Paul's Attitude While Away

Introduction to Paul's Attitude While Away

0:03 I would encourage you to turn with me in your Bibles to Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians. As I mentioned last Lord's Day morning, we will be parking here in 1 Thessalonians for some time to come, having resumed our studies last week after a nine-week departure for other considerations that were vital at that time. We completed our study of verses 15 and 16 last week, this little digression that Paul made, having mentioned the Jews and their opposition to the gospel. He then launches into this denunciation of the Jews as a nation, concluding with that terribly frightening statement that the wrath, the wrath of God that is, is come upon them to the uttermost. Then beginning with verse 16, 17, all the way through to chapter 3 and verse 10,

1:17 we have another entire section in this first letter of Paul to the church of the Thessalonians. The first chapter, I remind you, is his description of the work of God in establishing a church at Thessalonica. Chapter 2, verses 1 to 12, is his description of the workmen of God, the kind of men that God uses to establish churches, and to build, the work of his kingdom. And then we have that little digression with regard to the Jews, and now we come in verse 17 to a description of Paul's attitude now that he is away from the church.

1:57 In chapter 2, verses 1 to 12, he described what his attitude and actions were while he was among them. He says, You remember, brethren, our labor and our travail. We weren't out to pick your pockets. We weren't speaking out of a motive of uncertainty.

2:13 We weren't speaking out of uncleanness or mercenary motives. But we were speaking out of regard to the eye of God and to the good of you people at Thessalonica. And so he bears his heart concerning his attitude while he was among them. But now he's been taken from them, and he gives in this section a description of his present attitude to the people of God there at Thessalonica.

The Challenge of Analyzing a Love Letter

2:36 And I confess, as I've labored over this passage, trying to know how to lay it out, is I told one of the men at the banquet I had to speak to or speak at up in Massachusetts Friday night a group of preachers were sitting at the table and I said you know one of the most difficult things to me is how to set the table for God's people digging into the word and seeing the meat and the potatoes and the appetizer is one thing but then to arrange it in such a way that it's appetizing and doesn't give you indigestion is quite another if you take your appetizer and mix it in with your potatoes and your dessert and mix that in with the vegetables and just serve it up in one big gloppy mess it will not be very appetizing and it might actually send some people away with indigestion now all the nutrients are there what we'd call a well-ordered meal well this is the problem I have faced with this passage for the simple reason that it's very difficult to analyze a love letter did you ever try to analyze a love letter? if so it wasn't your love letter it was somebody else's for you see when you get a love letter you don't analyze it you just devour it and this is in a very real sense and I trust I'm not being irreverent or lowering the dignity of Holy Scripture to say this is a love letter here's a man who deeply loves the people of God whom he has had to leave in the providence of God and he's writing back and trying to describe something of his affection for them and as I've tried to analyze his love letter

The Fact and Circumstances of Paul's Separation

4:06 it's been very difficult it's full of holy affection but I think maybe the Lord's helped me to at least keep the appetizer out of the potatoes and the dessert out of the vegetables and with the Lord's help I will try to set this before you in that way first of all consider the fact of Paul's separation from these people notice this is the theme verse 17 but we brethren being taken from you for a short time in presence not in heart endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire he's talking about a separation from these people and how he now feels since this separation has come to pass now I would remind you of the fact of this separation which he describes in these words but we brethren being taken from you better translated we brethren being bereaved of you literally being orphaned of you he says we were separated violently like children torn apart torn from their parents or parents torn from their children and if you will turn back for just a few moments to the 17th chapter of Acts you will see how this is a good description of the way that this severance came between Paul and the people at Thessalonica he has been preaching

5:35 obviously with great blessing and power for he described in the first chapter of his letter that the gospel came to many of them not in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost they turned from their idols to serve the living and the true God the noise of this wonderful work of God went abroad and everyone heard of this church and what God had wrought so Paul is preaching there at Thessalonica and he hasn't preached long before there's opposition stirred up Acts 17.5 but the Jews which believed not moved with envy took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar you see this is as contemporary as riots in our own generation you've got a hard core of agitators who are moving the pliable multitudes to accomplish their own goals now that's what you had here this is as old as human experience and these people stir up this crowd of lewd fellows of the baser sort and the city is set in an uproar and they assault the house of Jason and they seek to bring the servants of God out into the realm where the people can get their hands on them but they found them not and they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city crying these are they that have turned the world upside down and are come hither also whom Jason hath received and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying there's another king one Jesus and they troubled the people and the rulers of the city

