[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. What a wonderful song. He is Lord, and He is coming back.
[0:11] And that's why we're doing this. It's because Jesus Christ is Lord, and Jesus Christ paid and shed His blood for the church, and that's why we're going to start another church. And we just want to praise Him tonight.
[0:21] If you would, take your Bibles, take it and turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, and we'll start in verse 19. You see, I believe Paul had that same heartbeat too. And we're going to find out in this chapter what it takes to have something to glory in, what it takes to have something to joy over, because Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 19, he says, For what is our hope? Our.
[0:47] Talking back to Paul, Silas, and Timothy, who wrote this book, he says, What is our hope? Or joy? Or crown in rejoicing? Are not even ye, the church of Thessalonica, are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His recoming?
[1:04] For ye, church, ye are our glory. Ye are our joy. Tonight I want to talk to you about what it takes, Cole, John, Samantha, Victoria, Bo, what does it take to have that joy?
[1:22] What does it take to have that glory? When Christ comes back, and we come and we sit before Him, and Bo, and John, and Cole, we take these people from Mableton who's accepted Christ, and they have, just like the church of Thessalonica, they have rejected those idols, and they have accepted God as a true God.
[1:42] And we set that before Christ, and this is what makes us rejoice. This is what makes us have joy. This is what's going to make us have glory. But what does it take? Well, the first thing that Paul says in chapter 2 is, Paul had to endure some hardships.
[1:56] You see, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 1 through 2, I want you to look over there. The Bible says, For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain.
[2:07] But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know it, Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God, with much contention.
[2:18] You see, before Paul got to that point where he could glory, before Paul got to that point where he could have joy over something, he had to endure persecution. If you want to know the background of it, if you go to Acts chapter 16, starting verse 12, Paul and Silas, they come into a place called Philippi, and they meet a lady by the river, and her name is Lydia, and she's a seller of purple.
[2:39] And Paul, through God's grace, they led this lady to the Lord and her household. But Paul, as he goes inside the town of Philippi, he meets this woman who's possessed.
[2:50] And that was the first wrong thing. You don't come to Paul when you're possessed. That demon left that girl. And after a while, the master of that girl got upset, because all of her money got away.
[3:03] And so you know what they did to Paul and Silas? They took them before the rulers, the magistrates of that town. And the Bible says they were stricken with many stripes.
[3:14] They were beaten with many stripes. And after that, they were put in jail. And you know the story how Paul and Silas got out? And then after that, after they were in Philippi, they went to a town called Thessalonica.
[3:27] And it was there that Paul went into the synagogue, and he just began to preach, and he preached, and he preached, and he made people upset, devout Jews. So much that they got so upset that they got everybody in the town, and there was this big mob going to the house of Jason.
[3:41] And at night, Paul and Silas had to leave. You see, Paul had to endure persecution. And if we're going to have joy, if we're going to have something to glory over, we too are going to have to suffer persecution.
[3:53] You see, that didn't surprise Paul that he had to suffer persecution. Because he knew what Jesus talked about. Jesus says in John 15, 20, He says, Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord.
[4:06] If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If ye have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, verses 12, he says, Yea, that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
[4:23] You can't get away from it. You're going to go to Mableton. You're going to go here in Alpharetta. You're going to go across the seas. What you're going to do, the gospel brings persecution. The gospel brings separation.
[4:33] Jesus says, I didn't come to bring peace, but I came to bring a sword. And if we're going to get glory, if we're going to get joy, we're going to have to endure hardship. Paul knew this even about that church in Thessalonica.
[4:48] In 1 Thessalonians 12, verses 14, the Bible says, For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who have killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and they have persecuted us.
[5:12] It's a common theme throughout the Bible. If you're going to follow Jesus, you're going to be persecuted. You're not above it. But if you endure, if you endure through persecution, and you stand before Jesus, that's when the rejoicing happens.
[5:29] That's when the glory happens. Endure. Not only did Paul endure through persecution, but also look at what Paul did. Paul preached the gospel. He preached the gospel.
[5:40] That's what Paul did. Paul realized. If you go to 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 4, Paul realized that God had entrusted him with the gospel. In 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 4, But as we were allowed, allowed of who?
