Paul's ministry in Thessalonica, as described in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, was characterized not by mere words but by the power of the Holy Spirit and deep conviction, exemplified by his godly life and the resulting faith of the converts. This powerful gospel transformed lives, turning people from idols to serve the living God and await Christ's return, as illustrated by the dramatic conversion of Tocco, a witch doctor in Africa, who abandoned his idol worship after witnessing the gospel's power. Tocco's transformation, despite severe persecution, demonstrates the profound impact of a life-changing faith that leads to serving God and sharing the gospel. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that true ministry is evidenced by lives transformed from darkness to light, reflecting God's power and grace.
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like to read a little in the first chapter of First Thessalonians. First Thessalonians chapter one and beginning at verse five. Here we have something about the character of the ministry of Paul. I don't think we've prayed, doesn't we? We'll just have a word of prayer. Our gracious Father, we commit ourselves to thee. As we read thy word, as we speak concerning it, and as we give witnesses to what thou art doing over in a distant land, will thou use thy word through the power of thy Holy Spirit to make our time spent together to be effective and for our mutual benefit before thee in the enablement of thy Holy Spirit.
Blessed. Now we pray. In the name of our Lord Jesus. First Thessalonians, one, four, our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. As you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake, and you became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost. so that you were thankful to all that believe in Macedonia and Akaya.
And from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Akaya, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad, so that we may not speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you. And how we turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come." Notice then in the fifth chapter the character of the missionary as he went, and was there only about a month in Thessalonica.
And then he could write concerning so many doctrines, as in the first Thessalonians and second Thessalonians. And he can speak about the faith of these people, which became so widespread in its communication. He's saying here the character of our gospel, well, not only in words, it wasn't just preaching. How important it is in the work of the Lord that our lives back up that which we saved. and as believers, that our testimony, our oral testimony, is backed up by the life that we live before men.
Our gospel came not in word, in word, yes, in great power. But it was the power of the Holy Spirit. Not in word alone. Not in the wisdom of words. Not in homiletical outlines and clever arrangements and things of that sort. in power. Paul's focus is in great power, our gospel, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. The New International Version says, in deep conviction, Paul knew what he believed. He wasn't ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
He knew it was the power of God unto salvation, and all who believed. And we have in the fifth verse here, character of the ministry of of Paul. Our gospel came not to you at word only, but was in word and well given indeed, but in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. And then the life, you know what manner of men we were among you, what kind of lives we lived among you. And further down in verse nine, the faith of the Christians showed what manner of entering in we had unto you.
The life. Paul walked in a godly manner before the people and they followed him. And I can say that this is for us a challenge on the mission field and how the people followed him. I know men who followed me so closely that When he stood up to speak, they said it sounded as if they were hearing Bonneville speaking. His mannerisms and his cliches, if you like, and things were so much like me. I praise God he went on to do different things, and he's a very godly man and a Bible teacher these days.
We have to watch our manner of life because others follow us. They became followers of us and of the Lord. And these are the people to whom he's speaking in Thessalonica, Thessalonica, who have come to know the Lord Jesus as Savior. And they receive the word in much affliction, but with joy of the Holy Spirit. These wonderful characters, they oftentimes, when the word is given forth, there's affliction, there's opposition, there's controversy, but oh, the joy that comes, for those that have a testimony of Christ, the joy in the Holy Spirit. Paul and his companions were examples, and we realize that in Africa we're examples to the people.
And the fifth chapter of First Peter, that's the character of Shepherd. They should be examples to the flock, and we're examples to the people. But in turn, verse seven, ye were examples to all the cities of Macedonia and of Christ. As we have shown a pattern of Christian living to those who come to know the Lord Jesus, so inevitably, They desired to follow that pressure, and to follow us, truly enough, but especially this is most important, they followed the law. They were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Nakaya. And they had a testimony, verse eight, from you founded the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Nakaya, but also in every place.
Your faith to God would have spread abroad, a notorious faith all over. People were speaking about the faith of those that were not alone in Christians. The tribe that I'm going to speak about this tribe now is because of the faith of Christians in a certain area, they who were living without the gospel, they sent word and they said, send us evangelists to teach this that your people here are getting. No one tells us how to be saved, how to have the assurance of salvation. Send us evangelists to the Banyali tribe. the section of the noted Banyali tribe. That's the section now where our sister Pearl Winterburn is working, a section of the tribe.
