A Biblical Picture of True Revival: Thessalonica vs. Corinth Ep 17

0:00 But healings and gifts can happen even when you have ministers or others who are not walking with the Lord as they should. But it doesn't mean it was a revival in the classic sense, the best sense of the word. It simply means there are a lot of healings and there can be a lot of prophecies and there can be a lot of deliverances. Welcome to the Bennett Broadcast. I'm Matt Bennett. Thanks for joining me as we explore what it means to seek the Lord wholeheartedly, to grow strong in faith, and to be fully devoted to God in today's world. When we do, He will pour out His Spirit and bring revival like never before. Welcome to the Bennett Broadcast, I'm Matt Bennett.

0:42 The focus for this episode is the Apostle Paul and the city of Corinth, and him remembering back to what happened a few weeks prior in another city in Thessalonica. And there's a comparison between those two cities that is really important for understanding what revival is and the work of the Holy Spirit. This all happens about 51 AD on Paul's second missionary journey. And he's writing the letter back to Thessalonica from the city of Corinth. And so he's there. He's planting a church there. And this is a very gifted city, a very wealthy city.

1:22 Corinth is a very immoral city. And he's working hard there. for the sake of the gospel, but he's remembering what happened here not too long ago in this previous city in Thessalonica up the road, and so he's writing back to it, and this is where we get the book of 1 Thessalonians. But as he's writing back to this church, he's not focusing on their spiritual gifts and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, although that's important in Christian And this difference and distinction is really key in understanding what real revival is.

2:03 And that's what we're looking at here in these next few minutes here. So you got two churches, you got the same apostle, you got this, they're on the same missionary journey, just a few weeks apart and two different kinds of the Holy Spirit power. If I can say it that way, not that you can put all the Holy Spirit's work in two neat buckets, but for the sake of, um, Understanding or looking at this, it can be helpful to think about his work in two big ways. So it's Thessalonica versus Corinth there. So Thessalonica is what a real revival looks like. And Corinth is what it looks like when there's a lot of spiritual gifts, but not necessarily revival.

2:44 not much holiness. And as a nation in the United States, and this is what my passion is, is to help the United States to understand this and to seek the Lord and see real revival happen as it's understood from way back when the term was first used. It's first used in the early 1700s. I think Cotton Mather first used it, but popularized in the 1730s and 40s with people like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield and John Wesley and a bunch of others. In that context, it meant one thing But the way people use the term today Is more typical of how It was used in the latter rain movement In the 1940s and 50s Which I'll explain a little bit And the difference is very, very important So I am the founder and president of Christian Union.

3:30 Also, I lead Heritage Pastors Association. I've been able to see the Lord pour out His Holy Spirit in a number of remarkable ways in my life. And so I've got a lot of experience with this, not to mention studying this subject through church history and even traveling to different parts of the world, mostly Fiji Islands and Uganda, to see God work in these extraordinary ways. So, yeah. I've seen what is the most important part happen, Category 1, power of the Holy Spirit, but also Category 2, which consists of healings, prophetic words, deliverance. I think this is important as part of the church. I minister in these ways as well myself.

4:11 And I lay hands on people. Sometimes I see them get healed. Sometimes the Lord gives me messages about other people prophetically. And then sometimes I'm active in expelling evil spirits from people. That's all the second category. Important. But. It's category one, which we see in Thessalonica, which is key. And we'll look at the text here. I want you to see it in your own eyes. But in this category one, that's where we see conviction of the Holy Spirit, repentance, people obeying Jesus, the gospel going forth in boldness and force. So both of these categories of the Holy Spirit, but they're not equal and confusing them.

4:52 which happens so much today, causes a lot of trouble in the American church. So let's see here. Let's kind of pour into this and look at this in a close way. He pours out his Holy Spirit when Category 1, that's what Category 1 is, pouring out a Spirit, and that's what true revival is. So back to the story here, we have the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul from 49 to 52. And he's going on his way. He is in Macedonia. He's in M-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R-A-R He's in Apollonia, he's in Thessalonica, and he was in Philippi right before that where he's jailed.

5:34 But let's see part of this journey. This is in Acts 17, 1-10. You'll kind of see the lead up here in Thessalonica and then going down to Corinth shortly thereafter. So Acts 17 says... Now, when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "'This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.'" And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

6:19 So you see a great many of the devout Greeks joined. But the Jews were jealous and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob set in the city as an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out of the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they're all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things, and then when they had taken the money of security from Jason, the rest, they let them go."

