Let's turn in our Bibles. First Thessalonians chapter 3.
Let's hear God's word.
We're reading, of course, from the King James Bible.
I encourage all who are online to get a Bible and read for
themselves, but the words will come up on screen for those who
are joining with us. We do welcome you in the Lord's
name. Let's hear God's word together.
First Thessalonians, chapter 3. Wherefore when we could no
longer for bear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone,
and sent to Muthi as our brother and minister of God, and our
fellow labour in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to
comfort you concerning your faith, that no man should be
moved by these afflictions for yourselves.
Know that we are appointed thereunto.
For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we
should suffer tribulation even as it came to pass.
And you know, for this cause, when I could no longer for bear,
I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the temp there
have tempted you, and our labour being vain.
But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good
tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good
remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as
we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, we were
comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your
faith. For now you live, if you stand
fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to
God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your
sakes before God, night and day, praying exceedingly that we
might see your face and make perfect that which is lacking in
your fear. Now God Himself and our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you, and the Lord
make you to increase and abound and love one toward another and
toward all men, even as we do toward you.
To the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness
before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ with all His Saints. Amen.
We know God will stamp with His own approval and blessing this
reading of His own precious and infallible and inerrant Word.
This morning, for those who are visiting with us, we are
continuing our series of expository studies in the book
of First Thessalonians. And today we're turning our
attention to 1st Thessalonians chapter 3 verses one through to
seven. Now my text is taken from the
verse 5. Paul says, for this 'cause when
I could no longer for bear, I sent to know your faith, lest by
some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be
in vain. Now when titled this message,
are you fixed in your faith? Now let's think of the apostle
Paul as a burdened and concerned minister of the gospel.
Remember, he is a genuine loving care for the people of God.
Think of the context. Look at chapter 3, verse one,
wherefore we'll pause. That means in view of this, in
view of what, or in light of this, what he said in verses 19
and 20 of the previous chapter. For what is our hope or joy or
crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ of his coming, For ye are our glory and
joy. You see, from this verse,
chapter 3, verse one, we learned that Paul was alone at Athens.
Remember, they had left Thessalonanka for his own safety
at the behest of the congregation there.
They fled to Berea. He preached there.
He saw many converted. He was hardly there when the
unbelieving Jews of Thessalonanka showed up, stirred
up the people, and then there was more opposition and
persecution, and Paul fled from Berea to Athens.
Swaggy believed that Timotheus and Silas stayed on at Berea.
And you can read about this historical record of what
happened in Acts 17, verses 1 to 15.
Now while Paul was alone at Athos, we get a glimpse, another
glimpse into the heart of one who was a genuine pastor, one
who had a deep love for the people of God.
Let's paraphrase the word. Notice what he says.
He says where? For when we could no longer for
bear. Come down to verse 5 for this,
'cause when I could no longer for bear, the word for bear
means to cover or it means to conceal.
Now what does that mean if I paraphrase it?
When we could stand it no longer, when we were going crazy
in our heart and mind concerning your spiritual welfare,
concerning your spiritual walk with God, Paul says in that
context, I decided it was better for me to be left alone at
Athens and sent Timothy, our brother.
Notice the wording there in verse 2.
And minister of God and our fellow labour in the gospel of
Christ, he was sent and what was he sent to do to comfort you
concerning your faith? Now that's important that you
grasp that the chief lesson and reason for this was that lest
you be overcome with these afflictions that you're facing,
lest you be overcome with persecution that you're facing,
lest you be overcome with the tempter getting the better of
you. And if that were to happen, he
says there in verse 5, lest our labour had been in vain.
Now Timothy of course, is a wonderful individual in the
Bible, I believe a minor member of Team Paul.
He had a Greek father. He wasn't a Jew.
He was less likely to be recognised in Thessalonica or
opposed. So he was sent in this important
mission. Timothy, have a job for you.
Go and find out what is happening in Fest and I think go
and find out about the state of the church.
Come back and give me a personal report.
You see, Paul had a big burden and a big concern for the care
of the church. And eventually, Timothy, they
come back with good news of their perseverance and the faith
we read in verse 6. Now when Timotheus came from you
unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and
charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us, always
desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you.
