A few months ago, we asked prayer for my wife's brother, Ed Bowen, who, on a vacation going to Washington, D.C., the whole family was involved in a car accident that totaled their vehicle. And then on the way home from that vacation, there was a health scare, which resulted in a serious concussion for Lori's brother, and several days in the hospital. And that wasn't bad enough. It was a hospital in Ohio. and hostile territory, right? And you as a church family really rallied around him and prayed for him and for his family to get through that chapter of their lives, and the Lord has answered your prayers in so many ways. Well, his family has been spring-breaking with us this week, and I've asked Pastor Ed Bowen to be our speaker this morning. And he has agreed. I'm so excited about this. My brother-in-law, though younger than me, is one of my heroes in my life. He's a man's man, and he's a man of God as well. And he has a rich heritage in ministry already at this point in his life. He was on staff at Southland Christian Camp in Louisiana for some time. Following that, he was on staff at the Wilds in North Carolina. And then he spent 14 years as a youth pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Davidson, Michigan. He graduated from that school, and last year he transitioned to the executive pastor position underneath their new pastor, Sean Cook. And I'm so glad that Ed's going to open a word this morning, and I know that you'll enjoy getting to know him and his family after the service, and let them know that you've been praying for him as they went through this trial as a family. So Ed, you come now and open a word. Thank you so much. It is a privilege to be with you today. As Jim is one of my heroes, and I know that this is a sacred desk that he doesn't give to just anyone, and I'm privileged to be able to stand here and open the word with you today. Very good. So I do count it a privilege. I want to thank you, one, for your prayers for my family during that time. Prayers, financial support, notes, cards, and it's just amazing to hear the body of Christ down in Ypsilanti. praying for us and upholding us in prayer. And really, the last contact I had with Calvary of Ypsilanti was back in 1991. It was a state championship basketball game where I was a junior in high school. Some of you might remember that. Jason Crawford was on the team and I think Jay Talladay and some of those guys, those tall giants. We were facing the giants that weekend. And actually, we pulled off the win, so I hope that no one here holds that against me. But that was my last contact with Calvary of Ypsilanti, really. I hadn't come and visited, didn't know you, but then I am so thankful to you for your prayers and for rescuing my sister from the South. Man, thank you for bringing her back to pure Michigan. And Jim, too, of course, bringing him along, that's always... We've been having fun with them up north and enjoying lots of conversations about knives. If you can fathom that, Jim loves knives, if you don't know that already. And U of M and Detroit Tigers and all of those topics, we've had a great time together. We enjoy trips, and today I would love for you to take a trip with me. I love taking trips. The Lord has allowed me to visit many states. As a youth pastor, I took lots of trips with our youth group. I drove a bus with another guy for 32 hours to the middle of Saskatchewan on a mission trip. And the very next summer, we went back in that same bus and drove 32 hours to the middle of the Colorado Rockies for camp. You say, you're crazy. I am. And I'm so glad I'm not a youth pastor anymore. But the Lord was blessed. I love trips. I've been able to go on several mission trips to different continents. And the Lord's allowed me to visit three other continents besides North America. I love trips. I want to take you on a trip today. I want to take you to a final destination that is a church. The best church you've ever visited. One with unity. One with fellowship, corporate strength. One with humility. One where personal growth in sanctification is not an ambiguous term, but a reality. A solid church. One that Paul describes to us and begins to describe that church to us in Acts 17. Are you ready? Let's fly. Go to Acts 17 for me. We're going to board this plane and take a flight. Acts 17. We're at 30,000 feet looking over a huge mass of land in this text. As we look down, we're flying above the clouds and you're looking out your window, you can see this huge mass of land. This mass of land is Macedonia. I'm going to take you back in time to A.D. 50. This is Paul's second missionary journey. And you see that little body of water out your window, that's the Thermatic Gulf. You see those major highways through the road, that's the Ignatian Way. And you see that little city right in the middle of that mass, that's Thessalonica. It's the hub of Macedonia. Look what Paul says in verse 1 of 17. Now, when they had traveled through Amphipolis. I practice this and I still can't get it right. Amphipolis, that work. And Apollonia. I'm so glad I'm not from there. I'm from like Flint. They