Community Baptist Church
Sunday, May 3

      • 1 Chronicles 16:23–24NKJV

      • Psalm 66:1–4NKJV

  • Lift High The Name Of Jesus

      • Mark 14:22–25NKJV

      • Matthew 26:27–28NKJV

  • To God Be The Glory
  • I Stand In Awe

      • John 16:5–15NKJV

  • A Gospel Driven Life

    What caused you to get out of bed this morning? Was it an alarm clock? Was it some physical need that prompted you to get up? Was it a pet? Maybe your bedroom window faces in an easterly direction and the rising sun brightened your room?
    It could be that your body is so accustomed to rising at a particular time that you just wake up for no apparent reason!
    Then the next question: Why are you here this morning? What motivated you to be here?
    Let me share with you reasons I’ve heard for attending church:
    My friends are all there;
    I’d disappoint my pastor/Bible teacher if I didn’t show up (how sweet!);
    It’s just something I do - almost every Sunday.
    Here is a reason I’d like to hear (but don’t hear often enough): I show up on Sunday’s because I expect God to show up, meet me, and speak to me.
    Reading the history of the early church in Luke’s account titled ‘Acts’ I continue to be amazed at just how determined Paul, Barnabas, John Mark, and later Silas, Timothy, and dozens of others left what was comfortable and convenient to travel to strange places where people spoke differently, lived differently, and believed differently. Paul and his companions did this because they believed that Jesus, a man crucified because of collusion between Jewish religious officials and Roman government officials.
    Paul and these others believed that this Jesus had been raised from the dead by the power of God and that by believing in Jesus people would be forgiven of their sin and set free to live in the kingdom of God promised from the very beginnings of recorded history.
    In Paul’s letter to believers in Thessalonica he invites his readers into his personal life by sharing with them part of the ‘WHY’ which drove his life.

    There is life-changing power in the gospel

    Jared Wilson, a seminary professor who works with churches and church leaders offers this word of encouragement:
    Minds may be informed by TED talks. Hearts may be touched by Hallmark movies. But the soul can only be changed by supernatural power. And there is only one place the pastor can find supernatural power—the Spirit of God working through the message of the gospel, the finished work of the Son of God.
    Wilson, Jared C.. Gospel-Driven Ministry: An Introduction to the Calling and Work of a Pastor (p. 28). (Function). Kindle Edition.
    1 Thessalonians 2:1 “For you yourselves know, brothers, that our visit with you was not without result.”
    Wherever Paul travelled and shared the gospel people’s lives were changed - even in Athens where he was ridiculed by the ‘philosophers’ of his time:
    Acts 17:33–34 “Then Paul left their presence. However, some men joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.”

    There is ALWAYS opposition to the gospel

    I’m unsure of how this myth got started - but we in the USA in particular are convinced that our government owes us a stress free, conflict free life and that only those who receive the gospel as we proclaim it are worthy of protection.
    According to one organization that tracks the perseuction of Christians across the world
    1 in 7 believers are being persecuted in the world
    1 in 5 believers are persecuted in Africa
    2 in 5 believers are persecuted in Asia
    As I read 1 Thess 2:1-4 look for these words:
    “previously suffered…”
    “treated outrageously…”
    “great opposition…”
    Later in the same letter Paul will remind these believers that
    1 Thessalonians 2:14 “For you, brothers, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews”

    Gospel proclamation is made because in the Gospel God alone is honored and glorified

    During this season of the year our mailboxes and social media feeds are filled with flyers and ads for candidates seeking political office.
    Each flyer and ad is aimed at proclaiming a message: VOTE FOR [ME] (insert your candidates name).
    Every person seeking election firmly believes that they alone have the correct answers and the appropriate solutions to the many challenges facing our communities.
    Candidate forums have been held throughout the county and multiple articles have been written promoting one person or another.
    In Paul’s era there were travelling philosophers, religious ‘teachers,’ and a host of men and women who were literally selling ideas.
    Paul’s ‘advertising’ campaign was pretty simple:
    1 Thessalonians 2:4 HCSB
    Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but rather God, who examines our hearts.
    There was no hint of personal gain (see vs 7-ff), Paul’s motive was clear and obvious:
    TO GOD BE THE GLORY

    REFLECT AND RESPOND

    What would motivate a person - recently released from prison after being illegally beaten and jailed in one town - to travel nearly 100 miles just to take the chance that one might experience the same results?
    I’d be taking a long sabbatical after the experience Paul had in Philippi.

    How does the gospel motivate people?

    The gospel radically changes people’s lives
    1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 HCSB
    for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead —Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
    One recent account: one of our NWBC Hispanic church planters recounted an event where he and other pastors baptized 1,500 people. When the planter turned in his report to the NWBC Church Planting Leader, he was skeptical.
    Investigating further Gary I (NWBC Church Planting Catalyst) discovered that indeed around tw dozen Hispanic pastors gathered on a river bank in NW Washington where together they baptized 1,500 people, many of them immigrants - some legal, and some undocumented. As the crowd grew on that day Sheriff Deputies turned up - and fear gripped the crowd until the deputies revealed they were simply there to provide crowd control and traffic supervision.
    One deputy was so moved by the entire experience he resigned his office and began being discipled in order to serve as a pastor.
    The gospel - even in opposition - demonstrates the power of God
    The adversary is powerful. The adversary is, as one NT writer described, like a roaring lion, waiting “looking for anyone he can devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
    But God has defeated Satan. The truth that Jesus died for our sin, and that God raised Him from the dead on the third day and now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father till He returns to claim all who trust in Him overcomes any and every attack of the enemy (see Revelation 12:11 “They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not love their lives in the face of death.”
    When the Gospel is proclaimed God is glorified
    God is glorified when the gospel is spoken whether we ever see the seed grow into maturity.
    Gary I, whom I mentioned a moment ago, shared the following story:
    A few years ago he and his father, a church planter in Indiana and later here in the PNW, were visiting Ft Wayne IN where Gary’s dad had planted around a dozen churches. Of those 12, ten survived and flourished. Two failed. One of those that failed, though, was important to Gary. After trying to locate where that church had met decades ago - in an auto auction building converted into a church - Gary asked his dad - how does it feel knowing that this church plant didn’t survive. Of course his father was disappointed. Then Gary shared this with his dad - it was in that converted auto auction shop where Gary gave his heart to the Lord. Maybe the church didn’t survive, but only God knows how many people and churches and networks have been impacted because of a church meeting in an auto auction show room.
    We are not asked to provide results. God is glorified whenever the gospel is preached, shared, taught. Period. He assigns the responsibility for results to the Holy Spirit. Our assignment: proclaim the good news!
    The gospel:
    Romans 10:9–10 HCSB
    If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
    Don’t leave here today without responding!
    IF you have responded, let me know…let someone know!
    Why are you here today?
    GOD IS GLORIFIED WHEN HIS GOSPEL IS PROCLAIMED!
    GOD STILL SPEAKS!

      • 1 Thessalonians 2:4NKJV

      • 1 Thessalonians 1:9–10NKJV

      • Romans 10:9–10NKJV

      • Matthew 6:9–15NKJV

Community Baptist Church
sschenewerk@gmail.com
5416799569
http://www.winstoncommunitybaptist.com
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