Alrighty, well this morning we continue our study in the book of 2 Thessalonians. And as you see on the screen there, the way that we have, or I guess I say we, hopefully you agree with me. This is how I have summarized the book of 2 Thessalonians as living in the last days. I mentioned when I introduced the book that this wasn't intended to scare you. It's hopefully to encourage you because the last days, what that means is, well, Christ could return at any moment. There's nothing that needs to happen before his return. So that means any day could be the last day. And so how should we live in light of that truth? How should we live in light of the fact that Jesus could return at any moment? That seems to be the focus of the two letters that Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica. So before we get started in our study, we want to spend some time in silent prayer, just between you and the Lord, getting in fellowship with him. And if need be, confessing any sin that would cause a separation in fellowship, not relationship, but in your ongoing fellowship with the Lord. Sin can get in the way. And so what is our hope? Well, 1 John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so we want to be in fellowship with him before we study his word. So go ahead and take a moment and then I will open us with a word of prayer. Father, I thank you so much again for this opportunity to gather together. And Lord, while we gather, we want to trust in you, but we also just pray that you would protect us health-wise, especially as we enter into some of the colder months as some of the other sicknesses come to the party, so to speak. We just pray you'd protect us. And we come here to worship you, to honor and glorify you, and we've sung Your praises, we've lifted up our prayer request to You. And now, Lord, we want to study Your Word. And so we pray that You would bless us in that pursuit of knowing You better. And I pray that You'd bless the reading and the exposition of Your Word. In Jesus' name, amen. All righty, so we will be covering 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 4 through 12. And so the title of today's message is, When Christ Returns, There Will Be Rest or Retribution. When Christ returns, there will be rest or retribution. So we're going to look at what exactly that means. What is the rest that Paul talks about? And what's the repayment or the retribution that he talks about? And how do you know which is which or which who gets what so that we could be in the right group? And so we want to start by reading our text in its entirety. Now, I apologize for the small print. Hopefully you have your own Bible. If not, there should be one in the pew in front of you. Feel free to grab and use that. But 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, starting in verse 4. Paul says, So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. Verse six, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Verse eight, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction. from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Verse 10, when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed. Therefore, we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power. that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Excuse me. So, I think this snuck in from no. OK, so this is the outline that we when we introduced the book, this is what we see is kind of a general flow of thought from the Apostle Paul. And I want to revisit this as we move, because I want you to see the general flow of Paul's argument in light of the individual passage that we're looking at. And so we are studying chapter one, verses four through 12. Now you can see up there that second portion is encouragement for the church. So the passage we're looking at this morning is under the broad category of Paul encouraging the church at Thessalonica. So the things that Paul is saying are intended to be communicated as an encouragement to them, and I think ultimately to us as well. And so that's going to be interesting when we get into some of the interesting words that Paul includes, talking about eternal destruction, punishment, judgment, things of those nature. How is that encouraging? And so we're going to look at and explain how that is. So to kind of give you a roadmap of where we're going this morning, first thing we're going to do is we're going to review some of the historical facts about Paul, Silas and Timothy planning the church there in Thessalonica, because that's significant to this passage. Number two, we're going to look at the judgment that's involved before the coming kingdom. This is a future kingdom. This is the kingdom that will be established when Christ returns. It's a literal earthly kingdom. He will sit on a real throne in Jerusalem and he will govern the entire earth. And that's the blessed hope that we have is when he is president, if you will, he'll be the king. And that will be a glorious time where peace and prosperity Will be the the standard and then we'll close with some Application that Paul has but thirdly we'll look at living in light of the coming kingdom So knowing that this kingdom is coming. How should we live is the general idea? We'll see so first of all reviewing of the historical facts, here is a map of the Middle East and This is Jerusalem this far east right side. And so this black arrow and the