Skip to content Unstoppable: How to Be an Unstoppable Church Mar 6 · 38 min ...more
Unstoppable: How to Be an Unstoppable Church
March 6, 2024 · 38 min
Pastor John Mark Caton focuses on the idea of the church striving to be 'unstoppable' and being a strong influence and model in its community.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton March 6, 2024 · 38 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
Pastor John Mark Caton focuses on the idea of the church striving to be 'unstoppable' and being a strong influence and model in its community. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor John Mark Caton focuses on the idea of the church striving to be 'unstoppable' and being a strong influence and model in its community.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
101K followers
John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
101K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Unstoppable Faith 0:00 Well, amen. You glad you're in God's house today? Is God's house colder or warmer than your house? I don't know. But, I wanna invite you to reach and grab your copy of God's word and turn with me, if0:12 you would, back to first Thessalonians, chapter 1. We started a series last week, a new series for a new year, entitled unstoppable. That we wanna do everything we can as followers of0:23 Christ to be unstoppable in 20 24. We also asked the question, how many of you felt unstoppable in 20 23? And the truth was, not a lot of us, but some of us.0:36 And some of us feel like we were anything but unstoppable in 20 23. And so that's the purpose of this series is to look at this church and this collection of members of this church in0:48 Thessalonica and say, how can we be unstoppable in 20 24? And that is ultimately our call. And so let's go back to those opening verses we looked at last week.0:59 First Thessalonians, let me reintroduce you to this church if for some reason, you happen to have missed last week. Here's what it says, verse 1. Paul, Silas, and Timothy, to the church everybody say1:11 the church. That's us. Right? It's not a building. It's the people. To the church of the Thessalonians in God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He says grace and peace1:23 be to you. And he goes, we always thank God for all of you and continually mention you. I love this, you, you, you, you. When he talks about the church, it's the people. He goes,1:35 we always thank God, all of you, and continually mention you in our prayers. He says, we also remember before our God, listen to this, and father, your work that was produced by1:47 your faith, your labor that was prompted by your love, and your endurance that was inspired by your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we talked about last week,1:59 this church in Thessalonica was start started by Paul, Silas, and Timothy on their second missionary journey. Alright? Paul had already had 1 missionary journey with Barnabas. They2:11 split up, had a great dispute. If you missed that, go back to last week and I talked about that. And then all of a sudden, they don't let that stop them. They go on the second missionary journey. They go up through2:21 Philippi, and then they ultimately go to Thessalonica, and they plant this church in a very different city. It's not like Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, in this2:33 church, there were Jews, Hebrews of Hebrews, there were Hellenistic Jews, there were Greeks, and there were Gentiles. It was kind of a crazy collection of2:45 people from different spaces, different places, different backgrounds, different genres, and God through the gospel, and Paul and, Silas and Timothy through sharing the gospel,2:57 basically brought this collection of people who otherwise should not get along. He brought them together and they started killing it. In Thessalonica and not just3:09 only in Thessalonica, we're gonna read this here in a second, but in other places as well. So much so that Paul and, Silas were run out of town because of the persecution, and they3:20 left and went to Corinth and planted a church there in Corinth and begin to minister there in Corinth. But then Paul says, listen. We didn't get to spend much time with those people back in Thessalonica. I would love to3:32 know how they're doing. And so he sends for a word, and the word he gets back is that that church filled with all that crazy collection of people, those Hebrews and Hellenistic3:44 Jews and those Greeks and those Gentiles, that group is killing it in that city. So much so that Paul says that church had become3:56 a model church. And I want you to know as your pastor, I want nothing more for us as a church in 20 24 and beyond as to become a4:08 model church. Listen what Paul says in verse 7. He says first Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7. He says, and so you, talk remember that word you always emphasize, became4:20 a model, a model church to all the believers. Remember, in Thessalonica, but not just Thessalonica, he says in Macedonia and Achaia. In other words, that's all to4:32 your north, all to your south, all around you. Now when you hear that word model, I don't know what you think of. Probably, we all think