Excel Still More

August 21, 2016 (090410)    NOTES NOT EDITED

Excel Still More

1Thessalonians 4:1-12

SIS:  As the world becomes increasingly hostile to the message of Christ, the Church needs to renew our resolve to pursue excellence in presenting the soul-saving message of the gospel.

About 2400 years ago, the noted physician, Hippocrates, from whom the Hippocratic Oath gets its name, gave us this famous saying, “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” His exact wording translated from Greek would likely have been, “"For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, . . . are most suitable.” 

If we take the teachings of Paul to the Thessalonians, the phrase might be worded, “Desperate times call for excellence in Church.” We are living in a day when “business as usual” in the Church simply will not suffice.  The blackness of evil continues to thicken and only the Light of the gospel can dispel it.  Even “good enough is not good enough” for a church today—if it ever were.

Thessalonica was a good church.  Paul had a very deep appreciation for the Church in the city of Thessalonica.  He, with the help of Timothy and Silas established this church sometime around 48-50 AD. It was strong, hard-working church composed mainly of Gentiles, with perhaps a few Jewish converts.  The city survives today as the second largest city in Greece, in the northern area called Macedonia.  By all measures, the Church at Thessalonica was a great church.

I think it is quite interesting that Paul points out the great faith and hard work of this church and says, "Now do more.  Now, do even better." Excellence is the true measure of greatness for a church.

No church ever "arrives," at her destination or "accomplishes" all her goals.  We should always be growing, always be doing more, and always seek to do what we do even better than we have ever done it before.  That's the meaning of the words, "Excel still more."

These three words in the NASB are actually two words in the original Greek -- perisseuēte mallon.  The word, perisseuete by itself means, "to possess in overabundance; a superabundance."  The HCSB translates these two words as, “Do so even more.”  “What they “possessed,” or “were doing,” was a “faith demonstrated by living in a way that pleased God.”  Paul as guided by the Holy Spirit wants to emphasize the pursuit of excellence to an even higher degree so he adds the adjective, mallon, which means more.  So Paul is saying that our love and service to Jesus Christ should be in "superabundance and even more," or "Excel still more." And, to make sure we really get what he is saying about excellence, he repeats it in verse 10.

¹⁰ In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers in the entire region of Macedonia.  But we encourage you, brothers, to do so even more.

Let me ask you a question:  "When is our service to Jesus good enough?"  Here's the answer:  NEVER!  We can and should always seek to do more and to do better in our love and service to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

To outline how we can "Excel still more" I want to focus our study of the passage around the acrostic: EXCEL.  First, let's read together Paul's encouraging words and call to excellence in 1Thessalonians 4:1-12:

¹ Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. ² For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,  ⁵ not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. ⁸ So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. ⁹ Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹² so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

I want to begin our acrostic "excel" with the letter "c" which is right in the middle.

1.  C  is for Christ at the center of our lives (vv1; 11-12)

This is where everything starts.  This sets the tone for all our life and service -- and for all we will do or be in eternity.  We must get this right.

When you really set your heart to know what the will of God is in a passage of His Word, God will reward you with insights that may be missed by a casual reading.  Notice Paul's phrase in verse 1:

¹Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God.

As we "excel still more" in our walk with God in Christ, we cannot do so unless Christ is absolutely in the center of our lives, just like the "C" is in the middle of the word, excel.  Watch this:  Paul tells us "what" he wants us to do -- to walk, that is live in a manner that pleases God. He also in that sentence tells us the primary key to doing that -- "in the Lord Jesus Christ."

Our lives are like a wheel.  A wheel (let's think of a bicycle wheel that is a simple example) has basically three parts:  the outer rim and tire that touch the surface; the spokes that connect the rim to the hub; and the hub that is connected to the axle that gives the wheel power.  If the rim and tire is not connected to the hub the hub will turn but the tire will do nothing.  If the tire and rim are connected to the hub by the spokes, but the hub is not in the center, the wheel will wobble and be useless -- even dangerous.

Paul talks about where the rubber of our lives meets the road -- so to speak -- in verses 11-12:

and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹² so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

In this verse, our everyday lives out and among the people of our community is like the rim and tire:  it is where we shop, where we work, where we play.  It is where the rubber of our lives meets the road.  It is where we become the witnesses -- for good or bad -- of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Paul calls it, "attending to our business."

