Insights from Northside Baptist Church Lecture

All right, good morning. Welcome to Northside Baptist Church. Thank you so much for being here today. We're going to get started, so go ahead and take your hymnals and stand. Turn to number 494. 494, it's just like His great love. A friend I have called Jesus, whose love is strong and true, And never fails howe'er tis tried, no matter what I do. I've sinned against this love of His, but when I knelt to pray, confessing all my guilt to Him, the sin clouds rolled away. It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day. us all along the way. It's just like his great love. Sometimes the clouds of trouble be dim the sky above. I cannot see my Savior's face. I doubt His wondrous love. But He from heaven's mercy seat, Beholding my despair, In pity burst the cloud. between and shows me he is there it's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away it's just like Jesus to keep me day by day it's just like Jesus all along the way it's just like his great love and on the last oh I could sit Sing forever of Jesus'love divine, Of all his care and tenderness for this poor life of mine. His love is in and over all, and wind and waves obey. When Jesus whispers, peace be still, and rolls the clouds away, it's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus all along the way. It's just like his great love. Amen. Praise the Lord for his love. Brother Ron, if you could open us with a word of prayer. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. All right. Good morning, everybody. Good to see you on a beautiful Sunday in the house of the Lord where we have the spiritual sunshine. Yes, it's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. Amen. Always sunny in the presence of the sun shining Savior. I tell you what, I had some gloomy days in the past, but as soon as I start singing a hymn or reading my Bible, it's just like Jesus to suddenly change my mood. Aren't you so glad He's not fickle? We may be changeable, but He is the unchanging God. And so this service will be the Lord doing what He does every day, but multiplied many times over. This is His favorite day, His day. We call it the Lord's Day. I believe it says that every single time we have a bulletin. The Lord's Day. And so what does He do? He makes it the best day of the week. That's what he does. And so, thank you for coming, and we do welcome our viewing audience, whoever you are, wherever you are, that you could tune in with us today. Well, let's dive into the bulletin here. got some very important things to talk about. First of all, we do need to mention that our 530 prayer class will conclude a series that we began three weeks ago, and this again is on prayer. answered prayers for revival. Oh my goodness, we've heard some of those amazing stories about people, even sometimes one person, praying and God answering with revival. So we've got one of the greatest revivals that ever happened on American soil. It happened in Virginia in 1973. I don't know if you know about it, but it's gone into the Christian history books. David will share that with you at 530 don't miss it and then when you hear it say God do it again in North Glen Colorado and then also we have Pastor Nathan preaching for us tonight continuing our theme which is believe it or not it'll be over before you know it so don't get don't miss any of these messages get the cds if you need to or watch the archived live stream if you can't be here now we are showing our very last video presentation by Jeremy Walker. Again, this is on revival, the work of God. I'm so excited about this final presentation. One of my favorite revivals will be discussed, the Hebrides revival. I hope you'll be here to hear about it and see some of the old photographs and actually kind of take a virtual tour of that area. It's going to be a really nice way to conclude, and I hope you'll be here for it. And now, with these four... historical videos on revival I invite you to come back on Sunday night September the 1st make all effort to be here because I want to start phase 2 of our revival and so what we're going to do we are actually going to look at a sermon delivered by the late Jerry Falwell pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and if you put two and two together you get an idea that that what David's going to be talking about at 530 is connected with this sermon. You'd be right. This is one of the greatest sermons on revival, so great that God used it to start a revival at Thomas Road Baptist Church. He laid out the guidelines. He laid out the rules that God follows to give a revival. I enjoyed it so much, I want to follow the same rules, the same line of thought that Jerry Fawkes has. Falwell followed. So we're going to show that. This is out of their own archive and is not available on YouTube. So I was able to grab a copy and I want you to see it. A very historic sermon that changed a church and a town forever. What an incredible story this is. So get some of the information at 530, but get the message behind the movement on that Sunday night. We'll draw inspiration for our our very next steps in seeking our own revival. Now, if you don't show up, you don't really care. You don't really care if we have revival or not. If you can't come, then I understand that. If you can come, then I want you to be here and be part of the roll call of revival at our church. So that's going to be so exciting. I can't wait to share this with you. And we are so happy to announce that that kids club was such a wonderful experience for Elena and her workers that she is going to do it again. Amen. So we're going to have the kids club, kids Bible club starting up again, uh, ages five to 12 on Wednesday evenings, beginning in September. So the first meeting will be held on Wednesday, September the 4th and Elena Nicholson and Elizabeth McGee can answer any of your questions. Now we have an opportunity to get neighborhood kids in maybe a kids, uh, your grandkids, for example, that. that don't go anywhere on Wednesday night because maybe they don't have church at their place, but we'll have it and it'll be an opportunity for them to learn the Bible and excite kids for what hopefully will turn into a lasting character. We need the next generation and these little Bible studies for kids and programs for kids, it's about our future because they'll take our place someday. So anyway, we hope that you'll do that and be very excited about it. All right. Well, with that all said and done, we've got enough out there for you to think about. We are right now going to have... Another hymn. So everybody get your hymn book in hand and sing like you mean it. Let's all stand. Okay, I did want to announce we're having the Sunday School Rally next week as well. So don't forget to come to Sunday School Rally. It's possible that you usually don't come. Come to Sunday school, but I would encourage you to come to the rally and learn about the classes and what's going on and everything. And with that being said, I do need to have a quick teacher's meeting today after the service too. But please come to the rally next week. It's going to be really great. Okay, put your hymnal back because you've got to get the insert from the bulletin. The insert from the bulletin. This is our hymn of the month. Do you really want revival? All right, I hope that you mean it as you sing it this morning. Do you really want revival? Do you really want God's power? Do you really want His Spirit to control? your life this hour. Oh, repent and turn to Jesus. Seek his face and humbly pray. Do you really want... revival are you willing to obey are you praying for revival are you praying for God's power are you praying for his spirit to control your life this hour oh the Lord is ever faithful He will hear us when we pray Are you praying for revival? Are you willing to obey? And last, yes, I really want revival Yes, I really want God's power And I really want His Spirit To control me control my life this hour. Oh, I'm looking now to Jesus. I will seek his face and pray, for I really want revival. I am willing to obey. Amen. Praise the Lord. Good singing. You may be seated. Oh, I hope that song gets stuck in our mind, don't you? Let it play over and over again as it leads your heart to want revival. Men, come on down, let's prepare to take the Lord's offering today. As we have been doing for the last few weeks, we want to share a verse of Scripture with you and make an application. This is a very familiar verse to most of you. It's Proverbs 29, 18. Here's what it says, Proverbs 29, 18. Where there is no vision, the people perish. But he that keepeth the law, happy is he. You know something? That word vision there is actually directly in reference to the gift of the word. Because we know it's the word because of the word law that comes in the second half of the verse. But also, as a secondary application, it is a glimpse into your future. And into the future of people that you affect or influence. So first you get the word. Word of God which really tells you what your life will be like the moment you start to obey the law. The moment you make up your mind to obey God's law, in that very moment, your life is blessed. God doesn't wait. He secretly goes right to work. Oh, how exciting that is. But remember, it's also a glimpse. If you believe what the Bible says in the area of giving, you know that everything it says about a faithful giver, a generous giver, you know that's a picture of you. Amen? And if you don't do what God's law says, and you violate all the stewardship principles of the Bible, well, then what that picture paints, that's you. That's you. in the future. It may not be tomorrow or next month or next year, but it's you. It is the deconstruction of your life. I tell you what, think about those who will not be helped if we aren't faithful to God's Word. Think about it. You think, well... I don't influence anybody. Oh, yes, you do. You influence your neighbors, you influence your family, your circle of friends. We all influence people. They will perish. You may be the only person that can reach them with the Word of God. Your life may be... the only Bible they ever see. And so we must be faithful. So right now, as we take this offering, just be faithful. Remember, your life is changing for the better or for the worse. The Bible is a... book of prophecy it actually has the prophecy of your own life those principles will come true so let's think about that as we give let's don't just think oh it doesn't really matter I'll do it later aren't you glad God doesn't put you off till later be faithful every time you show up let's pray now dear Lord we do believe that where people don't have a vision they begin falling apart becoming dysfunctional literally perishing their dreams die their health dies all these things start dying a little at a time their life becomes totally destroyed We know, Lord, that we have the abundant life of Jesus Christ. We're so glad, Lord, that we can begin to obey and actually make it a habit. Once we learn it, we live it. our habit learn it live it and then we love it so help us Lord to save ourselves and save those who are affected by our decisions may even today souls be saved around the world as well as right here at home that they would not perish in their sins because we support your work and may our own lives benefit as well to this end Lord we we take this offering why else should we even do it we do for our own improvement and for the salvation of the lost. To this end we dedicate it, that Christ may get all the glory. For this we pray in Jesus'name, amen. Good morning. Go ahead and open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And while you're turning