“And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit…”
having received the word
The word “received” means welcomed. In the face of maltreatment, they welcomed the word of the gospel.
“And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:47-48).
“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
Principle:
Life is in the seed, not in the sower.
Application:
Life is in the seed, not the sower (Luke 8:11). Whenever we make ourselves susceptible to the gospel, God does a mighty work in our souls.
Harvesting the seeds of the gospel sown depends on 1) the integrity of the sower, 2) the amount of seed we sow, and 3) where we sow the seed (Matthew 13). If Christians today want a great harvest, these essentials must exist in our ministries.