The hub of a Christians life according to the New Testament to the New Testament is Jesus Christ. The N.T. does not call him the "hub" of our life, but it does call Him our Master, the Mediator between God and man, the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End, or as Paul says in Colossians:  "the One who holds all things together."

It is only when we are "in Christ," that is our entire existence revolves around loving and honoring Him, that we can live "a quiet life that wins the respect of outsiders."

The spokes that transfer power to our everyday life is our "healthy habits of devotion," prayer, Bible study, evangelism, and fellowship.  When we put Christ in the center and practice our devotion with excellence, power flows into our everyday lives.

That's what being a Christian is all about.  If anything else but Christ is at the center of your life, you are not a Christian -- you are an "idol worshipper."

A wheel cannot work without a hub in the center.  Your life cannot work, and you cannot "excel" without Christ in the center.  Just like the "C" is in the center of "excel," Christ must be in the center of your life.

2.  E stands for ENCOURAGING others
(1:10 2:19 3:13 4:18 5:23)

Every chapter in this book ends with a reference to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  Paul in the Book of Titus calls the Second Coming,

"The blessed hope" (Titus 2:13)

The teaching of the Second Coming has always been a source of encouragement and hope for the saints down through the ages because this teaching is a constant reminder that this life is not all there is for a believer.

Jesus, Himself, comforted the disciples with the promise of His Second Coming in John 14:

¹“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

As believers in and followers of Jesus Christ we literally have the weight of the world on our shoulders.  We have the burden or realizing that God, through Christ, entrusted the salvation of souls to His disciples when He gave the Great Commission.  There's no way around the understanding that people will be saved or lost according to how well followers of Christ deliver the message of the gospel.  That is an awful weighty burden and sometimes, even the strongest Christian, gets discouraged. 

Let me add a note about church attendance here.  Paul admonishes us (warns us) in Hebrews 10:24-25:

²⁴ Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. ²⁵ And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

It is extreme dereliction of duty for a believer to miss church without a very, very good reason—like, having a heart attack or something like that.  Too many people treat church like a buffet.  They attend when they want and pick and choose which parts of the message they will accept and which parts they will discard.  The pursuit of excellence includes excellence in churchmanship. It is discouraging for others when we see fellow-believers neglect their church.

Jesus knew we needed encouragement.  Paul realizes we need encouragement. 

The word for "encourage" in 4:18 is, "parakaleite."  It means "to walk alongside of another."  It is the same word John uses in John 16, verse 7:

⁷ But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

The word, for Counselor (KJV, "comforter") is the same word Paul uses in 4:18 for "encourage one another."

Fellow believers are the warm blanket that God wraps around us when our spirits grow cold with discouragement.  Fellowship is our food when discouragement brings a hunger of emptiness to our soul.  We need to be ENCOURAGERS -- we need to be willing to walk alongside those in the family of God.

When we miss church for no good reason -- and there are not many -- we become "dis" couragers, instead of encouragers.  This is what Paul warned against in Hebrews 10:24:

24 And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, 25 not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other,  and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

The NIV translates it like this:

²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

There are at least three ways in which we can be "encouragers":

1)  By our Presence
2)  With our Purses
3)  In our Participation (service)

3.  eX is for eXCELLENCE with a silent "e"

³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification;

I've heard many times people talk about "finding God's will."  Well, here it is: "be sanctified."  The word, sanctified is related to the word "holy."  It means to set something aside for the exclusive use of God.  Simply stated it means, "Be holy," or more correctly it refers to the "process of becoming more and more holy," or "holified."

God sets the bar for His children very high when He says,

"Be holy, as I am holy" (1Pet. 1:16)

You would almost be right to object by saying, "That is a standard too high, I can never reach it."  On our own, we can never achieve this level of excellence in our service to God -- but it must be our goal nonetheless.

William Law stated the matter very clearly over 400 years ago in a little book I read often titled:  "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life." Dr. Law states the matter like this when he observes (and I paraphrase):  "The problem is not Christ followers fail in their serious attempt to be holy, the problem is that most do not even intend to be holy in the first place."

