this epistle. The second epistle, the first epistle he's writing to Thessalonica, he says, hey listen, you need to grow in your faith. The second letter he sends to Thessalonica, he says, you've been growing, you're doing a good job, keep it up. Alright, now look what he says next, chapter 1, verse 3. We, the we being there, Paul, Silas, Timothy, we are bound to that God always for you, brethren, as it is meat, it's proper, it's fit, why? Because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity of every one of you all toward each other abounded so that we ourselves glory in you." In other words, we're happy. We praise you, we glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. For what is a, I'm sorry, verse five, which is, what, what is the which is, the persecution, tribulation, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God that she may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which she also suffer. All right, hey, church family, listen to me. The sufferings that you're going through, it's not about you. It's about God. It's about what God does through a person. And so the pressure, the enduring of what's going on in your life, that trial that's going on in your life, do you understand that it's for the kingdom of God? It's what God's trying to do in your life. Look what he says in verse number six. He says, seeing it as a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to who? Hey, you know what? Isn't it a wonderful thing to know that we know what the last chapter says? We know the end of the book. We know how this thing finishes out. You know, some of you are having trouble with people at work, and sometimes it's lost people, sometimes it's saved people. Do you understand? Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me. I will render unto the man according to his work. God says, whoever's troubling you, understand this, I'll trouble him. All right? Are you OK over there? You're making me nervous. Are you OK? Okay, good. All right, just making sure you're okay. All right. You're turning red, by the way. All right. Verse number seven, and to you who are troubled And to you who are troubled, rest with us. In other words, you that are going through the persecution, those of you that are going through the tribulation, us being Paul and Silas and Timothy, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, church, I mean, it won't take me long necessarily to preach the message because of walking through this, but are you getting the picture here? Paul's writing the letter. He says, hey listen, I just want you to know, I thank God that your faith is growing, and I thank God for you. And the reason I thank God for you is because you're standing under trial. You're under pressure, the trouble, the tribulation, all of this is going on you. But I thank God that you're standing. And he said, the reason you can stand is because God's going to take care of those persecutors. The reason you can stand is because the Lord's coming back. And when He comes back, there's going to be a day of judgment. And those who do not know Christ as their Savior, those who do not know the Gospel and know Jesus Christ, He says, they're going to have to stand before me, and they are going to be cast into the lake of fire. We don't wish that on anybody, by the way. By the way, God does not wish that on anybody. The Bible says in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, He's not willing that. any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It doesn't matter if it's a child. It doesn't matter if it's an adult. It doesn't matter if it's somebody educated or uneducated. It doesn't matter if it's a pervert. Do you understand that God wants everybody to be saved? God wants everybody to go to heaven. And that forgiveness is for everybody that will simply come to Jesus Christ by faith. He says next, look what he says, next verse, verse number eight, I'm sorry, verse number who shall be punished, I'm talking about those that do not know God, do not accept the gospel, verse 9, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He shall come, Jesus, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Now, here's the thought this morning. I just wanna just show you that from these verses here, verses three through 10, no period, all one paragraph, that Apostle Paul's trying to say, hey, listen, this is what you need to keep doing in the midst of your pressure, in the midst of your tribulation, in the midst of your trouble. Let's quickly look at them. There's three of them. First one is in verse number four. All right, here's what he says. So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your, what's the next word? patience. Hey, can I tell you how you need to make sure that you stay under the pressure? You okay over here? Alright, can I tell you how you need to stay under the pressure? Is this heavy, by the way? How you need to stay under the pressure is you're gonna have to be patient. The word patient, it's interesting because he talks about the word endure, but it has the same definition to a degree. Cheerful endurance. In other words, you need to have a smile on your face. You need to glorify God in your tribulation, in your trouble. Well, I don't like what's going on in the United States of America. I don't either, but guess what? We're supposed to patiently endure. I don't like what's going on in my home. Well, sometimes I don't either, but guess what? We're supposed to cheerfully endure. I don't like what's going on at my work. Well, you might not, but guess what you're supposed to do? You're supposed to continue on patiently for God. In fact, in those few verses there, Paul spells out why you should do that. In verse 3, and I know we read all the verses and won't read them all again, but in verse 3, we are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is because your faith groweth. Did it ever dawn on you that the tribulation you're going through makes you a better Christian? It grows your faith. Why does a person do weightlifting? Why do they do it on a regular basis? You know why? Because they want their strength to grow. All right? They want... You know, you're starting to shake. Is it getting heavy? Is it getting heavy? Okay, that's fine. Don't go anywhere. You're not done. All right? Get your arms rest. Are you okay? Are you sure you're okay? All right. Let's see, Samuel. Did he leave me? Samuel skipped church today. Israel, where's he at? Oh, old bus kid. Say hello. Hi there, nice to see you. All right, I'll use Israel. I just don't want to tip him when I switch this out. Yeah, pull that off for a second here. All right, pull that thing off. All right. Thank you very much, appreciate it. There you go. All right. All right. Hey, you know what the Bible tells us? The Bible