there, we'll mention here, if you're on the prayer line, you already know, but Loretta Petty's friend Kathy is in the hospital. She's put there because of a car accident, but also she's got pneumonia. and some other things going on there. So we want to pray for her. Now the word is lately that she's doing some better, but they still need to get this cleared up before they can release her to physical rehab. rehab for the car accidents. So it's kind of just seems like sometimes when it rains, it pours, you know. But we've got a great God, don't we? And in a time of uncertainty in just about every way imaginable, we always know that he's in charge. As a matter of fact, we from a human perspective would look around and we'd look at the world and say, well, the world's falling apart. And then we can look at our Bible and say, no, it's really falling. together coming together exactly as he said that it would all right if you have found first Thessalonians chapter number four would you say amen that sounds like a lot of people maybe the majority go ahead if you're able this morning and stand for the reading of God's word as we start off in verse number nine it says but as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another and indeed you do it toward all the brethren which are in in all Macedonia, but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more, and that ye study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the text this morning from which our pastor will preach. Lord, we thank you for just the privilege that we have to come here. We want to be careful that we don't let a Sunday go by without... just telling you that we're thankful even for the place that we have Lord and I don't think sometimes even that can seem a bit cliche but Lord we know it sometimes if we're not thankful you take away those blessings and we realize how good we really had it and so Lord we want to make sure that we we tell you thank you you did not have to give us the things that you've given to us but you have blessed each and every one of us here We have been blessed with salvation. We have been blessed with having our needs met. Lord, thank you for that. And, Lord, we just pray now as we lift up Kathy. Lord, I pray that you would just help her to get over this pneumonia. There's, I believe, also a UTI there, some things going on. And, Lord, we just pray that you'd help the doctors to get that under control so that she can be helped with getting over this car accident. Lord, we know that sometimes we have a multitude of trials come into our life, seems like all at once, but just by cutting off our resources, cutting off our abilities, our capacities, we are made to depend more wholly on you. And we just pray that she might be a good testimony and a witness there. Lord, if Loretta can be a good witness and a testimony, we pray that for her as well. Lord, to the people who are there in the hospital. Now, Father, we do pray for our nation. It's a time of great turmoil. And, Lord, we pray just not only here but even on the world scene. And we just pray that you would preserve us, that you would give our leadership the wisdom that they need at every level, whether it's the city level, the county level, the state level, or the federal level. Father, we pray for wisdom, your wisdom now, not man's wisdom, but your wisdom. And whether they know that it's coming from you or not, whether they even want to do that, is wise or not. Lord, I pray that you would force the circumstances so that wisdom would prevail. Lord, we know that there's nothing. The most pagan kings in world history have in the past, even in scripture, acknowledged godly wisdom when they hear it. And I pray there'd be somebody speaking truth at every level. Lord, we just want to pray right now for the churches in America. I've sure enjoyed this series on Wednesday. Wednesday night's about revival, and our prayer class focus on revival. And, Father, we need that. We need revival. But I pray that you'd send that to each and every person here. Lord, you could start with me. That'd be just fine because revival fire spreads. And it just takes one person. You could start with anybody in here and just have it spread. Lord, we thank you for that. We thank you for that great example we have of your power in the Hebrew. Hebrides revival, one of my favorites. And, Lord, that was not started by great preaching. It was started by great prayer. Lord, I pray that we might have some prayer that is answered in a matter like they had it answered then. And, Lord, I pray that we would see that very, very soon, very, very soon. Lord, your people right now are walking through a dry and thirsty land where no water is. And, Lord, we need that refreshing that comes from you. from you. Be with our pastor as he comes to preach momentarily, and we'll thank you for all these things in Jesus'name. Amen. All right, take your hymnals, turn to number 326. 326, more about Jesus. More about Jesus would I know, more of his grace would I know. Praise to others show, more of his saving fullness see, more of his love who died for me, more, more. More about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of his saving fullness see. More of his love. who died for me. More about Jesus let me learn. More of his holy will discern. Spirit of the Lord, of God my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me. More, more about Jesus, more about Jesus, more of his saving fullness see, more of his love who died. And on last, more about Jesus on his throne, riches and glory all his own, more of his kingdom sure increase, more of his coming Prince of Peace, more, more. More about Jesus, more, more about Jesus, more of his saving fullness see, more of his love see. Love who died for me. Amen. Good singing. You may be seated. And this morning we've got something very special, a mother-son duet. So at this time we're going to have Holly and Teddy Armstrong sing a duet together. Amen. I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing seas abroad and built the... lofty skies. I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day. The moon shines full at his command, and all the stars obey. I sing the goodness of the Lord that filled the earth with food. He formed the creatures with his word and then pronounced them good. Lord, how my wonders are displayed, where'er I turn my eye, if I survey the ground I tread, or gaze at the sky, or gaze at the moon, or gaze at the stars, or gaze at the moon, or gaze at the stars, or gaze at the moon, or gaze at the stars, or gaze at the moon, or gaze at the stars, upon the sky. There's not a plant or flower below, but makes thy glories known, and clouds arise from the sky. Rise and tempest blow by order from thy throne. While all that borrows life from thee is ever in thy care. And everywhere that man can be, thou God art present there. Well, that was mighty fine. I hope they sing some more. You know, they're all in the same house so they can get together and practice a lot easier. Amen. And what a song. God is everywhere in nature. Everywhere in our lives. So don't ever say where is God? Everywhere. He's working. I'm glad we can't see him. Because we'd all drop dead of a heart attack. So he just works incognito. All right. I am so excited about this message. It's called the workers element. Go right back if you would please. To first Thessalonians. First Thessalonians. And you're probably there by now, so we shall have a quick word of prayer together. Let's pray. Lord, as we get underway, we do pray that you sanctify the word to our hearts. It does no good just to let it go in one ear and out the other. We're not here, dear Father, to just... say, I came to church today. We are here, dear Father, to meet with you today, to have you speak to our hearts today. So I pray that you'll come through loud and clear, and we'll thank you for it in Jesus'name. Amen. The church at Thessalonica was experiencing rapid spiritual growth. Paul was encouraged by the reports that he was getting from his assistants who were Paul's eyes and ears on the ground. This newly planted church was made up of both Jews who were saved out of the local synagogue as well as Gentiles who were thoroughly pagan in background many of them undoubtedly saved out of the idolatrous shrines with all of their evil that went on inside those rooms. Nonetheless, we see this now, new community made up of Jew and Gentile in the city of Thessalonica. So one group was raised on powerless religious rituals, and the other on pagan, idolatrous fairy tales. Now you'd be thinking, man, it's evil. easy to see how the Lord is able to unify people because nothing is borrowed from those backgrounds. Everything is from the Word of God. One Lord from one book, which gives us one faith and one mind, and that's what God was doing in this little church. The Word of God was transforming them at an astonishing rate of speed, and Paul knew exactly why this was happening. See it for yourself in chapter 2, verse 13 of 1 Thessalonians. Chapter 2, verse 13 says, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Notice those two words, effectually worketh. Underline that in your Bible. Effectually worketh. It's one word in the Greek, energeo. from which we get the English word, you guessed it, energy. Energy. The prefix N means within, and then also the ergon, the root word of ergeo used here, means work. Work. So the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to work inside of us. And that is the only way he likes to work. And so we know that how else are we going to recognize his work if we don't look at the Bible enough to know that, oh, that's the hand of God. Oh, that's the ways of God. Yeah, we don't even know what God's up to. We don't read our Bibles. So God works in us according to... the principles he lays down in his word. So in this sense, church is God's favorite workshop. He can work on you anywhere, but church is his favorite workshop and we become His workmanship. That is our theme verse. Ephesians chapter 2 verse number 10 says, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So we are His workmanship, and pardon my English, God don't make no junk. If your life is junked up, God had nothing to do with it. For we are His workmanship. We bear the seal of His excellence. God don't make no junk. And so, what an incredible statement is found in Ephesians 2.10. And of course, we're not fancy what-nots. We're just not somebody that the Lord makes a work of art and puts on a shelf. We just do nothing but collect dust. No, we were created unto good works. We are made to be tools. We are God's tools to do His work. Oh, I appreciate that thought too. So, this is very important. If you want to be defined by mediocrity and turn your character into junk, then just receive the word of men. Go ahead and read the self-help books from men who don't know God, don't have any faith in God. All of their ideas are man-made ideas, worldly ideas. Well, guess what? You think it's revolutionizing your life. Not really. Not really. You may get successful, but then you'll come to the end of your life and say, Oh, it's all going to end now. And we get all sad. There are a lot of success gurus who have died crying because they realize, is this all there is? It's over now? And so just be aware of this, that receive the word of men and your prospects are degraded to junk status. Or you could do it this way, as 1 Thessalonians 2.13 says, you could receive the Word of God as if it were just the Word of men. Think about that. So how you receive the Word of God will determine how much it's going to work in your life. That's interesting to me. As is your faith, so shall it be unto you. God will not use His Word to change your