 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 5 through 10. I want to speak to you Concerning Well Paul's going to use this phrase in word only in word only you'll see that phrase in just a moment So I'll read to you out of 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 beginning at verse 5 I'll read to verse 10 the conclusion of the chapter and we'll be looking at this together tonight Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 5 For our gospel Did not come to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and In much assurance as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake and you became followers of us and of the Lord Having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia, but Achaia But also and Achaia But also in every place your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and To wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come And so let's begin by just laying a little bit of a foundation I want you to notice something I want you to notice how Paul begins here in chapter 1 verse 5 How he begins by saying this for our gospel did not come to you in word only our Gospel let's begin with that for just a moment lay a foundation Paul refers to the gospel notice this as our gospel the word gospel means Extravagant news great news Whenever you hear somebody speaking about preaching the gospel, that's what gospel means the word means simply great news Amazing news really and so he's speaking concerning this amazing news. It is called the gospel now the word gospel is used Something like 55 times in the New Testament, so it's a common word. It's used quite often and When you define gospel in terms of its theological content the gospel is the news of the coming kingdom Salvation through Jesus Christ and what relates to being saved in essence. That's basically the gospel now as we look at this And he speaks of our gospel. I want to point out that he's not saying that the message of the gospel originated with him He's not saying that when he says our gospel He's not saying like it's something I created is something I invented when I was in college in a secular University We had a professor one of my classes was in comparative religion and the professor gave to us You know we had to buy a book that we had to read and It was related to comparative religion therefore it would give various religious beliefs and all and one of the writers or Contributors to this particular book was saying that the gospel originated with Paul He said he was the one who invented the gospel now This was not a Christian school. This was a secular school And so that's what you commonly get if you take comparative religion in any college or in a high school for that matter There are those who will say that the gospel originated with the apostle Paul, but Paul would have argued with the professor Paul did argue with the professor if he if that professor would have taken a moment to read Galatians chapter 1 verses 11 and 12 He would have seen what Paul would say concerning the gospel He says there I make known to you brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ So Paul was not saying I invented the gospel He was a recipient of the gospel in 1st Corinthians 11 23 He said I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you So he's not saying that the gospel originated with him And if he's not saying that then what is he saying well by referring to the gospel as our gospel Paul is saying that he Also has partaken in the blessings that you find in the gospel You see the gospel is good news to all sinners and Paul included himself in sinful humanity The gospel was brought to him. He partook of it and he preached what he received Now that's where true gospel preaching gets its authority. The preacher is first the partaker You have to give that what you have received first You cannot give what you don't have So when Paul would speak of himself He had said it like this in 1st Timothy chapter 1 verses 12 through 16 He would say I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has given me strength that he considered me faithful Appointing me to his service Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me the worst of sinners Christ Jesus might display his Unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life I have partaken and now I preach so the our gospel isn't that the gospel originates with Paul The our gospel means I'm preaching to you that which I've received myself I am a fellow sinner just like you I'm reading a book. I believe we have it here in our books or if not I'm going to make sure we get many copies for those who might be interested in it It's a it's book called the reproducers and It was written When Calvary chapels were first beginning So it's it's 40 some years old so for me, it's it's Still something I relate to because I got saved 40 something years ago, right? So I've been reading it just to remind myself of my own traditions and histories in terms of the The first things that I encountered as a Christian and as I'm reading through this and remembering through this Pastor Chuck Smith, you know at that time was in his early 40s He's interviewed and they're asking him questions and all and and he simply keeps saying the same thing He keeps saying that people are coming and they did they came from worldwide People would fly in from South Africa from Japan. They came in from different countries in Europe they were coming to to his to his church and they wanted to see what is going on here that all these youth all the youth is showing up and and and it was such a phenomena that On one occasion Chuck told us that that somebody because they knew that a lot of youth were showing up They asked him to go and speak somewhere once and And he said I'm sure they thought that I had this Emotionality because they come from a Pentecostal background They must have felt for sure that that I would cry as I was preaching He said but the only person who ended up crying was the guy who invited me to speak, you know But Chuck says and this is this is the heart of our ministry that That really what was the the thing that was drawing people and guys This is an important thing to say right now is the word of God and the Spirit of God It's always been that it'll never be