and Thessalonians. Paul wrote to seven churches, John wrote to seven churches, and most anybody that looks at these churches say that Thessalonians would be like the model church. So, he only got eight chapters, five in the first letter and three in the second, but we're just going to look at the first three verses of the first epistle of Thessalonians. It says, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and the sight of God our Father. There's a three-fold aspect of this church. This ministry of charity in verse 3. Three-fold aspect. Work of faith would be inward. Labor of love would be outward. Patience of hope would be upward. Okay, in the second letter, he takes the same three ideas, writes them in a little bit different fashion. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 1, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, under the church of Thessalonians, in God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly. There's the first aspect, inward. And the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth. There's the outward aspect, labor of love. So that we ourselves glory in you and the churches of God for your patience and faith and all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. And there's the upward. Okay, the upward attitude or direction of the ministry where your hope and patience in the Lord. Okay, let's go ahead and pray. Lord, I do ask you to help us to understand this idea, this basic concept of the ministry. and help us recognize that what often we may get tired of, as far as cleaning up, picking up after people and things like that, is a vital aspect of the ministry, and it is serving the Lord. We have an inward aspect, an outward aspect, and an upward aspect of each of our lives, and help us to continue in that in order to please Thee. In Jesus' name, Amen. Now, in the American culture, a church is often called a charitable organization. Now, the idea of that charitable organization is basically to entice people to give them money so they can get a tax deduction. But charity in the Bible is an outward action of love. Love is emotion. Charity is an action of that emotion. And any and all of the new Bibles that change the word charity are doing a great disservice to the word charity and to God. It is a very important thing. Now, this three-fold directional part of our ministry, each of us individually in 1 Thessalonians, work of faith inward, labor of love outward, and patience of hope upward. Now, this three-fold directional ministry can be one of the greatest ways to express our gratitude towards the Lord. It's unfortunate that Thanksgiving Day is only one time of the year. And of course, we're going to be thankful for somebody being born on that day, this Thursday. And if you don't know who that is, that's moi, 57 years old this year. Okay, and so, but the idea of expressing gratitude toward the Lord is to become a good workman of Him. Ephesians 2.8.9, often people think about that as salvation. For by grace you have saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of work, lest any man should boast. And then it says God has created us to be His workmanship. Now folks that believe you can lose your salvation often point out verse 10. Folks that believe you can't lose it often point out verse 8 and 9. But the idea of workmanship is the Bible word. The word that has been used in modern days to kind of change the idea, not change the idea, but to substitute workmanship, is craftsmanship. Okay, and Americans have lost their craftsmanship. They've lost it. Most things are built today, products are sold to fall apart in a year, two years, or three years, or just past the warranty, to keep selling things. And houses are just slapped up. It's a lost art these days of being a craftsman. That's why we're called consumers. You get a radio and it goes out, forget about fixing it. You don't see radio repairmen anymore. You don't see shoe repairmen anymore. Why? Because nothing's worth being repaired anymore. You just throw it away and get something else. It's often cheaper to buy something, something cheaper to store it and get it fixed. But God is still a craftsman. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 10, it says, He says, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might. Do it hard, work hard, be diligent in your work, but craftsmanship. Craftsmanship is a lost art because most people today are not dedicated, they are not determined, And they're not dependable. They're just not. That's the culture we live in. We live in where people have become now-oriented, they don't think long-term, and they do not think quality. If you go to the Christian bookstore and buy a Bible there, even if you use it casually, it's going to fall apart in three years. The glue dries up on the binding, none of them are sewn anymore, and it's poor quality, and the reason why is the book companies want to keep selling. They keep time. They don't think long term. When I put this thing together, you know, I intended long term, or a lifetime as far as using this book, this Bible. Craftsmanship, it's a lost art. