Thankful for my Chuch
Notes
Transcript
Continuing in our thankfulness theme this week I want each of you to know how thankful I am for you. I am thankful for our staff here at the church, I’m thankful for our volunteers, leaders, teachers, and every individual member of our church. This week we will be in 1 Thessalonians. As I think about how thankful I am for Highlands Baptist Church, I cannot help but to see the similarities in how Paul felt about the church in Thessalonica. It is amazing but the City where this church was is still there today and is named Thessaloniki. The church in Thessalonica did hold a special place in Paul's heart as under the direction of the Holy Spirit Paul shared the message of Christ with the gentiles. As Paul traveled from place to place he was God’s chosen apostle to the Gentiles. While this was a primary purpose for Paul he did not stop trying to share the message of the messiah with the Jews. In every city he stopped he would visit the synagogues and would share the message of Christ and try to win fellow Jews to the understanding of who Christ was. After this he would move into the gentile crowds and would establish churches. As he established churches across the peninsula he obviously shared in some great joy’s but he also shared some great frustrations with the churches. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth dealing with their pride, sins of worldliness, indulgence, and divisiveness. The church at Corinth was not necessarily the church that brought Paul the most joy. Then you have the church at Colossae, they struggled with being faithful to the Lord and they fell away and had to constantly be reminded to come back to the faith. The church at Colossae was continually drawn towards mysticism and legalism. Then you have the church in Ephesus, they struggled with pride, impatience, and followed patterns of sin from their old lives. If we when through all the letters to the churches we would find that Paul had issues with all of them. Except for the church at Thessalonica. This church seemed to be the exception to the rule in Paul's letters to the churches. In these letters Paul states how blessed he is to hear and see their faith and encourages them to go further into their faith. This morning we will be in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-9. In these scriptures we will see the things that Paul was excited for about the church in Thessalonica and they are the same things that I am so excited about our church for. In no uncertain terms I want the world to know that Highlands Baptist Church is not a perfect church. We are not a church that always gets things right, we are a church where people will do and say things that are not always the right thing. We are however a church that is willing to admit wrongs, grow in our faith, and build relationships. When I think about the type of church I want to go to and the type of church that I am thankful for this is it.
A man was answering questions for a national poll. When asked for his church preference, he responded, "Red brick."
I want something more than just a building. I want something more than just a group of pretty people singing songs together. I want a family and I believe that we have that here and I have to tell you I am so proud to be a part of this church. Turn with me in your Bible to 1 Thessalonians 1:2-9 and in this scripture we will see three things that Paul was thankful for in the church and the same things I am thankful for here. First, Paul was thankful for their growth. Second Paul was thankful for their faith. Lastly Paul was thankful for their perseverance. Let’s read together.
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
Thankful for growth
Thankful for growth
2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
Paul writes here and tells the church that he is grateful for their growth. See in the scripture where he starts out by telling them that the gospel came to them in word and through the power of the Holy Spirit and that they recieved it and imitated the apostles and did so knowing that they would be oppressed. Paul was letting this church know that he was so excited to see them maintaining their faith and growing even through struggles and oppression. As I think about Highlands Baptist Church I think about how much I have seen our people grow. We have so many people in our church that are looking for ways to grow in their faith. It is inspiring to me to say the least. The one thing I know for sure is that our church is not perfect and I said this earlier. We have all said and done things that after we have done or said them we wished we could take back. We have all been a part of conversations then later thought about that tugging of the Holy Spirit to stop even though we kept on going. If you are in here this morning and someone in our church has hurt you, I want you to know that our church has shown the ability to hear the hurt, sincerely apologize for it, and move to make sure we do not repeat the same things. Paul is telling this church that he is so proud of how much they are growing. Paul did not tell them that he was excited that they were perfected. Just like Paul I am telling you that I am so excited for our growth and no our perfection. Highlands Baptist Church is a long way away from perfection but we are a church with the desire to honor God. I am thankful for the growth that we can see in people drawing closer to God. When I hear people talking in an election year about how much they are going to pray for whoever wins as opposed to praying that God answers who they want to win, I see growth. When I hear people calling the church to ask for areas that they can serve I see growth happening. When I as the pastor am given information on complicated situations and before I ever talk to anyone about it I hear that the members of our church humbled themselves and went to one another to settle the situation in grace and love, I see growth. I do not look out this morning and see a perfect church, I do however see a growing church. We must all be willing to grow. Paul is telling the church that he sees them coming closer to the heart of God. Highlands Baptist Church is a church where people are learning and growing. We are a church where we do not always get it right but we will share our weaknesses and failures so that we can help each other reach the place of honoring God with our lives. I am thankful to be in a church that is growing. Paul was thankful for this because he knew if the church stopped growing they would die. As I see struggles in our church and I see people respond in a scriptural way I am blessed. I am also blessed when someone does not respond scripturally but is willing to listen and learn and change it moving forward. We must grow and I am so happy to be a part of a church that is growing. When I say this I am speaking of spiritually growing and not simply numerically growing. Numerical growth does not mean a thing if it is not accompanied by spiritual growth.