7:00 So you hear a lot of controversy, a lot going on here when they come into this synagogue in the town of Thessalonica. So they're there three Sabbaths and three weeks. And this is here in AD 50. A church is born. A great number of Greeks also joined. But then they have a riot. People are jealous of them. And they say these people have turned the world upside down. which is incredible, turn the world upside down, and they're driven out of the city by the grace of God. So this is amazing. They say that there is another King Jesus, and so the controversy pushes them out of city to go on, to go other places.

7:40 So the church is, gosh, a month old or something, maybe a little older, and already they're being accused of treason against Caesar. So Paul moves on. He goes to Berea, Athens, and Corinth. And there in Corinth, he stays a year and a half And he's teaching there for the year and a half. And that's where he ends up writing back to the church in 1 Thessalonians and following up with them and talk to them. So a few verses in Acts 18 as he moves on. He says, he left Athens, went to Corinth. And then when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word testifying to the Jews that Christ was Jesus.

8:23 And he stayed there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them. But when Galileo was pro-council of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal. So there's more information. Action going on there Describing everything that happened So in looking at 1 Thessalonians 3.6 We get a sense of what happened And what was going on As Paul's writing there to the church In Thessalonica from Corinth He says, but now that Timothy has come from you And he has brought us the good news of the faith And love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us. So we long to see you. So there's that bond between them.

9:04 And there's that connection that they have there. So he's writing back. Corinth is in Achaia. And he's writing back to the church in Macedonia where Thessalonica is. Those are two big regions of the area of Greece. And so he writes here in 1 Thessalonians 1, 1-10. Now, as I read this, you'll get a sense he describes the nature of what happened in Thessalonica. And this is where you'll see category one power as we're describing it. And this is very key to understand. So he says, verse 1, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the Church of the Thessalonians, and God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you. He says, we give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

9:57 Now notice that he's pointing to their character, to what they're doing, their steadfastness of faith, their labor of love, Now in this context here, he's probably not referring to demonstration of miracles. places they are. Often when the power is in the plural, it may be considered more that miracles are happening. But here you are speaking of the Holy Spirit's power, and that includes full conviction. That is, that what they're saying is true, that there needs to be repentance and faith and following the Lord Jesus Christ.

10:43 He says, you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake, and you became imitators of us and the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with joy and the Holy Spirit. So see the Holy Spirit, he's mentioned again, that they receive him with joy. So you see that character or that qualitative change in their persons. So that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. So it speaks again to their character, their nature here. They became examples for the whole region, all of Greece at that time. It was under the Roman Empire, but those are two big provinces there. So they became examples. So you became an example to all the believers in those two regions, Macedonia and Achaia.

11:25 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia, Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere. So, wow, even beyond that, boldness and knowledge of what God is doing and their lives and everything, so that we need not to say anything. For they themselves report... concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to God from idols. So an amazing character change that they had, all these Greeks, to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. So it says, again, it says, work of faith, labor of love, steadfastness of hope.

12:06 So the gospel came not in word, but in the power of the Holy Spirit with full conviction, probably meaning this context radically changed lives, full of joy. Not that there cannot be some gifts of the Spirit or miracles, but what this text is focusing on is what we think about as category one power, a more important ministry of the Holy Spirit. So they received the word even in the midst of much affliction with joy, even riots and accusations and accusations about following another king could bring death. So this is extraordinarily serious. And they became examples everywhere through the whole regions, even the place where Paul is sitting now in the region of Macedonia or sorry, Achaia where Corinth is and Israel.

12:53 And in that context, you'll see there's a lot of gifts that are being demonstrated there. And the people, though, in... Thessalonica turned from idols and they're waiting for the sun. So what we understand revival to be historical is when there's multiple outpourings of the Holy Spirit. So people's lives are radically changed in terms of holiness by use of God and society gets blessed and society gets changed in these wonderful ways. And so it's a context usually brought about by fasting and prayer and repentance and bold proclamation. So this is a revival. It's a kingdom of light expanding into the kingdom of darkness and changing situations. It happened in Thessalonica. It happened in Jerusalem and happens in history and all around the world.

13:38 So this is a fantastic, incredible example. It doesn't mean there's not trouble. You got riots. You can have tremendous opposition. You can have persecution. When people are living in godliness, you will have persecution from time to time. So now you have the irony is that Paul is in Corinth when he was writing this letter, and he's there a longer period of time. But this church becomes more of a cautionary tale because of the way they're acting, which we'll see when 1 Corinthians is written later on. Because three or four years later from Ephesus, Apostle Paul writes back, and it's not such a sanguine picture there. So 1 Corinthians 1, 4 to 8, even though they have a lot of spiritual gifts in operation, that it says here, 1 Corinthians 1, 4 to 8, it says, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.

