Tremendous. We're going to read God's Word
returning to Paul's epistle to the Thessalonians, the first
epistle, and we're reading from chapter 2, and we'll read again
chapters one through to 12, sorry, verses one through to 12,
First Thessalonians chapter 2, verses one through to 12.
Let's hear the word of God. We're reading, of course, from
the authorised version. I'm having a wee chuckle to
myself because when we was sort of varnet on Sunday night, they
had a little plaque just on the pulpit and it said only the
authorised version is to be read from this pulpit.
And I made mention of that and the man says to me at the end,
do you know why he says no, He said well there's a retrapped
door in the pulp and if you hadn't have said that we'd have
pulled the lever and you'd have been gone.
So I had a chuckle at that. David McCann has a sense of
humour, right? Thessalonians chapter 2, verses
one through to 12. Let's hear God's word for
yourselves. Brethren, know our entrance in
unto you, that it was not in vain, but even after that we had
suffered before, and were shamefully and treated.
As you know, at Philippi we were bold in our God to speak unto
you the gospel of God with much contention.
For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor
in guile. But as we were allowed of God to
be put in trust with the gospel, Even so we speak not as pleasing
men, but God, which triath our hearts.
For neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know,
nor a cloak of covetousness. God is witness nor of men
sought. We glory neither of you, nor yet
of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles
of Christ. But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse cherisheth her children.
So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have
imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own
souls, because you were dear unto us.
For you. Remember, brethren, our labour
and travail for labouring night and day, because we would not be
chargeable unto any of you. We preached unto you the gospel
of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also,
how holy and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves
among you that believe, as you know how we exhorted and
comforted and charged everyone of you, as a dear Father doth
His children, that you would walk worthy of God, who hath
called you unto his Kingdom and glory.
Amen to the Lord of Stamp, with his own approval and blessing,
this reading of his own precious and infallible word.
Now this morning I want to ask you this question.
What do we need here in carried off FPC?
Let me spell it out one thing that we need very much the
presence of God. Moses said to the children of
Israel, If thy presence go not with us, then carry us not up
hands. And if we meet here Lords day,
by Lords day, morning and evening, if we meet for our
times of prayer, if we meet for our various other meetings and
don't have the presence of God with us, then I have to say
ashamedly, I would believe that our meeting together would be in
vain. We are not just a social club,
we are meant to be a spiritual club tied into meeting with God
and him coming amongst us. So that's the first thing.
The second thing we need of course, is we need the power of
God. We need the power of God's
Spirit to work so that the word of God that's preached is taken
by the Spirit of God and applied into our hearts and lives so
that we profess this is not only what we believe, but this is
impacts upon our behaviour. You see, I was interacting with
some people through the week and I was trying to say to them, you
know, it's not about being a fan of Jesus.
Oh, I can tell you there's hundreds of people in Northern
Ireland and they're fans of Jesus, but they're not true
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And there's a vast difference, a vast difference.
We're called not to be fans. We're called to be followers of
Christ. That's the second thing we need.
We need the power of the Spirit. And I would urge you, I would
ask you coming into the autumn and into the winter work when
you're praying for this church, you're praying for the gospel
ministry here. You pray for the power and the
presence of God. The third thing we need is
people. And I've had the joy, as you
know, over the years, we've seen people come and we've seen
people go And, and we're, we're, we're thankful to everyone that
the Lord has brought in. We're thankful for souls to be
saved. Last week I had a middle-aged
man tell me that he'd come to faith in Christ through
listening to my testimony. On Sunday night, when we were
revived, a young man told us that he had also come to faith
in Christ through listening to my testimony.
And that was, of course, a, a, a joyous thing, a thing that
filled me with great delight. But our great need is for people
to come from within our community and join us as part of
God's family. And that's very, very important.
This fourth thing that we need, and I'm only speaking from my
heart, is we need pounds. Let me tell you a little story.
Whenever I got converted, I I went along having been invited
to the Presbyterian Church in Bally Sally.
That was my first visit to the church and the minister preached
for 20 minutes on the subject of giving money to God's work.
