 Today we're in chapter one. I am going to look at verses five through ten here in First Thessalonians. Let's read beginning at verse five. We'll read to verse ten and prayerfully I will get to verse ten. I'm not sure that I will. 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 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 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. Now as we begin let me lay a foundation we're going to be looking at the power of the gospel obviously when we have opportunity to take time to look at a New Testament book especially we have opportunity to see how God works and how God works through his spirit and by his word and all but I want to lay a foundation so we can see some things this evening as it relates to the sharing of our faith. I want you to know notice even as we begin how Paul refers to the gospel in verse five as our gospel notice that with me he begins in verse five by saying for our gospel did not come to you in word only our gospel. Now the word gospel is used some 55 times in the New Testament and in the New Testament it is a word that is used especially of what we call the glad tidings the glad tidings of the coming kingdom of God. It speaks concerning the salvation that is obtained through Jesus Christ and it also speaks concerning those things that pertain to salvation this word gospel. Gospel message the message of joy the great news God has done something for us through Jesus Christ a message that speaks of how to be saved and what happens once you are saved it's all found within what is called the gospel but when Paul is speaking here notice again in verse five notice how he says our gospel one would have to ask the question what do you mean what do you mean when you refer to the gospel as our gospel you see there are those who would say that the Apostle Paul was the was actually the one who originated this message they would say that Paul is actually claiming to be the originator of this message called the gospel but that's not what Paul is speaking about at all he's not saying that the gospel originated with him because Paul is the one who communicated to us that this gospel message originates with God himself it isn't a message that was created and invented by Paul or any other man this message called the gospel is a message that God has given to us it is a message God has communicated to us and Paul would know ways say that he was the originator of this message of salvation as a matter of fact in the book of Galatians in chapter one verses 11 and 12 he said this he said I make known to your 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 is speaking about this message called the gospel but it's not saying that it originated with him by calling it our gospel he's simply making it clear that it is not of human origin the gospel is a message of God saving grace a message of saving grace that is made available to us through faith in Jesus Christ and it's a message that not all people willingly necessarily receive as a matter of fact he would tell the Corinthians in first Corinthians 118 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 there is a common response that many have for this gospel message and that is to reject it because it makes no sense to them so Paul is saying this is a message of salvation and he would also include in other letters that there are those who had rejected but this message did not originate with him it wasn't created by man so why referring to this gospel as our gospel he's simply making it very clear that he also partook in its blessings the gospel is good news to all sinners and Paul included himself in sinful humanity he didn't accept himself he didn't exempt himself from it he's basically saying our gospel is a message that first came to me that I'm a sinner in need of God saving grace that God did a work in my life to transform me and he did this through the gospel the gospel of Jesus Christ when he was writing to Timothy in 1st Timothy 1 15 he said this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom he said I am chief so he was an individual who with humility knew that he needed to partake in the salvation and blessings offered to him by God through Jesus Christ in this message of the gospel he was saved by the same message that he was declaring to other people so we partake in salvation we receive that which we have received that is what we give we have received this message of the gospel by faith we have said yes Lord forgive me a sinner and God has God changed my life transform me from the inside God has and so as those who have partaken in the water of life we have the ability to communicate this same message to other people like he said in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1 since we have this ministry as we have received minister as we have received mercy we do not lose heart we received mercy ourselves and it's the mercy that we've received that causes us to have humility of heart and mind to be able to give this same message to other people this partaking in a gospel message obviously it's been very important to me first as a Christian and as one who serves the Lord in in ministry and as a pastor I remember that I'm a sinner saved by grace I also know that I'm a member of the church that I pastor and when you bring the word from that vantage it actually helps you to have something that is necessary if you're going to communicate this word properly and that would be humility because you cannot have this attitude of that I've seen in the past of looking at somebody else and even looking down on them and and wondering out loud how can you be the way that you are how can you do the things that you do because the things that others have done we've done and sometimes we've done even worse we have our testimonies don't we we have the testimony that we proclaim openly and in public and many people know our testimony and then we have the real one the one that we don't share with anybody else the elements of that testimony that are never opened publicly to anybody else so we would not want anybody else to know we wouldn't want them to know what we really have been what we really have done so we share the things that we think are enough for people to understand that God has incredible grace but