Transfer Window

Football fans will know that the January Transfer Window shuts today. During this period, many clubs are trying to buy and sell players, in order to improve their stock of players or remedy their financial problems.
The big speculation is whether Fernando Torres and Nicolas Anelka swap clubs - between Liverpool and Chelsea. The sweetener for Liverpool is that they may also receive £40million as part of  the deal. But all has to be signed and sealed by 11pm tonight - otherwise it is all too late.
St. Paul was a great outreach worker on behalf of his new team - called 'The Way'! He travelled all around Asia Minor (what we would call Turkey), and Greece speaking about who Jesus was, and what Jesus had done, in dying and rising again. When he reached Thessalonica, after being run out of town by those from Philippi, he set about preaching again. Luke tells us what happened, 'Paul explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.”Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.' (Acts 17.3-4). Paul's own recollection of that visit comes in his first letter to the Thessalonian Christians. he tells his new friends that their response to his preaching had been well known all around the area. 'And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it, for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.' (1 Thessalonians 1.8-9)
For the Thessalonians, hearing Paul's preaching provided them with a Transfer Window, as they turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.
That brief statement reminds me that if we have chosen to follow Jesus, we too have turned away from idols of one sort or another - our own ambitions, our own career, or a better lifestyle or the desire for popularity and comfort.
The response of the Thessalonians had an impact around them. I am excited at the possibility that our Transfer to The Way might also have an impact around us.
Best wishes,
Richard