lines are designating the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul. So scholars say that there are about three. I say there's four missionary journeys that Paul takes. Now this is him being sent out. And he goes and shares the gospel for an extended period of time. Sometimes it's longer, sometimes it's shorter. And he plants a church there among the group of believers that came under his ministry there. And then he moves on to the next town and he does the same thing. And then he moves on to the next one and then the same thing. And so during this second missionary journey, He plants this church way up here in the North in the territory or what we might say a state of Macedonia. So the church of Thessalonica is right here. So that would be like saying the city of Grand Island in the state of Nebraska. It's the city of Thessalonica in the region or state of Macedonia. And so, When we studied this in the book of Acts, that's why the book of Acts is such an invaluable book in the New Testament, because it gives us a lot of the historical details. When he got there, he shared the gospel. A lot of Gentiles came to faith. There were some Jews as well. But what happened? The Jews got jealous, right? And so they stirred up a mob, they persecuted them, they imprisoned. Jason, who was basically housing Paul and Silas, the missionaries, and basically made them pay an enormous amount on bail, which sort of locked Paul and Silas out of the town. They said, if we see them around here, we'll just throw you in prison again. And so it really tied the hands of Paul. And so To kind of give you the bullet points, the Thessalonian church was a persecuted church. They faced social pressures, they faced economic pressures, perhaps their businesses. If they knew that you were followers of Christ, maybe they encouraged others to not support your business. And I think that there was possibly death taking place. I think 1 Thessalonians, when it says that some of you have fallen asleep, it's a way that Paul has said that they've died. And I think what has possibly happened is that they were executed by the locals there. They were killed for their faith in Christ. And so one of the marks that Paul highlights in both of these letters is he wants to emphasize that despite persecution, you guys love one another and you endure persecution faithfully. And so he commends them. And he not only commends them, but he lets them know that, hey, I'm talking about you guys everywhere I go, because you are a great example of loving one another and enduring trials. And so that's a challenge for us is really we love one another and we endure trials and we're doing great if we do those two things. In fact, Jesus summarized the whole Mosaic law in loving the Lord your God with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself, right? So one of the things that plays into this passage, and we'll really get into it next week, the suffering was so bad for the Thessalonians, they thought they were in the day of the Lord. Now we've looked at the day of the Lord in the past. We're going to look at it more closely next week. with what Paul says. But the Day of the Lord is also known as the seven-year tribulation. It's the 70th week of Daniel. Now, without getting into all the details of those titles, it's simply that final period of time in which God does two things. He's, number one, disciplining His chosen nation, Israel, to bring them to faith. Number two, he's punishing the wicked for rejecting the gospel. And so both of those things, essentially, as severe and tragic as the tribulation will be, it's still an act of God's grace. Because he's bringing people to himself. And so their suffering was so bad, they thought that, you know, that tribulation Paul spoke of, this must be it. And Paul wrote to encourage them that this is bad, but it's not as bad as it could be. And we see that, again, we'll look at this next week, but the very next passage is 2 Thessalonians 2, 1-2. Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. So that they were worried that that day had come, that they were in the tribulation, that they missed out on being raptured from the Lord Christ. Excuse me. Now, notice I wanted to highlight, we'll again look at this more next week. But Paul says either by spirit, word, or letter. So there were some false letters. In fact, at this period of time in the first century, it was what's called the big fancy term that we pay lots of money at seminaries to learn was pseudopigrapha. Now that just means pseudo is fake. Pigrapha is writings. And so it's fake writings. They were fake letters. So they were individuals writing letters and saying, this is from Paul, but it wasn't from Paul. And they were swaying churches this way and swaying churches that way. And so that's why I think at the end of this letter, what does Paul say? I write this with my own hand. And so he's saying, make no mistake, this is me, this is Paul. And what I say to you is my teaching. So that's kind of the general review. Now let's look at the judgment that Paul is talking about. And I wanna do this, when you are studying scripture, one of the best things you could do is ask questions. The more questions you ask, the more answers you'll receive. But I'll maybe put a footnote there. not all of your questions will be asked. There's some times where you have more questions than you had at the