“For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia. And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment.”
1 Thessalonians 1:5-10 NLT
The gospel message is one of power. It is not simply something that makes us feel good, but it is something that is meant to bring change and transformation into our lives. This process moves just as powerfully through institutions as it does through individuals. As Paul speaks to Thessolonica, he brings light to this fact. The work of the apostles effected the cohort of believers. This in turn effected the entire church ch and the individuals in it. This in turn effected the city they lived in. This in turn effected Paul and the apostles. In this way, a good ministry is a closed loop of encouragement. We have every reason to believe that when we allow our hope on God to become evident in our lives in a transformative way, then we will see it begin to transform the lives of others. It is not simply words with no power. In fact it is the opposite. What we share, if it is the true gospel, has every power to transform an entire city and endless lives if we only let it transform us publically.
JOSH McGARY. COM 