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Warren Wiersbe - The Ideal Church - 3 of 20 | Back to the Bible | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Warren Wiersbe - The Ideal Church - 3 of 20
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Core Theme
The content describes the characteristics of an ideal, God-centered church, using the Thessalonian church as a model, emphasizing their transformation from receivers of the Word to transmitters of the Gospel.
[Music]
welcome to back to the Bible radio
featuring best-selling author and
internationally known Bible teacher
Warren where's being let me read you now
a description of an ideal Church 1st
Thessalonians chapter 1 beginning at
verse 5 and concluding at verse 8 for
our gospel did not come to you in word
only but also in power and in the Holy
Spirit and in much assurance as you know
what kind of men we were among you for
your sake and you became followers of us
and of the Lord having received the word
in much affliction with joy of the Holy
Spirit so that you became examples to
all in Macedonia and Achaia
who believed for from you the word of
the Lord has sounded forth not only in
Macedonia and Achaia but also in every
place your faith toward God has gone out
so that we do not need to say anything
now here's an exciting church here's an
enthusiastic church here is a church
that isn't satisfied just with Orthodox
theology the Holy Spirit is at work and
the Word of God is going out with power
now this church has four very prominent
characteristics and I would say these
are the four characteristics of every
church that is really doing what God
wants that church to do number one they
were receivers then they became
followers then examples and then
transmitters it's rather interesting
that those who began as receivers became
transmitters and that's the way it ought
to be let's take this first
characteristic 1st Thessalonians chapter
1 and verse 6 having received the word
in much affliction with joy of the Holy
Spirit now the Word of God came to them
in verse 5 we read for our gospel did
not come to you in word only the word
came to them the only way
people can be saved is through the word
coming to them he says our gospel now
didn't mean he owned the gospel it meant
that the gospel had become very precious
to him it was his message of the gospel
the preaching of the grace of God he
came to Thessalonica along with Silas
and Timothy and he preached the word of
the Lord the word came to them there are
a number of titles for the word in the
word it's called the word of the gospel
in acts 15 seven in acts 20:32 it's the
word of God's grace the gospel involves
the grace of God the only way to be
saved is by grace all you say I'm saved
by faith plus my good works no you're
saved by grace for by grace are we saved
through faith and that not of ourselves
it is the gift of God not of works lest
any man should boast it's called the
word of reconciliation in second
Corinthians 5:19 it's the word of truth
2nd Corinthians 6 7 it's the word of
righteousness Hebrews 5:13 because when
you believe the Word of God and receive
it it brings about righteousness in your
life it's the word of faith Romans 10:8
because this word must be believed it is
the Word of God
faith comes by hearing and hearing by
the Word of God Romans 10:17 therefore
when you receive the Word of God you are
receiving the life of God when you
reject it you are rebelling against the
God of the universe
they were receivers they received the
word the gospel came to them
that's the way people get saved now
don't let the doctrine of election
paralyze you because we know God has his
elect people in this world we're going
to preach the gospel and trust him to
save those he has chosen in Jesus Christ
now he tells us that he is not willing
that any should perish so we preach to everybody
everybody
who will have all men to be saved so we
witness to everybody because God alone
knows those who are his own in 2nd
Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 13 and 14
Paul tells us how all of this is working
together 2nd Thessalonians 2:13 but we
are bound to give thanks to God always
for you brethren be loved by the Lord
because God from the beginning chose you
for salvation through sanctification by
the spirit and belief in the truth
others where the word of God comes in to
which he called you by our gospel the
same God who ordains the and ordains the
means to the end the word must go out
well they were receivers now they
welcomed the Word of God the word
received in verse 6 means to welcome
they welcomed the Word of God
now they heard it they welcomed it they
rejoiced in it here's an amazing thing
having received the word says verse 6 in
much affliction with joy of the Holy
Spirit how do you have joy when you're
going through affliction because you've
received the word I can't explain this I
cannot explain to you the joy that comes
to your heart through the Word of God
when you're going through difficult
times it's the work of the Holy Spirit
of God these people receive the Word of
God and the word was not just given in
word only says verse 5 it wasn't just an
oration a lecture a speech that somebody
gave the word came to them not in word
only but in power because the Holy
Spirit was at work and there was much
assurance in their hearts God's Spirit
bore witness with their spirit that they
were indeed the children of God do you
rejoice at hearing the Word of God the
word brings joy and they suffered in the
receiving of the word now most people
today don't suffer because they receive
the Word of God
there's no persecution that goes on some
people do there are some people who
listen to back to the Bible who have
family members who persecute them
because they turn their
they suffer for it but not many we have
an easy time hearing the Word of God
today and we take it for granted the
first characteristic of the ideal Church
is the people there are receivers
secondly they were followers verse six
and you became followers of us and of
the Lord having received the word the
word followers here gives us our English