7:04 when they heard these things and when they had taken security of Jason and of the other they let them go and the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea who came to them coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews now there's the account the historical narrative of how Paul was severed from these people abruptly violently with very little preparation for this severance and in the light of chapter 2 of 1st Thessalonians you realize why he uses this term we were orphaned of you for remember he likens his relationship to the Thessalonians as that of a nursing mother with the child who's dependent upon the Lord upon her breast for its very life chapter 2 and verse 7 we were gentle among you even as a nursing mother cherishing her own children he says we were so tied to you in love that we were willing to give you not only the gospel but our very own souls in verse 9 he says in order that nobody would be able to say that this guy's preaching for what he can get out of it we preach during the day and work with our hands at night to serve the Lord and to serve the Lord to supply our own necessities verse 11 we exhorted and comforted and charged you as a father I hope you remember at least a few of the facts of that study that we conducted in those passages now here's a man tied to his spiritual children

8:31 with all the deep affection of motherhood and all the deep ties of fatherhood and suddenly he's cut off from them he must leave them and so when he describes that separation he says literally we were orphaned of you the word in the original is the very word from which we get our English word orphan we were cut away bereaved of you suddenly we did not leave you we were not like irresponsible parents who bring children into the world only to leave them and just look upon them as a biological accident but he said no we were like parents who having brought you to the birth long to stay with you long enough to nurture you and see you come into full development of spiritual life but in the midst of that concern and in the midst of that fatherly motherly relationship we were cut away from you now what would the children think of a parent who had left them so abruptly well you see they might have reason to think well you know Paul is some father he's a fair weather father everything's going alright till the heat's on and then he leaves us what kind of a spiritual mother is he pressure's on now he leaves us and so this in some ways is an apology Paul wants to clear away any suspicion that might be arising and certainly no doubt some of the accusers those recalcitrant apostate Jews who are all the time trying to undermine

10:00 Paul's ministry they no doubt would have come with this accusation here are these young believers and they say hey how did you become a Christian oh through the ministry of the apostle Paul oh apostle Paul where is he well he left us oh he left you did he why well the things got kind of rough around here oh he left you when they got rough did he well he left you is he the one that tells you that it's a privilege to suffer for Christ's sake oh yes that's what he told us he tells them a little bit later on he said when we were with you we told you that you'd have to suffer for the sake of Christ through much tribulation and to the kingdom oh it's alright for him to preach it but boy when the pressure gets on him look what he does see try to picture the setting now here he is cut away the possibility of misinterpreting his motives for leaving and his present attitude now that he's left now against that background of the fact of Paul's separation and the circumstances surrounding it notice how Paul describes the nature of this separation and he's going to completely plug up all of these holes of questions that might be left and he's going to show these people the true nature of his separation and he's going to assure them that he is not leaving because he's a fair whether father or mother but he has left because providentially it was the wisest thing to do but he would long to be with them again so have you having considered the fact of his separation and the circumstances surrounding it notice the nature of this separation as he describes it verse 17 but we brethren being taken from you

The Nature of Paul's Separation: In Presence, Not in Heart

11:28 for a short time literally for the space of an hour in presence not in heart now there's the key to the whole passage everything else that is unfolded in verse 18 19 20 chapter 3 all the way through to verse 10 is an exposition of this little phrase we were separated from you in presence not in heart what is Paul driving at here well there's a simple principle revealed from Genesis to Revelation that where a man's heart is a man is what has a man's heart has the man remember the words of Christ in Matthew 6 when he's telling us not to lay up treasure on earth but treasure in heaven for he says where thy treasure is there will thy heart be also where your heart is is where you are that's why our Lord cried out against the worship of the people of his day he says your bodies are in the temple and your mouths are in the temple and your eyes are in the temple and your mouths are speaking words of praise and prayer and your eyes are apparently lifted up towards heaven in some physical acknowledgement of my sovereignty but he said the problem is you're drawing near to me with your lips but what he says your hearts

