And so keep that in mind. If you appreciate what he's done, put something in the plate. If you don't appreciate what he has done in handling the Word of God, put something in the plate. It is just that, a love offering. So if you would like to help them along in their journey, keep that in mind. Again, Joel and I go all the way back to Pillsbury Baptist Bible College days. Both of us were rehearsing the fact that we went to Pillsbury and Pillsbury no longer exists. We both graduated from Calvary Theological Seminary with our master's degree, and that is going to go into nonexistence next year. Now, fortunately, he doesn't have any degrees from Central. I have a degree from Central. And if the pattern continues, that's going to go off the horizon also. But praise the Lord, that's not the history of his ministry, that everything he touches dies. The Lord has used him in Germany to build a ministry there in a very difficult soil. Again, it is primarily atheist, so no religion, no God, and a very intellectual society, very humanist approach to life and worldview. And so the word of God, the challenge to have it penetrate the darkness, he has been committed in there 15 years now. And I praise God for that, the faithfulness, the steadfastness God has granted he and Jody. And again, we've been friends and acquaintances for, again, these many years. And he is also going to be looking to raise some support in the churches that he's going to. Be praying about that in our ministry, and if there's funds there available, or at least to prioritize in the future as he's lost some support and needs to regain some ministry support. So be praying about that also. Again, it's a joy to have Joel. Joel, you come and preach the word. I don't ever remember having an introduction quite like that before. Thanks, Shane. But it is a joy to be with you today, and I'm glad you came. We had been in some meetings a few years ago, and Judson was a little bit younger. And actually, it was here. Judson went to sleep while I was preaching. And our other children were with us at that point and started prodding Jody. And she said, Dad, put him to sleep. He can wake him up. I hope that I don't put you to sleep this morning. That's not my intent. If you do happen to nod out for a few, please come back and join us as soon as you can. As Shane said already, we just got back into the States on Wednesday and I don't know what to blame it on age or jet lag or switching languages. But not all the connections are working quite the way that I'd like them to be this morning. I'd like you to do something for me as you listen. Would you pray that the message that I share with you this morning is the message that God wants you to hear? We gather together and we want to serve the Lord together. I understand my purpose here this morning to be ministering to you God's Word. I'd like you to know you have a part in that. You can share in this ministry this morning by praying for me that God gives me the right words to speak and for yourselves that you have a heart to hear. And I think if we do that, that we can minister effectively together this morning and the Lord can work in you through his word And if that works this morning, then we've accomplished God's purpose for our coming together. There are so many different things and experiences, challenges, discouragements that I'd love to share with you. We can't do that all this morning. And that's not my purpose. for this service. What I'd like our focus to be this morning is on 1 Thessalonians 1, and I'd like to focus on verses 5 through 10. We're working in Dresden, Germany. I knew before we went it would be a very challenging field to work in. When we got there, I found out it's a lot more challenging than we thought. But God is no stranger to difficult works. And sometimes we think, boy, it must be really hard to work with atheistic people. Working with people wherever we are is very difficult. And if we're realistic with ourselves, I am a very difficult person. I don't want to sound judgmental, but I suspect you have your little rough corners in your life too. And if you look at it that way, you're a very difficult person. But God can change us. And that's what he did in a very difficult place, the city of Thessalonica. Let me read 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 5 through 10. Please follow along as I read for you. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord. having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God is spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." The Apostle Paul spent about three weeks in the city of Thessalonica, the words that we just read explain what kind of a city Thessalonica was. A city given over to idols. Really, it doesn't matter what people believe. Whatever people believe that isn't truth leads them away from God. Some people believe some truths about God. Even here in America, just over the border in Canada, people have a lot of good information about God, but not complete. You and I can have an outreach with the Gospel similar to what the Apostle Paul had And the passage that we just read shows what God's Word can do if we use His Word in ministering to people. I didn't read the whole passage, but this epistle, this letter was written to everyday people just like you and I. It was written to the church at Thessalonica. And if we look at it in that way, God is sharing His message with you and I today and showing to us what He is able to do in us and through us. God can use everyday people like you and I. And we can see in this passage Four different things. First, the entrance of the gospel. Second, the imitation of the evangelists. Third, the impact of the believers. And fourth, the echo effect of the gospel. What I'd like for us to do today is for you and I to examine our lives for these essential ingredients. Are these things working in my life the way God intended for them to? Where they fail, we need to make them a part of our life and ministry. Notice with me first, out of the fifth verse, the entrance of the gospel. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. We could read out of the book of Acts, we won't take the time, because of the time, about Paul's ministry in Thessalonica. Just three weeks, and in a three week time period, Paul came, shared the gospel, a church was established, and he left a church in three weeks. I look at that and I think, and I've been in Dresden for 15 years, praise the Lord for what he's done, but wow, that happened in Thessalonica in three weeks. How did that happen? Well, I guess we should look at Acts chapter 17 briefly because Paul explains Luke explains what Paul had done when he was in Thessalonica in Acts chapter 17. Let's start at verse 2. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them." Out of the Scriptures. Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." And the passage goes on. Acts chapter 17 explains how the gospel entered into the city of Thessalonica. Paul reasoned with them. The word is dialogeomai. It means to converse with people while teaching them. Paul talked and got feedback to see if they understood, exposed scriptures to them to show, this is what Jesus has done for you. This is who Jesus is. This Jesus gets rid of what you think you need, your idols, Because Jesus can take care of your sin. He can forgive your sin, can cleanse you of it, can give you eternal life, and transport you into His kingdom to be with Him forever. He was opening God's Word. He reasoned with them from Scriptures. He opened the Scriptures. And that word means to explain or expose them. You know, sometimes we think, I'm not really that clever to be able to talk to people and to convince them that they need to be saved. You know what? Good. I'm not either. And God didn't intend for us to be clever. He just intended for us to be mouthpieces for Him and all we need to do is share His Word And His Word is the power of God unto salvation. I don't have to be creative. I don't have to find a new way to present the Gospel. I just need to present the Gospel. And God's Word will do the work that's needed in people's hearts. Paul just opened up the Word and reasoned with the people. Speaking to them. Teaching them. and exposing the parts of God's Word that help people to see, whoa, God looks at me like that? I didn't think that worshiping an idol was that big of a deal. Everybody in our city worships idols. And God says, that is grounds to condemn you for eternity. Paul was alleging. That means giving evidence or laying evidence alongside of what he had already said. He exposed the sin and exposed the Scriptures that support what he had said. And the result was, some of them believed. The word believed means to be persuaded. As a result of his diligent ministry with the Word, Paul was persuading people to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, to accept Him as their Savior. In his letter to them, he reminds them how the Gospel came into their hearts. You know what's really healthy for us as believers? To reflect back to the time before Christ in our own lives. What was I? As you mature in Christ, it should be more evident to you what you were before Christ came into your life. And if we reflect on that, we should have a lot more empathy, loving concern for the people around us. Because there was a time when I was without Christ. And it doesn't matter what type of a sinful lifestyle you live without Christ, they all end in the same place. Paul persuaded them. Are you persuaded of the Gospel? Are you convinced that Jesus Christ is the only answer to the problem of sin in this world? I talk to people on both sides of the ocean, and they come up with solutions. Like, he needs to go see a psychiatrist. Boy, he's really sick. He probably should get some counseling. People have problems with sin. Sin complicates lives. Sin brings disorder. Disorder is the opposite of what God has planned for our lives. And the Gospel, God's truth, brings order back into people's lives. Are you persuaded that God's Word can do that? And do you pursue The truths of God's Word for the areas of your life where there's disorder. Because that's what God intends for us to use His Word to do in our own lives. Several years ago, there was an article in a German newspaper. It was around Easter time, and the author of the article said, if Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, then I would expect vibrant Christians, full churches, great impact in the world around them. But instead, the Christians are just stuck in a traffic jam like the rest of us. You know what? He put his finger on the sore spot. That tends to be true of a lot of Christians. We have God's Word, and we know it's the truth. We know that God's Word can change lives, but we don't allow it to do that work in our own life first. And the world is watching us. And they understand, wow, if Jesus Christ is really who he says he is, then he could change lives so much. So why do the Christians have the same problems that we have? Part of what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians was, you saw what manner of men we were before you." You know what that means? The Gospel was working. God's Word was working in Paul's life. And the people to whom he spoke could see, wow, God's Word took this person who was persecuting and killing Christians, and made out of him a person who loves Christians and loves non-Christians, and reaches out to them to show them the God who loves them. And Paul gives us a cure for this traffic jam, stagnant Christian-like living. God doesn't want us to live Christian-like. He wants us to live like Christ. That we see in the second point, in the sixth verse. Back to 1 Thessalonians 1. I should have put a marker there. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. And ye became followers of us. The word followers is the word That means to mimic. I don't know how much time you spend in your life reflecting on your own life with Christ. And your own life before the world around you. But is your life as a believer really worth imitating? Can other people look at your life and say, is the type of person I want to be. We have a son-in-law who recently hasn't been living for the Lord, but he ran into a Christian who had run into him. Let me explain. Joe was working in a warehouse and while he was working, Another worker was driving a forklift and ran the forks of the forklift into Joe's back. He was injured, and long story short, lost the job. It's been a couple of years since, and Joe had more or less walked away from following the Lord. But recently, he was at a Christian camp. This guy who was running the forklift was also there. and walked up to Joe and said, Joe, I prayed for you every day. He apologized for what happened. And Joe went home and said, He makes me want to be a Christian. Does your life really make a difference for other people? Is it really worth imitating the way you live out Christianity in your life. Paul commented about the Thessalonians. You became imitators of us. You know, that's the way God intends our life to be lived. We should be Christ-like That means Christ should be seen through us. And if Christ is seen through us, then our life is worth imitating. There are many different places that the same truth is underlined. But time presses. Let's just look at one in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. The same word is used, imitators. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1 says, Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. You know what the problem is? If our life isn't worth imitating, it's not worth imitating because we're not following Christ. and there would be a wonderful result in your life, in the life of people around you, if you determine today, I am going to imitate Christ in my life. I want people to be able to see through the way I live that Jesus Christ is real. and that his truths do make a difference in my life. My youngest brother, I haven't seen him for a few years now, but while we were living at home together, he had a knack at picking up little idiosyncrasies, little quirks that everybody has, and he could imitate them. Just made everybody laugh. My dad, every time that he was thinking of something that he needed to say, would go, and I can't do it as good as my little brother could, but he brought out every little quirk in my dad's expressions and his gesture, and everybody in the whole family, in fact, everybody in the whole church knew exactly who he was imitating. He did it just for fun. But the proper imitation of good examples allows us to become examples for others. And God has given us an example, Jesus Christ. And the Lord tells us that these things are written so that we can follow in His footsteps. The Lord wants us to imitate Christ. He wants us to walk like Christ. Not how he looks when he walks, but the direction he's headed. The truths that he followed. The path that he took into people's lives in order to help them out of their problems. Our third point is, that they were examples for other believers in the seventh verse. So that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. I don't know if you've looked at a map of the Middle East recently, but Macedonia and Achaia take up large parts of Greece and Turkey, if I have my geography right in my head. A huge mass of land And these people, with whom Paul ministered for three weeks, had been changed in their lives so much that wherever they went, the people could see, wow, that person is really different in a good way. Their life had impact. because of the way they lived. They were examples. The word used here is tupas, a type, a pattern that's worth imitating. The word comes from the meaning of this word comes from a word meaning to strike something. So it leaves a mark. I don't know if you've ever seen the old fashioned coin stamps. But there's a lower emboss, I think, is the word and an upper one and a blank is put in the middle. The two pieces are made out of hard metal. They take a large hammer, put the blank between the two images that are supposed to be impressed and swing that hammer as hard as they can hit that emboss. And when they take it off, the image from the emboss is duplicated perfectly on the coin. That's what God's Word is supposed to do to us. It is supposed to impact us so that God's Word makes an impression on our lives, changing us from what we were to what God wants us to be. The same word is used in John 20, verse 25, where Jesus shows his hands to Thomas and says, Thomas, do you believe? And he showed him the print of the nails, the impression that was left by them. Thomas didn't need to be convinced anymore. He said, my Lord and my God. God expects that your life and mine make an impact on others. So you need, and I need, we