For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews;
And, first, I would remark that this thankfulness of theirs followed upon sore travail. It is of no use for you to say, "I shall thank God for a harvest," if you neither plough nor sow. You will have no harvest without labor and patience. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy"; but if there be no sowing and no tears there is no promise of any kind of reaping. I have known young preachers envy those who have had many converts, and I do not wonder that they should; but if they themselves desire to be greatly useful and successful, they must go the same way to work that others have done. In the cause and kingdom of Christ, although the race is not to the swift, it certainly is not to the sluggish; and although salvation is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, it certainly is not of him that does not will and does not run. We may sit and sigh as long as we like, but we shall see no result from lethargy. Dead bees make no honey either in the land of grace or of nature. Neither is anything wrought by merely tucking up your sleeves, and making a brave show. We may plot and we may plan, we may propose and we may expect, but expectations and proposals will fall to the ground like apple-blossoms that have never knit unless we stir ourselves up in the name of God, and throw all the strength we have into the work of faith and labor of love. We shall fail unless we cry for much more strength than nature will yield us. With a vehemence that will not take a denial, we must plead with the Lord until we prevail; for in this matter "the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Yes, Paul, and Silas, and Timothy, you would not be sitting together thanking God, if you had not for many a day put your shoulders to the wheel. If you had not labored night and day, if you had not exercised much labor and travail, and been willing to impart to the people, not only the gospel, but even your own lives also, you would never have rejoiced to ether in the way you have described. Ministers giving thanks to God are ministers who have worked.