says, In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 12, there is no temptation, trial, trouble, or temptation. There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are. All right, now try listing that out. Is that better? OK, thank you very much. All right, good. You know what you're thinking? You're thinking, I can't believe God would put this on me. I'm telling you, God wouldn't put more on you than you can bear. How do you know that? Because he promised. He promised. Seth, I appreciate him helping me this morning, but I don't want that 50 pounds falling on his little neck. It might hurt him. I'd feel bad. All right, so we take the 50 pounds off. I put two 5 pounds on there, so now he's holding 10 pounds. You know what? Because I know how much his hands are shaking. I know, just from looking at him, how much he can handle. Can I tell you, God knows how much you can handle. He knows exactly how long the pressure can stay on. He knows exactly what that pressure is doing. It's to grow you in your faith. It's to make you a better Christian. It's supposed to make you stronger for the Lord. He not only says in this passage here in chapter 1, talking to the church of Thessalonica, he says, not only will it grow you in your faith, look at verse number 5, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God that ye may be counted, what? Look at verse number 11, wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you what? Worthy of this calling. Now, this is what I gather from this verse here. When he used the word this, he's referring to what he's already been talking about. Can I tell you something? Your problem, your trial, your struggle is not an accident, it's a calling. Do we believe in the will of God for our lives, yes or no? Do we believe God's got a perfect will for your life, yes or no? Okay, so if God's got a will for your life, and if He's God, He can bring into our lives whatever He wants to bring into our lives. I just don't think it's fair. No, you don't think it's fair because your expectation of what you think is fair, and I want to tell you something, He said His thoughts are not our thoughts. We don't think like God thinks. I'd be the first one to agree. I don't always like it when things that happen that are happening bad in our life and I scratch my head, God, why are you doing this? But it doesn't change the fact that God's got a purpose for the pressure, for the trouble, for the tribulation. And I want to tell you what the purpose is. It's to grow you in your faith. I want to tell you what the purpose is. It's because God counted you worthy. I have a lot of people come to my office and they're going through troubles. And by the way, they should. There's nothing wrong with that whatsoever. and sometimes they're looking for answers, and sometimes they're just looking for someone to listen, but oftentimes, why? And I'm gonna be honest with you, there's been many a time a person's come to my office, and I have to simply say, I don't know why. Something bad happened to a person here just recently, and it was a bad situation, and they're not members of our church. And the first thing I said, I said, wait a second here. I said, bad things don't always happen because they're sent in your life. Because that was their first statement. What have I done wrong? Do you understand that sometimes God allows things to come into your life to make you a stronger Christian, a better Christian? And we don't understand what the future holds. We don't understand what he's doing in your life or what he wants to do in somebody else's life through your trial. So what is my trial for? I want to tell you what trial's for. It's so that God can make you grow in your faith. What is your trial for? It's because God loved you enough to say, I can count on you. something else in this passage here, that why we should we endure with patience is because God's going to do the recompensing. In verse number six, seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. I don't know if your trouble... Are you doing okay over here, buddy? Okay, you sure you're doing all right? Good job. All right, just want to make sure, all right? All right. Brother Thomas, you're next. Are you ready? Okay. Sometimes we look at the person instead of the God of what God's doing through a person. For instance, remember the children of Israel, they went into captivity? The captivity was not Nebuchadnezzar. The captivity was not Babylon. You know what the captivity was? It's because they disobeyed God. Do you understand that God sometimes uses people? I mean, isn't it interesting that when you read the rest of the major prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, isn't it interesting that you find out that God brings judgment against Babylon for judging his people? You don't have to worry about that dingaling at work that constantly is trying to get you in trouble and make you look bad because you're a Christian. You know why? God will trouble him. God will trouble him. So what are you supposed to do when it comes to enduring? Number one, endure it patiently. Number two, look at the next thing, same verse, verse number four. So that we ourselves glory in you and the churches of God for your patience and what? And faith in all your persecutions, not some, in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. So I'm supposed to endure with patience, but I'm also supposed to endure with faith. Now, church, I need the first word. Are you with me so far? Say amen. Amen. All right, a little quiet. So I'm going to think now for a second here. The word patience means cheerful endurance. The word faith means assurance. Probably the first definition would be persuasion. I'm fully persuaded. I'm fully assured. You know, the scripture talks about we walk by faith, not by So we walk by faith. Four times in the scripture God says that we are to live by faith. We're supposed to live by faith. The Bible says that we are justified by faith. The Bible says, for by grace are ye saved through faith. So we are saved by faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is me taking God at His Word. Hopefully we agree as far as the definition of the Word of God. Faith is simply believing God. What should you be doing during your persecution, during your pressure, during your trial? Believe. You know, I'm gonna speak for my children, because they're not here, and I don't know how they would respond, but I'm just gonna speak for them. I think in my heart that if my kids, as they leave and go wherever God takes them, that if they ever got into a problem, the first person they would think to call for help would be me. Not because I would have to say, call me if you need me, but because they believe that I would be there for them if they needed me. You know, your Heavenly Father, if you would