of different things. Maybe some of you think of fashion week. How many of you think4:43 fashion week? Maybe it's New York, Paris, Milan. The have you ever seen how many of you have seen this? The only reason why I go to those things, I know y'all know I go to those things, is I'm just looking for a4:55 new preaching outfit. I mean, that's all I really care about. But in these fashion weeks all over the world, literally, the top designers, the top celebrities, the top buyers,5:07 the top models will go because they wanna model the latest fashion. Now, again, like I said, all I want is 1 good preaching outfit. Sometimes when I look at5:19 these pictures, I think it's more like a casting call for the Wizard of Oz. How many of you know what I'm talking about? I mean, that's what it just kinda seemed like to me. And I always had wonder, and y'all think we're5:29 weird. How many of you heard that? How many of you heard that people think church people are weird? How many of you know let's be honest. How many of you know we're weird? I mean, but in a good way. Right? We're weird in5:39 a good way. So the question becomes, what does it take to be a model church? If we're gonna be the kind of church that not only impacts our city, but5:51 impacts our Macedonia, our Achaea, our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth, what does it take? And let me just give you a couple of thoughts, and we're gonna start in6:03 verse 4. And I'm gonna pull some things out, and hopefully you will jot these down, write these down. Hopefully you've got your app open, that way you can follow along with the verses if I don't get get to some of them6:12 because of time. But thought number 1, if we're going to be a model church, we always have to be gospel driven. We always have to6:24 be about the gospel, sharing the gospel. Look at what Paul says starting in first Thessalonians chapter 4. Here here's what he says. Pick it up. He says, for we know now again, Paul's planted this church.6:36 He got ran out of town. He heard they were doing great. Not only did he hear they were doing great, he heard they were a model to all other people in all other places. And he says, for we know so he writes them this6:47 letter. He says, for we know brothers and sisters, that's all of us. Everybody say that's all of us. That's all of us. That you are loved by God. Now think about it. He's talking to6:59 a crazy collection of people. Some Hebrew of Hebrews, some Hellenistic Jews, some Greeks, some Gentiles, some people that that come from crazy backgrounds. And he goes, every 1 of you, you7:11 are loved by God. And listen to this, that he chose you. There's that word again. Because our gospel, we're going to talk about what that means here in a second, came to you. Notice all the u's7:23 in here. Not simply with words, but also with and here's a trifecta. If you want to write it down, just write these 3 down. What should the gospel come to our city and your work and our7:35 schools and our communities with? Here's the trifecta. The gospel should come with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with a deep conviction. And he goes, you know how we lived among7:47 you for your sake. So what does it mean to be gospel driven? Thought number 1 is this. We have to define the gospel. What is the7:58 gospel? In its simplest forms, the gospel is good news. The simplest verse of all is just Jesus's words in response8:10 to Nicodemus. What must a man do to be saved? And he said, you should be born again. He goes, how Nicodemus says, how in the world can that happen? And Jesus just says, for God so loved the world,8:22 John 3 16, that he gave his 1 and only son that whoever believes in him would not perish, but would have everlasting8:35 life. I don't know how many of you men in the room, were here with us as our quarterly men's breakfast. We had about 400 men right out in the, atrium listening to a guy named Charlie8:47 Duke. Charlie Duke, if you don't know Charlie Duke, he was, 1 of the astronauts that actually walked on the moon. As a matter of fact, even to this day, he is the youngest astronaut to8:59 actually step on and walk on the moon. And he sat right out there and just kinda shared his testimony. Showed us some video of, of their moon landing that we had never seen before. Actually, some funny video9:11 of him falling on his back on the moon and not being able to get up. That's the that's the pictures you don't see. Alright? Him running across the moon, with, some million dollar equipment, and he drops it.9:23 Alright? And he goes back and picks up. That NASA doesn't show you that, but he was showing it. Yeah. That was me. Yeah. That was me. But here's the story, and it goes back to John 3 16. Charlie Duke grew up in a9:34 military home with a drill sergeant father, literally. He said I was a good kid all my life. He says I was built for the military, ended up in NASA, ended9:46 up as an astronaut, as the youngest astronaut ever to step on the moon. Still the astronaut to step on the moon. Still to this day, he is9:58 astronaut certified with his health. The guy just lived his life right, but here's what he shared with our men. And ladies, I want you to join in. Men, if you weren't here