beginning. And you know what? That's okay. That's the journey of the Christian life. As we are continuing to grow, as we learn more about God and we learn his word, there's gonna be times where our mind expanded and we start to think of things that we hadn't thought of before. So there's seven questions that I ask, and I wanna kind of share those with you. Number one, who receives this rest? So notice in 2 Thessalonians chapter six, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us. So who is, who receives rest? Well, at the end of verse six there, he says, trouble you. Now who's you in the context here? It's the Thessalonians. And then in verse seven, to give you who are troubled rest. So to summarize, who is receiving rest? The persecuted Thessalonians. The persecuted suffering Thessalonians will receive rest at a certain point in time. And that's what we'll look at next. So they will receive rest. The second question, when do they receive rest? The very next verse, verse seven, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when, so there's a timestamp, right? When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. And I mentioned this a few weeks ago, when Jesus returns, There's two outcomes, and this is the title of the message, rest or retribution. And it's kind of a matter of your perspective. If you are a believer, now don't wanna get ahead of myself, we'll get there in a minute. If you're a believer, you receive rest. And I believe that takes place in what Paul has talked about, the catching away. We will be caught up together with the Lord to meet him in the air. So for us as believers, when the Lord returns, it's a good thing. It's a blessed hope. But for those who reject the gospel of God's grace, it's not a good thing. The return of Christ means their judgment is here. And so the timestamp, when do they receive this rest? When the Lord Jesus is, when he is revealed. So this again, he, He talks about this kind of this dual perspective thing in the very next verse. I already read it. Again, there's a difference there between a believer in the return of Christ and an unbeliever in the return of Christ. We look forward to the return of Christ. The unbeliever does not want that day to come. Number three, why do they receive rest? So why does God give the persecuted Thessalonians rest? Look at verse 10. So again, he mentions the return of Christ in that day. When he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who go to church every Sunday. Admired among all those who pay the most in their offering. Admired among all those who sin the least. Am I missing something? I am, right? Among all those who believe. Because our testimony among you was believed. So why do they receive rest? Is it because they're better than unbelievers? Is it because they sin less? Is it because they're righteous? Is it because they are good givers? Is it because they serve the most? Is it because they walk the aisle the most? What is it? They believed. That's it. That's the gospel. And the gospel means good news. And when we change the gospel and we include things that aren't good news, guess what it no longer is? Good news. But the good news is that Jesus Christ did what we could not. He died on the cross for our sins so that if we trust in him and him alone, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else, what do we receive? Eternal life on his merits, not our own. All we need to do is believe, which the word believe simply means to be persuaded of that which is true. If you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, you're a believer, you're saved, you're born again. There's a whole package. If you've ever signed up for those things or you see those infomercials and they say, but wait, there's more. That's kind of the Christian life. You trust Christ and you might not know all the blessings that accompany that. But as you learn more about God and you read and study his word more, you get that message all the time. But wait, there's more. You're born again. You have the Holy Spirit. You have Christ himself. You are in the hand of Christ. You're in the hands of God the Father. He is with you when you suffer. Lo, I am with you even to the end of the age. He's with you when you suffer. He's right by your side every step of the way. He gives you gifts. He's at work in your life, growing and sanctifying you. He will return for us. And it just keeps coming. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies is ours. How much is every? It's kind of infinite, right? So that tells you, as you're growing in the Christian life, that's the abundant life that Christ has after. I mentioned this before, I want to mention it again. Christ came that we might have life, and that's it. No, he said, and more abundantly. So he gave us life when we believed. And when we continue to follow him, we have abundant life. And I think the key problem for a lot of Christians is they have life, but it's not abundant. Why? Because they believe and they might be saved, but they're not following the Lord. We don't live the way that he designed us to live and receive the blessings that come from living the way he designed things. I love the way Jesus talks to Paul when he meets him on the road. It's hard for you to kick against the goats. It's like that cattle prod. You know, the Bible calls us sheep, but I think in a lot of ways we're cattle. And