Well, it is week three, believe it or not, of being sheltered in place, quarantined, homebound, however you want to describe it. This is an awkward season, but as Paul said, when he was imprisoned in Rome, he wrote to Timothy and said, the word of God is not bound, and that's the good news. Even if you're writing on papyrus in the first century or broadcasting through people's phones and laptops, the Word of God isn't bound, and that's what we're here to do. We're here to study the Word of God, and we're excited about what God is doing in our church, and I just couldn't help but bring myself back to this great book in 1 Thessalonians to bring you a sermon today that I think is so appropriate to where we're at in our lives right now. So I want you to get your Bibles out and I want you to turn to 1 Thessalonians. I've quoted this, I've referenced it, I've alluded to it several times in the end of chapter 2. I'll give you a little background on the book. First of all, in Paul's second missionary journey, in the middle of the book of Acts, he establishes this church here in Thessalonica. Things go well in terms of converts, but it doesn't go well in terms of pushback and persecution. He gets run out of town. He goes to Berea and then on to Athens, and he's traveling with Silas and Timothy, his missionary team members, and ends up getting separated from these Thessalonians. They had such a great reception in terms of the gospel and the word of God, but he's concerned about them. So he ends up in Corinth eventually for quite a long time, actually. And he sends Timothy, when he was in Athens, he sends Timothy back to go check on the Thessalonians. And so this was a trip that Timothy makes. And of course, this takes a lot of time. It's not like sending an email or a text. But when Timothy comes back, he brings good news. as to what happened in the relationship that these people have with the Word of God and with the Apostle Paul. And so Paul, when he gets Timothy back to him in Corinth, he ends up writing this letter. So this is a letter, and I often refer to it as one of the most positive Letters in the New Testament. It's got so many great things to say about the health of the church there. And I so love our church and feel like we're in such a good place spiritually in so many ways that I just can't help but think of this book when I think of where we're at. And this passage that I'm talking about after Paul defends his ministry, because of course there are a lot of critics, as there always are in any church, any good church, he ends up saying in verse 17. So I'm in 1 Thess 2, and I'm going to try to cover verses 17, the bottom of chapter 2, all the way through chapter 3. That's a lot, and this is an eight-point sermon. it'll be shorter than it sounds. So let's look at this passage starting in verse 17. We'll just take a little bit at a time and I'll make eight observations that I hope will be helpful for our spiritual lives that we find ourselves sequestered or quarantined or sheltered in place or whatever you want to call it. Verse 17, he says, but since we were torn away from you, and of course the persecution led to that, it wasn't the Thessalonians' fault, it wasn't Paul's fault. He says, for a short time, he's got good intentions of getting back, not in person, but in heart, Wow, in person rather, not in heart. Let me read that again. But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time in person, not in heart, our heart was not torn from you. He says, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face because we wanted to come to you. I, Paul, again and again, but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope and our joy and our crown of boasting before the Lord Jesus that is coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy." I've quoted that a few times throughout this ordeal, this crisis, this COVID-19 crisis. But I want you to recognize, and I don't wanna make too many observations in this last paragraph, but let me at least say this, Paul recognizes here the value of the spiritual kin, his spiritual family, the church family at Thessalonica. And if you're taking notes, and I want you to, I would jot this down. Paul is doing this to the Thessalonians. I want you to do this to your church family. But I put it this way. Number one, you need to affirm your love for your church family. He does that here. Let's look at the very first phrase, verse 17. We were torn away from you, brothers. Did you know that brothers is the most frequently used word over 300 times in the New Testament for how we relate to each other, that we are considered family? That's the picture here. And that's why I put it that way in my notes, that we are affirming our love for our church family, like Paul is. Even the word disciple, which I often say is one of the most frequently used words in the New Testament for people who we would call Christians. Christians are only used three times in the New Testament. It began as a pejorative term, but the word disciple, learner, very important, very central in the New Testament. But here's a word that's used even more. He calls us brothers over 300 times. This is our family, this is our spiritual family, and he's affirming his love for them and calling them, look at this in verse 19, our hope, our joy, and our crown. of boasting before our Lord Jesus at His coming. Paul expresses this kind of deep desire to be with the people of God even though he cannot be and he's reminding us by the way he so values the people of God that we as Christians are not independent, we're not solo, we can't be seeing ourselves or even defining ourselves just merely as individual Christians. You might be an individual Christian, of course you need to be, and have your own relationship with God, but I don't even like the phrase personal relationship with God because