yesterday, listen to his story. He says, my10:09 dad raised me in church. We grew up in an Episcopal church all my life. He goes, what I knew is10:15 I was supposed to go10:15 to church on Sunday. There's nothing else. He goes, after the moon, we were down there in Houston, ultimately ended up going out to San Antonio. He goes, I had some men come alongside me as10:27 Charlie Duke, and they invited me to a weekend bible study. And he thought about it and he says, I like these guys, but he he here's his words, how are we gonna10:39 study the bible for 3 days? And in those 3 days, Charlie Duke, for the first time in his life, got acquainted with John 310:51 16. For God so loved the world. So he says, I'd gone to church all my life. He says, for God so loved the world. And he says, speaker says God loves you, that he gave his11:03 1 and only son that whoever believed in him, even Charlie Duke, you would not perish but have everlasting life. He says, I began to think about that, and he says, I've been to church all my life, I've never done that. He11:14 said, I accepted Jesus as my savior and Lord. He goes, this is after the moon, well into adulthood, and maybe there's some men here that you were like that. You've been going to church just because you think that's what11:24 you need to do. I want you to hear the gospel is good news that regardless of who you are, even amongst this crazy collection of people in person and online, that Jesus11:36 died for you. Now here, it didn't stop there with Charlie. Go go listen to it. You can go hear it on the men's Bible study podcast. He says, once I got saved for the first time in my life, I actually started reading the11:47 Bible. And he says, I was married and I got over to Ephesians, which started talking. Paul says, husbands, love your wives as Christ11:59 loved the church. And Charlie said, I'd never done that. He says, I never once loved my wife like Christ loved the12:11 church. And he says, I came into her and she was suicidal, we're on the verge of divorce, and she was struggling. He says, I walked into the room and says, I'm sorry. I've never loved you like Christ12:23 loved the church, and I'm gonna start today. He kept reading the Bible. He went over to Proverbs, and that's when he understood that life and death is found in the12:34 power of the tongue. And he said, I realized I was killing my kids with my tongue. Why? Because I was pointing out everything they did wrong and not12:46 honoring them for anything they did right. So think about this, a man who had all the successes in the world, once you and I can only imagine stepping on the moon. Hey, listen. I'd be happy to12:58 step on the moon, but I'm not getting in that tight space to make the ride. Alright? Just be honest. A little claustrophobic. This guy that had it all went to a weekend bible study with some other men.13:10 There are probably men there are probably some men in your life who are living his life that they are dying for. They're dying in need for you to invite them to a bible study so they can see it. And then it after he got13:21 saved, it didn't stop there. It changed his marriage. It changed his fathering. Now the third thing he said, and then I started reading about this thing called the tithe. And he goes, listen, I was a good guy. I13:33 tip God 10 or 20 dollars every once in a while. And he goes, and so I walked into my wife and he goes, I listen, honey. I really am convicted. I'm a better husband, I'm a better father, I'm a better man, I'm a better13:45 employee, I'm a better boss, I'm a better everything. He says, but I've got to start tithing. We've got to start tithing if we're gonna live according to the book. And she said, immediately, yes. Let's do that. He goes,13:56 we were all fired up until we wrote that first check and realized that's a big check. And he goes, but once we got faithful we ended up having more money than we ever had before because God14:08 is faithful. So the point, the gospel is good news regardless of who you are. Regardless of whether you were Hebrew of Hebrews, you've always been in church14:20 or you're the furthest away Gentile and you showed up for the first time. Jesus loves you so much he died on the cross for you. I love what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4. He says, but because of14:31 his, God's great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. If you go look that word up14:43 dead, you want to know what it means? Dead. Like all dead. Like fully fully dead. That you and I can't do anything to make our salvation or our eternal life alive. That14:55 we are dead separated from God, but it says because of God's great mercy, he made us alive with him in Christ even when we're dead in our trespasses. It is by grace that you have been15:07 saved through faith. Now here, thought number 1, if we're gonna be unstoppable, we have to know the definition of the good news. Is it doesn't matter who you are or15:18 what you've done, God loves you and sent his son to die on the cross for you. And anyone, whoever receives him will receive the gift of eternal life. Here's number 2. Are you15:30 ready? We have to remember that the gospel is personal. It is for every person. If you were to go back and just reread those verses I just read,15:42 2 verses, first Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 4 and 5, you know what you would see? Come on. The gospel being personal. 