12:57 are far from me God says I don't want anything but your heart if I've got your heart I'll have everything else but if I have everything else and not your heart I don't have you he says that's vain worship so when Paul says the nature of his separation was one of being removed from them as to his bodily presence but not as to his heart the seat of the affections the desires the longings he was telling these people I never really did leave you for where a man's heart is the man is now what does he offer as proof of this statement is this just a man who has the gift of the gab who's trying to smooth over the troubled waters no he offers some tangible proof that his severance from these people was one in which he was providentially taking or taking away physically but he was but his heart is still with him notice what he offers as proof number one he said I made specific attempts to come back to you again notice verse 17 but we brethren being taken from you for a short time in presence not in heart endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire he's using this statement as a proof to these people that his separation was only physical and was not in the realm of the affections

Proof of Paul's Enduring Affection: Attempts to Return

14:25 or of his concern he made these attempts to come back again now notice what he says about these attempts first of all he says they were made soon after his departure but we brethren being taken from you for the space of an hour in presence not in heart endeavored the more abundantly to see you when did this endeavoring to see them take place he said when we had been severed from the space severed from you from the space of an hour no sooner had we been wrenched away when we were making plans how we're going to come back now any of you who've known what it is to have to be wrenched away from loved ones you know what this is like if I may use personal testimony here I can remember those times when I used to get in my little Volkswagen and take off on route 230 out of Lancaster, PA to go out to the highest fire Harrisburg West Shore exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to get on that turnpike to stay on the turnpike all the way out across Pennsylvania Ohio, Indiana take the tri-state tollway around Chicago and then go on up into Wisconsin and be away sometimes for three weeks one time as long as seven weeks and generally I'd no sooner pulled away with misty eyes from the little apartment there on Ann Street in Lancaster and got out on the route 230 when I was thinking how good that road would look on the way back coming the other direction see when your heart is tied somewhere

15:53 you've no sooner been severed when you're making plans about coming back now that's the beautiful picture that Paul uses here we brethren being bereaved of you like parents wrenched away from their children or children from their parents no sooner were we conscious of that wrenching away when we were making plans to come back again then he says about these attempts to come back they were not only made soon after departure and this is a proof of love but they were made with deep longing notice what he says but we brethren being taken from you for a short time in presence not in heart endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire and he uses strong language here the word desire here is the word sometimes translated lust it speaks of a deep longing an insatiable desire and he even then uses another adjective he said we were more abundantly desirous to see your face when you were with great desire later on in verse 18 he says wherefore we Paul we would have come again even I Paul once and again but Satan hindered we would have come with great desire we longed to come to you we know Paul's not just mouthing sweet nothings when he says our severance was in body in presence but not in heart well we know because soon after his departure he was making

17:21 attempts to come back we know because he was making these attempts with deep longing and thirdly he says you know I'm not just talking because these attempts were made with some concrete travel plans laid out he says we endeavored the more abundantly to see your face and that word endeavor is a strong word it means putting some action into one's desire and longing it's the word used in 2nd Timothy 4 9 in a similar situation 2nd Timothy 4 9 2nd Timothy 4 9 2nd Timothy 4 9 2nd Timothy 4 9 and verse 9 do thy diligence to come shortly unto me that's his command to Timothy Timothy call your travel agent check on the flight arrangements don't just sit there thinking well someday I'll go see Paul he says do your diligence to come to me shortly check your piggy bank Timothy see if you've got enough pennies and if you can't fly take the train if you can't take the train then punish yourself take the bus but come and get to me and be diligent about getting to me as soon as possible it's the same word used in Titus 3 and verse 12 when I shall send Artemis unto thee or Tychicus be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis for I have determined there to winter Titus I want you not just to say I'd like to go see Paul but do something very practical