life if you don't believe it. And so as is your faith, so shall it be unto you. But be warned, if you have a junky life from junky listening, you only do junky labor. You know, just remember that sometimes our listening is pretty cheap, pretty shallow, pretty junky. It's all cluttered with other thoughts running through our minds. You've got to clear your mind so you can let your ears be the portals for God's Word. So don't let junky listening do that to you. But if you're an excellent listener, you will have an excellent life. And you will do excellent labor. Isn't it interesting? No wonder Jesus said to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. It all starts with listening in the house of God. and so may we be excellent listeners. Now the city of Thessalonica was a moral junkyard. And so it might have been a large prosperous city because it was on a port. They had ships docking there, unloading and reloading, and everything was seemingly going great as the economy was booming. But as you began to go through the town, look around, you would see that there were plenty of morally bankrupt and morally broken lives strewn all over the town. Yet right in the middle of this moral junkyard was a dynamic little church defined by excellence and excitement. God was working in the lives of these recent converts, producing virtues that before only had vices. If you can count more vices than virtues, then my friend, you're not letting God work. on you. The longer you live and obey God's holy word, the more virtues you get and the less vices. In fact, they always are going opposite of each other. And one of the greatest virtues that God produces is love. In fact, there are three huge, important, pivotal virtues. Love, faith, hope. These are the three defining virtues of this promising church. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1.3. Just flip back a little bit. Paul opens the epistle by paying tribute to these three virtues in chapter 1, verse 3. Remembering without ceasing... your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. Notice how faith and love are the two work-oriented virtues. And notice how hope is the weight-oriented one. Isn't that interesting? I guess we know that Titus 2.13, Paul throws light on his own teaching, but you know what Titus 2.13 says, looking for that blessed hope. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. So we are waiting for the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ when he's going to settle all accounts. Don't forget, a lot of people say, oh, I can't wait for Jesus to come. I wish he would come today, and they're doing nothing. They're not serving the Lord. Well, guess what? When we go up in the rapture, we're going to be standing before him, giving account for our lives. And all your work is going to be laid out in front of the eyes of everybody. So don't be so hasty. Maybe you should say, wait just a minute, Lord, until I can get my work started. Yeah, we want to be caught working, not playing. Working, not sleeping. Working, not dawdling. And so we see that hope has its place. But while we are waiting for Jesus, we should be busy working for Jesus, and the virtues of faith and love will be needed, or no work will get done. You won't work for very long without faith and love. Remember what Paul said in Galatians 5, 6? He said, faith worketh by love. Faith worketh by love. But of the two, love is still the greatest, which Paul de facto declares in 1 Corinthians 13, 13. Remember this verse, how he ends that poem of love? He says, and now abideth faith, hope, charity. That's love. These three, but the greatest of these is charity. So love is the most excellent of spiritual virtues that is part of God's workmanship. And as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 1, 3, everything we do is a labor of love. It's a labor of love over just building our ego. No, it's a labor of love. Then in chapter 4, verses 9 and 10, we are to love one another. Our little circle, your family, your church. Then we are to love one another. to love all the brethren now that's a larger circle and finally we're to keep making that love larger so that he says you need to see it increase more and more yes ever-increasing love for ever-increasing labor You know, honestly, you know what's going to make this church grow faster than it is growing right now? Where all of us are increasing our love so we can increase our labor. We don't need more people sitting in this room. We need the people we got loving more and laboring more. That's what we really need. And then we'll reach more. Obviously, love is not only an excellent standard that defines us, but it is also the very element we swim in. The remainder of my time, I want to drive home this one truth that love is the only environment in which labor can exist. Without love, we don't really have any ability to serve. Let's look at it like this. What water is to a fish, love is to a Christian. Write that down. Don't ever forget it. Think about it every day. Hear it again. What water is to a fish, love is to a Christian. Think about that till you really believe it. Fish are vertebrates, backbone aquatic animals that live in water. There are more kinds of fish than all other kinds of vertebrates in land and water combined. That's a lot of fish out there. Fish have such amazing variety that it is hard to believe that they all belong to the same species. The shape, color, size is staggering. We really don't know what the total size is. is because even now we're still finding more kinds of fish. For example some fish look like lumpy rocks and others like wiggly worms. Some are as flat as pancakes and others can blow themselves up like balloons. They can be all the colors of the rainbow and come in all kinds of patterns from stripes to polka dots. in literally hundreds of variations. Fish can be large or small, pretty or ugly, harmless or dangerous, but they all have one thing in common, and you know what it is. They all... need water to survive. Oh, it could be the near frozen waters of the Arctic or the steaming waters of a tropical jungle or the quiet underground rivers or raging mountain streams, but they all still need H2O. They all still need the element of water and they can live almost anywhere where water is found. Fish cannot long survive though without water. It is their indispensable element for all life and activity. That's why I say, what water is to the fish, love is to the Christian. Christians like fish come in all shapes and sizes. There's a variety of personality, uniqueness, gifts, experience that reveals God's amazing variety of believers in the world today. But all believers everywhere have this one thing in common. They need love as their one element to swim in. If you're not serving the Lord, you're a dead fish washed up on the beach. You can't live on the sand. And so we understand that if we don't stay in the element of love, then we just die. And of course, it does help to have more water, but also cleaner water. Fish that get in dirty, toxic water will die, maybe slower than if they were washed up on the beach. But we need lots of love, and we need unpolluted love. We need agape love, not eros love necessarily. not even phileo love we need agape love that's god's love amen paul prays in first thessalonians that we would have brotherly love that's our essential element and god says let it swell into an ocean Notice chapter 3, verse number 12. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. Wow. So if you only have the immediate family that you love, you're swimming around in a tiny little pond. And if you only love those in your church, well, I guess that's a lake. Pretty good. But why stop there? Paul says we need to love all men, and that's the true measure of our love. We should love everybody. We should love them for Jesus. Oh, my friend, I believe this is what's missing in most churches today, is they have aquarium-sized love. No, we need worldwide love. So Paul brings this element to the forefront again in chapter 4, verses 9 and 10, where David read a minute ago. Look at verses 9 and 10 of 1 Thessalonians 4. Here's what it says, But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. Notice that Paul likes brotherly love to be a universal trait of all Christians. All Christians. No exemptions. No exceptions. God will develop this love in all his children. And notice verse 9. human teachers. Now, I'm speaking about the love of God right now, but you know what? If I don't teach enough on it, then God says, well, I'll teach them, and God will do it, because that's exactly what the verse said. He says, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. You know, honestly, I believe this is the first thing God teaches us, because when we got saved, we were taught the love of God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's the first thing we learned, the love of Jesus. The father who sent his son. Oh, what a wonderful thing. So honestly, this is the first thing that God teaches and never stops teaching. After all, love is God's greatest attribute along with his holiness. And if you don't learn it, you're a misfit. You can't even do anything right. Imagine in your mind a mother who has never... learned mothering. A father who has never learned fathering. He's a misfit in the home. You know, you can't run a home without love. You can't run a church without love. You can't run a business without love. And so it makes everybody to be awkward misfits who don't really know how to make things happen. You know, it's interesting. Paul says in 4.10, the same thing he said in 3.12, and so we see that he said you know it's great that you've reached this level of love but you know what you need more you've been stuck on this level for a real long time you look stuck you think stuck you live stuck so Again, it's ready to go up to the next, get off that plateau you're on and get a little bit more love. You know, in times of severe drought, landlocked bodies of water dry up. Don and I went for a walk to one of our favorite park areas where there's a creek that runs right along the sidewalk. Well, it's been rather hot. We took our last walk there. There was no water in that creek. It had all dried up. It was a dried out riverbed. And you know something, when rivers dry up, if you look closely, you'll see dead fish rotting at the bottom of that river. And so how sad that is. Without frequent showers of blessing, as Peter called it in Acts 3.19, the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Guess what? We don't get those, our love dries up. And then, everything begins to die. First our love for the Lord dries up, then our love for each other dries up, and then our love for the lost dries up, and then we shrivel up. The only thing that keeps us young, the only thing that keeps us healthy, the only thing that keeps us sane, the only thing that keeps us productive is love. Love. If you don't have love, death is not far behind. Your relationships will die. Your dreams will die. Your church will die. In fact, all your work will die. You'll just be the walking dead if you have a loveless heart. Every day, tell the Lord, Lord, let this be a day of rain. Every day we need the forecast to be rain. I know we've been getting kind of tired of it. It's really funny how we get all this rain as we have the monsoon flow coming up to Colorado, and then we say, man, I wish the sun would come out. And then the sun comes out and we have no rain. We go from one extreme to the other. But it is good that we get those gentle showers and say, God, every day give me a gentle shower. Let there be some forecast of rain. Just enough for me to grow and live and... work but the truth is we never seem to get enough. An anthropologist once asked a Hoppy Indian why so many of his people's songs were about rain. The Indian replied that it was because water is so scarce. Then the Indian asked the white man this question, Is that why so many of your songs are about love? Bullseye. Got him. Yes, the educated, sophisticated, well-to-do white man habitually listens to popular love songs because truthfully he's dying to experience true love. That's so true. love or a fish out of water we flop around we flop over here we flop over there we're flopping around until time runs out and we die if we don't find authentic unconditional love in time death will overtake us us aren't you glad you found love oh hallelujah there are many areas where death strikes us relationships without love again die as do dreams as does work and even get this get this do you know the bible teaches that without love hope will die hope will die have you ever seen this verse in romans 5 5 take a look at romans 5 5 where paul connects the two together he said and hope you Hope maketh not ashamed. That is, hope doesn't look like it's alive, but it's more dead than alive because it's so frustrated and everything it hopes in is futile. But notice why this is happening. Because you don't have this. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. If you don't have the Holy Ghost spreading love around in your heart, then that's what happens to your hope. So shed the love of God. shed abroad Paul says there's plenty to go around after all God's infinite love is boundless just like him oh the boundless love of God there's plenty for me plenty for you plenty for the whole wide world so this is larger than an ocean larger than a galaxy of oceans oh the love of God and it's ours to swim in hallelujah now it is important to remember that this love of God and you for the brethren and for humanity that was something new in this little church. Do you think they really knew this kind of love before they got saved? No. This is a new element for them. There were the same old associations in the same old surroundings, but these believers were in a totally new and refreshing element. Love changed everything. and get into a church where they are loved, and where God loves them back, they don't want to leave. The ancient world, in reality, is always selfish, mean, and hateful. That's what they swim in. I think you're swimming with the sharks then. So in that melting pot city, they were always simmering with lust. The warring nationalities and hostile classes, they wore this mask of love, but they had no heart of love. But this church became an astonishing wonder. Because they even had their stuff taken from them, and they still loved those who took it. Paul talked about how this church was willing to suffer for Jesus. So they were an astonishing wonder. And then when you saw that church inside, wherever they met in someone's home, you saw rich and poor, educated and uneducated, strong and weak, highborn and lowborn, had all these distinctions transcended by love. And so when they prayed together and sang together and studied together, nobody was like saying, hey, you little peon, look at me. You listen to me. Nobody was saying, I get to sit here. You sit back there. There was none of this jockeying for position going on. And then the outside world started noticing all that love that they had for the Lord and for each other. And then was fulfilled John 13, 35. Jesus said this would happen. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. Yep. And I trust that this church has already fulfilled that. And where this love is allowed to enter, transformations follow. God's love always changes your life for the better. And it will do it in the most unlikely places, at the most unlikely time. I'm going to give you one actual historical... proof of what God's love can do. Something so remarkable, it happened in the year 2000 in a Mississippi public high school that it was eventually reported in the June 5th edition. of Time magazine. Now you know that Time magazine is no friend to Christianity, but this was so extraordinary that they could not ignore it. It was reported by staff writer David Van Bema and it was entitled, The Day God Took Over. The article reported that on April 12th of that year, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at Pearl River Central High School in Carrier, Mississippi. They held a recruitment assembly scheduled to run 90 minutes long. Now when they called the assembly, 450 of the school's 670 students showed up. And guess how long this meeting lasted? Way longer than they intended. It went five hours. What happened was truly amazing. The meeting turned into a full... school-blown, school-wide revival. The last place you would think a revival would happen. Listen to this. Here's exactly how it happened. Brandon Smith decided that he would start the meeting by portraying Jesus in a rather amateurish way being crucified. He said, you know what, we're Christian athletes. Before we do all the recruitment stuff, let's go ahead and do a little picture of the gospel. Now he commented later, it was me in an ugly brown robe. Not too professional. But as he began to do this, he saw that God was taking over. God used it to melt the hearts of most of those students. In almost no time, tears started streaming down the cheeks of these students. Smith's classmates were lining up on stage to get the microphone and one after another they were praising God and confessing sins ranging from premarital sex to attempted suicide then the students started hugging each other singing songs and testifying of God's love that had captured their hearts Can you believe that? From this unprofessional performance of a crucifixion. The principal, Lolita Lee, was caught off guard by this response. She got up and tried to explain that no one had to stay if they didn't want to. So she waited, and nobody left. Nobody left. She knew that the civil libertarians and atheist activists would soon descend on that school, and they did. She almost lost her job. Yet she herself was so caught up in that spiritual moment that she got up and took the microphone, and she herself says, I'm a born-again Christian too! And she outed herself. Look what happened when the love of God, dramatically though unprofessionally, was portrayed to these students. They were in a school where all they knew was lust, greed, atheism, and hatred. and it was drowning their hearts. Then this little reenactment, which took place 2,000 years ago, of Jesus dying on a hill called Calvary, made them aware Jesus was alive. really does love us. Jesus really does love us. And memories came back, maybe of going to Sunday school or having some family members share what Jesus did on Calvary's cross. And it hit them like a locomotive. And then we see that that love that was portrayed became a raging river sweeping through the entire school. And this is interesting. That school was immediately transformed. It was a better place to go to school. For a long time, there were no problems. The love of God made them show up on time, do their assignments, study for their tests. Man, what a sight that must have been. As we close. I just want to ask you, are you swimming in the love of God? Or you feel like that dying fish out of the water? Think again of Romans 5, 8. But God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Paul said that God offers us His love through His Son. He commended Him. He says, can you find anything wrong with Him? I commend Him for living a perfect life. Don't you see that He died in your place? I commend Him to you as your Savior. Even while you're swimming in what sinners swim in, you're swimming in your sin, you're swimming in a sin. cesspool. You're swimming in your self-love and your sin-love, but not in the Savior-love who models selfless love. You can dive in right now. You can experience the love of the Savior. to receive this love you must receive him and that's what's taught in john 1 12 john 1 12 says but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name that's when you take the plunge and you find yourself swimming in the love of god you know looking at something is not the same as living in it there could be somebody in this room that all you you do is that you just look at the Savior, but you have never made the decision to live in what he did for you. You know, reflecting on Jesus'love is not the same thing as receiving his love. Isn't that something how you can reflect and reflect and reflect yet not necessarily receive? I remember when we used to get milk delivered to our house by a local dairy. The truck would come by. The driver would get out, get our gallon or two of milk, and he would put it on a little box next to our door. But I didn't receive that milk until I opened my front door and brought it in. God has delivered his sweet milk to you today. It's just sitting outside your heart. You have to open the door of your heart and bring it in. I hope you'll do that. There's a difference between availability and appropriation. Christ is always available, but he's not always being appropriated. I hope that you'll do that. That you appropriate him. And when you do. You will be in the one element. That you most need. For time and eternity. You'll be in the love of God. And did not James say. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Because you'll be miserable if you don't, and you won't be effective if you don't. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Yes, keep yourselves in the abundant, unconditional, supernatural love of God. In that love, you will continue to learn about that love. So you have to have love to learn more about that love. You're going to be learning in it, living in it, and laboring in it. Love will bring you back to church at the next time the services are held. Love will enable you to sign up for a job and do something for the Lord. It's just amazing to me that love is the one thing that God says, I'll put up with a lot of other things, but this one thing I won't accept. If you don't have love, I can't use you. You may be educated, very talented, don't care. You don't have love, forget it. So what we're going to do right now, we're just going to let our love lead us. If God's prompted your heart, then just do what your love and your heart says to do. We're going to sing a song called, Lead Me to Calvary. In that story I told you, those kids saw a portrayal of Jesus dying on Mount Calvary. And so, that's what we all need. Did you know I know no place in all the Bible where your love will get cleaned up and fired up than seeing the Lord Jesus dying on Calvary's cross? You know if you do little if you have little love you'll do little labor if you have more love you do more labor Lots of love you lots of labor, and where do we get our love purified? Where do we get our love built up? It's at Calvary That's interesting to me You know the chorus of this song says lest I forget Gethsemane Lest I forget thine agony lest I forget thy love for me Leave me to Calvary. We're not going to Jerusalem today. We're in Northland. But your mind can be there in a nanosecond. And I'm asking you to take the journey in your mind. You kneel before the Lord Jesus who died for you. And you watch what that will do to your heart. Your love will grow. Wow. Let your heart urge you out of your complacency. Let your will be your feet to get you moving. Let your mind be your eyes to see your Savior. If those things aren't true, then you'll just stay where you are. Maybe you can't even kneel down. Well, you can sit down and let everybody know that you're praying. I think love will help us do that. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes.