we are, even though we have a personal relationship with God, we are together as a family. You're given to a particular family in a particular place, much like these folks were in Thessalonica, They were there together to interact with one another. As Paul wrote elsewhere to the Corinthians, you're like a body, and every part of the body is necessary. As he says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 21, the eye can't say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, verse 22, The parts of the body that seem weaker are indispensable. Every part of the body is important. So we need to understand the essential role of the church in your Christian life. And you need to realize how significant that is. And Paul has already spent time in this letter affirming that love for them. Look back up at 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 8. He says this, so being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you'd become very dear to us. It's just a great statement of the way that he wants them to understand his love for them. And he proved it, clearly. And look at the next verse, in verse 9 of chapter 2. For you remember, brothers, that our labor and toil, we work night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. while we proclaim to you the gospel of God. He proves it by his deeds, he says it with his words, and we need to understand how important it is that we love one another. This picture of this brotherly love is so important. As a matter of fact, we owe it to one another. Even if we don't know each other as well as we should, even if we don't feel like we're as close and friends with everyone in our church, we have an ongoing debt. Let me read this passage, Romans 13, verse 8. owe no one anything. In other words, don't have any debt that's outstanding that you haven't paid any past due bills on your kitchen table, except here's the past due bill that you ought to feel, except to love one another. That's a great statement. I remember buying my first condo and I had the owner carry a second on the condo and then he handed that second to his kids. So I'm paying his children every month because the father took this debt that I owed him and he gave it to his children and now I had to pay them every month. That's really the picture of the Christian life, right? You and I owe God everything. The triune God we should be faithful to, loyal to, devoted to, sacrificing for the rest of our lives. And yet he's taken that debt and he's transferred it to the church. And your church, you ought to feel that indebtedness of love. You ought to feel the essential nature of that church in your Christian life. And I'm telling you that as Paul did here, you need to affirm your love for your church family. What words can you express today? What deeds can you do to show the value that you have for the church? So important. Number two, verses one and two of chapter three. 1 Thessalonians chapter three, verses one and two. Therefore, he says, when we could bear it no longer, because this just continues on, that chapter break really comes at a bad place here, it seems. Therefore, since we could bear it no longer, he says, we were willing to be left at Athens alone and we sent Timothy, our brother, God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith." He took a great, great risk here, sending his comrade, his true son in the faith, as he calls him, Timothy, and he sends Timothy to those Thessalonians, note this now, just for the sake of communication. He wants to know how they're doing. He said, we couldn't bear it anymore. We needed to communicate. And the way you communicated in the ancient world is you sent a letter with a courier. And in this case, Paul took Timothy and at great sacrifice to himself, he let someone go who was probably the most comforting, the most helpful and useful friend in his life, co-worker in his ministry. And he said, you leave me here in Athens and take that trip to Thessalonica and bring them this letter because I need to communicate with them. Philippians 2, verse 19, I just want to show you how valuable Timothy was to Paul. He said, I have no one like him. He talks first about the same thing that happens in Philippi. He says, I'm sending Timothy so I can be cheered of the news by you. I need to communicate. For I have no one like him, verse 20, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For all seek their own interests and not those of Christ. That's the general default position of most people, right, to care for themselves. But you know Timothy's proven worth and how as a son with a father he has served me in the gospel." Think about that. Here is this tight, close relationship and he's saying, I'm going to do without that for months as I send Timothy to you, as you host him there, as he gets information and you send information back. That is so Important to see the pattern here. Sacrificial communication. Number two, if you're taking notes, jot it down. Sacrifice to communicate with your church family. It's that basic here. Paul works hard and at great sacrifice to himself in a relationship to send his closest spiritual ally to make this communication happen. And how hard is it for you to download a, in this case, in our COVID-19 sequestering, a program on your iPad? You know, something on your phone. I don't want to learn it. I don't know how to. Listen, do what it takes. Sacrifice. It's so relatively small compared to what Paul is showing us by example here. And think of the early church. They wanted to get together, and they did get together every day. Acts 2, verse 46. They met day by day in the temple. Now, we can't meet day by day. We can't meet at all. We can't even meet week by week. And yet, here's Paul showing that he's going to do whatever it takes to communicate. And if he had FaceTime, if he had Marco