Now I didn't know they were in a building programme and going out
the door I was asked what I thought of the service and I
said, well, Reverence, I think you've got things wrong a wee
bit. You preach 20 minutes about
giving money and 5 minutes for the gospel and of course he get
very upset and he get annoyed and he said all sorts of things
that would be a bit off the cuff and a bit hasty about my
attitude. I was only speaking from my
heart, but looking back now after being so long amongst you
these 26 years, I realise now that when you're in a resident
ministry, that part of that resident ministry does involve a
call for giving. And he was calling his people to
give because there was a special need for his building work, and
he wanted to see that need met to the glory of God.
Now, you've heard what I've said.
I've got 4 PS for you. So you want to remember we're
talking just about what we need, right?
And we're talking about the giving of God.
God giving himself by his presence, God giving us his
power by his Spirit. God giving us people in
salvation, bringing in the lost and converting them.
And you have a role to play in that.
But also God giving us pains. And I would love to take the
rest of the service just to tell you how the Lord has supplied
the need right up to the present time.
Maybe we'll write a little booklet sometime, the giving of
God and explain some of that. But anyway, on Sunday night I
received a little gift which I have here for the building fund
of 25 lbs. And you see, the Lord has has
people everywhere. And this dear lady came and she
said she had found this in her husband's Bible.
If she's listening, she knows who she is.
And she gave this little gift to our church building fund.
And then I had the joy then through the week of going to the
bank, and this time it wasn't worth £25 inside this envelope
as evidence of a gift that totals the sum of 31,000 pounds
500. Where's Graham?
Shout. Amen, Graham.
Amen. Let's all hear you saying Amen,
Amen. You see, God again has met the
need. So whether it's £25 or whether
it's in total of a gift and the gift date of 31,000 pounds 500,
God is meeting the need. So we have reason to be
encouraged and reason to be thankful.
But we've got to of course pray on.
We need to get outside finished. There's other things that we
want to do and need to do as a church if we want to grow and if
want to expand. So I I just bring those few
thoughts to you. They're really unprepared.
They're off the cuff, but I had thought about them just that
little bit this morning and I pray that the Lord will help us
in our giving. Of course, you can give like
these others, A1 off gift. You can give regularly to the
building fund. Remember the building fund in
your prayers. You can give a gift in your will
or you can give a legacy that could be put into some sort of
trust form and then used for the well-being of the church in the
future. These are all ways to give
because that minister that day in Bally, Sally preached about
this. Why give?
He preached about what to give and he preached about the way
that you give. Whatsoever you do, he emphasised
do it with all your heart as unto the Lord.
And that's true about us and our attitudes, in our announcements,
in our actions, whatever we we do, let's make sure I'm doing
this to the glory and the honour of God.
And I want to thank the donors today, the donor of this gift
and the donor of this very large, substantial gift.
Really tremendous humbling, but we're so thankful to God and we
trust and pray that the Lord will have many more gifts to add
to the story. So when the story of Carrie Duff
was written up, then we'll be able to testify.
The Lord has done great things for us for off we are glad.
Amen. Now this morning we are
continuing with our studies in the book of Thessalonians.
And today my text is taken from First Thessalonians chapter 2,
verses 7 through to 12. And I want to deal with a follow
up message. Last week we dealt with the
features of a faithful ministry. Today we're dealing with the
hallmarks of the heart of a true minister of the Gospel.
I told you chapter 1 and 1st Thessalonians is all about Paul
as a preacher. Remember we read there in
chapter one, verse 5. For our gospel came not unto you
in Word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake. Well, if that's true, and it is,
then chapter 2 has to deal with Paul the pastor.
Remember in chapter 2, Paul is defending himself against the
critics who were attacking his motives.
They accused him of deceit. They accused him of uncleanness.
They accused him of guile. These false critics who were
attacking her motives were saying this.
And I'm paraphrasing, This religious huckster ran away
suddenly in the night. Remember, they came to attack
Paul. Have not heard from him since.
He is guilty of using religion to take your money, seduce your
women and your children, and exalt themselves as a Lord and a
master over you. He's not sincere.
He's not true and genuine. And when we aim to expose him,
well, he ran away showing himself that he doesn't care
about you now. That's what they were saying.
So Paul had to defend his motives and his ministry, not
because he wanted to look good, not because he even wanted to
feel better, but because he knew what this accusation meant.
It was undermining the gospel, and because it undermined the
gospel, then he began to open up his heart and mind and show him
true self unto the people. And when we look into his heart,
when I look into his heart, I see the hallmarks of the heart
of a faithful man of God. There's three things here that I
want to leave with you. As a good minister.