And what does he say in verse 7? Therefore, again, in light of
this, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our
affliction and distress. How were they comforted by your
faith? And as a result, the apostle
Paul wrote First Thessalonians on the basis and back of
Timothy's good report. So understand this in order
chronologically. First Thessalonians was the
first epistle. Paul wrote under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, the first epistle in the New Testament
Scriptures, and that's what we're expounding.
That's what we're learning today.
And 1st Thessalonians chapter 3 is primarily with these new
converts, and Paul wants to encourage them to continue to to
go on and to go through with God.
Keep in mind, as I've said, Paul had a genuine love and concern
for their spiritual well-being. He's not so much bothered
whether they're rich or poor, educated or uneducated, not
concerned about the type of the house they live in or how much
money they have in their bank or what their station is in life.
His chief concern was about their faith.
It's not what he says in verse 2 concerning your faith.
Verse 5, I sent to know your faith.
I repeat, Paul was a burdened minister for the people of God.
He was a true shepherd and pastor of the people, not on
hireling. Remember this was the man that
wrote to the church at Ephesus, and he said this in Acts chapter
20 and verse 28. Take heed therefore unto
yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had
made you overseers to feed the Church of God, which He had
purchased with His own blood. Take heed and pay attention to
all the flock. What's he really saying here?
Make sure you care for your congregation that Christ
purchased with His own blood. Because every believer so
precious a sovereign gift to the Pastor Paul wanted to be with
them. He missed them.
He had a heart for them. He was willing for a life of
self denial. Alone at Athens.
Wasn't easy to be alone at Athens, the intellectual centre
of the world, a very cultured place of learning and education,
a place of great oratory philosophy and gifts, a place
full of idols and superstition, few converts, no church.
And Paul had to face these things alone.
That's hard, especially when you're in a place and you see
very little success. If we contrast Thessalonanka,
where he had many converts, where there was a flourishing
church, the very same preacher, and it's all connected to the
sovereign will of a sovereign God.
And God's sovereignty operates in these things.
And I was taught this week, even from Acts 2028, that we're not
called to be successful, but we're called to be faithful and
have a care of the church that Christ purchased with his own
blood. Yet Paul is human.
Paul is alone at Athens and it's hard and he needed support.
He needed the help of others. He says when I could no longer
for Berry, he tells us twice. No longer conceal my mind, no
longer conceal my mood, no longer conceal my my anxiety and
worry about your spirituality. I sent Timothy to know about
your faith. Let me give you a little
illustration that I thought about.
Here's little Johnny. Here's me Sarah and they're
going to school. It's the first time, the big
school first day they're left at the school door or the school
deed. There's a few tears.
Maybe they're shedding tears. Maybe Mummy's shedding tears.
Mummy goes home. She tries to do the housework,
she tries to make a few phone calls.
But as the hours tick by, she becomes anxious.
She's worried. She's fearful that we Johnny
settle that that's Sarah Settle. I hope they're not sick, I hope
they're OK and eventually Mummy can stick it no longer 'cause
maybe Granny's been on the phone.
Well, any word? And at lunchtime they phoned the
school office to ask about Johnny or to ask about we Sarah,
and they're just asking to hope that everything's OK and they
get a wee bit of reassurance from the secretary or maybe from
the principal themselves. See, they can't wait till 2:00
PM. See, that's a faint picture of
what is going on here. Paul has great compassion, great
care for the church. He's chiefly concerned about
their spirituality. That's the point.
His chief concern was this. Are you fixed in your faith?
Notice three things here very quickly. 1520 minutes.
One the evidence of your faith. Notice the word faith.
I wonder did you count them as I did the Bible reading?
I love counting words in the Bible.
It's mentioned five times in this chapter.
Look at verse 2 to establish you and to comfort you concerning
your faith. Verse 5.
I sent to know your faith verse 6 and brought us good tidings of
your faith and charity verse 7 by your faith.
That's how they were comforted and look with me at verse 10.
He says that we might see your face and might perfect that
which is lacking in your faith. Now five times, five in biblical
numerics. That's the number of grace and
these dear folks and theft, Alanka, they had tasted the
grace of God. How do I know they were saved?