Polo, if he had Google Hangouts, if he had Zoom meetings, he would be using those. You just know he would because he desperately shows how important it is to communicate with this church. And I want you to show that kind of sacrifice in your life. We need to correspond and that doesn't need to happen just through letters, although that's great too. And I've seen an uptick in that. It's been great to get some letters in the mail and to see people writing me and I've had a chance to send some correspondence and just that is fantastic. But there's so much more that we have available to us in terms of technology. So do what it takes, it may seem like a hassle to you, and if you're sending a video or something, I don't know if I'd look good and presentable, but don't worry about any of that. Sacrifice your sense of dignity or your concern for whatever it is that you might be guarding to step up the communication. Great. Affirm your love for your church family, sacrifice to communicate with your church family. Then look at verses 3 and 4. 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 3 says, I want to communicate, and I want to send Timothy, so that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it's come to pass, and just as you know. You may not get this in the prosperity churches, but I hope if you've been here at Compass Bible Church or in any good Bible teaching church, you've heard that we are going to, in this world, have trouble and tribulation. And here's the trouble. Here's some of it. And the Bible says that we should not be shaken by any of that. As a matter of fact, Jesus says in Matthew 24, verse 6, when he talks about the problems that are going to come, the wars and rumors of wars, he says, see to it that you're not alarmed. Do not be alarmed. And so in your life and my life, I want to make sure that we have that perspective, even as he speaks in Luke 21 11 about pestilences and diseases. Here we have a disease, the worst in our lifetime in terms of how it's going to affect our economy and how it's affecting our lives and our lives are completely disrupted by this. And some people are asking me, and one of the biggest questions and most common questions I get is why would God let this happen? And I try to remind people, this is what I've been telling you. This is what the Bible teaches. We're going to have in this world tribulation. But the biblical optimism is, but take heart, I've overcome the world. That, by the way, is John 16, 33, and I quote it often. In this world, you'll have tribulation, but take heart, Christ said, I've overcome the world. The point I'm trying to make here, number three, don't let your church family be rocked by bad news. Don't let your church family be rocked by bad news. The bad news of financial problems, of career problems, of health problems, of how this might uptick in terms of people that we know getting sick with this virus, if that's what happens, don't let anybody be rocked by that. We need to realize that trust in God and his prophetic promise about problems in this world, including diseases in this world, should give us a sense of calm. We know that the world is going to be filled with these kinds of things. Our trust in God should overcome our fear. I quote this one a lot too, but Psalm 112, verses 6 through 8, one of my favorite passages, it says, the righteous will never be moved, verse 6, he will be remembered forever, God and that righteous person, they have that connection. And he is not afraid of bad news, verse 7. His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady, and he will not be afraid. That's the perspective we need to have. And I'm trying to get us to think in this sermon about how Paul is exemplifying these kinds of interpersonal connections that we ought to be having in our lives. So I'm going to say this, not just you don't be rocked by the bad news that might be coming and increasing and compounding in the weeks and days ahead. I don't want you to let your church family be rocked by this. You need to be a source of encouragement. You need to make sure you remind people that none of us are facing this alone. I mean, he started that way. I might be absent from you in person, but not in heart. As he says elsewhere in Colossians 2.5, I may be absent in my body, yet I'm present with you in my spirit. There's that picture. Paul says it three times in his writings, that I am there, and I'm always thinking, I'm always praying, and I'm always interceding for you. He says that multiple times to the churches that he writes. I want to comfort one another. I want to have that sense of we're in this together and that we, as Proverbs 28.1 says, that the righteous are as bold as a lion. We're not rocked by this. We're not despairing. We're not anxious. We're not worried. I know that's been a common lesson throughout all of this for me and other pastors, but that's a good lesson to be reminded of now that we're entering the weekend number three of this crisis. Do not be rocked and don't let your church family be rocked. Put your arm around them, let them know everything's right on schedule. God is in charge of every molecule of the universe, and we're going to make it through this. The church has been through a whole lot worse than this. And listen, we're not going to be afraid. We're going to let our trust in God overcome our fear. I'll quote it again. The righteous will never be moved, not afraid of bad news. Our heart is steady. We trust in the Lord. We will not be afraid. What a great, great passage. Verse 5, 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 5, just moving quickly through this passage. He says in verse 5, for this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor would be in vain. You remember when Jesus tells the story of the seed and the soils? And that first seed, it just seems so