I want to address you today, I want to preach from the first two verses of this chapter, and I do pray that the Lord will bless His Word to our hearts. It is very clear from the opening words in verses 1 and 2 that at this stage Paul is moving into the last section of this little epistle. The word finally, with which the chapter begins in our English translation, literally means for the rest or the remainder. And in the sense of the remainder of the truths that Paul as the penman, the writer of this epistle, feels led by the Holy Spirit to make. Consequently, in the ensuing portion down to the close of the epistle, Paul presents various matters, various truths for the consideration of the Thessalonian church. Before he proceeds into that, however, into the details that follow, the first matter that he underlines is the need for prayer. He makes a plea for prayer in these words. Finally, brethren, pray for us. You'll notice that Paul uses the plural there. He just does not ask for prayer for himself, but he is thinking as well of his colleagues because the opening verse of this epistle tells us that with him there are two other men, Silvanus and Timotheus, or Silas and Timothy. And undoubtedly there were others also in that group. that Paul heads up. We learn that from the book of Acts. Men who were part of Paul's missionary band, and they are also in view in his plea for prayer. At the time of writing this epistle, Paul was progressing onwards in his second missionary journey. From Thessalonica he will go to Athens, and from Athens he will progress to Corinth, and then to Ephesus, and then to Caesarea, from whence he will go out in his third missionary journey. And so it's no surprise then that he placed before the Thessalonians this clear, urgent plea, brethren, pray for us. The word pray here has a continuous force to it, and therefore the essence of the plea is pray constantly for us. It is important to notice that Paul's appeal for prayer was not that he would benefit in some personal way, in a sense, although no doubt he was thankful for the prayers of the people of God for him personally and for those who were with him in his labors for the Master. But what he really had in mind was that the ministry of the gospel exercised by him and his colleagues would benefit those who would hear. Remember that he's on a soul-winning campaign here, if we could use that term, and rightly so. As I've just indicated, he is finishing up his second missionary journey. He's going to start after this his third missionary journey, and so he wants the church at Thessalonica to pray for him and his colleagues and bring before the Lord the great need as he goes on to say, that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. There is the thrust of his desire for prayer, that the Word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. Gospel ministry requires always the prayers of the people of God. That is not anything new that I say to you, but we always need to be reminded of it. There is this perennial and incessant need for us all to pray for the ministry of the gospel. So it's a relevant verse, I feel, a relevant subject that lies before us today as you meet under the banner the title of a Soul Winners Convention. Mr. McClung was saying that it's forty years ago that that subject, that title was taken up as a weekend of meetings was convened way back then in Mr. Cranston's time and has continued ever since. And certainly it's a worthy venture, that year by year there's this reminder going out of the need of winning souls, seeing them saved, seeing them delivered from their sin and their guilt, their shame. That of course is the great objective of all gospel ministry, no matter what the time or the place. That is the burden that we all need to have to see people won to Jesus Christ. That's the thrust of these opening verses of 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. In our text there are certain aspects of gospel ministry presented to us that combine to underscore why Christ's church is to pray continually as Paul urges in these two verses. I want to consider, therefore, three aspects or features of gospel ministry that afresh we might fervently and continually pray for God's blessing to be given on the labors of His servants, whether here or across our land in general, or no matter where it might be, because the Lord has His people across the world. He has faithful men of God in various places, nations, and cities and so on across the earth, and they are laboring. And they are seeking to see a work done for God in their own spheres and their own ministries, and certainly we long that God will bless mightily. So three things here that arise about gospel ministry. Number one, the message of gospel ministry. And so it is this, brethren pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may a free course and be glorified." Notice the phrase there, the Word of the Lord, and careful consideration of that phrase opens up a full array of detail with regard to the message of gospel ministry, especially in the sense that at the heart of the gospel, the very heart of the gospel, there is the great doctrine, the great truth of redemption. And I want just to emphasize that because this is vital to understanding what the Word of the Lord is all about, what the ministry of the gospel is all about. It is setting forth clearly this doctrine, this truth of redemption. Now taking those words, the Word of the Lord, I see in them a person And there is a person in view here, because you will find in the Bible that that phrase, the Word of the Lord, is employed very, very often as a title for a divine person. And it's also used, of course, for the written Scripture. but it is used of a divine person, namely