Come with me on a short excursion in the book of Acts, from the first half of Acts 17 to the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. Paul’s ministry in Acts is the ‘seedbed’ of the letters he later wrote to churches he founded in Asia Minor, Macedonia and Greece.
As we read, we learn that a nation with no biblical background (or in our case a post-Christian society), the Impact, the Example, and follow up Care make strong Christians and stable churches. There are no direct quotes from the Old Testament in Paul’s first letter to the believers in Thessalonica.
In it, Paul not only explains the Gospel but also demonstrates it personally. New converts then copied him and in turn became a pattern for those who in turn believed through their own witness. Any Gospel message that is not attended by demonstrations of God’s power is foreign to the narrative of the Book of Acts and to the follow up letters of Paul to the churches he established. And to believers today, I must add.
Messages that are not followed by demonstrations of the power of God,in the form of changed lives, healings, and various kinds of miracles, is not the Gospel that Paul preached, which was not one of words only but also of power. Let me be clear about this: There is no ground for Cessation, i.e. for the theory that physical healings and miracles ceased with the death of the last of the original twelve apostles — those who walked with Jesus during his earthly ministry.
Indeed, to claim that was so is to deny that the risen Lord Jesus has not healed anyone down through the 2,000 year history of the Church. Other than healings and miracles attributable to the Sovereignty of God. Meaning,Christians that God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to heal for reasons ofHis own. Reasons which He chooses not to reveal to us, His beloved children. Meaningless terms such as “God has His own reasons” and “God works in mysterious ways”. No, God makes known His “ways” to those who ask Him, and “works in miraculous ways His wonders to perform” as the old hymn puts it!
In short, the Thessalonians excelled because they copied the apostles by doing what they had done. Children copy their parents and students copy their teachers. The growth of the church in Thessalonica can be attributed to their willingness to do as they did. They knew no scriptures but in Paul they had more than a good teacher: they had an ideal spiritual father!
I hope that you’ve enjoyed our short excursion.