need to allow God's Word to impact our lives. Every time you expose yourself to God's Word, you need to let down your guard. You know, sometimes we protect ourselves. I know this is God's Word. And it can change my life. Be honest. Is change comfortable for us? We know that change is uncomfortable, but we know at the same time, change is necessary. I can't keep on going like this. And if I can't keep on going like this, then the only way that I can be changed is for me to let down the guards and allow God's Word to work in our hearts without hindrance so they can change us. And you need to let God's Word echo from your life. In verse 8 we read, For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. I'd like you to think for a minute with me what this verse means. That little church in Thessalonica, there were people that were going all over the place out of that church for whatever reason. And wherever they went, they transported with them God's Word and the impact of God's Word on their lives, and they shared that wherever they went. Paul, in all of his travels, kept running into people, and everywhere he went, he ran into people, started talking to them about Jesus Christ, And they said, oh yeah, I know about Jesus Christ. I was talking to so-and-so from Thessalonica. And Paul kept running into people that had already been evangelized, they'd already been exposed to the gospel because this church finally understood, this is my job. God lets me go to different places and He pays the travel expenses. I get sent on a business trip to somewhere else and it's my opportunity to share God's Word with the people who I'm around. God's Word sounded forth. That word is used of the sound of a trumpet or a thunder. We get our word echo from the verb's stem. God's word impacted the lives of these believers, and they used God's word then to impact others. God had placed them strategically. Thessalonica was on the road that was called the Ignatian Way. It was one of the roads to Rome. A lot of people came through there. And God had put them in that place so that they could have a maximum impact for him to everybody that came through. I've only been here for a few hours, but I've already heard some of you have been to Germany. Some have been to other places. It's only a few steps over the border into Canada. I'm sure that some of you go over there. And God has plans and purposes for your life, and one of them includes, you know the Gospel, and where I send you, take it with you. Share it with the people you run into, so that it can impact their lives like it impacted yours. Let God's Word enter your life and impact you, mold and form you, change you. Look for examples that you can follow. Imitate other believers who have successfully allowed God's Word to work in their lives. Be an example. Leave an impact on the lives of those people who God leads your way every day. and let God's Word sound forth from your life. People are great at making things too complicated. You can go to evangelism seminars. You can go to evangelistic schools. You can go to Bible college, seminary, all of those places, and they aren't bad. But in three weeks' time, God's Word had done a work in the hearts of one little church in Thessalonica. And what God did in the hearts of those people impacted all of Macedonia, all of Achaia, and many other places. They didn't need a special education. They just needed God's Word to work in their hearts. and then to share what God had done for them. And it worked. And Paul wrote down a permanent testimony that a little church like this can have an impact that goes way beyond what you even think possible. It all starts by you letting God's Word enter your heart. change your life so that you're worth being imitated and then echoing to others what God has done for you. Let's pray together. Lord, I thank you that you have written down in your word things that sometimes seem too difficult for us to accomplish. But you've written them and made it clear to us it's really quite simple. I pray, Lord, that you would help us, that we would let down our guards, allow your word to impact our lives, that we would be believers who are worth imitating, on whose lives the truth can be seen. And that we would take what you've done in our lives and share it with others that they too might be changed into your image. In Jesus' name, Amen. Do you have something worth imitating? If you are satisfied with the changes that Christ has made in your life, then it's easy to reflect that and show others. If you're not, and you are not content, then you're not a satisfied customer, and you're not going to freely proclaim or tell others. So, you need to look at why is it you're not imitating Christ? Why is it that you haven't found satisfaction and contentment? Maybe it's because you're not even saved. You're not even a born-again believer. The Bible says that once somebody's saved, that God, He which hath begun a good work in you, shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. That's a promise that once He brings you to salvation, He's continually chipping away and bringing you more into His image. If that's not going on in your life, then maybe you need to consider whether you truly put saving faith in Christ. Or if it was just some magical prayer you said, really have not experienced change. You should be able to look back and see that transformation. As Joel has referenced here in the scriptures, it should be the desire of all of us to be like Christ. So let's stand and sing 375, O to be like thee. We're going to do this a cappella, so I need your help, okay?