Well, he writes to them. Look at verse 7.
Therefore, brethren, they were part of God's family.
God was their heavenly Father, Christ was their Saviour.
They were born of this birth. These were true believers, born
again of the Holy Spirit and Washington, the blood of Christ.
They profess faith in Christ. See, we'll ask the question how
can 11 month year old church be spiritually strong that they
didn't have the Bible, the New Testament that we have.
They had no full time minister. They perhaps did have Old
Testament scriptures. They had no fancy church
building to meet in. There were in a thriving town.
It was a a commercial tort. Remember Thessalonanka?
But it was full of opposition. It was full of persecution.
They, they experienced trials and troubles.
You, you, you think of a, a town where there's idolatry and
iniquity and insurrection. And it's, it's spurred on by
unbelieving Jews who should know better.
And yet that the devil is the back of it.
And we'd asked what's the litmus test here for this church to be
spiritually strong? And the answer was this.
They had a true and genuine faith in Christ.
What is faith? Sure, the Catechism 86 gives the
answer to what is faith in Jesus Christ?
Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive
and rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He has freely
offered to us in the Gospel. The Bible exhorts us to have
faith in God. The Bible exhorts us.
Ephesians 289 For by grace are you saved.
Hi, through faith, for by greasy you see it through faith which
is not of yourselves. It's not an inherent to us.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. Hebrews 611 and six says, But
without faith it is impossible to please Him.
He that cometh to God must believe that He is and rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him.
What is faith? I like to do the acrostic for
seeking all I trust Him, or will change it for seeking all I take
Him. See, you can receive Him, and
you can rest alone on Him. The big question is this.
Do you have faith in Christ? Remember the parable of the
sore, Matthew 13, Luke chapter 8.
Four types of soil. And those four types of soil
represent four types of responses of the human heart to
the Word of God. Remember the wayside ground.
The wayside is hard, the seed falls on top of the ground.
And what did the Lord Jesus tell us there in the Gospel of
Matthew, in Matthew chapter 13 and in the verse four, He told
us this Matthew chapter 13 and in the verse 4.
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the
fowls came and divoured them up. You can just get the picture.
Now what did that mean? Well, he then went on to give
the interpretation. Matthew chapter 13, verse 19,
verse 18. When hear ye, therefore the
parable of the sword, when anyone heareth the word of the
Kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one.
That's a reference to the devil, and catches away that which was
sown in his heart. This is he which received word
by the wayside. And if we explore that a wee bit
more, we read in Luke chapter 8 and verse 12.
These particular words, those by the way said are they that hear
then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their
hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Think of the Stony ground. Someone receives the word with
joy. They're excited.
I've got a message from God. Wonderful.
And the, the, the, the green shoots appear in the ground and
then the sun arises. Trials and troubles come.
Persecution comes and they're offended.
It's too hard. They're not willing for a life
of self denial, not willing to suffer for the gospel's sake,
not not like Paul, not willing to labour in a hard, lonely
place like Athens for a time. They're not prepared to go
without so that others have. I've known believers to give up
their dinner. I've known believers to not go
on holiday and give the money to the Lord's work.
They've seen it as a privilege. Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones, you
remember, was a medical practitioner.
Give it up to become a minister of the gospel.
And before he came into the ministry, he gave the money that
he had to his poor mother. CT Stud was a millionaire, a
great cricketer and he gave it all up for the honour and glory
of Christ. What type of hearer are you?
A wayside hearer, Stony ground hearer, A thorny ground hearer
is someone again who receives the word with joy.
But the riches of this world, the pleasures of this life, the
cares of this life, they, they choke.
The word love for Christ is crowded out.
What is evident is not a love for the Saviour, but a love for
self. They don't really love the
Saviour. Oh, the Saviour's there, but
he's in the background. They have no genuine love for
Him, or for the Saints, or the souls of man, or the Sabbath of
the sanctuary. They have no deep love for the
Scriptures of truth. That's the thorny ground hearer.
And isn't there many thorny ground hearers who profess to
know and love Christ? What about a good ground hearer?