4 times in those 2 verses, the apostle Paul uses the word15:54 you. You, you, you, and he gives them 1 your. In the grand scheme of things, here's what that means. There's a16:06 you for every you in this room. There's a you for every you in this room. There's a you for every you who's looking online.16:18 That that that means all of us have the opportunity to receive the gospel on a personal level. And my guess is there are some people who are out there16:30 going, yeah, pastor, but you have no idea what I've done. Can I tell you there is a you for even you? That16:42 God loves you so much from the greatest in this room to the least. From the 1 who is the Hebrew of Hebrews or the church to the church to the furthest away Gentile16:54 that the Hebrews considered defiled. There is a you in the gospel for you. Man, I I love what, Paul said. Just look at Romans chapter 1 verse 16.17:06 He says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. That's powerful in Paul, but notice he moves it beyond himself. He says, I'm not ashamed, but let me go to the other people because it is the power of God that17:18 brings salvation to everyone who believes. Yes, it came to the Jew first, but then it ultimately came to the Gentiles. So listen, if we are going to be a gospel driven church, to17:30 be unstoppable, which starts with knowing what the gospel is, is the good news for everyone. But the gospel is also personal regardless of who you and I run into, the gospel there is a you for them and God's love.17:42 And here's number 3, the gospel is powerful. Man, when we journey forward, when we come together and worship, when we worship God, we should worship with power and in the spirit with a deep conviction17:55 that man, we are surrounded by the truth. I I love what this says. It says the gospel came with 3 things. Remember the trifecta? It came with power. Paul says, when I showed18:06 up, and Silas showed up, and Timothy shows up, and we preach the gospel in Thessalonica in a hostile culture, in a hostile place, then we preached it with power. And we lived it18:18 with power, and we did not live it in fear. And so I love that Paul says the gospel, when the gospel truly shows up, it shows up with power. The second thing Paul says, he says, and it comes18:30 with a deep conviction that there is something in our soul, there is something in our heart, there is something wrapped up in the very DNA of our church that says not only18:42 does God want to move in and through my church, he wants to move in and through me in a power that is that is informed by deep conviction. The deep conviction is this, is that18:54 how can we not share God's love and God's grace and God's favor with a world that desperately needs it? How many of you would say, we live in a broken world?19:06 You need to have a deep conviction. I need to have a deep conviction. When I look at our students, and I look at our children, I look at families, I look to kids, and I look at our government, I look at our world, and I19:17 see the hurt and the anxiety and the depression, I have to have a deep conviction that I serve a God who will move in power through me that because19:29 of the gospel that I hold near and dear that is good news, it is personal for me but it's also personal for everybody else. And then not only that, here's the third thing. He says the gospel through our church and us19:41 individually comes with power, comes with a deep conviction, and he says it comes with the Holy Spirit. You know, a lot of times we de emphasize the Holy Spirit. But let me tell you what, Jesus19:53 didn't de emphasize the Holy Spirit. How many19:54 of you know that? As a19:55 matter of fact, 1 of the last things he told his disciples right before he gave them the great commission, he goes, listen, I'm about to go back to the father. And they went, oh. He goes, you're gonna be okay. I'm not20:04 leaving you alone. He goes, because I'm sending the Holy Spirit and he's gonna be with you. And what does that Holy Spirit do? First of all, he seals us until the day of redemption. Once the good news, listen to20:16 this, becomes personal, it becomes your good news and my good news that the Holy Spirit seals us, and I'm a read it to you in a second, until the day of redemption. Not only that, then20:28 the Holy Spirit equips us with spiritual gifts. Do you realize if you're a Christian in here that the spirit of God has given you spiritual gifts whether you've used them yet or not? That you have tools in20:39 your spiritual tool belt that the Holy Spirit wants you to use to serve, to administrate, to lead, to whatever it is. That the Holy Spirit will come alongside you once you're saved. Give you spiritual20:51 gifts. Now, we don't all have the same gifts and everybody don't have doesn't have all the gifts. That's what Paul is clear about. But everybody, if you are saved, you have a spiritual gift. And part of that power is21:02 that you use that spiritual gift to serve God and to reach others with the good news. The third thing is we get fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, peace, patience, kindness, and beyond.21:15 Is that in those moments and seasons when hatred is welling up, the spirit says, hey, let's shoot for love here. Then when impatience showed up, the Holy Spirit says, let's be a little more patient.21:27 And you want to know what else the Holy Spirit does? It inspires us. Gives us some passion. Now, when you come in worship, I I don't know if you've noticed. How many of21:39 you noticed that on stage here, we got a little passion in worship. Can I tell you that's not their job, that's our job? Is that the Holy Spirit wants to show up in your life, in your21:51 life, in your life, in your life with the same inspiration, the same passion. Is almost kind of like in every song that we sing, we are singing a let's go.22:03 That's what we're22:04 saying. Because listen, Paul says the gospel comes with power. Our church should come with power. Paul said, our the22:15 the the the gospel comes with deep conviction. Our church should come with a deep conviction. Paul says, the gospel comes with the Holy Spirit. Our church22:27 should show up with the Holy Spirit. What did Paul say? I I love these words that that that Paul says in, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13. He says, and you also were included in Christ22:40 When you heard the message of truth, there it is, when you heard the message of truth, it's not a compromised truth, it's not a half truth, it's not a watered down truth. What is the message of truth? The22:52 gospel of your salvation, the whole message, the good the good news. He goes, and when you believe, that's your part, you are marked in him with a seal. Who is the seal? Now what is the23:03 seal? Who is it? The promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the day of redemption for those who are God's possession to the praise of God's23:15 or his glory. So what does he say? When we speak the truth with power, with deep conviction, people are gonna receive, the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Along with that, the Holy23:27 Spirit is gonna show up, a deep conviction is gonna show up in their life, and they will receive a seal who is the Holy Spirit that marks them not until the day of their next sin.23:40 Not until the day of their next failure, but until the day of redemption. You know, I I hear people share testimonies from time to time to time. And let me just try to connect with 1 of 2 categories of people in this23:50 room, especially perhaps men. I I don't know. There are times that I have sat with people, and you probably heard this testimony. Have you ever how many of you have heard a testimony like this? Of somebody that struggled24:00 with some great sin in their life or an addiction in their life. Right? How many have you ever heard a testimony like that? And they'll say, I got saved, and immediately God took that away from me. How many of you ever24:11 heard a testimony like that? And you know what? That's the power of God. And I glory in that, and I celebrate that, but I want you to know that's not everybody's testimony. Right? And I24:23 want us to hear, how many of you have ever heard someone in God? By the way, God bless that person and God does it. Man, what whatever their addiction was, there are other people. And I don't want you to feel less24:35 than if you're in this room because here's what I believe, God wants to use your testimony just like he wants to use their testimony. There are other people that you are struggling or have struggled with something. And24:46 you have given your life to Christ and guess what? That addictive nature, that temptation doesn't go away. That's when the gospel shows up with the Holy Spirit, with a deep conviction24:58 conviction, and with some power to say, you know what? Man, I pray day by day that God would take it away, but since he hasn't, I'm gonna march on. You say, is there a biblical foundation for that?25:10 How many of you heard of a guy named Paul? Romans 7, by the time he goes to Romans 7, let me tell you what, if I'm here on the spiritual Richter scale, he's way up here. And in Romans chapter25:22 7, Paul says, still to this day in my heart, there is a war that wages. Those things I don't want to25:34 do, if I'm not careful, that's exactly what I'm gonna find myself doing. Those things I want to do, I'm not gonna make time to do it. So here's the25:46 point. I mean, when the gospel shows up in our heart and we are sealed until the day of redemption, we've still got a war going on down here. Now listen, if you're 1 of those people that your testimony was, man,25:58 I was doing this, I was doing this, and God changed me. Share that testimony. If you're a person in this room wonder if God can use you and you've given your life to Christ and you wonder26:10 because you still have that same struggle going on in your life, can I tell you this? Share that testimony because God will use both because God works in26:21 miracle ways. Now, here's the last thought of being a gospel gospel driven church, is that a gospel driven church lives with more than words. It's just more than26:33 words. Paul says, our gospel came to you not in word only. Let me tell you what a