[5:58] Who gave us permission? It was God. God gave us permission. And He put us in trust of the gospel. You know what Vision Baptist Church is doing? We're realizing that God has committed unto you the word of reconciliation, and we're sending you forth.
[6:12] Don't ever forget that. It's not your gospel. It's not your good works. It's not your flattery tongue. It's not anything. It's God's gospel that He's entrusted in you that you're taking to Mableton, and it's going to change lives.
[6:24] Paul realized that. And realizing that changed everything about him. In verse 3, Paul says, For our exhortation, our preaching, our preaching was not of deceit, nor of uncleanliness, nor of guile.
[6:39] Verse 5, he says, Neither at any time do we use flattery words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness. Paul says, When I came to you and I preached the gospel, when I preached the gospel, I wasn't trying to trick you.
[6:53] I didn't have alternative motives. I was preaching them to the Lord. I was preaching them to the Lord. I have no other alternative motives. I wasn't getting personal gain out of this. Teachers back in that time, they would preach something.
[7:06] They would teach something. In return, they would get favors. Whether it was financial, or sexual favors. And Paul says, There was no guile in my exhortation.
[7:19] There was no deceit. I didn't come to change your minds. I knew God could change your mind. But I came in the power of Christ. That's what you guys are going out to do.
[7:32] Yesterday, I was passing out some literature. And I met a lady from the West Indies. Her name was Ellen. And I told her about the church. And I told her that we're going to have a church service on August the 25th. And she goes, I just want to make sure.
[7:44] You guys aren't after my money, right? You're not... You guys are just not just so you guys can get my money. I want a church where they just preach the gospel, basically, what she said. Paul says, I didn't come to you.
[7:55] I didn't come in a cloak of covetousness. The reason why I preached the gospel wasn't for my own personal gain. It wasn't for my own personal gain. Did you get that? It wasn't for his own personal gain.
[8:07] There's a ton of people. There's a ton of preachers down there in Mableton. And inside Atlanta. And all across this world. That's what they do. They use the gospel as a cloak for their covetousness. They use the gospel so they can get what they want inside their heart.
[8:20] But you guys are going for a different purpose. You see, God has entrusted you with the gospel. And you're going because God has sent you. It's what the apostles did. It's what Christ did.
[8:33] You're going. And you're going to preach the gospel. The third thing that we must do in order to get joy. The third thing that we must do in order to get glory from God when He returns. Is this.
[8:43] Is know this. It's going to cost a lot. Be ready. It's going to cost a lot. In 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 9. Paul says this. For ye remember.
[8:54] Church, remember, brethren. Our labor and travail. For laboring day and night. You hear him, Bo? Day and night. Because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We preached unto you the gospel of God.
[9:06] God. In verse 6, Paul is speaking. And he says, you know what?
[9:17] I could have been burdensome as an apostle. I could have took money from you. But I want to let you guys know. When I was preaching, I was just preaching the gospel. I didn't want your money. And day in and night.
[9:31] Whether it was I worked at the daytime and I worked at night. So I could preach to you in the morning or preach to you at night. It cost me. It cost me. And it's going to cost you too.
[9:43] It's going to cost you too. Paul talks about the relationship with the church of Thessalonica. He says, I was as a nurse. He says in verse 7.
[9:54] He says, but we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherished as a child. Later on in verse 11, he says, as a father doth his children. Paul saw these people not as just regular people. Not somebody he can get something from.
[10:05] But somebody he could give to. And it cost him a lot. It cost him a lot. We all know that. Alicia just had a baby.
[10:18] It was a lot of hard work. Those times. You're going to start a church. It's going to be a lot of hard work. But don't focus on that. Think about this.
[10:30] There will be a day when Jesus comes back, as we just sang about. And Jesus is going to stand there. And you're going to have this church full. This room full. This big group gathering of all these lives that were changed in Mableton.
[10:43] And you're going to present them before the Lord. And you're going to glory. And you're going to rejoice. And you're going to shout. And you're going to be happy. And you're going to have joy over it. Because you endured. You preached the gospel.
[10:54] And you paid the price. I'll be praying for you guys. I love you. I'm excited for what God's going to do in Mableton. I know He's going to use you. Not because you guys are something special. But you serve an incredibly special God.