He had a genuine love for the gospel.
Listen to verse 9. Because we would not be
chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of
God. You see, when you examine this
portion of Scripture, you notice the word gospel.
It's mentioned in chapter 1 verse five that I've already
read. It's mentioned in Tutu.
He says, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our
God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.
He mentions it in verse 4. But as we were allowed of God to
be put in trust with the gospel, Even so we speak.
He mentions it in verse 8. So being affectionately desire
of you, we're willing to have imparted unto you, not the
gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear
unto us. He mentions it in verse 9.
Be chargeable unto any of you, as we preached unto you the
gospel of God. And he mentions it again in
chapter 3, verse 2, and sent Timotheus, 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. 6
times he's mentions the gospel in this first epistle.
Now 6 is the number of man. Why mention the gospel 6 times?
Here's the answer. Because Paul knew that the
gospel is the foundation of the Christian life.
It's the foundation upon which everything else is built and
based. And remember what the gospel is.
The gospel is a message from God.
He calls it the gospel of God. It begins with God.
It's a message from God. It's God's good news.
And Paul proclaimed that message.
How did he proclaim it? He said we preached unto you the
gospel of God. And that word preached means we,
we acted as an herald. Think of the old days.
Think of the days when kings and Queens ruled the land, and the
king would have a message and he wanted that message to go out
into the cities and the towns and the villages of his Kingdom.
They didn't have telephones, young people, they didn't have
e-mail. They didn't send letters,
carrier pigeons. That came later.
In the early days. They had a herald and he went
from one city to another and he heralded forth the message that
the king wanted to be heard. He didn't deviate from the
message. He didn't add to the message,
didn't modify the message, didn't take away from the
message. He wasn't free to.
He couldn't add to it. He couldn't dilute it.
What if the messenger was unpopular?
What if they threw tomatoes at them?
What if they threw lettuces? What if they threw eggs?
What if they threw stones and attacked them?
He was still not free to modify, add, or to delete any of the
message. He didn't originate the message.
It wasn't his message. It was the message of the king.
Just like the gospel is the good news of God.
And he had to proclaim it just as the king had given it.
And you see the gospel of God, it's from God.
It's produced by God. The gospel of God that comes
from God because he produced it. Paul didn't make it up.
Paul didn't invent the gospel. He didn't dream it up in bed.
He didn't get it out of a library book.
He didn't learn it in a school or university.
It wasn't part of the collective thinking of wise men.
No, it came from God himself. It was divinely revealed to
Paul. It was directly revealed to
Paul. It was deliberately revealed to
Paul as the gospel of God. It was a message from God and
not grip Paul. I'll tell you something else.
That's a message from God that reveals God's remedy for human
sinfulness. Remember Romans 3 and 23?
For all of sin and come short of the glory of God.
The reality is we are sinners by nature and practise.
We were born in sin and we were shapen in iniquity and that's
something that we should bear in mind.
And we know that that hurts our pride.
We know that that humble us before God, but that's the place
that every individual has to come to, that we are guilty
political sinners before a holy God.
The gospel is also a message that centres in the personal
work of Christ. Remember Acts 4 and verse 12.
Peter said neither is there salvation and any other, for
there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. Remember again the Lord Jesus
said to Thomas in the upper room.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, the life.
No man comes unto the Father, but by me.
You see, you and I need a perfect righteousness to live in
God's holy presence, and that perfect righteousness that is
provided in the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
Paul says this being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus and God have set forth to
be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His
righteousness for remission of sins that are passed through the
forbearance of God. Are you dressed in that
righteousness this morning? That righteousness that was
earned by the personal word of Christ in the sinless life and
atoning death, that that righteousness that can be yours
but must be received. You see, in the gospel, it's not
only good news from God and it's not only about his remedy for
human sinfulness and not only centres in the personal word of
Christ, but the gospel is a call for repentance toward God as
well as faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 3 verse 19, repent ye or Matthew 3 verse 17 repent ye and
believe the gospel. It's a message that calls us to
a life of holiness and loving obedience.
And that call to a life of loving obedience and holiness is
not the ground of our salvation. That's where many go wrong.
It is but the evidence. When we're born of God, He
enables us to live a life of holiness under God.
That's our motto, a life of loving obedience.
We love Him because He first loved us.
And in the gospel message, there's a warning about hell and
eternal punishment. It's also a message about heaven
and home. Remember the psalmist?