They sent themselves delegates to the Christians in this area, or maybe cousins of various distant cousins, who were visiting, and they heard them taking the gospel. They said, we never hear this. Send us evangelists. And we're five men who are called of God and commanded by their assembly. And they went to preach the gospel in the Banyali tribe. in the southern section of the Banyali tribe. And now there are five ascenders in that tribe. Because of the faith of the Christians and their word made others desire to know the same joy that they have in the Lord. Paul says, we do not need to say anything. So we do not need to speak anything.
Because they themselves tell of us, tell of us, or show of us, of manner of entering into His head unto you. The converts the indication of what sort of missionary work has been done. And I rejoice in the Lord that the evidence of what has been done in the years past is seen in those who have come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus and are themselves going on and banding together in little local churches with their local elders overseeing the hunt. And all I can say is we need not pay much. We don't want to speak about ourselves. Paul said, Your faith is so notorious, it's so spread of wrong, that we don't have to say anything.
Because faith in your lives has to rise to what manner of entering in we have unto you. So we need not to say anything. And then he gives this wonderful final verse in the chapter, the last two verses. They themselves show what manner of entering in we have unto you. How you turn to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath of God. I mentioned the other day that when we went to Africa, we went to a people who were practically naked, illiterate, provincial in that they just knew about their own village and the adjoining villages.
people who are living in constant fear of evil spirits. I remember when I went into the Vanyali tribe, the northern section of the Vanyali tribe, it seemed as though there was a pall hanging over the tribe, a pall of evil that could be felt. Going from other places where we had given the gospel, this tribe that had been left and had not been reached, started going into the tribe. Oh, what opposition we had. And priests who were dominating the tribe without telling them about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, that opposition. But satanic opposition too.
To go into a place and start preaching the gospel, it was just seen as if there was a black blanket put over the whole thing. And there was a deadness. And we laid hold on to God that He might speak by His Holy Spirit. I remember one time going to one village. There were a number of people listening. They were quite a number. They always listened. Never refused to give us an ear. And I remember there was one woman who came and stood in the back of the group, practically naked. All she had was on her body, a few vines, potato vines, just hanging mostly on her body. And I could sense from the moment I started speaking that there was going to be opposition from the corner.
As I told of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his love for sinners and God's grace in sending him to die for sinners, she started to laugh. And I looked at her and her face was definitely disfigured with hatred and anger. But I went on preaching the gospel. And as I announced the gospel and pronounced the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, she would give a shout in opposition time and time again. And the rest of the people were not paying any attention to her. They knew her. And then, as I told more of the Lord Jesus Christ, her anger grew and her screeches grew wilder and wilder until finally, as I was bringing to the point of soul giving themselves to the Lord Jesus, she screamed in anger and went off in her demented state, went off into this forest.
You could hear her voice disappearing there. is in the forest. And afterwards when I talked to the people, I said, Oh, her, yes, you know her very well. She has an evil spirit. She had a humor. I never saw her again. But that was the spirit in going to that tribe. One of the men who was very much against the preaching of the gospel in the tribe was a man by the name of Tocco. And Tocco was the witch doctor of the tribe. And I looked at him, of course, with considerable interest. caused witch doctors also mingled in with the general public, but in a sort of a distant way. And I saw him, and they said, you see that man over there?
He's the witch doctor. Well, I wanted to make his acquaintance, and so I did. Finally, he had to meet him. He took hands with him. He seemed very unfriendly. He treated as courtesy required. And I came back time and time again into this. By now he tried. In the forest, in the darkness of the forest, it was in this tribe, I spoke the other day about a man by the name of PDP, Ned Pepper, who was the ceremonial manager of evil things and the national brothel there in the tribe, and how he found the Lord Jesus in the state. But all the opposition of Satan, particularly of Satan, and also by ecclesiastical agents who were acting against the gospel in those days.
I got to know Choco, was his name, the switch doctor. I got to know him quite well. And I had learned that he sacrificed to a wooden idol. And in fact, people were afraid of him. Although he did mingle with the crowd, but women particularly were afraid of him because it was said that any woman who saw him when he was on the way to perform his witchcraft rites would never bear a child. And so when they saw him, him coming along and when he was going to do the sacrificing a man came along going a long horn and the women would go and hide under their head because they didn't want to sin and wanted to have children so that when I got to know him quite well and I thought I mean it would be nice if I could see how he does this and I spoke to him of the Lord Jesus Christ he didn't grunt him having no interest in that at all I thought if I could see him sometimes sacrificing not to the idol Perhaps this would help him in approaching to him and certainly in approaching the rest of the tribe.
