Rev. David Holwick T
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 27, 2012
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
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I. Prayer requests.
A. Have you ever asked someone to pray for you?
1) Was it easy or hard to ask it?
2) Do you think they remembered to pray for you?
a) Sometimes we like the process of sharing requests more
than actually praying on them.
3) Do you think it did you any good?
B. We have a God who likes to be asked.
1) Jesus taught that we don't have to pester him, but there
does seem to be strength in numbers.
2) We want service!
A few years ago the Associated Press carried a story
about a group of post office customers.
The service that day was very slow - 26 people waited in
two lines.
One customer said, "It was like watching grass grow."
They realized they weren't getting enough attention, so
a 73-year-old man organized the group.
In an uncommon show of unity, he got all 26 to shout
together, "We want service!"
Two minutes later, another clerk ambled out and without
cracking a smile said, "Next?"
Well, the 26 knew they were on to something, so they tried
it again.
You guessed it, one more clerk appeared.
An amused customer summed up the situation like this:
"I got through that line in four minutes.
I've never seen anything like it!"
In some ways this is a modern version of Christ's parable
of the unjust judge.
He said that if humans can be persuaded by persistent
asking, how much more will our gracious Heavenly
Father pay attention to our pleadings!
#12056
C. In today's passage, Paul asks.
1) He asks on behalf of God.
2) He asks on behalf of himself.
3) And he reminds them of the kind of God we are calling on.
II. Pray for us.
A. Paul's focus is different than it is for most of us.
1) We would ask for healing of a friend, or better finances.
a) We tend to be people-oriented.
b) Paul is definitely God-oriented.
2) Paul asks that the gospel would be successful.
a) He wants to see it spread farther. And quicker.
b) He wants people to respond to it in a positive way.
3) His best example is the Thessalonians themselves.
a) Many had come to believe in the city.
b) The gospel had already spread into outlying areas.
B. The gospel continues to spread today.
1) Christianity is converting more people than Islam.
a) You usually hear that Islam is growing faster.
In reality, this is because Islam is strongest where
birth rates are highest.
(Yet even in these countries, birth rates are falling
quickly.)
b) When you look at conversions, Christianity wins.
Noted statistician David Barrett calculates Islam
converts 865,000 people a year.
Christianity converts 2.5 million!
(Wikipedia claims Islam is winning, however)
2) It is a similar story in other parts of the world.
a) In Vietnam, the U.S. State Department estimates that
Protestants in Vietnam may have grown 600% over
the last decade.
b) In Nigeria, the numbers of Christians has grown from
21% to 48 in fifty years.
c) In South Africa, Pentecostalism has grown from 0.2% in
7.6% in fifty years.
d) In South Korea, in twenty years Christianity has grown
from 21% to almost 30%.
e) In China, the government reports 30 million Christians
in registered churches.
1> This does not include private "house churches"
that the government doesn't control.
2> Independent surveys report the total number of
Christians is 65 million or more.
III. The gospel is not honored everywhere.
A. Many people in America want nothing to do with it.
1) Often they will describe it as "been there, done that."
2) The moral demands of the Bible turn many people off.
a) Others think it is anti-science.
b) Unfortunately, many times people turn against it
because of a bad experience with a Christian.
3) A new trend is to be anti-religious rather than non-religious.
a) Billboards mocking Christmas, websites that specifically
Christians - we can expect more of that.
B. There has always been opposition.
1) If anything, the early church had it much worse than us.
a) Paul himself was beaten, whipped, imprisoned and stoned
by mobs.
b) When he says "not everyone has faith," he is putting
it mildly.
2) That is why Paul asks for prayer for deliverance.
a) Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is praying for the
same thing.
In 2009 he criticized the schools there for trying to
force Islam on his kids.
He was arrested, charged with apostasy since he was
born a Muslim, and given the death penalty.
Several times he has been offered his freedom if he
will only renounce Jesus and embrace Islam.
Even though he has a wife and two small children, he
has refused.
b) A Vatican study found that out of every 100 people
killed due to religious hatred, 75 are Christians.
IV. Our God is faithful.
A. God is stronger than any opposition that comes against you.
1) It may be people. It may be Satan himself.
2) No force can destroy you if God is on your side.
B. You can trust in God's faithfulness.
1) A missionary's story.
In the early 1800's the modern missionary movement was
getting into full swing.
A young Scotsman named Robert Moffat applied to the London
Missionary Society and at the age of 17 he sailed to
South Africa, to a tribe that was deep inland.
Two years later, he got married and he and his wife
translated the Bible into the local language.
They were faithful in preaching.
But not one person converted.
In 1827, they received a letter from England.
Their friend wanted to mail them a gift and he asked what
they would like.
Trusting that the Lord was ready to bless their work, Mary
replied, "Send us a communion set; I am sure it will
soon be needed."
Two years later, in 1829, after ten years of effort, the
Moffats still hadn't seen a single person come to Christ.
Then in May of that year, six people came to the Lord.
By July, there were over 120 believers.
The small church prepared to gather on the first Sunday in
July for their first celebration of the Lord's Supper.
Two days before the observance, a package arrived.
It was the communion set, it had been delayed two years in
the mail.
But God's faithfulness wasn't done yet.
They had a daughter named Mary, who became the wife of the
famous missionary David Livingstone. #17608
2) God can get you what you need, when you need it.
V. Will you be faithful?
A. Paul had confidence in the Thessalonians.
1) He trusted that they were following the teaching he gave
them.
2) It wasn't just a human confidence, but one that God put
in his heart.
B. Would he have that confidence in you?
1) When I speak of how the gospel has penetrated Africa and
Asia, I glossed over an important point.
2) It has not yet penetrated millions of people in the United
States.
a) Some may even be in this church.
b) Maybe it is you.
1> Has the gospel reached you?
2> You may be aware of the stories, and been taught
basic truths, and followed the weekly habits,
but still not be a believer.
3> Perhaps you have even prayed for deliverance,
just like Paul did.
c) We must be clear - true Christianity is the surrender
of your whole being to Jesus Christ.
1> You recognize you need to be saved.
2> You acknowledge that only Jesus can do it, and you
ask him to.
C. Real Christianity produces certain fruit.
1) You will want to love the way God loves.
2) And you will keep following God, even when it is hard.
a) Paul calls this "Christ's perseverance."
b) Jesus kept following his father's mission for him,
even though he knew where it would end up.
c) He struggled with it emotionally, but didn't waver.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#12056 “Through the Line in Four Minutes,” Fredericksburg Bible
Illustrator Supplements, entered May 3, 2000.
#17608 “The Communion Set Came Just In Time,” by Alexander MacLaren,
Don Johnson Collection.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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