#349 The Real Deal w/ Real ID, the Shutdown & the Elections w/ Tom Renz

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

”Aspire to lead a calm and peaceful life as you mind your own business and earn your living, just as we’ve taught you. By doing this you will live an honorable life, influencing others and commanding respect of even the unbelievers. Then you’ll be in need of nothing and not dependent upon others.“

The Lord has had me bring this scripture a number of times before, and this morning He brought me back to this passage. I think it’s so apt. The Apostle Paul was teaching and encouraging the believers in Thessalonica to be hard working and self-sufficient financially. And there is a great example of this scripture at work in the early American settlers. The first settlers who came from Europe to Plymouth demanded financial self-sufficiency and respect for private property among their ranks, because they understood the scriptures and applied them. That led to great favor with the native tribes they encountered and even opened the door for them to preach the gospel to the Native Americans. -- just as the passage here says it would. Their counterparts who settled at Jamestown called themselves Christians too, but they had a poor understanding of the scriptures and did things completely differently. The Jamestown settlers were lazy and unwilling to work. They were dependent on the Crown to feed them, and they set up a socialistic type of government. As a result, Jamestown devolved into starvation and the savagery of cannibalism and slavery. Why? Because the government will fail you. The contrast could not be more stark. The Lord blessed and sustained the colonists at Plymouth and Jamestown was a story of dependency, failure and social and moral rot. And the difference can be traced to one thing -- the settlers at Plymouth had a clear understanding of this scripture and how to apply it. Those at Jamestown did not.