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, at the judgment seat of Christ, it says that He is going to check our work there, and He's going to check what sort it is. That's the word the Bible uses. What sort it is. That is dealing with quality. The church today is interested in what? Quantity. It doesn't matter who comes in the door, and it doesn't matter what they believe, it doesn't matter what they have in their hand or carry, most of them don't even care about Bibles anymore, and it doesn't matter what kind of music they got, they're interested in quantity. God is interested in quality. And so he wants us to be craftsmen of his. God is still interested in being a good craft. And you get what you pay for. You buy something cheap, it's going to fall apart. You buy something generally where it's going to cost you more up front, generally it's going to last longer. If you would, look in Luke chapter 18. Now, if we convert that idea of craftsmanship into the church or into the ministry, there's nothing better than serving God. And I'm not saying I'm the only one serving God. I'm not talking about full-time Christian service. I'm talking everybody who is saved is in the ministry of God. Everybody is. Now, Luke chapter 18, the Lord shows that these guys are definitely dedicated, they are definitely dependable, and they are determined to follow the Lord. Luke 18 verse 28, Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all and followed thee. He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time in the world to come life everlasting. Now, that's obviously somebody who's forsaking everything. That is not for everybody. Some folks would look at that, well, that's what a missionary does. And granted, I'm for missions, and I'm for missionaries, and I'm for supporting them, but they are not doing anything different than we're not doing. It's just a foreign culture. What are they doing? What's Dan Bardwell doing in Ukraine? Doing the same thing we're doing here, I hope. It's doing a ministry for the Lord. What is he doing? He's fixing vans, he's picking people up, he's doing this, he's doing that. A lot of work that we would think are menial things, but he's doing it on a foreign field, and God is going to reward him for doing something like that, forsaking houses and country. But that's not for everybody. That's for specifically called people. Okay, but the idea is that that is dealing with craftsmanship. So what is the ministry? The ministry of charity, and a lot of times we get busy doing things and we get frustrated with things and we forget that what we're doing is for Jesus Christ. So the threefold directional ministry, the first and foremost, the work of faith. This is the first and primary ministry of everybody, and this is inward. A work of faith involves sanctification. It involves you and I individually getting in the Bible ourselves and studying. Learning to know what we believe, why we believe it, we know the references where we can go to to back up what we believe and why we believe it, we are faithful and study. We can spot somebody that's lying to us about the Bible. We are very careful about what people say about the Word of God as far as false doctrines and things like that. 1 Timothy 4, verse 16, it says, Take heed unto thyself and unto thy doctrine, continue in them, and in so doing, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. That's very precise. But you see, people are not precise in their belief today. They are not craftsmen. They don't work at it. 2 Timothy 2.15, study this and show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be a saint. I don't know how many people I've talked to where maybe the Bible issue came up and I show them, okay a verse is missing and they flip it and they say, so? Okay, go to the store and buy a roadmap and see if they take I 65 out, see if you're going to be upset. You get lost and you take the map back. Hey, you put I-65, where's I-65 in here? Oh, we just decided to take it out. And you're not going to say, so, then, you're going to say, give me my money back. But why is it with the Bible? It's, so, it's because they're not craftsmen. They're not working at it. And that's why what's going on in the church today is absolutely pathetic. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1 says we are to perfect holiness in the fear of God. You say, how long? Until the day you die. That's a constant perfecting. Now, when you first get into the Word of God and get excited, when I got excited about the Word of God and really got into it and get going with this and I'm changing this and adding this and not doing this and changing this, some major change in my life after a couple of years, I'm thinking to myself, when is this going to stop? I discovered never. Now, maybe some of the major changes are taken care of, but there's a lot of minor adjustments we all continually have to do. That's sanctification. That's the work of the ministry. That's perfecting of the saints, Ephesians chapter 4 says. That is trying to master a sport or a task. 1 Corinthians 9 says that if you are trying to master something, you have to be temperate in all things, except the thing you're mastering. And that's been in time in this book. You see, you can be a fanatic of sports, politics, religion, and almost any topic, and people will admire you if you become successful. But if you become a fanatic about this book, you're weird. You're nuts by believing what this book says. And most of the time, your most ardent opponents will be conservative Christians. Fundamental Baptist. That'll be most of the