Excerpt from a Sermon Preached by Charles Spurgeon on a Thursday evening, 1887-03-24

The first is, ministers giving thanks. “Therefore, we never stop thanking God“ Then we have the cause of it, which brings up a second beautiful sight, namely, hearers receiving the word. Paul speaks of them thus: “when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.” In these words we find a window into the heart of the Thessalonian Christians and what we see is like a cabinet of jewels. Then we have a third thing which is exceedingly interesting, namely, new converts exhibiting the family likeness, turning out to be very like the believers of older churches. Born many miles away from Judaea, with a sea dividing them from the first country where the gospel was preached, yet these Thessalonian Gentiles, when converted, looked wonderfully like the converts from among the Jews—”you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews.”

My Take Away

I am grateful for the grace of God that is working in us powerfully every moment of our lives.  I promise you, gratitude will improve you outlook on life immensely.

This evening after speaking with a grieving lady from our congregation.  I reflected upon how her family accepted God’s grace in Christ just a few years ago.  Just a few weeks ago, it was a joyful experience to pray with her mother as she accepted God’s grace. Today her mother passed from this life into the presence of Christ.  Thank, God, for all who receive His Word!

More than ever I pray that our church will become a model of faith, hope and love!  Let’s reproduce passionate followers of Christ!

“Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe. And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13–14, NLT)