Psalmist David in Psalm 23, verse 6 closed with this
thought. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
House of the Lord forever. Now that's the gospel.
That's a summary of the gospel. That's really the substance of
the gospel in a nutshell. And all of that message can be
found in many wonderful texts in the Scripture, including John 3
and 16. For God shall love the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Now the gospel today is under attack as it was in Paul's day.
Why is it under attack? Because the gospel is
foundational. And the question is asked by the
psalmist, and we'll look at it in Psalm 11, verse 3 something
if the foundations can be destroyed, what can the
righteous do? And if the gospel is destroyed,
if it's diluted, if it's modified, if it's added to, if
there's a subtraction from the gospel, then you've got a a
false and faulty gospel message. Paul knew that it was
foundational to the whole of the Christian life.
And then he said this to the Philippians.
I am set for what? I am set for the defence of the
gospel. See there's so many false
gospels today. I think that during COVID
Brother Mark and I through the websites set out maybe 8
possible little things to do with false gospels.
The health and wealth heresy that's alive and well.
Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, especially the United
States of America. What about the self esteem
gospel? Popular popularised by Robert
Schuller. He said this you don't have to
fear pride, even though the Bible teaches the praise of sin.
He says that we're not to see ourselves as sinners, that
that's too harsh. Being born again is is not being
regenerated by the Spirit of God.
Being born again means you set aside all that negative image
about yourself and adopt the positive image so you go from an
inferior feeling to full self esteem.
I'm proud of who I am. And we're living in a day when
people are proud that they're murderers, people are proud that
they're adulterers, people are proud that they're thieves,
people are proud that that they're they're homosexuals,
that that's what pride is all about.
But that's not what the new birth is.
Then you of course you've heard of the cheap grace Gospel
redefined repentance. Just a change of mind, not a
change of behaviour. That's why we've got so many
people that are fans of the gospel and not true followers.
You see what we're called to turn from a lifestyle of sin
where we no longer live a life of sin and wickedness.
We live a life for God and for God's grace and for God's glory.
What about the works righteousness gospel?
Paul was conscious that there was those that are using the law
to tell people here's how you earn righteousness to be
acceptable and pleasing to God. Paul was different.
Paul's heart was gripped by the gospel.
Paul had a genuine heart for the gospel.
It gripped him and he had a grasp of the gospel.
Now here's a revelation of the nature of a God-given pastor
that churches need. God give us men gripped with the
gospel, men set for the defence of the gospel.
This is the kind of man that we need in every generation.
Paul was a faithful stall work of the gospel.
He was a faithful steward. As I've said, this is the kind
of man, the type of man that we need today, and we should pray
that God would give our churches such men that God would send us
labourers. We need labourers in our own
church, we need labourers in the foreign field, in the home
front, but men who would labour in Word and doctrine for the
glory of God. Paul was a good minister with a
genuine love for the gospel. That's a revelation of his
heart. That's the hallmark of a
faithful pastor. Secondly, and quickly, Paul was
a gentle mother who had a godly life for the gospel.
If you go back there to Thessalonians, I wonder if you
picked it up in the verse 7. But we were gentle among you,
even as a nurse cherishes her children.
Can you feel the weight of that? Listen again to verse 6.
Not of men sought to be glory, nor of you, nor yet of others,
when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of
Christ. You see, He had authority as an
apostle of Christ. He could have commanded these
people do this and go that, give this and give that.
But he didn't. But here's the contrast.
We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her
children. See Paul was conscious that
godly integrity, a godly example is handed on and through a godly
life. He says in verse 7, but we were
gentle among you even as a nurse cherishes her children.
He says in verse 10, ye are witnesses and God also how holy
and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you not
believe. He says in verse 11, as you know
how we exhort it and comfort and charge every one of you see, he
was thinking that as a pastor, he behaved as a gentle mother
who had a godly life for the gospel.
Her godly influence would impact upon our own children.
So what's Paul saying in verse 7?
He's saying this I was like a nursing mother among you who
lived for her children. Notice the word we not just
Paul, but Paul's team, Timothy and Silas and others who were
with them. So, so think for a moment of a
nursing mother. He says here's how we behaved.
How did he behave amongst them? He was gentle like a nursing
mother. He had a gentle, mild manner.