time, your most ardent ones that oppose you more than anything. So what do you do? You just ignore it. You see, you want to study, to be fully persuaded in your own mind, this work of faith involves sanctification. Okay, the second area, the labor of love involves service. If you would, look in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 10. Labor of love involves serving, like Martha served Jesus Christ. Now Mary was focusing more on the inward thing, sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha was more on the outward thing, so obviously the best is a balance. Okay, and so Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10. The glorious thing about the Lord God, a lot of your service for the Lord and for others. is done behind the scenes. People don't see it. Mothers, your service, a lot of your work. The kids are sleeping. You're picking up after them. Washing their clothes. Nobody's sitting there saying, rah, rah, wash them clothes. Rah, rah. Oxide and all that stuff. I mean, changing dirty diapers. That's part of the ministry, especially if you're doing it for the Lord. People don't think, oh, that's just, yeah, I know that's part of life, but it's also some things that God is observing. Hebrews 6 verse 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward his name. How do we show it toward his name? In that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. That's cleaning things up. I mean, the last time I checked, birth is a pretty messy process. And somebody's got to clean it up. And that's a ministry. I mean, when we do the play, the play is creating something. It's an idea we're trying to portray to people. And it's a mess when we're done. And we try to clean it up. Okay, but that is part of service of the Lord. Try to keep things organized, but then you get kids running everywhere. Or you can be like, you know, when my kids were small, we had these bicycles in the garage, and I'd walk over to this bicycle and kick this one. I said, these bikes are everywhere. Well, guess what? I don't got bikes in my garage now, but I don't got little kids running around either. Give me the bikes and little kids running around. Not a grandkid, but they ain't gonna bring their bikes over here. You see? But the thing is, everything has pluses and minuses in life. Everything. And so, we can look at the minus, or we can look at the plus side of it. If you wanna look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1, there's a family that I've never heard anybody preach about, I've never even heard anybody mention. A family that their dad was named Stephanas. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 16, He's only mentioned one time at the beginning of this letter, and he's mentioned at the end of this same letter. This fellow named Stephanas. Now, if this guy continued this pattern throughout his life, he is most certainly glad he has done that. Verse 16, it says, And I baptized also the household of Stephanas. That means dad, mom, kids. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. Water dogs don't like that verse, but there it is. Okay, now what about this guy named Stephanus and his family? If you go to the end of the same letter, chapter 16, it mentions something about this man and his family. 1 Corinthians 16, 15, I beseech you, brethren, ye know the house of Stephanus, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia. So he's the first one, his family were the first ones that got saved when Paul came into Corinth, or in that area. He, his wife, the kids, he baptized the whole family. And then it says, and that they, wife, he, children, have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. That's the only time the word addict is found in the Bible. Addiction. Today the word addiction is usually for drugs or booze, I'm addicted to this, I'm addicted to that. That's the only time it's found in the Bible, and it's referring to a family that is addicted to serving in a ministry. But, that's a good comment about them people. What did they do? Verse 16. That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to everyone that helpeth with us, and laboreth. I am glad of the coming of Stephanas, and what is that, Fortunatus, and the other one? I don't know if that's his wife and kids or whatever. For that which was lacking on your part, they have supplied. They took money out of their pocket, went to the store and bought it. They didn't have a big fanfare saying, Hey everybody, I'm going to buy this for the ministry. They just went and did it. Why? Because they knew that God is watching their labor of love and He is not going to forget it. God marks His stuff down. That's quality work. That's quality service. Okay, and it says, for they have refreshed my spirit and yours. And boy, it's a refreshing thing that people just serve and serve and work and do all these things. And he says, therefore I acknowledge ye them that are such. So this is part of it. A lot of times we get, and I'm just as guilty, you get frustrated with these things, picking up after that, doing this, doing that. And yes, there's a balance because there's times we want to teach our kids to pick up after yourself. If you're picking up after them and they're twelve, it's time to get the number nine out. And kick them. Make them clean up after themselves. I mean, you can start teaching that even