gospel driven church isn't a lip service26:45 church. A gospel driven, Christian is not a lip service Christian. That it comes with power and26:57 also our personality. That I'm gonna show up and I'm gonna be there in the difficult times. I I love what Paul says. He says, listen, our gospel came to you not in word only, but in27:09 deed. He goes, as a matter of fact, you watched how we lived among you. Remember what Jesus said back in Matthew chapter27:21 5 verse 16? He says, in the same way, let your light shine before men so that they would see what? Your good words?27:33 Your big talk? No. What does it say? They would see your good deeds and glorify the father who is in heaven. Man, when we come to understand what the gospel is,27:45 we commit ourselves to the gospel, that the power and conviction and the Holy Spirit shows up, then when we begin to share the gospel, we don't share it in words only, but we also bring it with deeds. And27:57 that's when a church truly becomes unstoppable. So now as we just continue to read, alright. First of all, thought number 1, if we're gonna be an unstoppable church, we've gotta be a gospel driven church. Here's number28:08 2. We have to be imitators of Christ. I have to constantly be examining my life to say is are these words, are these deeds, is my lifestyle, honoring of Christ?28:20 Do I follow Christ? You say, where do you see that? Look at it. First Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 6, he says, you, everybody say that's us, I just love how many times Paul says, oh, by the way, and you and and you28:31 and and you and you. He says, you became imitators of us and of the Lord. And there's a group. We want to find ourselves around surrounded by people, who we can imitate. For you28:43 welcome the message in the midst. In the midst of severe suffering, life wasn't easy. Are you how many of you are going through some stuff? They were going through some stuff.28:55 Alright? He says, even in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given, there he is again, the Holy Spirit. And I I love this. Here's what Paul is saying.29:08 Paul says, when I came in and I shared the gospel, when Silas came in and showed the gospel, I taught them how to live and others got saved. He says, you begin to imitate me, but he says, don't ever forget, you don't29:20 imitate me, you're always wanting to follow the Lord. And so here's the idea. If we are gonna learn to live in such a way that we are gonna honor Christ and29:32 live according to the gospel, Paul sets a clear pattern That we want to surround ourselves with people who are further along in the faith in us, or at least at29:44 our same station in life. Why? So I can look to them and say, how do they handle this? Man, when when life gets kinda kinda out of whack, how did they handle it? Man, when their kids did this, how did they handle it?29:56 So what I want to do is I want to find people that I can imitate, that I can look like, that I can follow, that I can ask a question. But I always want to make sure those people are following the Lord.30:08 Right? Because if we aren't careful, we can imitate people who are following someone else. How many of you know? Boy, you just look on your phone. There are lots of people that want you to look30:20 like them, act like them, talk like them, and they're following the wrong people. So we want to make sure if we are a gospel driven church, that we want to imitate people who are imitating Christ. That's the level of it.30:32 Alright? And then I want to fall in line. If you go out, in the atrium after the service, they're we're having taste of cottonwood. You say pastor, why are you making a big deal about taste of cottonwood?30:43 Because that is represents all the groups in our church. Why? Because we understand that once I receive the gospel, the best thing you can do is get in a group. Why? Because you can begin to look around. If30:55 you're a man, you can look around in the group and you can see other men, some that are further along with you, some of their your same spiritual state, some that are further behind you. And you can begin to imitate them31:06 because here's what's gonna happen. Regardless of where you are, regardless of where you are as you're you in relationship to the gospel, there can come a day where others who31:18 you think look down on you now will look up to you because they want to be like you as you imitate Christ. Does that make sense? And so that's why we have all those groups out there. We want everybody to get in a group,31:29 and we want you to be a part of the church. We want you to come in here worship and let the Holy Spirit flow. But we also want you to get in a group because you're gonna go through some more stuff. And I love what Paul31:39 was honest. He he says, man, and when you got received the gospel, the severe trials went away. You never see that in scripture. But what you do see is the Holy Spirit gave31:51 you joy in the midst of hardship and in the midst of difficulty. Next, just continue to read as we look at first Thessalonians. Man, if we're gonna be a gospel driven church, not only do I become32:03 an imitator of Paul or imitator of Christ, then we become models to other