[11:07] And we do the same thing here at Vision Baptist Church Alpharetta. We love you guys. Well, I am excited and thrilled about what God's doing.
[11:17] I'd like to share a little bit with all of you and with them. Let me just tell you before I give you. I want to give my challenge to Vision Baptist Church of Cobb County.
[11:28] That was my challenge tonight. I'd yell at you tonight more than I do when I'm down there. But before I do, let me just tell Vision Baptist of Alpharetta. It's so great. You don't realize how great this is.
[11:41] Our God was not ever involved with the idea that one guy would think he was somebody special. And he would try to draw everybody to him. There's only one great guy. There's only one guy we draw everybody to.
[11:51] His name is Jesus. Not Austin. Amen? His name is Jesus and not any preacher you ever heard of. And so I'm excited about our church starting churches. It's what we teach people to do on the mission field.
[12:02] And it is a struggle. But I want you to know tonight, this is as big as sending a missionary out. And I am praying that God lets us see this happen a hundred times over in and around Atlanta.
[12:13] There are parts of Atlanta that people are afraid to go into. I'm just telling you that as soon as we get Vision Baptist of Abel to go off the ground, I want to go there. See, I want to get Vision Baptist where they can give some money to help pay for another preacher.
[12:25] And Vision Alpharetta can pay for another preacher. And that way we can go to another place and we can see this happen over and over and multiplying. It's how it happened in Atiquipa. We started and it just kept multiplying. So I'm excited about it.
[12:36] But let me read you some verses and share this a little bit with you. And we're still going to pray and give them some gifts. But I would just like to say three things to you tonight.
[12:47] The first thing is it's God's will to see churches planted all over the world. The Bible says in Matthew 28, 18 through 20, which is like the commission I carry in my heart.
[12:59] The thing I think about all the time. It says, Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things which are I've commanded you.
[13:15] And lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. Now, in the New Testament, you've got a very self-centered, self-focused church in Jerusalem. And they never really, except for a couple of excursions, they never really got out and did the gospel ministry to Acts chapter 8.
[13:33] In Acts chapter 8, God sends persecution. And they all run from the persecution and the gospel spreads. But there's a church in Antioch. And that church, they were excited and they were praying and they were reproducing.
[13:45] And they sent out the best people they had to go start a church. And so, let me just say to you four and to you, Bo, all of you, I don't know why you all just said like that.
[13:56] I'll be cross-eyed before it's over. But let me say this. To make this work, it calls on several things from you. It calls, number one, for great commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
[14:08] Great commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To do something with your life that counts calls for great commitment. It calls for great sacrifice to make it happen what it takes to build a church.
[14:20] Churches are not accidents. Churches are not just something that just happened and it was there. It took somebody willing to spend money, spend time, spend blood, spend sweat to get the gospel out.
[14:34] And so great sacrifice. It takes great self-denial to not try and be important or to think too much of yourselves. I'm going to talk to you two in just a minute. I'm going to talk to a young leader in just a second.
[14:44] But just let me say to you, I've been a young preacher. The fact is, I went looking and I couldn't find it. Things have been really hectic around my house. I want to find a picture of me when I started my first church and I put my picture in the newspaper.
[14:56] And I looked like I was 16 years old. I was 23. I'd already been in the ministry five years by then. And I put my picture in the paper and invited people to come to the church. And at that time, it never dawned on me I was young.
[15:08] I had absolutely no idea I was young. I thought I was the right age. It was the age I was. And so I never even understood it. I didn't have a mentor. I didn't have a pastor to help me.
[15:18] I didn't have anybody to really be involved in it with me. But I can tell you as lay people, you want this church to go, you have to be servants. You want this church to go, you want it to happen. It can't be about you.
[15:29] It can't be about anybody, Bo or anybody else being important. Church done right relies on Jesus to build a church. Matthew 16, 18, he said, I will build my church.
[15:41] Church done right brings glory and honor to him. Second thing, the commitments that I ask from each of you to really know that this is about Jesus and getting the gospel to the world. I don't know if you know it, but we have got one of the finest young preachers coming up in our church.
[15:55] And Robert Canfield, the message you just heard was an unreal message. That was a great message. To know that this is not about having the best place for your family or your comfort.