when they're two. If they're big enough to get their toys out, they're big enough to put them back. And that needs to be trained. Okay, but there's a balance in all this. You see, there's a balance where, like he said, some have forsaken wife and children, but then he also says in 1 Timothy that if you do not provide for your own household, you're worse than an infidel. He also says in 2 Corinthians 12 verse 16 that the parents provide for the children. So there is a balance in the ministry and also taking care of your family. Personal family, that comes over the church. Not too many preachers are going to say that. But I know a missionary that's come off the field. Why? Because his boys are in school now in the country. He thought six months would be a good enough time for them to adjust. He realized now six months is not a good enough time. So he's come off the field to stay in country for about two more years just for the sake of his boys. And boy, a lot of people would harass him for that. And I'm one who's saying, good for you. That's wise. That's biblical because Noah only got his family in the boat. And God honored him for that. You see, so there's a balance in all this. So, if you would, look in Romans chapter 15. Romans 15. Now, we try to have a balance in everything, like I mentioned this morning about the tracts, but we want to be a good steward of these things. Romans 15 verse 1. We then that are such ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. Okay, so we're to please others, to help them out, to be a blessing to them, to serve them. Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 24. If you're a guest and you go to somebody's house, consider their desires of the house. And take care of things. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 24. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. What is it? It's serving other people. It's trying to be a blessing to them, physically helping them out on certain things. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Verse 4, Look not every man in his own things, but every man also in the things of others. You see, obviously I know there's a balance in a lot of this. There's a balance in serving others, and then there's a balance in teaching others to serve themselves or to take care of things. People and animals always need cleaned up after. In Proverbs 14, verse 4, It talks about somebody who's got an animal, and if a guy's going to gripe about what the animal does, then get rid of the animal. Proverbs 14 verse 4, it says this, Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox. Okay, you're going to get some animals, you're going to become a pilot. And I'm not talking about flying lessons. You're going to pilot. here and you're going to pile it there. And that's with animals. You just know that. And that's with people too. I mean, if we want to creep everything all tidy, tidy, mighty and all that stuff and just let dust collect, then we'll kick everybody out. You see, there's a balance. And a lot of times, as mothers, you get picked up after your kids, and you get frustrated with things, you get put out with them. If you realize that first, you can train them, but secondly, when you're cleaning up and picking up after somebody, you are actually serving the Lord. You see, they don't see that. People don't think that that's the ministry. That is the ministry. That is the ministry. Somebody's got to take care of things. And that's part of the ministry. This is a labor of love. And what we do secretly, there are a lot of things I do in a church, I don't tell anybody about it. Why? Because it just gets done. Most churches have a committee, and a committee, a committee for the lights, a committee for the door, a committee for this, a welcome committee, a committee for all the committees. And nothing gets done. So what do you mean? I just do it. If somebody can volunteer for some help, fine and dandy. Okay, but the thing is that this is a labor of love. We're all trying to serve the Lord. You know, if you see something on the floor, pick it up. Put it in a garbage can. Put things back that you got out. And put them back just the way they were supposed to be. You see, and so a lot of this is just about, but this is a labor of love, this is serving God. There is nothing better than serving God. Matthew chapter 6, Jesus Christ said in verse 6, that when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you pray secretly, the Lord will reward you openly. That not only applies to prayer, that applies to everything. Passing on gospel tracts. Do it publicly, but then you can do it privately. Okay, giving some money, helping somebody out, you can do that publicly, but also you can do it privately. The problem with Christian television is they put all these sad sack pictures on and people get all ooey-gooey about this to send their money to some big organization that's supposed to go help these people. It don't go help those people. It goes to cover high costs. And the Bible is If you know somebody's in need and you help them out because you know them. If they're not working and they are not willing to work, you don't help them out. That's biblical. If a man is not willing to work, neither should he eat. See the balance in there? We put all that together. Paul himself provided for the needs of others by working. See, this is