came to Thessalonica. where there was a synagogue of the Jews, and according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures." You see, Paul entered the city, finds the synagogue as he typically would do, And he began to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Verse 3, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying, this Jesus, whom I am proclaiming to you, is the Christ. And at that point, within three weeks, a church had started. It started in the home of a man named Jason. You look down in verse 4, and some of them were persuaded and joining Paul and Silas along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. So here, these brand new believers within the first three weeks of hearing the truth about Jesus Christ and the Gospel, accepting Him, there was a great number of them. And they were meeting in Jason's home. And the unbelieving Jews were not happy about this message. And so they went and they grabbed Jason. You'll see in v. 6, when they did not find him, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities shouting, these men who have upset the world. I love that. These guys turn the world upside down. Don't think of these men as apostles. As much as you do, think of them sinners saved by grace. Upset the world. These men who have upset the world have come here also, and Jason has welcomed them. And they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. Unbelieving Jews could not find Paul and Timothy and Silas at this point, and they stirred up the crowd in verse 8, and the city authorities heard these things, and they received a pledge from Jason and the others. They released him. What happened here? They drug him out. They wanted to find these men who were guilty of this. They were ready to persecute all these believers, including killing Jason, for allowing them to be in his home. Jason was able to pay a bond and be released. But thus, the church of Thessalonica was started and abandoned. All within four months. Can you imagine these people hearing the truth? Seeing the persecution from religious leaders? And Paul and Timothy and Titus, you see in the next verse, it says, verse 10, the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night. They're leaving. These men have to leave. And I'm here with this newfound faith And here it is, started and abandoned within the first four months. Now, let's take our plane down a little bit to about 10,000 feet so we can get a better view of this, and turn your Bibles back to 1 Thessalonians 1. Thank you for whoever does the water, I appreciate that. 1 Thessalonians 1, we're going to fly below the clouds now, and get a better view of the topography of this church, here in this first chapter where we bring it down to AD 51, Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica. So within a year, he sent Timothy back. I want you to go back and I want you to see if any of those saints have persevered. Are any of them holding to the faith through that rough persecution that we left them in that night? Go back and see how they're doing. Timothy goes and he spends some time there and he comes back with just an amazing report of what God has done there in Thessalonica. And so Paul decides to write them a letter. He's excited about what he heard from Timothy. There are a few things he needs to address. But here he is in this first chapter saying he greets them, Paul and Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace. addresses this new church in God and in Jesus Christ, teaching them doctrine in His very greeting. He's thankful for this body of believers in v. 2. And then look in v. 4. Knowing, brethren, beloved by God, His choice of you. What a packed verse. I would love to spend time and just unpack that verse. As Paul calls them, elect of God, beloved, which means that they've been saved, brethren, which means they've been saved, and beloved means they've been sanctified or they're being sanctified. He calls them all three in this one verse. Can you imagine these people reading this letter from Paul? The last they saw him, Jason was getting beaten and really had to pay bond to get out of that to save his own life. And Paul had to leave. And now they're getting a letter back and being encouraged with the idea that God chose us to be here. God chose us and loved us enough to save us. And loves us continually enough to be sanctifying us. Paul reminds them of these great truths. And from that, diving board, if you will. He launches into verses 5 through the end of chapter 1 into some benchmarks of a solid church. And I want to share these with you because I think Paul, as he looks at these, he's reminded of some great truths of what it takes to be a solid church. And as we review these rather quickly, because it's just really one of the first points here as I go through this chapter, this 10,000 foot overview, be thinking to yourself, are these benchmarks of Calvary? Verse 5 gives us the first one. It says, for our Gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction Just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. I see here the very