word mimic imitate they became
mimics now we are not saved by imitating
Jesus Christ he is our example but he
must first be your Savior before he can
be your example no we aren't saved by
imitating Christ but when you are saved
you do want to imitate the Lord Jesus
notice they first became followers
imitators of Paul and Silas and Timothy
that's normal
a little children in the home imitate
mother and father and that means we'd
better be the kind of people worth
imitating and new Christians have a
tendency to imitate the preacher the
sunday-school teacher
we learn by imitation nothing wrong with
that this is one reason why we have the
Word of God we read about these great
saints of God in the Bible and these
people are worth imitating by the way
everybody is imitating somebody you have
some ideal some model someone you
imitate by the way you are the best
Christian somebody knows somebody's
watching you imitating you oh how
essential it is that we be followers of
the Lord Jesus Christ Paul wrote to the
Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 11:1 and
said imitate me just as I also imitate
Christ be careful that the person you're
following is walking in the right
direction and he is following she is
following the Lord Jesus Christ
they were receivers they were followers
then in verse 7 of 1st Thessalonians 1
they became examples themselves others
could follow them so that you became
examples to all in Macedonia and Akaya
who believe this word example
gives us our English word type it's the
Greek word to pus a type is an example
the word means an authorized model they
became authorized models of what a
Christian ought to be how did this
happen how do followers become leaders
how do followers become examples through
the Word of God the Word of God
transforms us oh how I wish I could get
people to understand the power of the
Word of God
now the Word of God when it is received
and believed and obeyed establishes
righteousness in our lives we become
like the Lord Jesus Christ he is the
Living Word and that written word makes
us to be like him
finally there's a fourth characteristic
they were receivers they became
followers they became examples and they
became transmitters verse 8 for from you
the word of the Lord has sounded forth
receivers are always to become
transmitters now this word sounded
fourth means to sound a trumpet and the
echo of that sound just keeps on going
it is an echo that just keeps on going
indefinitely he's saying that they
shared the Word of God first they became
followers then they became examples then
they became missionaries witnesses who
transmitted the Word of God throughout
Macedonia and Akaya and Paul says
wherever I go they tell me about
Thessalonica I want to tell them what
happened and they say oh we've already
heard about how God has transformed
those people well God wants the message
to spread everywhere Thessalonica was a
city of about 200 thousand people it was
on the Ignatian way an important route
it was a capital city it was a busy
Seaport a lot of people came and went in
Thessalonica and they heard the Word of
God and because of that the Word of God
spread and it spread abroad
transmitters of the Word of God that the
gospel might get to the ends of the earth
you know it's wonderful when a church is
talked about and what people say is good
unfortunately in some communities the
churches are talked about but what
people are saying is just gossip and the
news is not too good here in
Thessalonica was a group of people who
were so excited so enthusiastic so
transformed so filled with the Spirit of
God so wrapped up in the Word of the
Living God that miracles were taking
place in their midst lives were being
changed God was at work well there were
three special topics of conversation
that related to the church at
Thessalonica and these three topics of
conversation ought to be topics of
conversation as far as our churches are
concerned the people talked first of all
about the message what the gospel is
then they talked about the ministry how
the gospel comes and then they finally
talked about the miracle what the gospel
does I hope this is what people are
talking about in your community about
your church let's start with the message
people were talking about what the
gospel is here is a wonderful new
message they had never heard before the
Thessalonica was not a little byway the
Salonika was a very important city in
fact the largest and most important city
in macedonia some two hundred thousand
people it was a city to which many
people gravitated and Paul and Silas and
Timothy came to Thessalonica with a new
message now remember these people had
plenty of religion they had plenty of
philosophy the Greek people have their
philosophers and their religion and they
did not want to hear anything new now
here come a Jew Paul Silas was a Jew
Timothy was part Jew part Gentile here
comes this strange team they had been in
Philippi at Philippi Paul and Silas had
been arrested they had been beaten now
here come these X
jailbirds so to speak they had marks on
their bodies that they had been beaten
who would want to listen to them
after all here are men who might be well
they might be people the law is looking
for they might be escaped prisoners
escaped criminals who knows but they
came with a message and the message they
came with was a message these people had
never heard before it was a message
about one Jesus Christ the Son of God
now Greek religion had no good news I'm
sure you have read some of the myths
that have come down to us from the
Greeks all about gods and goddesses
acting like little children Greek
philosophy had no good news regardless
of which school of philosophy you
followed they had no good news and yet
here comes Paul with his friends bearing
good news the good news about the Lord
Jesus Christ first of all he died notice
that whom he raised from the dead
so this Jesus Christ died now why did he
die he died for our sins he did not die
for his own sins he had none he died for
our sins then he arose from the dead
notice what verse 10 says whom he raised