So one day as he was close to him, I said, I understand that you sacrificed to a knight. Is this right? Yes, that's right. I said, what's the idol's name? He said, the idol's name is Njose. And I said, you suppose sometimes I could come and watch when you're doing that? Oh, he said, not at all. Not in your life. This is not for foreigners. Strangers who come into our land. This is our custom. I'm the one that has the right to sacrifice, to endorse it. You can't come. And we let it go with that, but Adam again, Adam again. And then she sort of threw the suggestion, perhaps sometime I could go and see it. One day I was preaching the gospel, and a runner came up, just breathless, and he said, Tocque was calling you.
He said you can come and see him sacrifice. So I quickly terminated what I was doing, and I went on with him, and the runner took me out into a deep forest, and we went along, and... I remember one time we crossed over a log that had been dropped across the river, and it was a bridge to go across, and through the banana groves, hop into the center of the forest, and there was a crater. And in the middle of the forest, there was Toko. And on his body, he had smeared red clay, and he had animal skins around his body. He had a little whistle, a little round whistle in his hand, and he was dancing and running around in a circle, and every once in a while blowing this little whistle. And his brow had the beads of respiration because he was very excited.
He was shouting and going around and singing and whistling. And I watched him as he looked around and watched him. And I noticed something in the very center. And this was the angle. I hadn't noticed it because there's only a little light on the side of that. And then as he went on, as he saw me coming in, he just indicated I should sit down on a log there. This man who was with me and who was interpreting for me in the Gignati language, I was using another language, I didn't really know his language very well. He was interpreting for me. I should sit there. He was interpreting it. He was saying that he was giving honor to the idol, giving honor to the idol, giving honor to the idol.
And then he called to another man who was there and told him to bring something to him and he brought over a chicken. And he took this chicken and the little wooden idol was in the middle of the clearing, and it had on the bottom, in front of the idol, there were porcupine quills, and on the porcupine quills he had fastened chicken fetters, and these were all in front of the idol, and he took the chicken and cut off his head, and then started pouring the blood on these fetters in front of the idol, those that the idol, and he fell down in front of them, he said, and this the interpretation the man gave to me. He said, Oh, no, say, wash away my sins and the sins of the tribe.
Put away my sins and the sins of the tribe. Put away my sins and the sins of the tribe. A really good prayer. Of course, hopeless, Lord, wouldn't I? And I was sad as I saw him pouring out the blood on the feet of this wouldn't I? He did this one time, then he got up and danced again, danced again, and then back again. And he brought another, she could do the same thing, and he said, I had enough of it because I realized this was a man totally given, totally given to Satan and totally given to the allegiance to the Christ. Well, I went away and I saw him from time to time and commented on the Lord and his love for sinners and his atoning death to sacrifice for sin, God's only Son.
He didn't have any lengthy contact with him. But the gospel was now being preached by some who had trusted Christ there in that area. And one day I was back at Niamh Kunti, the Mission Station. I was sitting at a desk in an office there, and a number of the local elders were sitting there with me. And suddenly there was a banging at the door, and in came Zoko. He didn't have skins of animals on him. He had a nice little white shirt on, and a pair of shorts, and a barefoot. And he just came into the center of his room there. And he put his hand up and he said, I want to be a Jesus man. And I said, Joko, what do you mean you want to be a Jesus man?
And you're a witch doctor and you sacrifice chickens and pour out the blood of chickens on them at the feet of a wooden knife. What do you mean you want to be a Jesus man? Never forget. Put up his hand higher. He said, I want to be a Jesus man. I know now that only the blood of Jesus can wash away my sin. It was a wonderful experience for me there, and the elders we were just praying. He was so earnest about it, and so we had prayer together. And he went back to his tribe, and they hated him for it. They burned his plant, and they destroyed his garden, took his goats and chickens, and they were going to kill him.