obvious. The seed that falls on the road, on the pavement, on the worn path, and the birds come. Satan, it says, as he interprets that parable, comes and snatches it away. Well, the next one is a little bit harder for us to interpret, but let me give you that here from the context of this parable of the soils from the Mark 4 reference to it as Jesus is teaching in verses 16 and 17. He says that rocky soil, he says, are those who hear the word and immediately receive it with joy. They want to come to church, they want to hear these sermons, they're starting to pray, but, verse 17 says, they have no root in them. And they have no root in themselves and they endure, but they endure for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And again, we don't see the detail of Satan coming and plucking it just immediately out when they hear it out of their lives. But here, clearly, you can be assured, as this passage says, when someone who looks like they're on track with Christ hits a tribulation or a trial, in this case, in our case, a bad time financially, health-wise, in terms of their social disruption, if their faith is gonna be rocked, Satan is certainly there to take whatever phony faith, whatever surfacy faith that has no root and to pull those people away. And so we need to make sure that we're caring about people's spiritual health, that they're getting through this trial and not being like that second soil that's the rocky soil that because of persecution, they go, well, I was into all this when things were good, but I'm out of it now. I put it this way. Number four, care most about your church's spiritual health. Okay, care most about our churches. Let me quote it how I wrote it down. Care most about our church families' spiritual health. Nothing more important than that. We get a list all the time with people that are sick and have problems in surgeries in their bodies. But you know, nothing is more important than how they're faring spiritually. Let me get this passage to you about the concern of John as he writes the people that he is caring for. I mean, he loves them and he wants to be with them, but he says in verse two of 3 John, he says, I pray that it may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it goes well with your soul. Of course, we want people to be healthy. He says, for I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified of your truth. Again, another apostle communicating and wanting to hear a good report, and he did. He says, it is indeed you are walking in the truth. Then he says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. In other words, it's a good thing to pray for people's health. Good thing to pray that someone gets through their surgery or in this case that someone doesn't come down with COVID-19. That's all good, but the priority is how are you doing spiritually? And instead of saying, well, you got a cough, is it strep or is it COVID-19? Do you have the coronavirus? I mean, we should care about that clearly, as John did. But far more important, the greatest concern we should have is where people are spiritually. We don't want people's spiritual lives to be second-tier concerns of ours, because if that's the case, we may be very indiscriminate about cheering people on as though they're rooted in Christ, when in fact they're not rooted in Christ. They're not abiding in Christ. They have no fruit that's going to come from their lives. All they're waiting for is a trial to fall away. We don't want that. The trials test our faith, right? That's the issue. 1 Peter 1, verses 6 and 7, it talks about being grieved by various trials, and it says in verse 7, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, right? That's the real thing. The trial, it's testing whether or not your theology is true. Is it real that you're trusting in Christ, not for a better temporal life, but for the forgiveness of your sins and the atonement that is applied to your life that gets you right before the God of the universe? I mean, that is what this is all about. And as he ends that verse, that it may be found to result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. We want your faith to be real. We want our church family's faith to be real. So we're caring more about their spiritual health than their physical health, although we clearly care about their physical health. So maybe the conversations you need to have more often is not about hand washing and masks that you're wearing, although I get all that. But how are you getting along spiritually? How's your spiritual health? What kind of viruses might be creeping into your spiritual walk with God? I mean, is your prayer life real? Is your time in the word true? Is your connection with the Lord, is it real? Is it organic? Are you really getting along spiritually? Let's ask more about that and care most about that. Number five, verse six, back to our passage. 1 Thessalonians 3, verse six, he says, But now that Timothy has come to us from you, he's come back with this message now, a good report, and he's brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you. For this reason, brothers, in all of our distress and afflictions, and Paul's going through it, he says, we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now, verse 8, we live if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God? Let's stop right there. That picture of Paul being so encouraged. being so heartened because of the good news of someone's spiritual progress. I put it this way, number five, we need to expect our churches health, our family, our church family's health, to ease this trial. You lose your job, you lose your health, you lose everything that you may find dear in the temporal world. The thing that makes this better for us and easier for us, the thing that comforts us even in the midst of our own deprivation and