Paul's Prayer for the Thessalonians

The point: There's a very helpful principle here. The church of the Thessalonians had some very practical news. They apparently didn't understand the doctrine of the second coming. As many heathen societies who did not look down wi…

Mary's conclusion that 'They have taken away my Lord' from a few facts is used to illustrate how people often misinterpret situations, magnifying problems and overlooking blessings, unlike Timothy's balanced report.

It's so easy for us, many times, to misinterpret the facts, as Mary did. When they came to her in the garden, and she had this conclusion, reported in John chapter 20 and verse 2, They have taken away my Lord, and we know not where they've laid him. Well, nothing could have been further from the truth. She had a few facts.

9:39 - 9:59 Read in full sermon

The point: When the thought grips you as a mother or a father that I've brought into the world this precious little bundle of soft, warm flesh. to have a bundle of flesh that will prove to me that I might present God and society wi…

The analogy of a parent who rejoices only at the birth of a child but neglects the responsibility of raising them to maturity is used to critique 'irresponsible fathering' in evangelism that focuses only on conversion without spiritual development.

He is seen as exalted by God. He had been carried in the balance. When he was defeated to faith, Paul was amazed by the glory of theדיance of his son. So that when men had a good beginning, Paul rejoiced. But in one sense he held his breath and held back a lot of his rejoicing, so he realized that the goal of redemption would not realize simply when men were converted. But it was only as they proved the genuineness of their conversion by standing fast and going on. And then his rejoicing was commensurate with the two parts, a sight of the congregant on the outside and aちは within, the 밝ness tok...

12:59 - 13:45 Read in full sermon

The point: When the thought grips you as a mother or a father that I've brought into the world this precious little bundle of soft, warm flesh. to have a bundle of flesh that will prove to me that I might present God and society wi…

Martin recounts hearing a prominent evangelist state he'd rather get 5,000 people to heaven 'in bad shape' than 1,000 mature saints, illustrating a philosophy that prioritizes quantity over the quality of spiritual growth, contrary to God's goal of conformity to Christ.

God, such a person is not worthy of the task and privilege of parenthood. What is true in the physical and the natural is true in the spiritual. We have in our day all kinds of irresponsible fathering of children in evangelism. Whole movements from the concerned about getting people born, and then unless they're letting them drift, and in many cases they're not truly born. They're ripped from the womb before gestation has gone to its full turn, and they are still born so often. And so the Apostle Paul rejoices because, recognizing that principle, that when God saves men, it's the beginning of ...

15:06 - 16:25 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin transitions to the petition aspect of Paul's prayer in verse 10, examining its characteristics: incessant ('night and day') and intensely earnest ('praying exceedingly')…

The parable of the man who persistently knocks on his friend's door at midnight is used to illustrate the Lord's encouragement for continuous, insistent prayer, not vain repetition.

On the other hand, our Lord encourages us to continue to ask over and over again. Remember he gave the illustration of the man who came to his friend at midnight in Luke chapter 11 and he knocked on the door. He remensed. So he knocked again.

21:47 - 22:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin transitions to the petition aspect of Paul's prayer in verse 10, examining its characteristics: incessant ('night and day') and intensely earnest ('praying exceedingly')…

The parable of the persistent widow who repeatedly confronts the unjust judge is used to illustrate the Lord's encouragement for continuous, insistent prayer, not vain repetition.

Luke 18, the same example. That widow met that judge every time he turned a corner from his house and came out the gate in the morning. There she was, grabbing onto his coat, saying, Look, avenge me my adversary. Go away, woman, I've got no time for you.

22:09 - 22:22 Read in full sermon

Driving home: That the language of unfulfilled desire is what? Repetition. The language of unfulfilled desire is repetition.

A man repeatedly asking a woman to marry him, despite her rejections, is used to illustrate that 'the language of unfulfilled desire is repetition,' distinguishing it from vain repetition in prayer.