I cannot go one Sunday without using my children or wife in some type of illustration. Some of it is because they give me so much material to work with. The other part is I am so blessed to have an amazing family that is growing together in our desire to honor God. We get it wrong most the time but we are growing together. As growth is concerned one of the coolest and scariest thing in the world is to watch your children grow. I never really understood what people meant when they said they wished time would slow down until my children were born. My daughter is the oldest and at the current time the moodiest one in the house. It pains me sometimes to see my daughter getting older and worrying about boys and worrying about her choices. I have made some poor parenting choices and have really missed the target on being her daddy sometimes. I do love my daughter though and as overbearing as I can be sometimes it is because I love her. As I struggle to give her freedom because I do not want to have to make anyone’s son disappear. I also know that I need to give her some room to grow and I need to let her experience some failures so that she can grow. I also know that as she lives she grows. If there is a point where she stops growing she will essentially stop living. With that being said I still have strict limits on her growth.
What does the scripture tell us about spiritual growth?
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
The thing is that just because we are saved and have knowledge of God does not mean that we are made perfect. We must grow in grace and knowledge.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Do you hunger for righteousness? Are you growing and leaning into God to help you get there?
10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
We are to increase in the knowledge of God.
12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,
May we continue to be increased in our knowledge of God and our love for one another. I am thankful for Highlands Baptist Church because of our growth. We are not a group of perfect people, we are however a group of people who want to do what honors God and when we do what does not honor God we are willing to learn and to grow. Paul was thankful for the ability to grow in the church at Thessalonica. He was also thankful for Faith.
Thankful for Faith
Thankful for Faith
8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
The Faith of the church in Thessaloniki spread through the entire region. Every other area knew that this was a church that trusted in God and gave things over to God to handle. This was not a church by the way that wouldn't have experienced trials and tribulations. All churches of “The Way” were persecuted as false doctrine. While later Christianity would become a major role in the Roman world and later form the catholic church, this time had not yet come. Both the governments of the time and the religious leaders of the time did not appreciate the new believers. This challenged the income and traditions of the religious leaders. Because it challenged the religious leaders of the day it also disrupted the order that that the roman rulers loved to have. This resulted in run ins with both the religious leaders and the government and resulted many times in the deaths of the early church followers. The church in Thessalonica would not have avoided these types of persecutions. This church though through those trials and tribulations maintained their faith. Paul wrote to let the church know that their faith had gone forth everywhere. This would have encouraged other churches in the areas to maintain their faith and would have fortified the movement of Christ in this time. Paul said that the churches faith in God was so strong and led their decisions to the point that no one needed to say a word about it. I cannot tell you that in every single decision I feel like we follow the will of God in our church but I can tell you that I believe there is an attempt. I believe that we are growing closer and closer to being a church that does not need to talk but lives our faith in a way that others see our good works and they glorify our Father in Heaven. I am thankful to be a part of a church that is growing in our Faith. I am thankful for a church that looks back on our past choices and determines to grow more in our faith. I am thankful for a church that spends time praying for God’s will and is willing to overlook the obstacles for what God is calling us to do. I am going to challenge our church to do this much more moving into the new year. We do not need to be afraid to move into things that we believe God is calling us to do because we cannot see how we can do it. The Israelites had no way on their own to part the Red Sea and walk through it. We must be a church that walks in Faith. Faith is not having all the answers but trusting the one who gives the orders. Paul was thankful for the church because through all their struggles they continued to follow the will of God. I am thankful for a church that does the same. We do not always get it right but I can tell you that I have had many conversations with men and women in our congregation that say I know God wants me to do something I just don’t know how we can do it. We pray together and they go and do what God told them to do and then we sit back and watch God do something that only He can do. We are a church that is growing but we are also a church that is growing in our Faith. What exactly is faith though?