They receive the Word, but they bring forth fruit thirtyfold,
sixtyfold, and 100. You see, the good soil always
brings forth some for it, not the same fruit, but some for it.
There's no good soil is without fruit, and we're talking about
the fruit of the Spirit here. The good ground hearer always
brings forth fruit. If he's born of the Spirit, he
will manifest at to some degree the fruit of the Spirit.
Remember what it says there in the book of Galatians.
In Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22, it says this.
But the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such there is no law and those that have true and genuine
faith that is produced as a gift of God by the Spirit in the new
birth. You see, these individuals were
truly converted. They were good ground hearers.
So I asked this question, are you truly converted?
This morning is the real genuine evidence of true faith in your
life. You've tasted the grace of God
and the nature of your faith is it's real because you've got
this fruit of the Spirit and you may have it to some degree,
others have it to a large degree, but at least you, you
have it manifested. You've received Christ, you
rested him alone for salvation and that faith is real.
And here's the evidence, at least in part.
There's some fruit that you're bringing forth, it seemed to the
glory of God very quickly. Not only the evidence of your
faith, but think about the establishment of your faith.
If you go back to Thessalonians here, what does Paul say when he
sent Timotheus to establish you and to comfort you concerning
your faith? You see in Thessalonica, the
people of God had to endure 3 things in particular.
Let me tell you what they were. They had to endure afflictions.
Look at verse three, that no man should be moved by these
afflictions for yourselves. Know that ye are appointed there
unto you. And then they had to endure
tribulation. That was part of the affliction.
Verse 4 For verily, when we were with you, we told you before
that we should suffer tribulation even as it came to
pass. And ye know now sometimes when
we read the word tribulation, we think about the tribulation of
the end times. That's part of this, but only a
little tiny part, and I'll explain it in a moment.
These tribulations had an impact and an effect upon their faith,
and then they also had to endure temptations.
Look at verse 5 For this cause. When I can no longer for bear, I
sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have
tempted you and our labour being vain.
Paul knew that these three things were serious.
He knew that it would impact and affect their faith.
And remember, the devil does his best to stop the people of God
not only getting saved, but he does his best to stop the people
of God going on with God, going through with God.
The devil is out today to try and to destroy our faith in
Christ. Not only the faith that we
believe in, but the faith that we enjoy and experience by the
new birth. And here's what he uses.
They listen to me very carefully.
He uses afflictions, verse 2-3, that no man should be moved by
these afflictions. That's a reference to trials and
troubles. Now listen to me carefully.
Trials and troubles are part of our lives.
The Bible says in Job 14 verse one man that is born of woman is
a few days and full of trouble. As the sparks fly upward, see
there's a day of trouble comes to us all.
I remember one time sitting in Coleraine in the town hall.
I think it was the second or third time I'd heard the late
Pastor Willie Mullen preach. Place was packed by the time I
got there. You know where they brought me?
Up into the front, right up into the stage, 3 feet from Willie
Mullen's feet. And I'm a young believer.
And this fiery wee man preached, and he preached in the power and
anointing of the Spirit. And his text was Nahum One and
seven. I never forgot it.
The Lord is a stronghold in the death trouble and knoweth then
that trusteth in him. And he talked about the death
trouble and he said there's a day of trouble comes to us all.
Young man, there's a day of trouble.
Young woman at middle age, there's a day of trouble coming.
The old and the infirm, there's a day of trouble coming.
And he applied that by the grace of God, the day of trouble comes
to us all. It's common to all men.
We're born to trouble. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous and when no one experienced the problems and
pressures of life. Battling illness, breakdown and
relationships, loss of job, tears, heartache, death,
calamity. I had a calamity this week for
for Lily lay down and had to go back into the garage again.
And I I I'm at a loss as to what happened.
But there was an unmerciful bang in battling the hench when I was
going in to see the Spears. And you see in these things the
devil comes and whispers in your ear.
Is this the real Christian life? I thought the Christian life was
supposed to make things better. The Christian life was supposed
to solve problems. How can you be in trials and
troubles? How can you have these tears and
you're running down your face? Remember, they're part and
parcel of God's sovereign will for our lives.
They're not accidents, Paul says here in verse 3.
For you yourselves know that we are appointed there unto you.