18:51 to make your plans it's the same word used in 2nd Peter 1 10 where we're told to give diligence to make our calling and our election sure take some specific steps to know whether or not you're a Christian Peter doesn't say just sit back and wishfully hope that all is well he said you better apply yourself diligently to know whether or not you are a true child of God well we could multiply examples but you see this is a strong word so when Paul writes to these Thessalonians he's assuring them that his severance was merely in heart merely in body presence not in body not in heart because soon after departure he's making plans to come back he's making those plans with deep longings and he's making concrete plans now he said something happened as I made those plans I Paul would have come once and again unto you but Satan hindered us now this is a military term it means to impede or hinder one's way by cutting a trench across the path if you're retreating you know your enemies behind you if you can put a few mines in the road and blow up the roads so that when they come they've got to stop their convoy of trucks and repair the road that puts more distance between you and them that's the picture here he said I would have come to you but then in my path of coming Satan planted some mines and I was detained now that phrase alone

20:17 needs a full hour's exposition and so I'm going to pass over it and the Lord willing deal with it next week but simply to see this thing in context Paul actually made a plan Paul actually made a plan he made plans to go and had started out to accomplish those plans and was hindered in the process now if anybody had any doubt that Paul really meant what he said when he said we were severed in presence but not in heart all the doubts were removed by the time he finished this description I'm not just talking Paul said I really mean it and the proof is found in these three things I was making plans the hour after I left I made those plans with deep inner longings and I made those plans and sought to follow through in a concrete way now having considered the separation that Paul experienced from these people and then the nature of that separation let us consider in the third place the reason for such pain at this separation why did Paul experience such pain at being severed from these people why did he experience such longing to be back with them may I suggest two things that are found in this whole section beginning with verse 17 verse 17 chapter 2 and going all the way through to verse 10 of chapter 3 two things basic reasons why he had this pain why he longed to be back with them verses 19 and 20 give us the first reason for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing

Reasons for Paul's Pain and Longing for Reunion

21:46 are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ it is coming for ye are our glory and our joy verse 5 of chapter 3 verse 5 of chapter 3 for this cause when I could no longer forbear I sent to know your faith lest by some means the tempter have tempted you and our labor be in vain the first reason why Paul had this pain at separation and long for reunion was what these people meant to Paul as the tangible fruit of his ministry he says there in verses 19 and 20 verses that we'll look at in detail in a future study that these people were his hope his joy and his crown of rejoicing at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ now in an absolute sense the Lord Jesus was Paul's hope the Lord Jesus was his crown of rejoicing but next to the Lord Jesus as the ground of his hope and as the object of his glorying Paul's greatest glory was the fruit of his ministry so when you're severed from that which is as dear to you as the fruit of his ministry you are not you are not you are not you are not you are not you are not you are not as anything else in life barring the Lord Jesus there must be pain at that severance and there must be longing to be reunited with those people who are so precious to your heart then the second reason as to why he felt this pain

23:14 and longed to be reunited was what he longed to impart to these people in a way of blessing not only what they meant to him in personal blessing as the fruit of his ministry and the legitimate reward of his labors but what Paul longed to be to them in a way of spiritual blessing notice his words there in this entire section he longed to know that these people would be established and comforted verse 2 that's why he sent Timothy to them then he goes on to say in verse 10 night and day praying exceedingly verse 10 of chapter 3 that we might see your face and perfect that which is lacking in your faith you mean something to us that's why we were pained and we long to be back with you we long to mean something to you that's why we were pained and long to be back with you now the Lord willing we shall expand those thoughts in our future expositions of the passage in more detail but as we try to round out these two verses particularly verses 17 and 18 up to that last phrase Satan hindered us may I suggest that we have in them some very helpful principles that speak to us in our own Christian experience this has been pure study and exposition up to now with no application

Principle 1: The Nature of Christian Love

24:43 is there anything in here that is the word of the Lord to our own hearts as we sit here this morning all right and well Paul was there at Thessalonica Paul was a father and a mother to those people Paul was severed Paul was severed only in body not in heart Paul longed to go back again he proved it to them so what I'm not Paul I'm not ministering to the Thessalonians what's it say to me may I suggest if time permits that there are four tremendous principles touching different aspects of the Christian life in these several verses first of all we have in them a basic lesson regarding the nature of Christian love a basic lesson regarding the nature of Christian love according to our Lord in John 1335 the badge of discipleship outside of truth is love by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one toward another John tells us in his first letter by this we know that we've passed from death and to life because we love the brethren chapter 4 7 and 8 he says beloved let us love one another for love is of God and he that loveth is begotten of God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love but now love you see must move must act must speak must express itself love is not

