Football season is a thrilling time, especially for fans of successful teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers. But did you know that the greatest team effort in history happened over two thousand years ago in Thessalonica? This team of believers, led by Paul, Silas, and Timothy, achieved something extraordinary by spreading the Word of God far and wide. Join us as we explore how their teamwork, edification, prayer, and love made a lasting impact and how we can apply these powerful principles in our own lives today. Let's learn about achieving greatness.
I love this time of year. Do you know why? It’s football season. And one of the best teams out there is the Pittsburgh Steelers, of course. They’ve won 6 Super Bowls. That’s a great accomplishment!
But I know of another team that accomplished something even greater. This team I am referring to accomplished something wonderful about two thousand years ago. Please turn to 1 Thessalonians.
A long time ago, in a land far, far away, called Thessalonica, there was a team of believers. And what they did and accomplished reached way beyond their local neighborhood.
What did they do? They sounded out the Word of God. They spread God’s Word. All over the place. And this team remains, to this day, a great example of how to influence others to live a life of power, love, and abundance. Let’s learn about this team of believers in Thessalonica.
This team (the believers in Thessalonica and their leadership—Paul, Silas, and Timothy) was able to influence others because they lived the Word of God as a team, as brethren, as a family. In order to fulfill God’s will for the Word of the Lord to sound out, the believers in Thessalonica and their leadership used teamwork.
Let’s read I Thessalonians 1:8: “For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith [believing] to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.” Everywhere, the news of their believing spread so much that Paul didn’t even need to tell people anything further about it.
Teamwork.
From those believers, the Word of the Lord sounded out in every place. How did they accomplish this? It took teamwork! Dictionary.com defines “teamwork” as “cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of individuals acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause.” And they treated each other as a team really well.
Turn to and read I Thessalonians 2:7: “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.” Paul, Silas, and Timothy treated the believers in Thessalonica as a team, as a family. They were gentle among the believers, as gentle as a nursing mother would be with her child.
Skip down to and read I Thessalonians 2:11, “As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children.” They also exhorted, comforted, and charged the believers (mar-too-reh'-o, to give a good honest report of) He charged the believers as a father does his children. As a dad, I’m always exhorting, comforting, and testifying and giving a good report of my kids and wife. That’s what Paul was doing for the team of other believers.
Each believer in the Thessalonian household brought to the group his or her own individual strengths, and everyone contributed their believing in order for the Word to sound out and make an impact in their community. By working together, this team of believers made a bigger impact than they would have, if each had worked on their own. Robert F. Kennedy said, “We must attempt to bring people back to the warmth of “community,” to the worth of individual effort and responsibility, and of individuals working together as a community, to better their lives and their children’s future.”
Together, everyone accomplishes more.
Go back to and read I Thessalonians 2:8: “So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.”
In his letters to the Thessalonians, Paul referred to the believers as “brethren.” They lived the Word of God as brethren of a family in such a way that Paul, Silas, and Timothy gave not just the good news of God only, but also shared their own lives.
I imagine they held back nothing that was profitable, and they taught the Word clearly to the believers. This kind of imparting of oneself (sharing your own life) is inspiring to others. And the Thessalonian believers responded to this treatment by becoming followers (and teammates) of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, and also followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as 1 Thessalonians 1:6 says.
Read I Thessalonians 1:6: “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord….”
So… teamwork. Now…
Edification.
Another thing that helped the team have a resounding impact on Thessalonica was that they edified one another through their godly communication. The leadership and the believers expressed thanks and acknowledged the efforts that each one made to live God’s Word. They showed each other that they cared.
Read I Thessalonians 3:6, “But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you.” This shows that the believers always had good remembrance (memories) of their leaders, and they all desired greatly to see each other. And, Paul shared his heart of thankfulness and acknowledged the believers’ efforts to live God’s Word.
So that’s teamwork, edification, now…
Prayer.
Go back to and read I Thessalonians 1:2,3: “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith [believing], and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” Prayer was another element that contributed to their teamwork. The team prayed for God’s best in each others lives, and this helped the Word of the Lord to sound out from them. Throughout 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, we see that both the believers and the leaders prayed for one another.
Turn to and read II Thessalonians 3:1: “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.” Prayer strengthened their relationship with God and with one another. Prayer helped them believe together, for open doors, to make an impact on others, with the Word having a free course to spread out.
So that’s teamwork, edification, prayer, and now…
Love.
Throughout Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, he keeps mentioning love. Paul mentions the Thessalonians' faith, hope, and love at both the beginning and the end of his letters to them. Turn to and read 1 Thessalonians 1:3 again: “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” Paul remembered their “labor of love.” And let’s read 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13: “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you. And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.” Paul says to esteem them (consider them, think about them) highly in love.
Paul is all about love in these letters. He really is. AGAIN, turn to and read 1 Thessalonians 3:6, “But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you.” That “charity” is agapē, the unconditional love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. They wanted to see each other and love each other up.
Jump to and read 1 Thessalonians 3:12: “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.” We are to abound in love toward one another.
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:9, “But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” The Classic Amplified Bible says, “But concerning brotherly love [for all other Christians], you have no need to have anyone write you, for you yourselves have been [personally] taught by God to love one another.”
Paul stresses that love is the fundamental mark of Christian living. He reminds the Thessalonian believers that he has always related to them with the affection of a mother and the tender exhortation of a father. Believers all around the world today can keep in their mind God’s exhortation to love, just as we have been loved (just as Ephesians 5:1-2 says that we, as children in God’s family, we are to imitate God, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us. This is exhorted to us also in 1 John 4:7-8, where it says that we are to “love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8).
As we fellowship with like-minded believers, we can build the knowledge of God in our lives, making it our own, and build a heartfelt respect for one another. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. We are a team, a family. Together, everyone accomplishes more. This is why we fellowship with like-minded believers.
We can learn from the teamwork that the believers in Thessalonica had. They are great examples of living and holding forth the Word. Together they accomplished great things. God’s Word sounded out even beyond their local area because they spoke it and they lived it. We, too, can make an impact in the world when we work as a team, speaking, edifying, praying, loving, and living the Word together.
The believers in Thessalonica demonstrated that through teamwork, edification, prayer, and love, we can achieve remarkable things. By living and spreading the Word of God together, they created a profound and lasting impact on their community and beyond. As modern believers, we can draw inspiration from their example and strive to build strong spiritual teams in our own lives. Let us embrace these principles, work together in faith, and watch as God's Word sounds out through our united efforts, transforming lives and communities.
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