anything different It'll always be and I'm going to develop this in a moment I'm just getting ahead of myself right now to be honest with you It will always be the word of God and the Spirit of God That is what makes a revival happen the word of God and the Spirit and the kids would show up I was one of those kids. I was 20 years old would show up Not to be entertained But to be edified So that I might grow in my faith in Jesus Christ. I didn't need entertainment. I'd already been in the world The world is very entertaining, but it also is a death system It's drinking salt water When you're in the world you can drink the water, but it will kill you it will never satisfy your thirst It only makes you thirst you and that's what the world does and you keep having this this I wonder what it is I'm missing there must be something else and that's what the world will do for you It's like that that proverbial carrot on a stick in front of the mule It just ones if I take one more step I'm gonna get it one more step, but you'll never reach it because it's always one step away that's how the enemy works and So the biggest the most important thing for us is is the word of God and the Spirit of God So that we might have this knowledge of the ways of God and the things of God and this gospel We partake in and it's this gospel that we have received that we give out And so he's speaking about this gospel and he says our gospel did not come to you in word only Now notice how he's saying this gospel that he partook in had actually come to the Thessalonians So that tells us that the gospel is not to remain in church views It tells us that the gospel is intended by God to be taken out of the place of instruction Into the place where people have no knowledge of God That's called evangelism. That's called missions. This gospel came to you So it's taken out. It's not meant to remain in the church views It is meant to be shared and that's what we see in Matthew 28 19 and 20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe all things I've commanded you and low. I'm with you always even to the end of the age again Our call by God is to be givers as well as the ones who live we live and we give We live the gospel and we give the gospel and one of the reasons that sometimes are not effective in the giving Is because sometimes we're just not effective in the living We're just not living the message. It's interesting how the Lord Jesus Christ said this He said you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you And ye shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts Of the world. He didn't say you will do witnessing He said you will be witnesses And so what happens is this message of transformation this message of grace This message of peace and love and joy This message of forgiveness This message of a new life This message of hope and encouragement This message of the gospel is a transforming message And we become the witnesses We don't just go out and talk We walk and we talk We walk the walk of faith And we talk What we are walking All of us uh before we got saved i'm going to assume Perhaps i'm wrong but i'm going to assume that All of us at least once in our lifetime encountered somebody who claimed to be a christian who just didn't act like one As we understood what a christian was and sometimes we were more rigid than we should let's face it You know we were real legalistic anyway That's part of the reason i didn't come to crisis because i thought once you get saved you can't laugh anymore You can't enjoy life anymore, you know, so i know that i was distorted and perhaps i have some other distorted people in here Um, we thought the same kind of way and why would i want to you know become a christian if you can't enjoy life I mean life's to be enjoyed and here i am you know, and i'd never met a real christian but But i think all of us at least at once one time have encountered somebody who claimed to be a christian just didn't really Live in a way that was appealing And a lot of times, uh, we might even be raised in a house like that Our parents may have been churchgoers They may have gotten us ready to go to church and we went to church But when they got out of church, they just were not real and we saw that all of our lives perhaps There are many people i've spoken to like that That all their life They've seen hypocrisy in the home One when they pull on to the driveway there and into the church grounds whatever church they're going to Suddenly mom and dad are different people entirely. Hi brother. So and so how you doing sister so and so you know all of that Then they get back in the car and they drive on home and they're they're you know I was talking to i'll give you an example i was talking to somebody not that long ago who said That her dad was a deacon in the church was in line to become an elder in the church And in church was always everybody thought brother so-and-so was just a great guy She said but the problem was is my dad was an alcoholic I mean while he's there in church, they're all thinking he's sweet and mellow and kind She says but at home he would drink and he didn't mean to my mom and he was abusive But when we were on the church grounds, my dad was a holy man And a lot of people have seen that right and so we don't want to be what we Say turned us off before And if we're going to be effective Well, let's let god work in us to transform us by his power and through his word And then we can take what he has given to us. We can live what he's given to us And we can give to others that which god has given to us too So he's saying this in verse five. He's saying the gospel did not come to you in word only Now when he says it didn't come to you in word only the point he's making here, it would seem as this He's saying we gave you the gospel without compromise And we gave you this gospel without alteration And the reason we would give you this gospel. They didn't come to you in just word The reason it came to you in the way that we gave it to you is because it isn't mere words The gospel is god's revelation The gospel is not man's philosophy If you turn your bible to chapter two here in first Thessalonians for just a moment And look at verse 13 notice he says Chapter two verse 13 for this reason we also thank god