26:12 a dormant principle love is not like an odorless fragrant non-fragrant artificial flower that's stuck in a pot and people combine it and admire it no love has hands love has a mouth love has fragrance love moves love smells love acts and so John when he would describe the love of God to us says herein perceive we the love of God because that he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins we perceive love because the love of God had hands hands that held out his son now Paul is in a very beautiful way showing us by example how Christian love operates within the hearts of God's people he explains expresses his love first of all verbally he tells these people as he begins this section of his letter that we might call the love letter part we brethren were orphaned of you not in heart but only in presence we long to see you we made plans to see you later on he goes on to say for if you live if you stand fast in the Lord we live our very lives are bound up in your life deep impassioned words of affection and that's a lesson in Christian love as we saw in our catechetical instruction this morning when John says in 1st John chapter 3

27:41 let us not love in word or in deed in word or in tongue but in deed and in truth he's using a figure of speech he's using an absolute for the relative he doesn't mean we shouldn't express our love in words the Lord Jesus did this the apostle Paul does it again and again what John is saying let it be something more than words but let's at least start with words Paul does here and he tells them that they are the objects of his deepest love isn't it strange it's so easy for us when we're perturbed to use words to express our perturbed state that's easy isn't it we don't like something the words flow out but it's so hard for us at times our hearts may be filled with a conscious glow of love to others in Christ and we just can't get it out this is a complaint of many a husband and wife easy to get out those words when we're disappointed with each other easy to speak the words of self-defense of accusation but at times when none of that's in the picture and you're very much conscious of that warm glow of love that ought to exist between a husband and wife why is it so hard to just put your hands on the wife's shoulders when she's standing by the sink and turn around and say dear I want you to know I still love you you're very dear to me

29:10 it just won't come out will it isn't that one of the indications of the remains of depravity within us so easy to express something contrary to love but so hard to express our love and you wives if your husband's had an electrocardiogram recently and everything's in good shape you don't want to send him home to glory too soon maybe someday when he comes home from the office to the shop to the place of business just real tired and tuckered out you ought to meet him at the door and say dear I want you to know though life's gotten pretty involved for us with our kids and bills and problems and all the rest I still look upon you as my sweetheart as I say make sure that everything's all checked out right because it just might well nigh lead to a an unexpected funeral service now why why should it be that way well the apostle Paul is giving us a lesson in Christian love let it not be in word only but let it be in word let it be in word and then let it be in actions Paul not only gives them words he says oh I'm separated in body but not in heart but he said I want to show you by my actions that that's not just words I made plans to come to see I set out to see you Satan hindered me I long to see you my whole life later on you will see as he talks about sending Timothy when Timothy comes and people say hey Timothy

30:39 what are you doing here he said well Paul sent me Paul sent you you mean Paul still thinks about us thinks about you why he's almost got an ulcer over you folks he wakes up in the morning looking like he hasn't slept much and when I ask him what's the matter Paul he says oh I've had a restless night I've been praying all night for the people at Thessalonica you mean Paul still thinks of us oh Timothy you get this can't you read the scripture we read scripture like it was just sort of wooden blocks of verbal concepts those are people who have feelings like you have and like I have and Paul is letting them know his love is a real thing so he loves them verbally and he proves it by his actions I think maybe that's why Paul said in several of his epistles greet the brethren with a holy kiss get your love out where people can read it now that was the custom then our customs are different like Charles Spurgeon said at one occasion he was always suspicious of those men that seemed very very anxious to obey that command especially with the pretty young ladies he questioned how much real piety was behind their obedience to greet the brethren with a holy kiss but what Paul is saying is as brethren get your love out where it can be read one to another so I see in this passage a tremendous and basic lesson regarding Christian love secondly I see a basic