I asked the question earlier in regard to "the pursuit of excellence in the Christian life:  "When is good enough, good enough?"  The answer was, and still is:  never.  Good enough should NEVER be our goal in Christian living and service.  Our goal should be nothing less than absolute excellence -- or holiness Now, how can such a goal be attained if we all agree that human effort can never attain it?  God's Word, like in every matter gives us the answer:  2Peter 1:3:

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and grace."

We attain excellence in our Christian life not by our own power, but by the Holy Spirit that indwells us.  the Word says (Acts 1:11):

"You shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you"

At the moment of our salvation we are given all the power we need to become "holy as God is holy."  The process of sanctification begins at the moment of redemption, and continues without end throughout eternity.  Revelation 22:11 says,

let him who does right continue to do right;

and let him who is holy continue to be holy.

Holiness is at one and the same time both an event -- when we become the righteousness of God in Christ -- and a process as "we work out our salvation with fear and trembling."

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. Vince Lombardi

God did not give His second or third or fourth best when He gave His only begotten Son to be the once for all sacrificial payment for our sin -- it is blasphemy for us to suppose we can give God anything but our absolute best in every endeavor of our lives.

4.  E  stands for Embrace Challenges (v. 10)

for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia.

No doubt such a loving church as Thessalonica loved many fellow-believers throughout Turkey and northern Greece.  But, Paul has in mind the brethren in Macedonia. 

Recall the words to a beloved hymn we sing from time to time: 

We have heard the Macedonia call today
Send the Light, Send the Light,

There are souls to rescue there are souls to save
Send the Light, Send the Light

What exactly is the Macedonian Call?  Acts 16:6ff tells us:

⁸ and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. ⁹ A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Paul had been blazing a gospel trail all over what is now Western Turkey.  He had been meeting with many challenges.  Then, in the still of the night Paul had a vision.  A man, a Macedonian man, was calling from across the Aegean Sea, in what is northern Greece saying, "Come bring the gospel to us."  NOW, DON'T MISS THIS PART: Acts 16:10

immediately we sought to go into Macedonia,

Paul had a missionary spirit that could not be stopped
by circumstances or difficulties.  When prompted by God to go -- Paul went.

Paul embraced whatever challenge God put before Him.  And challenging it would be. Upon arrival in Macedonia Paul cast the demon out of a slave girl her mastered used for profit and was promptly beaten and stripped by a mob, thrown into prison along with Silas and his hands and feet bound in chains.

Embrace challenges.  Never run away.  Never give in.  Never give up.  It is in the challenges and the risks that the rewards of life are found.

Don't be like water looking to find the path of least resistance always flowing downward drawn by the gravity cowardice. Embrace challenges.  Look for opportunities disguised as obstacles, or God's design for blessing wrapped in the trappings of difficulty.

This week I was reading the obituaries as I always do.  I was quite relieved to find I was not among the names.  But, I found something that pricked my heart instead.  I found the obituary of Aaron Patrick Sampson, 4 years old.  His picture was like that of an angel to me.  I don't know how he died.  But, I know a little of how he lived.  These words got stuck in my heart:  "[He was] always drawn to new adventures."

Friends, I would love for that to be said of each of us:  we are "drawn to new adventures."  Excel still more -- Embrace challenges.

5.  L well that's for LOVE everybody (v. 9)

Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

Nothing of great significance will ever happen unless and until "loving" others is the passion that pulsates through the pews of a church.  Without love, and the kind of love God showed to us through the sacrifice of His Son for our sins, all our activity in the church will be the empty clanging of a meaningless symbol. Paul said beautifully,

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1Cor. 13:1-3)

A church without love is like a mirage to a man dying of thirst in the desert.  It holds out the false hope of life and refreshment, but it is really just dryness and death.

You can always tell a church that is pulsating with the passion for people -- it will be a growing, exciting, attracting place where people of all ages want to gather and worship God together.

"Excel still more!"

Possess the life of Christ in "superabundance."
Be an Encourager.  Pursue eXcellence.  Have Christ
at the center of life.  Embrace challenges. Love as God loves.

As the world becomes an increasingly blacker, bleaker place the Church needs to become a brighter, more effective instrument of God’s peace and light.  Yesterday’s efforts are not sufficient for today’s challenges and tomorrow’s hope.  We must do as Paul commands and

 "Excel still more!"