The man's in love with a young woman and he wants her to marry him and she says no. Well, he can't come up with a different speech. He still wants her to marry him. So when he asks her again, there's only one thing he can say.

23:28 - 23:38 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The substance of Paul's prayer is twofold: to see the Thessalonians face-to-face, driven by the longing of love, and to 'perfect that which is lacking in their faith.' This…

The story of a blind, godly Christian man who longed to see Jesus in heaven is used to illustrate that the longing for face-to-face communion is a deep, sanctified desire of love.

What does the scripture hold forth as the great blessing of that day when the Lord Jesus comes again? We shall be like him, for we shall what? See him as he is. I remember a blind man, a fine, godly Christian man, who lost his eyes as a seventeen year old fellow in the hold of a ship on his way to one of the battles in the Second World War.

26:59 - 27:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The substance of Paul's prayer is twofold: to see the Thessalonians face-to-face, driven by the longing of love, and to 'perfect that which is lacking in their faith.' This…

The word 'perfect' (katartizo) is explained by its use for apostles 'mending their nets,' illustrating that Paul wanted to readjust, restore, or complete what was lacking in the Thessalonians' faith.

to delight in their God together. And he says his second longing, which formed the substance of his prayer, was that he might perfect that which was lacking. In their faith. Now this word perfect means to readjust, to restore, to mend, to render fit, sound, or complete. It's the word used of the apostles before they were apostles when they were by the seashore mending their nets. There was the net, but it had some imperfections and they were fixing the imperfections. That's the word he uses here. He said, I want to mend. I want to perfect that which is lacking. He said, you've got some shortco...

29:46 - 30:50 Read in full sermon

The point: And there's no personal communication, so that we have forgotten in great measure how to communicate face to face with people. We feel awkward, we feel embarrassed, because they might really get to know us. And we're afr…

The Old Testament account of Elisha stretching himself upon the dead boy, limb to limb, is used as a 'beautiful analogy' for the necessity of face-to-face, personal encounter in Christian ministry, rather than peripheral methods.

Now you folk know that we here at Trinity Church believe in the ministry of books, the ministry of tapes, the ministry of radio, and we receive very encouraging reports of this radio broadcast that I've been on in the West Coast for some fifteen weeks now, every encouraging sign that it's receiving a good hearing, but books and tapes and radio are all servient peripheral ministries. There is no substitute for the face to face encounter, man to man, communicating the message of God. No substitute for it. You remember that illustration of this principle in the Old Testament, where the boy lies d...

39:59 - 41:24 Read in full sermon

The point: And there's no personal communication, so that we have forgotten in great measure how to communicate face to face with people. We feel awkward, we feel embarrassed, because they might really get to know us. And we're afr…

A humorous anecdote about a college professor's taped lectures being played to other tape recorders illustrates the depersonalizing effect of technology and the loss of face-to-face communication in a mechanized age.

no substitute for a face to face encounter, life with life. And how we need desperately to remember this, for even psychologists and sociologists are greatly disturbed about the depersonalizing of humanity in the mechanized twentieth century, where everything's run by computers, where whole classrooms now and colleges are being taught via the TV. As one man said, as a joke, I don't think it was supposed to be true, that this college professor was going away, and so he put his lectures on tape, thinking that when he came back he'd find all the students there, sitting before the tape recorder, t...

41:24 - 42:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The acid test of the depths of one's spiritual state is his human relationships.

Martin recounts a man honestly telling him his sermon was 'terrible,' using it to illustrate the need for frankness and honesty in human relationships, even if it's blunt, as opposed to insincere politeness.

He's honest in His praise, and He's honest in His bold rebuke and exhortation, and how desperately we need this frankness balanced with kindness and the milk of human compassion. Have I told you about the man that met me one day at the door in Wisconsin? I can't remember what I say where. You forgive me if I repeat some things, because I have to keep a book, what I say in one place and not in another.

44:44 - 45:17 Read in full sermon