Principle 2: Self-Examination by the Heart's Location

32:09 principle of self-examination do you want to know what you really are well you know what you really are by knowing your heart Paul says you people want to know what I really am in terms of my relationship to you don't look at my body it's over here at Corinth but if you could look at my heart you'd see it's right smack in the middle of you people at Thessalonica that's a tremendous principle of self-examination where is my heart I am no more than what I am in heart and the great tendency for every one of us is to be content with something less than a relationship to the living God that touches the heart let's apply it in several areas very briefly where are you this morning oh you say I'm here yes I know your body's here but where's your heart where's your heart was your heart here when you woke this morning as soon as you're able to shake the cobwebs out of your mind and out of your eyes and you thought of the Lord's day where was your heart was it here in the midst of God's people longing to see his face and to hear his voice or was the heart filled with everything else and so you dragged your body here and yet your heart still hasn't

33:38 gotten here yet I just wonder if I could be Mandrake the magician some morning and by some magic words and then waving my hand could cause every single person who was merely here in body but not in heart to suddenly disappear I wonder how many people I preached I wonder how many would be left to preach to there are times I've wondered if I'd be here in the pulpit if I let the wand pass over my head is my heart really here the longing the deep inner affections are they directed Godward are we simply here because that's part of the routine searching isn't it it's a good principle of self-examination see we get so content that if our bodies are at the right place in the right time saying the right things all must be right no no it can all be wrong and that's the whole emphasis of the seventh chapter of Mark where the Lord said this people draw nigh unto me with their lips but their hearts are far from me in vain do they worship me then in the third place I see not only a principle here of Christian love of self-examination but a basic concept of Christian guidance this whole matter of getting guidance as a Christian is a very involved thing and I see in these verses where Paul didn't bat a thousand for you who aren't baseball fans the man who bat a thousand is the man who every time he gets up gets a hit

35:06 single, double, triple or gets walked and if a man bats in the three hundreds one out of every three times that's considered real good well you see the apostle Paul didn't bat a thousand in his guidance and it's interesting that in this passage he doesn't even mention the Lord this is very unspiritual passage notice but we brethren being taken from you for the space of an hour endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire and we would have come unto you even I Paul and Satan hindered us he doesn't even mention the Lord he doesn't say being severed from you we felt impressed that the Lord would have us come back again he said I wanted to come awfully bad and he says I made some plans to come but they were thrown in a cock pat he doesn't even mention the Lord here he mentions the devil but he doesn't even mention the Lord now I think there's a tremendous principle of Christian guidance here and it's only the sensitive soul that wants to do the will of God that needs this the person who just couldn't care less about knowing and doing the will of God in the details of his life when shall I go on vacation if I should go at all how much should I spend or shouldn't I should I buy this car or shouldn't I the person who's in earnest to know the will of God he can get in all kinds of bondage about Christian guidance and I think there's a principle here that will help the earnest Christian and here's the principle when we are committed to the Lord Jesus to do his will

Principle 3: Christian Guidance Through Sanctified Desires

36:34 and to glorify him then our sanctified desires are the rest the realm in which God works he doesn't come and give us direction necessarily externally to our own longings Paul said I had a longing to be with you I made attempts to be with you but there were hindrances in the way and so he said I took an alternate plan I sent Timothy along to sort of be my substitute till the Lord will clear the way for me to get to you verse 10 of chapter 3 night and day praying exceedingly we might see your face verse 11 now God himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you he knows that ultimately the only way he'll ever get back to Thessalonica is if the Lord brings him there but how is the Lord going to do it that's the question how is the Lord going to do it by some kind of mysterious supernatural lights in the sky by sending the angel of his presence to guide him like the pillar of fire in the cloud by day no as Paul experiences the sanctification of his own desires he sees in them the realm where God works to reveal his will and then he's confident that as he moves in that direction if God has other plans he will redirect him it's the truth that the psalmist mentions in Psalm 37 for delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart you mean God will give me the desires of my heart yes

38:03 if I'm one who delights in the Lord he'll give thee the desires of thine heart it's taken me so long to begin to learn this that when my delight is in the Lord then the things that I long for he will delight to give me if therefore my good if not why then as a loving father he'll stay his hand now this can be very practical here you are with the summer before you what shall you do with your two weeks or three weeks vacation allotment should you go off and take one week to fast and pray about what you ought to do with the next two weeks to make sure you've got divine guidance well a week of fasting and prayer wouldn't hurt any of us I'm sure but I don't believe that's quite the way we ought to go about it what I need to be sure is that my desires are spiritually healthy do I want above all else the prosperity of my soul as well as my body the blessing of God upon my family during those days not just the thing that might please me the most now if my basic desires are adjusted to scripture then I can start looking at travel logs and looking at national parks or looking at this or that and what seems to please me and please me is the family will move in that direction confident that if this is not of God God will frustrate and hinder the accomplishment of it you see if the devil can't freeze us out he'll burn us up and I see Christians on both ends of the extreme here