There was a tightrope walker, who did incredible aerial feats. All over Paris, he would do tightrope acts at tremendously scary heights. Then he had succeeding acts; he would do it blindfolded, then he would go across the tightrope, blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow. An American promoter read about this in the papers and wrote a letter to the tightrope walker, saying, "Tightrope, I don't believe you can do it, but I'm willing to make you an offer. For a very substantial sum of money, besides all your transportation fees, I would like to challenge you to do your act over Niagara Falls." Now, Tightrope wrote back, "Sir, although I've never been to America and seen the Falls, I'd love to come." Well, after a lot of promotion and setting the whole thing up, many people came to see the event. Tightrope was to start on the Canadian side and come to the American side. Drums roll, and he comes across the rope which is suspended over the treacherous part of the falls -- blindfolded!! And he makes it across easily. The crowds go wild, and he comes to the promoter and says, "Well, Mr. Promoter, now do you believe I can do it?" "Well of course I do. I mean, I just saw you do it." "No," said Tightrope, "do you really believe I can do it?" "Well of course I do, you just did it." "No, no, no," said Tightrope, "do you believe I can do it?" "Yes," said Mr. Promoter, "I believe you can do it." "Good," said Tightrope, "then you get in the wheel barrow."
The word believe, in Greek means "to live by". This is a nice story...makes you ask, how often do we say that we believe Christ can do it, but refuse to get in the wheelbarrow?
I am not telling you that we always get it right but we are a church that desires to live by faith following God to the things He calls us to. We do this by leaning into prayer and scripture that reminds us of the call to live by faith.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
We could spend the entire morning with scriptures based on faith. It is the most important aspect of our belief and the most difficult areas to succeed. I am thankful for a church that acts in Faith to what God calls us to do and I am so excited to see what God does as we lean further into that faith and into the things God is calling us to do and be for our community. Paul was thankful for a church that grew, and a church that had faith. He was also thankful for a church that persevered.
Thankful for Perseverance
Thankful for Perseverance
9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Paul was thankful that this church had turned from their sin and sought God. He was thankful for a church that was waiting for the return of the Son of God. This was a note of admiration from Paul. These people had turned from their sins and sought the Lord and they had maintained this. They did not run back to their sins and past lives when the going got tough, they leaned into their relationship with Christ and they leaned into the Spirit when things got tough. They did not allow the outside pressures to change them they changed the world by persevering in the faith through the struggles. I am thankful for Highlands Baptist Church because of the way we have persevered. Our church has been through some major struggles, through some minor struggles, and through things that would draw some to reverting back to their old ways of living. This church has not done that. Every time we are faced with a challenge I have seen this group of believers even against their own opinions lean into what God is calling for us to do. This is the type of church that Paul was writing to in Thessalonians. Paul was thankful that when the church faced their trials of many kinds that they leaned into their faith and desire to seek Christ. This church has come through COVID, has experienced challenges with the buildings, has experienced a change of leadership and this church still leans into the relationship with Christ. This is what makes a church Biblically successful. I am so thankful for Highlands Baptist Church where it feels like family and I can see the spirit of God moving. It is not always perfect here but through our mistakes and mis-steps we seek to acknowledge our shortcomings and ask God for His power to move forward in a spiritual way. Perseverance must remain. Whatever struggles we face moving forward we must be willing to lean into God and to not let this body of believers fall apart. The closer we grow towards what God wants us to be as a church the harder the devil is going to fight us and the more we need to forget that old self that believes we can handle it and trust God and lean into His word and how He tells us to trust Him to handle it. One of the greatest things I have ever read about perseverance came from a history book on William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was instrumental in abolishing slavery in the British Empire. Here is the passage that I read:
Young William Wilberforce was discouraged one night in the early 1790s after another defeat in his 10 year battle against the slave trade in England. Tired and frustrated, he opened his Bible and began to leaf through it. A small piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor. It was a letter written by John Wesley shortly before his death. Wilberforce read it again: "Unless the divine power has raised you up... I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that (abominable practice of slavery), which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might."
Wilberforce would die just 3 days after hearing that the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 had passed the British Parliament. His life was tough and he was ridiculed and attacked. Yet he stood firm knowing that God intended for all of his creation of man to stand hand and hand and not one over another. He maintained his faith and leaned into it when things got tough and brought about one of the greatest gifts to mankind the ability to see each other as uniquely and wonderfully made by our creator regardless of the differences in our appearances. Highlands Baptist Church is a church that has persevered and Lord willing will continue to do so.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
I am thankful to be a part of a church that is growing, that is faithful, and is persevering.
