraid. She says. I
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: know it, mother, I just need somebody with skin on it.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: I need a Gospel with skin on it. I need
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: a model that's real. I don't want a snake with legs.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: That's unreal stuff. I want to pall a man who
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: prays and thanks God and affirms, but he doesn't keep
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: me from hard news either. Look at what happened. I
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: love this. Look at the affirming words verse six. You
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: became mimics of us literally that's the Greek term. You
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: became mimics of us, and you became mimics of the
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Lord having received or the word is welcome having welcomed
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: the Word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Spirit,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: so that you became an example to all the believers
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: in Greece. All so, first of all he affirms them
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: for the way they responded to fellow Christians. That's verse six,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: verse seven, and then he doesn't stop. The next he
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: affirms them for the way they responded to those without Christ.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: The word of the Lord has sounded forth from you,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: not only in Macedonia and Akaia, but in every place.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: have no need to say anything. I wondered what that
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: was like. When he came to some sections in Greece.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: The Thessalonians had already been there. Oh, we've heard that.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: Who'd you hear that from? Well, we heard it from
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: the Thessalonian. Really, yeah, you don't even have to tell
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: us anything. We know a whole lot about that. They've
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: already been here. I don't know. If you're from a
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: big family, that would be a family of three or
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: four kids and more. My grandmother was from a family
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: of nineteen, not that big. That's a litter, you know,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: that's a lot of lot of kids. But if you're
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: from a family of three or four, and you're the youngest,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: then you know what I'm talking about. I'm from a
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: family of three children, and I have an older brother,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: and I have an older sister. My older brother really
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: really bright, the most boring report cards you would ever
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: want to see, he brought home semester after semester. I
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: had variety. My brother man is and then now he
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: went ahead of me in high school, okay. And then
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: my sister super talented personality plus sing, playing on the
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: girl's volleyball team, starter on the front line, I mean
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: just she was just all over the school. And and
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: then I came, well, it's great your freshman year. You
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: walk in. Oh you're Orable's brother. Yes, you're Lucy's brother.
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: That's right. Oh we know all about the swind Alls.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: They were in for a surprise, I might add, But
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: there was another part of them they didn't know. But
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: before I even got there, the fame had spread into
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: the school. If you're a teacher, you know what I mean.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: There's something about families that are putting it together, that
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: kind of run one after another. Right, That's the way
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: it wasn't Thessonaika, Oh you're you're you've got to talk.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: You're talking about what the what these people told us about?
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: What did they tell you? The very same thing you're saying, Well,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: who were they? They were the Thessalonian. Everywhere we went Verse eight,
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: the word sounded forth. The term means to echo, to
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: thunder across the canyon. Everywhere we went, boom, boom, boom,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: we kept hearing. Let me venture this challenge. You have
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: a home in a community, right, you're like the point
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: of a wedge into the door. That's what your home is.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: It isn't just a place to have privacy and to
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: hide and to repair. It is that, But it isn't
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: just a harbor. It's a wedge. And after a while,
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: that home and the lifestyle of that home becomes infectious.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Before long, the neighborhood begins to get the message that
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: place is different. You know, they're not because you're religious,
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: not that. It's because there's an authenticity of life. There's
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: an honesty, there's integrity, there is a relationship that is vibrant,
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: that is open, that's fun to be around. It's what
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: I call magnetic contagious, and kids don't want to stay
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: away from it. They want to be in it. It's
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: like that Thessalonians were like that, their place was magnetic.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: And Paul says, I travel verse nine, and they report
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: what kind of reception we had with you? Verse nine?
