In our day, it’s easy to be wrongly programmed to equate numbers with a church being successful.  Certainly, we want to grow.  However, the Lord has a far different standard for success that we need to embrace as our standard.  Paul said, “… it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (I Cor. 4:2).  Faithfulness to the truth of the Word, rightly divided, is paramount, as is faithfulness in service and worship.  The church at Thessalonica was extolled for two things.  They had a genuine love for one another which the Lord wanted to see “increase and abound” still more (I Thes. 3:12).  They also had a regular, consistent, aggressive outreach to the lost with the gospel (I Thes. 1:8).  Before the Lord, may we strive to have this kind of successful church.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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