14:30 that in every way you are enriched in him and all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was conformed among you so that you are not lacking in any gift. As you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless to the day of the Lord Jesus. So he's affirming them and saying, you've got a lot of gifts operating here and he's gonna have to explain how to do that. But he's also showing where they're lacking. So they are lacking no spiritual gift But then it says also here in chapter 3, 1-3, to the Corinthian church, later on it says, But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people. So he considered them unspiritual, even though they got all these spiritual gifts going on.

15:13 But as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ, I fed you with milk, not with solid food. This is very different than how he characterized those in Thessalonica, who are an example for all those throughout the region, even beyond. Okay. For you are not ready for it And even now you are not ready For you are still of the flesh For while there is jealousy and strife among you Are you not of the flesh behaving only in a human way So they had a lot of division And if you read the first couple of chapters You'll see they're at odds with each other These are all the believers that are at odds with each other And you also got other problems. In chapter 5, it says, It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among the pagans.

15:56 For a man has his father's wife, and you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. goes further here, and this is a very sober passage in chapter 11. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. He goes on to give further context. But what he's saying is, these people are acting so wicked here.

16:37 You guys, they speak into the church in the city of Corinth, that they've come under judgment of God, and some of them are weak and ill, and some of them are even dead because of this. A strong contrast to God. The believers in Thessalonica So the gifts are here are abundant in chapters 12 to 14 There's so many of them you have to lay down regulations for them And these gifts are good However, they're dealing with incest They're dealing with jealousy and strife They've got arrogance instead of humbling themselves Now in the midst of this context The Apostle Paul never says to stop desiring gifts Spiritual gifts They are good and of the Lord 1 Corinthians 12.31 says, But earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you a still more excellent way.

17:25 And in that context, he specifically described being gifts of prophecy as opposed to lower gifts of tongues. And he speaks, however, that what's more important than all of that is love. That is good Christian character. A fruit that comes out through Category 1, power of the Holy Spirit. He says here in chapter 13, and you know this is very famous, he says, If I speak of the tongues of men and of angels, but I'll not have love, I'm a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I have nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

18:08 Okay. And it says in first verse of 14, pursue love and eagerly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. So in no way, shape or form is it bad or should these gifts not be pursued? They absolutely are. But Thessalonians, they had love, faith, endurance, turning away from idols and believing sound doctrine. Whereas Corinth, they're manifesting a lot of their gifts, but they're still in the flesh and unspiritual. Imagine that they have all the spiritual gifts going on, quite dramatic, but unspiritual. So we don't want to confuse the two.

18:49 And Jesus even warns us not to confuse the two in a Sermon on the Mount. In a very important passage in Matthew 7, 21 to 23, Jesus says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. So you see these keys here that point to what the Lord values here, obedience. Obedience. And the first commandment is to love the Lord.

19:30 Second is to love other people. And you pull up how it's contrasting these gifts or these ministries, these miraculous activities with what really matters. Because he says, not all those who call to him Lord, Lord. So that means obedience. So they're saying Lord, Lord, but they're not living him as Lord. Also, it says, let's see, it says, That, oh, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness So that's what the Lord was valuing That would have kept them close to him But because they're workers of lawlessness Even though they did these miraculous things They are to be put out So again, we see this in Luke 10 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

20:19 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. So again, he's wanting to tell them what matters most. It's not the phenomena that the ultimate test, but devotion, doing our heavenly Father's will, our names written in heaven. Now, what's incredible is 300 years ago, this same question was going around in New England. And Jonathan Edwards even wrote a treatise on it called The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. And he lays out that, though there are phenomena in meetings sometimes, and they happen in some of Jonathan Edwards' meetings as a pastor in Connecticut, However, what really tells you whether this is an important move of God is the change in lives, increasing devotion to Jesus Christ, the love for God, love for others, change in character.

21:14 That is what really tells you what is an ultimate move of God, even though there might be some genuine spiritual gifts and some even sometimes demonic situations there. So the revival story. And the Great Awakening came under attack because some weird things were happening. And Edward says, don't worry about how much of that stuff is happening. Just don't worry. Just look and see are there changed lives or not and live that way. So I explain a lot of this. And if you go to ChristianUnion.org slash seven keys, kind of 20 videos that go into how the kingdom of the kingdom. of God is advanced in society. So category one power is change in character.

