THESSALONICA: EXCEL STILL MORE

The Mighty Word -- 1 Thess. 2:13-16

Thessalonica

How Did We Get So Confused?

• Approximately 41,000 recognized denominations in Christianity

• Defined as “independent organizations”• Not necessarily 41,000 different takes

on doctrine• Still – is troubling how divided

Christianity is when Jesus said His followers should be one.

• How do we get back to one?

It’s All About God’s Mighty Word!

• “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book.” -- Abraham Lincoln

Will We Abide By That Word?

• “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

• -- Daniel Webster

God’s True Word

1 Thessalonians 2:13 – “…we alsothank God that when you received

the word of God which youheard from us, you accepted

it not as the word of men,but for what it really is,

the word of God…”

Stability In A World Of Flux The word of God

is unchanging and unchangeable.

It can be perverted, but not undone.

It is lamp in an otherwise dark world.

Dependable In A World Of Lies They received it as the

word of God. Was preached by men. What about modern

claims of messages from God?

Oral Roberts and 90-foot Jesus?

Joseph Smith and the angel Moroni?

God (Himself) On God’s Word

Deuteronomy 18:20-22 – “But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true…the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

Even if a prophet prophesies something that comes true, but attributes it to another god, he is not to be listened to.

He is trying to “…seduce you from the way in which the Lord you God commanded you to walk.”

God’s Word Already Delivered “…in these last days

has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

Word already delivered through Jesus.

A Guiding Principle God’s WORK and

WILL reflect God’s WORD.

God’s will for us will never be something contrary to God’s word.

So, test the spirits to see if they are from God.

The Work of the Word – vs. 13

Paul said the word “performs its work in you who believe.”

What work is the word performing in us?

God’s Word Effects New Birth 1 Peter 1:23 – “…for

you have been born again…through the living and enduring word of God.”

James 1:21 – “…receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”

The Word Sanctifies

John 17:17 – “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

1 Timothy 4:5 – “for (everything) is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

It Is Living And Active Hebrews 4:12 -- For

the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Word Is Fire/Hammer

Jeremiah 23:29 – Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?”

Concerning false prophets

God’s Word Is Light In The World

Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

God’s Word Is Sword and Armor

Ephesians 6:17 – “…and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

The Divisive Nature Of The Word

1 Thes. 2:14-16 – “…you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out…with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins….”

The Word Comes With Persecution

Jewish Christians persecuted by Jews.

God’s prophets always persecuted.

Gentile Christians persecuted by Gentiles.

But God’s wrath will come upon those who hinder His word.