Details

Published: 06 February 2019

The dictionary defines loud as “the force on the organs of hearing a sound or sounds of great intensity.”  That is what we generally think of when we hear that word.  Jackhammers, tractors, trucks, music, voices and other high-decibel noises can startle and even annoy us.  Interestingly, Paul’s commendation to the Thessalonians included thanksgiving for their loud lives.  I’m paraphrasing a bit but he wrote that the word of the Lord had sounded forth and their faith had “gone out” so that Paul didn’t even need to speak! He wasn’t referring to the volume, He was referring to their working faith, their love, their hope and their explanation of their transformation.  It was so obvious that the Holy Spirit was living in the Thessalonians that it could be said, “it was loud.”  I don’t know who to credit with the statement, but someone said, “Sometimes your life is so loud I can’t hear what you are saying.”  That can be good and bad.  Often it’s bad.  We may try to share our faith but if our lives are louder than our message we send mixed signals.  When, like the Thessalonians, our lives and our messages line up we have “witness.”  The Holy Spirit can use that witness in the wooing of people to Himself.  Let’s live a loud life, then, when we do speak, we’ll probably have a listener.

Details

Published: 25 January 2019

You may have seen a cookie shaped like a pumpkin.  You may have seen a shrub shaped like a hippo.  You may have seen a coffee mug shaped like a donut.  But, have you ever seen a gospel shaped church?  This week, Lord willing, we’ll be getting back to our New Testament study of Acts, sort of.  We’ve been jumping out of Acts whenever it seems that Paul wrote one of the other New Testament books.  We’ve studied Galatians and for the next couple of months we’ll study 1 & 2 Thessalonians.  When Paul was in Corinth, (Acts 18), he was visited by Silas and Timothy who came from Thessalonica.  In response to what he heard, Paul wrote letters to them to encourage and equip them to face the trials of persecution.  In our passage for Sunday, he commended them for their work of faith, their labor of love and their steadfast faith.  Eventually, he also mentioned how quickly the news of their faith was spreading.  The church in Thessalonica was a gospel shaped church.  What I mean is, the good news of God’s love through Christ and His work shaped the way they lived.  Because they believed the gospel, they worked.  Because they believed the gospel, they loved through pain.  Because they believed the gospel, their hope in the return of Christ was steadfast and strong.  All this in spite of the fact that they were being persecuted.  The Holy Spirit was giving them joy and the news of gospel transformation was spreading like someone was blowing a trumpet.  Please pray with me that there will be a gospel shaped church in our day—in Greenville—in the middle of a hay field—the church that has the three crosses near the front drive.