from the dead he arose from the dead
proving that his sacrifice had been
accepted by the father we have a living
Savior a risen victorious Savior now he
has ascended to wait for his son from
heaven he's not in the cemetery he's not
on earth he is in heaven and he has sent
His Holy Spirit to represent him here in
this world now this is good news it's
good news that there is one who has
conquered death the Greeks did not know
what to do with death they had such
strange ideas about life after death and
they were looking for some way to get
some assurance for life after death and
Jesus Christ has conquered death he has
conquered sin but that's not all
notice that he is coming again to wait
for his son from
heaven this same Jesus who died for you
who arose again for your justification
who ascended to heaven to represent you
at the throne of the Father is one day
going to come and take his people home
every chapter in 1st Thessalonians ends
with a reference to the return of our
Lord Jesus Christ he's going to come
again and when he comes he's going to
deliver his people from the wrath to
come so he is not only the ascended
reigning Savior he is the savior who is
coming again he is the deliverer but
he's also the judge there is a wrath to
come now some folks don't like to talk
about that
oh if you've never called upon him do so
today because the wrath of God is coming
secondly the people talked about not
only the message but the ministry how
the gospel comes notice verse 9 for they
themselves declare concerning us what
manner of entry we had to you when Paul
and Silas and Timothy came into Thessalonica
Thessalonica
they were not like the other wandering
preachers and teachers and philosophers
who went from city to city
they were different by the way they
ought to be different today the way we
do the ministry ought to be different
from the way people sell used cars and
toothpaste chapter 2 verse 1 for you
yourselves know brethren that are coming
to you was not in vain but even after we
had suffered before and were spitefully
treated at Philippi as you know we were
bold in our God to speak to you the
gospel of God in much conflict that word
conflict gives us our word agony in much
agony not just physical but spiritual
emotional here are three men who come
from Philippi and they are not like
these other teachers who wandered around
Macedonia and Achaia trying to get a
following trying to make some money
trying to get something for themselves
using various
devices Paul said we don't minister that
way we don't use that approach at all in
our ministry of the word of God here
we're a group of man three men who did
not use deceit they were open and honest
and straightforward and bold and loving
and people were amazed they said we've
never seen this before why our religious
leaders aren't like this but these men
were different the Greek religion had
nothing to offer to anybody myths and
stories and suppositions Greek
philosophy had nothing to offer acts
17:30 Paul summarized all of Greek
history in one phrase acts 17:30 the
times of this ignorance ignorance
idolatry they had no hope no life this
is why we send out missionaries people
say well why disturb the beautiful
culture of these people
you ought to examine their beautiful
culture and see how ugly and low it is
in some areas you see idolatry
immorality ignorant Jesus says I'm the
way the truth the life the only way the
only truth the only life and people were
talking about the ministry how the
gospel came thirdly people were talking
about the miracle what the gospel does
what does it do it changes people's
lives change their direction how you
turned to God from idols now the Greek
people had idols all over the place it
was said it was easier to find a God in
Athens than to find a man well Paul was
in Thessaloniki and was probably just as
bad I tell you when you study the Word
of God and find how great our God is
when Paul preached the greatness and
glory and grace of God these people said
we don't want our idols we found
something better they didn't turn away
from the idols because Paul convinced
them the idols were wrong I'm sure he
did that they turned away from the idols
because they saw the glory and the Grace
and the wonder of the
god they turned from death to life they
changed their direction the Bible calls
this repentance and conversion secondly
they change their devotion to serve the
living and true God
now they had been serving false gods but
Paul said you can know the Lord Jesus
Christ he is your friend your Saviour he
will walk with you you can serve Him and
he will help you and so they changed
their direction they were converted they
changed their devotion and they also
changed their destination to wait for
his son from heaven whom he raised from
the dead even Jesus who delivers us from
the wrath to come what is your
destination our God is a God of judgment
John 3:36 he who believes in the son has
everlasting life and he who does not
believe the son shall not see life but
the wrath of God abides on him oh my
friend if you have never trusted the
Lord Jesus Christ
the wrath of God hovers over your head
right now all day long all night long
whether you think about it or not how
much better it would be to know Jesus
Christ as your Savior to trust him the
Lord Jesus Christ well this is what
people were talking about in Kyah and
Macedonia they were talking about a
wonderful message the good news that
people can be saved from sin and death
and judgment when you believe the
message of the gospel when you receive
Jesus Christ as your own Savior
something happens to you you change
direction you turn from idols to the
Living God you changed your devotion you
begin to serve this living and true God
you change your destination you're no
longer worried about the wrath to come
because you belong to the Savior who
delivers you from the wrath to come all
do trust him today he is the only Savior
if you miss part of the program or you'd
like to listen again just come to back
to the Bible org so be sure to come back
again for more wisdom from God's word
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