first benchmark of a solid church is the power of the Holy Spirit was evident in the way they received the Word. They received it in a way that the men giving it to them knew the Holy Spirit was taking the Word and was working in their hearts. They allowed the conviction of the Word of God through the Holy Spirit of God to speak to them. Verse 6 gives us our second one. You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit. They became imitators of what they heard, even though they were being persecuted. How often do we take the Word of God from this desk and really evaluate the consequences of it of whether or not we want to apply it? Do I want to really live that way? That might get me in trouble with this co-worker. Do I really want to say that? That would not go well with that neighbor. And really, we judge what we think are consequences in the culture around us, whether or not we want to live by what the Holy Spirit's doing in our lives. The benchmark of a solid church says, I'm going to be an imitator of whatever God tells me to do. The next one, verse 7. is the third benchmark. So that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. Their lives became exact replicas, exact blueprints of how sanctification was to take place. There's not very often I go to a place with my sons. I have three sons and the oldest happens to look a lot like me. Unfortunate for him, he doesn't have a whole lot to look forward to. But we will walk into a place and someone will say, well, there's no mistake, and he's your son. The idea here is the same in this text. When you are an exact replica or a blueprint of what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life in sanctification, the outside world looks at you and says there's no mistake of who you belong to. That's the benchmark of a solid church. Does the world see the Holy Spirit sealed on your life? The next one in verse 8, it says, "...the word of the Lord was sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth." That word sounded forth means trumpeted. What happened to them in those four months of time became a reality in them and their faith grew and it was trumpeted through Macedonia and Achaia. God did a work. And they didn't just keep it to themselves. They let other people know the difference Christ made. Now, think through this, folks. Don't just breeze over this and think, well, okay, that was good for them. They just saw Jason drug from his home out into the streets and persecuted for this. Yet, they didn't let it stop them. They trumpeted their faith throughout all of Macedonia. They sounded it forth. The benchmark of a solid church doesn't stay quiet. They let other people know what God's doing. Verse 9 is our fifth one. It says, "...for they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God." The next benchmark we see in that verse is they demonstrated a reversal in allegiance from their idols to God. Folks, when God does a work and repentance takes place, It's unavoidable to replace your Master. When you repent of what the Lord has convicted you through the preaching and teaching of His Word, your idols will change. You'll surrender those things that have taken first place and you will put God at first place. Those things that were the most important to you before salvation will no longer be important to you. That's the difference it makes when Christ comes in. The last one we see in v. 10. Number 6. It says in v. 10 here, And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. The last benchmark of a solid church, Paul says, is that you're looking forward to Jesus coming back. There's an excitement because you know what your future is. There's not fear of persecution. There's not wonder of the future. There's an absolute confidence in Jesus Christ and that He's coming back and He's going to rescue us from the wrath that is to come. Is there any excitement here at Calvary about Jesus coming back? I hope so. You see, these are benchmarks of a solid church from Paul's perspective. And at 10,000 feet, I can't help but compare these benchmarks of a solid church to our church back home, Calvary. As we're flying over this text, it makes me wonder, are these benchmarks at 1007 Eccles Road? Is this the truth that you receive the Word of God through the Holy Spirit? You respond to it. You repent. You replace idols. You tell people what God's doing. You're excited about Jesus coming back. Is that the reality of Calvary Baptist? Is that the reality? Let's breeze through chapter 2 here very quickly. Paul takes us some time to answer some false allegations. Obviously, these unbelieving Jews who had persecuted Jason did not just leave it in the street. They didn't take the money or the bond that Jason paid and say, well, that's good. I guess this is over. No, they continued to persecute them. And believe it or not, they tried to backdoor the men who witnessed to them. The men that brought the Gospel message. And so there was many false allegations against Paul and Silas and Timothy about this. And so Paul takes this text in chapter 2 and he answers these. I'm just going to give you really