our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It's one of His names, the Word of the Lord. And so when we read simply even, and yet thoughtfully, the Word of God, we will find that this is the case. Now the first time you find this phrase. It's over in Genesis 15, in verse 1. I want you to go there with me, please, at this stage, and let's just stay here a moment or two, or a minute or two, whatever it takes, because this is a very important reference and a very important use of the word, or the phrase, rather, the word of the Lord. So Genesis 15, verse number 1, it says, After these things the word of the Lord came on to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." And so we find the first use of the phrase, the Word of the Lord, and the sense of the words here is that the Word of the Lord approaches Abram in a vision. It says here very clearly in verse 1, after these things, after what happened in chapter 14 with regard to the battle and the appearance of Melchizedek and so on. After that, the word of the Lord approaches Abram in a vision. It says it, the word of the Lord came on to Abram in a vision. Notice as well that the word of the Lord speaks here in the first person, because at the end of the verse says, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And you will notice that immediately in verse number two, Abram responds, and he's speaking directly to, I believe the person who has appeared to him, and he says, Lord God, What wilt thou give me? We must understand that while all of this occurred in what is described as a vision, that detail does not remove the reality of what took place, the reality of what happened here as far as Abram was concerned. Yes, it was in the form of a vision, but we discover here that the word of the Lord came onto Abram in a vision. And as I've shown you, he speaks, he says, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram responds to that, Lord God, what wilt thou give me? And what we have here in view is the appearance of a divine person identified as the word of the Lord, whom Abram recognizes as the Lord God. Go down to verse 4 and you'll find that there's a second appearance or a second instance of this. It says, And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And so we find the same phrase again there in verse number 4. And this is a pattern that's set in Genesis 15 that continues right on through the Old Testament and even into the New Testament. There are multiple appearances of the Word of the Lord as a divine person. I understand and I know, and there's no problem with this, there are times when the phrase is used certainly of the written Word or God's spoken Word. But I'm showing to you that in this case and in many cases where the phrase is used, it is used of a person. And therefore, is used of, as I said, Christ, because Christ is the Word of the Lord. Christ, the second person of the Godhead, is who appears here. Remember that He's the promised Redeemer? He's the promised mediator. He appears here in this case to Abram as the prophet of the covenant. He comes to speak to Abram in a very direct way, to give him revelation, to give him a message. The word of the Lord here, I am saying to you, and I feel it and believe with all my heart, is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we call a Christophany. an appearance of Christ in his office of the prophet of the covenant of grace. And so Genesis 15 and 1 and subsequent appearances under this name prepared the way for the Lord's actual and eventual coming as the Word. the Word of the Lord incarnate, because He is here in a human form. Abram sees Him. He speaks to Abram and so forth. And this is one of those Christophanies, those times when the Lord appeared to various individuals like Abram and many, many more in a visible form, even a human form, assuming humanity temporarily to bring a message, but conveying the great fact that eventually and ultimately He would come permanently as the Word of the Lord, taking on Himself our humanity. and never setting it aside. That's the wonderful thing, brothers and sisters, as we think about the one who's called the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord did appear at all these junctures down through the Old Testament ages, like here, this first instance. Then He eventually came. He took our human nature, but He took it permanently, and He returned to heaven. After having lived in that humanity, and died in that humanity, and having risen in that humanity, he returned to heaven in it, and he will never set it aside. He is the God-man forever. And that should thrill our hearts. And you see, all of this, if you take those references in John's gospel to Christ, the very first verse says, in the beginning was the Word. And then verse 14, the Word was made flesh. And so there you have verses that make it absolutely clear, or statements, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the very embodiment of truth. And God's entire redemptive revelation focuses on Christ. It revolves around Christ. Actually, you take Taking this phrase, the Word of the Lord, take the first part, the Word. And remember again, John 1 and 1, in the beginning was the Word. And also verse 14 in other places, the Word is a special name given to Christ. He's called the Word in the sense that encapsulated in Him and bound up in Him, there is the entire message of redemption. And that's how to understand the whole Bible. What is the Bible all about? It's about, well, many things. I understand that. You have creation, you have providence, and so on, just taking other issues that we're all familiar with. But really, and essentially, the whole of the Word of God is about the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. How He