Your Work Is Produced By Your Faith

I, Paul, am writing this letter. Silas and Timothy join me in writing.

We are sending this letter to you, the members of the church in Thessalonica. You belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be given to you.

We always thank God for all of you. We pray for you. We never forget you when we pray to our God and Father. Your work is produced by your faith. Your service is the result of your love. Your strength to continue comes from your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, you are loved by God. We know that he has chosen you. Our good news didn't come to you only in words. It came with power. It came with the Holy Spirit's help. He gave us complete faith in what we were preaching. You know how we lived among you for your good.

 We and the Lord were your examples. You followed us. You suffered terribly. Even so, you welcomed our message with the joy the Holy Spirit gives. So you became a model to all the believers in the lands of Macedonia and Achaia.

The Lord's message rang out from you. That was true not only in Macedonia and Achaia. Your faith in God has also become known everywhere. So we don't have to say anything about it. The believers themselves report the kind of welcome you gave us. They tell about how you turned away from statues of gods to serve the living and true God. They tell about how you are waiting for his Son to come from heaven.

God raised him from the dead. He is Jesus. He saves us from God's anger, and his anger is sure to come.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Francis Asbury was the very first religious circuit-rider. He rode 6,000 miles a year bringing people to Christ. In 1771 when Asbury arrived in the colonies there were 600 Methodists in the country. Forty-five years later there over 200,000. In that same time he had recruited over 700 traveling preachers. The days of circuit-riders is gone, but each of us does have a “frontier” where friends, relatives, and neighbors are our mission field. Can you think of someone today who needs to hear the good news?

Those who love Christ have a love for the lost.

Our Daily Bread - November 25, 2009