Thriving churches aren't made on effort alone.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-3 This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. We are writing to the church in Thessalonica, to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give you grace and peace.2 We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. 3 As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul started a lot of churches, he was the master church planter of his day, he started churches in Thessalonia, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, and Colosse. They were all over the place geographically and Paul resorted to using letters to reinforce doctrine and to encourage the new believers instead of traveling these great distances again and again.
Paul said that he was praying for all of these churches constantly, that's no small task when you consider how many churches Paul started, he knew that he couldn't make these churches thrive on his own power, just look at the begining of each letter that he wrote to his church plants. Paul always let them know from the begining of his letter that he was praying for them. (Rom 1:8-9, 1Cor 1:4, Eph 1:15-16, Phil 1:3-4, Col 1:3)
So whats the problem with this church? The Thessalonian believers looked like they were doing very well, Paul said that they were known for their faithful work, their loving deeds, and their enduring hope, they seemed to have it all together. They were doing all the right things and yet Paul knew that they still had the capacity to fail and needed divine help in order to be a successful church plant.
As we plant a new church at Christ Fellowship it is of extreme importance that we remain constant in prayer despite the faithful work and all of the good deeds that we are doing, if we are doing, doing and doing some more and we are not constant in prayer then we aren't guaranteed very much success for all of our effort. The only thing that our efforts are going to do is make us tired if we do not have the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through our efforts.
I will commit to pray for: my church, my pastor, and my ministry work constantly. I do not want to be busy doing my plans and missing out on God's best plans for my life, my ministry and my church.
Paul said that he was praying for all of these churches constantly, that's no small task when you consider how many churches Paul started, he knew that he couldn't make these churches thrive on his own power, just look at the begining of each letter that he wrote to his church plants. Paul always let them know from the begining of his letter that he was praying for them. (Rom 1:8-9, 1Cor 1:4, Eph 1:15-16, Phil 1:3-4, Col 1:3)
So whats the problem with this church? The Thessalonian believers looked like they were doing very well, Paul said that they were known for their faithful work, their loving deeds, and their enduring hope, they seemed to have it all together. They were doing all the right things and yet Paul knew that they still had the capacity to fail and needed divine help in order to be a successful church plant.
As we plant a new church at Christ Fellowship it is of extreme importance that we remain constant in prayer despite the faithful work and all of the good deeds that we are doing, if we are doing, doing and doing some more and we are not constant in prayer then we aren't guaranteed very much success for all of our effort. The only thing that our efforts are going to do is make us tired if we do not have the power of the Holy Spirit working in us and through our efforts.
I will commit to pray for: my church, my pastor, and my ministry work constantly. I do not want to be busy doing my plans and missing out on God's best plans for my life, my ministry and my church.
Thank you Lord for what you are doing through Christ Fellowship, I pray as Paul did, that you will give us grace and peace and that you will keep from getting off track from your will.