would come into the world to be the Redeemer of men and the Savior of His people, and accomplish redemption, and then also apply redemption. So when Paul says here, turning back to 2 Thessalonians 3, when he says here, pray that the word of the Lord may free course, et cetera, he has in mind what I am saying to you, that this is one of the titles of our Savior. And this title underlines the message of gospel ministry. Christ is the word of the Lord. He's the word of the Lord revealed in the scriptures to us. but He's also the Word of the Lord incarnate, as I've briefly explained to you. And it is Christ who goes forth in this world by His Spirit and through the Scriptures to do the great work that's in view in what Paul appeals for here in relation to prayer concerning the Word of the Lord. So there is a person here. But as I think of these words again, there's also a provision. Because the term, the word of the Lord signifies that in the message of the gospel, there is the proclamation of the provision that is required for the salvation of lost souls. I have already touched on it, but just taking that thought, Word of the Lord. What does the Word of the Lord tell us? What does it convey? What does it present to us? Taking that thought, well, there is here not only the revelation of a person, but there's a revelation of a provision. When Paul asked for prayer in relation to the Word of the Lord, he was also referring to what is preached. What is actually delivered? The subject matter of the Word of the Lord. Now let's go over to 1 Peter chapter 1 and again we will find this expression and we will find it used in a certain context that's very interesting and also very important at this stage. 1 Peter chapter 1 and the verse number 25. And it says this, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever, and certainly that is a reference specifically to the Scriptures or to God's delivered Word. But the phrase is there, and remember that the whole of the Word of the Lord is all about Christ and His person, His work, redemption, and so forth. It says, the Word of the Lord endureth forever. Then it says, and this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So to preach the Word of the Lord is to preach the gospel. Notice the connection there. The Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word, which by or through the gospel is preached unto you. And so to preach the Word of the Lord is to preach the gospel, which is to preach the message of redemption through Jesus Christ. Now that's the context here in 1 Peter 1. We go back up to verse number 18. And of course, in the setting here, Paul is encouraging and exhorting Christians to live holy lives. He says that in verse 13, 14, 16, right on through those verses into verse 17. And then he says this, for as much as ye know, that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, etc. So he is referring here in the broader context to living a holy life. But it raises the question, what is the basis for that exhortation, be ye holy for I am holy? Here it is, because you are a redeemed people. Always remember that. Redemption is the great argument for personal holiness of life, behavior, And certainly for the behavior of the church of God in general, and in a broad sense, we all need to live a holy life because for as much as you know, we've been redeemed. So that's the setting. But as he brings in redemption here as a supportive argument for a godly living, well, that's what he does. He takes us into a lot of details about redemption. Let me pick them out for you quickly here from verse 18 through to verse number 21. And it's all focused on the one who's called the Lamb, as you see in verse 19, the precious blood of Christ is of a Lamb without blemish. But just looking at those words and surrounding words, you've got the Lamb's provision. Because it says there in verse 20, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world what was manifest in these last times for you. And what you find there is that Peter takes us way back into eternity, and he writes about the Lamb, the Lamb foreordained, the Lamb appointed before time began in eternity, and then manifest in time onto men. What is he showing you? He's showing you that redemption source It's not with him, Paul or Peter. It's not with the church. It's not in a dogma written down in theology. Redemption's source is eternal. It's in the mind of God. For it tells us here that Christ was foreordained before there ever was a sinner, before the fall ever took place, before creation ever took place. Prior to the fall, God intended to save people. And so there is the great provision, the great mind of God brought forth here to us today as the very source and origin of redemption, the Lamb's provision, the Lamb's purity. Verse 19 says, a Lamb without blemish and without spot. I've already spoken to you about the Lord taking our humanity. And the wonderful thing is, by the virgin birth, his humanity was just this, without blemish, without spot. A humanity that was on a far higher level, an infinitely higher level, than even the humanity of Adam. Remember how the Bible speaks of the first Adam and then the last Adam? The first Adam's in Genesis 1, 2, and 3. Mention again in chapter 5, and that's it. as far as that part of Scripture is concerned. But He's called the first Adam in 1 Corinthians 15. Christ is also called there the last Adam. Why? Because Christ came with a humanity that was impeccable. Adam's humanity was capable of falling, and it did fall. Christ had a humanity without blemish, without spot, not merely in the sense that he never sinned, but in the sense that he couldn't sin. That's the truth of Scripture. He could not sin. and therefore you have his purity. But in that same