afflictions, is the fact that your church family is thriving spiritually. Just like John said in 3 John 2-4, I have no greater joy than when I hear that my children are walking in the truth. And I'm talking about my brothers and sisters here in this context. Is my church family thriving? And if it is, you know what? That brings me joy even in the midst of the problems. Look again at that verse in verse number 7 and 8. For this reason, brothers, in all of our distress and affliction, we've been comforted about you through your faith. We hear of your strong, real faith. For now we live if you are standing fast, Lord. Live. Of course, he's alive. He's writing this letter. I like some translations that add a word to help us understand what Paul is saying here. We really live. Right now we feel like we're just vibrant and we have life and energy and joy. We really live. In other words, of course, we're not talking about biological life here. We're talking about spiritual vitality. We have that when we know that you're standing fast in the Lord. our church family's health to ease this trial. That's an important part of what we understand in terms of getting us through this with a good, positive, healthy heart. One more passage in this regard, Proverbs 25, 25. It's an easy verse to remember the address for. It says, like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. And of course, all their communication was from far away, right? Timothy was coming from Thessalonica to Athens, and that was quite a journey. And here's Paul getting that good news. And that proverb says it's like, you know, when you're really thirsty, getting a nice cold bottle of water, that's the feeling of refreshment. So I don't care what might have changed in this situation or what might be ahead in terms of the change. I don't want you to fear that, I don't want you to worry about that, I don't want you to be anxious about that. What I want you to do is to recognize that the concern that we have for our brothers and sisters spiritually, when those reports come in and they're good, and you see people thriving in their prayer life, their intake of the Word, their love for each other, You know what, that's the thing that's going to ease this trial for all of us. If our church comes through this spiritually strong, then your faith, your heart, your attitude can be vibrant, can be positive, can be really that biblical optimism that can really drive you through this with a positive outlook. All right, verse 10, a couple more here. 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 10. It says, as we pray, right? I know I cut into the middle of this sentence here. He says, we got this great joy, we feel joy. He says, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Well, we know that the words that Paul wrote can really supply a lot to their faith, but there's something even better, Paul says, if I can get face to face with you. That's always, always the concern of Scripture. I quoted John in his second epistle, that little short epistle, in verse 12. He says, I have much to write to you, but I'd rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk to you face to face so that our joy may be made complete, may be full. They can be overflowing with a good attitude. Paul feels great joy that he's hearing a communication with someone, but face-to-face is far better. And I guarantee even if Paul had all the technology that we have to have Zoom meetings and FaceTiming and all the things that we do, I guarantee he knows and we know, we can testify to the fact there's something very different about being together, being able to hug each other, being able to have a small group when we're in a circle in the presence of each other. So I put it this way. Number six, you ought to specifically pray. Pray specifically for our joyful face-to-face reunion. That day's coming, right? Well, this isn't the end of the church. Church is going to meet again. And you ought to be praying for that. Just like Paul says, I can't wait for it. He says, we pray most earnestly day and night. He says that we may see you face to face. Matter of fact, let's read the next verse. He carries on with this. Now, may our God, verse 11, and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. Can you pray that this would be over? I mean, it's kind of a simple thing to note, but in our circumstance, can you be praying? with a very specific sense of anticipation of the joy that we're going to have when our church can meet again, when you can be in your small group, when you can be sitting in a men's Bible study or a women's Bible study in your HFG, your home fellowship group, pray that that would come and pray for that very specifically that God would bring this thing to an end. And so we look forward to that. You should be praying about it. Paul was praying about closing the distance, that distance of communication through letters and reports. All right, verse 12. He says, and the other thing he's praying, not only that we can be face to face again, he says, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you. That's just a great line right there. Let's just ponder that. The idea of Paul saying, I want your love to abound. He's already praised them for the way that they love each other. No one needs to write you about loving each other. You know how, but I pray that you'd love each other more and more. And here it is again reiterated, I want you to abound and increase in love for one another. So I put it this way, we need to pray, number seven, for more genuine biblical love. Love that's not just words, right? Words are important and they're good, but they need to be backed up and they need to be expressed even by the things that we do. And so we need to be thinking creatively about how to put our love into action during this time. I like the way Amy Carmichael