1 Corinthians 13:13: Everything is perishable, but three things remain: faith, hope, and love. How are these important? How do we see them? How are they manifested in the Christian life?
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10: Grace and peace to those who are walking with God, to God's church. Not peace and grace to the world, to the sinners.
Where there are no works, there is no faith. Faith produces works. Jesus knows your works, whether they are works of darkness or works of light. There is a direct relationship between your faith and your works. Little faith, little works. Great faith, great works. Fake faith, fake works.
The Christians who will impact this world are those whose works come from faith. Faith in prosperity coming from God is fake faith. Faith is living your life according to God's word. When he commands, obey. When he makes a promise, believe it. You live not by the standards of the world. In the middle of a conference with President Clinton and others, Mother Theresa stood up and protested vehemently against abortion without having told them beforehand. She has works to prove her faith. After the speech, everyone stood up and clapped except the President. When interviewed later, he said in an interview that it is hard to argue with someone with a life like that. Elija's presence caused the king not to be happy, to be troubled. Same with Micah. Holy men of God make the sinners uneasy. Works which are produced by faith make people uneasy. The people around you should know your faith because they know how you live. Do they? How many of your co-workers or neighbors have been converted? The people in your life know the real you. They know when you complain, when you gossip, when you cut corners.
Your service of the Gospel, your investment in the ministry, your spending time for the Lord must come out of communion and love for him. There are many Christians who do works out of a sense of duty or a sense of guilt but not out of love. I was witnessing to someone who had some questions about Christianity--he wondered why we should just be commanded to worship God. I said "No! You worship him out of love, not duty!" The Jews and the Samaritans were worshipping falesly because they didn't know God, therefore they had no way of worshipping him out of love. You should tithe and give out of love. You should pray out of love. You should read your bible out of love.
Your endurance is inspired by hope inspired by the Lord Jesus. We are persecuted for starting this church: people call us a cult, they say we're legalists, they drive us out of our meeting places, yet we persist... why? Because we have hope in Jesus. Paul had hope in Jesus, and forever he was on the better side, and for eternity he will be. Have you been enduring? It is not in vain. On that day, books will be opened. One is the book of life, one is the book of those who sacrificed, another is the book of those who gave to the Lord, who fasted, who invested time in prayer, who shared the Gospel. The Lord drew me to a man near Boston Commons covered with buttons saying "Repent or Perish." He told me he has been doing this for twelve years, all day every day. I thought "Wow," what will this man's reward be when Jesus comes? I told him that what he is doing is wonderful, and he thanked me for the encouragement and said that most Christians just pass him by and don't even look at him. This is a man who can say "Lord, I layed all on the altar before you." He doesn't have a TV program, he doesn't pastor a church, he hasn't written any books, but he is full of wisdom. Why has he continued, why has he pressed on? Because he knows in whom he has believed. Even when it is hard, even when we fall, God picks us up.
How do you produce Christians who love the Lord? Who know in whom they have believed? Who don't need to be convinced about Jesus? It is not by talk or preaching. It is by the power of the Lord, the Holy Spirit. Because they preached the Gospel with power, because it was more than talk, but they spoke with conviction from the Spirit of God. Not powerpoint presentations, rock music, beautiful buildings, or choirs. Who can have this kind of holiness? People who have lives that display their faith. God is looking for just one man or woman who is right with him. Become that man! Become that woman!
Before you focus on winning others to the Lord, ask the prayer to show you the sins in your life. Get your life right, and the world will follow. When we give God time to work on us, he will change us, and he will make us into people of God.