The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1944-05-12

Strong, active, missionary-minded
churches do not just happen" They
are the result of the preaching Of
true and powerful message by q
faithful and sacrificial messenger.
Other factors enter in, but these are
the fundamentals.
PauPs ministry at Thessalonica,
which is described in Acts II and
explained in / Thessalonians 2, re-
veals what should be preached and
what kind of a preacher Is needed.
Perhaps some dead or unsuccessful
church may learn the secret today
and come to new life for Christ.
/. The Message-Christ the Saw.
Jour (Acts 17:1-4).
Paul had already met the varying
lot of both persecution and accept
ance, and had now come to Thes-
salonica, large and important city
in Macedonia, where he had
lengthy ministry and established a
strong church.
What was the message which so
signally succeeded in this great
strategic center? Well, it was not
(as some modern preachers in large
cities would seem to think) a series
of social, political, or literary dis
courses. Paul preached Christ. He
reasoned with them and presented
the Saviour ". 81 as One who was
/. Dead for our sin. These people
were like us in that they needed a
solution for their sin problem. There
were doubtless other questions which
Paul might have discussed, but he
wisely went to the root Of their diff
ficulty and showed them "that
Christ must needs have suffered"
Without the death of Christ there
Is no salvation for any man. Only
through the shedding Of blood can
there be remission Of sin (Heb. 8:
22). Paul had no part in the folly OF
"bloodless gospel"-as though
there were any such gospel.
2. Raised for our justification. It
was not enough that Jesus died,
marvellous as that is in our sight.
For many a man has died for his
convictions, but none has risen from
the dead. Christ could not be holden
of the grave. He arose the victori-
GUS Redeemer.
3. Declared to be the Christ. He
is more than man, more than q
great leader and an earnest teacher.
He is Gods anointed One, Himself
divine-and our Lord.
Thus Paul presented to the Jews
their Messiah, "the Man of Sorrows"
lisa. 53), whose resurrection de-
clared Him to be the Son of God
with power (Rom. 1:4), their Re-
deemer and Lord. Blessed results
followed such preaching ". A..
III. The Messenger-Appr0ved OF
God Il. Thess. 2:1-12).
Sometimes a man with true
message largely nullifies its value
by the manner in which he presents
it, or by his manner of life in the
community.
l. He was faithful (vv. 1857. One
of the great temptations facing the
one who is a preacher or teacher OF
Gods Word is to let his fear of men
cause him to adjust his message, to
use bit of fiattery, to please men.
Paul was "bold in our God" ".
o., not trying to deceive or mis-
lead anyone ". 81, seeking only
Gods approval ". A., not trying
to make money for himself or gain
standing with men by smooth words
". 81, and not claiming high po-
sition or authority over men ". 81.
2. He was affectionate wv. 7-9).
How often those who are faithful
and bold in preaching the truth
ruin the effect Of their work by be-
ing harsh and unkind. Here is q
lesson many of us need to learn.
To be gentle ". y man must
be strong. The cardinal quality OF
strong Christian should be that he
is a gentleman, or she a gentle
woman. If not, there is not real
strength in the life.
Paul gave not only message,
he gave himself-his very soul ".
81. The people to whom he minis
tered were 'dear" to him. The
pastor who looks down at his con-
gregation with hardness, and per-
haps hatred for some individual.
needs to read this passage and find
Paul's secret of success.
He labored with his hands to sup
port himself ". 81, lest anyone
think he was burden to them. Let
no one think that this means that
a preacher is not worthy Of sup
port. Christ Himself declares that
the laborer is worthy of his hire
(Luke 10:7). But it does show
Paurs fine spirit Of devotion and
sacrifice.
8. He was unblamable wv. 10-1O.
Holy in his life before God, Paul
was ready to live righteously be-
fore men, and thus to stand unblam-
able before them and before his
Lord. This indeed is life worthy
in the sight of God ". 12).
In other words, the preacher was
able to say to his listeners, my
life shows you what ! mean by
my preaching" The true preacher
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