put it, it's a quote, it's a good one, it says, you can give without loving, But you can't love without giving. And so we need to make sure, as 1 John 3, 16 and 17 says, that just as Christ laid down his life for us, we ought to be willing to meet whatever needs that we can. He says, if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, and that's a practical thing in the midst of this crisis, yet closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? We can give something with a bad heart and really not love, but we can't love and not be driven to give. Real love is defined that way. And by the way, I might add, and I've been talking about both of these things throughout this crisis, as it says there in verse number 12, may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another, that's the church, and for all. So it's got to go not only to our church, but also outside of our church. That's why I wanted you to make that Brady Bunch grid of eight squares that surround you and say, who are those people? How can you care for them? And as it says in Galatians 6, as you have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, but especially to those who are of the household of faith. So your first priority, obviously, is to care for your brothers and sisters in Christ who are in this church, who are part of Compass. But beyond that, you've got to be looking for opportunities to serve those around you. And I hope you're doing that. I hope you're getting an opportunity to serve your neighbors, to serve people at work that you normally see in the office, but now you don't. Check in with those people and make sure you're seeing more biblical love, which isn't just good feelings. It's not just saying platitudes and nice things. It's really about caring for people and their well-being and wanting to see some kind of demonstration of that in what you do. Pray for more genuine biblical love. Last verse in the passage, we'll get our eighth point from this. It says here, "...so that he may, the Lord might, establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all of his saints." That's always Paul's perspective, to look past the current situation, all the imperfections in this case of Satan's tempting the church, of separation and Satan hindering them from being together. And he says, I can't wait for this, that everything's going to be just the way it ought to be. We're going to be set apart. We're going to be righteous. We're going to be holy. We're going to have all that we have been promised when the Lord comes. So I put it this way, you and I need to anticipate, number eight, our eternal family home, and you ought to always be thinking about that. Every trial, and we've talked a lot about this in Romans 8 last time, But every trial can be tempered, and we can be buoyed and bolstered and held up when we can look past this cross, as we saw in Hebrews 12, to the crown. We've got to see that God has got a place for us. The promise of 2 Peter 3.13, that according to God's promise, we're waiting for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Titus 2.13 calls this our blessed hope. the blessed hope, the thing that makes us happy, the happy hope, the thing that gives us a good perspective, even in the present crisis, because we see what's coming for us. I mean, I've tried to give you this theme of the spiritual family, and that's where we need to draw close and care about each other as though we are brothers and sisters in Christ. And that really goes beyond every other kind of alliance or fraternity we might have with other people. And the Bible then says what's going to make this even better is when this spiritual family gets its spiritual home. And the new Jerusalem, Revelation 21, 1 and 2, comes down out of heaven like a bride prepared for her husband. That new heaven and new earth, that's coming. It's on the way and it's something that should make us feel as though any trial can be endured because we know what's coming. Romans 8.18, one of my favorite verses, there's nothing in the present current crisis here or in any other crisis that's worthy to be compared to the glory that's going to be revealed to us. So keep your attitude positive. These are eight things I hope that we can do well in this crisis. Affirm your love for your church family, number one. Number two, sacrifice to communicate with your church family. Number three, don't let your church family be rocked by the bad news that we're encountering. There's a lot of that out there. We need to be solid and firm. Number four, care most about our churches. Our church family's spiritual health. Number five, expect our church family's health, you know, spiritual health to ease this trial for us. That's gonna be the salve for our hearts. Number six, pray specifically for our joyful face-to-face reunion. I hope that's a natural that you're already doing that. Number seven, pray for more genuine biblical love. Number eight, anticipate our eternal family home. It's coming. Love 1 Thessalonians, letter from a very complimentary apostle to a good church. I'm so thrilled to be able to bring you messages on video. I really am. I wouldn't want to be at any other place. This is the church I love. It's a good church, and I love bringing you this kind of information because it's the hopeful perspective we all ought to have. So hang in there, guys. Week three, let's hope there's not too many more weeks to go, but we're praying for your spiritual health. That's the most important. We do pray also for your physical health. And we look forward to having you in small groups, in Zoom small groups this week, discussing this sermon. We're gonna get those questions out to you. And I hope that it is an edifying, encouraging week as our church demonstrates the biblical love we've been studying here in 1 Thessalonians chapters two and three.