Think of the word appointed. They're all part and parcel of
God's will for our lives, because God has a plan and
purpose, even in trials and troubles, to to strengthen us,
to help us, not to be better, but to be blessed.
Notice verse 4. Here's another thing.
The devil uses tribulation. This is to do with intense
persecution and pressure to quit the Christian life, to give up
some aspect of our Christian faith, to give up some aspect of
our Christian principles. See, he comes and he says you're
only suffering this because you're a Christian.
You're only suffering this because of your Christian
convictions. If you give it all up, you're
not going to be persecuted, you'll not be harassed, you'll
not be agitated, you'll not be ridiculed, you'll not be mocked,
you'll not be laughed at. See, that's another lie of the
devil. This is what we have to endure
because the Lord Jesus said in John 16 verse 33, in the world
you should have tribulation, but be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world. We we should expect to suffer
persecution and opposition and not be surprised.
There's been some serious tribulation in the periods of
the Christian Church. You see, in Thessalonica, like
in Jerusalem, some members had even been murdered, some had
been imprisoned for their faith. I think it's 4476.
Open Doors have reported in 2024 that were martyred for the crown
rites and covenant of King Jesus.
You only have to think of the murder of the late Charlie Cook.
Pray for his wife Erica and family.
Regardless of what anybody says that that would be the right and
proper and Christian thing to do, wouldn't it?
See, if you live a godly life, you live for God.
You should display a love to God.
Display a likeness to God in Jesus Christ.
Your life, your love, your living is a rebuke to ungodly
people, an ungodly world. And they don't like it and they
react. And here's one way they react
with persecution and opposition. And this time of Paul's writing,
it was a time of intense persecution.
And the nature of this persecution, while it's
connected to the end times, it's not really the the great day of
tribulation that's to come, but it's connected.
The nature of this tribulation is this.
It's pressure to quit, pressure to compromise your Christian
principles and your Christian convictions.
And that's true for the individual Christian.
That's true for the individual church.
They hate Christ and the gospel and through persecution, God's
people can get discouraged and defeated and and despair and
even drop out. And that's exactly what a anti
God world system wants to do. We live in an ungodly world with
a, an ungodly political agenda and there there's a crackdown
on, on Christian conduct. And it's all designed to stop
the Christian to shut his mouth and to stop the church and to
pressurise it out of existence to, to squeeze the life out of
it. That that's really what the
tribulation's about. And young people at school and
the university, in the workplace, you've got peer
pressure. And that peer pressure comes
from the spirit of Antichrist. And the strategy is to get you
to conform and live like them. Be a boozer, be be a a drug
addict, be be an ungodly person dressed like the world.
That's what the peer pressure is all about.
This is like a pressure cooker. Notice thirdly, here he uses
this as well. Temptations, the temp.
There comes subtle temptations. As I've said, he uses trials and
troubles, uses persecution and opposition.
Pressure raises us to quit. He comes as a subtle serpent.
It comes like a roaring lion. It comes as an Angel of light
and he does great damage. Remember, he tempted Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. See, behind all the evil
suggestions that come into your heart and mind is the devil.
They're all like fiery darts and they're real, and they're
directed to the child of God, and the child of God has to
endure them. But the child of God in them can
be established in his faith. See, no worldly pressure is
going to lead them or no worldly pressure is going to lead to
anything good for the Christian or for the Christian Church.
And what we face is designed to destroy the church and creates
havoc. Here's the warfare that Paul
exposes. We've got an enemy called the
tempter, and he accuses us. He's the accuser of the
brethren. His accusations are false.
And in the midst of it all, God uses these things to establish
us, to strengthen our faith. See, if we're a good ground
hearer with a genuine faith, we'll be faithful.
We will also be fruitful even in the midst of all that's going on
in my life. What did Paul say?
He said this. Look again at verse three, that
no man should be moved. You know what that word moved
means? It means to be wagged away.
See, at times the devil doesn't come with fierceness.
He comes with flattery. The devil gets the world's
enemies to pretend to be our true friends with with smooth
words. And what he's saying is don't
let the devil tribulation, temptation, or even trials and
troubles. Don't let the devil hoodwinky.