verse 19, you have his passion. Just mention these little details to show you what Peter's writing about here, because it refers in verse 19 to the precious blood of Christ. My dear friend, it is by the precious blood of Christ. In other words, it's through the passion of Christ, his suffering, his agony, his shame, that we are redeemed. that we are delivered and we are saved from our sins. And so the focus here is on the atonement, the precious blood of Christ. The focus is on the Lord's death, the one sacrifice, and all of that involved. All the suffering, all the agony, all the shame, it's all here. In other words, the person came and through all that he did, In terms of his passion, this great provision is made for our redemption. But where is he now? It says in verse 21, these words are so important, that raised him from the dead and gave him glory. His humiliation is over. His exaltation has come. First stage was the resurrection. And then he ascended. And then he sat down at the Father's right hand. And the fourth stage will be when he comes again. The Lamb is coming back, but not in shame, not in humiliation anymore. He's coming back and this is the wonder of it in our humanity. And that's why every eye will see Him. He will appear and He will be seen. And all of this is about redemption. The coming of the Lord can't be understood except in the context of redemption. And so he stands as the mediator by whom or through whom the sinner comes to God to obtain cleansing from sin. Look at verse 22, seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit and so on. on into that last verse, the Word of the Lord endureth forever. And so, this is all to do with the message of gospel ministry. The message that we're to preach is clearly laid down. It's found in that phrase, the Word of the Lord, We develop it. We see it throughout Scripture. We see it set forth so clearly. We see who He is, what He has done, and we are being given the confines of gospel ministry. We're not to go beyond this. We're not to take away from it or add to it. This is it. You see, there's a power in this as well, may I say, when you think about these words in 2 Thessalonians 3 verse number 1, where he says, brethren, pray for us at the word of the Lord, may a free course and be glorified. There is a person there. There is a provision there of all that's found in redemption, but there's also the thought there of a power. the power needed to save the Lord, or to save the lost. And that, of course, is a Christ-centered message. You have Paul's great statement in Romans 1.16, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. But remember, it would have no power for two reasons. Number one, but for the fact that it's centered in Christ. And Christ is the invincible Savior. Where Christ goes to work, He will work. Where He sends His Word, the message of the ministry of the gospel, where it goes, the Lord has a work to do. And it will be done. But there's another reason why we can talk about the power here as we pray for the gospel ministry, this matter of the Word of the Lord going forth. And that is Christ sends His Spirit upon the message of gospel ministry. Always remember that. The letter on its own, the word on its own, will not save anybody. There has to be the accompanying power of the Holy Spirit. And when Paul asks for this prayer, he says that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified and so on. That is definitely in his mind, although we don't actually see it in so many words. But we draw it from other scriptures, even Paul's scriptures, even the ones that he wrote elsewhere. And furthermore, his appeals for prayer were often appeals that were couched in language that underlined the need for the spirit to rest upon gospel ministry. And so there is the matter here of a power, a power that is needed to bring souls to Christ. You can have sinners hear the gospel for years. And yet they're unmoved, and we all know them, don't we? Family members, friends, neighbors. Our land here, with all its decadence, perhaps has more knowledge of the gospel than any other part of the United Kingdom, although that's waning terribly. But at the same time, there are people out there today, all around us in Northern Ireland, who know the word to some degree, who have a knowledge of the gospel, and so forth. But why is it that they're not saved? Because the word does not work without this power resting on it, the power of the Holy Ghost. And you know, we've got to understand that carefully, clearly. It's not a matter of a kind of a supplement to the Word when we talk about the Holy Spirit. What it is, is this. Christ accomplished redemption. The Spirit applies redemption. The two are inseparable. the Lord has accomplished, what constitutes the message of gospel ministry, who He is, what He has done, is then applied to human hearts by the work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes, He enlightens, He takes away the veil. He removes the opposition. He melts hearts. He deals with souls, people who hated the gospel beforehand, people who love the world, people who love their sin. How are they going to be conquered? They can hear all the words you like. They've been given all the tracts you like, and that's necessary, of course. But until the Spirit moves, nothing will ever happen. Paul here is most definitely thinking about that as he makes his appeal for prayer to the people of God in Thessalonica. That leads me on then to look at the metaphor of gospel ministry. Notice the words, may have free course. A marginal Bible, if you have one, tells you that it can be read this way, that the word of the Lord may run. may run." And so you see there a metaphor, the metaphor of the race and running in that race. And that's quite