A friend I have called Jesus, whose love is strong and true, And never fails howe'er tis tried, no matter what I do. I've sinned against this love of His, but when I knelt to pray, confessing all my guilt to Him, the sin clouds rolled away. It's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day. us all along the way.

It's just like his great love. Sometimes the clouds of trouble be dim the sky above. I cannot see my Savior's face.

I doubt His wondrous love. But He from heaven's mercy seat, Beholding my despair, In pity burst the cloud. between and shows me he is there it's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away it's just like Jesus to keep me day by day it's just like Jesus all along the way it's just like his great love and on the last oh I could sit Sing forever of Jesus'love divine, Of all his care and tenderness for this poor life of mine.

His love is in and over all, and wind and waves obey. When Jesus whispers, peace be still, and rolls the clouds away, it's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away. It's just like Jesus to keep me day by day. It's just like Jesus all along the way. It's just like his great love.

Amen. Praise the Lord for his love. Brother Ron, if you could open us with a word of prayer.

Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. All right.

Good morning, everybody. Good to see you on a beautiful Sunday in the house of the Lord where we have the spiritual sunshine. Yes, it's just like Jesus to roll the clouds away.

Amen. Always sunny in the presence of the sun shining Savior. I tell you what, I had some gloomy days in the past, but as soon as I start singing a hymn or reading my Bible, it's just like Jesus to suddenly change my mood.

Aren't you so glad He's not fickle? We may be changeable, but He is the unchanging God. And so this service will be the Lord doing what He does every day, but multiplied many times over. This is His favorite day, His day. We call it the Lord's Day.

I believe it says that every single time we have a bulletin. The Lord's Day. And so what does He do?

He makes it the best day of the week. That's what he does. And so, thank you for coming, and we do welcome our viewing audience, whoever you are, wherever you are, that you could tune in with us today. Well, let's dive into the bulletin here. got some very important things to talk about.

First of all, we do need to mention that our 530 prayer class will conclude a series that we began three weeks ago, and this again is on prayer. answered prayers for revival. Oh my goodness, we've heard some of those amazing stories about people, even sometimes one person, praying and God answering with revival. So we've got one of the greatest revivals that ever happened on American soil. It happened in Virginia in 1973. I don't know if you know about it, but it's gone into the Christian history books.

David will share that with you at 530 don't miss it and then when you hear it say God do it again in North Glen Colorado and then also we have Pastor Nathan preaching for us tonight continuing our theme which is believe it or not it'll be over before you know it so don't get don't miss any of these messages get the cds if you need to or watch the archived live stream if you can't be here now we are showing our very last video presentation by Jeremy Walker. Again, this is on revival, the work of God. I'm so excited about this final presentation.

One of my favorite revivals will be discussed, the Hebrides revival. I hope you'll be here to hear about it and see some of the old photographs and actually kind of take a virtual tour of that area. It's going to be a really nice way to conclude, and I hope you'll be here for it. And now, with these four...

historical videos on revival I invite you to come back on Sunday night September the 1st make all effort to be here because I want to start phase 2 of our revival and so what we're going to do we are actually going to look at a sermon delivered by the late Jerry Falwell pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and if you put two and two together you get an idea that that what David's going to be talking about at 530 is connected with this sermon. You'd be right. This is one of the greatest sermons on revival, so great that God used it to start a revival at Thomas Road Baptist Church. He laid out the guidelines.

He laid out the rules that God follows to give a revival. I enjoyed it so much, I want to follow the same rules, the same line of thought that Jerry Fawkes has. Falwell followed.

So we're going to show that. This is out of their own archive and is not available on YouTube. So I was able to grab a copy and I want you to see it. A very historic sermon that changed a church and a town forever.

What an incredible story this is. So get some of the information at 530, but get the message behind the movement on that Sunday night. We'll draw inspiration for our our very next steps in seeking our own revival. Now, if you don't show up, you don't really care.

You don't really care if we have revival or not. If you can't come, then I understand that. If you can come, then I want you to be here and be part of the roll call of revival at our church.

So that's going to be so exciting. I can't wait to share this with you. And we are so happy to announce that that kids club was such a wonderful experience for Elena and her workers that she is going to do it again.

Amen. So we're going to have the kids club, kids Bible club starting up again, uh, ages five to 12 on Wednesday evenings, beginning in September. So the first meeting will be held on Wednesday, September the 4th and Elena Nicholson and Elizabeth McGee can answer any of your questions. Now we have an opportunity to get neighborhood kids in maybe a kids, uh, your grandkids, for example, that. that don't go anywhere on Wednesday night because maybe they don't have church at their place, but we'll have it and it'll be an opportunity for them to learn the Bible and excite kids for what hopefully will turn into a lasting character.

We need the next generation and these little Bible studies for kids and programs for kids, it's about our future because they'll take our place someday. So anyway, we hope that you'll do that and be very excited about it. All right. Well, with that all said and done, we've got enough out there for you to think about.

We are right now going to have... Another hymn. So everybody get your hymn book in hand and sing like you mean it. Let's all stand. Okay, I did want to announce we're having the Sunday School Rally next week as well.

So don't forget to come to Sunday School Rally. It's possible that you usually don't come. Come to Sunday school, but I would encourage you to come to the rally and learn about the classes and what's going on and everything. And with that being said, I do need to have a quick teacher's meeting today after the service too. But please come to the rally next week.

It's going to be really great. Okay, put your hymnal back because you've got to get the insert from the bulletin. The insert from the bulletin. This is our hymn of the month.

Do you really want revival? All right, I hope that you mean it as you sing it this morning. Do you really want revival?

Do you really want God's power? Do you really want His Spirit to control? your life this hour.

Oh, repent and turn to Jesus. Seek his face and humbly pray. Do you really want...

revival are you willing to obey are you praying for revival are you praying for God's power are you praying for his spirit to control your life this hour oh the Lord is ever faithful He will hear us when we pray Are you praying for revival? Are you willing to obey? And last, yes, I really want revival Yes, I really want God's power And I really want His Spirit To control me control my life this hour.

Oh, I'm looking now to Jesus. I will seek his face and pray, for I really want revival. I am willing to obey. Amen. Praise the Lord.

Good singing. You may be seated. Oh, I hope that song gets stuck in our mind, don't you?

Let it play over and over again as it leads your heart to want revival. Men, come on down, let's prepare to take the Lord's offering today. As we have been doing for the last few weeks, we want to share a verse of Scripture with you and make an application. This is a very familiar verse to most of you.

It's Proverbs 29, 18. Here's what it says, Proverbs 29, 18. Where there is no vision, the people perish. But he that keepeth the law, happy is he. You know something? That word vision there is actually directly in reference to the gift of the word. Because we know it's the word because of the word law that comes in the second half of the verse.

But also, as a secondary application, it is a glimpse into your future. And into the future of people that you affect or influence. So first you get the word.

Word of God which really tells you what your life will be like the moment you start to obey the law. The moment you make up your mind to obey God's law, in that very moment, your life is blessed. God doesn't wait. He secretly goes right to work. Oh, how exciting that is.

But remember, it's also a glimpse. If you believe what the Bible says in the area of giving, you know that everything it says about a faithful giver, a generous giver, you know that's a picture of you. Amen?

And if you don't do what God's law says, and you violate all the stewardship principles of the Bible, well, then what that picture paints, that's you. That's you. in the future. It may not be tomorrow or next month or next year, but it's you. It is the deconstruction of your life.

I tell you what, think about those who will not be helped if we aren't faithful to God's Word. Think about it. You think, well... I don't influence anybody.

Oh, yes, you do. You influence your neighbors, you influence your family, your circle of friends. We all influence people.

They will perish. You may be the only person that can reach them with the Word of God. Your life may be... the only Bible they ever see. And so we must be faithful.

So right now, as we take this offering, just be faithful. Remember, your life is changing for the better or for the worse. The Bible is a...

book of prophecy it actually has the prophecy of your own life those principles will come true so let's think about that as we give let's don't just think oh it doesn't really matter I'll do it later aren't you glad God doesn't put you off till later be faithful every time you show up let's pray now dear Lord we do believe that where people don't have a vision they begin falling apart becoming dysfunctional literally perishing their dreams die their health dies all these things start dying a little at a time their life becomes totally destroyed We know, Lord, that we have the abundant life of Jesus Christ. We're so glad, Lord, that we can begin to obey and actually make it a habit. Once we learn it, we live it. our habit learn it live it and then we love it so help us Lord to save ourselves and save those who are affected by our decisions may even today souls be saved around the world as well as right here at home that they would not perish in their sins because we support your work and may our own lives benefit as well to this end Lord we we take this offering why else should we even do it we do for our own improvement and for the salvation of the lost. To this end we dedicate it, that Christ may get all the glory.

For this we pray in Jesus'name, amen. Good morning. Go ahead and open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians chapter number 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And while you're turning there, we'll mention here, if you're on the prayer line, you already know, but Loretta Petty's friend Kathy is in the hospital. She's put there because of a car accident, but also she's got pneumonia. and some other things going on there.

So we want to pray for her. Now the word is lately that she's doing some better, but they still need to get this cleared up before they can release her to physical rehab. rehab for the car accidents.