The word established here has to do with a buttress.
Think of a Boeing wall. It's wobbling, it's in danger of
falling, and a buttress, whether it's steel or wood, is put up
against the wall to shore it up and the wall is strengthened and
supported. But that's the picture.
Our faith has been strengthened and supported by the butlers of
the word of God. Romans 10 and 17.
Faith come by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Think of a another illustration. Think of a sapling of a tree.
A lot of wind yesterday and the sapling of the tree needs a
stake. And you, you tie the stake and
the tree together and the stake holds the tree upright and it
gives us a better chance for the roots to go down into the ground
and for the little tree to grow. In other words, it's, it's
fixed. The word of God will build us
up. Don't be discouraged by these
things. We have to endure them.
Expect trials and troubles. Expect persecution, an
opposition, expect the fiery darts of the devil.
We're in a warm in a war. Don't be alarmed.
Have a sense of peace even in the midst of the storms of life.
For these storms are not from the hand of God in a sense to
weaken you or to destroy you, not to break you, but they're
actually designed to strengthen you.
Remember Paul says this in Ephesians and Ephesians chapter
4, and he tells us this in the verse 14.
Ephesians 4 and 14. Listen to these words, Ephesians
4 and 14. He tells us that we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and fro when carried about with
every wind of doctrine by the sleight of man and cunning
craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
We're not to be tossed about. We're not to be taken in.
We're to be fixed. I finish with this where time
has gone, the expression of your faith.
We, we live in an ungodly world. You'll agree with that.
You'll agree that it's hard in the 21st century in a true sense
to confess Christ, to break the news that you're saved, that you
go along to a Bible believing church.
You tell someone, you go to the Free Presbyterian Church and
carried off. They probably rolled their eyes
at you, but you're there to maintain a witness.
See, See. Many have stopped witnessing.
Many have stopped worshipping. Many have decided to stay at
home because they've forgotten that we're in a spiritual war.
And these are appointed and appointed by God and all the
help and grace that we need is appointed by God.
God will not appoint trials and troubles and tribulation and,
and, and, and the tempter to come and tempt us without also
appointing a way of a scheme, but without appointing help.
And that's where the word of God comes in.
We're to receive the Word with meekness, but we're to resist
the wicked one. We're not just to memorise the
Word. Memorisation is important.
We're not just to observe the Word and the reading and the
study of it is also very important, but we're to have an
experimental learning of the Word, so much so that we're
we're leaning upon it. I remember speaking to a man in
hospital one time that I was visiting someone else and he
turned out it was a believer. He's from the assemblies in the
Gospel Hall. Thank God for the Gospel Hall,
men and women and young people. And this is what he said.
I was brought low pastor, but he helped me.
You see, what was that man doing?
He he hadn't just memorised the Scripture.
He wasn't just observing it. He he was experimentally leaning
upon that word and that brought him tremendous comfort.
Timothy brought tremendous comfort.
He was sent as a helper. He he went as a brother.
He was saved. He went as a fellow minister
because he was saved. He served, he went as a fellow
labourer. He he sacrificed so that the
Church of God could benefit and be enriched.
If you're saved, I call upon you to serve the Lord.
If you're saved, I call upon you to sacrifice.
Live a life of self denial. Do everything you can for the
welfare of the work of God. Souls are in need.
Souls are in danger of Hellfire and perishing.
We need boldness, we need courage.
So rather than staying at home and hiding away and refusing to
witness and refusing to worship and refusing to work, I, I thank
you for coming today. I bless you for being in the
House of God. Let's go out into this ungodly
world and let's express our faith and say we be Christ, and
it's Christ for me, only Christ for me.
Are you fixed in your faith? Is there evidence that it's
real? Is it being established through
these things? And are you willing to express
it? See, these people express their
faith to Timothy. They don't want to say it, but
he's seen it. And he brought back a good
report. And what did Paul say?
Paul said this as I finished first Thessalonians 3 and seven.
Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you and all our
affliction and distress by your faith.
There's nothing gladdens the heart of a pastor to see true
and genuine faith in the people of God the Lord.
Take these few words. Bless them to you as I have
tried with the help of God to deliver this.