Now you think of a nurse not in the hospital could apply there,
but in the home and a nursing mother with little children at
home. Mother knows that at times the
children can be difficult times. The children will not listen,
they'll not behave. They're may be disruptive,
they're unwilling to learn, they've no real interest and
their little mind is wandering. They might even have a bad
attitude, but that nursing mother in the home, because
they're her children, knows how best to get their attention so
she can stamp upon them her influence at lifetime and the
way that she does. That is, we were gentle among
you as a nurse cherishes her child.
The word nurse here is not young people in the hospital.
And I think of a nurse and that's what I wear.
I read it, but it has to do with a nursing mother at home looking
after the children. In other words, she goes about
her work of raising and rearing her children with a spirit of
gentleness. Now this word gentle is a common
word. Paul used it in Second Timothy
chapter 2 and verse 24. It says, and the servant of the
Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apartment
to teach and patient. In other words, he's saying to
Timothy, here's how to conduct yourself as a pastor in the
church at Ephesus. You strive to be gentle even in
the midst of those that are opposing you as you stand for
the gospel. Don't strive with them, don't
fight with them. Be gentle.
You see, that's what Christ likeness is all about.
Did you know that gentle Jesus making mild is not just part of
a hen? The Bible talks about the
gentleness of Christ. Listen to this word with Paul.
But now I, Paul myself, beseech you by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ. 2nd Corinthians 10 verse one, The
gentleness of Christ. Christ was not harsh.
Christ was not cruel. He didn't pedal with people in a
harsh, cruel manner. No, he, he behaved himself with
a spurt of gentleness. So there's the pattern here.
Notice something else As you look back at Thessalonians, if
we think of the word, it says in verse 7, even as a nurse,
Cherith, as her children, her children, speaks of birth.
And that's tremendous to think about children born into the
family. It's a reference to a mother
giving birth to children and being tasked with a keeper at
home. And her aim and object is to
nurse those children and look after those children and impart
her own life to the children. And that means making
sacrifices. That means manifesting patience.
That means giving nourishment to the children.
A mother has time and energy for her children.
She's not just turning them over to the television or to the
babysitter, to a book. And Paul is using that as an
illustration. You see, Paul had been
sacrifices. Paul had cared for these
believers in Thessalonica as as if he was their father and he
was their spiritual father. But he was amongst them not just
as a father, but as a nursing mother.
He listened to their fears. He listened to their worries.
He listened to their stories. He he was give himself by way of
his personal time and energy for them to help them unto God.
He displayed tremendous patience.
He knew children don't grow up instantly.
He knew that they have grown pains.
He knew that they would encounter problems.
He knew that they would soil themselves, but they have sin
and guilt. Paul had tremendous patience as
a nursing mother. He he cherished them in in fact
he he tells us here so being affectionately desires.
If you were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel
of God, only listen to these words, but also our own souls.
Why? Because you were dear unto us.
He was willing to impart even his own life.
A mother protects your children. A mother so loves her children
that she would die for her children.
I, I read a very sad story very quickly of a mother in the park,
some park in England. Her husband maybe had other
children. The husband was slightly, a bit
in front and she was coming behind with the pram and the
little baby in it and, and as she walked there was some sort
of accident, a Beech tree, a big branch of the Beech tree fell
off and she pushed the pram forward.
She was crushed under that Beech tree branch and the little child
received her immediate reaction, the husband said was to protect
the child from the falling branch got the child away.
She hadn't time to get herself out of the way and sadly she
lost her life. Remember in the days of King
Solomon First Kings chapter 3 there was two women and they had
both children. One child died, and one of the
woman then took the other woman's child, and there was a
bit of dispute as to who owned the child.
And what did Solomon say this was?
This was Solomon's speak. And the king said, divide the
living child and two, and give half to the one and half to the
other. Then speak the woman who the
living child was under the king for her bowels yearned upon her
son. And she said, Oh my Lord, give
her the living child, and in no way slain.
But the other said, let it be neither mine nor thine, but
divided. Then the king answered and said,
give her the living child in a no wise sled.
She is the mother thereof. You see, the one who didn't want
their child put to death was the one who really loved and cared
for the children. And I know it's a difficult
topic, but for those mothers in Northern Ireland who have
conceived little babies and carrying them are their womb, I
want to tell you, you should never, never feel or satisfy
that urge to to abort your little baby.