there's nothing like, as some of you well know, moving cattle that brings out the worst in you, right? They can be frustrating. They don't go where you want them to go. They go where you don't want them to go. That's us at times. And the thing is, is when you're moving cattle, a lot of times it's to take them to a place where they have greener pastures, right? It's gonna be better if you just listen to me. Now, God doesn't get, you know, that nasty with us, but he wants what's best for us. He leads us to greener pastures. But notice the reason that they receive rest is not because they're great. It's not because they're better. It's because they believed. So why are they troubled? Why are they persecuted? Why do they suffer? Start up in verse four again. So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. Verse five, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. So why do they suffer? Because they're heirs of the future kingdom. They will inherit the future kingdom of God. Now don't miss what we just looked at. It's not because they're better. It's not because they're this or that. It's because they believed. If they believe, if you believe, if I believe, if we believe, we are heirs of the coming kingdom. Now, what did Jesus say about this? John 15, 18 through 21, this is basically the last sermon that he gave before he died. And it was given to his 11 disciples. Judas has left the building, he's gone to Betrayim. Listen to what Jesus says. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my namesake, because they do not know him who sent me. So if I could summarize what Jesus is saying here, if you are a follower of Christ, you are tightly bound to him. The results that Jesus experienced is a lot of times what we will experience for following him. And guess what? If you've read the gospels, not all of what Jesus experienced was bad, right? He had some highs, right? He had hundreds and thousands of people following him. But then what happened when he started teaching things that people didn't like? They left, right? And so the world hates us because we follow Christ. Because we are heirs of the coming kingdom. We are sons of God because we believed. Again, we have to keep that in our focus. It's not because we're better, it's because we believed. And so the world persecutes the sons of God. Because what did Jesus say the people of the world are, the unbelievers? He called the religious leaders, you're just like your father, Satan. Number five, who are the persecutors? So who are the ones causing the trouble in this situation? Let's go back to Acts 17. This is when the church was planted. So this is the results. Paul preached, people came to faith. Then verse five says, but the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people. Does this sound like a peaceful protest? It's kind of relevant in our days, right? Oh, we're not doing anything, we're peaceful. We're just trying to make sure that everyone, their opinions are heard. No, they were attacking the house of Jason. Verse six, but when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, these who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar. saying, there is another king, Jesus. And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. So when they had taken security or bond basically from Jason and the rest, they let them go. So why was Jason persecuted? Why were the believers at Thessalonica persecuted? Because they followed Christ. How did it start though? Because the Jews were jealous, because they, years and years and years of preaching the law to them, They should have been ripe. In fact, they were ripe, right? Without knowing it, they were preparing people for the Messiah, because that's exactly what Paul did. Paul came and he used their scriptures to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. And people came to faith. So who else are the persecutors? So verse eight gives us a glimpse. Now we'll get to the beginning of verse eight. Really, I wanna focus on that second part. But in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God. So there's one part, people who don't know God. And then secondly, on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. He doesn't say that these are individuals that weren't willing to jump through the hoops that God sets for them. They simply did not believe the gospel. So it comes down to the dividing line is simply a believer and an unbeliever. You know what the difference is? Believing or unbelieving. Kind of like the name suggests, right? That's what I am so amazed about the scriptures. Are there things that we have a hard time understanding? Yeah, sure. But when we do understand it, you know what's amazing? It's so simple. And in fact, I heard this, I don't know where this observation originated, but they said that when Jesus spoke to the crowds, he never used larger than two syllable words. He spoke on their level. He used language that they understand. Why? Because his goal was to communicate truth. If you're communicating, I love this definition of communication. It's the transfer of ideas in one person's head into the heads of another. How do I get what I'm thinking into your thinking? Using words, using words that we commonly understand. And God does that. And so the simple reality is you either believe or you don't believe the gospel. Number six, what will happen to unbelievers? So we've looked