He ran to us for protection. He was with us for about two years. It was not anything to do with it. or which doctor becoming a Christian? It wouldn't happen. He was there. He never learned to read, but at that time we were beginning to get the first copies of the New Testament that we had translated. Actually, they were individual scriptures of the Gospel, actually. And he got them to please him, and he loved it. This was John's work. He couldn't read. He would come to the meetings and he would hold John's work there. Oftentimes upside down, but he loved it. And then when some... one trusted the Lord, he was standing there just rejoicing with it, just being with delight because of what the Lord has done in that person's life.
And then later, when I say this, finally was there, he has to be baptized. And I baptized him. And he said, he's going to be baptized. He said, now, when you baptize him, you don't call it Tocco. You'll call my name Tocco. Call me Abraham. Because Abraham was a man of faith and so on. And so I baptized him. and we called him Abrahamo, Abrahamo. He was known as Abrahamo from then on. Well, we had a wonderful fellowship together and then they called from the tribe later and they said, Choco could come back now. We know that he's a good man, we know he's become a Christian, we can come back and live in this village. So he went back, his wife, and he had a testimony from the village there.
And there were a number of believers who gathered together as a local church and he was one of them. He worked and built a little very simply a poles and mud, the dead is his heart in it. And we had the joy after some time of going to visit him there. We saw that he was reading a soul man of English village, a real testimony for Christ. One day, and this was shortly after he was allowed to go back into the tribe, he came to visit. He said, why not he said, I've got to pray to he had it wrapped up in banana leaves, leaving the strength of my soul.
That's fine. I looked there in the desk. He said, open it, open it. So I opened it. And what do you think you want? I had the eye of a friend, Shubha. I'd like to see it. I haven't seen it myself for some years, but I'd like to see my country. This is the very eye that I saw at that time. Let him rise in the focus of worship. The heathen in their blindness bowed down to a wooden stone. And the man that was worshiping this idol was born again, born from a father.
He found spiritual life trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gave it to the president. And I said to him, when he gave it to myself, What are you giving me an idol for? What am I going to do with an idol? He said, You take it back to white men. You show them what fools me to do. You worship with my worship. He's in heaven now, and when he died, as he was dying and people were starting to cry for him, he said, Don't cry for me. I'm going to be with the Lord. Cry for yourselves, because you're going to be still down in this sinful world. Don't cry for me. And he said, don't put me in the box when you bury me, just wrap me up in my manger.
And put me there because he said, I'm going to be with a wolf. And I visited not long after he was dead gone. And I asked, just how effective was his ministry here in this village? And I found twenty-one people who lived and saved. So there it is. Notice these last verses in First Thessalonians chapter. They turned to God, He turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, who we raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the land of God.
Oh, our hearts and joys, we see the power of God working the lives and turning them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan and God. As Paul went forth. Saul went forth. He saw the Lord, and the Lord called. And he said, Lord, what will God have them to do? And the Lord said, I send thee to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith as he knew. That was what came in Brooklyn. He was telling what happened there on the road to the mountain.
And it was said, Whereupon O King, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Right away he started preaching the gospel after he found the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, as we were speaking about some of those whom the Lord has saved out there and who have gone bringing on for God and brought the gospel, I thought of this man so cool and glad I had the eyes to show it. Because the Lord worked in his life in a very evident way. He went on for years trusting the Lord. as a simple believer, fellowshiping in the local gathering there, participating in the work of the local church. And then the Lord took him, rejoicing in his prayer.
Let's get behind those who are on the mission fields of the world. I don't know if you have a quantity of the missionary prayer handbook here, but there's a new missionary prayer handbook for earns all of you to have a copy and use it in your daily prayers, if you're in family prayers, use that in praying for the missionaries that are designated day by day for prayers. Tomorrow, September, another, God's service. Those who have come to know the Lord out in Africa and who are going on and serving here, some of them have gone on and they've gone into the Lord's presence to receive this reward.
Thank the gracious Father for the blessings that come through the preaching of the right word. Not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit. Following the testimony by the life living in subjection to life itself, subjection to right word. Oh Lord, we pray that thou will give us all to be in power, in this great work that thou has given to us in this. in the world, the views of the world, and testify for Christ in our local environment, in the immediate surroundings of each one of us, for those who have called to be out to distant lands and to spread the gospel of grace.
Thank you for the time spent these days. Let us now as we gather for prayer and preciously for the Lord Jesus.