21:56 It's power to proclaim the gospel, conviction, boldness, strength to obey, produce supernatural love. And this is prophesied in Ezekiel 36. There it says that the Holy Spirit will come and give us the strength to obey God's rules. And his God's rules, his commandments are beautiful and wonderful. So this is the power that Thessalonica had after the spring of 50 AD. Now, category two, again, is tongues and dreams, visions, words of knowledge, prophecy, deliverance, miracles, et cetera. It is real. This is in the book of Acts. It's happened in the early church. It happens... today is not forbidden.

22:37 We're to eagerly desire it. And just a previous episode, we shared the story of Nathaniel Miller, a student at Dartmouth, who had a healing of his leg, and it helped bring him to faith in Jesus Christ. So it's very important. And I thank God for these wonderful demonstrations. However, Category 1 outranks Category 2, as we saw here in a number of different ways. And the Christians in Corinth were still infants, even though they were very... gift-oriented or gift-capable. So what we've got to remember today in the West in some circles, I think because of the Pentecostal movement, which has so much value to it, a lot of people think that there's a lot of healings happening.

23:22 I think of even the so-called healing revival that happened in Lakeland, Florida, a number of years ago. It was a place in time where some healings happened, and the minister there was carnal and had a lot of problems there. You have ministers or others who are not walking with the Lord as they should. But it doesn't mean it was a revival in the classic sense, the best sense of the word. It simply means there are a lot of healings and there can be a lot of prophecies and there can be a lot of deliverances. So we should be very cautious about what we understand revival to be. So. Let's think about what we want for America. And we can think about sometimes we can see a spectacle in some of our meetings.

24:08 And we don't want to make the spectacle itself, even though spiritual gifts are part of it. Sometimes we want respectability and we won't press in hard. And even when a riot may come out of it, sometimes when you're doing the right thing, following God and you're living in holiness, there may be a riot. And I love that quote, which some attribute to an English bishop that said, how come it was with the Apostle Paul, wherever he went, there were riots or revival. And wherever I go, they serve tea. And that is something to take in because if things are going forth, if the gospel is going forth, if we're coming in the power of the Holy Spirit and lives are changing, it will create turmoil so much of the time.

24:50 So God is not asking us in this country to wait till things get darker, where there's even more problem. There's more madness on the sexual front and other fronts in our country and divisiveness or people become even more lovers of self and pleasure. He can rescue us now if we turn to him, if we seek him. Not as convenient, but as he required, as he wants us, not just what is comfortable. And I encourage you to look at DanielSpirituality.org. It's a level of prayer and fasting and repentance that is much stronger than the typical Americans today, even though in history people sought the Lord at that very high level in this nation and in other nations around the world.

25:32 People take a lot of time. And here in New York City, where I am, we have a young professionals ministry with Christian Union, and we're doing an all-night prayer tomorrow, and it's our first one to do, getting people in action. About 25 have signed up. We'll see if most last all night, and there are times for extraordinary pressing in for power and authority and strengthening. Also, we are on an extended fast. Some are doing a water fast as part of it. Some are going longer and doing liquid-only fasts. Some are doing 40-day liquid-only. are doing different kinds of fasts, but we need that, that helps us to be strong. So I encourage you to look at some of the other content, the other Abinnet broadcasts, Seven Keys contact, et cetera.

26:17 So I encourage you to change your own life. Start now, raise your level of seeking the Lord. Go to Christian conferences. Christian Union, we host CU Fire Retrieves from time to time. We'll be doing them again here soon. Look on our website for that. And we also sponsor Fast twice a year, and August and January. and do a lot to help people get stronger, have a lot of resource videos, et cetera. So this is my hope. And remember we're in a wartime mindset here while we're on this earth, we've got plenty of R&R while we're in heaven. We get times for break, but we've got to keep a wartime posture and mindset as believers, we are soldiers. We're the hardworking farmers here.

26:58 And by the grace of God, we want to be used by him in this life. We only have so many days and months and years to give to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So may the Lord bless us as he has in past years in this country. And may we see a great in-gathering. May we see lives radically changed. May we see so many people healed and blessed and changed. So a real revival go forth, even though we welcome and appreciate spiritual gifts. May we focus on what matters most to the Lord. I am going by the grace of God, seeking him day and night. And please join with me and join with many others. The Lord bless you. Father, give us grace. Lord, help us, strengthen us. May we be devout for you.

27:39 May we be faithful to you. May we love the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen. Thank you for joining me for this episode of the Bennett Broadcast. To learn more and find additional resources to help you grow in your walk with God, visit BennettBroadcast.com. To accelerate this movement of helping America return to God, visit ChristianUnion.org slash Cornerstone. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And I hope you'll join me again as we seek the Lord together for our lives, for our communities, and for the future of the nation.