we experience the depth of his grace because we know exactly what we are and because we know what we've been and what we've done and we don't forget those things it produces within us a sense of gratitude and it auto awaken in us a sense of humility because but people have done we have done ourselves and sometimes we've done even worse so Paul said I am the chief of sinners he understood the magnitude of God's grace and it was from that vantage point that he would share the love and the mercy and the goodness of God with other people now as somebody who is paid partake in this ministry of the gospel I want you to notice how he says here in verse 5 concerning our gospel notice how he said our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power our gospel did not come to you that's the second thing I want to point out here the gospel of Jesus Christ is a message that is taken out the gospel of Jesus Christ is not meant to remain in a church pew it's meant to be taken to the world the message of the gospel is intended to be taken and proclaimed to be lived out and given to others when the Lord was speaking on one occasion to a lawyer who approached him and the lawyer said what is the great commandment of the law Jesus said you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind you said this is the first and the greatest commandment but there's a second like unto it and you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments he said hang all the law and the prophets what is the great commandment love God with all of your heart but how do I know that I'm loving God with all of my heart well if you love God whom you have not seen you will also love your brother whom you have seen so your faith is going to be demonstrated not just by you giving and and by you praying and by you fasting and by you doing all the liturgically correct things the religiously right things but your true faith is going to be demonstrated by the love you have for other people by the concern you have for other people's well-being by that sense of devotion to ministering to them and helping them especially as they have times of need and so a love is what motivates us to care for other people now if I really love a person if I really love a person then I'm going to be honest with them and I'm going to share with them and I'm going to be open about what would be best for them in their life and what would be best for them in their life would be a faith in Jesus Christ we live in a society that's very open about the things that we love aren't we I was driving here just the other day and as I was driving to church I saw a young man driving past me with his pickup truck and his Lakers flag as it was just you know in the breeze he's going to have to take that flag down pretty soon and use it to wash his windows but I was but he's pretty open about it this guy loves the Lakers and that's that's okay with me can love the Dodgers you can even love the Angels better not love SC but you can love a lot of a lot of things and you do so openly and you do so openly and and our friends know that if you enjoy a restaurant if you really enjoy a restaurant you probably will let your friends know about it you probably will if you like a coffee shop you'll say you ought to try drip over here it's pretty good or you'll say you ought to go to this place here it's pretty good that's what friends do right we we invite friends to go to places and enjoy the things that we like and we're real open to that and why would I tell my friends that well because I've enjoyed something and I want them to enjoy it along with me I want them to have the same pleasure that I have and and when I got saved I have to be honest with you that's just something that transferred into my life I want you to know about Jesus Christ I want you to know what God has done I want you to be aware of the fact that God can do a work in your life it was something very normal something very natural it was something that was obviously fairly easy you just tell people what God has done in your life you just share this is what God's all about and you invite them to enjoy Jesus Christ like was earlier mentioned like Matthew the tax-gatherer who gets saved and the first thing he does is he invites people over to his home he gives him a meal invites Jesus and turns Jesus loose on them to share of his love and his goodness but that's what you do you just become an inviter you just become an individual who's open with what God has done and a willingness to share that's the heart of the movement that I came out of a movement that today people who write concerning trends in the church called the Jesus movement that's the movement I came out of that's my DNA that's my heritage coming out of the hippie lifestyle living counter culturally coming to faith in Jesus Christ being willing to be rejected because hippies were not liked by everybody and yet saying that Jesus Christ is worth being rejected for if I will be rejected counting the cost and beginning to share but that was just part of our DNA that was what God called us to do we were encouraged to to take this message of Christ to live it and to give it to share it with other people to let them know how good God is and what God can do in a person's life and to be willing to say this is where I was at but this is where I've been brought by Jesus Christ to be willing to do that that's in our DNA we have been commanded to share our faith with other people in Matthew 28 19 and 20 Jesus had go there for make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and though I'm with you always even to the end of the age so as new believers we share that God saved us we became living lights to those who are living in darkness like it says in Matthew 416 the people who sat in darkness saw great light and upon those who sat in region and shadow of death light is dawned we were the individuals who were seated there in a region of death and darkness but the light shown upon us the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and what made that moment in history so revolutionary is we did basically what John Wesley once said when John Wesley said catch on fire and others will love to come watch you burn and that's what happened we were on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ and it drove us to take the chance to share our new faith with everybody that we loved and the day I was saved I shared with my sister Madeline what the Lord had done in my life December 27th 1970 and I shared with her this is what God has done and that same day as you all know my sister Madeline went to bed that night put her head on a pillow and said whatever you did to my brother Jesus I want you to do that for me and that's how she got saved it was just a natural outpouring within three weeks because I'd been taught you need to read the Bible I began to read through the New Testament I got to the book of Revelation chapter 9 and I started reading about men with women's hair and iron teeth and scorpion stings and wanting to die and and it freaked me out so I went into the kitchen where mom and dad were and they were seated there at the kitchen table as they normally did they would sit and they would visit and I walked in and held the Bible I said mom dad this is the word of God listen to what God has to say and I read Revelation 9 and then I gave my first real Bible study I said I don't know what this means but I do know this it's not speaking to me it's speaking to you and I said to my dad I said dad you're a good man you are the best man I will ever know but you will be the best man in hell if you don't give your heart to Jesus Christ daddy I love you and I don't want to go to heaven without you bow your head and pray you're gonna receive Christ as your savior right now and you all know the story my dad and my mom both bowed their heads and gave their hearts to Jesus Christ now what motivated me to go and speak to my father in such a way I was raised in a way that you respect your father you never speak strongly to him you most certainly don't address sins that he may have what is it that drove me to do that the love of Jesus Christ constrains you the desire to see them saved motivates you and you share from the abundance of your heart the love of Christ with them that's how they got saved my brother Frank have an ugly brother named Frankie my brother Frank got saved three and a half years later in August of 1974 and because he didn't have a church Bible study that he could go to I began to drive out to Ontario from Norwalk and I would come and I would teach my brother Frankie the Gospel of Matthew and as I began to share with him beginning in September of 1974 he began to invite friends one of the friends that he invited did this home Bible study was a young woman named Marie Lopez and when Marie showed up some idiot called her on the phone some guy he's not alive anymore I made sure to that but he called and I heard her giggling on the phone and I didn't know this girl from Adam or Eve she came and sat down started whispering to her friend her roommate she's all excited and from out of nowhere a thought entered my mind and that was I'm gonna make her giggle about me someday I didn't even know this girl turns out after the Bible study she wasn't saved I sat down she comes to talk to me she was going to college she asked me a question she says what's your sign that was the big icebreaker back then you guys for you for you young people that was the icebreaker and I said the fish and she goes oh you're a Pisces I said no the ick thutes I said I don't go for that astrology nonsense I'm a believer in Jesus Christ two weeks later Marie gave her heart to Jesus Christ the ministry of my sister Madeline who is my first convert to faith in Christ and Marie as everybody knows needed to be discipled so I dated her and married her very quickly didn't want that one to get away she became a girlfriend and then she became my wife in 1998 my youngest sister Rebecca well after being in bondage to lesbianism for 28 years my sister Rebecca gave her heart to Jesus Christ at an invitation I gave on an Easter Sunday here in this church love people enough to tell them the truth tell them the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ if Jesus has been good to you can't he be good to somebody else too it's been said that the most selfish person on the face of the earth is the one who goes to heaven alone what God has called us to do is to give this good news out to other people and to share with them you say you see today people speak of this Jesus movement as if it's a footnote in church history as if this Jesus movement has passed but this movement hasn't passed in 1970 there was only one Calvary Chapel today there are over 1500 Calvary chapels God is still moving do you know that since January to this month since January to now in April we have seen 296 people answer invitations at the in this church almost 300 people have given their faith to Jesus Christ in the last few months we see that happen the movement of the spirit continues some of the Calvary Chapel ministries are the largest in the nation God has done a work and God wants to continue to do the work God wants to do that work through us God wants to do that work through you every one of us has friends and family co-workers and neighbors who need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ all we need to do is just ask the Lord to give us opportunity fill us with his spirit and give him opportunity to work through us now he says our gospel did not come to you continuing in word only the gospel is not a compilation of thoughts it's not simply personal testimonies and experience and it's certainly not simply a religious ritual that we bring people into bondage to he's saying it's God's word it didn't come to you in word only and we gave you this word with conviction Oswald chambers once said we must never confuse our desire for people to accept the gospel with creating a gospel that is acceptable to people so he says we brought a message to you that was not tainted by human wisdom and human invention the the the word of God is like a lion that you let out of the cage you let the word do what the word of God can do and that's why he said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2 4 and 5 my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God so we gave you the gospel without compromise without alteration and the reason we did so is because it is God's word and when embraced by faith and acted upon it enables change to occur within us these