a 10,000 foot view of chapter 2 here very quickly. Paul says down in verse 2 that they were men of tenacity, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness of our God to speak to you, the gospel, in much opposition. There was some tenacity there. There was some integrity. Verse 3, our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by the way of deceit. There's integrity in our message. Paul says in v. 4, they had authority. In v. 5, there was accountability. In v. 6, they had humility. In v. 7, look at that. But we prove to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Paul had just met these people in the synagogue for three weeks. He sees them come to Christ, yet He tenderly and gently ministers to them. And He reminds them of this. This was not a crack the whip over you type of decision. A forceful decision upon them. He said, listen, we tenderly gave you the message and you responded. Don't forget that. And then in verse 8, there was a sacrifice involved. Having so fond an affection for you, we were pleased to impart to you not only the Gospel of God, but also our own lives. Because you had become very dear to us. We sacrificed for you to hear that message. We did it blamelessly in v. 10. You are witnesses and so is God. How devotely and uprightly and blamelessly we behave toward you believers. There was blamelessness there. There was motivation in v. 11. Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you, begging you as a father would his own children. So he builds up their rapport again. And he gives the theme of chapter 2 in the next verse, verse 12, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. Let's part there a little bit. What does it mean to walk worthy? The word worthy there means to be in harmony with. My sons recently got a job at the senior center in Davison on Monday nights. They're to show up at 6 and to set up all of these huge risers and bleachers, probably the length of this stage. And then there's a group of ladies that come in, somewhere around 50 ladies, a chorus group that comes in and practices every Monday night. And then we go back at 9.30, 10 o'clock and tear it all down. And those ladies pay my sons pretty well. So we decided this past Monday we would go in and visit them and listen to them sing. I'll tell you, I was in awe. These ladies practiced and the harmony was incredible. You see, they didn't miss a note. They were listening to other people next to them who were singing the melody and they were trying to harmonize with them and it was beautiful. They sang a couple songs for us at the end and smiled and wondered how they did and we all clapped. It was great. There was awesome harmony. And Paul is encouraging the believers here, listen, you should be walking in harmony with the message that God sent you through us. You know the integrity? You know the motivation, the sacrifice, the gentleness, the tenacity, the authority that we all use? You should be walking in harmony with that because that's what the Gospel message does. And what is the basis in it? Why should we do that? Because there in v. 12, he says, He called you into His own kingdom and glory. Remember the calling? Remember back in 1.4? You were called, elect. You were beloved. You were brethren. Based on that, you should be walking in harmony with the God who called you to do that. Folks, a solid church is filled with people that are willing to evaluate how they are living personally to see if it lines up with what God expects. Don't just ride the coattails of Calvary Baptist Church and think we'll be a solid church because we have a few solid people scattered here and there. You'll be a solid church because you as an individual evaluate where you are with God and what needs to happen when you do that evaluation. We can't just ride on the past. A good legacy never guarantees a good future. We have to be in tune, in harmony with what God wants us to do. So now, let's take our plane down to 3,000 feet and go to chapter 3. We're moving. You're with me. If you need to stretch, go ahead. I'm not offended. I'm going to take a drink of this great water. It is really warm up here. After that introduction from Jim, I get up here and all the moisture leaves my mouth and goes straight to my armpits. So this is very helpful. So in chapter 3, we take this down a little bit, and we really are going to just breeze right over this. We're going to see one landmark in chapter 3. And this landmark is found down in verses 11 and 12. So chapter 3, verses 11 and 12. Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another. and for all people, just as we also do for you." Paul uses this whole chapter to bolster their faith, to give them confidence in their Lord. Strengthen your walk. And he ends the chapter with an admonition and really the definition of strong faith. And that is increasing love for the brethren. You see, a great test of our faith and growth in the Lord is to ask ourselves this morning, where is my love for the body of Christ? Recently, a man came into our office. Actually, it was last week. His name was James. And we have a food pantry at our church that ministers to a lot of people. It's a registered food pantry. And this man found us and asked us if he could get some of the groceries. Obviously, the door is open. He comes in and we get him some groceries. And he always has to check out at the office, which gives us as pastors an opportunity to just ask them where they're at in life. What's your story? What do they know about the Gospel? And as I talked with this man James just briefly, he said to me, you know, he says, I have a relationship with Jesus. I love Jesus. He said, but I don't do church. He said, I can't stand church people. And I said, wow. I said, you know, church people, as you put it, are really all hypocrites. We're all sinners. We all need a Savior. But we all need each other. And I said, I want you to think about something, James. You say you love Jesus, but is it possible to love the head and hate the body? And he kind of looked at me and he goes, I'll think about that. I said, that'd be great. Come up with an answer and come back and let's talk about it. Let's have a conversation about that. Folks, we might say we love Jesus. Jesus loves me. We teach it to our kids. But then there's parts of the body that we don't demonstrate love for. There might be a member of the body here that we just... it's that holy sandpaper. We just rub each other the wrong way. You're asking me to love everybody? Well, God is. It says in the text, verse 12, abound in love for one another and for all people. There's a love that, you know what, if this is a solid church, there's a love for one another that really surpasses all the irritations. Remember 1 Corinthians 13? The love chapter of Scripture that commands us that love is patient, love is gracious, love is not rude, love is not arrogant, love is not jealous, love is not easily irritated, love does not hold grudges. We have to ask ourselves as we cruise down here below 3,000 feet and we look at this text and this landmark, this one thing that Paul has commended in them, love one another, all one another's. You still with me? I'm going to ask you to do something a little crazy on our trip now, alright? I want you to put the parachute on next to you. Grab that parachute and put that on. We're jumping. We're not going to land this plane. We're going to jump out of this plane. But I don't want you to pull the ripcord until I tell you to pull the ripcord, alright? Just trust me. We're going to chapter 4 now, and we're going to get intense because we each need to land on something very specific, and Paul's going to give it to us. He encouraged the church with his words in the first three chapters, but now he says there's a few issues in Timothy's report that we're going to have to deal with. We're going to have to make sure that those are not issues because these issues left unaddressed in this church will destroy this church. Now here is a body of believers that came together in about three to four months. They saw Jason drug out into the streets and persecuted. They had to say goodbye to Paul and Silas that night. There was more persecution ongoing about the testimony of Paul and Silas for a long time. All this was taking place, and yet, there is something that would still divide us? Paul, we've hung together this long. Why would you bring these things up? I mean, we're here. We're listening. We're reading your letter. He goes, no, these things left unaddressed will destroy this church. Therefore, I think we need to jump down and we need to make sure that they are not part of this church, Calvary Baptist. He adds weight to His exhortation here in verses 1 and 2 by reminding them that He had spoke with them about this issue before. Look in verse 1. Finally, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that you received, that's passed, from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God. Just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more. You get better at what we've already commended to you. Verse 2, for you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. He also says, listen, don't get mad at me, this comes straight from God. Verse 3, this is the will of God. Look down in verse 8. He says, so who rejects this is not rejecting us or man, but the God who gave you the Holy Spirit. So there's one issue that I'm going to address here in verses 3-6. Don't get mad at the messenger. God's the one that's telling you this is an issue. Don't be upset that Timothy came back to me and said, oh, Paul, you should see what's going on in this one particular area. Don't get mad at Timothy for reporting that to me. The Lord is the one addressing this. So what is it? It's the issue of moral purity. Look in verse 3. This is the will of God, your sanctification. That is, that you abstain from sexual immorality. That each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. And that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all such things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warn you." You say, man, you're a guest speaker and you're going to hit on moral purity? Why not? It's in the text. We're flying over. We've got our chutes on. We're jumping down. We're going to land in something that Paul says, if you don't get a handle on it, it'll destroy your church. For the love of each other at Calvary Baptist, would you listen to what Paul has to say about this particular issue? Remember, Paul's concerned with the church growing, with the church thriving, with their faith strengthened, with their love abounding. But most of all, he's concerned about their sanctification. You notice how many times he mentions that in this text? Look down, if you would, in verse 3. It says, this is the will of God, your sanctification. Then in verse 7, we almost see a definition of sanctification. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but, in contrast, sanctification. We can't be impure and continue in our sanctification. We can't continue to be like Christ when we are in the flesh. We can't continually add to our flesh this moral impurity and be putting on Jesus. Your sanctification is the most important part, and by definition of chapter 7, it is you are set apart for the purpose of holiness. Folks, when you became the elect beloved brethren, you were set apart to be holy. And this immoral life, the things that the world and society is just trying to heap on us is so wicked that it goes contrary to the purity and the holiness that's supposed to be taking place in your sanctification. They're enemies of each other. You can't be doing both. Say, so what is this? Does these enemies, in verse 3, abstain from sexual immorality? That's fornication. Verse 5, not in lustful passion. That is for lust for anything that's outside the bounds of marriage. These sins will destroy your fellowship with God and therefore begin to deteriorate the church. You say, really? Do you have texts for that? Where these sins begin to deteriorate your fellowship with God and the relationship in the church? Listen to some of these passages. We find the first one, they dishonor God. Verse 1, remember, he says, Brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that you receive from us instruction on how you ought to walk and please God. Down in verse 5, "...not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God." You see, I'm giving this to you because you have to do this in order to please God, and if you don't, you look like those who don't even know God. Is God concerned with moral impurity? Yes. It dishonors Him. It dishonors marriage. Hebrews 13.4, marriage is honorable and all, and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. It dishonors God. It dishonors marriage. It dishonors your family. In Proverbs 6.33, it says, a wound and dishonor will he get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. It dishonors yourself. In Proverbs 6.32, whoso commits adultery with a woman, lacks understanding, he that does it destroys his own soul. You think it's really not that big of a deal. It's all around us. How can we avoid it? It just kind of permeates us. It's not really that big of a deal. Just a little bit. And it's okay. I can still function as a husband. I can still function as a father. And I can function as a church leader. I can still function and still have a little bit of that. And it's just normal. Right? I've been commenting on the water here. I need more. And I went by the men's restroom this morning and dipped this Q-tip in the toilet. It's dry, so don't worry about it, all right? It's OK. I'm just going to dip that in my water. A little bit right there. I didn't really add a whole lot to it. It was just a little bit. No big deal, right? If I take my drinking water, some of your eyes got really big. I'm not drinking that. Why? A little tiny bit of impurity is a big deal. Sanctification can't take place while we continually feed our flesh. Paul says this will destroy your church. So, have you pulled the ripcord yet? See, man, that was intense. That got warm in here really fast, didn't it? It did. I'm going to take this off. You got the thermostat set high. Don't pull the ripcord yet. We're at 2,000 feet. We're still plummeting. But there's a couple more things to address. Look down in verse 11. Chapter 4, verse 11. Paul says, "...and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands just as we commanded you." He addresses the second issue. The first one was of morality. The second issue is of meddling. You know what the second thing that will destroy a solid church? Meddling. Getting your nose in other people's business. Isn't that so easy to do? You hit this little F for Facebook on your iPad and you're into everybody's business so fast. And all of a sudden we begin to talk about it. And if it's really serious and we want a lot of people to know, but they don't want it to look bad, we mention it as a prayer request. We've got to be careful. It says, lead a quiet life. Study to be quiet. Strive to be at peace with the body is what that means. Do your own business. That means you're not a busybody about everybody else's business. Work with your own hands. This is actually a reference to the fact that they were using this gathering to make business