So it's kind of just seems like sometimes when it rains, it pours, you know. But we've got a great God, don't we? And in a time of uncertainty in just about every way imaginable, we always know that he's in charge.

As a matter of fact, we from a human perspective would look around and we'd look at the world and say, well, the world's falling apart. And then we can look at our Bible and say, no, it's really falling. together coming together exactly as he said that it would all right if you have found first Thessalonians chapter number four would you say amen that sounds like a lot of people maybe the majority go ahead if you're able this morning and stand for the reading of God's word as we start off in verse number nine it says but as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another and indeed you do it toward all the brethren which are in in all Macedonia, but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more, and that ye study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you.

Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the text this morning from which our pastor will preach.

Lord, we thank you for just the privilege that we have to come here. We want to be careful that we don't let a Sunday go by without... just telling you that we're thankful even for the place that we have Lord and I don't think sometimes even that can seem a bit cliche but Lord we know it sometimes if we're not thankful you take away those blessings and we realize how good we really had it and so Lord we want to make sure that we we tell you thank you you did not have to give us the things that you've given to us but you have blessed each and every one of us here We have been blessed with salvation. We have been blessed with having our needs met.

Lord, thank you for that. And, Lord, we just pray now as we lift up Kathy. Lord, I pray that you would just help her to get over this pneumonia.

There's, I believe, also a UTI there, some things going on. And, Lord, we just pray that you'd help the doctors to get that under control so that she can be helped with getting over this car accident. Lord, we know that sometimes we have a multitude of trials come into our life, seems like all at once, but just by cutting off our resources, cutting off our abilities, our capacities, we are made to depend more wholly on you. And we just pray that she might be a good testimony and a witness there. Lord, if Loretta can be a good witness and a testimony, we pray that for her as well.

Lord, to the people who are there in the hospital. Now, Father, we do pray for our nation. It's a time of great turmoil.

And, Lord, we pray just not only here but even on the world scene. And we just pray that you would preserve us, that you would give our leadership the wisdom that they need at every level, whether it's the city level, the county level, the state level, or the federal level. Father, we pray for wisdom, your wisdom now, not man's wisdom, but your wisdom.

And whether they know that it's coming from you or not, whether they even want to do that, is wise or not. Lord, I pray that you would force the circumstances so that wisdom would prevail. Lord, we know that there's nothing. The most pagan kings in world history have in the past, even in scripture, acknowledged godly wisdom when they hear it.

And I pray there'd be somebody speaking truth at every level. Lord, we just want to pray right now for the churches in America. I've sure enjoyed this series on Wednesday.

Wednesday night's about revival, and our prayer class focus on revival. And, Father, we need that. We need revival.

But I pray that you'd send that to each and every person here. Lord, you could start with me. That'd be just fine because revival fire spreads. And it just takes one person.

You could start with anybody in here and just have it spread. Lord, we thank you for that. We thank you for that great example we have of your power in the Hebrew. Hebrides revival, one of my favorites.

And, Lord, that was not started by great preaching. It was started by great prayer. Lord, I pray that we might have some prayer that is answered in a matter like they had it answered then.

And, Lord, I pray that we would see that very, very soon, very, very soon. Lord, your people right now are walking through a dry and thirsty land where no water is. And, Lord, we need that refreshing that comes from you.

from you. Be with our pastor as he comes to preach momentarily, and we'll thank you for all these things in Jesus'name. Amen.

All right, take your hymnals, turn to number 326. 326, more about Jesus. More about Jesus would I know, more of his grace would I know. Praise to others show, more of his saving fullness see, more of his love who died for me, more, more. More about Jesus. More, more about Jesus.

More of his saving fullness see. More of his love. who died for me. More about Jesus let me learn.

More of his holy will discern. Spirit of the Lord, of God my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me. More, more about Jesus, more about Jesus, more of his saving fullness see, more of his love who died.

And on last, more about Jesus on his throne, riches and glory all his own, more of his kingdom sure increase, more of his coming Prince of Peace, more, more. More about Jesus, more, more about Jesus, more of his saving fullness see, more of his love see. Love who died for me. Amen. Good singing.

You may be seated. And this morning we've got something very special, a mother-son duet. So at this time we're going to have Holly and Teddy Armstrong sing a duet together.

Amen. I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise, that spread the flowing seas abroad and built the... lofty skies.

I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day. The moon shines full at his command, and all the stars obey. I sing the goodness of the Lord that filled the earth with food. He formed the creatures with his word and then pronounced them good.

Lord, how my wonders are displayed, where'er I turn my eye, if I survey the ground I tread, or gaze at the sky, or gaze at the moon, or gaze at the stars, or gaze at the moon, or gaze at the stars, or gaze at the moon, or gaze at the stars, or gaze at the moon, or gaze at the stars, upon the sky. There's not a plant or flower below, but makes thy glories known, and clouds arise from the sky. Rise and tempest blow by order from thy throne.

While all that borrows life from thee is ever in thy care. And everywhere that man can be, thou God art present there. Well, that was mighty fine. I hope they sing some more. You know, they're all in the same house so they can get together and practice a lot easier.

Amen. And what a song. God is everywhere in nature. Everywhere in our lives. So don't ever say where is God?

Everywhere. He's working. I'm glad we can't see him. Because we'd all drop dead of a heart attack. So he just works incognito.

All right. I am so excited about this message. It's called the workers element. Go right back if you would please.

To first Thessalonians. First Thessalonians. And you're probably there by now, so we shall have a quick word of prayer together.

Let's pray. Lord, as we get underway, we do pray that you sanctify the word to our hearts. It does no good just to let it go in one ear and out the other. We're not here, dear Father, to just... say, I came to church today.

We are here, dear Father, to meet with you today, to have you speak to our hearts today. So I pray that you'll come through loud and clear, and we'll thank you for it in Jesus'name. Amen.

The church at Thessalonica was experiencing rapid spiritual growth. Paul was encouraged by the reports that he was getting from his assistants who were Paul's eyes and ears on the ground. This newly planted church was made up of both Jews who were saved out of the local synagogue as well as Gentiles who were thoroughly pagan in background many of them undoubtedly saved out of the idolatrous shrines with all of their evil that went on inside those rooms.

Nonetheless, we see this now, new community made up of Jew and Gentile in the city of Thessalonica. So one group was raised on powerless religious rituals, and the other on pagan, idolatrous fairy tales. Now you'd be thinking, man, it's evil.

easy to see how the Lord is able to unify people because nothing is borrowed from those backgrounds. Everything is from the Word of God. One Lord from one book, which gives us one faith and one mind, and that's what God was doing in this little church. The Word of God was transforming them at an astonishing rate of speed, and Paul knew exactly why this was happening. See it for yourself in chapter 2, verse 13 of 1 Thessalonians.

Chapter 2, verse 13 says, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Notice those two words, effectually worketh. Underline that in your Bible.

Effectually worketh. It's one word in the Greek, energeo. from which we get the English word, you guessed it, energy.

Energy. The prefix N means within, and then also the ergon, the root word of ergeo used here, means work. Work. So the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to work inside of us. And that is the only way he likes to work.

And so we know that how else are we going to recognize his work if we don't look at the Bible enough to know that, oh, that's the hand of God. Oh, that's the ways of God. Yeah, we don't even know what God's up to. We don't read our Bibles.

So God works in us according to... the principles he lays down in his word. So in this sense, church is God's favorite workshop.

He can work on you anywhere, but church is his favorite workshop and we become His workmanship. That is our theme verse. Ephesians chapter 2 verse number 10 says, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

So we are His workmanship, and pardon my English, God don't make no junk. If your life is junked up, God had nothing to do with it. For we are His workmanship. We bear the seal of His excellence.

God don't make no junk. And so, what an incredible statement is found in Ephesians 2.10. And of course, we're not fancy what-nots. We're just not somebody that the Lord makes a work of art and puts on a shelf. We just do nothing but collect dust.

No, we were created unto good works. We are made to be tools. We are God's tools to do His work.

Oh, I appreciate that thought too. So, this is very important. If you want to be defined by mediocrity and turn your character into junk, then just receive the word of men.

Go ahead and read the self-help books from men who don't know God, don't have any faith in God. All of their ideas are man-made ideas, worldly ideas. Well, guess what?

You think it's revolutionizing your life. Not really. Not really. You may get successful, but then you'll come to the end of your life and say, Oh, it's all going to end now.

And we get all sad. There are a lot of success gurus who have died crying because they realize, is this all there is? It's over now?

And so just be aware of this, that receive the word of men and your prospects are degraded to junk status. Or you could do it this way, as 1 Thessalonians 2.13 says, you could receive the Word of God as if it were just the Word of men. Think about that. So how you receive the Word of God will determine how much it's going to work in your life.

That's interesting to me. As is your faith, so shall it be unto you. God will not use His Word to change your life if you don't believe it. And so as is your faith, so shall it be unto you.