people became Christians they were receptive to the message of the gospel and this gospel came in power the works of the spirit through the miracles and all that were taking place just validated the power of this message but the gospel came he says in the work of the Holy Spirit people were touched by the conviction of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of sin righteousness and judgment if I can talk somebody into accepting Christ somebody else can talk them out of walking with Christ but when the Holy Spirit does his work of conviction when the Holy Spirit grabs you from the inside and there's this an aware this awareness that this is the Lord God who's touching me right now well that's the work of the spirit of God the message of the gospel appeals to people and it causes them from the inside to desire change the Holy Spirit brings conviction upon people who are held in spiritual bondage and that's why we continue to communicate the simple message of the gospel because the gospel when received will transform a life now he says this gospel came in much assurance this speaks of a confidence in which he presented the gospel to them he didn't give them the impression that there was another way to God I don't come up here in this pulp and say to you I really think that Jesus Christ is really great but you know if you want to go with Buddha or or Confucius or Muhammad or whatever that's up to you we don't believe that at all do we we believe that there is one way to God and that's Jesus Christ there's one message that God ever gave to us called the gospel of Jesus Christ we're not ashamed of the gospel it's the power of God into salvation and so we present the gospel as it is why because it's a power of the gospel that will change you and so we speak it with confidence the only reason people don't speak it with confidence is one is they may not be they have may not have experienced how God comes to the rescue when they're trying to to present him to others and so their tongue tied and a little afraid they don't know what to say they don't open their mouth because they're afraid they're going to make a mistake and therefore they remain silent because the enemy basically through the culture and and through spiritual kinds of things can can encourage them to to be quiet to shut up to not say anything because you don't want to offend I just didn't have that problem I just really believed and still do quite obviously that this message needs to be embraced God says it in his word nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved the name of Jesus Christ so we speak confidently because we know and believe this message we speak confidently because we've experienced the salvation and the freedom that comes to relationship with Christ you speak confidently because we've seen God do that same work in other people transforms you gives you strength he's with you even your darkest hour Paul for example and Silas are preaching a message demon possessed soothsayer begins to follow them in the city of Philippi begins to basically be Satan's publicity agent these men bring the way of salvation listen to them Paul greatly annoyed turns and says to the demon within this woman come out of her well she had brought great profit to those who had utilized her quote unquote services and they got upset they said that Paul was creating a disturbance in the city and Paul and Silas end up being put in a jail cell first they're beaten then they're put in the stocks the bible tells us at midnight they were singing praises to God and as this has taken place a Philippian jailer is there scripture tells us that he began the conversation with Paul and he asked the question sirs how can I be saved you have something that I don't have in the midst of your trial in the midst of your pain in the midst of your suffering you have something that causes you to sing in a jail cell and that Philippian jailer knew that he was in a greater cell than Paul and Silas because though their freedom had been taken away from them their liberty in Christ hadn't been and though they were unable to move at that moment to be where they wanted to they were in the exact right place and therefore they had joy and were capable of sharing from that position of what God can do in somebody's life and this jailer had the freedom to leave and to come as he will saw a difference between them and himself and that's why he says to them what must I do to be saved and the answer coming from Paul very basic and very simple give as much money as you can no pray as long as you can no crawl on broken glass no believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you shall be saved in your household and that man gave his heart to Christ they brought the message to the family they received the Lord Jesus Christ God has a way of working by his message in our lives to not just save us but be conduits of his grace to other people that's how God works you see now in verse six he says 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 Ikea who believe for from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and Ikea 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 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 and so you became followers of us and of the Lord they recognize Paul's message they recognize his manner of life and it was worth imitating even like he had said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11 1 imitate me just as I also imitate Christ and yet following Jesus exacts great price they were persecuted they had turned back from idols were believers in the living God but even though they went through these things they became examples to others and they saw the truth and veracity of the message we had a man come and share with us one time here in this fellowship spend many years now most if not almost all of you were not here some of you were when this took place his name is Moses Paulus he's from India and he came and he shared with us and all and I had met him when I was on a ministry trip in India many years ago now Moses Paulus he really convicted the women I'll never forget that because of a story he gave he shared how that his wife her birthday was approaching and Moses had approached his wife and said to her honey what would you like