The Greatest Show On Earth

August 21, 2016 (05210)              NOTES NOT EDITED

The Greatest Show on Earth

Acts 16:16-34

SIS - Supercharged friendships develop and great things happen when believers share their lives in and through the church.

When I was a teen-ager, the big thing to do was to buy an old car and "supe it up."  The more power the better.  The first ingredient to a suped up car was the "supercharger."

The term supercharger usually refers to any pump that forces air into an engine.  As you can see from the picture, this required a modification of the cars hood.  A hole was cut into the hood to accomodate the supercharger.  For most teens, such a "suped up" ride was only a dream -- but a great dream to have.

The supercharger was all about "more power."  This same principle applies to church.  Church is where "supercharged friendships develop and great things happen."

In his new book, "Amazing Grace: How Religion is Reshaping Our Civic and Political Lives," Harvard Professor Robert Putnam and Notre Dame scholar David Campbell provide research showing that "religious people are three to four times more likely to be involved [positively] in their community than non-religious people."  According to their study religious people are up to four times more likely to let someone have a place in front of them in line, donate money to charitable causes, help out a neighbor or stranger, and give money to panhandlers.  The authors conclude, "religious people are, in general, just nicer." One author refers to this phenomenon of niceness as, "supercharged friendships."

This is not the message you get when the modern media covers Christianity.  The liberal media would have us believe that any ill in America can be attributed to the "vast right wing conspiracy driven by fundamentalist Christians."  That's the propaganda.  The facts of 2000 plus years of history greatly support the view that Christianity is the most powerful force for good in history and the church is the most positive institution for good in our world today; though in fairness we should recognize that more and more churches are becoming less and less a force for good and the gospel as they compromise with the world rather than compete.  Let’s read how we can turn that around and, to paraphrase The Donald, “make church the greatest show on earth . . . again!”  READ ACTS 16:16-24.

When believers get together and share their redeemed lives together in and through the church, great things happen.  Supercharged friendships in and through the church cause great things to happen in at least three ways:

1.  When we share GREAT BATTLES
            great things start to happen (16-24)

Steel cannot be forged without fire.  The church was born into a battle and the battle has existed continually through the ages.  The battle has been more fierce at times and less fierce at others, but the battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil have always been around.  It started in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:14-15):

⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

And so, the fight was on.  In fact, you can even go back further than the Garden of Eden.  The battle between good and evil began in heaven in the pre-creation period: (Isa 14:12)

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

Not much is said directly about Lucifer, the Devil, or Satan.  What is clear from Genesis is that there is an on-going battle with demonic forces that require the supercharged friendships of the church to defeat.  This battle can manifest in many ways:  personal--as with demon possession, drug addiction, or other various conditions--or, the battle can be cultural, as with the continuing influence of a culture of death through abortion, or the rising influence of homosexuality and the attack on the Biblical and traditional view of the family, or the constant attacks by talking heads on TV and other media.  The battle can also be political as we see with the ACLU and other church-hating organizations which are trying to erase the very idea of God from the political mind of America.  But, by and large the greatest foe of Christianity in America is the "government school system" and the anti-God theology of evolution that permeates every subject and every lesson in every classroom.

We are indeed in a battle that is demonic in origin.  Our text today makes this perfectly clear when it describes the encounter Paul and Silas have with the demonic spirit called, "Python."

As we read earlier, Paul and Silas encountered a slave girl that was possessed by a demon called "Python."  Our NIV text described this girl as a "slave girl that had a spirit by which she predicted the future." That is a lose translation of two words, "pneuma Pūthōnos." Literally, it means a "Python spirit."  This refers to the snake that guarded the "Oracle of Delphi"

Dating back to 1400 BC, the Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in all Greece, and in theory all Greeks respected its independence. Built around a sacred spring, Delphi was considered to be the omphalos - the center (literally navel) of the world.

People came from all over Greece and beyond to have their questions about the future answered by the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo. And her answers, usually cryptic, could determine the course of everything from when a farmer planted his seedlings, to when an empire declared war.

The word, "oracle," referred both to the message and the messenger.  The messenger simply being a vehicle of a spiritual entity.  The word, python, actually came to be translated by another Greek word meaning "ventriloquist," which is someone speaking through something or someone else.