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: How you turn to God from idols to serve the
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: living and true God? Not great? You know what I
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: see there, I see a voluntary turning. I don't believe
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Paul had to preach against idols. I believe when I
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: took charge of their lives, they gave the idols up.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: I love the illustration from Donald Barnhouse regarding playing marbles,
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: and I have to give him, God bless him the
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: credit for this. He said, for so many years in
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: my life I played marbles, and he says I was
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: one of the best marble shooter on the block. And
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: then I grew up. I got a little older and
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: started playing football. I was walking home from sand Lotte
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Football one afternoon, tossing football up, and I saw a
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: bunch of boys playing marbles. And I didn't stand there
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: and say, you ought to give that up. You just
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: shouldn't play marbles. I just walked by, thinking, well, I've
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: outgrown that. I think that's the way it is. I
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: think the longer you walk with Christ idols you lean
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: on in need, and you just outgrow them, idle by idle,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: peace by peace, you turn to God from them. Isn't
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: it interesting the order you turn to Him from them
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: to serve the living and True God and to wait
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: for His son from heaven, whom he has raised from
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: the dead and delivers us from the wrath to come.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: You know what I see here? I see both responsibility
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: and readiness. I see a group of people who were
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: responsible to take the truth to the lost and to
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: live the truth among the saved. And I see a
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: readiness people who were saying, he could come today, but
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: he may not come in our lifetime. That's balance. To
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: live as though he were he would come before lunch,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: but to know that he may not come until I'm
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: in the grave. I see commitment written all across the
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: pages of Thessalonians. I see it written all across the page,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: commitment to the saved being ready to accept and to
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: support one another in the family. That's commitment to the saved.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: I see commitment to the lost being available to the
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: non Christian and involved in carrying the gospel by lip
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: and with life. I see commitment to Christ being free
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: from any of the idols that keep me from living
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: every day as though it's my last. I've been reading
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: Facing Turbulent Times again and got to page thirty four
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: and got to a part that I thought ought to
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: be read to everybody. The person for turbulent time who
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: chooses to be Christian in the final two decades of
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: the twentieth century will have to re examine both the
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: strategies of readiness and responsibility. Assuming that our age is
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: moving into troubled waters, how shall we live? What shall
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: we say? Where shall we serve? Christians must prepare to
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: live not only with the possibility of the Lord's coming,
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: but also with the probability of his not coming for
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: a while. Some of you look at me like you've
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: got to be kidding. You mean, I bought that boat,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: and I've got to pay for that. I've been counting
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: on the rapture to deliver me from the payments of
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: that boat. That means we must call upon a different
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: kind of futurists, the man or woman with a discerning capability,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: who who can trail blaze the way for families and
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: congregations and even communities through a period of history. That
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: is probably the twilight of an age, the twilight of
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: an age? Does that ring in your mind as a possibility?
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Cynthia said to me just last night, Doesn't it seem
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: very much like these are the last days? I know,
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: if you're prophetic talkers in your home, you'd say, well,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: I say that all the time. Well, we're not prophetic
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: talkers in our home. So for her to say it
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: kind of made me think, doesn't it seem like this
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: might be the last era? So I found that again
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: this morning, the twilight of an era? I think it is.
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  Speaker 1: Let's bow together. If I could, I would look right
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  Speaker 1: into the face of every person listening to these words.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: I would sit one on one with you, and I
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: would ask you some questions. If indeed we're in the
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: twilight of an age, what difference are you making? See
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: what this does to your business, See what it does
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: to your leisure, See what it does to your money.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: If I just could be as bold as to say that,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: who in the world is going to need that pile
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: of dough if it's all going to be burned up
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: except that which is eternal. See what it does to
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: relationships with the saints and especially with the lost, What
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: a difference it makes. How about priorities. A church with
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: the right stuff is full of people with the right
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: stuff who live by right of priorities. That's what this
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: is saying. If you've never just objectively faced the facts
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: of the Gospel, you're really on thin ice. I mean,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: the most dangerous place to be today is in this civilization,
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: urban civilization. They die every minute. If you've never met Christ,
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: and you know that if you were to die today,
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: you would not be ready for heaven. I just plead
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: with you, don't play with that. Stop and deal with
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: the fact that Christ died for you, came back from
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: the dead, and lives for you, and will forgive you
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  Speaker 1: and give you his grace and take you to heaven
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: if you turn your life over to him. I'm so pleased, Father,
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  Speaker 1: to be surrounded by people who have put these things
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: in order. I am so pleased that I'm not in
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: the cave of Elijah wondering why I have to be
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: alone in this Today especially, I feel affirmed, and I
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: feel supported, and I feel loved, and I feel a
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: part of a body of people who are nodding and
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: not shaking their heads back. I'm so grateful that we
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: can make a difference. We have time in which to
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: do it. Though short, we have time. May we do
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: it now. I pray for every ministry that is engaged
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: in addressing the critical needs of a twilight of an era.
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: I pray for you to encourage them, ministries to families,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: ministries to singles, ministries to those who are struggling with
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: so many of the abuses of our day, the hurts,
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: the pain that keeps them from listening to what's being said.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: May you undergird and reinforce and give them renewed zeal
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: as a result of hearing these things. May we all
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: be shaken from lethargy that makes us dream while we
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: eating for the son from heaven rather than work. But Father,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: may there be a balance in this work. May it
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: be marked by grace. May it be a labor of love.
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  Speaker 1: May there be a steadfastness of hope, whether dealing with
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: young or old. May our hearts our minds be on you.
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: We commit to you this marvelous study of this first
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: century letter which is written to us indirectly, and we
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: ask for you to give us listening ears ready to change,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: to apply. For Jesus' sake.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: We pray Amen, The preceding message A Church with the
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: Right Stuff was copyrighted in nineteen eighty four, nineteen eighty five,
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: nineteen ninety three, two thousand and three, and twenty twenty four,
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty four
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindahl Incorporated. Sites are reserved worldwide. Duplication
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.