for your birthday and her answer was a bull horn so that she could stand on street corners there in the city that they lived in in India and preach the gospel well when he said what would you like for your birthday our American women were sitting and thinking oh some shoes you know or whatever purses and so when they heard a bull horn you know you could almost hear a pin drop the conviction was so heavy and all the husbands were going yeah thank you Moses but you delivered me but he was very impressive very impressive with his love for Jesus Christ I heard a story though that occurred true story with Moses and his son I had met his son when his son was a little boy and his son had grown older at this time and began to accompany his father on missions trips they had received an invitation to come to a particular village that was known for its occultism and so he saw that as a sign from the Lord thought it a good thing and he and his son went to this village but it was a trap it had been a setup for him so when he arrived in the village he was set upon by some of these very fanatic Hindus who are very upset at him preaching the gospel they took rods and beat him severely and they beat his son almost to death they tied both Moses and his son to a tree and beat them in this tree then they sent for a village skinner to come and skin him alive but providentially that man who did that kind of deed was not there so they severely beat them to the point where they could hardly move untied them released them and Moses was taken back to his village his son almost died had severe internal injuries he almost died but when he healed up he went back to the village with his son when he went walking back into the village to bring the gospel to these people who almost killed him when he came into the village they were waiting for him and they came running and said to him we've been waiting for you to come back because ever since we treated you the way that we did bad things have happened to us they took him to the tree that he had been tied to which was the oldest tree in the village which was used for their sacrifices and it had died it had withered up and died and they said we know that we have upset your God for the way we treated you please tell us about your God Moses was able to proclaim the message of the gospel to them planted a church there has a pastor there and God used that even in that beating Paul is speaking and saying you turn from dead idols to the living God and you became a testimony of the power of God for transformation so much so that we don't even have to proclaim things because a message is coming through you see that's how it works you receive the word of God and you take it out you share it in such a way that people listen and God's word continues to go forth and to bear fruit and the fruit here in their case was that they followed the Lord Jesus Christ became examples of believers and the word of God began to sound out from them they turned from idolatry which would be obvious of a transformation they turned from sin and turned to the Lord their lives changed they served the living God in opposition to dead idols so no longer did they just talk about God but they actually served the living God and became his servants and finally they waited for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ with a sustained anticipation Jesus is coming back Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come they waited patiently in him because they have their hope in him they aren't going to enter into tribulation they don't enter into the eternal termination they have a life with Christ he delivers us from the wrath to come that's the anticipation that serves as motivation for us to take this message to other people do you have somebody in your life somebody that you know that you love who doesn't know Jesus Christ who doesn't have a relationship with God pray for them put them on that little list and pray for them pray for them pray for them like my friend Bill who walked away from the Lord in 1971 remained away from God for 38 years shows up in church when I'm doing a baptism I hadn't seen him for some time tells me that he came to see me because he had been in the Middle East and he was training some police officers in 120 degree weather wearing 60 pounds of gear he was in his late 50s at that time and he said I was inside of my tent and I started asking myself what am I doing here I need to get out of here so he said I did something I haven't done in a long time I prayed he said and I said sorry I'm making promises to God and one of the promises I made was I'll come and see David if you get me out of the Middle East and he says and so within a couple weeks he got out they released him and he came and saw me and at that point he wasn't walking with the Lord at that point he was still rejecting didn't even remember that there was a time when he even claimed to be a Christian and from that point he and I began to meet on a monthly basis with another friend of ours and within about two years of just meeting with him and sharing with him and answering his questions I finally asked him so Bill where are you with Jesus now and he said to me I've received him as my lord and savior and he's been walking with the Lord now for over two and a half years and even as I speak right now he's in Israel having a pilgrimage spend time with the Lord Jesus Christ because his life was transformed I prayed for him for 30 some years for the Lord to reach down and touch my dear friend again a friend that I've had since I was five years old God answers prayer God answers prayer he listens to you as you cry out who do you have in your life that you think is so far gone they can't be saved well just remember that was you in somebody else's sight not that long ago they would have said that about you they just said David Rosales no way crazy drug abusing alcoholic no way but David Rosales sits here stands here today saying Jesus Christ is Lord because somebody prayed for me and somebody prayed for you and you are now praying for somebody else and may your life be a testimony of turning from the dead things like idolatry anything that takes place of God to the living God who gives you a life eternal through Jesus Christ that's what God has called us to