just simply believe, He's there. He's there in the valley as you walk through the shadow of death. He's there on the mountaintop of prosperity. He's there. You know what it's going to take? It's going to take faith. You say, but I want it now. Well, be patient. Well, I want to see. Then have faith. In other words, whatever the pressure is in your life, simply believe God, trust God. Just a minute, I want to turn to Hebership number 11. You surely have marked it or seen it before. By faith, Enoch. By faith, Abraham. By faith, Joshua. If you walk down to the passage, every one of those that had victory under pressure was simply because they believe God. I'm going through trouble in my life. I'm going through sickness in my life. I'm going through financial difficulty. I don't know what it is, but I know this one thing. God's there. Trust God. Believe God. What should you do when you're under pressure? First of all, have patience. Second of all, have faith. Look at the next thing, last one, verse number seven with me. And to you who are troubled, in other words, those who are afflicted, those who are under pressure, those who are under tribulation, and to you who are troubled, rest with us. Well, how can I rest when I'm under this pressure? This constant wait, this constant, how can I rest with you? How's that going to happen? What did Paul say in verse number seven? He said, rest with us. How do we do that? When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Church family, when is Jesus going to be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels? At the what? At the rapture. Hey, the rapture could take place right now, 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13-18. The dead in Christ shall rise first, we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with the Lord in the air. The trumpet blows, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51-58. In the twinkling of an eye, the shout's gonna be given, come up hither. How many saved this morning? Raise your hand, you're saved? If the rapture took place right now, guess what's gonna happen? You're gonna be shooed up to heaven. I wanna tell you something, if you don't know Christ as your Savior, you're left behind. And I'll give you even worse news than that. If you're left behind and you've already heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, you cannot get saved during the tribulation period. All those movies you see about left behind and a person heard the gospel and they left behind and they get saved later, 1 Thessalonians tells us that's a lie. And that they will believe a lie. You're not going to get saved during the tribulation period. Your time to be saved is now. Your time to accept Christ is now. So we're under this pressure. He says, listen, here's how you handle what you're going through. Number one, patience. Number two, faith. Number three, anticipation. You know how you make it? The Lord's coming back. We're going to be with Him forever. I like the book of Revelation. I like reading the book of Revelation. I like studying the book of Revelation. I think it's just unique that the Lord would tell us the story. Revelation 1, introduction of the book. Revelation 2 and 3, the seven churches of Asia Minor. Revelation 4, God on his throne. Revelation 5, the lamb, Jesus Christ opens the sealed book. Revelation 6, the sealed judgments. Revelation 7, the sealing of the 144,000. Revelation 8 and 9, the trumpet judgments. Revelation 10, the mighty angel and the little book. Revelation 11, the two witnesses. Revelation 12 and 13, the seven personages. Revelation 14, key events in the tribulation period. Revelation 15 and 16, the vile judgments. Revelation 17, religious Babylon. Revelation 18, political Babylon. Revelation 19, the second coming of Christ. Revelation 20, the great white throne judgment. Revelation 21, new heaven, new earth. Revelation 22, behold, I come quickly. In the book of Revelation, there's a wonderful thing that you get to see the progress of one day we're going to be with him forever. So you're going through your trial in your 3 score and 10, or your 4 score years, and I know we might live longer than that, we might live less than that. But we understand it's just a physical lifetime, and I'm going to be forever with God. And you're going through pressure and trial and trouble, and how can I keep this going? Because the Lord's coming back! You know the one thing that Seth has in his mind, now by the way, after holding that 50 pounds, his hands were shaking up here and his face was red, really red. It's still red. And he was having a hard time. Even though I switched it to this, it's still a struggle because he'd been holding the other 50 for so long. Do you know what the only thing he's got going on in his mind right now? This service will soon be over. I wanna tell you something, I know you think that's only 10 pounds, but I wanna tell you something, it's not 10 pounds after you've been holding such a weight. He's ready to put this thing down. You know, some of you in your life, you're ready to put this thing down. I'm tired of the pressure, I'm tired of the trouble. I'm tired of having to live with this and do this. I wanna tell you how you're gonna make it. Cheerful endurance, patience. I'm gonna tell you how you're gonna make it. Faith, trust God. I'm gonna tell you how you make it. Anticipation. This is not your rest. One day you're gonna be with Him forever. and it won't be long. And when we're with God, the Bible says, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more tears, the former things will be gone. So yeah, it's a little heavy right now. And it's a pressure. But I'm just trying to tell you, it's not gonna be forever. You gotta keep going and don't give up, because that's what the devil wants you to do. That's all the devil wants you to do, he just wants you to quit. He can't take your soul away, he can only take your influence away. Listen, you need to live for God. And you might be going through pressure right now. Some of you right now, you say, Pastor, I don't have any pressure, and I don't have any trouble, and everything seems like it's going good. Okay, well that's nice, but you keep living long enough, you will have pressure and you will have trouble. And you're gonna need to do the same three things that Paul told the church at Thessalonica when it comes to standing for God. Because by the way, if you're a Christian, you're gonna get persecuted. and you're gonna have pressure, because that's what the Bible says is gonna happen to a Christian that acts like Christ. It doesn't mean I'm not right with God because I get the persecution, it just means I need to be patient, I need to have faith, and I live in anticipation the Lord's coming back. Would you bow your head and close your eyes this morning?