at who receives rest? Why do they receive rest? Because they're believers. Now we looked at who are the persecutors? What will happen to the unbelievers, the persecutors? So starting in verse six, it is a righteous thing with God to repay, literally, retribution with tribulation, those who trouble you. And to give you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These, those who don't obey the gospel, these shall be punished with temporal destruction, everlasting destruction. from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Now, I wanna pause real briefly on verse nine. As I studied this, and you might have studied the attributes of God, one of the attributes of God is he's omnipresent, meaning he's everywhere present. In fact, I think it's Job who says, there's not a place I can go. If I go to heaven, you're there. If I go to the grave, you're there. but somehow within the everywhere presence of God, God is gonna create a place where he's not. Punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. And we know from other passages, that's hell. And so the best way I've tried to get people to understand the severity of hell, because, you know, our world is so twisted. They say, well, if I go to hell, at least I'm in good company. That's so ignorant. Because what is good? God. God's not going to be there. Friendship. It's not going to be there. What did God say? It's not good for man to be alone. In hell. You will be alone. You'll suffer. Think of every good thing that you enjoy on this earth. It would not be there. I think it was Randy Alcorn. He said, this present existence is the closest to hell the believer will ever be. It's also the closest to heaven the unbeliever will ever be. So if someone's rejecting the gospel, this is it. They live for today because their destiny is separation from the Lord. And so what does that tell you about your suffering now? If this is the closest to hell you'll ever see, praise God, right? That's why I think in James, it says, consider it all joy when you face trials. That's the only way you can. Is it any comfort if James said, Think stink, it's gonna stink, I'm sorry. It's not really comfort, right? I mean, he could sympathize, but that's not comforting. What's comforting is knowing that all of your trials are temporary. That's what I always go back to. Even if your trials lasted the rest of your existence on this earth, it's still temporary. And do you know how long eternity is? Eternal. So I kind of tried to summarize this. Well, hold on. Number seven, why are they punished? Again, look at verse eight. On those who do not know God and on those who don't obey the gospel. So who's going to be the one in hell? Who's going to be the one in everlasting destruction? Is it the wicked, the unrighteous? Those who don't go to church, those who don't give, those who don't serve, those who don't love. It's simply those who do not obey. Now the implication here is if you obey the gospel, guess where you will not be? Eternally separated from the Lord. And I don't want you to miss that. Because that's grace. Grace is simply God has saved you by you simply trusting in his son. If you've done that, you're saved. You're a child of God. And you need to learn more about grace because that's how God's going to deal with you now. So there's seven questions. Now here's seven applications. If I could summarize everything we just looked at. Number one, God will right wrong. Everything that's wrong, God will right it. Number two, God will repay. So those who think they're getting away with something, or if you think someone's getting away with something, guess what? They're not. They have a tab, a running tab, and guess what? It's gonna come due. But you know what's awesome about the gospel? Who picked up our tab? Christ. So guess who will not be repaid? Us. Because he absorbed all of the wrath of God. All of the wrath of God that was directed at me, directed at you, directed at us, directed at every sinful man, was absorbed by Christ. And the only way that you get behind the shield of Christ, if you will, is by simply trusting in his offer of salvation. If those who reject it, guess what? Justice requires that they pay their own bill. Is that not just? That just makes sense, right? Number three, God will comfort. So if you're having a hard time, guess what? It's not forever. I hope it ends sooner than, than our death or the rapture, but it's not forever. God will comfort. Number four, God will judge. When he returns, he's going to judge those who reject his gospel. Number five, the judge will be punished. Number six, God will return. I love Peter. He says, in the last days, there's gonna be those who mock and say, since the beginning of the earth, everything has continued as it has. and then sudden destruction. You know what other generation experienced that? Noah's, right? Noah's building this big ark. They're saying, what are you doing? Noah says, God's coming. He's gonna judge the earth. Yeah, right. We'll just carry on our merry way. Well, then the rains came and they were destroyed. Number seven, God will be glorified. That's the, entire purpose of creation. God is going to be glorified because we're going to see who the creator is. We see who the creator is a lot of times in the way he deals with man. And most of all when we study his word. So lastly, living in light of the coming kingdom. There's four