a common metaphor or figure of speech in Paul's writings and in the writings of other men of God in the Scriptures, the metaphor of the race. And that's what he has in mind here, that the Word of the Lord may run. And so think about that with me. There are a few issues there just to think about. There's the issue of confrontation. Because whenever Paul makes this appeal, pray for us that the Word of the Lord, all of Christ's redemptive work and so on, all wrapped up in the gospel, that it all may run The thought there is of confrontation as he appeals for prayer that it will run freely and run unhindered and as unrestricted as possible. The thought there is that the gospel is going out into the world and itself it is confronting evil and furthermore evil is confronting it. So Paul says we need to pray that it will run. and it will succeed therefore." Now the origin of the confrontation is clear. Where does the hindrance come from, the confrontation come from? It comes from the devil. If you just turn back quickly to chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians and verse 18, you notice there what Paul says about his intentions to get to Thessalonica on previous occasions. He tells this in his first epistle, 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 18, he says, wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again. Notice this, but Satan hindered us. And that's a very strong word, that word hindered. It means to cut into. It means to hack. I know we use the word hack nowadays with regard to the internet or whatever, but the word that's used here was used of the woodsman. And that's the basis of it. He went out into the forest, he wanted to make a road, but he had to cut and hack his way through to get the road developed, et cetera, et cetera. He had to cut down all the obstacles and so on. But how is it used here in the sense of Satan hindering the gospel? Well, simply this, the devil hinders and he opposes and he seeks to stop gospel ministry. You see that in this verse in chapter 218 of the first epistle. He seeks to do all that hindering work by actually placing obstacles and breaking up a road. He comes along, the old devil, as it were, and he hacks up things and he cuts down things. And what's the idea there? That's the activity of the devil. What does the devil want to do to stop gospel ministry? He wants to hack down the citadels of truth and the message of the gospel somehow or other, and throw obstacles on the road taking the sense of the word here, hacking up and cutting down. That's the sense of it, hindering us. And there, my friend, you are showing that there needs to be much prayer, therefore, for the devil to be defeated and the gospel to make mighty progress in the lives of sinners so that they will be transformed. Then, not only is there the origin of this confrontation, but there's also the opponents in the confrontation. If you go back to chapter three of 2 Thessalonians and look at the next verse, verse number two, he goes, his appeal continues into verse two, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith. And obviously those words are written in the setting of verse one. So the verse one is talking about praying for the word of the Lord, to have free course, to run, and all the hindrances of the devil be moved out of the road, all that he does, and hacking down things and destroying things, all of that overcome and displaced, that the gospel might run. And here we find in verse two, those who are actually involved along with Satan, the opponents who stand up against the gospel and against the gospel preacher, against the missionary, against whatever it might be, in seeking to win the lost. Who are they? They're mentioned here in verse 2. You see, the devil doesn't come along physically as a spirit. He uses men, and you have them identified to some degree in that second verse. They are corrupt men. It says unreasonable and wicked men. And of course the word wicked is very common in the New Testament, and it signifies men who are given over to moral and spiritual corruption. And then they're also referred to as unreasonable as well as wicked. And the word unreasonable literally means out of place. And so what it's signifying is here are people who are out of place in the sense that they have moved away. They have departed from what they may have claimed to be or what they said they were. That's the sense of those words. Really, Paul's writing here of people who maybe were part of the Christian church and then they turn away and they apostatize, they move away. They are moved out of the place where they used to be by their own conscious choice. They go deliberately astray and they become the greatest opponents of the gospel. That's true folks. The greatest opponents of the gospel In our context of life, in Northern Ireland or in these islands and many other parts of what we call the Western world, are these wicked and unreasonable men. They're given over to moral and spiritual corruption but they are men who have been, they have moved out of, they're out of place now. They claim to be Christians or believers in the Bible, and they've gone completely astray. They're on the wrong path. They're setting themselves up in utter rejection of Christ and his gospel. And so we're in a battle, folks, and that battle is intensifying and continues to grow more dark and more opposed to the things of God. They are corrupt men. Corrupt men in high places. Corrupt men in church life. Corrupt men who rise up and who once claimed to be the Lord's and now they've just shifted away altogether. And they're doing their utmost now to stop and oppose true gospel ministry. And that will continue as I say. You know how 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is