The emphasis here in our text is simply this:

Ephesians 6:10-11

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Do not miss this teaching: the battles we face in our personal lives, families, culture, and political climate are ALL spiritual in nature.  ALL conflict is demon-driven.

When we the church ignore or reject this basic teaching here in our text, the Python spirit of demonic deception will squeeze the very life out of our families, churches, and communities.

The moment Paul and Silas as supercharged friends and fellow believers confronted the Python demon that was squeezing the life out of this young girl, the girl was immediately and gloriously delivered from the bondage of evil.

Herein is the application for you today:  if you or a loved one are being squeezed by the Python grip of sin -- regardless of whether it is drugs, alcohol, pornography, lying, or you name it -- the only way to see great things happen is to realize the battle is at the very root spiritual. 

When, supercharged believers share these great battles together, just like with Paul and Silas, great things happen -- particularly, souls are delivered from sin.

2.  When supercharged friends share GREAT WORSHIP, great things happen (25-30)_____________________________________

You will note from our text that not everyone is thrilled to see God work in mighty ways in the deliverance of sinners.  Pimps hate to see women empowered by faith leave the streets.  Drug lords hate to lose the revenue when junkies are set free and no longer need what the dealer is selling.  Beer peddlers and whiskey hustlers hate it when people discover they can "party hardy"  without inviting Jack Daniels or his friend Bud Light.

Don't be naive--not everyone wants to see God move in a mighty way in and through the church.  Paul and Silas got a serious "beat down" when those who lost revenue from their slave girl incited a town riot.  The Word says,

"The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them stripped and beaten." (v. 22)

It's been said, "No good deed goes unpunished."  That certainly is the case here.  Paul and Silas won the battle that brought release to the slave girl, but they didn't escape unscathed.  Here they are:  naked and bleeding, feet in stocks, in the dark damp dungeon of the city.  So they did what any of us would do:

THEY STARTED PRAYING
AND SINGING HYMNS TO GOD! (V. 25)

Now they did not sing with the rigid restraint and lack of enthusiasm that so often characterizes most church services.  No, they sang so loud and with such enthusiasm that they caused an earthquake!

Why friends, so often our worship can't even rattle the chandelier, let alone shake the earth.  But, when

supercharged believers share GREAT WORSHIP great things happen!

First their great worship knocked the bars of the cell doors right off the hinges.  Then, this great worship shattered the shackles on the prisoners and they were set free.  And then, the praise was so loud it rousted the jailer who was in another room!

So much of what we call "worship" today is simply entertainment using Christian language.  And, that's at the good end of the modern worship scale.  At the other end for many worship has become nothing more than punching religious time card.

Great worship brought the house down -- literally.  Praise singing -- hymns, songs, and spiritual songs -- should grab the whole person and shake them -- body mind and spirit.

Now this will probably shock some of your Baptist sensibilities but the Bible teaches that "spirit-filled (empowered) worship" is a lot like "being drunk."  Consider the evaluation of the worship service at the birth of the church: (Acts 2:1-4 and verse 13)

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. ² Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

..........................

¹³ Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Now, lest you think I'm putting something into the text that is not there consider what Paul said in Eph 5:

¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹ Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul compares spirit-filled singing and music-making in worship to be similar to "drunkeness."  The application seems to be that first century worship was very expressive and animated.  Some would call this: "charismatic."

Charisma comes from the Greek word that means, "grace."  It is also the same word that can be translated, "joy." The "chara" root is one of the most significant word groups used in the N.T. and at is most basic meaning it is related to "great joy."  The only kind of worship worthy to be called "Christian worship" is "charismatic at the core."

Now, I'm not suggesting we roll in the aisles, jump the pews, or shout in some unknown language.  I am suggesting that we put a little "get up and go" into our hymn singing and prayers during worship.

Two homemakers baked a cake.  The first homemaker placed her cake in the oven and went about her duties. With watchful care in time she presented her family a beautiful and delicious cake.

The second homemaker prepared her cake and placed it in the oven and in time was greatly disappointed for the cake was flat and a failure. She had left out one ingredient, the baking powder.