But be warned, if you have a junky life from junky listening, you only do junky labor. You know, just remember that sometimes our listening is pretty cheap, pretty shallow, pretty junky. It's all cluttered with other thoughts running through our minds.

You've got to clear your mind so you can let your ears be the portals for God's Word. So don't let junky listening do that to you. But if you're an excellent listener, you will have an excellent life.

And you will do excellent labor. Isn't it interesting? No wonder Jesus said to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. It all starts with listening in the house of God. and so may we be excellent listeners.

Now the city of Thessalonica was a moral junkyard. And so it might have been a large prosperous city because it was on a port. They had ships docking there, unloading and reloading, and everything was seemingly going great as the economy was booming.

But as you began to go through the town, look around, you would see that there were plenty of morally bankrupt and morally broken lives strewn all over the town. Yet right in the middle of this moral junkyard was a dynamic little church defined by excellence and excitement. God was working in the lives of these recent converts, producing virtues that before only had vices. If you can count more vices than virtues, then my friend, you're not letting God work. on you.

The longer you live and obey God's holy word, the more virtues you get and the less vices. In fact, they always are going opposite of each other. And one of the greatest virtues that God produces is love.

In fact, there are three huge, important, pivotal virtues. Love, faith, hope. These are the three defining virtues of this promising church.

Look at 1 Thessalonians 1.3. Just flip back a little bit. Paul opens the epistle by paying tribute to these three virtues in chapter 1, verse 3. Remembering without ceasing...

your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. Notice how faith and love are the two work-oriented virtues. And notice how hope is the weight-oriented one. Isn't that interesting?

I guess we know that Titus 2.13, Paul throws light on his own teaching, but you know what Titus 2.13 says, looking for that blessed hope. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. So we are waiting for the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ when he's going to settle all accounts. Don't forget, a lot of people say, oh, I can't wait for Jesus to come. I wish he would come today, and they're doing nothing.

They're not serving the Lord. Well, guess what? When we go up in the rapture, we're going to be standing before him, giving account for our lives. And all your work is going to be laid out in front of the eyes of everybody. So don't be so hasty.

Maybe you should say, wait just a minute, Lord, until I can get my work started. Yeah, we want to be caught working, not playing. Working, not sleeping. Working, not dawdling.

And so we see that hope has its place. But while we are waiting for Jesus, we should be busy working for Jesus, and the virtues of faith and love will be needed, or no work will get done. You won't work for very long without faith and love.

Remember what Paul said in Galatians 5, 6? He said, faith worketh by love. Faith worketh by love. But of the two, love is still the greatest, which Paul de facto declares in 1 Corinthians 13, 13. Remember this verse, how he ends that poem of love? He says, and now abideth faith, hope, charity.

That's love. These three, but the greatest of these is charity. So love is the most excellent of spiritual virtues that is part of God's workmanship. And as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 1, 3, everything we do is a labor of love. It's a labor of love over just building our ego.

No, it's a labor of love. Then in chapter 4, verses 9 and 10, we are to love one another. Our little circle, your family, your church.

Then we are to love one another. to love all the brethren now that's a larger circle and finally we're to keep making that love larger so that he says you need to see it increase more and more yes ever-increasing love for ever-increasing labor You know, honestly, you know what's going to make this church grow faster than it is growing right now? Where all of us are increasing our love so we can increase our labor. We don't need more people sitting in this room.

We need the people we got loving more and laboring more. That's what we really need. And then we'll reach more.

Obviously, love is not only an excellent standard that defines us, but it is also the very element we swim in. The remainder of my time, I want to drive home this one truth that love is the only environment in which labor can exist. Without love, we don't really have any ability to serve.

Let's look at it like this. What water is to a fish, love is to a Christian. Write that down.

Don't ever forget it. Think about it every day. Hear it again. What water is to a fish, love is to a Christian.

Think about that till you really believe it. Fish are vertebrates, backbone aquatic animals that live in water. There are more kinds of fish than all other kinds of vertebrates in land and water combined.

That's a lot of fish out there. Fish have such amazing variety that it is hard to believe that they all belong to the same species. The shape, color, size is staggering. We really don't know what the total size is. is because even now we're still finding more kinds of fish.

For example some fish look like lumpy rocks and others like wiggly worms. Some are as flat as pancakes and others can blow themselves up like balloons. They can be all the colors of the rainbow and come in all kinds of patterns from stripes to polka dots.

in literally hundreds of variations. Fish can be large or small, pretty or ugly, harmless or dangerous, but they all have one thing in common, and you know what it is. They all... need water to survive. Oh, it could be the near frozen waters of the Arctic or the steaming waters of a tropical jungle or the quiet underground rivers or raging mountain streams, but they all still need H2O.

They all still need the element of water and they can live almost anywhere where water is found. Fish cannot long survive though without water. It is their indispensable element for all life and activity. That's why I say, what water is to the fish, love is to the Christian. Christians like fish come in all shapes and sizes.

There's a variety of personality, uniqueness, gifts, experience that reveals God's amazing variety of believers in the world today. But all believers everywhere have this one thing in common. They need love as their one element to swim in.

If you're not serving the Lord, you're a dead fish washed up on the beach. You can't live on the sand. And so we understand that if we don't stay in the element of love, then we just die.

And of course, it does help to have more water, but also cleaner water. Fish that get in dirty, toxic water will die, maybe slower than if they were washed up on the beach. But we need lots of love, and we need unpolluted love. We need agape love, not eros love necessarily.

not even phileo love we need agape love that's god's love amen paul prays in first thessalonians that we would have brotherly love that's our essential element and god says let it swell into an ocean Notice chapter 3, verse number 12. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even as we do toward you. Wow. So if you only have the immediate family that you love, you're swimming around in a tiny little pond. And if you only love those in your church, well, I guess that's a lake.

Pretty good. But why stop there? Paul says we need to love all men, and that's the true measure of our love. We should love everybody. We should love them for Jesus.

Oh, my friend, I believe this is what's missing in most churches today, is they have aquarium-sized love. No, we need worldwide love. So Paul brings this element to the forefront again in chapter 4, verses 9 and 10, where David read a minute ago. Look at verses 9 and 10 of 1 Thessalonians 4. Here's what it says, But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

Notice that Paul likes brotherly love to be a universal trait of all Christians. All Christians. No exemptions.

No exceptions. God will develop this love in all his children. And notice verse 9. human teachers.

Now, I'm speaking about the love of God right now, but you know what? If I don't teach enough on it, then God says, well, I'll teach them, and God will do it, because that's exactly what the verse said. He says, for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

You know, honestly, I believe this is the first thing God teaches us, because when we got saved, we were taught the love of God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's the first thing we learned, the love of Jesus.

The father who sent his son. Oh, what a wonderful thing. So honestly, this is the first thing that God teaches and never stops teaching.

After all, love is God's greatest attribute along with his holiness. And if you don't learn it, you're a misfit. You can't even do anything right. Imagine in your mind a mother who has never...

learned mothering. A father who has never learned fathering. He's a misfit in the home.

You know, you can't run a home without love. You can't run a church without love. You can't run a business without love.

And so it makes everybody to be awkward misfits who don't really know how to make things happen. You know, it's interesting. Paul says in 4.10, the same thing he said in 3.12, and so we see that he said you know it's great that you've reached this level of love but you know what you need more you've been stuck on this level for a real long time you look stuck you think stuck you live stuck so Again, it's ready to go up to the next, get off that plateau you're on and get a little bit more love.

You know, in times of severe drought, landlocked bodies of water dry up. Don and I went for a walk to one of our favorite park areas where there's a creek that runs right along the sidewalk. Well, it's been rather hot. We took our last walk there. There was no water in that creek.

It had all dried up. It was a dried out riverbed. And you know something, when rivers dry up, if you look closely, you'll see dead fish rotting at the bottom of that river. And so how sad that is.

Without frequent showers of blessing, as Peter called it in Acts 3.19, the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. Guess what? We don't get those, our love dries up. And then, everything begins to die. First our love for the Lord dries up, then our love for each other dries up, and then our love for the lost dries up, and then we shrivel up.

The only thing that keeps us young, the only thing that keeps us healthy, the only thing that keeps us sane, the only thing that keeps us productive is love. Love. If you don't have love, death is not far behind. Your relationships will die.

Your dreams will die. Your church will die. In fact, all your work will die.

You'll just be the walking dead if you have a loveless heart. Every day, tell the Lord, Lord, let this be a day of rain. Every day we need the forecast to be rain. I know we've been getting kind of tired of it. It's really funny how we get all this rain as we have the monsoon flow coming up to Colorado, and then we say, man, I wish the sun would come out.

And then the sun comes out and we have no rain. We go from one extreme to the other. But it is good that we get those gentle showers and say, God, every day give me a gentle shower. Let there be some forecast of rain. Just enough for me to grow and live and...

work but the truth is we never seem to get enough. An anthropologist once asked a Hoppy Indian why so many of his people's songs were about rain. The Indian replied that it was because water is so scarce.