all about Antichrist. And what is Antichrist? who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, etc. As you learn there in those early verses in the previous chapter. And these unreasonable and corrupt men are in that family, if you will. And therefore they're corrupt men. They're also Christless men. Because it says here of them, for all men have not faith. They are unbelieving. they have no place for Christ or for this gospel. And so they are Christless men. And you see, unbelief towards Christ always manifests itself in opposition to Christ. Now that is the natural state of all humanity. I've really intimated that. Unbelief But where the word of the Lord goes, it's opposed by corrupt men, by Christless men, and they're also contrary men. Because Paul appeals for prayer that we may be delivered. And he senses this. He knows where he's going. He knows the next cities on the plan, as it were, on his third missionary journey. He knows he can enter the very heart of darkness, and there will be those there who will stand against what he's seeking to do. And so here's the metaphor with regard to gospel ministry. We need to see it run. run unhindered like a man in a race, and that will reach its goals and arrive among people for whom the Lord has died and whom He intends to save. In spite of all the opposition, in spite of all those who would lay down their plans and their schemes to oppose and to hack down the truth and throw up obstacles, Paul says, pray that the gospel will run. And you know, then not only is there that matter, I've just mentioned the confrontation. But then there's the crowning in this metaphor. It says that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified. And the word glorified there has the sense in it, the original word has the sense in it of a crowning. And so Paul here pictures the runner, taking that metaphor, he runs the race. And then he's crying because he runs well and he wins the race, the imagery's all here. And he's talking here about the Word of God, the Word of God, Christ himself, the incarnate Word. taking the inspired word. He runs. He wins the race. He's glorified. Oh, my friend, the point is this, that in the final analysis, the Lord will have the victory. The Lord will triumph. The Lord will overcome. We must see that today. We're not praying in vain. We're not praying in some useless exercise of things. No, we're praying in the light of who Jesus Christ is, what Jesus Christ intends to do in this world, and he will succeed. The Word of the Lord, though it's opposed, though it's hindered by these people whom Paul identifies in verse 2, it will win the day. And there's no doubt about that. And that's a great encouragement. as we think about gospel ministry. So there's the metaphor of it. Then in closing, there is the miracle of gospel ministry. Look at the last words of verse one, even as it is with you. And what is he saying to these people? He's referring to what the gospel had done in them. What it had done in their hearts. Gospel ministry brought a miracle into these people's lives, a miracle of grace, a miracle of the power of the gospel. Just turn quickly again to 1 Thessalonians and look at the first chapter once more as we come to a close here. 1 Thessalonians 1, Verse 5, here's the very thing I was saying earlier about the Holy Spirit, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, notice that, not in word only, that's not enough, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And then verse number 7, in fact, even 6, you became followers of us and of the Lord. Verse number 7, so that ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia, And then you read there in those words, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord. There is the phrase again. Christ was sounded out by these Thessalonians. This is all part of the miracle of gospel ministry. Who were these people? Look at verse number nine. They themselves, that is people from afar, Paul is writing, they themselves show us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God. There's the miracle of gospel ministry. they turned from their idols to the true God. These are dark and heathen people, living in debauchery, all kinds of wickedness, sunk down to the lowest levels of depravity, and yet when the gospel came, it ran right into their city. I went among them with irresistible power, because it came not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance, and it changed their lives." They became new creatures. They received the word, and the miracle of grace, the miracle of the gospel was felt in their hearts and in their lives. Let me say to you, that is the miracle that we pray for, isn't it? What are you praying for when you pray for a soul to be saved? You might be thinking about little ones. Little ones are born in sin. They're shaped in iniquity. They have a nature that's against God, and it soon reveals itself. And we all know that. What do they need? They need the Word of the Lord to run right into their hearts, applied by the Holy Spirit, to perform a miracle in their young souls. That's what teenagers need. Whatever age level you care to mention, young or old, There is no deference. All have sinned. All are lost. But here is God's answer. And therefore, think of the message and the metaphor and the miracle of gospel ministry, and God's answer is summed up there. And I urge you as a church and you're calling for your day of prayer next week and so on, next Sunday, as we all must do, pray. Brethren, pray that the Word of the Lord will run and be glorified. We'll close there in terms of the preaching. May the Lord write His Word in our hearts and I'll hand back to Mr. McClung and he will come now to close the meeting. May the Lord bless you.