connections. And Paul said no. Church is not for business connections. Stop meddling. Keep your nose to yourself. Then he addresses another issue found in 4.13 and continues all the way to 5.11, the third issue having to do with eschatological issues. And he finds it and he sums it up, if you will, in chapter 5 and verse 6, if you'd go there, we'll hit it quickly. So then, let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. The third issue is don't fall asleep spiritually. Don't get so used to what is going on that you just kind of just get relaxed. Be sober. Be alert. Be watchful. Be mindful of what's going on around you. We hear that in Peter, right? Be careful. Be sober. Why? Because your enemy, the devil, is a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. A solid church is careful to make sure that they're attentive to the truths of Scripture. Dads, are you making sure that your family is attentive to the truths of Scripture? Or have we just fallen asleep in the wheel? First issue, Paul said, will destroy a church's morality. The second one is meddling. The third one is falling asleep spiritually. We're at 1,000 feet now. I want you to pull the ripcord. We're going to land this. The reason why we chose not to land together is because there's no way I can go in and out of everyone and enforce one application of this message to everybody. You have to land individually on an application from this text. It's your responsibility to pull the ripcord. You can choose not to. You can walk out of here today and choose not to pull the ripcord. You ever see what happens to someone who doesn't pull a ripcord? You've got to land. And He gives us some great truths in chapter 5 to land on, and He sums it up in v. 14. V. 14, we urge you, brethren... That means we exhort you, you solid church. I've just addressed all of this. I exhort you. I'm wrapping up my letter to you. I'm imploring you, brethren, You're saved. You're being sanctified. You're working on your faith and loving one another. You're trying to do away with those issues we dealt with. I implore you, brethren, notice this is not to the elders of the church of Thessalonica. Notice this is not to the leaders. This is to the whole church. What he's going to say in verse 14 is applicable. You have to pull the ripcord and land on it, but it's applicable to every one of us. Not just to Pastor Jim. Not just to the elders and rulers of the church. It's for all of us. He says there, admonish. There's an understood them right there in the text. Admonish them who are the unruly. I want to point out the them. Because the them are the people in the congregation that actually made the writing of this letter, this particular portion of the letter, necessary. There's things going on in the church that you need to be aware of, brethren, of the thems that need this. What do they need? Warn or admonish the unruly. Look at what it says there. Admonish the unruly. Admonish. Lovingly bring to their attention the sinful acts they are participating in. The benchmark of a solid church is a church, brothers and sisters, it's a church in this body who are willing to confront sin. Paul Tripp says it this way, God's design for an active body of Christ is to admonish one another, which is to help you see yourself God's way. Brothers and sisters of Calvary, you must be a body of believers who are willing to confront sin. My sister just sucked the oxygen right out of the room. You know what? You're willing to confront sin. You're willing to stop somebody from making a mistake. You're willing to step in and say, no, that's not right, don't do that. It has to be a practice of us. He's already told us the sins of meddling in morality and really falling asleep spiritually. Are we willing to go to a brother and sister and say, can we go to coffee? Let's go grab a sandwich. There's something I want to just help you with. There's something I noticed. And I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. By God's grace, we can grow together. But can I show you something from Scripture that would help you in your walk? If this is going to be a solid church, We have to be willing to do that. We can't just overlook things. Look what he says in the next portion of verse 14, "...encourage the faint-hearted, comfort the feeble-minded, It means to put confidence into your listener. Encourage people. Do you remember what I read back in chapter 2 when Paul said, I treated you like a mother who was nursing her children, and I treated you like a father who was nurturing his children. He was gentle with them. That's the same context of that phrase. Comfort them who are weaker. Who just need encouragement. Brothers and sisters at Calvary, in this body, you must be willing to edify and encourage those who are discouraged. There are those who are on the path of parenting that are struggling. There are surrendered singles here who need encouragement. There are widows and widowers that need encouragement. There are those who are wrestling with decisions of education. There are those who have possibly had, in the last week, strife in their