things that Paul says. Well, first of all, notice he says in verse 11, therefore, whenever you see that when you're studying scripture, you can see that he's gonna draw a conclusion based on previously said things. So in light of what I just said, therefore, we also pray always for you, that. So what does he pray for? That, and there's four things I count. Number one, that our God would count you worthy of this calling. So in other words, you are called as heirs of the kingdom. Live like it. Number two, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness. You are a son of God and heir of the kingdom. The second prayer that Paul prays is that you would receive the blessings of that. That you would receive the blessings of being a child of God. Thirdly, and the work of faith with power. I think what he's talking about here is you're growing in faith because that's how our relationship with God works. We start by trusting an act of faith, believing the gospel. We live by faith, by that continual trusting the Lord. We walk with him every step of the way. I think a great picture of this in the New Testament is when Peter's walking on water. He was doing it until when? His eyes turned away. So when you're struggling, when you're discouraged, when you're wondering where God is, when you're struggling with a lack of faith, what do you need to do? Fix your eyes on Jesus. The author, the beginner and finisher, completer of our Faith. He's the beginning and end in more ways than one. Number four, Paul prays that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him. Now, what he's talking about here is he's talking to a church that's suffering. And guess what happens when an individual is suffering and they are following the Lord and they're faithful to him in light of that suffering, what happens? God's glorified. Did you know that's when you can have your greatest witness? I've heard countless testimonies of individuals, maybe in their workplace, they know that you're facing immense suffering, and yet you're walking, and they'll say, how do you do it? Guess what then you have an opportunity to do? I don't, but Christ in me. You know, paraphrase it in your own way. But that's it, right? It's not us. And hopefully you recognize that. When you're being strong, it's not operation bootstrap. You know, things get hard and you pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and muscle your way through your suffering. Let me save you a lot of heartache. Turn to the Lord. When the heat starts to turn up, turn to the Lord and say, Lord, I don't know what you're gonna do. I do know that you promise that you work all things for good. So I'm gonna trust you with this. I love the song by Casting Crowns. I'll praise you in this storm. So by way of application, number one, the most important thing, are you a believer? Because again, if you're not, this passage really doesn't encourage you, right? This is under the broad umbrella of encouragement, but for the unbeliever, they face judgment. So number one, are you a believer? Number two, are you growing? Because that's what Paul is encouraging him, is that you're doing good, you're loving one another, you're facing trials well, keep growing. Number three, are you looking towards your rest? In other words, do you have a heavenly perspective? Are you looking for the end prize, finishing your race, as Paul puts it in another letter? And then lastly, are you evangelizing? You know, whenever I cover passages like this, I always get challenged to share the gospel with loved ones, friends, and family, because I don't want them to be eternally separated from the Lord. And there's different ways that you can do it. To give you some ideas, one time I sent an individual a letter. Because, you know, sometimes it can be awkward. Sometimes we push people away with personal contact, but you know what isn't as awkward? Writing a letter. I wrote a letter and I explained, I said, look, I love you. I know that you might be raised with this background. I know you might be raised with this, but this is what the Bible says. This is the gospel. Christ died for you. He loves you. And it would mean, it would be so encouraging if you would consider your eternal destiny in trusting Christ. You know, whatever it looks like for you, are you evangelizing? Because they say that most people who come to Christ come to Christ through a close friend or relative leading them to Christ. And so God put you in someone's life so that you would share the gospel with them. And so just a challenge. Second Thessalonians 1, 4 through 12, when Christ returns, there will be rest or retribution. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this passage. We thank you for the wonderful hope and encouragement that we have as believers. And we also thank you so much that you love unbelievers, that you're patient with all, desiring that none shall perish. And at one point we all were unbelievers. And so we just thank you for that long suffering and your grace that, Lord, we came to know you as Savior. And if there's anyone here that doesn't know you, Lord, or within the sound of my voice, listening on the recording, Lord, we just pray for them, that they would be encouraged to consider what they are trusting in, and that it would be you alone in your substitute death on the cross for their sins. We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.