39:31 some who really aren't sensitive to knowing and doing the will of God in any other area but the so-called purely spiritual they just would never think of asking the Lord whether or not they ought to buy a certain car or to guide them when they go to buy a suit that they can get a good bargain get a suit that'll hold up I believe in the scriptures as in everything by prayer and supplication that means just what it says so you've got those people who are insensitive to guidance in what we call the small areas then on the other hand you get that earnest soul who wants the will of God in all those areas getting to the place of passivity and waiting for some kind of inner light and some outside kind of evidence from God as to what they should do and they just run around in circles and never seem to be able to make a decision about anything I know how many people know how real that is I've been caught in that whirlpool and that's exactly what it is a whirlpool I got in such bondage I didn't know whether I should take a glass of milk before I went to bed is this gluttony when you eat a drink do all the can I glorify God drinking this milk I've had a good supper now I'd like to drink the milk but is that right and I couldn't make a decision whether to go to the refrigerator and get a glass of milk you say ridiculous not if you're in that it's pain it's agony but you see this glorious truth then began to become real to my own heart as evidenced here when I was when our desires are toward the Lord then he delights to give us the desires of our hearts then the last principle and I'll just touch on this briefly in closing I see in these verses a basic directive regarding the Christian ministry whether it's the ministry

Principle 4: No Substitute for Face-to-Face Ministry

41:00 of a pastor to his people missionary whether it's a Christian witnessing to his neighbor regardless of what it is and the principle this directive for the Christian ministry is this there is no substitute there is no substitute for face to face ministry to men Paul had access to these people by letter but he said I long to see your face verse 17 I long to see your face to come he says in the next chapter to perfect that which is lacking in your faith now because we live in a mechanized age and I believe as Christians we ought to capture every legitimate mechanism mechanical means to communicate the message of God therefore tape recorders television printed page all of these ought to be harnessed to the ongoing of the work of the kingdom of Christ but but you can print literature without ever having to lay a pulsing heart alongside of a dead sinner and let life communicate life you can prepare tape programs programs programs without heart you can involve yourself in all of these mechanical means whereas God's means generally speaking of bringing sinners to life is beautifully illustrated in the Old Testament

42:30 there's that dead boy and the servant of the prophet goes in and touches him with the staff he's got the right means that staff that's supposed to have divine power but the boy is still there held in the grip of death and you remember what the prophet did he says he went in and he stretched himself upon that land he allowed his body to come against that cold lifeless form of the land and as life contacted death then it wasn't long before life was communicated by the power of God and I think there's a beautiful lesson there the apostle Paul saw these people there was spiritual life they'd been brought to the birth but for the nurturing of that life there was no substitute for this face to face ministry this heart to heart ministry and so as you and I think of our own community as we think of the need of sinners whether they're over the back fence or out thousands of miles across the ocean may God help us to realize there is no substitute whatsoever for that face to face confrontation of men some of you perhaps have read the book or seen the film The Gospel Blimp this is in caricature showing how foolish we can be every effort made in this story you see to get the gospel out to this community even to the ridiculous scheme of renting a blimp and having gospel verses printed on it and all the rest while all the time

43:58 failing to just establish a face to face contact with the neighbor over the back fence so that I'll earn the right and privilege to talk to him about the Savior well I trust we see in this passage not only something of the heart of the apostle but something of these practical lessons for us as believers and the Lord willing next week we shall look at that phrase Satan hindered us Paul's understanding of the influence of Satan in the ongoing of the gospel trusting that God will give us some new understanding of this and then we'll look at those wonderful verses the Lord willing the following week Paul's regard of his fruit in the Lord his crown of rejoicing when the Lord Jesus comes again let us unite in prayer