without ceasing because When you receive the word of god, which you heard from us You welcomed it not as the word of men But as it is in truth the word of god, which also effectively works in you who believe So you received this and it wasn't the word of men You received it as the word of god and it had an impact it affected change in your life Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians in first Corinthians 118 said the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing But to us who are being saved. It's the power of god So the gospel gospel came to them in power And that power enabled complete transformation Because god's word and you might want to mark this in your heart god's word can conform you And through god's word any broken life can be healed Any broken life can be healed I believe that I I'm up here as testimony to that And I know many living testimonies of broken lives That have been healed by god The word of god has that power and received by faith and allowed to work in psalm 19 verse The law the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul The law of the lord is perfect converting the soul the word perfect there means lacking nothing It is a complete revelation of truth It is completely Sufficient that's what perfect means the word converting means to refresh To revive or to repair The word of god is completely able to repair your soul It is It is When you take god's promises into your heart I went through a period It lasted quite some time until finally the lord broke through Of of intense Intense intense depression. I didn't know that christians could actually feel it the way I did Never got suicidal Just gave up Just gave up And I was a young believer went through a real painful time My mom I had led my mom to faith in christ My mom came in I still remember speaking to her. I was in the den at my parents home And she said something to me about God in his word And I remember saying something like this to my mom I remember saying You know, it's good for those It's it's good. Yeah, the word of god is good For those who Can actually benefit from it If you believe it, that's good. My mom looked at me with with shock And she said to me, you're the one who led me to faith in christ. And now are you doubting your own salvation? I said it's good for you, but it's not good for me I had got I had point. I won't go too much into this, but I had stayed in my room I wouldn't leave my room. I actually would close the door of the room I had my back against the wall and I would cry for hours a day You can't picture that can you because that but that's that happened I had my back against the in my bedroom on my wall and I would rock back and forth for hours And I would weep and I would weep and my sister madeline Would come in and she would sit next to me and as I would weep And she sat there and this didn't go on for a day or a week or a month It went on and on and on for some time And one day I was in my parents den and I hadn't picked up the bible And I hadn't read it and somebody may be thinking well, wait a minute. I was still teaching at the time I never told anybody what I was going through I didn't have anybody that I could talk to How many of you know what I just said? I didn't have anybody that I felt I could talk to Isn't that a sad thing for us as believers to actually admit That I didn't trust anybody. I wouldn't tell anybody. I kept my feelings to myself What you see up here is a healed man even though I weep As a healed man because I wouldn't tell people I love them. I wouldn't tell people I cared about them I was I was the most distant person you could know And I got worse not better One day I'm reading the bible and as I was reading because I hadn't read it for myself I was in john six and jesus has his disciples speaking to him He's speaking to his disciples and he's watching people fade away And jesus turns and looks to his disciples and he asks him a question. Do you also want to go away? And as I was there I read that do you also want to go away? And I still remember closing the bible with my thumb in place And I prayed a sincere prayer for the first time In some time and I said where can I go? I've already given up everything I have I have no friends I have no life I've been going to bible college now for years I've been doing bible studies I have no place to go Where can I go? And then I opened the bible and the response was lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life And that's a word that the lord gave to me That moment and I still remember it very well Where can I go you have the words of eternal life? And that Changed my life back to where it was supposed to be when it hit me god speaks through his word And he just did right now You have no place to go because you've already gone to the one you needed to go to in the first place He never abandoned me. I was walking away from him See so the word of god Is powerful It's like a double-edged sword It separates the soul and the spirit It awakens us to truth And versus that which is not true and it solidifies us and so this gospel can heal you this word does heal And and because it's so powerful One of the things the lord taught me and i'll say it this way is that the gospel does not make god acceptable to me It makes me acceptable to him It changes lives you see and heals And this gospel comes he says with the working of the holy spirit the word of god and the spirit of god works together You see When paul would bring this message of this gospel It was working alongside of the power of the spirit So the spirit would bring conviction to those who were held in spiritual bondage It would awaken them like jesus said in john 16 8 that the spirit convicts the world of sin righteousness and judgment And so when the word of god is presented the holy spirit's work is to work alongside Of his word and it brings an awareness of of your sinfulness and your need for a savior And so it's a work of the holy spirit and it's not the work of a man When the gospel goes out and people hear the message of the gospel it isn't a successful sales presentation It is god's holy spirit working through his word to actually get into the deepest recesses of human beings soul And awakening them to their need for god That's conviction So it was