believers. Look at in verse 7. This is back to our word model. And so you became a model to all the believers32:15 in Macedonia and Achaia. What is he saying? He's saying that little church, that little collection of crazy people that shouldn't have gotten along became an example of a church32:27 that got along, had the Holy Spirit, had power, had deep conviction, and then they began to share the gospel out. It moved from inside the walls to outside of the walls, from32:39 inside our heart to outside of our heart. And it didn't come with words only, it also came with deeds so much so that Paul says, I want everybody to be like you.32:52 And so that's what we wanna and then finally, just look at this, and this is where we're gonna stop right here in verse 8. Be open about your faith.33:00 Be open about your faith.33:02 Man, once I imitate someone else, there there are times that I'll hear somebody that they'll talk about, you know, man, I'm I I read this Bible. I read this much. I've been in this Bible study, been in this Bible study,33:12 been in this Bible study. And and and then I'm like, alright. Now when do you share your faith? When do you talk about your faith? And I'm not talking about getting a sign and going on in the corner. I'm like I'm like,33:22 listen. When you're when when that when that man at work or that lady at work has a cup of coffee with you and just all of a sudden bares your soul, just said I'm going through this.33:36 Man, that's not the time when we said, boy, God protects me from all of that. That's when we really look into deep in their eyes and say, I've been there. Or maybe you say, I haven't been there. You say, I'm sorry.33:49 But can can I just be there with you? Not just in words, but also in deeds. Can I walk you through this difficulty and this hardship? And let the message ring out. Look at it in verse 8. And so Paul has continued34:01 to brag about them. He says, the Lord's message rang out from you back to those 2 places. And by the way, if you look on the map, it's all around them. Macedonia and Achaia. He says, the34:13 Lord's message rang out from you. Listen, your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore, we do not need to say anything about it. Paul says, listen, I'd love to brag about you. But if34:25 Paul says, every time I go into a new town I go, hey. And he says, hey, let me tell you about the people at Thessalonica. They go, we know. We know. You say, how do you know? Well, because this34:37 person who you live there works. He comes into our city from time to time. He's told us all about this crazy church with this crazy collection of people that is just killing it. And they become a model to everybody else.34:48 Paul says, listen. I keep trying to brag about you, but they know. Why do they know? Because the gospel didn't come with words only. It also, it also came with your life. And then just continue to read on.35:00 He says, therefore, we do need to do not need to say anything about it for they themselves report the kind of reception that you gave us. They tell how you turn to God from idols to serve a living and a35:12 true God. So, man, your testimony precedes you. Church, here's where we're gonna close. And we'll dismiss you to taste of Cottonwood. Go enjoy it.35:24 That we want to be that kind of church in 20 24. But I want you to know, this is not selfish. This is biblical. A35:36 biblical church is an unstoppable church. Biblical Christians are unstoppable Christians. Why? Because we are gospel centered.35:49 We know what it means. We know how to live it out. We live with power and deep conviction that the Holy Spirit gives. And I love what Paul says, you receive the gospel in the midst of36:00 severe persecution. That means when things get tough, a true believer doesn't quit. They simply say, let's go. I36:12 wanna invite us to bow our heads to where we are. I just wanna I want you to pray there where you are, man. If you've never trusted Christ as savior and lord, maybe maybe you're like Charlie Duke, that you've36:24 come to church a lot all your life, but you've never asked Jesus Christ in your heart. Let this be the day. Maybe there's someone here today that that you're ready to be a gospel driven person.36:37 That you wanna let the good news ring out in every space and every place. Let's just pray that now. God, my prayer for our church is that we'd be an unstoppable church36:49 in 20 24. God, let us be a gospel driven church. A church that has deep conviction, lived out of power, and through the Holy37:01 Spirit. God, let us have an impact on our Macedonia, our archaea, and every other place, in the office, at church, in life groups, in37:13 the grocery store, on the road, wherever we are in the schools, so that we can give you glory and you honor in everything that we do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. We're glad37:25 you're in God's house today. Amen. We're offline now. So how many of you know you're no more more spiritual because you came to church on a day like today than those that kinda stayed in? So,37:37 just pat yourself on the back. God bless you. Hey. Go find a life group.In this video 0:00 Unstoppable Faith
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.