Then the Indian asked the white man this question, Is that why so many of your songs are about love? Bullseye. Got him. Yes, the educated, sophisticated, well-to-do white man habitually listens to popular love songs because truthfully he's dying to experience true love. That's so true.

love or a fish out of water we flop around we flop over here we flop over there we're flopping around until time runs out and we die if we don't find authentic unconditional love in time death will overtake us us aren't you glad you found love oh hallelujah there are many areas where death strikes us relationships without love again die as do dreams as does work and even get this get this do you know the bible teaches that without love hope will die hope will die have you ever seen this verse in romans 5 5 take a look at romans 5 5 where paul connects the two together he said and hope you Hope maketh not ashamed. That is, hope doesn't look like it's alive, but it's more dead than alive because it's so frustrated and everything it hopes in is futile. But notice why this is happening. Because you don't have this. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.

If you don't have the Holy Ghost spreading love around in your heart, then that's what happens to your hope. So shed the love of God. shed abroad Paul says there's plenty to go around after all God's infinite love is boundless just like him oh the boundless love of God there's plenty for me plenty for you plenty for the whole wide world so this is larger than an ocean larger than a galaxy of oceans oh the love of God and it's ours to swim in hallelujah now it is important to remember that this love of God and you for the brethren and for humanity that was something new in this little church. Do you think they really knew this kind of love before they got saved?

No. This is a new element for them. There were the same old associations in the same old surroundings, but these believers were in a totally new and refreshing element. Love changed everything. and get into a church where they are loved, and where God loves them back, they don't want to leave.

The ancient world, in reality, is always selfish, mean, and hateful. That's what they swim in. I think you're swimming with the sharks then.

So in that melting pot city, they were always simmering with lust. The warring nationalities and hostile classes, they wore this mask of love, but they had no heart of love. But this church became an astonishing wonder. Because they even had their stuff taken from them, and they still loved those who took it. Paul talked about how this church was willing to suffer for Jesus.

So they were an astonishing wonder. And then when you saw that church inside, wherever they met in someone's home, you saw rich and poor, educated and uneducated, strong and weak, highborn and lowborn, had all these distinctions transcended by love. And so when they prayed together and sang together and studied together, nobody was like saying, hey, you little peon, look at me.

You listen to me. Nobody was saying, I get to sit here. You sit back there. There was none of this jockeying for position going on.

And then the outside world started noticing all that love that they had for the Lord and for each other. And then was fulfilled John 13, 35. Jesus said this would happen. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another. Yep. And I trust that this church has already fulfilled that.

And where this love is allowed to enter, transformations follow. God's love always changes your life for the better. And it will do it in the most unlikely places, at the most unlikely time. I'm going to give you one actual historical... proof of what God's love can do.

Something so remarkable, it happened in the year 2000 in a Mississippi public high school that it was eventually reported in the June 5th edition. of Time magazine. Now you know that Time magazine is no friend to Christianity, but this was so extraordinary that they could not ignore it.

It was reported by staff writer David Van Bema and it was entitled, The Day God Took Over. The article reported that on April 12th of that year, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at Pearl River Central High School in Carrier, Mississippi. They held a recruitment assembly scheduled to run 90 minutes long. Now when they called the assembly, 450 of the school's 670 students showed up.

And guess how long this meeting lasted? Way longer than they intended. It went five hours. What happened was truly amazing. The meeting turned into a full...

school-blown, school-wide revival. The last place you would think a revival would happen. Listen to this.

Here's exactly how it happened. Brandon Smith decided that he would start the meeting by portraying Jesus in a rather amateurish way being crucified. He said, you know what, we're Christian athletes.

Before we do all the recruitment stuff, let's go ahead and do a little picture of the gospel. Now he commented later, it was me in an ugly brown robe. Not too professional.

But as he began to do this, he saw that God was taking over. God used it to melt the hearts of most of those students. In almost no time, tears started streaming down the cheeks of these students.

Smith's classmates were lining up on stage to get the microphone and one after another they were praising God and confessing sins ranging from premarital sex to attempted suicide then the students started hugging each other singing songs and testifying of God's love that had captured their hearts Can you believe that? From this unprofessional performance of a crucifixion. The principal, Lolita Lee, was caught off guard by this response. She got up and tried to explain that no one had to stay if they didn't want to.

So she waited, and nobody left. Nobody left. She knew that the civil libertarians and atheist activists would soon descend on that school, and they did.

She almost lost her job. Yet she herself was so caught up in that spiritual moment that she got up and took the microphone, and she herself says, I'm a born-again Christian too! And she outed herself.

Look what happened when the love of God, dramatically though unprofessionally, was portrayed to these students. They were in a school where all they knew was lust, greed, atheism, and hatred. and it was drowning their hearts.

Then this little reenactment, which took place 2,000 years ago, of Jesus dying on a hill called Calvary, made them aware Jesus was alive. really does love us. Jesus really does love us.

And memories came back, maybe of going to Sunday school or having some family members share what Jesus did on Calvary's cross. And it hit them like a locomotive. And then we see that that love that was portrayed became a raging river sweeping through the entire school. And this is interesting.

That school was immediately transformed. It was a better place to go to school. For a long time, there were no problems. The love of God made them show up on time, do their assignments, study for their tests. Man, what a sight that must have been.

As we close. I just want to ask you, are you swimming in the love of God? Or you feel like that dying fish out of the water?

Think again of Romans 5, 8. But God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Paul said that God offers us His love through His Son. He commended Him. He says, can you find anything wrong with Him?

I commend Him for living a perfect life. Don't you see that He died in your place? I commend Him to you as your Savior. Even while you're swimming in what sinners swim in, you're swimming in your sin, you're swimming in a sin.

cesspool. You're swimming in your self-love and your sin-love, but not in the Savior-love who models selfless love. You can dive in right now.

You can experience the love of the Savior. to receive this love you must receive him and that's what's taught in john 1 12 john 1 12 says but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name that's when you take the plunge and you find yourself swimming in the love of god you know looking at something is not the same as living in it there could be somebody in this room that all you you do is that you just look at the Savior, but you have never made the decision to live in what he did for you. You know, reflecting on Jesus'love is not the same thing as receiving his love. Isn't that something how you can reflect and reflect and reflect yet not necessarily receive?

I remember when we used to get milk delivered to our house by a local dairy. The truck would come by. The driver would get out, get our gallon or two of milk, and he would put it on a little box next to our door. But I didn't receive that milk until I opened my front door and brought it in. God has delivered his sweet milk to you today.

It's just sitting outside your heart. You have to open the door of your heart and bring it in. I hope you'll do that. There's a difference between availability and appropriation. Christ is always available, but he's not always being appropriated.

I hope that you'll do that. That you appropriate him. And when you do. You will be in the one element. That you most need.

For time and eternity. You'll be in the love of God. And did not James say.

Keep yourselves in the love of God. Because you'll be miserable if you don't, and you won't be effective if you don't. Keep yourselves in the love of God.

Yes, keep yourselves in the abundant, unconditional, supernatural love of God. In that love, you will continue to learn about that love. So you have to have love to learn more about that love.

You're going to be learning in it, living in it, and laboring in it. Love will bring you back to church at the next time the services are held. Love will enable you to sign up for a job and do something for the Lord.

It's just amazing to me that love is the one thing that God says, I'll put up with a lot of other things, but this one thing I won't accept. If you don't have love, I can't use you. You may be educated, very talented, don't care. You don't have love, forget it.

So what we're going to do right now, we're just going to let our love lead us. If God's prompted your heart, then just do what your love and your heart says to do. We're going to sing a song called, Lead Me to Calvary. In that story I told you, those kids saw a portrayal of Jesus dying on Mount Calvary. And so, that's what we all need.

Did you know I know no place in all the Bible where your love will get cleaned up and fired up than seeing the Lord Jesus dying on Calvary's cross? You know if you do little if you have little love you'll do little labor if you have more love you do more labor Lots of love you lots of labor, and where do we get our love purified? Where do we get our love built up? It's at Calvary That's interesting to me You know the chorus of this song says lest I forget Gethsemane Lest I forget thine agony lest I forget thy love for me Leave me to Calvary. We're not going to Jerusalem today.

We're in Northland. But your mind can be there in a nanosecond. And I'm asking you to take the journey in your mind.

You kneel before the Lord Jesus who died for you. And you watch what that will do to your heart. Your love will grow.

Wow. Let your heart urge you out of your complacency. Let your will be your feet to get you moving. Let your mind be your eyes to see your Savior.

If those things aren't true, then you'll just stay where you are. Maybe you can't even kneel down. Well, you can sit down and let everybody know that you're praying. I think love will help us do that.

Let's bow our heads and close our eyes.

Transcript for:Insights from Northside Baptist Church Lecture

Transcript for:
Insights from Northside Baptist Church Lecture