a work of the spirit not the work of man Now when paul would preach notice how he said he would do so in much assurance in much assurance His preaching style was one of assurance He had assurance speaks of a passionate confidence And he would present this message with a passionate Confidence because indeed it is god's very word He believed that he was giving god's word now of course we're living in an age when the gospel is regarded as irrelevant to real life Some don't consider it to be exciting Some don't believe the bible is that important And because there are pastors who have fallen into that trap It's actually given rise to pastors who have stopped preaching with confidence And they've developed various styles Some pastors have become entertainers They we call it polishing the presentation They polish the presentation they speak well eloquently They just polish the way that they preach and they make sure That they never bring a word into the church like sin Or judgment Because that's too discouraging Because today there's a lot of people I know you know what i'm talking about. I have to beat this horse Um I believe in preaching the whole counsel of god The blessings and the warnings The blessings and the warnings there are warnings as well as blessings And we need both We need both I've heard preachers say I've got to give you some bad news before I can give you the good news And and to a degree that there's some reality to that Now I don't like to I I don't like to preach the bad news You know, I don't but when you're going through the word of god You're going to hear both sides. You're going to hear god's fullness, right? Well, there are there are preachers that make their churches kind of like home on the range Some of you don't even know that old song, but there's a song home home on the range You ever hear that we're never has heard a discouraging word their churches are that way We're never has heard a discouraging word. We we certainly don't want you to walk out Contemplating your life and where you're going. We want you to feel that this is a happy place And you can have a happy time every time you come here and they polish their presentation They become entertainers. There are others who become storytellers They love to tell their stories But what that creates is dull-minded sheep that are hungry for stories only There are some who become magicians, you know, they pull things out of the bible that aren't there That's true. That's true That's true. I look at I I I think better than I speak. I'll put it that way I I think better than I speak. I write entirely different than I preach Because I take my time to think through every point that I'm putting down on paper Sometimes when you're speaking may not come off as clear as you'd like it But I can tell you this I listen to a lot of messages And I can tell you that guy didn't study that passage That passage didn't say that at all I remember watching this one fellow. I won't give his name Don't feel like today All I know is that he was laying on on the platform Crawling on one elbow across it very entertaining Very entertaining and he had his microphone in front of his face as he was dragging himself across talking about moses being in Egypt and And then they struggled and I'm watching him and act this and I'm thinking bravo Good acting job But what you're saying isn't what exodus taught What you're saying is entertaining your congregation and they love it They like seeing that man crawl across the stage But the bible doesn't teach that So one of the things if you guys if you guys, you know me, I'm very I don't know why I keep saying this I shouldn't have to but here I go You know, I think stories and illustrations and jokes and all of that's fine. Our personalities are good but if you if you If you're promoting those things and not the gospel you're in trouble, I'll put it that way And and what and listen those of you who teach and I know I have teachers in this room. Let me give you something You know Just just teach as if like if you're teaching first Thessalonians and I would teach it entirely different I have to tell you if paul was sitting here I wouldn't be telling you stories. I wouldn't be doing this I'd be giving you an entirely different bible study But at the same time If paul could sit there and recognize the scripture and say yeah, that's what I intended to communicate Because the holy spirit instructed me to write that Then you're probably teaching that passage But if you come up with a scripture, I remember somebody giving a message on jesus wept Then he went through an entire study on the therapy of weeping And I'm pretty sure jesus wasn't trying to give a therapeutic session concerning how good it is for you to experience catharsis through tears But that's what happens You just use the scripture and you launch off And you go in any direction that you want And because people are dull of hearing in the latter days People will no longer endure healthy doctrine. They will heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears They'll turn aside from the truth and be turned unto fables And that's what we're living in right now Where some of the largest churches in the united states aren't even built on the gospel of jesus christ And the sheep who are there love the stories and the humor and the encouragement But they're not getting bible studies That's happening right now Some become magicians some write a hobby horse They always find their pet doctrine in the passage that they're teaching some rely on enthusiasm and personality But that produces a personal following Some follow the latest trends hoping to retain relevance to their hearers and make the church into a cool place to be I am not quite sure that church is supposed to be cool And i'm pretty sure that a preacher is not intended by god to try and make a congregation happy I think a preacher is intended by god to encourage a congregation to be holy And the only way that happens is if the word of god is taught And that's how it works And as paul ministered the word of god confidently Because it's a word of god He didn't give the impression that there's another way to god because there's only one way And so as we look at that i want to get into the second portion of verse five And he says