[16:06] Every time a missionary steps out of vision, every time a missionary steps out of vision and goes overseas and where they leave, a happy place, a comfortable place, a place where they can come in and sit and enjoy the service.
[16:18] And that's what you're going to do. You're going to be going somewhere and it'll get hit. It'll get there. People used to ask me how did I how it was, how I could deal with Peru and having to be where there wasn't a strong church.
[16:29] I said, well, it didn't take that long. In about a year, we had a strong church. In about a year, we were doing all that stuff. In about a year, I was able to enjoy it. Where'd you have fellowship? I had it at my church. And so God can and will do something.
[16:40] But it's about Jesus. It's not about comfort. It's to know that God will lead through all the difficult circumstances. It's to know this. I'll give you a verse. Got to hurry up.
[16:52] Forbearing one another. Forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. There's no way the five of you set out to do this work without learning to put up with each other.
[17:06] The Swartz are going to get on the Vorace's nerves. And the Vorace's are going to get on the Swartz's nerves. And both of you are going to get on Bo's nerves. And Bo's going to get on both of your nerves.
[17:17] But here's what we do. We forbear. And we forgive. And we love. No way we can get in the trenches and fight without that. I remind all of you, we are servants. And a servant has no rights.
[17:29] A servant doesn't get thanked. A servant serves at the pleasure of another. A servant doesn't think about himself. But his master, a servant, has no will of his own. Bo, let me just take a few minutes for you.
[17:42] 1 Timothy 4.12 Let no man despise thy youth. But be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and in purity.
[17:55] It says, let no man despise your youth. That doesn't mean you walk around and say, don't talk about me like I'm a boy. I'll fight with you if you do. That's not what it means. What it means is don't ever give anybody cause. To say he's just a kid. That's why he acts like that.
[18:06] He's just young. That's why he acts like that. Don't give anyone reason to criticize you based on your youth. You're going to get enough of that. People are always going to call it Brother Tony.
[18:17] When he took the church at Newton said, or excuse me, when he was in Valdosta, he said, and he was in his early, late 30s, early 40s. He said they all called him the young preacher. He said, we have a young pastor.
[18:29] He said, I got four kids and I'm a young pastor. And that's just the way it is. And what happens? You're a young pastor. You're a young pastor. You're a young pastor. And then you're an old dead pastor. I mean, that's basically the way it goes. So no matter which way you go, you're going to get that.
[18:43] That'll be normal. But be an example. Be an example. Be an example to the believers. And the words you use, speak with tenderness to all. I remind you that young guys can have small man complex.
[18:55] Young preachers can think, I'm a kid and everybody's acting like I'm a kid. So I'm fixing to act like a jerk to prove I'm not a kid. Which proves you're a kid. Speak with tenderness to all.
[19:06] To the older men as though they were your dad. That means you have two dads. That's terrible, isn't it? Did y'all know you were that old? You were ancient. And not to me though.
[19:16] I've been married 40 years. What can I say? The old ladies as your mother. I just think that's so funny. It's straight out of the Bible. It's straight out of the Bible.
[19:27] But anyway, to the young men and women as your brothers and your sisters. Let your conversation or your lifestyle be such that a man of God. Walk with God. I know you do. Walk with Him.
[19:37] Be a man of prayer. Study deeply in the Word. Let love be the best word to describe you. Let love be the best word to describe you. Love Jesus most of all. Love His book.
[19:48] Love the members that God gives us in the church. Love people just like they are. Love young. Love old. Show the people how you trust God. And how you live a life totally given to the Lord Jesus.
[20:00] I'm excited. I cannot explain to you how excited I am. I'm excited because as an old guy I get to live it again. I'm excited because you don't realize this. But every one of the preachers that you guys know around here.
[20:11] I started with all of them when they were kids. Every one of them were little kids. And everybody was thinking that guy is too young. I can remember when Jeff Bush used to come to my house. He was on deputation. He said that church said they couldn't take me on because I was too young.
[20:23] And I said oh don't worry about it. When you're too old they won't be able to take you on because you're too old. This is their problem not your problem. Say amen. And by the way he got old. It just happens. I told Bo I said now people are going to act like you're too young.
[20:33] But hang on it doesn't take long. Just a few years and you'll not be young anymore. So just I'm excited for you and I'm blessed. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia.
[20:44] For more information log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.