high quality. High quality produces almost better products, and this is what the Lord wants from us. Okay, the third area is suffering. Now this is an area often not talked about as far as suffering. What about somebody who's bedridden? People say, well, that's sad. Yeah, that's part of life. But you know, that's getting into that quality level. The end of that gold area, our suffering. This is a patience of hope that involves suffering. You hear about college kids in Christian colleges, oh, I'm seeking for the will of God. What if the will of God is suffering? Oh, that's not what I was calling for that. Now, there are just some suffering that we go through the natural things of life because of sin, Genesis chapter 3. There are some things, some tough times we go through because of life where we're getting older, we have our aches and pains. That's just a natural thing of life. And it's just a natural thing of life that the world is against the believer. And you gotta put up with those things. But then there are other chosen suffering things that people go through that is difficult. And the thing is, is we gotta be patient of hope. And the patience is mostly directed towards God. He says, ye have heard of the patience of Job. Do you know who Job was patient with? First God. First God. He was patient with his wife. Often when we go through difficult times, we get irritable with our family. Job was patient with his wife when she suggested something very poorly, and he just didn't scold her and get mad and all this stuff. He just said, you speak as a foolish woman. He was patient with his friends. If you would look at 1 Peter chapter 2, this suffering is God's refining fire on each and every one of us. Everybody's got a little different problem or infliction or something, a trial that you're going through. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 20. This is where it gets into quality, where the Lord is working on us individually. 1 Peter 2 verse 20, it says, For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye take it patiently? But if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Why is it acceptable with Him? Because it's quality. It's quality. Same letter. This letter is written about suffering. This entire five chapter letter is dealing with the tribulation time period doctrinally. 1 Peter 3 verse 14, But if ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. Verse 17, For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Whoa, that's in the will of God. Yeah, that's in the will of God. Some soldiers go and fight in a foreign battle and become victorious and come back with a bunch of medals. Some soldiers go on a battlefield and get shot and killed. Some soldiers go on a battlefield and get wounded and lose a limb. You see, and we're all soldiers of Christ and wherever that brings God the most glory Some soldiers go through terrible suffering. A lot of suffering. A lot of soldiers come back and they go through suffering and they think that somebody's going to take care of them. Oh, the politicians really wanted us out there fighting. Yeah, but now it's time to take care of us. No, they're abandoning them. And boy, that's the low life on the politician's side. You see, this patient refining fires, it's a quality aspect that God is working on us. If you would look in 1 Peter 1 verse 7, this is a quality the Lord is working on each and every one of us. Maybe your trial is worse than others, and everybody is going to have different things, but 1 Peter 1 verse 7, that to trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And Romans chapter 8 says that your suffering at this time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall follow. And what that is, that's quality. Each of these areas, I'm dealing with the quality that God is working in each of our lives so that we can be a craftsman of God, a workman of God. Work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope. Okay, let's go ahead and pray. Lord, I do pray you'd help us to be very precise in studying our beliefs and work at it, and our service Lord, help us to realize that we need to work hard at things, try to keep things organized, try to teach others to work at these things. Lord, help mothers that pick up after the kids realize that this is first part of life, but also it's a part of the ministry. And Lord, suffering. Some folks going through some difficult time. And Lord, that's the trial of fire. And you're purifying us like gold. Lord, help us realize that what's going to pass through the fire at the judgment seat is what sort is it? Is it good quality? And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to be Christians that are seeking to be a good workman of thine. Well, heads are bowed and eyes are closed. The piano will play. The altar's open if you need it. Sanctification, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Service, serving the Lord as best we can. Trying to be good stewards of what God has entrusted us with. And then praying for the ones that are going through difficult times. Suffering. For right living. Lord, I do pray you'd help us to see the difference between quantity and quality, and help us to be somebody that our good workmanship of thine. Help us to yield to your craft that you are working our lives so that we might be quality children of thine. In Jesus' name, Amen.