this as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake That's a very important point Paul not only taught them out of the bible But he also lived what he taught before them Nothing undermines the effectiveness of the message more than hypocrisy In chapter two verse 10, he said you are witnesses god also how devoutly and justly and blamelessly We behaved ourselves among you who believe The message of the gospel is undermined by those who do not live out its message We need to remember that god is personal And his message creates community And the community lives out the message together Because community gives what is called human flesh to the gospel of love There are those preachers who prefer simply giving the message But they become only messengers But i find interesting again in chapter two verse eight He says affectionately longing for you We were well pleased to impart to you listen not only the gospel of god But also our own lives because you had become dear to us We didn't want to give you just the message We wanted to give you the message and a heart And that's what paul did you know I had one professor saying that the apostle paul was just a heartless intellect That's just absolute nonsense Absolute nonsense. He speaks concerning the fact that to do the Corinthians. He says I was with you in tears He he wept Openly out more than one occasion. He he wrote with such a passion and love To say that this man was only an intellectual is to not understand first Corinthians 13 Or any of the other passages that he spoke concerning his open-hearted Preaching I all you need to do as we did not long ago Is go through second Corinthians and you can see the most open-hearted letter that a man that a man could possibly write He said to them. He said the more I love you the less. I am loved by you He was an open-hearted man. He loved those sheep. He loved them with all of his heart And he was willing he was willing for them to know him in that way You know every minister And I speak to pastors this way Every minister's church ought to know one thing Outside of the word of god is the key thing of course But they ought to know their pastor loves them They ought to know that They ought to know that Because he's supposed to Because what is it that jesus said we looked at this recently is the mark of the christian love love one another And the pastor ought to be a man That you think has a loving heart and i'm not speaking of myself But the pastor in any church The sheep Should not be afraid of the shepherd My pastor chuck smith was a great man billy graham When he was in town many years ago When billy was doing crusades or was having meetings in la billy graham was known to go on the uh The parking lot at calvary chapel costa mesa Billy graham would go on the parking lot and sit in his car The assistant pastor romain Um, we're sharing how that they asked billy once what are you doing In the parking lot here and billy graham's response was I like to come and sit here so that i can just sit in the presence of the power of the holy spirit Because i know the holy spirit's power resides In this place Now isn't that amazing? That's amazing and it's true And it's true The power of the holy spirit. I am telling you we need more of the spirit in our life He said you became followers of us and the lord The church right respects their leadership and as a result Grew closer to god Philippians 3 17 says Brethren join in following my example Note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern Philippians 4 9 says The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me these do and the god of peace Will be with you He says you receive the word of god now notice He says you receive the word of god in much affliction with joy of the holy spirit The word received you receive the word means to welcome as if a guest or a visitor and you're giving them a warm reception Now there had been opposition to the gospel in the city, but they welcomed the word of god The unbelieving jews had opposed paul stirred up riot followed him to baria as it was recorded in act 17 And they would not have left these new believers in peace, but they responded to such great news With the spirit and it actually birthed joy in them They had joy in their circumstances and they had a joy that their circumstances could not quench They went through hard times But hard times this is this is an important thing i've learned and i'm learning Hard times deep in faith hard times deep in faith Sometimes we think that when we get saved we shouldn't have a single bad day from now on I'm saved joy joy joy. I've got joy But what did the psalmist say psalm? 1971 it is good for me that i've been afflicted that i may learn your statutes So that i may really understand what i'm talking about In psalm 119 verse 67 before i was afflicted i went astray, but now i keep your word You learned some deep things here's something for you that won't make sense Nothing i've set up to this point will Or has I was just talking to somebody about this the other day um One of the one of the blessings in growing older And i'm actually enjoying growing older One of the blessings as you grow older Is this i have come to understand what the term means when they say This too shall pass When you're young you think what you're going through right now is going to last forever When you've got small kids and you're a young mom you're thinking oh How long oh lord how long will you abandon me forever? You know you have three kids and you gave them all biblical names, you know joziah And james and lucifer i mean you have everybody They all have biblical names How long oh lord how long will you abandon me forever? right It feels like this trial is going to go on forever I was talking to a young lady in this church years ago now, but i'll never forget what she said she said pastor I'm in a terrible trial. It feels like it's never going to end She says i've been going through it for two weeks now. I just I just smiled. They said really darling Because life in one way or another is a trial as long as you live But you realize something you're never alone in that trial And you discover that god is patient And you also discover that if he has said it he will do it and you hold fast And you don't let go and sometimes