Why? Because it's a life given by God
and and out of love for that child, you should not wish it
any harm or any ill to it. Could you think for a moment of
Paul when he gave the gospel? He gave his own life also.
Why? Because he saw himself not as a
good minister of the gospel only, but also as a nursing
mother who had a godly life as she lived out the gospel, a
mother who was full of love for the offspring that were born
from her. See, all true children,
remember, are born born of God, born of the Holy Ghost Very
quickly. Think of the word cherisheth
there in verse seven. That is tremendous.
Do you know what that word cherishes means?
It means brooding over them. Think of a mother hen.
I think of Wolver Garrett and his hens.
She's sitting on the eggs. She's seen her brood hatch and
she's sitting brooding to keep the chicks warm.
That's the meaning of that word cherisheth.
So it's not only a mother who's given birth to the children, but
a mother who's brooding over them to keep them warm and to do
them good. And Paul had a warm ministry in
the gospel. That's the night.
Nothing harsh, nothing uncaring, nothing unloving.
A heart full of the warmth of Christ and Calvary love, A
ministry that did the people good, a ministry that warmed
people, a ministry that told people the truth, a ministry
that put hate even into people's souls.
Because Christ remembers so cherishes the church.
It's not what Paul could say in Ephesians 5 verse 29.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourish and
cherishes it even as the Lord, the church.
What did the Lord do for the church?
He cherishes that. He nourishes it.
Why? Because it's born of him and he
broods over it to bring his own provision and protection and
everything else that's needed very quickly.
And thirdly, this morning in the hallmarks of the heart of the
pastor, there's not only a a good minister with a genuine
love for the gospel, and there's not only a gentle mother with a
godly life of the gospel, but there's also a gracious master
who had a great lifestyle of the gospel.
See, Paul presents himself not only here as he opens his heart
as a good minister and a gentle mother who gave birth to the
children and bruised over her children, but he was a gracious
master. Notice this as we finish, he
says in verse 11, For ye know how we exhorted and comforted
and charged everyone of you as a father doth his children that
you would walk worthy of God hath called you into his Kingdom
in glory. Think of the Father's work.
He begets the children. Like the mother, he too cares
for the children, He provides for the children.
He he defends his children. He's in the home as a prophet, a
priest, a king. He works to support his family.
You've got the words here, verse 9 for you.
Remember, brethren, our labour and travail for labouring night
and day, because we'd not be chargeable unto any of you who
preached unto you the gospel of God.
The word labour and travail means hard work.
The word travail has to do with struggles.
You've got to think of toil and hardship.
Wasn't easy for Paul to make tents and work from home and do
the Lord's work and fest and thank you at the same time.
But he did it. He laboured night and day.
Why? Because he loved these
believers. He wanted to be relinquished
from the charge of being chargeable unto them.
There's his work. Think of his walk.
He he, he says that you would walk worthy of God.
He wanted to set them an example.
He wanted to be a good example as a father is to his children.
He comforted them. He charged them.
Notice the word witness here. It was exemplary.
It wasn't a pure example. It was a good example of
dedication, dedication to the church family, dedicated to live
a holy life, dedicated to and be careful to fulfil his duties
according to the mind of God, knowledge that he was
accountable to God. All that he did in his walk, he
did for the good of the work of God.
And I would urge you to do the same.
Pray for me that I'll be enabled to do the same.
Not only will we work and walk to worthy of the calling of God,
but we'll we'll witness by we have an exemplary example and
think of his closing word. He said exhorted and ye know how
we exhorted and comforted and charged Everyone of you feel the
weight of those words. The word exhorted means an
appeal. He taught by good example, but
he appealed by speech. He had good exhortation that
they might learn to walk worthy of their calling of God.
He comforted them in all their struggles and fears and cares.
He he charged them in the knowledge that they were
accountable to to God to walk worthy of God.
When you pledge to walk worthy of God, will you aim to be a
gracious master fathers in the home, and you'll work and you'll
walk and you'll witness and your words will be to the glory of
God for the well-being of your family in relation to the Lord's
work. Here's the hallmarks of the
heart of a good pastor. May the Lord help us to follow
in Paul's example. At this time, we're going to
close. We'll sing a few verses of hymn
#409. I would encourage you to study
as much as you can in this passage of Scripture.
I'm only giving you highlights. I can't deal with every verse
and every word because we'd be here for weeks and end.
So I'm trying to incorporate a broader picture.