1 Thessalonians 1:7-10: Good news from Greece!(click here for todays passage)

At the moment the news from Greece is disturbing. This nation is regularly hitting the headlines. I just saw a picture in the latest edition of ‘Time’ magazine, showing a lengthy queue at a bank in Thessaloniki. In Paul’s day, however, there was a church in that very city that was good news. It had a great reputation and became extremely well known.

On the last Sunday in November, 1990, we had our first service as a new church in Boston Spa. I preached from this very passage on that occasion, and expressed my vision that we would be like the Thessalonian church; that the message about Jesus would ring out everywhere from us.

Yesterday we looked at some of the reasons why this church became a ‘’model’’ Christian community: they imitated Christ, welcomed the Word, and were prepared to joyfully suffer. Any church bearing these ‘hallmarks’ will make an impact.

‘’They were both ‘’receivers’’ (the Word came to them, 1 Thess.1:5) and ‘’transmitters’’ (the Word went out from them, 1 Thess.1:8). Each believer and each local church must receive and transmit God’s Word. The verb ‘’sounded out’’ actually means ‘’to sound as a trumpet.’’…It is the responsibility and privilege of each local church to share the message of salvation with the lost world…A recent survey of church growth indicated that 70 to 80 percent of a church’s growth is the result of friends witnessing to friends and relatives to relatives…the personal contact brings the harvest.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (NT)’, p.706.

Prayer: Lord God, I pray that who we are and what we say will dynamically join forces to make an impact for you.