it'll take a month sometimes it may be a year sometimes it may be five years Sometimes it may be 10 years Sometimes it may be 20 or 30 years. Am I encouraging anybody yet? But then god moves in his time And it's always the perfect time I really have i'm telling you the truth when i say this I have come to a place in my walk with the lord where i know Why sweat the small stuff God's in control He's going to do what he wants to do and the gates of hell cannot prevail against the plans of god God will do what god wants to do and i trust him in this And i've learned and i'm learning And i've learned he is faithful. He is faithful You can pray and you can pray and you should and you hold on and you hold on But those who who so in tears will reap with joy And god moves weeping indoors for a night But it doesn't last forever And the lord brings joy I can tell you that and i have deepened in my walk with god Through the afflictions That i might learn his statutes And learn his faithfulness And so he's speaking to these people who are going through some very tough times That's how believers respond to affliction with joy of the spirit So i'm 31 verses 1 and 2 and you oh lord i put my trust let me never be ashamed Deliver me in your righteousness bow down your ear to me Deliver me speedily be my rock of refuge a fortress of defense to save me What was the result verse seven you became examples to all in massadonia and a kaia who believe The other believers upon hearing of your persecution that you've gone through Have been strengthened and encouraged to live for jesus christ You began by first being imitators but the result you have become models In philippians 129 it says to you it has been granted on behalf of christ not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake the result Verse eight from you the word of the lord has sounded forth not only in massadonia and a kaia But also in every place your faith toward god has gone out so that we do not need to say anything For they themselves declare concern in us what manner of entry we had to you How you turn to god from idols to serve the living and true god and to wait For his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come In spite of opposition god's word explodes and is exploding through you to others Like a mighty trumpet blast like a peel of thunder the word has exploded from you it has sounded forth Whole regions know what you stand for You stand for serving the lord jesus christ in the midst of your affliction the word continues going forth Not only are you evangelizing But you are also according to verse 10 you are waiting patiently for jesus in sustained anticipation For you know that jesus is even at the door and you are excitedly waiting to see him You have not lost heart You you're not going back into the world Simply because he hasn't returned Because you know that in jesus Everything you go through is worth it Because ultimately You will be with him So you are waiting for his son from heaven A sustained anticipation waiting When i got saved they were saying jesus is coming any day now 44 years later He's one day closer 44 years later. He's one day closer As he said it and shall he not do it As god given a promise that he will not keep God is not a man That he should lie God god speaks the truth He's coming again So Occupy until he comes Be busy Don't lose heart Remain strong Bring your friends to know jesus christ If you have a daddy or a mama who doesn't know the lord don't give up Keep praying keep seeking the lord Keep sharing when given opportunity Live for jesus in front of them You know most of us could probably say something like this Most of us could say our moms probably know us Better than the average person They raised us And if they were around us at all They got to know us a little bit When i got saved My mom was just waiting for something to happen in our family that would be good When i got saved my mom when she came to faith in christ My mom would my mom was like a I was like a fly and my mom was like a spider i'll put it like that She would she would pin me down and she would ask questions An hour at a time David have you read this yet? What do you know about this? Have you studied this yet? What do you know about this? I would do that every day with my mom I'd come home from school I'd sit at the kitchen table And she'd say she'd pull her chair up. You used to drive me crazy at first She'd pull her chair up across from me and she'd say okay. What did we learn today? What did we learn today? I want to know about jesus Tell me more about him son And that's what led to me teaching bible studies to my mom and my dad Because my mom was constantly hounding me. Tell me more And even as I had bible studies. She did it anyway as long as I lived there and by the way Even to her dying day My mom was still asking me questions about jesus and one of the pictures I have of my mom that is so dear to me Is when my mom was bedridden for the last year of her life She couldn't get out. She had a broken hip and broken broken back and she couldn't do anything anymore She was just stuck in a bed But one of my favorite pictures I have of my mom is an easter sunday service. She's got the little computer It's open up and she's all the way in albuquerque new mexico But she's looking at her son preaching the gospel and my sister becky took a picture of her because her little hand was in the air going Yeah, jesus. That was my mom That was my mom and so Sustained anticipation Waiting for the lord to come But occupy until he does Going through the affliction. Yeah, the hard times indeed But going through it because that's exactly what we do. We go through it. We don't stay in it We pass through and the lord through the affliction He refines our faith strengthens and deepens us as human beings Gives us a message that has some strength to it and some meat to it And we can speak to people and we can say indeed This is what the lord says and this is true because god's word is true And that's why paul would speak not in a word only but with a confidence because this is the word of god And it is true and god is not a liar and what he says he shall do He will bring it to pass and I bless god for being that kind of god to us The man who is a god who is true to his word to man