Old Testament Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55:6 – 11 (KJV)
Isa 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Isa 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isa 55:10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
New Testament Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1 – 10 (KJV)
1Th 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example
1Th 1:2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
1Th 1:4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
1Th 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
1Th 1:6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
1Th 1:7 So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
1Th 1:8 For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
1Th 1:9 For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Transforming Power Statements:
1) Every since the very beginning, when Adam our federal human father fell into sin, God our Heavenly Father stepped right in and began to show, mankind His Grace, in that He had stated that if we sinned it would produce death; but because of God’s immeasurable love, death was delayed and mankind was allowed to continue and multiply.
2) Initially there was intimacy between man and God, but it was marred through the agency of the devil, which put spiritual distancing between God and Man, which was the first pandemic that still rolls on even up until this very second, which created separation from God and infiltration by the devil to oppose God and to replace God and His affections toward himself from mankind whom he wants to worship him and not God.
3) The Gospel is the mature understanding of the Grace of God that was fully manifested when God sent Jesus His Only Begotten Son to display His Glory to all mankind and to supply the antidote for the eternal pandemic of sin which is working against every soul, whom God wants to deliver back into a state of perfect unity with Himself, by Faith in Jesus Christ ALONE!