vocation. All of these take place in a church, and they all need to be encouraged. You know, when you're on a team like a baseball team, and you've made a mistake on the field, you can't wait to get back to the dugout. Why? It gets you out of view of everybody else in the stands and everybody that's pointing at your mistake and ridiculing or laughing or jeering. You get in the dugout. Why? It's the safe place. It's the place where you can sit on the bench next to a teammate who just bumped you and say, hey man, don't worry about it. We all do it. We got this. This needs to be that dugout. This needs to be that place where you come on a Sunday or midweek service and you've just been beat up by the world and they're jeering and they're taunting and man, it's just weighing on you and you come in and you just need somebody to come alongside you and sit next to you and bump you and say, don't worry about this, we got this. Let's take encouragement in the Word. Is this that dugout? Is this that safe place? It needs to be. He says support the weak. He says help the weak. Be patient with everyone. It means those who lack the spiritual strength to say no, help them. Be in accountability with them. Do you have an accountability partner in here? Is there somebody here that you've set up that you call and ask the tough questions to? Or you give a midweek email and just say, man, I'm praying for you. Stay away from this and that. Just want to encourage you. That's what the text is saying. If we want to be a strong, solid church, we need to do that with one another. Lock arms with one another. Take encouragement that I've been there and you can make it too. I'll give this illustration briefly because I know my hour is gone. I was down in West Virginia at a camp and we were taking teenagers down there and one of the activities was splunking. And I had never done this before. They give you a helmet with a light and they tell you to wear bad clothes because the clothes are not going to be the same when you come out of this cave as when you went in. And you're going to crawl through and they ask you all these questions of whether or not you are claustrophobic. And you're thinking, man, what am I getting into? And not only am I thinking that, all my teenagers are thinking that. And they're reading the expressions on my face. And I'm not claustrophobic. I pretty much can do whatever. I'm an outdoorsman. I can make this work. And so I'm trying to hold this positive. Oh yeah, we got this. We got this. And one of the girls was just like, she's panicking a little bit. I don't think I can make it. He was talking about one area when you go through, you have to turn your helmet sideways to make it through. And I don't think I, and that's too tight for me. And the leader of the group there at the camp came over to me and said, would you turn around? So I turned around, and he pointed to something on my backside. I'm not sure, but I want to believe it was my shoulders, and said, if that can make it through, everybody can make it through. I hope he was pointing to my shoulders. You know what? Those kids, like, well, we got this. Man, if Pastor Ed's backside can make it through, we all can make it through. You know what? When the Lord takes you through something in life like losing a mate, losing a job, losing a child, parenting strife, whatever it is, and you come to the dugout, there need to be times where that person is bombarded by others who said, listen, look at me. I made it. You can make it. Let's look at Jesus. Let's take security in His Word. We got this. That's a mark of a good church. He said be patient. Not all are given the privilege to go through this, so be patient with one another. Not everybody's going to take the same strides you did. Be patient. So folks, We've landed. You can close your Bibles. Some of you already have. We're going to pack up our chutes. We're going to hit the week with what we've learned. Very quickly, let's review this. How did we as a church compare to the benchmarks of a solid church? Are we obedient imitators of what we hear in God's Word? Are our lives blueprints of the way sanctification works? Is our testimony trumpeting the difference Christ can make? Is our allegiance to God and not our idols? Are we eagerly awaiting Christ's return? How did your life harmonize with what God has done for you? Do you demonstrate your faith by loving others? All others? Are there enemies of your personal sanctification you need to deal with like morality and meddling and spiritual apathy? Are you willing to participate in the three commands given to the brethren of this church that admonish the unruly, encourage the weak, and spiritually help the discouraged? We are right where I told you we would be. I told you before in the beginning of this message that if you stayed with me, we would land at a very solid church, the best church you've ever visited. And I guarantee you from first Thessalonians, Not from me, but the way God has spoken. If you surrender to these things and respond to the way the Spirit's leading you, you are in the best church you've ever visited.