There are many ingredients that go into presenting our worship to God, but if one of them is not passionate enthusiasm, the worship with turn out flat and a failure.

Paul and Silas literally brought the house down with great worship.  This is the original version of "Jailhouse Rock" long before Elvis hit the scene.  [VIDEO CLIP: ELVIS (Stop at 39 secs]

How can anyone read this passage and not be impressed with the power of people who love God worshipping in the Spirit?  This great worship service was so powerful it shook the earth.  But, even more so, it shook a lost many down to his knees seeking repentance.  Look at verse 29:

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

Great Christian worship brings both the saved and
the lost into a life-changing encounter with Almighty God.  It is the kind of worship that looks like bread to the hungry and living water to the thirsty.  That's the kind of worship I pray for every week.

That's why I call church, "The Greatest Show On Earth."

Supercharged friendships develop and great things happen when believers share their lives in and through the church.

When God's people share great battles and great worship, great things start to happen.  But there's something else:

3.  When supercharged friends share the GREAT MESSAGE, great things happen (31-34)                                                            )        

Notice that the jailer did not get saved by the Great Worship, it only got his attention.  All the great hymn-singing and all the great praise singing and all the great praying and all the great other stuff we do in church will not bring a person to salvation until . . .

someone shares the GREAT MESSAGE.

In many of the traditional churches in Old Europe,
the pulpit was not in the center of the church.  In Lutheran churches and other what we call "high churches" the pulpit is still off to the side.  The communion table, as with the Catholic Church is in the center of the worship stage.

May it never be so in a Baptist Church.  The sermon is
the crown jewel of any worship gathering that seeks to
share the great message of God's redeeming love.  The Bible clearly says:

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15, and v. 17)

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Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

There are churches that provide a musical experience that would put Hollywood to shame.  There are churches that have orchestras that would rival the Philharmonic.  But what brings people to repentance and new life in Christ is:  preaching of the Word.  Look at verse 29-32:

²⁹ The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house

Dear church family, let us never forget this lesson:  great things happen with God's people proclaim the GREAT MESSAGE. 

No doubt, this jailer had been a mean, unrelenting source of pain and anguish to men all his life.  His temperament was well-suited for his sordid work.  He literally would have watched men rot away while in his care.  He would inflict great pain on men as a course of his daily duties.  Yet, look at what happens when the meanest, vilest sinner encounters the Great Message of the gospel:  (v 33-34)

³³ At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴ The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

Can I make a confession to you today:  if I felt that the success of this church (or any church I've ever pastored) relied on great music, or great drama, or a great facility or any other material element, -- or, my ability as a great orator or speaker -- I would have quit the ministry years ago.  I sincerely mean that with all my heart.

No, folks, great things don't happen because of even the greatest music or greatest anything else:  truly great things happen when God's people share the Greatest Message on Earth.

I pray to God in heaven that if there ever comes a time when I trust in anything else but the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change the hearts and minds of lost men, women, and children -- I will quit the ministry.

Sure, we ought to come to God with the very best singing, drama, praying and preaching we can deliver.  We ought to raise the roof when we sing in God's presence.  But, the real power is always in the WORD.

One of the greatest showman of all times -- even to this day -- was a man by the name of P.T. Barnum.  It is from a film made in 1952 depicting life in the Barnum and Bailey Circus that gave us the phrase, "The Greatest Show on Earth."

The Greatest Show on Earth is a 1952 drama film set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The film was produced, directed, and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Its storyline is supported by lavish production values, actual circus acts, and documentary, behind-the-rings looks at the massive logistics effort which made big top circuses possible.
The film stars Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde as trapeze artists competing for the center ring, and Charlton Heston as the circus manager running the show. James Stewart also stars as a mysterious clown who never removes his make-up, even between shows.
In addition to the film actors, the real Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Circus' performers appeared in the film, with its complement of 1400 people, hundreds of animals, and 60 carloads of equipment and tents.
But, as wonderful as Ringling BRos. and Barnum and Bailey Circus was (and is), it is not the greatest show on earth.
When God's redeemed people develop supercharged friendships by sharing their lives in and through the church -- that church becomes "The Greatest Show On Earth." 
Brothers and sisters of First Baptist Church, would you pray with me that our church becomes a place where supercharged friendships develop and great things happen?