The widow of a
wealthy but wicked man wished to have an imposing
funeral for her departed husband. She engaged the
services of a famous minister who lived a great
distance from her home. After the service he asked,
"Why did you engage me to speak, when the
ministers in your city knew your husband?"
"That's why," she answered. "They knew
him too well." But those who knew the Christians
at Thessalonica spoke highly of them. Everybody was
talking about their remarkable faith.
Let's listen
to the trumpets. It's written in 1st
Thessalonians 1:8, "From you sounded out the
word of the Lord...in every place your faith to
God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to
speak any thing." That church didn't need a
public relations man or a press agent. They didn't
need shows or suppers. They had a thrilling
testimony, and from them sounded out the word of the
Lord. The expression "sounded out" refers
to the sounding of a trumpet. So a minister of
yesteryears called them "God's Trumpets."
That was a church with a great reputation. For what?
Building buildings...selling
subscriptions...attracting audiences...making money?
Oh, no. You can do that without the Spirit and the
Scriptures. They were growing in grace and leading
the lost to the Lord. "If our people aren't
turning to God from idols," said Dr. Vance
Havner, "serving the living and true God, and
waiting for His Son from heaven, then we're not
sounding God's trumpet; we're merely blowing our own
horn." It's not merely bigger congregations we
need, but better Christians who'll sound out the word
of the Lord by lip and by life at home, at work and
at play.
Let's look at
the turning. It's written in 1st
Thessalonians 1:9, "Ye turned to God from
idols." There are some who turn from idols, and
they stop there. They don't turn to God. That's not
good. That's not conversion. They're just reformed
sinners, not regenerated saints. True conversion is
turning to God, and that involves the abandonment of
idols. And idolatry isn't confined to heathens across
the sea. There are more idols in America than any
other spot on earth. Have you turned to God from
idols? During the Indian mutiny an English child was
playing with her nurse. Seeing their danger, a brave
soldier ran out of the gate, got hold of the child,
and ran back to safety. He saved that little one and
the nurse at the risk of his life. The little girl
was asked to kiss the man that saved her life, but
she cried, "No! He took me away from my
flowers." She didn't understand that was the
only means of saving her life. Sometimes the Lord has
to take us away from the things we crave that He may
save us.
"How
sovereign, wonderful and free, has been His love to
sinful me!
He plucked me
from the jaws of hell; my Jesus hath done all things
well."
Let's look at
the toiling. Said the apostle Paul, "Ye turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true
God!" They got saved, and then they served. The
step they took to the Lord became a walk with the
Lord. If you're a Christian, Christ means for you to
be in full-time Christian service, living for Him
every hour of the day and every day of the year. The
clear trumpet call that will glorify God isn't merely
how you serve the Lord at church on Sunday, but how
you serve the Lord away from the church on Monday
through Saturday. On being asked, "What occupies
you?" a Christian answered, "I occupy
myself in obedience and being ready for the coming of
my Lord. And in the meantime I work in the local
shirt factory." My friend, be ready for His
coming, and be occupied.
Let's look at
the tarrying. It's seen in the expression, "to
wait for His Son from heaven." We wait, not as
criminals for the coming of their judge, but as
Christians for the coming of our Jesus. And we
"wait for the Lord more than they that watch for
the morning." A little girl was taking her first
train ride with her family. When they came out of the
tunnel she said to her mother, "O mamma, mamma,
it's tomorrow." This night of darkness and
distress, of tears and trials, of sin and sorrow will
soon pass away, for Christ is coming, and it will be
God's tomorrow.
"God's
tomorrow, God's tomorrow, every cloud will pass away
at the dawning of that day;
God's tomorrow, no more sorrow; for
I know that God's tomorrow will be brighter than
today."
copyright 2000 Guido Evangelistic
Association
All Scripture verses are
quoted from the New King James Version.
Click here to go
to the next message in this Sower Scripture Study on
the book of First Thessalonians.
This series of messages on the
books of the Bible were originally written for
broadcast on Dr. Guido's radio program, "The
Sower." They are collected and reprinted here
for your enjoyment and spiritual edification.
